Psychic Teens - Teen

2011; 7 tracks

I know next to nothing about this band (except that they are from Philadelphia), but I do know that they leave me feeling pleasantly cold inside.

One person says they "ride the 80's goth/darkwave era hard, but with a bit more added noise and distortion that will likely draw mentions of influence from shoegaze, etc. The singer especially seems to really be following the Joy Division line of approach, with cold monotone echoed out vocals."

"The seven-song record channels their communal taste for Sonic Youth's dissonance and Joy Division's brooding new wave/punk."

In an interview, the singer-guitarist Larry Ragone says, "I think if there was a character who was the star of all of the songs, it'd be some angry kid. He's probably wearing a black sweatshirt and kicking rocks while he walks down the street mad at the world, mad at girls. It's sort of dark, but that's OK — it has to match the music."

Hopefully you can gain a sense of what this band is like. I'm reminded of the gothic/psychobilly flair of Calabrese, but that's only because I don't listen to music of this sort as often as I should.


Bandcamp / Purchase

Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun and The Serpent's Egg

Dead Can Dance is a modern classical/gothic/new wave group from Melbourne, Australia, comprised of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerard. They formed in 1981 and have been active up until around 1998 (though they did do a world tour in '05). I've loved them for about a year now, and ever since hearing Within the Realm of a Dying Sun for the first time, they have become the ultimate band for me, in terms of the genre. I am in love with Gerard and Perry's voices and their lyrics are so deeply profound, as well as poignant and lucid... Ahhhhhhhh. These two are my absolute favorite albums of theirs.
Within the Realm of a Dying Sun 

 1987; 8 tracks

This is the first Dead Can Dance album I've ever heard, and WWWOOOOWW was I surprised. I really don't like gothic/neo-classical/new wave stuff (normally), so I wasn't expecting this to be something I could like. But as soon as I got deep into the first track, "Anywhere Out of the World," I felt drawn into the album sort of like being drawn into a dark forest, and I couldn't resist. I was frozen throughout the entire album. As far as my musical "journey" goes, I have never come across a more haunting yet simply perfect album as this. I can't even begin to explain how much this album means to me, and how excruciatingly close it is to my heart. The lyrics are all dealing with very mature (sophisticated might word better for this...) subject matter, such as Biblical themes, good vs. evil, the philosophy of free will, and other interesting things like that. Gerard's voice is one of a goddess - resonant, achingly gorgeous, and multitextured as though it were a bird's song (or, perhaps, a bird prophet?). In the end, this album has haunted me from the moment I first heard it and has graciously brought to me a renewed sense of what "beauty" really is.

Will the sun illuminate your way,
Or will the nightmares come home to stay? 
The Serpent's Egg  1988; 10 tracks  The Serpent's Egg is a gorgeous, mystical album, but I absolutely adore the first track, "The Host of the Seraphim." It seems to masterfully, powerfully and successfully formulate the human condition/extent of emotion that every other beautiful song in the world attempts to articulate... I guess I think of it as the ultimate song of humanity, of beauty, of "original sin." The entire album may fade in comparison to that one song, which I think might be greater than all other DCD songs put together, but The Serpent's Egg is still amazing.  Tomorrow's child is the only child...