Archive For The “gothic” Category
Just as Rock is officially declared dead, along comes Anna Calvi, a singer and guitarist of determined originality to breathe life into the twitching corpse. Touchstones include Diamanda Galas, PJ Harvey, Edith Piaf, Brian Eno and David Lynch. Occasionally as forbidding as it is bewitching, this album is splendidly gothic, epic even. Better yet, we [...]
When Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his band came howling out of LA in 1981 with this infernal brew of voodoo, punk and blues, the die was cast for others to imitate. The pounding drums and voodoo imagery fired live performances that were shamanistic in their intensity. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was the real deal, a musician 
Preposterous, pretentious, preening perfection. In a short career, Bauhaus defined the mood and the look of a generation and delivered some of the most edgy rock music ever recorded. Mixing glam, high art, literary and film allusion with gleeful disdain, they invented Goth and left their many hapless imitators choking in their dust. This album 
The band that put the gorgeous in Goth. Astoundingly beautiful in places, this album awakened a hitherto uncaring world to the pleasures housed by the 4AD label. Featuring members of the Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Colourbox and Modern English performing songs by some truly great songwriters including the then unfashionable Alex Chilton, Roy Harper 
The Stilton, pungent and creamy, melted into my palate like mist, crackers roughing up the tongue, a generous slug of Cockburn’s clearing the stage for a second, prolonged assault. “Ghosts!” I roared, “Never heard such bloody nonsense – the only spirit I know is the one that disappears …down Merry’s gullet!” Laughter rolled extravagantly round [...]
