Darkwave

[Music] Kismet – Love Will Tear Us Apart

/ Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Every time I go to Skopje, there is always someone who asks why on Earth I’d bother to come and stay such long periods of time in what they feel is an insignificant city in the heart of the Balkans. You can thank this song, the disc it came on, and a friendship with Gorazd Capovski and Ilija Stojanovski, for this.

I had worked at Tone Casualties records as an A&R Manager, and came across this disc while at my evening job, buying weird music for Aron’s Records (RIP). I had passed through what was then Yugoslavia a few years past, and knew a bit about Macedonian music, but the combination of goth/darkwave and an ethnic, Byzantine sound, came as a huge revelation. I never, in a million years, thought Love Will Tear Us Apart would sound perfect with bagpipes. A pleasant surprise which still strikes a chord after 20 years.

[Video] Controlled Bleeding – Red Stigmata

/ Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Perhaps too diverse for their own good, Controlled Bleeding were very comfortable working in everything from harsh noise to nearly danceable beat music which fit in well with the Wax Trax! Records crowd.

This track, however, is the one which left the longest impression for me. It reminds me more of a Gothic take on progressive rock, and it’s a vein I wish the band would have tapped more, because it really caught them at their best.

I’m absolutely thrilled to know that Paul Lemos has soldiered on, but it’s quite a bitter loss knowing that Joe Papa and Chris Moriarty have moved on to their great reward.

[Review] Roses Never Fade – Devil Dust

/ Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the Apocalyptic Folk/Neofolk genre (or Wyrd Music, or whatever it’s called today). Most of the bands sound the same, usually rip off the old masters of the genre like Death In June, Blood Axis or Allerseelen. The music is nice, but not terribly interesting or something I’d come back to for repeated listening.

Enter Roses Never Fade. The music in their latest release, Devil Dust, published on Neuropa Records, comes as a breath of fresh air.

The first five minutes of the release feel a bit like the scene in the Andrei Tarkovsky, when the pilot flies into Solaris. Hazy, crunchy, like driving right into a cloud. Reminiscent of early Industrial soundtracks and Pink Floyd at their most esoteric. Once things become musical, things become very interesting.

Though it may not have been a conscious act, the band sound like they are channeling The Swans/World of Skin/M. Gira, and mixing it with more progressive folk like the legendary Comus. That was what immediately came to mind. Sure, there are also a few vocal styling which remind me of Douglas Peace in his youth, but the material flows nicely, and by about the 7th minute, I feel like I’m hearing elements of The Byrds in their psychedelic country phase.

A unique release. Go here to find more information about the band and Neuropa Records.