I've at last completed my trawl of Myspace for bands who describe themselves with the title Gothic. Some of these labels seem mischievous, and others hard to justify, and of course it doesn't mean that those concerned are Goths of any ilk at all; but out of it emerges a fascinating picture of the way things are moving. I searched the first hundred artistes to come up, ordered by the number of times their profile was viewed, in Britain, in the States, and everywhere else, so about 300 – a mere tenth, it has to be said, of all the self-described ‘Gothic’ combos on the site, but one has a life to lead. Certainly as far as the UK is concerned, this is quite enough to take you down into deeply unrewarding territory. Most of it is naturally tripe, as most of every form of artistic output is tripe, but to find something worthwhile in about 60 of 300 cases isn’t bad going at all. As time goes on, I tend to be drawn to music which either provides something slightly quirky and out-of-the-ordinary, or which has a sense of humour, which inevitably steered me in certain directions and conditioned who I decided to take a look at; but sometimes I was pleasantly surprised.
The bands and artistes are arranged below by genre, subcategory, or however you prefer to describe it. Of course the boundaries between some of them are very fuzzy, and some can only be detected in comparison with each other: you can tell when you’ve moved from one to the other, but not pinpoint the moment of transition. Equally, bands tend to rotate the tracks they put on Myspace, so you may not find all my picked ones there. A click on each picture should take you to that artiste's Myspace site.
Alt-country/Gothabilly
Naturally America and the UK provide all the folk in this category, and that word is apposite because it could be described as American folk, or twists thereon.
Munly and the Lee Lewis Harlots (US) A brilliant name and a brilliant image, the worryingly cadaverous Munly Munly accompanied by picturesque young women playing cellos. Munly also sings with Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, and his own band sounds similar but with a rather grimmer blush to it. Picks: Amen Corner, The Denver Boot Redux.
The Otherfolk (UK) Texmex Goth Western. The title ‘Higher Plains Drifter’ tells you all you need to know. They have ceased to exist apart from this ethereal presence, and trip along like a hoss carrying you unconcernedly to Hell. Pick: Tupelo Tree.
Owlls (UK) Very Calexic-ish: jangly guitars, Hammond organs, and a singer having a stab at being Nick Cave. Pick: Doghead.
The Revelator Band (UK) Actually this lot don’t label themselves ‘Gothic’ at all, but for heaven’s sake, they’re chaps in long coats and black hats who compose what sounds like a soundtrack for the bone-strewn, wind-pared Western plains. Pick: My Top Hat is on Fire.
Reverend Glasseye (US) Wallowing in the stories of doomed souls in some mythical demented South. Picks: God Help You Dumb Boy; Seventeen Lashes.
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club (US) Much more openly tongue-in-cheek, but still folk with menace: often ridiculously fast and bordering on the incoherent. Picks: All About the Bullfrogs, Children of the Lord, No M’Lady, This is How We Do Things in the Country.
Strawfoot (US) Beloved of sepiachord.com, Strawfoot tell cautionary tales of drink and damnation like disgraced preachers begging a bourbon for a story. Picks: Damnation Way, Fiddle and Jug, Strawfoot Waltz.
The Thrift Store Cowboys (US) They may not look anything special, but the Cowboys have a gentler, more thoughtful sound than the other bands here; though not without humour, it sounds as though they mean it. Pick: Sidewalk Song.
Cabaret
Abby Travis (US) Very smooth and silky, melancholy and bereft, swilling from the whisky glass (metaphorically) as each song progresses to its ruin. More instruments than is usual, but still just about within this category. Picks: Hunger, Toast to the Unappreciated.
The Crepe Hangers (US) It’s a girl and a piano, basically. ‘Sounds like the party at the funeral parlor[sic]’, she says, and that’s fair enough. Gentle, sad, delicious. Pick: Bottle the Tears.
The Rohan Theatre Band (UK) And a man with a piano. A mad and possibly quite bad man, in a hat. Give Tom Waits piano lessons and this is what you might get. Only one of Rohan Kriwaczek’s projects, like the entirely mythical Guild of Funerary Violinists. Pick: How Many Ways.
Vermilion Lies (US) The Boekbinder sisters look like a pair of children’s toys who’ve rebelled and run off to join the circus, but got lost and ended up somewhere far more dubious. They could equally fit in the sepiachord category, and sound like a girly version of the Tiger Lillies without the scatological rage. Everything on their site is unreservedly wonderful, but try: Circus Apocalypse.
Darkwave
Difficult to define, this: I use it to refer to music closely resembling mid-1980s Goth standards and usually, therefore, a sort of sombre pop.
Darling Violetta (US) Soulful, spirited, very listenable Goth pop. Pick: Cocoon, A Smaller God.
Johnny Hollow (Canada) What a wonderful website, and those moths and bugs: exploiting the creepy connotations of the genus arthropoda. Menacing music without being humourless. They know what they’re doing. Pick: Stranger, This Hollow World.
Ketrah (Canada) Ketrah takes herself a smidgen too seriously, but has an unusual voice and brings enough interest to the music to make it worthwhile. Pick: Traitor’s Gate.
La Fille d’Octobre (France) Grandiose and cinematic, La Fille edges towards rock but keeps us out of that area with delicate delivery and an unusual range of instruments. Pick: Tue de l’Amour.
Nebelhexe (Norway) Slinky and delightful and not at all icemaidenish, Nebelhexe wrap themselves up with a certain amount of pagan witchy tosh, but we forgive them, for their lovely dark, low rhythms. Picks: Erzulie’s Charm, Reverse.
Species 8472 (UK) Mysterious and Scottish, Species 8472 are actually rather a genre-busting combo with elements of Celtopop, avant-garde cabaret, rock, and electronica. So they end up here. No idea what they look like, they want to keep it quiet. Pick: A Tripwire.
Electronica
Era Nocturna (US) Trippy, swirly, poppy, but too uptempo to be ‘ambient’. Pick: Where I’m Not.
The Strix (UK) Dark pop polished to a high gloss - as relaxing as it gets, despite the odd venture into Earth-Kitt like vocals. Pick: Void.
Yendri (Germany) Really interesting synthesised music with Oriental and medieval rhythms making their appearance over the beats. Pick: Just Hurt Me, We Are Everywhere East.
Ethereal/Ambient
Her Blackened Rose (UK) Oh-so-weepy image, angels and fallen flowers. But not a bad example of gentle, regretful, moping-in-the-corner stuff. Pick: Alone in the Dark.
Promise and the Monster (Sweden) The wonderful name probably results from a mistranslation, but still. Acoustic guitar-led, breathy vocals, pleasingly melancholy. Pick: Night Out.
Folk
This ‘genre’ only really makes sense in the British context. In the States it’s ‘country’, and some European bands I think of as Neo-medieval would describe themselves as ‘folk’; but I know too little about European folk traditions to judge. It’s a debatable point.
The Book of Ordres (UK) And The Book of Ordres doesn’t make things any easier, because their stuff is played on synths so they could class as Electronica. Oh well. Pick: The Greenfield Waltz.
The Low Road (UK) Gentle, down-tempo and female-voiced, The Low Road aren’t far from the ‘Ethereal’, but recognisably open out of British folk tradition. Occasional Ivor Cutler-like voiceovers are a bit distracting! Pick: Denial.
Wolf’s Head & the Vixen Morris (UK) Wonderfully mad, pagan English folk rubbish. An entire gang of girls and blacked-up chaps with accordions, fiddles and skin drums cavorting up and down the streets of unsuspecting provincial towns or darting in and out of stone circles. Pick: Rochester Cobbles.
Metal
I don’t like metal. I usually find it unbearably pompous, self-important, and aesthetically uninteresting. So it’s been a pleasure to discover a handful of (European, it must be pointed out) bands who call themselves ‘gothic’ and ‘metal’ who are actually good fun!
Beyon-D-lusion (France) The name is a slightly daft pun which probably seems a good idea if you’re French, but the band are nicely Evanescence-like with the same mix of grinding guitars and female vocals, if not quite the same spirituality. Pick: Sweet Surrender.
The Difference Engine (UK) Serious-minded, but quirky enough to be good fun. And to call yourself after a Victorian clockwork computer that was never actually built is clearly a mark in your favour. Pick: Carpe Deus.
Epica (Netherlands) Their stuff goes on a bit – well, a lot in fact – but the combination of growly thrash-metal vocals with a keening operatic soprano and Arabesque motifs is completely winning. Picks: Death of a Dream, Fools of Damnation.
Godyva (Italy) More heavy rock with a soaring female vocal, so outrageously over-the-top that it just can’t fail. Their site seems to cause my 'puter problems, and may do yours. Pick: Intimate.
Neoclassical
Dargaard (Austria) Shimmery stuff full of bells and strings, but with a metal tang from time to time. Pick: Thy Fleeing Time.
Funeral Dusk (Colombia) Tomas Molina clearly wants to write movie music, but nobody has let him so far, so he puts it out on Myspace. Pick: Vampyric Waltz.
Jennifer Grassman (US) Jennifer Grassman no longer describes herself as ‘gothic’, which is probably just, as she sings and plays her own interpretations of hymns and traditional song, as well as the occasional new composition. Her version of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence still makes my hair stand on end, though. Picks: Keep Silence, Can It Be So.
Kirsten Morrison (UK) Ms Morrison veers towards neo-folk and neo-medieval with her Latin motets and jangly lute-ishness, but I’ve put her here as a compromise. Runs from breathy melancholy to bouncy settings of William Blake! Picks: Amor est Vitae Esse, Janey, Salaviei, The Tyger.
Lerue Delashay (US) Mr Delashay may look like the world’s biggest twit, but his stuff is actually rather fun, while many neoclassical goth artistes are even more whinily self-indulgent than the deathrockers. Of course it’s just him, so no orchestral works yet. Pick: Golgotha.
The Society of Imaginary Friends (UK) Beautiful, beautiful. Louise Kleboe’s voice isn’t quite as strong as it should be, but take on Dido’s Lament with a synthesizer and you deserve full points. Operatic is not too strong a word. Picks: Dido’s Lament, Questa Notte, For Those Online.
Neomedieval
Misericordia (UK) Truth be told, there’s nothing neomedieval about this pair at all. They play authentic tunes on authentic instruments, and perform in museums and churches; even Gothic Voices are not more serious reconstructionists. Shiver me tabors! Picks: Procurans Odium, Saltarello.
Weltenbrand (Liechtenstein) We ought to like Weltenbrand more, but then they shouldn’t be quite so mitteleuropische pagan – and massively grandiose with it! Still, among the best of their ilk and giving a nicely modern twist to all the Black Forest soundtrack stuff. Pick: Intro.
Pop
Miss Derringer (US) We object to creating another sub-genre, but Miss Derringer leave us no choice, for taking pastiche ‘50s bubblegum pop and pushing it through a black filter. Songs of guns, blood and broken hearts. Picks: Better Run Away; Don’t Say I Told You So; He Hung on a Sunday; Heartbreak and Razorblades.
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a sort of subset of Gothabilly, I think, but rather than seducing your sensibilities with a subtle interrogation of the country genre, prefers to parade itself as an unashamed piss-take.
The Coffin Draggers (US) Sound like somebody on speed, but I can’t remember who. Pick: Let’s Die Together.
Muleskinner Jones (UK) ‘From the Wild Westcountry’, he claims. Demented. Picks: Blood and Muskets, Death Row Hoedown.
Profunda Rosa (Canada) Murder at the drive-in. Picks: Bloody Dungeon, Voodoo Doll.
Punk
Mary Bendytoy (UK) Punk, of course, is a different sort of piss-take. Mary Bendytoy of Oxford are a clever set of thrash-merchants and do it well; they also include our chum Maurice, and so have to have a mention. Pick: Spider.
New Days Delay (Germany) My God, it’s like we’ve been catapulted back to 1976 only with more laughs, better clothes, and some degree of musical competence. Good fun and not at all Teutonic. Picks: Pretend There Was Surprise, Stereokatastrophe, Tiny Monsters, Vermutlich Hysterisch.
Psideralica (Spain) Extremely good: with a sensibility close to the Stolen Babies but far more closely tied to the punk template. Dark, creative, but grown-up enough to be interesting. Picks: Caja de Cristal, Disturbing Dreams, Tonight.
Punk Cabaret
‘Punk Cabaret’ was the phrase Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls invented to stop journalists using the word ‘Gothic’ to describe them. So I take it to describe a sort of intimate confessional or story-telling chanson type combined with a hard musical sensibility. It could be cabaret, bears relation with sepiachord, but isn’t quite either.
Katzenjammer Kabarett (France) Ouch! Sometimes more punky, sometimes more cabaresque, sometimes spikily avant-garde, KK are the Dresden Dolls’ francophone cousins. And we love the look. Picks: Eve at the Mansion, Gemini Girly Song, Nevermore Brothel.
Rock
‘Rock’ covers any number of sins. It can range extremely widely, but generally describes a slightly more mainstream guitar and drum sound than the other categories. But otherwise not much connects this lot.
Anemonia (Canada) Another operatic female wailing over a thumping background, but rather more along the line to glam than the metal bands above. Pick: The Quest.
The Astrovamps (US) An utter mockery. Not much to separate them from Profunda Rosa as described, apart from the male vocals and slightly heavier sound. The professionals will tell you more (critics, not doctors). Pick: Somebody Forgot to Tell Me I was Dead.
Cauda Pavonis (UK) I think even I’d heard vaguely of this lot so to many people they won’t be news. Slightly self-regarding, but enough quirky instrumentation packed into the tracks to maintain interest. Pick: Carnival Noir.
Holy Cowbell (UK) Only the picture would lead you to have these chaps (& girl) down as Goths at all; could easily be taken as mainstream rock. Pick: Lippy Bitch.
Lyriel (Germany) They rock along on slightly folky motifs wrapped around sawing guitars. Pick: The Promised Land.
Mojag (UK) Were (because they have ceased to be) thoroughly retro, mid-‘80s Cult-template Goth rock, and good at it. Pick: Sheol.
The Pleasures (Germany) An utterly embarrassing collection of Goth-glam-rockers in Alice Cooper makeup. Enormous fun – we just hope they don’t mean it. In fact we pray they don’t mean it. Pick: Honeymoon in Venice.
Sacred (UK) A very personable pair of girl glam-rockers with their tongues not quite so far in their cheeks as some already cited. They sound like they’re having huge fun and want you to join in. Picks: Little Devil; Toys in the Attic.
Shane Cough (France) They have a wildly eclectic sound, and singer Marianne even sounds like PJ Harvey sometimes. Always lots going on, always lots to listen to – if you have the stomach for wild swings from avant-garde to electronic to grinding guitars. Very mature indeed. Picks: Carnal Desire, Suffocate Me, Taste of Bruises.
Strange Red Earth (UK) The closest thing to The Bad Seeds you’re likely to find without going to – well, The Bad Seeds. Songs of unaccountable hate and malevolence. Picks: The Caesars, Reverend Crow.
Sepiachord
Hmm. Sepiachord.com want to promote the claims of this ‘genre that doesn’t exist’, and you can see their point. I find that the stuff I like most these days falls into this box: quirky, self-aware and humorous, and curiously backward-looking, like Goth music-hall; and many new Goth artistes seem to be drawn along this path though the US dominates for the time being. We’re not entirely convinced, but will go with it for now. See what you think. If you don’t swallow its connection with Goth at all, take note that Rasputina are supporting Siouxsie on her Californian tour this year. So there.
Beat Circus (US) Vicious little soundscapes of small-town American menace, about 1910, I’d say. If that sounds unlistenable, think again. Picks: Death Fugue, The Ghost of Emma Jean.
Christine Smith (US) Goths and accordions are a dangerous combination. The uptempo tone keeps Ms Smith out of the cabaret category and in this one. More delightful vignettes of cheerful decadence; you’re evil, she says, but you’re not the only one. Pick: Evil.
The Peculiar Pretzelmen (US) Not self-labelled Gothic, but I located them through the Dresden Dolls so it’s not my fault. Songs with horrible happenings, sung by a whisky-stinking madman at the window with a gap-toothed grin. Picks: Six-Volt Car, Who’s That Knocking.
Picturebox (UK) Frantic collisions of strings racing at high speed. Take a breath. Picks: I Killed Love, Ship of Fools.
Rasputina (US) So proudly anachronistic they describe their concerts as ‘recitals’, Rasputina tell insane little stories of the past with strings and drums and a singer who should be locked away, if only for dressing like Marie Antoinette after the execution. Unmitigatedly wonderful. Picks: Cage in a Cave.
Rosin Coven (US) Look, sometimes descriptions peter out. Rosin Coven’s particular blend of the strings-vocals-drums combination could fit in several places; originally I had Dybbuk’s Dirge down as ‘Goth neo-klezmer’, but you can’t say that, can you? So they’re here. And marvellous, utterly bizarre with a strangely glittery, hard edge. Picks: Bed for Blossom, the aforementioned Dybbuk’s Dirge, Ladybug’s Pas De Deux.
Rykarda Parasol and the Tower Ravens (US) We fell about when we saw this, what must be the most outrageously camp and glorious name for a Goth band in history. Surprisingly serious and Harveyesque – tales of doomed girls wafted over understated music. Picks: Hannah Leah, She’s Like Heroin to Me.
Thee Single Spy (UK) They couldn’t be anything other than English. Compared to some of the other bands, no fireworks, but quirkily black. Seems to be a solitary chap joined by others as required. He also appears to wax his moustache, which is a bad sign. Pick: Ghosts.
