DJ Rickbats

THIS IS OUR WEEKLY CLUB NIGHT!
THIS IS OUR WEEKLY RADIO SHOW!
AVAILABLE ON STROBELIGHT RECORDS OCTOBER 27TH, 2006!
OFFICIAL WGT AFTERPARTIES! MAY 09,10,11 2008!
"KALIFFORNIAN DEATHROCK" FEATURED IN PREMIER ISSUE!
Review of Kaliffornian Deathrock by Mick Mercer:
It’s a funny old business this ‘Deathrock’ lark, as it doesn’t quite have a UK counterpart. It’s what we knew as early American Goth, and it’s what they called it, whereas we had some Post-Punk action then a Goth scene. So when Goth went bleepy or politely bumptious in the 90's it was only right that the new American generation making an energetic noise rightly reclaimed the Deathrock title, but there isn’t a UK version. If UK bands get noisy and rousing, as most are anyway, they’re just Goth instead of Gothic, perhaps? It wouldn’t seem quite natural if they said ‘we’re Post-Punk heading for new Goth’! I was too ill to contribute any quotes or pics to this when Paul Cuska asked, as I hadn’t the energy, but I maybe couldn’t have in any case as I simply wouldn’t have had much to contribute. It’s partly DJ Rickbats project anyway, with him adding expert notes throughout the booklet. There’s a plethora of interesting items packing out the booklet, and musically this is a fine look back, but even here the edges and boundaries blur. For Deathrock I’d have said first half of the 80’s and no further, but on the sleeve notes, they pay tribute to bands like Stone 588, Dichroic Mirror, The Shroud, Prophetess etc, highlighting late 80’s as well as mid-90s, as though people have different expectations of Deathrock. Myself, I think back to haunting record shops, especially Rough Trade in Ladbroke Grove and occasionally, very occasionally, being handed something that wasn’t simply decent Punk. This is before Punk became Hardcore, where they were either good bands or disappointing bands. When a stunning record, like Kommunity FK or Savage Republic, The Web or Screaming Sneakers fell into you hands you treasured it. Or Pretty Poison. They may have gone Pat Benetar rockish with a dance hue later but their first EP was every bit as good as 45 Grave’s debut. Mainly I think of ‘Hell Comes To Your House Vol 1.’ Anyhow, back at this fantastic compilation we start with a brief radio intro from KXLU, which I gather was an influential LA station, then we are run over by the steaming rhythmic rivulets of Screams For Tina’s ‘Graveyard Mary’ with evil, glowing guitar within and pinched nostril singing and its Psychedelic Furs tribute. Isn’t she pretty in stink. Like Wreckage are interesting in ‘Burning Waters’ which is comparatively mellow and has the whole Wreckage/SFT link too, although the forced vocal melodrama of Kill Sister Kill in ‘Feverdream’ seems a little silly now, with its chomping Bauhaus rip. Christian Death’s ‘Mysterium Iniquitatis’ is exquisitely chiselled and the bells/vocals part continues to inspire. Voodoo Church’s ‘Eyes (Second Death)’ is grimy and fun, and Eva O’s Super Heroines’ ‘Night Stalker’ is similar in tone but with the odd effect of the vocals sounding male. Astrovamps make the word ‘Ghost Train’ sound like glass chain, and it’s a fairly weird pop take on Goth from their first ever demo, but still flushed with angry tension. On the lovely ‘Eternal Deep’ I’ll swear Mephisto Walz are using a duck call to make the occasionally extraordinary utterance, maybe the shortlived Deathduck movement? Kommunity FK show people how to main a cool course through the watchful ‘We Will Not Fall.’ Deathride 69’s ‘Mescalito’ has an interesting, hushed atmosphere and gently interwrought musical plates, shifting eerily and pleasantly. 34 Vampires go quietly through the mushy electropoop that is ‘34 Vampires’, but a solid Ex-Voto number, ‘Waiting For The Dawn’ brings some shambling noir back in effectively. Texas Vamps are well Cultish in ‘If I Don’t Wake Up Today’ musically but more punkily structured vocals, and Shadow Project’s dappled ‘Under Your Wing’ is full of great moody moments. The Ants guitar line shamelessly stolen by Element for ‘In The Nitetime’ always thrills and to be fair they maintain the gloomy momentum well and then develop some starker sounds later. (Have they done a retrospective CD? Why isn’t there a website) Burning Image are passionately pained in ‘Haunted’ and it ends with a rough, lumpy live version of 45 Grave’s ‘Procession.’ That’s not quite all, because there’s also two videos of The Deep Eynde , with ‘Baboo’ and ‘ Hoodoo’, the latter being well worth a look. So what did you expect, something awful? This is a Strobelight compilation of the highest order. Part of our shared history, it is genuinely intriguing and wellrounded. Nobody will feel let down. Similarly, nobody should be inclined to copy. These are the ground rules, and bands now have to rise above.