These are the shownotes that go with Season 4, Episode 0 – The Pilot Episode

Once again the gates are unlocked and the bar is raised, for this pilot Episode of season 4.

This is The Infected – A podcast from the heart of the darkness. Your hosts select the finest Post-Punk, New Wave, Goth & Alternative tracks. As always, we provide background stories and tip hot new releases and forgotten songs.

This pilot is called missing man, as Goof is still out there, roaming the night, we eagerly await the sound of his him spreading his wings, landing on the bell tower, but until then I’ll keep the fort and play you some tracks to test a new twist on our trusted format…

Once Goof re-materializes we may well see the return of our 100% Goth approved movie tips, but in this pilot, we cut back on discussion to bring you even more music, with a maximum of 80 throbbing, pulsating heartbeats between each track.

Come join us and feast on tunes to celebrate the night!

Death in June are a group led by English musician Douglas Pearce. The band was originally formed in 1981 as a trio, but the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, leaving Douglas as the consistent factor in Death in June. Since the Mid 90’s Douglas is living in Australia. This track however is from their early work as a British trio. It is called The Calling (Mk II) You can find it on the album “Nada” from 1985.

The odd name of the band comes from an in-studio mishearing of “death and gloom” Still active after four decades of existence, they have developed in style and presentation, resulting in an overall shift from post-punk and Industrial to the more acoustic and folk music-oriented approach of today. I like their classic work best.

Beyond Border are a duo: dark scene DJ Deity from cult club “Base” in Hanover and IGGI, frontman and singer of In Good Faith as well as Model Kaos. Two different characters who have electronic music in their blood come together in Beyond Border.

Beyond Border serve the complete range of the electro scene from catchy-danceable to crashy-club-suitable to beautiful ballads that get under your skin. Both musicians are “Children of the 80s”, but Deity was from the rock and metal scene, before he came made a name for himself as an electronic music DJ. The roots of IGGI are unmistakably to be found in Goth music and the alternative scene. His trademark voice has a high recognition value

The songs are aimed at club use tailored to the dance-crazed Dark ElectroPop community. In the future, however, they may go in a completely different direction musically. Because as the name already says, Beyond Border don’t set themselves any borders, but want to move beyond pigeonholes in the whole electronic music area. Just the way we like it, for the love of music spreads like an infection and knows no boundaries….  

A classic on the great Massive Attack album Mezzanine from 1998, the singer in this case was Elizabeth Fraser, the vocalist for the pioneering dream pop band Cocteau Twins who achieved their success primarily from the mid–1980s to the late 1990s. On this Massive Attack track Liz replaced the original choice of Madonna as a singer, and by writing the lyrics for it and with her performance as a vocalist she turned this track into a huge hit. She wrote the words soon after the death of the great guitarist Jeff Buckley, who she was seeing in the mid 90’s. Unexpectedly, Jeff Buckley died in 1997 when he drowned in the Mississippi river, leaving Elizabeth nothing but a Teardrop.

Together, on Buckley’s 4 track recorder,  they did record one track, which we will play for you now. This is the unreleased (and unfinished) acoustic track by Jeff Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser, recorded sometime around 1995-1996. It is called All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun.

Next up is is a duo called The Waeve. The female voice is Rose Elinor Dougall, an English singer, songwriter and musician. She was a member of the Pipettes and has performed with Mark Ronson in the past. The other member is English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter Graham Coxon who came to prominence as a founding member of the Britpop band Blur. Kill me again is a track from the 2023 album The Waeve, with a dark theme; I don’t care if I’m dying
Kill me again, I run through your fingers laughing, I fall through your eyes and then, I don’t care if I’m dying, Kill me again, Kill me again.

De Staat / Iggy Pop

We are a post-punk Podcast, and for a suitable ending to this episode, we have two recent tracks lined up for you, played back to back. The first one is a song by Dutch band De Staat, who have been at it for over 15 years. Their track is about corporate greed, masquerading as support for social protest. “Cause where the march is, that’s where the heart is, that is a huge market, that’s how we’ll reach our target” or “One fist in the air, one hand in your pocket, gonna show that we care, about peace love and profit.”

The track right after is called “Comments.” Sung by the man who invented Punk music in the 60’s with his band The Stooges, even before the word punk existed, Iggy Pop is indestructible and still alive and kicking.  His lyrics are a biting commentary on Social media today: “I’m feeling good, looking at those comments all night, wonder why I feel so cold…” or “I sold my face to Hollywood, I feel good, yeah I’m looking for a soulmate in those comments…”

Both tracks were released this year, but you will find post-punk spirit inside… Enjoy!