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Fischerspooner – Emerge
Fischerspooner are Warren Fischer, music, and Casey Spooner vocals and lyrics as a recording duo at the core, but they have become famous for being far more than that. Starting in the late 90s, they often performed in their native New York City with a group of performers of up to 20 people singing, dancing, or modeling fashion. They appeared in art galleries as well as nightclubs and society happenings.
You have listened to the remastered 2020 version of Fischerspooners’ first international hit ‘Emerge’ which was initially released in 2002. Back then, ‘Emerge’ topped European charts and won them invitations to international fashion, art, and society happenings. I just love the track.
Mareux – The Perfect Girl
Does a perfect girl exist? I think so for 90%. The remaining 10% of perfection is something you grow into together. That’s what I think, if you’re lucky enough to meet a girl that’s 80 or 90% perfect for you.
If you see the band’s name, you would think he’s from France. But they, or better, he’s a producer from Los Angeles called Aryan Ashtiani. He became a well-known figure mainly through his 2021 cover of a track by The Cure called “The Perfect Girl.”
The track went viral on TikTok. He’s on a world tour and visiting our country, The Netherlands, on July 18th. I’m going and already bought my ticket. It’s in your town Utrecht.
At first, the song was not meant to be a cover. Aryan was first recording instrumentals, intending to write lyrics after.
But he hit a creative block with the lyrics once he finished recording the beat. He was tooling around with various lines and vocal melodies and looked at some Cure lyrics for inspiration. Then he sang a couple of lines of the original song, the Perfect Girl, over the beat, and it matched so well that he decided to take a different direction with the track and make it a cover.
I’m unsure if it was meant to be a club track, but it feels that way, and I totally dig it. Mareux was tipped to me by Andreas. Other tracks are a bit darker and great, so check it out.
Black Sabbath- Who Are You
This next song is from an album that I hold dear to my heart, a track I have played many times but that I have recently rediscovered. And when I did, suddenly, it hit me. This is a recording from 1973. Yes, we are going even further back in time than usual, and this might be the first-ever darkwave track on record. Check it out, and see if you recognize the band.
The band was, of course… Black Sabbath, the track was ‘Who Are You.’ As their bio states, the influence of this band can not be overstated. Black Sabbath constructed the framework for subsequent subgenres in music, with entire movements rising from blueprints laid out in single Sabbath songs. And not just in Hard Rock or Metal, either…
Winter Severity Index – Backstroke
Another obscure gem I dug up quite some time ago. Winter Severity Index is a project that started in 2009. Like so many other acts that were having their take on early 80’s post-punk and wave. Simona Ferrucci from Rome, Italy, heads the band. She’s a singer, arranger and plays multiple instruments. She makes everything herself from start to finish.
The project was born in 2009 as a traditional female band with drums, bass, synths, and guitar. After the decision of two members of the band to leave, Simona continued with her friend Valentina on synths.
The music of Winter Severity Index is marked out by an original mixture of different influences, from the synth wave of the Eighties to the guitar shoegaze sound of the Nineties.
Over the years, their sound evolved and enriched their features, preserving a solid melodic trait and a melancholic dark mood.
Winter Severity Index played in more than one hundred venues all over Europe. They shared the stage with great artists of the international scene, from The Chameleons to Lene Lovich, to Lebanon Hanover, and so on.
Staatseinde – Wir Leben Roboter
Staatseinde are interstellar cosmonauts who landed in The Netherlands and promisingly describe their sound as a mix between Kraftwerk on Speed and the Sex Pistols on acid. They have been around since 2006 but are very much alive and kicking today as a band. After Corona, they got more attention than ever. Currently, they are performing about 30-40 times a year (in the Netherlands, but also in Germany and Poland, for instance). As the band mentions, it seems to be a good time for their style of music (and more in general for minimal wave/electro/EBM acts)… At the Infected, we can only appreciate and agree, for the love of music with a dark edge beats strong in our black hearts.
Staatseinde first ever performed on 06-06-06 – so in 2006. To celebrate, now, 17 years later, they are re-releasing 17 rare tracks released over the years. We’ll play a track from their new release, with an introduction by the artists themselves!
The track ‘Wir leben roboter was previously released by Hertz Schrittmacher (corekrach label) and was on the 2022 Mini Roboter 2 vinyl compilation. The lyrics are based on work by Dutch poet Wout Waanders with whom Staatseinde have performed live and recorded several tracks. The title Wir Leben Roboter is a nod to Opel’s advertising slogan, ‘Wir Leben cars.’
Eleven Pond – Sitting On Chairs
Eleven Pond was formed in the mid-80s in Rochester, New York. The band consisted of three friends that met in art school with a shared interest in 4AD and Factory Records. They self-released only one epic LP titled ‘Bas Relief’ in 1986 before dissolving into obscurity. They started to record songs for a second album titled ‘Assemblage,’ but the band split up. Luckily, the master tapes were put on the shelf.
The band breaks up shortly after due to differences in taste. Twenty-two years later, they were rediscovered by a DJ from Brooklyn that played on some Minimal Wave nights in a club.
To my surprise, they are now available on Spotify as well. Their music is very danceable but also moody. A perfect blend. That’s all the info I could dig up.
Daniel Ash, This Love
For once, a different track to end the show. On our Spotify poll, we asked: “Who are the best Gothic Rock band of all time?” We had a response from Henry Jeter & Tea White mentioning Bauhaus, which arguably can lay claim to the title. So for you, for once, we end the show on a different beat, with a track by Daniel Ash, guitarist, and frontman of Bauhaus. This track is from his 1990 solo album Coming down. For the Love of Goth; this track is called “This Love.”
The Infected 