These are the shownotes for this episode, number 7 of our fourth sesason:
Of Blood and Wine – Evelyn (2023)
Gothic Rockers Of Blood and Wine are friends of the show, and they have done it again with Evelyn – as far as I am concerned, one of the finest Goth Rock tracks to have come out this year.
The band returns to us dressed in classic Western cowboy hats and stylish leather outfits, but the Goth is always strong with these Finnish lords of the night, and Lead Singer Lord Crobath manages to hit just the right tone of voice as a deep, crooning vampire lord.
Of course, a few years ago, we interviewed these Nordic Vampire Lords, and you can read up on them and their antics right here on our website: https://theinfected.nl/2020/10/30/interview-of-blood-and-wine/
The Haunted Youth – Broken (2022)
How about this sweet and dreamy track? It reminds me of M83, another band that plays into teenage high school-like nostalgia.
The Haunted Youth is the band of 29-year-old Joachim Liebens from Belgium.
I didn’t know this because the music has an international allure somehow. His songs are mainly about the struggle of life but coated in dreamy guitars and synths with plenty of reverb.
Joachim has struggled with depression and started making music.
Like Robert Smith, he uses these struggles and thoughts to make beautiful, emotional music.
We are going to see them live in December in Paradiso, Amsterdam!
Temple of Bloom – You Man (Local Suicide & Wiener Planquadrat Remix) (2023)
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This track sucked me in from its first pulsating dark synth sounds. There are some dance and house sounds in there, with some of the breaks filled in with beats, but ultimately it has just the right atmosphere. I like how the track builds, the repeating, echoing vocals, and the second synth theme, which only appears halfway through the track.
You Man are a couple of Belgian guys from Wallonia who have been friends and engaged with music together for over 20 years. They say that they aim to embrace everything from dark disco to EBM to ultimately make mesmerizing experiences primed to both open and expand the minds of their listeners.
The version we just played is a remix from the Temple of Bloom EP – the original version should be available on your streaming service of choice. It is more stripped down but also worth a listen.
Kowalski – Stahlmaschinen (1982)
Kowalski was one of the German bands from the Neue Deutsche Welle. They released some singles and only one album in 1982.
It’s hard to describe their sound, let alone how they make the tracks. The track I picked is a more accessible one. It is pure raw power from start to finish.
Their lyrics were originally in German, but they also released the album in English. They toured a lot in Europe and thought English would catch on better.
However, their music against the current zeitgeist of the Neue Deutsche Welle did not bring the desired success, so the record company (Virgin Records) withdrew, and the band called it a day.
To my surprise, I see on their website that they do live gigs again after almost 30 years.
Die Fehlfarben – Paul ist tot (1980)
Infected Classic
Die Fehlfarben started as a punk band in the 70s and has had many members and has played many musical styles over the years, from ska, punk, and post-punk via welle to their current repertoire of alternative German rock. Although they have been on hiatus from ’85 to ’91, they have been active ever since.
Paul ist tot is a track from the 1980 album Monarchie und Alltag, one of the key releases of the Neue Deutsche Welle, the German equivalent of New Wave, but much colder and more mechanical in sound. This very album bridges the Post-Punk and Welle genres.
Yet when it came out on the EMI, the album was not successful, despite the major music label support. Music Critics were not positive; as a former punk band, the Punk scene was hostile, feeling that the band had sold out by taking EMI’s money and Die Welle had not caught on yet. Lead singer Peter Hein had the difficult choice to either leave a good job at Xerox to tour with the band to support an album going nowhere or leave the band and keep his career. He kept his job and left Die Fehlfarben just before the tour started. This caused the band to cancel several shows, which didn’t help album sales either. Still, over the following years, Die Neue Deutsche Welle got more and more interest, and the album has grown in stature over time. It was ahead of its time and is well worth a play, even today.
Them Are Us Too – Grey Water (2018)
I love the band name. This a total reference to the movie Night of The Living Dead, when Barbara says: We’re them, and they are us when looking at a group of zombies.
Them Are Us Too was an American dream pop and darkwave band consisting of Kennedy Ashlyn and Cash Askew. It was formed in 2009 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The two women created songs about tragedy and loves-lost that drew listeners to their nostalgic and innocent sound.
Kennedy Ashlyn’s vocals have been compared to Kate Bush and Elizabeth Fraser, with a pitch-perfect octave range singing songs gracefully between optimistic joy and melancholia.
Tragically, Cash Askew passed away in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland in December of 2016 that took 33 lives in total.
That warehouse was an artist collective where people lived and created art.
In 2018, Ashlyn released the last album, Amends, featuring songs the duo planned to record together. Grey Water is also on there.
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