Are the dark seeds there
In the blood we share
Tell me... are you lonely?

Tones on Tails, Bauhaus spin-off band consisting of the roadie for Bauhaus and Daniel Ash, guitarist for Bauhaus. Each song is distinctly Tones on Tail sounding. Each song is distinctly different from the others.

This is one of their darker tunes, somewhat of a nightmarish dreamscape. While not as catchy as some of their more disco songs, I wish I had written it.

And the air was alive
With piercing sound and burning skies
The horror did me good
The magic was on my side

And hot and cold ideas
Were running onto your eyes
Your sinking grey eyes
She shook his head like so much meat
The horror did me good

I’m still riding a bit on that post-punk wave from yesterday, which always and inevitably leads to bands like Joy Division, The Cure, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Cult, and Sisters of Mercy. Here is a tune off GLJs first album, which I loved for all of it’s rawness. The second album had some of the same edge, but the third album felt overproduced. And the fourth album… well, the twins fracturing relationship was daylit completely and it was unlistenable to my ears.

Slower melody, but one of the more poignant songs on the album. Am I wrong to say that I belong to you? is the phrase that sticks out and reminds me of that gut-wrenched awkward teen I was back then.

To touch, rejoice
This is ecstasy
Hold me again
I won't delude you
Am I wrong?
Am I wrong?
To say that
I belong to you
To you?

This is a funeral for the broken down
Loneliness
This is a funeral for us all
This is emptiness

This is emptiness, emptiness
This is emptiness

This is the funeral

Chris Kourakos had me reminiscing about my favorite era of music after posting this on his Twitter account this morning. Xmal are one of those bands that didn’t get nearly as much recognition outside of certain circles as they deserved, probably due to their insistence on singing in German.

Feeling a bit Stuffie today.

My favorite moment from a show in Seattle was after the first couple of songs and Miles peering out over the audience, hand shielding his eyes from the glare of the stage lights, and declaring, “This has got to be the ugliest fucking audience we’ve ever played in front of.”

Multiple middle fingers shot up. Half of those middle fingers were attached to seething hatred for the insult. The other half of the flock wore smiles. In a sentence, you could tell who was there for the band and who was there to say they had seen the band.

Also: kicking myself in the ass for not buying a “Construction for the Modern Idiot” tour shirt, which simply had a bold, typewriter font rendition of the word “idiot” on the front. There are many times wearing that short would have saved me the effort of talking to certain types of people (hint: and that would be because they thought I was declaring myself an idiot and not bothered with me).

This is one of my fave deep-cuts that shows what magnificent songwriting bastards those lads were back in the late 80s. Catchy and earworms you to death.

Ooh she said
you she said
me I said
yes she said
Don't mess me around

What’s New Year’s Day without a bit of U2? Most definitely not New Year’s Day, let me tell you…

Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspapers says, says
Say it's true, it's true
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one

©2021 Michael Raven

I have absolutely no clue why The Merry Thoughts popped up in my head during my morning shower routine. They are basically a band with a very limited following (e.g., people like me who stumbled onto them in the 90s when someone at Tower Records in Seattle filed their first CD under Sisters of Mercy), and I would be honestly surprised if even moderately hardcore goths had ever heard of them.

I picked up said CD because I thought the record store employee was informing me this was one of Eldritch’s offshoot bands where he was trying to stick it to Warner Music in order to get out of his contract. As far as I can tell, it is more homage and has almost nothing to do with Andy aside from a mimicked sound. In some respects, these guys do the Sisters of Mercy sound (circa Floodland and the aural middle finger known as The Sisterhood) a little better than their muse.

Anyway, I was in the shower this morning and Pale Empress filled my head and now it has been foisted onto you.

Would you be my pale empress
My haven in the gale
Would you be my shelter strong
So, would you be my empress
So strong and yet so pale
Would you sing our, sing our
Sing our empire song

In the place, through which we wander
Reason turned around
And every fool
Will see his madness crowned
And every truth is swallowed up
By gently giving ground

What you have lost can never be found
Words are just dust in deserts of sound
Everything is lost and your choice lies broken
And the truth is drowned

©2021 Michael Raven

The Paltry Sum got me thinking on Fairytale of New York again. I’m surprised it didn’t creep into my consciousness around Thanksgiving, as it is usually wont to do — but my mind has admittedly been on other things (like runes, shamanic journeying, kittens, and other sundry things). They posted a Christmas song list, most of which are worth listening to — even if you hate Christmas music like I do — just to avoid getting “WHAMMED“.

I’ve posted the damned thing before but, the song is fucking poetry (besides being a kick-ass fun song to perform and have a sing-along with), so it’s getting posted again. If you’re the sensitive type, don’t listen. Someone looking to be offended will be able to find something to be offended by, but they are the same people who would be offended by Venus in Furs, so… Just don’t.

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you