Batcave Redemption Radio - Old-School Dark Alternative Internet Radio

[GhostontheNet]

Headnoise, Sanctum and the Psalters would be nice to see again. I'm not familiar with Grave Robber, mewithoutyou, or The Last Hope. I'll have to check them out, but I think my Cornerstone days are on hold for awhile.

Dad's are great at getting us into music, aren't they? If it was up to my mom I'd probably be listening to Conway Twitty and the Beach Boys

I notice Leper didn't make your list of bands to see again. A pity, if you ask me. At any rate, a brief synopsis of the bands you're unfamiliar with would be as follows.

Grave Robber - A recent Deathrock/Horror Punk band filled with the obligatory horror b-movie lyrical imagery and a certain Tales of the Crypt style moralistic streak.

mewithoutYou - A creative young Post-Punk/Alternative Rock band known for innovative guitar work and powerful lyrical poetry. Their lyrics usually focus on themes like the tribulations and joys of Christian mysticism, musings on the true nature of God, cleverly interwoven Biblical imagery to provide narrative context, and down-to-earth agrarian symbolism.

The Last Hope - An Old-school Punk band reminiscent of The Clash.

While its little use to stereotype on such matters (especially when most goths are ladies), this rule holds true at my house at least. In the case of my own mother, I would currently be listening to the perverted Rockabilly that is modern Country.

[Adrift]

I notice Leper didn't make your list of bands to see again. A pity, if you ask me. At any rate, a brief synopsis of the bands you're unfamiliar with would be as follows.

Grave Robber - A recent Deathrock/Horror Punk band filled with the obligatory horror b-movie lyrical imagery and a certain Tales of the Crypt style moralistic streak.

mewithoutYou - A creative young Post-Punk/Alternative Rock band known for innovative guitar work and powerful lyrical poetry. Their lyrics usually focus on themes like the tribulations and joys of Christian mysticism, musings on the true nature of God, cleverly interwoven Biblical imagery to provide narrative context, and down-to-earth agrarian symbolism.

The Last Hope - An Old-school Punk band reminiscent of The Clash.

While its little use to stereotype on such matters (especially when most goths are ladies), this rule holds true at my house at least. In the case of my own mother, I would currently be listening to the perverted Rockabilly that is modern Country.

Yeah, I don't really care for Leper. Not a fan of their heavier moments or their take on style so much and I find Ballydowse rips off the Pogues sound a lot better than Flatfoot does
The Last Hope sounds like my cup of tea. Grave Robbers might be a bit too tongue in cheek for me... I get nervous when I hear the term "Horror Punk" thrown around . Instead of thinking 45Grave, I often think bad Misfits imitation. I do think I saw that Voice of the Mysterons/Blaster the Rocketman was playing Cornerstone. That's another band I'd love to see again. I'll give mewithoutYou a chance too.. Thanks for giving me the low-down.

[Johnny MacManky]

No Flux of Pink Indians?

btw, I saw U2 Touring War back in '83

[Adrift]

No Flux of Pink Indians?

I didn't see The Mob, Rudimentary Peni, Crass, or Zounds on that list either. Sometimes you can get a bit of the anarcho-peace punk stuff over at Radio Ghoul School if you wait long enough http://www.radioghoulschool.com/

[GhostontheNet]

Yeah, I don't really care for Leper. Not a fan of their heavier moments or their take on style so much

Its interesting you would see it that way. For me, because I grew up with asperger's syndrome, the whole music, message, and aesthetic of Leper made perfect sense. In many respects, having asperger's syndrome is like living as a social leper, and the message of Christ as the healer of the lepers really spoke to me. When you have asperger's syndrome, you have this acute tactile sensitivity that makes being hugged by a loved one feel deeply akin to being pushed over and dragged along the concrete. Rather than bringing comfort, it makes you feel cold and alien and lonely and empty (although like everyone, you desire human touch and the lack of it also makes you feel cold and lonely). Similarly, you have serious difficulty with nonverbal communication, so you are very effective at drifting to the bottom of any social hierarchy and becoming marginalized or even victimized by it. After so many occurances of this, you find yourself torn between conflicting desires to search for meaningful companionship and to remain secure in solitude and isolation, although both bring you great pain and loneliness. In your darker moments, you feel so lonely and isolated that you think you are beyond all hope or redemption. Leper's music has been an immense help to me to resist the impulse to simply abandon humanity. In Leper's heavier moments, they tend to shift over to atonal rhythms and melodies, which have signified a feeling of loss of control from the time of their invention by German Expressionist composer Arnold Schoenburg. Whenever I hear the heavier parts of Leper, I always think of the lonely grinding feeling I get whenever people try to reach out and touch me, and it helps me to dig deep and cope with personal pain. Leper's music seems to allude to a tragic personal history of sexual abuse, so I don't think it unlikely that this is intended. I also think the veiled leper image is super-cool, and seems to be a direct reference to the spookier parts of the 1925 silent movie classic Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

The Last Hope sounds like my cup of tea. Grave Robbers might be a bit too tongue in cheek for me... I get nervous when I hear the term "Horror Punk" thrown around . Instead of thinking 45Grave, I often think bad Misfits imitation. I do think I saw that Voice of the Mysterons/Blaster the Rocketman was playing Cornerstone. That's another band I'd love to see again. I'll give mewithoutYou a chance too.. Thanks for giving me the low-down.

The Voice of the Mysterons and Blaster the Rocketman, eh? I now know what it would sound like if the Dead Kennedys were abducted and replaced by space aliens in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Admittedly, too many Horror Punk bands are bad Misfits clones who don't know the difference between referencing schlock horror movies and making schlock horror music. However, at the basic level, Horror Punk is simply Punk music that references the horror cinema of the atomic age. Such music would include the dark humor and cheesy fun of bands like Zombina & The Skeletones or Blaster the Rocketman. At any rate, I'm glad I could be of assistance. Mwahahaha.

[GhostontheNet]

No Flux of Pink Indians?

btw, I saw U2 Touring War back in '83

Ah, so you were there when U2 first made it big with their album War? Like me, Bono of U2 has always been a fan of Joy Division, and their earliest work was Post-Punk music heavily influenced by them. But where Ian Curtis of Joy Division never resolved the existential crisis that eventually drove him to suicide, starry-eyed Bono of U2 resolved that crisis and took over where Curtis left off to mount a holy crusade against war and poverty. One of my deepest concerns in this age of dehumanization is that we are forgetting what it means to be human and are severing civilization from civility and humanity. In my darkest fears, I often imagine this will lead to a catastrophic conflict of biological weaponry that will make The Masque of the Red Death look like a mild case of the flu seaon, and will lead to a new dark age. In broadcasting my station, I consider one of my central tasks to be reconnecting people with the elegant cultural forms and traditions that have been drowned out by the torrent of distorted mass media messages, but which give society and civilization its human element.

With such concerns in mind, I am leary of broadcasting musicians like the Anarcho-Punks that preach that we must destroy civilization because of its wicked and oppressive element. The scriptures warn us that human evil is not caused by oppressive society, but oppressive society by human evil, and that government is a necessary defense instituted by God to protect humanity from its own great evil. The fact that governments frequently degenerate into a case where "The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum" only serves to graphically illustrate how deeply ill we are. Like Lucy in Werner Herzog's Nosferatu The Vampyre, we may find ourselves asking "Do you think it is possible, that we are all insane, and one day we will all awake to find ourselves in straitjackets?" In contrast to the niavely optimistic projections of human goodness by anarchists, the entire gothic philosophy and aesthetic is based on the realization of the reality of what Kant called radical evil. Instead of disseminating anarchism, I would much rather go about broadcasting more nuanced music that contrasts the elegance and opression of civilization while pointing the way to a better world.

[Adrift]

Its interesting you would see it that way. For me, because I grew up with asperger's syndrome, the whole music, message, and aesthetic of Leper made perfect sense. In many respects, having asperger's syndrome is like living as a social leper, and the message of Christ as the healer of the lepers really spoke to me. When you have asperger's syndrome, you have this acute tactile sensitivity that makes being hugged by a loved one feel deeply akin to being pushed over and dragged along the concrete. Rather than bringing comfort, it makes you feel cold and alien and lonely and empty (although like everyone, you desire human touch and the lack of it also makes you feel cold and lonely). Similarly, you have serious difficulty with nonverbal communication, so you are very effective at drifting to the bottom of any social hierarchy and becoming marginalized or even victimized by it. After so many occurances of this, you find yourself torn between conflicting desires to search for meaningful companionship and to remain secure in solitude and isolation, although both bring you great pain and loneliness. In your darker moments, you feel so lonely and isolated that you think you are beyond all hope or redemption. Leper's music has been an immense help to me to resist the impulse to simply abandon humanity. In Leper's heavier moments, they tend to shift over to atonal rhythms and melodies, which have signified a feeling of loss of control from the time of their invention by German Expressionist composer Arnold Schoenburg. Whenever I hear the heavier parts of Leper, I always think of the lonely grinding feeling I get whenever people try to reach out and touch me, and it helps me to dig deep and cope with personal pain. Leper's music seems to allude to a tragic personal history of sexual abuse, so I don't think it unlikely that this is intended. I also think the veiled leper image is super-cool, and seems to be a direct reference to the spookier parts of the 1925 silent movie classic Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

Well I'm glad Leper works for you. By style, I wasn't referring so much to their lyrical content, but their style of dress and their presentation on stage (i've seen them play a few times). For me, it just comes off like they're trying too hard... Too much mall goth, not enough creativity to pull off what they're going for. Course I haven't seen them for almost 2 years so things could have changed since then.
And as far as the heavy stuff, I'm just not a fan of metal... haven't been since the late 80s, and with a few slight exceptions, I don't feel that Goth and metal really work together that well. Nothing personal against the band .

However, at the basic level, Horror Punk is simply Punk music that references the horror cinema of the atomic age. Such music would include the dark humor and cheesy fun of bands like Zombina & The Skeletones or Blaster the Rocketman.

I'm not a fan of Zombina either Do you hate me yet?

[Adrift]

With such concerns in mind, I am leary of broadcasting musicians like the Anarcho-Punks that preach that we must destroy civilization because of its wicked and oppressive element.

Meh, I don't really care for the lyrics either, I just like the music.

So you like Herzog's Nosferatu eh? You've seen much of his other work?

[GhostontheNet]

I just added the following album to the station:

Bauhaus - Go Away White,

[Adrift]

I just added the following album to the station:

Bauhaus - Go Away White,

What did you think of the album? I really liked it.

[GhostontheNet]

What did you think of the album? I really liked it.

Me too. It was interesting to see how Peter Murphy's conversion to Islam and his move to Turkey influenced the new Bauhaus album. It was like he returned to the Western world to witness all the signs of fin de siècle (turn of the century) decadence around him and within him, so he decided it was a good time to latch onto the roots-rock revival aspect of Gothic rock to resurrect the older forms while summoning them to a deconstructive day of judgment for their decadent element. I hear Peter Murphy was able to get his hands on Jimmy Hendrix's wah-wah pedal for Go Away White, although what Hendrix would make of Murphy is another matter entirely.

[GhostontheNet]

I just added the following albums to the station:

Fauxliage - Fauxliage
The Synthetic Dream Foundation - Behind the Gates of Horn and Ivory

[gharfish]

Me too. It was interesting to see how Peter Murphy's conversion to Islam and his move to Turkey influenced the new Bauhaus album. It was like he returned to the Western world to witness all the signs of fin de siècle (turn of the century) decadence around him and within him, so he decided it was a good time to latch onto the roots-rock revival aspect of Gothic rock to resurrect the older forms while summoning them to a deconstructive day of judgment for their decadent element. I hear Peter Murphy was able to get his hands on Jimmy Hendrix's wah-wah pedal for Go Away White, although what Hendrix would make of Murphy is another matter entirely.

After Cascade, Murphy ended his solo career until a new release several years later ("Dust," right ?). Anyway I trashed whatever it was, because the Turkish sound ruined that album. And I gave up on him, satisfied with the five (what else could a fan do ?). I hadn't heard until recently that Bauhaus had formed again and put out a new record. Murphy hasn't brought that sound to it, I hope. I remember Dust, or whatever it's title; it being just awful.

[GhostontheNet]

After Cascade, Murphy ended his solo career until a new release several years later ("Dust," right ?). Anyway I trashed whatever it was, because the Turkish sound ruined that album. And I gave up on him, satisfied with the five (what else could a fan do ?). I hadn't heard until recently that Bauhaus had formed again and put out a new record. Murphy hasn't brought that sound to it, I hope. I remember Dust, or whatever it's title; it being just awful.

It sounds to me more like you had your expectations dashed than Peter Murphy released a poor record. From what I can tell from samples, Dust ingeneously fuses Turkish strings and minimalist atmospherics for a charmingly mystical experience. It sounds like the kind of thing you could seemlessly mix with bands like Azam Ali and Dead Can Dance. At any rate, the only real Turkish influence on the new Bauhaus album, Go Away White, is the kind of common experience of one who lives away from the Western world for an extended period of time, but returns to the West only to find themselves asking: "What in the world is going on here?" I would describe the actual sound of Go Away White as 'Playfully self-deconstructing roots-rock revival post-punk'. Its almost like the album is a miniature rock history encompassing (in order of origin) Jazz, Soul, Rock & Roll, Surf Rock, Classic Rock, the British invasion, Psychadelic Rock, Glam Rock, Punk, Post-Punk, and Gothic Rock.

[gharfish]

I am a Bauhaus fan. I was concerned that Murphy might have pressured the others to incorporate a Turkish sound into a musical style that has no use for it. I guess I didn't like the style of "Dust" because it wasn't Murphy's and because I don't like Turkish music--any middle eastern music that I've heard, for that matter. I think Cascade really was the (good) end for him--afterwards the dashing of a superb solo career. In Bauhaus again, I'm sure he is shining once more. I feel like Deep is a masterpiece.