research into Ethereal Goth and Dreampop (and other stuff for fans of early 4AD and Projekt)

in other goth news, Dark Entries is reissuing Clan of Xymox's Peel Sessions EP on vinyl and digital in a few days:

https://xymox.bandcamp.com/album/peel-sessions

Contains an amazing version of Seventh Time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN-__3hnUys

I guess having a new singer prompted a different band name?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouq-r8hXr-E
https://trancetothemoon.bandcamp.com/releases

This thread is a great resource!

Cocteau heads have to hunt down Heavenly Bodies with Carolyn Seaman from This Mortal Coil...pretty essential for completists, plus it ROCKS.

Someone stole my copy years ago, so I swiped it back via soulseek.

I prefer the folk / rhythmic aspect of this music and don't much care for classical influences and am looking for suggestions on Irish / Scottish folk that uses electronics or has a more ethereal sound. Also looking for ethereal bands who use funky folk rhythms like bel canto does.

But I'm gonna queue some of this today because I have a headache.

CaroLINE Seaman, I mean. The one who sings on the 2nd TMC album.

Ha, I think I have that around...

Yeah the heavenly bodies album is worth seeking out

And I'll say another time that Lisa Hammer's Dakini is amazing

Looks like it's streaming on Apple Music at least

https://music.apple.com/us/album/celestial/1571240546

Are those sound effects, or is this Apple Music version a somewhat noisy vinyl rip (listening to the opening of "An Obsession" at the moment)?

Just want to say how much this thread has helped. Really enjoying Trance to the Sun right now...love the heavy murk guitars...reminds me of when I first head-banged to Garlands or Head Over Heels all those years ago.

They're amazing, the run of releases from Venomous Eve to Atrocious Virgin is incredible. I often think Delirious might be my favorite because they way it escalates is brilliant.

I still haven't given their last album the proper listens.

Breathless have a new album in july. I still only have Chasing Promises

There's lots to check out!

Been reading Facing The Other Way and I'm very pleased that Nooten and Brook's Sleeps With Fishes gets its due. Looking at the RYM reviews I wonder how many people discovered it through the book. A real shame Nooten and Brook didn't keep it going but I still have a bunch of Nooten era Xymox and all his solo albums to get. And of course there's so much Brook.

I wish 4AD had been better with reissues in the last 20 years, surely there's enough incentive to reissue more of its B and C-list bands?

Well, last 20 years as you said, ie the collapse of the industry and people trying to feel their way forward. The incentives are low.

At least everything I've looked for is available on digital (though I get CDs every time I can) but I wish other labels who still reissue all kinds of obscurities could get a hold of the rights or 4AD do those cheapie box sets (5 Classic/Original Albums).

There's been compilations of Lush, Colourbox, Rema-Rema and In Camera and some of them were limited editions. 4AD kept hold of everything, so I guess it's very unlikely the rights are going to shift companies.

Fairly sure more Lush reissues could have been successful

the pale saints reissue was well regarded, but they didn't repeat it with In Ribbons (30th anniversary was in march)

I'd be particularly grateful for reissues of Pale Saints, Xymox, Xmal Deutschland, Dif Juz and Wolfgang Press

nothing to add, just a thanks to RAG. dif juz mention has me revisiting for the first time in about 2 decades. i only ever heard extractions, so now that soundpool is on streaming i'm even hearing stuff for the first time ever. great way to spend a saturday afternoon.

I'm surprised I haven't talked about Scarlet Slipping's Fire In The Mist yet, it was a favorite at the start of covid. Dawn Wagner was great in Trance To The Sun (she was only on Delirious) and Scarlet Slipping was her own thing. Of course the common complaint in this thread is that the music often doesn't have a unique enough identity and I don't think that's a problem with Scarlet Slipping. Some tracks make me think of dark humid jungles and like Delirious, it's kind of dancey. I strongly recommend this album, she seems to have flown completely under the radar and has 5 albums, only 2 are easy enough to find.

Just downloaded the next album Hound and sounds good so far.

Actually she done some other Trance To The Sun stuff but Delirious was the only full album.

the pale saints reissue was well regarded, but they didn't repeat it with In Ribbons (30th anniversary was in march)

I was just talking with my friend about this album last Thursday on our way to the Spoon show in Hollywood. I need to dig out that album again as it has been a minute. 30 years has flown by...

Scarlet Slipping's bio mentions a celtic influence, I don't really hear it

in ribbons is one of my favorite albums of the 90s, you really should dig it out, bee!

I do need to, whenever I'm in the mood for Pale Saints I seem to reach for The Comforts of Madness but next time I will play In Ribbons as you and my friend suggested.

I also went over my ticket stubs recently and saw that I did get to see them live in Los Angeles. Truthfully, I can't remember that show as I was going to shows left and right in the early 90s.

I saw them in LA in 1992 the night they opened for Ride; Slowdive opened the other night, went to both shows. Missed the PS headlining at the Roxy IIRC, and the openers were Red House Painters, who had just been signed. (Maybe I'm not sad I missed that after where Kozelek ended up.)

The 4AD Xymox albums got nice CD reissues in the 90s and the deluxe edition of Twist of Shadows from a few years ago is also very good... all you need really. Subsequent Pleasures and the Peel Sessions are also readily available digitally. Wouldn't mind a deluxe reissue of Phoenix, it had a handful of solid b-sides (Twisted, Dreamhouse, Down to Earth).

Just came across the footnote that Nooten, Brook and Heidi Berry were going to make something together but practical reasons prevented it, heartbreaking.

Been looking through so many 90s band discographies and its so daunting thinking about getting the bsides and loose ends if I feel compelled to, I had totally forgotten about the ridiculous trend of copious bullshit remixes.
I thought that bsides/rarities collections were mostly a thing of the past (I miss them) but Belly released one last year.

Although I'm a CDs guy I think getting bsides on digital will keep me saner and my collection prettier

belly, boo Radleys, lush all remind me of that period of British chart history when 3 formats were eligible for chart sales so they'd always release 2cd singles and a 7", all with different b sides. and for the first week, in order to maximize entry position, they be sold cheaply. so for every a-side you'd effectively get 4 or 5 b-sides.

It was a real pain in the ass

Been thinking of arranging my discs alphabetically someday because boxing them by genre is getting impractical, but I recently opened my very broadly defined goth box and I got an amazing waft of Projekt smell. Sam Rosenthal has said he chooses paper that smells nice and I got a heady dose of that.

There is a definite quality there!

BTW, the new remaster of Area's Radio Caroline is pay-what-you-want right now: https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/radio-caroline-2023-remaster

Theyre my era and style pref, yet I don’t recall them, and now I am enjoying them. The vibe of Transmitter is so spot on for me today.

I didn't know of them either, but I was a moderate fan of The Moon Seven Times which was Lynn Canfield and Henry Frayne's post-Area band.

in champaign urbana no one can hear u scream.

jk, know nothing of it. zines rekkid stores cassettes and wordamouth. they all tried i spose ha

boy are the keys settings hit or miss on this, to my (tin) ears tho

Heavenly Bodies - Celestial is available now via mp3. I haven't found it through a streaming service, but I found the entire album (plus an EP!) on itunes. Featuring two guys formerly of Dead Can Dance and Caroline Seaman of This Mortal Coil. From 1988.

It's pretty good

I love Caroline Seaman's voice. So many "ethereal" vocalists fall short.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6cQbj8r3tI

I've never heard of Mors Syphilitica until now, but this song is sick and that promo pic is iconic

I've meant to get that album for a long time, I have the other two and the Requiem In White album and Lisa Hammer's amazing first solo album. She said there will be another solo album soon.

Listening to the last Trance To The Sun album and Blue Obscurities, I think Ashkelon Sain might be the most visionary person in all these bands. Trance To The Sun takes me places few other bands or artists do, it's like lush science fantasy. I hadn't paid attention for a while and he's in yet another band: Solara Obscura.

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/no-songs-tomorrow-darkwave-ethereal-rock-and-coldwave-1981-1990-4cd-box-set
surely a chunk of these tracks came after 1990, I don't have the time to check right now but I'm sure a bunch of this is from the 90s.

I'm a very reluctant listener of various artists compilations for a few reasons but hard to say no to all these unfamiliar names

I love the Soriah albums with Ashkelon Sain, they reward repeated and deep listening! The live show was pretty breathtaking as well.

I love Cherry Red but those comps are a real churn of the same stuff over and over.

There's definite bleedover but I know the compiler of that and Cherry Stars Collide, he's a good egg and is doing his best to shine a light on things that can tend to be walled off a bit.

I had another look at the tracklist and I haven't heard the majority of those bands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVRIBvrnzYE
I thought I had posted this before but finally listened to this, very interesting dive into the Burning Circle era, Mike's regrets about some of the remasters, why he made a one disc version of Burning Circle and why that was a bad idea

Yeah I was going to say, The Burning Circle has to be the full two hour thing. I'm glad he realized that!