Club Night

Memento Mori

Bedlam
Feb 25 2016
By Doktor John

New York, NY

Since sometime late last summer, promoter Ana Vice has been hosting a small group of DJs for a mid-week monthly Goth social and dance night at a uniquely eerily decorated bar, appropriately called Bedlam, in Manhattan’s Alphabet City. The night is called “Memento Mori” and it is held one Thursday a month. Bedlam, as is well known, was a notorious old school mental hospital, and this namesake venue lives up to both the medical and the mental reputation of the institution. Antique anatomy charts and gruesome anatomical models adorn the walls. Facsimilies of human bones are distributed at each of the sitting booths where ornamental cobwebs are strewn.
Among the DJs, Mike Stalagmike of Defcon has a modest, low-key and friendly aspect about him, but Mexican import Bela Lugosi Alex and stunningly androgynous Valefar Malefic go all the way with their looks, each manifesting monumental coiffures and morbidly beautiful male vampire appearance.
The music is decidedly of the darkwave/coldwave dance variety, but there was no place for the conventional classics. No Sisters of Mercy. No Cure or Depeche Mode. Nor were they missed, because these DJs dug deep into the realm of Goth, with selections from such rarely played artists as Xmal Deutschland, Black Ice and Virgin in Veil. A fair number of tracks were unidentifiable, but nonetheless as pleasurable and hypnotic as they were melancholy.
Doors opened at 10 pm and about 30 or so patrons were in attendance, most arriving between 11:30 and midnight. All were decked out in blackest of black finery, boots, veils and fishnets as well as high make-up and serene attitude. Not more than a handful of dancers were on the floor at a time. Most attendees stood at the bar and engaged in conversation where a surprisingly festive undercurrent pervaded the generally restrained gathering. A more beautifully attired and groomed crowd is rarely seen, even in the bowels of New York’s deepest, dark demimonde.

Feb 14, 2016
at Slake

New York, NY

A spectacular event – the last of its kind – was hosted by impresario and fangmaster Fr. Sebastiaan on Sunday, Valentine’s Day, at Slake (formerly Downtime at the Batcave) calling itself the 20th anniversary of the annual “Anti-Valentine’s Vampire Ball” – up to now a regular, recurring event.

Gatekeeper Victor Magnus, prolific writer on various dark subjects, and celebrity co-host greeted the 400 or so revelers who attended the occasion – newcomers as well as habitual, perennial attendees. Impresario Fr. Sebastiaan van Houten has been hosting Goth and vampire-themed events going back to 1997, at which time they were termed “Long Black Veil” nights, and originated at the famous Mother club in Manhattan’s Meat-Packing district. His skill at crafting wearable, vampire-like fangs under the auspices of Sabretooth, the association he founded, placed him at the pinnacle of the metropolitan vampire fan community that had been growing alongside New York’s dark music scene. When Mother closed in 2000, he moved his events, first to Club True, then to Rare, the Bank, Drom and most recently to Jekyll & Hyde. Presently he hosts too many events and club nights – in the U.S. and various cities in Europe – to catalogue for this report.

Fr.Sebastiaan and opera diva Ariel De Ment

Belly dancing, striptease and even lyric opera performances provided the entertainment interludes for the evening. Since there is a strict dress code (vampire, steampunk, fetish or all-black), and since many of the more imaginative and exhibitionistic guests far exceed the standard, there were, as always, two costume contests, one for women and one for men. The two winners were awarded tickets to the Vampire Ball in New Orleans this upcoming Halloween. Besides presiding, along with some of his inner circle at the costume judging contests, Fr. Sebastiaan took ample opportunity to address the crowd, warmly expressing appreciation for their attendance and support. He led the audience of devotees in the ritual howl, by which all paid homage to some departed members of the Sabretooth Clan.

These ladies performed in cages high above the dance floor

Music was provided throughout the three-story Slake. On the main, ground floor spinning was by DJs Aengel, V Christ and Xris Smack. Up on the third floor was the uncomfortably chilly Red Room where Sean Templar and Jeffo played a different selection of the classic Goth. Skinny Puppy, Joy Division, Depeche Mode and Bowie got ample airing in both dance areas, and alternated with U2, the Psychedelic Furs, Ministry and Dead Can Dance and more.
Fr. Sebastiaan announced that this would be the last ever Anti-Valentine’s Vampire Ball he would host in NYC, having made arrangements to move to San Francisco, where he intends to become involved in similar events. So all good things must eventually come to an end. This last entry in the twenty-year series provided a joyful grand finale for all who attended and participated.

Webster Hall

October 30, 2015

by Doktor John

New York, NY

Berlin-based electro-pop combo IAMX ended their North American tour, termed “Metanoia” after their new album of the same name, on Friday, the day before Halloween, on the big stage at the East Village’s Webster Hall, which was filled to capacity for the event.

Opening band, Mr. Kitty did a spectacular job of warming the crowd with an over-the-top level of energy and a voluminous, hook-laden wall of sound, while frontman Forrest Avery Carney gyrated frenetically on stage in an all-white outfit like a jittery male nurse in a lab coat and mini-shorts that revealed his lengthy, gazelle-like legs sheathed in white stockings. As satisfying as Mr. Kitty was, its effect was to charge up the crowd for an even higher level of enthusiasm for the headliner to come.

IAMX in the form of a quartet roared on stage on schedule at 8:30, opening with “I Come With Knives,” off “The Unified Field (2013), which starts low key then gradually develops into a crescendo. Vocalist Chris Corner was joined on stage by a drummer and two gorgeously and scantily clad keyboardist/guitarist females who also contributed backup vocals. For better or worse, the stage lighting was kept low and monochromatic in reds, blues and purples, in keeping with the dark nature of the music, but I sure would have liked a better look at the whole quartet, Corner, himself as well as the accompanists. The packed hall responded with appreciation and physical agitation that lasted the rest of the night.

Strongly cadenced “The Alternative,” title track off the album of the same name, continued to intensify the mood and was followed by “Happiness,” ironically named from the latest album, “Metanoia.” Also off that album, which Corner represents to be an expression of his release from mental anguish associated with recent depression and insomnia, were “No Maker Made Me,” “Oh Cruel Darkness Embrace Me” and “Aphrodisiac.”

At one point Chris Corner exchanged his kerchief-like hood for a wide-brimmed hat, but maintained an all-black wardrobe throughout the performance.

The other 12 songs (17 in all) were off the various albums that constitute IAMX’s broad repertoire. The syncopated rhythm of “Tear Garden” off the album “Kingdom of Welcome Addiction,” contrasted with slow paced “Bernadette” off “Volatile Times.” Club favorite “Spit It Out” had the effect of increasing the rhythmic pulsation of the spectators who were too tightly packed to break into actual dance.

“Your Joy Is My Low” ended the regular set, but this audience screamed for more, so after a momentary break, IAMX regrouped on stage for an encore consisting of three more songs which of necessity included “Kiss and Swallow,” then ending with the slow and melodious “I Am Terrified.”

From the opening act, Mr. Kitty, to the last beat and final note from IAMX, the packed-house audience remained totally rapt and kept in constant motion by the compelling and unique rhythms.

House of Wax: Anatomical, Pathological & Ethnographic Waxworks

This up and coming Brooklyn institution has hit the jackpot with its latest exhibit, titled “House of Wax” for which a well-attended opening night party was held on a late October Friday night at their 3rd Avenue establishment in the borough’s Park Slope section. Custom craftsman and bone collector Ryan Matthew Cohn served as curator of the exhibition which featured a collection of wax figures which he was fortunate enough to obtain from a long-defunct German “panopticum,” actually a 19th century museum of sorts. He spoke at length about the provenance and historical significance of his acquisition. He led the crowd of attendees in a champagne toast to kick things off. VIPs were also treated to cocktails provided courtesy of Hendricks Gin.

Ryan Matthew Cohn

In the 19th century and early 20th century, before the advent of cinema and related media, entertainment-seekers and those in pursuit of knowledge outside their limited scope used to pay to attend waxwork venues where they could view highly realistic effigies representing everything about which they harbored morbid curiosity disguised as academic interest. This particular selection represents the assemblage from “Castan’s Panopticum” which was in business in Berlin from 1869 – 1922 and contains life-sized, anatomical abnormalities (with an emphasis on genitalia and private parts), exaggerated caricature busts of human ethnic examples, the death masks of famous historical figures (Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm I, Mary Queen of Scots, et al.), a few versions of the pregnant uterus with various obstetrical predicaments, as well as internal and external disease processes and more. Think Madame Tussaud’s crossed with the Mutter Museum.

Two “Anatomical Venuses” in foreground, Ryan Matthew Cohn in background, left

Foremost, and occupying the center of the exhibition room are a couple of examples of what is termed “Anatomical Venus” — beautifully idealized, complete human female figures with their innards revealed, all lovingly rendered in wax sculpture. Professor Rebecca Messberger informed the listeners about the place of women, not just as the subjects of anatomical wax sculpture, but she also referred to the 18th century Italian sculptor, Anna Morandi, known as the “Lady Anatomist” who was a supreme artist in this medium.

Professor Rebecca Messbarger

This exhibit represent the fifth such setup at this fledgling Morbid Anatomy Museum since its opening last June, each of which has been more elaborate, more organized and more fascinating than the one before it. By presenting “House of Wax,” the Museum has captured the very essence of what the institution is all about, its “core” mission, which from this perspective appears to be education, entertainment and bemusement of an audience of gutsy, curious and unconventional museum-goers.

Metanoia

Nothing is quite as effective —not love, not drugs —as emotional or mental breakdown to inspire artistic expression. It is particularly fortuitous when that kind of affliction befalls a really talented artist like Chris Corner, the composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and video artist fronting the synthpop group IAMX. His sixth album, titled “Metanoia,” meaning a profound, spiritual, transformation, reportedly represents his recovery from depression and insomnia. Indeed, the fervor and creative vigor of this eleven-track opus bespeaks just such a wrenching transformation.

Fans of IAMX need not fear, however, that Chris Corner has changed his style of vocal clarity as well as ferocity. On the contrary more than any prior work, this album captures the inimitable power and frank beauty of his androgynous, wide-ranging and confrontational singing, whether fashioning delicious hooks, operatic flourishes or delicate autobiographical narratives.

All of this is incorporated in the most mesmerizing, irresistible dance grooves and complex synthetic rhythms. Dance clubs will treasure this repertoire, whether playing galloping, unstoppable juggernauts like “No Maker Made Me,” or the plodding, slow-paced “Hello Melancholia.” Noteworthy are the bluesy, yet danceable eighth track, “Cruel Darkness Embrace Me” and the wild, wanton and relentless “Aphrodisiac.”

Every track is written in a minor key, which confirms the emotional depression that inspired the entire opus. Some tracks feature a mournful female chorus, others cadenced scraping industrial noises. Did I mention that this dark, really dark —even deliciously dark music?

At least ten tracks feature memorable, seductive melodies and compelling tempos. It lends itself to exceptional listening or dancing pleasure. Gloomy as the entire album seems, if it purports to represent actual recovery, I don’t want to know what that depression was like.

NOIR
Arkham at Don Pedro’s

September 26, 2015
By Doktor John
Brooklyn, NY

Synthpop trio Noir made a late night appearance at the Brooklyn dive bar Don Pedro’s the last Saturday of September. Don Pedro’s is a suitable venue: long and narrow, with a bar in the entry area and a performance space occupying the back half, featuring a small, raised stage. Bare brick walls, one un-lockable toilet and another “out-of-order,” give it just the kind of broken-utilitarian atmosphere that suits the punk/Gothrock experience. Before, during and after the live music performance, a movie screen served as the backdrop to the stage. A continuous video loop was projected on the back wall of the stage and ran a grainy, black-&-white, silent flick from 1922 showing medieval peasants and sexually depraved monks engaged in witch-hunting, accompanied by subtitles in English and Danish. All the stuff that sets the proper mood.

Such was the milieu for Noir, fronted by vocalist Athan Maroulis, formerly of Spahn Ranch and Black Tape for a Blue Girl. He was accompanied by two keyboardists/back-up vocalists, Demetra Songs and Kai Irina Hahn, the latter a noted singer, song writer and performance artist in her own right, whose project, The Sedona Effect has taken NYC underground scene by storm of late.

Noir’s set consisted of nine songs, six of which were drawn from Noir’s 2013 album “Darkly Near.” The opening number, “The Bells” captures Noir’s style of catchy hooks and undulating melodies, sung over driving electronic rhythms. The next song, “My Dear” delved into even more serpentine, atonal progressions, rendered — like the entire set — hypnotic by the galloping, cadenced rhythms provided by the two synthesizers. The third piece provided an opportunity to introduce a decidedly industrial mood with the resurrection of the Spahn Ranch anthem “Breath and Taxes.” The crowd of thirty to fifty spectators responded with pleasure and recognition to this bit of musical nastiness.

The next several pieces “Time Phase,” “A Forest” and “When the Rains Came” were drawn from “Darkly Near,” and each again highlighted Maroulis’ unusual and undulant, sometimes discordantly melodious vocals. Before closing, there was a return to Spahn Ranch’s industrial-strength repertoire with “Vortex” and the concluding number, “Heretic’s Fork.”

The combination of originality in composition, vocal expertise and mastery of electronic musicianship held the crowd in thrall, and made it well worth it for us to have traveled out into the land of scarce parking spaces, the Brooklyn demimonde, for this highly enjoyable late night entertainment.

Castle Party 2015

July 16 – 19, 2015
By Doktor John
Bolkow, Poland

This year, the annual Castle Party in Bolkow, Poland, the 22nd annual edition of the event—announced itself be a “Dark, Independent” music festival. This Eastern-Central European gala, takes place in a small town in the region of Lower Silesia, an area adjacent to the Czech republic on the country’s south-western rim, previously German until the gerrymandering that followed the Second World War and now solidly Polish. Guests come from all over Poland. There are also Czechs, Germans, Russians, Ukrainians and even Brits, but we didn’t spot any other Americans.
The ruins of a huge castle dating back to the 13th century sit atop a steep precipice and, along with a large, flat, gently sloping field where the audience crowds in front of the main stage, serves as the seat of the festival. The upper, outdoor levels of the castle house clothing and accessory vendors, plus food and drink stands. A few spectators climb up to the upper battlements where they can view the stage and the field from on high.
Down in the town itself, which is reached by descending a cobblestone-paved ramp and some city streets, there is a converted and no longer used former Evangelical church that serves as the other live music venue, hosting the second stage where each day features a different, specific theme — Gothic the first day, metal the second, industrial the third and, finally, electro on the last. It was here that the musical experience was most concentrated, with fewer distractions than up at the castle. Food and drink vendors served from tents and motor vans. Ample, sanitary portable toilet facilities were everywhere and well maintained.

With six or seven musical acts each of four nights at the church, and with at least that many on the big outdoor stage at the castle, it is impossible to take it all in, let alone review and/or report on all. Instead what follows are some noteworthy highlights.

Thus, the first night, Thursday, we heard a variety of mournful, minor-key melodies, mostly female vocalists, often accompanied by sexily clad stage performers, holding lit candelabras during their sets. One band, titled 1984, totally out of place at a Gothic-themed show, rocked the church with old school style punk and rap-like repetitive mantras (in Polish) ranting about angst, ennui and disillusionment. Skeptical Minds, a tight, hard rock group sounded like The Birthday Massacre, with a female lead vocalist. Again and succeeded in pulling a mosh-pit out of the otherwise sedate crowd the first night.
There are also a couple of clubs in town, namely the Sorento and the Hacienda where DJs spin darkwave, classic Goth and post-punk and where late night-into-morning dancing takes place. There’s also an encampment behind the Hacienda for travelers who choose outdoor lodgings during the festival.
The first day up at the castle was Friday where U.K. band AntiMatter performed in a dark, 90s-alternative style followed by Inkubus Sukkubus whose driving, relentless rhythms were interrupted for a shot at a cover of the Stones’ “Paint It Black.”

Friday at the church was “Metal Day.” We joined the devotees for a listen to Darzamat, a Polish dark metal band. To our astonishment, we found tiny Helena, a petite and friendly octogenarian in a light blue dress standing deep in the head-banger crowd, rocking to the heavy sounds and occasionally peeking over the shoulders of the guys in front of her to catch a peek at the band.
On Saturday we didn’t mind standing in a light drizzle up at the castle to catch the Norwegian ensemble Wardruna whose music is featured on the second season of TV series “Vikings.” Sounding somewhat like a primitive, Ice-Age version of Dead Can Dance or a somber version of Corvus Corax, Wardruna attempts to resurrect the medieval, runic sounds of ancient Scandinavia with ribcage-rattling, vibrating percussion and ominous, vocal duets.
They were followed by crowd-pleasers Paradise Lost, a classic heavy metal/ Goth-rock U.K. group that seemed to be the main attraction for this international audience.
Down at the church it was “Industrial Day,” and we stumbled upon one of the most extraordinary and memorable performances of the festival. Swedish project, Raison D’être projected grainy, sepia-toned video images of crumbling sacred architectural ruins while playing enigmatic, compelling industrial noise, sometimes but not consistently rhythmic, sometimes involving guitars and occasional chant. We found it to be the most artistic and emotionally moving experience of the festival!
The last night featured The Frozen Autumn from Italy singing gorgeous slightly discordant melodies in British-accented English accompanied by heavy, synthetic, galloping rhythms. Then came headliners, Austrian pseudo-militaristic Nachtmahr, wearing fascistic uniforms and singing denunciations of war to electro-industrial accompaniment. The sudden outbreak of a thunderstorm cut their set short as everyone fled the threat of lightening strikes at this mountaintop venue.
Castle Party Bolkow now enters its 23rd year and is, by all appearances, ever expanding. It is by no means a canonical Goth-rock event, but rather a gathering of folk from the Gothic life-style who enjoy a whole spectrum of “dark alternative” music, morbid preoccupations, macabre attire and radical, non-conformist personal style. It affords members of that subculture an excellent opportunity to meet, socialize and make or renew friendships with like-minded individuals. It is certainly one of the wonders of the modern world to observe this ghoulish-attired crowd infiltrate and take over a happily compliant and very hospitable rural town for four eventful days. Once having attended these festivities, it is inconceivable that one wouldn’t want to make this a recurring, annual trip.

photo by E. Palazzo

Live!
Disorder
QXT’s

June 12, 2015

By Doktor John
Newark NJ

Joy Division tribute band Disorder pulled a late night performance before an adoring crowd of about 100 guests this Friday night at a famous Goth/Industrial dance club in the heart of Newark. QXT’s looks to have once been a Spanish restaurant near the border of the ethnic-Iberian section of town termed “The Ironbound.” (Hint: Read “QXT” as a compression of “Quixote.”) At some point it transformed into NJ’s premier club for the new generation as well as veterans of the darkwave/goth/punk/industrial crowd, and heir to the legendary, long gone Pipeline.

Disorder represents the joint project of , vocalist and Ian Curtis-sound-alike, Mike Strollo and of drummer Chris Mele. They are joined by guitarists and a keyboardist. Meticulous and highly professional, they recreate the most popular works of the iconic and star-crossed U.K. band, Joy Division with astonishing musicianship and jaw-dropping authenticity.

Joy Division is credited by many authorities on the subject as having been one of the two essential, post-punk bands to have spawned the genre of Goth Rock, the other being Bauhaus. Characterized by sparse, baritonal vocals, gloomy lyrics and a melodious bass line, Joy Division, is distinguished from the punk style by their use of electronics and by their emphasis on mood and expression rather than anger and energy. These, among many other particulars, are what Disorder excels in emulating. While Joy Division’s recorded music is cold and dark, their live performances were typically loud and aggressive. Disorder is true to that.

The band’s performance began around 12:30 AM, after a couple of hours of dance to the masterful spinning of famous DJ Erik Aengel, who by then had nearly exhausted the dancers, unleashing an irresistible cache of new, old and crossover tracks from the alternative repertoire. A particular treat he served up was a tightly crafted mash up of MGMT’s “Kids” with Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon.” The opening number, “Shadow Play,” with its drum and bass repetitiveness, captures all the ominous, frantic exasperation that epitomizes the deranged soul of Joy Division. Here it was reproduced with fanatical attention to detail.

Next, the upbeat but by no means cheerful “Disorder,” from which this band take its name. The adoring crowd seemed to recognize each song that followed, from the despairing “She’s Lost Control” and “Isolation” through “New Dawn Fades,” “Transmission” and the beloved “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Twelve songs in all.

Peter Ulrich, famous percussionist from those giants of world music, Dead Can Dance, sat in with Disorder on “Atmosphere” and “Dead Souls.” and performed enthusiastically on hand drums, a truly memorable enhancement.

It was unfortunate for a contingent of fans from New York and
Brooklyn who arrived just as Disorder launched its final, closing piece, a faithful version of “Ceremony.” It was not surprising, however to see a significant number of out-of-towners, because the music and memory of Joy Division tends to evoke devotion—enough to motivate fans to travel over inconvenient distances to hear a pain-stakingly precise tribute set performed by accomplished music professionals.