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Author Topic: Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany  (Read 6755 times)

xJulian

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« on: 30 Jul 2006, 07:05 »

So, with all the people here who actually have a taste in music (this is in no way derogatory towards pop, but really, I mean an actual, personally developed taste, acquired by listening to many styles and sticking to what you like), there surely have to be some people here who like the same stuff that I do.

It's difficult to actually narrow it down. Think gothic, think darkwave, think EBM, think neoclassical, think medieval.

I'm not going to bore you with a sufficient list to outline my taste, but for a couple of tidbits: Deine Lakaien (gothic/darkwave, also known outside Germany, or so I've heard), Das Ich (Neue Deutsche Todeskunst, later electrogoth), Subway To Sally (medieval, covering folk and folk metal in their later works).

If you have ever heard of bands like ASP, Corvus Corax, Helium Vola, Letzte Instanz, Schandmaul, Tanzwut or Zeraphine, please reply if you can also let me know you're not cocky about your favorite being the most "dark" or "medieval". As in most subcultures, most people can be described as narrow-minded. I hope you're not one of them.

If you've not heard of any of those bands, go ahead anyway. I don't know about your taste, but you may be missing something. This is not about popular gothic or emo trends and their annoyances, this is actually about well thought out, well composed music. If you don't mind German lyrics, that is. I know there's a good amount of Rammstein lovers in America, so don't be shy.
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FeralCats

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #1 on: 30 Jul 2006, 09:54 »

Well...one of my friends recently pointed me in the way of Wumpscut and Die Form. They're pretty ace. It's not the type of thing I can obsess over, but it's pretty good stuff. I like Hocico a lot more.

My tastes generally go more towards RIO and Krautrock and Jazz and Classical than electronica...at least electronica of this type.

What's interesting to me is that a lot of this music is nowhere near as dark as I thought it would be. A lot of it is actually pretty upbeat stuff...just singing about masochism and bestiality (2 things I'm not really into, no)
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xJulian

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #2 on: 30 Jul 2006, 10:59 »

Quote from: FeralCats
Well...one of my friends recently pointed me in the way of Wumpscut and Die Form. They're pretty ace. It's not the type of thing I can obsess over, but it's pretty good stuff. I like Hocico a lot more.

I have to admit I haven't listened to either of them. I'm more into rock than electronica, it's pretty much just ASP and Das Ich (and to some extent Tanzwut and Eisbrecher) that got me into not dismissing any electronica as worthless. :) And then there are Deine Lakaien with their sometimes "experimental" music. Though while skimming the Wikipedia article about Hocico, I saw they performed at M'era Luna last year, shame I didn't see them.
Quote from: FeralCats
My tastes generally go more towards RIO and Krautrock and Jazz and Classical than electronica...at least electronica of this type.

I'm afraid I'm not into Krautrock at all... at least not into the examples given on Wikipedia, again. RIO I haven't heard anything.

Let me point out that only a very small part of the music I like is actually electronica, in fact, there's a good amount of acoustic stuff in there. If you have the time, may I suggest to try out Chamber ("L'Orchstre de Chambre Noir" is the official name, but apparently nobody uses it). "A Dead Man's Song" is their show-off title, it summarizes their style pretty well. There's the distant possibility that you may find this song where you wouldn't expect it. If you look closely, that is. ;) This style of music is what I'd refer to as neoclassical.
Quote from: FeralCats
What's interesting to me is that a lot of this music is nowhere near as dark as I thought it would be. A lot of it is actually pretty upbeat stuff...just singing about masochism and bestiality (2 things I'm not really into, no)

I'm not into gore lyrics either... I guess I'm quite sensitive. I'm used to fine-grained metaphors and lyrics the artist is actually very serious about. I guess it's somewhat like Happy Tree Friends in that regard, either you like it or you don't...
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quietnow

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #3 on: 30 Jul 2006, 12:18 »

i'm afraid deathrock is as far as i'll go down that road.

i like 45grave, eva o., blood and roses, naked and the dead, christian death... etc.
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xJulian

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #4 on: 30 Jul 2006, 12:30 »

Quote from: quietnow
i'm afraid deathrock is as far as i'll go down that road.

i like 45grave, eva o., blood and roses, naked and the dead, christian death... etc.

Deathrock as in "scary, creepy and angsty"? If so, it really has nothing to do with the stuff I'm talking about, apart from a few exceptions. :)
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KharBevNor

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #5 on: 30 Jul 2006, 12:59 »

Quote from: xJulian
If you have the time, may I suggest to try out Chamber ("L'Orchstre de Chambre Noir" is the official name, but apparently nobody uses it).


Probably because it sounds way too close to Tony Wakefords neo-classical project 'L'Orchestre Noir'.

I've heard about half the bands you listed (I'm particularly keen on Subway to Sally and Corvus Corax) and the others I'll put some effort in to checking out. My favourite band in the style you're talking of is the (in my view peerless) Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows. The projects now pretty much completely electronic (I think probably because Anna-Varney doesn't want to rely on session musicians) but the song-structures and overall themes and concepts have remained pretty much constant. Albums like 'Todeswunch', 'Dead Lovers Sarabande' and 'Es Reiten Die Toten So Schnell' are pretty much fucking unbeatable. Wonderful orchestration, incredible intensity, lots of dense mythological and literary references. There's also Lacrimosa, Nebelhexe and Samsas Traum, keeping to the German theme.

I'm also heavily into neo-folk, which has a lot of similiariaties to darkwave,  and even crosses over at some points,  bands like Sol Invictus, Blood Axis, Death in June, Ostara, Current 93, Gae Bolg & The Church of Fand, In Gowan Ring, :Of The Wand And The Moon:, Forseti, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, Die Natalis, Hagalaz' Runedance and also neo-folk precursors like Changes, Nico and Paul Giovanni. Then there's also (mainly black) metal bands who incorporate dark medieval/primitive music or even darkwave elements and aesthetics and I feel embody much of the same feel, such as Waylander, Forefather, Orkrist, Wyrd, Woods of Ypres and Agalloch.

So, yeah, I like this sort of stuff. I'm also in to the electronic side.
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xJulian

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #6 on: 30 Jul 2006, 13:35 »

Quote from: KharBevNor
Quote from: xJulian
If you have the time, may I suggest to try out Chamber ("L'Orchstre de Chambre Noir" is the official name, but apparently nobody uses it).


Probably because it sounds way too close to Tony Wakefords neo-classical project 'L'Orchestre Noir'.

I do think they're marketed that way (so it's no official trademark biggie), but usually it seems people are too lazy to actually use the whole name everytime they talk about the band, much like everyone apparently just pronounces ASP as a word, as in "asp".
Quote from: KharBevNor
I've heard about half the bands you listed (I'm particularly keen on Subway to Sally and Corvus Corax) and the others I'll put some effort in to checking out. My favourite band in the style you're talking of is the (in my view peerless) Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows. The projects now pretty much completely electronic (I think probably because Anna-Varney doesn't want to rely on session musicians) but the song-structures and overall themes and concepts have remained pretty much constant. Albums like 'Todeswunch', 'Dead Lovers Sarabande' and 'Es Reiten Die Toten So Schnell' are pretty much fucking unbeatable. Wonderful orchestration, incredible intensity, lots of dense mythological and literary references. There's also Lacrimosa, Nebelhexe and Samsas Traum, keeping to the German theme.

I know two of the latter three, will check out Nebelhexe and Sopor Aeternus. Thanks for the recommendation, it sure sounds very promising.
Quote from: KharBevNor
I'm also heavily into neo-folk, which has a lot of similiariaties to darkwave,  and even crosses over at some points,  bands like Sol Invictus, Blood Axis, Death in June, Ostara, Current 93, Gae Bolg & The Church of Fand, In Gowan Ring, :Of The Wand And The Moon:, Forseti, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, Die Natalis, Hagalaz' Runedance and also neo-folk precursors like Changes, Nico and Paul Giovanni. Then there's also (mainly black) metal bands who incorporate dark medieval/primitive music or even darkwave elements and aesthetics and I feel embody much of the same feel, such as Waylander, Forefather, Orkrist, Wyrd, Woods of Ypres and Agalloch.

I have some German neofolk in my collection, but I don't know any of the bands you listed. I assume they'd be worth checking out? Btw, I fell I've kinda outgrown metal. I've had the phase when I was 14-17, but now most of the metal stuff my metalhead friends like doesn't give me anything... occassionally I listen to In Flames. If at all, I like it melodic.
Quote from: KharBevNor
So, yeah, I like this sort of stuff. I'm also in to the electronic side.

Great, so because now I know it's not a wasted effort, I'll put down a list of bands I'd recommend without hesitation:

Alexander Veljanov, ASP, Blutengel, Chamber, Corvus Corax, Cultus Ferox, Das Ich, Deine Lakaien, Die Streuner, Estampie, Faun, Helium Vola, In Extremo, Janus, Lacrimosa, Letzte Instanz, Mantus, Qntal, Regicide, Saltatio Mortis, Samsas Traum, Schandmaul, Staubkind, Stillste Stund, Subway To Sally, Tanzwut, Umbra Et Imago, Unheilig, Zeraphine.

Then there's the "second row". If you have some spare time and the opportunity arises, you might like the following bands, too. The style might be different from the ones above though.

The Count (gothic/indie apparently, slight nu metal influences), Die Schnitter (German folklore, sometimes funny), E Nomine (whaddaya call this... symphonic/epic electronica?), Eisbrecher (electronic rock, impressive voice), Eric Fish (this is the vocalist from Subway To Sally, doing a solo project, usually only with an acoustic guitar and/or a piano), Fiddler's Green (German band doing Irish Folk), Goethes Erben (they call it "music theatre"), Illuminate (nice 80ies style gothic, but I really don't like the voices...), L'âme Immortelle (whatever, can't get used to them...), Lesiem (again... epic? gregorian?), Luna Luna (German rock with folk elements, pioneers who provided ground for bands like STS or Schandmaul before those existed), Magna Canta (see Lesiem), Megaherz (German rock influenced by Industrial and Gothic), WeltenBrand (see Lesiem)
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E. Spaceman

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #7 on: 30 Jul 2006, 13:40 »

It is always worth listening to Nico, DI6, Current 93, and Sol Invictus, I haven't listened to any of the other neo folk artisst Khar posted, but they are probably good.

Then again, a Hilary Duff song just started playing, so maybe you don't want to listen to me.
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Sckitzo

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #8 on: 30 Jul 2006, 23:55 »

Although my German is horrid I love Subway to Sally, Nacht der Soldner has to be my favorite song (cover?) by them. Asp is good, hard to find but good, Helium Vola, I was sampling some music by Qntal and one of their songs popped up, Omnis Mundi Creatura I think. Awsome song and glad I got some more stuff by them (I'm always a sucker for female vocals)

A few more of the medieval/gothy bands I have listen to often are

Cruachan (Irish Celtic Metal err thing?)
Inkubus Sukkubus
Hedningarna
Qntal

Just a small bit and I can post some more if you'd like, but I think I'll check out some of the others you mentioned.
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xJulian

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #9 on: 31 Jul 2006, 00:20 »

Quote from: E. Spaceman
It is always worth listening to Nico, DI6, Current 93, and Sol Invictus, I haven't listened to any of the other neo folk artisst Khar posted, but they are probably good.

Then again, a Hilary Duff song just started playing, so maybe you don't want to listen to me.

...broad music taste ftw, I guess. I know a guy who listens to practically anything, from metal to rock to hip hop to techno to pop. Good stuff if you're on a party, you're bound to like the music. ;)
Quote from: Sckitzo
Although my German is horrid I love Subway to Sally, Nacht der Soldner has to be my favorite song (cover?) by them. Asp is good, hard to find but good, Helium Vola, I was sampling some music by Qntal and one of their songs popped up, Omnis Mundi Creatura I think. Awsome song and glad I got some more stuff by them (I'm always a sucker for female vocals)

Nacht der Söldner is not made by Subway To Sally, but by Circle of Grief. There are numerous false attributions floating around mostly on P2P, a full list can be seen here.

Personally I like Helium Vola way better. Qntal was co-founded by Ernst Horn (that's the composer of Deine Lakaien). He left the band after the second album and started Helium Vola, so I guess you could see it as the successor, even though Qntal still exists. Btw, check out Estampie, it's the other guy's side project (the other guy being Alexander Veljanov, the singer of Deine Lakaien fame), they've got some similiarities.
Quote from: Sckitzo
A few more of the medieval/gothy bands I have listen to often are

Cruachan (Irish Celtic Metal err thing?)
Inkubus Sukkubus
Hedningarna
Qntal

Just a small bit and I can post some more if you'd like, but I think I'll check out some of the others you mentioned.

Glad we can cooperate. ;)
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Sckitzo

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #10 on: 31 Jul 2006, 00:40 »

Ahh I had no idea about Nacht der Soldner learn something new every day :P

Just gave Corvus Corax a listen, is a live track (Bretonischer Marsch) but the live part gives it a good feel, everyone clapping along, will have to check out more of these guys for sure.

Deine Lakaien is a bit harder to find, but I'll post something up once I get find it.

And just becuase Khar had mentioned Oomph! I had to listen to some of them :P, now the question is I think it was a song by Oomph!, not positive but the intro was a bunch of children counting. Wasn't the best song in the world but was catchy...

Another band I was introduced to last night by this girl is called Wolfsheim, not very hard at all, actually seems more like Pop, but a coupld of decent songs by em.

EDIT: NM on that Oomph song it was Augen Auf, and the counting wasn't in the intro =/
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xJulian

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« Reply #11 on: 31 Jul 2006, 01:07 »

Quote from: Sckitzo
Just gave Corvus Corax a listen, is a live track (Bretonischer Marsch) but the live part gives it a good feel, everyone clapping along, will have to check out more of these guys for sure.

Yeah, that's pretty much Corvus Corax and their style. And yes, they tend to basically set the audience on fire. =)
Quote from: Sckitzo
Deine Lakaien is a bit harder to find, but I'll post something up once I get find it.

Good luck, it's worth it.
Quote from: Sckitzo
And just becuase Khar had mentioned Oomph! I had to listen to some of them :P, now the question is I think it was a song by Oomph!, not positive but the intro was a bunch of children counting. Wasn't the best song in the world but was catchy...

(...)

EDIT: NM on that Oomph song it was Augen Auf, and the counting wasn't in the intro =/

Yeah, that's their most popular song. Got in the charts with it. I thought it was nice, supposedly their earlier stuff is much better. I'm not into Oomph though, so I'm hardly qualified.
Quote from: Sckitzo
Another band I was introduced to last night by this girl is called Wolfsheim, not very hard at all, actually seems more like Pop, but a coupld of decent songs by em.

Yep, they are mostly pop. There are some intriguing songs, but IMO not much.
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KharBevNor

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #12 on: 31 Jul 2006, 01:12 »

Wolfsheim are a good futurepop band. I haven't got much stuff by them (Only 'Casting Shadows' and 'The Sparrows and The Nightingales') but I enjoy what I have, nice and relaxing. I'm also a fan of some similiar stuff such as Covenant, Seabound and Assemblage 23.

Cruachan and Inkubus Sukkubus are also two huge favourites of mine, Inkysuk particularly.
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Sckitzo

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #13 on: 31 Jul 2006, 01:25 »

Awsome, as for Wolf best song so far I've heard by em is Heroin She Said.

And Khar do you have any idea where I can buy some of Cruachan's CDs? I check out their site but the links they said to follow had nothing =/
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KharBevNor

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Sckitzo

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #15 on: 31 Jul 2006, 01:48 »

/facepalm

Wow, I use Amazon for everything else, mer I feel like a jackass.
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xJulian

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« Reply #16 on: 31 Jul 2006, 09:09 »

Since yesterday, my newest "oh, this is surprisingly nice" band is Silber, formerly known as Weissglut. I consider them Gothic Rock, with heavy influence by "normal" German Rock (e.g. Die Ärzte, Die Toten Hosen, Böhse Onkelz). But apparently there were some complaints about Weissglut being affiliated to the neonazi scene. But then again, it seems that was only their singer. So they got rid of him, found a new one and took a new name, Silber. Yeah, I like the music though.
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KharBevNor

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« Reply #17 on: 31 Jul 2006, 09:11 »

Everyone gets accused of being affiliated to the neo-nazi scene nowadays. Including me several times. It's getting irksome.
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timehat

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Gothic music and its surroundings in Germany
« Reply #18 on: 31 Jul 2006, 15:33 »

Of the styles listed by the OP, the only thing I really listen to is Skinny Puppy. Someone mentioned RIO before, and I think that actually ties in somewhat, because the band Univers Zero, while not quite medieval, play music that is essentially modern chamber music and is ridiculously dark.
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