STAFF PICKS: GOTHTOBER
Each week, staff members compile a themed playlist and spotlight some of their standout picks. For this week, we selected some goth tracks to sink into autumn.
“Life Goes On” by The Damned
By Anna Brammer-Depuy
All four minutes and three seconds of this song are a pleasure to listen to. Opening with a guitar riff which later inspired that of Killing Joke’s “Eighties” and Nirvana’s “Come As You Are,” the deep and velveteen sound pulls listeners into a state of bliss. The vocals are sweetly baritone, performed by bassist Captain Sensible instead of lead vocalist Dave Vanian. Together with guitarist Brian James and drummer Rat Scabies, they form The Damned.
The London-based group are still (mostly) together and currently touring. The band has accrued international admiration as a seminal part of the post-punk and goth scene. “Life Goes On” is their third-biggest hit and has a conspicuously different sound from the other two, which are thrashier and faster paced. During concerts the song is used to calm the crowd, as anyone who’s heard it and felt its honeylike melody drip into their ears would understand.
This track is perfect to listen to on cloudy October days when the cracked, charcoal-colored sidewalks are sprinkled with fallen leaves and pumpkins are placed on seasonally conscious doorsteps. The song evokes a spooky feeling, an anthem for living fit for ashen skies and bare tree branches—for vampires, perhaps. The listener is urged to continue living even if “it’s all gone wrong,” and the reminder that “this is the happiest day of your life” serves to rouse one from wrestling with thoughts of the past and focus instead on the present.
The Damned are in the fall leg of their cleverly dubbed 50th anniversary Final Damnation Farewell Tour, which will conclude this November in the US before moving onto the UK. It’s their final tour, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going!
“Your Funeral… My Trial” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
By Lindsay Hawes
1986 release Your Funeral… My Trial is a very underrated early chapter within the long and wonderful discography of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. It was the first album of theirs I listened to around my sophomore year of high school. I was a little stunned and confused by it, but the impression it left on me cannot be understated. It’s an extremely beautiful album.
Title track “Your Funeral… My Trial” borrows its name and chorus from “Your Funeral And My Trial” by blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson ll. The Australian-born Nick Cave’s obsession with the blues, a pretty classically American genre, defined a lot of his early work with The Bad Seeds. Einstürzende Neubauten founder Blixa Bargeld and Bad Seeds founding member Mick Harvey’s post-punk backgrounds contribute a gothic tone to the album. On this song, Bargeld and Harvey’s evocative guitar work, additional piano by Harvey, and a hammond organ by Cave builds a beautiful, melancholic sound.
The cryptic lyrics add to how intense the song is. Biblical language and imagery and allusions to nighttime make for a southern gothic feel. I particularly love the lyrics, “One thousand Marys lured me / Into gullies damp with clover”.
Your Funeral… My Trial can be a challenging listen, but I highly recommend this song and album for anyone interested in post-punk adjacent stuff,Nick Cave’s work, or those he’s worked with!
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds recently concluded their thirty-two show tour across the UK and Europe in August. Stream their most recent release, Live God wherever you get your music!
“In Praise of Bacchus” by Type O Negative
By Lane Webb
Listen to the full playlist:
Contributors: Anna Brammer-Depuy, Lyle Byrne, Maya Eberlin, Lindsay Hawes, Caroline Maurer, Cara Reddington, Aya Soussi, Gabe Sullo, Lane Webb
Cover photo by Delaney Heckman
