A. SAVAGE (PARQUET COURTS) – “BLACK HOLES, THE STARS AND YOU”

Parquet Courts’ A. Savage begins his UK/EU tour tonight and to celebrate he’s got a tour single featuring this outtake from last year’s Several Songs About Fire. “I love the groove that John Parish and Dylan Hadley lay down here, using various Latin percussion instruments,” says Savage. “It’s a song that I’d been working on for a few years, that had way too many parts and lyrics, which John really helped me sculpt down into what it is now, bless him. The song is about the different ways people see each other, and how the smaller we feel the bigger others seem. Sometimes you find yourself orbiting someone who has no idea of their own magnitude. Sometimes you feel like they are examining you in a Petri dish, their gaze a magnified eye in the sky.”

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MRCY – “LORELEI”

MRCY, the duo of producer Barney Lister and vocalist Kojo Degraft-Johnson, have shared their debut single for Dead Oceans, the soulful “Lorelei.” “‘Lorelei’ is about being in a romantic situation that you know will result in heartbreak,” Kojo says, “but you’re too under the spell to get out of it. The lyrics come from the ancient tale of Lorelei, a mythical creature that leads navigators and those sailing to their demise with its beauty and song – ‘I thought I saw you walking by the riverside’ and ‘the summer storm’s still on my mind.'”

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HEEMS – “SRI LANKA” (FEAT. YOUR OLD DROOG)

Heems has shared a second song off his forthcoming album, LAFANDAR, and this one features Your Old Droog.

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BRAINSTORY – “HANGING ON” FT. CLAIRO

CA trio Brainstory are releasing their second album, Sounds Good, due April 19 via Big Crow Records, and Clairo’s Claire Cottrill features on “Hanging On.” The collaboration “happened rather organically,” the band say. “We met Claire through Leon and whenever we would be in New York City, she would always come and hang out with us. When we were tracking vocals she agreed to lend her sweet voice to make the song that much better.”

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PISSED JEANS – “SIXTY-TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS IN DEBT”

Philly punks Pissed Jeans’ new song is a ripper about the debt crisis and is on their forthcoming album Half Divorced.

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GOUGE AWAY – “DALLAS”

Gouge Away’s first new album in six years, Deep Sage, arrives in March, and they’ve shared another new single, “Dallas.” Vocalist Christina Michelle says, “I wrote the lyrics to this song at a time when I was at absolute rock bottom and felt like there were no options left. I realized that I had subconsciously been seeking help by acting recklessly. When I realized behaving this way was hurting people who loved me, it made me recognize that I had to change, if not for myself, then for them. The music for this song came to life while the guys were waiting for soundcheck to start in Dallas, TX. Years later, this song has gone through the most changes out of any of them but the phone recordings and demos were always referred to as ‘Dallas.’ So being nostalgic like we are, we kept the song title the same.”

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JAD FAIR – “WORM BOY”

Half Japanese’s Jad Fair has shared another song from his upcoming uberwork 100 Songs (A Master Class In Songwriting). Jad also drew, animated and edited the video.

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MIDNIGHT – “F.O.A.L.”

Speed metallers Midnight announced their sixth album, Hellish Expectations, due out March 8 via Metal Blade Records. The first single is “F.O.A.L.,” and main man Athenar says, “‘Fuck Off And Live’ is an ode to the people who peacefully want to die to escape the realities of life, while they should really live and suffer.”

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JERRY DAVID DECICCA & BILL CALLAHAN – “FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS” (BRUCE COCKBURN COVER)

Tompkins Square Records is releasing a tribute album to singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn on April 19. It features covers by Wet Tuna, Eli Winter, Matthew “Doc” Dunn, and this version of “Forty Years in the Wilderness” by Jerry David DeCicca and Bill Callahan.

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COMEBACK KID – “DISRUPTION”

“‘Disruption’ serves as our call to arms type song,” Comeback Kid vocalist Andrew Neufeld says. “It’s about just getting through the next day, or the next step because it could all come crashing down at any given moment.” It’s from their new EP Trouble, which arrives in March.

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PSYMON SPINE – “BORED OF GUITAR”

Brooklyn’s Psymon Spine has shared this funky, skronky track from upcoming album Head Body Connector. Says bandleader Noah Prebish: “‘Bored of Guitar’ was one of the earlier tracks we worked on for Head Body Connector. Like many of our songs, it started as two separate ideas that Peter, Michael, and I smashed into one and then expanded upon. The lyrics came to me piecemeal inspired by conversations I had been having with Michael about the kind of guitar-centric dude rock bands we were getting tired of seeing. The underlying fear for me, of course, was that we were one of those bands. Nothing disgusts a person like seeing in others what bothers them about themselves. The song is an amped-up meditation on (amongst other things) self-criticism, priorities shifting around, and the hilarious, painful, beautiful, humiliating, exhilarating experience of being in a band. It’s also about me working on my relationship with my younger self, the one who set most of my current life experiences into motion long ago. I love him and we’ve both got notes for each other.”

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CLAIRE ROUSAY – “HEAD”

claire rousay announced her first album for Thrill Jockey, sentiment, due out on April 19, and shared the first single, “head,” a gentle ambient track with distorted vocals and strings.

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DUSTIN KENSRUE – “DEATH VALLEY HONEYMOON” FT. CAT CLYDE

Thrice vocalist Dustin Kensrue announced an alt-country solo album, and shared the first single, which you can read more about here.

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CADENCE WEAPON – “PRESS EJECT”

Cadence Weapon’s new album ROLLERCOASTER features Bartees Strange, Loraine James, Austra, Jacques Greene, Machinedrum, and more and is out April 19. Here’s the first single.

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NECROT – “CUT THE CORD”

Necrot announced their third album and shared the lead single, which you can read more about here.

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MELVINS – “WORKING THE DITCH”

Melvins’ new album Tarantula Heart is “definitely the weirdest album I’ve ever been a part of,” says bassist Steven McDonald. Dig the two-drummer attack on “Working the Ditch.”

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MANNEQUIN PUSSY – “NOTHING LIKE”

Mannequin Pussy shared another single off their anticipated new album I Got Heaven, which you can read more about here.

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THE DECEMBERISTS – “BURIAL GROUND”

It’s Decemberists’ first song in six years.

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RESTORATIONS – “CURED”

Restorations announced their first album since 2018, and the first taste is “Cured,” which you can read more about here.

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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive

Bill Callahan wrote the album notes for All Hits: Memories, which read in part: “The trap kit—so straightforward, so mysterious. What’s inside those things? Air and light—from which century? Which continent? Depending on how and when you hit them, it can be a vibration sent through a prehistoric breath… the dead, wet leaves you walked through on the way to the first day of school. These are the memories of the drums on this record. Infinite and personal. Editing each other as they muscle to the front or soft shoe to the shadow. Drums are the instrument where you can feel the presence of the player the most—the full body—and sense the thoughts of the player the most. The instrument with the most choices to be made sends out the most brainwaves. A bouquet of brainwaves is on this LP.”

White has shared “Name Makes the Name,” which sets his unique drumming style against low, ominous drones. Listen to that and read the rest of Bill Callahan’s album notes below.

This is long overdue. I mean, looooooonnnnnng overdue. A solo album by Jim.

The trap kit—so straightforward, so mysterious. What’s inside those things? Air and light—from which century? Which continent? Depending on how and when you hit them, it can be a vibration sent through a prehistoric breath… the dead, wet leaves you walked through on the way to the first day of school. These are the memories of the drums on this record. Infinite and personal. Editing each other as they muscle to the front or soft shoe to the shadow. Drums are the instrument where you can feel the presence of the player the most—the full body—and sense the thoughts of the player the most. The instrument with the most choices to be made sends out the most brainwaves. A bouquet of brainwaves is on this LP.

Jim oversees it all, surveys from the lost place we’re in, the void – the drumless song. We trust. We trust, Jim. His big green eyes search for the right tool (mallet, brush, etc), eyes that search you like you’re a song he wants to join, wants to see if he can add to or understand.

Before humans, drums were playing–these drums. Genesis was a solo drum piece. After humans, these drums, this album. Someone–the last man–is out in a spaceship at the edge of space. He plays a single chord on a synth to set time free from its bind and then lets go. This album sets time free, lets it frolic, lets it graze, lets it remember.

This is a record of thoughts, memories, surgery. A deft surgical operation you may not even realize is happening as it’s happening but you’re back on your feet when it’s over. Memories refreshed.

-Bill Callahan

All Hits: Memories
1. Curtains
2. Percussion Build
3. Marketplace
4. Soft Material
5. St. Francis Place Set Up
6. Uncoverup
7. Walking the Block
8. Jully
9. Long Assemblage
10. Names Make the Name
11. No/Know Now
12. Stationary Figure
13. Here Comes

• Deafheaven, Touché Amoré, Mary Jane Dunphe @ Knockdown Center
• Dinosaur Jr., Luluc @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
• Mannequin Pussy, Scowl @ Saint Vitus Bar
• bar italia, Gobby, The Place @ Elsewhere
• Bill Callahan @ Murmrr Theatre
• John Henry’s Friends Benefit w/ Steve Earle, John Mellencamp, David Bromberg, Amy Helm, Matt Savage @ Town Hall
• LA Priest @ Baby’s All Right
• Roy Woods @ Webster Hall
• Laura Cantrell, Mimi Roman, Queen Esther, Cole Quest & Christian Aputto @ Union Pool
• Mind Over Matter, Milhouse, The Great Lie, Omega Glory, Humankind @ Amityville Music Hall
• Scout LaRue Willis, Sebastian Adé, Sweetboy @ Sleepwalk
• Cautious Clay @ Blue Note Jazz Club
• The Bad Plus, Rogê @ The Sultan Room
• Pinc Louds (solo), No.Ah, Winnie Wanders @ Rubulad
• Market, gobbinjr, The Mediums, Anna Altman @ Hart Bar
• Danny Krivit, Love Injection @ Good Room
• Tom Verlaine book sale @ Woodbine

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“Everyone that I’ve loved is in this record,” says Lovatt. “Everyone that matters—women, men, they’re all in there somewhere … I wanted to show my daughter that I could still make something after giving birth. I wanted to make a record with acoustic guitar where I’m telling my daughter all the stories that mattered to me.”

The opening track from the album is “Gull,” which features McNew, White and Phoebe Gittins on piano. Connie says, “My dad was from England and that’s where the Whitmore grass and the brass animals came from. He was a kid of the war. They would find shells, bombshells that were all torn apart, like different shapes of animals. It’s about him living on a small Caribbean island, going to AA meetings, about him getting sober. He didn’t get to meet [my daughter] Hartley or his other two grandchildren, so I had them meet in the song.” It’s a lovely song and you can listen below.

Coconut Mirror
Gull
Kid
Heart
Basin
Snow
Lines
Broke
Honest
Sisters
Sleep
Zodiac

Bill Callahan will be taking his excellent 2022 album YTI⅃AƎЯ on the road starting in February for an East Coast / Midwest tour, beginning in New Orleans on 2/24 and wrapping up in Dallas on March 11. All dates are listed below.

There are two NYC-area shows: Jersey City’s White Eagle Hall on 3/2 and Brooklyn’s The Opera House on 3/3. Both shows are with Pascal Kerong’A and tickets are on sale now.

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BILL CALLAHAN – 2023 TOUR DATES:
2/24/2023 New Orleans, LA Santos
2/25/2023 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade – Heaven Stage
2/26/2023 Asheville, NC The Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall
2/28/2023 Washington, DC Capital Turnaround
3/1/2023 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
3/2/2023 Jersey City, NJ White Eagle Hall
3/3/2023 Brooklyn, NY The Opera House
3/4/2023 Pittsburgh, PA The Warhol at The Carnegie Lecture Hall
3/6/2023 Chicago, IL Thalia Hall
3/7/2023 Urbana, IL Rose Bowl Tavern
3/8/2023 Davenport, IA The Raccoon Motel
3/10/2023 Fayetteville, AR Clapp Auditorium – Mount Sequoyah
3/11/2023 Dallas, TX Texas Theatre

We’ve been asking artists what their favorite albums of 2022 were, and here’s a list from Bob Nanna of Braid, Hey Mercedes, The City On Film, Lifted Bells, and more.

Since 2011, I’ve been hellbent on keeping up with as much new music as I possibly can. It began with a personal pledge to my newborn nephew – to keep him up to date with the cool new hits of HIS time, as opposed to forcing Fugazi, Jawbreaker, Bob Dylan etc upon him. It developed into a weekly podcast that I do called Bob’s Top 5 where I share the best 5 new songs I’d heard that week. And it culminates in a big top 30 list that i force upon my social media followers whether they like it or not.

The podcast only focuses on songs but I’ve kept a mental note of the actual full albums that impressed me as well. Often times, it’s hard to pick one song to feature because the thing deserves and demands to be listened to as a whole. Here are my 10 favorite albums of 2022. Listen to them start to finish for maximum enjoyment.

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10. Titus Andronicus – The Will to Live
I’m walking home from the gym. I started going there most days after my stint as a Stranger Things store manager ended. It’s almost 2 miles there and back but I have music to listen to and it’s a beautiful day in Chicago. Right around the oddly specific named Athletic Field Park is where this album made its impact on me. To be honest, it was already halfway through the album, at the song “Dead Meat.” The lyrics became more discernible and I started paying real attention. And then the songs got catchy. And the journey began.

Favorite track: “All Through The Night”

9. Chat Pile – God’s Country
I’m driving on the Kennedy. I’ve already listened to a few songs. It’s not my usual thing but I’m appreciating the rawness of it, the slow pace, the patience. I’m thinking yeah I’ll probably mention this on the podcast. And then comes “Why” – a song that made me chuckle at first at its dry questions about people living outside. By the end I was so shaken and moved, I definitely said “holy shit” in my car to no one. My favorite song of that week and my 14th favorite song of the year.

Fave track: “Why”

8. Bill Callahan – Reality (backwards)
Bill Callahan is consistently writing some of my favorite songs. The albums Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle and Apocalypse are lousy with them. Every last one. Despite flowing nicely in succession on the album, to me, those were songs that could equally be enjoyed on their own or in the middle of a playlist. The latest records are the opposite. They seem like full narratives to me. That’s what this album was. Put it on and experience the whole thing. I couldn’t pick one song out to feature on its own for my year end countdown but my fave track came close.

Fave track: “Coyotes”

7. Tim Kasher – Middling Age
This is the first of three albums on this list by frontpersons of other bands. In the summer I’d walk laps around the nearby park and just take in all the new music of the week. I remember hearing this album and almost being afraid of where it was going to head. The lyrics are so confessional and real it’s hard not to let them draw you into them. Putting you into posh parties or getting scolded by life coaches.

Fave track: “What are We Doing”

6. Spoon – Lucifer on the Sofa
Spoon has this hypnotic way of making you walk in sync with the music. It happens every time. Sometimes it makes you forget about the content of the songs, to be honest, so you finish a song and immediately put it back on because you missed the whole thing while you were just coolly enjoying it. That’s how I felt about this entire album and that’s why I recommend listening to this as a whole. And walking to it.

Fave track: “Wild”

5. Soak – If I Never Know You Like This Again
I’m at the airport. I’ve had some wine. It’s so expensive there. I’m going to Dallas for another Stranger Things thing. And I’m listening to this album and I’m kind of losing it, right there at Chilis or whatever. Again, the confessional, heart on sleeve lyrics about love or lost love just hook me every time. Especially on songs like “Last July” which are just bangers. I texted like three people about it right then and there.

Fave track: “Last July”

4. Ludovico Einaudi – Underwater
I had been familiar with Einaudi’s film scores and his album Divenire so I was surprised when this latest album completely passed me by. It had been out for months before I knew of its existence. I guess I need to have my finger better planted on the classical pulse or something. This is a gorgeous album. I love his compositions because, and I know this is going to sound dumb but, they are catchy. There are hooks. It’s sad and beautiful but there’s always a recurring theme in there almost as if it were a pop song.

Fave track: “Luminous”

3. Anthony Green – Boom. Done.
Surprise! More lyrics that might make you a little uncomfortable or fear that the singer is saying too much. I particularly enjoy Anthony’s solo work when I can really hear the lyrics and the nuances timbre of his voice. This was such a joy to listen to – there’s heartbreak and pain but there are also big, rousing moments with Sunny Day or Shudder to Think level operatics. And horns.

Fave track: “Trading Doses”

2. Smidley – Here Comes the Devil
Wow, I am so impressed with this. I loved the last Smidley album too but this one is far and above. The clever production is key here – sometimes you’re unsure if the next song has started, or if he’s actually pulling off a vocal without effects. Dynamics for days. Whispers and yells and all the while, hooks and heavy lyrics.

Fave track: “I’m Breaking My Own Heart”

1. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Probably on a lot of top album lists for its sheer audacity. And the fact that for a 20 song album, there isn’t a dud on the sequence. It was difficult to have this on in the background, which is what I did at first, foolish me. It demands to be heard – to the point where I couldn’t even hold a conversation during it because I had to stop so often to say “woah did you hear that?” I don’t see how they can top this one. It’s a statement. I’m still working on my statement album. It’ll never be done.

Fave track: “Simulation Swarm”

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Also found in their Top 75: Arctic Monkeys, Beyonce, Angel Olsen, Big Thief, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, Wet Leg, Black Thought & Danger Mouse, Suede, Horace Andy, Panda Bear & Sonic Boom, Beth Orton, Gwenno, The Comet is Coming, Kevin Morby, Weyes Blood, Spiritualized, Jack White, Bill Callahan, Jockstrap, Makaya McCraven, Elvis Costello, and more. Check out MOJO’s full Top 75 Albums of 2022 list below.

MOJO – TOP 75 ALBUMS OF 2023
75. Elizabeth King – I Got A Love
74. Kelly Lee Owens – LP.8
73. Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer – Recordings from the Åland Islands
72. Kae Tempest – The Line Is a Curve
71. Julia Jacklin – PRE PLEASURE
70. Eiko Ishibashi – For McCoy
69. The Black Keys – Dropout Boogie
68. Lambchop – The Bible
67. Jon Spencer & The HITmakers – Spencer Gets It Lit
66. Angel Olsen – Big Time
65. Brian Eno – FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE
64. Wu-Lu – Loggerhead
63. Nina Nastasia – Riderless Horse
62. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul – Topical Dancer
61. The Lightning Seeds – See You in the Stars
60. Spoon – Lucifer on the Sofa
59. Björk – Fossora
58. Gilla Band – Most Normal
57. Oren Ambarchi – Shebang
56. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
55. The Proclaimers – Dentures Out
54. Jake Xerxes Fussell – Good and Green Again
53. XPropaganda – The Heart Is Strange
52. Ezra Furman – All of Us Flames
51. Kurt Vile – (watch my moves)
50. Moor Mother – Jazz Codes
49. Anaïs Mitchell – Anaïs Mitchell
48. Midlake – For the Sake of Bethel Woods
47. Johnny Marr – Fever Dreams Pts. 1-4
46. Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There
45. Yard Act – The Overload
44. Working Men’s Club – Fear Fear
43. Alabaster DePlume – GOLD – Go Forward in the Courage of Your Love
42. Cass McCombs – Heartmind
41. Leyla McCalla – Breaking the Thermometer
40. The Mars Volta – The Mars Volta
39. Elvis Costello & The Imposters – The Boy Named If
38. Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder – GET ON BOARD
37. Khruangbin & Vieux Farka Touré – Ali
36. Jockstrap – I Love You Jennifer B
35. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down
34. Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
33. Jeff Parker – Forfolks
32. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Endless Rooms
31. Oumou Sangaré – Timbuktu
30. Hurray For The Riff Raff – LIFE ON EARTH
29. Father John Misty – Chloë and the Next 20th Century
28. Gwenno – Tresor
27. Beyoncé – RENAISSANCE
26. Joan Shelley – The Spur
25. Gabriels – Angels & Queens – Part I
24. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – Reset
23. Drive-By Truckers – Welcome 2 Club XIII
22. Mavis Staples & Levon Helm – Carry Me Home
21. Cate Le Bon – Pompeii
20. Beth Orton – Weather Alive
19. Makaya McCraven – In These Times
18. The Comet Is Coming – Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
17. Kevin Morby – This Is A Photograph
16. Rich Ruth – I Survived, It’s Over
15. Wilco – Cruel Country
14. Weyes Blood – And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
13. Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful
12. Aldous Harding – Warm Chris
11. The Smile – A Light for Attracting Attention
10. Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia
9. Dry Cleaning – Stumpwork
8. Jack White – Fear of the Dawn
7. Bill Callahan – YTI⅃AƎЯ
6. Suede – Autofiction
5. Arctic Monkeys – The Car
4. Horace Andy – Midnight Rocker
3. Black Thought & Danger Mouse – Cheat Codes
2. Wet Leg – Wet Leg
1. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Dear Scott

The 2022 year-end lists are already beginning to roll in, and today brings one from UK mag Uncut. It’s a top 75 and it leans heavily towards indie/alternative rock and folk, with Wet Leg, Wilco, Big Thief, Angel Olsen, Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band, Joan Shelley, and The Smile all in the top 10, as well as high-ranking spots claimed by The Weather Station, Cate Le Bon, Beth Orton, Lambchop, Richard Dawson, Fontaines D.C. Gwenno, Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, black midi, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Arctic Monkeys, Dry Cleaning, Cass McCombs, Jockstrap, Black Country New Road, and more, but there’s some jazz on there (Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin, The Comet Is Coming, Makaya McCraven), some rap/R&B (Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Sudan Archives), reggae legend Horace Andy, Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré‘s album with Khruangbin, and more. Check out their full list below and pick up the January 2023 issue of Uncut for more.

Uncut’s Top 75 Albums of 2022
75. Drugdealer – Hiding in Plain Sight
74. Chris Forsyth – Evolution Here We Come
73. Aoife Nessa Frances – Protector
72. Širom – The Liquified Throne of Simplicity
71. Angeline Morrison – The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience
70. Tommy McLain – I Ran Down Every Dream
69. Jack White – Entering Heaven Alive
68. Kathryn Joseph – for you who are the wronged
67. Jake Blount – The New Faith
66. The Unthanks – Sorrows Away
65. Beach House – Once Twice Melody
64. Ghost Power – Ghost Power
63. Robyn Hitchcock – Shufflemania!
62. Jenny Hval – Classic Objects
61. Yard Act – The Overload
60. Sarah Davachi – Two Sisters
59. The Black Keys – Dropout Boogie
58. Pye Corner Audio – Let’s Emerge!
57. Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
56. Father John Misty – Chloë and the Next 20th Century
55. Amanda Shires – Take It Like a Man
54. Suede – Autofiction
53. Beyoncé – RENAISSANCE
52. Tim Bernardes – Mil Coisas Invisíveis
51. Jake Xerxes Fussell – Good and Green Again
50. Drive-By Truckers – Welcome 2 Club XIII
49. Bill Callahan – YTI⅃AƎЯ
48. Carson McHone – Still Life
47. Rich Ruth – I Survived, It’s Over
46. Björk – Fossora
45. Aldous Harding – Warm Chris
44. Makaya McCraven – In These Times
43. Revelators Sound System – Revelators
42. Jana Horn – Optimism
41. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Endless Rooms
40. Ty Segall – “Hello, Hi”
39. Khruangbin & Vieux Farka Touré – Ali
38. Courtney Marie Andrews – Loose Future
37. Bitchin Bajas – Bajascillators
36. S.G. Goodman – Teeth Marks
35. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – Reset
34. Daniel Rossen – You Belong There
33. Sudan Archives – Natural Brown Prom Queen
32. Horace Andy – Midnight Rocker
31. Kevin Morby – This Is A Photograph
30. Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful
29. Julia Jacklin – PRE PLEASURE
28. The Comet Is Coming – Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
27. Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There
26. Jockstrap – I Love You Jennifer B
25. Cass McCombs – Heartmind
24. Dry Cleaning – Stumpwork
23. Arctic Monkeys – The Car
22. Hurray For The Riff Raff – Life On Earth
21. black midi – Hellfire
20. Kurt Vile – (watch my moves)
19. Sharon Van Etten – We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong
18. Gwenno – Tresor
17. Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia
16. Richard Dawson – The Ruby Cord
15. Lambchop – The Bible
14. Beth Orton – Weather Alive
13. Cate Le Bon – Pompeii
12. The Weather Station – How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars
11. The Delines – The Sea Drift
10. Elvis Costello & The Imposters – The Boy Named If
9. Brian Eno – FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE
8. Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
7. Wet Leg – Wet Leg
6. Wilco – Cruel Country
5. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
4. Angel Olsen – Big Time
3. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Dear Scott
2. Joan Shelley – The Spur
1. The Smile – A Light for Attracting Attention

Greetings from Iceland! I’m currently in Reykjavik for Iceland Airwaves but that doesn’t mean I’m slacking off this week. We’ve got another dozen albums on the slate, including techno-shoegaze innovator Daniel Avery, New Orleans dancepuks Special Interest‘s first album for Rough Trade, Spoon‘s dub album with Adrian Sherwood, SAULT drop five albums on us, La Femme‘s Spanish album, and crucial reissues from Ride, plus Carla Dal Forno, µ-Ziq‘s third release of the year, Decius (ft members of Fat White Family and Warmduscher), Pye Corner Audio (remixed by Sonic Boom), cosmic disco duo Seahawks, and more.

Over in Notable Releases, Andrew reviews new albums by Mount Kimbie, Ezra Collective, R.A.P. Ferreira, Big Joanie, Fleshwater and more.

If you need something to watch, the Don Letts documentary Rebel Dread is excellent. You can also catch up on October’s best stuff according to me.

A reminder that there’s an Indie Basement section of the BV shop whose virtual shelves are stocked high with vinyl and merch from Mogwai, The Flaming Lips, King Gizzard, Pavement, Wet Leg, Parquet Courts, Arctic Monkeys, Beach House, Broadcast, Stereolab, Belle & Sebastian, Talking Heads, Spoon, Lilys, Cocteau Twins, Can, Dinosaur Jr and lots, lots more.

Head below for this week’s many reviews.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK #1: Daniel Avery – Ultra Truth (Mute / Phanstasy Sound)
Working in elements of shoegaze and other ethereal styles to his brand of techno, Daniel Avery makes his best record yet

Ultra Truth is a gorgeous and often thrilling album that finds Daniel Avery a master of a variety of dance styles that he whips into his own alluring blend of techno, drum-n-bass, shoegaze, trip hop, chillout and ethereal electronics. It’s bullet train that rockets through neon urban cityscapes, glaciers and waterfalls, and blooming valleys, all under a skyfull of stars. Sometimes Avery flips the switch to slow motion, and the soundtrack drops to a blurry crawl. The travelogue includes serious club thumpers (“Higher”), gaseous bliss-outs (“The Collapsing Sky”), moments of balearic beauty (“Lone Swordsman”) and stare-at-your-hand jams worthy of Boards of Canada (“Spider,” the title track). Then there are uniquely Avery-esque creations like “Devotion” that melds a piledriver breakbeat with a wall of noise that blasts like solar radiation. Some of the most immediate songs are the collaborations with vocalists. “Wall of Sleep,” featuring his Mute labelmate HAAi, is the closest Avery has ever come to fizzy pop (still not that close). Then there’s “Chaos Energy” – arguably the best song on the record – that features both HAAi and his friend and collaborator Kelly Lee Owens for what is a microcosm of the album, a rail trip through the Himalayas full of dramatic peaks and valleys culminating in a whiteout summit of celestial synths and choral vocals that have the train leaving the tracks and heading into space. Get on board.

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK #2: Special Interest – Endure (Rough Trade)
This New Orleans dancepunk band sound just a little friendlier on their Rough Trade debut. That’s a good thing,

New Orleans dark dancepunk outfit Special Interest gained a following through their intense live shows (a power drill was in their instrument list), so what happens when the clubs all shut down and touring stops? They make Endure, the band’s first album for Rough Trade, which they describe as “inverted,” as the songs were for the first time worked out in the studio instead of the stage. The band experimented more than ever and were as inspired and empowered by the studio as they were the pandemic, Black Lives Matter and the 2020 election. As fiery as all that sounds, Endure is a much friendlier sounding album than 2020’s The Passion Of, and tracks like “Herman’s House” and “Midnight Legend” are full of disco rhythms, fuzzy basslines, house piano, and big, chant-along choruses. There are also a few intense, raw nerve tracks that show they still know where the power tools are stored.  At the center is Alli Logout whose vocals here are diva-worthy and command your attention at every turn. Endure hits hard, often with uncompromising messages and sounds, but Special Interest are also aware we’ve been through a lot and that few things are as cathartic as dancing.

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK #3: Spoon vs On-U Sound – Lucifer on the Moon (Matador)
Britt Daniel hands the controls, and Spoon’s most recent album, over to dub producer Adrian Sherwood for a companion piece to ‘Lucifer on the Sofa’ that stands on its own

Earlier this year, Spoon released a remix of “My Babe” from this year’s excellent Lucifer on the Sofa that featured legendary reggae and postpunk producer (and On-U Sound founder) Adrian Sherwood at the controls. Turns out there was more where that came from. “I got into the melody and the thoughts it evoked in me,” Sherwood says. “It just evolved and we eventually found ourselves with a whole album.” And what a cool album it is. Spoon’s sound, which has always had a lot of space and headroom, is perfect for dub production and Sherwood rips these songs apart and reassembles the parts in a whole new fashion. In some cases, songs are given an entirely different backbone, with conga-and-tom-heavy percussion and new reggae arrangements (“The Devil & Mr Jones,” “Satellite,” “On the Radio”), while others get more of the echo box trip to outer space, and “Wild,” the closest Spoon have ever come to a stadium anthem, is transformed into Screamadelica-era Primal Scream. What started as an experiment turned into a very cool album that not only stands on its own but is equal, in its own way, to the original.

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Carla dal Forno – Come Around (Kallista)
The Australian artist’s first album in three years favorably recalls the minimalist work of Young Marble Giants

Australian artist Carla Dal Forno took a break from music after 2019’s Look Up Sharp and didn’t touch an instrument or sing in any professional capacity for a year and a half — coinciding at least partially with the pandemic — and also left the city for rural Castlemaine in Central Victoria. When she eventually began playing and recording again, small town life had an influence on her music. While she’s always favored simple arrangements, Come Around is her most minimal record yet, with most tracks little more than spare vintage drum machines, bass and voice, while atmospheric synths very lightly fill in the edges of the echoey production. It’s hard not to think of post-punk cult band Young Marble Giants when listening to songs like “Stay Awake,” “Mind You’re On,” “Slumber” (a duet with Thomas Bush), and the winsome title track, but Carla brings her own unique energy and voice to these quietly inviting songs

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SAULT – 11, Earth, (Untitled) God, Today & Tomorrow, AIIR (SAULT Global)
Five new albums from SAULT, praise be to Inflo

Does Inflo sleep? Here’s five new albums! As usual, SAULT doesn’t give any details with these and as they’re just available as a WeTransfer download link, you can’t glean any credits — guest vocalists, that sort of thing — like you can on Spotify or TIDAL, so we’re going just on the music here. And it’s a lot of music, nearly five hours worth, and with just a cursory listen it’s all unsurprisingly cool. You might want to start with 11, the latest in their numbered line (X, an EP. came out earlier this fall) that puts the global in SAULT, incorporating all that they do: wiry funk, lush jazz, stirring modern composition, soul, reggae, afrobeat, samba, ‘70s movies soundtracks, etc with a host of guest vocalists and a few pop concessions. Inflo’s production on 11 (and all the albums) is immaculate, a low fi (“vintage”?), weathered style that sounds unearthed and genuine. It’s also one of the albums in this basket that sports a color cover (red), which is new to SAULT’s previous black-and-gold world. Earth is the other with a solid color cover (green, of course), offering the sunniest disposition of the bunch, dipping into Minnie Riperton floral territory here and there. Today & Tomorrow (blue moon cover art), meanwhile, dives into groovy psych rock full of fuzzy bass and soulful vocals. The other two albums have helpfully labeled genres: AIIR is modern classical in the Aaron Copeland line and close cousin to Air, which came out earlier this year; and (Untitled) God is tagged “gospel.” The longest album of the five by a length (73 minutes), God is Inflo’s idiosyncratic take on the genre with some absolutely gorgeous creations — “I Surrender,” with shades of Prince, might be the best thing on all five albums. Five albums, nearly four hours of new music, is a lot to drop on people all at once, but quality is high across all of this, and they’re literally giving it away. Who are we to say “send less”?

UPDATE: A week later, all five albums hit streaming:

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Old Fire – Voids (Western Vinyl)
Former Earlies member JM Lapham channels This Mortal Coil vibes on his new Old Fire album featuring vocals from Bill Callahan, Julia Holter and more

Producer and composer John Mark Lapham, who was a member of mid-’00s band The Earlies as well as The Late Cord and MEIN, also records eerie, atmospheric music as Old Fire . His second album under the name, Voids, features guest vocals from Bill Callahan, Julia Holter and Loma’s Emily Cross and Adam Torres, and also features instrumental contributions from Doveman’s Thomas Bartlett, saxophonist Josephn Shabason, The Earlies’ Christian Madden and more. Voids is in many ways a modern analogue to This Mortal Coil, the project of 4AD Records founder Ivo Watts-Russell and producer John Fryer, and is very much a late night album — featuring some cool covers — heavy on vibes. In fact, Ivo suggested John Martyn’s “Don’t You Go” to Lapham, which here is sung by Callahan. It’s a haunted, beautiful and thoughtful album, where musical motifs reappear throughout, making it best experienced as a whole, though songs like the jazzy, ethereal “Blue Star” featuring Emily Cross stand out on their own.

For more on Voids, read our track-by-track feature with Lapham.

La Femme – Teatro Lucido (Disque Pointu)
Not all of it works, but this Parisian band’s foray into Spanish music is pretty fun

La Femme’s music is hooky and fun, mixing psych and synthpop with tropical sounds and a variety of French subgenres. But for some the language barrier — they are decidedly Francophone — is a step too far. For those who wish La Femme would stop singing in French, their new album may be for you. It’s in Spanish! The album was inspired by touring in South America and Spain, and finds them dabbling in Brazilian, Andalusian and other latin motifs. Breezy and fun with heaps of style, like everything they do, Teatro Lucido feels a little more scattered than any record they’ve made before, mixing more standard La Femme-type songs, like the irresistible “Sacate la” and excellent reggaeton excursion “Contaminado,” with more esoteric numbers including “Maialen,” which plays with marching pasodoble styles (and may sound like circus music to some), and a few flamenco diversions. The result feels like a whirlwind trip to seven countries, or at least a slide show of the trip. Some of it is a natural fit, some of it falls under “you had to be there.”

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Ride -Nowhere / Going Blank Again / 4 EPs Reissues (Wichita)
“These are my favourite pressings ever of these albums” – Ride’s Andy Bell

Ride’s discography up through the early-’90s is pretty spotless, including their classic debut album Nowhere, one of the touchstone records of the OG shoegaze movement; their underrated second album, Going Blank Again, that found them expanding their sonic palette and emphasizing their voices as much as their guitar pedals; and four EPs that range from the youthful rush of Ride and Play, to the growing ambition of Fall, and the maturity and experimentation of Today Forever. All are essential and have just been reissued by the band’s current label Wichita Records. All of these originally came out when vinyl was on the decline and more care was probably put into CDs than the records (and none of them got vinyl releases in the US at the time). “These are my favourite pressings ever of these albums,” Andy Bell told us. “Creation was an amazing record label but they didn’t press on the greatest vinyl. I’d rather have one of these new ones than an original any day.” These reissues, which are also on CD, mark the first time the four EPs have been collected into one complete (triple album) set, and Going Blank Again now comes with four great b-sides from the era, including the song “Going Blank Again.” The biggest downside is they are currently UK-only, as the North American rights are controlled by Warner Music (they were signed to Sire in the U.S.). Hopefully they’ll see release here sooner than later, but for those who want it now will have to fork over for international shipping.

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µ-Ziq – Hello (Planet Mu)
MIke Paradinas’ third µ-Ziq record of 2022 is a delightful breakbeat trip down memory lane

Back in June, Mike Paradinas released Magic Pony Ride, his first µ-Ziq album to be released on his own Planet Mu label in a decade. If you were a µ-Ziq fan in the ’90s, the album was also a return to those days, loaded with jungle beats, warm, ambient textures, squelchy acid-house 303s and good vibes. That was the second µ-Ziq release of the year — the Goodbye EP came out in April — and he’s just released his third. Mike says Hello is the “the mirror image” of the Goodbye EP where “intensity is heightened, the breaks more manic and melodies inhabit every corner.” This is bright inviting stuff that stands up against Paradinas’ best work like 1997’s Lunatic Harness. The title track is an instant classic. For fans of ’90s heady dance music we’re currently having a bit of a resurgence (have you heard the new Orbital?) and Hello is another welcome chapter.

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Decius – Decius Vol 1 (The Leaf Label)
Members of Fat White Family and Warmduscher are part of this techno/acid house collective who just released their sweaty debut

Decius is an electronic group that includes Fat White Family’s Lias Saoudi, brothers Liam & Luke May (founders of Trashmouth Records), along with Warmduscher’s Quinn Whalley. They’ve been around for a while, having released a string of self-released 12″ singles over the last few years, and their performances include supporting slots for Daniel Avery, Erol Alkan, 2ManyDJs and Honey Dijon. Decius have now collected the best of those hard-to-find slabs of vinyl for their debut album. As with anything involving Saoudi, there is sleaze running through Decius’ veins, though the kind of debauchery here is kept mainly on the dancefloor, the kind you might experience three-quarters of the way through a 12-hour rave at Berlin’s legendary Berghain club where you’ve lost all sense of time.  Or as they put it: “Unwashed acid house and disco through a broken South London filter – from ‘70s New York bathhouses to ‘80s Chicago night clubs via the Brixton Windmill. Bring a towel.” Tracks like “Look Like a Man,” “Come to Me Villa,” “Show Me No Tears” and “Bread & Butter” are serious bangers.

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Seahawks – Infinite Echo (Cascine)
Super Furry Animals illustrator Pete Fowler is one half of this cosmic duo who specialize in balearic beats on ice

You may know Welsh artist Pete Fowler for his instantly recognizable illustrations that have graced Super Furry Animals record sleeves from almost the start. In addition to being an in-demand designer, Fowler is also quite the music head, a serious crate digger fond of obscure disco and psych and who, with partner Jon Tye, has been releasing cosmic disco as Seahawks since 2010. They are a very prolific duo and Infinite Echo is their latest, a balearic sunset of an album, layered with misty synthesizers, steamy saxophones, nylon string watercolor guitar, vibraphone and the chillest of beats. You could probably glean the way Infinite Echo is going to sound via its trippy album art and song titles like “Space Oracle,” “The Other Shore,” “Beams of Love” and “Forever Now,” but that doesn’t make these sounds any less inviting.

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Pye Corner Audio – Let’s Remerge! (Sonic Cathedral)
Sonic Boom takes Pye Corner Audio’s synthy psychedelia — featuring Ride’s Andy Bell —  even further into blissed-out territory

Back in July, Pye Corner Audio (aka analogue synth wiz Martin Jenkins) released Let’s Emerge!, an album that traded his usual dark, retro electronic soundscapes for bright psychedelia, and half of the album’s 10 songs featured guitar and vocals by Ride’s Andy Bell (they’d collaborated before). Now Jenkins has handed over a few of that album’s songs to Sonic Boom (aka Pete Kember formerly of Spacemen 3) to work his magic on. These songs were already pretty blissed-out, but Kember sets the controls for the heart of the sun for what is at times the aural equivalent of the last 20 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Coolest of the bunch: “Saturation Point,” which Kember refashions into Morricone-esque cinematic drama.

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Classic Goth’s 13 Greatest Albums

Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry – Talk About the Weather

Like Sisters of Mercy, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry hailed from Leeds, England and, early on, cribbed from Joy Division, with singer/guitarist Chris Reed sounding eerily like Ian Curtis at times -- though more often there was more ferocity than fragility in his growl. (Their records may beg otherwise but, for what it's worth, the band say their primary influence was MC5.) By the time of their 1985 debut album, Talk About the Weather, the Lorries had figured out their own variant within the genre and had become good songwriters, too. A lot of RLYL's best-ever songs are here, including the anthemic, Wire-eque "Hand on Heart" and the driving, danceable single "Hollow Eyes." With a mix of rhythm boxes and live drums, the scrappy mid-'80s indie production on Talk About the Weather has held up remarkably well, with songs like the punky, rigid "Happy," and the strutting title track which sounds rough, tough and dour, without ever laying it on too thick.

The Chameleons – The Script of the Bridge

While generally not lumped in with the early-'80s goth scene -- like Killing Joke they leaned more "post-punk" -- Manchester's The Chameleons have all the earmarks of the sound: Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding's delay-soaked guitars, that could be both driving and dreamy, John Lever's massive drums, and the foreboding bass and melodrama-drenched voice of frontman Mark Burgess. No matter what genre you put them in, their debut album, The Script of the Bridge, is fantastic. The Chameleons didn't sing about vampires, but Burgess painted a paranoid world where the walls were constantly closing in and "I must've died a thousand times, feeling less than human in God's eyes." Burgess' empathy, and Smithies and Fielding's inventive, interwoven guitar playing, make Script of the Bridge a marvel still today.

Off the Bone

Many groups projected a dark image, but The Cramps' Lux Interior seemed like the kind of person you would not want to encounter in a dark alley, and his band's music -- bare bones rockabilly -- was a party that always seemed seconds away from turning into a fight with broken liquor bottles, or perhaps the undead. It was mostly in good, campy fun, though, with Lux, guitarist Poison Ivy and the rest of the band (that included Kid "Congo" Powers for many years) spinning tales of the radioactive wasteland of the '50s nuclear family, fueled by late night TV and b-grade monster movies. Off the Bone, a UK compilation of the band's best stuff to date that was released while they were still in their early prime, has pretty much everything you need by The Cramps, including early classic "Human Fly," the lusty horror of "Goo Goo Muck," covers of "Fever" and "Surfin Bird," and hedonist anthem "New Kind of Kick." Bonus points: Off The Bone's amazing movie-poster-style cover art illustration is done in old-school 3-D, and original copies came with those red and green glasses needed to make it come alive.

Virgin Prunes – If I Die, I Die

Featuring not one, not two, but three very eccentric, flamboyant frontmen with voices to match -- not to mention The Edge's brother, Dik, on guitar -- Dublin's Virgin Prunes were genuine weirdos whose music was hard to pigeonhole but dipped often enough into the macabre to fit right in at the Batcave alongside Specimen and Sex Gang Children. Gavin Friday and Guggi were the main vocalists, sounding a bit like a new wave Smeagol and Gollum, with Dave-iD Busaras rounding out the trio of voices. (As teenagers, Friday and Guggi co founded an arty gang in Dublin called the Lypton Village with Bono; all members, like Dave-iD, were given new names that reflected their "true character.") Live shows were theatrical and confrontational -- to the point of getting them banned from a few clubs -- and the Prunes were known for high-concept releases like their "A New Form of Beauty" series which laid out their M.O. that being different was beautiful. In that respect Virgin Prunes were very beautiful indeed, as is their 1982 debut which was produced by Wire's Colin Newman. Ranging from mascara-smeared mutant disco ("Baby Turns Blue," "Pagan Lovesong"), to pretty pop ("Ballad of the Man") and creepy mood pieces ("Decline and Fall," "Theme for a Thought"), If I Die, I Die is a terrific, one-of a kind record for those willing to take the leap.

Dead Can Dance – Spleen and Ideal

While Dead Can Dance's music has become known for its sweeping, globe-trotting influences, the band began life in Australia as a more standard fare goth group, albeit one with two powerful singers: Lisa Gerrard, capable of vocal acrobatics and glossolalia (4AD's Ivo Watts-Russell said she used her voice "like a weapon"); and Brendan Perry whose melodramatic baritone could give Scott Walker a run for his money. It's what makes their 1984 self-titled debut gripping, even as they were still finding their sound (and dealing with hastily recorded, tinny production). It's their next album, though, where Dead Can Dance blossom into the group we know today, one who sounds like it belongs in a 300-year-old cathedral and not a grimy rock club. In fact, Spleen & Ideal's opening three tracks sound like church (a very ancient, ornate one), but from there the album opens up wide, incorporating '60s and '70s soundtrack music, grandiose strings (that furthered comparisons to Walker), and baroque arrangements and influences from around the world. You can still hear their post-punk origins in songs like "Advent" and "Avatar," but Dead Can Dance were now writing the kind of grandiose compositions other groups used as walk-on music.

This Mortal Coil – It’ll End in Tears

This Mortal Coil was the passion project of Ivo Watts-Russell, the founder of 4AD Records, where, with help from studio wiz John Fryer, he could take some of his favorite songs and turn them into spare, lush midnight music. Ivo couldn't play an instrument, but he knew what he wanted things to sound like. “It worked between us because we were both depressed motherfuckers at the time," said Fryer in 4AD biography Facing the Other Way. "He trusted me in the studio." TMC's first single remains their defining moment, an unforgettable cover of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" featuring Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie. To follow it up, Ivo called on most of his label's roster, including members of Dead Can Dance, The Wolfgang Press, Xmal Deutschland, and more. The result was It'll End in Tears, which blends Ivo's ear for covers with evocative nighttime instrumentals. "Song to the Siren" is here and Fraser also sings lead on a string quartet version of Roy Harper's "Another Day." There's also two knockout Big Star covers: " Kangaroo," featuring Magazine's Howard Devoto (and an incredible arrangement by Cocteau Twins' Simon Raymonde), and "Holocaust" sung by Cindytalk's Gordon Sharp. The album also features 4AD's other most famous voice, Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard, who sings on three songs. A rocking cover of Colin Newman's "Not Me" breaks the mood a little, but It'll End in Tears is still prime comedown music for those who like it dark.

Cocteau Twins – Treasure

When Cocteau Twins released their 1982 debut album, Garlands, there were flashes of the ethereal band they would become, but at that point they were basically better-than-most Banshees clones with a talented guitarist and promising lead singer. They improved by leaps and bounds on 1983's Head Over Heels, with Elizabeth Fraser flexing her vocal muscles and Robin Guthrie spinning delicate webs of guitar on "Sugar Hiccup." But it was Treasure, their first album as a trio with multi instrumentalist Simon Raymonde, where Cocteau Twins became the otherworldly group fans obsess over still. A truly gorgeous album, Treasure sounded like nothing else at the time, with Fraser's multi-octave range spiraling skyward, intertwined with Guthrie's celestial fretwork. Brian Eno was actually approached to produce but -- according to 4AD's Ivo Watts-Russell -- told the band, "I’m really flattered that you’ve asked, but I’d never have had the courage to use the size of reverb that you used on Head Over Heels!” and suggested they do it themselves. Which they did with fantastic results. Though their sound had mutated, Cocteau Twins were also still very, very goth, from the mix of synthy chimes and swirling acoustics of "Ivo" to the ornate melodrama of "Beatrix," the crashing, thunderous drum machines and jagged guitar and slithering bass of "Persephone" and "Cicely," and the choral ice palace of "Donimo." You also cannot discount the visual aspect of the Cocteaus, from Vaughn Oliver's iconic Treasure artwork (which adorned the walls of many a teenage goth's bedroom in the '80s), to their coifs that were as meticulously crafted as their music. Treasure is as much a world of lace and candles as Stevie Nicks was inhabiting at the time, just not one where Tom Petty might show up.

Bauhaus – Mask

In many ways, it's hard to get much more goth than Bauhaus, a four-piece from Northampton, UK whose introduction to the world was a 10-minute creep-out named after the actor who played Dracula that featured skeleton-like frontman Peter Murphy bellowing "I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm dead!" Bauhaus were a very talented band that pulled from a variety of sources, from glam (they all loved Bowie) to dub reggae, disco, and the many groups who'd just sprung up in the nascent post-punk scene. Though people at the time mostly focused on Murphy's "dark lord" presence, Bauhaus also featured the songwriting talents of bassist David J and guitarist/saxophonist Daniel Ash, while David's brother, Kevin Haskins, was a subtle beast behind the drumkit. Having left 4AD after their striking 1980 debut, In the Flat Field, Bauhaus released their second album, Mask, in 1981 via Beggars Banquet. While it may not contain anything as iconic as "Bela Lugosi's Dead" or "Dark Entries," Mask is an improvement over In the Flat Field across-the-board, with better songs, better production and arrangements, and more varied material. The album rips open with the pounding, urgent "Hair of the Dog" and songs like the breathless "Passion of Lovers," funky "Kick in the Eye" and skronky disco number "In Fear of Fear" are classics, as are the ferocious "Dancing" and "The Man with X-Ray Eyes." Mask's greatest quality may be that, as heavy as it can be, it's also fun, with welcome flashes of wry humor (mostly from David J) -- a quality that most of their dead-serious contemporaries lacked.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Tender Prey

"Unfortunately all the worst sides of my output in my creative life seem to have been adopted by people as the most influential ones," Nick Cave told NME writer Jack Barron back in 1988, shortly before the release of Tender Prey, speaking of his influence on the goth rock scene. "I'd hate to go down in history as the No 1 goth, the man who spawned a thousand goth bands with stacked hairstyles, no personality, pale sick people." As far as pale sick people went, Cave's late-'70s/early-'80s band The Birthday Party were arguably the sickest of them all (and plenty pale even without corpse paint), bringing a genuine intensity -- and palpable threat of violence -- to their live shows and, to a lesser extent, their records. Going solo with the Bad Seeds, Cave dialed back the fury and noise, opting instead for a more suave and sophisticated musical approach while still exploring his favorite themes -- love, sex, death, religion -- with the fire and brimstone fervor of a man on the brink. With a Murderers' Row lineup of the Bad Seeds, including Kid "Congo" Powers, Einstersturzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey, Roland Wolf, and Thomas Wylder, Cave delivered his greatest record to date. Tender Prey opens with "The Mercy Seat," which remains one of The Bad Seeds' signature songs, sung from the point of view of a man awaiting execution on the electric chair, and is as riveting as it gets. And the album keeps delivering, be it groovy garage rock rock ("Oh Deanna"), lush '60s orch pop ("Slowly Goes the Night"), or spaghetti western ballads ("Mercy"). Death was at the heart of nearly every song, and with Cave's distinctive baritone wail, Tender Prey is as gothic as it gets, even if in his case, the bats had long left the belfry.

The Cure – Faith

Picking one album by The Cure for this list is difficult, as there are at least three from the '80s that are contenders. If you want them wallowing in despair, it's Pornography. If you still want them wallowing but with lots of hits, it's Disintegration. But 1981's Faith is where Robert Smith fully embraced the moping as a stylistic choice, while still retaining a little spring in his step -- and the more minimal sound -- that they sported on their first two albums. Things might've turned out differently, though. "The initial demos that we did in my mom and dad’s dining room are really quite upbeat," Robert Smith told Rolling Stone. But then, the whole band had a close death in the family. "Within about two weeks, the whole mood of the band had completely changed. I wrote 'The Funeral Party' and 'All Cats Are Grey” in one night, and that really set the tone for the album." Memorable, drowned basslines lead more songs than not (see "Other Voices," "Holy Hour," the title track) and work in tandem with tom-heavy drum patterns. Guitars spin delicate threadwork, glacial synthesizers spread permafrost, and brittle echo covers everything. Despite a couple relatively upbeat tracks, Robert Smith seems resigned to his mood, as is evident just from song titles like "The Funeral Party," "The Drowning Man" and, what's one of the best, most Cure-like titles ever, "All Cats Are Grey." Faith is a mood, but Smith and company haven't completely shut all the curtains just yet.

Joy Division – Closer

So much of what we know as classic "goth" was born out of Joy Division's sound that it's both difficult to overestimate the band's significance and, for some, to understand their significance, as Ian Curtis' tortured vocals, Peter Hook's basslines, Stephen Morris' tom-heavy drumming and Bernard Sumner's wiry guitars have been imitated endlessly since. (See nearly every band on this list in some way or another.) But where some of the other artists to follow in their footsteps appropriated their style because they liked the way it sounded and looked, Joy Division were the real deal. Closer was the group's defining, final statement, released two months after the suicide of Curtis. (The cover art, featuring a tombstone from an Italian cemetery, was in production before his death.) "This is the way, step inside," our guide Curtis sings on the album's opening song, "Atrocity Exhibition," letting us into a dark world that is all rolling drums, moody bass, and guitars that sound nearly as industrial as the factory machines producer Martin Hannett mixed in. That tone stayed throughout the album: "Isolation," with its icy synthesizers and rapid-fire bass; the metallic, heavy "Colony"; the death disco of "A Means to An End"; the sleek, sexy "Heart and Soul"; and the somber closing tracks "The Eternal" and "Decades." The mood is bleak and unrelenting, though Martin Hannett may have hit on the best description, at least for this list's purposes: "dancing music with Gothic overtones."

Siouxsie & the Banshees – Juju

Siouxsie & The Banshees' 1980 album, Kaleidoscope, was their first to feature both drummer Budgie and former Magazine guitarist John McGeoch, but it was their next album that took full advantage of the new lineup's alchemy. Spinning off the highs of Kaleidoscope singles "Happy House" and "Christine" (and 1980 standalone single "Israel"), the Banshees pushed the highs even higher for what is their best album, mixing dark, mysterious world influences into their signature sound that has proved highly influential on countless bands, whether the Banshees liked it or not. McGeoch, whose inventive playing is across-the-board fantastic here, was quoted in the liner notes for the 2006 reissue of Juju that it was “simply not true” that the Banshees were goth. “It simplifies things too much to give it a label like that. We were more thriller than horror movie, more Hitchcockian blood-dripping-on-a-daisy than putting fangs in something.” The band protest too much, especially on a record involving voodoo, witches and a song titled "Halloween," not to mention the general creepy atmosphere of inky classics like "Spellbound," "Arabian Nights," "Night Shift," and Siouxsie's next-level vocal performance on "Head Cut." But like most great albums, Juju transcends genre, even if its sound was mimicked by dozens of inferior bands.

The Sisters of Mercy – Floodland

If Joy Division unwittingly helped create goth, and the closing of Batcave signaled the end, then Sisters of Mercy welded the lid shut with the over-the-top late-'80s widescreen glory that is 1987's Floodland. When members Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams left the group to form The Mission (UK), Andrew Eldritch and erstwhile drum machine Doktor Avalanche initially renamed themselves Sisterhood but soon refashioned Sisters of Mercy with former Bags/Gun Club bassist Patricia Morrison to make their defining statement. (Morrison, who would later join The Damned, doesn't actually play on the album, but her face looks out across the water on the album cover, and her style added much to the videos from this record.) At the center of the album is the truly epic "This Corrosion" which was produced by Jim Steinman -- who wrote and produced Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell albums (and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and more) -- which is so ridiculous (the 40-piece choir) it tips fully into genius. It's not even the best song; that would be "Lucretia My Reflection" with its killer bassline, ferociously whispered vocals and mix of power chords, synths and thundering drums. There's also opener "Dominion" / "Mother Russia," the crawling, synthy "Flood 1," the windswept acoustics of "Flood II," and sullen torch song "1959." In a genre that is rarely subtle, Eldritch swings for the fences and connects right down to the clever/stupid line for a home run. Turn it up loud, let the Floodland wash over you and sing "This Corrosion" with him.