The Goth/Post-Punk Revival Top 50 of 2020 - Pt 4, 35 - 31

 Part four of the The Goth/Post-Punk Revival blog’s Top 50 of 2020 features several bands whom I first discovered via various bloggers and DJ’s, and I want to thank all those promoting the scene for the great work they do in helping fellow aficionados to find quality new music. There’s so much out there that you sometimes need a trusted guide to navigate your way through the mounds of what one might charitably call “work in progress” to find the one or two golden nuggets released each day somewhere across the planet. So take a bow Ken and co at Sounds and Shadows, Azy and Maus at Obscura Undead, Jason, Tzina and the team at Absolution, DJ Skullgirdle, those at Isolation, Frontiere Rock and Songs of Preys, Mick Mercer, Indrek, Post-Punk.com, Darko The Post Punker, WL/WH, Sideline, Clint Dao, George Chlioumis, Sound In The Distance and so many others who work hard to keep the scene alive.

Anyway, back to the countdown, and where better to start the next instalment than with a band from “goth city” itself, Leeds:

 

 

35 Klammer – I Don’t Know What It Is

The first Leeds band of this year’s countdown also featured last year, again with a cover. Last year it was a punked-up Being Boiled, whereas it’s the late Pete Shelley who gets the Klammer treatment in 2020 with a version of one of the three singles from his seminal Homosapien album. I Don’t Know What It Is features the lovelorn lyrics and strong sense melody for which Shelley was infamous for a chief songwriter for Buzzcocks in the punk era, and although his early work as a solo artist didn’t enjoy commercial success, the Homosapien album was a big club hit as the Futurist movement gave way to the equally Bowie-influenced positive punk scene. Klammer’s version keeps the original’s subtleties whilst adding an edgier angle to emphasise its post-punk roots, and features on a compilation tribute album raising funds to establish a permanent legacy for the great man.

https://notmurderedrecords.bandcamp.com/track/i-dont-know-what-it-is

34 Icy Men – Raindrops

Ukranian darkwave duo Icy Men were back with a strong sophomore album in 2020, building on the promise and word-of-mouth success of their debut on Cold Transmission. Low Light was an excellent album full of string-bending minor key melancholy, wonderfully unpredictable basslines and an atmosphere as cold as the band’s name, with this track Raindrops, a typically thrilling example, showcasing a genuine beauty in the overall bleakness.

33 The Funeral March of The Marionettes - Useless

One of the features of the gothic revival has been the re-emergence of a host of bands schooled amidst the key gothic tropes of the late 1980’s, like wonderfully-named US band The Funeral March of The Marionettes, who take their moniker from the classical Gounod piece with a similar title which was the theme tune of the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. 2020 single Useless (A Foolish Arrangement) with its Banshees guitar sequences, spooky rhythm section and understated vocal was a stunning return to form in a year when the band also released some previously unavailable tracks from 1993.

32 The Midnight Computers – Tears

French act The Midnight Computers’ mini-album Anxious, released on the ever-reliable Swiss Dark Nights label was largely competent but unremarkable synthwave fare, but Tears featured a scuzzy bassline and a driving beat which elevated it not only above the rest of this album but over the majority of releases in this crowded genre. The video also hints at the passion and energy of live shows from darkwave bands which we have all missed so much in 2020.

31 1983 – Baile de Mascaras (Dissonancia sessions)

Brazilian band 1983 have been slowly raising their profile since their debut releases in 2018, and this year they performed a live Dissonancia studio session released simultaneously as a YouTube video and as a download via Bandcamp. Led by singer/guitarist Dennis Sinned/Monteiro, the trio operate very much in territory which will be familiar to fans of Pornography era The Cure, and this live session containing some of their better tracks such as O Corpo and Baile de Mascaras hints at bright future for a band who rightly prioritise music over image.