YOUR SPOCK ROCK HAIR CUT

1.	spock rock	16 up, 11 down
	A silly nickname for Emo music due to some of the haircuts.

It's safe to say that the 2010's is experiencing a revival of Goth and industrial synth-based music from the '80s. Bauhaus and Cocteau Twins as well as lesser known Clan of Xymox show up on my FB feed often. I ran across a great Euro '80s synth compilation called Maskindans via Minimal Wave which friends get down to at house parties when we can stealth our way to the laptop music controls. The return to darker awesomeness in our digital musical collections has been appropriate as many current bands have been directly influenced by (if not copying from) 1980's morose pop tomes (ex. Cold Cave's obvious Joy Division/New Order steez).


In between the 80's and now, the dark wave was growing even though there was something of a backlash against pop (and, in a lot of ways, new wave) due to the uprising of grunge. But the '90s did have its share of continuing what the '80s had begun. Remember the early '90s wave of "industrial" music? Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails loved David Bowie, Joy Division and Bauhaus, but more closely in the '80s he was also likely influenced by Skinny Puppy and though he's never admitted to being influenced by Swans, it's clearly obvious to anyone familiar with both groups that he is. Friends of Trent, Marilyn Manson had their own glam, goth and industrial influences to embark on and those two groups were '90s mainstream staples for industrial rock (NIN more so the 1st half and MM more so the 2nd). They were much heavier, faster, and louder than the Goth new wave of the previous decade.



Another label by scene king Justin Pearson, Three One G (aptly named after a Joy Division song), created enough vinyl for these post-hardcore bands to form a far away dream scene in our overeager teen hands. His group The Locust was one of the most popular band to come out of San Diego hardcore. They were spazzy and embraced breakdowns and synth, slightly grindcore, and theatrical via space-age bug costumes. Holy Molar also had a theatrical thematic schtick (dentists) while maintaining a similar musical sound.


Antioch Arrow were a truly spazzy outfit from mid-'90s San Diego. They were known for their short blasts of songs and incredibly energetic live shows. Their last record, Gems of Masochism, flirted more with a dark burlesque sound, angering some of their more traditional hardcore fans and smittening their more artsy-fartsy lovers. Members of this band remained involved in the West Coast scene long after Antioch Arrow's split. Guitarist Jeff Winterberg was also a photographer who documented many rad bands in his book, Rat-a-Tat Birds; he was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and there is a fund for his medical expenses. Drummer Maxamillion (then known as Ron Avila or Ron Anarchy) is an overall nice amazing dude who has played with other rad West Coast bands like Get Hustle, Glass Candy, Chromatics, Holy Molar, Final Conflict amongst others (now in the band Atriarch). He was very involved in the scene on the West Coast. He once pointed out to me at an ATL Goth dance night how the stuff being played (OMD, New Order) were bands jocks listened to in the '80s and how he was really into Slayer during high school - a little perspective to consider about our current obsession with the past.


Angel Hair hailed from Colorado between 1992 and 1995. Songs with titles like "Witch Hunt Scene from Star Trek", "The Wax Museum" and "Space Ape" denoted their interest in retro sci-fi and futurism. Singer Sonny Kay founded Gold Standard Laboratories, a successful label to many later bands who followed suit (in suits) with the keyboards and tight pants (The Faint, An Albatross, Le Shok, The Rapture). Sonny went on to form The V.S.S., known to be "jarring, strangely glamorous and, on some inexplicable level, smarter than that made by most bands of its ilk", carrying along the similar themes of science with dark tones and keys. Kay's short-lived Year Future gave off the same element of science.


Lesser known, The Audience had one record (Das Audience, now out of print but it can be downloaded on Pukekos) and they are a great example of the Goth crossover. Aesthetically they hammed up the blown out black hair, black eyeliner and sleazy '70s suits while using synths and violins all over dancey but mournful songs. Very little documentation about this band exists online, a shame because their entire full length was wonderful.


Another underrated band from the same era was Shortwave Channel (who later went on to be Camera Obscura though not to be confused with more popular 4AD's Glasgow Camera Obscura). Shortwave Channel had one full length in 1998 called Bright Lights They Hurt, driving songs fueled by bass lines and synth with emotive vocals half softly sung, half screamed (download it here).