music for angsty romantics.

aaaaaand this blog is back. here’s a song that builds like an ira levin novel, complete with a darkly cinematic but kind of confusing music video.

too late, december’s already gone. 80s musicians really like to rhyme the word "remember" with "december"—no other month like september or november sounds as poetic, i suppose—and it makes me feel really conflicted because so far i have made zero meaningful romantic memories in any of the decembers i've lived through so far.

garbage posted a music video for this strange little birds song and it’s just as surreal and freaky and wonderful as you’d expect.

you bring your light, i’ll bring the pain / you bring your joy, i’ll bring my shame

“jack white tied up” is pretty much my aesthetic. anyway, if you’d also care to see jack white tied up, this is the one music video you should watch this halloween.

happy halloween! or merry christmas, if you’re a computer scientist. i’d apologize for having been absent since starting school at carnegie mellon, but basically nobody follows this blog anyway. 

this dark pop band’s name comes from the way bela lugosi addressed his mistress in love letters, supposedly. 

you know i’m half crazy for you / and there’s nothing you can do…

in creating their cover version, the birthday massacre made a few changes to the lyrics of tiffany’s song to transform it from a light-hearted pop love song to a true dark love song. despite these slight alterations, their version is still much more danceable than the 80s original.

Controller.controller’s music is somehow no longer on Spotify. So now I have to actually watch some of their music videos. I’m not sure what’s going on in this one.

posting because this awesome canadian dance-punk band is touring america with BRMC this fall, with their first concert date being at the cleveland house of blues on october 11. see you there.

This song—and most of the brief album it comes from—is more like Clear Hearts Grey Flowers Jack Off Jill than the scarling. that the band scarling. later became. And Sweet Heart Dealer had several of the same personnel as the aforementioned JOJ album: Chris Vrenna as producer, Mark Ryden as the album cover artist, and, of course, Jessicka. It wasn’t quite melodious goth rock yet, but it was more shoegaze than alternative metal. 

I just wanna lie here / just wanna lie here / just wanna lie here, next to you…

the song that parts of this song reminds you of is probably “a forest” by the cure. that makes “blackout” the most gothic piece on garbage’s new album. 

here’s a song & music video from the late 90s, featuring: dancing cowboys, a truly scary scarecrow, 1999 dolores o’riordan, and interesting cinematographic use of color. there are cool-colored scenes, and warm-colored scenes in this video; there’s no in between. 

maybe we should burn the house down / have ourselves another fight / leave the cobwebs in the closet / cause tearing them out is just not right

continuing with the temporary hip-hop theme for today—or, actually posting songs by artists who have influenced my own musical style—here’s a fantastically weird & dark music video by dessa, for a song from her album a badly broken code about dessa’s observations regarding another woman’s abusive relationship. let’s smash the patriarchy together, with incredibly well-written raps. yes, dessa is a poet.

everybody knew you / as the wife of a famous man / everybody who knew said / there goes dixon’s girl again

and now for something completely different…

clipping.’s new EP wriggle was just released, and i’m pretty sure this song is by far the best on it. the 51-second nearly-a-cappella rap intro was pretty good too, but nothing beats a noise-hop dark love song.

sleigh bells released a new song today (”rule number one”), and it’s amazing & totally hardcore but not exactly a good fit for this blog. however, it reminded me of the simple fact that this amazing noise pop band exists, and on top of that, that alexis krauss & derek miller have made some great music videos. if you’re looking for a more energetic love song, check out their song “love sick.”