#90s darkwave

Element - “The Sound of Angels” Goth’s Undead Song released in 1991. Compilation released in 1997. Darkwave

Found a short bio of this L.A. County-based darkwave / goth rock band from a 2001 archive of the website that belonged to an early aughts downtempo and big beat duo called Papa Byrd, which founding member Scott C started after he left Element:

Scott C, a struggling young musician spent most of his time writing instrumental electronic soundscapes for a project called Fade when along came Shane Talada, hot off the heels of the extremely popular, and quite violent Screaming To God a grinding industrial outfit.  Shane had been writing songs on a personal basis for years and had shelved much of his early works on some vintage synthesizers located in a small studio built outside of his house.  Not long after STG's demise, Shane met up with Scott Cleaver to start fidling [sic] around with some experimental ideas.  They both fused and created Element.  As it turns out, Element worked better as an electronic dance outfit and early tracks written were purely electronic. They needed more members to be able to pull the whole plan off live and recruited Jeremy Meza.  Jeremy Meza brought guitar skills to the table and with additional member David Skott on bass, Element was ready for prime time.

Element enjoyed some success with their single, The Sound of Angels released on Cleopatra's 2 CD box set, "Goth's Not Dead".  However time waits for no one, and by the time it had come out, Scott had left the band to pursue another project called Papa Byrd.  Shane and Jeremy went on to play with Komunity FK and Faith and the Muse.  David Skott's whereabouts are unknown.  Many believe him to be missing.

Element still plays and tours extensively to this day with revolving members.

If you're wondering if they ever found David Skott like I was, have no fear. I found an article that was promoting a goth event that he was slated to DJ at in 2008. *phew* 😅

OK, so, although that Element bio says that "The Sound of Angels" gained popularity with its inclusion on Cleopatra Records' Goth's Not Dead (that's a typo; it's actually Goth's Undead) compilation, which came out in 1997, the fact of the matter is that this song actually originally came out in 1991 on the band's debut release, a cassette called Red meat & beauty queens ep. But whether or not they re-recorded it for 1997, I really don't know.

But that's the wild thing about this brand of darkwave goth rock stuff. It's a type of music that's perpetually managed to leave itself stuck in the 80s, by choice. And it's not really a revivalist or neo- thing either. It's just music that continued to serve a small and hungry niche long after the gothic 80s had served its purpose to a mainstream audience. With most songs, you can probably tell the difference between something that was recorded between 1991 and 1997, but with a darkwave song like this one, it's really hard to tell!

And, I mean, you just have to tip your hat to a scene or cultural movement that has the ability to sustain itself for that long of a period of time off of a specific kind of sound. It's impressive. How I wish there was some kind of extant scene that still churned out 80s freestyle-laced pop burners like "Tell It to My Heart" 🥺 , but alas, the only kind of music that's seemed to really keep the 80s alive and pure is this darkwave stuff. And you can make a case for all the synthwave that's going around these days, but that's really a recent phenomenon. Darkwave's been around since the 80s and it's always sounded like it was from the 80s. There's not much else that you can really say the same of.

So, I ask you, do you think this 80s-sounding song, with its very varied ethereal synth work, its dark drum machine percussion, its brooding, UK-inspired, soft boy goth vocals, and its faintly acidic bass stabs is from 1991 or 1997? I myself really have no clue. All I can say is that Scott Cleaver's penchant for crafting electronic soundscapes is pretty apparent in a song like this one and it's cool that he took that skill and was able to fit it remarkably well into a dark, gothic framework alongside Shane Talada.

Athamay - “Kiss the Whip” The Gothic Sounds of Nightbreed Song released in 1996. Compilation released in 1998. Goth / Darkwave

So, if I was gonna make a playlist that was called something like, "Songs From the 90s, But Not From the Early 90s, That Sound Like They're From the 80s," this and probably a bunch of other gothic/darkwave tunes would be on it. See, the 80s didn't actually die when pop music decided that it was time to move on to some other shit; deep in the subversive underground, the goths and BDSM folks actually managed to keep that synthesizer-and-drum-machine-driven content going for a looooong time past December 31, 1989. And now, the synths, they've come full circle, folks! Despite all the technological advances that we've made in music, with digital audio workstations and such, the sounds that emanate from an analog 1980s synthesizer are something that we've actually come to cherish again. And we absolutely love it!

So here's one of those 90s goth bands that sang about BDSM and who helped to keep that 80s goth sound on life support. Athamay, a British trio, who were fronted by a woman who merely goes by the letter J, only released one album in 1996, and then a mini-album promo on CDr in 2003, but they've also operated under the name Torturetekk as well, and as Torturetekk they released one album in 2000, and then returned just last year with a couple mp3 singles, too.

That 1996 Athamay album though, features a fun tune called "Kiss the Whip," which then appeared a couple years later on a comp that was put out by Cleopatra Records called The Gothic Sounds of Nightbreed.

Now, I can't say for certain that people in the 80s actually found synth-laden goth stuff to be particularly spooky, but I'm guessing that if they did, by 1996 that spookiness had definitely worn off, and those who were still digging that dark, 80s synth sound at that point just found it more endearing, nostalgic, and fun than anything else. At least that's the vibe I get from a song like this one. A sound and scene that was once considered edgy had turned passé and inoffensive, but just because the shock had evaporated doesn't mean the music wasn't still good, especially if you can't get enough of an 80s synth sound, which is a sound that I, myself, happen to love.

So, with that said, despite the fact that I don't think that I'll ever be interested in doing BDSM anytime soon, I can still dig the shit out of a song like this. One reason is that the synth work and drum track are great as they really channel a classic, definitive 80s sound. But there's something about a spoken-word, deadpan female vocal that I love, too, and I think that's grounded in the idea of someone being so arrogant as to think that they're actually above the concept of singing. I guess there's, like, a rejection of tradition in that, too, like how a lot of punk vocalists purposely try not to sing like a trained professional. But with a vocal like J's, you can actually understand what she's saying 😅 .