Goth Music

From Sound to Subculture

Isabella van Elferen, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317962977
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Is "goth music" a genre, and if so, how does it relate to the goth subculture? The music played at goth club nights and festivals encompasses a broad range of musical substyles, from gloomy Batcave reverberations to neo-medieval bagpipe drones and from the lush vocals of goth metal to the harsh distortion of goth industrial. Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture argues that within this variegated musical landscape a number of key consistencies exist. Not only do all these goth substyles share a number of musical and textual characteristics, but more importantly these aspects of the music are constitutive of goth social reality. Drawing on their own experiences in the European and American goth scenes, the authors explore the ways in which the sounds of goth inform the scene's listening practices, its fantasies of other worlds, and its re-enchantment of their own world. Goth music, this book asserts, engenders a musical timespace of its own, a musical chronotope that is driven by nostalgic yearning.

Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture reorients goth subcultural studies onto music: goth music must be recognized not only as simultaneously diverse and consistent, but also as the glue that holds together goth scenes from all over the world. It all starts with the music.

1 Goth Musical Styles

Central to this book are the assertions that goth music, rather than being one equivalent subcultural practice among many, is the glue that holds the goth scene together; that the rubrics “goth” and the compound “goth/industrial” are elastic, encompassing a surprising degree of musical diversity; and that goth music is “glocal,” broadly shared around the world while incorporating regional variation.¹ To help illustrate these observations, we first turn to two well-known events with which the authors have personal experience. These events, Dracula’s Ball in Philadelphia, USA, and Göttertanz in Leipzig, Germany, have markedly different characters and take place on separate continents; together, however, they present an interesting cross-section of glocal goth musical activity. Comparing the playlists, practices, and general tenor of these two very different events foregrounds the extraordinary variation in music and mood that characterizes modern goth. Developing from this comparison, we then offer a more general overview of the diversity of goth musical styles. To accomplish this, we make use of four provisional categories proposed in Van Elferen’s Gothic Music and analyze representative musical examples. These considerations of particular songs highlight qualities of goth music that will be scrutinized in more detail in Chapter Two. We conclude this chapter with a consideration of goth media that relates the glocal character of contemporary goth to new modes of musical production, distribution, and consumption. Here we assert that modern digital technologies, by both internationalizing goth and fostering increasingly specific sub-sub-genres, necessitate a reconsideration of older models of musical subcultures emphasizing regional character and variation. Ideas of a “goth scene” or discrete subculture must be rethought in what Van Dijck refers to in the title of her book as the modern “culture of connectivity.”

Goth Events

Dracula’s Ball, Philadelphia, USA

Dracula’s Ball is an all-ages vampire-themed goth event that takes place quarterly in Philadelphia and averages about 1,000 patrons. The gathering, which celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2013, generally features two live bands—usually pairing a local or lesser-known opening act with a better established headliner—and three DJs in three different dance spaces: a main dance floor, an age-restricted “lounge” area, and a separate “groove garden.” Although the bands appearing at the event, which have included Project Pitchfork, And One, Qntal, Collide, Voltaire, Angelspit, Unheilig, and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, tend to receive top billing, DJs hail from across North America and occasionally internationally. A handful of vendors advertising products of interest to patrons (typically clothing and goth accoutrements) are on hand, as is the occasional pop culture celebrity of sorts such as Anne Rice or Dame Darcy.

The queue to enter the event typically develops well before the doors open at the surprisingly early time of 9 PM. Although Dracula’s Ball enforces no dress code, the young-looking crowd for the most part comes swathed in black and buckles, leather and lace. Dress is eclectic with no particular theme emphasized: corsets on women are common, the occasional top-hat is sported by the gentlemen, florescent cybergoth touches can be found on both men and women, and some more ambitious patrons come in costume—including one gentleman who routinely appears dressed as Jesus and takes up a position on the dance floor that he seldom surrenders as he moves to the music until the event closes at 3:30 AM. For those who are not quite sure what to wear, the website for the event offers some guidance:

Our vampiric theme lends itself to a number of styles. The classic Victorian Dracula look is always appropriate. You can even stretch a bit and go with a Renaissance or medieval look if you like. Poet’s shirts, bodices, top hats, and the like are quite acceptable. The modern vampire look (Blade, Lost Boys, Underworld) is also quite popular—slinky black dresses, leather pants, vinyl skirts, leather jackets, mesh shirts, and the like will fit in quite well. Formal wear is also suitable—elegant dresses and tuxedos are welcome, although you may find them a bit restrictive to dance in. Business attire will be noticeably out of place. (Draculasball.com)

Some patrons clearly live the goth lifestyle all the time, while others attending Dracula’s Ball may be new to the scene and simply looking for something different to do in Philadelphia. Dance styles are as eclectic as the crowd, with industrial stompers and theatrical full-body performers fighting for space on the crowded dance floor.

In the location it occupied until October of 2013—Philadelphia’s nightclub Shampoo, which was not a dedicated goth venue but rather hosted a variety of dance events—Dracula’s Ball was entered by passing through security at the exterior doors, descending stairs and traversing a large antechamber, and then at last entering the cavernous main hall where one was hit with the full force of the pulsing music and swirling lights. Although smoking was prohibited within the venue by law, fog machines were used freely, which intensified the murky, phantasmagoric effect. Those over 21 received a plastic wristband upon entering that allowed access to the restricted 21+ areas where alcohol was served. Non-alcoholic beverages were available in the main hall.

Figure 1.1 The main hall at Dracula’s Ball as viewed from the DJ station, with crowd facing the stage for Ayria. Photo JAW.

After entering, one was forced to make one’s way through the crowd and toward the back of the hall to explore the extensive space. To one’s left, a staircase going up allowed access to a mezzanine bar overlooking the main dance floor. Vendors were positioned along the back of the hall, and to one’s right one could leave the main hall and access either the open-air patio “groove garden” (where smoking was allowed) or, for those 21 and over, descend to the venue’s basement lounge space. In contrast to the industrial warehouse feel of the main hall, the lounge space worked to create a more intimate feel with sofas, private alcoves, and red draped fabric. There was also a narrow dance space set apart from the bar area in its own room.

Figure. 1.2 Detail of lounge space at Dracula’s Ball (www.devotionnightclub.com).

Our claim concerning the generic hybridity of music categorized broadly as goth is borne out by the event’s website, which explains, “Our guest DJs play music in a variety of genres to fit our general mood, including gothic, new wave, industrial, synthpop, metal, EBM, eighties, world music, and more. Fast, slow, sensual, hard, dark, mystical, heavy, loud, lush; the list of musical adjectives is long” (Draculasball.com). The accuracy of this characterization can be attested to by co-author of this study, Jeffrey Weinstock, who has appeared as a DJ at Dracula’s Ball several times under the name DJ cypher, most recently in 2011. On that occasion, sharing DJ duties with Boston’s DJ Jack Phoenix and “celebrity DJ” Chris Vrenna, Jeffrey had the opportunity to spin both on the main floor before and between the bands and then in the separate downstairs 21+ lounge space. His sets on the main floor emphasized electro-industrial and featured tracks from bands including Combichrist, Zombie Girl, Noisuf-X, :wumpscut:, and Skinny Puppy. His lounge set, in contrast, highlighted ’80s-era goth and new wave seasoned with dashes of punk and psychobilly: The Bolshoi, New Model Army, Nick Cave, Tones on Tail, The Cramps, the Clash, and so on (see appendix 1 for full set lists).

In developing these sets—loosely planned in advance but accommodating requests and responsive to crowd reaction at the occasion itself—Jeffrey took into consideration not only the overall tenor of the event, but the immediate context: two electro-industrial bands and two other DJs. The featured artists—Canada’s Ayria and Australia’s Angelspit—are both high-energy electro-industrial acts, the first with a bubbly synthpop tendency, the second with a harder-edged guitar presence and hip-hop vocal style. The expectation for the main floor therefore was material generally in keeping with the up-tempo aggressively dance-oriented mood of the featured artists. Moving downstairs to the separate 21+ lounge area, Jeffrey made a conscious decision to focus on material other than the mostly contemporary electro-industrial featured on the main floor. A more eclectic mix including ’80s goth such as Specimen and Alien Sex Fiend and new wave such as Alphaville was appreciated by a (marginally) older crowd interested more in socializing and libations than dancing.

Göttertanz at Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Leipzig, Germany

One weekend a year the old German town of Leipzig turns black (Figure 1.3). A festival rather than a discrete event like Dracula’s Ball, the annual Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT) takes place during the weekend of Whitsun and attracts on average 20,000 visitors from as far away as Japan, Australia, and Mexico (“Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig”) With more than 200 Goth bands in just four days, WGT is in fact the largest goth festival in the world (“Wave-Gotik-Treffen Bandselection”). The program has included a range of acts from major bands like Clan of Xymox, Diary of Dreams, Lacrimosa, VNV Nation, and Welle:Erdball to smaller ones like Darkwood, Schneewittchen, and Wardruna.

Figure 1.3 Street view at Wave-Gotik-Treffen. Photo IvE/Arjo Klein 2015.

As the Autobahn and the railways spew fantastically dressed Victorian, pagan, cyber, and fetish goth, the soundscape of the town changes and darkens. Walking down the streets or nipping in and out of the numerous venues, one passes through a remarkably varied soundscape that may change from medieval, pagan, and neo-folk via Batcave, gothic rock, and black metal to shoegazer, electronic body music (EBM), and hellektro—goth substyles we will define and analyze in detail below. The venues themselves add their own reverberation to WGT’s auditory experience: the fading sounds of open-air performances fold into the stuffy acoustics of absinthe bars, the booming directness of theater halls alternates with the long echoes of Leipzig’s churches (Figures 1.4 and 1.5). Just outside town there is a pagan village, in which visitors can indulge in medieval-themed crafts and games, food and drinks while listening to the neo-folk music played on large field stages. Sound, vision, touch, and smell are blended into one multi-sensory experience: the wood fire smoke under the willows in the village is pierced by bagpipe drones and recorder melodies, and the rhythm and speed of one’s stroll is determined by Celtic drums.

WGT visitors can also quench their thirst for more ancient sounds. At regular intervals the churches and concert halls of the town resound with the music of such chronologically and stylistically diverse composers as Johannes Ockeghem, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, and György Ligeti. Naturally, Johann Sebastian Bach, who lived in Leipzig the last three decades of his life, is omnipresent in the town, adding the gravitas of his organ compositions to the other musical flavors. Finally, enveloped by the surround sound systems of the local cinemas, lovers of Gothic cinema can let the waves of classic movie soundtracks roll over them as they sit back in comfortable plush.

Figure 1.4 Beauty of Gemina perform at the Felsenkeller. Photo IvE 2015.

Figure 1.5 Beauty of Gemina audience at the Felsenkeller. Photo IvE 2015.

Amid the music ringing through every corner of the town’s acoustics, some visitors may enjoy silence as much as sound. They find it dwelling among the Victorian gravestones on the Südfriedhof (Southern Cemetery), one of Leipzig’s most popular goth haunts. The rustling of silk dresses, the gravelly sound of boots on the footpaths, and birdsong are the only sounds in the quiet air above the graves and fir trees (Figure 1.6).

Figure 1.6 WGT visitor at Südfriedhof Leipzig. Photo IvE 2013.

The nocturnal event Göttertanz (Dance of the gods) brings together many of the sonic elements of goth. Göttertanz, a returning WGT party, is hosted by DJ ToM Manegold and takes place up to six times a year at varying goth venues. Manegold has organized Göttertanz since the late ’90s, starting in Bavaria under the name Ragnarök but branching out to other parts of Germany and Northern Europe. On the event’s website he explains that he initially intended Göttertanz as a musical counterpoint to the electro-industrial sounds that prevailed in many goth clubs:

Göttertanz is more than a party. I like to think of it as a ritual gathering. Musically the audience is offered a very specific and consistent mix of neo-celtic, pagan folk, Goth, romantic, apocalyptic, ritual and neo-classical. … Back then [in the ’90s] Goth parties were increasingly dominated by technoid electro-sounds. Therefore Göttertanz, with its intention of driving especially neo-folk, ritual and medieval to the middle of a technologically well-equipped, big dance floor, immediately attracted a lot of attention.²

Figure 1.7 Göttertanz visitors. Photo IvE 2015.

Figure 1.8 Göttertanz visitor. Photo Arjo Klein 2015.

Like Dracula’s Ball, Göttertanz makes audible the musical diversity of goth, with sounds reminiscent of all the spaces that goths like to roam in Leipzig: from the peaceful sanctity of the Southern Cemetery to the restrained sophistication of classical concerts and the deafening drums of pagan rituals. While the former party—on that particular night—focused on the industrial end of the goth spectrum, the latter specializes in the folk-y, acoustic side of goth. Manegold’s playlists include martial, pagan, and neo-folk acts like Ataraxia, Faun, Sol Invictus, and Triarii, but combines them with classical or classical-oriented tracks taken from Hildegard von Bingen and Vivaldi, Helium Vola, and Qntal (see Appendix 1 for full set lists of the 2012 and 2015 events).

While Göttertanz does not have a dress code as such, the party tends to inspire WGT visitors to wear their most elaborate outfits, so that this “ritual gathering” almost becomes an enclosed fantasy world inside the urban fantasy that is the festival itself (Figures 1.7 and 1.8). Dress styles are very diverse but differ in more or less consistent ways from those observed at Dracula’s Ball. The goth “street wear” of leather and buckles, corsets and top hats as worn at the Philadelphia event is worn during the days in Leipzig and is replaced by more extravagant outfits for this party. Platform soles, neon colors, and cyber locks are almost entirely absent at Göttertanz, which favors more historically inspired outfits. Ladies may wear full bustle dresses with tailor-made matching corsets, hats, and gloves and sophisticated choker necklaces, earrings, detailed hat ornaments, rings, and handbags; gentlemen may wear breeches and matching damask tail coats, ornate waistcoats with chain watches, tricorne or top hats with pins and feathers, buckled shoes, and walking canes. Interestingly, while the dominant color is still black, some visitors dress wholly in moss green, midnight blue, or even white. In recent years, the tan and brass accessories of steampunk culture have seen an ascendancy at WGT in general and at Göttertanz in specific.

Goth Musical Styles

We decided to focus on Dracula’s Ball and Göttertanz for this study because the juxtaposition of these events allows us to illustrate and address the range and diversity of musical forms encompassed under the rubric of “goth.” Together, the playlists of the two events demonstrate the diversity, hybridity, and ongoing development of musical styles in the goth scene.

This section broadens the discussion further and offers a more general overview of goth musical subgenres, starting with old-school goth styles originating in London’s 1980s Batcave and ending with the digital goth forms of the twenty-first century. Because goth music has such a bewildering number of substyles, broad distinctions must be made for the sak...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Note About the Text
• Introduction
• 1 Goth Musical Styles
• 2 Goth Socio-Musical Reality
• 3 Goth Chronotopes
• 4 From Sound to Subculture
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• References
• Index