I really like Picastro, I mean how can you go past a band that classes themself as Gothic / Other / Folk (I must admit though I have been thinking about what a Gothic Folk band would sound like and It’s tempting)

Picastro is a Canadian sleep-rock (who knows… I prefer the Gothic Folk tag myself) band from Toronto, currently consisting of vocalist Liz Hysen, cellist Nick Storring and drummer Brandon Valdivia. Past members included Evan Clarke, Rachel McBride, Owen Pallett, Stephanie Vittas, Kurt Newman, Alex McLeod and Zak Hanna.

I spotted them while rummaging around at Amie STreet and was taken with Picastro’s dark orchestral soundscapes and creative use of dissonance. There is stuff in here ranging from gypsy field recordings, Greek rembetika, Russian folksongs, Faces al the way through to Black Sabbath

YouTube video of Hortur…

There are a couple of downloads available over at www.last.fm/music/Picastro

So the short version is… another “hard” listening band but worth it. Recommended

www.myspace.com/picastro and www.polyvinylrecords.com/

The singer has a trace of an accent and I wondered if I could find more about this band. Lo and behold – imagine my surprise to find that Tiamat rose from the death metal scene in Sweden in the late 1980′s. Woah – didn’t expect that. The original band “Treblinka” reformed as Tiamat with a new musical philosophy and new influences. The band seems to have undergone several subsequent transformations with the only original member officially listed as Johan Edlund.

The soundtrack mentioned above and available below comes from Tiamat’s 1994 debut album “Wildhoney” and is called “Do You Dream of Me?”.

They have a swag of albums listed including their new album “Amanethes”, which remains a mystery because their official website is under construction and thus missing in action.

One of my favourite books is “The Difference Engine” by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. The book is set in an era where steam power is still widely used, say, an alternate Victorian era England.  Steam won ,silicon never got a look in. (You really should read the book it’s a ripper).

Now if anyone ever makes a movie of this book have I found the band to do the sound track. Abney Park are a steampunk gothic industrial band from from Seattle, Washington.

Picture yourself walking down a Victorian London street, mist fills the ait, Holmes and Watson pursuing baddies across the road. You head down a steam filled alley and find a door to a private club filled with the flotsam and jetsam of the period and then the band fires up. The music drips steampunk flair and dark haunting sounds, eastern tones ring from steam powered guitars, the groove is entrancing and the voice of singer draws you into their collective conspiracy. Intrigued? Try Stigmata Martyr over at www.abneypark.com/ (or www.myspace.com/abneypark) and you will see what I mean.

I should add that the website is just gorgeous (I will have to try and convince Jools that we need another upgrade). Over at their website you can read about the backstory for the band. Yep a band with a backstory that includes zeppelins, the steam-powered guitars and some eastern influenced gypsy rock to round it off.

Here is the more prosaic stuff…

Abney Park was formed by Robert Brown in 1997. In 1998 they released their first full-length album Abney Park, and in 1999 they released Return to the Fire. Tracks from these two albums as well as a couple of new ones formed their third release, titled Cemetery Number 1. In the early years of Abney Park, the band featured a gothic musical and visual style.

In 2005, the band released Taxidermy, which is a collection of new versions of songs from past albums, three live tracks and two covers. In the same year, they started to change their visual style, from goth/industrial to a form of steampunk. In 2006 they released the album The Death of Tragedy. After the release, their line-up changed as well, with the departure of Traci Nemeth, Krysztof Nemeth and Rob Hazelton, replaced by Magdalene Veen, Jean-Paul Mayden and Nathaniel Johnstone. Shortly thereafter Jean-Paul departed the band to be replaced by Daniel C. As part of their transformation, Abney Park invented fictional identities of themselves, complete with a background story that describes the fictional history of the band as the crew of an airship named the Ophelia.

The Band

• Robert “Dread Captain Robert” Brown – Songs, Lead Vocals, Darbuka, Piloting
• Magdalene “Screaming” Veen – Songs, Couture, Vocals, Undulations, Infusionistics, Internauting, Protective Headgear
• Kristina “Angel” Erickson – Keyboards, Vocals, Navigation, Accounting, Skepticism
• Daniel “It Was Supposed To Explode” C – Bass, Gadgets, Gizmos, Flintlocks, and Fire Extinguishers
• Nathaniel “Two Sheds” Johnstone- Guitar, Violin, Stockroom, Doling Out the Shots (Drinkable and Otherwise)

This is a sample of what they do…

Not really a chill piece today but I found Diorama by accident at gothtronic.com. I had read about electro/goth and it tickled me as an idea. Don’t know why but anyway, the upside is that I found “Drowned” by Diorama.

Atmosphere meets dance, is probably a good way of putting it. Another “overnight sensation” (what me cynical… naaah) they started releasing albums back in 1999 and have turned out a bunch of interesting music ever since.

I really recommend that you check out the material on offer at the myspace site. They definitely cover a lot of musical territory but manage to remain really accessible. It’s a good trick.

A German new age goth band named for and led by Joran Elane. How can you go wrong with a foot in both camps? Wonderfully atmospheric arrangements coupled with sparkling accompaniments and interesting vocal performances.

Joran Elane on whistles and vocals, Skaldir on guitars, vocals and orchestral arrangements, Nico on keyboard, programming, orchestral arrangements and vocals, Katrin on violin, viola and vocals and Simon plays violin and clarinet.

From their press release: ELANE have their roots in the deep forests of Sauerland (?The Sour Lands?). Meanwhile Joran, Katrin, Skaldir, Nico and Simon come from the outermost regions of Germany. Almost easily the new star on the alternative music sky manages to take you into another world. ELANE?s music somehow sounds new but also very familiar at the same time. It has a special attraction on you that you cannot resist. Breathtaking: The smooth voice of singer Joran. Sometimes just a whisper, sometimes self-confidently demanding, but always clear and exactly where it has to be.