Tuesday, August 19, 2008

TVD's Daily Wax | The Glove "Blue Sunshine"

It's hard to imagine that I wasn't really a Cure fan at one point (the more I think about it). Siouxsie & the Banshees - always. However, I actually thought that the Cure were mostly overrated not only in the gothic sense and the beginnings of their goth phase, but in general pop music. I mean --- I stuck to Bauhaus immediately when I first heard their material. Same with Tones on Tail. Joy Division. Public Image Limited. Cocteau Twins. I can go down the line pretty far with stuff from that era because so many of them blur the post-punk/gothic genre lines and ties with 4AD, etc. I guess this was b/c I was used to matching the Cure with "Friday I'm in Love" and got into them well after so many similar bands. However, after taking more time over the years breaking down their work --- especially 'Pornography' and 'Disintegration' --- I realized that I made a critical mistake in judgment. An ultra critical one. Robert Smith. I'm seriously sorry about overlooking your songwriting, composition and production gifts (:/). Siouxsie & the Banshees amazed me in the same way. Steve Severin's production work and approaches to their sound struck a chord with me instantly. Menacing, yet melodic. Minimal, yet heavily weighted. I think that I played 'The Scream' ten times in a row - top to bottom - when I first got that record. Seriously.

So imagine what happened when I first ran into the Blue Sunshine album. I was seriously blown away. It felt like someone reached into my dreams and put together exactly everything that was beautiful about that niche and that time. 1983. Distortion, filters, echoes, tape loops, drum machines, dark imagery, depressive elements, unique mixing/blend of contrasting elements. Every vocal sounded like it was filled with a dark sense of despair and urgency (Jeanette Landray's style especially - great fit because she mirrored Siouxsie's style in so many ways, but with a Nico-like delivery). Maybe I'm painting the album up too much or something, but "don't take my word for it...". heh.


The Glove - Like An Animal (Mp3)
The Glove - Mr. Alphabet Says (Mp3)
The Glove - Perfect Murder (Mp3)
The Glove - Mouth To Mouth (Mp3)
The Glove - Like An Animal (Mp3)