tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55403540627242939922024-03-13T22:29:37.643-07:00Plunder the TombsUnearthing the hidden treasures of Goth, Post-Punk and Deathrock.James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-40395587367717773922017-03-13T06:42:00.001-07:002017-03-13T23:34:15.488-07:00Nerve Quakes – A New State (Televised Suicide / Imminent Destruction Records, 2017)
One of the lesser realised musical gifts of the last decade
has been the extraordinary revival of post-punk and death rock in Europe, the
USA and to a lesser extent, the Eastern States of Australia. From Savages to
She Past Away to Aztec Death and Catholic Spit, the litany is so long as to be
almost beyond measure. One of the most frustrating things surrounding this
movement however has James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-46735813474393040162015-10-27T08:49:00.001-07:002015-10-27T08:49:40.120-07:00The Danse Society - Reincarnated (Society Records, 2015)
You really have to admire the immaculate timing of a band who somehow manage to make a copy of their brand spanking new CD materialize on your doorstep the very morning after you finish rebooting your blog. With coincidences like this in play, it seems simply unthinkable not to write the review immediately no?
Needless to say, the journey of The Danse Society since their ambitious decisionJames Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-88113031973731976722015-10-25T07:07:00.000-07:002015-10-25T07:07:56.430-07:00For the Bats III (Self-released VA compilation, 2015)
Released
just five short days ago, this compilation of various artists represents the
third and final instalment of the For the Bats project. It is a truly beautiful
idea – invite all the post punk, coldwave, trad goth, Batcave, deathrock, dark
cabaret and new wave bands you can rustle up to submit a track preferably not
recorded elsewhere, and release a not-for-profit compilation with all James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-58807487297959512272014-12-07T02:56:00.000-08:002014-12-07T23:06:34.379-08:00The Inca Babies - The Stereo Plan (Black Lagoon Records, 2014)
The tale of the Inca Babies 2007 resurrection continues in splendour with The Stereo Plan, the third installment of their Death Blues trilogy that began with Death Message Blues (Black Lagoon, 2010) and Deep Dark Blue (Black Lagoon, 2012).
While Death Message Blues was an album heavily reminiscent of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, as Inca Babies came to terms with the very sad passing of James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-12009808348617751692014-11-16T05:39:00.000-08:002018-11-05T22:55:35.759-08:00An Interview with Patrik Mata of Kommunity FK
Sorry things have been so quiet around here of late, but I've been terribly busy with other things. Life and stuff you know... Hopefully things will calm down in the new year, when I plan on completely re-booting the site to take on a much wider scope to accommodate the many exciting newer bands who have emerged in the last few years.
In the meanwhile, Plunder the Tombs is proud to bring James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-11582410535052680372013-12-15T06:56:00.000-08:002013-12-15T06:56:18.118-08:00An interview with The March Violets, Si DenbighIt's been a long while in coming, but now we finally present to you the interview with March Violets front man Simon Denbigh.
JVS:
After six years since the Trinity EP and something like 28 years since the
Electric Shades album, how was it to be back in the studio again as a
functioning band?
Si:
Ha! More like a malfunctioning band. Not that we were fighting or throwing tantrums,
but The James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-5437583791775905082013-11-26T01:35:00.000-08:002013-11-26T04:19:49.212-08:00Ritual - rare promo picsI awoke this morning to a quite surprising message out of the blue from one Mr Jamie Stewart
"Hi James. I wanted to send you some promo pics of Ritual, since there aren't any elsewhere. It would be great if you could stick them on the page Thanks! J"
Why yes, Mr Stewart, we'd be delighted to oblige!
No dates were provided with these, but common sense suggests they have to have been taken James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-84863536152186046512013-10-13T21:29:00.000-07:002013-10-13T21:44:45.052-07:00Past, Present and Forever
Again, I must apologise that things have been so quiet around here lately. Rest assured that I haven't forgotten you, I've just been terribly busy trying to finish my thesis (And no, before anyone asks, it has absolutely nothing to do with music, let alone Goth.)
In the meanwhile though, myself and the redoubtable Adam Lovkis (who hosts dark alt/noise/metal show Behind the Mirror on 6RTR fm) James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-47578617501077712692013-07-06T10:25:00.000-07:002013-07-06T10:43:04.603-07:00Look Back in Anger – Caprice (Criminal Damage Records, 1984)
Sorry things have been a little on the quiet side in The
Tombs lately. Life unfortunately has an annoying tendency to interfere with
one’s hobbies.
Never fear though! Starting out in Waterlooville in Hampshire on
the south coast of England, in 1979 Look Back in Anger would experience a few
line up changes, including losing the keyboards before anything concrete was
released.
James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-15757854870520155522013-07-03T07:29:00.000-07:002013-07-03T07:52:27.351-07:00The March Violets – Made Glorious (Self-Released, 2013)
And so it’s finally out, well, almost. Made Glorious is
one of those things that makes you proud to have been involved in a DIY fund
raising issue through Pledge Music that began something crazy like two years
ago.
I’ll be the first to admit to some hesitation after the
Trinity EP (self-released, 2007) failed to light my fire, but hey, what’s a few
dollars towards helping a genuinely James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-16360939075066277162013-03-31T02:34:00.000-07:002013-04-01T00:57:10.061-07:00The Slightly Erratic and Mildly Drunken Interview With Jon Fat Beast
Somewhat sadly, London appears to have caught the same disease that has
long afflicted Perth and Melbourne in Australia, with live venues giving way to
more "upmarket" ventures. The disappointing announcement of the closure of the Bull and Gate, long a fixture for
up and coming bands seems to make this interview timely.
The Time Box was an incredibly important regular liveJames Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-18967066434817321672013-02-01T22:39:00.000-08:002013-02-02T21:40:51.036-08:00Elephant Talk – Ask 7” (Fragile Records, 1983)
Elephant Talk were a pleasingly punky Goth band that
appeared out of Cornwall. This last bit surprised me a bit since thanks to my
entire knowledge of Cornwall having been gleaned from Ripping Yarns, I
naturally understood it to be populated entirely by pirates, smugglers and
eccentric innkeepers.
The band seem to have taken their name from a single by Prog
rock gods King Crimson (EG, James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-24066391403075672462013-01-23T04:57:00.000-08:002013-01-23T05:34:14.522-08:00Lavolta Lakota - Prayer 7” (Factory Benelux, 1984)
This will be a short post, in the main due to so little information
being available, and the band having released so little during their existence.
This in itself is rather a shame, because what they did do, while minimalist,
is difficult not to like.
Started up by Jed, (formerly with Stockholm Monsters) and
Dave, Lavolta Lakota sprang up out of Manchester in 1982, which was convenient
James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-79993846805905284882013-01-12T22:45:00.002-08:002013-01-13T02:56:27.951-08:00Virgin Prunes – If I Die, I Die (Rough Trade, 1982)
Now here we have something genuinely interesting, unique and
original. Considering the wide and more than often, very weird scope of their
output, to try to classify or confine them under the “Goth” tag seems somehow
insulting, and like many bands at the time, it seems wildly unlikely that they
would concur anyhow. To attempt to describe their work as anything more
specific than what falls James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-63701432029631543512013-01-05T03:33:00.000-08:002013-01-05T23:34:53.632-08:00Diamanda Galas – Self Titled (Metalanguage, 1984)
We have of course discussed the works of Diamanda Galas
before, but her period before the Masque of the Red Death trilogy (Mute
1986-1988) is worth discussing too.
Her early works with composers Vinko Globakar and Ianis
Xenakis are probably no secret to fans of avant-garde opera. Similarly her
early guest appearance with Jim French (If Looks Could Kill, Metalanguage,
1979) is probably James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-59753807289164149642012-12-30T03:21:00.001-08:002012-12-30T03:23:57.614-08:00The Plunder the Tombs InterviewIn which I'm interviewed by Swedish blogger, Invisible Guy about Plunder the Tombs, the arrival of the second wave of Goth in Perth, evolution of the scene, and my warm fuzzy feelings about cybergoth.
Happy reading!
Be warned - I do tend to go on a bit...James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-20663670392464826622012-11-23T22:07:00.000-08:002012-11-24T01:43:18.880-08:00The Sisterhood – Gift (Merciful Release, 1986)
Let us now delve into one of the more tempestuous tales in the
history of Gothic Rock.
We need to travel back to 1986 when The Sisters of Mercy were
riding high on the success of their debut full length release First and Last
and Always. Plans for the second album, reportedly to be called “Left on
Mission and Revenge”, were underway, but all was not well. Recent gigs had been
fraught James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-16357127554163595122012-08-13T03:51:00.003-07:002012-08-13T05:00:27.420-07:00Cocteau Twins – Garlands (4AD, 1982)
Although, much of their material is very beautiful indeed,
those only familiar with The Cocteau Twins later work, by which time they’d
evolved into what eventually became known as Dream Pop, may well find them
difficult to reconcile with anything particularly post-punkish. As with so many
other groups, the answer of course requires a trip back to their earlier
releases.
Scotland seems James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-41109896826283001782012-06-26T05:49:00.001-07:002012-07-03T03:36:00.366-07:00Dead Can Dance launch their new album
Ambient / Neo-classical / Ethereal-Wave gods Dead Can Dance today launched Anastasis, their first new studio album in sixteen years.
Following the initial announcement and release of a free download of the song "Amnesia" on Pitchfork media yesterday, the band's homepage was today updated to allow free streaming of the 3complete album and pre-purchase options for the album in a range of James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-22740105831518961552012-06-17T01:39:00.000-07:002012-06-19T03:18:42.876-07:00The Widowed Isis – Jim Morrison (I Want to be) (Zed, 1985)
This is where I take my mind back to 1985.
I’m fifteen and by virtue of my parents rather than by anything resembling choice, living in the vaguely unfashionable inner western suburbs of Sydney in what, since the rise of the Hill Song megachurch would come to be known as the Sydney Bible Belt. While I would dearly love to relate to you my decadent tales of sex, drugs and life on the James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-82211171392697055662012-06-03T04:53:00.000-07:002012-06-04T05:45:15.723-07:00Salvation – Clash of Dreams EP (Unreleased, circa 1984/1985)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away when I was still
a poor university student, I actually owned a copy of Salvation’s Diamonds are
Forever LP (Ediesta Records, 1987). To say that it did nothing for me would be
something of an understatement. The mere fact that I can’t find it in my
collection any more strongly suggests that it was one of the many mediocrities
that I hocked to affordJames Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-57792659001792322962012-04-28T05:47:00.000-07:002012-05-31T03:21:33.686-07:00Encyclopedia Gothica – Liisa Ladouceur (ECW Press, 2011)
And now for something completely different as Plunder The
Tombs turns its hand to book reviewing.
In Encyclopedia Gothica, what Canadian Goth journalist and
poet, Liisa Ladouceur has given us is quite simply delightful. This is not
really a book about music as such, and nor thankfully, is it another risible
tome about “how to be a Goth”. (Actually, at some point in time, I might get
aroundJames Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-90158277964426922242012-04-27T05:55:00.002-07:002012-04-27T06:01:39.707-07:00Goth Britannia
"We've had Soul Britannia, Prog Britannia and Synth Britannia and others, but surely there is a snakebite & black sized gap in the schedules for the daddy of 'em all... GOTH BRITANNIA."
Wouldn't it be nice just for once, to have a real documentary on Goth that unlike this crud, was actually worth writing home to Mum about?
Why not "like" these kids' Facebook page and see if we James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-30215063589446709562012-04-25T03:36:00.002-07:002012-06-16T01:40:35.573-07:00Christian Death – Only Theatre of Pain (Frontier Records, 1982)
Why, I do thank you all for your politely feigned surprise,
but I think we all know that just like bands who leave their biggest single for
their supposedly “impromptu” third encore, that discussion of this infamous
little number was inevitable sooner or later. After all, as Mick Mercer once
famously wrote;
“Christian Death are the ultimate life is art, art is life brigade. To
James Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5540354062724293992.post-11311724357564190942012-04-05T07:33:00.001-07:002014-12-23T09:20:17.262-08:00Twisted Nerve – Séance (+1 Records, 1984)
Unusually coming out of Edinburgh, Twisted Nerve presumably took their
name from The Damned song on The Black Album (Chiswick Records, 1980), although
it could just have easily come from the British horror flick of the same name
(1968). Twisted Nerve had been around for some years before they would record Seance.
It had been preceded by the Caught in Session 7” (Playlist Records, 1982), theJames Von Sutekhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17413453557540467548noreply@blogger.com3