Seraphim Radio: My little Gothic and Industrial internet radio station

[GhostontheNet]

I'm curious, what kind of sounds in these genres do you guys want to listen to more of? Old school goth? Soft ambient goth (ethereal)? Dancable electronic goth? Gothic, Industrial, and Synthpop with a sarcastical sense of humor? Harsh hard-hitting industrial? Synthpop with spunk? Any particular artists to pick up more of or add to the station?

[That Dude]

I think that you should see if you could get Atra on the playlist...I put a discription of them on your other thread "excellent electronic albums." I believe I put a link to their myspace sight as well.

[GhostontheNet]

I think that you should see if you could get Atra on the playlist...I put a discription of them on your other thread "excellent electronic albums." I believe I put a link to their myspace sight as well.

They sound good, but they're out of the bounds of the genres and themes I play on my station, although you can be forgiven for not knowing that because you don't have speakers. They're not industrial and they know it, although they do have beautiful piano and synthesizer work. At this rate, these guys just may end up in my personal CD collection.

[That Dude]

Yeah I knew that they weren't industrial...I thought that they had enough synth in it to be played though. That's cool though. I'm sad because I haven't been able to listen to your station yet.

[GrubbTheFragger]

Yes Atra is really really good. And I didn't think they were Industrial but what would they be classified as. Electronica?

[GhostontheNet]

I would personally classify it as Heavy Metal with just a hint of New Wave. As much as I enjoy almost all forms of electronic music, I have no intention of making my station an all-around smorgasborg of everything with synthesizers (definitely more than 70 styles of music) - only musical styles which have classic ties to the 30 years of the gothic and industrial scenes and music with cyberpunk or dystopian themes.

[Scarecrow]

Soft ambient goth... I love that stuff. I melt listening to ethreal gothic metal/rock (mostly metal but this isn't a metal station...) Synthpop/electronica stuff also rocks my socks

I don't know any gothic bands that would really fit that arent metal but yea... just saying what sounds I like

[GhostontheNet]

Soft ambient goth... I love that stuff. I melt listening to ethreal gothic metal/rock (mostly metal but this isn't a metal station...) Synthpop/electronica stuff also rocks my socks

I don't know any gothic bands that would really fit that arent metal but yea... just saying what sounds I like

Woah, the stuff I'm talking about when I say ethereal and ambient is more like the bands Lycia or Frolic on my station currently, or the stuff published by Projekt Records at http://www.projekt.com . In this style, electric guitars may not be used at all, giving way to music that taps into pure moods and feelings. When you say electronica, (I can understand synthpop) do you have in mind the electronic neo-gothic stuff, the lighter industrial stuff, the heavier industrial stuff, or all of it? Which bands have you liked the most of my present list?

[Scarecrow]

Yea, ethreal stuff like Rachels Song or whatever?(I think that was it... what the title was on itunes was differnt than what it said was playing on the site)... its very peaceful and relaxing. Needs female vocals though I do not like stuff like the Sorrow of whatever by Lycia. I prefer metal but when I'm not in the mood for something that hard, stuff like that is great.

Anyway... as for the electronica stuff, I'm mostly into the electronic neo-Gothic type I think... I dunno I'm not that familiar with this type of music... I didn't catch many of the names but I'll see what I can remember... umm VNV nation I think I liked, ThouShaltNot... umm... Regenerator? ummm... and anything like Birthday Massacre... I love Birthday Massacre. Basically anything you'd picture being played in the dark with rapid flashing light or at some weird club with neon lights or whatever and lots of dancing (I dunno, thats what always pops into my mind listening to this type of stuff... )

[GhostontheNet]

Yea, ethreal stuff like Rachels Song or whatever?(I think that was it... what the title was on itunes was differnt than what it said was playing on the site)... its very peaceful and relaxing.

Always trust Itunes and never trust the Shoutcast server for what is currently playing - there is a fair bit of delay between the two. Rachael's Song comes from the Vangelis soundtrack to the movie Blade Runner, which is an absolututely awesome soundtrack to an awesome movie (although the director made the soundtrack fade in the background).

I do not like stuff like the Sorrow of whatever by Lycia. I prefer metal but when I'm not in the mood for something that hard, stuff like that is great.

At present, I play two albums by Lycia, A Day in the Stark, which is extremely cold darkwave from really difficult times, and Estrella, which has more serenity and makes more use of the vocals of Tara Vanflower. I have so far responded to your request by adding more Blade Runner and Lycia's Estrella to the playlist. I haven't heard your input on Frolic yet, so I've not yet added more.

Anyway... as for the electronica stuff, I'm mostly into the electronic neo-Gothic type I think... I dunno I'm not that familiar with this type of music...

Alright, the Neo-Gothic style is something like Clan of Xymox ( http://www.myspace.com/clanofxymox ) or The Last Dance ( http://www.myspace.com/thelastdance ). It takes the classic "spooky swirls" of the old school gothic music like The Sisters of Mercy and programs them in the synthesizers.

I didn't catch many of the names but I'll see what I can remember... umm VNV nation I think I liked, ThouShaltNot... umm... Regenerator? ummm... and anything like Birthday Massacre... I love Birthday Massacre. Basically anything you'd picture being played in the dark with rapid flashing light or at some weird club with neon lights or whatever and lots of dancing (I dunno, thats what always pops into my mind listening to this type of stuff... )

I think I understand. A lot of the stuff you listed straddles in between the gothic sounds and the subgenre of industrial music called EBM or Electro-Body-Music. As it so happens, I've gotten at least two requests for albums by ThoushaltNot, and I have found a good price one of my favorite albums by them, so more is likely. Regenerator has produced more albums, some of which are pricy, so I'll have to decide whether I want to focus more on Aslan Faction and Tactical Sekt, or whether I can find a better price.

[GhostontheNet]

Alright, Aslan Faction's Sin-drome of Seperation has finally come in, and as I described, it is harsh vocoded Electro-body-music. Also, I spotted Clan of Xymox's Breaking Point at the Borders and snatched it. It is quite a treat as it smoothly mixes the newer dancable electronic Neo-Goth/darkwave music with the old school goth, for some excellent results. I have added both the the playlist. Also, I have copies of ThouShaltNot's You'll Wake Up Yesterday and Dead Artist Syndrome's Happy Hour and Devils, Angels, and Saints coming in the mail.

[GhostontheNet]

Woah, 10 Gigabytes of bandwidth in 2 days? I'm surprised how much attention my station has been getting without even having a website. In other words, the station is down until my purchase of more bandwidth goes through.

[Yeshua-Knight]

might i make a suggestion to the playlist as well, that being the one and only cd put out by the band "wedding party" they are very good, their one cd was actually produced by clayton and is pretty easy to come by if you look for it through various christian music stores, however i have yet to actually find it in stock, whenever i've bought it (i kept either giving it away or losing it) i've had to order it, but you may have more luck than myself

[GhostontheNet]

might i make a suggestion to the playlist as well, that being the one and only cd put out by the band "wedding party" they are very good, their one cd was actually produced by clayton and is pretty easy to come by if you look for it through various christian music stores, however i have yet to actually find it in stock, whenever i've bought it (i kept either giving it away or losing it) i've had to order it, but you may have more luck than myself

Yeah, just don't ever expect me to play the song Alliance. It's got good theology, but the vocoders were poorly done and don't fit the tribal dirge beat. Personally, I'd rather be packing The Awakening's Sacrificial Etchings with tracks like The Dark Romantics first.

[GhostontheNet]

Alright, I'm back on the air. Yay!

[Yeshua-Knight]

actually, i like raven's warning or crystal river on that cd, have you checked out any of ashton nyte's solo stuff?

edit: ok, got it bookmarked on my winamp now, 10 spiffy points to you!!

[GhostontheNet]

actually, i like raven's warning or crystal river on that cd, have you checked out any of ashton nyte's solo stuff?

edit: ok, got it bookmarked on my winamp now, 10 spiffy points to you!!

Oh yeah, Ashton Nyte's Sinister Swing is awesome. I only play The Awakening's Ethereal Menace right now because that's all I have, but he does totally awesome stuff in any genre while always keeping that gothic tinge. Its a pity that because he's in South Africa he's so little known in the U.S. outside of the Christian goths, but I understand he's found a fair chunk of fans in South Africa. I really don't want to pick a fight or get into debates that aren't allowed here, but I've been trying to hold back on Futurist theological apocalyptic themes in my station (my own views are a combination of postmillenial preterism and idealism, the second of which allows me the liberty of freely applying passages of Revelation to modern as well as historical contexts) on the grounds that I want my listeners to emerge from the station thinking that the things they do can in fact change things for the better. I understand Futurist eschatology is at present a deeply integrated part of the Christian gothic mindset and rationale (sackcloth and ashes for the final generation(s)), and is largely inescapable from the entries of Christians into the gothic and industrial genres, but I've made sure that the stuff I do play holds hope for Christians working to forge a better future (even through the apocalypse). While I think Wedding Party holds this, it doesn't always shine through their music quite like, say, Ascension of Heroes by Saviour Machine (oh I love that song!). I also require that songs with Apocalyptic themes contain other useful themes as well. All of this is something of an admission of bias, and this isn't the place for discussing my Theology (although convincing me on other grounds why I should add songs is fair game), it was necessary to explain my position on this matter as it directly relates to Wedding Party. I'm glad to see you liked the station enough to give me 10 spiffy points, I'm waiting until I get all the music I really want to play, at which time things will be really cool. Besides Wedding Party, are there any particular bands or styles you would like to hear more of? I really have been blessed with this station beyond what I would have expected already, and I hope God uses it to His will and glory.

[GhostontheNet]

Alright, ThouShaltNot's You'll Wake Up Yesterday Finally Came in. It's nice to finally have Without Faith, Trench Warfare, and If Only I Were a Goth in the playlists. Now all I have left is to get The Holiness of Now and The Projectionist [EP].

[martinloyola]

I tried the tormentedradio station and its pretty cool too, the backgrounds on the site are kinda creepy sometimes (go figure) but I actually enjoy listening to music in other languages, I know just enough to be dangerous :wink:

[GhostontheNet]

I tried the tormentedradio station and its pretty cool too, the backgrounds on the site are kinda creepy sometimes (go figure) but I actually enjoy listening to music in other languages, I know just enough to be dangerous :wink:

Yeah, Tormented Radio is pretty cool. I just wish he didn't spin some of the anti-Christian stuff like Faith Disease (not to be confused with the ethereal band Faith and Disease, who I haven't found to be that bad so far). Also, I tend to feel he doesn't do enough of political Industrial music - as in my opinion, Industrial music going apolitical tends to bring out the worst in the genre, as would be expected when the element of fighting for a greater cause is removed. This is one of the reasons I play even the harshest stuff from Mentallo & the Fixer for example.

[martinloyola]

Industrial music going apolitical tends to bring out the worst in the genre, as would be expected when the element of fighting for a greater cause is removed.

yes, youre right, in fact that goes for any genre, even bands with mild political agendas tend to be more enjoyable to me if not at least a littler cleaner
on the whole the station doesn't play too much offensive stuff for me to really notice, its not like I can't stop the stream anyways and start it back up when the track is over :wink:

[Mr. SmartyPants]

"Dancable electronic goth?"

ooo what is that? Care to elaborate? Or have a sample of this type of music?

[GhostontheNet]

"Dancable electronic goth?"

ooo what is that? Care to elaborate? Or have a sample of this type of music?

It is in fact among the stuff I play on my station (which you probably still don't like) and djdead of Tormented Radio (already mentioned in this thread with the aformentioned cautions, to which I will add to avoid watching the actual page because of the risque image amongst the main page's image slideshow itself). You ask about dancable electronic Gothic music, and perhaps implicitly who plays it. You see, there have been something of two movements in Gothic music. Since this thread is from henceforth likely to spring up the next time some kind of "I'm a goth for Christ. Goth is cool" "No, goth is bad, you listen to Marilyn Manson" thread shows up, I'm going to give brief histories of Gothic and Industrial music and what defines them.

1. Old-School/Batcave Era

The origins of Gothic music come from the old punk music, particularly the subgroup among the punks called the Positive Punks because they felt that things like slam dancing and any violence at all would be inconsistent with the themes of the punk ideology. This, of course, became a matter of serious dispute amongst the punks, which can be seen in jokes about the movement like "Are you punk? Are you positive?" You see, at its finest, the idea behind the punk movement was in looking at the corruption of the world and say "That does it, I'm not going to conform to the ways of your rubbish heap of a world anymore. I proudly extend you the middle finger for the things you have done to my world. I'm not going to dress the way you want me to, I'm not going to act the way you want me to, and I'm going to do what I can to fight against you." In the face of notorious social pressures to conform, they began to emphasize the injection of extreme bursts of energy into performances while making barriers between the performers and the audience essentially nonexistent, while maintaining the political/counter-political themes, which would presumably give them the energy and willpower to fight adversity outside of the performance. If you wish to see all of this in action, check out the video by the Dead Kennedys about "Nazi Punks" at my Youtube video favorites at http://www.youtube.com/profile_favorites?user=GhostontheNet , and afterwards look up the lyrics (warning, language, I have shortened the title). For future reference, if I refer you to a video, it can be found on this Youtube profile.

Amongst the Positive Punks however, the absence of self-controlled riots had the inherant quality of cooling anger into sorrow, which had the effect of violating the basic form of punk music, even if many elements of its substance were retained. The result was a sort of music generally called post-punk. Amongst these Post-punk bands were groups like Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees who started focusing on melancholy themes while maintaining punk music's somewhat sawed-off musical nonconformity with milder (than punk's) antagonism upon the audience's musical sensibilities. Of Joy Division, the media dubbed this a "Gothic" sound for its melancholy and jagged edges, as ever since the Germanic tribes that invaded Rome called the Goths and Visigoths, the term "gothic" has signified something somebody considers to be jagged and uncivilized. Similarly, Siouxsie commented in an interview that her band "Was moving in a more gothic direction." The fans of this post-punk music tended to wear black as a reaction against the bright and colorful disco fashion of the time, and gradually the Positive Punk assumed a name change to Gothic, both of which carry the tones of sarcastical self-depreciation which society would mock them with (as Punk in colloquial speach means "worthless youth" and other more unsavory definitions).

It was however, the Bauhaus' strongly sarcastical and pretty funny song "Bela Lugosi is Dead" that introduced the famous horror themes into Gothic music and fashion. This was however, done more in sarcasm, with the attraction to goth of people wishing to impersonate Lestat being more recent, and it is for this reason that so much of the old-school Gothic music will never approach horror symbolism with any actual seriousness (The Bauhaus particularly exemplify this). As the gothic movement has moved in directions the original artists did not intend (and probably didn't desire the schism from punk or other forms of music), ironically many/most old-school gothic bands will not label themselves as gothic bands.

As defining points of Batcave/Old-school gothic music:

1. The biggest key element of all Gothic music is what is generally refered to as a generally calm "ethereal" vocal, that as to say that something about the singing has something of a detatched or otherworldly feel to it. The effect of this can be somewhat spooky and dissettling, yet simultaneously soothing.
2. Themes of melancholy and personal struggle against elements within or without. In Gothic music, a good deal of internal discussion about music being "dark" essentially means "This focuses upon themes of things which are painful".
3. Ominous tones in the guitars - old-school goth is generally analog based music with few instances of synthesizers and the like being used. This generally is made to perfectly match number two above.
4. Something of a subtle-creeping-underbeat. One goth has commented that the music has the rhythym of various forms of Native American patterns of drumming, and as I listen to more and more of both I think this is true.
5. Mild horror themes. In retrospect, many unknowledgeable spectators have gone back and asked when hearing Gothic music, particularly ]Horrible Horror: Hosted By Zackerley[/i] which contains trailers and film clips of vintage horror and science fiction movies, I have realized that synthesizers have been used to convey gothic and horror themes by Hollywood directors for a very long time, so it is in fact no surprise that there was a hand-in-glove fit. As integration of synthesizers became more common, there was something of a split in the way their use was approached:

On the one hand, you have the "Ethereal" approach best exemplified in the label Projekt Records ( http://www.projekt.com ). Here, the electric guitars are almost always dropped in favor of ambient synthesizers, classical instrumentation, and the classic ethereal vocal to pursue a free mixture of horror themes, spooky swirls, and a general mixture of soft melancholy and serenity. Examples of this style can be seen in the videos The Host of Seraphim by Dead Can Dance and This Part of Fortune Lies by Faith & Disease, although videos in this stuff is a lot more rare.

On the other hand, you have the "Electro-goth" approach best exemplified in the label Dancing Ferret Disks ( http://www.dancing-ferret.com ) in which elements of Synthpop and the Industrial subgenre Electro-Body-Music (EBM) have been fused into the classic gothic rock elements to be taken to the dance floor. Here the spooky swirls get carried into and spelled out through the synthesizers and the Native American underbeats remain intact with more of a thud to them, while the ethereal vocal stays even if carried out more energetically. Electric guitars are still used sometimes, but they generally only feel old-school in the bands that were there in the old school (like Clan of Xymox). Examples of this can be found in the videos to Weak in my Knees by Clan of Xymox, Once Beautiful by The Last Dance, and Winter Born by The Cruxshadows.

[GhostontheNet]

yes, youre right, in fact that goes for any genre, even bands with mild political agendas tend to be more enjoyable to me if not at least a littler cleaner
on the whole the station doesn't play too much offensive stuff for me to really notice, its not like I can't stop the stream anyways and start it back up when the track is over :wink:

Pretty much. In particular, strictly apolitical Industrial can bring out songs of misanthropy, nihilism, and "I wanna kill [x] because they tick me off". On the flip side, other apolitical Industrial music lends itself well to themes of alienation and loss of control as the mechanations of society spin all around oneself. You're right about political music tending to be cleaner, or perhaps conversely having any swear words in it actually make sense. Also, these days Industial musicians are at least remaining vaguely potitical ("You people are infected with a disease"). It is true that Tormented Radio doesn't play too much offensive stuff, but what they do is noticible when it comes.

[martinloyola]

cool, thanx for the history lesson Ghost, I admit my own ignorance, I just listen to a lot of stuff, but at least I kinda know what is going on "behind" the music i.e. the philosphy of the music

[GhostontheNet]

Fair enough. I notice my station has had no listeners for a while and is on my end skipping like crazy. Is anybody else having this problem?

[Scarecrow]

Well, I don't know if you know this or not but your link doesnt work anymore... so that may be why its getting no listeners?

It says:

Unfortunately, there weren't any SHOUTcast streams found containing the term seraphim

I thought you took it down or whatever...

[GhostontheNet]

Well, I don't know if you know this or not but your link doesnt work anymore... so that may be why its getting no listeners?

It says:

Unfortunately, there weren't any SHOUTcast streams found containing the term seraphim

I thought you took it down or whatever...

I had shut down the computer and restarted it to see if that fixed the problem. The station is now back up and appears on shoutcast, but I don't know if its still just me that skips.

[Scarecrow]

I had shut down the computer and restarted it to see if that fixed the problem. The station is now back up and appears on shoutcast, but I don't know if its still just me that skips.

Must be just you... it works fine for me I don't know what you're using but I know with iTunes, something will go wrong loading the online radio and screw up your itunes so it just keeps going "Righ righ igh igh ight no no ow ow ow" I don't know what I did to fix mine but it eventually started working correctly again. I don't know why it does that.

[martinloyola]

it works just fine for me