Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM performs at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, on Oct. 5, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
If you’re in Los Angeles this weekend, you may well want to pop out to S. Broadway for some nights of dark pop at The Globe and The Tower Theatres on Friday and Saturday. That’s where you’ll find the Cloak and Dagger Festival – Dusk Till Dawn, featuring headliners The Jesus And Mary Chain, KMFDM, She Wants Revenge, Poptone, TR/ST, Com Truise, The Soft Moon, HEALTH, Cold Cave, and many more.
Drab Majesty perform at Songbyrd Music House on Sept. 22, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone, one of my favorite music and cultural commentators, described New Order as “goth-disco kingpins” in his review of a New York City performance in 2016.
Drab Majesty performs at Wave Gotik Treffen 2017 in Leipzig, Germany, on June 5, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Drab Majesty, composed of Deb Demure and Mona D, excited folks who last caught them in DC when they opened for Cold Cave at the Rock and Roll Hotel in January. Now, the duo returns to DC in a headlining show at Songbyrd Music House on Friday, Sept. 22.
The Wave Gotik Treffen 2017 (roughly “Wave Gothic Meeting”), a legendary urban festival, occurs on June 2-5 in Leipzig, Germany, this year. As of today, the festival has confirmed 227 bands performing in several concert halls around the city.
Drab Majesty performs at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Jan. 25, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Dab Majesty expanded from a solo project to a duo last year, and Deb Demure and Mona D came to DC on Wednesday to open for Cold Cave at the Rock and Roll Hotel. (Read our Parklife DC review of Cold Cave’s show.)
Wesley Eisold of Cold Cave sings at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Jan. 25, 2017. (Photo by Paivi)
Cold Cave open their show Wednesday night at DC’s Rock and Roll Hotel with “Love Comes Close,” coincidentally the song that first initiated my interest in the band. For the duration of their opener, the look of the stage is appropriately understated.
Amy Lee and Wesley Eisold of Cold Cave (Photo by Mara McKevitt)
Cold Cave released a new EP, The Idea of Love, on Sept. 9 via Heartworm.
The title song is a synthpop dirge that veers a little bit more into industrial territory than some of Cold Cave’s more recent offerings — although the band certainly continues to occupy that perfect space encompassing the poetry of Joy Division with the middle-period electronics of Depeche Mode.
As Cold Cave, musician Wesley Eisold started out with very artful pop in 2007 and then flowered into well-defined synthpop gems with very good albums like Love Comes Close and Cherish the Light Years. He has certainly not been shy about spreading his artistic wings on his own Heartworm Press label, however!
Watch the official music video for “The Idea of Love” on YouTube:
Still very much the standard-bearer for darkwave dance music, Wesley reminded us of his pop sensibilities with a very lovely cover of “Your Silent Face” by New Order earlier this year.
According to the Guardian, “Wesley Eisold is an absolutely new, young god of nihilism and despair — he brilliantly captures Cold Cave’s aesthetic: the Morrissey of ‘How Soon Is Now’ wailing over Nitzer Ebb beats and New Order melodies.”
It’s great that Cold Cave visits DC regularly, and we look forward to seeing Wesley again in January! Los Angeles goth trailblazer Drab Majesty opens for Cold Cave. Tickets are available online.
