Ladron93: My mood #5 (Darkwave, ambient, synth)

kildare 05.06.23	Interesting list. I bookmarked it for the next time I get the urge to hear some Clan of Xymox. No Blutengel? My German correspondent tells me that, among many industrial lovers at least, they're a kind of the Five-Finger-Death-Punch, buttrock variety of electronic dance music. I'm probably losing cred here, but they're who I think of when I hear the word "Darkwave."
Ladron93 05.06.23	thanks, kildare. 8) I've never heard of Blutengel. I'll have to listen to some of their albums. I like industrial music at times. But I don't know where to start. xP Suggestions are welcome.
kildare 05.07.23	I honestly hesitate to recommend Blutengel. And I especially don’t recommend starting with their videos; they’re really into the vampire scene, which is a slight turn off for me personally, but obviously a huge bonus if you’re into it. In which case you should definitely check out their videos :-). Anyway, of the bands I just listened to on your list so far, Blutengel would mix best perhaps with Korine, and to a lesser extent Gost (this is a very cool list, BTW. I’ll be dipping into this a lot in the future). Blutengel is very dancey, very thump thump thump. They’re apparently a staple in Northern European – especially German – dance clubs. And from what I can gather from my correspondent, who’s deep in the German Industrial scene, they’re fairly divisive: Fans that are really into Electro-Industrial, into bands like Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly, don’t listen to Blutengel. All play at the same enormous Goth festivals, but have fan bases that don’t really mingle outside of them. I suspect that Blutengel fans are probably also Clan of Xymox fans. But I’ve been out of a social music scene for many years (everyone around here listens to country, radio rock and hip-hop), so I can’t confirm this personally because I’ve never talked to anyone who’s really into the band. I love a bunch of songs from Blutengel, but I can’t recommend any albums because there’s TONS of fluff on the albums, and I just end up picking through new albums for a handful of gems. But I like for example the first five songs (up through Tears Might Dry) on the album Monument, the song “Voices” (one of the few with exclusively female vocals), and finally the song “Obscured,” a track they did with Hocico that is as much Aggrotech as Darkwave. Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that my German friend would say that Blutengel sucks, that in her opinion In Strict Confidence is a far superior band to go to for Darkwave/Electro-Industrial with dual male/female vocals, and that she would probably recommend strongly In Strict Confidence’s album LOVE KILLS! I can’t say I like their music better than Blutengel in general, but this album is, as a whole, better than any of Blutengel’s albums. There’s very little fluff on Love Kills. Ps. Can you tell I’m highly caffeinated?
Ladron93 05.08.23	Oh, I tend to listen to some album by such new band from beginning to end on Spotify. You don't recommend starting with their music videos about vampires? Hah, when I do, I may take a peek on 'em. xP Where do I start? eh, after listening to Blutengel's Monumental a little a bit and Save Us fully, I agree that it's very dancey and very thump thump. I don't know if I'll get tired after listening to them multiple times, at least for me. Yeah, Gost is oriented on synthwave with a mixture of post-punk and metal. He doesn't mix best with Blutengel. I wasn't able to get into his older albums until he has released Rites of Love and Reverence. It's my thing. TONS of fluff on the albums? oh, I can see why. I don't blame you. xP Save Us wasn't bad, but I don't feel brainwashed of their album loving it religiously. I think atm, Monument is the best pick for now. xP "Obscured" I may give it a listen later. In Strict Confidence. I gave a listen to a few songs of them. I think they have a great electro-industrial identity, but it's not my thing. My love of industrial music has lost interest since late 2010s or this decade. Not to say that I may go back to listen to Vatican Shadow one time again. Now my personal preference is darkwave (with synth-pop), synthwave, ambient and stoner rock for a while (Queens of the Stone Age). Hopefully Blutengel will grow on me. Maybe. I still need to listen to the entire album of Monumental. xP P.S. I'm glad you like my list of bands and albums of what I've been listening to. Thank you so much. 8) Nah, I couldn't tell that before. xD
kildare 05.08.23	I'm impressed with how much music you can absorb in a short amount of time. One last question, then I can let Blutengel go: Would you consider them Darkwave? There's a lot of disagreement on this. Consider: English-speaking Wikipedia: Darkwave, Futurepop, Synthpop German-speaking Wikipedia: Futurepop, Synthpop So, the Germans in general do NOT think Blutengel is Darkwave, but some Brits/Americans do. From what you heard, would you tend to agree more with the Germans on this? I know this seems like a weird, nit-picky question, but I'm fascinated by genres so I can't help but ask xP
Ladron93 05.08.23	Listening to Blutengel reminded me of VNV Nation to a certain extent. I don't think I consider them as darkwave band. I don't see a post-punk or synth-pop elements on their songs. More like futurepop. The Germans have a point than the Brits or Americans. xP