I’ve been reading Cory Doctorow’s latest book “The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI” a scathing review of the current state of artificial intelligence wherein he seeks to pop the AI bubble. In the book’s central metaphor Doctorow identifies the centaur as someone whose work is improved upon by technology vs the reverse centaurs who are competing with and/or training AI to replace them in the workplace. One of the things I like about writing about music is also learning about music. Googe’s AI tells me that the proper term for goth-y post-punk is “gothic rock” which it claims to have scraped from Wikipedia. Wikipedia’s page on Gothic Rock lists both Joy Division and The Cure as progenitors of the genre. It also mentions the term “punk gothique” - one I have never heard before but I do like (allegedly coined in 1981 by Steve Keaton in Sounds magazine).
If you are familiar with Texas punks Faulty Cognitions and would like to hear them lean into their Cure-esque Britrock side, then I have a band for you! I don’t want to call this a side-project as that can sound a bit diminutive to me. Dark/goth-y post-punk in the vein of Joy Division from Yole Centeno and Nick Obregon bassist and guitarist from Faulty Cogs. Yole plays guitar and synth and holds down vocal duties here with sprechgesang rantings and desperate howls accompanied by atmospheric melodies and driving beats. Reverb, echo, chorus, gates all give this the genuine vibe of the masters of Gothic Rock (or punk gothique if you prefer).
I also spent an evening with a couple of my bandmates listening to all of the bands that Nocturnal Prose list as influences in their bio, what I would call a vast array of 80s and 90s post-punk and indie pop. Apparently these dudes do not wear their influences on their sleeves but instead subtly pepper in bits and pieces- like The Chameleons ethereal guitar parts with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry’s vocal delivery- creating something from those classic elements with a contemporary sound. I can even hear some of Rites of Spring’s post-hardcore, who were themselves influenced by the highly underrated and all but forgotten post-Generation X band Empire, a bit of whom I can also hear in Nocturnal Prose. Take for example the riff in “Withered Rose”- the album’s first single which the band dropped last month. The riff is almost joyous but it is juxtaposed against Yole’s agonized contempt for “the land of broken dreams” a pained picture of lost love.
Many of Yole’s lyrics strike me as longing for something different and/or better. Sad but relatable. Released on his own Total Agency label, Centeno also did the striking cover assemblage. No matter what you call it, Nocturnal Prose are nailing this sound. Although many of their dark/coldwave influences are driven by icy synthesizers, it took me a few listens to even notice the sparingly-used/subtly mixed keys on this recording. Prominent guitars keep it firmly rooted in the post-punk genre with hints of post-hardcore. Doctorow’s book concludes that AI tech has its uses and it’s the mega corporations developing and selling AI tech that are not to be trusted. The previously mentioned “AI overview” goes on to list several musical subgenres including “Trad Goth” which I have never heard of but gave me and the homeys a good larf so I guess Doctorow is right, AI is not entirely good for nothing.
