The Spiritual Bat 2014

  At this point I can call them friends, and so their success, their struggle for it, matters to me. The Spiritual Bat come all the way from Italy. I go see them for the same reason I go see a lot of bands. There is something in their music that I identify with and so I support it when I can. A little something else comes with them. They bring with them the identity of the goth rock subculture. It fascinates how transnational their act is and small enough for them to remember you from town to town. It so fascinates me the distance they travel.  By the time I see them they have done all their European gigs and a portion of the US. I see them after lots of mileage. Goth rock is international, its trans local.  They carry the bloody torch. That identifiable energy is evident from the first track of the new CD. They are touring for what I believe is their third release, Mosaic.  I bought it on blind faith. And wow! I'm all into it. The blood does not pulse slowly for someone that likes goth rock. We in the shadows like to dance. Movement, tension and contemplation. Thinking shit through as you move. Its not the primary purpose if you will of dark music, but its one of those irresistible by products that make the subculture so attractive, and The Bats have this down.  Basically "you can dance to this" is saying they know how to keep your attention, without pandering to you. They are basically themselves in naturally appealing to that narrow passionate dark clad audience.  That title track just takes off and wakes you up with that dark muscle car engine.  If you are tired and winded after dancing, then you need to do more cardio because here comes We Are Born We Live We Die. Suddenly I'm back to one of those club nights that are exclusively devoted to goth rock.  You are not going to sit to So Proud there is that tension that makes you do those long slow dance movements. Tension is the thing that keeps even the slower tracks in my radar. At the moment I am currently all about Linfo! And it continues to rain on you after that. And let me stress that to me this genre....my appreciation for it is not out of nostalgia. This music lives in the present day for me and in part because of The Bats. They keep it in my head, and they keep me pursuing it.
  Well...2009 does feel like a long time ago. Much has passed since then. This was the second time at Live Wire Lounge. Seeing them was a much needed oasis for me. Oh...and Sarah and William were there. A good gathering of some of the friends of the local dark/goth-industrial subculture. Before that night I was such a fucking miserable bastard with no internet for a month. and then a 3 day migraine. I was probably unpleasant to be around. Just before blackout I wrote the show down......I knew this here comet was on its way and so I made arrangements to be where it hits. Hmmm, by the way, by black out I meant internet. I didn't black out from the migraine.....just to get that out. Anyway....This show was significant. Yet all day the night of the show I felt no anticipation. I dared not feel it, or something will swoop down and deny it the second they see me salivating. Something internally switched it off. Without internet like a fucking cave man you don't know if they changed venue or if something else happened. The relative isolation makes you think shit. Anyway....I'm glad I made it to this show where I got to see old friends, see old friends on stage. And I felt internally replenished for it.
Zig

Lykanthea

  My friend Diane and I went to see Scott Cortez at Burlington. I think it was late spring or something. It was on a Monday. It was her idea and I didn't say no. It was a lazy Monday. Expectations are low and so I feel...lazy. Along calls Diane.....why not. This can be like a training exercise on being on time since now I have another person to consider.....and its Diane. I pick her up from work. We both go on and bemoan whatever bullshit happens to us. We both have nieces from hell and so forth. Scott Cortez is spoken about a lot among the friends I share a thread of common musical taste. I know his work from his band Star. I wrote about them long ago. Once inside Burlington, there was Rebecca and Brian from Panda Riot. This turned out to be my first time seeing the local solo, ambient Lykanthea. Turns out she was about to release her EP Migration. I was fascinated first by her arranging of her instruments on the floor where she will kneel or sit. This intimacy draws you in. I mean who fucking does that? She has enough gear and instruments that would make other people by instinct naturally play standing up, like her guitar. So sitting on the floor is a deliberate and interesting act. Telos in moments reminded me of being introduced to Eno by my cousin years ago. Music For Airports.....We got stoned and...anyway I better like Telos at 8 minutes to Enos at 28.  I had to cue it up to that part. I don't got 28 minutes like that! So Lykanthea show....Burlington...oh and no camera. Monday night hanging with Diane. The lighting is candlelight minimal. This kind of performance invites, requires silence from the audience and there were two girls yammering away in the back. Diane would turn and stare them down. If they were flies she would have swat them. The sound guy eventually asked them to leave I think. So she is who I thank for introducing me to Lykanthea. I don't recall which songs I heard and which songs are impacting later when you hear it at home. It was real nice and unexpected to catch this on a Monday night. Not having a camera to record flashes of the moment had me absorb and recall as much as possible. I were to see her once more before moving of to Rome.
  Saturday August....don't fucking ask. On this night I caught two shows and this was the second. Researching Lakshmi Ramgopal's Lykanthea, later is to enter a labyrinth of other topics to research. To better and more fully appreciate Migration I shall research the goddess Inanna for example. First, I saw an amazing haunting one time performance of Lykanthea at Hideout with a chorus local performers from other bands behind her. An ideal ambient audience is tense silent and respectful as was Hideout.  My Sisters is crazy intense, dark and fragile! I'm so happy I did not miss it. That song and Telos are inspired by Lakshmi living for a week in the Greek island of Delos with no internet, isolated from the few people the island had and the roar of the ocean the only other constant. Sisters was written as a funeral song.            

  For the Hideout gig it was dark and they were hooded. If ritual it was, no commoners performed.
Clergy only, and for only one night, after this Lykanthea moves to Rome, and this moment is never to be again. This was not going to be on the list of fabulous shit I missed. I recognized most of the chorus. Sophie from Videotape, Melissa from architecture. Looked and sounded like I was witnessing an ancient ritual that I was not supposed to witness. Lakshmi is on the floor where she arranges her instruments. This gives texture to that ritual feel, intimate as only Hideout does.  The performance space was cold in relation to outside. It was probably 89 that August Saturday night and inside you can almost see your breath. You didn't go inside to get cool, you got outside to where its nice and warm. I keep in mind and stress that impressions I write down here

are just first impressions. Lykanthea's music is ambient and dense with thought. Easily slips you into deep dark introspection. More it will reveal about myself over time. Its just that dense. I look forward to the long imprint from Lykanthea.
Zig