I've lost count of the number of amazing bands that I've discovered over the years at Robert Collins' Terminal Escape blog. A ton of incredible punk and hardcore bands, but also some essential post-punk and new wave. My latest obsession to be unearthed from the Escape is one of the latter, cold wave goth duo Decades/Failures.
Comprised of Adam Ryan and Alexis Ivy, Richmond, Virginia's Decades/Failures create dreamy, gothed-out darkwave that, like Total Control, manages to teeter skillfully on the edge of wistful retro without falling into the pit of useless nostalgia. Like all the good '80s inspired new wave and post-punk stuff to come out of the DIY punk scene in recent years, this isn't just trendy emulation. Along with their peers, this band is taking something familiar and sincerely striving to build on it and go somewhere new. If you're paying attention it should be obvious that that ethos, as well as the music's attitudes and themes, make these "soft" sounds just as punk as this week's new Discharge or Infest clone.
And this shit is dark. The lyrics read like a cry for help or a suicide note, an admission of complete hopelessness, pain and suffering.
And this shit is dark. The lyrics read like a cry for help or a suicide note, an admission of complete hopelessness, pain and suffering.
Decades/Failures new album G00DBY3 opens with "White Walls", and the drone and metronomic beat might have you feeling like you're in New York circa 1997, waiting for the Duke to arrive. However, as soon as the vocals kick in you know you're in gothic, rather than '80s sci-fi territory. By the time the relentlessly simple guitar and synth riff in "Fractured" gets into your head, you're hooked. The melancholy throb and dreamy synth passages of "Secret Superstitions" seal the deal. You might as well resign yourself to the fact that you're gonna need this from now on. It's a bad drug, but it feels so, so good. Buy/stream at bandcamp below.
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