Naked On The Vague-Sad Sun

On their new EP "Sad Sun", Australia's Naked On The Vague offer up more depression-drenched slices of noise for the new dark children. Things get started off with "The Horse Part Two", a continuation of "The Horse Is Sick" from their debut. However, where the original "Horse" was a catchy immediate slab of noise-goth, this one goes the other way, all psychedelic doom that stretches and pulls at the limits of it's own structure. Drums announce impending doom. The guitars and synths swirl around in the background. A digeridoo wails lonely from somewhere in the outer reaches of the Australian desert.
"White Blanket" is up next, a lonely chant driven by bassist Matthew Hopkins and supported by the cavernous wail of Lucy Cliche, a drum machine kicks in on autopilot, calling to mind Big Black, if Steve Albini had ever allowed himself copious amounts of eerie reverb. More a piece than a song, it nevertheless holds down the atmosphere.
"Blood Pressure Rising" is the most immediate song of the bunch, recalling "Know Nothing" from the debut, hiccuped bursts of guitar, an impassioned vocal from Hop, and then blackness. Exquisite Corpse, indeed. "Bitings" returns to the flavor of "The Horse Part Two", although truncated into a three minute run time instead of the earlier song's five. Vaguely ambient with a psychotic bent and a death rattle drum, it sets the mood for the EP's title, and final, track. Opening up with a bit of acoustic guitar and miked noise, "Sad Sun" creeps along for six minutes that remind of Throbbing Gristle at their darkest, a dub influence shines through as sounds float in and out of the mix, the pair's vocals and instruments always veering from speaker to speaker, that didgeridoo comes back into the mix, and everything is tribalism, a black magic ritual in the Australian Outback.
Considering your taste, you may not find this EP to be as strong as last year's stunning debut "The Blood Pressure Sessions," but it opens up new avenues for the duo, the introduction of psychedelic and dub elements are a welcome one. If they can strengthen the songwriting on their next release, they'll have a surefire winner. Best of luck to them.

www.myspace.com/nakedonthevague

With Drop Dead moving more and more into the indie direction, it seems increasingly likely that this will be the only mag devoted to the parts of the goth scene that I still find exciting and genuine.
So what did I think of it then?
Well, first, the good. It looks amazing. Yes, Mercer was right, it is an absolute stunner visually. Glossy, well put together, never confusing in it's layouts...incredibly professional, a lot of care obviously went into it. The interviews are solid, if somewhat short (at least for the newer bands covered...Specimen and ASF both got huge articles/interviews done, which is nice and all, understandable with the Batcave tour coming, but if the magazine really wants to support the scene, it should put a bit less emphasis on the old standbys...)
and the reviews are all well done and insightful. There's a great variety of bands on display here, including some personal favorites, Bell Hollow, Scott Walker (!), Black Ice. Even the Horrors (and their vastly superior twins Neils Children) put in a cameo. The Scott Walker highlight in particular was a nice touch, as is the article on Tearwave, a Projekt band, showing that the magazine isn't limited to the strict deathrock/horrorpunk/psychobilly niche of the majority of the scene, and a good starting point for branching out. (Let's hope they don't branch out TOO far!)

The bad: There are two major gripes. First of all, the Fashion part of the magazine does get annoying, even if it is well done. The spotlight on Manic Panic and Lip Service is hardly necessary, it's been covered to death over the years. Do we really need to be informed that Deathrockers wear these brands and read interviewers with their head honchos? (I'm going to assume this comes down to some sort of sponsorship deal, perhaps part of the reason that the mag is so glossy?) Second, do we really need an interview with something as mundane and established as the Horrorpops? I can't think of a single person within the scene that enjoys their music, so it somewhat comes across as a bid to win over some of that Hot Topic fanbase, which in itself, isn't a bad thing, but they really could've chosen something with a bit more musical worth. The Dresden Dolls perhaps?

The only other complaint I can think of is that on the cover it promises 'free posters' and I came across nothing of the sort, so either my copy's missing whatever posters there may be or they're cheating and counting a full page picture of a band as a poster. (Oh, and the fact that a few of the reviews are taken directly from post-punk.com. They're credited, but still, can't they have at least SLIGHTLY different reviews?)

So, when all is said and done, there's not a lot here for me to tar and feather Deathrock Magazine with. They did an excellent job with this issue. I don't have Issue 1 so I can't compare the two, but from what I've heard of it they've stepped up their game a lot with this one. Kudos to their staff, I'm looking forward to seeing how the magazine progresses.


-James Mandible