Delightful Dark Female Vocals: Eva X, Night Club, Lorelei Dreaming, and Metamorph

3 Jul

Here are several groups that have been on heavy rotation on my Freegal playlists recently in the goth/synthpop genres with distinctive female vocalists. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Eva X
Canadian Synthpop singer/band, Eva X, is a favorite of my husband’s and we’ve seen her several times live where she always puts on very high energy show. Danceable music with memorable hooks you can stream the songs off the I Dream of Reality album and her latest single Dopamine Blind. My favorite off I Dream of Reality is Whipping Girl, a song that inspires the listener to release themselves from toxic people whose scapegoating they should leave behind.

Lorelei Dreaming
Mid-West based, Lorelei Dreaming’s theatrical, multi-media live performances are definitely worth seeking out, which was how I first experienced their music, but their beautiful electronic music is still enjoyable listened to on its own as well so I recommend streaming their sublime synthpop songs from the Future Fables album. Singer, Laura Bienz, had also previously collaborated with St. Griselda and Angelspit.

Night Club
LA, electronic Pop duo, Night Club, reminds me a bit of Garbage, in that most of their songs are bangers. Emily Kavanaugh provides the vocals. The band was featured on the soundtrack for animated series Moonbeam City, for which Night Club founder, Mark Brooks, was also the director for (he also was the director for Metalocalypse). Albums available on Freegal include Requiem for Romance, Scary World, and Masochist. My favorite single is Scary World, which like many of their songs is sure to get stuck in your head and having you humming along. Make sure to check out their interesting take on Siouxsie and the Banshees club favorite, Cities in Dust.

Metamorph
Metamorph is the project of Margot Day who was active in the early days of the NYC Goth scene back in the 80’s when she was in the band The Plague which included Nick Ferrell from Spahn Ranch and Damian from the Misfits. She also was bandmates of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys in her first band Slow Walk 13. She and her current band mates Kurtis Knight and Thalina perform witchy music that hints at goth’s past, but brings in the dark synth of the present on Hex. Margot also plays flute on some tracks an interesting addition, which I especially enjoyed when I recently saw them perform live this past spring at Dark Force Fest here in NJ.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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London Urban Fantasy: Bitter Waters and The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

26 Jun

Bitter Waters
by Vivian Shaw
I was disappointed when Vivian Shaw said that Grave Importance was the final book in the Dr. Greta Helsing trilogy, since I felt the modern fantasy series about a doctor who helped treat creatures of myth like vampires and mummies, had so much potential for additional fun adventures. I was therefor delighted when Bitter Waters, a stand alone novella featuring Greta, who must solve the mystery and come to the aid of a newly bitten vampire child, Lucy was announced. This one will be especially popular with vampire fans with vampires Varney, Ruthven, and Grisaille all coming to the aid of Greta in helping Lucy recover from her ordeal. I also enjoyed Shaw’s interpretation of Dracula and his part in the story as well as the small side story about a cranky elder barrow-wight. Much of the joy of the series is seeing those typically depicted as monstrous in a humanized way with regular every day issues such as dealing with an aging parent. The culprit for Lucy’s situation felt a little too easily wrapped up, offstage, but I felt like there were hints that all may not be as it seems and I’m wondering if we may be setting up for future stories; I certainly hope so. We had read the first novel in the series, Strange Practice, as apart of our Science Fiction and Fantasy book club. The group enjoyed the book and I highly recommend the series for those looking for a contemporary fantasy with British flavor.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
by Garth Nix
We read the The Left-Handed Booksellers of London for our June book discussion on Monday, which all of the group members enjoyed. The book is marketed as for Young Adults, but has a lot that will resonate with New Adult readers and older readers may find themselves nostalgic for the 1983 setting. Susan has just moved to London and is excited to be living in the big city and the opportunity to find her father who she has never met and her spacey mother has only ever hinted about. What she finds out is that it isn’t just your average mugger she needs to look out for in the city, the things of legend really do begin to go bump in the night and her father is a being more powerful than any she could have conjured from her childhood fantasies. She is joined in her adventures by Merlin, who is amongst an unusual family of Booksellers, the Left-Handed of which like Merlin are the adventurous fighting type while the right handed are the more studious intellectual variety. The story revolves around Susan’s efforts to discover who her father is before his enemies can capture her. Lots of unique creatures romp through this creative and quirky story. For those wanting more you can check out The Sinister Booksellers of Bath.

I hope you will consider joining us at next month’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Discussion Group where we will be discussing Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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