Let’s not nitpick about “modern” date ranges or split hairs about sub-sub-sub-genres. We’re keeping it simple. Here are Gothy’s top 10 modern-age darkwave albums in ORDER OF BADASSERY
10 – Tempers – Private Life (2019)
Take the 1980’s pop star, Tiffany, transport her to the late 2010’s and give her a gallon of PCP. I mean that in a good way. Slow, moody, dark synthpop is maybe a better way to describe this one. Picture an album full of Lebanon Hanover’s Gallowdance, but higher pitch… and with zombies floss-dancing. I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. Give it a listen. NEXT
9 – Magic Wands – Switch (2023)
A remix album of this LP was released the same year, and I named that album 2023’s ALBUM OF THE YEAR. It was called SWITCHED. I think the original, Switch, has held up better over time. Not that the remix album is bad. Quite the opposite. But SWITCH really does have that catty, sneaky, soul that gets lost in translations by others.
I really don’t know what to make of Wagic Wands’ catalogue. I’m not sure I’d call them a darkwave band the way I would with, say… Tempers. But I don’t really think there are darkwave bands any more than there are goth bands. There are only goth albums and darkwave albums. Bands change over time and try different genres.
They are on Cleopatra and Metropolis record labels, however. Not bad for a band from Nashville. And this album is probably their darkest.
8 – Lebanon Hanover – Tomb For Two (2013)
Sad bastard music at its finest. Gallowdance is the “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” of darkwave. The rest of the album is just as dark, creepy, and bleak. Not to mention minimalistic.
Despite how depressing the sound is, it’s still somehow extremely beautiful. I get the same feeling listening to this album as I do early Christian Death. Perhaps it’s the passionate vocals. Or the hopeless lyrics showcased by the simple drums guitars/synths that don’t serve much purpose other than acting as a rhythm section: A rusty wall behind a vine of vivid poetry.
Side note: If you like Lebanon Hanover, try another darkwave band called Farba Kingdom. Similar style but perhaps even darker.
7 – Sally Dige – Holding On (2017)
Germany’s/Canada’s/Denmark’s/Whatever’s Sally Dige’s first album was a bit too 80’s sounding to really be considered darkwave. And every album since has been much too upbeat for my liking.
Holding On is an anomaly but man is it good. The title track, Be Gone, and Sail To Me are perfect tracks for a post-punk/darkwave DJ night at your local goth club.
Sally’s next few albums had a few melancholy tracks that I do like a lot. But this album was just lightning in a bottle. A lot of artists, when this happens, spend the rest of their career sadly trying to recreate the magic. It never works out. They can never accomplish something that inexplicably worked so well. Sally never tried. She did what she keeps on doing, moving on and looking for that new sound.
6 – Tempers – New Meaning (2022)
The band so nice I listed them twice. Their albums really do look the way their albums sound. In this case, a mysterious, beautifully soft lit set of stairs to nowhere. I can’t explain it, but that’s how the whole album sounds.
New York’s Jasmine Golestaneh created a project whose sound gets more and more complex by the album, without alienating the audience. It just gets richer and richer, much like Mazzy Star’s catalogue. A beautiful voice backed up by equally dreamy, dark, beautiful music that can hold its own, but choosing to showcase the haunting vocals instead.
5 – Drab Majesty – The Demonstration (2017)
Ahhh the controversial Drab Majesty. Say what you will about their childish tweets or latest attempt at going britpop/shoegaze (yes they recently toured with and opened for the legendary Slowdive), there are two things about this band that are undeniable: First, they ooze with style and secondly, their first two proper albums are just… (mwah) Cheff’s kiss.
They teeter more on the rock side of darkwave so it’s no surprise they’ve evolved into something unrecognizable lately. Their debut album, Careless, was a powerful display of their potential. Two years later they released this album The Demonstration, where they mastered that dreamy, higher energy darkwave sound.
Now I’ve heard negative things about their performances. One day I’ll see them live. Hell: I own their “Completely Careless” tshirt. But I don’t care about this. As far as studio albums go, it doesn’t get much better than this for a night drive on a 67 degree night with the windows open.
4 – Cold Cave – Cherish the Light Years (2011)
This album is bonkers. Half of the most stunning darkwave you’ll ever heard. Half, uhhh…. well.. there really no words are for the other half. I really don’t know what to think. Maybe Wes tried too hard to be the next New Order. It doesn’t matter. One half of this album is so amazing it makes up for the rest.
Look. As far as singles go Underworld USA and Confetti are the two greatest darkwave tracks of all time. Between that and the fact that they were the opening band for Nine Inch Nails’ 2014 European Tour locks them into the top rungs of this genre.
I saw them a decade or so ago at the Black Cat in Washington DC. Now, to be fair, as much as I love the Black Cat, their sound isn’t that great. Nevertheless, I was disappointed in their live performance. That being said they just had a kid so having been in a position where my wife and I were both trying to work and raise kids while one of us was travelling a lot, I get it. As Dave Chapelle once said: “You aren’t crisp. But you’ll function”. I’d like to think legendary hardcore vocalist Wes Eisold is more on point nowadays.
Confetti still brings tears to my eyes to this day and I look forward to the day where I hear it live with all the passion and energy it deserves.
3 – Harsh Symmetry – Display Model (2022)
This is where the list really gets elite.
I don’t know much about Harsh Symmetry. They burst on the scene around 2022 and 3-4 years later they broke up. Maybe it’s just one person. Maybe it’s one main person like Dusty of Vision Video who has legal issues with their band mates or label and had to dissolve, but either way the vocalist just started a new band, Omnihell, which is great. But nothing is going to match the level of this album, Display Model.
Ok I cheated. I just googled the singer. His name is Julian Sharwarko and I’m going to come out and say what has to be said. He is the greatest vocalist of the entire darkwave, goth, post punk movement since its inception. I’m not just talking modern darkwave or darkwave in generally. I’m talking since music got dark in the 70s. Morissey, Ian Curtis, Mark Burgess, Peter Murphy, Nick Cave. No one holds a candle to Julian.
It’s a bold statement. But this is bold music. Bold, alluring, sublime, dark… pop… music. There is never a time to not put this album on.
2 – TR/ST – TRST
What is it about TR/ST? Canada’s Robert Alfons vocals are unparalleled. While not as technically perfect as Harsh Symmetry they are unique in a way that no one else has ever come close. Combine that with some great, rich, melodies and you’ve got yourself a darkwave band, baby. The kind that is top billed at Cruel World 2024 just after Jesus and Mary Chain and just before Soft Cell.
Their debut album TRST was a really good album. They fell apart for a bit and eventually it became a one man show for Alfons. It took a few years to get it together, but they’ve been on the up and up lately. Despite how great his albums are as of late; this one holds a special place in my heart. I heard it recently after it came out, before I had ever heard the term, Darkwave. It gripped me then and hasn’t let go since.
1 – Boy Harsher – Country Girl Uncut (2019)
Boy Harsher really is the gold standard for the modern darkwave sound. And this album is phenomenal. I bought it on vinyl and I will be FUCKING BURIED WITH IT.
Boy Harsher’s pre-2020 work takes you to another world and drops you off without a map or and reference point as to where home is. I’m fine with that. I can just sit there, like the person on the cover of this album, listening to their music forever on a tiny dark planet like The Little Prince and I’d be perfectly content for eternity.
Move over London, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, etc. GEORGIA (Yes, the US State, not the country) is where that greatest dark music comes from nowadays.