Lycia

Lycia is a darkwave gothic-rock band that was formed in 1988 in Arizona, notable for being one of the ground breaking groups in darkwave and ethereal wave styles. Lycia's music is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of echoed guitars, dark and ethereal keyboards, doomy drum machine beats, VanPortfleet's melancholic, whispered vocals and Vanflower's vivid voice. The following playlist has been compiled by Tara Vanflower.

www.lyciummusic.com/

www.facebook.com/OFFICIAL.LYCIA

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1. Hee Haw - Where Oh Where Are You Tonight

I grew up listening to only country music. My parents listened to it and we watched all the variety shows on tv. Hee Haw being one that particularly sticks out in my head. So, I will use this song as the summation of my childhood.

2. Circle Jerks - Patty's Killing Mel (from VI, 1987)

This was the first "punk" music I got into because my cousin Karyn sent me a dubbed copy of VI and my friends and I thought we were cool going around school singing these lyrics. It was my gateway song.

3. The Cure - Lovesong (from Disintegration, 1989)

This song changed my life. I was a late comer to "cool" music so this was the first song by The Cure I was really made aware of and it changed who I was fundamentally. I became obsessed with The Cure, and through them other post punk bands like Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus, The Fall, etc. Obsessively watching The Hunger, sitting with friends in the dark listening to Bauhaus, The Cure etc. was how we spent our time. Daydreaming about hot musicians in eyeliner was a way of life.

4. Death in June - The Honour of Silence (from Nada!, 1985)

I listened to this album a lot with friends. Hanging out in dark rooms obsessively listening to this and other bands like Coil, Current 93, Throbbing Gristle, The Tear Garden.

5. Swans - Blood and Honey (from Children of God, 1987)
Swans is another band that changed my life. Once I heard them I had a new bar to measure music by. This band is brilliant from the beginning until now. Perfection. And I wrote Jarboe back in 91 and she wrote me back and it changed something in me. At the same time I was listening to Swans I was also listening to Godflesh and really enjoying the heavier side of dark music.

6. Daisy Chainsaw - Love Your Money (from Eleventeen, 1992) 
I'm listing this song because when I heard Katie's voice it most definitely inspired me. My early musical incarnation before Lycia was heavily influenced by her vocal style. I always loved her raw uninhibited and passionate delivery and this was the first track I heard by them. I wasn't sure where to put them in this list numerically because I knew about them earlier but didn't rediscover them until I saw them on Beavis and Butthead again and it would've been around this time frame post Swans / pre Lycia. HAHA Their current band Queen Adreena is also an excellent band.

7. Lycia - Ionia (from Ionia, 1991)
The third band that changed my life. I got a dubbed copy of Ionia from a penpal and the moment the music started I was overwhelmed. So much so I tracked Mike down, thus changing my life. To this day this release invokes something in me I can't explain.

Rivulets

Rivulets is the nom de plume of minimalist singer-songwriter Nathan Amundson, who whispers delicate poems accompanied by skeletal chords and slow arpeggios, blending "Drake-ian" folk and slowcore since 2002. He has just released his fifth album, called I Remember Everything.

www.rivulets.net

rivulets.bandcamp.com

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1. Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi’s Dead (1979)

Introduced me to minimalist rock music and, later I would realize, dub.

2. Big Star - What’s Going Ahn (from Radio City, 1974)

Big Star are still teaching me how to write better songs.

3. Lisa Germano - Wood Floors (from Slide, 1998)

From the wood upon which you stood.

4. Stevie Wonder - All In Love Is Fair (from Innervisions, 1973)

You either win or lose.

5. Swans - The Sound (from Soundtracks for the blind, 2001)

Float above my lake. Swans showed me the possibilities were limitless.

6. Robert Johnson - Stop Breaking Down (1937)

Please stop breaking down.

7. The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored (from The Stone Roses, 1989)

This whole album is unassailable. This song was my entry point.

Remora

Remora is the project of Brian John Mitchell (the owner of beloved Silber Records) started in the '90 to release guitar-made ambient walls of sound, which has lately shifted into apocalyptic punk-pop, slowcore rhythms and shoegazing tunes.

www.silbermedia.com/remora/

www.facebook.com/PostApocalypticPop

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1. Godflesh – Slavestate (from Slavestate, 1991)

This came out when I was 15. At the time I was mainly listening to thrash bands & this song totally blew my mind. I still walk around whistling it on a regular basis 20+ years later.

2. Lycia – Dome (from Estrella, 1998)

Lycia shaped everything I think I know about music & the music industry. This one is a lot noisier than what they’re generally known for & fairly awesome.

3. Swans – Red Sheet (from Body to Body, Job to Job, 1991)

The early Swans are so brutal. This song always grabbed me by the throat.

4. Joy Division – Twenty Four Hours (from Closer, 1980)

Joy Division is probably the band most influential to all the other bands I listen to. They always sound new & fresh & exciting to me.

5. Gyorgy Ligeti – Lux Aeterna (from Lux Aeterna, 1991)

Lux Aeterna blew my mind. It’s not just music from 2001 or The Shining, it’s a serious piece of music that totally influenced everything I’ve done that vaguely falls under the heading ambient.

6. Low – Sunflower (from Things We Lost In The Fire, 2001)

I love Low. This is the one of their tracks I most find myself walking around singing.

7. New Order – The Him (from Movement, 1981)

This might be the single song I’ve listened to the most times in 2014. People always want to talk crap about New Order compared to Joy Division & even I used to do that. But now I think that the first two albums are where Joy Division was headed anyway & this song is under heard & incredible.