Giallows at the Raccon Motel -- October 19. (photo by Shale Sage)
October is Void Church season. The Quad Cities collective books shows in all seasons. But when the shadows fall and the light fades, when the veil draws thin and the wind whispers dark and suggestive secrets on the chilling air, Void Church falls into their element. The term “goth” is thrown around like a can of black lacquer, but it fits them like a pair of fishnets. They invite you to come revel in the dying of the light, with one caveat: “Are you ready to meet your shadow?”
They've got four events happening in October at the Raccoon Motel (315 East Second Street, Davenport IA). The Los Angeles “sunset goth” duo Patriarchy are bringing their “raw, cathartic, and danceable industrial” to town on Friday, October 3, with support from clubdrugs (goth-pop from Chicago) and the Children's Crusade (also from Chicago; “blacklight industrial” in the vein of early Nine Inch Nails). Doors are at 7 p.m., the show's at 8 p.m.; it's $15 to dance the St. Vitus Dance all night to an “electric NC-17 live performance.”
Sunday, October 19 will be a blacker Sabbath than usual. Activity are visiting from New York City. Their “haunting art-rock” is a difficult-to-categorize mix of synthetic- and organic sounds-insistent, pulsing electronic rhythms, hypnotic Krautrock grooves, a sound at once tense and understated and an ominous (but not oppressive) atmosphere reminiscent of Radiohead at their bleakest. As Void Church puts it: “There's a sense they're performing a kind of seance with their instruments, each member conjuring strange and moody phrases and textures that layer into haunting avant-pop tunes like so much spectral lasagna.”
Set aside the image of a goth Garfield for a moment (Gothfield?), as this show bears other rewards for seekers of dark sounds. Besides the “enveloping dark ambient” of Envenomist and Brutal Shift, who will set the mood for the evening with their “stunning, cinematic dark ambient dreamscapes,” the October 19 show also features the return of Giallows.
Giallows have never really gone away, but it's been almost exactly a year since the darkly chameleonic Davenport band have stepped up to command the total attention of a room full of people. Their new single “Killing and Eating” dropped on October 1, with an accompanying video and visualizer. Its mix of industrial rhythm and crystalline doom guitars grabs you like a leash around your neck, and pulls you in whatever direction the mistress' leather-gloved hand sees fit.
Giallows' press statement was dubious and disquieting, alluding to high pressure and a member's internal disintegration: “Devin's gourd has cracked. A few years ago, when he lost his marbles, he told a record company that came out to see us perform that we couldn't be bothered to play any more cheesy venues without marble pillars framing the stage. Something about focusing orgone energy into the hand-carved devotional Pan pendants we wore while performing. Which could've made sense to someone from say 4AD if any of it were true.”
They continue thus: “Cracked gourds are a reasonable response to the many moons Giallows spent chiseling a pile of stone jam riffs and motifs into our new single, 'Killing and Eating.' This tune was a real test of our creative resolve, imaginations and discernment. We are elated to finally release it – and to release ourselves from the basement studio to perform for the first time in almost exactly a year.”
Doors for the October 19 show at the Raccoon Motel are at 6 p.m., the music starts at 7 p.m., and unlike the October 3 show, it's all-ages. Saturday, October 25 will see a visit by Patrick Wolf, performer of “fae/faun-esque dark folktronic music,” with an opener to be announced.
Finally, Halloween proper (Friday, October 31) will be observed with Dance Macabre, the first event the group has staged on the date itself. As the band states: “Expect trippy lights, candles, fog, spooky decor, and to bust ass like the Vampire Lestat at a Boiler Room blood rave. NYC synthy goth-poppers Ronnie Stone return to the Void stage for our Samhain soirée. Archeress will perform a one-night-only musical ritual at midnight as 'Kisser' to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their first album, Strawberry Moon. Before, between, and after these sets, DJ Doubleyou and DJ Shane Brown are joining forces with our Iowa City friend and visiting DJ Carnap to keep the fogged-up dance floor hopping with a mix of darkwave, post-punk, industrial, EBM, and, of course, old-school goth. We'll have a costume contest and a few other little surprises set up.”
The event runs from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., and entry is $10. Devin, from Giallows and Void Church, had only this to say: “We're gonna try to fill Raccoon with pumpkins!”
For more information, visit TheRaccoonMotel.com.
