Saturday, November 13, 2004

how fortunate the man with none

There's about a decade where Factory Records, 4AD, and Beggar's Banquet provided most of the soundtrack of my life: Factory had Joy Division, Durutti Column, Cabaret Voltaire, and New Order; 4AD had the Birthday Party, Bauhaus (for a short time), Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Lush, Modern English, This Mortal Coil, and the Pixies; Beggar's Banquet had Bauhaus and all of its offspring, John Cale, the Cult, the Fall, Flipper, Gary Numan, Icicle Works, Lydia Lunch... they even had the Ramones for awhile. Many other record companies were putting out good music, but for awhile there these three just couldn't miss.

Of course, this was all long enough ago that most of those bands have had 'Where are they now?' episodes, if anyone remembers them at all. So for those of us who remember those bands, it's nice when they pop up again. The current Pixies tour, for example, is an interesting phenomenon... one half of the audience is twice the age of the other half.

One band I thought I'd never hear from again is Dead Can Dance... turns out I was wrong. They've just announced a tour that will hit the US next September. I suspect the audience will be filled with people like me, who will hear the music not so much as it is but as it was. Sometimes I think the context in which DCD thrived has moved on in everything but memory, but I keep hearing their influence pop up here and there so maybe they've got a little life left in them. I'll let you know after I see the show.