Ladies, you’re in luck (you too, Fatherbliss)! There’s a new product on the market that will certainly bring new meaning to the term Electronic Body Music. It’s called the OhMiBod and it’s going to revolutionize the way you, uhhh…feel music.

The OhMiBod is an iPod-powered vibrator. Yep, just turn on, tune in and, y’know, turn on. Show a tendency toward swooning at David Gahan’s voice? Well, allow his pounding rhythms to do for you what you’ve always wanted him to do to you (you too, Fatherbliss!). Have you always had a preference for Combichrist’s aggressive pummeling? Then get ready to take a beating in just the right spots.

“Simply plug OhMiBod into your iPod, iPhone or any music player and it automatically vibrates to the rhythm and intensity of the music. Let your body feel the vibrations as you get down with your favorite tunes”

Interestingly, most models of the OhMiBod are priced at…you guessed it! $69.

Guys, we’re in trouble. Now we’ll never get the ladies into the clubs. But we’ll be able to rock out with something rock hard buzzing in our asses while we listen to all the best Rhythmic Noise at home! Well, Fatherbliss will, at least.

I’m sure that any one who reads this blog could do a more impressive job. Indeed I’d be willing to bet we could put together a top ten list of reasons to not “turn goth” if we tried. Personally I’m just too apathetic and can’t find the energy to step down off of my platforms.

(Note…the following is most definitely not written by me or anyone I’d associate with. I did add some tasty commentary at the end.)

This is from the same website as the fashion post: Here I thought we were done with all of this

1 The females run the show
“Women in the goth scene have a strong sense of self and are in touch with their sexuality,” says Sir William Welles, founder of the listings website New Goth City. Translation: The chicks pick up the dudes.

2 Halloween lasts the entire year and your October is insane
“Every month there are events with different themes,” says Welles. “On September 14, I’ll be at the Clockwork Orange party at the Delancey (168 Delancey St between Attorney and Clinton Sts, myspace.com/byte). One time, the theme was military or law enforcement, and we had latex cops with miniskirts!” And come October, every goth and his evil twin wants to throw a Halloween party. Says Welles: “I’m pretty much out every night then. We have to think of different costumes, too: Last year, I dressed like a normal person.”

3 It’s the tightest community you’ll ever belong to, outside of a support group
Whether you’re gay, straight, a friggin’ vampire, whatever—you’ll never meet a friendlier bunch. “Nobody judges you, as long as you’re not creepy,” says Welles. “And there’s a difference between creepy and spooky.” So where are all of these so-called community members? “Most people don’t dress up during the day,” explains Welles. “Some work on Wall Street, and we call ’em corporate goth. The ballpark figure is around 500 that are truly goth in the five boroughs. Sorry—we don’t have a census bureau.”

4 You can finally ask people to call you Death God Vengeance…the Third
Live as a freak and you can reinvent yourself however you like. “You can have a goth name to sound more ominous or darker,” says Welles, who actually goes by his real name. “It’s about having a double life; You could call someone Mildred by day and Dark Raven at night.”

5 Enjoy all the personal space you want
When you’re wearing 17 pounds of makeup, a spiky dog collar and a barbell in every orifice, people notice. “If I’m at a deli, I get compliments on my bold style,” says Welles. Outside the deli is a different story: “People give you more space, like when you’re taking the L. I always get two to three seats to myself.”
_____________________________________-

Am I supposed to take articles like this seriously? I don’t dress the way I do to get attention. I do to showcase all of the cat hair on my clothing after going to visit my friends and their spooky pets. Plus it’s much easier to do laundry when all of your clothes are the same color. It also covers up stains nicely. I can list a hundred better reasons to dress up all dark and sinister than someone giving me space.

Death goes walking in the NY scene

I’m coming across so many fashion articles lately for the gothic subset it boggles my mind. Somewhere there must be an entire faction of white bread Americans sitting huddled in a corner for fear of their lives. Given how often the alternative fashion styles are looked down upon by mainstream media I’m finding this “trend” fascinating.

I knew that the scene was gasping before but if we have to face middle aged parents dressing up this garb I might have to build a bell tower.

Skinny Puppy “fans” have always cracked me up, if only because there are very few actual fans of Skinny Puppy. Fan is short for “fanatic,” and a true fan follows where any act will lead, possessing an admiration and understanding that allows them to progress along with the group. However, most people who listen to SP like specific albums as opposed to the body of work in their two-and-a-half decade career and they often argue with one another over which album is best. Hell, there are about 12 to choose from and nearly every single one has its apologists, even 2004’s often maligned The Greater Wrong Of The Right.

Then there is the side project of Nivek Ogre, aptly titled ohGr (in collaboration with musician/engineer Mark Walk). The 2001 debut of this act, Welt, is almost universally accepted as a magnificent work while the follow-up from 2003, SunnyPsyOp, was sort of a half&half effort. Leaning much more toward electro pop than the dark Industrial of Puppy the ohGr material appeals to a broader cross-section of electronic fans. So it will be interesting to see how the latest offering, due out on October 17th via Synthetic Symphony/SPV, will be received. Carrying a title that seems somewhat unimaginative, Devils In My Details will most likely either be a strong, expressive statement or an uninspired dud.

More interesting is Ogre’s turn as an actor in the upcoming (limited) theatrical release, Repo! the Genetic Opera, a twisted Rock Opera that revolves around a man whose job it is to reclaim organs from people who fail to make payments on their transplants. Or something. It’s got a lot of dark, comic-bookish visuals, quite a bit of gore and a number of great songs. I’m not much of a fan of musicals but I’m definitely looking forward to this one. Word has it that Ogre’s Repo! co-star, Bill Moseley, appears on one of the tracks from Devils In My Details.

Barring any unforeseen delays the film will experience a limited run beginning November 7th (it may hit The Lagoon if we Twin Citians are lucky) with the soundtrack hitting stores on September 30th.

Remember the first two Haujobb albums (“Homes and Gardens” and “Freeze Frame Reality”)? Both are seminal works in the industrial (etc.) genre, and amazing artifacts of early 90s industrial(etc.). However, the Haujobb sound for better or for worse has changed since then. Haujobb’s front-man, Daniel Myer, has moved on to exploring various other different sounds and styles (see Architect, Destroid, and the latest Haujobb releases).

But for those still interested in the vintage Haujobb sound, a trace has survived. Björn and Sven Jünemann, now recording as Standeg, were both involved as a part of the original incarnation of Haujobb. Their sound suspiciously resembles early Haujobb material, with more up-to-date drum sounds and production.

See for yourself by downloading their new EP “Rushing Pictures.” (AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD FOR A LIMITED TIME FROM ARTOFFACT RECORDS). This will prime listeners for their upcoming release “UltraHighTechViolet” this fall on Artoffact Records.

Over the weekend we received this email at CastleDTC:

Hello,

Regards,
Connexion Bizarre

We really appreciate the links and support offered by like-minded sites and are always willing to reciprocate the gestures made by our brethren. So, by all means, frequent the Connexion Bizarre site and support their work. We recognize that those of us into these lifestyles and/or music preferences represent an important minority and the more we promote the things we enjoy as well as those providing resources for knowledge and dissemination the more there will be available for all of us. Support these sites, support the independent record labels and support the artists that enrich our experience.

We appreciate it. Especially since it gives us more to talk about!

Last night’s Memorial Metal Massacre at First Ave was an enormous success and could easily become a popular annual event. In tribute to Earl Root the iconic club added yet another star to its outer wall.

They could have painted it completely inverted. That would have been more proper. And they should have included the outline of a goat.

Just sayin’.

On October 31, the classic ‘Medieval Electro’ act from Germany, will release a ‘Best Of’ compilation entitled ‘Purpurea’. The record will be released on ‘E-Wave Records’, a subsidiary of Drakkar Entertainment.

I don’t exactly know what this means to Qntal fans in the US since distribution was handled by the now defunct Dancing Ferret.

A Qntal ‘Best Of’ would certainly be more accessible to people just discovering the band. Let’s hope someone stateside takes the plunge and makes albums available.

If, for some reason you haven’t heard of Qntal, samples can be found Here.

“Beyond,” the bidecadal offering from Informatik will apparently be available Sept 9th. I’m not sure I should be worried or excited.

I’ve been a huge fan of the band ever since I bought “Syntax” back in 1999. The album still sounds great to my ear, and every so often I do throw it into the cd-playing-device. Their sound has radically changed since “Syntax” and “Direct Memory Access.” Back then, the band had more of a hard-edge minimal EBM sound, which was very prominent amongst the first 100 Metropolis releases. For “Nymphomatik,” they ventured deep into futurepop territory, though still maintaining slightly more interesting synth-patches and composition. “Nymphomatik” is about the only futurepop album that I can still listen to without being irritated.

I’ve heard a few tracks off the new album… and well, I have mixed feelings. For one, Tyler Newman works with Din on these releases. And as of lately, Newman has decided that the emo-whinny-metal-guitar sound is where it’s at (see latest Battery Cage album “A Young Person’s Guide to Heartbreak”). The album does sound a hell of a lot different from Nymphomatik (or the pit-stop of Re:vision). When I heard the track “Nothing Greater,” I was appalled at the post-1990-DM sound that seemed to have been channeled. Hell, I almost threw my fancy studio headphone out the window. However, today I gave “Louder then Words” a few spins, and I’m really digging it. On the downside, the track has somewhat painful choices in guitar tones, and lyrics talking about heartbreak sound tacky. However, on the upside, I really enjoy the synth-patches that Din/Newman decided to use, Din’s voice sounds amazing, and the mastering is of superb quality. I’ll wait to hear the whole album a few time, before I make up my mind

From the wired blog

Could there be anything more sexy than playing a shooting game that is full of Japanese anime styled gothic lolitas? Clearly I can perish in a self respectful car fire after this game comes out because my life will be complete.

This is a horizontal shooter (unlike the normal vertical scrolling variety) where the gamer can control one of four lovely gothic lolitas sporting guns. Pedo bear is all over this game. I wonder if there will be a hack involved that undresses the characters in some sort of homage to disturbed individuals? Likely.