VA - No Songs Tomorrow - Darkwave, Ethereal Rock And Coldwave 1981-1990 (2024)

• FEATURING THE CURE, DEAD CAN DANCE, CLAN OF XYMOX, COCTEAU TWINS, SOFT CELL, TONES ON TAIL, IN THE NURSERY, ATTRITION, IRON CURTAIN, ALIEN SEX FIEND, CRANES, KIRLIAN CAMERA, NEON AND MANY MORE.

• 4CD SET EXPLORING THE 1980s’ DARKWAVE/COLDWAVE SCENE THROUGHOUT THE UK, EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES

• A BROAD CHURCH TAKING IN ELECTRONICS, DARK AMBIENT, NEO-CLASSICAL NEW WAVE, GOTHIC SOUNDSCAPES AND COLD DREAM POP.

• CURATED BY THE TEAM WHO BROUGHT YOU ‘CHERRY STARS COLLIDE’, ‘SILHOUETTES AND STATUES’ AND ‘STILL IN A DREAM’.

• SLEEVENOTES COURTESY OF FRANK DESERTO.

As the post-punk dust began to settle, a particular strand of artist began applying a knowingly distant, colder aesthetic to their work. While much of the scene began to be dominated by bigger budget, commercially minded former punk and new wave acts, a darker undercurrent did survive, often more interesting, more dangerous and sexier than anything that could be heard on Top Of The Pops at the time. The first generation of the darkwave movement consisted of bands that were equally influenced by the fractured drama of Depeche Mode, Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Cure as they were by the art damaged experimentation of Cabaret Voltaire, Wire and Throbbing Gristle, always rich in Gothic spirt, societal displacement, urban isolation and sexual energy.

‘No Songs Tomorrow’ collects together the true progenitors and risk takers of this Venn diagram scene, each of whom set forth in uncharted territory in the post-punk minefield, expressing parts of themselves others dare not in the truest and darkest of fashions. From familiar names to underground gems and collectables, and painting with a broad international palette, this might be considered a companion piece to several of our previous offerings, ‘Silhouettes And Statues’, ‘Close to The Noise Floor’, ‘Still In A Dream’ and ‘Cherry Stars Collide’ among them. We recommend late night listening, either home alone or dripping with sweat on a rotting dancefloor.