Playlists

Californian goth means, above all, deathrock: this playlist couldn't possibly overlook trailblazers of the genre like T.S.O.L. with "Dance With Me", Christian Death with Rozz Williams and Rikk Agnew, or 45 Grave, fronted by the charismatic Dinah Cancer. But shades of darkness also enriched the sound of bands associated with punk: Agent Orange manage to work them into tracks steeped in surf music, while the Cramps showcase their own highly personal psychobilly formula and the Gun Club hybridize goth and blues. Even X, with the obsessive "Nausea" from their debut "Los Angeles", venture into this territory; on keyboards is Ray Manzarek, who also produced the record (after all, the Doors influenced more than one darkwave band).

Fully belonging to the "goth" sphere, on the other hand, are Burning Image, Tina Winter's Vodoo Church, Eva O's Super Heroines and the short-lived Psi Com (who only released an Ep and a cassette), fronted by a young Perry Farrell before Jane's Addiction.

Dark music in California didn't vanish after the 80s: the tracklist continues through synth-punk (Vanishing and Phantom Limbs, "endorsed" by Jello Biafra), the "nineties" gothic-glam of London After Midnight, and the deathrock revival of the 2000s (Astrovamps, Scarlet's Remains, Deep Eynde).

To close, the more recent exploits of Drab Majesty, Fearing, Creux Lies and Detoxi, proof that the Golden State continues to flaunt a distinctly dark side, despite an image usually defined by sun-soaked beaches, tans and hedonism.

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18/01/2026