New Goth Links for June 24, 2012

DARK ART:

Laurie Lipton

Stunning black and white drawings, charcoal and pencil on paper. Her artwork features skeletons, odd people, old people and haunted dolls houses. I love this gallery sooo much.

http://www.laurielipton.com/

Laurie Lipton on Facebook

Michele Lynch

Michele's mixed media art includes oil paintings, sculpted dark dollies, and jewelry. Steampunk influences, octopus girls, mermaids and other incredibly creative pieces of art.

http://michelelynchart.blogspot.com/

N.C. Winters

Artwork and comics, mostly monsters, with some rayguns and robots thrown in too. My favorite here is Hysteria.

http://ncwinters.com/

---

DARK SHOPS:

DeadSpider

Adorable dollhouse-sized poison bottles and potions. Plus full-sized deadly looking potion labels and potion bottles to decorate your kitchen for Halloween or year-round demented decor.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/deadspider

Little Dead Things

An Etsy shop selling cool zombie candles, Day of the Dead sugar skull candles, zombie refrigerator magnets and a Darth Vader calavera.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/littledeadthings

Quarantine Studio

They sell prepainted statues and collectibles based on zombies, Death Dealer, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Ghastly Graves, Mars Attacks and other horror staples.

http://www.quarantinestudio.com/

Quarantine Studio on Facebook

Skullebrities

"Rest in parody." T-shirt designs based on parodies of dead celebrities, including generic skeletons; Michael Jackson; Marilyn Monroe; Tupac; and if I'm not mistaken, Che Guevara.

http://www.skullebrities.com/

Skullebrities on Facebook

---

GOTH LIFESTYLE:

The Gothic Imagination

The incredibly well respected interdisciplinary forum at University of Stirling, Scotland. It focuses on scholarly gothic pursuits. This incredibly important resource offers a Masters in literature. Besides a news section and blog, there's sections for reviews and interviews.

http://www.gothic.stir.ac.uk/

The Haunted Gardens

"A magical, mystical menagerie of earthly frights and delights." A "goth gardening" type site. Not updated very often, sadly, but when it is, it features high quality posts on weird, twisted, blackened plants you can grow to give your garden a haunted aspect. Recent posts include Toadshade; Snake's Head Iris; and Spooky Salix Gracilistylus.

http://thehauntedgardens.blogspot.com/

---

GOTH MUSIC:

Dark Mother Media

Dark Mother radio, plus music reviews (and the occasional review from other media, including movies) and a store selling Dark Mother Media t-shirts.

http://www.darkmothermedia.com/

The Deadfly Ensemble

I don't quite know how to describe their music. They say: "Dusty Attic Art Operetta." They're from both NYC and Los Angeles.

http://thedeadflyensemble.com/

The Deadfly Ensemble, on Facebook

The Deadfly Ensemble on MySpace

---

HORROR GENRE:

B-Movie Cast

A podcast and forum devoted to B-movies, cult movies, horror and exploitation films. There's also a photo gallery, newsletter, and community.

http://bmoviecast.com/

Dreadful Tales

Horror reviews and commentary from a group of a few friends addicted to the genre. "Horror in literature and entertainment."

http://dreadfultales.com/

Dreadful Tales, on Facebook

Evil Dead News

News about the Evil Dead series of movies; plus info on the Evil Dead: the Musical, currently playing in Las Vegas.

http://www.evildeadnews.com/

Mortal Gore

A horror review website. They cover movies, video games, books, and TV. Ignore the music news, as they cover horrifically bad metal music. There's also a "Gore gallery" and collection of short horror stories.

http://www.mortalgore.com/

Terror Transmission

A horror podcast. I'm so impressed at how many episodes they've consistently cranked out!

http://terrortransmission.com/

---

STEAMPUNK:

Myke Amend

A steampunk and fantasy artist's gallery. Besides paintings, he also creates sculptures and engravings.

http://www.mykeamend.com/

Myke Amend on Facebook

Steamed!

"Writing steampunk fiction." Tips and info, plus reading lists and assistance for writers of steampunk.

http://ageofsteam.wordpress.com/

---

--Carrie Carolin

Dark Side of the Net

New Goth Links for June 23, 2012

DARK ART:

Drawn of the Dead

The horror comic art and dark paintings of Brian J. Orlowski. There's lots of humor in his work: see "Frankenstink" in his paintings, for example. Also check out his comic strip, Strange Guts. I'm really in awe of his Photoshop creations, too.

http://www.drawnofthedead.com/

KC Wilkerson Fine Art Photography

Sadly, the website hasn't been updated since 2010. But you can still enjoy the incredible galleries here. My favorite gallery here is "Forgotten."

http://www.kcwgallery.com/

---

DARK BLOGS:

The Lovecraftsman

Here's a great source of news on everything Cthulhu, Lovecraft, Miskatonic, and Necronomicon. Currently posting about a cool Lovecraft action figure; a hilarious Harry Potter/Lovecraft mashup poster; and a Cthulhu statue based on Lovecraft's drawings. I have a feeling I'll be visiting this blog weekly!

http://www.thelovecraftsman.com/

The Lovecraftsman on Facebook

The Lovecraftsman on Tumblr

Lovecraftsman on Twitter

---

--Copyright 2012 Carrie Carolin

Dark Side of the Net

7 Interesting Goth Tumblrs

It's taken me a long time to warm up to Tumblr. I'm really sensitive to copyright and plagiarism issues, and it bothers me to see people "reblogging" other people's pictures without attribution (or permission). Now that I've stumbled onto Tumblrs that are careful to attribute sources, I feel a bit better about it.

I'm looking for people who don't necessarily just repost from other tumblrs. I want to see lots of originality and unusual things from interesting sources, not just thousands of reposts of the same pics.

Following are a few Tumblrs I really enjoy checking into every few days.

Goth Finds

"Dressing and decorating on the dark side." Nothing featured here costs over $100. Really fun to look through the findings. Currently posting about a zombie necklace from Ugly Shyla; a rivethead buckle dress; a humorous "Legalize Cannibalism" T-shirt; and a cool Addams family T-shirt.

http://gothfinds.tumblr.com/

---

ONTD Creepy

Posts here are supposed to be creepy and spooky, but not gory. An offshoot of the ontdcreepy Livejournal community, which is mostly abandoned nowadays.

http://ontdcreepy.tumblr.com/

---

Black Hat Society

Really cool vintage pics of women dressed as witches; witchy photos; pics of cats and the moon; witchy houses; familiars; spellcraft and other lovely dark things.

http://herebewitches.tumblr.com/

---

Goth Hipster

Scott (a self described "sophistipunk" from London, Ontario) shares pics of goth menswear, coffins, pretty girls, and shoe porn.

http://gothhipster.tumblr.com/

---

Halloweenmonster

An obsessed Halloween enthusiast reblogs pics of everything Halloween. Lots of cool decor and prop inspiration here.

http://halloweenmonster.tumblr.com/

---

Universal Monsters Blog

This blog is dedicated to Universal's monsters: Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Creature From the Black Lagoon, the Phantom of the Opera, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Mummy, and the Invisible Man. Lots of gorgeous old black and white pics from the films. It really makes you want to go back and rewatch tons of these old movies.

http://universalmonstersblog.tumblr.com/

---

Ghoul Next Door

"Mlle Ghoul's fairy tales from the shadows." Fripperies, fineries and grotesques. Lots of beautifully dark findings here.

http://ghoulnextdoor.tumblr.com/

---

--Copyright 2012 Carrie Carolin

Dark Side of the Net™

5 Intriguing Covers of Goth/Industrial Songs

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Calexico

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEhFUm5qy1w

A couple summers ago, on long drives back and forth to a remote lake house, I was obsessed with Calexico's song Two Silver Trees. I tried some of their other songs but I'm not really into their style of music (Country/Tex Americana etc). However, I so enjoy their speedier, cheerier cover of Joy Division's LWTUA. It's refreshing since in most of the LWTUA covers I listen to, the singer is trying awfully hard to sound like Curtis. Here, the Calexico vocalist Joey Burns just sounds like himself.

---

Destroid's "Lucretia, My Reflection" Cover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHk8zEXnBoc

A dancy, upbeat cover by a German electro band. Cool vocals, but too reminiscent of Andrew Eldritch's voice for me - I prefer my cover songs to sound different. Still, this singer has an awesome voice. You can hear them cover this song live at the Darkwave festival in 2010.

Destroid.com

Destroid on Facebook

Destroid on MySpace

---

Warrel Dane - "Lucretia My Reflection"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EObpFkHosGQ

I don't like metal at all, but it's interesting to hear a metal musician's take on the song. Definitely the angry throat-scorching vocals I was expecting. I actually much prefer his "Crystal Ship" Doors cover.

Warrel Dane on MySpace

Warrel Dane at Wikipedia

---

"Bela Lugosi is Dead" - by David J and Valentino Frankenstein

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2tgl6UZ2tI

Valentino Frankenstein is a talented musician from my hometown of San Diego. Back in April he had a dream come true - he performed "Bela Lugosi is Dead" on stage with David J! I'm intrigued by David J's intonations and the way he chooses to sing the lyrics - quite different, and definitely leaves his own mark on the song.

---

School of Seven Bells - "Kiss Them For Me"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAf6akprIBQ

Love this electro/ethereal band's take on the song. Gorgeous vocals. Makes me want to dance (though so does Siouxsie's original!)

School of Seven Bells (Official)

School of Seven Bells on MySpace

School of Seven Bells, on Wikipedia

---

--Copyright 2012 Carrie Carolin

Dark Side of the Net goth music links

New Goth Links for June 22, 2012

DARK ART:

Ciou World

This Parisian artist draws adorable spooky girls and their animal consorts. Currently her work is being featured in the Death and the Maiden show at the Roq la Rue gallery here in my hometown, Seattle.

On her website, you can see her intricate drawings (my favorite is "Evil Beauty") and colorfully morbid paintings. Know what I'd so love to see from this artist? A Tarot deck!!

http://ciou.eu/

Ciou Fan Page, on Facebook

Colette Saint Yves

She specializes in haunting, antique-looking ghostly photography.

Collette Saint Yves

Colette Saint Yves, on Facebook

Colette Saint Yves, on Flickr

Imps and Monsters

Justin Hillgrove's monsters and robots. He also features dark artwork by his friend Mike Capp. Justin is from Snohomish, a small town near me. Check out his blog to see what he's up to lately.

Sorrow for the Lost Lenore

Also check out his fabulous tribute and parody art. I bet you'll like "Sunnydale" and "Doctor Who" and perhaps chuckle at "Friday I'm in Love."

http://www.impsandmonsters.com/

Kris Kuksi

Oh wow, I am so blown away by this artist. While he's also a painter (take a look at "Bone Spider," "The Throne of Lucifer" and "The Great Passage"), it's his sculptures that will likely take your breath away.

The Deadly Sins

His sculptures are impossibly intricate, with insane attention to detail. They're made from trash, upcycled materials, discarded toys, mechanical parts, recycled materials or whatever he finds lying around.

While his sculptures often have Biblical, apocalyptic, European or mythological themes, Kris Kuksi hails from boring old Midwest US: Kansas. (I would have thought, just looking at his works, he was Eastern European. I would have been so wrong).

I think one of my goals in life is to own one of his pieces and showcase it in my home. Perhaps not a realistic dream, but I'll dream it anyway.

For now, I'll just have to content myself with keeping his book on my coffee table.

http://www.kuksi.com/

Kris Kuksi on Artnet

Kris Kuksi Art, on Facebook

Kris Kuksi on Twitter

50 Wonderful and Amazing Apocalyptic Sculptures by Kris Kuksi, at Odd Stuff Magazine

Kris Kuksi Google Image Search

---

DARK COMMUNITIES:

Creepy, Old Abandoned Houses

Here's a community of 80,000 people who share pics of creepy old houses they find in their neighborhoods. I wish there were posts more often though. I can't imagine we're all short on creepy houses nearby?

Creepy, Old Abandoned Houses, on Facebook

Darkwavers

A community for people who listen to darkwave, coldwave, post-punk, gothic industrial and indie gloom. The Facebook page is frequently updated with links to videos on Youtube; the website itself is mostly affiliate links to purchase darkwave CDs.

http://www.darkwavers.com/

Darkwavers on Facebook

Darkwavers, on Twitter

---

DARK MUSIC:

Dark Sanctuary

They play "dark atmospheric" music. Sadly, their website hasn't been updated since 2010. The band is from France.

http://www.dark-sanctuary.com/

Dark Sanctuary on Facebook

Dark Sanctuary, on MySpace

Johnny Marr Official Page

Somehow the official site for Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr never made it into the Darklinks database. Shame on me!

http://www.johnny-marr.com/

Johnny Marr Official Facebook

The Sisters of Mercy Ultimate Resource Guide

This well-organized, detailed resource covers the years 1981-2009. You can find out about the Sisters of Mercy's tours, videos, albums, interviews, and TV performances. There's also a useful bootleg index and lyrics list.

http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/

---

DARK SHOPS:

Alandia World of Abinsthe

A German absinthe maker that will ship to the US. Their Absinthe of the Month is currently Hamlet Hardcore, which comes with a skull-shaped absinthe glass.

Alandia.de

Blooddrop Clothing and Fineries

http://www.blooddrop.com/

This lovely shop sells corsets, jewelry, perfumes, bath & body supplies, and some things for the home. Nothing here is uber spooky or slaps you in the face with its dreariness, but they certainly have a lot of goth fans and customers.

Blooddrop Clothing Facebook Group

Blooddrop on Livejournal

Couture by Lolita

I am so enthralled with their jewelry here. You've probably seen their renowned skull cameos before. They also offer unusual pieces such as this octopus necklace and the anatomical heart locket. This stuff is incredibly cool!

http://www.couturebylolita.com/

Couture by Lolita on Facebook

Couture by Lolita on Twitter

Dreary Dearies

Jewelry made from reclaimed items and, in their own words, "junk." Each piece is one-of-a-kind and quite unusual. Check out My Evil Love and Consecrated Soil.

http://www.drearydearies.com/

Skullacious

This eBay shop sells skull-themed infants and toddler clothing, home decor, and pet items. You'll have to scroll a bit past all the off-topic stuff to get to the darker goodies.

http://stores.ebay.com/Skullalicious

---

GOTH LIFESTYLE:

Dark Pinup Girls

This popular community grew up on Livejournal. Now you can stop by the website or let Facebook update you every day with the Dark Pinup Girl of the Day. Glad to see this is still around and going strong.

http://darkpinupgirls.com/

Dark Pinup Girls on Facebook

http://darkpinupgirls.livejournal.com/

---

--Copyright 2012 Carrie Carolin

Dark Side of the Net

6 Goth Blogs I'm Currently Enjoying Reading

Misadventures of an American Goth

Sarah Silence is a goth mom living in a small town. She doesn't run into other goths very often, so feels a bit isolated sometimes. Recent posts shared her thoughts on the term "babybat," pics of herself in her cute Victorian/Halloween style outfits, and her thoughts on being a goth mom.

Reading her blog reminds me of my lonely days as one of only two goths in a small Eastern Washington ton. I was the only person in town with colored hair (it was cotton candy blue when I arrived; then platinum white bleached for a couple years). The other goth was an albino and pretty antisocial, so didn't ever even once hang out with him, but we chatted online from time to time. I wasn't lonely for company - I had a couple friends, and a lot of family in the town. But I hungered for like minded people to talk to and hang out with, to share our musical and literature tastes with, and enjoy dressing beautifully.

I'd encourage Sarah to become part of an online goth community - so many to choose from and so many nice goths to meet and interact with. You never know when someone's going to be passing through your area so you can meet them, too.

Anyway, Sarah's blog is fairly new. I know I'll keep checking back to see what she's been posting about lately.

http://americangothmisadventures.blogspot.com/

---

Sophie's blog. She's a design student living in England. She blogs about makeup (such as Sleek MakeUp which I'd never heard of), gushes over books she's bought lately, shares videos she enjoys (currently Emilie Autumn, Combichrist and Cruxshadows), shares tips on how to make spooky stamps, and participates in The Goth Challenge. A fun read to look forward to, every time I stop by.

http://nocturnestreet.blogspot.com/

---

Juliet's Lace

Amy blogs from Yorkshire on goth style, beauty and fashion. She's participating in goth challenges; sharing interesting links she found in May, offering tips on staying cool in summer; helpful tips on how to host a meetup; and her thoughts on the future of Goth.

She also offers a handy reference list of her articles on goth, including how to avoid being a newbie, what is Goth? what is the history of goth? goth cliches, silly questions about goths, is Emo related to goth, etc.

http://julietslace.blogspot.com/

---

Beribboned Cupcakes and Tattooed Bats

Lady Lovescraft is interested in goth, tattoo, illustration. You'll enjoy her adorable outfits, checking out her vintage finds of the week, her thoughts on the alternative going mainstream, and read about her current obsessions. I so enjoy getting a brief glimpse into the lives of other goths so far away across the world.

http://teaandcakevomit.blogspot.com/

---

The Gothic Embrace

Nightwind is a writer of short gothic fiction. He lives in Arkansas. Recent interesting posts include some of his music recommendations; The Legend of Mercy Brown; The Night Goth Came to Me; and his interest in creepy little dolls.

http://gothicembrace.blogspot.com/

---

A Goth in College

Miss Gracie attends a state college in Vermont. She's interested in theater, dance, costume design, illustration, and history. It's fun to check out her spunky outfit posts, check out her movie reviews, and see what she's been up to in her life lately (without being stalkerish!) See her When are you too old to be goth? post and read along as she takes trips to Texas and New York.

http://gothincollege.blogspot.com/

---

--Copyright 2012 Carrie Carolin

Dark Side of the Net™

New Goth Links for June 3, 2012

DARK ART:

Angst-Im-Wald Photography

This professional photographer specializes in promotional photography for bands, taking both concert photos and staged pieces. The work here is absolutely stunning. I bet you'll lose yourself in this site for about an hour checking out all the pictures.

Check out the Queen of Darkness Calendar 2012 spread; L'Ame Immortelle; the amazing fashions and hairstyles of Dracul; pics from a 2004 Diary of Dreams concert; the enchanting Graveyard Angels series, and so much more. I am so impressed.

http://www.angst-im-wald.com/photography

Angst-im-Wald on Facebook

Angst-im-Wald on Twitter

Angst-im-Wald Channel on YouTube

Helen Breznik's Photostream

More gorgeous, stylistically blurry dark photography.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/helenbreznik/

Rebecca Cairns Photography

A dark photographer's stylistically blurry, odd and intriguing black-and-white photographs.

http://www.rebeccacairns.com/

Rebecca Cairns on Facebook

Locked Illusions Photo

This photographer, Brit Bentine, is based in Houston, Texas. I know you'll really enjoy browsing through the galleries of goth waifs, wicked children, burlesque ladies, goth mermaids, and other fashionably dressed stylish dark people.

http://www.lockedillusionsphoto.com/

Locked Illusions on Facebook

---

DARK MUSIC:

The Ghosts Project

Atlanta-based band made up of former members of Faith and the Muse and The Changelings. They describe themselves as "electroacoustic experimental" on MySpace but "Neo-Classic World Rock" on Facebook. Female vocalist with an intriguing, impressive voice and presence - wish any of their web presences took the time to mention her name, sigh.

http://www.myspace.com/theghostsproject

http://www.facebook.com/theghostsproject

Soil & Eclipse

Just making sure I've revisited this excellent electro/industrial/ethereal/EBM band's page. Unfortunately they've lost their official domain name. From San Francisco, they list influences including Attrition, Autechre, and Lycia.

http://www.myspace.com/soilandeclipse

Soil & Eclipse, on Facebook

Zola Jesus

This female vocalist peforms electro/industrial/goth music. I'm rapidly getting hooked!

http://www.zolajesus.com/

Zola Jesus on Facebook

Zola Jesus on Twitter

Zola Jesus, on Wikipedia

---

DARK ONLINE RADIO:

Darklinks TV

A little "tv station" I'm playing with, thanks to ibroadcast.tv. I don't spend a lot of time futzing with the playlist, but I do change it up every couple days. Mostly it's music videos I like, interspersed with a few horror movie trailers. I might throw in a couple interesting Youtube goths videos I stumble across, too.

On special occasions, like on Morrissey's birthday or Siouxsie's birthday I'll dedicate the playlist solely to that person's music for a couple days.

http://darklinks.ning.com/page/darklinks-tv

Deathrock Radio

A really cool online radio station where you can easily listen right away, whether you're on a Mac or a PC. Extra cool - you can listen to past shows too. Check out the 2012 playlists to see what sort of music ends up here. I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time listening to this station while I work on Dark Side of the Net!

http://deathrockradio.spruz.com/

---

DARK SHOPS:

Aberrant Affixments

This Etsy shop offers really cool poison and toxin stickers (use them on your wine bottles or on your own craft projects); interesting antique-looking empty bottles for strichnine, wolfsbane, cyanide or mandrake root; dark and creepy stickers to use as bookplates; plus some intriguing postcards and photos. Great for crafters or goth home decor enthusiasts.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AberrantAffixments

Classic Hardware

A retro jewelry store selling goth, gypsy, rockabilly, rocker and steampunk items. I also spy some Day of the Dead items here.

My favorites here are the framed art bracelets.

http://www.classichardware.com/

Classic Hardware on Facebook

Classic Hardware on Pinterest

Classic Hardware on Twitter

---

GOTHIC LINKS:

Me a Gothy

A gothic links directory, with bands, shops, clubs, media, and people. Nicely organized into subcategories for easy browsing. They take care to have a convenient section where you can see the very newest links, and they even take the time to upload a preview pic of the website - I know how hard that is to keep up with, so I'm impressed.

http://meagothy.com/

Meagothy.com on Facebook

Meagothy.com on Twitter

---

HORROR GENRE:

First Fright

This site specializes in horror and sci-fi press releases. They cover movies, games and books, but not comics. They're part of the Horror.net and Buried.com network.

http://www.firstfright.com/

Quiet, Please

Quiet, Please was a suspense/thriller radio show that aired from 1947 to 1949. I wouldn't quite call their shows "horror" but they often had a touch of the supernatural about them.

106 episodes are listed here (a couple are repeats). Each episode has a brief summary, and you can choose to read the script, download the MP3 file for that episode, or listen to the show online. Check out Shadow of the Wings, Dark Gray Magic and Good Ghost.

This is a truly remarkable archive, I'm so glad someone has taken so much time and effort to preserve this and share it.

http://www.quietplease.org/

TerrorScribe

"Turning a jaundiced eye to all things horror." Recent posts on this horror movie review blog include a review of Chernobyl Diaries, a review of The Raven, and a review of Cabin in the Woods.

http://terrorscribe.com/

---

--Copyright 2012 Carrie Carolin

Dark Side of the Net™ goth and horror links