Athens, Georgia band Entertainment’s new debut album, Gender promises to leave you feeling unnerved and whether this is a good thing or a bad thing depends on your perspective. The body of work here is moody to say the least and the lack of consistency between songs other than the instrument make up makes this album a bit of a gender-bender. Songs often start out well on Gender and then stretch your attention with their murkiness. It’s easy to get the feeling you are more listening to noise collage than the new wave/post punk hybrid sound the band lays claim to. Where even the redone version of “Patroness” on Gender barely holds it together to come off as pleasing, other songs like “New Joys” start out so well and then degenerate into a muddy mess of battling guitars and reverb to the point of incomprehensibility.

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If you go dress up to go to le Goth Club, you know it can be a real bear finding the right clothing to make you look oh so fabuloso. That’s where this week’s lifestyle subject TrippNYC comes in. Created by Daang Goodman in 1984, the Tripp NYC fashion company has been selling quality clothing of this variety for rockers and goths/rivet heads ever since. While there is some of the now standard classic goth wear and such, the Tripp lines really focus more on the punk/deathrock aesthetic. Most clothing tends to be closer to the form fitting side than the baggy business that has become popular with the Cyber/Graver crowd.

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You can barely mention the words Deathrock before someone mentions Christian Death. Almost as quickly, someone will bring up Rozz Williams and Valor Kand. The argument over whether Christian Death ceased to be that after Rozz Williams left and Valor Kand took over continues well over a decade later, but it is also well documented on many sites on the internet, so I will not rehash here. Many people feel strongly that regardless of how one feels about the name dispute, the Rozz Williams albums were simply the best. They embodied a rich tone of sarcasm and lyrics that focused a harshly critical eye mostly on religious symbols and imagery. This was an element to become lost to Christian Death in later years. Rozz Williams’ voice is very distinctive and in this month’s Notable Notes, Only Theatre of Pain, typifies for many the very essence of what Christian Death was supposed to be. This album contains not only their most well known song ("Romeo’s Distress"), but many others that gained less popular notoriety, but stand on their own as classics. From the ever haunting “Mysterium Inquitatus” to the bludgeoning pace of “Dogs", Williams’ voice moves from a whisper to wails and back again over primal drum beats and sparse, but bright guitar sounds.

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I was able to corner Frankie Teardrop, PH Lovecraft, and Oliver Lyons of Funeral Crashers for this month’s interview and as you can see, the boys were ready to talk. Grab a drink and prepare your eyes for an entertaining peak into the minds of the Crashers themselves. Notes: How long have you been playing together? Was it always in this incarnation, or how has the lineup transformed? Frankie Teardrop: This lineup is three years old…I’m the ‘newest’ member, so I’ll leave the history to the others to explain or not. PH Lovecraft: I’ll go with three years, although Edward and Oliver and I had started playing together about a year before that. Yes, there were earlier versions of the band, but it was quick starts and long stops, and they all kind of ended in a car wreck.

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The Funeral Crashers, are a NYC based band whose self released debut album La Fin Absolue Du Monde, has been getting mixed, although mostly favorable reviews. The album favors strong influence from Mask era Bauhaus, especially showcased on the vocals and overall composition of the opening song “Menlo Park". The overall album ventures all over the map for inspiration to create a varied and interesting listen. One doesn’t have to stretch to far to hear singer PH Lovecraft’s punk experience, but he tones it down to more suitable tone that fits the the instrumental compositions more appropriately. The band’s name, which is a reference to the movie Harold and Maude, creates a tongue-in-cheek expectation for what comes with La Fin Absolue Du Monde, which sometimes takes itself almost a little too seriously. Songs like “Uninvited Guest” and “Safe” are so dark and heavy that they threaten to unravel more tender tunes like “Blackout Days” which comes off as almost too mellow and introspective. The range of emotions represented is wide, but trepidation seems the overriding tone.

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