Lycia is a darkwave/gothic band that was formed in 1988, Tempe, Arizona by Mike VanPortfleet and Tara Vanflower, who later got married to each other. The band was named after an ancient region of Anatolia, which is no surprise since VanPortfleet holds a degree in cultural geography.

Although only achieving minor cult success, the band is notable for being one of the ground breaking groups in darkwave and ethereal wave styles.

Lycia’s music is filled with rich soundscapes, layers of guitars, dark, ethereal keyboards, doomy drum machine beats, VanPortfleet’s melancholic, whispered vocals and Vanflower’s echoed, distant voice. Trent Reznor and Peter Steele are some of their more well-known fans.

Last weekend I watched The Collection, which by the way if you’re a horror fan it’s a must-see, but first watch The Collector. Anyhow, during the opening credits a song caught my attention. It was Talk To Me by Porcelain Raft.

Porcelain Raft was created by Mauro Remiddi, an Italian-born singer/songwriter, who currently lives in New York City. The bedroom shoegaze artist got his start composing the soundtrack for the short film La Matta dei Fiori in 1997.

On his latest album Strange Weekend, you can hear layers of sonic haze and strummed acoustic guitar patterns. Remiddi’s music is dreamy and hypnotizing with abstracted and distant voices. A truly great find. Go check it out!

Anna Varney Cantodea is the voice and soul behind Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows, who cannot simply be summed up in one blog post. Rather take this as a basic primer into entering her tortured yet beautiful world.

Every nuance of every release — from the first note to the last — to the visuals, poetry and quality, that goes into each piece of art is second to none. I don’t even think another artist like her exists on this planet.

Her back catalogue spans three decades and each piece of art released is a journey into her transformation.

Again a simple blog post cannot do her justice. It is something that you have to willingly experience for yourself.

So take this journey, that is scary and harrowing but at the same time enlightening.

About Sopor Aeternus. Picture taken from soporaeternus.de