I hit a personal low in 1993.
I was 21, living back in my parents’ house after tasting a year or two of freedom, with no prospects, no car, and a crappy retail job. I frequently found myself walking alone at night through the undeveloped Arizona desert land adjacent to our neighborhood, smoking and drinking some whisky while listening to whatever was on the radio.
A lot had changed since 1989, but the radio was still a fickle friend. I could get a fix of Pearl Jam or (more likely) Nirvana, amid the wash of fading hair metal bands. But in what would prove to be the second of a “twice in a lifetime” occurrence, one night I heard this while I was out watching the moon:
Overview of the Dead Can Dance catalog (from their label, 4AD)
Interview with Lisa Gerrard on her “universal language”
There are very few artists that could claim to have truly transcended genre. Even fewer that can boast the vast, eclectic appeal of an artist like Dead Can Dance. It’s not an exaggeration to say that their fanbase is its own distinct subculture, counting members from the worlds of goth, metal, punk, electronica, folk, and classical amongst their ranks. I’d be willing to bet however, that for many of these fans Dead Can Dance albums remain an anomaly in their collections. A happy segue into an ethereal sonic offering that proudly sticks out on the shelf next to the Darkthrone and Dead Kennedys’ back catalogues.
“On Dead Can Dance’s message to the within” from Hate Meditations
If you delve into these interviews and overviews, you can see how Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard found their way from the Arabic music they heard as unemployed youths in Australia into other forms of early Asian and Western musicks. Dead Can Dance is a fantastic example of human beings finding something ancient, relating to it, and building new art out of it while stamping it with their modern perspective.
The band’s 2003 compilation “Wake” is an excellent place to find an introduction to their music.
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