Planet Rotations #256: Goth / Industrial / Post-Punk 2018 Part 1

In the age of digital music, we tend to skip through albums, listening to one or two tracks - missing some of the deeper cuts that may be brilliant. We are huge fans of the album format, and love to experience the entire collection the way the artist intended. Listening to one or two songs is like randomly reading a few chapters of a book and expecting to understand the completed work. Like all music lovers, we love to share what we're listening to and discover some new things from friends.

As per tradition, Sarah and I are immersed in a total Goth listening fest for the month of October. Below you will find 20 albums that we've listened to over the last 20 days, photographed from our Vinyl & CD collection. You'll also notice a Spotify player at the bottom, which features a song pick from each album for the both of us. This is an ongoing playlist that you can follow directly on Spotify. Some songs are inevitably not available in their database, so we encourage you to seek those out elsewhere. Please put your own lists in the comments below, or interact at the Life on this Planet Facebook.

1. Lycia - Ionia

Bret's song pick: Desert

Sarah's song pick: Ionia

2. Killing Joke - Brighter Than a Thousand Suns

Bret's song pick: Adorations

Sarah's song pick: Sanity

3. The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge

Bret's song pick: Second Skin

Sarah's song pick: Up the Down Escalator

4. The Southern Death Cult - s/t

Bret's song pick: Moya

Sarah's song pick: Fatman

5. My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits

Bret's song pick: And This Is What the Devil Does

Sarah's song pick: These Remains

6. Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

Bret's song pick: Dawn of the Iconoclast

Sarah's song pick: Cantara

7. Skinny Puppy - Rabies

Bret's song pick: Worlock

Sarah's song pick: Rodent

8. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peepshow

Bret's song pick: The Last Beat of My Heart

Sarah's song pick: The Killing Jar

9. Virgin Prunes - If I Die... I Die

Bret's song pick: Walls of Jericho (n/a on Spotify)

Sarah's song pick: Baby Turns Blue

10. Red Temple Spirits - Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon

Bret's song pick: Electric Flowers (n/a on Spotify)

Sarah's song pick: Dark Spirits

11. The Lost Boys Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Bret's song pick: I Still Believe (Tim Cappello)

Sarah's song pick: Cry Little Sister

12. Gene Loves Jezebel - Immigrant

Bret's song pick: Shame

Sarah's song pick: Always a Flame

13. This Mortal Coil - It'll End in Tears

Bret's song pick: Holocaust

Sarah's song pick: Song to the Siren

14. The Glove - Blue Sunshine

Bret's song pick: Like an Animal

Sarah's song pick: Punish Me with Kisses

15. Ministry - Twitch

Bret's song pick: All Day Remix

Sarah's song pick: Over the Shoulder

16. Human Drama - Feel

Bret's song pick: The Waiting Hour

Sarah's song pick: I Could Be a Killer

17. Daucus Karota (Rozz Williams) - Shrine EP

Bret's song pick: The Stranger (n/a on Spotify)

Sarah's song pick: Angel (n/a on Spotify)

18. The Sisterhood - Gift

Bret's song pick: Giving Ground (n/a on Spotify)

Sarah's song pick: Colours (n/a on Spotify)

19. Bauhaus - Swing the Heartache: The BBC Sessions

Bret's song pick: Party of the First Part (n/a on Spotify)

Sarah's song pick: Ziggy Stardust

20. Audra - Going to the Theatre

Bret's song pick: There Are No Snakes in Heaven

Sarah's song pick: Don't End This Time

Listen to our ongoing Planet Rotations Playlist!

If you're a vinyl enthusiast, check out our feature on the Spin Clean Vinyl Record Cleaning Machine (click image below)

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AUDRA - The Fourth Album: Vinyl & CD Indiegogo Campaign

The stars have aligned and my band Audra is hard at work recording our first album in 10 years! We are reaching out to our fans to help in the physical production of a very special collection of songs. With your help, we will be releasing our first ever vinyl album - which will be available in 3 colors - including an Indiegogo Exclusive Edition limited to only 50. We've also opened up the vaults to share some really fun Audra collectibles & experiences. Find out how you can be a part of it right now, or keep on reading below. Thanks for your support! - Bret

--------> UPDATE: The New AUDRA album has been released <--------

About The Band

Audra was formed in 1991 by brothers Bret & Bart Helm in Mesa, Arizona. We have since released 3 full-length albums (2 via Projekt Records) and have a new album set to be self-released in early 2019 (featuring a guest appearance by Mike VanPortfleet of Lycia). Over the years, Audra has performed alongside Peter Murphy, The Mission, Gene Loves Jezebel, Nitzer Ebb, AFI, She Wants Revenge, Concrete Blonde, New Model Army and many others.

With the release of 2009's Everything Changes, we decided to go back to the DIY approach to making music that launched our career in the early 90s. We don't have a label that handles the manufacturing, distribution and all of the other things that go into releasing music. This is a labor of love and often doesn't yield any type of financial return. We create music because we love to - and as cliche as it may sound, we have to.

The New Album

In the years where Audra may have seemed dormant, we have always been writing songs. Back in July 2018, we entered the studio with the intention of recording 2 songs, but after the first session with engineer Joshua Rozenboom we realized that we needed to go all-in and make an entire album. By the time this campaign goes live, we have recorded the 9 songs that will comprise the album. There are still several components to finish the process, such as overdubbing, mixing, mastering, artwork design and the physical production of the CDs and vinyl.

We will keep you updated with journal entries, behind-the-scenes photos & video clips of our progress through these stages here on the Updates section of our Indiegogo page.

We'll also be revealing song titles + the album title throughout the 30 days of this campaign. We are so incredibly excited to share these new songs with you!

Where Your Contributions Will Go + What You'll Receive

Your contributions will go towards the following:

• Mastering. This is a process that happens after the recording & mixing have concluded. It enhances the overall sonic quality.
• Vinyl & CD manufacturing. Jackets, sleeves, booklets, records, CDs - all of that good stuff!
• If we exceed our goal, we plan on printing up a new run of T-shirts, reissuing our long out-of-print first album and maybe hitting the road for some live dates.
• If we don't meet our goal? We will work very hard to make sure this album is still released in the formats described. All money raised will go directly towards the items listed above.

You can contribute any amount by clicking on the pink 'Back It' button or by selecting one or more of the perks that we are offering:

• 3 different color vinyl editions. Black, clear and a smoky Indiegogo Exclusive that is limited to only 50 copies. We'll also have a small run of CDs.
• As one of our Indiegogo supporters, you will receive the album before it is made available to the general public.
• Handwritten lyrics, rare T-shirts and band-worn outfits.
• The drum machine used on the first two Audra albums & live shows up until the Fall of 2002.
• A guitar amp used during the recording of the Going to the Theatre album.
• Tickets to an advance album listening party that features an acoustic performance + Q&A session with the band.
• A chance to have Audra remix your song or record a cover version of a song of your choice.
• Lots more! We had a lot of fun brainstorming and putting these perks together to make this a really cool experience for all of us.

Other Ways You Can Help

Please help us spread the word by using the share buttons here on our page. We only have 30 days to make this happen, so we would greatly appreciate any extra exposure.

And if you'd like to contribute to the campaign without purchasing any of our perks, you can do that by clicking the pink 'Back It' button and entering any amount you'd like.

Here's the link again: The Audra Indiegogo Campaign Page

Thank you so very much for your support! - Bret, Bart and Jason

Bart Helm - Guitar
Tracking guitar parts on Song 1. July 19, 2018

Bret Helm - Vocals, Bass + Guitar
Recording acoustic guitar for Song 5. August 16, 2018

Jason DeWolfe Barton - Drums + Percussion.
Recording Song 3. July 29, 2018

Photo credits on page & video: William Sibick, Joe Russomanno, Sam Rosenthal, Bret Helm, Bart Helm, Jason Barton, Jaymz Todd and the Helm Family Archive.