The last few days in LA have been kind of gloomy – gloomy by LA standards anyway. I mean, it’s still no place for Ian Brady and Myra Hindley to stage a killing spree, but the clouds have been thick, grey and low, and wet, cool swirls of breeze pour through my window as I write this.
This is a good thing. This is a great thing! I did not move to LA for the weather. My idea of perfect weather is something akin to a cemetery scene in [insert gothic horror film here].
Recently, I found myself at yet another pool party where Industry types multi-tasked by schmoozing while sunbathing, enjoying tropical cocktails and posing atop Danish-designed chaise lounges as the desert sun baked their copper hides; the air perfumed with herbal ointments, oils and extractions, occasionally flavored with dissipating puffs of cigarette smoke – sex was in the air and everyone was hoping to be noticed by someone they were pretending not to notice – and all I could think was, “I wish it would rain.”
Inspired as I am by the titillating tenebrous of today, what follows is some of the music I save for a rainy day. These ditties are safely tucked in a specific playlist for whenever the Sun’s obscured and the scent of moisture’s all around.
Siouxsie & The Banshees – "Dazzle"
This song takes me back to the appropriately dark days of the 1980’s. I had just dropped out of high school my sophomore year and the world was a new and wonderful playground of drugs and whimsical fashion choices.
I can't really believe that it is already October! The great and fantastic 
and bands that followed her. She just turned 50 years old this year and she still is as relevant and talented today as the day she started. The new album is "Mantaray." It is actually her first solo album. The last Siouxsie & the Banshees album, "Rapture," was released over ten years ago in 1995. Siouxsie and Budgie have been performing as The Creatures for the last decade or so. The last Creatures album "Hai!" came out in 2003. She has since parted ways with Budgie and is now recording and performing as just Siouxsie. 
really compare to the brilliance of Siouxsie. But with such an amazing history and catalog of albums, it is really hard to put out a new album that can compare to her old ones. Her albums and songs with the Banshees are such a part of my musical upbringing and history that it really makes it even harder to compete with those memories. How do you put out an album that can even compare? Siouxsie has really done it. She has not tried to capture the brilliance of her albums with the Banshees. She also could have tried to create some super modern trendy album. But instead she creates something all her own. She has never been one to just simply fit into one simple genre. She may have helped to define what became goth music. But the Banshees were never simply a goth band. Her music has always been a combination of punk, glam, goth, new wave, experimental, electronica, world music, and art rock. The first single off the album is "Into A Swan." It is a fantastic little song with a great little video to go along with it. But there is so much else that is great on this album. I can't wait to hear these songs live when she performs them out on the next tour. I could not be more proud and excited that Siouxsie has not let us down. She is still very much the Siouxsie we all grew up with and fell in love with.
