Throwing Muses
“Dark Wave,” hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Matt Sebastian, airs 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern every Sunday on Sirius XM satellite radio’s 1st Wave (Channel 33). The most recent two episodes also are available via Sirius XM’s On Demand service for online subscribers.
HOUR 1
The Sisters of Mercy, “Heartland” (Some Girls Wander By Mistake)
Christian Death, “Spiritual Cramp” (Only Theatre of Pain)
Bauhaus, “Mask” (Mask)
The Lucy Show, “Come Back to the Living” (…Undone)
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, “He’s Read” (The Very Best Of)
Clan of Xymox, “All I Ever Know” (Spider on the Wall)
Meat Beat Manifesto, “Helter Skelter” (Helter Skelter/Radio Babylon)
Depeche Mode, “Fly on the Windscreen” (Extended Mix) (Singles Box)
Skinny Puppy, “Deep Down Trauma Hounds” (Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse)
The Cure, “The Blood” (The Head on the Door)
The Creatures, “Standing There” (Boomerang)
Public Image Ltd., “Ease” (Album)
Tones on Tail, “Performance” (Everything!)
HOUR 2
The Mission, “Deliverance” (Carved in Sand)
Love and Rockets, “The Dog-End of a Day Gone By” (Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven)
Alien Sex Fiend, “Coma” (Open Head Surgery)
Coil, “The Snow (Answers Come in Dreams II)” (Love’s Secret Domain)
The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Just Like Honey” (Psychocandy)
The Mighty Lemon Drops, “Where Do We Go From Heaven” (Laughter)
Altered Images, “Dead Pop Stars” (I Could Be Happy)
Cranes, “Lillies” (Flood Mix) (Loved)
PTP, “Favorite Things” (Side Trax)
Clock DVA, “Sound Mirror” (Buried Dreams)
Front Line Assembly, “Killing Grounds” (Echogenetic)
Boris Mikulic, “Bitterer Als Der Tod” (Heresy)
HOUR 3
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Red Light” (Kaleidoscope)
Joy Division, “Heart and Soul” (Closer)
The Birthday Party, “Wild World” (Hits)
The Gun Club, “Carry Home” (Miami)
Killing Joke, “Requiem” (Killing Joke)
The Anti Group, “Big Sex” (4×12)
He Said, “Watch Take Care” (Take Care)
Ministry, “Effigy (I’m Not An)” (With Sympathy)
Final Cut, “She Destroys” (Deep Into the Cut)
The Divine Comedy, “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” (The Smiths is Dead)
Throwing Muses, “The River” (House Tornado)
Sad Lovers and Giants, “Landslide” (Epic Garden Music)
Echo & The Bunnymen, “Over the Wall” (Live) (Crocodiles)
New Order, “In a Lonely Place” (12-Inch Version) (Movement)
Got a request? To be considered for next week, drop it in the comments below by noon Tuesday.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave’ — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (7/5/20)
- Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave’ — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (6/28/20)
- Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave’ — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (6/21/20)
- Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave’ — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (6/14/20)
I love The Divine Comedy’s cover of The Smiths. Great choice!
Great show tonight, Matt!
Another great show.
It’s been so damn hot across the country all week. The Sisters of Mercy “Afterhours” has been melting its way through my head..
“Two o’clock in the morning
Ninety-four degrees
Through the stillness, through the heat
The cars go by on Fifth”
Good mix of tunes tonight, Matt! Really enjoyed that last run of songs in the third hour.
Here are a couple of requests for a future DW –
Public Image Ltd. – Worry
New Order – Truth (Peel Session version if possible, please!)
Thanks!
Please play “no more I love you’s” by the Lover Speaks
Dreamy episode.
This week’s Darkness Award:
Coil, “The Snow (Answers Come in Dreams II)”
Request for future show:
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, “A Girl Doesn’t Get Killed By A Make-Believe Lover… ‘Cuz It’s Hot”
Another great episode. Thank you for playing my request for Ministry. I’ve been listening to your show for years now and still look forward to it. Grateful that there is a community out there that appreciates this genre of music.
Hope you have a great week!
That was a fun set list last night, Matt! Some serious floor fillers in there. And thank you for adding The Anti Group to the lineup. I was also digging that Coil jam!
I swear, sometimes 3 hours just isn’t enough.
I third the love for the Coil track! Seeing as you are willing to delve into the acid house toe dipping of some of our favorite artists, how about Cabaret Voltaire- “Soulvine (20 Billion People)” or Wolfgang Press – “Time“?
Always love the shows. Request time.
Clan of Xymox- A Day
A place to bury strangers- I know I’ll see you
Alien sex fiend- Attack!!
Great show. Loved some of your segues this week, like the Altered Images/Cranes or Alien Sex Fiend/Coil going back to back. Nicely done.
Would like to request either:
The song ‘Broken Engish’. Either the cover on Winston Tong’s solo album Theoretically Chinese or the Marianne Faithful original. (Yeah, I know this one might be a stretch. But thought I’d toss it out there since I love the song)
Or
Multicolored Shades- ‘Teen Sex Transfusion’ off Sundome City Exit
Thanks. Have a good week.
Great show! Some suggestions for next week:
Mentallo & the Fixer – When Worlds Collide
Poupee Fabrikk – Shapeshifter
The Klinik – Face to Face
I would love to hear Battleflag by Lo Fidelity Allstars.
Thank you
You played so many great songs on this show. My request for next show is TV Mind by the Revolting Cocks.
Thanks!
Another vote for Afterhours by The Sisters of Mercy.
Excellent show Matt. Love The Drums over the Carbide..
Anything by RevCo is wonderful.
Requests are:
Yin and Yang the flowerpot Man by Love and Rockets, Cooler than Jesus by MY life with the thrill kill cult, and The Smiths Meat is Murder.
Cheers and great job.
Chris
Hello Matt: not a request, but something which I hope you will address on the show. Given the band’s frequently cited ties to Nazi themes and possibly ideology, do you intend to keep playing Death in June on the program?
I notice in the logs that they were last played on June 28th; given the current cultural contexts, do you think now is a time to retire them permanently from Dark Wave playlists? Or is there a way to still appreciate their contributions to the genre?
As a Jewish person who has always been a bit troubled by my liking of this band, I suspect I am not the only listener whose mind this has crossed. I hope you will provide us with an answer when the next installment of Dark Wave airs.
Tessa,
Thanks for raising this issue.
I will sheepishly admit that while I had a vague recollection of their being some kind of controversy surrounding Death in June, I never took the time to look into it. I see that, now, with a quick Google search that plenty has been written about this, and I’ve got some reading to do and things to think about.
I’m curious what other Dark Wave listeners think.
IMO Music is art and the artist should never be censored regardless of the art or artists attempt to be controversial. We all have the right to turn it off if we don’t like it or turn it up if we do. SiriusXM allows us to listen to music that is non censored i.e. playing the original song as intended with cuss words for example. I hope Dark Wave continues to be a platform to hear the artist regardless of political or religious beliefs. If not I can always play my personal collection of music but I enjoy your show. Thanks
I think Tessa makes a valuable point in drawing our attention to Death in June, and we certainly want to condemn fascism while also avoiding censorship and acknowledging the band’s importance to the genre.
The two key questions for me regarding DIJ would be: “what is the lyrical content of each song being played?” and “has this band provided direct financial support to fascist organizations and hate groups?” These are both important things to look into, but I would be hesitant to remove them from all playlists immediately.
Matt, Thnx all the hard work & awesome music you play!!! I’ve too have learned a thing or two
Lead Into Gold – We’ll Take Tomorrow
From The Sun Behind The Sun
Neon Judgement – Awful Day
From General Pain &
Wow. I only know about DIJ through the show/ website, I don’t own any of their music, and after a very cursory reading about them, I never will. That being said, I too am anti-censorship, but I am also pro- informed consent, so information about content and context should be provided. Although, if Matt outright stops playing them, I’m ok with that too, it’s his show. I think lots of bands in that era used fascist imagery (Laibach being a glaring example), but none seem as hideous as DIJ.
What I’ve always heard about Laibach is that they’re left-wing and so their shtick (pardon my Yiddish) is more about parodying fascism than actually supporting it.
DIJ seems a bit different – I don’t think it’s a parody, but it also seems like more than just the passing fetish Floyd mentions.
Overall, I think I would most side with Anders here: let’s not put DIJ on the chopping block quite yet BUT let’s also consider the lyrical content / context and how much financial support (if any) DIJ has lent to neo-Nazi groups.
One lyrical thing to note: overall, I think “All Pigs Must Die” is a pretty great song – but the recurring “Sieg Heil Sublime” in the lyrics has always felt a bit iffy to me, even if I’ve never quite known what DIJ were trying to get at there.
I have heard All Pigs Must Die a time or two. I have always taken the ‘Sieg Hiel’ in it to be more a commentary on the Pigs (they think Sieg Hiel is sublime). But where Pearce is concerned, yeah, the intent is not clear cut.
“All Pigs Must Die” is in reference towards the anger DIJ experienced when their record/distribution company closed down suddenly, and as a result, their catalogue was unavailable for years. With this being said, if anyone feels “iffy” about their music (or anyone else’s) just turn the channel until the song is over.
I think the controversy surrounding Death In June needs to be put into its proper context; Douglas Pearce is a gay man with an [apparent] fetish for uniforms. If we go on censoring content then there are TONS of bands that we’ll also have to strike from ever playing. We cannot go backwards by applying our current moral standards to that of the past or else we’d have to strike Christian Death, Siouxsie, etc. from ever being played. Let’s all be adults and enjoy the music for what it is and keep the politics out of it.
I don’t think Death in June has any actual Nazi beliefs or ties to organizations. Like a lot of industrial-adjacent bands from that era, I think they adopted some of the aesthetic for shock value. Hell, even Joy Division’s name is an insensitive concentration camp reference. That, of course, doesn’t excuse any of it. It’s definitely problematic by today’s standards, but I think the music stands up on it’s own. I’m personally not for retiring them from the line up, but I respect anyone who feels otherwise. For what it’s worth, this seems like a fair article written about the subject:
https://bigtakeover.com/essays/accidental-protege-an-attempt-to-clear-the-confusion-over-death-in-june-and-douglas-pearce
Sorry if my reply seems a bit redundant after the above comments haha.
To reply to Tessa, yes I agree that Laibach are left wing and perhaps they have a schtick but the very far left and the very far right can start to look like each other when it comes to implementation of their goals; furthermore playing for a ruthless dictatorship such as North Korea says something; maybe it is all parody, but playing for the likes of Kim Jong Un is problematic. I bring up Laibach more of an example that their Totalitarian imagery I think different than DIJ, like Joy Division, Sex Pistols etc. certainly I don’t want to censor anyone’s art (including Matt’s vision of his show). But critique is an important part of understanding and enjoying art, and hopefully this is what we are doing in this forum.
As to DIJ not being nazi sympathizers and having a fetish for their uniforms I would point out the following: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/03/07/statement-regarding-soleilmoon-recordings-and-death-june (Sorry don’t know how to turn this into a hyperlink). Within this are snippets of an interview where he talks about his fans who express Eurocentric racialism, “depending upon their ‘ version ‘ of Eurocentric Racialism, then 9 times out of 10 I feel very comfortable.” He says he hopes the KKK is not included in this ( good on him I suppose), but perhaps the likes of Le Pen are ok? The fact that Pearce is gay just goes to show you how complex sexual identity is, rather than is proof that he is not a Nazi sympathizer. The statements he’s said tend to make me believe his use of this imagery goes beyond just shock value, but perhaps he is laughing all the way to the bank, although without my money.
Hey Matt, just getting to this episode now online. Thank you so much for playing Cranes. Allison’s vocals were described by someone as being “child freaked”. Very unique and so cool. Love their whole catalog.
I, for one, would like to see vile Cancel Culture and it’s ill-informed attempts at revisionist history kept off of Dark Wave. I guarantee you that we all do not agree on who should or should not be played on the show purely on musical preferenece/personal bias grounds but Matt curates the show and allows us a window for input…sure none of us thinks we should have the right to dictate the playlist and demand certain artists be omitted because we don’t like their views?
Apparently Tessa disagrees…well perhaps Tessa should realize her place as a listener and not a program director and realize that nobody empowered her to call for a boycott based on views she dislikes because guess what I guarantee you that I do not agree with her views but as an adult nor do i think I can have artists she loves the views of excised from the show.
Just say no to Cancel Culture wherever you find it.
Put on your big girl pants Tessa and realize the world need not bend to your every whim. I despise the subtle threat of boycott posed by your question.
More Death In June please!!
Thanks for the mostly thoughtful discussion on this, and to Tessa, again, for bringing this up. I would like to make one point, though. I choose what I play on this program, and there are plenty of bands I don’t, or won’t, play for many reasons. If I were to decide to stop playing Death in June because I’m uncomfortable with what I think the band represents, that’s not “cancel culture” — which, honestly, is often just a label people throw out to avoid having meaningful discussions about things like this — nor is it censorship. It’s simply my prerogative to play what I want to play on this show.
Hi,
Thank you for the excellent music every week. I don’t know if this fits the category of post punk, but I like to request Nina Hagen- New York, New York
Thanks;
Mario from Charlotte