When I first saw the the Berlin-based band on the upcoming playlist, “Pink Turns Blue”, I almost outright dismissed them. The name evoked for me a sound other than what I thought I was looking for because it reminded me of the song “Pink Turns to Blue” on Hüsker Dü’s 1984 seminal album, Zen Arcade. I figured that if a band had intentionally named themselves after a hardcore band from my youth, they would probably play hardcore punk as well, which is not the music I was looking to discover at this time. If the name shared an accidental (or esoteric) relationship, it still seemed like an odd name to choose for darkwave. But, following my commitment to discovery via music “radio” I gave them a whirl anyway, figuring that I could skip the song part way through if it turned out not to be the genre I was looking for.
I’m glad I didn’t instant-skip.
How I have never managed to hear of Pink Turns Blue is a bit surprising to me. I’ve found plenty of indie bands over the years that were not easy discoveries to be made back in the 80s and 90s. A German band playing a darkwave, guitar-based sound during my old-school goth days falling off my radar? That seems almost criminal.
The band was formed in 1985 and, yes folks, they named themselves after that aforementioned song (which I’ve included on my YouTube playlist for this series, if you are curious). The song that I heard first heard was “Your Master is Calling”, but it is one of those songs from the 80s that, while it caught my attention, also followed the habit common to the period of overstaying its welcome at over seven minutes, so I elected to share a different song that still captures the vibes of the band but is of a shorter duration.
This is not like the synth-oriented sounds of the genre, but has more of a 3-piece sound: guitar, bass and drums. Some people would likely class the band as more gothic or more straight indie rock, but I can heard some of the precursor sounds in the band’s songs that feel very borrowed from earlier acts like Joy Division while avoiding some of the more Velvet Underground sound of Sisters of Mercy.
If you listen, you’ll have to let me know what you think of this discovery in the comments below.
