Translucia

It’s probably not fair for me to write on this next band, for various reasons, but it’s my blog and I’ll do as I please. Sometime in the mid to late 90’s (I can’t be certain but I believe it was ’95) three musicians in Rochester came together to form a band that will forever be renowned by the fortunate few who got to hear them. Their music was Dark and hauntingly beautiful. They only had two releases, an EP and an album, but the emotion conveyed in those two albums is almost overwhelming. The vocals were from a girl I only know as Lisa. The guitar was played by a guy I only know as Erick. And the bass was played by, someone I was fortunate enough to know personally, Cavalier Anton Romagnolo, better known as Tony. Why he went by Tony rather than the much cooler sounding name Cavalier I will never know. What I do know was that he was an amazing bassist, producer and friend. Translucia was the name of the band they formed. Their music has an ethereal gothic (in the modern term) sound. I hate that the only band I can liken them to is the Cocteau Twins, but that’s the only band which has a sound in the same vein as them. Theirs is not a genre I’m overwhelmingly knowledgeable about. Their two releases were a 4 tack long self-titled EP and a 9 track, hour and 13 minute long, album Ghostpheria. I would never have known anything about them had it not been for the fact that my girlfriend at the time was one of Tony’s best friends. After I found out he had been in a band I asked a few time to hear some of his music. One day my girlfriend came over and she had a CD he had burned me with both albums on it. While I expected it to be good, I had no idea just how good it would be. Of all the music I’ve heard from any of the musicians I know personally, this stands out and above all of them (and I’ve got a friend with a Grammy). Of course personal preference dictates just how much you may like them, but the level of talent is undeniable. Translucia broke up in early 2000 and never released another album. Then tragically, my friend Tony passed away on November 29 of 2008. I’d only known Tony for a short period of time, but in that time he gave and taught me a lot. He taught me a lot about how music is made and which artists I should look into. I’m grateful for what time I had, though regretful for the things I didn’t get a chance to share. Translucia’s music is virtually impossible to find now. Both the EP and album are now out of print. I considered uploading and posting them, but don’t feel I have the right to give away their music. I will however post one track so that you can at least get a feel for who and what they were. You should be listening to Translucia, unfortunately, you likely never will…

See ya when I see ya Tony…
"WitherLily" 8:26 by Translucia from the Tranclucia EP

Dead Can Dance

I think I can say, with some certainty, that you have never heard of Dead Can Dance. Well, I’m going to set about the, seemingly, impossible task of explaining who and what they are. Dead Can Dance was formed by two Australians, Lisa Gerard, and Brendan Perry. I found Dead Can Dance the summer of ’06. I was on my way to a cottage with my girlfriend, at the time, when she told me to put it in the CD player. She said it would be perfect traveling music and she was 100% correct. Dead Can Dance is a band that defies classification. Sometimes they may sound Celtic, sometimes they Persian, sometimes it’s Gothic, in the classical sense of the term, and sometimes you’d think they were a gypsy band. And that’s all just on one album. While you would think this shifting from one sound to another would, ultimately, result in a cluttered mess of an album, Dead Can Dance make it all effortlessly mesh together. Their earlier work, like the their self-titled fist album, were very much goth sounding (in terms of how we use it today.) They sounded like they could open for the Cure, or even having the Cure open for them. As the years went by they evolved and grew and became much more sonically diverse. While they have 9 studio albums they also have a myriad of live albums. The 9 albums they released together as Dead Can Dance were; Dead Can Dance, Spleen and Ideal, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, The Serpent's Egg, Aion, A Passage in Time, Into the Labyrinth, Toward the Within, and Spiritchaser. While their breakup wasn't offical until 1998, their last album together as Dead Can Dance was released in 1996. Lisa went on to record a number of solo and collaborative albums which include, The Mirror Pool, and Duality, which was done with Brendan, but not as a Dead Can Dance album. Brendan also continues making music and released Eye of the Hunter in '99. Whether you like dark goth music or worldly sounding music, you should be listening to Dead Can Dance.