The "Goth" acts playing here at North Six, a club in Brooklyn's Williamsburg section, are about as disparate as bands can get.  The Deathrock stylings of The Brides, Jane Jensen's singer-songwriter set, Judith's Goth/Alternative rock -- other than a fondness for black clothing and eyeliner, there is little common ground between them.  (Come to think of it, Siouxie and the Banshees never sounded all that much like Bauhaus, either...).  Yet all three acts work well separately and together, adding up to a diverse but satisfying whole.

Death Rock is deceptively simple, with basic chords, short songs and a constant driving 4/4 beat.  This places an enormous burden on the performers.  Without a charismatic front man, Death Rock can quickly degenerate into a leaden one-note joke.  As they finish "My My My" Brides leader Corey Gorey examines the still near-empty club.

"This reminds me of this time when I was in the Sisters of Mercy." 

Everyone laughs... and then the band breaks into the Elvis Costello-Meets-The-Cramps "Glitteror" and I realize that Andrew Eldritch would give his lucky sunglasses to rock this hard.  D.W. Friend's doubletime percussion is consistently tight, and keyboard player Julia Ghoulia handles both morbidcampy pipe organ and happy bouncy Farfisa riffs with style.  The crowd may be sparse but they're all having fun: by the time the show wraps up with "Blessings" it's clear that the Brides are a band to watch.  Tonight they're an opening act; they will almost certainly be headlining here before the year is out. 

Jane Jensen works in a genre which has been much discredited of late: the solo female singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar (and, in Jane's case, a beat box and some sequences).   As she begins the funky chords to "Angel", I can see that this is no Jewelesque AOR pablum.  Jensen's voice is strong and sexy, her guitar lines rooted in the Delta blues, and her subject matter -- sin, salvation, and the Devil -- straight out of William Faulkner.  As she finishes "Angel" and begins "Tattoo," she has the crowd eating out of her hand.  Jensen uses her voice like Coltrane used a saxophone; within a single bar she goes from coos to whispers to down-and-dirty growls.  It's a powerful performance; I'd love to see what Jane could do with a band behind her.  With a voice like hers, she's a force to be reckoned with.  Put her in front of a few good supporting musicians and she could be a force of nature. 

As Judith takes the stage, I notice the distinct lack of a keyboard rack.  Many bands today have retired their drummer, relying instead on beat boxes and samples.  Judith has taken a different approach; their 3-piece live lineup features a guitarist, bassist and drummer, with a few programmed sequences in place of a live keyboard player.  It's an auspicious combination for several reasons.  There is no substitute for the energy a live drummer can bring to a performance.  A machine can keep a beat, but it can't develop a unique style, can't interact with other band members, and can't provide the pyrotechnics of the best rock drumming. 

This leaner, percussion-driven lineup makes all the difference on "Behind the Moon," one of the tracks from their new "Play of Light" CD.  This song has the jovial melancholy of the best Cure tracks, with a harder and faster edge.  "La Bella" and "Switchblade," two more "Play of Light" tracks, shows off Christopher David's Iggy Pop-for-Lovers baritone, as well as his haunting guitar stylings.  Judith wear their influences on their sleeves -- Type O Negative, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus -- but they wear them with real style and flair.  They're melodic without being sappy, and heartfelt without being pretentious.  It's the kind of music you Just Don't Hear Anymore: straight-ahead guitar-oriented Gothic Rock. 

I'm particularly impressed by how much these songs are improved by the stripped-down arrangements.  Sans a keyboard player, the sequences are less overpowering.  They accent Brian Veit's shamanic drumming and Damien James' bass stylings, rather than the other way around.  This keeps the music from sinking into that ever-unpopular Gothic Fog & Sludge.  Even "Without Her," a rock ballad (shudder) sparkles under this lighter instrumentation.  The rock ballad is unforgiving; one slip and you're Steve Perry squalling about your Open Aaaaarrrrrmmmmms behind the Nashville String Orchestra.  Minus the keyboards, and plus Chris David's heartfelt crooning, "Without Her" shows both tenderness and strength.  Billy Corrigan has Chris David's ear for melody amidst dissonance and orchestral grandeur; he doesn't have anything approaching David's voice.  Judith may be one of the most commercially friendly acts I've yet reviewed. Their sound is familiar, but impeccably done and intelligently performed... the sort of thing which can appeal to critics, listeners and programming execs alike.  I'm amazed that Judith doesn't have a video on MTV yet; if tonight's performance is any indication, they will shortly. 

Ten years ago Williamsburg was a dingy industrial zone; today people take cabs from Manhattan to attend parties here on the East River's right bank.  We're going to be seeing a lot more events like this in the weeks and months to come, as New York's "downtown" scene slowly but surely becomes New York's "Brooklyn" scene. 

Judith Homepage
http://www.asthetik.com/amphion/

Jane Jensen 
http://www.janejensen.net

Brides Official Website
http://www.herecomethebrides.com

North Six:
http://www.northsix.com