Once a month, moody and atmospheric music has goth fans in a deep trance at Sunshine Bar in Arlington. In Deep Ellum, the fog machine-filled Double Wide is packed with punk rockers listening to the Cure on vinyl. Over in Fort Worth, young fans dance to modern darkwave and electronic music on a Monday night at Curfew Bar.
“It’s a DJ renaissance right now,” said Jacob Alvarez, an Oak Cliff DJ who goes by Loveghost.
More DJs are playing goth and darkwave music, music genres that emerged from the post-punk movement of the late ‘70s, at clubs and bars across North Texas. Nearly every week, post-punk fans can experience at least one night of music from English bands that popularized the genre, such as the Cure, Depeche Mode and Bauhaus.
This trend is powered by nostalgia and led by local Latino DJs, some of them younger than 30.
“People of color have always been here since the beginning,” Gabe Mendoza, a DJ from Oak Cliff, said. “Now it’s really noticeable, especially in the audience, you literally see a sea of brown and that makes me so happy.”
Fifteen years ago, Mendoza and DJ Sam Ramirez founded Away From the Numbers, an all-vinyl DJ collective dedicated to music under the post-punk umbrella. Away From the Numbers takes over Double Wide in Deep Ellum once a month, but the DJs play similar sets frequently at other venues. There’s Death Disco at Sunshine Bar, Darkroom at Charlie’s Star Lounge in East Dallas and Arcadia at Double Wide.
“Growing up, the dark music was literally a soundtrack to my surroundings,” Mendoza said. “In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Oak Cliff was a completely different kind of place to live in Dallas. In hindsight, it made the music make a lot of sense, like walking around the ‘hood with headphones listening to a song like ‘Interzone’ by Joy Division. I’m not from Manchester, but I would imagine that’s where that inspiration comes from, like living in a dark, gloomy place.”
Mendoza and Ramirez are often referred to as tios, or uncles, by the younger Latino DJs adopting the darkwave trend today.
The new generation of Latinos taking over the booth include Alvarez, who founded the weekly goth night La Phantasma at Curfew Bar. He invites other Latino DJs, like Jorge Hinojosa, also known as Sordelo, and Karina Moreno, or Kinda Strange, to play “flashy and freaky” modern goth music from artists around the world.
“It’s so fitting for us because I think as Latinos we go through a lot of struggles just being minorities in America,” Alvarez said. “The darker, emotional side of us, we can connect with it and find some release in that.”
It takes extensive record collecting to play all-vinyl sets, like Away From the Numbers does. Since most modern post-punk music isn’t always available on vinyl, the newer generation of goth DJs is putting its own spin on sets by adopting an all-digital or hybrid format.
At La Phantasma, fans hear more music from modern post-punk and electronic acts such as Sextiles and Boy Harsher, Prayers and Pixel Grip.
“They have that sound that the party represents,” Hinojosa said. “At the same time, I still do bring in, and I’ve heard other DJs bring in, the new wave sound of the ‘80s that still gets spun. The original sound.”
For the DJs, playing these sets is more than just sharing or introducing songs to large crowds, they’re about connecting with their community.
“I think it’s the passion and community that surrounds the music,” Ramirez said. “I think being able to see the beauty and romanticism in everything, including the tragic, is a very Latino thing.”
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