Shades of fall in the summer

Summer might seem an improbable time for the duskiness of darkwave. The hum of gothic song and darkly romantic images are usually soundtracks to cool autumn nights. Yet, here we are, seething over '90s deca-dance industrialists Lords of Acid and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult during the annual Dracula's Ball and embracing the return of Sam Rosenthal's Projekt label fest, which features his own heroes of the ethereal, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, and its newest Philly-based members.

Rosenthal's label and Black Tape's revolving membership-based ensemble have long been an anomaly in the darkwave biz. Since starting Projekt in 1983 and the band in 1986, Rosenthal has pursued the more textural, poetic, and subtly theatrical sides of the sound, be it neoclassical or cabaret.

"Projekt covers a wide spectrum of nonmainstream sounds; memorable and dramatic with entertaining performances," says Rosenthal, wearing his label CEO hat. Plus, his records sell in a lame economy. "The major labels cry about losing 17 percent of their business every year. Projekt's income has stayed the same for the last 10 years. Staying the same is the new getting ahead," he says with a laugh. "Darkwave moves out like the ripples of a stone cast into a pond. The ripples get bigger and include new things like neo-cabaret."

What's made him so prescient is that he's long been at the epicenter of the ripple. As goth and darkwave moves from stale Manson-like morass and thudding Nine Inch Nails treacle, Rosenthal's own sound - analog synth and old world instruments, ruminative poetic images, haughty gripping vocals - has forever been there, filled with ambient drones, as is 1989's Ashes in the Brittle Air. That album is imbued with the pomp of musical saws and harmoniums, as is 2009's 10 Neurotics.

Black Tape's Neurotics and Rosenthal's side project Revue Noir both sound a clarion call for Dark Cabaret, a movement that has awesome force, with the success of melancholy singers Jill Tracy and Amanda Palmer. Rosenthal, though, has two secret vocal weapons, both from Philadelphia, in the moody chanteuse Nicki Jaine and the suave Athan Marouslis, an icon of darkwave as he was in Executive Slacks (1987-1992), then Tubalcain (1992-1994). "They're great vocalists with dramatic presence; part of the evolution I wanted with 10 Neurotics," says Rosenthal. "I want to re-create the band as a dynamic live entity, to take it out of the swirling ethereal-scape and bring these stories to life."