Never Heard of M: Aurelio Voltaire

“Never heard of M” is a new specialized segment dedicated to less known musical artists and giving details about who they are as well as their music. Today we will be discussing Voltaire, the gothic folk musician.

To many people’s surprise, they may have heard or seen Voltaire’s work in one form or another. Before Voltaire kick-started his career in music, he worked in stop-motion most notably for “MTV”. His Claymation stop motion figures can be seen at the “School of Visual Arts” in New York City. Professors also stated that from time to time, Voltaire himself would come to teach classes.

What really brought Voltaire into the limelight was his music, which genres can be described as, dark cabaret, deathrock, and darkwave, but most would simply say gothic. The song that reached the most people, without them knowing who they were hearing. Those being the boys and girls of the early 2000s who watched “Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.” Voltaire created the song “Brains” for the giant intergalactic brain that crash-lands on earth in the episode “Little Rock of Horrors”, which fits Mr. Aurelio’s aesthetic, quite nicely. (Fun fact, when approached by the cartoon network representative to create the song, he didn’t initially believe them and almost wrote them off)

This jack of all trades didn’t just stop with music and animation. His talents extend to acting, such as his role in the “ABCs of Death 2,” in which he plays a suddenly grieving father on Halloween. This musician has a constantly expanding repertoire and can be held due to all of his interests and goals throughout the years.

To truly talk about artists, one must understand the music that they produce. Voltaire has a theme throughout his music, he tells the listener a story throughout the song. Such as in “Crusade” or “Beast of Pirates bay,” you hear the melodies, but also the journey within them. This is something you can expect throughout many of his compositions.

He would not be a gothic singer if he did not speak about death, devils, and evil. Yet he has a jolly note to his songs, that tell the listener while things may be bad they can get better. Such as his anti-suicide song “The Last Word.”

So if the dark is your home, and you love all things ghoulish and vile. You will find comfort in listening to some Voltaire songs before you make a night out, to whatever dim-lit den you find yourself in…