What is Gothic music?
As already mentioned its a kind of dark Postpunk. But to be more precise:
"In Gothic, the guitar tone is usually processed with electronic effects. A clean or warmly overdriven guitar sound is processed through chorusing, flanging, analog delay, and/or dense reverb, resulting in a timbre that resembles those used by Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Cure. As well, goth has a characteristic guitar playing style. Goth guitar playing takes its downstroke playing style from punk, and emphasizes angular melodic lines instead of thick chords. Minor keys and minor mode melodies are prevalent, but major keys are also used. The Phrygian mode, with a flattened second scale degree contributes to the Gothic sound with its haunting and spooky mood. Gothic songs are typically mixed so that there is a heavy bass sound, which creates a dark and shadowy atmosphere.
Gothic often uses repetitive snare drum snap to propel the beat, either a real drum beat or, later on, usually a drum machine beat. The metronomic snare drum sound can be first heard on Iggy Pop's The Idiot. It continues on in Joy Division's songs, Gary Numanâ€s early music, on early Cure CDs (beginning with Seventeen Seconds) and early Sisters of Mercy recordings. More sophisticated variations of the snare drum snap are used by Kevin Haskins in Bauhaus' music."
