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CU's Midnight Assembly brings together the gothic-industrial underground.

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Industrial Night: DJ SorceryKid presents Nekromancy »

• May 24, 2010 at 9:00pm
• Chester Street »
  63-65 Chester St. Champaign, IL 61820
  (Show on map)

In terms of cultures, groups, organizations, scenes—any name one wants to give a people with shared interests in music and lifestyle, Champaign-Urbana has, or once had, an outlet for any variety of movements throughout its course as a recognizable cultural center. While that may seem as a lot of mumbo-jumbo for simply stating that CU likes music of all forms, it is important to not overlook movements like the CU Midnight Assembly, Champaign-Urbana’s “Gothic Industrial Underground.”

According to their website at http://www.midnightassembly.org, the collective was organized to, “symbolize the unity of [the] local subculture: ‘CU’ identifies [the] community while 'Midnight' reflects the Gothic contingent and 'Assembly,' the Industrial contingent." Largely active from 2000-2003, the organization was sponsored by the Champaign-Urbana Independent Music Association (CIA) and celebrated club nights at a number of current and now-defunct CU venues.

While some of the regular Midnight Assembly events included Gothic and Industrial Nights at Mike ‘n’ Molly’s on the second Saturday of each month, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., there is still a strong contingency of like-minded celebrations.

Chester Street Bar, better known as C-Street, holds a Monday night dance night called Nekromancy. A revived party, Nekromancy is self-described as a “weekly steampunk and cyberpunk influenced dance night featuring a non-stop mix of industrial, EBM, and synthpop music and videos spun by DJ SoceryKid.” With playlists ranging from Skinny Puppy and Sneaker Pimps to New Order and Orgy, the strong following for Nekromancy is evidence that this following is far from over.