Sally Dige, “Holding The Sun”

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Sally Dige - Holding The Sun

Sally Dige
Holding The Sun
Dige Records

Berlin by way of Vancouver songwriter Sally Dige’s 2017 LP Holding On stood apart from both the pulsing minimalism of her solo debut and her previous work in Cult Club alongside Laslo Antal of Sixth June. Taking synthpop and darkwave into a jangling, echoing hall of mirrors, Holding On made for a marked contrast from the increasingly club-focused approach which has dominated darkwave, for better or for worse, now for nearly a decade. Coming a full eight years after that record, Holding The Sun offers a brighter read on the styles and sounds in Dige’s orbits, and one which perhaps frames her talents as both a songwriter and singer in an even better light.

There’s no sense beating about the bush; Holding The Sun is a decidedly lighter record than anything we’ve yet heard from Dige, both in its extended forays into dreampop, folk, and the most radio-friendly alternative rock of the 90s. None of these sounds, like the mandolin-like guitar strum which begins opener “It’s You I’m Thinking Of”, or the new age spaciness of “Strength In Me”, would have seemed too far out of reach for Dige at an earlier moment in her discography, but Holding The Sun indulges in those softer shades for almost all of its well-edited half hour, bringing to mind the likes of R.E.M. and the lush hybrid of dreampop and darkwave crafted by Tamaryn.

This shift in style might have only proven to be a lateral aesthetic step were it not for the fact that the clutch of songs on Holding The Sun are almost uniformly the best yet released by Dige, regardless of vulnerability or influence. Immediate but still full of subtle appeal, the sober declaration of “It’s You I’m Thinking Of” and the crafty rise and fall of “I Will Be The Sun For You” measure up to whichever of a number of pop vocal powerhouses one might care to compare them to. The stripped-down nod of “Sow The Path”, with its strums and strings staying low in the mix even as they gather and crest, eschews traditional pop hooks, but that restraint puts all of the focus where it belongs: on Dige’s vocals, which build in power even as they seem to bob and weave through the strings.

It’s rare that we find ourselves writing about music as bright and accessible as Holding The Sun here at ID:UD, but that’s as much a product of the aesthetic paths cleaved by artists after we’ve gotten on board with them as it is our editorial mandate. Dige’s path’s taken her away from many of her peers who’ve prioritized dark club success for the sake of terrain in which, frankly, stronger talents as a songwriter are needed to stand out, and that road less traveled has paid off wonderfully here. It sometimes takes courage to be as vulnerable as this. Recommended.

Buy it.

Holding the Sun by Sally Dige

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Tracks: July 14th, 2025

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We’re getting into the dog days of summer, even out here on the temperate west coast, but that also means the time’s just about nigh for our annual trip over the Rockies to enjoy Terminus Festival, a tradition that’s become as integral to this site as our Year End coverage. As always, we’re looking forward to hanging with festival fam old and new – come say hi if you’re also making the pilgrimage! On with this week’s tracks…

S Y Z Y G Y X

S Y Z Y G Y X

Lebanon Hanover, “Torture Rack”
Between Pixel Grip and now veteran darkwave duo Lebanon Hanouver, we’ve had two prominent bands drop full LPs without much (if any) pre-release hype. Is this a new trend, directly countering the waterfall strategy we’ve seen over the past few years? In any case, a quick skim of Asylum Lullabies points to a sludgier and less polished side of Larissa Iceglass and William Maybelline’s work, suggesting dalliances with no wave and the likes of Lycia and mid-period Swans.
Asylum Lullabies by Lebanon Hanover

Comaduster, “The Less You Know (feat. Seeming)”
What if we were to tell you that two of our favourite acts, both of whom have forthcoming LPs this year did a track together? And that it’s a nice distillation of both of their styles, in a way that contrasts and highlights each of their strengths? Well, we’d obviously be talking about “The Less You Know”, the companion track to Comaduster’s recent single “Way With Me”, featuring none other than Alex Reed, aka Seeming. From the former you get the broken beat, hyper-detailed sound design and arrangement, the latter brings the beautiful lyricism and clarion vocal style, all of which comes together with a lovely sense of offbeat melodics that suits them both well. Check that rocking climax!
WAY WITH ME + THE LESS YOU KNOW by Comaduster

Fractions, “Light”
A slight turn away from the purely monochrome vision of techno showcased on the last few releases we heard from them, this new single from Fractions is far more colourful, while still holding to the same exacting, granular production style which made the Czech duo’s work so immediately appealing on their 2018 debut with Fleisch. Picking up on some cyber-themed sounds in current techno, while also calling back to the use of those sounds on industrial floors of decades past, and even peppering in some post-punk guitar, there’s a lot of dimension in this jumpy cut.
LIGHT [MGX001] by Fractions

Die Sexual, “Desire”
Die Sexual have kept a steady stream of new material coming basically since their first tracks were released back in 2023. Hot on the heels of “Magic Never Dies” comes “Desire”, taken from a three track EP of the same name and it does exactly what the husband and wife Los Angeles duo have always been good at: it’s club-ready, sits nicely at the nexus of modern EBM and darkwave, and has strong sexual elements that are fun and not excessively cartoonish. We’re getting to see them next week here in Vancouver, and are looking forward to catching their live show which we’ve heard good stuff about.
Desire by Die Sexual

INVA//ID, “Dogma”
The particular sub-style of heated and compressed Wax Trax industrial which LA’s INVA//ID have honed in on of late continues to pay dividends. We’ve heard the group shift through a whole slew of iterations of industrial metal across their career, but their solid cover of “Show Me Your Spine” seems to have foresaged a plunge into furious and expertly abraded fusions of synthesis and heavily processed and sampled guitar, like this one from new EP The Path.
The Path by INVA//ID

S Y Z Y G Y X, “Stranger”
We dropped the ball not catching S Y Z Y G Y X’s two spring singles “Climax” and “Sylph”, both of which are part of a very slick style of modern club music that draws from modern club sounds, hyperpop, darkwave and body music in equal measure. The Washington D.C. based artist has a new record Sinner coming August 1st, and we’re def feeling the aforementioned songs, as well as the slightly murkier and more opaque sound of “Stranger”. Adding this to the review-on-release queue immediately.
SINNER by S Y Z Y G Y X

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Observer: Ghosts for Comfort & Mjöldryga

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Ghosts for Comfort
Serpent
self-released
You could absolutely be forgiven for thinking that the music from UK duo Ghosts for Comfort’s new EP was some recently unearthed and polished up dark electro demo from roughly 30 years ago. Everything, from the straightforward bass programming, to the plinky melodies and digital pads, to the pinched vocals (which are particularly reminiscent of early X Marks the Pedwalk) to the thudding, reverbed drums, screams 90s dark electro. That’s not a criticism mind you; Serpent is a refreshingly straight take on the style made popular by Zoth Ommog and Celtic Circle, delivered with a heaping dose of antipathy. While tracks like “Murder” and “The Seed” trade in the rough, rattling sounds of dark electro’s earliest evolutionary steps forward from EBM, the EP features hints of the baroque sound of later acts in the genre; the lo-fi funky bass and drums of “Prey” are accented by a twinkling lead that calls to mind Leaether Strip, and there’s a dash of Rudy Ratzinger’s imperial period evident in the ornate arrangement of instrumental “Dead on Arrival”. Still, the EP is at its best at its most immediate, as evidenced by opener “Detonate”, whose drums and springy lead are formed into a skeletal arrangement that doesn’t roll forward so much as it lurches towards the listener with ill intent. It’s an acquired taste no doubt, but those with yen for it will find it appropriately caustic and unpleasant.
Serpent by Ghosts For Comfort

Mjöldryga - Pulvis Ad Mortem
Mjöldryga
Pulvis Ad Mortem
Fluttering Dragon Records
The latest project from Fredrik Djurfeldt is of a piece with the gasping, unrelenting death industrial the Swedish artist has produced under the Analfabetism handle and most recently in collaborative project Hexophthalma. Mjöldryga’s debut finds him teaming up with Tomas Östergårds, whose work has tilted in a more dark ambient direction, but Pulvis Ad Mortem has precious little in common with that genre save for its steely and unyielding commitment to cold, impassive hostility. Refluxive waves of guttural feedback and distorted yowls make up the bulk of Pulvis Ad Mortem, from the circling static blasts of opener “Armar Ramlar Av” to the shuddering stutter of closer “Claviceps Purpurea” which blurs vocals and noise into a smeary grey morass. The tremoring radio pulses and samples perched atop the ebb and flow of sine waves on “Antoniuseld” or the almost naturally windswept stormy churn of “Bockahorn” are a reminder that the ur sources of this sort of noise are never too far from our day to day, regardless of whether we’re tossing a record like this on or not.
Mjöldryga – Pulvis Ad Mortem by Fluttering Dragon Records

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We Have A Technical 566: My Boo

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Laibach - Alamut

As is our custom when there’s a new record from industrial legends Laibach, we’re taking to the podcast to discuss it rather than simply knocking out a review. A deeply collaborative record between Slovenian and Iranian musicians, Alamut is a record steeped in history and which draws together diverse strands of Laibach’s own musical past and future as well as contemporary art music composition from around the world. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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ESA, “Sounds For Your Happiness”

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ESA - Sounds For Your Happiness

ESA
Sounds For Your Happiness
Negative Gain Productions

With a steady release schedule and having recently crossed its two decade tenure, Jamie Blacker’s ESA project’s long been an established quantity for rivetheads and DJs on both sides of the pond, and with good reason. Blacker’s long had his heavily stylized (and elevated) form of modern rhythmic noise down to a science; cue up any of the last handful of ESA LPs and you know you’re getting punishing beats and minimalist yet hi-def programming with some flourishes lifted from neighbouring genres like gabber and aggrotech, with a personal tour of hell offered by Blacker’s unmistakable vocals, an experience less like tagging along with Charon or Virgil and more like being dragged on a chain by a rampaging Cerberus. The latest ESA LP, arriving with the eerily prosaic title Sounds For Your Happiness, keeps that hot hand going with a dense and lengthy barrage.

Built upon metallic programming and flitting between classic industrial club kicks and blast beats, Blacker sounds at home venting bile atop cuts like “Pound Of Flesh” and lengthy closer “The Gallows You Built For Yourself”. The immediacy of an oontzy banger like “Caligula” belies a deceptively complex arrangement, with chopped samples sidechained to beats and later being filleted into thin digital stutters for dramatic effect. It’s not all technical flourish, though, with the swinging chug of “It Will Never Be Enough” evoking death metal, or at least Ministry in their more downcast modes, and Blacker’s road warrior swagger in full effect on “Something For The Horsemen”.

The lengthy run time of the majority of the twelve tracks allows for a lot of shifts; the effect is marked when acidic washes of trance-cum-electro-industrial pads break through the thudding edifice of “Ratchet” at the six-minute mark (replete with some acid-house styled gospel samples). The same goes for the first appearance of truly ‘clean’ vocals from Blacker mid-album on “Rats Come Together”. The samples, breakdowns, and other tics and quirks peppered into the spaces between assaulting measures help to keep you on your toes through these epics, and occasionally add some levity (like the whinnying which punctuates “Something For The Horsemen”).

If there’s a weakness in Sounds For Your Happiness it might just be that there can be simply too much of its merciless assault, even with the aforementioned shifts and variances, over the course of its sprawling 75 minutes. It’s hard to cite that as much of a fault when none of the tracks feel repetitive or superfluous and each holds up well as a standalone piece, and may just be a question of endurance. As always with ESA, the beatings will continue until morale improves.

Buy it.

Sounds for your Happiness by ESA

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Mari Kattman, “Year of the Katt”

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Mari Kattman
Year of the Katt
Metropolis Records

Mari Kattman has been a steady presence in the broader industrial and darkwave community for the better part of the last decade or so, first as a striking guest vocalist with artists such as Comaduster, iVardensphere and Neuroticfish, as well as half of Helix with her partner Tom Shear, and as a solo act in her own rite. While the Boston chanteuse has a few self-released albums in her discography, Year of the Katt is the culmination of the dark, club-ready sound she’s been exploring over the last few years of EPs and singles. In practice the record splits the difference between Kattman’s considerable vocal charisma and power, and her growth as a songwriter and producer.

To that point, the entirety of Year of the Katt is written, produced, and performed by Kattman, and consequently plays to her strengths. One of her gifts has always been in conveying her personality through her performance, and the material here certainly leans into that, often quite literally. Opener “Typical Girl” paints a portrait of Kattman through candid admissions (“I’m a difficult person”) and taunting self-examination (“Who’s gonna love you now?”), and the deployment of an affected and effective sneer that makes a character of her own self-doubt. Similarly, “Anemia” takes its cues from her experiences with the titular condition, heightened and then turned outwards, slinky and inviting with a healthy dose of laidback menace that complements its big detuned synth hook and medium tempo rhythm programming. The theme of self-examination carries culminates nicely on closer “Pain” where Kattman gives thanks to adversity as a motivator and teacher, matching it up to a surprising but not unwelcome assembly of body-music ad-libs, a tasteful guitar solo, and one of her most straightforward and catchy arrangements.

The clubbable trad-scene mix of synthpop, EBM and dark electronics that informs Year of the Katt is a natural fit for Kattman, and she shows a strong understanding of how to put songs in the style together. While there are plenty of fun touches in the design of the record (the use of morse code and modem samples as rhythmic devices is clever, as is the throwback futurepop construction of “Take Myself Back”), the palette is kept minimal and effective, allowing lots of space for the vocals. Perhaps that’s a function of how often Kattman uses a cool, breathy delivery, sometimes ramping to higher registers, as on “Take”, or into her forceful but smooth mezzo range, like “Little Bullet Girl” and “PunisHER”. If anything the album is light on moments where she goes to full strength, although one has to assume that’s a conscious decision for the sake of consistency in mood and style across the record.

With that in mind, Year of the Katt ends up being something of a coming out party for Mari Kattman as a writer and producer. It’s less-focused on showing off her already established bonafides as a vocalist, and more about her ever advancing skills in song and albumcraft, a feat that it handily achieves.

Buy it.

Year Of The Katt by Mari Kattman

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Tracks: July 7th, 2025

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Hey friends and neighbours, thanks for stopping in for Tracks this week. As with every week, it’s kind of overwhelming how much music there is to write about right now, and how many artists we’re already following closely are putting out new stuff, but this week feels particularly stacked for IDUD faves. Indeed, with the year half over and still a solid dozen albums yet to drop that we’re anticipating, not to mention the inevitable surprise drops and brand new acts yet to emerge, it feels like we have yet to see the complete shape of 2025 musically. If you have some stuff you want us to know about, please feel free to put it in the comments, we’re always on the lookout. Tracks ahoy!

Louisahhh x Helsmoortel

Lousiahhh x Helsmoortel, “Sugar & Violence”
Louisahhh has been one of the bravest and most exciting presences in leftfield electronic dance music for a few years now, both in her solo material and her collabs with Maelstrom amongst others. Her latest project is an EP sized team-up with Belgian producer Helsmoortel, and finds her applying her strident, forthright vocals to a cool electro beat on “Sugar & Violence”, sinister and alluring in equal measure. Given how harsh a lot of Louisahhh’s material has been, this ends up being a move towards a smoother, if no less bracing sound.
Sugar & Violence by Louisahhh x Helsmoortel

Diesein, “Monday Morning”
The difference between Laslo Antal’s work as one half of Sixth June and that in his solo project Diesein hasn’t ever been stable for too long, with the latter’s releases at times tilting very close to the atmospheric, sultry darkwave we expect from Sixth June, and at times wandering into very poppy or confessional songwriter territory. This taster from forthcoming third Diesein LP splits the difference, coating the elegant core of Sixth June writing with some brightly coloured synth fondant psychedelia.
I like it / I hate it by DIESEIN

XTR HUMAN, “Sledgehammer”
We had the pleasure of seeing Johnannes Stabel perform as XTR HUMAN here in Vancouver a few months back, and it solidified our view that the project is some of the best modern EBM going. New single “Sledgehammer” is another great example of what the project does best, marrying classic body music basslines and drums with shouted vocals and a healthy dollop of raved-up techno, hitting the balance between them just right. With his next Canadian performance looming at Terminus in a few weeks, this is just the thing to get us even more hype for some stomping, sweating dancefloor action.
Sledgehammer by XTR HUMAN

Ash Code, “Scar”
We’ll absolutely cop to darkwave burnout being a real phenomenon, both while seeking out new tracks for ID:UD and for the club, but we have no such concerns when it comes to Italian stalwarts Ash Code. We’ve been hearing tracks for September’s Synthome since November, and the last few that’ve seen release, like this absolutely oppressive and smothering number which sounds like a Soft Moon/Frozen Autumn hybrid we never knew we wanted, are raising its profile as a contender to be reckoned with in a very crowded scene.
Synthome by Ash Code

Blood Rave, “Dead Inside”
Speaking of bands we saw at Verboden, our second time seeing Napa’s Blood Rave perform was revelatory; we liked the modern electro-darkwave act plenty the first time we saw them last year, but the performance and the quality of the material on this year’s Exponential Decay showed some considerable advancement in a relatively brief period of time. And we weren’t the only ones feeling it, as evidenced by the number of Blood Rave shirts we saw for the rest of that weekend. “Dead Inside” will no doubt be on plenty Summer gloom playlists, ours included.
Dead Inside by Blood Rave

Ghosts For Comfort, “Murder”
The debt UK duo Ghosts For Comfort owe to classic dark electro is apparent from the moment you cue up any track on their new Serpents EP. Thankfully, it’s a style they pull off well. Raw, grimy, and minimalist in construction and production, tunes like this draw a line between classic Klinik and some jacked up new beat rhythms.
Serpent by Ghosts For Comfort

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Moon 17, “TX_1320”

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Moon 17
TX_1320
self-released

It’s been almost two years since Kansas City duo Moon 17 released their first tracks: “Jellyfish”, which bridged mutant EBM and modern darkwave in a cascade of glitches and orch hits, and “Mirror Side”, a mean slice of lo-fi industrial with screamed and crooned vocals and churning programming. While active live, it wasn’t until the recent surprise release of the debut album TX_1320 that we got another taste of Zack Hames and Samantha Conrad’s self-described “sci-fi industrial”, a style that finds them dipping into classic and contemporary sounds in intriguing fashion.

The HAL 9000 samples set against spacey ambience that introduce the record on “Velcro Shoes” act as a mood-setter, but it’s on the first proper song “Ronnie Rocket” where Moon 17’s ambitions come into focus. The slow-rolling tempo of the song and screamed vocals are plenty appealing on their own, enhanced by some choppy programming, the placement of drum hits and synths playing off one another, and the wormy funk lead that recalls Nine Inch Nail’s funkier moments. There are plenty of those clever ‘nice touch’ moments for those paying attention; little production details and arrangement choices that take songs from solid to quite good. Hear how smoothly the guitar on “Bersicker” (courtesy of Cort from Spike Hellis) transitions from chugging rhythm to mirroring the vocal line to peeling off into a solo, or how the chaotic second half of “Helios” reflects the almost gentle build of it’s opening minutes.

For their obvious attention to detail in the recording, the band never get lost in the weeds when it comes to delivering on their hooks. That lack of preciousness means that for all the fun layers of FM bass, gated and looped samples and mountains of percussion that fill-out “Cherry”, it’s never at the expense of screamed and shouted lyrics and corroded synth-hook. Similarly, while the instrumental “Spark” dips into piercing chiptune and sountracky ambience, there’s an intentionality in how those sounds support its recurring and recognizable motifs.

The tightrope-walk of keeping TX_1320‘s intricate construction and appropriate roughness around the edges balanced with the focus on the songs themselves is no small feat, and one that certainly justifies the wait for Moon 17’s debut. As both a highly listenable (and re-listenable) collection of modern industrial cuts, and a statement of purpose for Moon 17, it’s a winner. Recommended.

Buy it.

TX_1320 by Moon 17

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