We Have a Commentary: Cold Cave, “Cherish the Light Years”

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Cold Cave - Cherish The Light Years

For this month’s Patreon-supported bonus podcast, we’re talking about the second LP from Wes Eisold’s post-punk/synthpop act Cold Cave. A record that has taken on more emotional resonance as it (and we!) have aged, so there’s gonna be a lot of talk about feelings, not to mention Cold Cave’s unique place in the transition from the landfill post-punk boom into the contemporary darkwave era. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Observer: A Shrine To Failure & Viva Non

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A Shrine To Failure - Undone
A Shrine To Failure
Undone
self-released
Despite the heavy trad-goth connotations of German duo A Shrine To Failure’s name, promo photos, and hell, even choice of fonts, there’s precious little influence from gothic rock or deathrock to be found on their debut Undone…at least on the surface. The beats and synths which make up most of Undone aren’t that dissimilar from the instrumentation that makes up so much run-of-the-mill darkwave in 2025, but A Shrine To Failure press them into plaintive, heart on sleeve tunes which hearken back to a broader pool of inspirations. Tunes like “Reverie” and “This Is Surrender” borrow from all manner of classic goth acts both in terms of lyrical drama and musical flair, or at least more adept contemporaries like Wingtips and Rosegarden Funeral Party who have a clear read on how much goth history was built on pop and rock fundamentals. Despite its minimal and modern construction, “Bleakware” brings a decent amount of melody and harmonics without relying too heavily on its pure darkwave rhythm. Similarly, the straightforward staccato punch of “Starving”‘s synth program builds alongside increasingly anxious vocals, almost recalling early Ashbury Heights. A very strong debut from a band with clear songwriting chops beyond their tenure. Recommended.
undone by A Shrine to Failure


Viva Non
Natural
self-released
Winnipeg’s Viva Non has been a lot of things over the course of last decade, touching musically on darkwave, industrial, techno and ambient. With the James Hofer recently announcing a return to performing and releasing synthpop-styled material, the most recent EP Natural takes the role of summarizing the project’s instrumental technoid era, a role that it does in fine fashion. “Hollow” is encapsulates the shuffling, rhythmic sensibility of Hofer’s live PA sets, its judiciously placed kicks and snatches of programming immersed in waves of hissing static and low hypnotic drones. Alternately, “Break” dips into straighter kick-snare patterns, but subtly layers in more synth parts, some chirpy, some fluid and snake-like, all leading to a tense crescendo that recalls Mlada Fronta amongst others. “Encircle” in both its original form and its Filmmaker remix embodies Viva Non’s focus on mood via production; the former keeps its pads and non-percussive elements ephemeral, the latter has them follow in the wake of the beefed up drums, suggesting distance and scale through placement in the mix. If this is the last EP of this style for Hofer for the foreseeable future, its certainly a fine capstone for this incarnation of the project.
Natural by Viva Non

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We Have a Technical 564: Get It Together

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The Galan Pixs

The Galan Pixs

We have a classic two albums episode for you this week folks, including the last decidedly industrial-related work from German act The Galan Pixs, plus the experimentation of latter-era Portion Control with their SEEDEP3. We’re also looking ahead at some records set to be released in the back half of 2025. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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General Dynamics, “Where Animals Play”

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General Dynamics - Where Animals Play

General Dynamics
Where Animals Play
X-IMG

The styles of the two respective members of General Dynamics (William Maybelline of Lebanon Hanover and Qual, and Emad Dabiri of SARIN and half a dozen other projects, not to mention boss of the X-IMG label) were well established by the time the side-project’s debut, Weaponize Your Dreams, arrived at the tail end of 2022. So much so, in fact, that the record was more of a test case of the pair’s chemistry rather than of what its component parts might sound like. Second LP Where Animals Play carries that forward with another clutch of nasty yet club-ready tunes which triangulates Dabiri and Maybelline’s broad reach of classic post-industrial and brings it to bear with their own flow and aesthetic.

The album’s titular first full track draws most of General Dynamics’ sonic and thematic interests together and distills them into a noxious cask-strength spirit where the Dionysian slaughter of gods sits side by side with samples from old phone sex line ads and taut, pinched, and wormy bass programming. It’s in that combination of Maybelline’s unmistakable voice and lyrics (this is, after all, a man who can effortlessly flip between quoting “American Psycho” and releasing songs with titles like “Rape Me In The Parthenon”) with Dabiri’s yen for VHS kitsch and sleekly produced modern TBM that General Dynamics finds its strengths. Anyone with an interest in classic dark electro or modern EBM should be able to hop aboard Where Animals Play easily, but spend enough time in the swampy stomp of “Something Unnatural” or with the scraping lope of “Creepin’ In” and you’ll see just how effective the duo are in putting their shared interest in the grimiest of 90s material to good use – one can easily imagine them talking shop about yelworC for hours.

In closing out with “Chasing The Scream”, which keeps the record’s noiser and more pained impulses in check for the sake of a speedy cyber-autobahn cruise of nimble, simple arpeggios and icy pads, the structure (and well-edited run-time) of Where Animals Play reads almost like a winking acknowledgement of the ease with which Maybelline and Dabiri’s instincts gel and fit into current club culture. General Dynamics is a project which couldn’t help but sound exactly as it does, and while it’s as idiosyncratic and specific as the extant work of the artists who made it, it’s also primed to inject some vintage toxic sludge into modern club sets.

Buy it.

Where Animals Play by General Dynamics

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Static Ghost, “Breaching Flesh”

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Static Ghost
Breaching Flesh
Verboden Records

Olympia-based industrial act Static Ghost has become something of a regular live presence in the Pacific Northwest, bringing a stomping mixture of body music, rough-edged production and bracing energy to the stage. The ease with which audiences latch on to Static Ghost’s material is almost certainly thanks to its immediacy and lack of pretense, qualities that were matched by the one-man-project’s recorded output which has largely emphasized mid-tempo grooves and a healthy dose of the aggression for flavour. New release Breaching Flesh follows that same path, but with an added emphasis on atmosphere and arrangement, adding nuance to the sturm and drang that has defined the project up ’til this point.

Which is not to say that Static Ghost has mellowed out at all; songs like the album’s title track still hinge on tightly wound bass and discordant synthlines and samples, the uneasiness of the distorted vocals pairing well with the reconstituted screams and shouts embedded in the mix. Where things really start to take shape though is in the places where those same elements are tweaked to create different moods. “Virus” has a rhythm that feels very natural for the band, but makes a point of playing up the foreboding pads in the background and switching up the transitions between sections, with a resulting unease that suggests hostility more than it enacts it. Similarly, the stop-start progression and chirpy acid of “Burnt Evidence” and the minimalist hiss of “No Future” still have plenty of groove, but draw out their builds rather than barreling towards their conclusions, allowing more potent grooves to build.

Where the projects ambitions and Breaching Flesh‘s execution clash are in the production, which maintains its DIY-charm, but sometimes detract from the dynamics and textures being brought to the material. First proper song “Identity” could almost be mistaken for early period :Wumpscut: with its medium-tempo and the breathy synths behind its heavy drums, but certain details become lost in the mix, obscuring details in favour of impact. Elsewhere, the clacky bass sound of “Choked and Strained” and the eventual filter swept synthlead feel strangely anemic, as though their bodies have been hollowed out. It’s not an issue for every song on the record, and can probably be chalked up finding their way around the expanded toolset. When things all fit together as on closer “Seeing Self”, Static Ghost balances the forcefulness of their live show with plenty of mood and character.

Buy it.

BREACHING FLESH (digital) by STATIC GHOST

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Tracks: June 23rd, 2025

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And hey, second week back to regular schedule and The Senior Staff are just working through the backlog of albums, singles and EPs that came across our virtual desks during our Spring hiatus. Last week had us holding forth on some of our more anticipated 2025 releases from Youth Code, Pixel Grip and Bootblacks, and hopefully this week we’ll be getting to a few more of the records that have been getting us hype. Strong year so far at just about the halfway point, and plenty to come from the likes of ESA, Moon 17 and Sally Dige (to pick 3 names out of a hat) that we’re keen on. What have been your faves so far this year? Make sure to let us know in the comments! On to Tracks!

Dark Chisme

Ultra Sunn, “The Beast In You”
Ultra Sunn have come a long way since their earliest releases as part of the early 2020s electro-darkwave boom, finding their own strengths, namely in the vocals of Sam Huge and their own voice as songwriters. The first single and title track from the forthcoming The Beast In You shows still more growth, leaning into synthpop dramatics that recall And One’s more baroque moments amongst others. Check those organ and choral sounds, and how nicely they mesh with the band’s rubbery basslines, it’s a great match and is certainly one of the strongest songs from a band that has already been doing good things in that department.
The Beast In You by ULTRA SUNN

Static Ghost, “Identity”
We’ve been tracking Olympia’s Static Ghost for a number of years now, both through a slew of singles and EPs as well as a spate of sets up here in Vancouver which have cinched the producer as one of the most energetic and enjoyable EBM-related acts Cascadia can claim. Now with a first full LP out, tracks like this which blend modern TBM with classic dark electro iciness will hopefully begin to find Static Ghost a wider audience via Breached Flesh.
BREACHING FLESH (digital) by STATIC GHOST

Dark Chisme, “Breathe, Break It”
Speaking of acts reaching out beyond the Pacific Northwest, we’d certainly hope that you’re already clued into Dark Chisme after the heavy duty touring the Seattle duo embarked upon in support of their excellent self-titled debut over the past couple of years. The second new track to be released since that LP keeps the hot hand going, with plenty of drama being worked from Christine Gutierrez’s vocals weaving through a less-is-more arrangement and some big, futurepop-esque programming crashing through at exactly the right times. Dark Chisme have everything in place to keep on rising into the tier of North America’s strongest acts, full stop.
Breathe, Break it by Dark Chisme

The Devil & The Universe, “Beelzebub Unchained”
It’s been a few years since we’ve heard new material from Austrian oddballs The Devil & The Universe, but they’ve resurfaced on Swiss Dark Nights with a pair of new singles. While “Primordial Temples” gets the smokey subtlety of their style across, this number’s far more bombastic, pushing their blend of darkwave and neo-classical to the maximalist limit with some help from Stockholm’s Aux Animaux.
Beelzebub Unchained by The Devil & The Universe

Ortrotasce, “Mirror Stitched to Static”
Just over a year since the release of Ortotrasce’s last LP of excellent classic synthpop comes a new missive from the US-based act. The project’s prolific 2024 release schedule maintained an excellent quality to quantity ration, and we’re pleased that the first song we’ve heard from them this calendar year doesn’t buck that trend; funky analogue bass, chirpy percussion and those low-key vocals and pleasing melodies that put us in mind of early 2000s electro from the likes of Soviet and Solvent. Great stuff from a band you should be keeping an eye on.
Mirror Stitched to Static by Ortrotasce

Die Sexual, “Magic Never Dies”
Hey, a new one from Los Angeles sexlectro duo Die Sexual, who have put out more than a couple dancefloor heaters in recent years (check “Need to Sin” and “Darkest Hour” for a couple of our faves). “Magic Never Dies” plays up the band’s strengths, namely disaffected but still insistent vocals, solid rhythm programming and minimal but propulsive synth programming. Also really feeling that post-chorus vocal break and bridge, just a nicely produced and structured addition to the track that separates from other comparable electro-darkwave.
Magic Never Dies by Die Sexual

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Bootblacks, “Paradise”

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Bootblacks - Paradise

Bootblacks
Paradise
Artoffact Records

Paradise is the record that New York’s post-punk trio Bootblacks have been threatening to make for a few years now, lit from the smooth melodics and studio sheen of its predecessor Thin Skies and stoked by extensive touring and the band’s own unique appeal. While those who have seen vocalist Panther Almqvist, synthesist Barrett Hiatt and recently added guitarist Kalle Fagerberg play live will attest to the band’s considerable charms, this is the first time that the band have fully captured that on record, via a considered mix of songwriting, excellent production provided by Xavier Paradis, and the band’s lively delivery.

From its very first moments, when a warbling staccato synth chirp is immediately encased within a sweeping, warm vista of pads and ambience on “Forbidden Flames”, it’s clear that Paradise is a record with a specific musical vision. As opposed to the sprawling, everything and the kitchen sink reach of Thin Skies which seemed to hot-swap genres mid-track at times, there’s no mistaking any of the numbers on Paradise as stemming from anywhere other than this iteration of Bootblacks. Some credit is no doubt due to producer Paradis whose own work as Automelodi presages the album’s glossy mixture of italo disco, darkwave, and art pop.

It’s a natural fit for the band, whose work has always strained against the accepted boundaries of the post-punk sound they were corralled into. The record’s warm and often euphoric disposition works in every configuration, allowing for the groovy mid-tempo bounce (partially contributed by Chris Vrenna) of “Only You” with its smooth sax solo to share space with the wormy disco pulse of “Can You Feel It? (Anymore)”, whose summery, spacey pads give the track’s verses a “From Here To Eternity”-styled sense of intrigue. Even darker or more lowkey moments, such as the Siouxsie-connoting, smoky downward guitar lines of “Wilderness” or the increasingly discordant directions closer “Melt” sprawls out towards, are swaddled in Paradise‘s larger package and aesthetic, maintaining that holistically bright mood.

The secret of Paradise‘s balance of easy-going vibes and rapturous, sneakily-intense climaxes (see “Leipzig” where a steady pace begets some of the most insistent new wave thrills this side of prime-era Duran Duran) is in how it’s a perfect reflection of the strengths Bootblacks have always had. Almqvist has never lacked for vocal presence on stage, and hearing his laconic charm captured so perfectly here is one the LP’s great pleasures. Similarly, sharp programming and chorused-out guitars have always been part of the band’s identity, but their configuration in these these songs is fresh and impressive; listen to the shimmery delays on the lead of the title track, or the way the octave bass of “When You Want” lands around the percussion.

Even accounting for the shifting focus between atmosphere and hooks, the impressive unity of ambition and execution, and its compulsive listenability, this record’s greatest feat is in how it captures the band in the extended, joyous moment in which they’ve fully come into their own. Weird as it is to say for a band of their tenure, Paradise sounds like Bootblacks speaking their native language for the very first time. Highly recommended.

Buy it.

Paradise by Bootblacks

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We Have a Technical 563: Khan and Hammer

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Sixth June

Sixth June

We’re catching up with a whole slew of news and live show business off the top of this episode as your regularly scheduled ID:UD programming resumes, and we’re returning to the ever-popular Pick Five format. From powernoise to goth rock we’re each picking some especially long tracks and talking about how that length has shaped our impressions of them. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Pixel Grip, “Percepticide: The Death of Reality”

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Pixel Grip
Percepticide: The Death of Reality
self-released

It’s been a little over four years since Pixel Grip’s breakthrough sophomore album Arena was released, a perfect record for that exact moment in time. The Chicago based-trio’s genre-bending mix of EBM, darkwave, and club music, all served with audacious confidence was the ideal soundtrack for a world just emerging from pandemic restrictions and returning to dancefloors en masse. The lengthy wait for a follow-up record and the band’s growing rep as a live act, mean that 2025’s Percepticide: The Death of Reality has some significant expectations attached to it on arrival.

Perhaps as an acknowledgement of, or in direct defiance of those expectations, the record opens with a track that couldn’t be more different from the buzzing, acerbic posture of Pixel Grip’s signature hits “ALPHAPUSSY” or “Demon Chaser”. Where those songs got over on the basis of attitude and whipsmart rhythm programming, “Crow’s Feast” is a soft, reflective cut that finds vocalist Rita Lukea at her most open, likening heartache and disappointment to being eaten alive, while a tasteful and minimal arrangement of synths plays out behind her. It’s hard not to see it as something of a power move and a statement of purpose in one; we already knew that Lukea and bandmates Tyler Ommen and Jonathon Freund can heat up dancefloors, but opening with an exploration of the emotions behind their sexually-empowered anthems changes up the context for the album significantly. Hence why the already familiar single “I Bet You Do” (originally released in 2023) feels different here, its fuckboy-kiss-off lyrics coloured by the vulnerability that preceded it, but without taking the cutting edge off of its chittering synthlines and snappy drums.

That dichotomy, although not as pronounced in its opening tracks, is at the heart of the record. For every sweaty, bass-forward dancefloor burner like “Stamina” (whose “Daddy come over/Fuck me over and over” hook is as memorable as any PG have ever recorded), there’s a slowburn joint like “Noise” where the band dial it back and rely more on atmospherics and melody as conveyed by ghostly synths and trappy cymbal programming. Most intriguing are the moments where Pixel Grip split the difference between grinding it out and confessional soul-baring; “A Moment With God” is as close to pure synthpunk as the band have ever gotten, its drums and bass guitar rolling along while Lukea flips between a wounded croon and dismissive shout.

Percepticide shows more of Pixel Grip than anticipated, and in ways that fit nicely with the bratty, sexually-liberated, nightlife image they’ve been cultivating up ’til this point. It’s got the bangers you’d expect certainly, supplemented with some emotional sincerity and some of their most developed songwriting to date; a record that explores club life, and the emotional fallout of what happens on and off the dancefloor.

Buy it.

Percepticide: The Death of Reality by Pixel Grip

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