We Have A Technical 491: A Doctorow Joint

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Sunshine Blind

One goth rock record and one EBM record: not sure there’s a more down the pipe format for an episode of We Have A Technical than that! Sunshine Blind’s debut and Spark!’s most recent LP prompt discussion of production, vocal range, and all of the usual hair splitting Bruce and Alex are wont to get into. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, download directly, or listen through the widget down below. 

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Dead Voices On Air, “:jamiel:spybey:”

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Dead Voices On Air
:jamiel:spybey:
Re:Mission Entertainment

Industrial, drone, technoid, ambient, Mark Spybey’s had a turn with it all, whether through the Dead Voices On Air project which has been his primary focus since the early 90s or his innumerable collaborative projects with a sizeable percentage of any list of experimental/industrial legends one might care to scribe. In short, he’s absolutely nothing left to prove at this point, yet he’s also been on an incredible run of major latter-era releases, going back at least to 2009’s Fast Falls The Eventide (keeping up with Spybey’s interstitial and archival releases on Bandcamp is now a part-time job akin to being a Pink Dots curator). New LP :jamiel:spybey: might be the product of a relatively recent collaboration, but that only goes to show the equanimity with the broader world of experimental music in which Spybey now seems to reside.

Spybey’s work with psych-rock act The Drood’s Nathan Jamiel goes back at least to a joint Psychic TV cover a couple of years back, and is expanded upon here with both sharing compositional and vocal duties. Were Jamiel’s name not on the proverbial tin, it would be easy enough to chalk up the quavering, feathered post-rock textures of “Drought Stones” or the country-stoned strumming of “Skin Horse” to Spybey’s muse carrying him towards slightly more traditional rock instrumentation than usual, but there’s clearly an easy harmony between the two.

The unapologetically contemplative, autumnal, and dare I say sacred mood Spybey’s music’s tilted towards in the second half of the DVOA catalog remains in place here, with a sense of sanguine reflection running through :jamiel:spybey:‘s arrangements and sounds. This isn’t to say that there’s a willful naivete or desire to use ambience as a numbing narcotic; The straightforward cover of Gira’s “Blind”, presented here relatively free of ornamentation or showy transposition, just shows how well-suited the Dead Voices On Air aesthetic already is to that wounded, beautiful, and utterly haunted song.

It’s tempting to link the combination of earthiness, beauty, lamentation, and, well, basic decency and empathy which has marked the last fifteen or so years of Spybey’s work to his day job as a therapist. After all, it takes someone with a broad, unblinking, and yet ultimately hopeful view of humanity to follow a Swans cover and a piece called “Down With The World” with a straight-faced and optimistic interpretation of “We Shall Overcome”, rendered here as a medieval-styled hymnal. Regardless of the path he’s taken to arrive at it, Spybey now holds over the vast plains of sound explored by Dead Voices On Air with a canny grace and wisdom.

Buy it.

:jamiel:spybey: by Dead Voices On Air

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Varg I Veum, self-titled

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Varg I Veum
self-titled
SwissDarkNights

Where the last half-decade or so has seen electronic darkwave dominated by a distinctly bouncy and dancefloor oriented sound, there is still a significant number of acts plumbing the style’s icier history, especially in Europe where the cross-pollination of cold wave and minimal synth is palpable. Varg I Veum fit nicely into the latter category, and from their homebase of Naples the duo consisting of Alessandra Policella and Michele Mozzillo (ex of Hapax) have put together a solid collection of tracks for their self-titled LP, balancing both DJ-friendly programming, regal vocals, and some excellent textural and thematic ornamentation from their esoteric and historic influences.

While the promo copy for the album is quick to cite medieval folk as a touchstone, you won’t find any period instrumentation or synthetic recreations thereof here. Moreso it’s in the lyrics which are inspired by, and in some cases drawn directly from, the Norse epics where Varg I Veum explore that aspect of their sound. Whether you can detect that in a passing listen to a snappy dancefloor-ready number like “The Dim Glass” with its plucky synth hook and glassy pads, or through the hard snare hits and quantized bass of the melodramatic “Wolfsbane” is arguable – it’s more present in the stoic, deep-voiced delivery favoured by both members when singing. Those moments like the cinematic “Hoarfrost” with its tinkling synths and and deep pulsing bass contrasted against marshal sounding timpani and brassy synth horns do bring a more teutonic energy to the fore, it’s a shading more than a tangible dimension a casual listener will latch onto.

Not that that’s a detriment at all; Varg I Veum know their way around a darkwave tune, and the application of gothic melancholia and vague menace to give it some dimensionality. “The Seafarer” is an excellent example thereof; its forward momentum is brought to bear via effective rhythm programming, while its ominous electronic textures create a mood of impending disaster, never capsizing entirely, but never feeling far from doing so. That the song leads directly into the very pretty closing number “Briars” whose post-punky drum patterns and slightly more gentle vocals are no coincidence; where the former is building you up for disaster, the latter takes that tension and slowly unwinds it with a subtle but easily grasped resignation, smaller but not less catastrophic in its own sad way.

As more trad European electronic darkwave goes, Varg I Veum’s debut is an excellent example of the genre done right. No excessive drama, nor any straying too deeply into atmospheres that overwhelm effective songcraft, it’s an album that shows a deep understanding of its stylistic mother tongue, and the ways in which it can be both physically and emotionally moving by turns.

Buy it.

Varg I Veum by Varg I Veum

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Tracks: January 15th, 2023

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Okay so it’s halfway through January already, which seems nuts but also kind of comforting? Like, the passage of time is something we’re probably overly concerned with if only because having done this here website for 12+ years we’re now deeply conscious of the ebb and flow of Our Thing, and the unexpected ways in which some aspects of it change and some stay the same. Does this read like we’re stalling because we don’t have any pressing matters to document in this space? God we hope not. On to Tracks!

Dionysus

Dionysus

SPARK!, “66 ton krom”
SPARK! is back, SwEBM is good again! Awoooooo (wolf howl). Jokes aside, we enjoyed the material that SPARK! produced in the years between the release of their definitive statement on quirky pop/body music Hela Din Varld, but the return of that record’s vocalist and founding member Stefan Brorsson to the fold for a new record is giving us reasons to celebrate. Why you ask? Listen to how god damn weird and perfect “66 ton krom” is and then get back to us: instantly one of our most anticipated records of 2024.
66 ton krom by Spark!

Anja Huwe, “Rabenschwarz”
Accompanying a massive Xmal Deutschland reissue campaign from Sacred Bones, we’re being treated to the unexpected reemergence of Anja Huwe; frontwoman for that legendary band and possessor of one of the most powerful voices in the history of goth. Solo LP Codes will be out in early March, and for now we have “Rabenschwarz”, a combo of thrashy goth rock and skittering darkwave electronics, with Huwe’s voice perhaps not as unhinged and careening as it once was, but still with that unmistakable tone.
Codes by Anja Huwe

Dionysus, “Blue Swan”
Speaking of Xmal, it would not shock us at all to learn that some of their records might be in the collections of Aussie newcomers Dionysus, whose debut Theatre of Dionysus dishes out swooning goth atmospheres and straight-forward stormers like this which picks up right where 80s US deathrock left off. Galloping stuff which manages to find equanimity between frenzied rhythms and the sorts of harmonics tunes like this need to add a certain je ne sais quoi.
Theatre of Dionysus by Dionysus

Zanias, “Earthborn”
Alison Lewis comes out of the gates strong in 2024 with the announcement that she’ll be following up her tremendous (and best of 2023 per our Year End coverage) Chrysalis with a new LP entitled Ecdysis. Per her social media posts, this is material drawn from the same inspiration and time period as the last LP, but more abstract in nature, and in some ways a counterpoint to the very direct self-reflection of that record. New single “Earthborn” certainly has that vibe. Mark your calendars.
Ecdysis by Zanias

Dancing Plague, “Fading Forms”
Gotta admit that despite them being a PNW act, we’ve not spent a lot of time with Portland’s Dancing Plague. The announcement of new LP Elogium seems like a good opportunity to rectify that oversight; due in March from the good folks at AVANT!, the two tracks put up as teasers are very much up our alley. Deep male vocals, interesting string programming, and some dancefloor pulse if you wanna spin it out at the club, plenty for us to latch onto here.
Elogium by DANCING PLAGUE

The Golden Age Of Wrestling, “The Chauffeur”
Are you feeling wistful and reflective as we are, dear ID:UD reader, now that we’re a scant seven weeks away from the retirement of legendary pro wrestler Sting? Jeff Cancade, aka Devours, certainly seems to be as the forthcoming Scorpion Deathlock LP from his The Golden Age Of Wrestling side project is named after the Stinger’s signature submission manoeuvre. But you don’t need to have a horse in the Scorpion Deathlock/Sharpshooter debate to enjoy the shimmering ethereal ambience of a piece like “The Chaffeur” (no, not a Duran Duran cover).
Scorpion Deathlock by The Golden Age of Wrestling

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DJ Surreal – January 14, 2024

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Aesthetic Perfection – Gods & Gold
Bass Agents – Black Winter
Apotheosis – Oh Fortuna
Assemblage 23 – Disappoint
And One – Military Fashion Show
Covenant – We Stand Alone
Crystal Castles – Not in Love (ft Robert Smith)
David Bowie – I’m Afraid of Americans
Filter – Hey Man, Nice Shot
Deftones – Passenger
NIN – Ruiner
H.I.M – Wicked Game
Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection
Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus
Type O Negative – Wolf Moon (ft Zoanthropic Paranoia)
Dioxyde – Geist
Skinny Puppy – Testure
In This Moment – Roots
VNV Nation – Retaliate
Solar Fake – The Pain that Kills You Too
Neuroticfish – Mechanic of the Sequence
Portishead – Machine Gun
The Cure – Burn
Depeche Mode – I Feel You

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Observer: Celldöd & Alen Skanner

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Celldöd - Pandoras Ask
Celldöd
Pandoras Ask
Electronic Emergencies

Having been diving headlong into the squelchy, acid-soaked outskirts of EBM for nearly two decades, first in the latter part of The Pain Machinery’s catalog, then with his solo Celldöd project, the thudding, tweaky pulse of opening number “På Alla Sätt” on Anders Karlsson’s new Pandoras Ask EP should come as no surprise. But despite that and the classic EBM swing of follow up track “Nytt Namn” which is a strong reminder of the longstanding legacy of EBM in Sweden to which Karlsson has been no small contributor, there’s a decidedly wounded and uneasy air about the whole affair. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise; Celldöd was created in name and in practise as a direct comment on Karlsson’s struggle with cancer, after all. That air remains throughout Pandoras Ask‘s brief run-time, from the strained, clenched vocals on the Neue Deutsche Welle-tinged “Ge Upp” to the disquieting key of the bass programming in the closing title track, as if a spider were stretching its legs towards the furthest minor key it could reach with every note.
Pandoras Ask by Celldöd


Alen Skanner
Intruder
self-released

If you’ve become familiar with Alen Skanner’s work via compilation appearances remixes (like the barnburning version of Zanias’ “Simulation” from last year), the sound of Intruder should be instantly recognizable. The Spanish producer’s trademark sound lands squarely in the zone occupied equally by late stage new beat, the harder strains of NRG and good old fashioned EBM; “Narcotic Influence” and “Tekno Syndrome” are both equally good touchstones. It’s a sound that lives and dies by how hard the 16th note basslines rock and how cleanly the percussion lands, an understanding Skanner has clearly internalized and applied across the EP’s 4 tracks. It’s to use orch hits for a big hook as he does on “Armed Police”, but any question of their effectiveness is wiped away by the track’s descending progression and in-the-pocket rhythm programming. The title track makes further use of the vocoded vocal hooks that have become something of a trademark for Skanner, and while they grab the ear with their retro-charm, the song has a sneaky amount of funk thanks to some effective use of swing and the delay-based groove of its bassline. While the 90’s techno vibes are strong throughout, there’s something especially gratifying in hearing how well Skanner has absorbed that school of production’s lessons; check the syncopation of the twin leads on “Total Recall”, or the use of atonal progressions to give “Mechnical Nightmare” a menace that matches its warped metallic pad effects. An all killer release from a producer who has seized on something we were missing, whether we collectively were aware of it or not.
Intruder by Alen Skanner

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We Have A Technical 490: The Stinger Should Be Fun

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Absolute Body Control

Absolute Body Control

An oft-overlooked record by a crucial artist about to make their big move, and a reunion record which is surprisingly of a piece with the artists’ earliest work, despite everything they did in the interim. This is a needlessly wordy way of saying that we’re talking about Leæther Strip’s Science For The Satanic Citizen and Absolute Body Control’s Shattered Illusion on this week’s podcast, as well as a handful of records on the immediate 2024 docket. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, download directly, or listen through the widget down below. 

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Caustic Grip, “Beneath the Skin”

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Caustic Grip
Beneath the Skin
Slice Records

No points for guessing the primary sonic touchpoint of Australian electro-industrial project Caustic Grip; even if they weren’t named after the seminal Front Line Assembly LP, sole member Scar Scarlett Shred isn’t shy about drawing inspiration from that bands early 90’s catalogue. Where new mini-album Beneath the Skin distinguishes itself is in how Shreds applies those genre-defining sounds to a variety of song templates, with surprisingly broad results.

Caustic Grip acquit themselves well in the record’s most FLA moments, applying many of the Leeb and Fulber production ideas in effective fashion. Listen to the use of stereo placement of drums and synthlines on “FVTVRE CORPZE”, and the use of sampled synths to create ultratight syncopation across its arrangement – the influence is palpable, but not imitative. You can hear the same kinds of programming and sampling ideas at play on the club-ready title track, where dueling bass parts from the left and right channel come together with concussive force into a snare-driven rhythm that pulses with retro-cyberpunk energy.

Where those tropes are straight from the electro-industrial playbook, it’s interesting to hear Shreds work them into purer EBM numbers, sliding the detail oriented programming and sound design into body music’s muscled structures. “GOING DOWN” has a bass lick and shouted gang vocals in the neo-old school style, the percussive intensity of its hits obscuring the clever shuffling of melodic and rhythmic synthlines across its runtime, upping the track’s depth considerably. “SUBMERGED” goes the full modern mutant EBM route (think PC World or Physical Wash) but gets mileage out of miniscule bits of synth modulation, its repeating motifs given an organic sense of growth and evolution.

Perhaps the record’s most surprising moment comes in final track “ASUNDER”, its lengthy dialogue-sample intro unfolding into a lush ballad, albeit one informed by the proggier side of modern post-industrial music. As a topper for the release, it paints a fuller portrait of the melodic and atmospheric ambitions of the project, taking Caustic Grip further afield from its foundational influences and suggesting the larger musical world it inhabits.

Buy it.

Beneath The Skin by Caustic Grip

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Gorgyra, “Hecate”

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Gorgyra - Hecate

Gorgyra
Hecate
Detriti Records

Representing a wide diversion from Detriti’s usual beat of coldwave and lo-fi body music, the debut release from Iranian/German project Gorgyra was a cryptic and minimalist foray into classical mythology by way of neo-classical and folk instrumentation. Now officially a duo, Gorgyra’s first full length expands upon and fleshes out the project’s tantalizing promise, addressing a range of mythic and philosophical themes via a similarly wide range of musical modes.

Like its predecessor, Hecate links elements of Persian folk and broader neo-classical traditions with the moods and atmospheres (if not the instrumentation) of ritually-minded dark ambient. That in and of itself would be a sufficiently strong foundation for a record, but founding member Azin Zahedi is bringing her pedigrees in the art music and electro-acoustic spheres to full bear here, and between the weathered chorale of “Amor Fati” and the hauntological piano of “Nyx” a host of production and studio techniques add smoke and depth to Hecate.

Gorgyra’s focus remains upon dark renderings of ancient and folk music, however. “Athena”, a ruminative blend of deep drones and nimble hammered strings brings Arcana or Dead Can Dance to mind. On paper, it should feel of a kind with the ritual pulse and flute of “Mithra” (and surely there’s no figure to better represent the link between the ancient worlds of the west and middle east), but while the former has a loping and inviting slink bordering on darkwave, the latter has a stark and sober wariness as the flute casts questing light through the underworld.

While still drawing upon Greek myth and philosophy (with a little bit of Latin sprinkled on for good measure) in its titling, the variety of traditions and production styles Gorgyra trade in crack the gods and fates out of dusty historical frames and give them free and immediate movement in the mind of the listener. But at points the haunting beauty and simplicity of the music transcends production or historical reference. On “Ananke”, a mournful woodwind is recorded in isolation, at a distance, free of ornamentation or post-production. The breath, timbre, and slowly turning tones of the piece stand on their own, out of this time and the past alike.

Buy it.

Gorgyra – Hecate by Detriti Records

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