Of Goths and Aging

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Let’s get one thing out of the way right off the bat: there is no age limit to being a goth. Goth is an all-ages subculture, no matter what a lot of social media tends to focus on or present. One of the great joys of aging is that you become more comfortable with yourself, and (hopefully) care less and less about what others may think about you. Embrace and show your weirdness! Be comfortable in your spooky skin! Continue reading →

Tracks: January 27th, 2025

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Last Tracks post for January, and the year has been off to a roaring start in terms of new music in single and pre-release terms. You’ve seen a few names repeated in these weekly posts of late, and it’s safe to treat them as a harbinger of what’s to come for the website in the next little while; the forthcoming albums from Encephalon, Henric de la Cour, SARIN and a few others are right at the top of our most-anticipated lists, not to mention all the stuff we noted on the podcast a few weeks ago. And hey, as if that’s not enough, here’s some more new songs for you to enjoy as the month draws to a close.

grabyourface

grabyourface

Die Warzau, “I Am a Camera (Red Mix)”
Holy shit, Van Christie and Jim Marcus are back with a new Die Warzau single and it’s real good. Whether or not you were a fan of the band’s original run of records (seriously, their debut Disco Rigido is an underrated late eighties EBM/industrial classic), there’s lots to recommend the sound of “I Am a Camera” in it’s myriad remixed forms – slamming breaks, slinky synth grooves and some atmospheric vocal motifs (not to mention wailing sax!), all in service of a track that addresses the absolute fucking horror we’re all facing every god damn day in 2025. Hopefully not a one-off, we’d happily take a whole record from this mid-west institution in these troubled times.
I am a Camera by Die Warzau

grabyourface, “You Will Never Be Happy”
There’s always been a thread of raw vulnerability to Marie Lando’s work as grabyourface even when it’s being delivered in a sharp and club-savvy manner, but this new cut goes far beyond that track record. A striking first impression to give of forthcoming LP Sadgirl Mixtape, it’s a direct and unrelenting picture of depression, grief, and regret, with a simple piano arpeggio and some low-key black metal percussion underlining the plain and bleak message. Lando’s kept her hand in with a variety of collaborative works and singles over the last couple of years, but a full-length of material with this sort of honesty and strength is something we’re very much looking forward to.
You Will Never Be Happy by grabyourface

Serpentskin, “Swallow the Flame Down”
We suppose it was only a matter of time before Alison Lewis, aka Zanias, aka one of the most prolific and influential artists of the last decade in darkwave and body music followed the thread that has been suggested in some of her recent work; Delerium-style trance with ethereal vocals. Serpentskin is the outlet for that aspect of Lewis’ work and we’ll admit that the first song from debut EP (due March 10th) is hitting that spot for us, featuring all the proper stylistic trademarks like gated pads, big filtered builds and solid four on the floor drum programming with some nice weight to it.
Serpentskin EP 1 by Serpentskin, Zanias

STCLVR, “Axewound”
Self-decribed queer death EBM producer STCLVR’s become one of our favourite noise-based acts in North America over the last few years, and their half of the new Making Ends Meat split with Succulent and Sinister is an object lesson in why. Tracks like this which tie death industrial, black metal, EBM, and chiptune together are representative of STCLVR’s omnivorous and furious style, and manage to jam an incredible amount of bile and excitement into a compact and absolutely disgusting package.
Making Ends Meat by STCLVR

Hatari, “Breadcrumbs”
We’re not sure that we could have specified what we expected next from Icelandic techno/EBDSM act Hatari after their Eurovision dalliance with the meainstream, but a track with lines like “stuck in my brain like a dick pick” and “show feet please” isn’t too far off. As much as themes of power dynamics in online sex, consumption, and desire are right in Hatari’s wheelhouse, the delivery of this one’s a bit different, fiddling with the particular balance of elements taken from techno, EBM, and of the moment pop.
Breadcrumbs by Hatari

éstudy, “Watch Your Step”
You know, there was a point in the last couple years where we just got weary of techno-body stuff, mostly because of the glut of producers doing the same thing. The last year has had a few notable cases of new and established acts doing something altogether different with the idea though, and this new one from producer éstudy is a nice case in point. Taking the focus off pure easy-to-mix dancefloor bangers for manic synth sequences that have an air of acid to them, mixed with some clanging and clamorous percussion and some synth stabs to taste. Looking forward to hearing what else the Wie Ein Gott released EP has in store for us when it comes out in a few weeks.
Wave Of Resilience by éstudy

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Picture of the day for January 26, 2025   Private Parties “Pandemonium’s Hot Tub 2003” at Private…

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Picture of the day for January 26, 2025
 
Private Parties “Pandemonium’s Hot Tub 2003”
at Private Homes
on Saturday, January 25, 2003
Eric’s burden… 437,000 pots of boiling water because the hot tub wouldn’t heat up fast enough.
© Atratus

Permalink: https://www.gothic.bc.ca/photogallery?id=J9755

We Have A Commentary: Cubanate, “Cyberia”

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Cubanate - Cyberia

This month’s commentary podcast has Bruce and Alex ripping through Cubanate’s unrelenting Cyberia, a combination of industrial guitars and contemporary electronic production that’s just as furious and engaging as it was in 1994. We’re talking Phil Barry’s guitar technique, the holy terror of Marc Heal’s voice, and how the record manages to deliver a constant stream of tight club tracks while never falling prey to the chaos it rides the edge of. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Observer: Wound Care & Zalvox

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Wound Care
Existing Without You Hurts
Body Musick
Californian duo Wound Care, made up of Felicia Marie and Aldo Giovanni De La Cruz (Memory Clap Acid) make a punky, body-infused version of electro that hearkens back to both millennial electroclash and to more primal synthpunk sounds. The latter influence is apparent in Marie’s vocals, which lean into dramatic and often sardonic territory: on “Pretty Pretty” she asks “Do I Owe You A Pretty? Of course I do!”, the derision thick and heavy while rattling kicks and chattering synthlines go off around her. The minimalism of their compositions doesn’t take much away from their weight, with tracks like “Dead to Me” evolving from a short sequence of analogue beeps to a small symphony of EBM-bass, sampled voices repeating the song’s title and pitched shrieks that feel simultaneously arch and a little dangerous. It’s not all bombast though, with some songs dipping into funkier territory (like “Mala Conexion” with it’s swinging percussion programming and chirps of acid melodies) or languid soundscapes (closer “Moon Flower”, which has the air of a random krautrock record being played at half-speed down a drainpipe). It’s all quite effective and often unpredictable in ways that continue to engage through multiple listens, with even the straightest cut, the Sex Park collab “LuST”, taking a fairly standard darkwave arrangement and filling it with tumbling percussion and chaotic overlapping reverbed vocals, never settling into any groove that could be called comfortable.
Existing Without You Hurts Me by Wound Care

Zalvox - Zalmoxis Peak
Zalvox
Zalmoxis Peak
self-released
Drawing parallels with the new project from frequent Haujobb collaborator Rinaldo Bite (aka Ribi) is easy enough – recent work from X Marks The Pedwalk and Black Nail Cabaret are handy points of reference – but the sound design pervading the first EP from Zalvox gives Zalmoxis Peak a uniquely foreboding unity, abetted by vocals from Dorain (who’s lent her voice to a barrage of electro/wave acts over the past couple of decades). The deep pads and the textured timbres of the production tics which weave through these five tracks will be familiar to those who’ve tracked Bite’s previous work and his high-def approach to sound design, but bit by bit the project’s appreciation for classic minimal wave comes across in its less is more arrangements and icy instrumentation. And it’s in the paradoxes of that style that Zalvox really excels: despite the gloom of the keys and choice of production, pieces like “Pasithea” and “Somnus” are given a reflective mood and resolute dignity by virtue of Dorain’s grounded yet plaintive voice.
zalmoxis peak by zalvox

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We Have A Technical 541: Hair Vs. Hair

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Lana Del Rabies

Lana Del Rabies. Photo by Laura Montrose, @fleshvoids.

The thorny issue of requests and how they do and don’t fit into goth-industrial club formats is the subject of this week’s podcast, with Alex and Bruce talking about the issues that come with ‘big tent’ club formats, how patrons expectations have shifted in the streaming era, and do their level best (but occasionally fail) to avoid turning into bitter middle-aged DJs griping about their lots. We’re also talking about the recent Lana Del Rabies set we caught here in Vancouver, and the details of the just announced Nine Inch Nails tour. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Obscure Formats, “Cryptid”

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Obscure Formats - Cryptid

Obscure Formats
Cryptid
M-Tronic/Component Recordings

Now reactivated for more than a decade, the second act of Providence’s Component Records has lasted longer than its initial run at the turn of the millennium. Those old enough to remember Component releases by the likes of Neutronic, Dryft, and Proem will likely be struck by the similarities and differences between them and the label’s current aesthetic, with records by Hex Wolves and Solypsis still sitting at the Component’s original nexus between post-industrial and IDM, but reflecting changes in each of those worlds in the interim. That’s a writ which also applies to the latest from Component Records honcho Rob Galbraith, with that balance being maintained even in a very minimal delivery.

Far more stripped down and less noise-driven than Galbraith’s current work as half of Snowbeasts, Obscure Formats has made some minor adjustments since debuting in 2015 but has held to a dark and minimalist style. With Snowbeasts partner Elizabeth Virosa sometimes in tow, the project’s focused on beat-driven, percussion and bass forward tracks like the eight which make up Cryptid. While a minimalist take on techno and EBM sounds very familiar these days, there’s very little of Perc or Berghain styled TBM as we’ve come to know (and perhaps grow weary of) it here. Instead, the slowly modulating wails and pinging arpeggios which shift in and out of “Thunderbird”, and similar moves made on Cryptid, feel like classic moves and modes pulled from some of the earliest records Galbraith would have had a hand in producing or releasing. Sure, the odd bit of modern polish is applied here and there, but not so much as to obscure the grit and immediacy of such direct fare.

Despite its back to front focus on club tunes, what’s most impressive about Cryptid are the particular subtleties that come out of Galbraith’s minimalism. Rather than using a one size fits all approach, minor programming and mixing tics keep the relationships between seemingly similar elements in flux across the record. The rough, woozy bassline underpinning “Dover Demon” feels like classic techno while there’s a distinctly French electro flavour to the similarly foreboding bass of subsequent track “Basilisk”. These are minor differences to be sure, and aren’t quite enough to make Cryptid feel like a traditional LP in the pop or rock mold rather than a kit of club cuts. But the differences in sub-genre, and maybe more importantly the particular eras of club culture they each connote, should let discerning DJs find just the right tool for the job within that kit, and are a fitting reflection of just how long Galbraith and Component have had a hand in darker club releases.

Buy it.

Cryptid by Obscure Formats

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The Legendary Pink Dots, “So Lonely in Heaven”

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The Legendary Pink Dots
So Lonely in Heaven
Metropolis Records

It’s nigh impossible to chart the arc of The Legendary Pink Dots; with decades of official and semi-official albums, EPs, single, compilation and live releases, and a staggering number of line-up changes, the multi-national act led by Edward Ka-Spel defies both easy categorization and narratives. In many ways their psychedelic synth ethos arrived fully formed in the early eighties with their first batch of records, and has followed its own quixotic and winding path since, adding and subtracting instruments and contributors, revisiting old songs with new ideas, and staying unique to the band. That contradiction, their constancy in the face of change is part of the band’s core appeal: once you become a fan of LPD, there’s a deep comfort in hearing a new record from them regardless of whatever personal, spiritual or literal apocalypse it addresses. 

Which brings us to 2025’s So Lonely in Heaven, a record that embodies the mercurial sensibilities of the band while continuing the thread of their last full-length mainline release The Museum of Human Happiness in 2022. Where that album was very much a response to pandemic restrictions and the broad damage it inflicted on the global psyche, their latest addresses the now nearly cliche subject of who we are as people in the current online era. That intersection of identity, technology and society isn’t new to the Dots (they’ve been addressing it directly as far back as 1998’s Nemesis Online and probably earlier in various places), but the specifics are new. We live in a time where we can live a curated existence, presenting ourselves as we wish, and existing even past our own expiration as simulacra. As the title of the LP suggests, that ghostly life can be lonely and isolating, and exact costs which can be difficult to see clearly. 

This is of course the kind conceptual underpinning Edward Ka-Spel can make a meal of as a singer and lyricst, and he does so in his own inimitably bizarre fashion here. “Rejected the flesh/Now we’re floating in purgatory, that’s all that’s left” he croons on the opening title track, somehow infusing the statement with both whimsy and melancholia, accompanied by strings, post-rock guitars, washes of cloudy synths and a simple arrangement of synth percussion chirps, like birdsong as rendered in an 8 bit video game. Those kinds of observations might seem almost naive or facile at a glance, but there’s a certain surreal science fictional truth uncovered on them. “My liver keeps my best friend sober/since he crashed the car” he intones on “Pass the Accident”, a statement that would seem funny if it didn’t seem plausible that renting out our own life giving organs wasn’t some insurance company oligarch’s wet dream. While there are plenty of moments of hope and light here (“Dr. Bliss ’25” is at least musically somewhat uplifting with is bubbling synth arpeggios and piano) the overall mood is on the dour side; the record concludes with the jazz-noir of “Everything Under the Moon”, where Ka-Spel, ever the frustrated prophet, lets us know that “Exits are locked/there’s no space for sympathy”. It’s a warning too late to save us, although we probably wouldn’t have listened to it anyway. 

Musically, So Lonely in Heaven is the first major release for the band since the exit of founding member Phil Knight, aka The Silverman, although it’s hard to tell if the synthesist’s absence has impacted the sound of the band. As with their last suite of albums the focus is on textured guitar from now veteran guitarist Erik Drost and synthesized keys and atmospheres from Ka-Spel and relative newcomers Randall Frazier and Joep Hendrikx. There’s few instances of the band’s sometime forays into deep space ambience, with most of the record taking a more grounded approach, using the occasional bit of inorganic percussion or a tightly wound bit of sequencing to reinforce the technological themes at play. It’s an effective mode for the band to use, and yields a few standouts like the sad horn-adorned ballad “Sleight of Hand”, the folk-by-way of e-bow of “Wired High: Too Far to Fall” and the lush and luminous “How Many Fingers in the Fog”. Really though, it’s a contiguous album, more impactful when taken in as a complete experience. 

Assessing the quality of a new Legendary Pink Dots record is most likely a wasted effort; the band’s charms are far from universal to those not already inducted into the fandom, and those same aficionados (this reviewer included) are likely to enjoy basically anything the band does to one degree or another. Suffice to say that The Legendary Pink Dots persist as they have for more than four decades now, ever more themselves in ways that defy the abstraction and artifice that stand between musicians and their audience. The catharsis of So Lonely in Heaven is found not in its subject matter or musicianship, but in the fact that The Legendary Pink Dots persist. Sing while you may indeed. 

Buy it.

So Lonely In Heaven by Legendary Pink Dots

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Tracks: January 20th, 2025

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We don’t dip our toes into live event promotion that often, especially these days, but we were happy to pitch in a little bit in helping our friends at The Invisible Orange in presenting the Vancouver stop on the Lana Del Rabies and God Is War tour that’s just wrapping up. We had a solid turnout (especially for a noise show on a weeknight), vibes were good, and the performance from the artist behind our favourite album of 2023 was fantastic. We’ll talk about it in a bit more detail on the podcast later this week, but it’s legitimately rewarding when something you had even a small hand in bringing to fruition comes off so well. On to this week’s tracks!

Oh Ye Gods!

Minuit Machine, “Cent Fois”
The speedy and decidedly bright EBM programming of the latest single from the reformulated Minuit Machine brought all manner of high-gloss Euro electro from a while back (think [:SITD:] or Timewave-era Grendel) but there’s no mistaking Amandine Stioui’s vocals for anyone else’s. Short almost to a fault, the contrast between the precision of the programming and the airy, almost whimsical tone of the vocals has us wanting more in this style, or maybe an extended club mix at least.
CENT FOIS by Minuit Machine

Analog 80, “The Ghost of Skinny Puppy”
Belgian producer Analog 80 pays tribute to Canada’s greatest musical export (suck it Bryan Adams) on this appropriately titled cut from the forthcoming LP The Ghost of Silicon. Not a straight up homage, it’s a song that speaks to the more atmospheric and percussion driven numbers of the band’s early catalogue – think “Stairs and Flowers” – while integrating it with Analog 80’s own new beat inspired style of body music. A fine bit of moody electro-industrial that recalls plenty of mid-90s scene cuts from the likes of Zoth Ommog, a flavour we never tire of. 
The Ghost Of Skinny Puppy by Analog 80

Henric da la Cour, “Hey You, Hell No”
It’s been 7 years since Sweden’s Henric de la Cour released an LP, and he’s not wasting time in the lead-up to the release of My Bones, Your Ashes at the end of the month; with first taste “Dead Hank” last week, we’ve now got two additional tracks to check out, the orchestral ballad “Interlude” and “Hey You, Hell No”, which is giving off some mid-90s Depeche Mode type vibes. The one-time Yvonne vocalist has been missed in the HQ during his absence, with his first record especially holding a special place in our hearts, thanks in no small part to de la Cour’s excellent lyrics and emotionally honest delivery. Expect a full review in just a few weeks once we get to hear the whole thing. 
My Bones, Your Ashes by Henric de la Cour

SARIN, “No Anesthetic”
Unlike many of the producers who jumped onto industrial techno, SARIN has stayed relevant to our interests by showing he’s a lot more than four on the floor club bangers. Take for example new cut “No Anesthetic”, which aside from it’s wormy acidic synthline doesn’t have much in common with most techno; instead it’s a low-tempo atmospheric cut, that makes the most of a spooky vocal sample and some clattering metallic percussion. Great stuff, and an excellent taster for this year’s as yet unnamed 12″ release.
No Anesthetic by SARIN

Ye Gods, “Kochari”
Antonio Maiovvi’s Ye Gods project made a massive impression on us with its 2022 LP Babalon Works. Linking considered but not wilfully obscurantist occult themes with Maiovvi’s equally considered and sculpted approach to beatmaking, it was wildly different from the giallo style of work through which we first came to know Maiovvi, and instead brought the softer sides of Coil and Ulver to mind. The electro-pastoral soundscape of this taster from forthcoming LP The Arcane & Paranormal Earth has us looking forward to finding out what new textures and concepts that record will bring; watch this space for a full review soon.
The Arcane & Paranormal Earth by Ye Gods

Sophrosyne, “Scorpionic”
Sophrosyne’s 2021 debut LP remains one of the most interesting releases related to industrial metal we’ve ever covered at ID:UD, taking the aesthetic underpinnings (if not the actual sound) of cybergrind into the future, linking gabber, noise, and extreme metal with irreverent zeal. The new Scorpionic EP carries on from that point, with tracks like As before, if you’re into Cattle Decapitation (the band, not the crime), old gabber records, and roguelikes, you’ll likely love this.
SCORPIONIC EP by Sophrosyne

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DJ Surreal – January 19, 2025

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Invader Zim – Opening Theme Mix
Infected Mushroom – Converting Vegetarians
Stormkern – Stand Up
Solar Fake – Fuck You
Wolfsheim – Heroin, She Said
Tragic Error – Tanzen
VNV Nation – Retaliate
Rotersand – Exterminate, Annhiliate, Destroy
Faderhead – TZDV
Combichrist – Prince of E-Ville
Aesthetic Perfection – Gods & Gold
A Perfect Circle – Counting Bodies Like Sheep
Filter – Hey Man, Nice Shot
Deftones – Passenger

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Observer: Freddy Ruppert & Brood Faye

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Freddy Ruppert - i dreamed we lost everything
Freddy Ruppert
i dreamed we lost everything
Static Definitions
A far cry from his lo-fi synthpop work in Former Ghosts and the tortured noise of his early This Song Is A Mess But So Am I recordings, the recent releases from Freddy Ruppert have taken a haunting, halting approach to noise and sound collage, much more Sylvian or The Caretaker than power electronics. The Prague-based producer’s latest, i dreamed we lost everything, makes the most of a light touch to synthesis, sampling, and crackling atmosphere across a half hour of understated but varied listening. From the unease produced by the Soliloquy for Lilith-like hums of “all things left unsaid” to the pastoral arpeggios of the title track, Ruppert’s taken the time to think about how sound design feeds into composition and vice versa. There’s no one-size fits all approach to either though, with the oddly peaceful and dusty industrial ambience of of “shoeboxes” being worlds apart from the quavering way closer “memory leak (lost voices)” unfolds with cinematic grace. Legitimately affecting and surprisingly relistenable experimentation.
i dreamt we lost everything by Freddy Ruppert


Brood Faye
The Tank
self-released
It’s hard to draw a bead on California’s Brood Faye; the music on debut LP The Tank fits broadly into the current wave of electronics that draws from both darkwave and EBM, but with an alternately sardonic and riled-up attitude that feels pretty singular. It’s not hard to imagine hearing a cut like “Pinyon Prick” with its whispered vocals and speedy rhythm programming in a club setting, but its not a mode that the project sticks to for long, with follow-up “Me and Larry” transitioning into a punky bit of funky electro with yelled vocals that fill out the mix. That departure is nothing next to a full-on squelchy electro country and western number of “Farrah Fawcett”, which itself comes after the chillingly matter-of-fact monologue of ambient interstititial track “Muhannad Posts and Troy Voicemail”. Whether on the manic, spitfire rhymed vocals of “Gov Psy Op” or the comparatively straight mid-tempo swing of “Sweet Assassin”, Brood Faye keeps things lean, DIY and unpredictable, all qualities we could use more from the dark alt scene at large.
The Tank by Brood Faye

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