Gothic BC

Catching the men for the last time.

Hot on the heels of a fantastic retirement concert from Front 242, the Senior Staff are discussing the ins and outs of legacy bands’ retirements. When’s the right time to pack it in, and who’s to say? How does a band’s aesthetic or style affect their longevity? We’re taking up these and other questions, as well as talking about this week’s Nine Inch Nails ticket sales. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Blood Rave
Exponential Decay
self-released

The music on Californian project Blood Rave’s sophomore release Exponential Decay inhabits a space between electro-darkwave and EBM, a meeting of sounds that has proven to be fertile in recent years. While there are certainly plenty of easy points of comparison for the dancefloor ready tunes on the album (Dancing Plague and Ultra Sunn come to mind), there are also some strong indications here that the project is making strides towards a more distinctive sound of their own.

“Can’t Resist” is a strong example of that development; the foundations are a workmanlike body music bassline and graven-vocals, but are accented with both slow-motion horror movie pads and some punchy sampled grunts, the former element upping the atmospherics, while the latter cuts through them to lay in some additional tension. “Abyss” takes that unease still further by introducing more layers of atonal sound and ramping up the layers of percussion, the central groove feeling more manic as it rolls on with more weight balanced precariously on top of it. “Through Your Eyes” reverses course by tossing in some more melodic sequences, adjacent to darker stripes of synthpop, albeit with more sickly and forlorn vocals that keep it from ever feeling light.

While those tracks certainly jump out on repeated listens (along with a few others like the double time anxiety of “Code in Grey” and the deconstructed ramp of “Death Awaits”), there’s an equal number that play the project’s sound right down the middle. Tracks like opener “Throwing Weight” never departs significantly from the stock monotone and monochrome approach the band had on its 2024 debut, while “Symphony Explored” flirts with a more goth-rock arrangement but never commits entirely to the excesses in delivery that put songs in the style over the top. There’s nothing bad about these songs per se, but some sameyness does set in, exacerbated by the record’s sound design; you’ll hear similar bass and lead patches pop up across multiple songs, not to mention a particular metallic percussion strike that keeps popping up to the point of distraction.

Still, the willingness to stretch out creatively that Blood Rave displays on Exponential Decay is intriguing, and the growth of the project’s ambitions as compared to their debut early in 2024 is measurable. As sophomore albums go, it does the job of expanding and refining in ways that will keep Blood Rave on dark music watchlists in the years to come.

Buy it.

Exponential Decay by Blood Rave

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Vanligt Folk
Dischorealism
iDEAL Recordings

We’ve been tracking Swedish trio Vanligt Folk for over a decade on this site now, and yet I still feel just as flummoxed by their work, just as incapable of expressing anything of substance about its nature, charms, and points of irritation today as I did back in 2013 when their self-titled debut EP came across our desk. That’s partly due to how off kilter that record’s deconstructed approach to post-punk was at the time, and of course like any properly disordered group of oddballs Vanligt Folk haven’t stayed put since, moving from the panicked body music of Jag Har Utvecklat Mig Till Både En Hund I En Katt to the deliberately abstract dub of Allt E’nte. Now, with Dischorealism they’ve alighted upon a glitchy, fragmented bricolage of house, EBM, and techno markers in order to, in their own words, examine themes of “sucking the life out of somebody, exploiting and over consuming trust in any form”. There’s certainly something there which could be connected with classic EBM and industrial, but when you read that the album started off as a concept record about milk, all bets are off, as they generally are with Vanlight Folk.

The core sounds Dischorealism have one foot in the preceding Allt E’nte; its predilection for deep and sustained bass crops up here and there throughout the record, alongside plenty of house, minimal techno, and EBM. But from soup to nuts the metallic distortion and woozy detuning that’s applied to just about every element and instrument on the record overpowers those sorts of genre distinctions and becomes its defining characteristic, lending the percussion a tin foil crinkle and the vocals a wind tunnel intensity. Even when the album title is taken literally and we get some classic Studio 54 disco on “SKABBE”, the listener’s likely to be more drawn in by the squalling high end distortion that’s been applied to the organ than to the funk on the rhythm section.

A sense of alienation not just from genre but from groove and immediacy is the record’s calling card, but even when things are a bit more traditionally memorable or hooky Vanligt Folk are likely engaging in some sort of situationist mindfuckery. “GLE” sounds as though its unparsable, pinched and distorted vocals might be lifting melodies from “Warszawa” and “I Feel Love” at various points. Far from drawing the listener in with familiar comfort, though, they’re prompted to wonder why those particular moments of art rock and disco soulfulness might be being connoted two thirds of the way through a resolutely confrontational record. In the same way that Art Of Noise type bricolage is dragged through the analogue muck of early 80s lo-fi synth experimentation on “Dischora”, those allusions raise more questions than they could ever answer about the band’s framing of disco as a notion, an era, a topos, an identity.

“It’s not just you or the language barrier,” a couple of Swedish friends have told us when the subject of Vanligt Folk is broached. “We don’t know what they’re up to, either.” That’s a small measure of comfort, but one that isn’t likely to resolve the conundrums the band pose at a sensory or phenomenological level. Something about the naive structures, the familiar yet disaffected sound design and distortion, something about Vanligt Folk themselves invites repeated listening even when their methods and intent remain wholly obscure.

Buy it.

DISCHOREALISM by VANLIGT FOLK

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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

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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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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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
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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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
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
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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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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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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Double Echo

The first classic, two albums formatted episode of the new year has us looking at the finely balanced ethereal darkwave of Double Echo, and the immediate and genre-hopping techno-EBM work of Alen Skanner. We’re also talking Terminus, the passing of Manufacture’s Brian Bothwell, and the prospect of a new NIN tour. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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INVA//ID
The Agony Index
self-released

The on-again, off-again path LA’s INVA//ID’s taken since starting up some seven years ago has both built a sense of intrigue around Christopher Rivera & co.’s hardcore inflected approach to classic industrial rock and metal and something of a sense of frustration. The band will drop a release with no warning and then vanish for months on end, and that’s not to mention the task of navigating the reworking, repositioning, and at times flat out deleting of previous releases. To their credit, new LP The Agony Index was announced more than a year ago and has been scaffolded with an archival release, plus a pair of standalone singles over 2024, including a cracking version of Wax Trax deep cut “Show Me Your Spine”, which was a regular presence in our DJ sets. Seeing release on New Year’s Day, The Agony Index is an unrelenting, everything and the kitchen sink release which, while at times unwieldy, underscores why so many in the North American industrial world have had INVA//ID’s name circled for several years.

If INVA//ID’s rep for hardcore-tinged industrial suggests either Youth Code or the one-off EP from supergroup Error to newcomers, they won’t be entirely shocked by the downtempo industrial dub and skittering rush of the pair of sub-two minute tracks which open the record, but there’s plenty more in store. Few acts today are as good at refreshing sounds most will associate with classic Wax Trax releases, and the way that “Torn” piles up a stack of grimy basslines and programming should be catnip to fans of 90s industrial rock in general. A tune like “Auto Erotic Transmission” finds a nice balance between those elements and hardcore, linking Rivera’s anthemic bile to a nodding, Psalm 69 era Ministry groove.

Spend enough time with The Agony Index and the more organic and original qualities of INVA//ID come through. “Empty” ranks among the best and most ambitious pieces INVA//ID’s yet produced; building its groove bit by bit out of soupy drones, there’s been enough bleepy and stuttering programming and well paced kicks added by the time its plainly delivered chorus hits that it stands out as the rare electro-industrial slowburn of a quality only a handful of current acts could craft. On the flip side, late album highlight “G.F.M.” points to a whole other strength: doling out pure and simple industrial thrash for its own sake, no muss, no fuss.

If The Agony Index has a failing it’s in its editing, or lack thereof. It’s not that a handful of the tunes which abutt highlights like the above tracks are decidedly weaker than them, it’s that in the context of a 65 minute, 17 track monster of a release like this it’s often difficult for the moods or subtler distinctions in those tracks to stand out. On the one hand, that’s good value for money and one can understand the band wanting to deliver something of real significance after a lengthy (by their standards) gestation period. On the other, it can somewhat occlude the tight and fierce immediacy which is one of the band’s calling cards. In any case, unwieldy or not, The Agony Index offers all manner of payoff for those who’ve been holding out for its release, and a solid introduction for those just catching wind of INVA//ID.

Buy it.

The Agony Index by INVA//ID

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Soft Vein
Through Blinds
Artoffact Records

The 2023 debut album from Soft Vein was an exercise in miserablism; it had solid songwriting and thoughtful production, but the universally bleak and depressive tone of the affair is what sticks out when recalling Justin Chamberlain’s darkwave debut. New record Through Blinds tweaks the project’s approach towards a more melancholic direction, no less downcast, but avoiding the pitfall of having mood and atmosphere completely overshadow its charms.

Like the debut, Through Blinds weds bleak monochrome textures and mournful vocals to solid rhythm programming and swatches of synth and guitar, with things kept cool and tempered even at higher tempos. Where it largely differs is in how effectively it those elements are kept in balance, with some of the brighter sounds shining a light through its shadowy temperament. Tracks like “Gray Space” let synth bass and drum programming act as a proper foundation, never succumbing to the swells of discordant pads, with brighter leads accenting and adding melodic dimension to the proceedings. Similarly, the arp that runs through “Oblivion” has a warmth to it that acts as a pulsing heartbeat, allowing Chamberlain to underplay his vocals, the song kept minimal in arrangement but intriguingly emotional.

Those traces of light certainly don’t cause the album to approach anything like happiness however; make no mistake this is still a gloomy affair. Even in its most propulsive moments like “Wasting Days” and “Black Bag” keep minor key sadness in focus, anchoring their gated snares and thrumming bass with longing and wistful vocals and cloudy pads. The tension between how tempo-forward the programming is and how generally dejected Chamberlain sounds is a pocket of sorts – when the album dips into more ambiguous rhythmic territory as on closer “Dreaming”, the effect is more striking simply for how infrequently Soft Vein succumb entirely to despair.

With those glimpses of hope that come out through the heartsick fog shining ever brighter for avoiding being snuffed out, Through Blinds becomes almost hopeful in temperament. It’s overcast and often doleful, but allows for the suggestion that better days might still be on the horizon. It could be the fraught moment in time, but that’s a comforting thing for a darkwave record to being in these early days of 2025.

Buy it.

THROUGH BLINDS by SOFT VEIN

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Well hey everyone, we’re already halfway through January this week, which might not seem like much, but given that this is usually a slower time of year for releases, it means we’re rapidly burning through our annual catchup time as we digest that list lingering bits of 2024. Things have started strong in Our Thing with a few choice releases (many of which have been or will be written about here shortly) and album announcements, and as always we’re keen to see what direction the year takes us, and what acts familiar and new will grab our attention. As always if there’s something we’re sleeping on, let us know in the comments below. Tracks ahoy!

Laibach, “I Want to Know What Love Is”
Slovenian industrial OGs Laibach have been a lot of things over the years, but their most memorable schtick has always been the recontextualization of pop and rock songs in their own, gravelly voiced style. In recent years, and thanks in no small part to now longtime collaborators Silence, they’ve gotten very good at making their chosen covers lush and lovely, as is the case with this version of Foreigner’s dad-rock (Dadbach if you will) staple “I Want to Know What Love Is”. One of the Senior Staff’s partners noted some Leonard Cohen-isms in the arrangement and performance, and damn if they weren’t spot on. Lighters up y’all.
I Want To Know What Love Is by Laibach

Kite feat. Nina Persson, “Heartless Places”
Tear-jerking Swedish synthpop faves Kite have been on a productive kick lately; the release of singles EP VII last year on Dais Records and a US tour would have been plenty for low-output-high-quality duo, but all of a sudden we’ve got a brand new single featuring Cardigans vocalist Nina Persson. With the last batch of Kite originals having been more on the low-key heartbreaking vibe, it’s nice to hear something a bit more propulsive if no less evocative. Hopefully it’s not long before their next missive, we like having ’em around.
Heartless Places (feat. Nina Persson) by Kite

Ash Code, “Living For The Sound”
As we head into 2025 with no sign of the ongoing omnipresence of darkwave ebbing, it’s nice to have a strong entry like this from now-veterans Ash Code. They’ve had a great balance of dark guitars and synths on lock from day one, and have been levelling up their songwriting while maintaining fantastic atmospheres, and this cut is no exception. Whether or not this cut which exemplifies those qualities will literally point to the trio’s first LP in a decade or not, we’re happy to be reminded of the band’s enduring power.
Living For The Sound by Ash Code

Obscure Formats, “Basilisk”
The reactivation of Component Records is welcome to those of us who remember the label’s pioneering work in codifying technoid as an intersection of IDM and post-industrial music some twenty years back. But in its new incarnation the label hasn’t stayed pat, and releases like this one from Snowbeasts side project Obscure Formats shows the payoff of the veteran curatorial instincts Rob Galbraith brings to the label and Galbraith’s own productions like this one. Part classic EBM, part current techno, part millennial French electro, there’s a lot of resonance woven into this dead simple, acidic banger.
Cryptid by Obscure Formats

Korine, “Anhedonia”
Just last week on the podcast we were discussing the forthcoming Korine album A Flame in the Dark and wondering what direction it would take the Philadelphia indie-post-punk-synthpop band. If “Anhedonia” is anything to go by, turns out it’s the same bright, hooky pop they’ve been doing for a while, but with some added electronics and lots of shimmery, dreamy production for flavour. Korine have written some of the most damnably catchy songs of the last couple years between their two previous LPs, we’d put money on this new one continuing that trends.
A Flame In The Dark by Korine

Sleep Forever, “Shine A Light”
Speaking of bright pop, we know from previous releases that Markus Weber likes to use his Sleep Forever solo project as an opportunity to dig into bouncy and colourful synthpop which would be out of step with his usual business as part of austere and at times quite harsh darkwave outfit Veil Of Light, and the first taster from the second Sleep Forever full-length only underscores that. Coming across like an early 90s OMD single if Andy and Paul had spent a bit more time in Ibiza rather than Merseyside, “Shine A Light” bodes well for Alter Ego.
Alter Ego by Sleep Forever

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Osccurate
Computer Decay
Synthicide
The three original tracks and two remixes offered by Colombian artist Osccurate on recent EP Computer Decay are varied in style and approach, reflecting the wide variety of body music approaches the project has tried on thus far. Most notably unique in this regard is opener “The Witch and the Moon”, which finds room for spidery Flamenco-adjacent guitar melodies between it’s thudding mid-tempo EBM rhythm and swooping filter sweeps, the incongruity between organic and electronic sounds creating a tangible feeling of tension. While the title track (produced in collaboration with Bogotá-based artist Galope Messier) includes only a few fluorishes of six string atmosphere, the sound itself is notable for taking an italo-disco riff and bluting it into a far more sinister form, still bright, but foreboding in the context of the rolling bassline and processed vocals. “Ñalazos” is the most straightforward and driving track on offer, recalling sort of millennial post-electronica sounds of Juno Reactor and Empirion, with a tasty touch of squelchy acid for flavour. Any of those distinct approaches could yield a new pathway for Osccurate, although if the story of the project thus far is any indication, the next release may be just as varied in wholly new ways.
Computer Decay by Osccurate

Give My Remains To Broadway
This Party Sucksself-released
Toronto ne’er-do-wells Give My Remains To Broadway are back on their speedy (in both senses of the word) darkwave kick with new EP This Party Sucks, but as the title points to, their focus has shifted somewhat from the phantasmagoria of early releases like Beyond the Gates of Xouztoth towards more quotidian stressors: bad coke, worse relationships, regret. Croaky vocals point to the band having recorded these six tunes immediately in the aftermath of the titular shindig (“It’s not a pre-game, it’s a pre-World Cup”), but as with their extant material, surprisingly lush atmospheres and solid darkwave harmonies are packed into every corner of tight compositions like “I Know You Could”. At the band’s most approachable, the punkier side of their sound pushes through gloomy excess, with weary tales of being strung out and run down (“Crash Out”) sitting halfway between Terminal Gods and Crocodiles. They’ve shown themselves to be more than capable of juggling the signifiers of recent darkwave, but here they’re beginning to point to a more general approach to dark rock which could find them tapping into new audiences.
This Party Sucks by Give My Remains to Broadway

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We’re jumping into the new year with a podcast previewing forthcoming releases we expect to come in 2025 from a slew of our favourite artists: Encephalon, Spark!, Devours, and more. We’re also talking about the passing of Chemlab’s Dylan Thomas More, news regarding Ghost Twin and Kindest Cuts, and this year’s iteration of Cold Waves. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Harsh Symmetry
Harsh Symmetry
self-released

Los Angeles darkwave musician Julian Sharwarko’s Harsh Symmetry has always struck a fine balance between the use of electronics and guitars, with an emphasis on songwriting that dictates the form of any individual track. New album On-Screen Death continues in that vein, featuring both some of the project’s most synth-driven numbers to date, and injecting some unexpected but not unwelcome new dynamics into the band’s moody, overcast sound.

Part of the appeal of Harsh Symmetry has always been how deliberate everything feels; Shawarko’s songs feel very crafted in terms of structure and performance, with programming, guitars and the musician’s own tenor vocals all arranged in tasteful balance with one another. The downside is that can lead to songs feeling a little too mannered, always well executed but sometimes lacking in liveliness. Hence why a cut like the excellent “Quiet Pill” feels like such a nice change of pace; the lovely vocals melodies and bright chiming sounds that are the band’s bread and butter are here, but the outright funky bassline that drives the song injects just the right amount of bounce and groove to make it feel like something entirely new. Similarly, the pre-release single “Fossil Brain” throws some extra syncopation onto the drums, while Shawarko plays his rhythm guitar parts a bit more loosely to create a pocket with the squeaky synth lead.

Even more outlandish for the project is “Virtual Killer”, one of the most purely electronic cuts that Harsh Symmetry has ever released. Heavily leaning on its 16th note bassline and drum machine, it’s rhythm driven in a way that feels distinct in that its closer to the popular electro darkwave club sound. It’s a simple track by Shawarko’s standards, but shows a capacity to do something more thumping, with the record’s closing cut “Black Box (Lost)” taking it further with its grave vocals and scratchy guitar, abandoning ennui for some subtle menace.

At a tight six tracks, On-Screen Death feels almost like a testing ground of sorts, a place for Harsh Symmetry to try out some new ideas and approaches without needing to compromise the structure of a longer LP with too many stylistic change-ups. While it may not be as substantial in terms of pure songcraft as preceding LPs, the novelty of each song gives it plenty for fans to chew on, and a healthy dose of replayability to boot.

Buy it.

On-Screen Death by Harsh Symmetry

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Kreign
III
Scanner

When we were pointed to the debut LP by Kreign a few years back (by no less an EBM luminary than Nordvargr) we were quickly impressed by the mix of polish and fury the Phoenix duo already had locked down. Tracks like “5 Layers Of Chaos” and “In That Frame Of Mind” spoke to a keen sense of EBM structures and history running back decades, but with a zip and pep that spoke to both contemporary European body music as well as American industrial club trends of the past decade or so. The band’s second LP, the confusingly titled III, hones in slightly more on the second half of that equation while still staying Kreign’s core course.

Those just joining the party should be taken by opener “Black Bile Emesis”, whose punchy swing and well-sculpted stabbing rhythms bely a fairly stripped down construction. As III unfolds, the anthemic anhalt stomp of much of the debut cedes the spotlight on III to the speedier, more frenetic flurries of “Iniquity” and “Collapse Imminent”. Depending on one’s listening habits these could be linked either to recent left-field EBM from Sweden and Germany, or perhaps a period from decades past when a tighter pool of labels and producers linked European and North American club tracks around slickly produced and immediate EBM programming. Hell, there could be a whiff of the rubbery and burping sampling of the likes of Visitor and Multiple Man on “Dark Triad” if one squints hard enough.

If it’s easy to mistake some of Kreign’s sound as continental, their vocals and thematics feel squarely American, alternating between tight, processed shrieks and droll crooning. The on-the-nose lyrics of “Work Your Body” (“Some like to build muscle mass / Some like to work on cardio-vasc”) bring the japery of Diesel Dudes to mind, but the tune itself is driven by a crawling funk you don’t hear too much in EBM on either side of the Atlantic, save for in tunes like “Disco King” from Kreign’s previous record. The nautical disaster theme of “S.O.S.” is similarly refreshing and direct, with deep sea klaxons accompanying lyrics about struggling to keep your head above the water.

A couple of III‘s tracks run a tad long (somewhat surprising for a record with such a high average BPM), but there’s very little fat on the record in length or overproduction, the latter being especially impressive given the real polish given to every piece of programming in Kreign’s arsenal. Sticking to that sense of curation and editing while still getting the manic energy the band clearly love about EBM is no small feat, and makes III a fresh and entertaining continuation of Kreign’s already solid modus operandi.

Buy it.

III by Kreign

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Back at it after the break and in the New Year! We hope your festivities were enjoyable, whatever they were; ours were both low-key and family focused. The holidays’ rep as a slow news period held up in terms of tour/festival/general scene news so with not a huge amount of news to report off the top we’re setting ourselves on catching up with a few late year releases we might have missed, plus the smattering of stuff which saw release over the break, starting with the first Tracks post of 2025!

You can run, but you can’t. (HIDE)

Devours, “Sports Car Era”
Our favourite Vancouver synthpop gaylien Devours returns in a new form as he enters the titular Sports Car Era. As promised we’re hearing some darker and more discordant sounds and ideas in this taster from the upcoming album, and if like us you live in Vancouver, the opening line “I don’t want to go through life at a distance/Squeezed out of the city and priced out of existence” should hit you where it hurts. But then that’s the whole thing with Devours; outrageous sincerity and deep and occasionally excoriating self-examination. Every record is a gift, and we are hotly anticipating this one.
Sports Car Era by Devours

INVA//ID, “G.F.M”
New music from LA’s INVA//ID is always cause for excitement, and after Chris Rivera & co whetted our appetite with a fantastic cover of PTP’s “Show Me Your Spine” in 2024, we’re keen to dig into new full length The Agony Index. Tunes like this show off the uncanny knack the band’s always had for linking their roots in hardcore with seriously deep appreciation for vintage 80s and early 90s industrial rock, and with all the ferocity you’d want in such a combination.
The Agony Index by INVA//ID

HIDE, “I Lick the Blade Clean”
Chicago noisy industrialists HIDE keep getting more intense and difficult with each passing release. “I Lick the Blade Clean” is the second song we’ve heard from them in recent memory (the other being the just released “Suffer”) that highlights how much of the trappings of their sound has been pared down until what remains is noise, clatter, and deeply uncomfortable but necessary lyrics. If you’re missing noisy, unpleasant industrial, welp, here you go.
I LICK THE BLADE CLEAN by HIDE

Black.n, “Ignocracia”
Pildoras Tapes slowing its roll for most of 2024 was unfortunate, as they’ve earned a rep as one of the best curated sources for modern, grimy body music in Central and Sourthern America. Thankfully, they just offered something new up in the form of a solid tape from Argentinian producer Black.n. Tunes like this one do a great time of hearkening back to earlier moments in history when EBM and techno crossed over a la Fixmer/McCarthy.
No Nos Representan by Black.n

Menthüll, “Automode”
If you listened to our podcast flagging tracks from the past year you’ll know how closely we’ve been tracking Quebec duo Menthüll over the past years, and their run of winsome, whimsical singles continues apace. New cut “Automode” draws a line between modern, snappy electropop and classic synthpop, with a heavy dusting of the dreamy, continental coldwave style which first drew them into our orbit.
AUTOMODE by Menthüll

Cardinal Noire, “Just One Fix”
Finally, a little digestif from our favourite Finnish post-industrial loyalists Cardinal Noire, in the form of a double covers single featuring their version of Skinny Puppy’s “Inquisition” and Ministry’s “Just One Fix”. We enjoyed the December LP Vitriol from the duo, so having a nice follow-up in the form of two familiar, but rejigged numbers in their style is nothing but gold as far as we’re concerned. Due to licensing you can’t buy the Puppy cover on Bandcamp, but the Ministry joint is available for your listening and streaming pleasure right now.
Just One Fix / Inquisition by Cardinal Noire

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