Tracks: March 17th, 2025

Beware the ides of March is some good advice, if you can actually remember when they are and don’t completely forget the celebrate them with a massive betrayal. I swear to god, I’ll remember to put the 15th on my calendar next year. Anyway, it’s now more than halfway through March, and weirdly despite Bandcamp Friday being at the beginning of March, this past week was a very very heavy one for new songs from acts we follow, with barely any effort required to round ’em up for this weekly post. Hope you’ll enjoy this batch as much as we have, and hey, why not leave a comment while you’re at it, we’re hoping to foster some more engagement here on the site proper what with Social Media’s slow and frankly kind of relieving death. Listen below!

Hey Riki, etc

Riki, “Pulser”
It’s been a long time since we got new music from Los Angeles synthpop chanteuse Riki; the 2020/2021 1-2 punch of her self-titled album (a certified classic in our opinions) and it’s follow-up Gold made us big fans, and despite having had the opportunity to see her perform in the intervening time, there’s been nothing new musically to chew on. Hence our surprise and excitement with the release of Pulser, a two track single that shows off the same alluring approach to synth music that drew to us to her in the first place. That said there’s a new edge to these tracks (co-produced by Dead on TV’s Dan Evans), a sort of art-pop vibe that is both vaguely menacing and intriguing. More soon please.
Pulser by Riki

Lead Into Gold, “Knife The Ally”
While reputedly involved in what is rumoured to be the last (hah!) Ministry record, Paul Barker’s not putting all his eggs in one basket for the time being and is holding strong to the great run that Lead Into Gold has been on since reactivating some seven years back with new LIG LP Knife The Ally set to release in June. Picking up where 2023’s The Eternal Present Left Off, Barker’s indomitable ear for groove and clattering percussion holds sway over the pre-release title cut, with plenty of Barker’s long-held affinity for the artier side of post-punk shining through the din as well.
Knife The Ally by PAUL ION BARKER

Ultra Sunn, “The Beast In You”
We’ve made no secret of our position that Ultra Sunn have had the foundational elements of modern club darkwave on lock for a while; it’s in the waxing and waning of their ability to showcase what makes them distinct from their peers that their recent material has been measured. Thankfully, new single “The Beast In You” does just that, placing the focus on the strangely engrossing vocal charisma of Sam Hugé. Between the way he threads through this bouncy number and the classic synthpop twinkle at the tail end of it, it feels like a bid to be measured by poppier standards than oontzier ones, and it’s a stronger track for that.
The Beast In You by ULTRA SUNN

Iszoloscope, “Hex Blowback”
Look, we’re trying not to completely go all in on the wave of patriotism sweeping Canada right now FOR REASONS, but hot damn if the news of fresh material from Quebec’s noisiest export Iszoloscope didn’t make us want to salute the flag right alongside Casey and Finnegan. Sure, Yann Faussurier’s been Euro-based for a while, but the dense metallic maelstrom of this new single, complete with the worming granularity and mercilessly tight rhythms upon which Iszoloscope’s rep in rhythmic industrial was cemented two decades ago has us flashing back to countless Iszoloscope sets at Usine C in the glory days of Festival Kinetik. Here’s hoping a salvo like this is a warning shot for the first Iszoloscope LP since 2018.
Hex Blowback by Iszoloscope

Dark Chisme, “Lost in the Night”
Some of our fave live shows and releases from last year were courtesy Dark Chisme, the Seattle based duo of Christine Gutierrez and E. The songs on the self-titled album have remained staples in our home and club listening, and so naturally we were amped to get new single “Lost in the Night”, a track that has the same ultra-catchy latin-flavoured electro-darkwave the band have built their rep on in such a short time, and plenty of the charisma that Gutierrez wields on stage as well as in the studio.
Lost in the Night by Dark Chisme

Brixx, “Prophecy”
Something new from Australian producer Brixx, whose previous release for the always dependable Synthicide got a lot of spins around the HQ. “Prophecy” is one half of the songs on the The Psychic Tapes EP, and finds a nice balance between some classic post-industrial sounds in its programming and stuttering vocal samples and a funky electro foundation. It’s just a really well-executed track in that it doesn’t stay in one place for long and reinvents itself a few times in ways that are both subtle and obvious, a handy technique that Brixx has proven very adept at.
The Psychic Tapes EP by Brixx

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Observer: Adam Rå & Serpentskin


Adam Rå
The Poisoned Chalice
X-IMG

Polish producer Adam Rå makes his X-IMG debut with the appropriately ominous The Poisoned Chalice, showcasing a lot more thoughtfulness than many of his peers in the waning techno-industrial crossover scene. Rå’s strength comes not only from programming solid rhythms and designing rich textures for his tracks, but in finding ways to make them musical, as opposed to being collections of loops and samples. The obvious examople is the title track, where a pumping bassline and percussion are overlaid by a ghostly vocal track, always lurking behind the thumping dancefloor arrangement and making the song feel compellingly haunted. Opener “Scars” does more with less, starting with a fairly standard techno-body setup, but subtly building up the surrounding atmosphere with a subtlety that stands in contrast to its kicks and synthlines. Especially great are the trance-like touches that set off “Cold Steel” and “The Smell of Rope”; the former building and breaking back down in organic goa-esque fashion, the latter using a gated vocal sound as a lead to tickle the ear, and matching the ducking and compression that push its groove to the finish line.
The Poisoned Chalice by Adam Rå

Serpentskin
Serpentskin
Serpentskin EP 1
Fleisch

While radically different from the last release we caught from Alison Lewis under her Zanias handle, the debut EP of her Serpentskin side project shouldn’t come as any surprise to those who’ve been paying attention to the programming flitting in the corners of the Chrysalis and Ecdysis LP, not to mention her work as a remixer and those she’s tapped to remix her own work. If Ecdysis took the reflective and spiritual themes of Chrysalis into the ambient/chill room, Snakeskin finds her not only making a beeline for the center of the main room dancefloor at peak hour, but also travelling back to the late 90s when trance, specifically of the euphoric blend, absolutely dominated clubs years before the dreaded “EDM” marketing ploy. The interplay between wordless, cooing vocals and the icy skiffs of programming on opener “Swallow The Flame Down” feel very much of a piece with the textural interplays we’ve seen in Zanias records for nearly a decade now, but with all of the galloping builds and crests of classic trance accentuated. Savvy heads who’ve noted Lewis’ collaborations with Alex Akers of the forever underappreciated Forces project will hear Lewis’ spin on Forces style rave anthems on pieces like the fantastically titled “Basking In The Light At Heaven’s Gate” (speaking of ’90s flashbacks). Both as a vocalist and as a producer it’s a milieu Lewis sounds incredibly at ease with, both reinaugurating the original era and records it pays homage to, and indicating just how much more she might have to show us even after the variety of her extant work.
Serpentskin EP 1 by Serpentskin, Zanias

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We Have A Technical 549: Baby Man

Berndsen

We’re joined by a pair of Patreon backers, Gustav of Sturm Café and Eric of Everything Goes Cold, to talk about a pair of records: the throwback, funk-inflected synthpop of Berndsen’s Planet Earth and Babyland’s electronic junk punk swan song Cavecraft, respectively. We’re also chatting about a recent show by Vancouver’s own Devours. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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The Rorschach Garden with Neatless, “Neatless Voyage”

Neatless Voyage

The Rorschach Garden with Neatless
Neatless Voyage
Rorschach Garden Records

Not content with expanding beyond his long-standing (mostly) solo project The Rorschach Garden to develop a host of other side hustles, Phillip Münch (who made his bones as one half of powernoise legends Synapscape) is now crossing the streams. The neat_less project, which made its debut two years back and showcased an icy and mean style of EBM and dark electo on last year’s solid Defeat The Monsters, pointed to a style that took neither from the dense noise of Synapscape nor the nostalgic synthpop commonly associated with The Rorschach Garden. Now, with Neatless Voyage, credited as a collaboration between those two solo projects, Münch splits the difference between neat_less’ more aggressive style and Rorschach Garden’s bubbling synths to produce an uneasy and cautionary listen.

The tension between the lithe bounce of opener “A New Edition” and the more grinding texture of its bassline and Münch’s foreboding vocals about the current age of uncertainty is a solid guidepost for the dynamic Neatless Voyage treads. Finding a middle ground between classic influences like Snowy Red and The Klinik, it points both to Münch’s comfort with soft and harsh synth sounds from across his career, but also the fact that forms like synthpop, EBM, and dark electro all have shared roots if you trace them far enough back and, moreover, have the chops for curation, editing, and sound design of someone with Münch’s pedigree. The sleazy, lo-fi Soft Cell synth horns on “Praying Mantis” only similarly serve to underline how much meanness there is in the rest of the track’s robotic EBM funk.

If those sorts of vintage callbacks are a good portion ofNeatless Voyage‘s music delivery, there’s certainly nothing vintage about its themes. The speed with which Münch turns out his solo work allows for him to address a plethora of historical moments and crises as they happen. When says “everything was normal, everything was safe until the last election”, it’s unclear whether he’s referring to the cascading shitshow of the second Trump presidency or the German federal election in which the Nazi-riddled AfD advanced its position…which happened literally one week before Neatless Voyage was releases. Regardless, the running theme of masses opiated into inaction as all manner of horrors unfold doesn’t have to be tied to one specific government or recent disaster; lord knows there’s more than enough existential dread to go around these days.

Lighter moments like “Get Physical” and “Just Drifting” ease up on both the musical and lyrical tension, but they’re the exception to the rule (whether or not their liquid arpeggios could fit into The Rorschach Garden’s existing remit or whether another moniker is needed is a question for another day). Regardless of the name(s) under which this particular iteration of Münch’s take on dark, quirky synthesis has been released, he’s once again shown himself to be capable of honing in on just about any point on that spectrum.

Buy it.

Neatless Voyage by The Rorschach Garden with Neatless

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Marie Davidson, “City of Clowns”

Marie Davidson
City of Clowns
DEEWEE

Montreal’s Marie Davidson has been a well-known quantity in the world of techno and minimal wave via her releases on Ninja Tune and Weyrd Son, and as half of Essaie Pas, with her latest release City of Clowns feeling especially relevant to left of center outre forms of dance music. Expanding on Davidson’s oft-visited theme of feeling out of step with club culture and the broader world of popular electronic dance music, it’s an album that is rich with personality and charm, qualities that help the excoriatingly sardonic sentiment go down more smoothly.

Need an example of how City of Clowns can be both fun and acerbic at the same time? Look no further than single “Sexy Clown”, where Davidson matter of factly addresses the social game that artists play for advancement and for the benefit of their audience, her opening line “Am I full of shit?”, an admission of her own role in the charade. The song itself is a funky, shuffling slice of electro with a bouncy chorus that takes on a sinister edge as more and more atonal synth stabs poke through it, a perfect accompaniment to its lyrical discontent. It’s an approach that suits Davidson well, and she tweaks in interesting ways, as on the thudding and chattering “Y.A.A.M.” where Davidson asserts her control over the dancefloor with a whispered confidence that is completely convincing, or on the body-music inflected roll of “Demolition”.

As much as the record revolves around Davidson’s over-it outlook on the world of electronic music, there are plenty of songs which speak to her skill as a producer in the genre. “Contrarian” is as a fast-moving bit of uptempo techno that takes twists through numerous forms, working in breaks, acid and an intense peak that feels like it might derail if it slows for even a moment, its momentum carrying to the finish line. Conversely, “Statstical Modelling” is a nigh-perfect example classic electro, its skeleton reinforced by waves of shimmering synths and vocal stabs, deadly funky. Davidson cinches it with “Unknowing”, an anxious arrangement of keening klaxons and rapidfire kicks, slowly melting down to set the stage for her closing address to the audience, the critics, and everyone else who might be listening.

City of Clowns was no doubt a creative risk, simultaneously in danger of tipping over into cloying bitterness and cartoonish self-parody. It avoids those pitfalls through a preternatural self-confidence that comes through in its vocals, lyrics and production, which are too energized and sincere to ever feel like a put-on, even at their most arch. Like Davidson says, “Don’t get it confused, cuz I do it for me”, as succinct a summary of the album as you’d ever need. Recommended.

Buy it.

City Of Clowns by Marie Davidson

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Tracks: March 10th, 2025

We’re looking forward to folks being able to hear this week’s episode of the podcast, which’ll feature some Patreon backers joining us to talk about records of their choosing. While we spend a lot of our spare time chatting with friends about music and hearing fresh perspectives on the music we cover here, that rarely happens in a semi-formal or considered setting (rather than just shooting the shit online or at shows), and so these episodes are a chance for us to break out of the common avenues from which we cover stuff here. Speaking of breaking out of common avenues, we hope folks dig some of the more left-field picks in this week’s batch of tracks.

How Bedless are these Bones we’re talking about?

Bedless Bones, “Jouissance”
This Bandcamp friday brought a nice surprise; a new double single from the insanely consistent Estonian darkwave artist Bedless Bones. That name should be familiar if you’ve been reading our Year End lists for the last half-decade, and if you were to take a peek at our setlists and personal listening stats, you’d seen a pretty healthy amount of BB in the mix. It’s not just the production, or the atmosphere, or the general charisma that gets infused into these songs that grabs us, it’s the fact that regardless of how electronic, how solid and dancefloor ready they are, they maintain a very specific, dignified grace that feels extremely rare and characteristic. Need an example? Hit play on “Jouissance” below.
Jouissance by Bedless Bones

Circa Tapes, “Haeded”
Experimental coldwave act Circa Tapes (the solo hustle of Adam Sieczka of the late, great Kill Memory Crash) has been firing the engines up again of late and yielding some interesting results, like the a-side of the plainly titled A / B single. Linking robotic funk and early electro breaks with industrial-strength post-punk grime, you’re getting a little bit of everything in this squalling, uncanny, but strangely addictive track.
A / B by Circa Tapes

SDH, “Threshold”
SDH have been teasing us for a while; since Semiotics Department of Heteronyms signed to Artoffact we’ve had numerous tastes of their presumably upcoming LP, highlighting a lot of the things that drew us to the Spanish synth act in the first place. If you like modern darkwave, but like spicing it up with unusual rhythms and melodies, the duo has you covered as on the slowburn of “Threshold”; this could have been a straight up 4 on the floor club banger, but they instead choose to draw it out, busying up the drums and tossing in little synth runs that keep it engaging through its run time.
Threshold by SDH

MODEBIONICS, “There Used To Be Life Down Here”
The latest release from throwback EBM/dark electro act MODEBIONICS is a far cry from what we might have expected. Effectively serving as the demo reel for a forthcoming gaming/musical hybrid project, the sampler for POPULATION19 is made up quick, cinematic stingers and spacey ambience like this (perhaps bringing the about face of Forma Tadre’s Automate to mind). Whether or not forays into this territory influence mainline MODEBIONICS material or not, getting lost in this sort of cosmic soup is a good time.
POPULATION19 soundtrack sampler by MODEBIONICS

SPC ECO, “A Love Like This”
We honestly don’t check in on SPC ECO enough; the duo of Curve’s Dean Garcia and his daughter Rose Berlin has been around for nearly two decades at this point, and has been putting out material pretty consistently during that time. Honestly we shouldn’t take them for granted, even leaving aside the family’s considerable legacy in the world of electronic music and shoegaze (and being one of the pioneering acts at bringing those sounds together), SPC ECO has been quietly self-releasing cool, textured music that is good to chill to. We’ll try to do better at keeping track of them going forward, and start by posting this lil’ two-track single they posted on BC Friday, which hit the spot on a rainy PNW weekend.
A Love Like This by SPC ECO

alienobserver, “You Got Me”
Trading in a similar vibe as SPC ECO though with radically different execution and instrumentation, the new EP from Orlando’s alienobserver is a chill but instantly engaging mix of electropop, trance, and ethereal sounds. Between the stuttering vocal samples and winsome synth sounds in a piece like this, it’s impossible to not drift off into daydream reverie listening to it, despite the short run time. If you’ve enjoyed Zanias’ recent solo work, still hold a candle for vintage Delerium, or just want to take a road less travelled when it comes to electropop and darkwave, you’ll dig this.
Metamorphosis by alienobserver

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A Game Called Echo: March 7th, 2025

It’s the return of our “if you liked that, you’ll like this” feature A Game Called Echo, where we compare and contrast a genre classic with something a little more contemporary you might also enjoy but may not be familiar with.

Severed Heads’ Rotund for Success (1995), and Cyborgs On Crack’s 66D Mutations (2022)

Severed Heads’ 1989 LP Rotund for Success was the culmination of the Australian band’s flirtations with more digestible pop sounds up ’til that point in their discography. Somewhat controversial due to a turn towards a less openly confrontational and experimental sound than their celebrated earlier works like Since the Accident, or the more explicitly industrial sounds of the preceding record Bad Mood Guy, it’s a record that whose strengths have become more apparent with some distance. While Tom Ellard and Steven Jones (the latter of whom would departa few years later, making the band a solo project) traded off much of their confrontational weirdness, they gained plenty in terms of songwriting and production chops; once you set aside the fact that the Heads are less outright bizarre than they had been up ’til the release of the record, you can start to appreciate the still off-kilter way they approached making dance music. Indeed, the band had two songs (“Greater Reward” and “All Saints Day”) crack the Billboard Dance charts, quite an achievement considering that the material in question is still pretty strange by most standards. It’s partly the bright and pallette of the singles that gives the impression of this being the band’s sellout moment, but a careful listen to the the host of unusual samples and busy drum tracks that adorn even its most poppy moments, and the wryness in how Ellard delivers his affected vocals, and you can still clearly identify the bizarre, itchy and outlandish sensibility of the band’s heyday – this may be Severed Heads most straightforward record of the eighties, but that’s a conclusion that has to be taken on a curve with the band’s track record of weapon’s grade eccentricity. 

Rotund For Success by Severed Heads

For years we’ve touted the sneaky greatness of Croation producer Domagoj Krsic’s Cyborgs on Crack (along with that of his other monikers Mind Teardown and How Green Is My Toupee) as a great example of the intersection of industrial, EBM and art-pop, and no record by the now inactive project encapsulates that better than 2015’s 66D Mutations. Like Rotund for Success it’s a record that digs into late eighties pop and dance music tropes, but is still replete with its own offbeat sensibility, that even its snatches of house piano and orch hits start to take on an uncanny vibe. Listen to the sampled warbles and groans that undercut the balaeric vibes on “Hello There My Name is Bob”, or the way that Krsic laconically delivers his vocal on the New Order circa Technique summer jam “I’m Dissolving” to really nail the resemblance to the Australian legends. Whether this is a case of someone just too left of center to keep it from leaking into their most pop-oriented moments, or a deliberate attempt to subvert the sounds of the mainstream, it’s a record that sealed Cyborgs of Crack as a successor to the Severed Heads in our hearts and listening habits. 

66D Mutations by Cyborgs On Crack

In Slaughter Natives’ Sacrosancts Bleed (1992), and Treha Sektori’s Rejet (2021)

With some moments recalling the symphonic infernal majesty of previous LP Enter Now The World and others pointing towards a more stripped down and riotous industrial clatter, the third LP by Sweden’s In Slaughter Natives is something of a transitional record. But in Sacrosancts Bleed Jouni Havukainen found an equanimity between those extremes in which martial percussion, abyssal noise, and heady ambience swirled together to produce a sound which was too squalling to be dark ambient, yet too measured to be death industrial. To wit, it’s exactly the sort of immersive but confrontational experience industrial aficionados associate with the glory days of Cold Meat Industry. Full of processional yet staggering percussion and stretched samples which trill and contort yet never settle into pure drone, Sacrosancts Bleedreeks of charnel incense and ancient mystery as much today as in 1992.

Sacrosancts Bleed by In Slaughter Natives

Taking advantage of modern production and studio techniques, the most recent record from one-man French project Treha Sektori carries a subtlety and fidelity Havukainen could only have dreamed of nearly thirty years previous, but Rejet treads through much of the same liminal territory, caught between storming aggression and more brooding restraint. Sampling a wide range of voices and other sources, and then pitching and pitching them into the uncanny, Dehn Sora wrends a sense of unease both from the textural contrasts between Rejet‘s components as well as its nigh-shapeless malleability. While never reaching quite the same level of pure noise as Sacrosancts Bleed‘s most extreme moments, the swathes of atonal strings pitted against guttural groans and pulses on “Vehemah Mereh Tahermah” and the queasy inverted chants and gongs of “Obleh” resonate at the same unspeakable frequencies as that earlier record.

Rejet by Treha Sektori

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We Have a Technical 548: Hellraiser First AD

Cardinal Noire

Cardinal Noire

On this week’s podcast, we’re talking about an everything and the kitchen sink industrial crossover record reflective of its late 90s era in Pail’s Epidemic, and the now decade-old statement of arrival from Finland’s Vancouver-school electro-industrial act Cardinal Noire. We’re also running through the just announced line-up of this year’s Terminus Festival. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Synthetische Lebensform, “Current Profile”

Synthetische Lebensform
Current Profile
self-released

It’s been five years since Synthetische Lebensform’s last full LP Symmetry, which served as our introduction to the Russian duo’s take on the classic post-industrial sound. The appropriately-titled Current Profile is still indebted musically to their influences – largely Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly – but demonstrates the band’s increased skill in musical design and arrangement, and the commensurate growth in the strength of their material.

If you had to summarize briefly summarize Current Profile, a term like ‘snappy’ would apply; songs come out of the gate swinging, get to the point quickly, and don’t overstay their welcome. The record’s first proper track “Hunter” kicks off with some properly rivetted percussion and samples, cruises through the first verse into the chorus, switches things up with some vocoder, tosses in a bridge that bleeds into the final verse and then bows out, all in three and a half minutes. That approach to getting as much into the songs as possible without bloating them applies equally to their sound design; “Synthetic Parasite” is very in your face with its warbly and wormy synths and thudding drums, seeding the chorus and putting it over the top with each repetition, but never feels cluttered or lacking in focus.

While the Vancouver sound is still very much their guiding light, there’s a noticeable improvement in the band’s hooks and melodies. Standout “Mystic Visions” will definitely recall FLA in its vocal phrasing, but also takes lessons from the classic Leeb/Fulber bassline-as-hook school of songwriting, accenting its punchy rhythm some percussive breakdowns and a spare lead, an approach that works especially well on when applied to their EBM-leaning moments like “Crime” and “Dust”. The album climaxes with “Distance”, a melancholic anthem that recalls the widescreen sounds of :SITD: and Necro Facility as much as it does their more obvious influences and serves as a consolidation of their approach to electro-industrial.

Current Profile is a true calling card for Synthetische Lebensform; there’s certainly no shortage of bands drinking from the same creative well, but only a few ever figure out how to put their own stamp on those ur-sounds. It’s not a reinvention of the band so much as it is a considerable level up, taking what they already had dialed-in and then tuning it to be most effective in each individual song, a thematically appropriate technical approach to the creation of their cybernetic sound. Recommended.

Buy it.

Current Profile by Synthetische Lebensform

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Sleep Forever, “Alter Ego”

Sleep Forever - Alter Ego

Sleep Forever
Alter Ego
DKA Records

Swiss duo Veil Of Light have gradually moved from a harsh and bombastic combination of darkwave and post-punk to a far easier going presentation of classic synthpop. But that shift evidently hasn’t been enough to sate one half of that duo, Markus Weber, who’s been moving his solo Sleep Forever project in a similar direction. By colouring in the corners and tightening up the songwriting, second Sleep Forever full-length Alter Ego improves upon the style set by its predecessor, Boyhood.

While lead single “Shine A Light” hinted at a slightly more raved up style of synthpop vacationing in the Balearics or Ibiza, conjuring memories of New Order’s Technique, the meat and potatoes synthpop anthem “Keep On Pretending” is more reflective of Alter Ego‘s overall sound. It’s made up of chiming synth leads which play well with one another and nuanced if not needlessly complex rhythms, blending in with Weber’s silky high tenor. Alter Ego is at its best when those elements set each other up for success – the filigreed arrangement and bubbling instrumentation (well ornamented but not cloying) of “Head Over The Heels” frame Weber’s vocals for a big and winning chorus, dropping the detail for broad strokes at just the right time.

The line between material subtlety and being underwritten can be a fine one, and there are likely a few points on Alter Ego where Sleep Forever drifts from the former into the latter. But even in those cases, if you have a yen for the sort of throwback synth patches and vocal stylings Weber is using, you’ll still be able to enjoy the easy-going confections of “Indifference” and “Pillar To Post” as they drift by.

Alter Ego finds Sleep Forever drawing the line between original classics by the likes of Duran Duran or Heaven 17 and the arch revisiting of that era we recently caught from Body Of Light or from Riki on her Gold LP. It’s a style which requires a delicate touch and on the whole it’s executed quite well here. It might not be the most insistent or hook-driven synthpop record you hear this year, but if you want some light elegance with which to acknowledge your melancholy without wallowing in it, you’ll find an affable listen here.

Buy it.

Alter Ego by Sleep Forever

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Tracks: March 3rd, 2025

It’s Monday, March 3rd of the year 2025, and at the time of this writing, a time of year that usually presages a lot of big releases, news and festival announcements. We should be hearing something about some of our favourites in the coming weeks and days, but it’s also a good time of year to collect ourselves and start to chart out the coverage of upcoming releases we’re keen on. We’ve of course got our eyes on faves like Devours, Minuit Machine, V▲LH▲LL and Seeming, but there’s an equal thrill in having something come out of the blue and take us completely by surprise, be it a new act or a familiar one with a surprise release. If you have a record you’re anticipating in 2025, put it in the comments, in the meantime we’re on to Tracks!

Laibach

Laibach, “Fedayeen (feat. RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Gallina Vocal Group, Navid Gohari)”
Hey guys, Laibach are doing a concept album about Hassan-i Sabbāh that includes poetry from Omar Khayyam and Mahsati Ganjavi, because of course Laibach would do something like that. Whether or not you want to get into the conceptual underpinnings of Alamut (and believe me, we will be when it comes out), the sound of “Fedayeen” is a compelling mixture of symphonic and classically industrial sounds, that aligns nicely with the more recent excursions the band has made in both directions. Considering their last single was a cover of dad-rock anthem “I Want to Know What Love Is”, this is basically prime Laibach, unpredictable as ever, and never staying in one place creatively.
Alamut by Laibach

The Rorschach Garden with Neatless, “A New Edition”
It’s no small task to kee up with all of the work Philipp Münch cranks out both as half of Synapscape, his Rorschach Garden synthpop project, and about a dozen other irons he has in the fire at any given time. Still, even taking that pace of productivity into account, we’re not exactly sure how to parse Neatless Voyage, supposedly a collaboration between The Rorschach Garden and Neatless…both Münch solo projects. However you want to parse that, a middle ground between the former’s rubbery synthpop and the more menacing minimal wave and proto-dark electro of the Neatless project can be heard on a boisterous but still cutting track like this one.
Neatless Voyage by The Rorschach Garden with Neatless

The Birthday Massacre, “Sleep Tonight”
The Birthday Massacre are paradoxically something of a institution in the dark alternative scene of 2025; they emerged in an explosion of youthful exuberance way back in the early 2000s, and since that have time have evolved their pop-darkwave styles in numerous directions. Latest single “Sleep Tonight” from the soon to be released Pathways suggests they may be revisiting the heavier, metal influenced sound they explored in the 2010s, albeit with the same melodies and dreamy production that have always been their stock in trade. Whether the whole album follows suit, or whether, as the name suggests, it’ll examine a few different approaches, we’ll be keen to hear it.
Sleep Tonight by The Birthday Massacre

Blokkontroll, “Zerkala”
We only caught wind of the debut EP from Ukrainian EBM producer Blokkontroll a month ago, but there’s already a follow-up. Blok 2 picks up where its predecessor left off, delivering speedy, stripped down, and pleasantly lo-fi rhythmic-focused EBM. Blokkontroll’s interest in the earliest progenitors of EBM was present in that release, but nowhere as much as on this new cut, which is as down-the-pipe (in the best way) as it gets.
Blok 2 by Blokkontroll

Saberblood, “Blood Stains”
Here’s some solidly grinding darkwave out of Sweden which doesn’t skimp on the drum and synth programming you’d expect out of the current iteration of the genre, but which adds some seriously dark and distorted guitar. This (and the slightly more lithe A-side from which this track is pulled) is a solid enough tune that even with all the drama and effect you never feel as though the newcomer duo is opting for style over substance.
Bloodcult 52 by Saberblood

At the Heart of the World, “Not Worth Having”
A strong return from Portland post-industrialists At the Heart of the World, who we haven’t heard from since 2023. Their new 3 track EP Quaquaversal is all hard-hitting, harsh-vocals and nasty sound design, wrapped up in pulsing mutant textures, simultaneously classic and new in equal measures. We’re pretty much always on board for PNW industrial bands speaking to the region’s tradition in the style, and damn if this doesn’t hit the spot. Welcome back, we missed y’all.
Quaquaversal by At The Heart Of The World

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Observer: Rosetta Stone and Agony & the Middle Class

Rosetta StoneRosetta Stone - Nothing Is Sacred
Nothing Is Sacred
Cleopatra Records

From Aretha Franklin to obscure German psych act The Rattles, covers have been part and parcel of Rosetta Stone since day one, and with a full two LPs of original material on record since Porl King’s formal reactivation of the legendary goth rock project, it’s perhaps not surprising that we have a nominal sequel to 2000’s Unearotica. But while that release focused on new wave and synthpop sources (that disc’s read on “Synchronicity II” remains underrated), it’s a swath of classic rock, predominantly from the 70s, being taken up here. Like most cover records, Nothing Is Sacred falls flat when it doesn’t offer a fresh read on well-worn material and picks up when it finds something new to say about songs you’ve heard a hundred times. The line between Cream’s “White Room” and BOC’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” and the liquid picking of early Rosetta Stone material is easy to see, but was already drawn with much more verve on the cover of “The Witch”. That King’s instrumentation has become far more sparse since those days thus becomes the metric for delineating missteps like the above from some surprisingly effective and understated moments. Of all things, Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” feels pliant and vibrant under the chill, shimmering ministrations it’s given here, and the surprisingly light and sentimental take on Hawkwind’s bicyclic psych odyssey “Silver Machine” pays off just as well, almost alluding to that band’s dalliances with new wave in the late 70s. (Side note: Between this and the recent Leaether Strip covers record, Cleopatra continues to do its new releases no favours by shoving them out the door with appallingly generic and soulless AI art.)
Nothing Is Sacred by Rosetta Stone


Agony & the Middle Class
Pig Cheese
Trigger Warming

Agony & the Middle Class is the industrial project of Antoine Kerbérénès (Chrome Corpse, Dague de Marbre) and Dana Mukanova, who ply a sound between mutant EBM and the weirder strains of modern screwball industrial. The songs on Pig Cheese are chaotic and frequently change directions on a dime, but that doesn’t mean they’re careless; witness how the groove of “Wholesale Guilt” reinvents itself several times via switch-ups in its manic drum programming and FM bass sounds, never losing a step even when the individual beats have sped up to glitch speed. The title track establishes itself quickly with panned samples and a straightforward bassline, then ramps towards a chorus of squealing synths, returning to the verse which has metastasized with still more beats and samples, almost unsettlingly so. In the midst of all that Pandemonium there’s still some pretty excellent songcraft; “Addiction” forgoes the madness for a lovely twinned vocal and noirish melody, classic post-industrial that recalls the Vancouver sound, albeit deconstructed and redesigned, with chattering synths and the gated snares and open hats that meld and melt into the soupy reverb. It’s good and weird as you might expect from the principles, territory that beat-driven industrial could stand to visit more often these days.
Pig Cheese by Agony & the Middle Class

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We Have a Technical 547: Pineapple X-Mas Movie

Encephalon

Ottawa’s Encephalon join the podcast for the first time in nearly a decade to discuss the Ottawa act’s latest high-concept, high-def electro-industrial LP, Automaton All Along. Alis and Matt chat with us about process, influences, and all of the various post-human and philosophical threads to be found in the record. We’re also discussing the news of Mentallo & The Fixer returning to live touring. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Dead Voices On Air, “dadu: tutu:”

Dead Voices On Air
dadu: tutu:
self-released

From Download to Beehatch, from Gnome to Jamiel, Mark Spybey has never been gunshy when it comes to collaboration, within or beyond the Dead Voices On Air name under which the English experimentalist has been using for more than three decades to explore ambience, pure noise, or fractured approaches to dance, techno, and industrial. Now, coming off the heels of a groove-driven collaboration with undisputed legend Graham Lewis, Spybey returns with a second release done in concert with Martin Harvey and Stephen Weatherall operating under the mysterious moniker DADU (a collective? an obscure acronym? an incantation?), with Gary Widdowfield added to the fold for dadu: tutu:. A sprawling, chaotic affair stretching out more than two hours, it ushers a revelry of psych, krautrock, and garage rock into Spybey’s already big tent.

A piece like “Infenesation” gets the remit of the album across as well as anything else; a fuzzing yet oddly slinky interplay of squalling guitar and nodding bass flares up only to be drawn down into the murky undertow of shimmering synth ambience, and even further into abyssal feedback after resurfacing midway through. It’s a striking amount of movement and mood to be cycled through in less than four minutes, but that sort of structural experimental is part and parcel of dadu: tutu:‘s ethos (I’m not nearly enough of a Can aficionado to be able to pinpoint specific allusions, but they seem to hover about as muses throughout); some pieces are quick, slapdash riffs seemingly recorded off the cuff, others are glacially shifting tone poems of noise and feedback. Sure, both of those modes can be found in the earliest of DVOA work, the extra colour and texture added through the rock instrumentation places that freeform chaos in a new light.

Lo-fi and noisy yet structurally traditional covers of “Jeepster” and “Low Rider” (yes, that “Low Rider”) act as even more puzzling ingredients in the stone soup of the record, though the transposition of “Glassblower”, that immortal industrial club classic from another era of Spybey’s work, over to the rough and tumble rock that guides so much of dadu: tutu: makes for especially fascinating listening. Speaking of Download flashbacks, the daydreaming stream of consciousness which frames “Towards You In Your Silence Glide” as it shifts from pure ambience to space truckin’ grooves feels like an inversion of The Eyes Of Stanley Pain‘s “Suni C”, in which a clear-skied vision of utopia emerges out of a panicked and glitchy opening.

In contrast to the elegiac and crepuscular mood which has guided the last decade-plus of DVOA works, there’s an unmistakable sense of play and experimentation purely for fun and their own sake on dadu: tutu:. That isn’t to say there aren’t poignant and affecting moments – the Neu!-like interplay between choral pads and plaintive guitar on “Die Waschmaschine” has an emotional hook which belies its title’s wink at the thudding industrial percussion beneath it all. There’s also a reprise of “We Shall Overcome”, which recently appeared on :jamiel:spybey: but which cuts even deeper a year on given, well, everything. That those moments can find company with 70s AM Gold covers and the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink chaos is all part of the riddle and charm of Spybey’s approach to Dead Voices On Air, the door to which is still inviting and open after all these years.

Buy it.

dadu: tutu: by Dead Voices On Air

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Majestoluxe, “Wretched Conditions”

Majestoluxe
Wretched Conditions
Icons Creating Evil Art

Conny Fornbäck has often used industrial-pop to describe his work as Majestoluxe, a tag that suggests something a lot less abrasive and nasty than his work tends to be. Indeed, new album Wretched Conditions is a mixture of gritty analogue synthwork, growled vocals and tightly wound sequences that have little in common with crossover sounds of any kind. However you’d care to define it, Majestoluxe’s creepy and idiosyncratic music has plenty of personality, albeit in the way where most listeners will need some time to acclimatize to the project’s lo-fi sound design and simmering intensity. 

Per Fornbäck, the record is divided into halves, with the a-side presenting his more accessible style, and the b-side digging into noisier and more textural material. That distinction might not be obvious even on multiple listens; tracks like opener “Money Mules” have more than enough fuzz and menace to unnerve, and don’t seem especially different from late LP cuts like “30 Wild Horses” which evoke the Klinik’s woozy, seasick momentum. Even if you can’t necessarily put your finger on the intended division between each portion of the record, there’s still plenty to dig into; songs like “Assertive Indifference” or “Mass Distraction” make a meal of fuzzy basslines and clanging percussion, tossing in the occasional changeup in groove to keep you from getting too comfortable. Alternately, Fornbäck often leans in on his sneering vocal delivery to add a layer of caustic cynicism to the proceedings, so even the minimal squelchy tumble of “Well Well Well” or the elevator-music-from-hell minimalism of “Sex and Surgery” have a certain misanthropic charm.

Notably, there are plenty of collaborations in the mix, with some notably interesting wrinkles as the net result. Electro and body music maven Emmon lends her talents to the gradual ramp of “Blood on the Ceiling”, sounding confident and collected on vocals even as eruptions of metallic percussion and synth filters modulate around her, a contrast to the gusto with which original à;GRUMH… vocalist J△3 sEUQCAJ spits and screams his way through the squeaks and squelches of “Humanity is Vile”. Perhaps the record’s most unsettling moment comes on the team-up with drone and ambient artist LIVMØDR, “Scylla & Charybdis”; the atonal song sounding alternately like it’s being played at the wrong speed, is melting, or both.

Wretched Conditions doesn’t shy away from being unpleasant in both form and content, and there’s a very genuine appeal to it; in an age of shiny artificial perfectionism and rote replication of whatever is popular in any given artistic field, the honesty it takes to be genuinely mean and ugly is paradoxically refreshing. That it manages to find a variety of ways to present pessimism and stinging rancor without ever becoming cartoonish or repetitive in the effort is impressive; Majestoluxe hones rancor to a sharpened point and isn’t afraid to stick you, or anyone else with it.

Buy it.

Wretched Conditions by Majestoluxe

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Tracks: February 24th, 2025

The Senior Staff had a fun time not only DJing out at our long-standing gig as part of the Restricted Entertainment crew out here in Vancouver, but playing both the electronic and the goth-ish rooms at said party. We’ve waxed philosophical a lot over the years about the ins and outs of what city and what size of scene you cut your teeth DJing in, but a city like Vancouver where people are going to want to listen to heavy industrial beats as well as get lost in some swirly darkwave (or stomp and swoon as we like to call it) keeps you on your toes in terms of format and vibes, and we’d like to imagine we’re more well-rounded DJs for it. Let’s see what sort of range emerges on this week’s crop of tracks…

NNHMN

NNHMN

Sextile, “Freak Eyes”
Dude, Sextile have had a real renaissance since reuniting a few years back. Maybe it’s the work that Melissa Scaduto and Brady Keehn did while not working together as S. Product and Panther Modern, or maybe it’s just one of those weird moments when the sound of a band coalesces into it’s final form after a lengthy period of time, but the band’s profile has notably been on the rise for a few years now. Weirdly, that doesn’t seem to be a function of hitting on some magical musical formula, as the duo remain pretty genre-fluid, mixing in electro, industrial, rave, body music and more with a casual ease that impresses even as it moves bodies at clubs and in crowds at their wild-ass shows. New one “Freak Eyes” from yes, please (due May 2) is one such example, you’d hard a hard time pinning it down, but can’t deny it goes hard from the first beat drop.
yes, please. by Sextile

Vacíos Cuerpos, “Entre Sombras”
We were first drawn to Vacíos Cuerpos by the one-man Mexican act’s ability to conjure and maintain classic misty and evocative darkwave atmospheres while ratcheting up the speed and bounce of his compositions to a level simply not heard in contemporary gloomy fare. That’s a rare quality he continues to cash in on with this latest single, which packs a host of drama and movement into a short timeframe and never lets the dancefloor pulse dip for even a second. Deceptively well-arranged stuff here.
Entre Sombras by Vacíos Cuerpos

Minuit Machine, “Party People”
There’s been an undeniable change in the sound of French darkwave project Minuit Machine over the last couple of years; even before the retirement of founding member Hélène de Thoury due to Covid-related illness, the band had been exploring a harder, more techno-influenced sound, with recent singles for the upcoming Queendom – the first LP for Amandine Stioui as a solo act – following in suit. That said, the latest taster “Party People” is something of a throwback to the darkwave of records like Violent Rains, combining clubbable programming with Stioui’s intensely charistmatic vocal delivery and a plaintive melody that hits just so. Definitely a record we’re hotly anticipating the release of in a few weeks.
QUEENDOM by Minuit Machine

Adam Rå, “Cold Steel”
Polish producer Adam Radziszewski has roots in industrial club work going back more than a decade through projects like Orbicide and Uncarnate. The arrival of his solo work as Adam Rå on X-IMG might prompt listeners to approach this first tune from the Poisoned Chalice EP from a dark techno perspective, but pay attention to both the gallop of this number and the flurry of sampling its delivered within and the seasoned club-goer will be flashing back to millennial industrial clubs, with a heavy amount of dark electro atmospherics. Should appeal to fans of vintage Project Pitchfork or Kant Kino.
The Poisoned Chalice by Adam Rå

AXGGAA – Lust & Pain
There’s a nice balance of EBM fundamentals and general “wave” atmospherics and melodies on this cut from Argentinian producer AXGGAA, perhaps recalling the spirit if not the literal execution of early Kas Product – nicely jumpy and kicky without forsaking harmonies and hooks. While you’re at it skim through the rest of the cuts on Bloody Electronics’ latest Blood Selections comp; those releases are always a great way of keeping up with what’s happening in South America.
[BE003] Blood Selections Chapter 3 by Bloody Electronics

NNHMN, “The Secret”
Is electro-darkwave still a dominant club sound in your town or region? Nothing has necessarily taken off as a replacement for the ubiquitous genre that sprang to life in the wake of Boy Harsher’s success, and there’s no question that plenty of quality tunes are still coming out that fall squarely into that hazy, beat-driven rubric, such as the latest from the dependable NNHMN. “The Secret” is a down the pipe club number, featuring some straight-ahead drum and bass programming and a minimal melody, allowing vocals and general atmosphere to carry the song, which moves at a nice clip and will easily slide into DJ setlists.
The Secret by NNHMN

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We Have A Commentary: “The Gothic Sounds of Nightbreed”

The Gothic Sounds Of Nightbreed

We’re breaking from the usual LP format of our commentary episodes to bring you a discussion of a label compilation, specifically the first volume of Nightbreed’s infamous “Gothic Sounds” samplers. We’re using tunes from the likes of Suspiria, Nekromantik, and Faithful Dawn as an opportunity to discuss the ins and outs of mid 90s UK goth, and specifically the tantalizing electrogoth sound which has always been closely tied to Nightbreed. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Observer: Jimmy Svensson & Fro


Jimmy Svensson
Dangerous Liaisons
self-released

Swedish artist Jimmy Svensson has done a lot of different things musically over the years, from industrial drones as Yabibo Hazurfa, to the hardest minimal EBM in his Nuclear Sludge guise, to several recent ambient releases under his own name. Liaisons Dangereuses is a short EP of music Svensson originally composed for use in a documentary, and reveals yet another aspect of his muse; namely that of composer, albeit staying with the electronic toolset that has defined his catalogue thus far. As you might expect there’s plenty of the alternately frosty and slowly burning textures that his dark ambient excursions have relied on at play on some tracks, although they’re arranged around evolving sequences and evocative pads, as on “Cold Eyes”, a pure delivery of the EP’s Scandinavian Noir remit. There’s also some Vangelis-esque brassy leads in the mix, a sound that he carefully applies to keep from digging into synthwave territory; on the title song it evokes mystery thanks to the cloudy drones it darts between. In a particularly evocative moment “Sinister Revelation” indistinct bassy washes and hypnotic bells keep the listener’s focus while metallic percussion slowly groes in intensity, eventually resolving in a loud clang that you only see coming in the song’s final moments. It’s a brief but lovely collection of short pieces from an artist who impresses us regardless of what sounds he’s currently engaging with.
Dangerous Liaisons by Jimmy Svensson

Fro - A Theme In Grain
Fro
A Theme In Grain
Tripalium Corp

We tend to turn to Belgium’s Tripalium Corp looking for modern, techno-driven reconsiderations of the links between acid and EBM, but the French label has all manner of other tricks up its sleeve. The latest EP from Greek producer Fro, draws upon an often woozy and off-kilter set of sounds associated both with the electronic underground and previous moments of mainstream crossover. The opening title track of A Theme In Grain draws a line between classic French electro sequencing and the rolling clatter we’ve come to associate with the always nebulous machine rock tag, but tied together in a tidy club package. That same unnerving mix of bass programming and squelching programming is brought to a simmering peak with highlight “We Will Meet Again”, where deep space weirdness phases in and out of sync with solid EBM fundamentals and a hooky shuffle beat. Your level of interest in the record might have an upper limit depending on your interest in funky house; both “Call Me Back Again” and “Contact” have a fair bit of the rubbery, pinging bass that was inescapable in the 90s, with the latter’s Kraftwerkian (or perhaps Daft Punkian) robo-vocals prompting some serious flashbacks.
TMF!16 – Fro – A Theme in Grain by Fro

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We Have A Technical 546: Caesar Ford vs. Andy Baron

Qual

Qual throwing the Evil Eye in Mexico. Photo by @emiliano.patlan.

It’s a two albums formatted podcast this week folks, and one of a decidedly industrial cast. Up first, we’re talking about X-Marks The Pedwalk side-project PAX’s second LP, the hi-def and ambient/techno inflected High Speed Digital Spirit Processing. Next, it’s the acidic, 90s throwback dark electro of Qual’s Cyber Care EP. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Encephalon, “Automaton All Along”

Encephalon
Automaton All Along
Artoffact Records

Encephalon was one of the first bands we latched onto after launching I Die: You Die, because they seemed like the best of all worlds to us; the Ottawa act has managed to find a balance between classic post-industrial, club-friendly dancefloor appeal, and heady science fiction concepts. While all those things have remained true in the intervening 14 years, we could never have guessed how far they would take the project, to the point that their last LP Echoes was a meta-narrative about the band’s own catalogue both musically and thematically, touching on each of the album-based narratives they’ve put together over the years. It wasn’t a grand finale so much as it was a Möbius loop, turning the band’s work inside out and returning to the beginning even as it sped onward into an uncertain future.

That’s a tough thing to follow-up creatively, but thankfully Automaton All Along is the kind of record we’ve come to expect from Matt Gifford and Alis Alias, an exploration of both the familiar and unfamiliar and with a brand new conceptual framework to examine. Loosely it’s a story about the evolution of an artificial intelligence from awakening through to self-actualization, the existential struggle of determinism versus free will and ultimately what the things we make say about us as makers. Those are some big science fiction ideas, but as they always have Encephalon find approachable ways to address them; the speedy, high-def cyber-body music of “Like the Real Thing” uses Alias’ always-striking deep voice as a contrast to Gifford’s processed vocals to illustrate an important transitional point in the record’s metaphysical musings; sure, you can dig as deep as you want into the eschatology of our robots outliving us, but you can dance to it too!

With that in mind, there’s a genuine sadness and deep relatability in the way Automaton All Along looks at its disembodied protagonist’s struggle, from its first footsteps on opener on “Last Day at the Institute” to the fatalistic surrender of “Survivors Bias”, bookends that refer to one another; the “Life finds a way to fuck you” refrain of the former realized on the latter’s admission that outlasting your progenitors doesn’t insulate you from becoming indistinguishable from them.

The different analogies and allegories the record’s theme points to (Frankenstein’s creature wrestling with its lack of defined purpose? Humanity’s horror at the freedom a flawed demiurge creator abandoned it to?) are perhaps reflected in the more subdued and understated moves and structures it makes musically. For every big banger like “Like The Real Thing” we’ve come to anticipate from Encephalon, there’s something like the surprisingly dreamy half-time of “The Machines”, or the glitchy technoid of “Guardian”, in which chopped and squashed breaks make for a striking contrast with Gifford’s stalwart croon. Similarly, the laid back semi-prog rock of single “Illusions” keeps the focus on the emotion of the lyric, and makes a nice contrast with the digital ghostliness that haunts the more straightforward club industrial programming of “Synthskin6d”. Automaton All Along isn’t the full court press of excess and drama of previous Encephalon records, but every one of its quieter moments feels just as considered, if not as ornate.

Heidegger coined the term Geworfenheit to describe how our consciousness emerges in media res, midway through the arc of flight through which we are unknowingly flung into the world. Our temporality, context, and purpose or purposelessness predate our very selves, and it’s this mix of chaos and predetermination we must navigate. It’s heavy stuff that very much matches up with the predicament Encephalon’s automata find themselves in, but, as with every time Gifford and Alias make a journey out into the conceptual, it prompts us to think about our own origins, nature, and choices. Adding some lower key moments and subtler nuance to their palette broadens the emotional and intellectual territory Encephalon cover, and adds to their case for being the most important electro-industrial act of their generation. Recommended.

Buy it.

Automaton All Along by Encephalon

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