Gothic BC

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
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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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, “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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Rosetta Stone
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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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:
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
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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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

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’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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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
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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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
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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Friends, it’s been a fucked up years thus far, both for those of us not in the US watching an our of control clown car catch fire and endanger everyone else on the road, and those unwillingly trapped in it. There’s nothing we can say here that will alleviate the dread and fear that folks are feeling at the moment, or any amount of sympathy that will be a salve on the gaping wounds that we’ve all sustained psychically, emotionally and socially. We’re as lost and horrified as you are, and don’t have any answers. We’re here and will stay doing what we do, and we hope that it can at least be a distraction from the daily horror-show, and maybe help your week start off a tiny bit better, or at least with some fresh new music you might not have heard otherwise.

Camlann

V▲LH▲LL, “Calling For Storms”
It’s been nearly four years since we’ve had a new record from everyone’s favourite Swedish Mystery Vikings, but we’re now just a month and a half out from the release of Skymningsdjur, the fourth V▲LH▲LL LP. Preceding teaser tracks have ranged from heavily cinematic atmospheres to some suprisingly poppy beats, but on this new cut they’re connecting their roots in witch house with some classically charnal and chilling but still beat-focused dark electro.
Skymningsdjur by V▲LH▲LL

Xenturion Prime, “Leviathan Alpha”
Few bands in the synthpop end of the general European electro world could be said to be as maximalist as Xenturion Prime. Hell, even the name of the lead single from their forthcoming fifth LP, “Leviathan Alpha” is over the top, and the loping grandeur and vast vistas the track itself conjures delivers on the band’s high-gloss, high-drama ethos. Come for the grandiose, Tron-esque pads blended into some classic Swedish pop harmonies, stay for the Kansas cover on the B-side.
Leviathan Alpha by Xenturion Prime

Camlann, “Jungle Terror”
Our favourite Indonesian darkwave act Camlann has been on an absolute tear with their singles of late, venting serious spleen at industry creeps on “Ronny (Burn in Hell)” and working their best electropop instincts on “Numb and Hollow”. Their new one “Jungle Terror” is simultaneously one of their best pop-rock styled compositions and one of their most politically strident (and given their serious Marxist leanings that’s truly saying something); “Jungle Warfare” is a directly addressed to imperialist nations that have conducted wars in Southeast Asia, delivered with a kind of rare righteousness that is almost incongruous with how catchy it is. Camlann remain one of the most interesting acts we track simply by following their muse musically and speaking their minds plainly.
Jungle Terror by Camlann

Nghtly, “Timeshifted”
The Flowtape label’s still quite wet behind the ears, but they’ve assembled a solid roster of modern EBM talent for their second compilation, reaching from Bangkok to Glasgow and featuring names like Anti Yo and Filmmaker which should be very familiar to regular Tracks readers. We’re especially digging this new cut from Italy’s Nghtly, fresh off an appearance on an equally infectious Kindcrime tape. There’s a nice mix of chewy basslines, throwback rave colour, and plenty of lo-fi grit.
Survivors vol.2 by FLOWTAPE

Agony & the Middle Class, “Pig Cheese”
Agony & the Middle Class is the international industrial team-up of Dana Mukanova of Null Split, and Antoine Kerbérénès of Chrome Corps and Dague de Marbre. It’s got exactly the energy you might expect considering the folks involved, which is to say that it’s a combination of fast-moving chaotic EBM and some very classic eighties post-industrial weirdness. Just the name of the EP Pig Cheese summons some pretty odd images to mind, a fine match for the title track’s FM bass bounce and swooping detuned synths and samples, bringing the works of Cyborgs on Crack to mind. We’re always up for this sort of off-kilter strangeness in our industrial, it’s a vibe we don’t get nearly enough of in this day and age.
Pig Cheese by Agony & the Middle Class

Hugo Dirac, “Vein (Alen Skanner remix)”
We joked a little while ago that Mortal Kombat was a music genre unto itself, and that the number one artist currently producing it is Alen Skanner, but don’t take that as either a dismissal of the producer. Fact is that between a host of amazing originals and some choice remixes, Skanner has become one of our go-tos for music that perfectly lands between 90s techno/nrg and EBM, real Cyberpunk 2020 TTRPG shit in the best way. If you need an intro you can go to this recent remix for Hugo Dirac, taking the speedy hard-hitting original and taming it and punctuating it with just the right amount of sampled hits. Music to enter ABACABB on the title screen if we’ve ever heard it.
Hugo Dirac – Veil by Hugo Dirac

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éstudy
Wave of Resilience
Wie Ein Gott
Brooklyn-based producer éstudy has been all over the place in the last couple of years, putting out releases with Pildoras Tapes, Mosaique, Miseria and several others. The project’s first release on Wie Ein Gott Wave of Resilience is as good a place to familiarize yourself with the project as any, providing handy examples of the various styles and modes that éstudy has touched on. Opener “Watch Your Step” is a hefty slice of industrial techno that doesn’t skimp on the industrial part of the equation, reinforcing its lockstep cymbals and kicks with machinegun snares, metallic percussion and manic 16th note sequences that cinch the tension early. Alternately “Tip Toe Around” is a more straightforward techno number, propelled by a simple kick-hi-hat-snare pattern and atonal synths, with ghostly and menacing ambience that surrounds it’s stuttering vocal samples and warbly bass. As a change of pace “Feel the Wave” goes for a more rocklike arrangement, with the bass and drums feeling more loose and elastic, the addition of more rigid and mechanical passages throwing the song’s contrasts into sharp relief. Intriguingly, “Don’t Press that Button” forgoes most techno markers but keeps the atmospherics, landing somewhere in body music territory, albeit with some tweaky synths and syncopated drums to offset the minimalism of its melody, a balancing act that points to éstudy’s studied approach to production.
Wave Of Resilience by éstudy

Dr. Oso
Hooligan Beat
self-released
The elevator pitch on the new EP from Dr. Oso couldn’t be better suited to grab our attention if someone spent years poring over the ID:UD archives in order to target a release just for us: Argentinian body music with a heavy new beat influence which draws upon the intoxicated violence of football hooliganism. Niche? Of course. Immediate and playing out exactly like what you’d expect something with that pitch to sound like? Definitely. Lo-fi, dead-simple, and speedy EBM rhythms with some icy new beat pads and a healthy dollop of acid make up the lion’s share of Hooligan Beat. Eschewing both anhalt and mutant EBM for a decidedly swampy and burpy sound, tracks like “Trench Fight” and “Lager Dance” get a good amount of mileage out of heavy sampling and rapidly arpeggiating bass. Sure, some of the tracks here feel a bit long and underwritten, but when you have Millwall FC’s infamous “no one likes us, we don’t care” chant being chopped up and stabbed in between staccato, rubbery basslines which sound straight out of 1993, who cares? Factor in an on-brand remix from Chrome Corps & Einhander, projects definitely in sync with Dr. Oso’s ethos (and for some reason a remix of Gang Of Four’s “To Hell With Poverty”?) and you’re just a few tins of Carling away from a riot.
HOOLIGAN BEAT by Dr. Oso

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Carter Tutti Void are reading you for those shoes.

It’s time for a Pick Five episode, dear listener, and as luck would have it it’s also time for a particular time, or at least records suited specifically to 3am (eternal). What is a 3am record? We have a few different reads on that as you’ll find out, as well as some comments on Ministry and And One tour news. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Ye Gods
The Arcane & Paranormal Earth
self-released

Antoni Maiovvi has operated under many musical guises since his emergence in the late 2000s as one of the pillars of the italo disco revival. Amongst his numerous projects, the last several years have seen the UK-born, US-based artist working as Jason Priest, an alias for his tuneful post-punk material, Pleasure Model for his conceptual techno works, and as Ye Gods, an outlet for ambient ritual electronics. Distinct from Maiovvi’s other endeavours, the material on The Arcane & Paranormal Earth is meditative and trancelike, with subtly articulated layers of noise, synths and hypnotic percussion that produce both dreamy detachment and conscious stimulation. 

Maiovvi states in the liners for the album that Ye Gods is him at his most sincere and least veiled as a artist, and despite the record’s abstract nature that holds true in the listening; while certainly esoteric in nature, these ambient and occasionally glitchy compositions do have a real directness, always materially present and never fully inscrutable. Like Coil circa Musick to Play in the Dark (one of the closest points of comparison musically), and as suggested by the title of the album, the arcane is kept in balance with earthly concerns. Hence, although opener “Darashim” is made up of intersecting layers of static, rising drones and a simple repeating rhythm loop, you have Maiovvi’s voice repeating “Let the light pour from your skull” in mantra-like fashion, varying slightly in delivery to anchor it and offset its abstraction. 

It’s not just the vocalizations that maintain the balance between the transcendental and somatic sides of these records, but the actual construction of the numbers themselves. “Aksum” foregoes any kind of identifiable percussion and rhythm for pure textures, but the static that shapes the song’s structure provides a tangible means to navigate its vast reverbs and distant pads, the feedback recalling the measurable and predictable qualities of pure sound as an instrument unto itself. Similarly, the sinister whispers of “Of Venus & Adonis” and its hissy, liquid percussion are accompanied by almost imperceptible snatches of bubbly programming that subconsciously connect its unfolding and twisting electronics, reinforcing Maiovvi’s repeated question “Of what substance are you made?”, and rendering it non-rhetorical. 

If all this sounds a touch metaphysical, well, it’s a record that deliberately addresses the very human experience of interacting with the intangible from the corporeal world. The success of The Arcane & the Paranormal Earth lies in how it involves the listener in that discourse, and while it’s certainly rooted in Maiovvi’s own interactions with those broad concepts, it has an ease of listening that keeps it stimulating through repeated listens in and out of order. Apparently the first of three comparable releases from Ye Gods in 2025, it’s a foundational release that establishes a vast landscape of musical ideas to explore, and the ways innumerable ways we can engage with them. 

Buy it.

The Arcane & Paranormal Earth by Ye Gods

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grabyourface
Sadgirl Mixtape
self-released

grabyourface, the project of French producer/singer Marie Lando, has been many things: a noisy outlet of emotional catharsis, a poised and swaggering portrait of pure industrial cool and charisma, and an instantly recognizable and distinct personality on collabs with the likes of Covenant and Caustic. But nothing in the past six or seven years in which we’ve been tracking grabyourface prepared us for the arrival of Sadgirl Mixtape, a bracing listen whose musical variance is only matched by its brutal, raw wrestling with depression and despair.

“You Will Never Be Happy” was a warning shot we all should have heeded – when a song featuring the refrain “Nothing has made sense for years now/ Only death will set me free” is chosen as a single, it might be because there simply isn’t any cheerier fare to be found on a record which walks the walk its title points to. There’s nothing here but bad road, from breakups (“If you wanna hold my hand you’re gonna drown, too” Lando warns on “My Last Act Of Love”) to existential despair (on “Rain On The Car Roof”, she reasons her way towards the impossibility of day to day life: “You live with the dread, but act like you don’t, and above all be thankful, people have it so much worse than you”). Lando’s vocals, ranging from pure exhaustion on “Car Roof” to an abused numbness on “I Dream Of A Future Without You”, never fall into repetition or cliche; throughout the gruelling hour-long affair there’s never any doubt that they’re a pure rendering of something real, something intimately felt.

That sense of immediacy and conviction is carried over to the musical side of the record by virtue of its origins and construction. The “mixtape” in the title isn’t just a clever nod to the idea of distilling every emotion music can produce within you into a dense package – it’s an acknowledgement of the piecemeal construction of the release, having been written and recorded at separate intervals over the past seven years. That gestation period hasn’t just provided Lando with the emotional reserves needed to write and record these pieces, it’s also allowed each individual track to build up its own aesthetic edifice and interiority. The pitting of confessional singer-songwriting strumming against cinematic bombast on “The Black Of My Hoodie” has precious little in common with the dissociated darkwave of “Bubbles Of Me”, in which Lando’s narcotized voice drifts through liquid, waltzing synths. In recording, structure, and influence, Sadgirl Mixtape is genre-fluid (like any good mixtape should be), touring through electro, metal, hyperpop, downtempo and, yes, emo.

If you were drawn into darker music as a teenager (and are old enough to have experienced full albums as your primary musical medium), you probably have memories of records by your favourite artists – be they Joy Division, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, or My Chemical Romance – which concluded with depressing epics which were intimidating in both their grandeur and their intimacy. To listen to those records all the way through to those closing tracks meant voluntarily signing up for an emotional gut punch you both dreaded and needed to feel in order to know that someone, somewhere, had felt the way you did. Lando might be being arch by describing Sadgirl Mixtape as her “emo offering”, but she’s also well aware that she’s delivering an experience made entirely of those resonant, harrowing epics from start to finish with absolutely no respite. Sadgirl Mixtape is pure, uncut pain, but the strength of each individual, self-contained jewel of miserablism makes it the first truly great record of the year. Highly recommended.

Buy it.

Sadgirl Mixtape by grabyourface

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Another Bandcamp Friday’s come and gone – we’re not sure if it’s just us but it seems like the rush on artists’ part to get some sort of new material out the door each and every time BC Friday comes up has died off. The fact that charity initiatives are still a part of it is nice, though truth be told we’re just thankful that, touch wood, BC’s new owners haven’t messed with the platform much since the 2023 layoffs. On with this week’s tracks.

John McKay

HIDE // estoc, “The Wheel Spins Onward Paradise Locked Behind a Gate”
Chicago’s brutalist noise and disgust purveyors HIDE join forces with Philadelphia techno producer estoc for “The Wheel Spinds Onward Paradise Locked Behind a Gate”, a benefit for Seraj Aburaida and his family, displaced by the ongoing bombing of the West Bank by Israeli forces. As expected with HIDE it’s a rough ride from the first gasp with plenty of distortion and sharp-edged textures, although there’s a hypnotic rhythm built into the rhythm programming, which contains some sneaky fills and rolls orbiting the annihilating kick. No less vicious than you would expect possibly moreso.
THE WHEEL SPINS ONWARD PARADISE LOCKED BEHIND A GATE by HIDE // estoc

Devours, “Loudmouth”
Sometimes it’s a little scary pressing play on a new track from Vancouver’s synthpop gaylien Devours. Given how much the music that the project has put out in the last 5 years has meant to us personally, and the incredible consistency that basically finds each new sad, funny, beautiful synthpop gem that drops become a new favourite, it’s hard not to worry that some day it just won’t hit the same. Then you press play on a track like “Loudmouth” (from the forthcoming Sports Car Era) and all those fears are assuaged. Just the best, every single time.

Crush Of Souls, “Cult Of Two”
Hearing that Charles Rowell of Crocodiles had relocated to Paris to pursue a synth-driven project came as a surprise to us a couple of years ago, but with the follow up to Crush Of Souls’ debut (A)Void Love on the docket, it’s apparent that this switch is a permanent one. More importantly, the pair of teaser tracks for Lézire find Rowell lounging comfortably about in his new climes and pushing its boundaries a bit, with a mix of vintage dark synthpop and crooning which puts us somewhat in mind of Kindest Cuts.
Lézire by CRUSH OF SOULS

Rare DM, “The Ring”
There’s always been a sharp and droll candour to Rare DM’s songwriting which has served as a pleasant counterpoint to the smooth and club-ready style of darkwave plied by Erin Hoagg, whether it takes the form of odes to fuckboys or luxury suites. New single “The Ring” is no exception in that regard, with “fuck around and find out” warnings about the titular horror franchise being delivered atop wormy and engrossing programming.
The Ring by Rare DM

Sacred Skin, “The Lights (HEALTH remix)”
Los Angeles new-new wavers Sacred Skin absolutely slayed with their second full length Born in Fire last year, and have released a single for one its many standouts “The Lights”. It’s basically a perfect fit for HEALTH to remix, with it being the exact style of sad, slow-rolling number that the fêted noise-rockers deal in themselves. Extra drums, extra layers of programming and some pleasingly atonal bits of synth really bring out a different side from the smooth, neon-lit original.
The Lights by Sacred Skin

John McKay, “Flare”
Lastly, an out of the blue, entirely unexpected archival release is in the wings from John McKay, who played guitar on the first two Siouxsie & The Banshees records (and notably wrote the lion’s share of the music on first LP The Scream). Apart from one single with the Zor Gabor project in 1987, McKay’s effectively maintained radio silence since an acrimonious split from Siouxsie & co. nearly 45 years ago, making the prospect of a record of archival recordings from across the 1980s a fascinating document to those of us invested in how the likes of Andy Gill, Johnny Marr, and (McKay’s replacement in the Banshees) John McGeoch pioneered post-punk guitar playing and composition.
Sixes And Sevens by John McKay

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dormnt
pointfive
self-released
dormnt is the project of Vancouver producer Anthony McGillivray, who also operated in a glitchier, if no less atmospheric style as Urusai in the mid to late 2000s. The thread tying together McGillivray’s releases has always been an emotional one, with the use of subtle electronic movements that flow into one another, sometimes punctuated by percussion and, sometimes in washes of pure ambience. The latter approach is exmplified by “Ephemeral”, the opener of new EP pointfive; while there’s a pulsing rhythm that courses through the track, it rarely rises above the surface of the vast, melancholic pads, held down by their expanse and weight. Even on the more beat-oriented cuts like “Eidetic”, it’s the slowly evolving textures that flow around the anxious kicks and cymbal-hits that dictate structure, only briefly falling into step with the percussion before melting back down into atmosphere. McGillivray’s strength as a producer is creating intensity in those alternately wistful and pensive moods; the noisy edge that creeps into the sweeping sounds of “Fraught” convey the feeling suggested by the title through inference, tension as a function of a vast and ungraspable unease. While dormnt’s music is by its nature amorphous, its impact is fully tangible.
pointfive by dormnt

Crystal Geometry
Riot Dogs
Bloc Noir
The range of techno, industrial, and metal influences Maxime Fabre is going to bring to any new Crystal Geometry release should be familiar to regular readers of this site or anyone who’s been keeping their head on a swivel since the fantastic breakthrough of 2020’s Senestre. New EP Riot Dogs is a bracing and tight reiteration of Crystal Geometry’s core strengths. A bit more down the classic techno pipe than anything we’ve heard from Fabre in a minute (and distinct from the wooziness of last LP From The Rave To The Grave), the four cuts here don’t sacrifice any of the dense, percussive gallop Fabre always brings while working some lighter touches into the corner of still-pummelling productions. “Kanellos” does a great job of augmenting classic liquid techno and trance programming with some softer guitar picking, while we get some of the gabber and metal chug in the the style of recentEP Antithèse kicking against ghostly programming on “Loukanikos”. Keeping those subtler dynamics in play while still absolutely assaulting the listener with dense brutality is one of the hallmarks of Fabre’s best work. and when you factor in the EP’s unifying theme of wild dogs’s propensity to join riots around the world (to play fast and loose with the treble clef mnemonic, every good boy bites cops) it’s impossible not to get caught up in the maelstrom of this EP.
Riot Dogs by Crystal Geometry

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Informatik

It’s a classic two records formatted episode of the podcast this week, folks. The first full length record from Informatik and the sole release from electro-punk supergroup Error don’t have a whole lot in common sonically or aesthetically, but as we explore on this episode they’re each the product of a very precise and specific set of sounds, influences, and trends which would have only been accessible or pertinent precisely at the time they were released. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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