Tracks: January 8th, 2024

Hope your new year and holidays were festive, safe, and relaxing, kids. As is our wont we used at least some of our downtime to catch our breaths and look a bit further afield at some lists, sites, and genres we don’t have much time for during the regular crush of ID:UD coverage for some off-topic listening over the holidays, but we’ve also been keeping track of material from our side of the fence that was released over the break or which initially slipped past us over the past couple months. In short, we’re well-rested and ready to bring you another year’s worth of darker alternatives, starting with the first Tracks post of 2024!

Curses looks to the sky for answers.

Curses presents Tutto Vetro, “No Mercy”
Recently on the podcast we brought up Curses as an example of one of the producers who took the potential of italo-body to places far beyond simple novelty, and damn if the Ombra International impressario didn’t put the button on that endorsement with the release of No Mercy last week. An EP of tracks that pays tribute to the Valencia sound of the 90s, the four cuts on the EP all have that sweet combination of techno-body and hot NRG sounds that hit us just so. First big instrumental banger of the year right here.
T̷U̷T̷T̷O̷ ̷V̷E̷T̷R̷O̷ : 'No Mercy' by Tutto Vetro, Curses

Varg I Veum, “The Dim Glass”
We were sad to see Italian goth rock act HAPAX pack it in last year, but a new project featuring vocalist Michele Mozzillo is carrying forward at least some of that project’s stern and sober approach. Varg I Veum cleaves in a much more explicitly darkwave direction than anything HAPAX attempted, though, with melodies and atmosphere taken directly from the most classic iterations of that genre. Getting some real Frozen Autumn feels on this bouncy number from the duo’s self-titled debut LP.
Varg I Veum by Varg I Veum

Lana Del Rabies, “Mother (MVTANT remix)”
Lana Del Rabies’ Straga Beata was our album of the year for 2023, if you haven’t heard or read our feelings on the matter you can still find our extensive write up on the first page of the site at the time of this posting. Naturally a remix album is an interesting endeavour when the subject is material this singular, but we’re pretty into the lineup assembled for Becoming Everything: Strega Beata Remixed; Tassel, Plack Blague, Bara Hari, Cruel Diagonals, Bestial Mouths and Hallows are all acts we follow and enjoy and who acquit themselves more than ably here. We’re especially into MVTANT’s body makeover of the harrowing “Mother”, fit for the club or the rave in the abandoned subway station.
Becoming Everything: STREGA BEATA Remixed by Lana Del Rabies

Years of Denial, “Sensory Box”
South Korea’s Gwi Myeon Records comes into 2024 swinging with the absolutely stacked industial techno 鬼面 : VA 01 compilation. Check the line-up: Headless Horseman, IV Horsemen, Codex Empire, Alien Skanner, Mind Matter and numerous others, firing on all mechanical engine cylinders. Peep Years of Denial’s excellent “Sensory Box” and then just snag the whole thing.
鬼面 : VA 01 by Years of Denial

Static Dancer, “In Moment”
This is something a little different than what we’ve come to expect from Pildoras Tapes, but it’s showing us that a) the Colombian label isn’t painting itself into a corner with distinctly grimy or lo-fi body music and b) the South American body music renaissance is approaching the sound from all angles. Perhaps taking a page from recent Bite and Fleisch releases, Colombian producer Static Dancer makes his debut with an EP of cuts like this which link an interest in roots EBM with current retro-rave sounds.
Einflüss by Static Dancer

Termination_800, “Ritual Of Extermination”
After releases for Crave Tapes and Wie Ein Gott, Parisian producer debuts on X-IMG with the The Flesh Is Weak EP, featuring mixes by the likes of Max Durante and Iron Court. TBM’s crossover moment in the UV spotlight might be over, but there’s still plenty of charm and aggression in pieces like this which show off Termination_800’s talents for pinched and metallic production.
The Flesh Is Weak by Termination_800

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We Have A Technical 489: Okada Danielson

High-Functioning Flesh

High-Functioning Flesh: Fresh Young Mutants in 2014.

We’re casting an eye not to the year ahead, but to the year that was a full decade ago here at I Die: You Die. We’re talking about the records which earned top marks from us in 2014, festivals, larger musical trends, and our approaches to our coverage at that time, and considering what has and hasn’t changed in the intervening years. We’re also discussing the tragic passing of Jaimz Asmundson of Ghost Twin. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or download directly or listen through the widget down below. 

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We Have A Commentary: GZA, “Liquid Swords”

GZA - Liquid Swords

For the second time, we’re using our December We Have A Commentary as the opportunity to talk about a record we love but which has nothing to do with the genres we normally discuss. Our Patreon backers voted to have us discuss a Wu-Tang Clan record, and so we’re talking about an unparalleled achievement in lyricism and flow, as well as one of the RZA’s most musically evocative productions, the all-time classic that is GZA’s Liquid Swords. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly or listen through the widget down below. 

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We Have A Technical 488: Aren’t They All

Korine

Our coverage of the year that was is officially completed (though that doesn’t quite mean the end of Year End fun) with a Pick Five episode designed to touch upon individual tracks which caught our fancy this year outside of the specific records we’ve placed in our Year End coverage. Club bangers, heavy atmospherics, and tracks which offered fresh spins on familiar sounds – here are ten tunes to check out as you’re prepping for New Year’s. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or download directly or listen through the widget down below. 

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We Have A Technical 487: 2023 Year End Roundup

With our final five top records of the year coming out yesterday, we’ve effectively discharged our Year End duties…save for recapping that list, looking back at a few trends in the year that was, and tossing another dozen honorable mentions your way on the podcast edition of our Year End coverage. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or download directly or listen through the widget down below. 

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I Die: You Die Top 5 of 2023

And so here we are, the Top 5 of 2023. Not much of a preamble required; if you haven’t read entries 25-16 and 15-6 of our list you may wish to do so before digging into the releases below, and a reminder that our general thoughts on the Top 25, along with some honourable mentions and statistical examinations of this year’s honourees will take place on our round-up podcast on Friday, at which point we’ll be going on our holiday hiatus for a couple weeks. Got all that? Cool. As always, we’ve love to hear what your favourites were this year, drop ’em in the comments below. Let’s get down to it.



5. Camlann
DISMANTLE!
Oberwave Records

Indonesian darkwave duo Camlan move quickly; DISMANTLE! is their fourth LP since their emergence in 2019, a fact that is doubly impressive due to their youth (Fauzan Pratama and Ony Godfrey were both in their mid-teens at the time of their earliest releases). And yet they’ve not only persevered but planted a flag with their 2023 album, moving beyond the standard-issue goth and new wave aesthetics of their preceding material and becoming a genre-fluid powerhouse, fueled by socialist politics and fearless experimentation. You know of many other goth records in 2023 that can swerve from electro-darkwave (“Your Death is My Glory”) to rocksteady (“Politician Superstar”) to radio-ready tropical pop (“Proletariat Wishes”) and toss off NRG rap breakdowns straight out of 1990 (“This World is Ugly”) like it’s nothing? It’d be a great record based purely on ambition if it wasn’t also replete with tremendous hooks and unique a uniquely confident charm all its own. Smashing a bunch of sounds that seem incompatible together is a novelty, crossing the streams like it’s the most natural thing in the world is another, altogether special thing, and one we should all be celebrating. Read our full review.
CAMLANN – DISMANTLE! by Oberwave Records



4. Zanias
Chrysalis
Fleisch Records

We’ve said for years that those working pop elements into EBM or industrial tracks wield a double-edged sword; they can offer fresh perspectives on sounds we’ve become overly familiar with, but they’ll also be judged by the high standards of pop production and immediacy. No record’s gamble along those lines paid off this year like the third Zanias LP. From the skittering, hauntological vocal samples which guide “Simulation” through the sobering and confessional “Burial” to the homey, almost alt-folk vibes of “Teatree”, hints of Alison Lewis’s extant work in minimal wave, techno, body music, and electro-acoustic experimentation can be found throughout Chrysalis, but the bright and immediate spark of comforting melody and smooth, enveloping production which runs throughout is something entirely new. That sparkling, revitalizing sound is a perfect accompaniment to the record’s themes of coming out on the other side of club excess and toxic relationships, and trying to attend to what is real, true, or substantive in a world built of layer upon layer of artifice (a subject Lewis eloquently elaborated on with us earlier this year). If part of pop’s function has always lain in emotional succour, an empathetic voice reaching out from the speaker, Chrysalis was a ray of light (pun intended) for the Berghain generation as they weave their way home after a heavy night, and no other record this year made us feel more hopeful about facing all tomorrow’s mornings. Read our full review.
Chrysalis by Zanias



3. Laibach
Sketches Of The Red Districts
God Records

Multiple books have been written about Laibach and yet a totalizing picture of the group’s now 40+ year corpus still eludes us all. It’s best to discuss each period, action, or album on its own merits lest one get lost in a Pepe Silva web linking Iranian history with taking Rogers & Hammerstein to Pyongyang. Sketches Of The Red Districts is a record of Laibach returning to their roots, and not just the roots of centuries old political conflict in their homelands, now heavily obscured by palimpsests of war, ideology, and perhaps most troublesome of all, irony. Indeed, in addition to excavating the history of brutal combat between communists and fascists in their hometown of Trbovlje (with which the earliest Laibach actions were meant to symbolically align), Sketches is the sound of Laibach returning to their earliest and most harsh sounds. The raw scrapes and machine-gun clatter of their self-titled LP and first tapes are unearthed on “Nekaj Važnih In Načelnih Misli O Bodoči Usmeritvi” and other pieces, like abandoned industrial or military machinery pressed back into service after decades. Like other latter-era works by equally lauded industrial pioneers like X-TG and Drew McDowall, Sketches is no mere nostalgia trip but rather finds Laibach as masters of their craft applying all of the lessons they’ve learned in the interceding decades to the pure and undiluted aesthetics and interests of their youth, now with new depth and musical instincts (if still not traditional “musicality”). No other industrial record this year lured us in as fully with the beauty and power of its noise, and no other record we’ve heard in a long, long time reminded us of why it is that we find such noise to be so beautiful. Listen to our full discussion of the record.
Sketches Of The Red Districts by Laibach



2. Randolph & Mortimer
The Incomplete Truth
Surface Reality

Randolph & Mortimer’s Sam Evans conceived his Sheffield-based project’s 2023 LP as a kind of antidote to futility; following a brush with death at work, Evans set out to make a record that took his politically minded, industrialized rave-ups to arena-shaking stature. And damn if The Incomplete Truth didn’t pull it off, the now or never urgency of its inspiration infused in every beat, every synthline, bass guitar lick and rhythmic sample arrangement. “Self-Medicator” slams drums and synths with a quantized force that blurs them into one, the desperation and futility of the struggle to keep pace with our eat-sleep-work routine embodied in music, only for the title track to part the clouds with a truth to power groove straight from the Hacienda’s golden era, carried down from the heavens by an angel in loosefit jeans. Those kinds of call and response aesthetics are the record’s stock in trade, funky blasts of vocal cut-ups and syncopated drums (“Yuppies”) downshifting to dubby digital psychedelia (“Everything Was Forever”) before building to le-petit-mort climaxes of fleeting and euphoric power (“Becoming Inoperative”). The message, distilled from the project’s history of critique and the industrial sounds of their hometown is clear: subsistence isn’t the same thing as living, and we owe it to ourselves and each other do as much of the latter as we can. The Incomplete Truth is the sound of joyous, life-affirming rebellion. Read our full review.
The Incomplete Truth by Randolph & Mortimer

Lana Del Rabies - Strega Beata

1. Lana Del Rabies
Strega Beata
Gilgongo Records

If you wanted to find an entryway into processing the vast cathedral of grief, sorrow and mercy that is Lana Del Rabies’ Strega Beata, you could do worse than to take in the quiet, mid-record piece “Grace the Teacher”. Soft thrumming drones and ghostly violins swirl around Sam An’s voice as she slowly intones the hard lesson of the titular biblical concept; to attempt to live in grace is to live in the long shadow of its absence. As such, the third LP from the Arizona artist offers no easy answers, nor much in the way of balms for its litany of grievous wounds. Conceived at a time when An was ready to retire the Lana Del Rabies project and its history of power electronics and noise, the record that became metastasized during the pandemic into a thing of cavernous sorrow, with An at the center struggling to resolve, or at least address the forces that pull us away from the light.

The drones and waves of static that have been Lana Del Rabies’s stock in trade are a natural avenue for this kind of meditation, although the absolute leap that An makes with this album takes those things into an expressive territory as yet unheard in her work. Gone are the lo-fi and compressed to flatness noise, the extremity for its own sake aesthetics replaced by a sculpted and considered assemblage of pianos, low rumbling basses and voicework that is both beautiful and terrifying at measures. It’s hard not to think of Diamanda Galas during the nine minutes of decayed percussion and intense rage that outlines “Mourning”, if only for the terrible majesty of the sounds, images and ideas on display. Strega Beata also takes the tones and mood if not full structure of liturgical and middle ages vocal music, and rather than placing them in a state of (un)holy exception totally enmeshes them within the lattices of noise and texture Am has been developing since the beginnings of the LDR project (note the album art, suggesting classic portraiture of a saint comprised of biomechanical morass and framed by a metallic halo). When these seemingly disparate sources jockey and shift for focus, as on “Master”, it’s less a conscious statement on genre or influence as it is a dialectic between similarly morbid perspectives. Few people spend as much time meditating on death as medieval martyrs and noise musicians, we suppose.

Like rain during a cold winter or an aimless sense of guilt, Strega Beata worked its way into our souls upon its release in March and set up shop. The familiar harmonics and refrains which emerge during repeat listening sessions (few other records this year felt more like a single, hour long piece rather than a set of discrete “songs”) repeatedly came to mind even when we hadn’t heard the record for weeks. Did our friends or coworkers know that the words “Death makes all things right” were circling in our heads as we stared off into the middle distance? Likely not, thankfully, but it proved to be impossible to escape the gravitational well of Strega Beata, a record rendering a god’s lament for their own failures, in 2023. Read our full review.
STREGA BEATA by Lana Del Rabies

And that’s a wrap! Come back tomorrow for the wrap up podcast, and we’ll see you in the new year!

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I Die: You Die Top 25 of 2023: 15-6

Onward and upward we go, with the next ten records we found ourselves most impressed by this year. Without meaning to spoil things, this year’s list involved a lot more off-the-record discussion than usual concerning which albums (or artists!) could be considered within the purview of our annual review. We’ll likely get into that a bit on our wrap-up podcast (dropping Friday, rather than the usual Thursday) along with plenty, PLENTY of honorable mentions.

 
 
 
15. Sturm Cafe
Zeitgeist
SCR

Gustav Jansson and Jonatan Löfstedt have been making music as Sturm Cafe name for nearly 20 years at this point, the rough and ready EBM of their earliest releases having progressively given way to smoother sound informed by classic analogue synthpop. Appropriately, 2023’s Zeitgeist is an juxtaposition of musical and political history, and the ways in which those things can be alternately nostalgic and of the moment. Heady stuff in the abstract, but the reality is that you don’t need to know anything about King Gustav of Sweden to jam along to the brassy synths on “V-Gurra”, or be an expert on Europe in the 1800s to tap your toe to the funky bass and drum machine shuffle on “200 år”. It’s the particular wryness that informs Sturm Cafe’s hooks that makes their tunes great, those little winks that allows them to transcend cultural and language barriers. 909 for Emperor! Read our full review. Zeitgeist by Sturm Café

 
Choke Chain - Mortality14. Choke Chain
Mortality
Phage Tapes

Mark Trueman’s first Choke Chain LP is the culmination of an evolution from spastic DIY body music to potent new school dark electro, If you come to Choke Chain for the blistering programming and throat shredding vocals, never fear, there’s plenty of that on cuts like “Burial” and “Despair (Misery mix)”. But what stands out on Mortality is how the anxiety and anguished self-excoriation of Trueman’s music ports directly to emotional dark electro climes: the chattering rhythm of “Living this Death” is pure CC, but it’s the pads that underscore the sadness of the open wound performance, just as the snaky electro-industrial of the title track extends naturally from the project’s trademark spleen. The epigram “What you do in life means nothing in death” accompanies the LP, appropriate given the fury with which Choke Chain attacks being alive, holding nothing back for the inevitable finale. Read our full review.
Mortality by Choke Chain

 
Neuroticfish - The Demystification Of The Human Heart13. Neuroticfish
The Demystification Of The Human Heart
Non Ordinary Records

The things that made us miss Neuroticfish during the project’s hiatus have been shown to be in full effect across the now three records Sascha Klein has released since reactivating it. Like its predecessors, The Demystification Of The Human Heart has immediate beats, top shelf production, and most importantly songwriting for days, often touching upon the mutability of relationships in heartfelt and direct manners. While we’ve talked for years about futurepop burnout, nostalgia, and renaissances, a record like The Demystification Of The Human Heart shows that the waxing and waning of genres doesn’t really matter if a songwriter never loses what brought them to the dance. Read our full review.
The Demystification Of The Human Heart by Neuroticfish

 
 
 
Die Selektion - Zeuge aus Licht12. Die Selektion
Zeuge aus Licht
Der katalog

If one of the problems with the current wave of detached, too-cool-to-emote darkwave is its politeness, Die Selektion’s Zeuge aus Licht” offers welcome respite. There’s nothing crass in the shouts and horns that adorn the German trio’s damnably catchy anthems; as their self-applied prosecco wave genre tag suggests, the band is always possessed of a continental sophistication. But there’s a vitality to the material that gives it presence; that jolt of gusto you get when the vocals on “Der Katalog” are suddenly chopped into sampled pieces to signal the song’s move to galloping EBM, or the countless times a plaintive woodwind punches home a chorus, a jouissance sprouting from Neue Deutsch Welle excess and synth punk passion. Die Selektion are forever becoming a more distinct version of themselves with each record as both document and instrument of their passage. Read our full review. 
Zeuge aus Licht by Die Selektion

 
Morwan - Svitaye, Palaye11. Morwan
Svitaye, Palaye
Feel It Records

Completed in exile from his native Ukraine, Alex Ashtaui’s latest record can’t help but communicate a very real, very concrete sense of despair and grief within the hypnotic, otherworldly milieu of his work as Morwan. It’s there in the sparse, windswept twang of “Полетіли” and in the steadily rising rhythmic pressure and emotional tension of “Відчуваеш” Svitaye, Palaye still captures the same intoxicating blend of eastern folk and post-punk music which made Zola-Zemlya one of 2020’s best records, but when it whips into frenzies of raging percussion and howling vocals, the intensity of Ashtau’s music and emotion reaches out across borders and linguistic boundaries. Read our full review.
Svitaye, Palaye by Morwan

 
 
 
Devours - Homecoming Queen10. Devours
Homecoming Queen
Surviving The Game

Jeff Cancade’s tapestry of hyperpop, synthpop, and half-forgotten rave tropes feels softer musically on Homecoming Queen than anything we’ve heard from him yet, but don’t let Devours’ gentle, imagistic aesthetic fool you; Cancade is still an incredibly cutting lyricist. Whether he’s eviscerating class traitors (ask your favourite Vancouverite to explain the savagery of “You moved out to Shaughnessy and it’s where you belong”), reflecting on how aging changes his own hopes and dreams (“37up”), or weighing the trade-off of queer acceptance for political disarmament and ignorance (“Jacuzzi My Stonewall”), Homecoming Queen proves Cancade to be one of the best songwriters Canada has today, regardless of genre. Read our full review or listen to our commentary podcast with Devours.
Homecoming Queen by Devours

 
 
Noj - Waxing Moon9. Noj
Waxing Moon
Mangel

So here’s the thing about the debut from Berlin’s Noj: it rips. Sure, you can spend it contemplating the echoes of OG goth rock and the more virulent strains of 80s post-punk, or examining the misanthropic alienation baked into the snare-abusing clatter of “Spirals” and “No Room Cut to Fit”. But more likely you’ll be too busy digging your fingernails into your palms from the contempt in the title track’s horror movie squeals, and sneering along to “Dream Deicide”‘s lumbering bass attack. Even at their most accessible on the pulsing “Eternal Life” the band aren’t willing to tone down the visceral nihilism, sliding papercut stings into its web of synths and bilious reverbs. Yeah, Waxing Moon rips and you’ll need to let it hurt you a bit to find out why that feels so damn good. Read our full review.
Waxing Moon by Noj

 
8. Lead Into Gold
The Eternal Present
Artoffact Records

While the name Lead Into Gold undoubtedly brings visions of Wax Trax’s glory days to mind, Paul Barker has little interest in mining the past on the appropriately titled The Eternal Present. Eschewing the familiar for a meditative collection of analogue synth and bass excursions, the venerable producer deconstructs his hallmark musical themes – those machine-like rhythms and crunchy textures that have informed a thousand records – and rebuilding them into strange new shapes. There’s a grand entropic inevitability to all of it; guitars and bass diffuse into pure texture, drums beat with an orgasmic death drive finality. And there at the center is Barker, still smiling that little smile as he stares down the incomprehensible enormity of right fuckin’ now. Read our full review.
The Eternal Present by Lead Into Gold

 
 
Ringfinger - In A Black Frame7. Ringfinger
In A Black Frame
self-released

Having activated just before shit hit the fan, Vancouver’s Ringfinger have had plenty of time for quiet contemplation and demoing at home before unveiling their first LP. Carrying the subtle charms of their more synth-focused EPs over into a more guitar and bass-focused register, In A Black Frame has the sort of elegant balance between the stormy side of classic goth rock and the softer elements of darkwave which often takes bands four or five LPs to hone in on. Having emerged as one of our favourite live acts here in Vancouver, Ringfinger now have an onyx-shaded calling card which captures their alternately dreamy yet stoic charm as they move on to take over the noctural playlists of goths old and young across North America. Read our full review.
In A Black Frame by Ringfinger

 
 
Maelstrom & Louisahhh - Sustained Resistance6. Maelstrom & Louisahhh
Sustained Resistance
RAAR

“Are these the dark ages? Is it getting worse?” Well, it certainly hasn’t gotten any better since 2021’s The Practice Of Freedom, and Louisahhh’s collaborative record with French techno producer Maelstrom is reflective of that harsh truth. Bringing some of the percussive aggression of her phenomenal live set back into the studio, Sustained Resistance is a defiant finger in the face not only of capitalism, the patriarchy, and everything else conspiring to make all of our lives shittier, but also the presumption that modern industrial techno has to be devoid of soul or personality. Between piston-kicking beats and Louisahhh’s gutwrenching vocals, tracks like “Vixen” burned like napalm this year. Read our full review.
Sustained Resistance by Maelstrom & Louisahhh

 
 
Be sure to come back tomorrow for the final five entries in the list!

The post I Die: You Die Top 25 of 2023: 15-6 appeared first on I Die: You Die.

I Die: You Die Top 25 of 2023: 25-16

And here we are, the 13th kick at the Best of the Year can. Each year’s exercise in looking at the year that was has only revealed its real identity to us upon completing the annual list-making session, and without wishing to spoil the next few days of posts, we think there are some interesting and unique musical pockets in what we mutually enjoyed this year. You’ll get some thoughts on broader trends of the year on the round-up podcast at week’s end; for now just settle in for the specifics as we unveil them over the next couple days. The usual provisos should be taken into account: yes, this is entirely our subjective opinion and not prescriptive in nature, and polite discussion is always welcome and encouraged in the comments. Let’s get on to entries 25 through 16 of our Top 25 of 2023!

 
Modebionics - Precise Control25. Modebionics
Precise Control
self-released

Throwback records are certainly nothing new in post-industrial music, but it’s rare to find one which has not only done its due diligence in terms of production and aesthetics as thoroughly as the debut from San Antonio’s Modebionics, but has such a natural aptitude for delivering the sort of compositions it’s drawing upon. Tunes like “Resume Function” could easily be mistaken for an original Zoth Ommog track by any number of classic acts, and Rolan Vega shows himself to be just as fluent in stateside electro-industrial when he begins working in some classic FLAisms on Precise Control‘s second half. When he warns that “There is no time,” on “Time Resist Lobotomy”, heads in the know don’t only cop the reference to the era-defining comp, but have to acknowledge the ease with which Modebionics’ sound blends in with the real McCoy. Read our full review.
PRECISE CONTROL by MODEBIONICS

 
Blu Anxxiety - Morbid Now, Morbid Later24. Blu Anxxiety
Morbid Now, Morbid Later
Toxic State Recordings

Singer Dracula Orengo refers to himself as an ‘alien sex fiend’ on Blu Anxxiety’s Morbid Now, Morbid Later, a reference that invites a valid comparison; few bands have ever pulled off ASF’s trick of throwing so many musical styles into their sound while still reading as an explicitly goth band like these NYC deathrockers. Is anyone else tossing second wave goth styled rock cuts like “Sister Maria” in the blender with freestyle (“Running”), grimy rap-infused electropunk (“Negative Fantasy”), trad-California deathrock (“Fog”) and hitting puree? No, and even if they were, it’s hard to imagine them sounding as confident and fun as Blu Anxxiety, whose gleeful excess and camp trappings obscure the canniness with which they draw links between seemingly incompatible sounds like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Goths Rule Everything Around Me indeed. Read our full review.
Morbid Now, Morbid Later by Blu Anxxiety
 
 
Brixx - Erotomania23. Brixx
Erotomania
Synthicide

The subtler cinematic take on EBM and related genres which Australian producer Brixx had used on her previous releases had already established her as someone with a view of the genre which reached beyond the dancefloor. That her first proper LP took the form of the score to a nonexistent 90s erotic thriller was a conceptual play in-line with Brixx’s aesthetics, but what made Erotomania such an easy record to throw on for repeat listenings this year was the ease with which Sabine Brix took up the subtler material such a conceit requires. Whether through the more low-key approach to electro taken by the title track or noir jazz vignettes like “Private Practice”, Brixx blended her body music foundation with more reflective shades to fantastic effect. Read our full review.
Erotomania by Brixx

 
 
Designer Violence - We Gave Peace A Chance22. Designer Violence
We Gave Peace A Chance
self-released

A still rapidly evolving and mutating act, Dutch duo Designer Violence moved from lo-fi cyberpunk sludge to incorporate broader metal and goth sounds on their proper statement of arrival this year. We Gave Peace A Chance reckons with weighty issues like transphobia and climate collapse, and uses an ambitious register of noise, blastbeats, and harrowing vocals to do so. The result isn’t just a refreshed and refreshing take on industrial and its intersections with those aforementioned genres, but a record with its own portrayal of how those sounds, which have always wrestled with ugliness and brutality, resonate with younger artists as they struggle to find both themselves and some sense of security in a world seemingly determined to crush both. Read our full review.
We Gave Peace A Chance by Designer Violence

 

21. Harsh R
Seek Comfort
Phage Tapes

The force of Avi Roig’s Harsh R has long been tempered with less bludgeoning if equally bleak sounds – this is after all an artist who released acoustic doom country versions of his synthpunk originals. Seek Comfort gathers ever more diverse melodics into the project’s paint-peeling mix without sacrificing intensity; the curled-at-the-edge sonics of the title track transform from synthpop to elegy, and the smokey sax break on “Are You My People?” provide an emotional clarity to its halting, anxious rhythm. Closer “Wave Goodbye” even has a go at auto-tuned electro-pop, albeit through the same mirror darkly that informs the whole LP, one where beauty and ugliness are so intertwined as to be indistinguishable. Comfort has rarely felt so relentless. Read our full review.
SEEK COMFORT by HARSH R

 

20. Male Tears
Krypt
AVANT! Records

Electro-goth isn’t a new idea by any means, but the ways in which Male Tears approach doom disco on KRYPT are distinctly of the now. Reverse engineered from influences that range from the most formative goth bands to the most current hi-tech pop, then spiked with James Edward and Frank Shark’s own acerbic wit, it’s a record where the lo-fi rattle of darkwave club-bids like “I EXPIRE” and “DOMIN8” and the crooned melancholic synthpop of “SLAY” and “SLEEP 4EVER” co-mingle with an archness that can only come from being deep-fried in the goth end of the internet for a few years. That makes the whole affair all the more relatable, inverting irony into sincerity through dint of empathy and shared, if skewed, subcultural experiences so real you can smell the cloves and taste the drugstore-tier black lipstick. Read our full review.
KRYPT by MALE TEARS

 
Torch - Leaving Me Behind19. Torch
Leaving Me Behind
inåt bakåt Records

In a time when darkwave has been taken to the chicest and most fashionable of dancefloors, Danish act Torch are taking it back into the dankest corners of goth clubs. Oozing with charnal miasma, Leaving Me Behind‘s ten tracks shudder with bellicose rage and shimmer with sinister atmosphere. Whether they were linking modern darkwave programming back to first wave goth guitar on “Blood Rituals” or weaving nests of serpentine programming and keys on “Euphoria”, Torch ensured that hooks and songwriting weren’t left by the wayside while maintaining Leaving Me Behind‘s cloud of doom, creating a record which ended up being as easy to listen to as it was oppressively bleak. Read our full review.
Leaving Me Behind by TORCH

 
 

Cruel Diagonals - Fractured Whole18. Cruel Diagonals
Fractured Whole
Mother Tongue

Comprised entirely of manipulated samples of LA experimentalist Megan Mitchell’s voice, the latest record from Cruel Diagonals is an icy but affecting blend of drone, experimentation, and pure vocal prowess. Compositions bloom out of unexpected, emergent rhythms or harmonics which drift in and out of focus; it’s a record which connotes microorganisms as well as cosmic drift. While the juxtaposition between the low, industrial drones Mitchell often grinds her voice into and Fractured Whole‘s more cleanly melodic elements is impressive, the record’s real power lies in the uncanny moments when Mitchell’s voice drifts in or out of a recognizably human register or envelope. Read our full review.
Fractured Whole by Cruel Diagonals

 
 

17. House of Harm
Playground
AVANT! Records

If melodic post-punk is the brighter, more accessible side of the dour and angular style, House of Harm don’t think that needs to make it uncomplicated. Indeed, their sophomore LP Playground‘s great strength is in how it takes the Boston trio’s gossamer charms and puts them in service of a brooding set of songs that defers immediate thrills for drawn out builds and smooth cresting peaks. And many of the results are all the sweeter for that deferral; “Roseglass”‘s chorus burrows deeper into the listener by staying close to the ground, and the Bunnymen-isms of “Ignore the Taste” hide its sneaky great hooks in little pockets of distortion and reverb. When the band do go all in on showstopping effervescence on “Two Kinds” the effect is ever more sweet for the journey to and from it across its melancholic neighbouring lands. A lovely missive for those down to mope. Read our full review.
Playground by HOUSE OF HARM

 
Bedless Bones - Mire Of Mercury16. Bedless Bones
Mire of Mercury
Metropolis

Kadri Sammel’s most notable quality since the launch of her Bedless Bones project has been the earthy fashion she approaches both ethereal and club-focused aspects of darkwave. Mire of Mercury finds her using that to bring those styles ever closer together; songs like “Litha” and “Solar Animus” have an airiness that belies their tightly quantized synth and drum programming, where a call to nature like “Tongue and Rhythm”‘s paganistic bearing is so strong it conjures the forest primeval from its crisp mechanical sound design. That’s all a product of Sammel’s own enchanting qualities as a writer and performer, placing herself so deeply into the songs that she becomes your personal guide, running you through their winding paths to uncanny moonlit clearings. Read our full review.
Mire of Mercury by Bedless Bones

Make sure to come back tomorrow for parts 25-16 of our Best of 2023!

The post I Die: You Die Top 25 of 2023: 25-16 appeared first on I Die: You Die.

Friends of I Die: You Die 2023 Favourites

As we’ve now been doing for more than a decade, we’re kicking off our week of Year End coverage at the site with a slew of recommendations from various friends and associates from all over the various corners and dimensions of Our Thing. At the end of the day, ID:UD remains a two-person passion project, and while that’s a big part of what’s kept us going as long as we have, the trade-off is that there are all manner of records that can pass us by in a calendar year. That’s why we love this particular element of our Year End coverage so much: we get to hear about some great records from heads in the know we might have otherwise slept on (or hear different perspectives from our own on stuff we did cover), and our readership gets a much broader sense of what happened in the year that was. Take a look at these 12 records below, then tune in tomorrow for the first instalment of our traditional Top 25 list!


Shannon Hemmett of Leathers and ACTORS, graphic artist


Art School Girlfriend, Soft Landing
I travelled a lot with my bands this past year, and I learned quickly that noise cancelling headphones are a must on flights. The album I listened to most at 30,000ft is aptly titled Soft Landing by Welsh electro-shoegaze artist Art School Girlfriend (Polly Louise Mackey). The production decisions are right in my wheelhouse; I love the texture of her voice against the floating guitar tones. The choice of live drums, bass guitar, and airy synths seem to pressurize and release as we hit our cruising altitude. Start with my fave track “Close to the Clouds” and ascend.

Konstantina Buhalis, writer and journalist


Ritual Howls, Virtue Falters
Detroiters Ritual Howls released their fifth studio album, Virtue Falters, distilling what the post-punk scene offers. Ritual Howls outdoes themselves ten-fold on Virtue Falters, taking sophisticated textures and weaving them together to craft a multi-faceted record. Pulling in Western tones enhances the industrial underpinning, keeping the throughline consistent. Virtue Falters’ macabre lyrical content sweeps the listener into a trad-goth-inspired romp. The record’s contained fury creates a hypnotic yet eerie auditory landscape through space-age laser sounds and high-energy drums. Virtue Falters relentlessly powers forward, taking no prisoners and stopping for no one. Ritual Howls released the blueprint of the future with Virtue Falters.
Virtue Falters by Ritual Howls

Ned Raggett, Music writer and I Die: You Die inspirer


Aunty Rayzor, Viral Wreckage
What matters most about the debut album by Nigerian artist Aunty Rayzor is that it feels absolutely now — something that could not have existed before this general historical moment, with the increasing dissolution of barriers to entry when it comes to making your mark musically from anywhere in the world, and working with anyone in the world as one chooses to as well (listed producers and guests appear from Japan to France to Brazil to Kenya and back). What it sounds like is a hotwired vision of a real cyberpunk landscape from the near future rather than a continually looped-back 80s stereotype, with beats that slam hard, Rayzor’s spitting of rhymes and lines combining control with careening and the sense that this is what the world actually feels like right about now.
Viral Wreckage by Aunty Rayzor

Gaby Gustafson of Eva X


Banshee, Birth Of Venus
Perhaps surprisingly, my most influential release of the year was a Spotify recommendation. Banshee is the blend of synths, dance beats, and metal influences I didn’t know I needed before I heard it. I’m a sucker for dissonance, and the combo of soft atmospheres and raw screams that she brings on the title track grabbed me and Would. Not. Let. Go. The rest of the EP is fantastic – I came for the catharsis, and stayed for the fantastic cycling between house, dance, lo-fi, and metalcore influences, all over just 20 minutes. Plus, it’s hard not to love a song called “YES ALL MEN”.

Justin Hagberg of Ritual Dictates and 3 Inches of Blood


Peter Gabriel, i/o
My favourite album of 2023 has to be i/o by Peter Gabriel. Every song is so beautifully written and composed, and although it’s been over 20 years since his last album (Up), it was so worth the wait. Once again, a truly stellar vocal performance backed by unbelievable musicianship. The string arrangements are breathtaking. Oh, and if you’re looking for hooks, look no further.
i/o by Peter Gabriel

Matia Simovich of Inhalt, Producer at Infinite Power Studios


Puerta Negra, Playa Sola
Every year around this time I try and take stock of what it was I’ve done creatively the entire year. This year, I can’t even recollect what precisely happened as I and my studio was booked out nearly every day. Therefore, I’ve resorted to specific moments and memories that stood out and one such set of sessions were for Puerta Negra. I had the great pleasure of producing and mixing their Playa Sola EP and I really think the final outcome really captured both their personalities and their energy. It was probably one of the fastest recordings I’ve been involved with but to no detriment or deficit to the final outcome (I still can’t believe we made the EP as quickly as we did). If you haven’t heard this EBM via Synclavier gem of an EP do it now.
Playa Sola by Puerta Negra

Eric Oehler of KLACK and Null Device, Submersible Studios


Everything But The Girl, Fuse
A lot of gushing stuff has already been written about this record in the press. And yeah, it’s a fantastic record, even if it’s not strictly “Our Thing.” Moreover, it represents a pretty convincing pushback against the prevailing wisdom that dance music is exclusively the domain of young people. Fuse is a dynamic, modern album made by a pair of sexagenarian parents, and while the world-weariness that comes with age is certainly present, it never presents itself as cynicism or judgment. It’s a record that manages to lean on the band’s iconic status without descending into tedious boomer nostalgia, while broadly accepting and celebrating the innovations of artists many years their junior. It’s not exactly be my absolute favorite record of the year, but it was certainly one that hit with multiple layers of significance. It gives me a measure of confidence that me and my contemporaries can continue to have interesting musical careers long after we’re past the “industry prime.”

Avi Roig of HARSH R


Kabeaushé, The Comming of Gaze
Joy is an incredibly rare commodity in the world of today and that fact alone makes a record like The Comming of Gaze shine. Unbound by any/all outdated notions of genre constraints, Kabeaushé manifests a colorful kaleidoscopic soundscape, borrowing as needed from across the spectrum of modern music and filtering it through an East African lens. The result is overwhelmingly joyous, yes, but it also manages to be earnest, tender, vulnerable and, most crucially, the catchiest, most hook-filled album of 2023.
The Comming of Gaze by Kabeaushé

Jeff Cancade of Devours and The Golden Age of Wrestling


MSPAINT, Post-American
My favourite album of 2023 is Post-American, the debut LP by an art-punk band out of Mississippi named MSPAINT. To put it simply, it is the most vital record I have heard all year. The lyrics are so strong – existential, political, life-affirming – and the production is absolutely crazy. Strange beautiful synth lines, massive fuzzed out bass parts, no guitars, and a vocalist who sounds like he could be the long lost brother of the frontman from late 90’s nu metal warriors P.O.D. The band really knows what they’re doing with their aesthetic as well – not afraid to be colourful, weird, and creative, they are marching to the beat of their own drum and pushing synth-punk in an important new direction.
Post-American by MSPAINT

Starr Noir, DJ, Streamer and Graphic Designer


Sierra, A Story of Anger
Highly anticipated by many and well received by all, A Story of Anger is just that: from start to finish it takes you on a journey that speaks (at least, to me) on such a deep and visceral level. It comes from a core level of emotions, exploring the process of grief and letting go, only to rise stronger than ever before. Easily my “album of the year,” it not only highlights Sierra’s incredibly unique sound, but we really get to hear more of their talents come through. With the addition of a couple really fantastic collaborations (Carpenter Brut & HEALTH), the album is just really well produced & beautifully done. I know I’m not alone when I say I’m really excited for what they do next!

Michael Pinch of Chrome Corps.


Tom Carruthers, Future Wave
“Scratch an EBM head, find a raver”. One of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten from a journalist who reviewed my band’s music. That’s precisely what i wanted people to think when they heard the oldskool house piano stabs in my body music band Chrome Corps’ outlier song “Dance Or Die”. Not trying to do a self plug, I merely brought that up because if you’re someone like me who’s cut from an oldschool EBM and industrial cloth, and you’re chasing a classic vibe outside of – but still adjacent to – those genres, I’ve got great fucking news for you. This new monster truck of an album by seminal UK bleep mastermind Tom Carruthers called Future Wave is guaranteed to scratch your oldskool techno and acid house itch. Truthfully, it was difficult to choose an album to review because so much amazing music was released this year. I decided to review this album because 1: not that many people in “our thing” know about it, and 2: it’s just some of the best god damn dance music I’ve heard this year. You’ve got 80s / early 90s techno bangers like “Delve” and “Launch Cod”e, with their plucky fm basslines and jacking 909 grooves that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Nexus 21, or perhaps 808 State, or even an early Orbital record. Then you got the appropriately titled “Industrial Sub”, “Visions”, and “Mission Control”, which sound like long lost demos from Leeds’ legendary electronica outfit LFO. There’s a lot of blatant Detroit influences on this album too; the track “Short Circuit” is an obvious nod to Derrick May’s “The Dance”, possibly even sampling the exact same DX7 square wav from that classic dancefloor belter. That’s not a dig at all, I love it. And for you strict EBM muscle bros, need not worry, there’s the track “XXX Scene”, with its sexual energy, punchy bass and heavy Wax Trax coded industrial drums which would not sound out of place on a Greater Than One or Randolph and Mortimer record. “The Future” and “Darkside” are heavy midtempo shredders with hints of Belgian new beat that will make you want to wear a windbreaker and sunglasses and dance very silly. The only possible downside of this album is it does have a lot of tracks, a whole 18 to be exact, and there isn’t TOO much variety, hell some basslines and beats are recycled here and there, so I can understand why one might not want to listen to this album in its entirety. But if you ask me, it’s better to have too many bangers than not enough bangers. Also, if you’re like me and you fucking love oldskool dance music thats groovy, laid-back, AND nasty (you’re a real one if you understand that reference), it’s honestly a perfect album from start to finish and there are really not very many other artists out there at the moment who scratch that specific itch more than Tom Carruthers.
Future Wave by Tom Carruthers

Ian Ross of Flesh Field


genCAB, Signature Flaws
I recall watching a documentary on the history of comic books years ago wherein during an interview with a writer, the writer reflects upon his reading of Watchmen for the first time. After completing Watchmen, the writer stated when he returned to the office, he trashed all of the scripts he had been working on and told his colleagues, “We can do better.” I had the same reaction upon listening to the new genCAB album Signature Flaws particularly with respect to the vocal performance. The thought, effort, and production that went into the vocals on this album really struck me and I resolved to try harder on my own material. Many thanks to GenCAB for raising the bar and inspiring me to try to improve!
Signature Flaws by genCAB

Mason McMorris of Ringfinger


Fearing, Destroyer
Fearing’s first full length effort since their transition into full drum machine territory builds upon the still-relatively-fresh foundation laid by 2022’s Desolate EP and doubles down on the dreary atmosphere of their back catalog. This album took some time to grow on me, but a few evening walks and bike rides through this autumn’s heavy fog have cemented it into regular rotation for me. Sometimes all it takes is the right context. As much as I enjoyed the live drums on earlier releases, this is a band that shines brightest to me when building textures over comparatively repetitive, grid-locked sequences. There’s a decidedly more California vibe to this release, with more upbeat, smoother sounds akin to fellow Californians Provoker seeping through the dour exterior of some of these tracks, especially on the title track, but never enough to derail the atmosphere. Conversely, the album stands out most to me at its lower tempos, with tracks like “The Sun Sets On Me” using space and minimalism to great effect. The ideal soundtrack to get lost in a dreary West Coast fog.
Destroyer by FEARING

See you tomorrow for the first 10 entries in our Best of 2023 countdown!

The post Friends of I Die: You Die 2023 Favourites appeared first on I Die: You Die.

We Have A Technical 486: Hackers Up In Here

HEALTH

Bruce and Alex fight their way through the flu to talk about recent records by HEALTH and 3Teeth, with the ins and outs of various form of industrial rock and metal being discussed along the way. Also, the stacked lineup of their local Verboden Festival is discussed. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or download directly or listen through the widget down below. 

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Notausgang, “Shredded With Time”

Notausgang - Shredded WIth Time

Notausgang
Shredded With Time
X-IMG

I think it’s fair to say that the techno-EBM crossover craze crested in 2023 if it hadn’t already done so in the previous year. Mainstream coverage seems to be down (and if a Berghain analogue appearing in John Wick 4 wasn’t a sign that the underground had been in mainstream consciousness for some time I don’t know what is), and in industrial focused clubs the same old concrete kicks aren’t enough to get you primetime play. All this is to say that if you’re going to continue to trade in the style you’d better be damned technically accomplished, and more importantly have enough personality in your productions to keep them from being lost in the shuffle. Lucky for us, and for the always dialed in X-IMG label, that description fits France’s Notausgang to a tee, and he delivers on it properly with his new tape.

Links with acid and the less austere, more colourful sides of body music have always made Notausgang distinct, and while Shredded With Time finds him heading into icier (and possibly more distinctly post-industrial) territory than ever before, he’s keeping the former firmly in place on that trek. The cinematic, sweeping lead programming of opener “All The Light Between” might suggest trance or futurepop depending on your clubbing pedigree, but either way it sits in evocative contrast to the rhythm programming, which has exactly the sort of rubbery shudder we’ve come to expect from Notausgang.

Albumcraft isn’t really something that releases in this style are judged upon, and while I’m not going to claim that Shredded With Time is a masterpiece of concept or sequencing, its willingness to not just go right down the pipe with the most obvious of choices or arrangements makes it as pleasant to listen to in the car or on a nighttime walk as on a proper club system. Early highlight “The Empty Figure” uses dramatic, stabbing strings to cinch itself in more than its rhythm, while the sawtooth disco of “Hide Behind Yourself” is progressively filtered and layered in such a way that it sounds like a track that started playing while you were still outside the club and has nearly run its course by the time you’re on the floor. When the seriously doofy kicks of “Wuterengel” come in two thirds of the way through the tape, they hit heavier for having been absent until that point, the track bringing hypnotic vintage dark electro into the now much the way Gatekeeper did more than a decade ago.

A little bit of variety goes a long way in this style, and there’s a good amount of it in a tight package in Shredded With Time. Whatever the future of TBM turns out to be, the combination of fundamental compositional soundness and individual style Notausgang’s had on lock since we started checking his work out in 2019 will serve him in good stead. 

Buy it.

Shredded With Time by Notausgang

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Neuroticfish, “The Demystification of the Human Heart”

Neuroticfish
The Demystification of the Human Heart
Non Ordinary Records

Sasha Mario Klein has been steadily refining the nature of his work as Neuroticfish since the project’s return from a decade long hiatus in 2015. The last eight years have shown the producer and performer’s focus becoming ever more personal and emotional, no small feat given the passionate nature of his peak futurepop-era take on the German electro sound. On Demystification of the Human Heart Klein and longtime collaborator Henning Verlage have delivered possibly the least ambiguous and most direct Neuroticfish record to date, a frank examination of Klein’s own state of mind, and an exploration of the limits of his empathy and understanding.

Which is basically to say, that like every Neuroticfish album there are club contenders, but the songs that fit into the band’s anthemic singalongs are shaded with a directness that feels very different. Where Neuroticfish has frequently dealt in ambiguity when it comes to the subjects of songs (often leaving the listener to question whether Klein is addressing himself or someone else), the energy of cuts like “Bring the Noise” and “Echokammer” is clearly directed outwards. Whether those uptempo and slickly produced cuts have the sort of easily to recall melodies that you would expect, their lasting impression is in Klein’s frustration with some unnamed friend or acquaintance, addressing relationships gone toxic or his own disgust at a lack of compassion. “We Are Not Safe”, on which Sasha rages against the futility of online interaction and how it has enabled our worst social tendencies is a key moment; its one of the album’s most slamming, club-ready cuts because Klein understands the power of a catchy tune to convey his message, and is taking full advantage.

That’s heavy stuff no doubt, but the sonic palette of the LP offsets it to a degree. As listeners have come to expect the production is sleek, tasteful, and carefully treads the line between modern mainsteam pop electronics and the project’s schwarz roots. The crispness of the design and sound design certainly helps to keep the record from being a giant downer. The diffuse bitterness in “Rival”‘s lyrics is balanced by its speedy sequencing and bright pads, while the somber mood of “Tail Lights” is given lift by its snappy drums and and arps.

That careful construction extends over into the overall shape of the record: even for a project that his traditionally been good with albumcraft, there’s a real consistency in delivery here that elevates each track. Opening with a soft, piano-led ballad like “Impostor Syndrome” is a choice; it’s the kind of song that might have been a late or final track on any preceding record, but in this case allows Sasha to plainly announce his state of mind from the outset, its notes of sorrow and uncertainty setting the table for the interpersonal themes of the album. That sadness runs through the breakbeat driven synthpop of “Light My Way” and the showstopping slowburn of “Rain”, but each explores it from a different angle, the former as plaintive call for help in dark times, the latter as a necessary if not welcome farewell to some malignant presence in his life. It also means that the album’s truly uplifting moments like the bouncy “How to Suffer” have unusual impact, its soft, slightly resigned melancholy washed away by notes of hope in its chorus, the light shining a bit brighter due to the darkness of its surroundings.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Demystification of the Human Heart is its transparency; while the production, songwriting and performance are as smooth and considered as ever, this might be the first time that the content of the songs is the most memorable part of a Neuroticfish record. You may well here some of these at your local club, or on online DJ streams, but the message that Sasha Mario Klein centers here resonates beyond those venues. Its an album born from a deep personal discontent, that manages to address it and while not entirely resolve it, at least engage with it in ways that feel honest and, as has always been the case with Neuroticfish, deeply sincere. Recommended.

Buy it.

The Demystification Of The Human Heart by Neuroticfish

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Tracks: December 11th, 2023

It’s the last week of regularly scheduled coverage here at the site before our Year End coverage kicks off. We always do our best to cover as many releases we believe to be relevant to our specific take on dark music before taking a retrospective look; we know that some stuff will always slip through the cracks and we’ll spend some of January catching up, but until then here’s the last Tracks post of 2023!

The ever stylish Black Nail Cabaret

Cyberaktif, “A Single Trace”
Skinny Puppy is officially over, but Cevin Key is staying busy with the official announcement of the long promised new Cyberaktif project. For those keeping score, its been 32 years since Key, his Puppy bandmate Dwayne Goettel and Bill Leeb of Front Line Assembly released their classic industrial side project supergroup LP Tenebrae Vision so “A Single Trace” has been a long time in the making. With FLA’s Rhys Fulber in new incarnation of the band, its a cut that has modern Front Line production, Key’s squelchy organic modular synth textures and a quite nice chorus from Leeb. Keen to hear what the album eNdgame will bring when it drops in February 2024.
eNdgame by Cyberaktif

Black Nail Cabaret, “Autogenic”
It’s been a few years since we had a new LP of original material from Black Nail Cabaret, the cabaret darkwave act we’ve grown quite fond of since we started tracking them. “Autogenic” is our first taste of new album Chrysanthemum, and it leans further into club ready sounds than ever before, tastefully though; its unmistakably Black Nail Cabaret not just via Emese Arvai-Illes’ distinctive voice, but via the smoky textures that are the band’s trademark.
Chrysanthemum (Deluxe Edition) by Black Nail Cabaret

Ortrotasce, “Seeing Red”
A third solid single in as many months from Ortrotasce? We’re certainly not going to complain, especially when they’re showing off the range of styles Nic Hamersly is capable of working within. The nimble coldwave vein running right through this track is pure and clear, while its EBM elements are of a totally different (though no less infectious) order than recent body music banger “Ignite Me”.
Seeing Red by Ortrotasce

Kenny Campbell, “The Absence of Pain”
Wie Ein Gott, the Belin label run by XTR HUMAN’s Johannes Stabel is celebrating their first anniversary with a new compilation, speaking largely to the label’s modern techno-body remit. Admittedly, that’s a sound we’ve been less keen on in recent years, which is what makes this comp fun, the cuts on it – from the likes of Blac Kolor, Zaatar, Black Light Odyssey amongst others – feel proper EBM with some crossover appeal as opposed to warmed over techno with a few mettalic drum hits.
VA#02 by WIE EIN GOTT

Weever, “Eclat de Noirceur”
Industrial techno which thematically aims at 13th century warfare is a pretty specific remit; not since Heimataerde have we bumped into an act with so particular of a medieval concept. Weever are unlikely to be musically mistaken for the latter though, with tracks like this one from the M​é​moires de Guerre tape weaving synthesized horns, hurdy-gurdys, and the like in with scraping techno plateaus.
Mémoires de Guerre by Weever

Serpents, “In Your Mind”
A mammoth 3CD retrospective of German dark EBM act Serpents is on deck from Electro Aggression Records. Featuring re-recorded tracks and plenty of archival material, the reissue of their 1992 L’Age D’Or cassette (pour one out for the always niche Negative Choice tape labe) also includes this new track which has just as much menacing shuffle as any of their vintage work.
L'Age D'Or by SERPENTS

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Observer: Fiero & Caress


Fiero
Pulse Seductor
Synthicide

While the copy accompanying the new Fiero EP Pulse Seductor isn’t shy about touting the Colombian born producer’s penchant for classic Belgian new beat, a listener might make numerous other musical connections when listening to the EP’s four tracks. The synthline of opener “Wild Desire” has traces of original school trance via the KLF in its delayed arpeggios, the track’s pounding kick and menacing bassline serving to keep the track from going to Balaeric disco territory. Follow-up “Inhale” is a mite cheekier in its execution, the repeated “Cocaine” vocal sample meshing with the classic electropop synthline that pops up during its breakdown. “Queen of the Nile” appears in both a classic new beat style led by detuned synth stabs, and an EBM remix by Darlos Zeill that pumps harder and tosses in some acid for good measure. The latter is a contrast with “Catching a Bid”, which approaches body music via its gnarly FM synths, a different if no less identifiable approach to the style. By marrying new beat markers with the styles directly influenced by those same sounds, Pulse Seductor ends up highlighting the scope and long shadow of the all-too-brief musical movement.
Pulse Seductor by Fiero

Caress - Night Call
Caress
Night Call
Negative Gain Productions

A recent addition to the Negative Gain roster, one-woman act Caress has been self-releasing darkwave tracks for a number of years leading up to proper debut Night Call. While relatively short, the LP finds LA’s Tara Jane moving through a relatively wide range of expressions of darkwave, moving from doomy guitar to club-focused beats and back again. While a couple of tracks cleave a bit too closely to the current Boy Harsher template (“Mortal Flaw”), those are the exception rather than the rule and for my money it’s when things take a dreamier and more melodic approach that Night Call is at its best. The restless coldwave drift of “Temporary Lover” has an unexpected amount of air and lift in its arrangement, and the cryptic nature of the refrain of “Dark Age”, “we don’t even know how she died,” is somehow made more eerie by virtue of the bright synthpop pulse of the track. The sweet tingle of the title track shows that Jane has a sense that material like this lives and dies by atmosphere and melody, and that she’s capable of both.
Night Call by Caress

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