Hey muchachos and muchachas, you doin’ good today? We’re just peachy keen, well over the start of the year hump and into the period when the new releases start flooding are inbox all hot n’ heavy. We ranted about this a bit on Twitter this week, but it does get under our skin when online promotions companies who have been paid by artists and labels to hype up their shit spam us with off-genre releases we don’t cover. While hitting “delete” doesn’t really take much effort, the shotgun approach to sending out promo to any and every blog or website creates a ton of background noise that ends up drowning out a lot of releases we might have otherwise been interested in. Target your PR blasts to folks who might actually cover what you’re promoting, you’ll have more luck and accrue far less ire from folks like us who don’t want to wade through 50 missives about hot new funky house remixes and indie-folk songstresses to get at the chewy goth-industrial nougat hidden beneath.
Iceland is a land of contrasts. And high-contrast photography apparently.
Legend, “Fjara”
It’s been a little over a year and a half since we first heard Legend, and we’re still rocking their self-titled debut on the regular. Something about their stoic brand of icelandic synth music (not to mention the incredible live-set we caught from them at last year’s Terminus Festival) has really stuck with us, the continuing appeal of their music dulling the occasional pang of hunger for a new record. Still, their recent split with countrymen Sólstafir has provided us something new to check out, with each act covering one of the other’s songs (Sólstafir take on “Runaway Train”, handily making it over in their own style). Check it out on Bandcamp, or snatch up the 7″ + cassingle release, now in its second pressing from Artoffact records.
In Death It Ends, “Wrathful And Sullen”
The partnership between Porl King and Aufnahme + Wiedergabe continues to be a productive one, with yet another release of occult gloom and bass having surfaced this weekend. There’s always been a hint of lounge and funk around the edges of the otherwise fathomless tunes King’s been releasing under the IDIE moniker, and those are put right into the fore here.
Be My Enemy, “Party Monster”
A little up-on-the-downstroke chuggin’ on the new single from ex-Cubanate axeman Phil Barry, aka Be My Enemy, whose mission to bring back a certain stripe of industrial rock seems close to fruition with the imminent release of new album The Enemy Within. Recommended for fans of mid-chainlink-fence-period Ministry, you can snatch the single version of the track (along with some remixes from Caustic, Keef Baker and System:FX) over on Bandcamp. The riffing will continue until morale improves.
Tregenza, “The Partisan”
What do Leonard Cohen, Haddaway, and Goteki all have in common? All are salient to the new free EP by Tregenza. Former Goteki (and before that, Sneaky Bat Machine) frontman Ross Tregenza’s released a quarter of covers that are about as far away in origin from the cybergoth steez he helped pioneer as is possible. On offer for free are tunes by Haddaway, Madge, and Sigue Sigue Sputnik (surely a stylistic influence on Ross’ earlier work), alongside Cohen’s classic tale of love during wartime in slickly produced synthwavish renditions.
Spatial Relation, “Mysteries of Chance”
It’s been a while (over a year, in fact) since we’ve had new material on the table from Nashville’s Spatial Relation, but there’s something to be said for quality control and building anticipation. This time they’re splitting 7″ duty with Milan’s Xiu, and offering a more hypnotic if no less unsettling take on their minimal wave steez. Would definitely be up for a digital/cassette type EP from these cats in the near future, just saying…
Foxxy Newport, “Killer”
San Francisco MC and vocalist Foxxy Newport came to our attention when one of his collabs with Mr.Kitty “BLVCKLODGE” came across our desk. We’re suckers for a good Twin Peaks reference, a predilection that guarantees us wanting to throw a little light on the recently released EP. While this track is a little longer on atmosphere and shorter on dancefloor immediacy, if you dig on the eternal appeal of one Laura Palmer and the circumstances surrounding her untimely passing you’ll want to give this one a listen.
