Ah friends, the weekend slips by so quickly doesn’t it? Before we get to our usual serving of new tunes, we’d like to take a quick moment to note that this is the 138th Tracks post, not a bad record seeing as we’ve only been around for slightly shy of three years. It’s sort of an anchor for us as an editorial entity, and has become a pretty good avenue to use to decide what our editorial direction is going to be re: coverage and acts to watch out for. The story of I Die: You Die can be traced through these postings, and it’s actually kind of fun to go back to some of the earliest entries and see what was turning our cranks in the heady days of 2011. Still, we can’t sit around reminiscing forever: let’s check out what this week has brought us, shall we?
Terminal Gods: Just looking to help grannies carry their groceries up the stairs, no doubt.
Die Form, “Schaulust (Scopic Pulsion)”
Not sure if we’ve ever written anything about Die Form on the website, but no matter how you feel about the French S&M enthusiasts you gotta acknowledge that they’re not only amongst the longest running industrial acts of all time, but in fact one of the longest running electronic music projects full stop. Although their first LP appeared in 1982, Phillipe Fichot had been self-releasing cassettes since the mid-seventies by that point, which means the powerful bondage+synth aesthetic that has been their calling card is now running close to 40 years. Check out new single “Schaulust” and marvel at how kind the years have been to these perverse hedonists.
Animal Bodies, “The Golden Triangle”
Another new one from one of our fave local acts Animal Bodies, this one on more of a coldwave and NDW tip. Without wanting to repeat ourselves too much, you need to know about Animal Bodies, from their rapidly evolving presence as an intense live act, to the way their sound can fluidly change shape and genre without losing their distinctive throb and strangled guitars. Hella mysterious and even more exciting once you know about them. Make a point of listening to this new nod to the Order of the Golden Dawn and join us in anticipating their next LP.
Querpusher, “Emptyset (Subspace Distorters Vs. LFO RMX)”
It’s more than safe to say that Basic Unit Productions is now miles away from being simply a vehicle for Daniel Myer and Dejan Samardzic’s self-releases. Between full-lengths by Blac Kolor and Blush Response, and perhaps most importantly their Frost compilation, the small label’s quickly forged an identity vested in the cutting edge of industrial/techno crossover. Frost Vol. 2 was just released, and is chock-full of insistent, repeating mindfucks like this acid-tinged one. Cop it.
Terminal Gods, “Cold Life”
As we noted the last time we heard from them, London’s great goth rock hope has found some new ways to crank out riffy anthems, and have found a more distinct identity for themselves in the process. There are a couple more colours in this composition, with fuzzier guitars and more pronounced programmed drum pummeling, but as with almost everything they’ve done it’s the vocal harmonization which cinches the deal. Looks like another single and a quick European jaunt are in the works.
Architect, “The Sun (Textbeak Remix)”
Speaking of new Myer-related steez, another handful of companion mixes to our favourite record of last year, Architect’s Mine, just went up on Hymen’s Bandcamp. That record was such a piece of auteurship that we’re glad that its remixes have been kept discrete from its original release (a topic we touched on a while ago in a podcast), allowing us to check various interpretations, like this exotica-and-static blend from producer and all around Man of the Internet, Mike Textbeak, free of the full context of the album. Speaking of free, that’s what these mixes are, so grab ’em.
Be My Enemy feat. Mangadrive, “Kill Your Television”
Hey, you got uptempo tweaky psy-trance all over my chugged up guitar-industrial! A not-totally unexpected combination of two artists we routinely check for, we’re happy to hear how well Been Teknofiend aka Mangadrive’s particular brand of thrills n’ spills electronics fit with Be My Enemy’s mechanized guitar attack. It’s one of those best of both worlds type scenrios, and especially handy in tearing apart the mildly annoying “retro” tag a few of the recent guitar-based industrial acts have been saddled with; this is right-now music, Transatlantic assault tunes for whatever local conflict you happen to be embroiled in.
