Morning, kids. We’ll be taking tomorrow off for Remembrance Day, but until then I’ve got half a dozen tunes to send you off on random Googling and Bandcamping for the rest of the week. Not a whole lot to report from the HQ over the weekend, apart from heavy growler fills from Storm Brewing and Powell Street, Alex falling deeper into Mass Effect, and roaring out a pretty great karaoke version of “Assimilate” with friends. Speaking of “Assimilate”, I don’t suppose I can tell you anything you don’t already know about the changes to the Skinny Puppy tour. It’s always great to see the boys in FLA live, and the chance of Wilhelm Schroeder picking up the old fretless bass for “Glass Houses” should keep us on tenterhooks the whole night.
Any excuse to dig up this old chestnut.
Mlada Fronta, “Flash”
It’s been nearly a decade since the last Mlada Fronta album, and from our first passes at Polygon it’s apparent that Remy Pelleschi wasn’t interested in acting like nothing had changed for him or electronic music in the interim. Big streaks of house and outrun electro can be detected right off that bat, as on this tune. Stay tuned for a full review…
Phil Western, “Strange Meat”
More rubbery weirdness from our favourite Vancouver sound guy/industrial legend. This cut off Philth’s new Decades release starts off sounding like classic minimal wave, but as expected quickly morphs into far more psyched-out terrain.
The Birthday Massacre, “Rain”
I have to admit that the past three Birthday Massacre albums haven’t really done much for me: the tantalizingly poppy direction so much of Violet was skewing in seemed to be shelved for a stronger focus on a strain of chuggy guitars which weren’t really my cup of earl grey. That said, what little I’ve heard of Superstition seems to place a stronger emphasis on the big, panoramic synthscapes which made tunes like “Holiday” and “Nevermind” my jams nearly a decade back.
DarkDriveClinic, “Slow Spines & Crystal Pearls”
I honestly wasn’t sure if we’d ever hear any more material from DarkDriveClinic; I’d heard rumours that vocalist Rebecca Coseboom had left the project, but her pipes are clearly on display on this, a continuation of her work with storied producer John Fryer. Apparently a 3-track EP’s in the works, but I’m really digging the Curve-ish chorus on this in the meantime. Also, Fryer’s got another iron in the fire with his new Silver Ghost Shimmer Project: will keep an ear open.
ELMS, “No Occult”
A new vid from Peterborough, Ontario’s sometimes acoustic, sometimes electronic, generally experimental, always emotive act ELMS. I enjoyed Alex Unger’s Divorce EP from a couple years back, and given this the forthcoming Cycles EP looks to be just as intense. Also, as a little-while inhabitant of P’boro, it’s nice to see how things are doing at the bus station.
ELMS – NO OCCULT from decipher films on Vimeo.
Shelley Parker, “Noise Floor”
Finally, some pure sample-based noise from new London producer Shelley Parker. There are hints of contemporary bass and techno around the edges of these scraping pieces, but the presence of a tune titled “Beachy Head” should give you a hint as to Parker’s knowledge of true-school industrial.
