Morning, gang! Man, folks really gave us the business over the past few days for saying that 05:22:09:12 Off was a bit meh on the last podcast. We’ll be following up on that in this week’s episode, believe you me, but that sort of back and forth with readers and listeners is a huge part of what keeps us recording podcasts and writing episodes. Hell, it’s those sorts of discussion-cum-arguments which led to us starting this whole thing up, and we’re overjoyed to have more people pull up barstools and keep the record talk going. On with this week’s Tracks!
Yeah, yeah, we know how it goes: first comes the arena tour slot, then the flashy endorsements...
3Teeth, “Slavegod”
We’ve failed to talk about it on the podcast, but it’s interesting to think about what 3Teeth landing an opening spot on the upcoming spate of Tool dates portends. As with Youth Code heading out with AFI, I love the idea of one of the hungriest and most confrontational acts in Our Thing tackling (and likely polarizing) an unfamiliar stadium’s worth of nostalgic alt-rock concertgoers. Whether these are signs of renewed wider interest in (or perceived marketability of) industrial sounds remains to be seen, but 3Teeth are heading out armed with a new sludgy track which integrates some Godflesh-esque payload into their arsenal. Congrats, boyos: attack with extreme prejudice.
Marsheaux, “We Met Bernard Sumner At A Christmas Party Last Night”
When I first skimmed past this song’s title on Twitter, I assumed it to simply be a celebratory status update important enough to merit capitalization. Knowing that it’s actually a full track from our favourite synthpop duo, I desperately want it to still be a statement of fact: the idea of Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou drinking mulled wine and trying not to appear starstruck while Barney rambles on about his boat is just perfect. Marsheaux do a handy enough job of weaving New Order track titles into a Yuletide scene, though truth be told they don’t have to do much tweaking to their on-lock dreamy style to have it conjure images of the season.
Emu Bomb, “Sludge”
We caught wind of what amounts to the Complete Control Productions house band (consisting of members of Guilt Trip, The Pain Machinery, and Severe Illusion) when a track appeared on the excellent Inside The Volcano comp a couple of years back, but it’d been all quiet since then as far as we could tell. Turns out that there was a hella limited cassette release last year for those lucky enough to find a copy in Swedish record stores, but those of us outside of the land of Max von Sydow and Pippi Longstocking were left out in the cold until this week when the EP went up on Bandcamp with a handful of remaining tapes. Anyway, we’re getting a quick dose of pretty much everything CCP does right: mean, punky EBM with streetwise vocals.
Analfabetism, “Hundar”
Speaking of Complete Control, longtime CCP contributor Fredrik Djurfeldt has a new Analfabetism LP just out on Malignant. The first LP under that moniker felt like a consolidation of earlier project Knos’ interests around classic noise and death industrial aesthetics, and was one of the best “pure” industrial albums one could find in 2014. From my quick scanning of the follow-up, a few elements of the more ritual and atmospheric sides of death industrial are making themselves felt (perhaps making Av Hjord Är Du Kommen an ideal fit for Malignant). Expect to hear more about this release…
Council Of Nine, “Rite Of Passage”
We haven’t given new US dark ambient project Council Of Nine’s excellent debut Dakhma the attention it merits and for that I’d like to apologize. Without venturing too far from the sort of forlorn atmospheres the Cryo Chamber label has on lock, Maximillian Oliver delivered plenty of verve and personality (if we can use terms like that to describe gongs and pads which echo for what seems like hours) on that LP. It looks as though he’s on a bit of a roll, too, with a second album already prepped for release tomorrow. This lead track might point to the stronger use of chimes and pianos in Diagnosis, but that remains to be seen…
Terminal Gods, “Boundless”
Finally, and I can’t even believe I’m typing this, we have a very special Christmas single from none other than Terminal Gods. I’m on record as being fully in the tank for London’s leather-clad groove bastards and all of the recent changes in sound they’ve been advancing, but even I was stunned to hear that they were releasing a 7″ ballad about the isolation that comes with Santa Claus’ nomadic lifestyle (and with a Chris Rea cover on the B-side, no less). Surely, the saddest rock tune about St. Nick since The Murder City Devils’ “364 Days”. I’ll be sure to leave out some Alberta Premium this year for the lonely old bastard.
