As with every year, we’re spending the first month or so of 2016 looking to catch up on all the LPs, EPs and singles we overlooked over the previous 12 months. We already have a few in the chamber, but consider this your official invitation to let us know what we missed out on in 2015 so that we might attempt to rectify matters before the torrent of new drops starts (as it always seems to do around mid-February). We’re just two reviewers most of the time, so we actively appreciate being pointed to stuff we might not have found time for yet, in the comments section of this very post if you’re so inclined. Give it some thought, and enjoy these new Tracks while you do.

Hante.

No word on whether Hante. is as particular about the period in the name as Adult..

Hante., “My Destruction”
Parisian darkwave duo Minuit Machine were one of our favourite discoveries of 2015, and it looks like we’re starting 2016 off with new music from that camp. MM synth player Hélène de Thoury’s just released the second LP from her Hante. side project. Tunes on This Fog That Never Ends are more hushed and less grandiose than Minuit Machine, but certainly don’t lack for atmosphere or menace, as with this slightly Xymoxesque cut.

Memmaker, “Doom Ray”
Golly, has it really been 7 years since Memmaker’s How to Enlist in a Robot Uprising invaded and occupied our hearts? It feels like just yesterday that we were blasting “Get Your Ass to Mars” in the club and enjoying the considerable live antics of Guillaume Nadon and Yann Faussurier at one of their many entertaining performances at Kinetik. What’s that you say? They’re going to have a new album of intense, fun industrial dance music in 2016? Get outta here!

Venom Vampires, “Tragic TV”
Something about the kitschy name made us imagine that Texas act Venom Vampires would either be aggrotech or witch-house, but no, it’s some pretty classic dark electro stuff that’s carried off quite well. Homages to the original European masters are felt throughout this cut, but some updated production work puts them not too far off from recent acts like BITES and VALIS.

Container 90 & EkoBrottsMyndigheten, “Staden Göteborg”
What happens when two of our favourite SwEBM duos team up? Well, all four of them get drunk we assume, but also they end up recording a pretty banging version of a classic Swedish punk tune while they’re at it. We’ve been feeling a distinct lack of this kind of body body body in our musical diets of late, so it’s good to know that Sverige has us covered so to speak. Oooh Göteborg!

Ari Mason, “Brother”
We were digging on what we heard from Ari Mason a few weeks back, but her new track done changed our expectations for her on up quite a bit. Sure, “Brother” has the darkwave touches and electropop twinkle of the other tracks my Mason we’ve heard, but there’s something real torchy and yeah, a little dangerous sounding in this new one. It’s also got a pretty sweet clip co-starring labelmate Mr.Kitty, so y’all will be wanting to check that out below.

Michael Arthur Holloway, “Lift Your Curtain”
A little bit outside our scope, but something we thought regular readers would definitely want to check out, is the first taste of Michael Arthur Holloway’s (of Dead When I Found Her, natch) new side project. As he recently mentioned on our podcast, it’s rooted in the style of dark jazz which the likes of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore and The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble work in. The affinity for film noir which regularly crops up in DWIFH releases is definitely on full display in this, the lead track from Guilt Noir which will be released in two weeks.