We mentioned it on the podcast this past week, but holy crumbs, the deluge of albums coming in the next few weeks is out of control. We ain’t complaining (okay maybe a little), but how is a small time operation like ol’ ID:UD supposed to keep up when the scope of what we like to cover and the number of releases is constantly expanding? To those who have spent the last couple of years talking about how the dark music scene is “dead” or “dying”, we have a whole list of records you need to hear. Expand your horizons a little and you’ll find plenty out there to satiate your appetite. Like, for example, some of the songs we’ve assembled for Tracks this week.

Codex Empire is as we pictured.

Weird Candle, “Real Life (Alt Universe Mix)”
If you needed a good example of how Van City synthpunkers Weird Candle can’t stand still stylistically, you’ll want to check out this new version of “Real Life”. The original version from 2014’s Regeneration was an effective slice of desperation, all the more effective for its minute and a half run time. This new version takes the sweaty discomfort of the original and stretches it out until it snaps back into focus, all sharp edges and hard, wet impact. Good stuff from a hometown act who never sit still, not for a moment.

Memmaker, “Manipulate”
It’s been eight long years, but Yann Faussurier and Guillaume Nadon have finally unleashed a follow-up to Memmaker’s How To Enlist In A Robot Uprising. So much of the world has changed, but given that the LP’s titled Let There Be Lasers it’s safe to say Memmaker still have the incineration of all puny fleshlings in order to pave the way for a glorious new cybernetic regime on the mind. We’ll have a full review up in the days to come, but for now here’s a slice of the same sort of dancefloor catnip which instantaneously won us over to Memmaker’s cause lo those many years ago.

The Klinik, “Moving Hands (Helena Hauff remix)”
From time to time you’ll hear folks from well outside Our Thing give Dirk Ivens’ pioneering work its due, and we’ve got a nice object lesson in that here. German electro DJ Helena Hauff takes The Klinik’s stone classic “Moving Hands” back in time, drawing a line to Ivens’ minimal wave origins with her mix released on a new EP of updates on wave classics. We were on the fence until the unmistakable echoing clap percussion kicked in.

Codex Empire, “Fumifugium”
Is EBM or Techno? This is a question we find ourselves asking an awful lot lately. Thankfully, we came up with a helpful formula to determine where songs like this one from Codex Empire land in the stylistic spectrum:

1) Does the bassline move your body?

2) Do the drums hit hard and hit often?

If the answer to those questions is yes (and in this case, fuck yes), then who cares what you call it, put it on and crank it up. This one drops May 9th on [aufnahme + wiedergabe], best keep alert.

Xander Harris, “View of Dark Temptation”
The homies Josh Reed (aka Kangarot) and Chris Paladin (aka Mild Peril amongst many others) have never made any bones about the debt their music owes to Tangerine Dream. Who better than to assemble a tribute to Edgar Froese, founding member of the group who passed a little over a year ago, leaving behind a legacy of incredible cosmic synth music that spans decades and galaxies? Coming in at five tracks A Tribute to Edgar Froese has more than enough spacey verbs and bubbling bass to pay proper homage to the man himself. For a slightly shorter taste of the comp’s flavour check this tasty morsel from Texas’ Xander Harris.

Information Society, “Dominion”
It somehow slipped through our filters a couple of weeks back that synthpop pranksters Information Society have a new covers record out. Some of the selections make sense (an 8-bit rendition of Devo’s “Beautiful World”), others are pleasant puzzlers (Jen from Ayria tagging in for a hardstyle version of a Winnie The Pooh tune), but you’ll definitely have to pull the browser over to the curb to take a look at the roadside delight that is Information Society tackling “Dominion/Mother Russia”. Surely the most compelling Sisters cover we’ve heard since Destroid took up “Lucretia”.