We already gave it a holler on the Twitter, but we’d strongly recommend giving a listen to the brief listen to S. Alexander Reed’s quick chat with NPR show “The Best Of Our Knowledge” concerning industrial’s origins and its connections to social and political protest in the broadest possible senses. I’m not sure about you, but I’m pretty dog tired of fumbling for a more accurate description than “really aggressive and discordant electronic music” or “do you know Nine Inch Nails?” when a well-meaning relative or service-person asks me about the Statiqbloom shirt I’m wearing or what sort of music festival I’m flying to City X for. In addition to having an encyclopedic knowledge of industrial, Alex has honed the skill of being able to summarize and triangulate the genre in an accessible manner. Hold on to that link and keep it ready at hand for the next time a co-worker wonders what the deal is with the death disco music you’re always listening to. On to this week’s tracks!
Rotersand borrowed equally from Surgyn and Giuseppe Arcimboldo for their new aesthetic.
Rotersand, “Torn Realities”
A couple of years after re-working and re-creating their debut LP as Truth Is Fanatic Again, Rotersand are finally releasing entirely new material. It’s not clear at the moment whether the Torn Realities single portends an entirely full-length, but we’re getting a sense of where the act’s collective heads are at with this glossy slice of anthemic synthpop (with an oddly glaring Depeche Mode sample). Recent releases by Beborn Beton, Neuroticfish, and others have shown how European synth acts who were smashing clubs at the turn of the millennium can mature with grace, and Rotersand certainly have the pedigree to do the same.
A Vengeance, “Entity”
Intriguing soundscapes abound on the debut EP from shadowy UK duo A Vengeance. Sound design is completely on point, at times grimy and at others utterly austere. Should appeal to fans of Perc and Vatican Shadow, as well as the strictest of industrial purists. Don’t sleep.
Blush Response, “Scalebound”
A similar metallic thump n’ grind can be found on the latest tune from our boy Blush Response. He’s taken to Berlin like a fish to water, as the Silent Servant-like snap of this tune well proves. The comp it’s featured on also includes Phase Fatale and SΛRIN amongst others, so you’re getting the new techno/EBM crossover summed up quite well.
Celldöd, “Övergångsrit III (First Version)”
Well, this is something very different. We’d noticed that Anders Karlsson had recently played a co-headlining Celldöd set with Trepaneringsritualen, but didn’t think too much of it. But if this demo is any indication, Karlsson’s steering his project away from the pure and dry techno/EBM which won us over and is cracking open the blast furnace of straight-up death industrial. Whether this is a momentary itch that needed to be scratched or a sign of things to come, we’ll let you know.
Econocon, “Survivors”
Folks who heard our recent discussion of the Nexus Kenosis LP may have been a tad befuddled by the far-reaching genre tags we were applying to the various projects of Henrik Nordvargr Björkk. If it all seemed a tad difficult to suss out by inference, not to worry: Björkk’s just dropped a by-donation sampler of eleven tracks from a slew of his incarnations, dating back to the early 90s. Find out which expression of distorted Swedish noise best suits your disposition!
Neon Shudder, “Cargo Occult”
Philadelphia synthwave outfit Neon Shudder take things down a notch with their new EP. Not just using downtempo as a means of cooling their heels, some interesting percussive fills and almost darkwave motifs begin to work their way in.
