Well, it looks like Bandcamp’s ACLU fundraiser was a big success! Thanks so much to everyone who shared our list of albums around; hopefully you were able to find some unexpected gems while browsing around Friday as well as filling in some known gaps in your collection. While Alex played it relatively safe and fiscally responsible, ticking off a reasonable number of items on his want list, Bruce went off the deep end and soon found himself gorging on Brazilian post-punk, seemingly clicking the “Buy Now” link on impulse. But a single shopping spree isn’t going to turn the never-ending tide of new music: let’s get to this week’s Tracks!
These poodles are digital, f'real.
Digital Poodle, “Soul Crush (Adam X Revision)”
Digital Poodle’s “Soul Crush” forever earned a soft spot in our hearts, and not just because of the video featuring the Toronto act fucking about in an abandoned warehouse in one of the most classically rivethead displays of all time. The track is the second of the band’s (after “Work Terminal“) to enjoy a re-release through a modern lens, with tasty yellow vinyl featuring a trio of new remixes, including this one from techno impresario Adam X.
Celldöd, “Hemliga Rum”
Always a pleasure to see something new from the homeyboy Anders Karlsson, especially when it’s with a label we fuck with. In this case it’s a new jam from Karlsson’s all-analogue minimal EBM project Celldöd that will be included on DKA Records’ hotly anticipated Strategies Against The Body vol II, due in early March. Where Celldöd has been an instrumental project by and large, this track features some yelps and chanting from Anders, reminding us of the old-school direction his previous project The Pain Machinery had taken on their last (super underrated!) LP.
Multiple Man, “Power Fantasy”
Speaking of DKA, they have the debut LP from Australia’s Multiple Man, a record we are hotly anticipating. The duo describe their sound as “CROSS CONTINENTAL HI-NRG, FIRM HANDSHAKE ELECTRONIC BODY MUSIC” (!!!), and impressed us with their firm grasp of how to integrate strict-tempo 80s funk into their EBM on their singles. Can’t wait to hear how they bring that energy to the canvass of a full length album. Recommended for fans of High-Functioning Flesh.
For All The Emptiness, “Seduced By A Disease”
Speaking of Toronto, it’s been about five years since we’ve had any new material from For All The Emptiness, but their five-track mt ep (check the artwork to catch the pun) is set to release in a couple of weeks. The first taste is a piece of classic futurepop and might be the best tune we’ve ever heard from the outfit. As always, Jonathan Kaplan’s impassioned vocals are a cut above.
The Harrow, “Kaleidoscope (Automelodi’s Sonnambula Mix)”
The Harrow’s Silhouettes won us over with its canny deployment of goth and post-punk moods. A year on, they’re returning to that release with a series of “remixes & interpretations…by various friends, collaborators, co-conspirators and the like,” which look as though they’ll be released one at a time rather than in a fell swoop. A novel approach (almost an inversion of 3TEETH’s ground-game), and one which is already paying off in the form of a gorgeous rework from Montreal synthpop savants Automelodi.
Distorted Retrospect, “Future”
Finally, a little something from friend of the site Krztov, late of Velvet Acid Christ, who has reactivated his long-dormant Distorted Retrospect project. The style of the Fragment 1 single varies a bit, with elements of futurepop, electro-industrial and EBM all represented handily. Weirdly it reminds us a bit of the melodic stuff Lost Signal was doing way back when, if you remember that particular project. Apparently there’s another single on the horizon in 2017, we’ll keep you posted.
