What a weekend it’s been! Verboden is officially in the can, and after four full days of cramming in as much live dark music as we can, we’re pooped. So pooped, in fact, that we thought this would be a great week to turn things over to the community in the Telekon Slack channel we run with Talking To Ghosts. The crew there are talking about new music non-stop, and with the mix of artists and aficionados we have, we knew they’d come up with a great slew of tracks!
Maenad Veyl, “Talon”
Lately I’ve been very hungry for a specific type of EBM/techno fusion, and while perusing the “ebm” tag on Bandcamp, this track from Italian techno producer Thomas Fereiro (AKA Avatism) under the moniker Maenad Veyl grabbed me very hard indeed. With a gritty metallic staccato to the dominant synth riff and deep, echoing percussion, the ebbs and flows call back to a classic acid sound that sits this track down in good company with the current crop of techno producers pulling influence straight from the backcatalog of EBM’s halcyon days. – Hexcession (FKA Pathogen)
Gör FLsh, “Long Roads”
Hailing from Québec City, Gör FLsh blends heavy metal, industrial and a dash of EBM and whips it into a frenetic track that challenges the electronic genre. Durand’s seamless mixing of complex sounds begs one to don the 80’s metal jacket you wish you had stashed in your closet and to rock our with fingers raised. A little retro, a lot modern and thoroughly fun. – Aisha
Lana Del Rabies, “Vicious End”
Under the appropriately transmutative name, Lana Del Rabies, Phoenix based artist Sam An continues to confront the chaos and uncertainties of this anxious world with her harrowing and visceral work. Released March 23rd on Deathbomb Arc, her new album, Shadow World, offers an unflinching blend of punishing rhythms and unsettling vocals – revealing darkness and a personal intensity, equally on display, as seen in the video for Vicious End. In producing Shadow World, Sam An writes that she found herself dealing with an incredibly difficult year, partly due to the current political climate, but also for personal reasons. She states: “I felt a lot of darkness in the public consciousness as well as a lot of darkness in myself. Things happened that were out of my control, things happened in situations where I lost control of myself.” This seems to underline a tone of deep purging presented in Vicious End. Its repetitive dissonance and uncomfortably pure catharsis shares a beautiful expression of honesty cut clearly through the noise. – Brant Showers of ∆AIMON
Peter Turns Pirate, “Jaw Drop”
The one man force of nature known as Peter Turns Pirate is back at it again with a new EP. “View As Strange” features five new tracks and as an added bonus, tracks from his last EP. However, this particular track is a favorite of mine. A hard driving, body moving three minutes and twenty-six seconds rife with braggadocio with pop qualities laced in it. Pop seems to be a dirty word in industrial, but this song makes it work pretty damn well. It’s as frenetic and action packed as the singer himself. I think it’ll get even the staunchest Goth up and moving. – Danesha Artis, Standard Issue Citizen
Locked Club, “Osaka Madness feat. RLGN”
I can’t find much about Russia’s Locked Club, but their track “Osaka Madness” with RLGN has made me excited to hear what else is going to be coming on their ЛОМАЙ EP. Pulling more towards techno than EBM perhaps, a simple bassline pulses through the track, complemented by a bright, sort of lo-fi pluck that carries the pace of the song. The song constantly evolves – driving hats and the pluck flow into claps layered with metallic clangs, contrasting with a sort of soft pad, which gives way to a hard, driving bass line that makes your body move for the full five minutes. –
Wesley Mueller, The Blood Of Others, Talking To Ghosts
Relic, “Pray”
Cincinnati’s Relic may be one of the most aptly named projects in the industrial rock genre, drawing heavy influence from its golden age of the early 1990’s. Their new EP, Social Drift, would not sound out of place on either the Re-Constriction nor Fifth Colvmn labels from that era. With several highlights over its six tracks, one of the numbers standing out it is “Pray”. It’s very reminiscent of the output of Numb’s early catalogue, replete with stabbing synths & sub-automatic basslines. This is definitely an act to keep your eyes on. -JSun Lhundub Dorti Bruner, Dharmata 101
Sophya, “Technicolor”
Israel’s Sophya are releasing their first proper studio album since 2006’s Third Wish. The teaser they’ve given us with “Technicolor” showcases their cross-pollination of darkwave and dreampop, with shimmering guitars and woozy synths forming an ambiance that is simultaneously warm but somber, soaring but withdrawn. Sonja Rozenblum also sings in the band’s native language on this track (I assume). I Die: You Die has been speculating that 2018 is the year of a major darkwave revival in the universe of Our Thing. If that holds true throughout the year, then Sophya’s return could not have picked a more fitting time to release a new record. Broken Mirrors comes out April 21st. – Zander, Lilith, PhxGoth.com
