Man, I can’t even tell you how relieved I am that the sun has family come to Van City, and brought its friends beach drinking and patio chillin’ with it. Sure, I can enjoy the sublime indifference of unending grey skies stretching out across the years as much as the next chochacho, but minus a nice visit with Mr. Sun, how’s a dude supposed to properly appreciate the dysphoria of a somber season without end?
So yeah, get your summer dresses and your board short on, and load some of these new tunes to jam out on headphones or in your whip. It’s all ID:UD all summer, y’all!
Modulate, “Robots”
First time I heard this track was DJ Tom Gold playing it at Festival Kinetik back in 2011. If I recall correctly Modulate was also selling merch branded around it, and it played a starring role in his live-set. Seems weird that it took this long to drop as a single, but hey, it’s a testament to how crazy catchy this Daft Punk homage is; it stood out then and held onto a spot in my rapidly deteriorating brainpan for well over a year. The single drops tomorrow on Metropolis and Infacted, I expect it to be pretty ubiquitous pretty quick.
Caustic, “Bury You Alive”
Here it is, the first sound from the forthcoming Caustic album The Man Who Couldn’t Stop! This is the record that had a runaway success of a Kickstarter a few months back, and consequently has a built-in audience eager to see where Matt Fanale is taking the project post his Metropolis debut The Golden Vagina of Fame and Profit last year. In Twitter and FB posts Matt has been saying the record will be pretty varied stylistically, and this jam seems to suggest that we’ll be getting some solid club jams in that mix. I quite like the pitched up samples and the big synth lead on this one; it’s a big room banger for sure. I know Uberbyte did some production on the record, might this be one of his? Looking forward to checking out more new material from El Caustico at the Seattle date of the “Eternal Legends of Metropolis Records” tour with Everything Goes Cold, which those of you on the Best Side should make a point of checking out.
The Horrorist, “Take This Step”
Okay, before I say anything else, I’m gonna level with you. I didn’t really like Oliver’s vocals on this track the first time I heard them. They just seemed a little too on the nose, a little too dry in the mix. A couple of listens later and I’ve gotten past that specific gripe and am actually digging into the song itself, and there’s some meat to chew on there, let me tell you. The thing I like about much of The Horrorist’s recent productions has been that they straddle the line between techno and classic EBM at roughly about the point the two genres diverged (despite the best efforts of homeys like TALLA 2XLC, long may he reign). So yeah, woozy bangin’ drums, weird detuned synths and razor sharp cymbals for days? Be interesting how of the forthcoming album Fire Funmania is like this, I could find a use for a few more like this for sure.
Take this Step – The Horrorist from Oliver Chesler on Vimeo.
Drowning the Colossus, “Astral Goth (∆AIMON remix)”
Y’all must know about ∆AIMON by now. They’re the band we seemingly can’t stop talking about and listening to this year, and fortunately there’s been a steady stream of remix work from the Californian duo to keep our hunger sated post the release of (maybe the best thing we’ve heard this year thus far) 2012 EP FLATLINER. This remix for Miami’s youthful drag hopefuls Drowning the Colossus hits the spot, big airy textures, bits of piano and strings drenched in cavernous reverb that never feels overly processed or digital. If you’re sleeping on ’em or holding out because of their association with witch house, I don’t even know what to tell you, except that it’s your loss, cousin. By the by, the whole of the EP from which this comes is a free download. Snap it up over heah!
Crossover, “Luv Sick Vampires”
Crossover have been putting out records for a decade now, starting off with a more of-the-moment electroclash sound on their Fantasmo album for International Gigollo Deejays back in ought two. They’ve popped onto my radar a few times since then (their song “Dark Blue” was a bridge song in my DJ sets for a few years), and I’m feeling the *ahem* witchy-electro vibe this track from their recent album Gloom for Desire has. I haven’t checked out the whole record yet, but will make a point of doing so in future, I would happily include more stuff in this vein on my Late Summer Nights playlist.
Vomito Negro, “Enemy of the State”
Dudes and dudettes, we are pretty hyped up about the forthcoming album from Vomito Negro. Gin Devo and current partner in crime Sam Devos threw down the Slave Nation EP a few years back, which, while maintaining the VN legacy of pitch-black EBM, also had a distinctly queasy and unsettling quality we were piqued by. The album drops in September, probably just in time for the end of summer, beginning of fall doldrums, appropriately enough. Black Barf don’t exactly make good time beach-party music, unless you vacation in say, Interzone.
