Well, folks, it’s just about that time. The holidays, you say? Hell no. Year-end list time. The senior staff are already engaged in pitched battle, dug into our respective trenches and giving no quarter as we argue and petition for our personal favourites to make the list, while our friends and contributors pontificate over which releases they’d like to champion. But the font of cool new music doesn’t just stop at our convenience just so we can catch our breath and look back, no sir. So, let’s kick off 2012’s last week of regularly scheduled programming with five new cuts!

Forces, “Overland (In My Mind)”
This is just tickling me all over. This Melbourne duo just dropped a 4-track EP which hybridizes EBM with 90s techno in a similar fashion to Fostercare’s Altered Creature, but perhaps with the polarities reversed. A great release worth every penny, as landing an opening slot for Gatekeeper would suggest. Also, check this interview they just did with Mishka.

By Any Means Necessary, “STASIS IX: GJ1214-B [rough demo]”
More excellent evil from Sam Witherspoon’s By Any Means Necessary. There’s still plenty of the dark electro vibe we got on BAMN’s recent Thousandth Door split, but with a heavy dollop of spacey, classic cinematic synth sweeps. We’ve been saying you should be tracking BAMN for a while now, and tracks like this are the reason why.

Mild Peril, “Orb I”
Speaking of classic synth sounds, I liked Christopher Gilbert’s Mild Peril mix for Soft Riot, which brought some vintage Tangerine dreaminess. In anticipation of a new EP, Gilbert’s collected his extant Mild Peril tracks into a new digital comp. Big, warm leads and deep atmospheres abound; really looking forward to digging into this release further.

Blush Response, “America”
New York’s Joey Blush is about to drop Tension Strategies, his second LP as Blush Response. The lead single’s trashy mix of electro and rock is a good introduction to the sounds Blush trades in, though there’s some cool acid on the b-side. Is this testing whether I’m a rivethead or a lesbian, Mr. Deckard?

Violet Tremors, “Control SubMission”
A dancefloor remix of “Control Submarine” from Violet Tremor’s promising debut, Time Is The Traitor. Released to mark the one-year anniversary of that album, we’re hoping this track’s a sign that we won’t have to wait another year to hear more great minimal wave weirdness from the LA group.