Oh dudes, you don’t even know how crazy excited I am for the two shows I’m seeing this week. Firstly, Danzig on Tuesday. I got a lot of affection for the first four ‘Zig records, and apparently Doyle comes out on this tour to do some Misfits numbers, so that should clear the bad karma of having paid to see Jerry Only and friends more than once in this lifetime. Secondly (and more salient to this website), this Friday we’re gonna see GARY FUCKING NUMAN. The patron saint of this blog, the alien, the synth god, the dude whose music has made the decks from German discos to Bronx block parties and all points in between. I don’t even know man, I might have some kind of conniption fit. Let’s listen to some new songs so I can calm down; if I’m this amped on Monday I might give myself a hernia if I don’t dial it back a little.
Aesthetic Perfection, “The Dark Half (BITES Remix)”
Two Los Angeles based acts come together in an unexpected but not unwelcome fashion with the uptempo, pop-oriented feel of Daniel Graves’ new Aesthetic Perfection material getting a coat of the new black in a remix from BITES. I think you can actually hear a bit of the sound BITES’ Xavier Swafford has been cooking up as part of 3 Teeth creep in around the two and a half minute mark and we’re more than okay with that. The Dark Half single drops tomorrow, with mixes from BlakOpz, Suicide Commando and ∆AIMON; I’m sure we’ll be writing something up about it shortly.
Covenant, “For Our Times (Demo)”
A pleasingly moody number from the Swedish futurepop gods, as heard on Dependent’s Dependence 2013 comp, out on Friday (and featuring a new Encephalon track we’re jazzed to hear). I’d be curious to know where this song falls in the timeline of Daniel Myer leaving the group – apparently he does have some work on the soon to be released Leaving Babylon – as this number certainly evokes the feel of some of his smoother pieces, and actually wouldn’t sound out of place next to the clips of the Architect record that made their way into our ears this week. A nice appy, now let’s see about the main course.
Cosmetics, “Black Candy”
Bruce once described Cosmetics as coming from an alternate reality where Throbbing Gristle’s “Hot on the Heels of Love” was as big a hit as Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”, and I feel that’s pretty accurate. This minimal bit of noir electropop is actually a cover of a Beat Happening tune, the transposition from dirgy twang to frigid synths is as smooth as a matte black paintjob on your new whip. Good stuff from an act we like but haven’t heard much from of late.
In Death it Ends, “Fallen”
In Death It Ends is Porl King (formerly of Rosetta Stone) making music that hails from the neighbourhood that borders witch house, post-punk and darkwave. We’ve been following this stuff for a minute now, and I gotta say, Porl’s output has been pretty ridiculous: in the two years the project has been a going concern he’s put out three LPs and a half dozen singles and EPs, makin’ hay while the black sun shines if you will. This particular track is gonna be on a soon to be released free EP Analog Witch Trials Volume I which is outtakes from YET ANOTHER new album, Analog Witch.
Ritualz, “Third Eye (end.user remix)”
I remember hearing a rumour a while back that end.user’s Lynn Standafer was doing some work with some prominent WH acts, but I totally forgot until right this moment. It makes sense though: end.user has always had a very musical and contemplative side to his work that set him apart from the smash n’ grab school of breakcore producers. The dude knows atmosphere. Here he finds some clear night skies in the haze of Ritualz’s smokey original, with a couple snappy breaks tossed in for good measure. You can peep this and another mix for CVLTS, along with a e.u original on the bandcamp single Retox.
