Hey folks! Lots of in-house stuff happening at the HQ over the weekend. We released the first ID:UD shirt (less than three weeks to get yr order in and let those punks at your local know you don’t brook any bullshit EBM), and things are really starting to heat up on the road to The Great Debate (now just mere days away). The music grind doesn’t stop just cuz we have some irons in the fire, though, so it’s time once again for a full slate of Tracks with which to kick your week off.
Shit's getting serious.
Inexora, “Dystopiate (Doomed Version)”
Vancouver’s Mike Mayer has been slowly gathering interest to his Inexora project with a mix of old-school electro-industrial chops and some left-field, experimental metal style guitar (the criminally overlooked project The Bleeding Light feels like a good comparison). We’re obviously not the only ones who’ve been won over, as ∆AIMON’s Brant Showers has come on-board for production duties on first proper full-length Omens. Here’s the first taster, a high-concept tune which probably doesn’t owe a debt to stoner metal by coincidence.
FLESH, “Die ersten 20 Minuten des Endes”
New witchy stuff from Germany. We can’t offer much in the way of background info, but the tunes on the Nachtangst EP shift between a glitchy grind and a more sedate feel rather smoothly. Perhaps most impressive is the pacing of the rise and fall of tracks like this, something that doesn’t always come easily in this subgenre.
Liste Noire, “Shame”
Cult darkwave/shoegaze act Velvet Condom have reincarnated as Liste Noire, whose first EP Afire Afire is available now as a pay what you want download from Bandcamp. Where Alice Gift and Oberst Panizza were always known for treading the line between sensuous electronics and gauzy atmospherics in VC’s work, the addition of guitarist/keyboardist Kalle Fagerberg seems to have moved them squarely towards the dancefloor, with some especially easy on the ears synthpop tunes as the result.
Captive, “I’m Long Gone”
We’ll admit that with a release on a Barcelona label and a super low-fi coldwave sound, we assumed Captive were hailing from Italy or France. But no, they’re straight out of the always fertile ground of Austin. There’s a heavy shmear of early Cure and maybe a dash of Sad Lovers and Giants. Despite the rough sound of Black Leather Glove, its tunes have a decidedly lush feel.
DSX, “Strategic Defense Initiative (Demo)”
Finally, some new music from friend of I Die: You Die Dejan Samardzic, whose initial 2012 solo release Anonymous presaged the current vogue for dry, classic EBM crossed with techno. We imagine Dejan has his hands full working on the new Haujobb long-player due this year, but we hope he’ll find them time to work on DSX as well; the climate has never been better for music in this style to grab ears across a wide spectrum of listeners, and we’ll be damned if we can’t use a few more rolling bangers like this one for our crates.
M.O.A.T.A. Omen & The Rorschach Garden, “Drop It!”
Okay, this is gonna take some explaining: in the early 90’s Sven Pügge and Philipp Münch were in legendary proto-Ant Zen band Ars Moriendi, but were also developing their own projects, M.O.A.T.A. Omen and The Rorschach Garden respectively. While Ars Moriendi would break up by ’94, Münch and Pügge would continue to work together on a couple of tape and compilation releases, before eventually going their own way. Now some 20 years later, the two have teamed up again to complete their unfinished collaborative album of rhythmic noise and industrial, out now on Ant Zen under the name Frantic Sessions. Bracing stuff even today.
M.O.A.T.A. – Omen & The Rorschach Garden :: Drop It! [Official Video] from F Squared Media on Vimeo.
