Exhausted but still buzzing off the experience, the Senior Staff has returned from Das Bunker’s 20th anniversary celebration. There’s gonna be a pretty thorough discussion of the experience on this week’s podcast, but suffice to say that not only did we have a good time watching bands we loved hit the stage (from the almighty Legendary Pink Dots to our pals in Caustic), but we also discovered a ton of amazing new music we are beyond amped to have made the acquaintance of. That’s the mark of a good festival as far as we’re concerned, and we’ll be sharing stories and rememberances of it for a while.

Photo of Dead When I Found Her courtesy of Jill Grant @Take it for Granted

Passing, “Sacrifice”
We got wind of this track just before heading out the door to LA, and based on its strength we showed up early to catch the set at DB20. The sound of the project is a bit more rough and noisy around the edges live, but the same fundamentals are in place: speedy sequences, heavy use of reverb and delay for atmosphere and some sharp hooks to boot. This track will be on DKA’s Strategies Against The Body 2 compilation, and from what we understand Passing will be releasing some more material through them before too long. Good stuff from a project we knew nothing about a week ago and are now firmly invested in following.

Displacer, “Visions”
Longtime ID:UD fave Michael Morton tries his hand at synthwave with Displacer’s new EP Spirit Guide, and the results are (predictably) pleasant. Truth be told, it won’t feel like much of a reach for those familiar with Morton’s Nine Syllables, or even the less rhythmic of Displacer’s moments. Also included on X are some collabs with fellow Tympanik vet Chase Dobson (c.db.sn) and mean downtempo merchants Snowbeasts.

Dead When I Found Her, “Tantrum”
Yo, we were absolutely not expecting Dead When I Found Her to have a new LP so hot on the heels of last year’s opus All The Way Down. We were also not expecting this new track “Tantrum” sonically; even after hearing it live a few weeks back at Cold Waves, we’re taken aback by how aggressive and nasty it sounds. Folding some more sounds from the rich industrial history of DWIFH’s native Pacific Northwest into the mix (we’re getting hints of Numb), this is a seriously welcome shift in our expectations for Michael Arthur Holloway’s project and very high on our “still to come” list of albums for 2016.

The Agnes Circle, “Martial Love”
A corker of a goth-flecked post-punk number from The Agnes Circle bodes well for their first full-length. We lent their EP an ear a year back and dug its evocative economy. If we had to guess we’d say that this tune portends a more languid approach, but we’re looking forward to finding out when Some Vague Desire comes out on AVANT! in November.

Blush Response, “Hologram”
Joey Gonzales’ incredibly productive year continues with a track he produced for the Maschinenfest 2016 compilation. Blush Response has changed a lot as a project over the years, with this iteration falling squarely into a nice pocket of industrial techno and good ol’ fashioned rhythmic noise. Not many folks have been able to match Gonzales’ output in terms of quantity in 2016, and amazingly the actual quality of the material has maintained the standard set by the quite good Reshaper back in May.

D/SIR, “Dier”
More dark and lush weirdness from LA’s D/SIR. Almost getting some Holy Other underwater vibes from this track, one of three reworkings/remixes of other folks’ material. On the docket here is a radical reinterpretation of J-pop royalty Ayumi Hamasaki’s song for the anime Inuyasha, which Wikipedia informs us is the story of “a 15-year-old girl from Tokyo who is transported to the Sengoku period after falling into a well in her family shrine, where she meets the half-demon dog Inuyasha.” We’re not sure that’s really pertinent to enjoying this cut, but thought you should know just the same.