Morning, gang! Not much happening around the HQ this past weekend (apart from feeling proud of our hometown boy El Phantasmo making an emphatic arrival in New Japan Pro Wrestling), but something about the differences between the records we reviewed last week got us thinking. We’ve already flagged a mess of tracks from the new Agent Side Grinder for club play and have been enjoying drifting off into solitary reverie with Alphaxone. We spend no small amount of time trying to define or triangulate “Our Thing”, ie, the music we want to cover here, but are we ignoring the role that listening context plays in that taxonomy? If we’re just as interested in music to get people dancing over loud club PAs as we are music to lose track of our selves or surroundings, is it any wonder that we can’t find a common genome to everything we cover here? What contexts might best suit these six new tracks? You’ll just have to tell us.

Minuit Strikes Back

Statiqbloom, “Eight Hearts, Eight Spikes”
Great taster of the forthcoming album from New York electro-industrialists Statiqbloom, their first for Metropolis Records. “Eight Hearts, Eight Spikes” is exactly what we expect from Fade Kainer and Denman Anderson – harsh, scraping soundscapes, corrosive atmospherics and possessed vocals. Like the material on last years’s excellent Infinite Spectre EP, we’re always struck by how Statiqbloom balance mystery and absolute immediacy, never showing their musical hand entirely, but also not letting up with the aggression and pressure either. Asphyxia drops June 7th, expect a review day of release from us.

Coal, “Insect Human”
Berlin duo Coal have been gigging and releasing single tracks for over a year now, but their debut proper’s only coming out now. A tune like “Insect Human” gets across not just the project’s misanthropic rage, but also the interesting combo of power electronics and punk which makes their EP such a bracing splash of water. Should appeal if you’re a fan of similarly hyperactive violence from Street Sects or Error.

Boy Harsher, “Come Closer (Marcel Dettmann Remix)”
Boy Harsher’s incredible Careful is undoubtedly one of our favourites of the year to date, and the sinister “Come Closer” was a highlight. Although the track didn’t lack for club appeal in its original incarnation, we’re pleased to see the solicitation of a remix EP for the song, including the bangin’ techno club version of the song by Marcel Dettmann linked below. Not only that, an additional 12″ for “Tears” (featuring mixes from Silent Servant and Minimal Violence) and a 7″ available as a bundle with the other two singles. You can pre-order now via Bandcamp, records ship on or around June 28th.

Notausgang, “LFDMVY”
Here’s some quirky throwback body music fun from Paris. Alternately rubbery and squelchy, the sounds on I Made This Tape have some real presence and weight, but don’t ever become too heavy or monochrome for their own good. Notausgang was recently featured on X-IMG’s fourth Self-Aware and are doing a good job of ensuring that the body music renaissance stays varied.

Minuit Machine, “DRGS”
Wait, Minuit Machine are back? And the new album drops next week? Maybe we were asleep at the switch at the wheel on this one, but very pleased to see the french darkwave project return, especially so soon after vocalist Hélène de Thoury put out her excellent LP Fierce as Hante.. 2015’s Violet Rains was a record we enjoyed a great deal (and also got some decent dancefloor mileage out of), we anticipate that the duo will deliver a comparable experience on Infrarouge.

Agro Fist, “Agro Fist”
Between The Causticles, Hardcore Pong, and Gasoline Invertebrate, you’d think our boy Brian Graupner of Gothsicles infamy would already have enough side projects on the go, but let’s be real: Brian didn’t get to where he is today via tasteful restraint. Agro Fist finds him teaming up with Eli Vance of Antonym for some speedy and slightly hardcore/gabber style fare. While surprisingly straightforward and sober musically, take a look at the lyrics (“Yeet Kune Do, this part’s slow”) and you’ll remember who’s behind it all.