You’d think it’d be hard to find stuff to write in this space every week with the world basically being shut down, but it turns out that there’s no shortage of music being released and streamed and collabed on during the plague months. So much so in fact that we’re probably not keeping up with all of it (although thankfully Twitch and other platforms afford us opportunities to catch up on them livestreams after the fact), despite our best efforts. Usual advice goes here: if you have the means to support by donating to artists or buying their releases, do so generously. If you don’t, share and get the stuff you like out there as much as possible. Keepin’ on in the weird world of today, every day.
Bedless Bones bedhead
Artillery Nightspace, “Burning The Vein”
Hey, we thought we had a pretty good handle on all of Shane Talada’s aliases and projects, but apparently not. Even when you divide the LA artist’s work into his contributions to classic California goth rock and broader rhythmic noise movements, there are a lot of bases to cover. Emerging out of the latter muse is Artillery Nightspace, Talada’s latest project seeing a new LP released on Ant-Zen. Although there’s a fair amount of funky electro breaks on Devoveo, there are also pure blast of classic noise like this one.
Harsh R, “I Should Have Known Better”
Our friend Avi comes through with a nasty synthpunk cover of Wire’s “I Should Have Known Better”, a tribute to as he puts it “the best rock band not named Black Sabbath”. We’re still in love with Harsh R’s excellent 2020 release The Burden, which we found to be bracing and melodic while also being mean and unabashed. This cover comes packaged with remixes for the latter, by the likes of spankthenun, Terror Apart, Atlea and others, available now!
Caustic Grip, “Got to Know”
Some fresh hotness from Melbourne’s Caustic Grip, a decidedly big step forward from their previous releases. New EP Toxic Rift distinguishes itself through a mix of trad EBM and industrial sounds with some interesting melodics for a more unique and distinctive take on the style. Check out the track embedded below and the EP’s title track for some of the most promising stuff from the Oceanic region.
Bedless Bones, “Sad and Alone (Wychdoktor Remix)”
Bedless Bones’ 2019 debut LP was a bracing and refreshing set of blunt but well executed darkwave tunes. Given that, a remix comp like After Malaise seems like a savvy move after the fact: Kadri Sammel’s style is one that we imagine would offer inspiration to a wide range of producers, and we’re happy to see a Canadian who’s done well in Wychdoktor take the reins on “Sad And Alone”. Nice mix of well-paced beats and vocal harmonics on display here.
How Green is My Toupee, “Shakti”
How Green Is My Toupee with another track in the project’s inimitably quirky post-industrial style, equal parts Severed Heads weirdness and catchy synthpop. As always it’s a fun and unexpected mix of sounds, working in some exotic vocal samples and sped up sounds. This one comes from HGimT’s label She Lost Kontrol’s forthcoming Surviving In Europe compilation, which comes with a zine on cassette or t-shirt and features new songs from a huge list of contributors including Silent EM, Kris Baha, Celldöd, Savage Grounds and many, many more.
The Weep, “Don’t Fall”
Oh, boy. Covers of goth classics are always going to be fraught affairs, but few bands out there will have as much reverence for the original source material and contempt for common forms of tribute as Doc Hammer’s Weep. Doc’s goth credentials are above reproach, but as we’ve detailed many times on this site, Weep is a band trying to approach its ur-roots from unexpected angles, and a simultaneously sludgy-alt and harmonic-indie take on a work as shimmering and timeless as The Chameleons’ “Don’t Fall” certainly fits the bill.
