Have you noticed that even though first Friday of the month is no longer always Bandcamp Friday, artists are still dropping lots of new material at the end of the week? Friday is a good release day for us regardless of what’s happening with BC since it coincides with when we start assembling these Tracks posts, but it’ll be interesting to see if that has permanently changed the way we think about release schedules going forward. All that said, this Friday will be Bandcamp’s second annual Juneteenth fundraiser, with all their share of proceeds going to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. See your way to buying some music on the 18th and supporting this important initiative won’t you?
Ultra Sunn: Ultra Swank
V▲LH▲LL, “Eversleep”
It’s been three years since we’ve had a full LP from our favourite Swedish Mystery Vikings, but V▲LH▲LL are back with third LP Eversleep slated for a September release. We’d heard it through the wolfsbane that new material from the duo might tilt towards the poppy side of things, and while there’s still plenty of the icy beats and atmosphere upon which V▲LH▲LL earned their rep, there’s definitely something a bit smoother and more hummable than usual about the title track. Definitely a record we’ll be anticipating throughout the summer.
Leathers, “Reckless”
Now collated with the project’s extant three tracks for Artoffact, we have a slick new number from Leathers, the side project from Shannon Hemmett of Actors. While there’s always been some distinctly poppy and new wave flavour in Leathers’ Curve-ish approach to shoegaze, “Reckless” is pure electro-pop through and through, with a halting frailty that has us thinking of Continues as much as Marsheaux. Set this one aside for hazy summer nights spent in solitude.
Ultra Sunn, “Silver Smile”
Ultra Sunn’s “Night is Mine” remains one of the biggest tracks of the year in its various forms (we’ve been feeling the new beat mix lately but they all good), but the Brussels based duo aren’t slowing down. New this past week, we’ve got a new cut “Silver Smile” that effectively splits the difference between funky hard beat (complete with orch hits) and electro-darkwave. I expect their next EP due this summer will have more contenders, but this’ll definitely hold us down til then.
Kris Baha, “Into the Dark”
Kris Baha’s name has been remixer of choice for a lot of artists we follow here on ID:UD, from Randolph & Mortimer to Inhalt to Boy Harsher. The Australian producer’s own material has been straying from the EBM sound of his earliest productions for a while now however, and latest single “Into the Dark” feels fully like a darkwave track, albeit one with some added funk in its thick, fuzzy basses. It’s an easy fit and one we’re keen to see developed in future releases.
Zack Zack Zack, “Bak”
Did someone say “saxgoth summer”? We were very taken with the sound of Turkish wave act Zack Zack Zack on their EP1 back in February; post-punk, new wave and trad-folk instrumentation mixed up rather well, and with dancefloor potential to boot. New track “Bak” (say ‘Zack Zack Zack new track “Bak”‘ out loud, it’s fun) is all those things again, but with a very low, sinister kinda vibe, with the saxophone and guitar peeling off some very wild riffs. More of this please, all night long.
Det Kätterska Förbund, “Sacred Grounds”
Lastly, some punishing yet lush death industrial from the unrelenting Swedish team-up that’s been brewing for a few years. Nordvargr collaborating with Thomas of Trepaneringsritualen makes plenty of sense to anyone familiar with the respective artists, and the forthcoming Lidaverken Del I: Att i Vådeld Förgås LP is an object lecture in texture and tension.
