Hi friends. In lieu of a regular Tracks this week, we’re dedicating this post to Bandcamp’s Juneteenth Fundraiser, happening (hopefully) as you read this. For the entirety of today, Bandcamp is donating their share of all sales on the platform to the NAACP, to help raise funds for that organization’s work to promote racial justice through litigation, advocacy, and public education. Some of you may recall a few years ago when we posted a list of African American artists in Our Thing you can support via Bandcamp, we thought today we’d reshare that list and add a few more recent contributions. That said, anything and everything you purchase today goes towards the cause, so it’s a good day to pick up anything on your Wishlist or that you’ve been meaning to check out.
Dreamcrusher.
Void Palace, Hex Machine EP
From Los Angeles’ Void Palace, whose mixture of tense techno programming, darkwave atmospheres and vocal menace are a potent mixture. Given that that project mastermind Sebastian Siverand has a lenthy history as a DJ working across numerous music genres in one of the most fertile scenes for dark alt music in North America, it’s no suprise that the genre-bending mixture on 2022’s Hex Machine sounds just at home in a techno-body mix as it does in the smokey clouds of your local goth haunt.
Verttigo, “Autumn”
We spoke at length on the podcast about what an impression Edmonton newcomers Verttigo made on us at Verboden. You might have to wait a little while before they play your town or have a full record out, but until then the hazy new wave melodies of their debut single do a great job of showcasing the band’s sense of structure and lead vocalist Karimah’s chops and charisma.
Nature Nvoke, Machine
Previously known only as NATURE, Nature Nvoke is a Cleveland based darkwave act that integrates extensive use of electronic percussion and bass along with washy guitars and manipulated vocals to give their music an unearthly quality. Their latest Machine swings between thudding club kicks and lush synthetic moods, bubbling up and around the insistent rhythm that drives each track in hypnotic fashion.
Hallows, “Talk To Me”
Having recently relocated from Seattle to LA, Hallows have their sophomore LP, A Quieter Life, on deck. Going off of lead single “Talk To Me”, we anticipate it picking up where All That Is True left off, adorning their druggy, hazy approach to post-punk with some quavering, darkwave-styled synths.
Dreamcrusher, “Antifa Baker”
Longstanding NYC noise producer Dreamcrusher says he “hope[s] you punch a landlord while blasting” his forthcoming EP, Suite TWO. Blare the pure, confrontational, woofer-shredding fury of a track like this at full volume with your apartment windows down and you just might have the opportunity. Harrowing, bracing stuff which makes Dreamcrusher’s ‘Nihilist Queer Revolt Musik’ program plain.
Theodore The Blacksmith, The Tale of Ipso
The latest from Theodore the Blacksmith is The Tale of Ipso, a potent mix of noise, ambience and texture as rendered by Theo Harper. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Harper has been a fixture in the noisier end of Our Thing for many years, as both a founding member of W.A.S.T.E. as well as producing under his own projects like Psychomotor Retardation and Victo_Ecret. You can hear that work in his Theodore the Blacksmith material, although it’s dense with atmosphere in ways that both inform the noise, and allow it to blossom in stranger fashion.
