IG Metall
self-titled
Phage Tapes
Minnesota’s Phage Tapes remains a boon for the noisier side of things, whether in the form of releases by noise vets like The Rita and The Vomit Arsonist, more beat focused work by Choke Chain, or newer artists who hybridize those approaches, as we saw last year with Stclvr. The first formal LP from Chicago’s IG Metall (named for a German metalworking union, if titles like “Wage Theft” weren’t enough of a thematic tip-off) fits into the latter camp, standing directly astride classic power electronics and modern dark techno. Sometimes those are each found in discrete camps on single tracks, as on the pure cyclone of squelch that is “Severed Architecture” or the strictly programmed (if still decidedly industrial “Torso”, but it’s a record that’s best when it crosses the streams. As feedback and echoes bloom outward from the initially straightforward EBM kicks of “Muscle & Hate” the track morphs into an Imminent Starvation-styled headtrip. It’s brainscraping noise which also should offer a solid upper body workout, just like a day at the factory.
genCAB
Let it RIP
Metropolis Records
David Dutton has been making up for lost time with genCAB; since reactivating the project in 2021 he’s release two LPs, a smattering of singles and splits, and is gearing up for his third album of new material in as many years. Let It RIP is a short three song EP that acts as something of a taster for the soon to be released III I II (THIRD EYE GEMINI), and it points to both the past and future of the melodic industrial project in intriguing fashion. “Cancer Causes Life (Recycled)” is a take on a track from 2023’s Signature Flaws, digging deep into the song’s emotional roots and building up the drama with waves of glitches, shredding sound design and laser beam percussion sounds that recall Gridlock, all in service of elevating Dutton’s heartfelt vocal delivery. Opener “Six Hits (Let It Be)” gives hints to the new record’s form with its layered drums and pads, creating a rich arrangement for the song’s melody to blossom, even while being buffetted by classic electro-industrial basslines and processed drum hits. Intriguingly, Dutton bridges the two songs with a cover of :Wumpscut:’s “Down Where We Belong”, leaning in hard on that song’s sorrowful hook and delivering them with a sincerity that brings the song’s enduring fatalist appeal to the light – it’s wild to hear something so familiar being delivered with a conviction that makes it seem both weary and energized, like he’s releasing one last burst of cathartic rage before going under again.
