The Hallowe’en weekend is nigh, which is of course an exciting time of year for folks of our particular stripe, although as we’ve discussed a few times in the past, we have a hard time getting quite as excited for Samhain is we did when younger. It’s certainly a function of us being old, and tired, and over-committed in all aspects of our lives, but there’s also a weird amount of pressure (you know, the kind that used to be reserved for Family Christmases) surrounding the whole thing that makes opting out feel like the right option. Does that mean we won’t be costuming up and DJing various parties in the coming weeks? No it does not. Does it mean we’ll probably spend some time chewing over how our relationship with Gothsgiving has changed in recent years on the podcast at some point? PROBABLY. Tracks ahoy!
Normal Bias
Normal Bias, “Falling Down”
Sick new joint from the duo of Matt Weiner from TWINS and Chris Campion of Multiple Man in their Normal Bias guise, in advance of their first full LP, Kingdom Come which drops this week. You’re getting a lot of the same musical ideas you would associate with each act, like Weiner’s smokey, low-voiced vocals, and Campion’s body-funk, but there’s something very specific in the way these two artists collaborate that makes the sound much more than the som of its parts; wistful, groovy and above-all danceable.
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, “Driving Black”
Say, did you happen to catch our Red Lorry Yellow Lorry commentary podcast yesterday? We didn’t have time to mention it, but by complete accident that historical deep dive coincides with news of the first proper new Lorries record since 1992. While reunion gigs and a handful of new(er) tracks have come and gone over the past couple of decades, the prospect of a full EP’s worth of new tunes from Chris Reed & co. is an exciting one. Folks who recall the band heading in a ‘leather and Americana’ direction similar to that charted contemporaneously by the Mary Chain at the tail end of their original run will hear that thread being picked up again here.
Skelesys, “The Answer”
Berlin’s Skelesys has been accruing a bit of buzz in the darkwave world with a handful of bootleg mixes and an EP on Oraculo (plus a hot take on a Zanias cut a few months back), but based on the preview tracks for its debut LP, that buzz should be heavily amplified quite soon. Tunes like this stake out a prime spot smack between the chilly minimalism which drives a lot of current darkwave and the warmer melodicism which can be found in subtler expressions of it, and are very well arranged.
Cardinal Noire, “Gun Metal”
Hell yeah, more teasers for the upcoming Cardinal Noire LP via Artoffact. We’ve written at length about the Finnish duo’s work in the classic post-industrial style (not to mention their various side-projects in adjacent styles), and the reason is simple; in a genre that has lots of bands that mine the classic Vancouver sound, very few have ever done it better or with more conviction. Just hit play on “Gun Metal” for a proper slice of acid-vocalled, orch hit beating, sample mangling excellence if you need an example, and then go pre-order Vitriol while you’re at it.
Neurowulf feat. Stefan Poiss, “All This Life”
The heavily trance-driven style of Slovenia’s Neurowulf isn’t the sort of thing we find ourselves regularly reaching for, but we’ll admit it – a Stefan Poiss feature is enough to grab our attention. The mind.in.a.box main main sounds right at home riding a very futurepop friendly kick and some stabby arpeggios which should have folks of a certain vintage flashing back to mid-00s dancefloors, and Neurowulf does a bang-up job of framing his immistakable vocals in the proper light.
Static Ghost, “Corpse Code (Qual remix)”
Pacific Northwest underground techno-body producer Static Ghost has impressed us greatly, both via this year’s excellent Depatterened EP, and the times we’ve seen them perform live. The appropriately titled REMIXED gets added to that resume, featuring new takes on the hard-hitting cuts from the EP by the likes of Dildox, Poison the Vicar, Damascus Knives, and this thudding slice of club-bait from the ever-solid Qual. Great stuff, and an easy add to the Bandcamp wishlist in advance of its October 25th release.
