Rue Oberkampf
Essenz
Young and Cold Records
Electro-darkwave has been one of the dominant sounds in Our Thing for the last several years with its greatest strength being the breadth of its appeal; it’s gothy enough to mope and swoon to, but uptempo enough to dance to. While plenty of acts have played with that formula, few have navigated it with the expertise of Munich’s Rue Oberkampf, whose new mini-album Essenz makes a strong case for the savviness of Julia de Juoy and Michael Mair (now a duo with member Damien De-Vir having very recently left the group). Those seeking retiring moodiness with electropop production will find it on opener “89 Degrees” where de Juoy’s vocals fill in the spacious mix with retiring poise, while those digging for big-room club fare can choose between the techno-touched rhythms of the busy “I Won’t Surrender” or the menacing funk of “Solitude (Essenz Master)”, a song built up from icy foundations to surprisingly lush heights. The previously released “Soror” and “Aeterna” (the latter being a brief but lovely bit of continental balladry) work as well here as they did in isolation, but the highlight is “Allein” where the use of French language lyrics and syncopated bass and drum programming have a sort of cabaret by way of the goth club appeal. Like all Rue Oberkampf material it’s charmingly moody, a vibe that they have completely dialed in.
Crystal Geometry
Antithèse
BPitch
Maxime Fabre’s takes on TBM through his Crystal Geometry records have always benefited from his clear appreciation for forms of techno, EBM, and other genres well outside of the usual TBM bandwidth, and it’s in the peppering in of those other sounds that each of his releases have been imbued with their own flavour and made Crystal Geometry records stand out from the pack. New EP Antithèse is no exception, and its haunted house approach to hardcore and gabber gives its four tracks real dimension. We’ve heard Fabre tap into his appreciation for extreme metal in the past; the pentatonic guitar leads on “FCKTHNZS” are fairly distinct from the pure riffing that was used on on a number of tracks on I Stare Into Darkness, but when combined with black metal-styled vocals it makes for a great pairing with the track’s gabber style kicks. “Creepy Body” takes a similar ‘metal by inference’ approach with its ghostly arpeggios and goblin vocals which will likely connote God Destruction records for some folks and classic Lenny Dee sets for others. Whatever’s your poison, Fabre clearly still has plenty of means of refreshing and pushing the intersection of EBM and dark techno.
