As alluded to on last week’s podcast, like half of the Internet we’re up and running over at Bluesky. Not to belabour points which countless others have made, but even beyond the more immediate arguments against skulking around the smouldering remains of Twitter, at a selfish level we’re seeing much more engagement with our work over on Bluesky despite only having a fraction of the followers. That’ll change as more folks migrate and feeds begin to fill up, but for now the vibes are good. We’ll still cross-post to Twitter for the time being, but will probably sundown our account within a month or two. Enough of that, on with this week’s Tracks!

Minuit Machine

Minuit Machine, “Hold Me”
The future of Minuit Machine has been interesting to contemplate for the last couple of years; tragically, Hélène de Thoury was forced to retire from music due to health issues relating to covid, which left vocalist Amandine Stioui as the sole member of half of the French darkwave duo. New track “Hold Me” is reassuring, in that it continues the evolution of the project from its coldwave inspired earlist releases to the sleek modern dancefloor sound of their most recent albums, with Stioui bringing her distinctive vocal style to a track with an addictive bass lick co-produced with RAUMM’s Lloyd Philippon. A good track that offers reassurance that Minuit Machine’s run is far from over.

SIIE, “Grand Virage”
We don’t know much about German darkwave act SIIE, but boy is this cut of modern dancefloor action up our alley. Rejecting the minimalism of many comparable acts for a more grandiose and thick swell of electronics, there’s just something very different and very impactful about this song, especially the French-language vocals which give it the right bit of continental charm. Gonna have to go back and look into more by these cats and keep a lookout for their future releases as well, there’s something here.

MVQX feat. SPÆCIALISTA, “Break The Chains”
One of the roughest and rawest diamonds from the surge of South American body music of a few years back, Brazil’s MVQX has effectively maintained radio silence for three-plus years save for one brief archival release. Reemerging with a new single featuring some work from Columbia’s always excellent SPÆCIALISTA, MVQX has lost none of his edge with this cavernous but still lo-fi trek through acid-EBM and solid state hardware programming.

Amrou Kithkin, “Pleasures & Atrocities”
Polish duo Amrou Kithkin have been at it for long enough to see periods of interest in various forms of post-punk and darkwave come and go, but they haven’t let faddishness deter them from their thoughtful, understated, and in this case downright vulnerable style. The b-side of a new single (released in the ever-popular 3.5″ floppy format, in case you were wondering), this track slowly draws a sober line of severance with slow-burn restraint which sits in quiet opposition to the flashier paths taken by many current acts in this milieu.

Rhombus, “Running From My Shadow”
Few bands as deeply steeped in trad goth rock can make it sound as lithe and innervating as Huddersfield’s Rhombus. Balancing vocal harmonies with the proper guitar workouts and atmosphere you’d want in the style, this new single also communicates the effortless energy and sunset glory which first drew us into their orbit more than twelve years ago. It’s been a little bit since their last full length, and if there’s another in the works this is a strong and shiny first statement of it.

Sturm Diesel Hands, “Castle Freak”
What happens when American beefy beef boys Diesel Dudes/Morning Hands meet Swedish body blood brothers Sturm Café in their studio? They write a song about Castle Freak of course. While the track may not resolve the immortal question of whether the titular character from the Stuart Gordon classic did in fact rip his own ding dong off (some say no, others aren’t so sure), it sure does end up being a lot of fun, combining the synthpop chops of the SC camp with the lo-fi charisma of the Dudes in that two great tastes that taste great together way. Also the other song on the EP “Silent Abyss” is sneaky great vocally in a way we’d never have expected.