Wound Care
Existing Without You Hurts
Body Musick
Californian duo Wound Care, made up of Felicia Marie and Aldo Giovanni De La Cruz (Memory Clap Acid) make a punky, body-infused version of electro that hearkens back to both millennial electroclash and to more primal synthpunk sounds. The latter influence is apparent in Marie’s vocals, which lean into dramatic and often sardonic territory: on “Pretty Pretty” she asks “Do I Owe You A Pretty? Of course I do!”, the derision thick and heavy while rattling kicks and chattering synthlines go off around her. The minimalism of their compositions doesn’t take much away from their weight, with tracks like “Dead to Me” evolving from a short sequence of analogue beeps to a small symphony of EBM-bass, sampled voices repeating the song’s title and pitched shrieks that feel simultaneously arch and a little dangerous. It’s not all bombast though, with some songs dipping into funkier territory (like “Mala Conexion” with it’s swinging percussion programming and chirps of acid melodies) or languid soundscapes (closer “Moon Flower”, which has the air of a random krautrock record being played at half-speed down a drainpipe). It’s all quite effective and often unpredictable in ways that continue to engage through multiple listens, with even the straightest cut, the Sex Park collab “LuST”, taking a fairly standard darkwave arrangement and filling it with tumbling percussion and chaotic overlapping reverbed vocals, never settling into any groove that could be called comfortable.
Zalvox
Zalmoxis Peak
self-released
Drawing parallels with the new project from frequent Haujobb collaborator Rinaldo Bite (aka Ribi) is easy enough – recent work from X Marks The Pedwalk and Black Nail Cabaret are handy points of reference – but the sound design pervading the first EP from Zalvox gives Zalmoxis Peak a uniquely foreboding unity, abetted by vocals from Dorain (who’s lent her voice to a barrage of electro/wave acts over the past couple of decades). The deep pads and the textured timbres of the production tics which weave through these five tracks will be familiar to those who’ve tracked Bite’s previous work and his high-def approach to sound design, but bit by bit the project’s appreciation for classic minimal wave comes across in its less is more arrangements and icy instrumentation. And it’s in the paradoxes of that style that Zalvox really excels: despite the gloom of the keys and choice of production, pieces like “Pasithea” and “Somnus” are given a reflective mood and resolute dignity by virtue of Dorain’s grounded yet plaintive voice.
