Friends, it’s been a fucked up years thus far, both for those of us not in the US watching an out of control clown car catch fire and endanger everyone else on the road, and those unwillingly trapped in it. There’s nothing we can say here that will alleviate the dread and fear that folks are feeling at the moment, or any amount of sympathy that will be a salve on the gaping wounds that we’ve all sustained psychically, emotionally and socially. We’re as lost and horrified as you are, and don’t have any answers. We’re here and will stay doing what we do, and we hope that it can at least be a distraction from the daily horror-show, and maybe help your week start off a tiny bit better, or at least with some fresh new music you might not have heard otherwise.
Camlann
V▲LH▲LL, “Calling For Storms”
It’s been nearly four years since we’ve had a new record from everyone’s favourite Swedish Mystery Vikings, but we’re now just a month and a half out from the release of Skymningsdjur, the fourth V▲LH▲LL LP. Preceding teaser tracks have ranged from heavily cinematic atmospheres to some suprisingly poppy beats, but on this new cut they’re connecting their roots in witch house with some classically charnal and chilling but still beat-focused dark electro.
Xenturion Prime, “Leviathan Alpha”
Few bands in the synthpop end of the general European electro world could be said to be as maximalist as Xenturion Prime. Hell, even the name of the lead single from their forthcoming fifth LP, “Leviathan Alpha” is over the top, and the loping grandeur and vast vistas the track itself conjures delivers on the band’s high-gloss, high-drama ethos. Come for the grandiose, Tron-esque pads blended into some classic Swedish pop harmonies, stay for the Kansas cover on the B-side.
Camlann, “Jungle Terror”
Our favourite Indonesian darkwave act Camlann has been on an absolute tear with their singles of late, venting serious spleen at industry creeps on “Ronny (Burn in Hell)” and working their best electropop instincts on “Numb and Hollow”. Their new one “Jungle Terror” is simultaneously one of their best pop-rock styled compositions and one of their most politically strident (and given their serious Marxist leanings that’s truly saying something); “Jungle Warfare” is a directly addressed to imperialist nations that have conducted wars in Southeast Asia, delivered with a kind of rare righteousness that is almost incongruous with how catchy it is. Camlann remain one of the most interesting acts we track simply by following their muse musically and speaking their minds plainly.
Nghtly, “Timeshifted”
The Flowtape label’s still quite wet behind the ears, but they’ve assembled a solid roster of modern EBM talent for their second compilation, reaching from Bangkok to Glasgow and featuring names like Anti Yo and Filmmaker which should be very familiar to regular Tracks readers. We’re especially digging this new cut from Italy’s Nghtly, fresh off an appearance on an equally infectious Kindcrime tape. There’s a nice mix of chewy basslines, throwback rave colour, and plenty of lo-fi grit.
Agony & the Middle Class, “Pig Cheese”
Agony & the Middle Class is the new project of Antoine Kerbérénès of Chrome Corps and Dague de Marbre and Dana Mukanova. It’s got exactly the energy you might expect considering the folks involved, which is to say that it’s a combination of fast-moving chaotic EBM and some very classic eighties post-industrial weirdness. Just the name of the EP Pig Cheese summons some pretty odd images to mind, a fine match for the title track’s FM bass bounce and swooping detuned synths and samples, bringing the works of Cyborgs on Crack to mind. We’re always up for this sort of off-kilter strangeness in our industrial, it’s a vibe we don’t get nearly enough of in this day and age.
Hugo Dirac, “Vein (Alen Skanner remix)”
We joked a little while ago that Mortal Kombat was a music genre unto itself, and that the number one artist currently producing it is Alen Skanner, but don’t take that as either a dismissal of the producer. Fact is that between a host of amazing originals and some choice remixes, Skanner has become one of our go-tos for music that perfectly lands between 90s techno/nrg and EBM, real Cyberpunk 2020 TTRPG shit in the best way. If you need an intro you can go to this recent remix for Hugo Dirac, taking the speedy hard-hitting original and taming it and punctuating it with just the right amount of sampled hits. Music to enter ABACABB on the title screen if we’ve ever heard it.
