Beware the ides of March is some good advice, if you can actually remember when they are and don’t completely forget the celebrate them with a massive betrayal. I swear to god, I’ll remember to put the 15th on my calendar next year. Anyway, it’s now more than halfway through March, and weirdly despite Bandcamp Friday being at the beginning of March, this past week was a very very heavy one for new songs from acts we follow, with barely any effort required to round ’em up for this weekly post. Hope you’ll enjoy this batch as much as we have, and hey, why not leave a comment while you’re at it, we’re hoping to foster some more engagement here on the site proper what with Social Media’s slow and frankly kind of relieving death. Listen below!
Hey Riki, etc
Riki, “Pulser”
It’s been a long time since we got new music from Los Angeles synthpop chanteuse Riki; the 2020/2021 1-2 punch of her self-titled album (a certified classic in our opinions) and it’s follow-up Gold made us big fans, and despite having had the opportunity to see her perform in the intervening time, there’s been nothing new musically to chew on. Hence our surprise and excitement with the release of Pulser, a two track single that shows off the same alluring approach to synth music that drew to us to her in the first place. That said there’s a new edge to these tracks (co-produced by Dead on TV’s Dan Evans), a sort of art-pop vibe that is both vaguely menacing and intriguing. More soon please.
Lead Into Gold, “Knife The Ally”
While reputedly involved in what is rumoured to be the last (hah!) Ministry record, Paul Barker’s not putting all his eggs in one basket for the time being and is holding strong to the great run that Lead Into Gold has been on since reactivating some seven years back with new LIG LP Knife The Ally set to release in June. Picking up where 2023’s The Eternal Present Left Off, Barker’s indomitable ear for groove and clattering percussion holds sway over the pre-release title cut, with plenty of Barker’s long-held affinity for the artier side of post-punk shining through the din as well.
Ultra Sunn, “The Beast In You”
We’ve made no secret of our position that Ultra Sunn have had the foundational elements of modern club darkwave on lock for a while; it’s in the waxing and waning of their ability to showcase what makes them distinct from their peers that their recent material has been measured. Thankfully, new single “The Beast In You” does just that, placing the focus on the strangely engrossing vocal charisma of Sam Hugé. Between the way he threads through this bouncy number and the classic synthpop twinkle at the tail end of it, it feels like a bid to be measured by poppier standards than oontzier ones, and it’s a stronger track for that.
Iszoloscope, “Hex Blowback”
Look, we’re trying not to completely go all in on the wave of patriotism sweeping Canada right now FOR REASONS, but hot damn if the news of fresh material from Quebec’s noisiest export Iszoloscope didn’t make us want to salute the flag right alongside Casey and Finnegan. Sure, Yann Faussurier’s been Euro-based for a while, but the dense metallic maelstrom of this new single, complete with the worming granularity and mercilessly tight rhythms upon which Iszoloscope’s rep in rhythmic industrial was cemented two decades ago has us flashing back to countless Iszoloscope sets at Usine C in the glory days of Festival Kinetik. Here’s hoping a salvo like this is a warning shot for the first Iszoloscope LP since 2018.
Dark Chisme, “Lost in the Night”
Some of our fave live shows and releases from last year were courtesy Dark Chisme, the Seattle based duo of Christine Gutierrez and E. The songs on the self-titled album have remained staples in our home and club listening, and so naturally we were amped to get new single “Lost in the Night”, a track that has the same ultra-catchy latin-flavoured electro-darkwave the band have built their rep on in such a short time, and plenty of the charisma that Gutierrez wields on stage as well as in the studio.
Brixx, “Prophecy”
Something new from Australian producer Brixx, whose previous release for the always dependable Synthicide got a lot of spins around the HQ. “Prophecy” is one half of the songs on the The Psychic Tapes EP, and finds a nice balance between some classic post-industrial sounds in its programming and stuttering vocal samples and a funky electro foundation. It’s just a really well-executed track in that it doesn’t stay in one place for long and reinvents itself a few times in ways that are both subtle and obvious, a handy technique that Brixx has proven very adept at.
