Given the relatively niche state of much of the music we cover, we sometimes run the risk of mistaking a handful of coincidences for a larger trend. The italo-EBM crossover had its relatively brief moment in the sun, and while Boy Harsher-styled darkwave and pure TBM have certainly crested as larger forces, they’ve both had a long tail. What we haven’t seen is any particular newer trend in new releases or club sets that seems to be on the rise. Sure, plenty of individual acts are exploring new territory or revisiting old stomping grounds, but it feels like it’s been a minute since the needle shifted in one particular direction in Our Thing…or maybe that’s just our own biases speaking. Anything happening in your corner of the world which you think points to the shape of things to come, dear reader? Let us know in the comments after checking out this week’s tracks.
Vancouver Brutalism: H.A.L.T.
Youth Code, “No Consequence”
We first wrote about Youth Code in a Tracks post in December of 2012, before their first tape release dropped. Since that time they’ve been a fixture of our coverage, releasing EPs and albums (including record of the year honoree Commitment to Complications) that have continuously made us excited, energized and spoke to the post-industrial sounds that mean so much to us, while forging their own legacy in the genre. The duo have been relatively quiet since the release of their King Yosef collab LP back in 2021, so the simultaneous arrival of the news that they would be dropping a new EP Yours, With Malice and their new single “No Consequence” was well received here at the HQ to put it mildly. Youth Code are back, they sound as angry as ever, and we’re here for it. Missed y’all, and glad to see you again.
Ghost Twin, “Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart”
The news that the sad passing of Jaimz Asmundson in 2024 did not signal the end of his darkwave project Ghost Twin with wife Karen Asmundson was both surprising and heartening, and to find out that there was new music from the Winnipeg band so soon is equally so. Industrial Symphony No. 1 features selections from recordings Jaimz and Karen did for a live tribute to the David Lynch helmed avant-garde concert film of the same name, a match made in heaven (where everything is fine) as the Ghost Twin sound so perfectly matches the dreamy, vaguely sinister and emotionally real vibe of the film and its director and it’s music. “Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart” is a true pleasure to hear, and we eagerly anticipate the rest of the EP in April.
Sixth June, “Memories Of God”
We have a new EP from Sixth June to look forward to next month, and the first single from it is a reminder of just how smooth and capable the Berlin-based duo sound when operating in their wheelhouse. An elegant and tasteful combo of new wave, synthpop, and darkwave, it walks that fine and uncanny line between being intimate and aloof which Sixth June have been treading for over a decade now.
Autodafeh, “Fastlane”
There hasn’t been an LP of new music from Swedish EBM act Autodafeh since 2015, surprising given how prolific the 242-indebted act were for a few years around the beginning of the 2010’s. “Fastlane” is a pleasing update to their sound, keeping some of the neo-old school body music sounds that grabbed us way back when, but bringing in some modern production – this will work for club play with a general industrial night just as well as it would at Familientreffen. Curious to hear the rest of the new record Greed to see how it shakes out.
Phil Western, “Asleep/Awake (Vuemorph collage)”
Phil Western’s 2019 passing still feels palpable here in Vancouver, between visiting venues he played and worked at and seeing any number of the countless local artists he collaborated with. It’s nice, then, that the forthcoming remix tribute compilation speaks both to that local legacy and its worldwide reach, with everyone from Robert Shea of Graceland fame to Mark Spybey to Tim Hill to Ivan Winke pitching in. Frequent collaborator Dan Handrabur’s reworking of sounds from the often overlooked World’s End LP is a deep and pleasant reworking of that record’s dreamy ambience.
H.A.L.T., “Forever Dead”
Speaking of Vancouver, here’s the latest from our local goth true-schoolers, H.A.L.T. Lithe and nimble, it does a solid job of getting their rhythm-driven approach to the genre across, with a stripped-down arrangement and delivery which feels right out of 1983. Feeling burnt out on just about all new goth fare bearing a heavy amount of darkwave influence? This’ll serve as an excellent combo breaker.
