It’s another of those weeks which have us struggling to keep up with and to prioritize our coverage of all of the new music that’s been dropping. A quick count made by the Senior Staff over the weekend had us flagging about eight new LPs we were interested in checking out for possible write-ups on ID:UD which had dropped on Friday, which can make for a fun (if at times stressful) question of triage. You’ll find out what records your two humble scriveners decided to tackle first later this week, but for now allow us to try to bail out some water with this week’s batch of Tracks.
Ritual Veil visit the red room
Ritual Veil, “Keep Looking Down”
Strong Pet Shop Boys vibes on “Keep Looking Down”, the latest from Portland’s Ritual Veil, and we mean that as a compliment. Their last release 2017’s Wolf in the Night showed a stronger post-punk influence, but this one is pure synthpop, with maybe some italo flourishes. Those orch hits, that disco bassline! This style is basically like catnip for us, and we’re quite looking forward to hearing how this PNW act explores them further.
Years Of Denial, “Lover’s Crime”
Self-described suicide disco act Years Of Denial have just dropped an EP collecting three of their techno and darkwave touched electro groovers which originally saw release on label comps. Each of the tunes on Various 2 are all slow-burners, with
Barkosina Hanusova and Jerome Tcherneyan taking time to let the full harmonic scope of their hypnotic yet bouncy style to emerge. Also, colour us surprised to learn that Tcherneyan was a member of low-key legendary ambient/experimental project Piano Magic!
Templər, “Le Crime par la Pensée”
Imperial Black Unit’s Thomas Chalandon brings some heat to venerable dealers of rhythmic noise HANDS with his new LP Myths And Consequences. Familiarity with Chalandon’s main project might lead you to believe there would be some techno-crossover in the Templər sound, there’s a lot more rough and tough industrial rhythms than anything else. Excellent production doesn’t take the edge off these cuts, as evidenced by the bangin’ “Le Crime par la Pensée”, coming soon to a noise room near you.
Adrenochrome, “The Knife”
It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from Oakland deathrock supergroup Adrenochrome. The more cynically minded might wonder if recent Google Trends for the eponymous substance, spurred by conspiracy nutcases, might have something to do with that, but more important than such sundries is the ear for lithe but weighty melodic dark punk of a classic style the band are show off once again on this flexi-disc single.
Babes Of Enola Grey, “Freiheit Sicherheit”
Some pitch-black German coldwave from boutique Stuttgart label Crave Tapes. Little to no info about the Frankfurt newcomers is available right now, but based on the first track from the Anfang Vom Ende tape, the duo know how to add just a bit of fuzz and melody to the corners of an otherwise stridently sober bit of business like this, which perhaps calls our dearly departed Din [A] Tod to mind.
FLUX, “Jeune Héritier”
The French scene is popping right now, with more interesting industrial, synthpop and EBM acts than we can really keep up with. We haven’t really seen anyone talking about FLUX yet, and actually have no idea the 20 year old producer’s roots are, but the tracks on the recent DANDY TRASH EP certainly fit with darker-edged electro-darkwave movement that’s in vogue. Check out “Jeune Héritier” for a taste, but the whole release is quite strong.
