Podcasts like last week’s are a reminder of how the remit of I Die: You Die has shifted and broadened over the past decade. We’re far less dogmatic about sticking to material produced within and for the existing goth/industrial ecosystem(s), and are much more open to more liminal work. Sure, that’s partially a product of shifts in our own personal tastes, but it’s also a product of broader musical trends, in which the sorts of sounds which might have first drawn us into Our Thing are now cross-pollinating with plenty of other neighbouring sounds (as the ideas of monoculture or a mainstream/underground binary continue to collapse). In short, we’ll always love deep scene stuff, but we’re also just as interested in crossover stuff. On with this week’s Tracks…

More Morwan?

Odonis Odonis feat. Tobacco, “Beast”
We were very big on Odonis Odonis’ 2021 LP Spectrum, a biting mixture of modern hard electronics, noise rock, body music and lots more sounds. The announcement of a new EP is of course going to catch our interest, especcially with the added intrigue of it being all collabs, with names as relevant to our interests as ACTORS, A Place to Bury Strangers, Patriarchy and more. The first track we’ve heard is “Beast”, a team-up with noise electronicist (and Black Moth Super Rainbow frontman) Tobacco, with the results being appropriately driving and and hard-hitting. Yeah, this is gonna be a good one.

Morwan, “Журба”
Not even niche scenes like ours have been untouched by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. Alex Ashtaui, the man behind post-punk/folk act Morwan and one of our favourite records of 2020, has had to flee his home in Kyiv for Berlin, and his experiences with war and exile are at the root of the forthcoming third Morwan LP, Svitaye, Palaye. The fusion of driving post-punk and traditional Arabic music can still be heard on this lead track, but is augmented by a forlorn minimalism.

Blind Delon feat. Curses, “La Mort”
We recorded the podcast ahead of time this week for various reasons, so you won’t have heard us talk about Blind Delon yet, but the project’s name does come up in a discussion of all the wild-ass music coming out of France right. As if on cue, we get a new single from the project, a taster for the soon to be released LP La Me​́​tamorphose featuring none other than atmospheric italo-touched darkwaver Curses as a collaborator. Considering the electronic sounds both acts have engaged in, we weren’t expecting a fairly straight post-punk/goth rock cut, but it’s working for us.

Philipp Münch, “Get Me Out!”
You couldn’t get much further removed from the pure, naive synthpop of The Rorschach Garden’s Young Lovesongs LP earlier this year and Philipp Münch’s new solo joint. New Ritual Music runs from classic rhythmic industrial pieces like this one to more contemplative and minimalist tracks, but all circling around an attempt to disrupt the stresses and speed of modern life.

NNHMN, “Soldier Of Beauty”
Coming soon to the Terminus stage, Berlin’s NNHMN have quietly and steadily established themselves as one of the premiere acts in the ongoing wave of club-focused darkwave, and one with solid reach outside of that sound’s usual demographics to boot. Based on its preceding two singles, Circle of Doom is shaping up to be the sort of breakthrough record which will be inescapable in all manner of dark clubs once it sees release in about a month’s time, but we’re really liking the linking of no-BS electro rhtyhms and programming with the ghostlier side of NNHMN’s take on modern darkwave on this one.

Ringfinger, “Chamber of Roses (Joey Chaos & the Ghosts remix)”
Our fave local goth duo Ringfinger put out the excellent “Chamber of Roses” back in December, a track that emphasizes the project’s excellent musicianship and fully-formed musical aesthetics. This just-released remix by local Vancouver stalwart Joey Chaos highlights the original’s charms while adding a goodly amount of synth bounce and club appeal, making it over into an electro-darkwave cut you DJs out there should be snapping up for your sets. Can’t wait to see both acts at Verboden in a few weeks!