It was 12 years ago this Friday that we launched this here website, and by golly if things don’t look a lot better today in the world of Our Thing than they did way back then. Admittedly the Senior Staff were both pretty disillusioned with the trad goth-industrial scene in the years leading up to founding I Die: You Die, but looking back now, it was kind of a right place at the right time thing; just as we were getting off the ground there was a pretty big swell of new acts in North America and internationally that have now become mainstays of our personal and club listening, and that we’re happy we got to see ascend in real time. We’ve never really discussed any eventual end to the site, and have no plans to stop any time soon, so would it be bad luck to hope for the next dozen years to hold just as much music of interest to us? Hell, just a peak at this week’s Tracks post seems enough to suggest it’s not unrealistic.
Bestial Mouths keep getting truer to their name and we love it.
Bestial Mouths, “Slitskin”
The evolution of Bestial Mouths has been difficult to pigeonhole. On one hand, the project’s embracing of a wider range of darkwave sounds has given it more melodic and harmonic accessibility than it might have had in the past, but on the other Lynette Cerezo’s commitment to ever more punishing and extreme subject mattera and imagery remains intractable. Forthcoming LP R.O.T.T. (inmyskin) looks to be as extreme as anything Cerezo’s ever attempted in terms of thematics, yet there’s an undeniable amount of bounce and hooks in this teaser. You can bet we’ll be trying to suss it all out when the full album drops in August.
ODDKO, “D4TM (Defrag remix)”
We’re just gonna cop to it; we’re not familiar with Los Angeles based industrial metal act ODDKO, despite them being active for more than a decade. We made a point of checking out this remix by Defrag though, based both on the quality of Jeff Dodson’s work, and his assurance that it was not your typical remix of a metal band. Turns out he was right, and we’re glad we did because the wiry dancefloor electronics that underpin the track make the song over into something that sits astride modern electronic production and classic mechanized rivet-rock. Did we mention it has a pretty impressive video to boot? You’ll wanna check that out below.
Ringfinger, “An Apparition”
We’ve been singing the praises of Vancouver’s Ringfinger for a while, both for their rapid development as a live and a recorded act, and for the pure pleasure of having a hometown goth band to root for in the grand darkwave jungle. Their new single “An Apparition” is probably an excellent point to hop aboard if you haven’t yet had the pleasure of checking the duo out; the drum machine and bass-driven track makes the most of it’s minimal but propulsive energy, and features the best hook and dual vocal performance they’ve yet put out. Now’s the time to get with them friends.
Gasoline Invertebrate, “Stop (Sweat Boys remix)”
What do you get when you put Head Gothsicle Brian Graupner’s club-oriented industrial side-project Gasoline Invertebrate in a room with the midwest’s sweatiest/sexiest (sweaxiest?) synthpop producer Sweat Boys? A lot of perspiration no doubt, and some of it probably due to this excellent remix of the former by the latter. We’ve been big on the SW remixes for a while, and given how well the project’s distinctive style melds with the already dancefloor ready Gasoline Invertrebate jam, we’re kinda hoping these two acts might do some more work together soon.
Nick Viola, “Veilance SS23”
We’ve talked on the podcast about the tragedy which befell the Glitch Mode camp and the difficulties facing Cyanotic’s Sean Payne. Thankfully, the broader industrial community’s rallied around Sean with a number of benefit efforts, including two PWYW charity compilations put out by CRL Studios featuring a total of 38 tracks and with all proceeds going to Sean and his family. In addition to mixes and new tracks by site faves like Access To Arasaka and Antigen Shift, there’s also this bit of meanness from Nick Viola of Fractured Transmission, linking up classic powernoise thunder with some club-friendly oontz.
raison d’être, “Carnificina I”
Miss Cold Meat Industry? Us too. Those fine folks at Cyclic Law are here to scratch that itch, though, with a massive four CD reissue of raison d’être’s landmark Prospectus 1, a crucial release in the history of dark ambient and death/martial industrial. In addition to the original album, you’re getting a rerecorded version of it, and two CDs of unreleased session tracks in both reworked and original forms. This sample of the latter is a reminder of just how much ambiance and dread Peter Andersson could build with the most minimal of compositions.
