We’re exhausted, bleary-eyed, and a little melancholy after another wonderful instalment of our local Verboden Festival. There’s a full report coming on the podcast this weekend, so forgive us if this intro is a little thin as we’re still punch-drunk on all the new bands we caught over four days. That hasn’t stopped us from finding six new tunes to share with you, albeit a day late.
Spammerheads living that squat life.
Feyleux, “The Empress”
The no-frills delivery of the solid melodies and atmosphere of “Lunaria Swirls”, the A-side of Feyleux’s debut demo/single endeared the recently formed North Carolina duo to us back in January. This new tune carries that same direct approach to classically swirly darkwave, and also suggests that they’ll have the pacing and chops to thread a debut LP together nicely. Midnight Hearts is out in about three weeks time and we’re keen to see what other dark little gems it has nestled within.
Static Ghost, “Chemical Combat”
Had no real knowledge or expectations for Static Ghost’s set at Verboden last weekend, and came away suitably impressed. You’ll certainly get some strong X-IMG vibes from the material on the recently released Depatterned EP, but that’s not at all a bad thing: the masked producer from Olympia has a solid grasp on how to keep bass-led, techno-body songs moving, and engaging, with plenty of samples, vocal and otherwise to intrigue the ear. One to keep tabs on.
Davours, “XY”
Vancouver gaylien Devours’ first single since the release of the absolutely wonderful Homecoming Queen last year is exactly what we want from our city’s cult electropop icon. Firstly it’s incredibly catchy and charming, with the spritely blips and pitched samples and cutting jokes we’ve come to expect. But most importantly it does the thing where whether or not you have any experience with the kind of gay masculinity politics it addresses, its presented in such a deeply relatable way that it doesn’t matter. “I’ll be a jealous hater til the day that I die/But I can see the world clearer through these bloodshot eyes” is an early lyric of the year contender.
Purgate, “Starlight”
Folks at the more outré end of electronics might primarily know Frederic Arbour as the man behind dark ambient/death industrial label Cyclic Law, but he has plenty of musical credits in his own right, and the debut of his Purgate project a few years ago pointed to a sharp sense of restraint and subtlety with the blending of noise and beats. This tune from the forthcoming Transcend LP maintains that equilibrium in a hyptnotic way, with a result perhaps akin to a more submerged or spacey version of Vatican Shadow.
Sixth June & Andy Pavlov, “Sweet Sensation”
Lord knows we’ve described the lush, downtempo darkwave of Sixth June using the vague “cinematic” tag more than a few times, and so it doesn’t surprise us that the duo (along with Andy Pavlov of LP Duo) were tapped to do some soundtracking. Two tracks done for the TV show Nemirni in their native Serbia have just gone on bandcamp, and damned if they don’t take to the sentimental, Lynchian swing of this number like a fish to water.
Spammerheads, “Human Hysteria”
Valencia based neo-old school EBM act Spammerheads have a new one on the way, with “Human Hysteria” as the lead off sample. And yup, this is what we want from them; processed, sneering vocals, heavy kicks and a bassline that keeps it simple and groovy for the duration of the track. Punchy and upbeat, a record we’ll be giving some spins when it drops to see if the rest of it scratches the same itch as this song does.
