It’s a gray, drizzly Sunday as I write this here Tracks post from the million-dollar penthouse condo that serves as the ID:UD HQ. Just kidding about that, I live in Vancouver where a million clams wouldn’t get you in on the ground level of a building in the DMZ. This city is more and more like a J.G. Ballard novel every year, any day now I fully expect to be lumped into some kind of metaphorically charged caste-system based on the floor of the apartment building I live on. I digress. If I seem a little out of sorts this week, it’s because I got tore up at the iVardensphere/W.A.S.T.E. show last night and I have spent the day convalescing with Intern Tobey and eating cheap Indian buffet food. Enjoy these songs, I’m gonna go take a nap.

Ayria, “Hunger”
First new music from Toronto’s Ayria since 2008! It’s been really cool to follow Jen Parkin’s artistic progression from her early days as a vocalist for Epsilon Minus (whose demo I used to play on Halifax college radio like, a million years ago) into a distinctive solo artist with her own well-developed aesthetic. I like the half-time breakdown on the chorus, the harp sounds that accompany it, and Parkin’s creepy spoken outro, all nice touches that give it that certain je ne sais quoi. Props also to Sebastian Komor, whose production work is always welcome. Interested to see where the forthcoming album Plastic Makes Perfect is gonna go soundwise, for right now y’all should throw a buck at this jam over at ye olde Bandcamp.

iVardensphere, “Ancients (Blakopz Summon Remix)”
The guys from Blakopz come correct on this remix for Scott Fox and company, as heard on iVardensphere’s new remix collection I Dream in Noise vol.2. It’s a tricky proposition to remix Canada’s analogue-tribal-powerhouse; their sound is so distinctive and arrangements complex enough that a reinterpretation runs the risk of losing the plot of the original track in short order. Not so here, as the rhythmic elements are left way up front, with some new sequences nestled into the distinctive bassline just so. Monster track, and considering the line-up of other artists who got tapped for this release (Encephalon, Comaduster, Iszoloscope and Alter Der Ruine amongst others) it says something that this one is in pole position. Fire!

Alter Der Ruine, “Boozetooth (Memmaker remix)”
Listening to the final ADR album There’s Always One More Son of a Bitch has me feelin’ a little blue. Not because the music on it is sad or depressing by any means, but because it’s probably their best record from tip to stern, and it sucks to know that there won’t be another. I’ll be doing a full-on review of it this week, but seriously, don’t wait to hear what little old me has to say about it, just go buy the damn thing and thank me later. While you’re at it, consider snatching up the single for “Bury It”, which features remixes by iVardensphere and Mangadrive, along with this melancholic rework of “Boozetooth” from Memmaker.

CONCLΔVE, “Downpour”
Did you check out our witchy/industrial mixtape last week? You totally should my dude, we (humbly) think it was really cool. At any rate, one band absent from it was CONCLΔVE, possibly due to the fact that the project emerged from the ashes of Ronobe only last week, and even we aren’t that fast on the draw. This and “Sanctuary” are the first tasters for the BLESS release, which we should hopefully know some more about soon. Good stuff!

XP8, “Burning Down (Needle Factory remix)”
Speaking of witchy type sounds, I’m totally in love with this remix of XP8’s “Burning Down” by Manchester’s Needle Factory. The original is a big, trance inflected banger of the type that the Marco/Marko axis specialize in, so this slowed down version with hella atmospherics and busy cymbal programming is a tribute to both the strength of the original as a reworkable composition and Needle Factory’s skill at the boards. Rumor has it we’ll be hearing some news from the XP8 cats soon, we promise to pass it along whenever’s clever.

Organic, “Waves Are Running”
A new drop from the fellas at Complete Control Productions is something we anticipate and relish here at ID:UD. For a relatively young label their signal to noise ratio in terms of quality is excellent, the effect of which is that when they put something out, we take notice. Case in point is this single from new signees Organic: a bass driven slice of post-punk with splashy and sweepy electronics, same ballpark as, say, Agent Side Grinder if you need a point of comparison. Solid material, and coupled with the trust we have in their label we’re guaranteed to keep tabs on news of an LP.