Morning, gang! Here’s hoping your long weekend was either as relaxed as mine (mucho Unreal Tournament 2004, long walks in Stanley Park, beer exploration), or as fun-packed as Alex’s (catching the likes of Neuroticfish, Alter Der Ruine, and Surgyn at Resistanz). I’ll be manning the good ship ID:UD semi-solo for the next short while as Alex heads over to Italy to guzzle wines neither he nor I could pronounce and dig up Kirlian Camera rarities. The baseball season is officially underway, with my beloved Jays now odds-on favourites to make the postseason for the first time in a donkey’s age, but I’m always happy to put aside sabermetrics to bring you a week’s batch of new tracks. Let’s get to it!

Snog, “Everything Is Under Control”
What’s in store for us on Babes In Consumerland? Likely best to expect the unexpected, or at least a wide pastiche of sounds from across the history of pop, rock, and folk all framed within the sardonic synth social critiques the project is famous for. Showing off Thrussell’s keen capacity to match musical mode with lyrical content, the lead single is a deceptively placid synth rock number overtop a sh-boom sh-boom beat.

Deathday, “Cold Room”
Portland’s very choice minimal synth/grave wave label Sweating Tapes draw our attention to the latest venting of chilly air and dirty laundry from LA’s Deathday. Super grimy cold wave squalls and post-punk structures abound with a terse tension that reminds me of the inroads into industrial made by post-hardcore bands in the early oughts.

Tannhauser Gate, “Obsession”
I have to confess ignorance of South Africa’s industrial scene outside of the presence of Acretongue, but Tannhauser Gates beaty bleeps are as far removed from that project’s smooth sculptures as is possible. Coming across somewhere between Forces and //TENSE//, I’m definitely going to be looking into the duo’s debut EP on Function Operate further.

Tannhauser Gate-Obsession from Frankie Congo on Vimeo.

Gnome, “Easing Back The Cover Of Darkness”
When ID:UD’s interviewer-at-large Kathleen Chausse caught up with Michael Morton of Displacer, there was word that his Crime League label would be doing some collaborative EPs, and with the by-donation Vantage Point release we’re getting an impressive sense of the caliber of artists Morton’s roping in: Access To Arasaka, Dead Voices On Air, and Mark Spybey’s collaborator on the underrated Willie’s Place records, Gnome, all make appearances. Looking forward to having these gauzy relaxers float through the apartment on long spring nights.

The Replicon Project, “Replicon I”
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give this a shout-out. What good is having a Gary Numan-inspired blog if you can’t include tributes to the man himself? Rather than cover Numan tunes, though, the anonymous collective behind The Replicon Project have elected to pen originals written in vintage Numan style. Bit more rockish than you might expect, but still fun!