Here’s hoping everyone’s back home safe and sound from Cold Waves! I was holding the fort down while Alex was off living it up in the Windy City, but we’ll have a recap of all the weekend’s happenings on the podcast this week (though from what I’ve gathered online, Cubanate seem to have been the undisputed highlight). We love going to places like Chicago and Calgary to meet old friends and see bands we’ve wanted to catch live for decades (speaking of Terminus, the photo book is up for sale now, featuring photos by Jill Grant and Adrian Onsen, plus writing from promoter Chris Hewitt, Eric Gottesman, and yours truly). But the excitement of catching a new, hitherto unknown band for the first time and having your passion for dark music redkindled, hopefully in a new way, is also what keeps us coming back, as we’ve spoken about with regard to the forthcoming DB20. In that spirit, here are some new tunes.

Cygnets

Careful with that thing, Logan, you'll put your eye out.

Cygnets, “Icons”
Cygnets’ new LP Alone/Together was released just a couple of days back, and we’ve got an ID:UD exclusive in the form of the vid for lead track “Icons”. Does the attempt at the immolation of the band’s past (and 2/3s of the band itself) portend a radical departure for the Edmonton new wave outfit? Or, does the futile nature of this self-destruction mean that, like vocalist Logan Turner, we’ll end up back in a smokey basement somewhere, listening to the band stay the course set forth by their passionate and melodic work to date? Check “Icons”, make up your own mind, and stay tuned for a full take on Alone/Together.

Hello Moth, “A Song About Transience”
Not sure how we missed this when it was released a few weeks back, but keeping things in Alberta for the moment, here’s something new from one-man art-pop outfit Hello Moth. Anyone who’s seen Hello Moth live will be able to speak to the completely idiosyncratic nature of the project, but there are canny pop sounds aplenty woven into this melancholy number. A little bit of Carly Rae, if I may be so bold, and possibly Kitchener’s own The Rhinos?

Veil Of Light, “Trust”
Punishingly heavy coldwave from Swiss duo Veil of Light’s second LP Ursprung, recently out on Aufnahme + Wiedergabe. It’s been a damn long time since I can remember drum machines thudding against the chest with such impact, and a quick perusal of the LP indicates a keen knack for keeping tracks clicking along while dishing the violence. Very dark, very strong.

Ganser, “Pyrrhic Victory”
A dark but loosely loping taster from Chicago’s Ganser, who have been quietly building their post-punk rep with deceptively chaotic and florid compositions. There’s a hell of a lot kicking about over “Pyrrhic Victory”‘s run-time, but the up-front bass keeps everything marshaled into a study in tension. Full EP This Feels Like Living should be out in the next couple of months, and we’ll keep you posted on that front.

Cyanotic, “Clear A Path”
No one does 90s nostalgia like Sean Payne, both in terms of Cyanotic’s concrete mastery of American coldwave sounds, as well as that eras cultural markers, and it looks as though the band’s self-consciously pursuing that retro feel with their forthcoming Tech Noir release. Falling Down‘s depiction of the archetypal angry white man gone rogue feels uncomfortably proximal given the looming US election and all that’s accompanied it. Can’t we just return to the more comfortable era of Judgment Day and the war against the machines, Sean?

Chrome Corpse, “Data Messiah”
Here’s some fun, lo-fi electro-industrial steez out of Seattle wrought in classic MIDI mode. Should appeal if’n you dig Kangarot, Weird Candle, or that Mind Teardown record Alex gave a gander at.