So yeah, we didn’t make a big deal out of it or nothing, but last Tuesday’s review of Minuit Machine’s new LP (which you should totally listen to because it’s v. nice) was our 1000th post here on ID:UD. Now we like to make a lot of hay from pretty much every arbitrary numeric milestone we lurch past here in the HQ, basically as a little pat on the back for ourselves and to remind us that we should keep going. But we also like to use it as a reminder to thank all of y’all for your support of our writing and podcasts, since without folks to actually pay attention to this stuff and spread it around, we’d basically have no motivation to keep doing it. So please accept our thanks for your continued patronage of I Die: You Die, and here’s to a thousand more posts. Only 997 to go after today’s Tracks!

Circa Tapes

Circa Tapes borrow from Serge Lutens to connote retro-future noir.

SØLVE, “What Remains”
Hey now, here’s an ID:UD exclusive we’re very excited to offer up: a taster of the upcoming full-length from Brant Showers of ∆AIMON’s side project SØLVE. More than any of the earlier pieces we’ve heard from SØLVE, this number carves out an identity for itself quite different from what we’ve come to expect from ∆AIMON. The stabbing and scurrying beat feels like classic rhythmic noise, and Showers’ learned sound design lends additional wisps of menace to a tune which should sound great in clubs this season. Shades of Interlace, perhaps?

Circa Tapes, “Diamonds”
Adam Killing (formerly of the criminally underrated Kill Memory Crash) has a new(ish) solo project on the go in Circa Tapes. Second LP Kolektique draws from a familiar well of coldwave and synthpop motifs, but by adding the odd dusting of classic techno tension and interweaving analog and digital sounds a whole new set of interplays and moods are brought to bear.

Equitant, “Operative”
Something new from the producer responsible for more than a couple remixes we’ve enjoyed over the last couple of years. With techno and EBM as a well established pairing this year, we’re curious to see what genre-wise producers like Equitant will be bringing to the mix going forward. Are we maybe hearing some synthwave touches in this black leather body music track?

Blac Kolor, “Spirits”
Speaking of techno-body hybridization, who fucking knew Blac Kolor was gonna step sideways this hard on their new track? We associate the Leipzig project with smart and atmospheric programming, but this is on some very different shit from their entertaining debut Wide Noise, using deep bass tones and sharp cymbal programming to slowly push this grinder forward. Different and exciting stuff from an artist who already had our attention, but who is making us reassess our expectations for the next record.

M‡яc▲ll▲, “Impervious”
God only knows what label someone who hasn’t been following M‡яc▲ll▲ for a while might apply to their music. It’s still lurking in the neighbourhoods that gave us the great witch house implosion of 2011, but has expanded in so many different directions since then. Why, their new single “Earthshine/Impervious” has some dollops of giallo disco, cinematic atmosphere and even lil’ bit of trap worked into the snare rolls.

Double Echo, “The Sentence”
Liverpool gloom merchants Double Echo ready their second LP for release in a couple of weeks. The band’s sound’s grown more ornate and fully realized with each release, and with a full-time keyboardist now in the fold they’re really stretching themselves across the entire goth spectrum, as on this rather Xymox-ish tune. By the by, were we the only ones who didn’t know that Double Echo started out as a Zombina and the Skeletones side project?

Apollyon’s Visage, “Dominion (Voices)”
Edmonton’s Apollyon’s Visage are doing some housecleaning, collecting mixes done for the likes of Mr.Kitty, V▲LH▲LL, and Product on their Conjurations I comp, along with some other, presumably unofficial reworkings of Backstreet Boys and Wesley Willis (but don’t take our word for it; for all we know AJ McLean’s super into witchy shit).