Hey friends! If y’all like to party like we do, then you probably spent the weekend curled up under a blanket rocking a cup of tea with a good book and listening to some pleasant music at a reasonable volume. That’s just how we do it in Van City, the city that never sleeps except for the occasionally drifting off on the couch while watching episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. Not too much of note to report (at least nothing we can really talk about right now, expect some fun announcements soon), so we might as well get to the new music sooner rather than later.

This is basically cat nip to us.

Alter Der Ruine, “Lights (Demo)”
From rhythmic noise, to funky mutant electro, to breaking up (sort of), to reforming and starting to release some very different songwriterly material; it’s been something of a trek for Alter Der Ruine. The new stuff we’ve heard from the Mikes and new member Tamara is marked by a delicate and subtle sensibility, taking the emotional underlay that made their last two records so interesting and exposing it to the world. There’s no denying the impact of hearing this project emerge into its new form (especially when combined with a video by vocalist/programmer Michael Treveloni as in the case of “Lights”) the effect is tangible and real. Can’t wait for the as yet unannounced new album to hit, presumably sometime in 2014.

Encephalon, “Drop Dead (Catatonic)”
We noted last week that the new Digital Recovery comp was out, and there’s already a second, supplementary release which is also donating proceeds to the Bill Hicks Foundation for Wildlife. Lucidstatic, Kangarot, and plenty of others make appearances on a 14-track comp that can be had for a mere $3 donation. And hey, what’s this? A previously unreleased remix of a standout club banger from our favourite record of 2011? Yes, please!

The Pain Machinery, “Surface”
If you’ve only recently started reading us you may not yet have had the dubious pleasure of hearing us gas on about Sweden and its delightful body music tradition. Let’s rectify that shall we? The Pain Machinery are pretty much a staple for I Die: You Die, and an act we’ve always supported, chiefly due to how polished their particular take on classic EBM is. There’s something special in how they can reference the classic era of body music (while using synths and drum machines of that time mind you) and still sound very fresh and contemporary. This comes from a cool looking 7″ comp of Swedish EBM that features Sturm Cafe, Container 90 and Turnbull AC’s, gonna go order one of those right now.

CONCLΔVE, “Rip The Sky Asunder”
We’ve been tracking Filipino act CONCLΔVE from the get go, and it’s great to see their genre-mashing experimentation land a higher profile spot with a new LP on Phantasma Disques. This cut manages to stretch the stormy and witchy part of their sound will still somehow connoting sun-smeared psychedelia. Great stuff!

Phantom West, “Project Orion”
LA producer Phantom West’s new album, Cargo Cult, just dropped last week. It’s an interesting take on IDM that works in some almost funk-touched house sounds alongside spacey techno. Will be letting this one sit in the phones for a while…

Hope Estheim vs. XP8, “Heartless Disaster”
This is cool: back when XP8 was putting together their kickstarter for the digipack release of their album Adrenochrome they had a collaboration tier. Enter EDM tinged synthpop act Hope Estheim, who snapped up the reward and and got together with Marko and Marco to bang out this fun little number. Marked by male and female vocals and deep pumping bass grooves it has solid club appeal, especially when paired with a pretty straight dubstep remix from Studio-X on the pay-what-you-want single.