Another day, another concert postponed. Looks like it’ll be a few more months ’til we’re able to see the site’s namesake in Vancouver again. On the one hand this is especially a disappointment due to the tour already being postponed twice due to COVID concerns, on the other it’s easy enough to wait a bit longer given how long it’s already been. But this seems to be the lay of the land right now – plenty of tours in motion, but at risk of being pulled away at a moment’s notice. Personally, while we’re beginning to tip our toes back into the nightlife waters, we’re not in a massive rush to presume everything’s normal yet. Let’s get to this week’s tracks.

Sally Dige, in golden environs

Sally Dige, “I Will Be the Sun For You”
Vancouver ex-patriate Sally Dige goes with a lightly folky vibe on damnably catchy new single “I Will Be the Sun For You”. The meticulous construction of her darkwave tracks has certainly been part of their appeal in the past, but there’s an appealingly lively and dare we say looser vibe at play here, with the song’s strings and percussion providing the perfect background for Dige’s own subdued but emphatic vocal stylings. A perfect song for the onset of Spring.

Starving Insect, “That Ought To Crawl”
Starving Insect’s Stillborn Euphoria was an exciting combination of recent post-industrial sounds, throwback acid, and state of the art contemporary sound design. It would have been an absolute beast on the dancefloor, had it not the terrible misfortune of being released just a few weeks before everything shut down. New EP Gospels Of The Worm won’t be subject to the same fate, and it’s an even heavier and darker outing from Alexander Kassberg, featuring high-BPM punishers like this one which almost reimagines aggrotech via convergent evolution.

Jimmy Svensson, “Bad Connection”
We’ve enjoyed Jimmy Svensson’s work as Nuclear Sludge for its canny combining of EBM and industrial sounds to produce club bangers like “Heat”, but his new EP Dark Blood, released under his own name, is another thing entirely. Connecting EBM sound design with dark ambient washes, pieces like “Bad Connection” from the three-track release build a decidedly cinematic and foreboding atmosphere.

Synapscape, “Turnout Raw”
Crunch Pod’s new Ukraine benefit release is massive – WASTE, Manufactura, C/A/T, and plenty of bands we couldn’t tell you the first thing about have all pitched in to add up to 57 tracks on the PWYW comp. Powernoise legends Synapscape come correct with this scraping beast made up of punishing high-end and shuddering programming which very much lives up to its title.

Years of Denial, “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything”
One of our favourite club tracks of the last year was Years of Denial’s cover of “The Poison Door”, a deep-ish Sisters of Mercy cut given a modern dancefloor twist via YoD’s take on modern darkwave. Cut to present when Years of Denial make another appearance on one of Unknown Pleasure’s tributes to the goth masters – in this case Bauhaus – with their take on sentimental fave “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything”. You may recall Ash Code doing a good version of the track recently, although this version is more in line with the original’s wistful desperation.