As far as shows with serious significance to both of the Senior Staff, it’s tough to come up with names bigger than The Cure, whose Vancouver show Friday night managed to cut through our jaded middle-aged exteriors and get into the heart of how and why we were drawn to darker music in the first place. You can look forward to some detailed talk about the show off the top of this week’s podcast, but ’til then here are your Monday Tracks!
Slighter goes cyber
Diesel Dudes, “Zamboni”
Everyone’s favourite Bay Area EBM muscle men are back, this time with a track that combines two of their favourite interests: violent sports and machines with big engines. Full of overdriven and flanged programming, this tune draws the line between Diesel Dudes’ yen for EBM (the track fittingly clocks in at 2:42) and the punk structures which often make up the base of their tunes. Hopefully between this and last year’s “Bus Boss” we’re in for a whole new release from the Dudes to listen to while we lift.
Geneviéve Pasquier, “Berühren”
We have to confees that much to our shame we don’t spend nearly enough time listening to Geneviéve Pasquier. Considering how long the she’s been in the game plying a pretty distinct style of noisy electronics and torchy singing – presaging a lot of current developments in vocal noise – we should really be paying closer attention to the long-time Ant-Zen recording artist. And hey, what better way to make good on that than by pumping her latest for that storied label, a 7″ featuring covers of minimal wave act Profil’s “Berühren” on one side, and cult industrial act NOX’s “Cannibal Night” on the other. Heady continental stuff that hits us just so.
Slighter, “Have No Fear”
We’ve come to expect great production and interesting style-bending choices from Colin Cameron’s Slighter, and single “Have No Fear”, a lead-in to new LP This Futile Machine certainly lives up to that. Working some of the trip-hob vibes of his last full-length Automata with some bass music touches and classic industrial sample-work, it’s a crossover styled-track that illustrates Cameron’s capacity for atmosphere and sound design in a clubbable package, especially in the included “Dark Rave Mix”.
Rue Oberkampf, “Solitude”
We talked a good deal on the podcast about how Rue Oberkampf’s set at Verboden balanced the band’s icy continental cool with their ear for hard-hitting club-driven darkwave, and this new number (which was played at that set if we remember correctly) speaks precisely to that balance. Of the moment but holding onto just enough of the band’s classic influences, this sounds like it would murder on a proper club system, and shows that the trio are primed to follow-up last year’s excellent Liebe with something equally special.
Protectorate, “Capitulate 23”
While we haven’t heard much from Finnish post-industrialists Cardinal Noire recently, we have heard a lot from its component members; earlier this year we got a great death industrial LP from Lasse Alander in his W424 guise, while the other half of the duo Kalle Lindberg has just dropped a new Protectorate single MIXZ. As the title suggests it’s largely made up of remixes but there is a hot new cut in the form of “Capitulate 23”, a body-music flavoured slice of industrial dance that recalls earlier era Necro Facility with maybe a touch of dark electro to set it off just right.
Bean Sí, “Stuck In The Mud (Radio Edit)”
Dublin’s Bean Sí first came to our attention with the thrashy darkwave of “Disco Fever”, and have followed that up with this more oontz and rave-focused track. The raspy teenage angst which drew us in is still very much on full display here, with the duo coming across as synthpunks coming up in the current club environment and latching on to whatever sounds might be at hand.
