Our second week of 2026 coverage rolls along, likely with the same mix of brand spanking new material and some last minute stuff from December which we either missed or just couldn’t find spots for in the last weeks of our 2025 coverage. Any major releases lying in the months ahead which you folks are looking forward to? Give a mention in the comments after checking out this week’s tunes.
Mesh
Das Ich, “Dantes Hölle (Rotersand remix)”
Both Das Ich and Rotersand ranked quite highly on our Year End Top 25 for 2025, the two venerable German acts having come through with albums that spoke to their legacy and ongoing relevance, albeit in very different styles. Still, hearing Rotersand take on the baroque electro of “Dantes Hölle” is heartening; the mix emphasizes and exemplifies Rotersand’s knack for putting together club bangers, but doesn’t abandon or replace the gloomy atmosphere of the original cut, slicing away some of its clamor and chaos but leaving behind a sleek teutonic bit of club fare.
Scheitan, “Love n’ Death”
As we discussed at the end of the year, the infectious pop-rock hooks and progressions which guided the ostensible goth rock of Scheitan’s “Heaven Tonight” single ended up being dancefloor catnip for us in 2025. With a just released full-length from the formerly metal-oriented Swedish act, we’ll have a chance to see if tunes like this one which follow in “Heaven Tonight”‘s anthemic footsteps are representative of this rebooted version of the band. Stay tuned for a full review of Wine For A Tormented Soul.
Mesh, “Exile”
UK act Mesh have never fit comfortably into any one category musically; they’re a bit too rock to be lumped into synthpop, but then again they’re so steeped in electronics for that other category to make sense either. That said, they’ve amassed a substantial and VERY loyal audience via their deep catalogue of excellent songs and records, and with new LP The Truth Doesn’t Matter on the horizon, “Exile” is yet another in a long line of examples of why they’ve endured. It’s got the twangy guitar, the emotional vocals and the memorable hooks you’d expect, and feels simultaneous familiar and new.
Auger, “Back in Love”
UK artist Auger seems pretty primed to break through in North America after having established himself on the other side of the Atlantic. The sound of new single “Back in Love” is really quite lovely, it’s got the vibe of a classic new wave ballad, a hint of goth melodrama, and just a dash of synthwave to add some additional pep. With a whole raft of singles released in 2025, could an LP in 2026 be on the horizon?
D.A.F., “El Que (Terence Fixmer Leather Remix)”
We’ve gone on record multiple times saying that “El Que” is one of D.A.F.’s best tracks, with its rolling, languidly sexy groove being a perfect counterpoint to far more violent fare from Gold Und Liebe like “Verschwende Deine Jugend”. And if there’s anyone who could run a masterclass on blending EBM classics into contemporary techno milieus, spanning decades of the latter in fact, it’s Terence Fixmer. The first of Fixmer’s two new reworkings of “El Que” for the always sharp Mannequin Records aims for the harsh and dark strain of modern techno you might expect from Fixmer, but this second take opts to amplify the organic funk and disco found in the original and carry it into modern house territory.
The Golden Age Of Wrestling, “revenge body (denton, tx)”
Lastly, from the “off format but we love it, dammit” file, the ambient hypnagogic side-project of Devours’ Jeff Cancade, The Golden Age Of Wrestling, is setting up for another championship run with the forthcoming Sweet Chin Music LP. The watery drifts of amber and cyan synthpads which flit about the edges of some Devours tunes are given free roam on instrumentals like this, bereft of the self-deprecation and wounded love which defines so much of Cancade’s work.
