Okay, so we may have a few more bits of backlogged 2025 material to work through in the next week or so, but after that it’s gonna be some smooth 2026 sailing judging by an already busy release schedule. We’ll talk a bit about some albums we’re keen to hear on the podcast we’re sure, but as always we’ll use this space to ask you to tell us what you think we should be checking for this calendar year. We never get to hear everything we’d like to, so your tips are very important to us! On to the Tracks.

Sauna life with Club Drugs

Covert Forces, “Resurrection”
Coinciding with their debut live show (which we caught last night), Vancouver’s Covert Forces have just dropped a second tape which adds some new chewy funk to their programming of classically clattering and bricked post-industrial beats. The duo have spoken to us about the influence Severed Heads holds on their work, and it’s cool to hear the noisier (and not just synthpoppy) side of those legends’ work being folded back in to weighty and thudding EBM styled fare by younger acts.

Mecha Maiko, “Crawl”
Excellent new jam from Toronto oddball electropop artist Mecha Maiko, who’s work has a distinct fluidity and elasticity. New single “Crawl” sets up a simple, funky bassline and some brassy percussion sounds as its bedrock and then gradually builds up an arrangement of whirrs, clicks and synth noise around them, hitting a weird middle ground between EBM and hyperpop.

The Luna Sequence, “Daughter Of A Dying Sun”
While nominally an industrial metal project on paper, one-woman act The Luna Sequence dodges most preconceptions about that genre as well as both of its component parts, really. Both the metal and electronic components in Kaia Young’s work seem to aim more at evoking complex visual or cinematic imagery and moods rather than ticking genre boxes. Still, the technical and compositional chops Young’s honed over the past fifteen or so years are on full display on new LP Rifts Become Passages, with grand and sweeping pieces like this having us imagining a Dream Theatre and mind.in.a.box collab.

Club Drugs, “Heart 2 Break”
Chicago’s Club Drugs are working a version of darkwave that we’re feeling on their new single “Heart 2 Break”. The important distinction between their sound and the broader genre right now is that it taps into broader alt rock sounds seamlessly, offering up forward vocals and a big production sound that sets them apart from the disaffected and atonal style that has dominated the style for a few years. New album lovesick is sounding promising.

ESA, “Something for the Horsemen (PSYKKLE Remix)”
“Something For The Horsemen” was one of the most unforgiving club tracks of last year, indicative of the combo of brutality and precise programming Jamie Blacker brought to Sounds For Your Happiness. A big swack of remixes of the cut finds Wavepeak, Matt Hart, and others putting their own spin on the violence, including Psykkle torquing a galvanized rubber bassline for all it’s worth. It’s also worth noting that the entire release is sequenced incredibly tightly and cannily, making a full continuous play of it feel akin to that hour long vid of Jason repeatedly smashing someone into a tree.

Body Beat Ritual, “Heaven’s Burning”
New Zealand’s Body Beat Ritual has put out a few EPs we quite enjoyed, going back to 2018 with the release of Mortal Sin. The project’s forthcoming EP Halloweenland is presaged by “Heaven’s Burning”, a funky slice of new beat styled club action with a wormy synthline that should grab your ear just so. Under the radar, but maybe not for long if they keep putting out joints like this.