Sorry to keep beating a dead horse, but we’d again like to plug the ongoing collection of EBM Day/ID:UD merch up for offer via our friends at Second Tooth. Our own selection of swag’s begun showing up at the HQ and we’re quite taken with the quality of the merch. Once again, our portion of the proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Borders. Okay, end of commercial, on to this week’s Tracks.
Null Device, on stairs to where?
Corpse Dust, “Torture Me”
A new name in North American EBM arrives via the always reliable DKA Records. While preceding EP Nothing Left Of Pain incorporated pure industrial distortion and elements of raw black metal (befitting a release on Hand Of Death, who’ve also had dalliances with EBM via Kangarot), this track speaks to a smoother reworking of Corpse Dust’s sound, positioning stoic bass programming against slowly unfolding synthpop pads. A very different read on a combination of elements similar to that plied so well by Sleek Teeth of late.
In Strict Confidence, “Blasphemous Rumours”
Things have been less quiet in the world of In Strict Confidence of late; while we still haven’t had a full LP of new music since Hate2Love in 2018, the long-running German band has been releasing the occasional single here and there, leaning heavily into the neue deustch harte version of their sound. In particular, this cover of Depeche Mode’s “Blasphemous Rumours” would seem to be inspired by their symphonic remix album Mechanical Symphony from the other year, all kinds of strings and horns and whatnot, bringing up the drama of DM at their most gothic, and ISC’s natural penchant for the same.
Pig, “Tosca’s Kiss”
We’ve been up and down on Raymond Watts’ contemporary work as Pig; sometimes it feels like a real natural evolution of his style of industrial rock, and sometimes it leaned a little too hard into some hard rock cliche’s in ways that seemed a little too ironic. Not even sure what to expect from the upcoming Hurt People Hurt, except that we listened to first single “Tosca’s Kiss” with a great deal of interest; the song is heavy, weirdly atonal and atmospheric by turns, never fully of one style in Watt’s production and songwriting arsenal. It’s a weird one, but not at all something we’d expect, and that intrigues us.
Soviet, “Situations”
Summer’s still a long ways off, but we’ll be flagging this cover of German synthpoppers Cetu Javu’s 1988 single “Situations” for July evening playlists. The hint of Balearic beat in the original is zeroed in on by Keith Ruggerio of the still underrated millennial synthpop act Soviet and brought into present day, widescreen technicolour with soul and an earthy warmth. It’s great to have activity out of the Soviet camp again (you can catch up via our run-down of Medical’s reissue of their fantastic debut).
Null Device, “I Don’t Want to Say Goodbye”
Aww shit, our favourite Wisconsin-based synthpop act Null Device come through with a new single that evokes a very nineties take on the style. Think Ultra-era Mode, with the vocals of Eric Oehler and Jill Sheridan backed by a tight combination of crunchy breaks, thick synth bass and some undeniably funky synthesizer squelch, making the band a lot filthier than they’ve ever sounded in the past (in a good way!) Perpetually one of the most underrated scene acts in terms of songwriting, production and performance, this one has legs and makes us excited for the next LP whenever it drops.
Violet Arcana, “The World Inside (Novit Terminus Remix)”
Through our discussion of the recent reissue of Violet Arcana’s In The Scene Of The Mind, the newer projects and perspectives original member Jeremy C Wells has been taking up were discussed. Wells is continuing to link his past with his present project, Novit Terminus, and this remix/reworking of a Violet Arcana track pays that effort off very nicely. The textural loops of this remix emerge then begin to recursively fold back in upon themselves even as its trancy pads keep skittering outwards. A delightful, self-contained psychedelic trip.
