Just a couple more days ’til the Senior Staff are (briefly) aloft and flying to Calgary for Terminus. As we’ve been gassing on about on the podcast it’s an absolutely stacked lineup with faves new and old, but as always a huge part of the anticipation for Terminus comes via the incredible community of friends and festival fam we’ve all built together over the years. Looking forward to seeing y’all, and as always, if this is your first time at the fest come and tap one of us on the shoulder – first round’s on us.

FRACTIONS ARE HIDING AMONGST US

ACTORS, “Youth”
One more advance single before Vancouver’s mighty ACTORS drop their third album. Unlike the bass-led and somewhat tense “CTRL” and “Left On Read”, “Youth” taps into the band’s sweet, dreamy side, with a nice laid back verse and some fun layered vocal punch-ins before a suprisingly big wash of shoegaze guitars sweeps through the mix, capped by a synth arp climax that feels just right.

Damage Control x OHMElectronic, “Manifesto”
A collaboration between OHMElectronic and the already collaborative intercontinental Damage Control project, there’s a nice mix of influences and styles in this new single, despite its restraint. Bass and percussion programming spatter and blur into one another while the icier pads maintain their own movement, seemingly in a separate region of the stratosphere.

Vacios Cuerpos, “CIELO = INFIERNO”
A great slice of classic atmospheric post-punk from Mexican act Vacios Cuerpos, who specialize in that field. A big part of it is in how the standard musical elements of the style – twangy guitars, low vocals, programmed drums and heaps of reverb – all sit so nicely alongside each other, really allowing the track’s melody to breathe.

Filmmaker, “Breaking The Grid”
Regular readers know the drill by now: you can’t hope to stay wholly abreast of the constant torrent of Filmmaker releases, you just dip in and out when you can. The lead cut from new LP Externalism (the third one to see release this year thus far) brings in some classic downtempo cinematics alongside Faunes Efe’s trademark lo-fi electro/EBM hybrid style, and the result almost feels like Haujobb griming it up.

FRACTIONS, “Love Like Ice”
Czech duo FRACTIONS have really been stretching their wings of late; while originally lumped in with the broader techno-ebm movement, their last EP Post-Club had them taking on a more high-bpm, song-based approach. New single “Love Like Ice” continues with that, applying their combined production skills to a fast-moving electropop number with a big guitar finale we didn’t hear coming but worked perfectly. Not even sure what to call what the band is doing now genre-wise, but it sure is hitting the spot.

Virulents & Grauhaus, “Screamsheets”
Lastly, a little bit of lithe dark techno from LA which dabbles a little bit in a cyber direction that draws from early 2010’s industrial clubs as much as modern techno. Of note for longtime heads? One of your producers behind the Austere EP, Grauhaus, is none other than one-third of long, long, LONG time faves of the Senior Staff, NCC.