We Have A Technical

This month's We Have A Commentary bonus podcast has the Senior Staff casting their eyes back to 2009 and the release of Din A Tod's second and final LP Westwerk. While it's a record that offers some highly polished darkwave and post-punk, it also presaged a number of sounds to come, as well as taking some curious detours into strains of dance and rock music well outside of Our Thing.

This week’s episode has us each picking five pairs of tracks we’ve come to have linked in our minds, whether it be through our personal mixtape or DJ histories, or some other mystery of the human mind. From noise to synthpop to psytrance, we’re hoping these picks also speak to the broader ways in which we all interact with music. All that plus some discussion of the just-announced Substance festival in LA! 

Inland Empire coldwave and Bay Area no wave are far more different than nomenclature and physical proximity might suggest, as we find out in this episode of We Have A Technical. The loosely thrashing debut from Penal Colony and the abstracted to almost nothing experimentalism of Subpoena The Past are our picks for this two albums episode of the podacast, alongside some gleeful hand-rubbing over the impending arrival of Industrial Summer Camp season. 

Bruce is away this week, which means we've tapped our good friend Mildred Strange from the excellent History Lessons for Misanthropes to join us as the resident academic. We discuss one of her favourite bands 12 Rounds, and the enduring appeal of their 1998 sophomore album My Big Hero before trying to make sense of the bizarre, somewhat inscrutable-to-us German medieval NDH act Tanzwut. What mysteries will we uncover and how many german words do we mispronounce? You'll have to listen to find out!

From post-futurepop to post-witch house, we're hopping across some big gulfs in style with this week's podcast's two records. First, the tasteful to a fault Edge Of Dawn's Enjoy The Fall puts Frank Spinath's unmistakable vocals squarely in the spotlight, and then, the first split record between V▲LH▲LL & M‡яc▲ll▲ brings us back to the days of artists using the witch house explosion as the opportunity to reconsider approaches to classic dark synth sounds.

Settle in for a lot of fast talk, as the Senior staff power their way through the debut LP from Texas' Twin Tribes. A modern darkwave classic through and through, be prepared for a lot of gushing about songwriting, albumcraft, and the beauty of simplicity on this I Die: You Die bonus podcast. 

One of our chin-stroking big topic episodes is coming your way this week, as we discuss the thorny question of the cost of digital releases within the culture of the darker music scenes. What shapes artists' decisions regarding price points? What impact do people's motivations with their music play in how they try to distribute it? And what goes through the head of the budget-conscious music purchaser as they're browsing through slews of releases on Bandcamp? All these questions and more on the latest episode of We Have A Technical.

Two rather different records in terms of era, sound, and (presumably) audience make up this week's episode of We Have A Technical. We're talking about Ashbury Heights' debut Three Cheers For The Newlydeads and Contagion's Contaminant PCB. We also have some words about the passing of our friend Bryan Hughes, and Minuit Machine's upcoming North American tour.

It’s a slightly spicy episode of We Have A Technical this week, as we find ourselves sharing an appreciation for the thoughtful dark ambient of Blink Twice…and debating the foibles of the nominal deathrock of Fear Cult. We’re also talking Andy Fletcher, Front 242, and the Manufactured In Los Angeles fest.

As we recently opined, the new album by The Legendary Pink Dots ranks among the best works in the long-standing experimental band's voluminous discography. It's a timely honour, then, to speak to the band's frontman and chief songwriter Edward Ka-Spel on this week's episode of We Have A Technical. Edward spoke with us about the structuring and execution of The Museum Of Human Happiness, how his songwriting has changed to reflect different eras, and shifting senses of utopias past and present, all with the characteristic wit and humanity instantly recognizable to any long-term LPD listener. 

This month's We Have A Commentary brings you an album-length discussion of KMFDM's 1995 LP, NIHIL, as selected by our Patreon backers from a range of records by the long-standing German/American industrial rock act. A record of big hits and big misses, NIHIL prompts discussion not only of KMFDM's quirky assemblage of musical elements and personalities, but also their position within the general alternative 90s zeitgeist. 

We'e getting right to business with a jumbo-sized podcast breaking down each and every act from Vancouver's five day (FIVE DAY!) Verboden Festival. It was a slew of performances at different venues from bands both new and unfamiliar to us (with yours truly serving as your humble emcees), and we're here to get you up to speed and hopefully direct you to some new bands of interest.

We’re taking a detour from anything remotely related to industrial with this week’s two albums formatted podcast. First up is the goth-inflected machine rawk of Ulterior’s proper debut, Wild In Wildlife, followed by the immaculately curated 90s neo-folk of Nature And Organisation’s Beauty Reaps The Blood Of Solitude. We’re also talking about the reveal of the long-awaited 2022 installment of our beloved Terminus Festival! 

This month's Patreon-supported commentary podcast has the Senior Staff revisiting Curse, an early chapter in the massive discography of The Legendary Pink Dots. Both Alex and Bruce hold LPD in a special place in their hearts, and are offering thoughts about what has and hasn't changed about the band since Curse, the genres which the band border upon yet never quite occupy, and the early occurrences of some of Edward Ka-Spel's recurring lyrical themes. 

We're joined on this week's episode of We Have A Technical by Robert Katerwol, who's discussing the fifth iteration of Vancouver's Verboden Festival. After having had to forestall the fest by two years, Robert had a lot to say about the logistics of booking a festival while still wrestling with the pandemic, establishing a diverse lineup, and what new sounds he's interested in ferreting out to bring to the stage. On a sadder note, we're also discussing the news of the passing of electronic pioneer Klaus Schulze. 

Three of our fantastic Patreonies are joining us to talk about some records near and dear to them. We're discussing Too Deep by Kontravoid, Berlin 2007 by Collapsed System, and Death On The Installment Plan by Numb. We also talk about a couple of unfortunate passings, as well as good news regarding Jean-Luc De Meyer.

The Senior Staff is back in the saddle and returning to our tried and true Pick Five format in this week's episode. In an homage to the scene which inspired our Pick Fives, we're going right down the pipe by each picking Side 1s, Track 1s. Additionally, we're talking about the just announced line-ups for the New York and Los Angeles Cold Waves satellite fests, and the postponement of Front 242's touring due to Jean-Luc De Meyer's health issues. We should note that a positive update concerning JLDM has been posted since this episode was recorded on Monday. 

The Senior Staff is celebrating 400 (actually a lot more, but officially 400) episodes of We Have a Technical by having a big ol’ party, and by party we mean we had on several friends of the podcast who are distinctly NOT immersed in industrial, EBM, darkwave, and goth music to talk a little bit about some genre classics. What fresh observations might these notable folks from the worlds of music, literature and podcasting have to offer on songs we all know like the back of our hands? You’ll have to listen to find out!