We Have A Technical

Our recurring Pick Five format always gives us the opportunity to take larger or more lateral views of records, and that's what we're doing today as we each pick five album covers which communicate something of import about the record itself. From easily identifiable genre markers to individual artists' aesthetics to broader artistic movements, this ended up being a rolling conversation through a whole host of the bands and styles we love to dig into here at We Have A Technical. All that plus the troubling news coming out of Bandcamp land this week.

We're using our classic two albums format to discuss records we hadn't previously heard (as well as keep our Oktoberfest run of German bands going), namely the debut LP by Das Ich and the most recent outing from Armageddon Dildos. Also, chatter about a couple of festival lineups with a crossover/mainstream and deep scene focus, respectively. 

Our classic two album format gives us the chance to talk about Cannibal Anthem, a middling record from :wumpscut: in the grey period in that project's trajectory, and A Sign Of Life, a stunning statement of return from Neuroticfish. We're also using the recent announcement of a Ministry/Numan/FLA tour as an opportunity to imagine what we owe to younger versions of ourselves. 

For our 475th episode, the Senior Staff are quizzing one another as to their own history with I Die: You Die. That is to say, we've each grabbed passages from reviews the other wrote years back, and seeing if the original author can identify the records they were writing about. We're hoping it'll be a chance to think about what has and hasn't changed in terms of our understanding of specific moments and artists within Our Thing. We're also throwing some roses Debby Friday's way, and talking Cold Waves FOMO.

For this month's commentary podcast we asked our patrons which release by Aussie enfents terrible The Birthday Party they'd like us to discuss, and 1982's Junkyard was the resounding answer. We're talking about how the record captures a band which forever seemed on the verge of collapsing inward upon itself, the emergence of the themes and fixations which have gone on to define the next forty years of Nick Cave's art, grooves, spasms, Americana, Shakespeare, and oh so much more.

The aesthetics of cringe, that is to say, the reasons why people within and without darker music are likely to view certain examples of it as profoundly embarrassing or amateurish, is the subject of this week's podcast. The Senior Staff end up talking about social identity, our perceptions of quality, and how and why goth and industrial music are specifically judged, fairly or unfairly. We also have some talk about recent sets from Ms.Boan and Nuovo Testamento.

Records by Noise Unit and Prager Handgriff are prompting Bruce and Alex to get into the weeds regarding cross-pollination of EBM sub-genres, foreshadowing of artists' future directions, and what is often overlooked when genres are looked back upon historically. Also, do we know as much about the Euro fest scene as our dogpiling on it would suggest? 

It's one of our vaunted Pick Five episodes this week, with Alex and Bruce each asking "How'd this get here?" That is to say, they're both selecting some artists whose inclusion within the worlds of darker alternatives might be puzzling to outsiders, or even themselves, at least initially All that plus a little bit of the "what are your first memories of Band X?" game so often featured on Bombers.

We’re talking about Flesh Field’s Viral Extinction and Project Pitchfork’s Inferno on this week’s episode of the podcast, records which pushed dark electro into a denser, cyber-orchestral direction and into moody, prog-rock influenced territory respectively. We’re also talking about Edmonton’s recent Purple City fest, plus the announcement of new music from the aforementioned Flesh Field.

Released in 1991 to critical and commercial success, supergroup Electronic's debut LP was Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr's opportunity to break from the respective legacies of New Order and The Smiths and run headlong into contemporary dance culture, but as the Senior Staff are arguing in this month's commentary podcast, it's always been less than the sum of its parts and incapable of measuring up to its dance music contemporaries. Bring some tequila, because this We Have A Commentary gets salty.

Bruce and Alex are home from their respective trips, and are getting back in the swing of things by releasing the interview they conducted with longtime IDUD faves Ashbury Heights at Terminus Festival. A congenial conversation that touches on the entirety of the catalogue, the current live incarnation of the band, and what the future may hold, the Senior Staff were incredibly pleased to get this opportunity to chat with them on the occasion of their first ever North American performance. All that, plus some catching up on and chatter about recent live shows to boot!

Welcome to In Conversation, a fill-in/bonus format podcast series wherein each of the Senior Staff invites a friend to sit in for some casual chat about shared interests relevant to the normal goings on at I Die: You Die. This week, Bruce is talking with author Bess Lovejoy about their shared experiences in 90s Vancouver goth clubs, Bess' work in death studies and death positivity, and the distinction between the gothic and the just plain morbid.

Welcome to In Conversation a fill-in/bonus format podcast series wherein each of the Senior Staff invites a friend to sit in for some casual chat about shared interests relevant to the normal goings on at I Die: You Die. This week, Alex has a jaw with longtime friend of the site Evilyn13 about DJing, twitch streaming, the world of cosplay, dogs eating our microphones during the recording, and so much more! Thanks for tuning in, we think this is a really fun one. 

Four days, thirty acts, one venue, countless pints of 88 Brewing's Wave Pool IPA, two very exhausted but happy podcasters. In one of our favourite annual traditions, we're discussing all of the acts running the gamut from synthpop to goth rock to doom rap to EBM who graced our beloved Terminus Festival this past weekend at Calgary. Please note that written coverage at the site is on hiatus until the 21st as we're both away on family trips, but we'll have a pair of specially formatted podcast episodes on the next two Thursdays to tide you over.

A loosely Terminus-themed two albums episode of the podcast has us discussing Trepaneringsritualen's Kainskult and Chrysalide's Don't Be Scared, It's About Life on the eve of our heading out to Industrial Summer Camp. We're also talking about Sinéad O'Connor's passing, the second leg of Skinny Puppy's final tour, and the prospect of a new mind.in.a.box record on the last We Have A Technical before we take a bit of a break from the website, but don't worry; we'll have regularly scheduled podcasts for you every Thursday through this brief hiatus. 

On this month's patreon-supported commentary podcast, we're hanging out with Devours, AKA Jeff Cancade, to talk about his new record Homecoming Queen track by track, discussing in turn its themes of reflection, family, and secondary attacks of various SNES characters. 

Bruce and Alex are taking a throwback trip to late 00s dancefloors with Kloq's Move Forward and another into the weird melodies and formal experimentation of Domagoj Krsic with the Cyborgs On Crack compilation Industrial Polka Classics on this week's podcast. All that plus your regularly scheduled discussion of clickbait industrial listicles, as well as t-shirt giveaways on this week's episode of We Have A Technical.

A rather heavy and somewhat morbid Pick Five formatted episode of We Have A Technical has the Senior Staff selecting opening lines of songs which have stuck with them, and considering their power and implications. Which lyricists' renderings of themes of depression, mortality, nostalgia, and love lost have stuck with Bruce and Alex as they now hurtle through middle age? All that plus some Infest and Rammstein news bites.

Records by Shadow Project and A Split Second cover the extremes of the goth and EBM dimensions of ID:UD's purview on this week's episode of We Have A Technical, and as it turns out, lead to at least one rare split decision between the Senior Staff. We're also talking about a couple of passings within the industrial and goth worlds, additions to Terminus Festival, and the first issue of the new Statik zine.

Our latest commentary podcast has us going back to the deepest roots of one of the most important and celebrated industrial bands of all time. Holed up in West End apartments, Ogre and cEvin Key recorded Back & Forth, a collection of minimalist demos which pointed towards their interests in dub, Portion Control, and The Legendary Pink Dots, yet still hold some early trace of the version of Skinny Puppy we would all come to know and love.