We Have A Technical

Due to circumstances beyond our control, a new episode of We Have a Technical was not possible this week. In place of the planned episode (which we still hope to record), we are re-presenting episode 40, "The :Wumpscast:", our commentary on :Wumpscut:'s seminal Bunkertor 7. 

We're joined this week by two of our Patreon backers, Stuart White and Richard Gould, to talk about albums they've each chosen: Bloodline, the reunion LP from formative UK goth-punk act 1919 which found them tackling resurgent political and economic crises, and the self-titled record from France's Les Clopes, which puts a bemused indie spin on some classic French coldwave and minimal wave sounds. We're also talking recent Laibach and festival news, plus some talk about a recent Moor Mother and Saul Williams show.

As selected by our Patreon backers from the slate of the four "classic" Front Line Assembly records, 1991's Tactical Neural Implant is the subject of this month's commentary podcast. It's viewed as the high watermark for the band and arguably for electro-industrial itself for a number of reasons, and we find ourselves discussing how it and FLA overall have been shaped by grooves and constant refinement as the distinct character and mood of the band comes into crystal clear focus on TNI.

While both of the records we’re talking about are from nominal side-projects, you couldn’t get much further from one another in sound (and perhaps quality?) on the industrial spectrum than Santa Hates You’s Crucifix Powerbomb and Anima Nostra’s Atraments. We’re also talking about the cost of live shows, Laibach’s just-announced show in Kyiv, and a solid “goth for metalheads” list. 

The new LP by industrial legends Laibach is the subject of this week’s podcast. The band has perhaps never been more active, releasing a slew of soundtracks and other releases, but Sketches Of The Red Districts finds the band returning to both tWe’re also talking about the new single from (occasional labelmates of Laibach) Depeche Mode.

We're joined on the podcast this week by journalist Konstantina Buhalis, for a conversation emerging out of her recent article on the role of social media in shaping contemporary goth culture. While being a participant within our scenes, Buhalis is often writing for more mainstream readerships, and so we were keen to speak with her about the ins and outs of writing for broader publications, and trying to inform and educate neophytes about the particulars of goth. We're also addressing the staggering amount of live news to have come out in the past few days, as we look at the just announced tours from The Sisters Of Mercy, Ministry, and Skinny Puppy.

Deep scene records from the 80s and 90s make up this episode of the podcast, with the politically savvy EBM of Borghesia's No Hope No Fear and the turn of the millennium trance/coldwave experimentation of Kevorkian Death Cycle's A​+​0​(​m). We've also been playing along with the latest EBM-flavoured Electronic Beats Blind Test. 

The subject of this month's commentary podcast blends post-punk with exotica, and tranquility with brutality. Yes, we're taking a look back at Feast, the first LP from Siouxsie & The Banshees side-project The Creatures. We're talking about the record's experimental song structures, its literary and cultural influences, and its handling of the themes and music adopted from Hawaii, where Siouxsie and Budgie wrote and recorded the record in early 1983. 

Now is the winter of our discontent, as the Senior Staff are each picking five tracks which scratch a particularly misanthropic itch for them. We're also talking about the upcoming Cruel World and Fixation festivals, along with some general observations about DJing in dark(ish) clubs in 2023. 

We're joined by longtime friend of the site Rexx Arkana to discuss the release of his new 4-CD compilation, Passing Strangers. Partially a tribute to the legendary There Is No Time Comp, partially an attempt to triangulate and link all manner of industrial and related sounds from the past decades, it's an ambitious project and we were happy to discuss its aesthetic and historical goals with Rexx. We also have some brief thoughts about the passing of electronic pioneer Yukihiro Takahashi of YMO.

After last week's odd couple pairing, there's at least a spiritual link between the two solo/side project records we've chosen for this week's podcast: the sculpted technoid of Daniel Myer's S'Apex project, and the anxious looping mania of Angelo Bergamini's Uranium USSR 1972. We're also discussing the first news about this year's instalment of the Mechanismus festival in Seattle.

The first podcast of the new year has us returning to the classic two albums format. Here's where we'd normally make some pithy contrast or comparison between the two records, or some comment about how the pair shows the breadth of records we like to talk about on We Have A Technical, but we'll cop to not being able to think of a goddamn thing which might link or frame the difference between 23 Skidoo's drone/industrial/gamelan hybrid on The Culling Is Coming and Stefan Poiss' odd detour into buttrock with the Loomec project. We're also talking about the passing of Psychotica's Pat Briggs and the announcement of this year's instalment of the Cold Waves festival. 

We're hybridizing traditions right at the end of 2022, as we combine our customary off-topic episode of We Have A Technical and our monthly commentary episodes. We asked our Patreons what sort of non-scene related album they'd like us to discuss, and with pop music making a late run from behind to beat out metal and hip-hop, we're talking about the 2009 debut from UK electropop artist Little Boots. Hands was in constant rotation in the Senior Staff's headphones in 2009 (and occasional club sets) as they sought escape from the then-depleted landscape of club industrial releases, and revisiting its blend of electropop and synthpop (as well as more nebulous contemporary tags like nu-rave and bloghouse) was a real treat. We hope you'll enjoy this detour from I Die: You Die's usual beat as we close out the year.

The site might be on hiatus for the annual holiday break, but we're still gonna be recording the recently established traditional "Pick 5 songs from this year" episode of We Have a Technical. Find out which songs by acts not represented on our Year End list tickled our fancies, along with some broad discussion of how they relate to broader trends and styles we're interested in!

As is traditional, we're capping off our Year End Coverage with a discussion of our Top 25 list, as well as getting into some statistical analysis of the last 12 years of this exercise and of course our honourable mentions. This episode was produced under slightly adverse circumstances as our production box bit the dust minutes before recording, so it may sound a little rougher than normal (although that may just be the general exhaustion of the Senior Staff you're hearing), but we just couldn't finish things off without this Round Up episode of We Have a Technical!

This week's We Have A Technical is a bit of a housecleaning episode, as we're talking about our favourite record of the year which fits just outside of our normal purview - Endure by Special Interest - and discussing how a recent live tape from Rhys Fulber got us thinking about that legendary producer's work in some new ways.

The two albums format has us shifting from an Oz goth debut in Ikon's In The Shadow Of The Angel to a US electro swansong in Alter Der Ruine's I Will Remember It All Differently. We'e also talking about the just announced line-up for next year's Verboden Fest, and catching SRSQ live.

This iteration of our ever popular Pick Five format has us casting our minds back to the days before we were the worldly and jaded connoisseurs of all things goth and industrial we are today. We’re each picking five ‘precursor’ experiences; points of contact with various elements of what would go on to be Our Thing before we truly understood or recognized it.

As selected by our Patreon backers, this month’s commentary subject is Re-constriction Records’ 1993 covers comp Shut Up Kitty. A document of both the emerging US coldwave sound as well as larger trends in 90s alt music, it’s a mixed bag in terms of quality, but as we hope this discussion shows, holds real value to those fascinated by the evolution of industrial sub-genres and themes. 

This week's episode of We Have A Technical features an interview with none other than London After Midnight mastermind and all around goth icon Sean Brennan, who's joining us to discuss the band's new Oddities Too compilation, as well as the band's different eras and aesthetic dimensions over the years. We're also discussing Synth Kids, Thomas Z Westerberg's graphic novel about coming of age in Sweden's late 80s synth scene.