We Have A Technical

We're joined on the podcast by Jill Sheridan and Eric Oehler of long-running midwest synthpop act Null Device to discuss their new record, The Emerald Age. Between broader world events and shifts in the band's philosophy, Null Device's sound has changed and matured a great deal in recent years, and we were keen to get Eric and Jill's sense of the band's relation to the nebulous notion of synthpop itself, as well as the particular themes the record explores. All that plus BS about Cure Funko Pops, apparently.

It doesn't get much more broad or accessible than a discussion of records by Joy Division and The Cure, but to put a particular spin on this episode we're each discussing our favourite live record by our favourite band. There's also some discussion of the peculiar and hotly discussed Sick New World festival line-up on this week's podcast.

On the occasion of this past week's Kanga/Kaelan Mikla show, we're using this podcast as an opportunity to discuss the experience of watching bands change and grow over the course of multiple live performances. Does a band become more loose or more theatrical over time? How does a band's live evolution differ from their discography's? Do you "owe" an act a second chance after a mediocre show? All that, plus some discussion of friend of the site Andi Harriman's just published "50 Best Goth Songs" article at Rolling Stone. 

This month’s We Have A Commentary has the Senior Staff flipping back through musty old scrapbooks both personal and historical, as they discuss Rasputina’s debut LP, Thanks For The Ether. It’s a rich record both capturing and countering the 90s alternative zeitgest, which touches on the lives of working class women, the horrors of fame, and the most peculiar corners of history. 

On this week's podcast we're joined by Jack Armondo to talk about Psychogoria, the big and sweeping new record of darkwave and goth from Panic Priest. It's a record marked as much by AM radio hooks as it is darkwave atmosphere, and Jack had plenty of thoughtful insight about his influences, the malleability of Panic Priest, and the very serious business of fun during lockdown. We're also chatting a bit about the Minuit Machine tour and Substance LA FOMO. 

It's a two albums episode this week, with FLA's forays into game soundtracking and the high-modernist deathrock of Cinema Strange up for discussion. We're also recapping set we caught from the likes of Front 242, New Order, and Pet Shop Boys.

The ascent of Italo disco and related sounds within the broader world of body music has been in effect for a year or two now, and we're more than happy about that fact. That's why this week's podcast is dedicated to Italo disco and the strange ways in which that most summery, upbeat, and melodic of genres shares a parallel history and countless fans with ostensibly darker and harsher genres like industrial and EBM.

It's a classic two albums episode of the podcast this week, and there's a pretty wide gulf between our selections. The melting-pot approach to industrial rock taken on Circle Of Dust's Disengage, incorporating nu metal, breaks, and plenty other alternative sounds of the 90s is very far removed from the oppressive and bleak approach to post-punk taken by Porl King's In Death It Ends project on Forbidden Knowledge. We're also talking about the news emerging from the Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails camps.

Back home and at least somewhat rested, Alex and Bruce are giving a full run-down of this past weekend’s mammoth four day iteration of Chicago’s Cold Waves festival, topped off with a trio of performances from undisputed masters of EBM. 

Inspired by a conversation with DJ Major Tom of Seattle, we're switching up our venerable Pick Five format on this week's podcast. In this "Prompt Five" episode, we'll each be prompting the other to react to hypothetically hearing a range of tracks in a nightclub in 2022. Which club classics prompt eyerolls from the jaded Senior Staff and which might still send us dashing to the dancefloor? How do personal and regional histories with specific bands and sub-genres shape our reflections on the sounds of years gone by? All that plus some last minute Cold Waves talk and discussion of the upcoming Minuit Machine tour.

Our monthly commentary podcast finds us pondering mortality and the passage of time with David Tibet and a broad and motley crew of Current 93 collaborators on 1988's Earth Covers Earth. One of the most unified and direct statements in Tibet's sprawling discography and equally fluid poetics, Earth Covers Earth prompts discussion of the aims of neo-folk, the less savory of Tibet's musical partners, and why metaphysical poetry from the 1600s might have resonated with Tibet at this point in his artistic development. 

The passing of Metropolis Records founder Dave Heckman has been keenly felt by countless people in dark alternative music across the world over the past several weeks. To get a better sense of who Dave was and how he built and operated Metropolis Records, we're joined by label manager Jim Smith as well as several other friends and associates of Dave's. We also suggest checking out ReGen Magazine's tribute to Dave as well as The Philadelphia Inquirer's obituary. Our 2012 interview with Dave can be read here.

We're joined this week by the charming duo of DJs Hate Mior and Vernal Trash of Darkness Forever Toronto. The pair spoke with us at Terminus about making the most out of streaming platforms during the pandemic, and how the communities built and lessons learned during lockdown can be carried forward into the future. We're also talking about recent live shows from Gary Numan, Leathers, and Actors, and tour cancellations by Bauhaus and Dead Can Dance.

After a healthy run of interviews, we're back to our classic two albums format for this week's podcast. We're talking about the anxious and aggressive EBM laid down by The Invincible Spirit on their debut LP "Current News", as well as some post-millennial futurepop right from 2004 courtesy of State Of The Union's "Inpendum".

This month's Patreon-supported commentary podcast finds the Senior Staff careening through the over-caffeinated mania of Wulfband's debut LP. Offering a unique spin on neo-oldschool EBM, the mysterious Swedish duo use a plethora of structural and programming tricks to keep things redlining for a full half hour, and Alex and Bruce do their best to highlight some of them as detuned synths and grammatically fractured German swarm around them. 

Shannon Hemmett of Actors joins the podcast this week to talk about the development and upcoming live premiere of her other project, Leathers. We discuss the project's embracing of smoother shoegaze and electropop sounds, preparing its music for live audiences, and how the heavy touring sched of Actors has shaped her approach to songwriting. We're also talking about the news of Front 242 beginning to step back from live touring.

Recorded just before her smashing performance at Terminus, this week on the podcast we're proud to bring you our interview with Louisahhh. Considered, impassioned, and substantive, this interview shares a great deal with the live rendering of music from her The Practice Of Freedom LP which Louisahhh brought to the stage in Calgary. We're also discussing the line-up of New York's just announced Flesh & Steel festival in December, plus an excellent article by Konstantina Buhalis discussing how recent social media trends are intersecting with renewed interest in goth culture.

Few first-time festival acts piqued our interest as much as Randolph & Mortimer, who made their North American debut at Terminus. The project's combination of groove-heavy EBM and subtly sardonic social commentary has intrigued us for years, and so we were delighted to sit down with Sam Evans to discuss how the project grew out of his backgrounds in techno and hardcore, as well as the socio-political perspective of the uniquely instrumental act.

We're back home and moderately well-rested (though as you'll hear not entirely organized) after a weekend of Industrial Summer Camp fun at Calgary's Terminus Festival. This is our recap episode, with discussion of each and every of the twenty-seven acts who took the stage at Dickens. There's also some brief discussion of the sudden passing of Metropolis Records founder Dave Heckman.

With one foot out the door to meet up with all of our fellow Industrial Summer Campers at Terminus today, we're doing a grab-bag episode of the podcast. Various bits of live news, forthcoming record announcements, luke-warm takes, and seething rants make up the entire body of this episode, so if you're the sort of person who normally tunes out after the first fifteen minutes of our normally formatted episodes, boy howdy do we think you'll like this one!