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. 

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.