As we careen towards Year End coverage we're using this week's podcast to get some formal comments down about new records by long-time deep scene acts in Corpus Delicti and Forma Tadre. The French goth rock act reformed a couple of years ago and their new record Liminal does a solid job of carrying on the qualities which distinguished them from their second wave peers, while new archival record Seven Century Factory is fascinating listening for die-hard fans of Andreas Meyer's work, serving as a missing link between very distinct eras in Forma Tadre.

An interview we've been meaning to put together for a long time finally came to fruition, with our friend Abelardo of The Invisible Orange joining us to discuss the state of live event promotion in 2025. From the differences between tiny and large shows to the boutique differences in promoting events to niche audiences corresponding to musical aesthetics, this is a getting into the weeds conversation we're very happy to offer to you.

This month's commentary podcast has us winding the clock back to the days when futurepop still ruled club floors and when German act Rotersand were just beginning to make their way onto that arpeggio-laden territory. The band's 2003 debut "Truth Is Fanatic" absolutely holds up as an exemplar of the styles of the time, but as we learned and discussed in closely reexamining the record, also used a range of compositional and programming experimentation to plant its flag.

An alliteratively themed two albums episode has us discussing the debut LPs of House Of Harm and Multiple Man. We're digging into the former's infectious and well-executed melodic new wave, and the latter's restrained, aloof, and decidedly funky reinvention of the earliest of EBM sounds.

It's a Pick Five ep this week folks, and we're opting for a theme so basic and simple we had to triple check that we hadn't done it before: side projects. Ranging from overrated to criminally forgotten, we're looking at a slew of projects folks had running on the side, whether to explore different sounds or to avoid certain bandmates.

We're looking at a pair of industrial records, albeit in fairly different styles on this week's podcast. First up, it's the 2007 reactivation of cult German act Individual Totem with their Mothfly record which broke from their hazy read on dark electro. Next, the 2019 LP by US BDSM terrorists Spit Mask, You May Feel Some Pressure is being revisited as we sit a fair distance away from the wave of new acts Spit Mask were (unfairly?) bundled in with. We're also talking about the promising lineup for next year's Grauzone fest and a recent Norillag show.

It's an open topic episode of the podcast this week, as we're discussing what factors go into choosing songs for club play. Novelty vs. familiarity, immediacy, place within genre(s)…there's a lot underlying an art which, when it's done best, should feel as instinctive and natural as possible to those enjoying it.

On the eve of the first new albums from S:cage and Das Ich since 2006, we're talking about those records from both of those bands from nearly twenty years ago: "Madness Turns To Glass" and "Cabaret", respectively. Are technoid and Neue Deutsche Todeskunst especially Halloween-esque genres? Who's to say.

As selected by our Patreon backers for a loosely spookily themed commentary episode, we're talking about the 1984 debut of beloved ethereal mainstays Dead Can Dance. With one foot in Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard's roots in post-punk and one in the fatalistic, shimmering aether they would go on to make their home, it's an imperfect yet fascinating starting point for the duo.

The two albums featured on this week's podcast are about as far away from one another as we're likely to get on this podcast, with the abstracted dream-pop and shoegaze of loveliescrushing's Xuvetyn and Digital Poodle's Euro-inspired hybrid of EBM and techno on Crush up for discussion.