We Have a Technical

In an episode dedicated to splitting the finest of hairs and analyzing the specific dance steps of angels on pinheads, we’re each picking five micro-genres for discussion. Do they exist? Are they distinct from neighbouring styles? What can be learn or take from them? We’re also discussing Metropolis Records’ recently announced charity initiative and corresponding compilation series

It's a pretty diverse two albums formatted episode this week; we're talking about the freeform, hip-hop and rock tinged EBM chaos of Scapa Flow's final LP Heads Off To Freedom and Marhseaux's big and direct 2013 electro-pop LP Inhale. 

Hey, folks. As we talk about off the top, it's both the larger global news and a much more personal tragedy that we're both wrestling with this week. We're trying not to let that effect the podcast too much, but given the themes and mood of our subject, the first new album from The Cure in sixteen years, a little bit of real life pain is going to sneak its way in. Listening to music we love and talking about it with the people we love has always helped us both, and if us two goofballs talking about Bobby Smith & His Cures helps you with your day in any manner, we'd be humbled and overjoyed. 

On this week's Halloween-themed episode of the podcast, we're simulating an experience that'll be familiar to all DJs: fielding requests at a Halloween party. What tracks from within and without the boundaries of Our Thing might we be happy to play? Which would be anathema to us? Which might we consider if you greased our palms or plied us with liquor? We're also discussing the passing of Winterkälte's Eric De Vries.

Keeping the momentum going from last week we're sticking with a decidedly industrial pair of records to discuss from Worms Of The Earth and C-Drone Defect. We've also got reactions to the just announced line-ups of next year's Cruel World and Dark Forces festivals. 

The tar-black, mechanically thrashing blast of negativity and angst which is Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's debut LP is the subject of this week's commentary podcast. Talk About The Weather Distilled extant strains of post-punk and goth rock into one of the tightest and noisiest records of its generation, and we're looking at how it fits into the Lorries' own progression as well as the broader musical histories they drew upon and influenced in turn.

We have a slightly industrial metal themed two albums episode of the podcast for you this week, dear listener, as we chat a record needing no introduction in Killing Joke's Pandemonium and the rare modern industrial metal record which gets us excited about the genre again, Black Magnet's debut LP Hallucination Scene. We're also talking about a surprisingly great Sisters of Mercy live show and what can be gleaned from the latest Sick New World lineup.

The return of the Pick Five format has us telling on ourselves, revealing some of our own apathies, and possibly taking some contentious positions as we talk about records which we haven't got around to yet. We're also talking about Ministry reformation news, and a video essay about goth and race making the rounds.

After dalliances with the meaning of goth and post-punk royalty, we’re back to what brought us to the dance on this episode: obscure industrial releases scant few people are aware of. We’re talking about Jean-Luc De Meyer’s science fiction odysseys with 32Crash, and the strange path German collective Ars Moriendi took in linking classic industrial to powernoise. All that, plus some Cure (sorry, more post-punk royalty) and Pixel Grip talk. 

This month's commentary podcast dives into the often overlooked mid-period work of synthpunk pioneers Portion Control. Having an outsized influence on countless EBM and industrial acts, the band's more melodic movements into "post-industrial" with plenty of dalliances with synthpop and post-punk are perfectly captured on ..Step Forward.