(For two weeks ago)

Seeming it was way too long ago and I don’t even think I can remember the track I picked for that week if indeed I picked one, I listened to this awesome glitch-infused dance number around that time so I’m making it my track of that week. Made by industrial royalty as an ex-member of Skinny Puppy, the instruments of Download’s predecessor have been completely stripped out for all electronic and synthetic engineering which is fine by me. But what is captured in the 5 minutes or so is a shining and entrancing ambience, rattled by the jitters of the track but still emits the radiance of a true dance classic. Nothing changes up too much, but it doesn’t need to. The beats pulse hard enough to get lost in and despite a few Aphex Twin-esque flourishes here and there, the track is a master class on the alternative side of dance music and its use to lure a dancefloor into ecstasy.

(For three weeks ago)

Funnily enough, I heard this in a compilation referred to as a metal dubstep mix, I’d refute that this is more firmly in the drum ‘n’ bass camp, which is why I fell in love with it. Soon to become a part of my expansive DJ material, the guitar at the beginning is enough to trick any hardened metalhead into coming onto the dancefloor with its immediate guitar hook. The guitar continues to tear effortlessly through the track until the drums start to build up and that’s when the excellent crossover appeal comes into play. With the decidedly metal scream of ‘WALK IN THE FIRE!’ a visceral and bestial bass smashes into your ears and will try to take half the club with it. There’s even a period of half time action in which bouncing is highly encouraged and of course has a truly metal style breakdown towards the end. Awesome crossover appeal, this should really be picked up by more metal clubs.

(For last week)

I have been keeping an eye on Australia’s Abbe May for a little while now, as her talent for blending mesmerising pop landscapes with blistering guitar reminiscent of the Palm Desert Scene is a combination that I like the sound of a lot. But her second album is less guitar heavy yet amped up on the cavernous sounding atmosphere. Karmageddon is perhaps what her self-described ‘doom-pop’ label refers to best with a foreboding haze surrounding the catchiest chorus I’ve heard all year, minimal synth murmurs underneath each verse and pounding drums that eerily border the line between real and mechanical. Of course the real highlight is her vocals which have been said to be stuck somewhere between PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, in a come back and haunt you in your dreams fashion. The flitting between a controlling indoor voice and a soothing siren certainly sticks the middle ground well. Addictive as it is scary, long I hope that Abbe May continues to make the fascinating music that she does.

(For two weeks ago)

In a world where everyone seemingly has to label everything in order to give music a common reference point, you could easily pass The Qemists off as a British Pendulum clone, but if they are, they are for my money a damn sight better than them. And I say this as a Pendulum fan. Around a year after the release of their free download of Be Electric VIP, comes Change The Way I Feel, a song that sounds like it was written with the charts in mind, but still maintaining their trademark sense of identity. It flows with the viscosity of any Top 40 drum ‘n’ bass, but with the added dose of live guitar and surprisingly face-churning synths. Bass not so much pummels but repeatedly stomps anyone into submission and the half-time drumstep breakdown near the end showcases the synth at its most prominent crushing capabilities, even more vicious than at full speed. If you have yet to listen to The Qemists, I recommend in doing so as Brighton’s trio have yet to make a massive impact in the chart but judging by the excellent quality and accessibility of their latest work, it is only a matter of time. Their third album can’t come soon enough.

(For two weeks ago)

I’m a massive Celldweller fan and upon the re-release of the 10th anniversary of his debut and hearing that there would be new tracks, I was originally not that interested, but then I heard this and I hope Klayton is now kicking himself for not releasing this ten years ago (it probably wouldn’t be the same song at all, but it is excellent regardless). What he foolishly didn’t finish is his original industrial metal-tinged trademark applied to some dark drum ‘n’ bass that hits hard in the right places, with some beautiful electro sparks. The chorus is as infectious as everything he has ever written will be and although I doubt this would’ve been the same song in 2003, the production is as meticulate as come to expect from a perfectionist. For me, this is the nostalgia of listening to the album for the first time (3-4 years ago), but reinstated for 2013 as something smoother, refined but ultimately still beautiful. Will be blitzed for the forseeable future, I’m in love all over again.

(For last week)

I finally got back into my full swing of searching for bands and artists to listen to again, and hopefully may be providing a few more lesser known artists than what I have been posting of late. I just thought it would be nice to share what I’ve been listening to hence being the whole point of this blog. Anyway, I came across this band recently and on the basis of this track alone, needed more. New York’s Dead Empires are an instrumental sludge/stoner rock goliath and this track showcases mostly what they’re all about. In six minutes, you have a barrage of concrete mammoth heavy riffs, frenetic drum attacks, dreamy landscapes, soft fuzz tugs and solos that cut through mountains all shifting pace and intensity at the speed of a rocket propelled grenade bathed in nitroglycerine and fuelled by cheetahs. An incredibly well-imagined and concentrated assault, my earholes have skewered with flamingoes with machetes for beaks.

This week’s pick stems a lot from my love of the 80s and the gig I went to on Tuesday was one of the biggest bands from the era, our own Depeche Mode. Despite only knowing about 6 songs of the entire set, Black Celebration was one of the highlights for me of the whole set. If you could cram any more unsettling, menancing vibes into five minutes, you could have a successful short horror film.  It’s not terrifying, but it will certainly chill your spinal column to no end. The keyboards are erratic and icy in their execution, vocals echo for eternity, haunted bells chime in the empty wilderness and drums keep procedings at an incredibly tense pace, all these elements add up for a unforgettable listening experience that pays tribute to the massive alternative crowd they are still adored by to this day. After Tuesday, I have a new found respect for Depeche Mode in the sheer diversity of their material and Black Celebration is one of the most uneasy but deliciously dark songs I have heard this side of the 80s.

I’ve decided not to go for a drum ‘n’ bass song this week, in favour for this beautiful synth-heavy pseudo-industrial dance number. From the immediate synth that phases in and the barrage of keyboards that follow, everything flows like liquid ecstasy, the taste and sensation becomes such an overwhelming experience that your body simply moves like the various waveforms used in its production. In spite of everything being so electronic, the due care in making this song entrancing rather than aggravating is true bliss and commendable in an age where the entire electronic dance music scene is becoming vastly oversaturated. A gem well worth exhuming.

(Last week’s track of the week)

Just to get this out in the open, the new Upbeats album is amazing. I’ve had it on repeat for a fair while since it was released and despite the likes of Beyond Reality, Undertaker and Tangerine being completely mind-blowing, this is on another level of addicitive. What New Zealand’s favourite neurofunk sons have made here is a whining ambient beast that literally goes on a rampage in a heavily populated city and devastes everything in its sight. Buildings topple, citizens are crushed and everything is scorched away in a laser burst from the monster’s mouth. The true icing on the cake is the drums. Oh my goodness, the drums. In a jungle throwback kind of way, the drums sound as possibly as natural as I have ever heard in a drum ‘n’ bass song for quite sometime (which is perhaps why I would like to see a drum cover of this song), finding the perfect balance to either bust out your most aggressive skank or launch limbs in the direction of inanimate objects. Or people. Either is mostly acceptable. Primitive Technique is out now on Vision Records, and I highly reccommend you look into it.

I always say I find order in chaos, and this Knife song is an indication of what that phrase could be literally translated into in music. Chosen because I have seen The Knife this week and it has reminded me what an awesome tune it is and how striking it was to see it in a live environment. What you’re going to listen to here is 9 minutes of industrial strength techno beats that get more and more menancing, as landscapes surrounding twist and distort. All with Karen Dreijer-Andersson’s signature wail layering everything making it all the even more uncomfortable. I’d call this tribalism at its finest as it sounds so primitive yet so now at the same time, it’s an incantation for the post-modern condition, not to mention rapturous and terrifying in equal measure. I love The Knife and long may they continue to make music together.