OPM: Dwellers in the Dark

Wandering Whispers – Only Flesh

A deep, dark and distressed album of minimal industrial and experimental darkwave. Combining a visual aesthetic reminiscent of the Cure’s Pornography, sonic references to classic Psychic TV and post synth pop/pre-metal Ministry and whispered/spoken/growled vocals, this is primo Goth club material.

The beats are heavy, stark and distorted throughout, often decorated by little more than a reverbant drone or two, all wrapped around a vocal just on the edge of comprehensibility. As a result, a lot of this feels like music from a dream, or a David Lynch scene set in a very weird nightclub…which is probably one of the nicest things I could ever say about a piece of music.

(Listened to tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10)

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Cameronoise – What If We Just Stop Using Their Money?

Instrumental power pop is a rarity, but this 6 track EP proves those tasty riffs, sharp guitar hooks and swinging grooves work just fine without a vocalist on top. Each of these tunes weighs in at around three minutes – some just a touch under, some a bit over. 

Those three minutes are absolutely filled with ear-grabbing guitar lines, funky organ runs, hooky basslines and solid drumming. And while there are no lyrics, the songs have thought-provoking titles like, “Soylent Greenwashing” and “”Death by Shareholder” that seem to reflect on our current political realities. All in all, a fun and engaging set of music.

(Listened to the entire EP)

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MOULE – GLHF

A wild ride thru the depth and breadth of electronic music, from hyper hardcore-infused glitchpop to warmly emotive progressive house, with stops just about anywhere and everywhere you can imagine. Chopped up DnB-style breaks? Sure, throw those in here. Raw, lofi, 8-bit textures and sounds? Definitely room for that. Chonky electro metal? Yeah, of course.

Whatever else you’re imagining is probably in there as well, and it’s all held together with a fun, high-concept backstory about furry foxes who are elite professional gamers… Wild stuff, in both concept and execution.

(Listened to tracks 2, 11, 12, 13, 17)

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Ourobonic Plague – G.A.: Zero. Crystallisation

Lo-fi electro industrial beats that make masterful use of Stygian atmospheres to create an evocative sonic space. A diverse set of influences shines thru the darkness, hinting at early IDM, industrial, dubstep, and more. 

Those pieces all come together with some hypnotic drones, weird FX work and a generally dark and deteriorated production approach to good effect. The results are a set of deeply moody and doomy downtempo tunes.  

(Listened to the entire EP)

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Suburban Death March – “Elon Musk Is a Nazi Nepo Baby”

Delightful throwback track that puts a spoken word sample of the title over a squiggly electronic backing that recollects the acid house and EBM of the late ‘80s. In particular it puts me in mind of one particular intersection of those things (Psychic TV’s Jack the Tab “compilation”) but there’s a good chance that’s a coincidental resemblance. 

Still, the minimal beats, weird samples, repetitive vocal hook, and squiggly synth line will definitely cause flashbacks for a certain subset of us, intentional or not. And whether that’s you or not, we can all get behind the message.

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A parting note: If you’d like to support my efforts to expose cool independent music to a wider audience, you can contribute to my year-long fundraiser via Ko-Fi. Alternately, you could always buy some of my music…