As voted on from a selection of early/mid-period Killing Joke LPs, we're talking about 1985's Night Time on this month's commentary podcast. We're discussing Jaz Coleman's pet lyrical themes, the role played by Paul Raven's bass playing at this juncture in the band's development, and how their maximalist, excessive tendencies at times clashed with their moves towards a more commercially marketable sound.

Prompted by the prospect of finally getting to see Ashbury Heights, we're each picking five bucket list "yet to see" acts we've always hoped to catch live, be they legacy acts or idosyncratic Euro groups which are unlikely to cross the Atlantic.

Deep scene records which perhaps bracket a certain history of dark electro are on the docket for this week, as we consider records by Controlled Fusion and vProjekt. From the dry double kicks of the German act's mid 90s workman dark electro to the Aussie solo act's attempts to find baroque paths out of the corner intro which aggrotech had painted itself, this is an episode illustrating our recurring comment about genres being cemented by lesser known acts. We're also talking about Skinny Puppy's tour thus far, catching Debby Friday live, and the just announced second iteration of Chicago's Sanctum fest.

The experience of listening to a new record by a longstanding legacy act is the subject of this week's episode of the podcast. We're looking at how we perhaps grade records by bands we love on a curve, our mistaking of subjective experience for objective fact, and our shifting allegiances to bands, genres, and eras amongst other things, plus some discussion of this year's Substance festival in LA.

We have something of a news grab-bag episode for you this week, folks, as the list of items we wanted to talk about off the top of the show just kept growing until we had to give the full hour to it. We're discussing the revealing of the Terminus Fest lineup and the Cold Waves LA showcase, the passing of the legendary Ryuchi Sakamoto, Tina Root returning to music, and the labour dispute brewing at Bandcamp.

It’s a very 90s two-fer episode of the podcast, as we look at Swamp Terrorists’ Combat Shock and Perfume Tree’s A Lifetime Away this week. 

This month's commentary podcast revisits 2015's Remain, the central work of Them Are Us Too. It's a beautiful record which ably fits into darkwave and dreampop traditions, but more importantly showcases the incredible talents and special personalities of Kennedy Ashlyn and Cash Askew. From its alternately delicate and crushing sounds to its radical demands for a peaceful existence, it was a pleasure to revisit this masterpiece. 

We try to make these landmark numbered episodes of the podcast something special, and we think we've come through on that account. This week, we're happy to be joined by bass player, Wax Trax legend, and all around thoughtful guy Paul Barker as the release of The Eternal Present, the new Lead Into Gold album, draws close. Paul spoke with us about the particular mood and sound of the new record, how his approaches to LIG and other projects have shifted over the years, and plenty of other topics both musical and philosophical. We're also talking a bit off the top about the recent Ticketmaster vs. The Cure business, and catching The Residents live.

After a week missed due to scheduling mishaps, we’re back with another instalment of our ever popular Pick Five format on this week’s podcast. This time, we’re each picking tracks from our respective 20+ year DJing careers which we just could not turn into dancefloor hits, despite our best efforts. Rather than pointing out “failures” in the songs themselves, we’re using this as an opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learned from our mistakes as DJs over the years. All that plus the announcement of the Cold Waves lineup plus some Cure chat on this week’s episode of We Have A Technical. 

Due to circumstances beyond our control, a new episode of We Have a Technical was not possible this week. In place of the planned episode (which we still hope to record), we are re-presenting episode 40, "The :Wumpscast:", our commentary on :Wumpscut:'s seminal Bunkertor 7. 

We're joined this week by two of our Patreon backers, Stuart White and Richard Gould, to talk about albums they've each chosen: Bloodline, the reunion LP from formative UK goth-punk act 1919 which found them tackling resurgent political and economic crises, and the self-titled record from France's Les Clopes, which puts a bemused indie spin on some classic French coldwave and minimal wave sounds. We're also talking recent Laibach and festival news, plus some talk about a recent Moor Mother and Saul Williams show.

As selected by our Patreon backers from the slate of the four "classic" Front Line Assembly records, 1991's Tactical Neural Implant is the subject of this month's commentary podcast. It's viewed as the high watermark for the band and arguably for electro-industrial itself for a number of reasons, and we find ourselves discussing how it and FLA overall have been shaped by grooves and constant refinement as the distinct character and mood of the band comes into crystal clear focus on TNI.

While both of the records we’re talking about are from nominal side-projects, you couldn’t get much further from one another in sound (and perhaps quality?) on the industrial spectrum than Santa Hates You’s Crucifix Powerbomb and Anima Nostra’s Atraments. We’re also talking about the cost of live shows, Laibach’s just-announced show in Kyiv, and a solid “goth for metalheads” list. 

The new LP by industrial legends Laibach is the subject of this week’s podcast. The band has perhaps never been more active, releasing a slew of soundtracks and other releases, but Sketches Of The Red Districts finds the band returning to both tWe’re also talking about the new single from (occasional labelmates of Laibach) Depeche Mode.

We're joined on the podcast this week by journalist Konstantina Buhalis, for a conversation emerging out of her recent article on the role of social media in shaping contemporary goth culture. While being a participant within our scenes, Buhalis is often writing for more mainstream readerships, and so we were keen to speak with her about the ins and outs of writing for broader publications, and trying to inform and educate neophytes about the particulars of goth. We're also addressing the staggering amount of live news to have come out in the past few days, as we look at the just announced tours from The Sisters Of Mercy, Ministry, and Skinny Puppy.

Deep scene records from the 80s and 90s make up this episode of the podcast, with the politically savvy EBM of Borghesia's No Hope No Fear and the turn of the millennium trance/coldwave experimentation of Kevorkian Death Cycle's A​+​0​(​m). We've also been playing along with the latest EBM-flavoured Electronic Beats Blind Test. 

The subject of this month's commentary podcast blends post-punk with exotica, and tranquility with brutality. Yes, we're taking a look back at Feast, the first LP from Siouxsie & The Banshees side-project The Creatures. We're talking about the record's experimental song structures, its literary and cultural influences, and its handling of the themes and music adopted from Hawaii, where Siouxsie and Budgie wrote and recorded the record in early 1983. 

Now is the winter of our discontent, as the Senior Staff are each picking five tracks which scratch a particularly misanthropic itch for them. We're also talking about the upcoming Cruel World and Fixation festivals, along with some general observations about DJing in dark(ish) clubs in 2023. 

We're joined by longtime friend of the site Rexx Arkana to discuss the release of his new 4-CD compilation, Passing Strangers. Partially a tribute to the legendary There Is No Time Comp, partially an attempt to triangulate and link all manner of industrial and related sounds from the past decades, it's an ambitious project and we were happy to discuss its aesthetic and historical goals with Rexx. We also have some brief thoughts about the passing of electronic pioneer Yukihiro Takahashi of YMO.

After last week's odd couple pairing, there's at least a spiritual link between the two solo/side project records we've chosen for this week's podcast: the sculpted technoid of Daniel Myer's S'Apex project, and the anxious looping mania of Angelo Bergamini's Uranium USSR 1972. We're also discussing the first news about this year's instalment of the Mechanismus festival in Seattle.

The first podcast of the new year has us returning to the classic two albums format. Here's where we'd normally make some pithy contrast or comparison between the two records, or some comment about how the pair shows the breadth of records we like to talk about on We Have A Technical, but we'll cop to not being able to think of a goddamn thing which might link or frame the difference between 23 Skidoo's drone/industrial/gamelan hybrid on The Culling Is Coming and Stefan Poiss' odd detour into buttrock with the Loomec project. We're also talking about the passing of Psychotica's Pat Briggs and the announcement of this year's instalment of the Cold Waves festival. 

We're hybridizing traditions right at the end of 2022, as we combine our customary off-topic episode of We Have A Technical and our monthly commentary episodes. We asked our Patreons what sort of non-scene related album they'd like us to discuss, and with pop music making a late run from behind to beat out metal and hip-hop, we're talking about the 2009 debut from UK electropop artist Little Boots. Hands was in constant rotation in the Senior Staff's headphones in 2009 (and occasional club sets) as they sought escape from the then-depleted landscape of club industrial releases, and revisiting its blend of electropop and synthpop (as well as more nebulous contemporary tags like nu-rave and bloghouse) was a real treat. We hope you'll enjoy this detour from I Die: You Die's usual beat as we close out the year.

The site might be on hiatus for the annual holiday break, but we're still gonna be recording the recently established traditional "Pick 5 songs from this year" episode of We Have a Technical. Find out which songs by acts not represented on our Year End list tickled our fancies, along with some broad discussion of how they relate to broader trends and styles we're interested in!

As is traditional, we're capping off our Year End Coverage with a discussion of our Top 25 list, as well as getting into some statistical analysis of the last 12 years of this exercise and of course our honourable mentions. This episode was produced under slightly adverse circumstances as our production box bit the dust minutes before recording, so it may sound a little rougher than normal (although that may just be the general exhaustion of the Senior Staff you're hearing), but we just couldn't finish things off without this Round Up episode of 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. 

Shannon Hemmett of Actors joins the podcast this week to talk about the development and upcoming live premiere of her other project, Leathers. We discuss the project's embracing of smoother shoegaze and electropop sounds, preparing its music for live audiences, and how the heavy touring sched of Actors has shaped her approach to songwriting. We're also talking about the news of Front 242 beginning to step back from live touring.

Recorded just before her smashing performance at Terminus, this week on the podcast we're proud to bring you our interview with Louisahhh. Considered, impassioned, and substantive, this interview shares a great deal with the live rendering of music from her The Practice Of Freedom LP which Louisahhh brought to the stage in Calgary. We're also discussing the line-up of New York's just announced Flesh & Steel festival in December, plus an excellent article by Konstantina Buhalis discussing how recent social media trends are intersecting with renewed interest in goth culture.

Few first-time festival acts piqued our interest as much as Randolph & Mortimer, who made their North American debut at Terminus. The project's combination of groove-heavy EBM and subtly sardonic social commentary has intrigued us for years, and so we were delighted to sit down with Sam Evans to discuss how the project grew out of his backgrounds in techno and hardcore, as well as the socio-political perspective of the uniquely instrumental act.

We're back home and moderately well-rested (though as you'll hear not entirely organized) after a weekend of Industrial Summer Camp fun at Calgary's Terminus Festival. This is our recap episode, with discussion of each and every of the twenty-seven acts who took the stage at Dickens. There's also some brief discussion of the sudden passing of Metropolis Records founder Dave Heckman.