This week’s episode has us each picking five pairs of tracks we’ve come to have linked in our minds, whether it be through our personal mixtape or DJ histories, or some other mystery of the human mind. From noise to synthpop to psytrance, we’re hoping these picks also speak to the broader ways in which we all interact with music. All that plus some discussion of the just-announced Substance festival in LA! 

Inland Empire coldwave and Bay Area no wave are far more different than nomenclature and physical proximity might suggest, as we find out in this episode of We Have A Technical. The loosely thrashing debut from Penal Colony and the abstracted to almost nothing experimentalism of Subpoena The Past are our picks for this two albums episode of the podacast, alongside some gleeful hand-rubbing over the impending arrival of Industrial Summer Camp season. 

Bruce is away this week, which means we've tapped our good friend Mildred Strange from the excellent History Lessons for Misanthropes to join us as the resident academic. We discuss one of her favourite bands 12 Rounds, and the enduring appeal of their 1998 sophomore album My Big Hero before trying to make sense of the bizarre, somewhat inscrutable-to-us German medieval NDH act Tanzwut. What mysteries will we uncover and how many german words do we mispronounce? You'll have to listen to find out!

From post-futurepop to post-witch house, we're hopping across some big gulfs in style with this week's podcast's two records. First, the tasteful to a fault Edge Of Dawn's Enjoy The Fall puts Frank Spinath's unmistakable vocals squarely in the spotlight, and then, the first split record between V▲LH▲LL & M‡яc▲ll▲ brings us back to the days of artists using the witch house explosion as the opportunity to reconsider approaches to classic dark synth sounds.

Settle in for a lot of fast talk, as the Senior staff power their way through the debut LP from Texas' Twin Tribes. A modern darkwave classic through and through, be prepared for a lot of gushing about songwriting, albumcraft, and the beauty of simplicity on this I Die: You Die bonus podcast. 

One of our chin-stroking big topic episodes is coming your way this week, as we discuss the thorny question of the cost of digital releases within the culture of the darker music scenes. What shapes artists' decisions regarding price points? What impact do people's motivations with their music play in how they try to distribute it? And what goes through the head of the budget-conscious music purchaser as they're browsing through slews of releases on Bandcamp? All these questions and more on the latest episode of We Have A Technical.

Two rather different records in terms of era, sound, and (presumably) audience make up this week's episode of We Have A Technical. We're talking about Ashbury Heights' debut Three Cheers For The Newlydeads and Contagion's Contaminant PCB. We also have some words about the passing of our friend Bryan Hughes, and Minuit Machine's upcoming North American tour.

It’s a slightly spicy episode of We Have A Technical this week, as we find ourselves sharing an appreciation for the thoughtful dark ambient of Blink Twice…and debating the foibles of the nominal deathrock of Fear Cult. We’re also talking Andy Fletcher, Front 242, and the Manufactured In Los Angeles fest.

As we recently opined, the new album by The Legendary Pink Dots ranks among the best works in the long-standing experimental band's voluminous discography. It's a timely honour, then, to speak to the band's frontman and chief songwriter Edward Ka-Spel on this week's episode of We Have A Technical. Edward spoke with us about the structuring and execution of The Museum Of Human Happiness, how his songwriting has changed to reflect different eras, and shifting senses of utopias past and present, all with the characteristic wit and humanity instantly recognizable to any long-term LPD listener. 

This month's We Have A Commentary brings you an album-length discussion of KMFDM's 1995 LP, NIHIL, as selected by our Patreon backers from a range of records by the long-standing German/American industrial rock act. A record of big hits and big misses, NIHIL prompts discussion not only of KMFDM's quirky assemblage of musical elements and personalities, but also their position within the general alternative 90s zeitgeist. 

We'e getting right to business with a jumbo-sized podcast breaking down each and every act from Vancouver's five day (FIVE DAY!) Verboden Festival. It was a slew of performances at different venues from bands both new and unfamiliar to us (with yours truly serving as your humble emcees), and we're here to get you up to speed and hopefully direct you to some new bands of interest.

We’re taking a detour from anything remotely related to industrial with this week’s two albums formatted podcast. First up is the goth-inflected machine rawk of Ulterior’s proper debut, Wild In Wildlife, followed by the immaculately curated 90s neo-folk of Nature And Organisation’s Beauty Reaps The Blood Of Solitude. We’re also talking about the reveal of the long-awaited 2022 installment of our beloved Terminus Festival! 

This month's Patreon-supported commentary podcast has the Senior Staff revisiting Curse, an early chapter in the massive discography of The Legendary Pink Dots. Both Alex and Bruce hold LPD in a special place in their hearts, and are offering thoughts about what has and hasn't changed about the band since Curse, the genres which the band border upon yet never quite occupy, and the early occurrences of some of Edward Ka-Spel's recurring lyrical themes. 

We're joined on this week's episode of We Have A Technical by Robert Katerwol, who's discussing the fifth iteration of Vancouver's Verboden Festival. After having had to forestall the fest by two years, Robert had a lot to say about the logistics of booking a festival while still wrestling with the pandemic, establishing a diverse lineup, and what new sounds he's interested in ferreting out to bring to the stage. On a sadder note, we're also discussing the news of the passing of electronic pioneer Klaus Schulze. 

Three of our fantastic Patreonies are joining us to talk about some records near and dear to them. We're discussing Too Deep by Kontravoid, Berlin 2007 by Collapsed System, and Death On The Installment Plan by Numb. We also talk about a couple of unfortunate passings, as well as good news regarding Jean-Luc De Meyer.

The Senior Staff is back in the saddle and returning to our tried and true Pick Five format in this week's episode. In an homage to the scene which inspired our Pick Fives, we're going right down the pipe by each picking Side 1s, Track 1s. Additionally, we're talking about the just announced line-ups for the New York and Los Angeles Cold Waves satellite fests, and the postponement of Front 242's touring due to Jean-Luc De Meyer's health issues. We should note that a positive update concerning JLDM has been posted since this episode was recorded on Monday. 

The Senior Staff is celebrating 400 (actually a lot more, but officially 400) episodes of We Have a Technical by having a big ol’ party, and by party we mean we had on several friends of the podcast who are distinctly NOT immersed in industrial, EBM, darkwave, and goth music to talk a little bit about some genre classics. What fresh observations might these notable folks from the worlds of music, literature and podcasting have to offer on songs we all know like the back of our hands? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Alex rejoins the podcast in a lead-up episode before our 400th one. By way of catch up, we're talking about recent records from melodic Swedish post-punk act Principe Valiente, and Devours side-project The Golden Age Of Wrestling, alongside some chatter about new activity from the Bauhaus camp.

We're joined on the podcast this week by guest host Sharon Kyronfive. In addition to having written some great 199X columns for ID:UD, Sharon's tenures at 21st Circuitry and Industrialnation make her the ideal person to discuss some mid-90s envelope-pushing records on Zoth-Ommog, specficially Cleen's "Designed Memories" and X Marks The Pedwalk's "Drawback".

With Alex still tending to family matters, we're once again tagging in a friend of the site to co-host. This week, musician, scholar, and all around authority concerning industrial and goth music Alex Reed of Seeming joins Bruce to talk about records by Dive and Cranes, as well as some touring news.

With Alex dealing with a family emergency, we've asked long-time friend of the site and frequent guest Matt Fanale to co-host this episode of We Have A Technical. There's lots of news to catch up with, from the impressive lineup of Cold Waves Chicago to the Absolution Fest in Tampa to the sale of Bandcamp. At Matt's behest, we're also talking about Nitzer Ebb's 1991 crossover bid "Ebbhead".

It’s EBM Day and everyone’s celebrating. Well, at least we are. The not so terminal state of EBM is the subject of the day, as we move through our initial conceptions of and experiences with the genre towards an overview of recent developments and sub-genres ranging from Los Angeles to Berlin to Bogotá.

This month's commentary podcast is one of the rare ones in which we invite an artist to walk through their new record, track by track. It's a great time to catch up with long-time friend of the site Scott Fox of iVardensphere, as his new LP Ragemaker isn't just the first new work from the long-running rhythmic industrial act in a number of years, but also signals several shifts in how iVardensphere operates as a project and what its aims are. We had a great conversation with Scott about the record's mythology, its eschewing of traditional club sounds, and its cinematic ambitions. 

We don’t necessarily intend for our two albums format episodes to end up mapping the reach of genres we discuss on We Have A Technical, but they often end up that way. This week is no exception as we take up a new(ish) stay the course record from Die Form in their dark and slinky industrial/minimal synth style, and the post-goth grandeur and honesty of Weep. We’re also running through the just-announced lineup of Seattle’s Mechanismus festival.

After a far too long absence, it's the return of our popular Pick Five format! Slower club tunes are the subject of the day, with Alex and Bruce each selecting five lower-BPM tracks they like to play out to cool the floor out while still keeping it packed. We're also talking about the recently announced NIN tour dates, and the wave of hype pertaining to their gig with Ministry and Nitzer Ebb.

This month's We Have A Commentary podcast features the Senior Staff's discussion of In The Nursery's landmark 1990 LP L'Esprit. Questions of acoustic versus synthesized symphonics, military metaphysics, and the virtues of bombast are all taken up in an episode which features a bit more disagreement than your average WHaC. 

Both Boy Harsher’s new film The Runner and its accompanying soundtrack have been released, offering us the chance to talk about how both works draw upon and move beyond the group’s aesthetic and thematics. We’re also talking about an uptick in italo-related releases, as well as the winding down of the Dub Ditch Picnic label.

In the wake of the passing of Mike Wells, we're discussing his legacy both as one half of the legendary Gridlock and as a mastering engineer. We're thankful to Alex Reed, Daniel Graves, David Dutton, Sharon Kyronfive, and Eric Oehler for sharing their thoughts and memories of Mike and Gridlock. We're also getting caught up to speed on the latest festival news in North America.

Inspired by last week's discussion of legacy acts, we have a very specific iteration of our two albums format for this week's episode of We Have A Technical. It's a 'masters of dark electro' themed ep, with discussion of the abrupt reunion and return to form from The Klinik's classic line-up on Eat Your Heart Out, and Claus Larsen's return to deep exploration of the notion of symphonic dark electro on Serenade For The Dead II. What new terrain and ideas were these progenitors able to strike upon decades into their storied careers? Listen and find out.

The role of legacy acts (and their definition) in the broader industrial and goth diasporas is the subject of our first podcast of the year. How are festivals and club nights shaped by them, and how does the particular nature of Our Thing foster them? 

We're tying up some Year End odds and sods on this week's podcast, with a quick rundown of our Top 25, and then some discussion of a whopping twenty releases we're putting forth as honourable mentions. Finally, what are the larger trends which marked the year that was? How many self-released records made our list? What can we make of the artists appearing on the list for the first time? And most importantly, what the hell was up with all the italo disco?

It's a bit of an odd catch-up episode of the podcast this week, friends, as we're discussing three recent albums released too late to be given regular review coverage. Records by Deine Lakaien, The Necromancers Union, and HAEX are taking us through darkwave, goth rock, and industrial territory respectively. All that plus the skinny on the just announced 2022 iteration of Vancouver's own Verboden Festival on the latest episode of We Have A Technical.

We're talking records by Mesh and Mlada Fronta on this week's podcast, as synthpop/alt rock and rhythmic noise/IDM combos are considered. Also, talk about the first major concert the Senior Staff have been able to attend since everything went down!

As selected by our Patreon backers, an album which needs no introduction whatsoever is the subject of this month's We Have A Commentary podcast. We're discussing 20 Jazz Funk Greats' recurring theme of manipulation, the ways in which it presaged the various post-TG projects each member of the band would pursue, and its eternal position at a strange intersection of pop, noise, experimentalism, and emerging dance styles.

We're talking about the changing roles served by vocals in industrial and post-industrial music in this week's episode of the podcast. Whether tilting towards pop conventions or serving to explode the control machines, how has the human voice been deployed in music ranging from Throbbing Gristle to futurepop? Lock your eyes on your navels and prepare for a deep dive with the Senior Staff.

Was 1998 a peak year for darkwave? You decide after listening to this episode of We Have A Technical, which discusses the broad-reaching electro-acoustic laments of Deathwatch Beetle Repairman's Hollow Fishes and the foray into chill breaks which was Love Spirals Downwards' Flux. All that plus a run-down of the lineup for the upcoming Terminus: Fragment fest in Calgary!

From an uncertain electroclash hangover to an experiment in pure drone, this week's two albums formatted episode covers a lot of ground. First up it's a discussion of Mount Sims' 2004 Wild Light LP, and then a dive into 2, the 1996 LP by Justin Broadrick's solo project Final. We also touch upon a recent interview with Steve Albini in which the infamous engineer and songwriter reckons with his own 'shitty edgelord' past, and some hopeful intimations from the folks behind Terminus Festival.

This month's commentary podcast conveniently coincides with news of a new Boy Harsher LP and tour as we discuss the duo's 2017 EP, Country Girl. Though short in run-time, the EP's sound and mood served as a flashpoint for the explosion of interest in Boy Harsher's approach to classic darkwave and electronic sounds, catapulting them to their current position as one of the most preeminent and influential dark electronic bands of the moment.

This week we are picking five "easy records". What does that mean? Who knows, listen and find out! 

It's a down the pipe two albums episode of the podcast this week, with Bruce picking a record by semi-notable German goth rock band and Alex picking a record by a distinctly obscure German industrial act. The blatant Sisters-isms of The Merry Thoughts and the Eurodance/prog EBM of Fortification 55 are discussed, with more than a few charms being ferreted out from each.

The thematic complexity, musical variety, and labyrinthine discography of Current 93 is the subject of this week's We Have A Technical. David Tibet's work has had a profound impact on both of us and the genres we cover here at I Die: You Die, and so without intending to be at all authoritative or all-encompassing, we wanted to have a conversation which would take up a host of questions and issues extending out of one of the most singular bodies of experimental music from the past century. Buckle up, shit's gonna get gnostic.