I remember first hearing Warteraum when she collaborated with Vexillary. I was rather impressed with the collaboration and found myself wanting to dive into her stuff at the time…That is until I forgot to due to the thousand of other releases that I get in my inbox on a daily basis. Lo and behold this challenge has granted me this wish. ‘Freudian Slip’ is an industrial techno banger to say the very least; mechanical and crunching basslines that had me thrusting my fists in the air the first moment I heard it. Her shouting and angrier vocal segments blasted me backward around the two-minute and ten-second mark. I would really enjoy to hear Warteraum give more emotion in her voice during the rest of the song, however; it was a bit monotone and didn’t fit the menacing beat. A better mix is needed where the beat and the vocals are balanced, as well; I felt as if her vocals could be a bit dominant here and there. Still, I adore this single, and want to hear more. 

This lofi hip-hop outfit is inspired by electro, industrial, and trip-hop all the same. But it fails to keep me invested. First thing I always look for in any type of hip-hop / rap track is lyrical flow. And on the first track ‘See All Futures’ Kaneda sounds a bit nasally and as if they’re recording through a Rock Band microphone. While the beat isn’t terrible, it isn’t great either, and I’d rather head to Lofi Girl’s YouTube channel for my daily dose of similar music. ‘Keep No Secrets’ is equally abhorrent with a beat that’s not all that bad, but nothing that puts a fire under my ass either. Deeper bass with experimental tones throughout and bad lyrically delivery once more. Also, no one ever wants to hear you inhale in a microphone. 

Are you in the mood for some crisp synthpop or are you in the mood for some crisp synthpop? Because if you’re in the mood for some crisp synthpop than you don’t have to go any further than Cult With No Name’s “X into I”. Mind you, they aren’t without their flaws. The music is practically flawless; piano mixes with electronic beats making melodramatic ballads that are quite grand in scale. Where I find the biggest flaw is within Cult With No Name’s vocals. While the music is powerful and the lyrics can be powerful (look no further than Carriages at Midnight), I find the vocalist to be fairly weak. Almost nasally. And annoying. I don’t feel like anything’s being sung, just spoken by a narrator that I really don’t want to listen to. I see vocal lessons in the future this UK duo. 

The intro of ‘Menacing Sky’ is rather boring and unstimulating. If raindrops were translated into obscure electronic sounds, I’m sure that this is what it would sound like, only much better than what’s presented. The actual song doesn’t start until around the forty-some second mark where we’re finally delivered the industrial, noise rock ballad that I was waiting for. Things Outside the Skin uses noise to their advantage for the rest of the song, combining it with atmospheric synths that creates both a destructive piece and a harmonious one. This dual nature is represented in the vocals as well, as operatic vocals pair with distorted ones. I could have done without the spoken word lyrical delivery, however, as it took me out fo the song. And the almost thirty-second outro wasn’t worth my time, either. Which makes only around…Half this song worth my time. So it gets half a score. 

Whenever spankthenun releases a new single or album, I can only grin and wait to see what sleazy slice of industrial he’ll be delivering this time. In this EP, spankthenun hands off his single ‘This is Not a Drill’ to Blak Emoji and Prosthetic Patient for remixes. Blak Emoji’s crisp single gives off dark hip-hop energy with gritty, EBM like vocals. Prosthetic Patient’s downward spiral of synths gave me a tingly spine as soon as I heard the song begin, and the robotic cluster of electronic beats failed to disappoint as I was ecstatic throughout the remix. Extended Blak Emoji remix and an in-house mix of This is Not a Drill are included. What’s not to love? 

I never understood the titles of songs such as these. I don’t find it shocking or grotesque as the things my inner circle and I joke about are equally juvenile and poignant. So, casting that aside and diving into the music there’s not much to enjoy from either an experimental or a noise perspective. ‘Feral Steel’ sounds like the rejected backing track to a fever dream set in some factory; ‘Confidentiality Breach’ sounds like a train trying to chug along and failing. There’s nothing interesting here, except for maybe the cover art that goes along with the artist’s name of Mic Litter.

The first song? Snoozeville. Standard ambient with some slight noise for nearly eleven-and-a-half minutes. It’s been done by thirty-thousand other ambient / noise bands in the past. There’s nothing artistic or interesting about it. Second song? Same comments. Third song? Same again.  Fourth song? Same comments, but this time with a horrible ringing sound in the background and what sounds like distorted samples of human activity. Fifth song? Get ready for some jingles with the same comments as above. Sixth song? Same thing. Except it now sounds like ASMR furnace burning. Boring from start to finish with track times that are way too exaggerated for no reason. 

I think this is a great starting point for this band with a lot of ups and few downs. Bits of synthpop ice cream with gothic sprinkles layered on top. The vocalist sounds heavenly, but I also think there are moments where she can enunciate her words a bit more to sound better; sometimes, it sounds like some of her lines are slurred together. ‘Entropy’ is a good example of everything coming together…Mostly. Powerful vocals, a great beat with moody synths, and a bit of retro air. The kick drum is a bit too powerful, almost crunching although I’m not sure if that was meant to be. It sounds a tad bit off. I think if they get together with a professional sound engineer, Shadowcaller will sail to new heights. 

Fewer things get me more excited than electronic music that deals with cyberpunk influences. As is the case with Voidnet, a Polish producer whose also behind the infamous dark ambient project Tineidae. This is a rather crisp and clear darksynth club stomper with plenty of BPM, hardened breakdowns, distorted shouts seldomly used to create further science-fiction tension, and moody synths tearing apart the background. It’s everything I want in a darksynth song. Excuse me; I’ve a discography to sort through.