#10 CHRISMAN Dozage
This new record from Congolese producer CHRISMAN is mind-blowing and so much more! It’s called Dozage and it’s 35 relentless tracks that blend gqom, trap, taraxina, Afrohouse, and industrial noise and features a ton of collaborators like Ecko Bazz, Aunty Rayzor, Ratigan Era, MC Yallah, BLAQ BANDANA, Tracey the Rapper, and more. CHRISMAN is a master at layering sounds that span mechanical and biological, invoking a sonic systematic chaos that’s somehow both alarmingly urgent and effortlessly smooth.
#9 CRAVE Inner War Delerium
Deep inside our minds of pain exists our light. Deep inside our torment exists our inner fears. Deep inside of anguish, we find the power we need to conquer everything. Deep inside Inner War Delerium, the new album by CRAVE, you will hear cryptic voices from another universe. Over sparse feral dark tracks, this human spits otherworldly apocalyptic vocals that will get deep inside your reality. More than just songs, this project is full of sonic horror films that morph into mind dungeons despair. Don’t get it twisted — CRAVE knows how to balance the darkness with bursts of light. Case in point is the track “Donna Deadeye,” that I can’t help but have on repeat. Inner War Delerium is an immersive audio event that should be heard from beginning to end! I want to salute Heat Crimes for releasing this gem and to CRAVE for creating music that matters from his visions of bleakness!
#8 CUT 989 Opinions
Imagine if Killing Joke had mutated into your favorite techno programmer, the outcome just might sound like this! The new CUT 989 record Opinions is the fucking BOMB! It’s a percussive wonderland that will give you non-stop eargasms! Listening to this, I found myself saying, damn, I didn’t know that I needed music like this in my life, but I really fucking do!
#7 MISSION TO THE SUN Sophia Oscillations
Maybe it’s because MISSION TO THE SUN is from Detroit, but I feel like I can hear the rust of long-dead manufacturing in their music. Their music is one part post-apocalyptic capitalism and one part alien missive. Sophia Oscillations is an ode to the one-dimensional digital mosaic we leave behind when our souls exit our bodies. We’re making the internet one worldwide graveyard where bits and pieces of us enjoy an avatar of the eternal youth promised to us by religion. This record is meditative and metallic, projecting electronica and industrial through a goth lens.
#6 CYBERPLASM Autogenesis
CYBERPLASM’s new record Autogenesis is a TECHNO beast that never lets up and I freaking love it! The pulsating title track will have everybody on the dance floor losing their shit. Plus this tune has a message in it that will infect your mind body and soul! “Neural Terror” is another banger that will give all of your brain cells whiplash. The two remixes of “Autogenesis” by HIDE & Silo 77 are freaking STELLAR!
#5 KUMO 99 HeadPlate
HeadPlate is the soundtrack to the 22nd millennium but KUMO99 has blessed us with it now so we know what we’re in for. These are massive dance anthems driven by survival in a dying world! With a beautiful blend of EBM, industrial, jungle, drum & bass all mixed in a technicolor punk bowl, KUMO 99 is serving beats on HeadPlate that are impossible not to move to.
#4 CÁNDIDO La Muerte de Occidente
I’ve been yapping about punk for years now and I still knew nothing about Krishnacore. Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe its synchronicity, but in the 70s Sean was fascinated by Hare Krishna before he went punk. Anyway, CÁNDIDO came out of Buenos Aires’ Krishnacore scene and is making some of the raddest dance music I’ve heard in a while. It’s got an 80s synth beat vibe that makes me feel like I’m immersed in the roots of dance music, but La Muerte de Occidente is not a throwback record at all. This is bare-bones dance music, almost raw if that’s a thing in this genre, but it’s also bursting at its sonic seams with layers of addictive samples and sounds. La Muerte de Occidente is making me see lights in the disco in my head and CÁNDIDO is giving me a free place to escape to.
#3 REALIZE Two Human Minutes
On Two Human Minutes, Realize, amassing the talents of Kyle Kennedy, Matt Mutterperl, Matt Underwood, and now Zack Hansen, adds more color to their sonic palette of apocalyptic conjuration. Where previous releases wore the Godflesh, Nailbomb, and Meathook Seed influences on their sleeves, Two Human Minutes finds the band expanding its territory, thereby establishing new paths for future pioneers to traverse.
With the new addition of Hansen’s synths and electronic textures, along with more exploratory use of samples and noise, Realize‘s new venture resists categorization while inviting new comparisons. The Broadrick influence is still strong, but one is likely to hear some Techno Animal, Greymachine, and Jesu highlights interspersed within the more obvious Godflesh and JK Flesh colors. Dub, ambience, harsh noise, grindcore, and nu-metal nuances mark this release as a more confident, more experimental, more defiant testimonial to the powers of an alliance between humans and technology.
#2 HEALTH Rat Wars
No other band does it like HEALTH — and that’s a big fucking FACT! Their soon-to-be-released album Rat Wars is a perfect balance between Industrial Power and Ethereal Soundscapes. HEALTH’s music is an audio landscape that is devoid of rules and will also make you while the band creates these sonic portals of freedom. While blasting Rat Wars, I can’t help but feel like the movie Escape from New York has come to life in the musical form of one of their songs.
As the tension builds on their song “Hateful,” my body goes into chills and then Jake Duzsik’s angelic vocals kick in to shift my whole mind state. “Unloved” pulsates at the pace of the listener’s heartbeat while transporting you to a ’90s Techno party in East Berlin. The lead riff on the song “CHILDREN OF SORROW” is hard as FUCK and everything else about this song is otherworldy! HEALTH is actually really good for my mental health because BIG TUNES like “Sicko” give me the inner strength to say FTW I control my own reality! It must be said that the said song vibrates with metallic angst and drips with sonic cyber insanity. Jake Duzsik is one of my favorite vocalists ever which is why his vocal delivery on “Ashamed” is tattoed on my psyche.
As the world spins on its axis of madness, immersing my reality in Rat Wars feels like a safe space.
#1 DEBBY FRIDAY GOOD LUCK
WTF do we have here? We have DEBBY FRIDAY’s new album Good Luck and I can’t LIE — my mind has been blown! I have always been a fan of hers, but after this record, I’m a fan for LIFE. Every song is its own sonic planet orbiting around her magical sphere of creativity! The production on tunes like “SO HARD TO TELL” gives me the feeling I felt when I heard Tricky’s “Christiansands” or Björk’s “Possibly Maybe” for the first time. Don’t get it twisted — I repeat, don’t get it twisted — DEBBY’s artistic vision is all of her own. She is truly a force and I feel privileged to be writing about Good Luck which is a ride that I don’t want to end.
You better take a minute and blast the song “I GOT IT (FEAT. UÑAS)” because this dance record will have you shaking your ass no matter where you are at! Both Debby and UÑAS show out while having so much fun together on this track! Then there are Coldwave-Post Punk songs like “HOT LOVE” that make me feel like I’m at a warehouse party in Berlin. If you had to listen to one song this week it should be “LET U DOWN.” Good Luck is such a layered record that I know with each listen I will feel something new.
DEBBY FRIDAY is creating from an honest space where she is a vortex for all of the life experiences to flow through and take the form of songs, sounds, lyrics, and emotions that are otherworldly! Yo DEBBY, I’m beyond impressed with Good Luck. I know the souls of Nina Simone, PJ Harvey, Prince, and Kate Bush are happy for this sister to be in tune with her spirit. Will our record collection be complete without this album? NO!
