Two bands each linked closely to their own time and place are the subject of this week's podcast, but that's where the similarities between Fiendflug and Tearist end. The debate and controversy surrounding the former's tapping of Nazi history and aesthetics invariably overshadowed their music, though we make an effort to discuss both aspects of Fiendflug's 1996 self-titled LP, while Tearist's 2010 debut pointed towards a changing of the guard in North American dark music which their vocal charisma and mix of styles primed them to lead, yet that was not to be.

The tenth instalment of Vancouver's own Verboden festival is in the books, and as we've done for years we're here to break the whole affair down and talk about the live sets we caught from a slew of acts across a wide spread of dark genres, originating both from the fest's home in the Pacific Northwest and abroad.

This month's commentary podcast makes a detour into the cryptic world of minimal synth with the 1982 debut of Die Form. A far cry from the lush and dramatic club darkwave the French act would go on to be known for throughout the 1990s, Die Puppe is instead an exercise in atmosphere and an at times infuriating absence of formal composition. We discuss the nascent themes of perversion and transgression in Philippe Fichot's work, as well as the project's thought-provoking connections to classic industrial soundscapes. 

Scene producer extraordinaire and Inhalt mastermind Matia Simovich joins us for a lengthy discussion of the role of the producer, his philosophies of record production, and of a couple of specific landmark scene records he's helped bring to fruition.

Inspired by this past weekend's site anniversary DJ set, we're delving into the somewhat arbitrary dichotomy between jams and vibes as it pertains to nightclubs in Our Thing. Are people seeking a particular mood or expecting specific tracks when they head out to goth night? How do the different genres bundled into the goth-industrial format vary in terms of prioritizing atmosphere versus hooks? It's one of those round-about conversational episodes of We Have A Technical where you can't necessarily expect clear answers to the above, but you can expect a whole lot of hair-splitting.

It's a punk-flavoured side-project twofer on this week's episode of the podcast, as we discuss industrial-punk supergroup Lard's The Last Temptation Of Reid as well as the only record from Spetsnaz side project Turnbull A.C.'s. We're also talking about the long, long, LONG awaited announcement of a Tear Garden tour, and a fantastic Cabaret Voltaire show.

The latest album from Slovenian old gods Laibach is an abrupt shift from the sterner and harsher work they've been releasing for the past half decade or so, and turns to the recent history of pop music to comment on, well, pop music. Musick bears many of the hallmarks of Laibach's satirizing of popular culture and its intersection with politics and the world at large, but what precisely are they saying this time out? That's the question we delve into on this week's podcast.

A week later than usual we're back with the latest iteration of our Patreon supported We Have A Commentary series, this time looking at Minuit Machine's second LP, 2015's "Violent Rains". We're talking about the record's connections to preceding and future generations' visions of darkwave, what has and hasn't changed about Minuit Machine over the past decade-plus, and the emotional tenor of Amandine Stioui's vocals which has only become clearer in retrospect.

It's a hopefully affable and easy-listening Pick Five formatted episode we have for you this week folks, as we each choose some second LPs we enjoy. From records which consolidate a band's aesthetic to those which point to career-long versatility, we're kicking across a pretty wide range of all the sub-genres we cover on the site if we do say so ourselves.

The new collaborative record from Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize is all anyone in the larger industrial ecosystem is talking about this week and so we're adding our two cents regarding the track selection, emotional import, and club appeal of Nine Inch Noize. We're also talking about some exciting Forma Tadre reissue news and offering a preview of new music from Spike Hellis!