- The Runaways — “Cherry Bomb”, 1976.
Joan Jett and Lita Ford blowing up outdated expectations of girls’ behavior? Fuck yes. Let’s start right here. Anthemic for every generation. - Minuit Machine — “Prey/Hunter”, 2019.
The slow-building panic and claustrophobia is deathly effective; by the end all I want to do is run toward a light I’m not sure I can even trust. - Numb — “Suspended”, 1999.
Their most brutal dancefloor scythe from their most uncompromising album. Peerless in ferocity and fire-breathing conviction. (And those micro breaks have stayed surprisingly tasteful.) - Covenant — “Call the Ships to Port”, 2002.
Covenant could not fully escape the emperor’s new clothes of future pop, but even when they traded in sawtooth waves for trance synths, they still stayed classy with timeless lyrics. - Kælan Mikla — “Draumadís”, 2019.
The clacking percussion and incessant buzzing pads keep this darkwave rooted in something more sinister than what its dance-friendly label would indicate. - Twin Tribes — “Dark Crystal”, 2018.
The best goth / pop / darkwave act of the decade. A satanic ritual has never vibed so smoothly. - Kike am Radar — “Testament”, 2018.
Dark disco that twists its overlapping bass riffs inside a swirl of minor key dungeon synth. - Kanga — “Going Red”, 2016.
Kanga’s breakout LP was a cathartic workout through numerous schools of electro, but this jam dropped the tempo into something that is immediate, dense, funky and violent. - Sierra — “Unbroken”, 2019.
Absolutely riveting slow-grind synthwave that has all sorts of hidden weapons up its sleeves. The production on this is next level. - 0THERC0DE — “Kissing in the Dark”, 2019.
Anarchistic compression algorithms mutiny into a crushing digital collapse that is schizophrenic and haunting and beyond anything else the dealers are selling. (From the Telecompilation vol 2.) - Klack — “Lost Without You”, 2019.
Using the raw ingredients of EBM and electro, few match Klack in sheer songwriting jujitsu. Here, their synthpop genes get behind the wheel and the result singlehandedly justifies admission to their catalog. - Machines of Loving Grace — “Limiter”, 1993.
One of the early standard-bearers of “industrial rock”, MoLG never let guitars get in the way of a badass beat. This gets exponentially better with every decibel. - Filter — “Hey Man Nice Shot”, 1995.
Judge me as ye shall, but Filter’s 1995 single still spanks. - Gary Numan — “Absolution”, 1998.
As much as I like 80s first incarnation Numan, I like 90s second incarnation more. This pleading trip-hop slowburn prayer is a riveting portrait of an artist finding the true core of their art.