We Have a Technical

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 purch...

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...

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 a...

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 o...

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 occurren...

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 bri...

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...

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,...

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".

Hi folks, Due to a family emergency we're unable to record and offer an episode this week. Thanks for your understanding, and we hope to be back as soon as possible.

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 iVardenspher...

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-ann...

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.