On the first day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE, uh, in a tree. Sure why not.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/1/

When the disco ends up in a rusted out old factory or industrial warehouse...

Track 01 Control, I'm Here - Nitzer Ebb - 1988

Having used the moniker control for music/art/self for over three decades, I mean this one was a no brainer. The absolute working class of the sub-basement of the underground which, in fact, for this track actually reached a hell of a lot of underground adjacent scenes and plenty of percolation above because of its absolute infectious groove albeit with a grit and clang that I loved the most. Aggro AND dance! Fucking deadly. I for sure wore out a fair few Belief and Showtime cassettes in the car. If you don't do this regularly already, find the old video of live at Technoclub Berlin 1989 and you're welcome.

A massive influence at the time on solidifying my lifelong artistic home in industrial electronic dance.

RIP Douglas.

On the second day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE, uh, in a tree?

https://music.control.org/replicate1/2/

How meticulous were you about your blacks clashing?...

Track 02 Cities in Dust - Siouxsie and the Banshees - 1985

There are so many Siouxsie and the Banshees songs that fall under the category of yes please I will belt them out at full blast no matter what. An artist I usually reckon falls firmly in the do not even try to cover ground although often attempted. Wanting to keep the vibe quite a bit true to the original, but a little more grumpy, I enlisted my friend and collaborator Adam Colegrove who is a much better aggro vocaliser than I for one of only two small guest appearances on the project. Rules are rules, I kept my own very much struggling vocal layers in this track as well.

The "easier" route for me might have been the synth heavy Kiss Them For Me, but no, Cities is an absolute classic, and nothing about this project was really easy. For 40 years, even with the known Uncle Bob from The Cure crossover in the Banshees, I never would never have realised that in 2025 when I tried to figure out some transposed progression for synths from the original timing and tuning of the guitars, it would basically be A Forest. Yeah, now you hear it too, woah!