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!

On the third day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/3/

Early, grimy, dark, underground crossover synthpop...

Track 03 Memorabilia - Soft Cell - Tainted Love 45rpm B-side - 1981

So kids gather round, a B-Side is a song that was on the other side of the analogue audio media plastic discs called records for what was selected to be "hit" or featured single/radio/dance track from artists. I grew up on the road with a band. At many venues in the pre-internet world you'd play both original and cover sets. The Soft Cell cover of Tainted Love was a smash hit and as such, Dad and I picked up this record. After he sorted the arrangements and planning for the band I'd get to keep the records. Cool!

This single had something on the B-side that literally set my artistic life course. Memorabilia was sonically the hardest, darkest, wildest and 100% synthiest my little drummer boy ears had ever heard and I've never looked back. I loved it more than the popular single it was included with. I infinitely poured over the picture on the back of the sleeve of a live setup with archaic synths and the reel-to-reel for the drums and sync. This was to be my thing.

RIP David.

On the fourth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me. Track 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree.

Yes, it's THAT Robyn.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/4/

It's a good thing tears never show in the pouring rain. Oof.

Be Mine - Robyn - 2005+ various releases

I LOVE ROBYN. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED ROBYN. I LOVE ROBYN'S BUBBLE GUM ADJACENT INDUSTRY OPPRESSION ERA. I LOVE HER TWO FINGERS IN THE AIR TO THE INDUSTRY ERAS, I LOVE ROBYN WITH RÖYKSOPP. I LOVE ROBYN.

Robyn is an absolute juggernaut of a writer, performer and a phenom at encapsulating emotive and temporal journeys music and art can take us.

There is zero even partially feasible reason that I should or could attempt to even be within 100m of a Robyn track!

Be Mine has quite a few interations and versions from releases to live. Every version is powerful as fuck even the sparsely instrumented ones because it's a good as fuck song. Unrequited love songs are a penny a tonne but this one is Vibranium!

My undisputed favourite version of Be Mine is the heavily arpeggiated and aggressive synth and drums arrangement for the Body Talk Tour [get to a video source and watch that right now!]. I latched onto that one and amplified the oontz. That entire tour show gets some of the most spirited top of the lungs "singing" when I'm on the tractor of all the songs in this collection.

On the fifth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me. Track 5 Papillon, 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLCATE in a, uh, tree.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/5/

It kicks like a sleep twitch!

Track 05 - Papillon - The Editors - 2009

I find this track to be very emotive and I always give it the beans on the tractor. Since I tend to walk a much more overtly sinister and angry sonic emotive path, it was a challenge in restraint for me. It almost got binned a number of times for missing the mark. After I performed it live this year, I was happy I kept at it.

I remember over the years seeing this performed at festivals and the punters rightfully losing their shit because it is a ripper. But I couldn't help thinking it'd be so much different with some oontz. Only while building this project did I realise there was a hyper processed club remix of it by a VIP hipster dj. I'm fine being the gritty zero commercial corpo festival potential version.

On the sixth day of #oontzmas controlfreak gave to me, Track 6 I Felt the Pain, 5 Papillon, 4 Be Mine, 3 Memorabilia, 2 Cities in Dust, 1 Control I'm Here, and REPLICATE in a, uh, tree. Also, not oontz on this one. Rust and dirt abound. Go on, have an oontzmas mope with me.

https://music.control.org/replicate1/6/

Track 06 Anything Box - I Felt the Pain - 1990

The album Peace has SO much more than just that one banger you probably know. It is a banger, but this is a cassette that if you knew what was up, you wore the whole damn thing out a few times.

This is probably the most painful track of this project. The original oozes in angst and pain and was always my favourite track from Peace when it was new. It's way outside my vocal wheelhouse and this snapshot was at a time I could hardly stand up. Aside from my general vocal shortcomings, any stress and in the delivery was legit. Plus the one take rule.

Many thanks to the indomitable @shannoncurtis for classing my muddled mess right the hell up in the chorus replies.