Vudu DJ has put together a roster of Industrial adjacent acts for the first "show" Darq since 2019.
First up was one of two Boston-based artists GROUND TO DUST. According to their site they describe their sound as "drawing on the influences of Industrial, EBM and Synth-Pop, as well as Noise, Drum and Bass, Ambient and even Classical sounds." I would agree with that, however on this particular night they kept things leaning more towards Industrial, Synthpop, & EBM. I am really enjoying their latest album, Ultravoid, which just came out this past August on their Bandcamp.
Matt (Vudu DJ) has been showing Ground to Dust love for a while and I discovered them through him on the Darq "COVID Chronicles" livestreams over the winter. The live performance was energetic and very dance-able, however due to tourist season in Salem the venue was not able to completely clear the room of diners before the show started and there was less room than I would have liked. Still, we had a room enough to dance and have a blast.
MORIS BLAK really needs no introduction, but in short he is an extremely popular local DJ merging the aesthetics of goth industrial with electronic dance music and bass music. I have to admit that before I actually heard Moris Blak's music, a description like this had seemed potentially too mainstream for me. After all, as a big early 2000's UK dubstep fan, I very quickly experienced a great deal of aversion to the sound once it reached US shores and got thoroughly bastardized.
Fast forward to today and again, through hearing them being spun by Vudu DJ they're someone I put on all the time besides just being able to enjoy dancing to it when going out to Darq. It's really an innovative mix of styles done right, trust me, this isn't Skrillex or anything like that. Give it a proper chance and I think you'll love it. My favorite track is "Upgrade me" feat. Amelia Arsenic. Moris Blak fits in the song rotation very nicely alongside such artists as The Ludovico Technique, Aesthetic Perfection, and so forth, so if that sounds good to you, do check it out. Moris Blak's latest is Irregular Revisions II, released in April 2021 on Bandcamp.
My photos can be found below. A know a friend of the band took some very professional shots, if I find the link for those I will update the post and give credit. Moris Blak's presence and performance was amazing, and it was exciting to be right in front in a small venue. I'll definitely be dancing my ass off at more shows of his in the future!
PANIC LIFT is an industrial/EBM/futurepop group from good ol' Newark New Jersey! This is a new band to me and from what I have heard of their catalog I would say they are for fans of VNV Nation, Cruxshadows, Covenant, etc. The do have a variety of harsh/hard industrial and the poppier side of it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that for the show it was an all acoustic band setup, and the drummer did an incredible job keeping the dance floor packed.
This is my favorite song of theirs, called Awake, recorded in 2014. Check them out if you get a chance.
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