Photo by Alexander Rayborn
Los Angeles-based electronic duo Spike Hellis, comprised of Cortland Gibson and Elaine Chang, will release their first full-length, self-titled album in April 2022, under their imprint Over-Pop. The band have premiered the album’s first single, “Slices,” via Post-Punk.com. 
Post-Punk’s Andi Harriman says, “[‘Slices] is just as hyper and danceable as their live sets, containing just the right amount of aggression and lightness—a tactic many beloved Wax Trax! artists utilized for their club hits. With sounds that are compared to the short-lived Ministry side project PTP (specifically ‘Show Me Your Spine’), and the cheerier side of Portion Control, ‘Slices’ holds a punch as it only clocks in at just over two minutes. The severity of the beat alongside the bassline’s groove catapults the track into hysterics. ‘Let’s talk about money and power,’ Gibson roars, as samples littered alongside the vocals tell a story of virtue and greed. ‘Slices’ is all impact, no filler.”
Incorporating a wide range of elements from industrial, new beat and techno, to freestyle, electro and EBM, their dark, experimental pop is sure to make you move to the pain. It wouldn’t be EBM if the overtones of manipulation, submission and suffering weren’t prominent and here they certainly are. However, one of the many things that separates Spike Hellis from their contemporaries is the clever sampling and sound design. Their sequences are dynamically crafted and move effortlessly between all hard-dance subgenres.
Spike Hellis (S/T) is preceded by their first EP Crisis Talk, of which its material contents seemed to seep into reality in the form of a widespread global pandemic—all as they were getting ready to put it out into the world. Rather than playing a release show, they put the tape out digitally while under lockdown in their downtown LA apartment. With tour abruptly cancelled, they immediately got to work on the forthcoming album.
Since then, Spike Hellis has gotten back on the road and completed their first U.S. tour in Fall 2021, playing in good company with fellow artists and friends such as Choir Boy, Fearing, Soft Kill, Plack Blague, Riki, Nuovo Testamento, Twin Tribes and Body of Light. They wrapped up thier tour by playing Day 3 of Substance Festival at The Belasco Theater in DTLA.
In February, they will embark on a two-week long west coast tour and will also be a supporting act on ADULT.’s 2022 North American tour alongside Kontravoid.
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