Decades before filesharing, Discogs and the ‘Tube democratized musical knowledge, news of the Industrial Revolution could only arrive on this side of the pond through word of mouth or at the cost of pricey imports. Alongside contemporaries like March of Values, Diner’s Club (featuring a nascent Brian Ruryk) and local legends Fifth Column (all of whom appear on Urban Scorch, Toronto’s answer to No New York), The Party’s Over were a gang of art-school insurgents who got the memo and decided to spread it around town however they could. The squelched electronics, Xerox paste-jobs (1, 2) and lab horror imagery of their 1981 cassette not only point the way to countless post- and post-post-punk iterations, but also parallel the earliest budgeted efforts of Cronenberg. Though members would go on to achieve higher levels of notoriety in Kids on TV and the Cure-worshipping combo Century’s End, it’s the contagious Tissue Sample that’s most likely to cause a future outbreak.

Wipe that icy sweat off your brow and vogue like a vampire. Visage Musique’s late 2011 salvo sends out a coldwave of shimmering shivers with minimal emotion and maximum satisfaction, spanning the label’s extended family, WC fave Femminielli and a fresh cast of freaks. Black light aerobics and arena anthems pump it up like Pavel Bure while the witching hour survivors get their kicks. G to the RIP.