Youth Code are reimagining industrial music – again

If you can count everyone from Chelsea Wolfe to My Chemical Romance among your admirers, you’re probably doing something right. Such is the case for Youth Code, a pair of LA noisemakers who’ve defied expectations and conventions for more than a decade.

Partners Sara Taylor and Ryan George have been melding hardcore punk with dense, dark electronica since 2012, but a period of inactivity since 2021 has kept people guessing about their next move. That ends with the release of their new EP, Yours, With Malice. Its five tracks are a blend of suffocating, cathartic and uplifting, keeping the listener guessing in the manner anyone familiar with Youth Code’s iconoclastic approach might expect. Perhaps the only surprise is that an act who are reputedly always working on something took so long to return – and didn’t do so with a full album.

“The thing is, we hadn’t put out any of our own work in nine years,” reasons Sarah, wearing a pair of black, boxy sunglasses as the midday Los Angeles sunshine lights up the other side of the street. Her stiletto-manicured nails keep a freshly bought cup of coffee close as she pulls out the first of several cigarettes. “So, for me, it felt like coming back after a nine-year absence with a full record was way too much information in a day and age where people expect singles that carry them over until the next single.

“I wanted to test the waters to make sure that, you know, are there people still out there? Are there people who haven’t discovered us? Why launch back in with a full LP when you can do an EP to be like, ‘Hey, this is us. There’s more coming.’”

The question of who might be discovering Youth Code with the release of Yours, With Malice, is open-ended, because a typical Youth Code fan probably doesn’t exist.

“We’ve always sort of been a square peg in a round hole,” Sarah admits. “You can stick us on a bill with Deafheaven, who play shoegaze/black metal, or, hell, you can stick us on a bill with electronic indie rock.

“I think that’s what keeps writing [for] Youth Code so exciting. There’s so much of a well of inspiration to draw from, because there’s so much music in the world. I don’t ever get tired writing, and Ryan never gets tired because there’s no limitation when it comes to electronic production. I can go outside and sample people singing in the park right now and loop that. I can go bang on a pipe and run it through a million different effects units. The inspiration for electronic music is endless.”

Youth Code’s lyrics, in contrast, tend to be a more personal matter. But Sara explains she’s found a balance between drawing from deep and looking to others for inspiration.

“I love applying the poetry of other people to situations in my life,” she says. “It’s sort of the original meme, right? Like, here’s this thing. I can relate to it. It has nothing to do what’s going on in my actual life, but it’s what it is. I feel like that’s always been [found in] lyrics for me.

“I think that there is hope in all aspects, and I think there is catharsis in all aspects,” she continues. “In [the song] In Search Of Tomorrow, if I’m being blunt about what I’m writing about, I’ve dealt with my own struggles in life, with substance abuse. At this point in time, I’m almost five years sober. But what that song is kind of about is, ‘How are we going to keep moving forward if we just keep getting fucked up?’”

Which leads to the question of not just where Youth Code might go next, but with whom. Asked if there are any dream collaborations that Sara hasn’t yet realised, she jumps on the question with enthusiasm.

“Are you fucking kidding me?! There’s, like, a million of those, but I don’t think they’ll ever come knocking on our door. Do you know how excited I was that [Lady] Gaga is in this darkness phase and working with [French DJ and producer] Gesaffelstein? I was like, ‘I am one rung closer to getting in the scopes of Gaga!’

“I want to do stuff with the fucking babes, dude. Seeing Courtney [LaPlante] from Spiritbox working with Megan Thee Stallion, there is hope for someone like me. I want to branch out. Industrial doesn’t have to be like a fucking spooky robot in the basement of a club. I want what we do to stick to as many corners of things as possible.

“This EP is just the beginning…”

Yours, In Malice is out now via Sumerian

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