Being yourself has become a surprisingly laborious business. The photograph needs editing, the opinion needs prompting, and loneliness must be presented to resemble an enviable evening. A social media profile offers the freedom to create the person we wish we were, then puts that person to work around the clock. Before long, algorithmic approval starts behaving like a drug, desire becomes a recurring payment, and the supposedly liberated individual is checking in with the platform every few minutes. The mask has developed an excellent social life, but its owner could probably use some company.
Berlin’s XTR HUMAN, the long-running project of musician Johannes Stabel, turns that predicament into a forceful EBM workout on “Fake,” shared ahead of its October 9 release through Wie Ein Gott Records. The first release in a new series, the single was recorded at Infinite Power Studios in Los Angeles, with Matia Simovich handling production and mixing. Its entirely analog construction puts the emphasis on force, repetition, and the persuasive pull of an electronic beat.
“Fake” opens with a metallic bass synth line that gives its EBM groove a distinctly funky gait. There is plenty of force in the repetition, though the low end knows how to move its hips. Stabel’s vocals land with a slap, a club-driven Neue Deutsche Welle drawl carrying the rhythmic confidence and insolent phrasing of hip-hop. He makes each phrase feel physically involved in the beat, pushing the groove forward with a delivery that sounds thoroughly pleased with its own bad intentions.
The synth melody brings to mind the peculiar electronic funk of Fad Gadget’s “Lady Shave,” while the track’s muscular structure shares more with the disciplined body music of fellow Mute artists DAF and Nitzer Ebb. Simovich’s production keeps those elements sharply defined: the bass has weight, the rhythm has room to work, and the melody provides enough mischief to make the machinery feel dangerously inviting.
That invitation is central to the song’s themes. “Fake” confronts digital isolation, manufactured identities, and the ease with which desire becomes dependency. Profiles turn into disguises; the pursuit of recognition keeps the person behind them performing. The track’s repeated patterns give that cycle a bodily form, suggesting the exhausting business of moving constantly while getting nowhere. Stabel makes the predicament sound seductive, which is precisely how such arrangements secure our cooperation in the first place.
Listen to “Fake” below:
“Fake” is out October 9, 2026 via Wie Ein Gott Records. Find the single here on release day. Alongside Simovich’s production and mixing, the recording credits include assistant engineers Coleman Ketchem and Grover Greenberg, with mastering by Bonati Mastering.
Johannes Stabel began XTR HUMAN in 2012, developing a project whose early coldwave and post-punk interests have expanded into industrial electronics, techno, and EBM. His rich vocal delivery gives those harder rhythms a recognizable personality, drawing together German-language phrasing, new wave melody, and the propulsion of body music. Albums such as G.O.L.D in 2021 and Schrank in 2024 established a catalogue equally interested in dancefloor movement and social criticism. Earlier this year, the Rave God EP brought ’90s rave energy into that combination, including a remix by Houses of Heaven.
Stabel’s international live history includes Wave-Gotik-Treffen and Absolution Festival, alongside appearances with artists including Die Selektion, Qual, Lebanon Hanover, and She Past Away. This month’s shows include a return to Los Angeles for Substance at The Belasco, followed by Berlin’s Unterwelt Festival on Halloween.
Upcoming 2026 live dates:
Follow XTR HUMAN:
Cover photograph by Anni Porrasmäki.
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