A few weeks ago, at a bar in Brooklyn known for its metal and goth affiliations, a DJ in the back room was running through a playlist thick with synths. The old standbys—Bauhaus, Joy Division, Soft Cell, Siouxsie and the Banshees—made their appearances, as did a younger generation of artists like New York’s Xeno & Oaklander, Montreal duo Essaie Pas, and the Northampton, Massachusetts, group Boy Harsher. Among the more recent crop, one song stood out: Boy Harsher’s “Motion.” It was, like other songs played that night, dark and driving, powered by stark, acrid synthesis and barreling drums. But something about it felt unusually immediate.