Miller time

a surprisingly faithful cover that gives the (fuck me is it really 40 years old? yes it is) song a digimax-shiny big BIG sound that's totally now

rather like the odd loping almost-breakbeat in the background, the least faithful bit of the rendition (the voice is very close to Daniel M's in its accent and phrasing)

yet for all that ultimately it is inexplicably unexciting

or should I say, explicably unexciting?

because trying to be soul-less and machinic just like in the Good Old Days is as empty and pointless a procedure as Adelle trying to be soulful and human just like in the Good Old Days...

ah this dude Fixmer is in a collaboration with the vocalist from Nitzer Ebb, who in the late Eighties already seemed decidedly behind the times with their DAF tribute act



That said, they were a very entertaining and committed live band, the Ebb - saw them rock a stage  hard at the Fridge in Brixton



What a load of Krupps, eh?



Did they secretly wish to title the album That Totalitarian Age?





"don't be lazy!"



sinewy, sweaty and shouty - a work aesthetic

aha of course of course




here's me on Mute and its story and legacy, recently, here

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

here's me on industrial dance music from 1991 but with no mention of the Ebb I don't think

here's me on Front 242 from around about the same time

it's coming back big time, the EBM / industrial-for-discos thing, apparently - and hey, this Holly Dicker piece from Resident Advisor takes the Ebb anthem "Join in the Chant" for its title!

of the other groups in this area, I was quite taken with Consolidated, because of their unusual strident Leftism, and with KMFDM, for reasons I can't remember. I'm not sure which was the album I kidded myself into thinking was worthy of a feature at Melody Maker - the one with this Carl Orff sample?



if they'd just pushed a little bit further, they could have been T99!

but the beat really is like jackboots

Skinny Puppy, we were all enamored with at MM - well, my crew anyway

But I found that you only needed one or two - perhaps just one - Skinny Puppy album in your life

Live, they were an endurance test

metal dance

while we're on this industrial-techno / Eurohardcore continuum tip (i.e. Gesaffelstein, Horrorist, Soulwax's Belgcore 'n' gabber slowed-down mix), one of my fave archaeologies of 2013 was  Trevor Jackson's Metal Dance:  Volume 2

like the first volume, an exploration of the hinterland between postpunk and techno-rave -- EBM, second-wave industrial, dancefloor-oriented Goth

like the first volume, a lot of this stuff I'd probably have shunned as past-its-avantfunk-moment in the actual mid-Eighties, when I was listening to Husker Du and Schooly D, but which now sounds really fresh

here's the tracklist:

01. Tuxedomoon - 59 To 1
02. Logic System - Unit
03. Psyche - The Saint Became A Lush
04. Skinny Puppy - Deadlines (400 Blows Remix)
05. Propaganda - (The Echo Of) Frozen Faces
06. Visage - Der Amboss (Instrumental)
07. Rusty Egan - The Twilight Zone (Trevor Jackson Edit)
08. Material - Secret Life
09. Rene Bandaly Family - Tanki Tanki (Rabih Beaini Edit)
10. Experimental Products - Work That Beat
11. Crash Course In Science - Jump Over Barrels
12. Liaisons Dangereuses - Etre Assis Ou Danset
13. Esplendor Geometrico - Necrosis En La Poya

01. Ministry - Over The Shoulder (12-inch Version)
02. Test Dept - The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom: Face 3
03. Mile High Club - Walking Backwards
04. CHBB - Ima Iki-Mashoo
05. Front 242 - Body 2 Body (2trax)
06. Vice Versa - Riot Squad
07. Chris & Cosey - Driving Blind
08. Doris Norton - Personal Computer
09. Plus Instruments - Vom Ertrunkenen Mädchen
10. Conrad Schnitzler - Das Tier
11. Neon - Lobotomy
12. Arthur Brown And Craig Leon - The Conversation
13. Haruomi Hosono - Platonic
14. Godley & Creme - Babies

Here's Trevor Jackson talking about the compilation at Resident Advisor

Here's a promo minimix TJ did



Here's a video mix, official or unofficial i knownot

 And finally some of my fave tunes from the compilation

piece of retro-future

Listening to the Gesaffelstein album, this track and certain other Aleph moments reminded me, in texture and mood, a little of the Horrorist. (Who incidentally put out an excellent album this year, Fire Funmania).  Actually the declamatory opening track "Out of Line" with its black drones and knelling tones is even more Chesler-esque.

Now when I first heard Yeezus I thought, you now what, bits of this, they really do sound like Kanye West has been listening to the Horrorist.... 

Well, knock me down with a feather, it's Gesaffelstein that produced "Black Skinhead"

And here's the Horrorist guest-vocalling on an EP by Sound of Science