lookee here

expect to hear post-punk no wave minimal synthpop goodies such as:

Absolute Body Control / Bollock Brothers / Cabaret Voltaire / Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft / Experimental Products / Fad Gadget / Gang of Four / The Human League / I Start Counting / Joy Division / Klinik / Liaisons Dangereuses / Malaria! / The Neon Judgement / Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark / Portion Control / Bourbonese Qualk ;) / The Royal Family and the Poor / Schleimer K / Throbbing Gristle / unaesthetic ;) / Vomito Negro / Wire / XeX / Yazoo / Zapp (er...)

I just finished the dissertation for my design degree. My chosen subject was the use of extreme political imagery by bands in the industrial milieu. The bands I covered included: Throbbing Gristle, Test Dept., Laibach, Death in June, Der Blutharsch, Blood Axis, (and unfortunately) Rammstein and Marilyn Manson. The latter two were used as a "mainstream" counterpoint, and to address the question of whether the political imagery of the neofolk and martial industrial artists could be considered "corrupting" or "immoral".

The dissertation is for a design degree. I've posted images of the finished design piece on my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/unaesthetic_kunst/ and i will be posting a pdf of the full text at some point.

having been hearing good things about the new album, i decided to give ohGr another chance.

i've never really liked ohGr. it was all too goofy for me, and the last two Skinny Puppy albums have sounded much too much like ohgr for me. i don't like that bouncy poppy hip-hop sound, i dislike ogre's new sing-song nursery-rhyme vocal style (i mean new since welt), and i really fucking despised the childish misspellings and uPpERcaSE/lOWerCaSe zany songtitles (although cevin is as guilty of this as ogre)

at least Devils In My Details steers away from a few of those elements. and i actually think i like this better than the last two skuppy albums too. it's certainly less goofy and tongue-in-cheek sounding than anything on TGWOTR. and it has *samples*, which even skuppy seem to have neglected of late.

DIMD is noiser, more distorted, less "pop", and certainly stranger than any of the skuppy clan's output in the last decade or so. if TGWOTR had sounded more like this, i'd have been a much happier puppy.

A Arditi
B Der Blutharsch (maybe cheating a bit here)
C Coil
D Deutsch Nepal
E Einstürzende Neubauten (obviously)
F Front 242
G Gaë Bolg and the Church of Fand
H The Human League
I In Slaughter Natives
J Joy Division
K Klinik
L Laibach
M MZ.412
N Nitzer Ebb
O Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio
P Portion Control
Q ... Qntal?
R Rasthof Dachau
S Skinny Puppy
T Test Dept.
U unaesthetic (!)
V Vomito Negro
W Wappenbund
X X-Marks the Pedwalk
Y Young Marble Giants
Z Zoviet France

waste of time i know...

i wasn't actually keeping track, but i certainly played these fine songs (vaguely in this order) :

23 Skidoo - The Gospel
Throbbing Gristle - See You Are (Live At The Factory, Manchester, 19 May 1979)
X-Mal Deutschland - Qual
Fad Gadget - 4M
Cabaret Voltaire - Just Fascination
KMFDM - Don't Blow Your Top
Psyche - The Saint Became a Lush
Iron Curtain - First Punk Wars
Sprung aus den Wolken - No Waiting
Killing Joke - Requiem
Para - Dich
Skinny Puppy - Dig It
The Human League - Black Hit Of Space
Einstürzende Neubauten - Für wen sind die Blumen?
Telepathic - We Are Telepathique
Ministry - All Day Remix
Front 242 - U-Men
Klinik - Black Leather
Nine Circles - Twinkling Stars
Doubting Thomas - Father Don't Cry
Hard Corps - C'est Pas Moi
Throbbing Gristle - Hot on the Heels of Love

i may have missed some of the stuff i played... anyhoo it was a great night, the live bands Jon Teknik and Oppenheimer Analysis were fab, and a bunch of chums came down, which made it extra good!

just been on a spree:

Klinik - Projects - a compilation of quality ebm things other than klinik that dirk ivens and mark verhaegen have been involved with, namely Noise Unit, X10, X10 Feat. Tec Trance, Para and D-Sign.

Absolute Body Control - wind[re]wind - abc is what dirk did before klinik, and this album is basically new versions of classic tracks such as Is There an Exit? and Love at First Sight.

v/a - rough trade shops electronic 1 - one of rough trade's compilations patting themselves on the back for selling lots of decent music over the years. of interest, tracks i don't have from Thomas Leer & Robert Rental, New Order, Matmos, Aphex Twin, Depeche Mode and ELpH vs. Coil.

Young Marble Giants - colossal youth - in fact a 3cd version with compilation tracks, rarities, singles, and a john peel session.

Test Dept. - bang on it (single) containing a remix i don't have.

Deutsch Nepal - dystopian partycollection - a compilation of compilation tracks and rarities.

In Slaughter Natives - s/t - their first album, only 2 or 3 tracks are streamable on here, and i want it.

Der Blutharsch - the philosopher's stone - promo of the new(ish) db album.

Depeche Mode - remixes 81-04 - i wanted this for daniel miller's mixes of strangelove and just can't get enough, and Renegade Soundwave's mix of i feel you.

Cabaret Voltaire - extended play - 7" from 1978including do the mussolini-headkick and the set up.

Bow Wow Wow - i want candy - on 7", just for fun!

The Neon Judgement - TV Treated
Throbbing Gristle - Convincing People
Fad Gadget - Collapsing New People
Klinik - Black Leather
Front 242 - U-Men
Skinny Puppy - Dead Lines
XeX - 3
Cocteau Twins - Garlands
Absolute Body Control - Is There an Exit? (r)
Einstürzende Neubauten - The Garden (r)
Clock DVA - soundmirror (reflected version)
A Split Second - flesh
Nitzer Ebb - Let Your Body Learn (r)
Laibach - Wirtschaft Ist Tot
New Order - Everything's Gone Green
Portion Control - The Great Divide
Cyberaktif - Nothing Stays

tonight i'm playing records at people at a new ebm/post-punk/minimal wave night promoted by DEAD AND BURIED's Cavey Nik.

Expect to hear:

Absolute Body Control, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Fad Gadget, Klinik, Attrition, Clock DVA, Kode IV, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, New Order, Section 25, Die Krupps, Portion Control and more...