It’s time for my run-down of ten of the best tracks I’ve heard in the past month.
Nice to see another UK noise artist make it to being signed to one of the bigger labels. I’m sure I’ve seen this artist somewhere live before, but I’m stuffed if I know where, and I did think that there was potential there, so I’m glad to see that I was proven correct. Signed to Hands, the album of course comes in the usual sumptuous card casing, and it sounds great. This track in particular, though, which opens with tortured screams, before morphing into pounding beats and sweeping sounds, all the while remaining a riveting listen.
Talking of Hands releases, I’ve been meaning to pick this album up for ages, and finally got ’round to it last week when getting the PCP Principle album. Why did I not get this before? Brutal, harsh industrial/rhythmic noise that in parts sounds very familiar. Do I suspect I’ve heard this awesome track in particular on dancefloors in the past?
Yeah, I really should be pointing you all to the mighty Drek Kick, and I know Cyanotic was featured last month too, but of three very good tracks on this joint (free) EP it’s this that takes the honours by a nose. Where Sean Payne and JP Anderson from Rabbit Junk take on a Shizit classic and add extra oomph to the Digital Hardcore chaos. Fuckin’ Mighty indeed.
I got this on promo the other day, and it’s snarly, goblin-vocal industrial-electro that’s actually pretty fucking good. It sounds immense, thanks to booming, bassy drum programming that should sound awesome really loud. Many might deliberately ignore this release due to the stigma that this corner of the industrial genre nowadays seems to have, but trust me – it’s a damned sight better than many of the other bands still ploughing this furrow, and is certainly worth a try.
A little more melodic is this – the welcome return of one of the more underrated European electro-industrial bands. It’s been some time since there was much in the way of new material from them other than odds and sods on compilations, and they appear to have followed the “if it ain’t broke…” idea, in that if you are familiar with their previous work, this track will come as no surprise – and that is a good thing. Melodic but hard-hitting, with a cracking chorus and a melancholic edge, I’m looking forward to the long-awaited new album.
I’ve gone on record already as suggesting that I’m pretty disappointed with the new IAMX album – for one it’s somewhat poorly paced, and there are far too many ballads. There are some gems hidden amongst it, though, such as this track, a sweeping, wannabe epic that contains one of the best choruses yet from the band.
This was an album I took something of a punt on, not knowing a lot about it, but it turned out to be a hell of a purchase. Somewhat downtempo, although not afraid to let rip with bursts of glitchy beats at points, much of the album consists of soundscapes that are as pretty and elegant as the lengthy titles. This track is the pick, though, the soundscape of which conjures up the idea in your head that the title suggests.
While I’ve been working through re-building my music collection on my PC from the mass of CDs I have collated over the years, I’ve stumbled across a few things I’ve not really listened to in a long while. Like this band, an intense metal band from South Wales who were likened at points to Tool, but were never really that technical – although their lyrics, which without fail generally had something to say, certainly had an intelligence many bands lacked. This track was one of a handful of singles released, that is a muscular three-minute roar with a great chugging riff and soaring vocal. Some of you might even remember it.
Also heading back a little is this industrial classic from twenty years or so back. Very much a track of the eighties – some of the electronics have not dated too well, perhaps – but it’s vocals buried underneath the relentless rhythm, with stabbing synths pushed to the fore, make for an unusually aggressive track.
Talking of aggressive…Apparently it’s Leechwoman’s last UK gig when they support KMFDM a week on Saturday in London, and I’ll be there to see it. I’ve seen them numerous times over the years, although I don’t think they were ever as extreme as their brutal appearance at Noize-Tek in Manchester a few years ago, where they were so loud they nearly emptied the entire venue. I somehow don’t think that will happen this time ’round, but let’s hope they finish in as an abrasive fashion as they always have done before. So anyway, what other track could I mention than the Scum-sampling torrent of industrial rage that is Tool – and needless to say, this is something I listen to when my partner is out of earshot…