Tweaker it’s the side project of drummer/programmer Chris Vrenna started after his departure from Nine Inch Nails in 1996. The album, The Attraction to All Things Uncertain, was Vrenna’s “solo” debut in 2001. The following “2 A.M. Wakeup Call” in 2004 also made the debut of guitarist/programmer Clint Walsh as a permanent fixture to the band and featuring a quite famous line-up of guest vocalists including David Sylvian, Will Oldham, Robert Smith, Burton C. Bell, Craig Wedren, Hamilton Leithauser, Buzz Osborne, Jonathan Bates and Johnny Marr.
Tweaker toured select North American dates with Skinny Puppy in 2004 and the live band line-up was consisting of Chris Vrenna (drums, percussion and keyboard), Clint Walsh (guitar and keyboard), Paul Ill (bass guitar and keyboards) and Nick Young (vocals).
There was rumors that Tweaker would release a new album in 2008, although no material surfaced, and in that period Vrenna worked with Marilyn Manson on his 2009 album “The High End of Low”. Read more Tweaker – Call The Time Eternity (2012)
industrial
Naive – Illuminatis (2012)
Might sound a cliche, but Naïve delivering a colourful sonic journey where powerful Metal riffs are merged with subtle sonic textures; contorted, dark and tensioned moments are combined with smoothly sparkling, melodious hooks and build-ups. It’s like a constant struggle of good and evil, light and shadow, noises and melodies. Trip Hop Metal? Eventually. Labels are unnecessary. But to have an idea, this is sound like an explosive mixture of Deftones and Prong with Massive Attack and Sneaker Pimps. Pounding IDM, hypnotic Trip Hop, dark Alternative Metal, and Industrial flavored noisiness are smartly colored with subtle texture, addictive grooves, mysterious electronic layers and at the bottom line they are all equal ingredients of the unique universe reveled by Naïve. “Illuminatis” it’s an addictive journey, it’s something Magic in there, feels a dream from which you don’t want to wake up. Read more Naive – Illuminatis (2012)
Laibach – An Introduction To… Reproduction Prohibited (2012)
Although my affection for Industrial music started in the beginning of the 90s with several American bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Ministry and Malhavoc, I can trace the roots of my affection and affiliation back to bands such as Einstürzende Neubauten and Laibach. Even further, in my humble opinion the whole Neue Deutsche Härte (“New German Hardness”) movement it’s build upon not a German, but on the edge cutter and envelop pusher work of a Slovenian avant-garde music group formed on June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia, at the time SFR Yugoslavia: Laibach (the German name for Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana).
After the breath taker “Monumental Retro-Avant-Garde, Live at Tate Modern”, Laibach now are back with another history lesson, a retrospective of the band’s history, the compilation released by Mute on September 3rd. Back then (July 21st) I wrote a quite exhaustive history of the band.
The rumors were that the band re-recorded these songs for the compilation, now that thing was not mentioned and the songs sound exactly as the original releases, so at most, they were re-mastered. Still, Laibach sounds massive and irresistible. Read more Laibach – An Introduction To… Reproduction Prohibited (2012)
Bang Ur Head (Byzant At Sunset)
Bang Ur Head [Take One] by byzantatsunset
Byzant At Sunset are back with a brand new track. In a world where the zeros and ones replaced the words and emoticons replaced the human touch, we’re kind of Read more Bang Ur Head (Byzant At Sunset)
Ostfront – Ave Maria (2012)
Operation Ostfront (German for “Eastern Front”) was the sortie into the Arctic Ocean by the German warship Scharnhorst during World War II. In May 1941, after the loss of the German battleship Bismarck, Adolf Hitler had forbidden any German capital ship from venturing into contested seas. By December 1943 the tide had turned against Germany. The Battle of the Atlantic had been lost, and supplies poured into the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. In September 1943 the German battleship Tirpitz was disabled during the British Operation Source, leaving Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen the only operational heavy ships in the Kriegsmarine. In November 1943 the Arctic Convoys restarted. On 19 December 1943 Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz submitted a request to Hitler to allow Scharnhorst to attack the next convoy sailing through the Barents Sea. On the 25 December 1943 Dönitz ordered Ostfront to commence. Admiral Fraser, alerted by Norwegian resistance information to the possibility of an interception by Scharnhorst, prepared a trap for the German warship.
On 25 December Scharnhorst sailed to intercept the British convoy, JW 55B, believing it to be sparsely protected. In the ensuing Battle of the North Cape Scharnhorst was separated from her escorting destroyers and was sunk. This is history.
Neue Deutsche Härte – “New German Hardness” it’s a term invented by the German music press in 1995 specially to describe/defined the music delivered by Rammstein on their debut album “Herzeleid”. Also known as German Electronic Metal or Dance Metal (tanzmetall), this new genre has its roots in the music of bands such as Laibach, Die Krupps and Oomph! and along Rammstein the genre is proudly represented by bands such as Eisbrecher, Megaherz, Megaherz, Tanzwut, Umbra et Imago, In Extremo, Omega Lithium, Stahlhammer, Fleischmann, etc.
Ost+Front will definitively delight all and each Rammstein fan. Read more Ostfront – Ave Maria (2012)
Uglyhead – The Garden (2012)
If there is a missing link between Joy Division and Ministry, that must be Uglyhead. But Uglyhead incorporates several other different reminiscences from Syd Barrett smell like Psychedelic Rock to The Sisters Of Mercy trademarked Dark mechanics and from Field Of the Nephilim perfumed mysticism to contorted Garage Rock noisiness. This isn’t a walk through on a Sunday noon through the sunny park, “The Garden” is more like a secret dark place wit 10 alleys (paths) or 10 growing trees, branching around, exploring the mysteries of this world and our hidden inner universe. Merging different sonar elements, genres and styles, Uglyhead revels its own genre and style, delivering an atmospheric, highly textured journey and painting-up a tale of transformation, consumption and devastation.
Uglyhead is an experimental Rock band originally from Seattle, Uglyhead now operates primarily out of San Francisco, and the project is headed by musician/producer Jake Alejo. Read more Uglyhead – The Garden (2012)
Step Between Shadows – Understanding Your Reflection, EP (2012)
Mandatory if you’re a Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails fan, eventually you’re into Gary Numan’s music and the latest soundtracks delivered by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Step Between Shadows are the very next artist to listen too and get your hands on his recently released debut EP available now on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc or download it for only $2 USD via Bandcamp. The EP was mastered by Tom Baker at Precision Mastering, Hollywood, CA (Nine Inch Nails, How To Destroy Angels, Marilyn Manson), so, it’s really sound huge!!
Matt John Ryan aka. Step Between Shadows is an artist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and his debut EP consist of four solid tracks. This is a post-industrial journey into the world previously explored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, first on the 2010’s score for David Fincher’s “The Social Network” which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the Academy Award for Original Score; and on the score for Fincher’s adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, which also were announced as nominees for the 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. “Understanding Your Reflection” definitively deserves a movie and eventually some nominees for Best Original Score!! Read more Step Between Shadows – Understanding Your Reflection, EP (2012)
Black Light Burns – The Moment You Realize You’re Going To Fall (2012)
“The Moment You Realize You’re Going To Fall”, the sophmore album by the Wes Borland leaded and fronted Black Light Burns sounds sweat and dark in a quite David Bowish manner. It’s impossible to stick any label to this music, it’s impossible to squeeze it into any defined genre of style, this is post “something” without being typically finicky and selfishly obscure and pointlessly exclusivist, it’s simultaneously Rock, mainly noisy and garage taste-like, but sometimes Jazzy, and Industrial in a quite classic sense and approach, but avoiding all the cliches and mandatory conformity. It’s arty, but not abstract and it’s trippy without becoming shapeless. Wes Borland definitively founded a fascinating, very own flavored path here and delivered a pretty exciting material.
Vividly colored, changing moods and grooves, “The Moment You Realize You’re Going To Fall” it’s a bold, literally edgy cutting, modern (Industrial) Rock album, one of the finest of it’s kind.
Quitting Limp Bizkit in 2001, Read more Black Light Burns – The Moment You Realize You’re Going To Fall (2012)
Emilie Autumn – Fight Like A Girl (2012)
World-class violinist. Fashion icon. Famously bipolar. Vegetarian turned vegan. Identifies herself as asexual, freak for some, idol for others, Emilie Autumn is one artist you may love or you may hate, but definitively hard to stay indifferent. And even further, listing – and living – through “F.L.A.G.” – her third installment – you may love one song and hate the next one while this is another tumultuous journey from glossy cabaret to Industrial chaos, from burlesque to Glam Rock and back to psychotic Steampunk, while she often labels her music and style as “Victoriandustrial”.
Her vocal work has been compared to Tori Amos and Kate Bush, while her music encompasses a wide range of styles, it was labeled “new age chamber music, trip-hop baroque, and experimental space pop”, as well as “cabaret, electronic, symphonic, new age, and rock & roll”. Things did not changed with “F.L.A.G.”, Emilie cry one moment and laugh the next one and the music follows her ever changing flow of mood. Not an easy walk through a sunny park Sunday at the noon, but a dark, fractured, fever burned trip on the wild side. For real and for delusion. Read more Emilie Autumn – Fight Like A Girl (2012)
Laibach – Monumental Retro-Avant-Garde, Live at Tate Modern (2012)
On the 14th April 2012, Laibach presented a unique show at the prestigious Tate Modern Turbine Hall, with an overview of their history, from 1980 to the future, with music from their latest release, the “Iron Sky” soundtrack. This historical event has been recorded and is now available to order as a double CD Limited Edition or download released by Mute and Abbey Road Live Here Now.
Laibach is history. The Slovenian avant-garde music group was formed on June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia, at the time SFR Yugoslavia. They represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) art collective, of which they was founding members in 1984. The name “Laibach” is the German name for Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana.
The band’s first work was a multimedia project called “Rdeči revirji” (“Red District”), but the performance was banned even before its opening due to its “improper and irresponsible” usage of Malevich’s black crosses as symbols on the posters. The first live appearance and an exhibition entitled “Žrtve letalske nesreće” (“Victims of an Air Accindent”) the group had in January 1982 at the Ljubljana club FV, followed by some now legendary performances in Belgrade and Zagreb. At that point, the group’s musical style was characterized by the critics as “Industrial Rock”, and Read more Laibach – Monumental Retro-Avant-Garde, Live at Tate Modern (2012)
