25 Oct 2009

Industrial music or the real Hardcore

This post is just a collection of images, words and sounds that tries to work as an interesting relation between Industrial music and Hardcore.

Flyer for a Throbbing Gristle & Flipper show (Raymond Pettibon, 1981) 

“Genesis was really scary. There was something so intense about him on the stage; he looked so lizard-like-reptilian-with dark circles around his eyes. He would stalk around the stage with these paramilitary clothes on. There was this sonic maelstrom. In the audience were the most degenerated people I have ever seen. It was literally as if the people there had been let out of an insane asylum from the lowest level of Dante's Inferno. There was this creepy sexual vibe, Felliniesque in its utter decadence.” Richard Metzger


Throobing Gristle – Live @ Kezar Pavillion (San Francisco, 1981)

“I started going to Hardcore shows. I appreciated the aggression, the violence, and the fierce independent attitude, which was antithetical to most other music of the time. I saw most of the early American Hardcore bands play, but like everything, it seemed to get co-opted. I was looking for something more extreme that didn't concede to popular opinion. That's how I started listening to Industrial Music.” Michael Moynihan

Michael Moynihan (Coup de Grace) – Live @ Oberhausen (1986)

“I suppose you were seeing something that hadn't been seen before. There was no pretentious Rock Star stuff. There's no bar, no pick-up scene. It was very intense and visceral, in close quarters.” Michael Moynihan


“The idea I had in my mind was of an electronic maelstrom. And in live situations people would have no choice but to be completely submissive to this kind of sound.” William Bennett

Hardcore kids during a Whitehouse performance (DC, 1983)

“Utilizing ear-shredding frequencies and demented vocal hysterics, Whitehouse terrified the frail and pleased only those with the most discriminating of tastes.” Michael Moynihan
 
Whitehouse – Live (1984)

“I did Noise Music because I genuinely liked noise. I thought it would extend the boundaries of music. I didn't do it to be confrontational. I assumed others would feel the same way, and find it exciting. But a lot of people didn't. At my concerts, people smashed beer glasses in my face.” Boyd Rice
  Flyer for NON show @ Mabuhays Gardens (1982) 

“They really disliked me. At the show I had these bright lights shining in their eyes so they could barely see me – they were trying to reach up and smash the lights, but the lights were just out of their reach. One guy in front who was a real hardcore punk was rolling around with his hands over his ears and actually crying – he had tears in his eyes. Somebody threw a beer glass that hit me on the forehead. And it broke, and I could feel this throbbing pain – it had a little bit of beer in it, and the beer ran down my face and I thought it was blood. I continued to be real friendly to the audience, which made them even madder, because they were so mad and I didn't care! They were shaking their fists at me, and I thought that at any minute there'd be a riot. So I took it as far as I thought I could, and then thanked them and left.” Boyd Rice 
  Hanatarash – Live (1985) 

“Hanatarash are infamous for their extremely dangerous live shows consisting entirely of on-stage destruction and utter disregard for anyone's safety. The most notorious incident involved Yamatsuka throwing junk around with a backhoe inside a venue. On another occasion, he inflicted a deep wound on his leg with an electrical saw, but carried on with the show. A dead cat is also known to have been cut in half during a show. The band once caused so much damage to a live house in Kyoto that it was forced to close.”

 Hanatarash – Art from We are Hardcore 5CDR set of early CS releases 

“At a 1985 gig in Tokyo's Superloft, Hanatarash had the audience fill out forms relieving the band of responsibility for any possible bodily harm caused by the performance. The show stopped just as Yamatsuka was about to throw a lit molotov cocktail onto the stage, which was gasoline-drenched from a barrel. The performance cost the venue ¥600,000 ($6000) in repair costs.”


Hanatarash – Live (1988)

21 Oct 2009

Sentimentale Jugend


Sentimentale Jugend – Live (1981)

Less is more: Thoughts on minimal Pt. II

“One cultural influence [on punk] that's been forgotten is Seventies minimalism. There was a concerted effort by bands like Suicide, Ramones and Talking Heads to follow the aesthetic that 'less is more' and to strip music down to its core… After all, most of the bands at CBGBs' had gone to art school or were aware of the art scene of the time.” John Holmstrom

“In minimalism, the object and the idea are one and the same. Minimalist artists, according to Kenneth Baker, strive to 'make us «see the whole idea without any confusion,» by seeing the object as the idea, that is, making meaning identical with the object's physical presence'. Of course, discovering punk for the first time, as a child, you never thought about wether it was minimalist or not. All you knew was that you loved it, and you wanted more. Why did you love it? Why did you want more? Because it said so much with so litte.” Nicholas Rombes

“Much has been said and written over the years about the amateurism of punk, but it wasn't a case of musicians deliberately trying to sing or play their instruments poorly, but rather, because so many of them were amateurs, they did not have to unlearn anything. In this respect, minimalism in punk was a condition of necessity, not choice.” Nicholas Rombes

As an example, here you have these two minimal-as-fuck songs. Drums and vocals only. Because you need nothing else, don't you?


Total Chaos – Revolution Part 10
You can get the original mp3 track here.


Noh Mercy – Caucasian Guilt
You can get the original mp3 track here.

3 Oct 2009

The Shrubs

The Shrubs @ the Bull & Gate, London (1987)

Damage

This band was another great surprise from the Cake & Polka Parade, a really inspiring blog. The text below is the original written by Grego​ry Jacob​sen on his Damage post, plus a brief extract from an email I got from Damage's drummer after asking for more info about his band.

“Damage was a band out of Winterpark, Florida circa '84. They played hardcore music with synthesizers. Whereas Screamers and Nervous Gender were very inventive and threatening with their use of synths, Damage was extremely clunky and ineffectual… Which is why I love this record. Their screaming of generic punk lyrics over dry sine-waves farted out at the most most remedial level sounds like pure futile and infantile rage from a 13 year old.” Grego​ry Jacob​sen 

“In the 1980s, Damage performed in Florida and was definitely different when it came to Punk music during that time. We opened for Black Flag, JFA, and The Dead Kennedys + others. It was raw and even Jello, from DK spoke highly of Damage in his California punk scene newspaper in California. (...) All hard copy music was produced in extremely limited quantities. I have become a better drummer since then – That was the first band I was in…” Joe (Damage's drummer)

Damage Jay Walk 7" (Space Fish, 1984)

Damage – Jock Mentality

By the way, it would be really nice to listen to more Damage stuff (that Tennis Shoe Massacre Demo anyone?). If so, please get in touch.

Pink Dirt

“As far as inept, crazed joi de vivre goes? Here's the acme. I've written this one up before and will do it again. While this is obviously a straight-ahead angry punk rock band, the abandon and enthusiasm of this record could raise the dead. An angry rant against organized religion ('I have this to say tonight? Never, never get involved with christianity!') howled in a barely English Johnny Rotten-imitation by some Norwegian genius backed by shitrock more primitive than the first Endless Boogie rehearsal. There is no sleeve, no labels, just the legend 'Pink Dirt Hey Sir/Hooker' scrawled in magic marker. Who were these gods and why did they walk among us? Please email me if you know anything about the people behind this stunning art experience.” Johan Kugelberg


Pink Dirt – Hey Sir