In January 1988 Canadian electro-industrial band Front Line Assembly released its second studio album State of Mind. However, since most of the material featured on State Of Mind was recorded in 1987, before the release of their first release The Initial Command, State of Mind can be seen as the actual debut album of Front Line Assembly. Although the original release's labels bear the publishing year 1987, the album didn't see the daylight until early1988.
This album was recorded and composed entirely by Bill Leeb in August 1987, mixed by Michael Balch and edited by Dave Olgivie. State Of Mind sounds quite rough and differs from the later Font Line Assembly releases and features some elements Bill Leeb later would elaborate further in the FLA side project Delerium. Wide open soundscapes, creaking and crashing noise samples, and echoing sound design, a spartan, bleak electronic landscape which is atmospheric yet taut.
One remarkable fact is that the verse melody of the track 'Resistance' would later be re-incorporated on the 'Tactical Neural Implant' album and become the chorus melody of Front Line Assembly's underground club hit 'Mindphaser' (1992).
It was originally released by Dossier on vinyl and CD and later re-released on Cleopatra Records on CD (1996) with alternate artwork and a bonus track, ‘Inside Out’ and finally again on vinyl, also by Cleopatra, in 2016 but with only 8 tracks.
State Of mind (1988 Release tracklist)
01. First Reprisal 5:21
02. Consequence 5:36
03. Burnt Soul 2:42
04. Testimony 5:26
05. Landslide 4:45
06. Terminal Power 5:49
07. Malignant Fracture 4:16
08. Eastern Voices 5:27
09. Resistance 4:31
10. Sustain Upright 4:07
11. No Tomorrow 5:06
12. And They Shall Bow 4:45
DISCOGS
Dark Electronic Band DOGTABLET (Ft. CHEMLAB & TEST DEPT. Members) Unleash Their Full-Length Release, Feathers & Skin
The dark electronic band DOGTABLET featuring Jared Louche (CHEMLAB), Martin King (TEST DEPT.) and Roberto Soave are pleased to announce the release of their full-length album, Feathers & Skin.
For fans of: Coil, Portishead, Pink Floyd, Underworld, Bauhaus
DOGTABLET’s individual parts all make sense on their own, but together they should not. Combine the people involved in Industrial agit-noise disruptors TEST DEPARTMENT with the baroque-goth figures SHELLEYAN ORPHAN as well as the machine rock’n’roll pioneers CHEMLAB. Add dashes of THE CURE and some BEAT GENERATION ghost voices and you’d naturally come out with a directionless howl of meaningless cacophony.
DOGTABLET’s sound is a rich mixture of thrumming yet down-tempo grooves that nestle comfortably next to luxurious, grey-skied soundscapes. Their aching yet driving sounds are never more effective than on their third album, the newly-released FEATHERS & SKIN. By turns lushly intimate and brashly sweaty, Martin King and Roberto Soave’s programming sweeps from delicate to darkly hypnotic, groove-drenched and disturbed, confidently cycling from threatening to comforting without missing a beat. Jared Louche, front man for Machine Rock band CHEMLAB, sings, croons, whispers and shouts throughout much of Feather And Skin, stretching the boundaries of the music even further with his whiskey-soaked, Bukowski-Waits-Burroughs delivery.
From “Shadowlands”, the opening track’s piano-infused funereal ache, through the body-positivity chants of “Skin Job” urging you out onto the sweaty dance floor, straight through to the profoundly unnerving closing song “Black Hound”, DOGTABLET’s sound blurs futurist with retro, electronic dance with experimental ambient, creating a mixture so unsettlingly broad that it defies easy characterization. With the mellifluous voices of Jenny Bellestar and Sapphira Vee folded into the expansive mix, DOGTABLET’s Feathers & Skin is the sound track of heartbreak and laughing catharsis dancing hand-in-hand at the end of the world.
Today 28 years ago the British EBM and Industrialists Nitzer Ebb released the single Godhead. This single was taken from their fourth and previously released album EbbHead (Mute Records, September 1991) which was co-produced by Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode) and Flood.
Enjoy the Godhead video below!
Godhead
Hey now, what's this
The place I'm living's a fucking disgrace
Don't talk 'bout that
Get on your knees and pray that you're safe
But what to believe in
It's all so deceivin'
How about something else
The times ain't changing
It's what I been cravin'
How about something else
Where's this I'm at
There's more excitement
At a laundromat
Who's he, mmm looks good
He ain't a god
Well he fucking well should (be)
Now wait a minute, look at that
He's a god without a doubt
Can't you see it in his eyes
Got all of you to despise
And so they came
And they called him Godhead
Cried out his name
And the life that he led
DISCOGS
On this day, 42 years ago, Suicide released its self titled debut studio album. It was released on 28 December 1977 by Red Star Records and was produced by Craig Leon and Marty Thau. The album was recorded in only four days at Ultima Sound Studios in New York and featured Martin Rev's minimalist electronics and harsh, repetitive rhythms paired with Alan Vega's rock and roll-inspired vocals and depictions of urban life. Suicide entered the studio with much of their songs already written and rehearsed from having spent the previous five years playing shows.
Suicide was the first group to sign to Marty Thau's Red Star record label. After hearing a demo tape from Suicide, he asked if he could see Suicide perform live which led to them being signed to Red Star.
Upon its initial release, Suicide was greeted with positive reception from the UK press, but received mixed reviews in the United States, where it failed to chart. However, the album would soon be regarded as a milestone in electronic and rock music. In 2013, Pitchfork magazine named it one of the greatest albums of the 1970s and Rolling Stone magazine placed it on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is listed as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Musically, Suicide has been described as synth-punk, electronic rock, and synth-pop, while also being labeled electronic and minimalistic.
Suicide (Original album track listing)
Side one:
- Ghost Rider 2:34
- Rocket U.S.A. 4:16
- Cheree" 3:42
- Johnny 2:11
- Girl 4:05
Side two
- Frankie Teardrop 10:26
- Che 4:53
On this day, 3 years ago, Nine Inch Nails released 'Not the Actual Events'.
On this day, 3 years ago, Nine Inch Nails released Not the Actual Events (December 23rd, 2016), an EP released on Trent Reznor's own label The Null Corporation. On this EP Trent worked together with long-time collaborator Atticus Ross, his wife Mariqueen Maandig (How to Destroy Angels), Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction / Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Dave Grohl (Nirvana / Foo Fighters).
Not the Actual Events is meant to be the first part of a EP trilogy. In July 2017 the second part Add Violence was released while the announcement for release from the third and final EP can be expected any day now.
The overall sound on this EP reminds to the 1990's sound of Nine Inch Nails’s, electronics, distorted bass, noisy guitars and of course one of Trent's most recognizable trademarks... The nostalgic piano tunes.
Reznor himself described the record as “an unfriendly, fairly impenetrable record that we needed to make.”
Tracklist
1. Branches/Bones
2. Dear World
3. She's Gone Away
4.The Idea of You
5. Burning Bright (Field on Fire)
All tracks written by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
www.nin.com
