'Animositisomina' is the eighth studio album by American industrial rock band Ministry, released on February 18, 2003, that's XXXYEARS years ago! It marks a return to the band’s classic industrial-metal sound following the more experimental and groove-oriented albums of the late 1990s. The album’s title is a palindrome of "animosity" and "anima," reflecting themes of internal struggle, aggression, and personal demons.

This was the final album to feature bassist and longtime collaborator Paul Barker, whose departure marked the end of an era for Ministry, ending the Luxa/Pan production era. The record is dark, heavy, and raw, blending distorted guitars, mechanical drum loops, and Al Jourgensen’s signature snarling vocals. Tracks like 'Animosity', 'Unsung', and 'Piss' deliver punishing riffs and politically charged lyrics, while 'Leper' and 'The Light Pours Out of Me' (a cover of Magazine’s post-punk classic) add depth to the album’s sonic assault.

Later, Jourgensen would reveal in an interview that this is one of his least-favourite Ministry albums saying “it was no fun to make” as he was forced to quit his heroin habits during the recording sessions.

Though 'Animositisomina' was not a commercial success, it is often regarded as an underrated gem in Ministry’s catalog, bridging the gap between their 1990s output and their later Bush-era politically driven albums like 'Houses of the Molé' (2004). The album remains a testament to Ministry’s uncompromising intensity and their ability to evolve within the industrial metal genre.

Animositisomina Tracklist:
Animosity
Unsung
Piss
Lockbox
Broken
The Light Pours Out Of Me
Shove
Impossible
Stolen
Leper

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On February 17, 2014, Bob Casale died at the age of 61, in Los Angeles, California, due to heart failure. As with most musicians their legacy is both the influence and the music they leave behind, in the case of Casale what he accomplished with Devo is astounding.

The debut full-length album by Devo-“Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!” broke into the UK charts reaching a high of number-twelve, that set the chain reaction of legend.
Although released to mixed reviews, since then Rolling Stone has listed in amongst the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, it is also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die-for a reason. It is the punk-electronic crossover, somewhere balancing between all-out rage and novelty recording. Produced by Brian Eno and David Bowie on the back of their experimental Berlin-trilogy, Devo became the perfect project.

“This is the band of the future”-David Bowie on Devo.

The strangest album-title comes from the lead single, released this month in 1978-“Jocko Homo" introduced the call-and-response "Are we not men?-We are Devo!". Indeed that single charted in the UK’s top-100.
“Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!” broke down barriers as it reflected perfectly the state of rock-music. The death of glam, the cliches which were already falling into the punk movement and the heavyweight stadium acts who played for the money and not the audience is meshed into every inch of the album. It flung back the pretentious notions of the old-guard with a cover of The Rolling Stones “Satisfaction”, became spokespeople for the hippy-drug generation with “Too Much Paranoias”. In time Devo could be perceived as journalists, highlighting their perception of what the music business had become.

Bob Casale was intricate in the Devo sound, providing back vocals, keyboards and that sixties-based rhythm guitar sound. Though his later years was spent in the field of soundtracks to movies such as - Four Rooms, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, the past would always reach for him in the form of reunion shows from 1996 until 2007.
Along with bands like Kraftwerk, Talking Heads, and Pere Ubu, Devo hailed a new era of electronic based compositions that set the trajectory for much of modern music. Looking deep with the modern framework of music points directly in the sound of LCD Soundsystem, Radiohead, even in Arcade Fire, you frequently find strong traces of Devo.

[KB]

On this day Bebruary 16th in 1981, today 45 years ago, The Sisters of Mercy played their very first live show, supporting The Thompson Twins, marking the beginning of what would become one of the most influential careers in gothic rock. The debut performance took place on February 16, 1981, at the now-legendary Alcuin College, part of the University of York in England.

Formed in Leeds in 1980 by vocalist Andrew Eldritch and guitarist Gary Marx, The Sisters of Mercy were initially conceived as a project to hear their own songs on the radio. What began almost as a lark quickly evolved into something far more significant. By the time they stepped onto the stage at Alcuin College, the band had already begun shaping the stark drum-machine-driven sound and dark lyrical aesthetic that would define their legacy.

The early lineup featured Eldritch on vocals and Marx on guitar, accompanied by a Boss DR-55 drum machine that would later become famously known as “Doktor Avalanche.” The stripped-down setup gave the performance a raw, mechanical intensity that stood in sharp contrast to the post-punk scene of the time.

Though the audience that night could hardly have predicted it, this modest university gig laid the groundwork for a band that would go on to influence generations of alternative and gothic musicians. Throughout the 1980s, The Sisters of Mercy built a devoted following with releases such as First and Last and Always and their later anthems “Temple of Love” and “This Corrosion.”

Forty-five years on, that February evening in York remains a pivotal moment in gothic rock history — the night The Sisters of Mercy first brought their dark vision to the stage.

"The Telephone Call / Der Telefon-Anruf" by the German band Kraftwerk was released in February 1987 as the second single from their ninth studio album, Electric Café (1986). The single became Kraftwerk’s second number-one on Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and stayed two weeks at the number-one spot. Although the unsettling black-and-white video suggests Wolfgan Flür is singing the lyrics It’s actually Karl Bartos Vaclas that can be heard!

The remixes on the singles were done by François Kevorkian.

The Telephone Call / Der Telefon-Anruf" (7")

A. The Telephone Call (Remix) 3:49
B. Der Telefon-Anruf 3:49

The Telephone Call / Der Telefon-Anruf" (12")

A1. The Telephone Call (Remix) 3:49
A2. Der Telefon-Anruf 3:49

B1. House Phone 4:54
B2. Der Telefon-Anruf" (Remix)

The Telephone Call - Lyrics

[EN]
I give you my affection and I give you my time
Trying to get a connection on the telephone line
You're so close but far away
I call you up all night and day

I give you my affection and I give you my time
Trying to get a connection on the telephone line
You're so close but far away
I call you up all night and day
You're so close but far away
I call you up all night and day

I give you my affection and I give you my time
Trying to get a connection on the telephone line
I call you up from time to time
To hear your voice on the telephone line
I call you up from time to time
To hear your voice on the telephone line

[DE]

Ich geb' dir meine Zuneigung und meine Zeit
Ich muß dich wiedersehen, wann ist es soweit?
Du bist mir nah und doch so fern
Ich ruf' dich an, ich hör' dich gern

Songwriters: Florian Schneider Esleben / Karl Bartos / Ralf Huetter
© Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

Today, exactly 47 years ago (14 February 1979) John Peel broadcast the first Peel Sessions, a studio live session performed and recorded by Joy Division at the BBC Maida Vale studios in London on January 31st, 1979.

Below the setlist of this recording & broadcast session.

Exercise One
Insight
She's Lost Control
Transmission

At the time of broadcasting, all performed songs were previously unreleased.

Later that same year, on 10th December, John Peel broadcast a second recording session by Joy Division

7 years later, in 1986, the first 'The Peel Sessions' EP, was released by Strange Fruit Records. The version of Transmission featured on this EP is one of the few recordings available where both Ian Curtis and Bernard Sumner played guitars at the same time.

The EP spent thirteen weeks on the UK Indie Chart, peaking at number 4.

The release of a second volume of the Joy Division Peel Sessions would follow in 1987.

Below you can listen to the original repeat tranmission broadcasted by John Peel on 5th April.

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