This month it’s been 25 years since American industrial metal band Ministry released their cover version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay’ (February 1996).

The song was performed earlier during a charity concert in October 1994, with Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam performing the backing vocals. Later the studio version of the song was recorded and released as a 4 track CD single from Ministry’s sixth studio album, Filth Pig. The song also appears on the 2008 Ministry cover album, Cover Up.

In the Rolling Stone magazine’s review of Filth Pig, critic Jon Wiederhorn wrote that the cover "amalgamates a deep distorted bass line, clicking electronic percussion, jangling acoustic guitars, ominous curls of feedback and Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen's trademark howls”.

Lay Lady Lay (CD) Tracklist

Lyrics

Lay lady lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Lay lady lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay lady stay
Stay while the night is still ahead
Stay lady stay
Heaven's fills our head
Whatever colors that you have in your mind
I show them on to you and you see them shine

Stay lady stay
Stay with your man a while
Till the break of day
Then you're gonna see him smile
His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean
And you're the best thing, he's ever seen
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he's standing over you?

Lay lady lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay lady stay
We're gonna build the whole night ahead
I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you all night

Lay lady lay
Lay lady lay
Lay lady lay
Lay lady lay
Lay lady lay

Songwriter: Bob Dylan

© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

DISCOGS

"Fear" EP, coming out on March 19th 2021, includes 3 brand new songs + 3 remixes by the big sensation Molchat Doma, the 80s heroes Clan Of Xymox, and one by the best new darkwave act, Forever Grey from LA.

The global pandemic has upset all the plans Ash Code had for 2020, numerous European gigs have been canceled including new USA and Latam tour. A new almost finished LP was trashed because it didn't fit with the reality of the moment.

The band experienced the negative mood of the lockdown months, stayed home mostly, and creating a series of online charity initiatives: the first made at home and then a series of online festivals gathering all the bands from the international darkwave / goth scene called Gothicat Festivals.

After spending the summer in Naples (South of Italy), the band established a new connection with the place they live in and found inspiration again to write new songs.

- Quote about 'FEAR' Video from the director Elio De Filippo:

"The video was inspired by the first experimental techniques of horizontal editing, a tribute to the great artists experimentation on film such as Armand Sabattier and Man Ray, pioneers of the solarization of the image, and Zbigniew Rybczyński.

A layering of images create unique and almost unpredictable effects in their interaction, an overlap of thoughts, memories, desires and synaesthesia that our mind has been forced to accumulate in a period we never dreamed of living: the lockdown.

The chromatic contrast created by the director of photography Jessica Squillante, inspired by the colors of Andy Warhol's screenprints, tends to emphasize with bright and unnatural colors a theme that is actually sad and oppressive, as in a natural mental defense mechanism."

Electronic music duo has put on the announcement sharing the details of their upcoming record. The full-length album titled 373AHELL would arrive on March 5th in the U.K. and on March 19th in the U.S.

373AHELL is going to become the first release for O C O S I after a significant pause. Following the release of three full-length albums and two collaborative releases with Horchata, O C O S I broke up, in the early 2000’s. Two constants of the project – Paul M. and Simon S parted their ways. Commenting on the difference between decades, Simon S. stresses: “Back then, everything was done in one room in London on an Ensoniq ASRX sampler and now it’s done long-distance in between Ibiza ( where Paul resides ) and Newcastle Upon Tyne – where I do.”

Paul M. adds: “ Simon and myself began bouncing sounds back and forth. Both knowing the O C O S I blueprint, the album came together quite naturally, and fast. The result was familiar, but also a move towards new sonic territories”

Despite the significant changes that happened in the field of electronic music and in particular with the members of
O C O S I, the representatives of Ohm Resistance notice that within “373AHELL”, the duo remained true to themselves combining slow beats, bass, avid usage of space. “Making a significant step forward they remained true to themselves”.

373AHELL track listing:

1. This Year's Hex
2. Sand
3. Deathwave
4. Inescapable
5. HAL 2
6. Deliquents
7. Basement
8. The Last Day
9. 373AHELL

Find O C O S I Online
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/O-C-O-S-I-115129133726516

Ohm Resistance

Website: https://ohmresistance.bandcamp.com/music
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/O-C-O-S-I-115129133726516

The Stooges classic 'Raw Power' was released on the seventh of February 1973. The game-changer. In 1997 Iggy Pop remixed the album, making it sound like a war of noise and aggression.

Some said there was no need to overhaul the original Bowie mix of this incendiary album, after all, it was that which caused such a huge influence on Punk in the 70s. Probably Pop did do a remix at the request of CBS, more than likely to stop anyone else from doing it.

'Raw Power' is a beautiful album of destruction.

Recorded in the autumn of '72 in London, with a new guitarist in James Williamson. He brought the extra cutting guitar licks into all this. When a suitable rhythm section could not be found, the Asheton brothers were brought back into the frame. Ron, being the original guitarist and core songwriter for the first two Stooges albums, this time switched to bass and the line-up was complete.

Pop produced and mixed the original sessions, but Bowie took the masters to remix them again. Several of the tracks were remixed in one day, another reason why Iggy may have felt in 1997 that he wanted to leave his stamp on it. Willamson and the late Ron Asheton had both publicly stated they preferred Bowie's mix of the album.

All this talk of remixes, does it really make a difference? In this case yes! On Iggy Pop's version, there is a lot more distortion in the mix, especially on the guitar lines, probably down to Pop keeping all the levels in the red and turning them up full for the remix. The noticeable difference is that the Asheton brothers are much more prevalent in the mix, unlike before. Ron proved he was handy enough with the bass, this seems closer to Pop's original vision for the album. Feedback and distortion over the loud mixes are the hallmark of Iggy Pop and The Stooges.

Ironically it was Bowie who pushed to get Pop back on the scene in the early 70s, due to Iggys spiralling heroin problem. What happened with the two gentlemen and their relocation to Berlin in the years that followed makes that effort by Bowie seem a slight contradiction.

Distortion and feedback and talk of remixes to one side, it is Iggy Pop at his finest. His vocal delivery is faultless, snarling, convincing and perhaps his best, from the 'Search And Destroy' opening line:

"I'm a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm

I'm a runaway son of the nuclear A-bomb"

to the closer -‘Death Trip', all is remarkably well delivered, like the collision of two nuclear warheads.

The argument will always be there surrounding this album. Which is the better version, the true version? That is whichever you personally like the most. The argument is there for both sides, but don't turn the attention away from the fine album it is and what it did for punk- rock, not only in the 70s but in general.

Raw Power (1973 LP Tracklist)

DISCOGS

[KB+FG]

On February 6th, 1982 the Kraftwerk single ‘The Model’, originally released in Germany already in 1978 as 7” single ‘Das Model’, reached the Top 1 of the UK Singles Chart.

Even-though the band initially added the English sung version as only a b-side on their new single ‘Computer Love’ in 1981, DJ’s and the radio audience seemed to prefer this b-side instead of the a-side. After Capitol Records/EMI noticed the commercial potential they re-released the single almost immediately, this time ‘The Model’ as A-side. Apparently this was decided by Capitol Records/EMI much against the band’s own will. Nevertheless this smart strategy by EMI resulted in ‘The Model’ becoming the number one in the UK single charts on February 6th, 1982. The single managed to hang in the UK top 75 for a total of 21 weeks.

Unable to deny the succes another 7” was released by the band, and its label Kling Klang / EMI Electrola, bearing both versions ‘The Model’ and ‘Das Model’.

Still, in Germany, Das Model, never climbed higher than 7th position in the German Single charts. After one week it descended again, still remaining about 20 weeks in the charts.

Das Model/The Model was written by Karl Bartos and Ralf Hütter and with artist Emil Schult collaborating on the lyrics and was the preliminary single for their upcoming and legendary album Die Mensch-Maschine or The Man-Machine.

The Model

She's a model and she's looking good
I'd like to take her home that's understood
She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time
It only takes a camera to change her mind
She's going out tonight but drinking just champagne
And she has been checking nearly all the men
She's playing her game and you can hear them say
She is looking good, for beauty we will pay
She's posing for consumer products now and then
For every camera she gives the best she can
I saw her on the cover of a magazine
Now, she's a big success, I want to meet her again

Das Model
Sie ist ein Model und sie sieht gut aus
Ich nähm sie heut gerne mit zu mir nach Haus
Sie wirkt so kühl, an sie kommt niemand ran
Doch vor der Kamera da zeigt sie was sie kann

Sie trinkt in Nachtclubs immer Sekt (Korrekt!)
Und hat hier alle Männer abgecheckt`
Im Scheinwerferlicht ihr junges Lächeln strahlt
Sie sieht gut aus und Schönheit wird bezahlt

Sie stellt sich zur Schau für das Konsumprodukt
Und wird von Millionen Augen angeguckt
Ihr neues Titelbild ist einfach fabelhaft
Ich muß sie wieder seh'n, ich weiß sie hat's geschafft

Songwriters: Emil Schult / Ralf Huetter / Karl Bartos

DISCOGS