46 years ago, on June 16, 1978, Suicide performed their legendary 23 minutes lasting show at the renowned Brussels music club Ancienne Belgique, as support for Elvis Costello. The live audience recording, originally taped by a friend of the band, Howard Thompson, is not so much a registration of the quality of their actual live performance but it gives an indication of the general public's reaction to this confrontational electronic duo during their early days.
Before Suicide even starts playing booing can be heard from the crowd, indicating that they only wanted to hear the main act, Elvis Costello. Between every song the booing seems to become more intense. After roughly 10 minutes the crowd can be heard chanting "ELVIS! ELVIS!”. Then, after the band has been almost 20 minutes on stage, a loud applause can be heard; someone stole Alan Vega's microphone …
After receiving the microphone back he continues to sing "Frankie Teardrop" a cappella. After even more booing Vega shouts "SHUT THE FUCK UP! THIS IS ABOUT FRANKIE!". A few moments later the band leaves the stage.
That night Elvis Costello played a very short and angry set in which he made no secret of his outrage over Suicide's treatment by the crowd. This incited a riot. The show was cancelled and Vega's nose was broken.
The recording was first released only as a promo in 1978 until it was remastered and released as a bonus track on the band’s 1998 reissue of their self-titled debut album.
21½ Minutes In Berlin / 23 Minutes In Brussels (1978 LP tracklist)
| A 21½ Minutes In Berlin | ||
| A1 | Ghost Rider | |
| A2 | Rocket USA | |
| A3 | Cheree | |
| A4 | Harlem | |
| A5 | 96 Tears | |
| B | 23 Minutes In Brussels | |
| B1 | Ghost Rider | |
| B2 | Rocket USA | |
| B3 | Cheree | |
| B4 | Dance | |
| B5 | Frankie Teardrop | |
Today it’s exactly 45 years ago since Joy Division released their debut studio album Unknown Pleasures (15 June 1979).
Today it’s exactly 45 years ago since Joy Division released their debut studio album Unknown Pleasures (15 June 1979) on the renowned label Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed in only three successive weekends in April of the same year and was produced by Martin Hannet who incorporated a number of unconventional recording and production techniques into the group's sound.
The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville while the centre sleeve depicts "100 consecutive pulses from the pulsar CP 1919" as found by Bernard Sumner in The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy (See more about the artwork in the video below)
It is the only Joy Division album that was released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime.
Initially, sales of Unknown Pleasures were slow until the release of the non-album single, 'Transmission'. The album sold over 5000 copies within the first week of it's release, 20.000 copies were sold within the first year. However the album did not chart until it was reissued after the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. Then the album peaked at #71 in the UK Album Charts in August 1980 while it reached No.2 in the UK indie charts and spent 136 weeks in the chart in total. Factory Records did not release any singles from Unknown Pleasures,
It has since received sustained critical acclaim as an influential post-punk album and has been named as one of the best albums of all-time by publications such as NME, AllMusic, Select and Spin.
Instead of side A and B the sides were named Outside and Inside.
Unknown Pleasures - tracklist
A Outside
1. Disorder
2. Day Of The Lords
3. Candidate
4. Insight
5. New Dawn Fades
B Inside
1. She’s Lost Control
2. Shadowplay
3. Wilderness
4. Interzone
5. I Remember Nothing
Darkwave band, DICHRO has just unveiled their latest single & video, "Mercy" from the forthcoming full-length album due out in August via Distortion Productions. The song carries a message that we should have mercy not just in our every day encounters, but free one another from judgement for choosing how to believe, if we believe, and what we believe. If we can start seeing one another with empathic eyes and hearts, perhaps we can rid our global atmosphere of so much fear and uncertainty. "Mercy" is an outreach piece.
Says vocalist, Charmaine Freemonk: “We are reaching out to ask that everyone calm down a bit, take a breath, and be more conscientious of our actions. It is a heartfelt plea that we consider whether we are helping or harming one another, practice empathy, and if we cannot help, to at least not harm."
The video for the single was created to accompany the song’s story. It focuses on the breaking free of indoctrination, a Kansas-to-Oz kind of transition into the light of spiritual freedom and exploration.
REVISER Addresses Internal & External Struggles Of Power With Two New Singles
Darkwave band, REVISER recently dropped two new tracks via all major digital outlets - "Assassins" & "Burn It Out".
"Assassins" and "Burn It Out" are twin singles that address two sides of the same coin: "Assassins" addresses fighting the imposition of external power that wants to control us as individuals, and "Burn It Out" addresses finding power within ourselves, and to wield it wisely. Like all of REVISER lyrics, however, their interpretations are up to the listener.
"Assassins" is an unrelenting stomper, with catchy and haunting guitar and keyboard hooks, and "Burn It Out" is a bass-driven powerhouse that’s fit for the dance-floor and midnight-drives, alike.
"Assassins" & "Burn It Out" are both available on all major digital outlets including Bandcamp and Spotify. produced by Paul Malinowski of SHINER.
On this day, 33 years ago, Kraftwerk released their remix album The Mix. It was released on 11 June 1991 and featured re-recorded and, in some cases, re-arranged versions of a selection of songs which were released on their previous albums.
Ralf Hütter stated in interviews that he regarded The Mix as a type of live album, as it captured the results of the band's continual digital improvisations in their Kling Klang studio. The band had made a return to the stage in 1990, after a nine-year hiatus from touring, and since then the band's live setlist has used arrangements drawn from The Mix rather than the original recordings. As the band didn't want to release a traditional "Greatest Hits" or "Best of" collection they opted for 'The Mix'.
At the time, the band were in the process of reconfiguring their Kling Klang studio from analog to digital recording technology; integrating MIDI into their setup and creating sound archives from their original master tapes that were stored onto computers. This proved to be an ongoing task, as new upgrades and equipment were continually made available in the years following the album project. Despite no new, original recorded material or live tours outside of Europe, Ralf Hütter did not want Kraftwerk to appear defunct to the public.
The album's production is credited to Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, and Fritz Hilpert, the latter of whom had replaced percussionist and stage set designer Wolfgang Flür after Flür left the group in 1987. Karl Bartos also left the band in 1991 and was replaced by Fernando Abrantes. Bartos claimed in later interviews that much of his programming work was still featured on The Mix, uncredited.
The album received rather mixed reception on its release. Although many music magazines and citric rated the album from good to very good, many fans were disappointed at the lack of new compositions and, moreover, the production values of the re-recorded tracks did not strike many listeners as particularly cutting edge, something which Kraftwerk had previously been renowned for. The Mix was created entirely digitally, albeit during a period when the technology had yet to reach its maturity, and thus featured a sound which many listeners tend to find somewhat "sterile" compared to the analogue electronics employed on most of Kraftwerk's previous recordings of these songs. Nevertheless, The Mix placed first in The Wire's year-end poll, the first time the magazine—previously known for its focus on jazz—opened up an all-genre category.
The album has been released in both an English and German sung version and on various different formats like double 12" vinyl, Cassette and CD and was officially re-released in 2009.
The Mix - Tracklist
1. The Robots / Die Roboter 8:56
2. Computer Love / Computerliebe 6:35
3. Pocket Calculator / Taschenrechner 4:32
4. Dentaku / Calculator 3:27
5. Autobahn 9:27
6. Radioactivity / Radioaktivität 6:53
7. Trans-Europe Express 3:20
8. Abzug 2:18
9. Metal on Metal / Metall auf Metall 4:58
10.Home Computer / Heimcomputer") 8:02
11.Music Non Stop / Musik Non-Stop 6:38
