The elder-statement of Goth, Bauhaus released 'In The Flat Field' 40 years ago on 3 November 1980. The echo of this masterpiece still vibrates through modern music. The album was recorded between December 1979 and July 1980 and record label 4AD's first full length release.

This was the punk death-bell soaked in screeches of feedback and vocals scattered in doom and angst, the zero-hour for goth as a genre. The collision of art-experimental and the glam of the 1970s sunk with the darkness of the mind created the big bang, Bauhaus wove it all together to create theatrics in the sound, atmospheric and tense. They were the real McCoy in a world of pretenders.

'In The Flat Field' arrived almost fully formed, for a debut it was a well-realized piece of work. 'Double Dare' acts as the perfect entrance to their world or into ours. Feedback screeches and descending, menacing guitar-riffs herald their arrival, Pete Murphys vocals are astonishing coming directly from the abyss itself.

The title-track takes things to another level, more Bowiesque and rock-orientated, still it is drenched in a weird-collage of feedback squeals, whereas 'A God In An Alcove' is a surrealist terrifying journey, slower paced for that maximum impact.

The interspersed electronic sounds of 'The Spy In The Cab' create a minimalist background for Murphy to paint his pictures of despair, the noise-generated guitar of Daniel Ash is eerie at best, using the instrument as a machine and not in the conventional sense.

David J gives a hypnotic bass-riff, funky at times to the proceedings, a perfect base for Ash to perform his guitar-acrobatics of doom, thirty-eight years later 'In The Flat Field' still stands as a masterwork of terrifying art.

"A gut pull drag on me
Into the chasm gaping we
Mirrors multy reflecting this
Between spunk stained sheet
And odorous whim".

Tracklist:

1. "Double Dare"
2. "In the Flat Field"
3. "A God in an Alcove"
4. "Dive"
5. "The Spy in the Cab"

1. "Small Talk Stinks"
2. "St. Vitus Dance"
3. "Stigmata Martyr"
4. "Nerves"

[KB]

This month it’s 34 years since the English Electro / EBM heads from Nitzer Ebb unveiled maybe one of their most famous and biggest dance-floor classics, Murderous (Mute Records, November 1986) ! A bomb of a song that turned out to be the advance single from what would become maybe THE NEB album of all time, That Total Age! An album we still had to wait for until May 1987 and which still can be found on various top-lists of the best industrial albums ever.

The B-side of this 7 "single had the up-tempo track Fitness To Purpose while the 12 " version had also the 'Repetition' version' of Muderous pressed on it.

Where is the youth?

Enjoy!

Murderous (Lyrics)
Where is the youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
It's time to know
It's time to live
It's time to know
It's time to live
Shout golden shouts
Shout golden shouts
Lift up your hearts
Shout golden shouts!


********************************************************NEDERLANDS*********************************************************

Deze maand is het ook alweer 31 jaar geleden dat het Engelse Electro/EBM heads van Nitzer Ebb met één van hun bekendste en grootste dansvloer-klassiekers uitpakten, Murderous (NEB 4). Het nummer werd eerst gereleased als 7" single op hun eigen Power Of Voice Communications maar al snel opgepikt en gereleased door Mute Records op zowel 7" als 12" Maxi-single in November 1986. Een bom van een nummer zo bleek, en als het ware de voorbode van misschien wel HET Nitzer Ebb album aller tijden, That Total Age! Een album dat pas in mei 1987 op ons losgelaten zou worden en inmiddels nog aktijd terug te vinden is op verschillende top-lijstjes van de beste industrial albums aller tijden. Op de b-side van de 7" single prijkte het uptempo Fitness To Purpose en op de achterzijde van de 12" kon men daarnaast ook de 'Repetition' versie van Muderous vinden.

Waar is de jeugd?

Enjoy!

“Autobahn” was released to an unsuspecting public in November 1974, it is day zero of electro, minimalist, ambient and synth-pop, the very moment which inspired the synthesizer-experimentations of the late-1970s and the new-wave sound which dominated the 1980s.

Not the first ambient-electronic style release, not even by Kraftwerk but it was the first successful one. The album even contained a surprise hit, an edited down version of the title track broke the top-twenty in the U.S and U.K in May 1975, this release marked the arrival of the most influential musical-force since The Beatles.

An album based on the concrete infrastructure of Germany, the Autobahn, Kraftwerk take us on a journey, from entering the automobile to speeding through the landscape to tuning the radio and all the time the monotonous electronic-beats mirror the repetition of the journey.
With treatments of vocoder-sounds and organic voices the only natural comparison to vocals appears here as the remainder of tracks are entirely instrumental, however, do not be mistaken for thinking this is a completely electronic affair as instruments such as flutes, violins and guitar appear throughout mainly contributed by Klaus Röder, where as Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider structured the electronic development of the album.

This album is anything but aged, there is no deterioration in quality or style unlike some of the bands which gained inspiration from “Autobahn” and Kraftwerk as a unit.

From Bowie to Blondie, through to New Order and Siouxsie And The Banshees they all took direction from this point and into the future released by Kraftwerk.


Ralf Hütter – vocals, electronics
Florian Schneider – vocals, electronics
Klaus Röder – violin, guitar
Wolfgang Flür – percussion


Original 1974 Track Listing;

1.Autobahn
2.Kometenmelodie 1 ('Comet Melody 1')
3.Kometenmelodie 2('Comet Melody 2') 4.Mitternacht ('Midnight')

5.Morgenspaziergang ('Morning Walk')

This month it's 33 years since Canadian industrial band Front Line Assembly released their first official album The Initial Command (December 1987) on the since discontinued Belgian cult label KK Records. In fact it was also the first KK record release bearing the catalogue number KK001.
Before this album the band released only two demo tapes called Nerve War and Total Terror. The music on this release was mainly composed by Bill Leeb, but also with help from his future partners in crime Rhys Fulber and Michael Balch on some tracks.

On The Initial Command we can hear a very dark and deep EBM sounding Front Line Assembly which may remind you of the sound of Cabaret Voltaire during their Crackdown era but even more deep and dark. The tracks Black March and No Control are certainly a sort of forecast of the harder tracks they were about to release in the following decades.

Since the 1987 release of The Initial Command, the album has been re-issued twice. The first re-release, in 1992 by Third Mind Records, contained no changes. The second re-release, in 1997 by Cleopatra Records, contained two new tracks and new cover art.

The Initial Command (1987)

The Initial Command (1997)

DISCOGS

Today it’s Halloween so it’s the perfect day to remind you of Ministry’s release of the single '(Every Day Is) Halloween'. Originally released by Wax Trax! Records as an non-album b-side for the Ministry “comeback” single 'All Day' after they left Arista Records. The remixed version of 'All Day', titled 'All Day Remix', was featured on Ministry's 1986 album Twitch. '(Every Day is) Halloween' did not make it on this album but was included one year later (1987) on Ministry's compilation album Twelve Inch Singles (1981-1984).
In 2010 '(Every Day Is) Halloween' was re-released as an 6-track digital EP by Cleopatra Records. Besides the original version this EP features also four remixes and one cover version.

Ever since it’s first release (Every Day Is) Halloween has been adopted as one of the anthems of the (American) Industrial and Gothic community.

(Every Day Is) Halloween (Lyrics)
Well I live with snakes and lizards
And other things that go bump in the night
'Cause to me everyday is Halloween
I have given up hiding and started to fight
I have started to fight
Well any time, any place, anywhere that I go
All the people seem to stop and stare
They say "why are you dressed like it's Halloween?
You look so absurd, you look so obscene"
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that's served?
Why can't they see they're just like me
It's the same, it's the same in the whole wide world
Well I let their teeny minds think
That they're dealing with someone who is over the brink
And I dress this way just to keep them at bay
'Cause Halloween is everyday
It's everyday
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that's served?
Why can't they see they're just like me
It's the same, it's the same in the whole wide world
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that's served?
Why can't they see they're just like me
I'm not the one that's so absurd
Why hide it why fight it?
Hurt feelings best to stop feeling hurt
Denials, reprisals
It's the same it's the same in the whole wide world
It's the same it's the same in the whole wide
It's the same it's the same in the whole wide
It's the same it's the same in the whole wide world