On this day, 29 years ago, Nitzer Ebb released the 'As Is' EP (10 June 1991), prior to their fourth studio album 'Ebbhead', on 7" vinyl, 12" Vinyl, CD, and cassette through Mute Records (MUTE122).
The EP features four tracks, each mixed by a different artist / producer. The first track, 'Family Man' is the only one which was also featured on Ebbhead album, albeit in a different version. It was mixed by Jaz Coleman, vocalist and frontman of Killing Joke. The second track, 'Lovesick' was mixed by Flood who produced the band's second and third albums, Belief and Showtime as well as the previously mentioned Ebbhead. The third track, 'Come Alive' was mixed by Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode, who would eventually be hired to co-produce the Ebbhead album. The last track, 'Higher' was mixed by Barry Adamson and Paul Kendall (PK). Barry Adamson was the bassist for Howard Devoto's Magazine and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and PK is an engineer/producer who has worked mainly for Mute Records on various Depeche Mode and Flood projects.
As Is (tracklist)
1. Family Man 3:56
2. Lovesick 4:00
3. Come Alive 6:12
4. Higher 5:50
Nitzer Ebb
Bon Harris – programming
Douglas McCarthy – vocals
Julian Beeston – additional drums and percussion
Today, 44 years ago, Joy Division self-released their very first 7' EP, An Ideal For Living!
Today, 44 years ago, Joy Division self-released their very first EP, An Ideal For Living! All four tracks were recorded in just one day at the Pennine Sound studios in Oldham, UK, on 14th December 1977 and released as a 7” on the band’s own Enigma label. The band self-financed this recording on a budget of £400.
The original release was pressed as 1000 copies and sold out by September the same year.
While the band was still known as Warsaw during the recording sessions for this release, they changed their name to Joy Division before the release took place.
The sleeve was printed on a 14' x 14' piece of thin cardstock and then folded into four squares. The front cover has a black-and-white Hitler Youth member beating a drum, which was drawn by guitarist Bernard Sumner and their bandname printed in a German gothic style blackletter font. The cover design, coupled with the nature of the band's name, fuelled controversy over whether the band had Nazi sympathies. When the EP was re-released on 12-inch vinyl, the original cover was replaced by artwork featuring scaffolding.
Numerous counterfeit editions of this release exist. Only the original vinyl has serrated vinyl around the label and different contours on the label.
Today, original copies are being traded between collectors and fans for prices from € 1500 to a stunning almost € 3000!
An Ideal For Living - Tracklist
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A1 |
Warsaw |
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A2 |
No Love Lost |
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B1 |
Leaders Of Men |
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B2 |
Failures |
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Industrial band Panic Lift continues the unraveling of its themed EP release cycle with the band’s first release of 2022 titled Stitched. This four song EP features two new songs titled “Every Broken Piece” and “Bitter Cold” with remixes from Mechanical Vein and Tragic Impulse.
Lyrically, “Every Broken Piece” and “Bitter Cold” continue with the familiar themes of stress, coping, and concerns of self-image. Hardcore Panic Lift fans may remember “Every Broken Piece” from Panic Lift’s lockdown shows in 2020 that were broadcast online during the height of the COVID19 pandemic.
For Stitched, Panic Lift explores a harsh ebm sound more stylistically similar to their landmark debut record Witness To Our Collapse. James Francis explains “I’ve always tried to find a happy medium between what I’m doing now, and where I started” he continues “but now that I’m doing smaller releases, I have the ability to experiment with different styles without having to worry much about how they fit with the rest of my catalog”
Stitched is available on digital platforms everywhere including Bandcamp!
Following up their successful collaboration last year when Panic Lift remixed Mechanical Vein’s “TAKN'” which racked up a quarter of a million streams on Spotify, Mechanical Vein returns the favor with an industrial bass-inspired remix for “Bitter Cold.” Distortion Production’s Tragic Impulse infuse synthpop sensibilities with a hard edge into their remix of “Every Broken Place'.
Panic Lift continues offering different types of merchandise associated with each release and will be accepting pre-orders for the 'Triangles' T-Shirt during the cycle for Stitched. This will be the first time this design is available online since selling out quickly into the band's last tour.
Independent Cleveland-based alternative electronic duo, She 1 · Him 2 have released their new single; a cover of David Bowie’s classic 'Fame' featuring Steven Seibold (Hate Dept./Pigface) on guitar. The band features darkwave rocker and former Lestat front-man Evan Nave and Cassie Bishop of Shy Moon. The duo teamed up with producer Michael Seifert (Tori Amos, Paul Simon and many other Grammy award winners) for the project.
As a young boy, Evan would dance to 'Fame' by with his mother in their living room almost every night. This was the basis for choosing that track as their latest song. It's a true love letter to David Bowie, the legend who inspired a future musician, Evan (aka Him) and his female collaborator, Cassie (aka Her).
The band is releasing tracks over time to fill out their first full EP in the age of the pandemic. All music and videos have been filmed without either of member seeing each other in person. Over the past few years, they have released 'Split the Line' and “Spoken Words to Light”. They are currently working on two more tracks to be released in the coming year.
'Fame' is available on digital platforms including Bandcamp now!
Expressionist Electronic Band, Nahja Mora Bring Self-Destruction & Mental Health Issues To New Album
Expressionist electronic band, Nahja Mora has just unveiled their new full-length album, AHFHAOTA.
AHFHAOTA is a reaction to constant aggressions, profiling, and language barriers: lashes that crush a struggling and abused psyche. The album is a story of mental health issues and self-destructive impulses that keep weighing down the narrator until something tries to destroy them. It is a dark ride.
The songs on AHFHAOTA deal with themes of addiction, alienation, misanthropy, traumatic death, drug use, manipulation, conflict, escape, modern society [social networking] and sexual assault.
AHFHAOTA is available digitally via Bandcamp NOW.
Album Statement:
'The speaker is unable to communicate or relate. They recognize that to relate they must exploit themself. Exploiting themself brings them closer to that goal but for what purpose? to simply store those communication goals away as a memory? The feeling is being more than what they are is simply a fool's wish. So why bother? The speaker turns to escape-- a hedonist romp without caring to survive.. They unfortunately survive.
The speaker is surrounded; their loved ones are concerned. The speaker lies to get by. The speaker hates and hates and sees the world burning. The world and its pictures condition the speaker to violence. The speaker returns to self-destruction. The speaker knows the truth but does not care. Then the speaker feels the weight. They are drowning. They are breaking themselves apart. They cannot keep themselves safe, and neither can you.
Now the bleeding begins. When you try to stand back up, things continue knocking you down. The summary of years of work is vile abandonment. You get away but society in another form continues tearing your soul apart. So give in to the darkness. Abandon the ones who claim they love you. Go out into the field and... be destroyed.'
