This day 45 years ago Jean-Michel Jarre released the electro-ambient masterpiece known as Oxygène (5 December 1976, Les Disques Motors / Polydor).

It was the French-composers first release which was not intended as a soundtrack, a front-runner in electronic music, the album which brought Jarre into the mainstream almost overnight was also overlooked in certain parts of the world upon release, as it coincided with the surge in the punk-movement but unmistakable in the delivery and synth advances.

Though it did go on to sell fifteen-million copies, a remarkable feat for an album without a singer, lyrics or even a guitar, in the nineteen-seventies this was almost unheard-of, Kraftwerk had incorporated guitar, drums and violins into their work as to did Tangerine Dream, then again these are bands and Oxygène was composed, constructed and produced by a single individual.

The modern-day Mozart created a landscape of sound embedded with his own unique charm, created through the VCS synthesizers, mellophonium, mellotron and programmed rhythms it was a complete electronic production unlike those of his counterparts such as Mike Oldfield, this was a record relying solely on technical advances. However, the studio used to record the album was Jean-Michel Jarre’s own kitchen in his apartment using an eight-track recorder,

Without a track-list as such only a breakdown of six-segments (Parts I-VI) the most famous of course the dance-floor filling “Part IV” released as a single in 1977 and going top-ten in most European-territories, this joyous crescendo is another instantly recognized piece of music.

The inspiration for the album came from a painting by Michel Granger, that painting adorns the album cover, instantly recognized , a precursor to the climate-change movement revealing death as the earth is ravaged, as resounding an image as it is, Jarre also foretold the future in the very-fresh sounding album.


Oxygène (Original 1976 Track List)

Side One
Oxygène (Part I) – 7:40
Oxygène (Part II) – 7:39
Oxygène (Part III) – 3:20
Side two
Oxygène (Part IV) – 4:03
Oxygène (Part V) – 10:26
Oxygène (Part VI) – 6:22

DISCOGS

Häxan, also known as The Witches or Witchcraft Through the Ages is a 1922 silent horror film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Consisting partly of documentary-style storytelling as well as dramatised narrative sequences, the film charts the historical roots and superstitions surrounding witchcraft, beginning in the Middle Ages through the 20th century.

Häxan has become regarded by critics and scholars as Benjamin Christensen's finest cinematographic work. Part earnest academic exercise in correlating ancient fears with misunderstandings about mental illness and part salacious horror movie, Häxan is truly a unique work that still holds power to unnerve, even in today's jaded era.

Häxan has had many fantastic live score attempts in musically re-creating the mysterious and whimsical aesthetic of the film. Now, with your own eyes you have a chance to see a truly unique version of Häxan with a brand new, original operatic soundtrack composed and arranged by a Canadian composer, multi-instrumentalist, and operatic singer ALIA SYNESTHESIA.

Film Release Year: 1922

Director: Benjamin Christensen

Composer, singer, producer, mixing/mastering: ALIA SYNESTHESIA

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43 years ago, on the 4th of December 1978 Industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle released their second studio album D.o.A: The Third and Final Report on their own label Industrial Records. Although, like the previous album The Second Annual Report, this album is also a mixture of recorded live and studio material, albeit more stylisticly varied.

From the first pressing of 3000 copies, the first 1000 mail-order copies came with a wall calendar featuring a little girl sitting on a bed (IR0004). In 1979 there was a reprint of another 1000 copies that were recut in such a way that it looked as if the album seemed to have 8 tracks of equal length on side one and 7 tracks of equal length, plus a very short eighth track, on side two. But patterns that appear in the groove do not match the actual song beginnings and endings so it was nicknamed ‘The DJ Confusion edition”. However it’s has been called 'Structuralist Spirals' edition in TG's official discography.

Another striking example of TG's contrarianism and anti-commercial attitude is that they put their first, and also one of their most accessible and successful singles, “United” on this album... but applied fast forward making the song last barely 16 seconds.

Nevertheless, the overall reception was positive and the album got from 3 to 4 star ratings by most renowned music magazines like, for instance, All Music and even a 9.5/10 score from Pitchfork Magazine. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

D.o.A: The Third and Final Report (LP - IR00004)

Throbbing Gristle:

Genesis P-Orridge (†14.03.2020) – vocals, bass guitar, violin, effects, production

Cosey Fanni Tutti – lead guitar, effects, tape, production

Chris Carter – synthesizer, electronics, tape, production

Peter Christopherson (†24.11.2010) – tape, electronics, production

DISCOGS

FG 2021

This month it's 34 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

Dark alternative band ORCUS NULLIFY recently revealed their new EP, Beautiful Hell.

The songs on Beautiful Hell will take you on a tour of the wreckage that is the contemporary state of affairs brought about during the reign of the Orange Beast. There was the destruction and reversal of environmental policies like withdrawal from the Parris Climate Accord, termination of the Clean Water Act & turning back the clock on human rights.

The title track "Beautiful Hell" draws a juxtaposition between the beauty of this planet and decaying state of political affairs. The tune "Under his Eye" is focused on what is seemingly a path toward a Neo-Nazi Christian state. "Night Bird Cries" is a lament for the decline of our environment and morality, that increasingly vie for our attention but go unheeded.

Beautiful Hell is available in digital format via Bandcamp now.

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