Old bastard returning to the fold

[Rich]

After being away for a while, I've realised that my life was lacking
new noise.

I've been keeping up with my old favourites for the last 10 years,
groups like Pigface and Ministry, but frankly nobody who's appeared in
that time has made much of an impression on me. I know Front 242 have
a new album and that's all good stuff but there must be some new bands
that don't suck.

One of the main things which drove me away over the years was the
tendancy for what I'd call goth bands to be labeled as Industrial.
Frankly I don't much care for that kind of thing, and bands like VNV
Nation et-al leave me cold. Not that it's bad music per-se, just not
what I'm after. Maybe that's "Industrial" these days and what I used
to listen to is called something else now. I don't care, I just want
to hear about people making decent music. I think the last 3 albums I
bought were by Meg Lee Chin, Lolo and Ohgr, something like that...

Any advice? (apart from "don't be such a miserable old git")

[Clayton Swindoll]

Post by Rich
After being away for a while, I've realised that my life was lacking
new noise.
I've been keeping up with my old favourites for the last 10 years,
groups like Pigface and Ministry, but frankly nobody who's appeared in
that time has made much of an impression on me. I know Front 242 have
a new album and that's all good stuff but there must be some new bands
that don't suck.

There's lots of "industrial" music that's been done in the last ten years
that hasn't sucked. You'll probably be disappointed if you're looking for
things that sound exactly like Pigface and Ministry, but if you're willing
to try enough different things, you're sure to find something you'll like.

Stuff good stuff to start with would probably be...

EBM/Elektro:
Lassigue Bendthaus - Render (1994)
Haujobb - Solutions for a Small Planet (1996)
Covenant - Sequencer (1997)
Snog - Third Mall From the Sun (1999)
Laibach - WAT (2003, not a classic, but I figured the list needed something
more recent)

Rhythmic Noise type stuff, if you want something harder:
Converter - Shock Front (1999)
Gridlock - Futher (1999)
Imminent Starvation - Nord (1999)
Tarmvred - Subfusc (2001)
Antigen Shift - Implicit Structures (2003)

Other things that are a little more in the realm of "industrial":
Brigther Death Now - Innerwar (1996)
Haus Arafna - Children of God (1998)
Coil - Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1 (1999)
Militia - The Black Flag Hoisted (1999?)
Einstuerzende Neubauten - Silence is Sexy (2000, I don't have their new one
yet)

The "Teknoir" compilation on Hymen Records is definitely worth getting.

There's *lots* of other good industrialish music out there, but I don't
really want to list too much.

--
Clayton

[Keef]

Post by Rich
One of the main things which drove me away over the years was the
tendancy for what I'd call goth bands to be labeled as Industrial.
Frankly I don't much care for that kind of thing, and bands like VNV
Nation et-al leave me cold. Not that it's bad music per-se, just not
what I'm after. Maybe that's "Industrial" these days and what I used
to listen to is called something else now. I don't care, I just want
to hear about people making decent music. I think the last 3 albums I
bought were by Meg Lee Chin, Lolo and Ohgr, something like that...
Any advice? (apart from "don't be such a miserable old git")

Right-ho. Back in 99 I was in the same boat as you.

The two albums that got me back into it all were...

Numb - Blood Meridian and
Gridlock - Further

I would also second the Tarmvred - Subfusc recommendation.

[...]

Post by Rich
I've been keeping up with my old favourites for the last 10 years,
groups like Pigface and Ministry, but frankly nobody who's appeared in
that time has made much of an impression on me.

Hmmm, as far as industrial rock goes I thought Alec Empire's
"Intelligence & Sacrifice" (2002) was quite good. It's accessible yet
still genuinely abrasive, and comes with a bonus disc of
instrumentantal material that is more akin to what the current concept
of industrial music is like.