Source: ABC News
Happy new year and/or Epiphany to all who celebrate. The n0teeth industrial content machine may go off-grid occasionally but it never sleeps, and the last few weeks either side of the bells have continued to bring pleasing and interesting developments in this here musical (sub?)genre of ours. Here, in brief, is the craic:
New discovery: No Name, No Slogan
An online radio show with no chat, just an hour & change of fine industrial, EBM and post-punk cuts, with emphasis on the first of these genres. Don't expect perfect club-friendly transitions between tracks, the format of NNNS is very much that of a radio show but without the inane jock jabber (that I've heard so far). It's an impressively bold move to kick off a set with Alan Sutcliffe's powerful, Test Dept-backed tirade against the police's treatment of striking miners under the Thatcher government, even more so when you consider that this set gradually builds into punchy, danceable Italo territory via EBM and newbeat.
New rediscovery: Italy
n0teeth spent a pleasant, relatively chill New Year with family in the motherland, where a chance encounter with a record shop open very late at night rekindled an interest in the country's industrial scene (which is done a great disservice by the prominence of third-rate cyberclowns such as Dope Stars Inc or Alien Vampires). The above playlist is a mere sample of Italy's musical underground and a full length post may follow soon, at least on one band in particular I've been writing notes on for a while (read on to find out who!).
New discovery of something that isn't new: Mark Shreeve
I have watched and rewatched the above live clip several times, utterly spellbound. Three dudes onstage in biker jackets, rocking the fuck out with synthesisers. In 1994, when rocking the fuck out in a biker jacket was only permitted with drums and guitars, and synthesisers were to be used only for making big rave hits, there they are, with their synthesisers and their biker jackets, rocking the fuck out. A hitherto unfamiliar name that was dropped in an interview with much-missed John Carpenter-worshipping horror-synth-EBM blokes Gatekeeper, Mark Shreeve (who died in August 2022) was an an itinerant British composer who mostly worked in the field of library music, or "music that sounds like it could be the soundtrack to something that hasn't yet been filmed" if you prefer. He's also credited with penning a Sam Fox hit back in the day, but I didn't call him a renaissance man, YOU did.
What's in store for twenty-twenty four
As mentioned earlier, I've been on a deep dive into Italian alternative, industrial and experimental music, and one band in particular that I have been meaning to write about is the controversial (to put it mildly) Emilian punk band Disciplinatha. Their music is hard to come by digitally, and their story, while fairly well known to the subcultres in Italy, has yet to be told in English. I've started reading the book, I've shamelessly ripped the film off Youtube, I've bought the debut record (from a record store on Milan's Navigli run by a former member of post punk outfits Colour Moves and Afterhours). Let's party.
2024 is also the year the album that introduced me to this thing we call "industrial music" turns 20. You bet your back teeth I have a lot to say about that. Stay tuned.