Laibach on Hungarian TV

Brief interview with Ivan Novak from Laibach, which - fortunately for us - is in English.
Go to it here.

Preceded by a cellphone commercial that - fortunately for us - is NOT in English.

Kill Ugly Radio Presents: Stranger Than Fiction II: Equinox

This is the follow-up to my personal nostalgic romp from February. As tag-team partner to Mr. B., the other half of the so-called Octave Doctors, Equinox would take over the board at 3:30 AM or so and would play a mix of space-rock, ambient and prog-rock until the sun came up. His mostly-instrumental mix made a great soundtrack for my all-night drawing binges. It made it easier for me to visualize some of the bizarre, otherwordly stuff I’d dream up in the trance-like state that type of music was capable of. It was also the first time I was aware of the power of mixing music together to form a new composition. Eno would blend into Van Der Graaf Generator, which would morph into Peter Gabriel. Whoever the mysterious Equinox was, he certainly knew how to warp space and time with his musical selections.

Here’s an iTunes mix that I’ve been listening to for a while that is very evocative of the kind of music he would play. For the complete effect, I like to listen to this immediately after the previous STF mix when I’m desk-bound in long projects (now you know why part one ends with an intermission bit).

Playlist:

1. Kraftwerk - Nachrichten
2. Gong - Magick Mother Invocation
3. Steve Hillage - Activation Meditation/The Glorious OM Riff
4. Arthur Brown - 2024
5. Kraftwerk - It’s More Fun To Compute
6. Brian Eno - Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch/Baby’s on Fire
7. Godley and Creme - Flood
8. Peter Gabriel - At the Powerstation
9. Robert Fripp - Watermusic I
10. Peter Gabriel - Here Comes the Flood
11. Robert Fripp - Watermusic II
12. Eno and Cluster - The Belldog
13. Vangelis - To The Unknown Man
14. Jean Michel Jarre - Equinoxe Part 1
15. OMD - Architecture and Morality
16. Godley & Creme - Art School Canteen
17. King Crimson - The Sheltering Sky
18. XTC - Jason and the Argonauts
19. Talking Heads - Drugs

Download ( 90 mins. 80 megs.)

Test Dept.

Tactics for Evolution
Invisible

A departure of sorts for British industrial band Test Dept. Gone is the found object metal percussion and strident political agitprop that made them so famous and controversial - this being a largely instrumental electronica affair. Nice, hip-hoppish, aggro beats throughout. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve suspected the help of Jack Dangers, as the beats are bass-heavy and somewhat edgy. This is also the last proper Test Dept. album (save for a live outing recorded in 1990 that came out in 2002). Although not typical of their total output, this is one of my favorites.

Tactics for Evolution (1997)

1. Enigma of Doctor Dee
2. Unforgiven
3. Voyager
4. Atlantis
5. 2 Ghettos
6. Dark Light
7. Motivation
8. Miotica
9. Vena Cava (Life Blood)
10. Rat

Download

Pigface

Easy Listening for Difficult Fuckheads
Underground Inc.

A mixed bag from the multi-star-spangled juggernaut that Martin Atkins (PiL, Killing Joke) calls Pigface.
I don’t know what to make of an album that tells me to “fuck conformity, fuck the mainstream” but then contains some of the most ready for Clearchannel Nu-Rock spuzz (Blow You Away, Bitch, King of Negativity) and formulaic quirky Goth-girl pop (Sweetmeat) imaginable. It does feature a cool version of Delta 5’s Mind Your Own Business, a weird turn by Ex-KMFDM’s En Esch and a dreamy track from My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult’s Groovie Mann (Closer to Heaven- which also features ex-PiL member Keith Levene, making it a reunion of sorts), which is heads above anything Thrill Kill’s done in a long time. Chris Connely makes an appearance on Miss Sway Action, a floating, Berlin period-Bowie-esque tune. There’s certainly a wide array of styles and genres represented here, so you’re a little less likely to be completely disappointed. Add to that a calculated faux rant piece by Penn Jillette as the closer that is sure to only shock/annoy/entertain those who didn’t hear it coming.

Get Easy Listening

Richard H. Kirk

Virtual State
Wax Trax!

Another loopy, trance-inducing solo outing from the better half (at least the more prolific) of Cabaret Voltaire.
This one, released in 1994, has all the dissonant elements one comes to expect from CV, but wasn’t as apparent on their last few outings (especially the very House-sounding Plasticity). Songs are evocative of - or titles allude to - intercepted covert radio transmissions and there is plenty of spooky disembodied radio transmissions and interference to back up the imagery.

Kirk has the best feel for this kind of thing and is always capable of creating dynamic, modern music that is also very organic by sheer virtue of the viral nature of his sample sources.

Download Virtual State (MegaUpload)

This album reminds me of his also excellent Biochemical Dread outing (in fact, only album under that nom-de-plume) Bush Doctrine, which I have updated and reupped here.