Distant Stations

I once read a usenet article on The Overlords describing them as somewhere between Front 242 and Devo. Thinking that seemed like an ideal combination, I sought out their first album, Organic?. It wasn't too bad a description. Driving industrial beats, synthy hooks, growly vocals delivered in some unidentifiable European accent, and a little bonus weirdness thrown in for extra excitement. Plus a cover of "Holiday in Cambodia." What more could you want?

They released another album, All The Naked People, which included actual production values, but it was far less interesting than their first. Thus, the three tracks here are from Organic? The Overlords appear to have pretty much vanished since then.

Organic!
Holiday in Cambodia
Near Dark [Campfire Mix]

Posted by mute at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The late 80's were a fertile period in the world of industrial music-- Skinny Puppy in particular released four seminal studio albums-- the kind of albums that influenced everyone who came after them (even if the bumper crop of imitators attracted by, for example, Cleopatra Records didn't seem to be good for much more than novelty tribute albums and opening for better bands).

Between 1987 and 1990, cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel recorded enough tracks on their own to fill out an album and an EP. Key's percussion and Goettel's sampling combine to form an equisitely-crafted set of what they called "soundtracks for movies that never existed." The Infidel is dark, percussive, and lush, and the carefully-chosen snippets of movie dialog serve to add extra layers of expression to what might otherwise be just another set of almost ambient instrumental tracks (although an exceptionally lush and complex set).

I'm including a few tracks here-- "Naugal Tone" and "Come in Piece" from The Infidel and the extended version of "Father Don't Cry" from the Father Don't Cry EP.

In 1995 Dwayne Goettel died of a heroin overdose at his parents' house, where he had gone in an attempt to kick the habit.

Father Don't Cry (Extended)
Naugal Tone
Come in Piece

Posted by mute at 11:04 AM | Permalink