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Interview with Ged Denton of Crisis NTI; Betty's Trash @ Meow Mix!; upcoming releases and more; Front Line Assembly, Colombian Necktie; Jihad, A Prayer in the Night, Funker Vogt, We Came to Kill, C-Tec, darker; mel's secret playlistBetty'sTrash is Another Man's Pleasureby Melpomene Whitehead
Meow Mix was packed! A decent mix of Betty's Friends and fans of the other act, Detox Darlings. At this point, I glanced about the room for ideas for a new do for me. My hair is a mess. What with prednisone, straightening and a notoriously poor diet of apple cinnamon rice cakes, hershey's with almonds and portabello mushrooms, well, my poor follicles don't stand a chance. I got split ends all the way up to my scalp. I made the unfortunate mistake of getting the "split ends" cut off in July, and my hair hasn't really grown since. So now it's short (for me) and frizzy. I can't remember if they began their set with Queen of Everything...Oh wait! They actually began their set with an invocation to the Barbie God! Ana, King James, Valkyrie and Trevor when he could sneak in, started the set by banging away rhythmically on a plastic storage chest which probably came from Target. Everyone used their hands (or feet) except James, who used a cheap-ass Barbie rip-off doll as a drum stick! Then he started caressing and mumbling to it in tongues. And then the started with the beaty and erotic Beauty Sleep. And for those of you who have heard the tape and not seen BT in person, let me just tell you one thing to entice you: Valkyrie has an absolutely amazing voice. I think she could be the new Memorex spokes-singer (remember those old commercials? Is it live or is it Memorex? And the singer's recorded voice would shatter a glass? I'm sure Val could easily shatter a glass with that voice. It's perfect! You know, after hearing so many industrial acts with girl singers, and all they can do is croon I find it refreshing to hearing a woman who can actually sing.) And then they did Queen of Everything. And for those of you who have heard the tape and not seen BT in person, lemme tell ya just one thing to entice all y'all: Val attacks The Good King, and strips him down! And he's wearing a dress! It's so cute!!! And fishnets! Luckily, Meow Mix had a mirror on stage, so James kept checking himself out! When James is in his dress, he acts more like Queen James, which is cute. I hear James has more dresses than most girls -- I wanna look in his closet! BT also did Tweakin' Tami, and for those of you who have only heard the demo of BT and not seen them up close and personal, lemme just give ya a slice to entice ya: Ana's guitar is fab. She's up there with that hair and a look of intense concentration, grinding away on that Ibenez like nobody's business. It's good to see a chick play guitar (and not bass) for a change! She seems much more serious than James and Val, until she throws some snide remark James's way. Bad kitty! They also got to do Miss Carriage, and Trevor hiding behind the keyboards pounds out some crunchy riffs. Then, they did a song I didn't know, a song especially requested by Kieran of Resist, about duct tape. And you know there were props. So, you should totally go to see Betty's Trash. The music is good, the show is fun, and you get to see what dressJames has on today! it's NIN-ovely, it's NIN-ightful...it's the new NIN produce line! Now you can have a NIN mousepad, NIN necklace and bracelet, NIN wool hat (for those days you want to emulate Mike Nesmith of the ), nothing 6' scarf (Dr. Who theme plays in the back of my mind...), and the piece de resistance the NIN embroidered fake fur tunic. It's a steal at $75!! Guaranteed to shed! Please contact J. Artists Mail Order, PO Box 820, Twinsburg, OH, 44087 for info, ok?light-weight gossipy type sectionThe domestic release of C-tec's new CD Darker is due out late January from Wax Trax! Records. That reminds me of that time we spent spring break in Brussels and went to that little cafe.. with that waiter...what was his name?(all together...) Jean-Luc! This means a tour too, so we can see Ged Denton (also with C-Tec) from Crisis NTI. Cubanate also has a new one due in February, called Interference.Also due out imminently is the new one from Front Line Assembly,FLAvour of the Weak (Metropolis. It's already out as an important from OffBeat). It's taken me quite a while to warm up to the idea of FLA sans Rhys Fulber, but I'm beginning to groove on the single Colombian Necktie. Other new releases from Off-Beat include Velvet Acid Christ's Calling Ov The Dead, Mind Sculptures from Individual Totem and Tyranny Off The Beat, Vol IV featuring FLA, VAC, Download, Steril, Covenant and more! Coming these next two months from invisible are TWO compilations (Noise Reduction II and Sonics Everywhere), along with new disks from Hellsau, Bagman, (Lee from Sheep on Drugs), Test Dept, Tribes of Neurot and the fabulousEvil Mothers My Fave label Re-Constriction is promising the following: a new one from the popular Waiting for God, Disipramine, the also very popular Collide will be checking in with a remix album. Distort will feature remixes from Alien Faktor, Das Ich, Croc Shop and more! A new female-fronted project, Hexedene is also releasing a disk, Choking on Lilies. This disk is also being released on Side-line in Europe, so except it to be good! And finally, C-Tec will be playing 1/22 at the Capital Ballroom in DC, 1/23 at St. Mary's Cathedral in Philly and 1/24 at a still to be named locale in NYC! Front Line Assembly, Colombia Necktie4-song CD singleIt took me a few listens to get used to this, but now I think it's brilliant. Yes, the sound is different since the departure of Rhys Fulber, and the "promotion" of drummer Chris Peterson-- it sounds more like Noise Unit than it sounds like FLA, but that's fine by me. The guitars are pretty much gone, and there is much more reliance upon rhythms as melody and counter-melody. It's very intricate and beautifully put together, and you can listen just for the pure pleasure of listening to good music--it's not just good dance music. The opener Colombian Necktie, actually reminds me a lot of mid-period FLA, you know, in the isolate period -- it has a very hard beat and a lot of high-end tweaking noises, layered distorted vocals. Deadlock is in a similar vein with a bit more sampled sounds, a drums-and-bass break-beat and heavy bass. Electrocution introduces more noise and sampled spoken words, along with a sinister melody. IÕm sure if I ever go out again IÕm going to hear this song. ItÕs a great dance song and very well constructed.Metropolis C-Tec, darkerAnother stellar disk from C-Tec. Damn, these guys are amazing. This trio of talent-- Jean-Luc DeMeyer of Front 242, Marc Heal from Cubanate and Ged Denton from Crisis NTI--for the past two years have consistently produced among the best and most thought-provoking electronic music available. Monsieur de Meyer's lyrics are sincere and intelligent, which is sure a switch for this sort of music, as you all know.darker has rhythms that are almost tribal, but clearly electronic, which makes for a fresh and dizzying sound. Jean-Luc does a lot of actual singing on this disk, something he didn't do too much of with Front 242. It took me a bit to get used to hearing his actual voice! The whole effect sort of reminds me of Maurice Chevalier (singing industrial? yet it works fabulously). being nothing features sparse rhythms and counter-melodies, which are enhanced by electronic tweaks and whizzes. But I don't need Jean-Luc whispering you are nothing... in my ear! Stop it! I am somebody! But the music and the vocals are stunning. Then there are the slow tracks, like the lost. I find that with a lot of "industrial" music, slower beats don't really work. Naturally, C-tec has no problem with that, because the music is mature and complicated enough to listen to without getting bored. The slower C-Tec songs are almost delicate--like spun sugar. Then there are songs with a bit of a euro-disco beat, like the rhythm in stateless is sort of in the vein of the remix of that everything but the girl song (you know the one! I forgot the name...), but the music! And that voice! These carry everything. Who cares about the damned beat? The songs are dazzling! But it's the beat I love, and the beaty songs on darker are so amazingly ass-kicking, my butt hurts just listening. random, flowing, foetal all right in a row--bang, bang, bang! It kills me. random has this spectacular rhythmic intro, and then that voice! What a way to open an album! random is lyrically, thematically a "follow your bliss" kind of song, inspiring the listener to forge his/her own path. On the second track, flowing, you can clearly hear co-writer Rhys Fulber's influence, but it's still C-Tec. And then there's shift iv--incredible. I adore this song. It's so unexpected! Jean-Luc uses effects on his voice. It sounds so vicious! epitaph is the only song whose lyrics are not written by Jean-Luc, but they're written by Dorothy Parker, so you can deal. This particular song sounds very sweet and pretty, so I'm reminded even moreso of Maurice Chevalier! darker is so far above the rest of the genre, you'd be a fool not to get it. And finally, and obviously this is a strange personal fetish of mine, the typography and design are absolutely ravishing. I couldn't find a credit for the designer, but this person is brilliant.
Jihad, A Prayer in the NightI was just about to call Ras Dva and cancel my order for this CD -- I mean, damn, RikÕs had my 12 bux for over a year now! And in that year IÕve sort of grown very weary of this old-school, mid-80s overly-synthed, vocally-effected style industrial. It makes me yawn just thinking about it, and listening is just as tedious to me. That doesnÕt mean you wonÕt like it. IÕve just really grown impatient with this form of industrial. All the songs are mid-tempo, so A Prayer in the Night has a heavy goth feelRas Dva Funker Vogt, We Came to KillI really enjoyed the first FV disk, Thanks for Nothing, but I'm not all too fond of this one. It's essentially the same, with alittle more emphasis on melody, but I find it to be overly simplistic and a bit too retro for my tastes. It relies a lot upon old-school techno-style keyboard chords, but mostly done in minor keys, adding an "evil" undertone, and the vocals have remained in the harmonized daemonic mode. It's ok, but it's not spectacular. But itÕs fun! You know, mindless dance music for the overly intellectual set. I know IÕm being harsh, because you can bet that if I heard almost of any of this in a club IÕd be stomping all over the floor.Metropolis |
At least long and frizzy seemed to say something. It said I'm a mess and I don't care. Short and frizzy says help me, i'm a failure. Luckily, I hadn't yet seen Anastasia, BT's long-and-loverly-tressed guitar player. I'll get to that later. So I see the usual pinned-back, tendrils-curled gothy do's, and a few Betty Page-boys, but I don't think any of these will work for me with my big moon face. Oy. I can't even imagine going to a professional haircutter right now. What would she say? Wott haf you dunn wif yo hair? Iss a mess! And yo face iss soo big. Wotta we gunna do wif you.... I'd have to run out screaming and crying. So sad. And then Anastasia parades out with her guitar, and her hair is up and it's still longer than mine, and so glossy and lush, and I want to cry. Why can't I have her hair? But, let's face facts, even when my hair was at it's best it was not anywhere near as cool as Ana's.