A Splice of Life

FACTRIX – Scheintot (1981)
As Thee Olde Adage goes, “if influence translated into record sales,” (see: Underground, Velvet) San Francisco-based industrial pioneers woulda raked in some ‘o the ducats pocketed by the likes of Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. As it is, they barely had a pot to piss in during their brief existence that lasted [...]

Kick to Kill

TEST DEPT. – Beating the Retreat (1984)

Being a New World Man of thee Kanück Mütt persuasion, I have little to no grasp of the British class system. As far as I can figger– at least where it is applied to underground musicians– is that one should be “working class,” not speak with a “posh accent” [...]

Are You Morbid?

SUTCLIFFE JÜGEND – The Victim As Beauty
Have you been very, very bad? Do you need to be aurally flogged for your sins? I hope not, because not only does that make you some kinda sick, masochistic twit, but probably a Catholic as well (my condolences if this be the case). Sutcliffe Jügend, taking their [...]

Culturecide

SPK – Auto Da Fé

Long before Graeme Revell was seemingly providing the score for two-thirds of the films released since 1992, he was a humble orderly at an Aussie mental institution. Along with one of its patients, Neil Hill, he formed SPK (Sozialistisches Patienten Kollectiv, after a German terrorist organization) in 1978, making them one [...]

Chromosome Damage

CHROME – Blood on the Moon

San Franciscan duo Damon Edge and Helios Creed, anxious to reproduce the music they heard when listening to Sabbath or Hawkwind on headphones under the influence of LSD, ended up becoming proto-industrial icons instead. Their utilization of every variety of octave divider, phaser and flanger to color their creations makes [...]