A Return for industrial?

[KlingKlangBedlam]

A RETURN FOR INDUSTRIAL???

Much has changed in industrial since the sudden death of Skinny Puppy. The title then went to then-newcomers Haujobb, who quickly turned to a more drum/bass style. The same with Gridlock. Soon thereafter, it's like the industrial genre quietly went back to it's little corner, lacking a champion of any sort, and the blurring line between it and techno in the media. Also wounded from the new NIN and by MTV bubblegum-industrial like Marilyn Manson,Gravity Kills, and Stabbing Westward, it's time may be yet to come back.
As much as we all love synthpop and the expermiental side of techno (Haujobb's best works were dabbling in it),and the so-called Future Pop, it still lacks a substance that relates to us all in this post-Sept. 11th era (outside of VNV Nation, who is definitely not pop by any measure) of insecurity. Dancing the night away to a drum sequence just won't make the problem any better, as it makes a mockery of it. No matter how much X we take and techno we dance to, the problems need to be addressed. Industrial is confrational,steeped in punk asthetic at it's core. With the official reunification of Skinny Puppy, and the success of newcomers Dismantled, it's comeback may well be reality, and a breadwinner won in young Gary Zon.
Even the success of Bill Leeb's Delerium may make the Starbuck's/Border's group it garners go "hey if this is just a project,imagine their main group!", and start to realize the classics. And by all means, let us welcome back Controlled Bleeding! Even at some clubs I have heard Suicide Commando and Kevorkian Death Cycle played. We also can't forget the industrial influence in Diary of Dreams, Haujobb, and Funker Vogt. And last year Front 242 played one of the largest concerts in Chicago history, very fucking well proving industrail is never dead. And don't forget KMFDM, of course, or the powerful acts Oneroid Psychosis and Android Lust. So, who knows..............

[Infant_Fiend]

even tori amos industrial too
in her badly From The Choir Girl Hotel  

[IdiotPissant]

A few odd things about this post... Skinny Puppy didn't die suddenly.  It seemed pretty gradual to me, with the process taking so long to be released and then being pretty weak for the most part. And with the reunion tour and everything, a passive observer might wonder just when IS this band going to finally die?

Anyway, Haujobb and Gridlock's changes in sound created some classic stuff.  I don't see it as being any more or less "industrial", but why use that term anyway?  There's always something more fitting and less descriptically suicidal.  

One idea how "industrial" could make a "return" is to systematically label everything under the sun as industrial.  Start with futurepop, and already we've gained a lot of ground.  That's what I see the big music mags doing with "rock".  When the Chemical Brothers or Skinny Puppy became popular, Spin et al would "annex" them, knight them even, as official "rock bands" and do intervews and features or whatever to fill their pages when all the more obviously rockish "rock bands" were sulking.  Just a thought.

[KlingKlangBedlam]

First off,industrial is massly different from "Future-Pop" which to me is Techno-pop and nothing more. Listen to any Kylie Monogue CD then listen to the newest Apop and you'll see my point. i called Covenant techno-pop for the longesttime and just recently started hearing this "Future Pop" label which is mostly to the clubs and nothing else. TOY is futuristic and pop why isn't it futurepop? Same with Flock of Seagulls and SPOCK. Jsut a label with no new invention. And anyone who's listened to VNV past the dancefloor knows they are not pop!
Anyways,industrial was one of the few terms coined by an artist (Throbbing Gristle), and is a term going towards organic hard-edged electronic versus bass driven music. SKinny Puppy I think will come back stronger I think. They have more modern technology, Cevin Key's playing and ideas are alot more diverse and experimental. It'll be Skinny puppy's hardness driven with Download's melody sense. You have to remember Goetell's drug poblem was dragging the band down just as Key and Ogre were sobering up from heroin. Process was not a weak album,especially compared to Rabies and Last Rights, which were rather weak.
And it not just rests on them. Hocico is very promising and may just well rebuild the fort b4 Puppy even gets back together. Signos De Abberacion kicks total ass believe me and is a solid bet! These guys are rage personified and industrial defined. Same with bands like Monstrum Sepsis and Dismantled. Industrial always had a sense of daring,whereas techno and synthpop tend to skate the safe traditional line of music. As for futureprop, it's not even an issue. It's nothing even new and most of the artists I've interviewed agree. Apop sucks nuts live and Assemblage 23 is fucking Ace Of Base boom-chukka with whiny monotone vocals. Except Ace of Base had pop genius. And if you ever saw Assend 23 in concert they are like watching mannequins with a voice recorder. Tim Shear is a stiff oaf on stage, and sings so monotone it drives me nuts. And it wouldn't surprise me to see Apop on TRL sucking Carson Daly's dick. Even during the stage show Grothik felt he was too good to come and even acknowledge the audience. Fucking shiteater. And isn't he so precious pretending to be goth with that shit pop music he plays now? He is the  Vanilla Ice of the electronic world.

[royalewitcheez]

Wow, one of few people I've heard say that The Process wasn't a bad album.  I agree.

Anyone into Babyland?  My personal favorite.  Check them out if you'd like.  Lotta free downloads on Mp3.com even.  This is, imo, the best sound out there right now.  http//:www.babyland.info/

If anyone is familiar and could reccommend bands that I might also enjoy, please do.

-----
-Chris

np:  Grim Faeries-Disenchanted Forest-Murderer's Den

Edit:  I don't think I had ever heard the term "Future-Pop" before VNV released FuturePerfect.

Edit2:  Oops, I though HTML would work here.

Edit3:  I can't get the hyperlink coding thing provided on the forum to work, so I'll just ask you to cut-and-paste.  Or maybe a mod can fix it for me.  And I'll have to start previewing my posts.  

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Fuckin' aye The Process wasn't a bad CD at all! I thought Last Rites was far worse myself, their absolute worst. It seemed to dredge on, while Process seemed to pick up that energy they had.
I talked to one of the masterminds behind the future pop shit (argued rather) and even he admitted it got silly quick,as if it were ever really serious at all. VNV to me was the only group worthwhile and they are not even what they said futurepop is anywho! Shit TOY is futuristic and pop why aren't they futurepop? Because they aren't some baritone 4/4 monstrosity made to get the mall goths on the dance floor! Even one of the people who worked for this company who masterminded it even said it's music for "stupid little girls with no brains". God I'm glad it's dead, I wanted a bloody hatchet in that scene long ago! Futurepop to me has shown one thing: the entire goth crowd is just struggling to find something new musicly where really I don't think many of them will try something truly bold like neo-folk or industrial-classical.
If you want to see real industrial come back to life, see Hocico,  definite. I like some pop and all that, but I ultimately like my music like my women: heavy and brutal!   haha!
While I wait for industrial to come back which is happening, I'm playing Testament and Hocico back to back!

[polter]

Hocico rox...i think a revival of industrial is on the horizon...but then again Ive been saying that for years.....(sigh)...

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Yeah, Hocico definitely has torn up alot of boundaries over the last couple of years.
Mentallo And The Fixer is working on new songs as we speak, Fektion Fekler has completed their CD, Decoded Feedback is kicking ass as always, so yeah the industrial field is livening it up. The hatred towards alot of the manufactured electronic out there is making it's comeback come that much quicker.

[mind7drop]

I have a question for any one that can answer it. I have been a dj for several years now just spinning d&b and jungle, not at clubs but at like friends partys and my own. I only spin those genres cause I really cant find any good website to get and good industrial records from. If anyone could tell me where to go to get some good industrial records I would really appreciate it.

[Mauri]

I have a question for any one that can answer it. I have been a dj for several years now just spinning d&b and jungle, not at clubs but at like friends partys and my own. I only spin those genres cause I really cant find any good website to get and good industrial records from. If anyone could tell me where to go to get some good industrial records I would really appreciate it.

also online?
I think you already know www.industrial-music.com (run by Metropolis Records people).
For other stuff www.soleilmoon.com or www.forcedexposure.com
If you live in Europe try www.staalplaat.com

[DRuppert]

You gotta check side-line industrial magazine, the best way to discover new groups. There a plenty of non so-known bands like Hanzel Und Gretyl, Mainspawn, Mlada Fronta, Remain Silent, Genitortures you should point right now !

CU

[onemoc85]

well in my area- I'ld say that industrial is winning grounds compared to the gothic scene which is becoming rather difficult to find anything for-  damn emo punks-  but  what do I know I'm addicted to electronica at this point- and I can't really tell the difference between some of these genres sometimes.   Doesn't help that the cds I pick up almost always cross genre lines either.  good to see I recognize some band names, even though I'm obviously non-industrial.   Just curious-  what genre are Funker Vogt anyway?

[Chain D.L.K. (Marc)]

if genres lines weren't crossed it would be really boring, don't you think?
Funker Vogt are a mixture of ebm and dance... a lot of people call it dance-industrial for lack of a better term...

[Marc Tater]

I don't think that FUNKER VOGT are a good example in case of that topic - there are surely much better and remarkable acts which could easily fit with it (and KlingKlangBedlam has named some fine examples...)
But it is nice to see how different US and European people think when we talk about Industrial. Funker Vogt - to catch your example - are for me an EBM, Electro band, while under the name industrial I do normally include Powernoise like Converter or so. But again, this is a quite European choice of a category...

[cultureofgreed]

Hate to pop your bubble, but Skinny Puppy is NOT industrial. Industrial music began almost 100 years ago when composers began using non-traditional instruments to create music, using stuff like the sounds of factory machines for rythmn parts. Inheriantly all true industrial music uses non-traditional instruments. Since Skinny Puppy used syths and samplers they cannot not truely be industrial. The term "Industrial" got perverted in the 1980s and now even band like Rammstein and Nine-Inch Nails get tagged "Industrial". None of these bands are even close to what was going on in the 1920's industrial music scene.

Wanna hear real industrial music? Start your car and stick your head under the hood for 5 minutes! Thats Industrial!