B-Side, also spelled Beeside and Beside, was an alias of American rapper and singer Ann Boyle. In the 1980s she collaborated with various artists on the French/New York label Celluloid, mixing New York electro beats with sophisticated eighties pop. She sang and rapped in French and English, often within one song.
On her only album, the 1985 'Cairo Nights', she was backed by Bill Laswell's Material (with Nicky Skopilitis), augmented with the likes of Dieter Colb (Roboterwerke, Supersempfft), Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, and Bernard Fowler. She was a member of Afrika Bambaataa's Timezone, and did vocals on the 1982 EP 'Change The Beat with Fab 5 Freddy' (another of her aliases was Fab 5 Betty). [SOURCE: LAST.FM]
Germany's Project Pitchfork are veterans of the goth scene, combining darkwave and electronic dance with ominous industrial flourishes, spearheading their own distinct genre known as dark-electro. Since the band's inception in 1989, vocalist Peter Spilles, keyboardist / programmer Dirk "Scheubi" Scheuber, and keyboardist / programmer Jürgen Jansen have been at the fore, navigating the project through multiple decades of success via career highlights like 2001's 'Daimonion' and 2010's 'Quantum Mechanics'.
They debuted in 1991 with 'Dhyani' and proceeded to release album after album -almost yearly- for the next decade. In 1992, they released two LPs: 'Lam-'Bras' and 'Entities'. An extension of the latter, the 'Souls/Island' EP was released in 1993 and included additional parts of their "Mirror" song series. Their digitally produced 'Io' appeared in 1994 and resulted in Project Pitchfork's first German chart appearance, as well as their first American release. The band had another prolific year in 1995. They released a pair of EPs ('Ch'i' and 'Corps d'Amour') and an LP ('Alpha Omega'); started their own label, Candyland Entertainment; and embarked on a European tour with then-newcomers Rammstein. By 1997, the rise of industrial music in the mainstream resulted in the addition of more guitar riffs and heavier synths on their NIN-fluenced '¡Chakra: Red!' At this time, they also added Jurgen Jansen as an official member of the lineup and toured the United States for the first time.
The trio released 'Eon: Eon' (Warner Music Group/EastWest) in 1998, backed by the single "Steelrose," which was the band's first music video. A period of relative quiet followed as the band took a few years off before releasing 'Daimonion' in 2001. The effort included the club hit "Timekiller" and was their highest-charting album to date. The following year, they released the "NUN Trilogy", a triptych of releases that included the 'Inferno' LP and the 'View from a Throne' and 'Trialog' EPs. A few years of silence followed before the band released the ominous 'Kaskade' LP in 2005 and the accompanying 'Wonderland/One Million Faces' EP in 2007.
Project Pitchfork had what turned out to be yet another big year in 2009, as they released 'Dream, Tiresias!' (Prussia Records) -a sharply produced and more dance-oriented album- and a remix album before their second tour of the United States. The next year, they released 'Continuum Ride', and followed the year after with the more accessible 'Quantum Mechanics', which became another German chart-climber. In 2011, the band remastered 31 songs and compiled them into a massive two-disc collection, 'First Anthology'.
The two-disc LP 'Black' was released in 2013, furthering the band's staple sound. It was followed up by the ambitious concept album 'Blood' in 2014. A second compilation collection, 'Second Anthology', was released in 2016, celebrating nearly three decades of Project Pitchfork's dark electronic dance. Commemorating their 25th anniversary, the all-new studio LP 'Look Up, I'm Down There' arrived in 2016, with 'Akkretion', the start of a new trilogy, arriving in 2018. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Since beginning in 1977, French industrial innovators Die Form have built up a staggering body of work, ranging from goth club tracks to neo-classical explorations. Lyrically and visually confrontational, the group's music, videos, performances, and art books have revolved around controversial themes such as eroticism, necrophilia, sadomasochism, and bestiality. The group was founded by audio-visual artist Phillipe Fichot, and model / vocalist Éliane P. joined during the late 1980s. Much of Die Form's material, including dozens of obscure cassettes, has appeared on Fichot's Bain Total label, but releases on labels like Metropolis and Trisol have expanded the group's audience.
Die Form's earliest cassette releases, as well as recordings under pseudonyms such as Eva-Johanna Reichstag and Krylon Hertz, were noisy experiments heavily inspired by musique concrète. Die Form's vinyl debut, 1982's 'Die Puppe', included highly inventive drum machine rhythms as well as disturbing lyrical content. 1983's 'Some Experiences with Shock' took this sound in a more caustic direction, influencing electro-industrial bands such as Skinny Puppy. 1987's 'Poupée Mécanique' (featuring vocalists Cécile Ke, Véronique Perrault, and Brigitte Mercier) was Die Form's most accessible release yet, but their brand of synth-pop was still far too dark and disturbing for the mainstream. 'Face to Face, Vol. 1', an experimental split LP with Asmus Tietchens, appeared in 1988. Also that year, German label Normal released retrospective 'Archives & Doküments'. The label also issued Die Form's 'Photogrammes' in 1989. Featuring vocalist Katia B., the album alternated between more melodic, ethereal songs and some of the group's most experimental work to date.
1991's 'Corpus Delicti (on Parade Amoureuse)' pushed Die Form's perverse lyrics to their extremes, mirroring their controversial performances. The album was also a full immersion into dancefloor-friendly EBM and electro, and single "Savage Logic" became a European club hit. The track featured operatic vocals by Éliane P., who subsequently became an integral part of the group. 1992's 'Confessions', released by French label Danceteria, continued in the club-ready direction of the previous album, while 'Ad Infinitum', recorded around the same time and released by Hyperium Records in 1993, was a bit darker and more experimental. Following mini-album 'Tears of Eros', 'Suspiria De Profundis' appeared in 1994, mixing trance-like club tracks with slower, more introspective material, and placing a greater emphasis on Éliane P.'s bombastic vocals. Following another mini-album ('Rose Au Cœur Violet'), 'L'âme Électrique' was released in 1995. The album was intended as the second part of "The Trilogy of Passions", which began with 'Suspiria De Profundis', but a third part never materialized. Following 1996's 'Vicious Circles', a compilation released by Cleopatra, 'Duality' appeared on Trinity in 1997. The album was released in the United States by Metropolis, which subsequently reissued much of Die Form's back catalog. A more expansive compilation, the double-CD 'Histories', was released in 1998.
Trinity changed its name to Trisol in 2000, and Die Form began releasing material on that label as well as its Matrix Cube imprint. 'Extremum' appeared in 2000, followed by 2001's 'Akt', a double-CD compilation of tracks by various Die Form side projects. Studio full-length 'InHuman' appeared in 2004, followed by companion album 'ExHuman' in 2006. 2008's 'Bach Project' contained electro-industrial interpretations of Bach compositions. By the end of the year, Die Form left Trisol and signed with Out of Line, which issued triple-CD anthology 'Best of XXX', followed by 2009's 'Noir Magnétique', a return to a more club-oriented sound.
In 2010, Vinyl-On-Demand released 'Chronology: The Bain Total Years 1.977-1.985', an expansive box set of Die Form's early cassette material. 'Ambient & Film Music 1 + 2', a reissue of a 1991 release by side project Sombre Printemps along with a disc of newer material, appeared on Out of Line in 2011. The label issued Die Form's double-CD 'Rayon X' in 2014. In 2015, Rotorelief released a double-LP of Die Form's '80s side project Fine Automatic, with both discs available separately as well. Fichot debuted his experimental solo project Musique Concrète with 2015 album 'Cinema Obscura'. 'Die Form ÷ Hurt', a reissue of a 1985 cassette, appeared in 2016. Later that year, Dark Entries released 'Zoo', a compilation of tracks recorded around the same time as 'Die Puppe', which had been reissued by the label the previous year. In 2017, Die Form released a Fluxus-inspired split LP with German avant-garde artist Mama Bär. Returning to Trisol that year, the group released single "Psychic Poison," which preceded studio full-length 'Baroque Equinox'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Founded by Sevren Ni-Arb and Regan Eracs, the German industrial band X Marks the Pedwalk expanded upon the Euro-synth pop of the '80s with harsher electronic rhythms and alternative themes. Ni-Arb had played keyboards with several '80s synth bands, but founded the group Scarecrow with Eracs in 1987. The duo released the 'Black Door' EP, but in 1989 changed their name to X Marks the Pedwalk -taken from a short story by Fritz Leiber- for the release of the 'Arbitrary Execution' single on the prolific Zoth Ommog label. Two more singles followed in the next year ('Danger' and 'Disease Control') before the pair released their debut album, 'Freaks', in 1991. They released several EPs during 1991-1992, after which Eracs left the band; Ni-Arb then recruited his brother, Raive Yarx, as a replacement. The brothers' first release, 'Human Desolation', appeared in 1993. One year later, X Marks the Pedwalk gained a contract with the American industrial label Cleopatra; 1994's 'The Killing Had Begun' was the first LP released under the contract. An album of mixes and B-sides, titled 'Air Back Trax' for its Zoth Ommog issue, was renamed 'Abbatoir' for its Cleopatra release late in 1994. Another compilation album, the American-only 'Four Fit', appeared in 1995, as did the group's fourth proper album, 'Meshwork'. Ni-Arb also works on several side projects, including Ringtailed Snorter, A-Head, Blind Vision, and U-Tek. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
The solo project of Danish electronic artist and producer Claus Larsen, Leæther Strip emerged in the early 1990s with an aggressive sound that helped build the foundation for Western Europe's influential EBM (electronic body music) and electro-industrial movements. One of the foremost acts to sign with Germany's authoritative Zoth Ommog record label, Leæther Strip was a dominant force in the '90s and has continued to carry the dark electro-industrial and EBM flag into the 2010s and 2020s.
A native of Aalborg, Denmark, Larsen dabbled in the heavy metal scene before turning his attention to electronic music in the late '80s. Looking to channel his affinity for artists like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell into something new, he began officially operating under the Leæther Strip moniker in 1989 with the release of the single "Japanese Bodies," which was released on then-fledgling label Zoth Ommog. The arrival of the full-length 'Pleasure of Penetration' and 'Science for the Satanic Citizen' in 1990 helped establish the group in Germany, Belgium, and Denmark. In 1991 Larsen created the industrial metal side project Klute, with which he would go on to release a handful of EPs, singles, and full-length outings, though he would officially change the name to Klutæ in 2006, in order to distance the project from drum'n'bass artist Tom Withers, who had by then achieved some measure of success under the Klute moniker.
Leæther Strip released six more albums and five more EPs with Zoth Ommog before the label folded in 1999. During that time, the group's material gained a wider release in Europe through the Semaphore label and found its way overseas with the help of domestic deals with Cleopatra and Metropolis Records. Larsen let Leæther Strip remain largely inert between 2000 and 2005, citing label issues and personal concerns as the culprits, but in 2007 the band issued a new studio LP, 'The Giant Minutes to the Dawn', which was released by Alfa Matrix and marked a return to the thumping electro-industrial attack of the project's '90s heyday. Larsen put out four more full-length efforts for the label before going the independent route in 2011. Since then Leæther Strip has continued to tour both at home and abroad while releasing high-end and high-energy slabs of socially and politically charged EBM/industrial emissions like 'Æscapism' (2014), 'World Molæster' (2018) and 'Appreciation V' (2021). [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Swamp Terrorists were a Swiss electro-industrial music group that was started in the late 1980s by synthesizer programmer STR, (of Bande Berne Crematoire, Nacht-Raum, and Strangler of the Swamp fame), vocalist Ane Hebeisen (aka Ane H, formerly of Tierstein) and guitarist Francis H.
Francis H departed from the group after the release of their first EP 'He is Guilty', after which Ane and STR recorded their first album 'Grim – Stroke – Disease' together and released it on the Machinery / Noise label in 1991. About a year later, it was followed by 'Grow – Speed – Injection'. Shortly after the 1994 album 'Combat Shock', Swamp Terrorists added several members for their live show: bassist Anrej A, guitarist Spring and drummer Piet Hertig.
The band had a dedicated following in Brazil, where they have toured and where their international fan club was based. STR left the band immediately following the 1995 release 'Killer', and began to work with the guitar-heavy Hellsau. The other four members of the band, as well as STR's live replacement ND, have since released a live album, 'Five in Japan' and 2 EPs: 'Wreck' in 1997, and 'Rare & Unreleased' in 1999, on Metropolis Records. The band has been inactive since.
Their music is harsh pounding
electro-industrial / industrial hip hop beats, turntables and occasional
rapping mixed with grinding metal guitar riffs (which are usually
sampled from other heavy metal bands), and produces a sound similar to
Die Warzau, KMFDM and White Zombie. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Eton Crop were an indie band formed in 1979 in Nieuwkoop, Netherlands, and released a total of 12 singles and four albums over the next 15 years. Frequent visitors to the UK, they toured with many of the "pre-C86" groups like The Membranes and The Three Johns, the latter with whom they shared a not too dissimilar musical approach. While many groups from that era downed tools towards the end of the decade, Eton Crop battled on into the mid-nineties, their last full length album, 'Get Real!', appearing (on CD) in 1992, eventually bowing out in 1994 with the 4 track EP 'Everybody'. The band later changed their name to the E.C. Groove Society and started producing techno music until 2003. In 2014 the band reformed under Eton Crop and performed in Stockton, County Durham, UK at the Peel Regenerated Festival.
Bryn Jones was not a practicing Muslim and never went to the Middle East. His recordings as Muslimgauze, however, qualified him as one of the Western artists most explicitly slanted in his favor of the Palestinian liberation movement. Since the Manchester-native's works were instrumental, most of the political statement was inherent in the packaging: Witness titles such as 'Fatah Guerrilla', 'Return of Black September', 'Hebron Massacre', 'Vote Hezbollah', 'United States of Islam' and 'The Rape of Palestine'. Jones could have been a potentially controversial figure if his releases were available in anything except severely limited editions -usually less than one thousand copies of each. Despite their lack of prominence, Jones' blend of found-sound Middle Eastern atmospheres with heavily phased drones and colliding rhythm programs were among the most startling and unique in the noise underground.
Formed in 1982 to protest the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Muslimgauze's first release was the 'Hammer & Sickle' EP, which appeared in 1983 as a response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. During the 1980s, Jones averaged almost two Muslimgauze albums per year, plus additional EPs and limited releases (of 500 copies each). With 1990's 'Intifaxa' he earned his first release on Extreme Records, an Australian label with releases by Robert Rich and Paul Schütze. Five albums followed for Extreme in the next four years, while a half-dozen were released on the Dutch Staalplaat, distributed in the States as well through Soleilmoon. As the decade progressed, Muslimgauze's output became even more concentrated -five albums in 1994, six a year later, and an unbelievable eight LPs in 1996. The experimental / noise underground increased in visibility during the late '90s, with Muslimgauze productions gradually encompassing heavier beats and a style close in execution to post-industrial beat-heads Techno Animal, Download and Scorn. The Muslimgauze project ended tragically in 1999 when Jones died suddenly of a rare blood disease. A number of posthumous releases including 'Lo-Fi India Abuse' (partially a collaboration with dub collective Systemwide) and the nine-disc 'Box of Silk and Dogs' soon followed. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Carlton B. Morgan
(aka Carlton B. Mansonand real name Colin B. Morton) is a
Welsh musician, author, and cartoonist, probably more well known for his book "Great Pop Things: The Real History Of Rock And Roll From Elvis To Oasis" co-written with Chuck Death (the latter a pseudonym for the musician and painter Jon Langford of The Mekons).
He was also a member of The Immortal Invisibles and The Supernormals, with Michael Mason (keyboards) and drummer Ken Moore and Julian Hayman from the Discount Chiefs.
A.C. Temple were an alternative rock band from Sheffield formed in 1985 by guitarist Noel Kilbride and Neil Woodward (bass) with Jayne Waterfall (drums) and vocalist Dave Giles. Andy Hartley (bass) joined the following year with Jane Bromley taking over vocals. Mixing industrial noise with guitars and effects, they were compared in their early days to the likes of The Birthday Party and Sonic Youth. The band's first two albums, 'Songs of Praise' and 'Blowtorch', were released on the Further label, subsequently signing to Blast First. They recorded a session for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show in 1987. Guitarist Paul Dorrington joined in 1987 but departed the following year to form Tse Tse Fly. With bassist Chris Trout (formerly of Kilgore Trout), guitarist Tim Beckham and drummer Mat Silcox on board, the band released their third album, 'Sourpuss', in 1989. A final effort, 'Belinda Backwards', was released in 1991, before the band split up.
Trout later worked with former Pale Saints member Ian Masters in Spoonfed Hybrid. Dorrington went on to join The Wedding Present, staying with the band between 1991 and 1995. He later also played on Cha Cha Cohen's debut single. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
As one of the founding members of Sonic Youth and on his own, Lee Ranaldo bridges the gaps between experimental music and the larger world of alternative rock. Along with former bandmate Thurston Moore, Ranaldo developed an innovative approach to the electric guitar with unique tunings and a percussive playing style and lent an atmospheric, vaguely psychedelic undertow to their music on tracks like "Eric's Trip." During his years with Sonic Youth, Ranaldo's solo releases were a platform for his more introspective music, such as 1998's 'Amarillo Ramp (For Robert Smithson)'. He also embarked on collaborations with fellow experimental music luminaries on albums like 1998's 'Clouds', one of several works with percussionist William Hooker. When the band's time came to an end, Ranaldo incorporated some of the more structured songwriting into albums like 2012's 'Between the Times and the Tides' and 2017's 'Electric Trim', balancing these releases with more free-form efforts such as 2021's 'In Virus Times'.
Lee Ranaldo was born in 1956 in East Norwich, New York. Ranaldo attended SUNY Binghamton in Binghamton, New York, where he played in an experimental punk outfit called The Fluks (named after the Dadaist art movement Fluxus). His early influences include many psychedelic California bands from the late '60s, including The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Hot Tuna, as well as early New York City punk units like the Ramones, Television, and Talking Heads. After moving to New York City in 1979, Ranaldo briefly attempted to revive The Fluks before performing with a series of acts including Rhys Chatham and Plus Instruments (with whom he recorded an LP in 1981). Through Chatham, Ranaldo met composer Glenn Branca, who created avant-garde pieces for electric guitar ensembles. After Ranaldo met Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, who were also working with Branca's ensemble, they began playing as Sonic Youth in 1981 (following a succession of drummers, Steve Shelley became their permanent timekeeper in 1985).
Throughout the '80s, Sonic Youth recorded and toured constantly. Their early years are documented in two books adapted from road journals written by Ranaldo, "Road Movies" and "Jrnls80s". As the band moved from the abrasive, no-wave inspired approach of 1983's 'Confusion Is Sex' to the more structured and melodic but still experimental territory of 1987's 'Sister' and the following year's landmark album 'Daydream Nation', Sonic Youth became a fixture of America's underground rock scene. In 1987, Ranaldo released his first solo album, 'From Here to Infinity', on SST Records, Sonic Youth's label at the time; the original vinyl release featured locking grooves at the end of each track, while its second side was impossible to play (it was a piece of engraved artwork by artist Savage Pencil).
By the early '90s, Sonic Youth were looked up to as elders in the fledgling alternative music scene and acted as mentors to dozens of younger bands, including Nirvana. In this role, Ranaldo produced
albums for Babes in Toyland, You Am I, Deity Guns, and others. He also spent more time on his solo career and on collaborations outside of Sonic Youth. His own releases ranged from EPs such as 1992's 'A Perfect Day' and 1994's 'Broken Circle' to collections of earlier recordings like 1993's 'Scriptures of the Golden Eternity' and 'East Jesus' from 1995. That year, he joined jazz percussionist William Hooker on a pair of albums, 'Envisioning' and 'The Gift of Tongues' (which also featured Zeena Parkins) that found Hooker on drums and Ranaldo on modified guitars, synthesizers, and other electronics as they took turns reading and improvising poetry. In addition, Ranaldo issued 'Bookstore', a book of his poetry and Leah Singer's photography, and edited "Online Diaries", a volume of tour journals from the 1995 Lollapalooza Tour featuring contributions from Moore, Beck, Stephen Malkmus of Pavement, Courtney Love, and others. In the latter half of the decade, he collaborated with Moore, Loren Mazzacane Connors, and Jean-Marc Montera on 1997's 'MMMR'; reunited with Hooker for 1998's heavily edited live album 'Clouds'; and released "Moroccan Journal", an account of his visit to the Master Musicians of Jajouka featuring Singer's photography, in 1999. 'Dirty Windows' and 'Amarillo Ramp (For Robert Smithson)', both of which collected recordings from the early '90s, appeared in 1998.
Throughout the 2000s, Ranaldo continued to collaborate with other leading lights of the avant-garde during his downtime from Sonic Youth. At the beginning of the decade, he worked with Moore, Shelley, and Mats Gustafsson on 'New York - Ystad' and with Christian Marclay on 'Bouquet'; 'Fuck Shit Up', a live album capturing a performance with Moore and Marclay, also arrived in 2000. Around this time, the improvisational group Text of Light formed, and its 2004 self-titled debut album featured performances from Marclay, Hooker, Ulrich Krieger, Tim Barnes, and Alan Licht. That year also saw Ranaldo publish two books, "Lengths & Breaths" and "Road Movies". In 2005, he reunited with Hooker, Licht, and Marclay for 2005's 'Music for Stage and Screen', which featured excerpts of a score Ranaldo produced for Dania Saragovia's film "Jealousy", as well as music for plays by Gil Kofman and Michele Salimbeni. Additionally, Ranaldo and Hooker collaborated on 'The Celestial Answer' and 'Oasis of Whispers', which also featured Glen Hall. The following year's 'Four Guitars Live' captured Ranaldo, Moore, Nels Cline and Carlos Giffoni at a 2001 concert.
The solo work Ranaldo created at this time also explored the possibilities of the guitar. His "Suspended Guitar" installation, which featured a guitar hanging from a rope generating feedback that could be manipulated with a bow or by hitting its body or strings, appeared in performance spaces and museums in Europe and the U.S. Ranaldo's other sound art included 2006's "Shibuya Displacement (a Soundwalk)", which was commissioned by the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art. His work as a visual artist was celebrated with a residency at Paris' CNEAI in 2007 and 2008. Also in 2008, Ranaldo released the EP 'Countless Centuries Fled into the Distance Like So Many Storms', a set of electric guitar variations that, like 'From Here to Infinity', featured an etched artwork by Savage Pencil. Ranaldo's status as one of the most influential guitarists of his time was cemented by two guitar designs that were inspired by him. First was the Moonlander, an 18-string guitar built for him by Yuri Landman in 2007, then Fender designed a signature, transparent blue Jazzmaster named for him in 2009.
Ranaldo remained a prolific collaborator and solo artist in the 2010s. He kicked off the decade with an appearance on Marclay's 'Graffitti Composition', which also featured adventurous guitarists Elliott Sharp and Vernon Reid, and issued the solo album 'Maelstrom from the Drift', on which he was supported by Necks drummer Tony Buck and Highland Bagpipes' David Watson on bagpipes and guitar. When Sonic Youth moved from DGC Records to the independent Matador label, Ranaldo also signed on as a solo artist. The band went on hiatus in 2011, and that year he and Moore teamed up with Montera for 'Les Anges Du Péché', a collection of guitar duets. He made his debut for Matador as a solo artist with March 2012's 'Between the Times and the Tides', a set of more straightforward and melodic songs featuring familiar faces such as Licht, Cline, Shelley, and Jim O'Rourke. That year, Ranaldo, Watson, and Buck made their debut as Glacial Trio with 'On Jones Beach'. He closed out the year with the December publication of the poetry book "How not to get played on the radio". For 2013's 'Last Night on Earth', Ranaldo assembled a new band, The Dust, which featured Licht and Shelley along with Tim Luntzel.
While touring in Europe, Ranaldo and company recorded a set of acoustic sessions in Barcelona with producer Raül Refree that later became 'Acoustic Dust', which was released in October 2014 to accompany another European tour. A 2015 exhibition of his visual art in Manhattan and more touring preceded September 2017's 'Electric Trim', a set of songs recorded in New York and Barcelona that featured The Dust, Refree, Cline, and Sharon Van Etten, along with lyrics by novelist Jonathan Lethem. The album arrived in 2017 on Mute, one of Sonic Youth's former labels. A solo acoustic performance from a tour in support of the album was released in late 2018 as 'Electric Trim Live at Rough Trade East'. The following year, Ranaldo collaborated on an album with Jim Jarmusch, Marc Urselli, and Balazs Pandi, then teamed up with Refree again for 'Names of North End Women', their first album as a duo. Incorporating spoken word, found sounds, and other experiments, it came out on Mute in February 2020. That September, he recorded in his home a four-part instrumental acoustic piece inspired by the way the COVID-19 global pandemic seemed to make time stop. Incorporating droning and ringing acoustic guitars as well as environmental sounds, 'In Virus Times' appeared in November 2021. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Through his work as both a performer and producer, Don Fleming was a longtime mainstay of the contemporary underground rock scene. He first emerged during the early 1980s fronting the Washington D.C.-based Velvet Monkeys, debuting in 1981 with the tape-only 'Everything Is Right'; 'Future' followed two years later, and in 1986 the group appeared with Half Japanese on a split cassette issued on the K label. The group dissolved soon after, at which time Fleming and drummer Jay Spiegel relocated to New York and formed B.A.L.L. with Shimmy Disc honcho and Shockabilly alum Kramer, debuting in 1987 with 'Period'. Upon B.A.L.L.'s demise, Fleming re-formed The Velvet Monkeys, this time with an all-star lineup including Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Pussy Galore's Julia Cafritz; 'Rake', a concept album in the tradition of '70s-era exploitation soundtracks, followed in 1990.
Upon debuting his latest band Gumball with the 'Special Kiss' LP, Fleming moved into outside production, teaming with Kim Gordon to helm Hole's 1991 debut 'Pretty on the Inside'. That same year, he also produced Teenage Fanclub's excellent 'God Knows Its True' EP, reteaming with the group for the full-length 'Bandwagonesque', widely acclaimed among the year's best efforts. A year later, in addition to Gumball's 'Super Tasty' EP, he also played in the alt-rock supergroup Dim Stars and produced the Screaming Trees' 'Sweet Oblivion'; the Posies' 'Frosting on the Beater' followed in 1993, as did Gumball's 'Super Tasty'. In 1994, Fleming surprised many by producing material for Alice Cooper's 'Last Temptation' album. After their 'Revolution on Ice', Gumball disbanded, and with the 1996 EP 'Because Tomorrow Comes', he began a solo career. In 1998, Fleming co-produced Sonic Youth's 'A Thousand Leaves'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Mark Robinson is best known as the guitarist and vocalist of the beloved indie pop band Unrest, in addition to being the entrepreneur of Teen Beat Records, a label that fired off its first release in 1985. While in high school during the early '80s he formed Unrest with Phil Krauth, which lasted several albums and several singles into the mid-'90s. Shortly after the demise of that band, he formed Air Miami with other Unrest-mate Bridget Cross. Breaking up after an album and EP, Robinson moved on to the more angular and post-punk driven Flin Flon, releasing two albums between 1998 and 1999.
Other projects involving Robinson included the indie/lounge supergroup Grenadine and The Project, a one-off single with two members of Tuscadero that paid tribute to Christopher Reeve and the Titanic. While dividing time between his various bands and running Teen Beat, Robinson issued a number of solo recordings. 1987's 'Black Christmas' cassette was the first, notably followed by the 1989 7" 'Sammy Supreme My Man', which honored Sammy Davis, Jr. 1990's ramshackle 'Mark E. Superstar' cassette alternated acoustic tunes with snippets from "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three". 2000's 'Tiger Banana' was a full-fledged proper solo record, with Robinson backed by three members of Versus. 'Canada's Green Highways' followed the next year. He also launched a series of experimental electronics EPs later in the year, beginning with 'Taste'.
Just as important as Robinson's own band and solo work is his Teen Beat label, which followed Dischord and predated Simple Machines as revered do-it-yourself outlets of independent music in the Washington, D.C., and Arlington, VA, areas. Similar to the other labels, Teen Beat's releases predominantly came from local acts. Robinson's label tended to be pop-based and also followed the ideology and graphic identity of some of his favorite British indie labels, including Factory, 4AD, and Rough Trade. Robinson emulated Factory to the extent of assigning a catalog number to anything label related, including their first paid employee, interns, legal paperwork, Connecticut warehouse, and mouse pad. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
As the lead guitarist of Living Colour and a co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition, Vernon Reid has done a great deal to undermine stereotypical expectations of what music black artists ought to play; his rampant eclecticism encompasses everything from hard rock and punk to funk, R&B and avant-garde jazz, and his anarchic, lightning-fast solos have become something of a hallmark as well. Born in London, Reid and his family emigrated to Brooklyn while he was a child; he began playing guitar at age 15, initially studying jazz and progressing quickly. In 1980, he joined drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, a cutting-edge jazz group with whom he appeared on six albums; over the course of the decade, Reid went on to work with a wide variety of experimental musicians -Defunkt, Bill Frisell, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, and Public Enemy, among others.
Around 1983, Reid formed the first version of what was to become Living Colour; in 1985, with journalist Greg Tate, he formed the Black Rock Coalition, an organization devoted to opening doors in the music business for black musicians who were not content being confined to the roles of soul crooner or rapper. Living Colour did not really begin to jell until their lineup stabilized in 1986, and when Mick Jagger saw the group perform at CBGB's and invited them to appear on his 'Primitive Cool' album. Jagger went even further, producing two demo tracks and helping to convince Epic to sign the group. Living Colour debuted to massive critical acclaim in 1988 with 'Vivid'; the group lasted through 'Time's Up' (1990) and 'Stain' (1993) before disbanding in 1995.
Reid has continued to make periodic appearances on others' recordings, and in 1996, he issued his solo debut, 'Mistaken Identity'. He resurfaced in 2002 as one half of Yohimbe Brothers, a duo also featuring DJ Logic. The two released the 'Front End Lifter' album in September and subsequently toured the United States throughout October. They issued a followup in 2004 on Thirsty Ear entitled 'The Tao Of Yo'. Reid has remained active as both a session guitarist and as a producer, most notably on James Blood Ulmer's recordings since 2001 beginning with 'Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions' in 2001 and continuing through 2003's 'No Escape From the Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions', 2004's 'Birthright' and 'Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions' in 2007. Also in 2007, Reid, bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and drummer Grant Calvin Weston played a get-together for the closing of New York's Tonic performance space. The show went well enough for the trio form a band called The Free Form Funky Freqs; their debut album, 'Urban Mythology: Volume One' was released as part of Thirsty Ear's Blue Series in February of 2008. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Chris Cochrane is a songwriter and guitarist who has been playing in New York since the 1980s. Chris has played with Thurston Moore, Zeena Parkins, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Billy Martin, Eszter Balint, Stew, James Chance, Mike Patton, Henry Kaiser, Andrea Centazzo, Annie Gosfield, Tim Hodgkinson, Miguel Frasconi, Richard Buckner, Davey Williams, Ladonna Smith, Jim Pugliese and many others.
He has composed music for Dennis Cooper, John Jasperse, Neil Greenberg, Nayland Blake, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Jennifer Monson and Circus Amok. He was in the bands No Safety and Curlew, and is currently works in several projects: Collapsible Shoulder with Brian Chase, Kato Hideki and Kevin Bud Jones; Alphawhore with Gordon Beeferman and Kevin Shea; a duo with Stuart Popejoy and periodically plays with the Chris Rael's Church of Betty. [SOURCE: CHRIS COCHRANE]
Ruins plays a unique form of manic and twisted progressive rock for these millennial times. Ruins' compositions are complex and can be disorienting to any listener who is accustomed to less innovative, dynamic, and demanding musics. Drummer / vocalist Tatsuya Yoshida, the founding member of Ruins, formed the band in 1985. Since that time, there have been a number of different bass players, including Kawamoto Hideki, Kimoto Kazuyoshi, Ryuichi Masuda, and Hisashi Sasaki. Bandleader / drummer / singer Yoshida credits such diverse influences as progressive rock stalwarts Magma, classical composers such as Chopin, and traditional throat singing from Tuva. Though hints of these and other influences (e.g., Bill Bruford, Rush, Pink Floyd, Gong, King Crimson, Yes, and Genesis) often come through in the Ruins sound, there is no mistaking Ruins for anyone else. Many Ruins compositions employ odd time signatures, sudden tempo changes, and passages of heavily processed noise. The bass, which unlike most has six strings, is often threaded through various effects. Vocables are meant to be nonsensical (and that's how they sound) and are usually improvised, as are portions of the songs. The overall sound is chaotic yet precise, noisy yet harmonious, catchy yet repelling, frenetic yet disciplined.
As if the demands of Ruins were not enough, Yoshida keeps himself busy with various other musical projects (e.g., Koenji Hyakkei, Korekyojinn, and Daimonji). From time to time, Ruins has collaborated with others, including saxophonist/producer John Zorn, Fushitsusha noise guitarist Keiji Haino, keyboardist Kenichi Oguchi, vocalists Eleonola Emi and Aki Kubota, acrobatic punkers Schlong, avant-proggers Guapo, Kazutoki Umezu, producer Steve Albini, and guitarists Derek Bailey and Jason Willet. Ruins has many releases in the form of singles, collaborations, and full-length CDs. Among the full-length albums are 'Stonehenge' (1990), 'Burning Stone' (1992), 'Refusal Fossil' (1997), and 'Symphonica' (1998). 'Pallaschtom' followed, comprised of three tracks: a classical music medley, a hard rock medley, and a progressive rock medley. Critically celebrated, Ruins found time to release a compilation of rarities, titled '1986-1992', in the spring of 2002. Several months later, 'Tzomborgha' appeared. After the departure of fourth bassist Hisashi Sasaki, Tatsuya Yoshida forged on with Ruins as a solo act, performing live as Ruins Alone and releasing the album 'Alone' in 2011. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Deadline was one of the signature bands of the early D.C. hardcore scene. The four piece, composed of Brendan Canty (drums), Christian Caron (guitar), Terry Scanlon (bass), and Ray Hare (vocals), formed in the summer of 1981. They recorded a demo at Inner Ear Studios that September and from those sessions three tracks were culled for use on the Dischord 'Flex Your Head' sampler.
After playing a number of memorable shows through the following year, including opening for Flipper at the old 9:30 club, the band recorded one more session at Inner Ear in August of 1982 just prior to disbanding. That tape, once one of the great lost gems of D.C. punk, was eventually released by the Peterbilt label as a one-sided 12" called '8/2/82'. In 2007, the 12” was re-issued onto CD. [SOURCE: DISCHORD RECORDS]
Bassist Rob Moss, guitarist Peter Murray, vocalist Steve Polcari, and drummer Mike Manos were Artificial Peace, a Washington, D.C.-based hardcore punk band that existed during the early '80s. Their lone recordings -"Outside Looking In," "Wasteland," and the requisite for a hardcore punk band self-titled number- were documented on 'Flex Your Head', a compilation released on Dischord that displayed the talents of ten other area hardcore bands from the same period. After breaking up in 1981, Murray (who also spent time in the short-lived Red C), Polcari, and Manos carried on in the longer-lived Marginal Man. Moss would later lend some of his skills to Government Issue. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Before Iron Cross, Oi! punk was made almost exclusively by and for working-class England; it drew from specifically British influences (The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Sham 69), and was colored by its own local scene politics (skinheads, frustrated Cockneys, neo-Nazis, the racist National Front party). Iron Cross absorbed the sound and style of Oi! and transplanted it to Washington, D.C., then the epicenter of the burgeoning straight-edge hardcore movement. Removed from its natural habitat, Oi! in the hands of Iron Cross proved even more controversial than in the U.K.; just the vague connotations of the style were enough to rub some D.C. scenesters the wrong way. The majority of Iron Cross were skinheads, and while they never advocated racism, that was lost on a number of fans already intimidated by the violent elements of the skinhead movement. Similarly, the group's name -and logo- flirted with German imagery, and while the Iron Cross was a symbol of the country's military, not the Third Reich, it was a subtle distinction ripe for misinterpretation.
Iron Cross was formed in early 1981 by vocalist Sab Grey, guitarist Mark Haggerty, and drummer Dante Ferrando, all teenagers at the time. Their initial bass player was John Falls, but a disagreement led to his early exit, setting the tone for what would become a revolving-door bass slot from there on out. (Falls would later work with Ian MacKaye in the short-lived Skewbald/Grand Union.) Chris Haskett, much later a member of the Rollins Band, played on the band's demo tape, and subsequently gave way to Wendel Blow, a former member of State of Alert (coincidentally Henry Rollins' first band).
Iron Cross placed three songs on the scene-chronicling Dischord compilation 'Flex Your Head' in 1982, and followed that with their first 7" EP, the four-song 'Skinhead Glory', on Dischord affiliate Skinflint. Negative fanzine coverage often plagued the group, which led to the title of their second EP, 1983's 'Hated and Proud'. By that time, Blow was gone, replaced at first by John Dunn and then by Paul Cleary, also of Black Market Baby. Iron Cross would never get around to releasing a proper full-length album; Haggerty and Ferrando started playing with Gray Matter later in 1983, and Iron Cross' breakup was later made official. Ferrando went on to play with Ignition during the late '80s, while Haggerty joined Three and Severin. In 2001, the GMM label issued the band's complete recorded works -including a number of outtakes and never-before-released tracks- on the 'Live for Now' CD. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
