From: bkeeley@sdcc3.ucsd.edu (Brian Keeley)
Newsgroups: rec.music.industrial
Subject: Reality Reviews (long)
Keywords: Swans, RevCo, Koner, Klinik, Z'ev, garbage
Date: 6 Oct 92 00:11:35 GMT


Howdy volk!  For the last six months, I've been writing the odd review 
here and there, while at the same time failing to be bothered to 
actually upload them and mail them off.  Here they are in all their 
stupid glory.  There should be something here for everyone,  me 
thinks (including a fulfillment of a year-old promise to Al Crawford).
As you'll no doubt notice, I'm bigger on opinion than on fact.  I
also have the annoying habit of sprinkling my reviews with
questions.  So sue me.

Reality
-------------------------------------------------------------

Stuff  reviewed here:

Klinik - _Box Set_
Swans - _Body to Body_
Z'ev _One Foot in the Grave_
Drug Free America - _Attitude 50 Cents_
Thomas Koner - _Nunatak/ Gongamur_
Lab Report - _Figure X-71_
Current 93 - _Looney Runes_
Death in June - _Oh How We Laughed_
Trance - _Automatism_
Nine Inch Nails - _Broken/Nothing_
Revolting Cocks - _You Goddamned Son of a Bitch_ (video)
Rhythm & Noise - _Shadowcrack_ (video)
Crash Worship ADRV - !Espontaneo!
Swans - _Long Slow Screw_ (video)

	Klinik - (Antler-Subway: AS 5009 CD)
Indications:
Limited Edition - 5000 EX
The Klinik is Mark Verhaeghen, Music & Dirk Ivens, Lyrics
All tracks recorded in the Lab between 1984 & 1988.
All songs published by BE'S Songs 1989.

Disc I:
Nautilus II 	1:45
Colour of Your Heart 	4:10
Surviving in Europe 	6:15
Entrance 	8:15

Wired 	5:10
Under the Black Sun 	8:40
Insane Terror 	5:30

The Kiss of Death 	9:10
Escape 	2:43
Talking to a Stranger 	2:05
Target 	6:00

Disc II:
Decay 	21:55

Metalloid 	2:50
Immortal Flesh 	2:42
The Tree of Life 	10:42

Walking with Shadows 	5:00
Get Lost 	3:28
Sleepwalkin' 	5:20
Nautilus III 	4:20

The collection (which also comes in a 3-LP version) comes in a 
sealed, LP-sized, black box with "The Klinik" printed in metallic red.  It 
includes a large booklet of arty b&w photos, but little or no text.  The 
music is mostly ambient synthesizer & sample stuff.  Sort of reminds 
me of some of Chris Carter's middle-years stuff, like "Welcome to 
L.A." or "Cowboys in Cuba".  For instance, "Decay" is 22 minutes of 
electronic "cricket" noises, plus drum machines and ambient 
keyboards.  There are several tracks with vocals (in English) and 
several other vocal recordings set to music.  But I find the vocals very 
inobtrusive. Good reading music.

Swans - _Body to Body_ (Young God/Sky (in US)). [16 tracks, 64.51] 
"...A collection of 16 track recordings, previously unavailable 24 track 
studio recordings, live cassette recordings, and sound loops from the 
years 1982-1985."  Gira claims that he is getting control of all of his 
earlier material and plans to reissue it all on CD over the next year or 
so.  This CD, together with the re-issue of _Filth_, is the sign of things 
to come.  This excellent collection consists mainly of three things: 1) 
three live tracks from CBGB (1982), 2) five live tracks from a 1984 
show at the same place, and 3) a series of tape loops and songs 
recorded in the studios, including the excellent "Mother, My Body 
Disgusts Me," which is pure Gira genius.   If you're a Swans fan, or 
want an intro to their pre-Jarboe sound, then I highly suggest this 
one.  If you are into the "Jarboe" Swans (_Children of God_, _White 
Light_) or Skin stuff, then be warned that this is very different 
medicine.  
	[However, listening to this and to stuff like _Raping a Slave_ 
(which hasn't yet made it onto CD), makes me wonder:  what on earth 
makes Godflesh so special?   What is the Godflesh sound other than 
10 year old Swans with a sampler and drum-machine? (This is not a 
rhetorical question.  Would somebody familiar with both groups like to 
tell me?)]

Z'ev - _1968-1990 One Foot in the Grave_ (Touch/Rough Trade).  
[Disc 1: 77.08, Disc II: 79.03] This one is expensive (around $50US), 
but incredible.  Two CDs, together with a 122-pg CD-sized book 
simply packed with info (photos, discog, press clippings, poetry, 
history, interviews, recording info, you name it. Perfect for info-
freaks).  And unlike most collections of this type, this collection seems 
to have been personally put together by Z'ev himself.  The collection 
itself is a vast collection of stuff from his entire career both by himself 
under different rubrics (Z'ev, Stefan Wiesser, uns, Yoel, etc.) as well 
as collaborations ('Rax Werx' with Rhythm & Noise, 'Cellar-M', 
'Mother Tongue' with Last Poet Andrew McKenzie, etc.)  If you don't 
know, Z'ev likes to bang on things, especially on things he has built.  
But he also likes to play with electronics and cut-ups.  Not being a 
Z'ev fanatic, I can't comment on this collection's sampling of his 
career, but I can say that it stands on it's own as quite a statement of 
one person's contribution to industrial noise music.  If you like to hear 
someone banging on metal (and tossing it into the air, and riveting it, 
and sanding it...) then you should like this.  
	However, before I leave the subject of Z'ev I'd like to request any 
info y'all might have on extant recordings of Z'ev-Rhythm & Noise 
collaborations.  There is one simply incredible track on Disc I, and I'd 
kill to get other similar recordings (expecially on CD).  If any of this 
sounds familiar, then please post me.  Here is the info included on 
the one track:
 
Rax Werx: In the Compound - Original recordings during 
soundchecks of the 'Rax Werx,' an extended 'drum set' I [Z'ev] built 
for work with R&N and which I shared names with in that context.  
This was for some early R&N recordings ca. 1978 by Rex Probe; also 
source for almost all _Element L_ compositions. The editing was 
done at OD Studios, June to August 1981 (original cassette).  [So, 
is/was any other of this stuff available??  Does _Element L_ sound 
like this Rax Werx track? Is it available?]

Drug Free America  - _Attitude 50 cents_ (Blind Eye 
Records/Independence (UK), 1989) [11 tracks, 48.23].  This one was 
a BIG disappointment!  Here's the story, I first got to hear DFA via an 
instrumental track on _Funky Alternatives V_.  That track ("Just Like 
Daddy's Gun") was pretty incredible, and seeing as _FA_ always 
manages to rip the guts out of songs they remix, I figured that the 
original must be pretty darn good.  Wrong.  The best way to describe 
DFA is _I See Spirits_-era MLwTKK music together Sleep Chamber 
vocals and lyrical sensibilities.  The Kult aspect is great: punchy 
basslines and rhythms; sharp, short samples.  But the singing is just 
unbearable. (Disclaimer: I find Sleep Chamber vocals unbearable, 
too.)  Just these cheesy, self-important lyrics from a guy who sounds 
*exactly* like (and just as self-important as) John Zewizz.  The vocals 
are so bad that they ruin any enjoyment you might get from the 
music.  Unless you like Sleep Chamber, I'd avoid this one at all costs.

Thomas Ko:ner - _Nunatak/ Gongamur_ (Barooni) [11 tracks, 48.27].  
There is little or no info provided with this CD from the label that has 
brought as Asmus Tietchens and the _Bead to a Small Mouth_ comp.  
It bears a strong resemblence to AT, in that it is more or less alien 
noise when compared to standard human musical forms.  However, 
whereas AT gets into short, high-pitched squeaking noises, Koner 
goes for incredibly low, long and drawn out metalic moans.  Music to 
rattle your neighbor's window panes with.  Reminds me a lot of the 
noise produced by Z'ev on the first track of the above-reviewed 
collection.  Imagine what it would sound like to be sitting in the hold of 
an empty oil tanker which was rubbing up against the Golden Gate 
Bridge.  But like Tietchens, Koner manages to do a lot with this sort of 
sound, almost creating a whole new musical form, with alien rules of 
its own.  By this point, you should hopefully know whether you'd like 
this or not.

Lab Report  - _Figure X-71_  (Invisible INV 15CD).  I'm still trying to 
decide if this is a disappointment.  I was sure of it the first time I 
listened to it (on headphones), but on the present replay (on 
speakers) it is sounding a bit better.  Lab Report is Matt Schultz (of 
Pigface fame... the guy with the most excellent ATG) together with 
three others.  The CD clocks in at 68-and-a-half minutes.  The CD 
claims: "Recorded 1/3/91, improvised with no overdubs."  The sound?  
Oh yeah... the closest thing is "Cylinder-head World" off Pigface's 
_Gub_, but that is a bit misleading.  The ATG is in use on every song, 
but it is frustratingly low-down in the mix most places, and is not used 
as straightforwardly as it was with Pigface. (Also, Lab Report is much 
less rhythmic than the Pigsters.) The only word that describes this 
album is "subtle," though not necessarily "sublime."  Never is the ATG 
used as powerfully as in the first track of _Welcome to Mexico..._.  A 
few tracks sport piano accompaniment, and several tracks have very 
uninspired, dark "industrial"(TM) vocals, the lyrics being a bit on the 
lame side in my  opinion.  I'll need a few more listens to this one 
before I make up my mind.  
          .
Current .93. - _Looney Runes_ (DURTRO 004CD) Death in June -
_Oh how we laughed_ (Eyas 1013).  Two live ones from the British 
noise and folk industrial scene.  C93 is a relatively short (30 min), 8-
track recording of them live in Tokyo, 1988.  Line-up includes Tibet, 
Douglas P., Wakeford, McDonald, and Stapleton.  Stapleton mixed 
and produced.   I'm only about half-sold on this folk-industrial stuff 
(though I'll have to check out the new Suzanne Vega :-), much 
preferring noise to incantations.  When C93 does noise, as they do 
on several of the tracks here, its brilliant, and I can even handle the 
well-done folk bits here so this one has to get a feeble thumbs up.  
The Death in June (40mins, 10 tracks) is simply unbearable.  The 
whole thing is one long (pseudo?)-Satanic folk fest, with little in the 
way of redeeming value.  No noise, 100% pretencious dribble. 
Anybody want to buy this bloody thing off me?  On a related note, 
does anybody know what happened to Vinyl Fetish in London? I was 
there this summer, with the hopes of picking up some hard-to-find 
releases from the "store with C93/DiJ band-members" but was sadly 
disappointed to find a run-of-the-mill 2nd-hand shop with little or no 
industrial.  Too bad, it was a cool (if expensive) shop.

Trance - _Automatism_ (Charnel House CDCD-2). Mason probably 
won't be pleased to know that I picked this up for 2 pounds in 
London, and that I saw many similarly-priced copies elsewhere on my 
European travels.  I also hate to say that I'm not all that impressed 
with it.  There is something decidely lackluster about the whole CD.  
More ambient than rhythmic, my personal feeling that the guitar 
effects are much too overused.  One can handle only so much fuzzy, 
distorted, monotonous guitar feedback.  I much preferred the more 
produced, rhythmic, sampled sound of Trances' _Arrythmia_ 
compilation track.  

Nine Inch Nails - _Broken/Nothing_  Given that this thing has been 
reviewed to death here, I won't say much except that I catagorically 
disagree with most that has been said.  (As background, let me say 
that I thought that _PHM_ was very well-done pop-industrial.  It takes 
just as much skill to do quality "pop" music as it does to do anything, 
and PHM was that. Full stop.)   I didn't care much for Nothing.  The 
coolest thing about "Suck" are the lyrics, and they are just lost in the 
Ministry-style over-production. "Physical" did nothing for me.  
_Broken_ itself was quite nice.  Some good lyrics and well-delivered 
over punchy rhythms.  And contrary to earlier opinions, I thought the 
whole thing was quite well-produced, the vocal processing, stops and 
starts being some of the best parts.  [Another question:  These songs 
don't remind me at all of the two "new" ones he played last year at 
Lollapalooza I.  Does anybody know for sure?  What happened to 
those songs, I wonder.  I remember at the time that I quite liked 
them.]  And I for one think that "Gave up" is a vey danceable track.
It's better Minisitry than any of the lame-o tracks on _Psalm 69_.

_You Goddamned Son of a Bitch_ RevCo (Wax Trax).  I finally got around to 
seeing this video, and was quite disappointed.  I used to think that 
there was nothing worse than dance-music being passed off as "live" 
music.  Again, I was wrong.  What's worse is a *video* of dance-
music being passed off as "live" music.  Al looks like he just came 
back from his _With Sympathy_ photo session, and the music is very 
reminiscent of something just between the Ministry 12-inches and 
_Twitch_ (which I guess it is).  Connolly is bald and very gangley-
looking, Paul and Bill Reiflin do a good job of blending into the 
background, and pot-bellied Luc is conspicuously overdressed.  The 
whole delivery is uninspired, with no shots of the audience... in fact, 
no shots of anything or anybody except the band performing.  Oh 
yeah, and the dancers (the Revolting Pussies).  I guess they are the 
representatives of the bacanallian spirit, which translates as: they are 
very (VERY) drunk and do little more that gyrate, occassionally flash 
tits, and trip over instrument cords and band members.  Let's say that 
with _In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up_ Al finally got it right 
and presented us with something interesting to watch. 

_Shadowkrack_ Rhythm & Noise (Ralph).  I was completely unaware 
of the existence of this 1984 "vaudeo" until I recently stumbled across 
it.  For those of you who know R&N, this is the film that the 
"Soundtrack effects" off one their albums comes from.  Only about 30 
minutes long, this is a series of interconnected vignettes loosely 
describable as being based around a spy-thriller plot.  They claim that 
it represents an unfinished project, and it has that feel.  Some nice 
visual effects, some really cool make-up of what looks like Z'ev as a 
vampire from Star Trek: the Next Gen, and some really attrocious 
dialogue.  I only suggest this for R& N fans, and be warned that there 
is no stuff here that didn't make it onto their two albums.

Crash Worship ADRV - _!Espontaneo!_.  Finally, some plastic-
covered aluminium from the pagan drum meisters!  I like this CD quite 
a lot, though the first track is a bit much, what with random off-mike 
fireworks explosions and over-processed vocals.  Actually, I could do 
with a lot less in the way of vocals from these guys, as it tends to only 
get in the way of the incredible percussion going on, especially since 
these vocals tend to end up on the recording as smeared, primal 
scream sounding. Imagine a former singer from Napalm Death front 
for the Kodo drummers and you get the idea. But there are enough 
vocal-less minutes on this disc to make it quite enjoyable.  I'm quite 
looking forward to what CW sound like in a professional, well-
produced studio situation, what with the Cold Spring release due 
hopefully very soon.

Swans - _Long Slow Screw_ (video)  I wasn't planning to review this,
but I happened to see it about two weeks before all the questions
about it popped up.  I can't give any details, but its a Screw/Holy
Money era live video.  If you like that kind of pounding, screaming,
loud, and lovely Swans, then its a must-see.  Otherwise, I wouldn't
bother.  Nothing exciting happens on stage. Every body just stands
there and performs (but at least they don't look silly like RevCo
in their vid).  Nice long throbbing noise.  There is even a nice bit
of video editing at the opening of one of the songs which involves
the manipulation of male and female body parts... you kinda have to
see it to understand, but other than that its just your standard
live video of a very non-standard band.
Xref: sparky rec.music.industrial:11377 rec.music.folk:6781 rec.music.dementia:1548