It’s the marketing campaign behind Full Spectrum Dominance, out on Tympanik Audio, that both irritates and appeals to me. I mean, it’s clever and well played even though it’s totally ludicrous. And now Thrussel’s even managed to get Side-Line in on the whole thing.

Some background (in case you skipped the review): in essence, DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), a shadowy government organization, commissioned Thrussell to “produce a recording that reflects the ideals and reality of Vision 2020, a futuristic military strategy program.” DARPA granted him a sizable budget and gave him access to defense installations and personnel the world over in an effort to utilize field recordings and the sounds of sensitive hardware and technology in an effort to weave together a soundtrack reflecting the aims of an undercover Skynet-like organization.

Y’know, puuure bullshit.

DARPA itself is not bullshit. It’s actually a pretty frightening organization. But the rest of it? C’mon. I’ll give Thrussell points for coming up with such a grand sounding scheme. Unfortunately the music is terrible.

Side-Line did an interview with Thrussell that was apparently “censored” by US military authorities. And Side-Line bought into it. So the guy scores some points with me for sticking with this whole thing so diligently and coming across as convincing, to some.

Now if he could only make music as cool as his cover stories.

-Brian Eno, Interview with The Guardian, 1-17-10.

I guess I’m always shocked when I hear a musician coming from the standpoint that they’re not making enough money with their music, regardless of the reasons they offer as the causes for their lack of revenue. If you’re not on some major corporate label why would you expect that you can use your music as the primary source for your income? Without a great deal of press – press that goes way beyond pissant little blogs such as ours – you’re never going to have widespread name recognition. And beyond that if you’re making noise Industrial you pretty much have to expect that the audience will be very small. The VAST majority of music listeners like a great melody, a good singing voice and beat that has a definite hook. Maybe that doesn’t sit well with you, and hey – I’m with you. Maybe you want to make instrumental rhythmic noise without melodies and harmonies and have progressive, ever-changing beats and perhaps you feel there should be a wider audience for such music.

Where I come from we have a saying; “Tough shit, asshole.”

Just because you bought all the equipment and learned how to use it, just because you put together a series of tracks and recorded them, just because you manufactured CDs and art-filled booklets to sell to the public does not mean anyone is obligated to buy your shit. There’s this sense of entitlement I’m seeing coming from musicians who seem to think that just because they’ve put an act together and recorded music people must buy their stuff. And they get all pissy and throw out all sorts of scapegoating when there are no – or very few – takers.

Well, guess what? If not many people are buying your stuff you’re probably not very good. That’s the long and short of it right there. And yes, I’m a dick for saying it but refer to the above saying as a reference. Maybe you found some blog to give you a good review and that served as a great ego stroke but when regular people hear your music they pass. Our site reviewed nearly 100 new albums in the past year from a variety of labels. 100 albums within 12 months. And we didn’t even come close to covering all the music that was released in the limited genres we cover. You want to scapegoat? Instead of blaming file sharing and YouTube and such try blaming your peers – all the people out there making and marketing music. They’re the ones making it less likely people will buy your stuff. It really doesn’t matter how big a fan you are of a specific style, buying hundreds of albums within a year’s time is highly unlikely. Just trying to keep all the acts straight is next to impossible.

But it doesn’t just have to mean you’re no good. It could be (and I guarantee you this is the exception, not the rule) that you’re too good and your forward thinking art is a bit much for people to take. Perhaps they’ll eventually catch up to you and there will be success later on but it might not be until after you’ve thrown up your arms and quit in frustration.

Back when I was making music I never expected to build a career out of it. I already had a career as a laborer, one that gave me regular, predictable pay, benefits and even a pension that will ensure I don’t have to work until the day I die. Music was, to me, a hobby. It gave me a chance to flex my creative muscle and “communicate” with people in an abstract way. That was the reward. When we recorded an album we would sell them at shows but we would always put on the back “Unauthorized duplication would be cool” because we recognized that getting our music in as many hands as possible was the key, even if it meant next to nothing in sales.

And I really didn’t want my music to become my career. Music was my art and my art was an expression of life. Once the art becomes your life you lose the capacity to view life in a relatable way to those who might respond to your art. It’s the daily struggles of going to work at the scheduled time every day, dealing with the authority figures hovering over you, paying your bills on time and trying to successfully maintain and nurture relationships with workmates, acquaintances, friends and family that make compelling – and yes, mundane – life experiences which are then expressed in art that speaks to people. Honestly, I’d rather have musicians poor and struggling just like me than gallivanting all over the country or world, climbing out of bed whenever they want and partying/drinking well into the wee hours of every morning. That ain’t real life and once you make it to that point you have no idea what real life is anymore. Hence, your art becomes less vital.

“A working class hero is something to be,” Lennon once sang.

There are going to be artists who won’t be able to accept the new paradigm in music distribution. Some are already threatening to quit since – in their minds – there’s no point in making music if people aren’t going to hand over a ton of money for them to do it. I say good riddance. We have far too many people making music and I’d rather have the people who have a passion for music regardless of financial compensation stick around than those who just want to make a fast buck. I don’t believe the music is going to go away precisely because there are plenty of people who have that passion to express themselves and it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make them rich and famous. What matters is the art. What matters is what is being expressed. That’s all that is relevant.

So am I saying artists shouldn’t be compensated in some way for what hey offer up for us to enjoy? Hell no. If you take something away from these gifts you should be willing to give something in return. I just don’t think the rewards should be so substantial that they remove the artist from the world that nurtured their art so effectively. That doesn’t adequately serve the purposes of great art.

Oh, and read the rest of the interview with Eno. Brilliant, brilliant man.

10. :Wumpscut:, Fuckit (Metropolis Records) Rudy Ratzinger has been at the Goth Industrial game for almost 20 years now and his once-pioneering style seemed to hit an apex with 2001’s Wreath Of Barbs, and each release since has gotten progressively more watered down and uninspired-until this year, anyway. Fuckit is a strong album from start to finish, hearkening back to the dank and creepy artistic beginnings while infusing popular Techno synth-lines that are some of the best in the genre recently. Showing that old and new can be mixed to create something great, expect :Wumpscut: to continue to burn dance-floors for years to come.

9. Zeromancer, Sinners International  (Trisol Records) After abruptly breaking up following a successful tour and album in late 2003, it seemed that one of the most promising new Industrial/Glam Rock bands was done before they even really got started. However there were rumors last year Zeromancer were returning, with two singles and a short tour. Early this year the full-length dropped, and it definitely delivered. Blending Metal, Electronica and Emo Rock, Zeromancer have updated and improved their earlier sound to show a softer but no less brutal vocal side and improved electronics to go with the shredding guitars. A very solid start to an underrated band’s return.

8. Epochate, Chronicles of a Dying Era (Metropolis Records) A surprise breakout act this year is Epochate. Composed of Victor Love and Noras Blake, the idea of an Industrial Ambient album seemed a great one, and the execution of it was surprisingly even bolder. The sound is large, booming, and so finely layered with Powernoise elements you have to wonder if your stereo can take the shake. It isn’t Metal, it isn’t Noize, but it’s somewhere in between, and touts an Ambient melodic structure not always appreciated the way it should be. I look forward to hearing and experiencing more and you should too.

7. Prometheus Burning, A plague called huMANity (Crunch Pod)   Mixing  Industrial, Glitch, Ambient, Powernoise, Techno, and some extremely savvy programming into something both harsh and haunting, this duo from Portland, Oregon have come to dominate your mind by way of forceful beats, harshly unsettling vocals and intelligently brutal lyrics. One of  the surprise frontrunners to be on anybody’s must-have list very early this year, it has held up amongst the best of the best since, with its strength in every aspect from song crafting to vocals to layering the madness. To try to describe the sound is almost futile, and so is resisting. Just know that even in the quiet moments of ambience this album has crunch and thump aplenty.

6. Evil Cowards, Covered In Gas, (Metropolis) It’s not often that music being socially angry and sarcastically glib is outright fun (Voltaire and Caustic notwithstanding), but try telling that to Tyler Spencer  (from Electric Six) and William Bates (from Fall On Your Sword.)  Going straight for the jugular lyrically, this brand new side-project has shown that you don’t need to be “dark and spooky” to make an impact. Like I pointed out, this album can be likened to “Monty Python on a horror binge”. But don’t let the flippant tone deceive you, the Rock music itself is very, very solid and even boldly experimental at times. These guys know exactly what buttons to push, and that makes this an album you must own.

5. Assemblage 23, Compass, (Metropolis)   In order to survive in a niche market for any length of time, you must constantly adapt your sound or eventually you will be forgotten by the pathetically short-attention-spanned fans. Seattle’s Tom Shear (Assemblage 23) has been one of the most constantly evolving Electronic artists over time, and Compass is a masterpiece. Blending elements from Electronica, Rock, Techno, Synthpop and Post-Punk into a cohesive and powerful whole is no easy task but that’s what he has done here. This album not only pushes the boundaries of what electronic music can achieve but also straddles the fine line between club staple and listening experience almost perfectly.

4. VNV Nation, Of Faith, Power and Glory (Anachron America)  The juggernaut duo of Marc Jackson and Ronan Harris have been experimenting with their own brand of Synthpop since 1995, adding Dance and Rock elements with varying degrees of success over time. It’s almost as if they are trying to perfect a recipe of sound. While every CD has gotten them closer to something, no one had any idea quite what the end result could be. Having decided to release Of Faith, Power and Glory on their own label has allowed them to put the various pieces together the way they want, and the result is their most complete yet: A perfect balance of Pop, Rock, and Dark Electronica that absolutely soars with intensity.

3. Din {A} Tod, Westwerk, (Out Of Line) With so many bands lately unwilling to take any kind of musical risk, the bands that do stand out in a crowded field. In a year full of both great surprises and disappointments, Din {A} Tod caught my attention early on with their sophomore set, and as the year went along I found myself enjoying it more and more. It is a work-in-progress Electro-Rock album [They remind me a bit of Joy Division], but what is amazing is how well they do with the minimalist experimental approach. As an added bonus, the whole trip is relatively short so you can dissect and digest it better. The future is bright for this act, so check them out already.

2. Julien-K, Death To Analog, (Metropolis)   When a band can blur the lines between predetermined genres with skill alone you know they are doing something right. Whether to call this Electro-Rock or just Electronica is splitting hairs, but the party and club vibes emanate from every note on every track. The whole experience has mega-hit written into every boom, clank, buzz and warble. The merging of mainstream Pop-Rock and modern underground Electronica begins right here. Delivers the six years’ worth of hype and more.

1. The Prodigy, Invaders Must Die,   Proving once again why they are considered legends in the dance-oriented Electronica movement of the 1990’s, The U.K.’s The Prodigy started this year off  in overblown style and have never looked back. Going forward (backward?) with a focus on sprawling Rave hooks and crunchy Industrial beats meant to played as loud as possible, this is by far and away their strongest album from beginning to end. They have created an epic dance record that you simply can’t escape. Unlike other artists on this list they have gone back to their strongest suit, and simply do what they have always done (make you move your ass), only they do it better.

…And there a metric ton of albums that, for minor reasons, didn’t make my list but would make anyone else’s, like:  Noisuf-X,  Velvet Acid Christ, Yendri, Caustic, Babyland, Seabound, Dope Stars Inc.,  Rotersand, NoLongerHuman, Herschlag, Uberbyte, and Combichrist.

Plus, coming in January we start next year off with the debut of Veil Veil Vanish, an EP by Grendel, new full-lengths from Liquid Divine and XP8, and the long-awaited Suicide Commando, among other things. No rest for the wicked, I tell ya…

And I’ve been burned countless times. Not all the purchases I’ve made have been worth the price.

So the furor over file-sharing tends to get lost on me. It’s not that I refuse to be sympathetic with the artists. Look at what I do here. I spend a great deal of my free time actively promoting the works of people I don’t even know. I don’t openly advocate that you obtain this music for free. I want you to buy it, particularly if it’s actually really good. I want you to support the artists that are worthy of financial support. I’m an admitted music junkie and I openly confess that I’ve downloaded albums. I have engaged in what some would have you believe is the single greatest threat to music. If not for this new scourge artists and labels would still be able to support themselves and move out of Mom’s house.

Except that this isn’t a new phenomenon. Not by a long shot.

Decades before I participated in file sharing I found a way to hear music for free. We called it “dubbing” back in the day. I would take a friend’s cassette tape and copy it with a dual cassette deck. This way my friend could keep his or her cassette and I would also be able to listen to the album away from him or her. I didn’t do it because I wanted to screw the artist or the label. I didn’t have any sort of malicious intent. I did it because I loved the music and I didn’t have any money to give them. Any way you slice it neither the artist or the label was going to get my cash because there was none for me to give. Yet I was able to hear the music and develop into a “fan.” As a “fan” when I did get money I was able to spend it on concert tickets to see the artist and even buy merchandise. And as an ersatz collector I eventually purchased a copy of the album as well. If you’re as old as I am – or older – you’ll remember the cries in periodicals and on the streets that, “Home taping is killing music!” Note that it most certainly did not. The RIAA even lobbied congress for a high tax on blank cassettes in an effort to turn that shit around and make it work for them.

Later in life I struggled with things like rent and food. As such I couldn’t spend a lot of money on my love. The full price of a CD was exorbitant to my tiny budget. Yet I managed to collect the music I adored while at the same time preventing the artist from receiving any money. Again, this wasn’t out of moral turpitude. I wanted the music but couldn’t afford its steep price. So I would look for the album in the used CD section of my local record store. The prices were often slashed by two thirds and I didn’t feel any guilt over the practice especially since many albums I purchased, either new or used, had a number of songs I just didn’t like. When you spend, say, fifteen dollars on a CD with ten tracks on it that comes to $1.50 a track. After listening to it repeatedly you figure out that, in your estimation, only four tracks are particularly good and when you listen to the CD you skip over all the other tracks. In essence you were screwed out of nine dollars. No, seriously. Many view it as such. You might be able to sell off the CD to a used store but they only give you a couple bucks for it. Any way you look at it you didn’t get your money’s worth. You lost money on the deal.

This has been going on for as long as music has been packaged and sold. Hell, the whole debate on property, “intellectual” or otherwise, has been bandied about for a couple hundred years. You should read what Thomas Jefferson had to say about how the rights of the “inventor” shouldn’t be so all-encompassing and relate it back to this “intellectual” property nonsense. So now, along comes the internet and you no longer have to depend on personal friends or disgruntled consumers to provide you with music. You can find it online, download it and “try it before you buy it,” at a higher quality than a dubbed cassette even! Granted, it’s not always of the highest quality but it’s enough to get a good idea if the music is actually worth it. The consumer is no longer the victim of the moderately or occasionally talented artist. Some have even argued that “Creativity depends upon the owners of creativity having less than perfect control”. The fact is the consumer has been the victim of dishonest or unethical business practices within the music industry for decades. An album is released with the fanfare of a couple hit singles. The consumer is led to believe that the album is a real gem based on these singles. The album is purchased and it is discovered that these two singles are the only worthwhile tracks on the whole album. That’s like being tricked into buying a car with a fresh new paint job only to have it die on you a couple hundred miles after you take it home because the engine was never maintained. But just as you can take a prospective auto purchase for a test run and even pull it into a mechanic’s shop for the once-over before purchasing it you can also let an album grow on you before you commit to buying it. That only seems reasonable. It’s fair.

How many albums do you own that are filled with tracks you love? Be honest. And how many CDs contain multiple songs you skip over because they just aren’t as good as some of the others on the album? Obviously the artist felt the songs were good because he or she put them on the album. But the artist was wrong and the “product” is actually inferior. Yet just as there was no malicious intent on the artist’s part to screw the listener/fan out some hard-earned cash the music admirers out there have grown weary of feeling screwed and now have the means to easily rectify the situation. This isn’t an evil, destructive thing. In reality it’s empowering to the avid music listener/consumer. And it should serve as a wake-up call to the artist to be more selective about any album you assemble. It should also be a warning to the labels. If an artist provides you with what you believe is a substandard selection of songs you are certainly well within your right to decline putting it out. If the artist feels you are in error they can always go elsewhere or release their music independently. Music fans now get to judge whether or not a CD has any value before purchasing it. If the value isn’t worth the price in the mind of the consumer then the consumer isn’t going to waste the money. If Cevin Key pulls all his scabs then places them in a plastic baggie and puts it up on ebay it might actually get some bids. Hell, it might sell for a few hundred dollars. You might think that’s crazy but that would be the “worth” of his bag of scabs because someone was willing to pay that price. If someone isn’t willing to pay fifteen dollars for your CD after hearing it then guess what? Your CD ain’t worth fifteen dollars no matter how much you may protest. It simply does not have that level of value in the mind of the consumer.

Music is no longer subject to Caveat Emptor. It’s time for the artists and labels to realize this and either put up or shut up because file sharing isn’t going to go away no matter how much you whine, piss and moan. In fact, the MORE you whine, piss and moan the more you’re going to turn off/alienate your audience. I hear both artists and those running labels/imprints actually putting down their prospective audience, saying that they’re freeloaders and just want everything for free. What a brilliant way to get people to buy from you! [/sarcasm] Even if someone figured out a way to eliminate file sharing completely I’m pretty certain you wouldn’t see any uptick in album sales.

Learn from the past. When Garth Brooks railed against used CD sales cutting into his profits back in the early Nineties his fan base revolted. When Metallica’s Lars Ulrich railed against Napster in the mid-Nineties the fans revolted. So you think that wailing like a bitch about file sharing is somehow going to endear you to your audience? Are you really so daft?! You’re in the wrong business. If anything, file sharing is going to weed out the people who shouldn’t be creating and marketing music. Music will always be there. Music will survive. But if you aren’t capable of adapting to the market you’re going to fail and no amount of whining or scapegoating is going to matter one. goddamn. bit. And the best way to adapt to the new market is to be better at what you do. Be better than everyone else because there are a ridiculous number of people out there doing just what you’re doing and vying for all that money floating around out there.

But I’m not just going to sit here and rail at the artists and labels. As with anything there invariably are people who abuse a system. There are people who download everything and buy nothing. I don’t like those people. Just as I don’t like it when I hear people complain about high ticket prices or the prices of shirts at concerts. If you like an artist you should be willing to support the artist. But I’m not going to demonize everyone who has downloaded albums because I understand. These days you want to be sure you’re not spending your money frivolously. In my interview with ESA’s Jamie Blacker I asked him his opinion on file sharing. It angers him. And what he stated was “I think that there are enough sites out there which make available a platform to sample what a band or artist has to offer. With this in mind, there is no excuse for illegal downloading and file sharing.” I would have to respectfully disagree. While some artists will actually put their entire new album up for streaming on MySpace before the release most do not. Whether I visit a band’s webpage, their MySpace, the label’s site, etc. I typically get to hear only a couple tracks and sometimes just friggin’ snippets of tracks. Hey, this is okay if you’re offering songs on a track by track MP3 basis. I’ll just buy those songs. But I’m not going to dive in headlong anymore for an unproven act who has two really damn good songs on their MySpace page and a CD full of filler of which I was not aware. As I stated earlier I’ve been burned too many times. And even if all your music is up online the speakers on my computer aren’t nearly as good as those on my stereo in the other room and you’ve compressed the shit out of the music to post it anyway.

So what prompted this rant? Back when I made a post entitled You’re Killing The Music I got a large number of responses in favor of what I had to say. There was one respondent, however, whose tone stuck in my craw. And one thing in particular that was stated irked me to no end. In response to my suggestion that people should be making mix CDs for their friends to introduce them to new music this individual’s retort was, “YEA! that’s real legal!”

Seriously? That’s what it’s come down to? You are so vociferous in your aim to ensure no one puts one of your songs on a blank CD that you’re going to go after someone innocently trying to build your name and promote your product. THIS is why I’m so angry. Every time I hear someone go off about file sharing it just seems like they don’t get it. They liken it to “stealing” when that seems a questionable metaphor for what’s actually going on especially given the dubious arguments regarding “intellectual property.” If I walk into a store and steal your CD then I’m guilty of stealing it. If I make a rip of the intangible melodies on the physical CD I’m just not convinced that’s stealing because if I like it I buy the CD and if I don’t it gets flushed.

Fortunately there are some artists coming around and recognizing the potential file sharing offers and embracing it rather than continue to fight a battle they’ll never win. That’s called good foresight and great business sense. A couple of these artists have even stated that albums aren’t the way to go for them and they’ll be offering releases on a song-by-song basis. For these particular artists I think that’s a wise decision since their albums did have plenty of filler, sad to say. A number of acts have offered their releases with the “suggested donation” route and came away with more money than they made on their previous CD release. I’m conflicted about the waning influence of CD sales. I like having the physical manifestation of the music, the booklet, the lyrics, the artwork, etc. Although it’s getting really difficult to accommodate the sheer volume of albums I own with the limited space in my home. I don’t think a physical medium like the CD is ever going to disappear completely but I’d say that within the next ten years it’s going to be reduced to the sort of relic status only die hard collectors hold onto, just like with vinyl.

The bottom line is that you can’t stop what’s happened. And if your perspective is such that you think you would be selling twice the amount of albums if it weren’t for file sharing I would again have to respectfully disagree. Especially when it comes to Industrial, EBM, or any of the darker, electronic sub-and-microgenres the overall “scene” has shrunk, people are much thriftier these days and there is so much music coming out that it’s almost impossible to keep up. We struggle with it here all the time, trying to maintain the reviews page in a timely manner and occasionally getting buried, literally, by all the new material to review. In spite of all the cries and rants about how file sharing is killing music it’s insane how much new music is constantly being put out there for such a small, niche pool of customers.

A recent independent British poll resulted in an astonishing conclusion: people who regularly download music actually buy more music than anyone else. And you know what? That only makes sense. In these frugal times music junkies like myself, who still devote a good deal of income to this habit, have to be more selective in what we choose to do with our money yet we still spend the money when we find something of value. I do believe that those of us who can’t get enough music – in particular those of us with these less popular genre tastes – are even more loyal and dedicated to supporting the artists we appreciate. So I reject the assertion that it’s file sharing that is making it more difficult for you to sell CDs. In fact there have been many studies done recently, most of which suggested there are so many more factors involved in the perceived decline in sales and if you’re at all business savvy you’ll quit with the pointless scapegoating and start moving forward with some fresh new ideas and strategies.

During the course of our chat we discussed a wide variety of topics; the etymology of “Electronic Substance Abuse,” Industrial vs. Metal, composing, increasing the fanbase for dark electronic music, criticism and how to take it, file sharing, the relevance of “Industrial,” record labels, God vs. Satan, The Sea, and many more topics.

Along the way he talks about the future (or lack thereof) as it pertains to ESA as well as the tantalizing collaborations he has on deck for the immediate future.

So check it out – Jamie Blacker of ESA: The DarkTwinCities Interview. Then spread the word. If you don’t have any of his music your collection is sorely lacking. If you have friends and acquaintances who don’t own an ESA disc you should be working fervently to rectify the situation with haste.

ESA on MySpace

ESA on Tympanik Audio

ED. — In The Trenches is a regular column exclusive to DTC and hosted by Dan Clark of Stromkern, Null Device and The Dark Clan focusing on music from the perspective of a recording/touring artist. Our hope is that through this and other guest blogs music fans and admirers might gain a new perspective on what it’s like from the musician’s side of the table – or stage, as the case may be.

People sometimes ask me what touring’s like. Well, to find out, try this simple exercise. Stare at this photo for 10 hours. Then take all your furniture outside. Then sit down for three hours. Then eat a take-out meal. Then sit down for a couple more hours. Then do vigorous calisthenics for an hour. Get drunk. Then bring all your furniture back inside. Then get six hours of sleep. Repeat this every day for a month and you have a fair idea of what touring is like. You can see why some people aren’t cut out for it. For another perspective on basically the same thing, Cellist Zoe Keating (Rasputina, Amanda Palmer, John Vanderslice, Halou) recently did a great talk for O’Reilly Ignite where she covered the same ground:

I really can’t put it better than that. I can, however, add some details — anecdotal and opinionated — from my own personal experience.

Waiting

Huge swaths of time are spent driving, or sitting around waiting until you’re needed, and you can’t go anywhere because when you’re needed, you’re always needed RIGHT FUCKING NOW! There’s nothing worse, in my opinion, than unstructured and unspecified amounts of dead time while on tour, but that’s what touring inevitably involves. Having said that, I’ve been on a couple tours where the waiting wasn’t bad because there was a reliable window of time every day where I could go wander around and find a place to hang out, or go sightseeing or whatever and have a fair idea of when I needed to be back by, but I think out of the couple dozen actual big tours I’ve been on, that’s happened on two of ‘em, so it’s definitely not something I count on, let’s just say.

Food

One thing Zoe doesn’t mention in her video is that the food isn’t always bad; it just depends how much attention a show promoter pays to the rider(s) the band sends along before the show. Often, on U.S. tours, the promoter will just give the bands access to food without even reading the rider. Sometimes that means you get a six-pack and a bag of chips, sometimes it means someone gives you a home-cooked meal, and sometimes it means they say “well there’s a Wendy’s up the road…” and walk away. It should be noted, of course, that all this is on tours where you can actually have a rider. Most touring is done by the seat of one’s pants, and if you get anything at all — water, a sandwich, whatever — in the way hospitality it’s a godsend and you’re super grateful. On bus tours, however, where you’re less able to go somewhere and get your own meal, you’re more dependent on people filling the rider to a reasonable degree of accuracy. I’ve found this to be much less of an issue in Europe than the states, which brings me to my next observation…

U.S. vs. Europe

Another thing that should be noted is that touring in Europe, in general, is a whole different world than touring the States. I’ve only done a couple European tours so I can’t speak definitively, here, but having done both the U.S. and Euro legs of the same bus tour, I can say that the European leg went much more smoothly in terms of quality of food, venue, and other comforts like, oh I dunno; showers. Basically, where you’re touring makes a huge difference, whether it’s what region of the U.S. you’re in (you learn that Bob Evans in the midwest is the place for breakfast, Waffle house is it in the south, and Eat ‘n’ Park is the best option out east), or what country, it impacts things significantly. There are lots of reasons for this, I reckon, but whatever they may be, it’s definitely the case that touring is nicer in some places in terms of comforts than others.

Entertainment

The only time I’ve ever met and hung out with friends/fans while on tour is either at the merch booth or, on the rare occasions when they happen someplace we can attend, at afterparties, so always somewhere generally pretty fun is I guess my point. This, in conjunction with the typical media portrayal of what living the touring musician/”rock star” life is like that everyone gets exposed to, I think sometimes gives folks a slightly skewed view of what all 24 hours of our day are like. Granted I may have 2 or 3 hours to party, but that leaves at least 21 more hours to fill. That’s a lot of driving and waiting. Remember Zoe’s pie chart from the video? For the waiting part, which generally occurs at the venue, there’s always instrument repair or cleanup to keep you occupied, and even though that doesn’t need to be done every day, it does need to be done rather a lot.

Photo from Stromkern European tour 2008, taken backstage at the Blackfield Festival in Gelsenkirchen. My trem had pulled sharp so I had to do a retune and make a couple adjustments to its springs.

On North American tours, however, the problem isn’t so much when you’re at the venue, it’s all the driving. You can only take so many photos like this one:

…before you’re bored out of your skull. Obviously you can get a lot of reading done, listen to music, or — my personal favorite — catch up on movie watching. I tend to get carsick if I try to read in a moving vehicle, but for whatever reason I can watch DVDs on a little laptop screen with no difficulty. I got through the entire Platinum Extended Director’s Cut You-Are-A-Huge-Nerd-For-Owning-This Edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy on a tour where the routing took us from Denver to Chicago to Austin over the course of like five days. But so anyway my point here is that you have to remember to bring all this shit with you or you’re hosed. Also, good noise-cancelling headphones are a must for when people start arguing about shit during the trip. Believe me, it’ll happen. It’s not like there’s much else to do.

The People
I, personally, fucking love playing shows. The only times in life I’m truly comfortable and at peace are the times I’m on stage doing a show, and touring lets me do this in great quantity, so it ranks pretty highly on my list of favorite activities because of this. I get to meet so many cool people and see places I might not otherwise, even if it’s just a piece of them. I get to spend quality time with great musicians, and I get to hang out at the merch booth and talk to folks after the show. These are all huge pluses for me in terms of why I love touring. Granted not every show can have an audience like this:

The crowd for Stromkern when we played Infest in 2006. Fucking amazing. Mindblowing.

…but that doesn’t matter. There’s always (well, usually) someone, and it’s always great to meet them, play music for them, and hang out. That’s another perk. As long as you love that part of it, you’ll at least like touring.

So yeah, like I always say; one is either cut out for touring, or not. It’s one of those things you just won’t know until you’re doing it. Like getting seasick on a cruise. You find out whether or not you’re prone to really wicked projectile-vomiting style seasickness right after it’s too late to bail out.

Does it even have any meaning? Did it ever? Originating in 1976 Throbbing Gristle’s makeshift independent record label, Industrial Records, gave a name to a style that featured avant garde noise and performance art. From Cabaret Voltaire to Whitehouse to Einstürzende Neubauten to Skinny Puppy “Industrial” always seemed to have a place as a descriptive term for edgy, artistically synthetic music.

And yet nowadays we’re tagging every techno act as Industrial. If it includes heavy guitars we call it “Industrial Rock” (?!). Hell, even I’m guilty of perpetuating this idea that anything hard and electronic is “Industrial” through my blog posts and reviews.

And yet, you talk to old schoolers and they get positively indignant about the use of the term. Just check out my interview with Mark Spybey. In his view the word never meant much of anything from the beginning.

Artists tend to publicly shy away from these descriptive terms in regard to their own music and yet I often hear or read them using these same terms to describe other acts. Are genre/subgenre/microgenre titles so important? Do they operate as effective designations which give people some idea of what to expect from the music?

Or is it time to bury the word “Industrial” for good and start from scratch? I’ve heard that “Electro” is making a comeback. Will it bring the funk back with it?

I’m also in the habit of combing through global DJ playlists and see what’s being played and what’s not being played. So I want to start posting regular short reviews of single tracks (released within the past 2 years) that are missing from both DJ and media-player playlists. Now, be warned, I’m not looking for anything profound just tracks that should make you want to move. Also be warned most these tracks sound terrible, unless you have a good bass source.

1. Captive Six – The Job / Noizemaker (Crunch Pod Media)
2. Noorglo – Hypearchy / Hard Body Music (Rustblade Records)
3. Uberbyte – (Let’s Put the Fun In) Fundamentalist / Dos ((Crunch Pod Media)
4. Synth_etik – Fisher of Men (the Betrayer) / Waiting For Rapture (Hands Productions)
5. PNE feat Leather Strip – Smalltown Boy / VA: Alfa Matrix Re.connected 3.0 (Alfa Matrix)
6. Cygnosic – To Spread The Chaos / A Deity In Pain (BLC Productions)
7. Necro Facility – Tuxedo / The Room (Progress Productions)

1. Captive Six is a side project of Ben Arp of C/A/T fame. After a few complaints of the (vocal) direction of C/A/T, Ben decided to partition the project. This particular tracks can’t be called noizzzzey, but it’s vocaless, and uses a lot energy-trance lead loops.
2. Noorglo basically taps into the heavily looped and well produced sound that’s been going around lately, but seems to open up his filters more often. If you liked Soman, you should like this more.
3. Uberbyte has refined the TBM sound to its bare elements: strong percussion, amusing non-sensical samples, “dirty basslines” (ie. saw wave), and the fewer loops the better. The entire album is jam packed with dancefloor anthems, and “Funamentalist” is by far the most amusing track.
4. Synth_etik use to work mostly with making complex layered power noise and idm (with his side-project Totakeke). But as of late, he seems to have been giving a few of his tracks some trancie/electro loops, which are catchy as hell.
5. Most covers irritate me, but this cover of the Bronski Beat classic “Smalltown Boy” by two EBM legends is amazing. One of the few good efforts that Leather Strip and PNE have done in a while.
6. Cygnosic seemed to be have been practically ignored by DJs across the country. The track has a late-90s Zoth Ommog feel to it, but with much better production on the low end. There’s no tricks here, just a straightforward club track with vocals beautifully melded to the low end (not as gremlin-sounding as some of the latest efforts).
7. I recommend this band to everyone I know. They sound shockingly similar to golden-era Skinny Puppy, but with a much dancier bassline. “Tuxedo” was the catchy dance track of the album (also available in a tranced-sped-up version).

Including DarkTwinCities there are only about ten quality sites devoted to dark electronic. Okay, we’re not exactly “quality,” so I guess there are only nine. People who are into Metal are totally devoted to it while people who dig Industrial, EBM and Dark Electro are lazy, self-serving do-nothings who complain about the fact that there aren’t many good shows and not enough people are into the music they like but have never done a goddamn thing to remedy that situation. Too harsh? Perhaps. But certainly not way off base. Metal grew to an enormous degree thanks to all the word of mouth while dark electronic languishes on in obscurity and the few people who do listen to it merely sit around and talk about how it’s all dead.

Great strategy.

Years ago it felt interesting to be part of a “scene” where the participants seemed far more intelligent and thoughtful than in any other. But I’ve been rethinking that idea lately because the people into these styles of music don’t seem all that bright, honestly. I mean, many of the artists come across as thoughtful, open, honest, hard working and vigilant. They’re tireless in their efforts to create and promote. But the “fans” come across as the equivalent of a limp dick. And you’re not going to impress anyone by trying to shove a marshmallow into a piggy bank, y’knowhati’msayin’?

These styles survive almost solely due to the fact that there are some great artists out there putting out album after album of killer music that no one is buying or sharing with the general populace. And they are supported by little independent labels and imprints run by fervent admirers of the styles who give everything to what they do, often taking a loss in the process.

Those goofy religions out there have a thing called “tithing.” It has something to do with a concept regarding giving up a percentage of your money to the church or god or whatever. In turn god will reward you with…I dunno. Virgins or something? Whatever. I’ve never fully understood the whole “save wayward souls collect valuable prizes” ethic but I do recognize that giving of yourself will reap some kind of reward. And by helping out the artists and promoting their material you’re making it more likely they will continue to create their music. And by getting more people into it you’ll build a larger audience making live shows/tours more frequent.

Anyway, you should support these artists we’re always writing about. Start expanding your collection. Go to shows, buy some merch. But more importantly start spreading the word for fuck’s sake. You’ve all got fucking Livejournals and MySpaces and Facebooks and Twitters and what-fucking-not. TALK about these acts you admire. Quit keeping it to yourself like a selfish prick. If someone makes music that inspires you inspire someone else to check them out. Make mix tapes, er…CD thingies. Start your own blog or website devoted to discussing music and reviewing CDs. It can be a great hobby. Just ask the residents of CastleDTC.

Okay, don’t ask any of us. We’re all pretty cranky and always have way to much to do to answer any of your stupid questions.

Bottom line: there are Death Metal bands out there landing on the charts. Regularly. If a brutal style of music featuring blast beats, barking vocals and speed riffing can land on the charts you would expect that a club thumper with some harsh vocals would be able to score five figure sales lickety split, nooo shit. And there is so much of this music coming out – a lot of it quite good – that we here can’t even keep up with it all. And that’s our job. It’s what we’re here to do.

It’s not enough to just listen and keep your mouth shut. That’s exactly what’s killing these styles. Not some goofy ideals about the way things were as opposed to the way they are now. Not file-sharing. Not the economy. It’s you. You’re killing it. You’re just turning your head and ignoring its death throes when you could be administering the life-giving boost it so desperately needs right now.

Start proselytizing. Don’t keep it to yourself. We need advocates. We need voices.

And we at CastleDTC would love more competition.

]]> http://darktwincities.com/dtcblog/2009/07/youre-killing-the-music/feed/ 23 http://darktwincities.com/dtcblog/2009/06/limitations-and-limited-editions/ http://darktwincities.com/dtcblog/2009/06/limitations-and-limited-editions/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:50:43 +0000 Christopher http://darktwincities.com/dtcblog/?p=1795 When a new album comes out and I read there’s a limited pressing I’m typically quick to act. I appreciate a hard copy over a digital download in most every case. I would imagine I’m not the only one who feels this way and I just don’t want to get caught resting on my laurels and missing out on a great CD. For example, when I heard that Cenotype was putting out a limited edition remix album as a companion to his amazing debut, Origins, I was pretty excited. Then I found out he was self-releasing the disc and pressing a mere 250 copies. I immediately headed over to his Origins Productions site and clicked on buy. This was a more than satisfying purchase as I’m sure you can glean from my review of Origins Unfold. I recently asked Lenny if he sold out of copies and was surprised to learn he still has some left.

Seriously? There weren’t at least 250 people champing at the bit for this release? I realize our tastes in music represent a fairly small, niche crowd but it seems hard to imagine one of the most imaginative new acts couldn’t sell through 250 copies in a short time.

I recently put up a review for SE’s brilliant Epiphora (MySpace page) and mentioned that it was limited to a pressing of 333 copies so prospective buyers should head on over to the Tympanik Audio site and act fast. Yet I’m now wondering if there’s enough of an audience to make it through such a small number. It’s perplexing. We do what we can to get the word out on these great releases but I suppose I find it a little disconcerting that the numbers we’re seeing are so paltry. These are hard times and not everyone has the spare change to throw at CDs but the prices certainly aren’t outrageous.

My only hope is that we don’t come to a point where some of these great artistic minds just decide to give up because they begin to feel there’s little point in making the effort. And I also hope that as fans in such a “niche” market our numbers grow rather than dwindle into nothingness.

Start spreading the word.

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