ch. 2
ch.3
ch. 4
INTRINSIC ACTION: Sado-Electronics
This is the incomparable Mark Solotroff’s pre-Bloodyminded industrial death group. There
are hints of the harsh PE that would come to define Bloodyminded (or come to be
defined by Bloodyminded. Ooooooooh) in the sound, but there’s also a lot of
heavy synth sounds reminiscent of Suicide… very rich and sinister. That kind of
synth has made something of a comeback in the last few years, even popping up
in soundtracks for films both underground (Beyond
the Black Rainbow) and aboveground (Drive).
That’s my favorite kind of pop music, eerie 80s synth/electronic stuff. “In a
Glass Cage” is more free-form almost PE, going full bore where “Male Payment”
whispers. Good sense of elevation. Also named after one of the most beautifully
sickening films ever made. Right up there with Salo as a film that works as cinema that’s both simultaneously
transgressive and alluring. Films like that are so hard to come by. I enjoy all
of Solotroff’s projects. One of extreme music’s most fascinating personalities.
A total scholar of prurience, who proves that awareness, intelligence, and
viciousness need not be mutually exclusive. All his projects seem intertwined
in a perverse curiosity, a respectful voyeurism that’s always on the cusp of
breaking fourth walls. Love the vocal effects on “Metamorph” and “Libidinal
Ramblings”, like you can’t tell if they’re creating the feedback or if the
feedback is creating them. I drank Ny-Quil last night / this morning. Can you
tell? Solotroff still does Bloodyminded, but the main group he does now is
Anatomy of Habit. I don’t even know how to really classify AoH. I guess in the
vein of mid-later Swans; emotionally charting guitar-based heavy music… can’t
even call it “rock” or “metal”, really. You can get the LP and the EP on one
disc now, but the vinyl is definitely worth getting. Love that little bubbling
effect at the beginning of “Misguided Thanks”. Love that title, too.
Bloodyminded has insane song titles too. Check out Magnetism especially for proof of that. I hate the lack of
forethought certain PE groups have in that department. Not just PE, but any
other genre too. The only thing I hate more is groups who title songs
“Untitled” in a faux-ironic fashion. Fuck you, lazy ass. Come up with a song
title. Yeah wonderful, you’re “so above” coming up with lyrics or titles for
your songs, cause anyone who cares is a loser or whatever tired ass Gen-XYZ
reverse platitude you think makes you appear to be an insouciant renegade. If
you really didn’t care, you wouldn’t have bothered putting together a project,
recording songs, loading up the gear, and playing in front of an audience,
however small, so drop the schlubby not-an-iconoclast iconoclast routine and
put the same effort into the aesthetic presentation of your project as you put
into the musical performance itself. ESPECIALLY if all you do are vocals.
Personally speaking, as someone who has no real musical ability beyond yelling,
I wouldn’t have the audacity to not work as hard on the lyrics, titles, mood,
tone etc as the musicians do on the music. Why bother otherwise?
Favorite Tracks: “In a Glass Cage”, “Libidinal Ramblings”,
“Misguided Thanks”, “Shock Pit”
FATE OF ICARUS – Cut
Your Throat Before They Do
A criminally overlooked gem from the Golden Age of
Willowtip. I wrote earlier in this blog about how much I value Willowtip
Records output from 1999 – 2006. so many winners on that roster. They still put
out some cool stuff, but I miss the grit and grime of those early 00s projects.
I got into all that stuff (CODC, Watchmaker, Kalibas, Harakiri, Commit Suicde,
etc) right around the time my first band started to come apart at the seams. I
think we all felt alienated from each other, egos onto ourselves. Our drummer
wanted music that was more technically challenging, I wanted more weirdness and
anxiety, and our guitarist wanted more melody and emotion. We probably could’ve
found a balance between all of those, but we were too young and selfish to
respect any ideas but our own. I think the music each one of us has done in the
ten years since we disbanded represents what we wanted our group to be… so
maybe it wouldn’t have worked after all. I think we’re all doing what we want
now, so there are no longer hard feelings (at least from my end of it). part of
me would actually like to do at least one set with the old gang. I think I have
the old lyrics somewhere around, but we did A LOT of covers, too. I think it’d
be a fun, one off sort of thing… but it’s not something I’m hard-up for or
anything. I know those two (if they’re reading this) are probably laughing at
me the same as they did back then, but who knows? Ten years can change you.
Meh… I got good things going. So do they I assume. Anyway… this record here. Lee
introduced me to this band. I missed out on them when they were around… maybe
because the name of the band is very power metal… and I fucking detest power metal.
What a miserable form of music. But FoI is really along the lines of the other
great Willowtip artists of the time… very reminiscent of CODC and Commit
Suicide. Really caustic riffs, a fucking awesome drum sound, and the shriek vs.
burp vocal dynamics that I cherish so. They’re not as remembered as the other
Willowtip artists, but they probably would’ve been had they come out just 2-3
years later then they did, right when the label really boomed. Allergies are
making me feel like fuckbutt today. Think I’ll close up shop for now.
Favorite Tracks: “Annihilate the Assimilationsit” , “the
Shepherd’s Tools”, “Bleeding through God’s Eyes”, “234 (Venetian Snares
version)”
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