The Space Age EP was among the first releases of the British intelligent techno duo B12. This four track EP was released in 1991, and like many of the other projects that worked on, such as Redcell, Musicology, and Cmetric, it was released on their own label B12 Records. In the mid-90s, they released two excellent albums under the B12 name, Electro-Soma and Time Tourist, for Warp Records, which was also licensed to Wax Trax! Records. While the Space Age EP has a kind of Detroit techno vibe to it, the two B12 albums mentioned are more melodic IDM and have long been favorites of mine. Following this, B12 abruptly vanished from the scene, and it appears electronic music production all together. However, as not all good things have to come to an end, B12 have resumed activities in 2007 with a new album entitled The Last Days of Silence and an associated remixes album. The production is suberb, and almost feels like B12 never stopped making techno for 10 years. Most recently, they have been preparing The B12 Records Archive™, a complete retrospective of B12 Records 1990-1996, the entire back catalogue spanning seven volumes; volume six was released at the end of April 2009.

Tracklisting:
A1 Space Age
A2 Rings Of Saturn
B1 Future Bass Seven
B2 Weightless Condition

2001 – Future Bass Seven

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Related Links:

As the title suggests, this CD was recorded live in 1992 shortly after the release of Man-Amplified, which I would argue is their absolute best album. As such, the majority of the tracks draw from this album. It is actually somewhat surprising that they did not include anything from Buried Dreams, until the encore, which followed about 5 minutes of hooting and hollering. It would have been nice to hear “The Act” or something else insted of another remix of “Bitstream” but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The disc clocks in at about 74 minutes and sound-wise is pretty decent for a unofficial audience recording. The sad thing is that it actually sounds much better, in my opinion, than some officially released live recordings. I don’t generally keep around many live recordings, but this is rare enough because to my knowledge, no other live recordings from this era of the band exist. If you are looking for some older recordings from the late 70s and early 80s, some can be found on Soulseek. But aside from an extremely limited German cassette, this is the only document of Clock DVA’s live output that has been recorded.

Tracklisting:
1 Intro (8:16)
2 Man-Amplifiers (5:19)
3 Technogeist (6:04)
4 Axiomatic & Heuristic (5:02)
5 Bitstream (6:19)
6 Fractalize (5:16)
7 N.Y.C. Overload (6:52)
8 Final Program – Decoded (5:47)
9 Final Program (4:14)
10 Encore Attend (5:30)
11 Sound Mirror (5:40)
12 Bitstream (Remix) (6:37)
13 The Hacker (3:26)

Clock DVA – Sound Mirror (Live)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Clock DVA – The Hacker (Live)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Related Links:

The Blade was released in 1992, the same year as the seminal Front Line Assembly album Tactical Neural Implant. As such, it contains remixes of the song “The Blade” from that album. There are two different versions of EP in existence; the UK version and the US version, which is among one of the first industrial CDs I ever owned. The UK version adds two more remixes of “The Blade”, along with two bonus non-album tracks, “Target” and “Heatwave”. Obviously, for this reason, it makes the UK version more desirable, but to a high school kid in the mid-90s, that version was not easily obtained. The two remixes of “The Blade” do not add much new, as I feel that the “Technohead” remix is the best one on here, but they are still enjoyable. Hands down, the killer jam on this disc, in my opinion, is “Re-Animate”. Unfortunately, many people tend to feel that Front Line Assembly went off the rails after this, with the release of Millennium, what with all its guitars and such. I feel that the next best release after this, however, was Hard Wired, quite a fine release and sadly, really the last one of theirs that I really bothered to pay attention to.

Tracklisting:
1 The Blade (Technohead) (6:37)
2 Re-Animate (5:46)
3 Target (4:52)
4 The Blade (Worldwide Mix) (6:27)
5 The Blade (Pro-Gress Mix) (6:25)
6 Heatwave (5:24)
7 Laughing Pain (5:45)
8 The Blade (Blindfold) (6:35)

Front Line Assembly – The Blade (Technohead)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Front Line Assembly – Re-animate

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Related Links:

Originally led by vocalist Rozz Williams, the first (recorded) incarnation of gothic / punk, or deathrock, legend Christian Death also included guitarist Rikk Agnew, who later became a member of punk band The Adolescents. Unfortunately, the lineup that this album produced didn’t last for more than one album, and they broke up after it. Eventually, the band reformed with a new lineup, including Valor, who later ended up assuming full control of the Christian Death name. To further confuse matters, Williams released two albums in the 1990s as Christian Death, which effectively meant that two totally separate bands operated at the same time with the same name. Williams had also been involved in some other projects, including Shadow Project, and some spoken word stuff. Sadly however, Williams hung himself on April Fool’s Day 1998, and a tribute site to him still exists. Valor continues to release music under the Christian Death name, most recently, 2007′s American Inquisition, a truly god-awful album that came after a 7-year hiatus that should have stayed permanent.

Tracklisting:
01 Cavity – First Communion (4:06)
02 Figurative Theatre (2:42)
03 Burnt Offerings (3:45)
04 Mysterium Iniquitatis (2:45)
05 Dream For Mother (3:22)
06 Stairs – Uncertain Journey (3:06)
07 Spiritual Cramp (2:56)
08 Romeo’s Distress (3:15)
09 Resurrection – Sixth Communion (3:46)
10 Prayer (2:39)
11 Deathwish (2:11)
12 Romeo’s Distress (3:20)
13 Dogs (2:52)
14 Desparate Hell (4:22)
15 Spiritual Cramp (3:18)
16 Cavity (3:45)

Christian Death – Figurative Theatre

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Christian Death – Romeo’s Distress

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Christian Death – Spiritual Cramp

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Related Links:

Skylash was the electronic / downtempo side-project of electronic musician Eric Chamberlain. At first, his main focus was the solo industrial project, Index, of which five albums were released for COP International in the 1990s. Empyreal Day Dreams was actually released during the three-year break before the release of the last Index album, Ultra Hard Shadow in 2000. Chamberlain made a return after a longer hiatus with a new album in 2006, under the name Index AI. Word has been posted on his Myspace page, that after a short delay, a new Index AI album will be released, called Topiary En Hades, possibly in a few weeks time. This comes after a previous mention last year of work on a new Skylash album, which is great news indeed. Right now, it appears that attention was being focused on getting the new Index AI album released, after which I assume Skylash will follow. COP International still has copies of Empyreal Day Dreams for sale for the princely sum of 9 dollars. This came as a surprise to me, because I was sure that the album was out of print, but it’s not. At that price, every person in America should own a copy, which would appeal to any fan of electronic music, aggressive or otherwise.

Tracklisting:
1 Airborne (4:03)
2 Erato (4:24)
3 Modern Eyes / Stratus Gel (6:00)
4 Mr. Melancholy (3:08)
5 XYZ Utopia (4:45)
6 A Starry Night / Empyrean (7:42)
7 Twilight Park (5:24)
8 The Bridge (5:41)
9 Dream De Menthe (7:51)
10 Magentafall (5:11)
11 Snow Mantra (4:58)
12 Everest (6:33)
13 Nineteen-Ninety Nether (5:46)
14 Heliopolis (5:33)

Skylash – Modern Eyes/Stratus Gel

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Skylash – Twilight Park

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Related Links:

From the website : “bourbonese qualk archive is the official archive of the work of the group bourbonese qualk. the site documents their work from the beginnings in 1980 until the end in 2002. following the death of guitarist miles miles in october 2002 the remaining members decided to disband the group and release no new material. the archive is regularly maintained by former members of the group. this site does not sell anything and we do not distribute any products. we intend to make all published material freely available. please feel free to contact us with suggestions or additions to the archive.”

This rare 30 minute documentary originally aired on PBS in 1986. Unfortunately, the video quality is suspect, as it appears to be a poor VHS rip from many moons ago. However, given its age, it is surprising that someone actually had this laying around on VHS for 20 years before deciding to encode it, so I tip my hat to them. It is a rarely seen glimpse into the earlier days of Front 242, with snippets of interviews with some of the band members (in French, with embedded English subtitles) as well as a lot of videos of rare concert footage, which is what makes it worthwhile. Some of the songs included are: Operating Tracks, Take One (which later ended up on the VHS release Integration Eight x Ten), Lovely Day, Commando Mix, No Shuffle, and Body To Body.

Download Part 1

Download Part 2

Download Part 3

Some VLC Snapshots (click image for larger view):

Yo, is Richard 23 wearing an old-school Ministry t-shirt there? Could be, because after signing with Wax Trax! Records in 1984, 242 embarked on their first U.S. tour as a support act for Ministry.