The Swedish duo, Ankomst, debuted this track at their recent London show. It throbs with melancholic tension.
Word reaches us that Sweden’s poptronica pioneers, Page, are heading back to the studio to record new songs.
The duo of Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko topped our year-end charts with the single, “Frusen,” which featured Rrussell Bell of Gary Numan’s touring band and Dramatis. Well-placed sources in Sweden indicate that they are planning a single for release in the New Year. An album is expected to follow, later in 2025.
Front 242 are saying goodbye to their European audiences. After a career that spanned four decades, which saw them topping bills on stages around the world, the Belgian band is switching off the synths and turning on the house lights.
The Black Out tour comes to London with a set of greatest hits locked and loaded. From the opening of “W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G.,” the crowd in the Electric Ballroom is ready to celebrate. There is jumping even in the slower bits – though there aren’t many of those, as the band keep the tempo and spirits high throughout. A Sunday curfew means there is little time between songs, and there is a lot of ground to cover.
The set includes “Body to Body,” “Moldavia”, “U. Men,” and “Red Team.” Crowd favourites, like “Welcome to Paradise,” get the security guards nervous at the level of dancing. The evening’s highlight is the rising chord of “Take One,” which tracks faithfully to the studio version. At the end, the crowd lose it for “Headhunter” – willing Jean-Luc de Meyer’s voice to last just a few stanzas more.
The band return to stand in profile in front of a video scrapbook of their career. It has been long and successful, and they are cheered into retirement by the loudest audience the Ballroom has seen in ages.
The evening began with Sweden’s Rein. The changeling has reinvented herself again, showing off a leaner set with even more angles and Numanesque asides. Backed by her coproducer, Djejotronic, Rein patrolled the stage, throwing shapes like Janet Jackson filtered through an MS20.
An energetic set, drawing in “Accelerate,” “Reincarnate,” and “Bodyhammer,” got the crowd in the mood for the evening’s party. It ended with a retooled version of her early track, “There Is No Authority But Yourself.” Rein, like the proverbial river, is never the same performer twice, but she does not disappoint.
Throbbing Gristle have released their final single and a unique box set as TG Berlin.
(Via Mute)
The new lavish Throbbing Gristle box set chronicling unreleased work recorded around a series of live events at the Berlin Volksbühne, TG BERLIN, is out today via Mute.
The Throbbing Gristle curated event saw the band perform a live set on New Year’s Eve and an improvised live soundtrack to a new 16mm print of Derek Jarman’s In The Shadow of the Sun (1981) on New Year’s Day, and, while the band were in Berlin, they recorded two final songs alongside a 48-minute piece of new music.
The box set – which comprises of 4 CDs, a Blu-ray, a 10” vinyl and a booklet featuring unseen photographs from the time by Paul Heartfield as well as new sleeve notes by the award winning Scottish visual artist Lucy McKenzie – collates both of these performances, alongside the TG Berlin Studio Session which is comprised of the final Throbbing Gristle single (two unreleased tracks, ‘Scabs & Saws’ and ‘Wotwududo’,) and an unreleased 48-minute piece titled ‘TG Berlin Studio Session 2005 – 2006’, recorded at Planet Roc studios during the time they were in the city.
TG Berlin will also include the “rehearsal” for In The Shadow of the Sun, recorded on New Year’s Day at the Volksbühne (“people’s theatre”). The performance of In The Shadow of the Sun was improvised, so the two documents offer a different perspective on the soundtrack to Jarman’s work.
The New Year’s Eve show previewed five songs from the band’s first album in 27 years, Part Two: The Endless Not, several years before its release, on a set list that included ‘Convincing People’, ‘Slug Bait’, and ‘Hamburger Lady’ (their first encore in 25/26 years, and what an encore!) – tracks that had lost none of their potency in the intervening years – plus the released track, ‘Splitting Sky’ and more. The performance is also included as a Blu-ray.
In 2004, Throbbing Gristle – Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (1950-2020) and Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson (1955-2010) – regrouped and the following six years became a period of renewed creativity for the band. Back in the studio after 20 years, they found group intuition when performing was intact, and their ability to break down barriers and forge connections with an audience was more powerful than ever.
This new box set, the latest release in an ongoing collaboration with Mute, is a compelling document of Throbbing Gristle performing and recording as a four-piece with a renewed vigour. From the opening beats and serrated electronics of one of their final tracks recorded together, ‘Scabs & Saws’, it’s clear that TG are not revisiting ground already tread, but bringing two decades of individual experience back into the studio to create a new exploration of sound. The vocals have a different depth, the groove is deeper, and the atmosphere has lost none of its potency.
TG BERLIN BOX SET
CD1 – TG Berlin
Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Eve 2005
Trumpet Herald
Convincing People
Splitting Sky
Slug Bait
Rabbit Snare
Almost A Kiss
Greasy Poo
Endless Not
Vow of Silence
PA Destroyer
Hamburger Lady
CD2 – In the Shadow of the Sun
Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Day, 2006
In the Shadow of the Sun Live – 49:29
CD3 – In the Shadow of the Sun
Rehearsal at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Day 2006
In the Shadow of the Sun Rehearsal – 49:12
CD4 – TG Berlin Studio Session (2005 – 2006)
TG Berlin – 48:22
Scabs & Saws 11:02
Wotwududo 7:07
Recorded late December 2005 to early January 2006 at Planet Roc (Funkhaus), Berlin
10” vinyl – The Final Throbbing Gristle single
Side A
Scabs & Saws 11:02
Side B
Wotwududo 7:07
Blu-ray
Throbbing Gristle Live at the Volksbühne Berlin, New Year’s Eve 2005
Trumpet Herald
Convincing People
Splitting Sky
Slug Bait
Rabbit Snare
Almost a Kiss
Greasy Poo
The Endless Not
Vow of Silence
PA Destroyer
Hamburger Lady
(Photos: Paul Heartfield)
The longest night is coming up. Interesting fact: in Christian mythology, the 25th of December was selected to celebrate the birth of Jesus because it approximates the point at which the amount of light starts to increase. For the ancients, who had time to consider these matters, the winter solstice meant the rebirth of the Sun. A lot of thought has been taken up by the tilting of our planet as it spins around a nuclear inferno.
Dave Baker has combined a lot of this into a track to raise funds for London Inner City Kitty. Do they know it’s Festivus? No, cats don’t have higher order philosophies. But they do appreciate being looked after when it gets dark and cold.
Got your Oasis tickets? In the words of Gwyneth Paltrow, we wish you well. The idea of watching the Gallagher brothers from the back of a playing field, while Kangol-clad accountants shout their conversations over the music, screams of disappointment.
Never mind that the tickets cost a bleeding fortune at face value – Live Nation and Ticketmaster deployed their anti-consumer “dynamic pricing” systems to gouge punters to the maximum. Having been mugged by the entertainment monopoly, the shouty men in bucket hats and zipped-up parkas, rolling their shoulders with cocaine-fuelled intensity, will want their money’s worth of barging and spilling their beer. After long hours of throwing bottles of piss over the crowd, they will drive their Range Rovers, Volvos, and Teslas through the night with after-market LEDs lighting their ways with the intensity of a thousand suns.
Such is the state of the mainstream music industry at the end of 2024.
If there is hope, it comes from the independents. In our end-of-year list, many of the artists – even some of the bigger names – are self-releasing. Others are on smaller labels that curate rather than commercialise. Streaming services have eaten into the minimal returns that long-standing artists used to see. The Live Nation monopoly has sucked the oxygen out of performing, and even smaller venues are trying to claim a cut of merch sales. The economics of music are as bad as they have ever been. Our thanks, therefore, to the artists who continue to share their work despite the investment and the challenges of getting heard.
We are also grateful for the contributions of the artists we lost during 2024. The world of photography is much poorer without Brian Griffin. The drums of Keith Leblanc have gone silent, but his mark has been left all over modern music. Andreas Catjar-Danielsson was known for his work with Abu Nein and Covenant, but his solo pieces were wrought with sensitivity. Steve Albini, Françoise Hardy, and Quincy Jones are other figures who changed the face of music before shuffling off this mortal coil.
There is a message here for those of us who remain: Remember to show appreciation to artists while they are still alive. Even Our Kid, if you must.
24. 20Hz – Sprawl
We really enjoyed this album from Sweden’s 20Hz. With a contribution from the country’s secret weapon, Karin My, it was a creative accomplishment.
23. Sofi Bonde – Fight for Your Life
Sweden’s Sofi Bonde became a wellness podcaster on Youtube in 2024 but she also found time to record and release an album of solid pop-rock. The music is the message.
22. Cosmic Overdose – En av dom (81-24)
Originally released in 1981, this track was re-recorded in 2024. The Swedish group turned into Twice a Man, at the prompting of New Order’s promoter. This year, they rewound the clock to show off their dadaist credentials.
21. Simon Fisher Turner – Instability of the Signal
SFT turned 70 this year. The release of Instability of the Signal serves as a reminder of his deft touch.
20. Delerium – In the Deep (Clan of Xymox Remix)
Clan of Xymox have provided this remix of a track from Delerium with Kanga on vocals. It’s a nice combination of inputs.
19. Sunroof – Conspiracies
The duo of Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones have returned with more excellent material derived from their modular kits and improvised interactions. Each of their Electronic Music Improvisations albums contains powerful extracts from the flow of electricity and ideas between the best of friends. This is lifted from volume 3.
18. Kite – VII
Kite on Ice is coming up quickly, for those who like to combine electro-ballads and synchronised figure skating. In the meantime, the Stockholm-based duo have collected their recent singles as a reminder of the power and diversity of their output.
17. Psyche – Future Memories
Psyche left Canada because the country was crammed full of horrorist electro-industrial acts. Moving to Europe gave them space to expand outside of Skinny Puppy’s shadow. This live album shows why this should never have been a concern. Psyche’s sound and soul are conpletely unique.
16. Ooo Eee Ooo – Dream Mixes
Dave Baker (Komputer, I Start Counting, Fortran 5) is the mover behind Ooo Eee Ooo. This album of remixes breathed new life into the material, which was already essential for collectors.
15. Lejonhjärta – Save Me
The Swedish post-punk act, Lejonhjärta, returned this year with a sound that leaned more heavily towards electronics. They also invested in this fabulous video.
14. Die Sexual – Electric
The American duo have revived the harder dark wave sound for fetishists and the underground dancefloor. This EP is really rather good, as the English might say.
13. Lewis Spybey – Lewis Spybey
This collaboration between Graham Lewis (Wire, He Said) and Mark Spybey (Zoviet France) is an experimental interchange of note.
12. Llynks – Without Cause
The outsiders are the keepers of the electronic flame. Llynks continue to nurture its light with this outstanding track.
11. Nina Belief – Siren of Silence
The US seemed to miss out on the first wave of alternative electronics, apart from Devo, Our Daughter’s Wedding, and a few, scattered acts. Nice to have them back in the game. As Nina Belief’s recent material shows, it’s not all Beyoncé and Maroon 5 on that side of the water.
10. Silent Em – Institution
The genius of Silent EM is sadly under-appreciated. This release reveals that the quality of his material has not been diminished by the chaos of his home country or the passing of time.
9. M:ONITOR – M:OVEMENT
M:onitor is a kind of Swedish supergroup of industrial musicians. Their sole recording is of a performance in a Skånian record shop. It is lovely stuff, and we look forward to an ironic tour t-shirt. We wear XXL.
8. Throbbing Gristle – Scabs & Saws
Taken from the TG archives to help promote a box set, this track confirmed the power of the original Industrial artists.
7. Laibach – Geburt einer Nation (Rico Conning’s Inner Ear RMX 2024)
The Slovenian art collective had a busy year, but the track we liked best was this rework by their sometime producer, Rico Conning.
6. Minuit Machine – Hold Me
Just as the year ran out, France’s Minuit Machine returned with a brilliant single that struck just the right balance between poptronica and dark electronics.
5. Bill Leeb – Model Kollapse
The first solo album from Front Line Assembly vocalist, Bill Leeb, shows off both his roots in hard electronics and pop leanings. He has always had a foot in each camp; but, with Model Kollapse, Leeb brings them (and some friends) together in a stand-out way.
4. William Orbit – WFO
If you love something, set it free. Billy couldn’t wait for a big label to sort out his new solo album, so he released it to world on Bandcamp. It pumps and glides, in just the right places.
3. Propaganda – Propaganda ALBUM OF THE YEAR
The return of Propaganda was a long time in the making, but its sound didn’t stand still. Distilled to the musical duo of Mertens and Dörper, with vocal help from Thunder Bae, the act showed its capabilities have not been diminished by time.
2. Julian & Marina – & EP OF THE YEAR
We were impressed by this magnificent collection of songs from Julian Brandt and Marina Schiptjenko. Elegant, dreamy, and romantic, they kept the spirit of the Riviera alive.
1. Page – Frusen SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Sweden’s poptronica pioneers, Page, offered up “Frusen” as an exemplary single. With a contribution from Rrussell Bell (Gary Numan, Dramatis), you could feel the genuine spirit of 1979: indie as anything, but pointing to the future.
Belgium’s godfathers of EBM, Front 242, are on their farewell tour. On their stop in Gothenburg, Sweden, master photographer Krichan Wihlborg shot them, along with their support act, REIN.
Swedish master photographer, Krichan Wihlborg, took in the festival organised for Progress Productions’ twentieth anniversary. He has shared some of the pictures he captured of the label’s artists on stage, along with scenes from the night.
A new song from France’s Minuit Machine pumps with life-giving dark minimal electronics.
The Ringö district of Gothenburg is full of warehouses, craft breweries, and construction firms. Techno can be heard bleeding through many doors on the weekend. Among the paper recycling firms and micropubs, the youth of today come from the city centre to rave like it is 1989.
Tonight, though, it is their parents’ turn. Monument 031, a cavernous club with a suitably industrial vibe, is hosting an event to mark the twentieth anniversary of Progress Productions. The Swedish label, which has released work by Kite, Saft, Johan Baeckström, and Cryo, is marking its birthday with two stages of back-to-back live performances.
The evening begins with a mystery act. The bill promises a five minute appearance, but the name of the artist is a secret guarded as fiercely as the recipe for Julmust. A giant video screen is erected, against which a dancer appears as a shadow. Spray paint is used to trace a pattern, before a knife cuts the screen. Two masked figures emerge to distribute red roses. Ladies and gentleman, Vintage Voltage – the duo of Chris Leaf and Pete Branch. A rumour goes around the room that their act of creative destruction was, pro rata, the most expensive part of the night.
The party really kicks off with a performance by Me the Tiger. It has been a while since we last saw them live – in Stockholm, on a cold night many years ago, with Britain’s Vile Electrodes. They haven’t lost their quiet-LOUD high-intensity formula. Vocalist Gabriella slays in every lane, while drummer Jonas Martinsson becomes one with his drum kit and guitarist Tobias Andersson bounces around like Zebedee on speed. They banish the chill of the Nordic winter with their new track, “Burn the Witches.”
Cosmic Overdose is the name that Twice a Man were forced to leave behind by a British promoter. It sounded too hippy for the post-punk scene in 1981, so they were told to pick from a list before supporting New Order. The return to the stage of Cosmic Overdose is a chance to air some of the songs that belonged to that era – a rare treat from the iconic Swedish musicians.
They get a feeling going that raises the hypnodelic quotient. The lead singer emerges with a bag on his head. Karl Gasleben appears wearing a brash paisley suit. The on-stage mixer acts like it is possessed. What we get is a trippy and expansive set, which ends with the suitable named, “Dada Koko.”
The spirit of Dada fills the stage. Dan Söderqvist’s guitar creates psychedelic atmospheres, while the combined unit dispenses with melody. What matters is the shamanic effect that otherwise comes from specific mushrooms.
Abu Nein appear without Andreas Catjar-Danielsson, who sadly left us this year. They create a mystical, dark vibe embossed with Eastern tones. Charles Manson seems to make an appearance at the end, at the climax of a set that dissolves into a churning groove.
Portion Control don’t always get the credit they deserve. One of the first synth-based industrial acts in the UK, they brought rhythm and melody to the genre with songs like “Raise the Pulse,” “Go Talk” and “Rough Justice.” They also mined the experimental use of electronics on tracks like “He Is a Barbarian.” cEvin Key points to them as the inspiration for Skinny Puppy. Nitzer Ebb can’t deny their role as progenitors, alongside DAF, of the hard electronic sound they developed.
The nice young men from a south London cooking school have refined their sound over the years. Reduced to the duo of John Whybrew and Dean Piavani, they have crafted their uncompromising electronic style into dancefloor-friendly beats.
Piavani prowls the stage confidently, like a drill sergeant, barking poetic commands. Behind him, Whybrew mans the console that controls the sound and vision. The onion jack symbol hovers above the proceedings, as a brand identity and statement of intent.
The set list is a career-spanning selection. “Refugee” and “Chew You to Bits” get the front rows excited, but it is the intensity of “Deadstar” that really gets the black-clad masses jumping. A novel addition is “Golden Halo,” which is being released on the Progress anniversary compilation CD.
Spark! take the stage as the closing act. Local EBM favourites, they fly the flag for their label internationally, too. Vocalist Stefan Bronsson is in good form. Christer Hermodsson had taken the mic ably during his extended absence, growing the band’s profile, but the restructured act meets the crowd’s needs tonight.
That’s Progress.