Staring Into The Abyss

CELEBRATE THE NEW DARK AGE

Bernard Herrmann - Gort/The Visor/The Telescope (1951)

Darkness and fear with added theremin fun.

Front 242 - Moldavia (1991)

The sound design and the way sound is organised here is pretty impeccable. Also just an iconic anthem innit.

Health - Ashamed Of Being Born (2023)

It's hard to have an affect if you're a post-industrial pop group post-1980s but this is somewhat interesting if perhaps post post-post ironic (or should I add in a few more posts). This video with its images of the cult of nerdy fandom with their infantile dress ups and mental illness deification is all about you and your identity or lack thereof and the emptiness at the heart of it all...The downer euphoria "I'm a sad boy" identity pioneered by the likes of Drake is transposed here onto a Linkin Park/NIN style jam. What's the difference anymore? Rap, psych, metal, industrial, dance pop: All this shit sounds the same...is the same. 

Pedro The Lion - Rejoice (2002)

Codeine/Low/Idaho.... Pedro has the blueprint...pulled off with particular aplomb. This is a raw non-ironic sad boy but it feels like he's reaching for something more and not just acquiescing to the abyss. 

 

Crass - White Punks On Hope (1979)

A song slagging off The Clash is always a winner with me. Also notable for astute commentary on retarded "There is only one viewpoint. It's ours and we are correct" lefty conformism and meaningless pick a team "Which side are on?" politics that still rings true today. Imagine thinking for yourself...

I get the irony of a dogmatic sloganeering band slagging off a band for being dogmatic sloganeers. 

 

"Pogo on a nazi, spit upon a jew
Vicious mindless violence that offers nothing new
Left wing violence, right wing violence, all seems much the same
Bully boys out fighting, it's just the same old game
Boring fucking politics that'll get us all shot
Left wing, right wing, you can stuff the lot"

Polvo - Every Holy Shroud (1994)

Like Pavement and Unwound tunes like this sounded nostalgic back in the 90s when they were released. I've gotta say It is surprising that I still really enjoy Polvo. In fact I think I like their stop start shenanigans, weird time signatures, modal guitars and daft surreal melancholy more now. Still acquiring the taste 30 years on. 

"Celebrate the new dark age with us
Calculate the irony with someone you can trust"

Midnight Star - Electricity

[1983]

The charms of Midnight Star..... they certainly had a fucking knack for these insidious grooves. Although this was infectious electro-funk for the future these fellas were so old school they still wore their showbiz threads instead of the trendy sneakers, leather jackets and tracksuits. It didn't really matter though coz if you were breakin' or roller skatin' this jam was electric. 

The Future - Nuclear Holocaust

The Future - Nuclear Holocaust (Vocal) [1984]

Oblivion was just a push of a button away back in the day when the cold war was raging with it's arms race and star wars programme, We understood the very real threat that we were going to be blown to bits by a nuclear bomb at any minute. Paranoid dread was real and normal to us kids at the time. 

We didn't get our Nuclear Holocaust or jet packs. It seems jet packs aren't on the horizon anymore but the future does offer us the renewed promise of the possibility of thermonuclear annihilation. Isn't it nice that our childhood dreams are being kept alive by our overlords.

The Future is an alias for Michael Johnson Jr of legendary electro-funk combo The Jonzun Crew.

The Future - Unclear Holocaust (Re-mix Version) [1984]

You may prefer the instrumental dub mix b side for your breakdancing til armageddon. 

Sandy Kerr - Thug Rock

[1982]

Sweet, smooth and sultry this funky post-disco* hip-hop jam is the business. Behold that groove, bass-line extravaganza and cowbell goodness. Everybody get out your roller-skates, it's time to partay!

*Disco often gets conveniently overlooked as a major ingredient in the formulation of hip hop. By the time it mutates into gangsta rap nobody's owning up to it as an influence. Moot point I spose.

Strafe - Set It Off

[1984]

An epic elemental electro-funk masterpiece.

When the differences between funk, electro, house and techno or even post-disco, freestyle and chart dance pop were pretty flimsy. If you added the emphasis on a particular instrument here it may have been categorised as a different sub-genre. A lot of categorisation at the time was geographical. In Australia in 1984 just starting High School it was all just called dance music. 

Set It Off's influence continued into at least the early 00s with the likes of The Neptunes ripping off this aesthetic wholesale and calling it their own. 

 

Still the future. 

Newcleus - Computer Age (Push The Button)

Newcleus - Computer Age (Push The Button) [Club Mix] - (1984) 

A lot of old school electro jamz are amazingly pertinent to today, probably more so than anything actually current in pop music. 

Some theorists say now that AI has been unleashed onto the public that we're doomed. How much more doom mongering propaganda can we take? I suspect AI was released into society to create more havoc, confusion and chaos so that more control can be exerted upon us lowlife masses. It will have you screaming for the government to fuck you harder with regards to your dwindling freedom.

Many people are under the misapprehension that science-fiction books & movies and futuristic electronic music are always cheerleading retarded technological progress but no many of these artist's artefacts have always been about warning us of these incredibly anti-human existential dangers. Enjoying Kraftwerk, John Foxx or Newcleus doesn't equate to wanting to comply with trans-humanism. 

Are we under their control, or are they under our control, or what?
Push the button
Computer age is now
Everyone must have a machine
They say it's gonna make life easier,
well, I can't stand it....
They say we should put them in control
Well, maybe next we'll give them a soul
I guess we must now think that we're gods,
While we're less men than ever
I know the Lord cannot be too glad
In fact, I'm sure he must be quite mad
To see us take His role from our lives
And give it to computers
For here we sit in our easy chairs
As our machines decide how we'll fare
Who will suffer, who will survive?
It's up to the computers
Push the button
Are we under their control, or are they under our control, or what?
Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!
Computing
"I'm no longer in control
I can't program my machine
Now it wants to take my soul
Stop it or it will proceed!"
Why is it you're trying to give me
Programs
I'm in charge and yet you're trying to
Program
I'm metal so you think you have to
Program
But I'm a man 'cause I don't need no
Programs
Now computing...now computing...now computing...now computing...
Are we under their control, or are they under our control, or what?

Totally epic track that gets pretty cosmic at 5:40.

Bonny - Prefab Sprout

Bonny - Prefab Sprout (1985)

Impeccable.

Timeless 80s pop perfection: aged like fine wine. Paddy McAloon's idiosyncratic words and feels ensure Bonny is like nothing else. Wretched grief thoroughly captured in an authentic yet beautiful manner. 

Heartbreaking.

Rev-P - 1994 (1994)

Strangely several elements of Bonny were used here to great effect in this unusual uncanny slice of dark, damp and dubby jungle. This murky tune was created by Pete Parsons aka Voyager aka Static Substance. 

Master C & J - In The City (Devil Mix)

[1987]

Immaculate restrained minimal disco-funk of the future... There's still something rather inexplicable about certain early Chicago house tracks and In The City is no exception with its liminal unnamed vibe. Bleak lyrical content delivered via frightening vocal science intermingled with bouncy bass and exuberant drum machine hand claps signal a somewhat poignant inevitability of 80s urban living. This downcast sensibility is blanketed by warm synth tones leaving feels tilted towards elation rather than agitation, adding a disconcerting dimension. Dystopian psychedelia where danger and excitement are so entwined they're indistinguishable from each other.

Mr. Fingers - Mystery Of Love

[1985]

The enigmatical Mystery Of Love is still fresh to this day and ultimately transcendent. This is the original 1985 instrumental not the later re-recorded version with vocals that came out under the moniker Fingers Inc.

It's funny innit that years later somebody in the UK termed ambient house a sub-genre because house at its inception was already ambient and house so...

That fluid bass swirling like a kaleidoscope giving it a circular momentum, the ace cymbal work and those wistful washes of melodic synth with a euphoric tinge make this primo 80s tune-age from Chicago! 

A flowing atmospheric track like this seems more suited for driving, home listening or headphones than a sweaty dance-floor. Larry Heard created a timeless and indeed mysterious sound here.  

Chip E - Time To Jack

[1985]

More raw stripped down jackin' trax from Chicago. Appearing to be deceptively rudimentary these hypnotic, pounding yet intricate rhythms are sterling elemental beat-science. Chip E uses minimal elements from Italo-disco and electro-pop creating delirious drum machine driven damage, originating one of the finest early house tunes.