[kj] Killing Joke's career

[Darren Peace]

IŒm sure other people will chip in, but:

Nomeansno ­ Canadian 3/4 piece, occasionally hardcore, occasionally prog
jazz, occasionally grunge, occasionally the Ramones, particularly in their
Hanson Brothers incarnation. Recommended starting points : Wrong, 0+2=1,
Dance Of The Headless Bourgeoisie (although they¹ve not released a duff
album)

The Young Gods ­ Swiss industrial band with links to Treponem Pal. Starting
points : TV Eye (with the splendid Skinflowers & Gasoline Man), L¹Eau Rouge.

Shellac ­ Steve Albini¹s current project, after Big Black & Rapeman. Four
studio albums in, all absolute classics. I¹d start with At Action Park or
1000 Hurts.

Einstuerzende Neubauten ­ German industrial band, with Blixa Bargeld on
vocals and occasional guitar, who played with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for
many years. Albums of varying quality, but Ende Neu, Haus Der Luege & Halber
Mensch are all good starting points.

The God Machine ­ US  alternative rock band, with a distinctly melancholic
sound. Like The Cure¹s Seventeen Seconds & Faith with tube screamers. Only
two albums, of which I¹d suggest One Last Laugh In A Place Of Dying.

Firewater ­ I¹ll let Alex elaborate if he sees fit, but Tod A¹s band post
Cop Shoot Cop. Tracks on individual albums veer wildly between Wedding
Present-style European folk music, industrial Doors epics and distorted
bass-heavy rock. Superb band; their Psychopharmacology is in my all-time top
ten, but Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire is close.

Tom Verlaine ­ Television¹s guitarist. Godlike genius, despite a really
whiny singing voice. Dreamtime, Words From The Front and Flashlight are all
representative.

 John Cale ­ Bassist & viola player with the Velvet Underground. Really
varied solo albums, from off-kilter folk and classical to noise experiments.
I¹d go for Paris 1919, Fear, Music For A New Society or Black Acetate. His
eulogy for Andy Warhol, with Lou Reed (Songs For Drella) is great too. We¹ll
have to forgive his involvement with Alex¹s mum Patti¹s career, as she is
clearly a foul waste of oxygen.

Wire ­ fantastically ambitious punk / noise / electronic / experimental
group. If you¹ve not got at least four Wire albums in your collection you
don¹t know what you¹re missing. I¹d go for 154, The Ideal Copy and Object
47. Truly inspired stuff.

Having said all that, from your assessment of your tastes, I reckon you¹d
most like Porcupine Tree. They started as Steven Wilson¹s solo project, and
released some brilliant home studio psychedelic stuff (The Sky Moves
Sideways is a highlight). He then created a band to perform the stuff live
(including Richard Barbieri (ex-Japan) on keyboards), and has released a
host of quite brilliant albums since, ranging from prog, metal to pop. Their
breakthrough album was the metal-influenced In Absentia, although Lightbulb
Sun, Deadwing and Fear Of A Blank Planet are magnificent too. Wilson also
releases melancholia as No-Man, whose Schoolyard Ghosts was an album of this
year for me, but you¹ll probably need a liking for mid to late Talk Talk to
go for that, and he also records drone / ambient stuff as Bass Communion,
among others. Also, he¹s in Blackfield in collaboration with an Israeli pop
singer called Aviv Geffen, who have released 2 excellent pop albums. I
sometimes think that you could cover most musical bases just by collecting
the stuff Wilson releases.

Darren
Hungerford, UK



On 20/12/2008 17:43, "Brendan Quinn" <bq at soundgardener.co.nz> wrote:


> Cheers DarrenŠany chance of a couple cliff¹s notes for one or two to get me

> started?

>  

> I¹m well into prog / psychedelic / stoner rock / genre-spanning stuff,

> although my tastes are a little more rock / grunge / metal / pop mainstream

> than a lot of other gatherers. Just lamenting the lack of decent contemporary

> bands at the moment, it really seems like most bands worth seeing live are 70s

> / 80s / 90s veterans. Which is a sign of something on the decline. I can¹t see

> any argument being made that this decade is as good as or better than the

> previous 3, the other ones were pretty much debatable depending on taste. I¹d

> have a hugely hard time choosing a decade, you¹d have to point a gun at me to

> get me to choose.

> 

> 

> From: Darren Peace [mailto:dpeace at bigfoot.com]

> Sent: Sunday, 21 December 2008 03:04

> To: The Gathering; Brendan Quinn

> Subject: Re: [kj] Killing Joke's career

>  

> Back catalogues loaded with goodies?

> 

> I¹d have to cite (in case you¹ve missed out on any):

> 

> Nomeansno

> The Young Gods

> Shellac

> Einstuerzende Neubauten

> The God Machine (especially if you like The Cure)

> Firewater

> Tom Verlaine

> John Cale

> Wire

> 

> I also really rate Porcupine Tree, King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator,

> but then I¹m a bit of a prog-head on the quiet.

> 

> Darren

> Hungerford, UK

> 

>  On 20/12/2008 15:44, "Brendan Quinn" <bq at soundgardener.co.nz> wrote:

> Yes I¹m actually writing a post that I don¹t have to preface with OT *bows*

> Recent comments about Killing Joke being on a decline since their first 6

> years. I¹d have to disagree and cite, specifically, 1994¹s Pandemonium.

> Quoting specific song titles on it is redundant to me, the entire album is

> totally, totally, solid. 2003 was also massive. And This Savage Freedom is one

> of the best songs ever recorded. Zennon is brilliant as well, Universe B, 4

> Stations.

> KJ over the last 2 years has occupied probably more than 50% of my listening

> time (often averaging 4-5+ hours a day), for long stretches 100%, hugely

> disproportional. I don¹t really hold out hope of finding another treasure

> trove back catalog like Killing JokeŠand at this rate, I just can¹t see music

> returning to the form of the past. Can only hope. Current state of play is

> pretty awful, unless I¹m missing some boat.

> 

> 

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