[kj] Killing Joke's career

[Brendan Quinn]

Wow cheers for the effort Darren, appreciate it. 

 

Bongo actually made me a mix DVD a while back, was listening to it the other
night and the Hanson Brothers came on, really enjoyed it, good laugh and
good energy. He put some Nomeansno on it too, gotta listen to it. The
Porcupine Tree is something else I have been meaning to give a try. I've got
a good set of headphones on the way (I already got a set, they had
jaw-droppingly good sound except for the bass, but they were HUGE, coloured
regal purple and gold, and leaked like a beearch.they had to go back) and
plenty of time so I'm gonna get stuck in to some of that. 

 

There's hardly a band on that list that you'd expect most people to have
heard of, PERFECT to enhance my cool at parties ;) 

 

  _____  

From: gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On
Behalf Of Darren Peace
Sent: Sunday, 21 December 2008 07:05
To: The Gathering
Subject: Re: [kj] Killing Joke's career

 


I'm 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 they've 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), L'Eau Rouge.

Shellac - Steve Albini's current project, after Big Black & Rapeman. Four
studio albums in, all absolute classics. I'd 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 Cure's Seventeen Seconds & Faith with tube screamers. Only
two albums, of which I'd suggest One Last Laugh In A Place Of Dying.

Firewater - I'll let Alex elaborate if he sees fit, but Tod A's 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 - Television's 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.
I'd 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. We'll
have to forgive his involvement with Alex's mum Patti's career, as she is
clearly a foul waste of oxygen.

Wire - fantastically ambitious punk / noise / electronic / experimental
group. If you've not got at least four Wire albums in your collection you
don't know what you're missing. I'd go for 154, The Ideal Copy and Object
47. Truly inspired stuff.

Having said all that, from your assessment of your tastes, I reckon you'd
most like Porcupine Tree. They started as Steven Wilson's 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 you'll 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, he's 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 Darren.any chance of a couple cliff's notes for one or two to get me
started?
 
I'm 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 can't 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. I'd have a hugely hard time choosing a decade, you'd
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?

I'd have to cite (in case you've 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 I'm 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 I'm actually writing a post that I don't have to preface with OT *bows*
Recent comments about Killing Joke being on a decline since their first 6
years. I'd have to disagree and cite, specifically, 1994's 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 don't really hold out hope of finding another treasure
trove back catalog like Killing Joke.and at this rate, I just can't see
music returning to the form of the past. Can only hope. Current state of
play is pretty awful, unless I'm missing some boat. 

  _____  


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