In the meantime, it has been yet another really busy week. Which has included voting, two more gigs (Reviews: Sulpher, Primordial), another new album review (Saltillo’s Monocyte), a spectacularly drunken post-gig club night at The Negative Creep on Friday with nearly_everyone (mainly I blame sproutymouse for Saturday mornings blistering hangover, though), waffles, going to see The Avengers on Sunday (it’s brilliant), more MEATliquor action (in the company of dj_alexander, pir, emmavescence, Sue and Jessika), and a whole world of work, which featured today a 0900 meeting in Milton Keynes and a late-afternoon meeting in Crawley. A C- for planning there.

Oh, and a bit of news that I’m itching to reveal publicly but I can’t just yet. It’s nothing major, in the grand scheme of things, but it is to me.

Oh, and _pinkdaisy_ go on holiday properly this Saturday. No Kinetik for us after all this year – we desperately needed a bit more of a relaxing holiday, without days of jetlag after. So, we’re going to Iceland for six days. Back on Friday 18-May.

Music, etc:Various gigs to mention: Seabound play the Underworld 22-July, Amanda Palmer plays London 20-June (tickets on sale Friday), and there are still tickets available for Garbage at Brixton on 01-July.

On other musical things, this, it must be said, is a fascinating list, while the selected items from John Peel’s record collection going online are fascinating too – if nothing else it has reminded me of the existence of A.C. Acoustics.

I neglected to post this previously, too. Heavy metal logos in infographic format. I’ll believe this when I see it: apparently a new MBV album and EP this year. Although, the remasters have finally got released this week (and they sound incredible).

Also, not music, but film: I’ve been waiting for Cosmopolis for far too long, and here is the trailer – not quite worksafe.

News:Now the dust has settled on the elections, pretty much the best take on the whole thing comes from Newsthump. This was rather depressing, as was this. Also, some interesting musings on the Mayoral election, and the best news about the elections was that the BNP were all but wiped out.

This is really worrying. So what do they have to hide if, just as Rebekah Wade and Andy Coulson appear, they do this? A great article on sleaze and the Tories, too – and then there was this revelation last week. The next couple of days at Leveson could be entertaining…

Today, in the Queen’s Speech…Still no sign of any effort to deal with a housing problem that has now spiralled out of control. This story makes me wonder what kind of country we live in, while as expected London councils are trying to shift out potential tenants as fast as they can. Iain Duncan Smith says there is no problem. Maybe he ought to go and see for himself the sheds above?

Elsewhere: the Met are apparently stockpiling rubber bullets. Just the ticket for improving community relations, eh? Some interesting stuff on the private deal to run Hinchingbrooke Hospital (here and here), while Stephen King’s plea to tax the rich last week was quite heartening.

Finally, clever parakeet is clever.

That Real Gothic won. 1-0. kynon scored, match abandoned at half-time after the pitch turned into a lake.

Photos will also follow once I’ve got a chance to sort them out. Been feeling somewhat out of sorts since I got back. Work was hell today, I need more sleep, and I need a bit more inspiration. So let us move onto something I’m always happy to talk about: music.

Tuesday Ten:A new month, therefore ten new songs you should hear about.

Playlist: Spotify

Track of the Month:
Tenek | A World With No Relief | Electronic Saviors 2: Recurrence
How on earth have I missed this band before? This track doesn’t make my “here is one I missed earlier” corner only by virtue of it being so good. And, too, this will not be the only track from this monster (8CD, for the premium edition!) compilation that only just made it through my door, courtesy of the postman, a week or two ago. It has been noted elsewhere about the importance of the first track of a compilation recently (I can’t imagine many people listen to them on shuffle in the first instance, do they?), and this compilation has, as I might have expected, got it spot on.

So: I’ve seen Tenek in support lineups at gigs I’ve attended recently, but not seen them. More fool me, now I hear this, and a bit of digging for connections, after the general sound was so familiar, confirmed my initial thought – it is Geoff from The Nine. Now, I was a bit of a fan of that band, still have the CDs, and still listen to them. And whether the band like the connection or not, this doesn’t half sound like his previous: so, melodic electronic rock(ish). But in a great way: the sound is that bit punchier, his voice that bit stronger, and the melodies and, critically, the chorus are absolute killers.

The Other Nine:
23RAINYDAYS | Monster (v2) | Electronic Saviors 2: Recurrence
Here is another from that comp. Last time Interlace had the futurepop-anthem-in-waiting, the unusually named 23RAINYDAYS take the mantle here. Apparently a band that have been around for sometime, and described as “electronic gothic rock”, apparently, but here this is straight-up futurepop of the highest order, with vocal harmonies, oh-so-slightly-cheesy synths, and a chorus you can probably hear on other planets.

Seabound | The Escape | Dependence 2012
I think that when I finally get around putting all of the tracks and artists ever featured in my Tuesday Ten series, music involving Frank Spinath will be at the top of “most featured”. There is a reason for this, of course – he has never put a foot wrong. And after a few years dedicating time to his other projects (Edge of Dawn, Ghost & Writer, various guest appearances), this is the first genuinely new Seabound song in five or six years. Not that you’d know it – this is back to their icily understated sound, with that eerie sense of controlled calm, seemingly following straight on from the quite glorious Double Crosser. No dancefloor anthem, of course, but god it is good. So, about that long promised new album, eh?

Die Krupps | Industrie-Mädchen
Another band that are back, but after a much shorter absence. I thought their “comeback” EP a couple of years back was actually kinda dull, with none of the snarl and style that the band had throughout their heyday (and revisted brilliantly on Too Much History). This, though, is much, much better. A thumping, muscular EBM rhythm, guitars filling the gaps, and Jurgen growling away. The only thing seems to be missing, really, is much of a hook. Not that will matter on the dancefloor, I guess…

Marc Heal | The Doll (rough mix)
And another return. So, no more Cubanate, but there is music coming from Marc Heal after all. And not surprisingly, it is aggressive, guitar-based industrial. Well, what else did we expect? The surprise, perhaps, is that this doesn’t half sound like KMFDM. At least until Marc lets rip with his bellowing voice, anyway, at which point it could only be him. An intriguing new start, this: what the other promised tracks sound like is now of great interest.

Decree | Come and See | Electronic Saviors 2: Recurrence
Ok, so a third one off ES:2. And this is one that takes me back a long, long way. The first Decree track I’ve heard in ages, and it is a crushing, metallic monster. But it takes a while to pull itself out of the murk, brooding and pulsing with inferred power, before finally letting rip and sounding like a very angry man with an enormous axe to grind. Grind being the operative word, too, as guitars and electronics squeal like they are being forged from sheet metal, and Sean Lawson must be nearly bursting blood vessels with his raging vocals. Perhaps I really did miss a trick not picking up Fateless last year.

Death Grips | Hacker | The Money Store
Last year Death Grips released an album that spread by word of mouth – and I’ll admit that it took me ages to pick up on it. Once I did nail it down, I was hooked instantly – a rampaging melting pot of samples, beats and searingly aggressive raps. Not far off industrial in its intensity, I can’t have been the only one that raised my eyebrows at them nailing a major label deal. So, the second album is here already. I’ve not bought it yet – that will wait until payday on Friday – but this track, the closing one, is simply astonishing. The anger and volume is here, but unexpectedly, so is a monstrous, club anthem sound. Seemingly constructed from about fifteen samples, including Nitzer Ebb, if I’m not mistaken, it is notice that when on form, Death Grips are now one of the most forward-looking acts around.

Isolate | We Breathe | Isolate EP
A side-project, or new project, from a member of Digicore, as I understand, this is really quite something. Downbeat, pitch-dark electronics, with an elegant female vocal over the top, other tracks on this EP dabble in quasi-dubstep rhythms, but this is not far off trip-hop, or a million miles away from How To Destroy Angels. Free to download, with a “tip jar”, this is well worth your time and a tip, as it were.

Czar | Family Crest | Vertical Mass Grave
Oh yeah, Jason Novak from the cracknation crew returns with a more metallic project. Well, I say returns – I’d totally missed this band until I saw a link to this track. Oddly enough, it isn’t really all *that* far from the later Acumen Nation material, which was frequently metal as fuck. But this is heavy, heavy tech metal, with barely any reliance on electronics at all, aside from some clever sampling trickery early on that seems to place the samples in a part of the mix that aren’t coming directly from the speakers. Anyway, those who like their metal more challenging than just chugging rhythms and guitar solos, this is for you.

Fiona Apple | Every Single Night | The Idler Wheel is wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do
It’s been a while since I paid much attention to Fiona Apple’s music, I must confess. However I adored her first album Tidal, and with the fuss about her first gigs in a while recently (still no gigs outside the US, this time yet, mind), I thought I’d give the first new track a go. And you know what? There is something about this that really is quite special – a small, delicate ballad, or so it seems – until the chorus arrives, with a backing choir that had me going Oh. My. God. the first time around. And every time since. And yes, I know she is hugely divisive, pretentious, etc – just look at that new album title. But get past the reputation and try the song instead. Some of you at least may be rather surprised by what you hear.

Why not, you may ask. Well, for a start, I visit them regularly, and purchase an awful lot of music already. I’ve now got absolutely no idea of how many CDs I own anymore – a best estimate is somewhere around 1500-1600 – and I probably purchase an average of 10-15 per month. So it isn’t as if I don’t already support these various independent stores as it is. I prefer not to download music if I can help it – i.e. if the music is released on CD, I’d much rather put the effort into getting that than simply buying some digital files. Obviously this can’t happen everytime, and my eMusic account comes in useful for that from time to time.

I wonder, though, whether Record Store Day is now becoming more of a money-making event for punters than the stores. A check on eBay at 13:37 BST today revealed 852 results for “Record Store Day 2012″ (it was 770 when I first checked an hour earlier). These aren’t fans buying this stuff, it is people out for a quick buck. The same happened with the ultra-limited Swans live album We Rose From The Bed With The Sun In Our Head earlier in the year – the day my copy arrived (#175 out of 1000, fact fans), there were already three on eBay for inflated sums. This struck me as sad, as the whole point of the release was to raise funds for the forthcoming Swans album – not to line the purchasers pockets.

So I’m not going to brave the queues today, even if there are a couple of bands I wouldn’t mind seeing doing in-store performances. Instead I’ll go and have a leisurely browse in Rough Trade East tomorrow, without having to elbow my way through, but still crucially making my small investment into independent music.

This wasn’t especially my original thinking for this post, mind. The Guardian’s music pages have had a few things about Record Stores this week, including a couple of marvellous articles with journalists and readers celebrating those first places where they got the music-buying bug.

Needless to say, it got me thinking about my record-buying past too. So here is a look at the various places I’ve bought music from over the years, going back probably twenty years or so.

I moved to Huddersfield when I was about nine. As I headed into my teens, and I began to discover alternative music, it quickly became clear that Huddersfield had a vibrant music scene, with a surprising number of places to buy music. So, there was a well-stocked Our Price, a Woolworths that was also great for some music, and then there were independents. Fourth Wave on John William Street was a primarily vinyl-based dance music place, but quickly realised that as alt-rock exploded in the early nineties that this was a good route to take. So it had loads of decent alternative CDs, posters and T-shirts. I still vividly recall picking up The Breeders’ Cannonball EP there. Wall of Sound across the road was a mix of new and used stuff, but was always worth a look, as was Vinyl Tap (at least, I think that’s the name of it) that as I remember it was in Byram Arcade. And it was one of those places that was gloriously disorganised to the untrained eye, piled high in every corner with vinyl and CDs. The guy who ran it, of course, knew instantly where everything was! Long-since closed there, I was surprised to find online that it still exists in the suburb of Milnsbridge.

Fourth Wave in particular was dealt a heavy blow when Badlands (which originally was in Cheltenham – and I was astonished to find it is still there) opened in Imperial Arcade. A resolutely alternative music shop, covering from indie to extreme metal, it had a knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff that quickly meant it became rather popular. They later moved from their Imperial Arcade location to a location adjacent to the newly opened Kingsgate Centre, but ended up as one of the many independent stores to lose out from the then-new shopping centre.

Nowadays, by the way – unless anything else has opened – HMV in the Kingsgate Centre is pretty much your only option. Of course, outside of London or the biggest HMV stores, the emphasis is very much on pretty much anything but music. Games, DVDs, accessories, music players. Just to show how much things have changed, I can vividly remember picking up Machines of Loving Grace‘s Concentration in Coventry’s HMV in 94/95. This is something that certainly wouldn’t happen any more…

I left Huddersfield when I went to Uni, starting my ill-fated time in London at King’s. More than anywhere, Berwick Street was for far too long my haunt during my Uni years. Working on Oxford Street part-time, right at the top of the street, probably didn’t help my finances, either. Back then, there was Sister Ray, Selectadisc, Reckless Records, and Music & Video Exchange, of which only Sister Ray and M&VE now remain. Then there were the huge HMV and Virgin Megastores on Oxford Street, both of which were awesome for the alternative music buyer. Remarkably, only one HMV remains of the megastores on Oxford Street – the Bond Street HMV and both Virgin Megastores are long-gone.

I also started my buying at Resurrection Records in Camden at this time, but more on there later. Also on Camden High Street back then was Metalhead, nowadays yet another seller of T-shirt tat rather than anything actually of use. This place was awesome – the first place to go for any metal import in the nineties, it might have been expensive but that was the way it worked then, whether we liked it or not. I picked up the first SOAD and Snot albums there long in advance of them coming out in the UK.

While in-between resitting at King’s, I was back in Huddersfield, and working in Leeds. This continued once I returned north full-time in 2000, and it transpired that Leeds also had a vibrant music scene, with tons of gigs, club nights and more importantly good record shops. Uniquely amongst most of the northern cities, the two excellent independents remain, too. Crash Records have long been my preferred choice – lovely people running the place, knowledgeable, informative and crucially people that love their music. Jumbo Records up in the St John’s Centre were never as friendly, I found – and this meant that Crash won almost every time. There is a third independent in Leeds, however when I last dropped into Hellraiser music has taken a distinct second place to various alternative clothing and other tat. Which is a shame, as it always used to be brilliant for extreme metal in particular. Not easy to find if you don’t know Leeds well, either – hidden down the back of the markets district, on a street that has seen much better days.

I finally left Huddersfield for good in 2004, and moved onto Sheffield, a city that at the time had a vibrant music scene and some great shops to buy music in. There was the obligatory HMV and Virgin (which became Zavvi in 2008 after a management buyout, before collapsing – I looked after the group’s mobiles for that year, too, in my capacity as account manager at a mobile provider!) – but more importantly there were a host of independents. There was the still-incomparable Record Collector in Broomhill, Hidden Records by the Peace Gardens, Rare & Racy (a strange treasure trove of books and avant-garde music, including loads of old industrial and noise stuff), Fopp, Jacks Records on Division Street (hardly the friendliest place, but fantastic for gig tickets and some new releases). In the city centre, only HMV and Rare & Racy remain. For a city that is such a significant place for popular music, particularly the development of electronic music, it is desperately sad. But for me, it is a mirror of the decline of the city generally, once again, after the optimism of only ten years ago.

My travels over that time also saw a few other things of note. While once meeting rhino_mittens for lunch in Newcastle (I was up there on business, as I recall), I discovered that Steel Wheels (near Haymarket station?), I think it was, was pretty damned awesome. Absolutely loads of material, including one of the best metal selections I’ve ever seen at an independent.

Going out with _pinkdaisy_ for over seven years now, I’ve seen a lot of Leicester, too. Musically, like Sheffield, the scene is not good right now, but at least an independent still remains in town along with HMV. Rock-a-boom in St Martin’s Square are your archetypal indie music store, with a good secondhand selection too. But that is your lot. The useful Backtrack has now gone, replaced by yet another alt-clothing store. _pinkdaisy_ remembers the old proprietor saving any secondhand Manics vinyl that came in for her to get first call on…

Back in London for the past couple of years has seen my CD buying explode again – partly as my tastes have widened again, and partly because I have more disposable income nowadays. HMV have improved again of late, having a wider selection than they have in years, but my focus is on indies once again. I’m going to miss Resurrection Records in Camden an awful lot – they closed their shop last week, going to mail-order only (aside from their twice-yearly appearance at Whitby, of course) – as that was the only place I could pop into to actually buy industrial/etc stuff in person, and get recommendations on material that I might have otherwise missed. The signal-to-noise ratio on Facebook and other social networking, of course, being pretty poor.

For other genres, Rough Trade East is five minutes from my office, so I’m a regular visitor there during the week on lunchbreaks, while Fopp near Cambridge Circus remains as good as ever. I don’t head down to Berwick Street much any more, simply as I don’t have the time. I really should again sometime soon, though. Perhaps next month…

But really, that is about the extent of my physical CD shopping nowadays. The rest is all internet-based, pretty much out of necessity: for most North-American releases, I have to buy direct. So right now, there is Resurrection Records and MusicNonStop online in the UK (with Grave News now gone. MNS I have shopped with since they first appeared at Infest, and following the change of ownership Richard and Jo have continued to do a great job), and for other markets: Storming The Base in Canada are my first port of call, with their weekly e-mail newsletters having an unusual editorial that is always worth a read (you should sign up), and Poponaut in Germany have been useful on occasions. Otherwise, it is direct from artists and labels – either on the internet or at gigs, I don’t really mind which.

All told, I’m probably unusual, and a little old-fashioned in my continued preference for CDs. But I like the tangible, physical nature of it – and I am much happier DJing with CDs where possible, too. Anyway, long live the independent retailer. I just choose to spread my buying over the course of the year, on a regular basis, than just one day a year.

• Review of Resistanz 2012
• Review of Chelsea Wolfe live
• Review of 65Daysofstatic live
• Review of Marion live
• Review of Skindred and Therapy? live
• Review of Laibach live

Despite the sheer exhaustion it caused, it has been an ace week. It has been great to catch up with various friends for the first time in a while, not least our weekend houseguest Claire-Lise. But it is kinda nice to now be able to take a break, to relax a bit and not have too many nights out this week! Other than that, not really much else to add for this week, so on with the other stuff.

Music, etc: again with another of his musical rants – once again bang on the money. I’ll re-iterate one thing – there is great music out there, only if you look for it, and go beyond the basic “scene” staples.

In TV news, yet another remake. This time it is Sabrina The Teenage Witch, and the wiseass cat Salem will apparently be a prince. Hmm…

Tuesday Ten:A very British habit – and one of the cliched views of the British from around the world – is, apparently, to talk about the weather incessantly. I’ve never been sure why, but I guess with a changeable climate, the seemingly never-ending threat of rain (well, at least until the last few years where dry spells seem to get longer and longer), it is a good place to start a conversation.

Needless to say, the weather comes up in an awful lot of songs. Even the first set of suggestions for this list exceeded ten in minutes, and I had a choice of a couple hundred songs to potentially include. So after the first ten, there is a second Spotify list that has a few additionals that didn’t make the final cut. And now we can embed Spotify playlists at last, you can play the main ten direct from here.

Playlists: Spotify I | Spotify II | YouTube

Blur | This Is A Low | Parklife
This is the song that inspired this weeks’ list, after hearing a quite wonderful solo cover of it at and Lucy’s party the other week. And it is a notable song for a couple of reasons. Firstly, amid the triumphant, upbeat sound of Parklife, there existed darker, more comtemplative corners, and this was one of them. Built around a metaphorical trip around the Shipping Forecast, and as a result those titular Lows have more than one meaning…

Garbage | Only Happy When It Rains | Garbage
The return of Garbage this spring after a long hiatus has been something for celebration, particularly as some of the new material doesn’t half hark back to their still-striking debut album. And this song, despite some people’s initial view that it is just a dour goth moan, is actually Scottish singer Shirley Manson poking fun at the average Scot’s less-than-sunny view of the world in general – and that started with the weather…

The Verve | Stormy Clouds | A Northern Soul
Very different to the skyscraping anthems that The Verve released later on, a fair proportion of The Verve’s early material were lengthy, atmospheric jams that frequently went on for quite some time (the most extreme example being the epic Gravity Grave, an early B-side that in its live form would normally hit the ten minute mark or more). While they still indulged in the odd space-rock epic like this on their later material, none really hit the mark like songs like this. A lengthy, moody groove, that gracefully builds across the sonic horizon until the sky is all black. Richard Ashcroft’s overwrought vocals – you know, like he normally does – actually work well almost as a warning as the storm threatens to break.

Covenant | Wind of the North | Europa
Covenant, of course, come from Sweden – and like the other parts of Scandinavia, these are countries well used to preparing for the weather and dealing with the extremes that it can throw at them. The band have referenced the weather in their songs a few times, actually, but this song (from an album kinda forgotten in their past nowadays, sadly, as they hardly ever play anything from it live) has perhaps the deepest link with the weather. The bitter, cold winds from Artic are a warming, soothing contrast to Eskil’s mood and demeanour in this song – a cold, icy and distant atmosphere, and instrumentation, that Covenant have got across so well.

The Orb | Little Fluffy Clouds
A song that kicked off all manner of trouble due to the (deliberate?) use out of context of a stoned-sounding Ricky Lee Jones eulogising about the desert sky at sunset, the truth is that the song really does invoke images of glorious, orange and red sunsets. Not necessarily in the desert, mind. As for the song, its languid beat, spaced-out synth lines, and that voice sample have made it something of a poster child for ambient music, not to mention seeing it appear on probably hundreds of compilations. The thing is, it never gets boring…

Missy Elliott | Supa Dupa Fly (The Rain) | Supa Dupa Fly
Another with clever use of sampling (this time of Ann Peebles), this was Missy Elliott’s breakthrough song, and was more than a bit of a notice that she was a bit different to the other female rappers out there. And that wasn’t just in looks – her elastic basslines, odd rhythms and plain strange raps made her and her producer friend Timbaland stars. This track is remarkably stark, too: little more than that bouncing rhythm, her voice and the sample: and a song about wanting to go out and have some fun, but being constantly held back by the damned weather. A feeling we can appreciate here in the UK, that’s for sure.

10,000 Maniacs | Like The Weather | In My Tribe
Another song with the weather as a metaphor – here Natalie Merchant takes a relatively sympathetic view towards someone suffering from deep depression, unable to leave the house, or the bed, in a position where even the thought of the weather outside brings out a panic. The fact that it is cold, grey and rainy in this case isn’t helping. Having been in similar positions myself before – and seen someone else like it – this song makes it all too real once again.

Faust | It’s A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl
I was never all that interested in Krautrock when it first got resurrected in the 90s, I have to confess. I had too much new music at the time to take in, why would I want to look that far backwards? It was only as my curious musical mind developed over the years that I started looking back at genres such as this, to what interest there was there. And then, having seen the odd documentary, and heard more than a few things, I began to dig a bit deeper, and picked out the odd compilation. And there was this – an oddly sunny, bright, hypnotic track that doesn’t really do a great deal for its seven-minute-length, just an incessant, simple beat, a strummed riff, and that title repeated ad infinitum. It doesn’t have a great deal to do with the weather aside from the title, apart from the fact that it always makes me think of sunny days in an English garden. Which is a juxtaposition that I suspect the band might be proud of…

The Cure | Prayers For Rain | Disintegration
Back to the rain, again, though. And for perhaps the darkest song in the list, from what must surely be the bleakest album ever to be a multi-million-seller. Six minutes of unremitting darkness – the beats, slight guitars and synth washes all combine with Robert Smith’s desperate vocals to yearn for escape amid the rain. When one thinks about it, it isn’t hard to see how they ended up with the lead track on The Crow Soundtrack only a few years later…

Neil Young | Like A Hurricane | American Stars ‘n Bars
Ok, so it isn’t quite a hurricane. But some extremes are needed here, aside from the sun and the rain, eh? Anyway, it lasts nearly as long as a storm, so Neil Young’s tale of getting caught up in a dream about a lover, who can never quite reach out and touch the object of his affections, makes it into the list. Still, it sounds like it should belong on the windswept, open expanses of the American mid-west, with the sun beating down on you, and the wind rushing through your hair – the cliché that fills so many films.

News:Once again, a quick rundown, and I’m bound to be missing stuff. So firstly, interesting how the Tories are now the ones blocking party funding changes. The system needs to change, of that there is no doubt. And this is a fascinating way to start from Milliband, pretty much calling the Tory bluff.

Elsewhere, EDL Twittering gets twisted into comedy brilliantly, and Catholic leaders have asked certain Republicans in the US to stop distorting their teaching. There is more to go with that, perhaps, but it is a start. While this article on the examining the concept of sexual humiliation as political control in the US is fascinating, and terrifying at the same time.

Another kick in the teeth to this Government’s “Greenest Ever” pledge, and the first recorded murder-free day in El Salvador in three years.

Finally, this one hell of an inspirational story.

The big event of the week, of course, was Resistanz Festival over the weekend, where just about everyone from everywhere showed up, there were good bands, crap bands and a few very good ones, there was a whole lot of booze, silliness and unicorns, and I even got a review done in good time. The Resistanz review is here, and the band and people photos can be found by clicking on the relevant images.

In addition to all of that, I’ve also attended two more gigs since, and there are two more later in the week (Skindred and Therapy?! Laibach!). My review of Chelsea Wolfe’s show on Monday is here, although it will be tomorrow night (Thursday) at least before my 65Daysofstatic review makes it online.

No Tuesday Ten this week, that has been pushed back ’til next week.

Also this week – today, in fact – I’ve begun thinking about how I’m going to rebuild my website. As I noted on FB earlier, it is high time I looked at the back-end of my website, and sorted out the various bits of cobbled together code that underpin it, and instead bringing it into a more sensible whole that will actually allow me to update it much more easily in the future. Whether I do this myself, or pay someone else to do it – I’d rather learn for myself, I think – is the next question.

News:While various politicians are arguing about tax and scoring points, increasing numbers of Britons are going hungry. And for the record, I see no reason why people in public office – or people running companies entirely funded by the public purse, like, say, A4e, or major political donors – shouldn’t be revealing their tax affairs. Then again, we could perhaps do with a little more scrutiny of some very large companies, too.

Another question this week – what exactly are we Britons turning into? Shop your neighbour to protect the Olympics? Also, yet another voice suggests the war on drugs has failed.

Finally, a fascinating article, that for once is written by someone who understands this kind of thing, while this made me chuckle when I saw it – metal bands across the world per capita.

There has been good stuff, though. Like Rivet on Friday, which as it turned out was the 500th setlist I’ve been involved in (i.e. all of the nights I’ve been involved in), but not quite my 500th DJ set (as I missed a few tcf and Stormblast nights). What we did play on Friday can be found here. It was, honestly, a little less busy than the first one, but one which has given us some good ideas for the future. Look out for news and confirmation of the next date soon, intention is for Rivet v0.3 to follow in June.

I’ve also had time to complete one new review (Mind.In.A.Box’s new album Revelations), and more will follow in the coming days. More eggs were found – I eventually got 171 of the 209 on camera before they moved en masse to Covent Garden, and I’ll be attempting to complete the set there on Friday. Then there was the Helmet gig last night, which was great – and a review will follow for that soonish too.

This weekend sees me back in Sheffield for only the fourth time since we left, as _pinkdaisy_ and I head up for Resistanz Festival. Looking forward to seeing loads of people there, and a full review and photo gallery will be on amodelofcontrol.com after the event.

Tuesday Ten:I guess last week’s repackaging Tuesday Ten was kinda apt, seeing as this past week has marked five years of my Tuesday Ten series. That is five years of me carping on about music in various forms. And seeing as I’m not out of ideas yet for the series, they will keep on coming. So, on with this week.

Playlists: Spotify | YouTube

Saltillo | Proxy | Monocyte
If it wasn’t for Storming The Base and their associated label Artoffact, I would never have come across this artist at all, and I suspect that I’m not the only one in this position. Recently reissued album Ganglion was impressive enough, but Monocyte is something else again. While Ganglion reminded me very much of Massive Attack and the darker realms of Tricky’s material, Monocyte seems to have no reference points to hang on it. Perhaps the closest point I can think of is DJ Shadow, with imaginative use of beats and instruments but not generally by sampling, from what I can tell. And in this track, languid beats are dramatically accompanied by violins and apocalyptic voiceovers. Other tracks feature ghostly female vocals, but all the way, there is a dark shroud over the music that lends an air of intriguing mystery. I really cannot recommend this album, never mind just this song, enough.

Garbage | Battle In Me | Not Your Kind of People
They are back, after some years off, and seem somewhat revitalised. After Shirley Manson’s mystifyingly stillborn solo career, and that lacklustre last album…the first peeks at the new material wisely suggest a return to their more electronic sound, production trickery that cuts up the rhythms, and jagged, squalling guitars. And more importantly, a killer tune. Oh yeah! I was initially a little concerned about this return, but for once the hiatus was clearly needed.

Javelynn | Wannabe (Ashbury Heights Wonderland Funhouse Remix)
Finally, Yaz and Anders back together, even if it is just a (lengthy) remix. But oh my, this is wonderful. A dancefloor-bound epic, cleverly working both their vocals together amid the beat-driven storm, like the best AH material it drives towards the pop angle but keeps it’s dark heart. But it also shows what we lost when AH imploded after their impressive debut – there was clearly a strong musical chemistry, they worked well as a duo, and their material done seperately since just isn’t the same, I’m afraid… [Note: the Spotify playlist has the original version, which isn't really as good...]

Needle Fac†ory | Shut Up and Riot
Fuck me. An old friend, Freddy, is back (and I heard this, literally, the day after Tuesday Ten 151), and this is fucking awesome. Pretty much what ATR should be like in 2012, this is bass-heavy, noisy electro-industrial-punk that sounds absolutely immense, and extremely angry. Something of a world away from his previous work as Dyspraxia (which I did enjoy, and have covered before), this is an outfit that is going to be worth keeping an ear out for – I understand they are quite something live, too.

Concrete Lung | Communal Slave | Die Dreaming 7″
I can’t recall the last time I reviewed a release that is coming out on vinyl, and a seven inch at that. But that is what brusing London industrial-metalists Concrete Lung have done for their latest release, although I have to confess that I got this on digital promo (I’ll be buying the actual release during this month). Aside from a membership change (one member leaving), not a great deal has changed with their sound, although this is a good thing. But if you didn’t like them before, this will not change your view – still uncompromising, grinding industrial, laden with guitars and a grimy atmosphere, but the two songs here are more like the bands earlier material than the perhaps over-ambitious album that followed. Looking forward to see where they take this sound next.

By Any Means Necessary | Waiting v.3 | By Any Means Necessary
Yet another word-of-mouth recommendation, yet another retro-ish industrial act. Which, needless to say, is fine by me. Especially when releasing music as good as this. I’m a few months behind the curve with this release, though, especially as another EP is coming soon, going on the artist’s Facebook page. So to recap – this is beat-driven industrial, with an 80s-EBM edge, and snarling, hate-filled vocals. Works for me…

Stromkern | Intuit | Dead Letters
The return of Stromkern, at last, has been a cause for celebration as far as I’m concerned. Seven years since the album Light It Up finally brought them wider recognition (just watch the reaction nowadays when you drop Stand Up on dancefloors), and after the drip of a couple of songs in the past couple of years, this new EP reveals a few things about the state of Stromkern in 2012. For a start, don’t worry, there is no new dubstep or hardstyle, or whatever, direction. The hip-hop influenced rhythms and vocals are still present and correct, but was changed is the feel. The sound is less electronic, and that bit more organic. There are live drums and guitars in the mix, more than ever before, and Ned’s vocal style has softened that little bit. The change is most obvious on Ruin(ed), a rebuild of one of the standouts from Light It Up, and as a way of signposting the change, it couldn’t be bettered. Lead track Intuit is the killer, though, but it takes a few listens to realise this, as the rhythm gently uncoils and snaps into place, there are snatches of guitars, and then there is Ned’s vocals, which burst into a staccato fury for the chorus. Next release Dead Language, due in the summer, can’t come soon enough.

Meshuggah | I Am Colossus | Koloss
Another band back after a while with new material are tech-metal gods Meshuggah, a band who after nearly twenty years are still some considerable distance ahead of the curve. With the extended times between albums (it is four years since their last studio album), and their trailblazing sound, like sort-of-peers Tool they still retain the sense of mystique…and each album is still an event. Unlike the last album, it isn’t opened by a brutal blast of force (hello, Combustion), but instead by five minutes of unremitting, heavy pressure, like a monstrous weight steadily sapping the air from you. Meshuggah, it’s nice to have you back, and the pretenders can go back and continue to work out how to follow in their wake.

W.A.S.T.E. | Droppin’ Loads for Resistanz | Resistanz 2012
With Resistanz this coming weekend, I’m looking forward to hearing new music aired by various artists. And the recent Resistanz 2012 compilation has whetted my appetite nicely, particularly the nicely brutal opener from one of my favourite industrial noise acts. (A bit) less of the sheer noise here and instead concentrating on some heavy, heavy beats, it is nice to know that there is still no compromise whatsoever. For those who haven’t seen W.A.S.T.E. live, bring earplugs on Saturday, otherwise you’ll be hearing little else for the rest of the weekend. Shane’s sideproject, Vuxnut, also has a new track to enjoy, which is perhaps a hell of a lot more intense.

ESA | The Plot Sickens | Themes Of Carnal Empowerment Pt. 1: Lust
Also playing Resistanz this weekend, I mentioned ESA’s new album the other week, but I didn’t have it at that point. I do now, and after a few years, Jamie working on this and other projects, the release has been worth the wait. It is perhaps more pounding rhythms that the longer, well, almost prog-ish work of late, but he has proven before that he is more than capable of bringing the beats. Here is more proof – one of a few standouts from the new album, over four minutes of complex rhythms, underpinned by an unremitting beat.

News:How odd – sudden backtracking, perhaps, on the new snooping plan? The thing is, they’ve ignored complaints about everything else, so why stop now? One that I perhaps should have linked to last week, it is hard to feel any sympathy for Nadine Dorries, while in local politics the political world in Whitby has just got that bit stranger. And just, WTF?

Over in the US, this is a pretty impressive way of fighting back against the pro-lifers, while how about this for corporate interference in healthcare?

The past week has seen a lot of work, a lot of busyness, and not a great deal of time to enjoy the glorious sunshine, that has arrived this spring even earlier than the last few. So Friday night saw _pinkdaisy_, I and others at The Lexington to see the quite marvellous Rebekah Delgado (review), and it was only really on Saturday that I got out into the sunshine, in the company of silkyraven, hollyp and boxcat, by way of spending the afternoon with booze and food at Highgate Woods. That evening was Eva’s birthday bash down at a pub in the London Bridge area, but I think it is fair to say that neither silkyraven or I were exactly awake by this point, so we headed home relatively early.

Sunday saw me – amid a couple of other errands – out in the sunshine again, resuming my Egg Hunt. While I now have 125 of the 210 or so, I think I’m going to struggle to get them all this time around (I completed the whole set of Elephants with time to spare, you may recall), but I am going to give it one last push this week to see how many I can do.

Otherwise this week is being consumed by more meetings in four days than I’ve had in ages (nine!), the usual end-of-quarter fun-and-games, and the satisfying push from my boss to start to take over the management of the mobile sales team more – an unexpected and (perhaps needed) vote of confidence in my work. I’ve been here just over two years now, and I’m not going to sit on my hands and be happy with what I have done already. There is more to do, and new things to aim for.

Not forgotten the questions, by the way, they will follow later this week.

Music etc.:The new Garbage single is brilliant, there are snippets from the forthcoming Portion Control album Pure Form to be heard here.

Tuesday Ten:I’ve looked at band reunions before (Tuesday Ten 144), but I’ve not looked at the glut of album reissues, remasters and other ways that record labels have found to help bolster their physical sales numbers that little bit more, as digital sales continue to increase. And while I have a bit of a distrust of this kind of re-sale, almost – many people are paying again for a product that they have bought in some form before – I will admit I’ve bought a few of late. Particularly as I have lost, had stolen or in some cases pretty much worn out some of the originals.

What got me thinking about this? The news that the long awaited My Bloody Valentine reissue/remasters finally get released on 07-May – honest – after four fucking years since they were first mooted. Nice to see Kevin Shields still works to a different sense of time to everyone else, eh?

And ironically enough, Storming The Base, who have great editorial pieces in their newsletter each week, also had a musing on this last Friday, as the craze to re-issue has filtered down to smaller labels too. To make this a little more specific, I’m looking at those re-releases that add something new. Be that a radical new sound, more material, shiny repackaging, or a bit of all three. Those that simply reissue and repress the original with no change are ignored.

Playlists: Spotify | YouTube

Die Krupps | II – The Final Option | Reissued 2011
An album that certainly warranted a remaster treatment (the recording always sounded a bit thin), but I was somewhat dismayed to find that there was barely any discernable difference in the sound. Like it hadn’t been touched at all, in fact. A crying shame, too, as the album is great, just not loud enough. Still, one big point in favour of this release: the remix CD is basically Rings of Steel (which was awesome on it’s own, particularly Clawfinger’s crunching remix of To The Hilt) and a few more remixes besides.

Nine Inch Nails | Pretty Hate Machine | Reissued 2010
From the weakest re-issue here to probably the finest remastering I’ve ever heard of an electronic album. The difference here was utterly astounding – and the key here is that Trent himself went back to the masters and re-did himself. Everything here is amped up – it sounds enormous, casting away the thin, reedy sound of the original, and there are elements in some songs, particularly the quieter, spacier ones, that I swore I’d never heard before the first time I’d heard this version. Talk about hearing an album in a different light. And, of course, the dancefloor anthems now sound amazing, particularly the evergreen Head Like A Hole, that now punches holes in the floor like it always should – play the old version followed by this, and you’ll never go back to the original again. The packaging is very pretty, too…

Refused | The Shape Of Punk To Come | Reissued 2010
A release that actually ended the band, this revolutionary album (both in intentions and in musicality) always sounded pretty damned awesome in the first place, has influenced countless bands (even Anthrax have covered New Noise) and kicked off countless moshpits. But remarkably there are many who perhaps hadn’t heard the heady rush of New Noise, or Summerholiday vs. punk routine etc. So this reissue was a great reminder or introduction, and was backed up with evidence why their live shows passed into legend. The live CD is impressive (it is a pretty good overview of their recorded output, and just check the utter savagery of Rather Be Dead), but the whole package is almost worth it alone for the staggering live version of album title track The Shape Of Punk To Come on the DVD, where they start it in the dressing room offstage, waiting for the opening sample to finish, and burst onto the stage and into the song as it kicks off. If they open with this at Sonisphere it is going to be carnage. Bring it on.

Spiritualized | Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space B P | Reissued 2009
Given that the album infamously took an age to release, after Jason Pierce tried for ages to finish the perfect mix of the album – and that it sounded pretty damned awesome when it finally made it onto the shelves in June 1997 – this did seem a bit of a curio to be re-released and re-mastered. But it did have one ace up its sleeve – the “original” version of the title track, a version that is so amazing that live it resulted in a speechless crowd when it finished. The additional material is interesting sketches and demos of the final material, showing just how painstakingly this album was put together, but it is the album itself that is the reason for purchase. I’m happy to admit I bought a jewel-case version to listen to, and the box with the CD in a blister-pack, that still hasn’t been opened (I’m not making the same mistake I made with the original!).

Manic Street Preachers | The Holy Bible | Reissued 2004
The 10th anniversary of this band’s best album – and of course their final album with Richey Edwards – was an early “deluxe” re-issue, and perhaps was an album well worth this treatment, particularly as there was an alternative mix of the album, the “US Version” that was remixed by Tom Lord-Alge, that many (including me) had not heard…and astonishingly was actually punchier and better than the release that actually saw the light of day in 1994. Indeed, even the songs that were already angry enough, ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit’sworldwouldfallapart in particular, absolutely seethes with white hot fury in this version – and the version of Of Walking Abortion isn’t far behind, emphasising the near-industrial touches and rhythms that characterised parts of this album in the first place. With hindsight, you have to wonder how on earth this version wasn’t preferred. Adding that to the various other bits and pieces that padded out the 2 CDs, and the DVD of videos and period live footage, this is one re-release that was absolutely worth the time to revisit.

Fear Factory | Demanufacture | Reissued 2005
As metal pulled itself back from the margins and into the mainstream around the turn of the millenium, it definitely felt that some of the pioneers within the genre from only a few years before – and those that had done the groundwork for others’ success – had been left in the slipstream somewhat. Fear Factory were such a band, although they were their own worst enemies, releasing a succession of weaker and weaker albums following their breakthrough (and best) release Demanufacture. The first album, really, to fully fuse mechanical, industrial beats and samples with death metal, but with a rare melodic touch, it hit like a bombshell upon original release, and the band followed it up with the equally revolutionary (for a band of their stature) remix album Remanufacture. The reissue remastered both, and added a few bits and pieces (including another staggering remix of New Breed). Still, though, pick this up, and put the original on. Loud.

Emperor | Prometheus – The Discipline Of Fire & Demise | Reissued 2007
The unexpected reunion of Emperor for a short time in 2006-07 – a reunion I managed to miss, and have kicked myself ever since for doing so – was one of reflection, and some might say a reclaiming of their throne as the greatest Black Metal band of them all. Accompanying the reunion was a limited-edition reissue and remaster of all five of their albums, which while remastered I have to confess I didn’t really notice too much of a difference in the sound. Still, they looked pretty, and had the odd bit of additional material – I only bought this one in this form, though, mind!

The Boo Radleys | Giant Steps | Reissued 2010
The Boo Radleys were mentioned a few times in Luke Haines’ fucking hilarious book Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall, his retelling of his time in underrated band The Auteurs (a band I’m not convinced are going to see reissues anytime soon, mores the pity), and he was hardly complimentary. I’ll be disagreeing with him here, as I still love this album. It’s chaotic meshing of all kinds of styles, never really fitting in anywhere else but still sounding fresh, was an attraction from the start, but in those times where Britpop was beginning to take over, it was perhaps always a little too “out there” for many. There is a lot of disposable stuff on the second and third CDs, to be fair, but right at the end is the best track of all – the full, six minute majesty of Lazarus.

Jeff Buckley | Grace | Reissued 2004
There are perhaps few albums of the nineties surrounded in as much mythology as this, the one full album Buckley released before his untimely death in 1997. An extraordinary showcase of his vocal range and open-minded approach to music, whose styles stretched from hard rock to choral pieces to heartfelt balladeer, it is an album that has divided opinion since. And, of course, unleashed one of the finest covers ever released (Hallelujah, if you really need to ask). So it was perhaps no surprise that Sony made it an early “Legacy Edition” deluxe reissue, with various offcuts, demos and live stuff on the second CD. But quite how the gorgeous ballad Forget Her was omitted from the original release, and only showed up on this reissue, is something we’ll be scratching our heads about for some time.

Kraftwerk | The Catalogue | Reissued 2009
Eight peerless albums all brought together in one gorgeous boxset (12″ vinyl size, with booklets that size and the eight CD albums inside), all remastered to perfection, sounding fresh and new. Well, what did we expect from the electronic pioneers, with their famous attention to detail? Ok, so some albums have dated better than others, but this is possibly eight albums of the most important electronic music yet released, and so the potential cash-in aspect of this (it wasn’t cheap, even when I bought it at the end of last year) can be excused. Consider it an education if you’ve not heard it before, eh?

News:Frankly I’m too depressed with the fucking news this past week to bother posting about any of it, so instead have some of the spoof links, which pretty much sum up the sorry state of it anyway. For starters, this is pretty much how I feel when I see the umpteenth story of the week about one of the Royals, Newsthump also on the “fuel crisis”, and on Christian MPs – the original story of which many of us thought was a spoof in the first place.

Oh, and the Daily Mash with a brilliant take on ‘cash for Cameron’.

What has happened this week? I’ve finally seen We Need To Talk About Kevin, in the company of silkyraven – and as brilliant as it is, I’m not convinced I could watch it again. I’d also say it is notable for a rare book adaptation that actually does the searing power of the book justice. I also headed to Sin City on Friday, in the company of _pinkdaisy_, eline, hollyp, johannm, greeba, mattzero and others, and it was great fun. We’ll be doing that again, I’m sure. The weekend saw _pinkdaisy_ and I in Leicester (again) for her dad’s birthday, which featured a fair bit of relaxing, some PC assistance from me, and tasty tapas.

This week: a bit quieter, although I really need to get on with getting the rest of those Eggs.

Music etc.:Various odds and sods of music stuff worth seeing or reading: A wonderful video for a fantastic track (Factory Floor), and echo_echo posted this over the weekend, and with the experiences I’ve had, I could not agree more: the perils of the warm-up/opening DJ.

And as Killing Joke release their latest album, it was interesting look back at another, older track on the Guardian’s “Old Music” blog the other day. New single In Cythera seems a bit of a throwback, too, with it’s melodic feel.

Onto films, and you know what? I so want this to be good (On The Road), while the trailer to Prometheus is pretty damned spectacular, too.

Tuesday Ten:Call this an exercise in free advertising if you like, but I’ve always been happy to recommend and write about music that is released by people that I consider friends. I’d be lying if I said that I like every moment of every release by each artist here, but I’d much rather offer honest opinions than a simpering ‘yeah, that’s great’. And more importantly, all of the bands mentioned here either have new releases coming and/or are playing live soon.

Oh, and apologies if I’ve not mentioned your band. Obviously I only had space for ten!

Playlists: Spotify

Autoclav1.1
The first of two labelmates here that have albums out today, in fact, and I’ve known both of them way back into my days in Huddersfield (a town I left nearly eight years ago, would you believe). What is even more bizare, I guess, is that the label in question is a US one. But then, the outer reaches of industrial hardly has any prominent labels in the UK left to release it on. So thanks for labels like Tympanik, then, who’ve done a great job over the past few years. Tony Young’s Autoclav1.1 project has released a steady stream of material over recent years, keeping his trademark piano-led motifs but moving into harder, heavier realms at points and also adding unexpected, post-punk textures to spectacular effect. And I have to say – this broadening of horizons has done wonders for his sound.
New album Embark On Departure is out now.

ESA
Watching the crowd for Jamie’s appearance as ESA at Kinetik last year was something of a revelation: with the amount of other artists there to see what he did, it was clear just how highly respected he has become within “the scene”. And for good reason, too, as he has stretched the ideas of rhythmic industrial/noise into dark, almost gothic corners, with atmosphere and depth, and each of his albums have taken interesting themes. Not to mention use of vocals where appropriate, too, and some pretty amazing dynamics, and you have a surprisingly listenable “noise” artist.
New album Themes Of Carnal Empowerment Pt. 1: Lust is out now, and ESA play Resistanz in Sheffield next month.

Modulate
Another artist I’ve known for many years is Geoff Lee of Modulate. In fact I still have his original demo CDs kicking around in my collection (both the first CDR, and the later release of Dystopia, material from which eventually formed the backbone to his debut album and live show), and I recall suggesting early on that big things were to come to Modulate – something I saw happen in spectacular style as the entire Kinetik crowd went mad for them last year. Geoff had put in the work, too. And his long stint DJing at the Wendyhouse has resulted in an artist who is aiming for the dancefloor, with great success and style: the new tracks last year created as much dancefloor mayhem as the old favourites played alongside them…
A new Modulate album should hopefully be coming in 2012.

Je$us Loves Amerika
While I’ve been into JLA for years now, I only met Paddy a while later: probably at an Infest through attack_monkey, during the few years of radio silence that Paddy’s band kept following their impressive debut album. They’ve come crashing back into the UK industrial scene in the past couple of years, with some high profile support slots and an armoury of storming new tracks, the first of which saw a limited release at the close of 2011, in the form of the Phil Barry-produced FYA – by far their best track yet. Their 90sl influenced stomping industrial sound is still present and correct, and from what I know of the new material so far, this is taking things to another level. I really can’t wait for the next release.
The new Je$us Loves Amerika album is due in 2012.

Concrete Lung
Labelmates of JLA, Concrete Lung were another band where I met the band later on, after writing at least one positive review of them. And it has been interesting following the band as their sound has changed over the past couple of years. For a start, make no mistake – this is harsh, ugly music. The sound of urban and industrial decay, grinding with spite and fury, this is (post) industrial with guitars, samplers and one hell of an attitude. No answers, but lots of disgust. In fact, perhaps, just the right band for these times, where Governments with barely a mandate can take decisions no-one voted them to do, and grind the underclass into the dust. Is it the eighties all over again, or worse?

The new Concrete Lung single ‘Die Dreaming’ is released on 16-April

Cybercide
I have to say, that since moving south, I wasn’t totally sure if these guys – the core of the band being old friends Eddie and Rob – were actually still going or not, but then news broke they are supporting Assemblage23 on 14-June. I wasn’t entirely enamoured with their debut album (back in 2006!), but as I said at the time, their futurepop leanings did have promise, and in these times where the industrial “mainstream” seems to be choked by bands with goblin vocals and some element of “hard dance”, maybe this time around this band will sound like a breath of fresh air. I’ll certainly be happy to see how they’ve evolved in the five years since, with a new album apparently on the way at last too.
Cybercide support Assemblage23 in London in June, and release a new album in 2012

Zeitgeist Zero
A Leeds-based band who would probably baulk at being pigeonholed as goth, Theresa and Corin’s now long-running band have changed their style a little bit each time, and their new single comes loaded with a deliciously sleazy edge (Warning: Video may be NSFW in some ways). This song, in fact, sums up nicely what is so great about this band – a showy, decadent image, a magpie-like ability to take the best bits from different scenes, and come up with a hybrid sound that really makes them stand out. A bit goth, a bit darkwave, a bit bleepy, a bit of humour, too.
The new Zeitgeist Zero EP ‘The Blackout’ is due in April, and they play The Library in Leeds on 07-April

Uberbyte
I’m not afraid to admit that Richard and I have not always seen eye-to-eye over music, and probably still don’t – but one of the joys, and pitfalls, of writing about music is that discourse is part of the whole thing. So, over the god knows how many years I’ve known him, we’ve gone in different ways in our music tastes. And while their more hardstyle-based newer material really isn’t for me, as I noted in November the “kids” appear to love it, and who knows where the next album will go? Kudos to Richard and the band for pushing the envelope, and forcing an opinion about them – I’d rather have bands that do this than be happy to fade into the background.
Uberbyte’s fourth album NFY is out now

The PCP Principle
Rik’s The PCP Principle seem to have bubbled under the radar for some time, despite having now had two releases on Hands Productions – perhaps a little under appreciated. But like so many artists on European noise labels like Hands, his material is hardly for mass consumption, and true to form, his albums take a little time to appreciate. But if you like your beats harsh, and rhythms complex, and for bursts of searing noise to reach your ears, this is for you.
The PCP Principle’s second album Rhythmus Ex Heretica is out now

Dirty K
Like The PCP Principle, Dirty K hail from Leicester, but interestingly enough I actually first came across them playing the basement of the Nelson in Sheffield, the pub where I used to run tcf and Stormblast. Their sound then, as now, was brutal, rhythmic noise at the Converter end of the scale (in other words, really bloody loud and quite extreme), although over the years they have refined their sound somewhat, sharpening the metaphorical blade. Now signed to Hands too, I’ll be intrigued to see what they will be like live this summer, as it has been a couple of years since I last had the chance.
Dirty K play Forms of Hands 2012 next month, and Infest 2012 in August

News:In the grand scheme of things, and when we look at this and this, is it really any wonder that the NHS bill passed in the Lords? And oh look – various of the companies involved in this privatisation make heavy use of tax havens. Sadly nothing is surprising me anymore, but it is making me really fucking angry.

David Cameron has nothing short of lied through his fucking teeth. “No more top-down reorganisations of the NHS”. Those billboards where his smug face promised he’d protect the NHS. Instead he omits his party’s real plans from their manifesto, and suddenly lets Andrew Lansley pull some suspiciously detailed plans out of a hat only months later. Sadly not a lot, it seems, that anyone can do now. But the Tories are still popular. How?!? They have lied, they are shovelling more and more to the rich, and leaving more and more at the bottom with nothing.

Is this a country I really want to live in any more? I’m beginning to wonder.

In other things, I can’t help but think that this is a good thing as the VAT loophole on CDs/etc is closed at last. And when will we as tenants be able to check on landlords, to ensure they aren’t going to default/etc? Everything on tenancy issues seems to go one way.

In “did they actually do that” news…there is a lot this week. Like this Tory MP, market research fail from Nike, and an Italian mayor bans dying to save burial space…

Finally, A brilliant run-down of the assault on womens rights in the US, which needless to say makes sobering reading.

Anyway, our time in Venezia was quite marvellous. Blessed with glorious and (relatively) warm spring sunshine, it was just what we needed to unwind a little away from London and our jobs. Even though we were relaxing, we still got through a hell of a lot, seeing a fair bit of the city that we didn’t get the chance to see last time around.

So: we were staying this time on Giudecca, at the vast Molino Stucky Hilton (thanks to a great deal on LastMinute). No breakfast included, but as we suspected that was not a problem, as there was a great bakery on the way to the vaporetto stop. We didn’t do a lot with our Thursday evening – we’d been travelling for some hours, and having been at a gig the night before (we seem to be good at doing that) – so we just hopped over to Zattere and had tasty pizza at
Ae Oche.

Friday dawned sunny, and I had an appointment of sorts, over on the mainland in Mestre – at the offices of FBC Unione Venezia, the city football team, who are nowadays a few divisions down from their heyday. They still have an awesome black-based kit, though, and a replica shirt was what I was after. So after a few e-mails in the past month, I’d arranged to pick up one from them. Mestre itself seemed a little more pleasant than it’s grimy reputation as the lagoon city’s ugly sibling suggested, and perhaps it is worth a return visit sometime.

We didn’t really have time this time, though, as we had plans to head out into the lagoon, onto Murano. What a place, too – the traditional heart of Venetian glassmaking, of course, while we were there it was relatively tranquil, with a totally different atmosphere to the tourist-choked city. Sadly there wasn’t a lot to see other than many, many glass shops and the fascinating Museo del Vetro, but it was well worth a visit. On the way back we had time to visit Isola di San Michele, the cemetery island, which was, as might be expected, a peaceful place full of jaw-dropping architecture and some very clever ways of getting around the perennial problem of space.

The last rays of spring sunshine were enjoyed with cocktails at our Hotel’s eighth floor bar (and the view was astonishing), before we headed onto one of Venice’s more unusual restaurants – La Zucca. We actually realised to our amusement that we had failed to get in here last time, but managed it this time, the only minus point being the time limit we had on the table. The food was good, though, and I suspect even vegans would have found things to their taste here.

Saturday, after another long nights’ sleep, saw us investigate Giudecca a bit, take in the stark Palladian beauty of Il Redentore and San Giorgio Maggiore, and then join the hordes of tourists around San Marco. We had good reason – last time we didn’t see the Palazzo Ducale. It’s an amazing place, too, with highlight after highlight, before you even get to the absolutely incredible Chamber of the Great Council, which is dominated by Tintoretto’s gigantic Il Paradiso. The Basilica di San Marco was at least worth a brief look once again (especially as there was no queue whatsoever!), but after that, we needed to get away from the bustle of the square, and it was onto the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

I think it is fair to say that I got more out of that than _pinkdaisy_ did. An entire room of my favourite artist‘s work and an unexpected exhibition of various futurist works guaranteed that. After that, it was onto the Lido (to find a gelateria we knew), before hopping back on a vaporetti #1 all the way along the Canale Grande, ensuring we got a front seat and to rest our feet for an hour!

Our restaurant choice for that evening, La Piscina (on Zattere), was an inspired recommendation. The food was outstanding, the wine recommendation (a Lugana) exquisite, and the service was almost as good. When we return to Venice – as we surely will – I suspect we’ll be back there to eat again…

Sunday? Back up the Canale Grande, to the Airport, and home. A great four days to celebrate our seventh anniversary.

Music etc.:More great stuff from ID:YD – a fascinating interview with Jairus from Ad·ver·sary, who actually has something to say. Many artists should take note from this. And surely Sony might have taken a lesson or two from history when engaging Atari Teenage Riot…apparently not.

In games news, a new SimCity in 2013. Here’s hoping they keep truckasaurus. And in book news, God, I’m in two minds about this. A potential American Psycho (book) sequel? I have to confess that Bret Easton Ellis hasn’t really written a truly great book for some considerable time…

News:So, a cartoon strip is in trouble because it dared to criticise recent changes to Texan abortion law (the strip this week, the one in question, is brilliant, too). But then with attitudes like this and this, we need more people speaking out. Speaking of which, Jon Stewart’s brutal smackdown of Rush Limbaugh last week is also worth watching.

Something we wondered about passing through London Bridge Sunday afternoon – and seeing a police officer with some form of large gun on patrol – the buildup to the Olympics ‘security’ has begun. And like this article, I can’t help but wonder how much of this will remain after the event.

It would also appear that Rebekah Brooks is in even more trouble, having been arrested (along with others) today for allegedly perverting the course of justice. Now, I wonder if this is to do with those allegations of News International executives ‘disposing’ of evidence a few months back?

Also: this is amazing technology, I want to go and do this, and this woman is for real, right?

I certainly need a few days out of London, and away from work, I think. I’ve had one day off since the New Year, and this might allow me to recharge a little bit at least. Life has not been bad, just exhausting. In the past week I’ve been to another gig (ATR last Wednesday: review), DJed my last at Autonomy on Saturday (setlist), and confirmed another future DJ slot (a return to Judder on 03-August). In addition, I’ve seen a simply brilliant documentary about the rise and fall of Disco, and watched the surprisingly good Inside Man in the company of the lovely silkyraven.

Oh, and I went out and found a load more Eggs on Saturday (link from photo).

Music:Perhaps the most interesting thing this week has been the release of the The Top 101 industrial track list, a mammoth project by David Schock of WTII Records that has aimed, as he explains, to celebrate and promote industrial again. It is a damned good showing of what is great about industrial music, and what has been great about it over the ages. I Die: You Die have also done a great write-up on their 101 that they submitted. And while I didn’t get involved, I really ought to do my own here, too, just out of interest. One for later in the year, I think. But what I think did make me appreciate this even more was the realisation on Saturday night at Autonomy that in some corners, the “industrial” scene is becoming anything but. A handful of people are interested in something different, but many just want to wave their glowsticks at the lowest-common-denominator, 4/4 beat. Is this what it has come to? Roll on Rivet on 30-March.

Tuesday Ten:This week, my Tuesday Ten series hits number 150. There was going to be a special “awards” one this week, but time constraints have put paid to it. It might still become number 151 next week, we shall see. In the meantime let’s look at the awesome tracks you should hear from this month.

Playlist: Spotify

Track of the Month:
Lowe | Mirage | Evolver
See, this is why I always pick up label compilations when I get the chance. There is always something, even if it is just one song, that grabs your attention and allows the discovery of another new band. So a big hand to the WTII Records Spring 2012 Free Sampler, which among other gems, features this quite wonderful band. A Swedish synthpop act I’d never even heard of until now, this song is so damned good I pretty much immediately went and bought the album. It is terse, punchy synthpop that has a somewhat eighties-feel to some of the electronics (particularly that wonderfully-retro handclap effect), and has a chorus worthy of the greatest songs of that time, too.

The Other Nine:
Diskonnekted | Yesteryears (Septic Edit) | Septic X
A warm welcome back to Jan Dewulf, with his first new material in nearly four years – album Hotel Existence is due soon, and if the rest of the album is as good as this precursor, I’m all ears. Jan’s work under this name is an interesting sweep of different variants of electro-industrial and synthpop, with nods to dance music and rock at various points, too. But here, it is notable particularly for a gorgeous, melancholy feel to the melody and chorus, and a chiming guitar riff that sets it off perfectly. Somewhat under-appreciated in the past, here is hoping that this new album garners more plaudits.

Everything Goes Cold | The Iron Fist of Just Destruction | The Tyrant Sun
As it finally appears in it’s proper form (about nine months after the remixed version debuted on the Kinetik comp), it is also good to see the return of Eric Gottesman’s current project. Personally I felt that vs. General Failure wasn’t quite as great as it should have been (too much filler, not enough killer), but Eric does have a habit, time and again, of releasing brilliantly witty, snarky industrial rock tracks that on the face of it seem quite serious, but it hardly takes much digging to get the joke. And here is another of those, with the added bonus of guest vocals in the form of Brittany from I:Scintilla.

Guilt Trip | Oppression | Inanimate
Word of mouth – always a good way to find new music, even if said word of mouth is on a like-minded blog. So, this one was discovered via the really quite great IDieYouDie, and it is yet more storming Swedish EBM. But slowed down. A punishing beat dominates things, complete with harsh vocals and some great synth programming. Veterans of the Swedish scene, apparently, but in other acts, this is definitely a band I’m going to be buying the album of in a few weeks time.

Dead Hand Projekt | Suck It Dry | The Lost EP
The Denver-based industrial label Vendetta Music has been putting out quality releases for a few years now (and more on this in a moment, in fact). And their talent for picking up interesting new artists has continued with this release. Veterans of a few bands including HexRX, this is snarling, dark industrial music with an intriguingly distorted sound – and yet more proof that a whole lot of North American industrial is out there that is not having to resort to co-opting hard dance, or dubstep, or whatever is the flavour of the minute, into the sound.

School of Seven Bells | Lafaye | Ghostory
Now on their third album, SVIIB have done a pretty good job of evolving their sound each time around, and having lost of one of the (twin sister) vocalists, I was a little concerned that this would be a turn for the worse. But intriguingly, it has seen a move toward a more electronic sound, perhaps, and some pretty gorgeous, euphoric songs. This one in particular is a perfect example – a marvellous, electronic beat builds and explodes into an MBV-esque vocal harmony, which turns again into an exquisite chorus. Yeah, so not all of the album is as brilliant as before, but I’ll let the lapses slide as at least five of the nine songs here are sodding glorious.

Sabes | Killing Spree | Diesel Charm
Firstly, a big thanks to Rhys for the headsup on this. Once again, word of mouth. The latest new act on Ant-Zen is a Polish artist now based in the UK (Middlesbrough, apparently!), and it is savage, rhythmic industrial just the way I like it. It isn’t all punishing beats, mind, having an impressive dynamic range, but after a period where many of the so-called Noise labels seemed to be concentrating on more down-tempo material, it is great to hear someone pushing back. And the best example of that rhythmic power is on the closing track, a firestorm of onrushing beats and twisted static. I didn’t dare play this on Saturday at Autonomy, and in retrospect I should have done…

Tindersticks | Show Me Everything | The Something Rain
The Tindersticks are very much a band for certain occasions, and the cliche of the late-night band has hung around their neck perhaps for many years. They’ve never exactly done anything to dispel the myth, I guess, but when they continue to make music as wonderful as this I’m not really surprised. The new album is hardly a departure, continuing their soul-led excursions, no beat is rushed, Stuart Staples never sounds too far from a breakdown, but the songs have a warm heart, of well-meaning if not the right ideas. And this track, with dramatic female backing vocals and a climactic flourish to finish, is my favourite track here so far. Am I, by the way, one of only a few who still think this band’s best album is Simple Pleasure?

Necrotek | Blacklight Magick | Blacklight Magick
The return of James Geist (for he is Necrotek, and this is the second release mentioned today on Vendetta) has been something I’ve been patiently awaiting for a while, and thanks to a promo I now have the full, long-awaited album. A full review will follow in the next month (I’m well aware I have some review catching-up to do!), but in the meantime, I’m just going to mention this one song. Necrotek, aside from being very much influenced by the chaotic, cut-up sounds of eighties Skinny Puppy and similar, later artists such as Velvet Acid Christ in particular, have delved deep into the darkness for this new album. A seemingly concept-based album, the album has a coherent theme is broadly pre-occupying itself with magical rituals, and the sprawling, rolling title track is probably the best thing here. Full of repetitive motifs, ghostly synths and Geist’s quite unsettling vocal effects, horror soundtrack work is surely something that must come his way soon.

Toxic Coma | Church Is A Lie | Satan Rising
Well, this is a surprise. The return of Bryan Erikson has not been in the form of VAC, but as a “side-project” that sounds suspiciously like his main act, but with a sly sense of humour that has perhaps been lacking in VAC’s work for far too long. This mainly manifests itself in the song titles, and the many, many samples that pepper the album. Unexpectedly, though – I must confess that when I realised who was behind this, I really wasn’t expecting a great deal – this album is something of a triumph. By some distance the best release by Erikson in years, it seems that just by moving away from the VAC name he has freed himself from any expectations, and instead indulged in trippy, thumping industrial dance music that will sound awesome in clubs.

In Other News:As news appears to be seeping out that a “deal” is being attempted that will see the end of the 50p tax rate in exchange for another tax on wealth (of some sort), this factcheck on the potential options makes for interesting reading. Personally I’m struggling to see why one of these at least wouldn’t make sense – the council tax banding, for a start, simply has to be redone at some point. The top band is “£320,000 and above” – and when the average house value in London is now well above that rate, I think it is fair to say that something is drastically wrong.

In other news from our increasingly dangerous-looking Government, policing is the next private target, and skilled migrants are to lose the right to settle…unless they earn enough. The amount seems rather abitrary – what about those in higher education jobs that perhaps don’t earn that much, but are highly skilled?

Newsthump hit the nail on the head once again:

O’Brien claimed that gay marriage would deprive children of a traditional upbringing which should include a mother, a father, and a shady old man who touches them in church.

And sticking with ecumenical matters, surprise? Somehow I think not.

Finally, I see a Darwin Award in the future for this.