Industrial music

History

Early influences

Luigi Russolo's 1913 work The Art of Noises is often cited as the first example of the industrial philosophy in modern music. After Russolo's musica futurista came Pierre Schaeffer and musique concrète, and this gave rise to early industrial music, which was made by manipulating cut sections of recording tape, and adding very early sound output from analog electronics devices.

Related Topics:
Luigi Russolo - 1913 - Pierre Schaeffer - Musique concrète

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Also important in the development of the genre was the Dada art movement, and later the Fluxus art movement. Such an antecedent, maybe only by name, was Erik Satie terming his second set of Furniture music Sons industriels ("Industrial sounds", 1920)

Related Topics:
Dada - Fluxus - Erik Satie - Furniture music - 1920

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Industrial Records

Industrial Music was originally coined by Monte Cazazza as the strapline for the record label Industrial Records (founded by British art-provocateurs Throbbing Gristle, the musical offshoot of performance art group COUM Transmissions). The original Industrial Records artists have very little musical connection with most modern industrial music.

Related Topics:
Monte Cazazza - Industrial Records - Throbbing Gristle - COUM Transmissions

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Early industrial performances would often involve taboo-breaking, provocative elements, such as mutilation, sado-masochistic elements and totalitarian imagery or symbolism.

Related Topics:
Industrial - Performances - Taboo - Mutilation - Sado-masochistic - Totalitarian

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The first wave of this music appeared in 1977 with Throbbing Gristle and NON, and often featured tape editing, stark percussion, and loops distorted to the point where they had degraded to harsh noise. Vocals were sporadic, and were as likely to be bubblegum pop as they were to be abrasive polemics.

Related Topics:
Throbbing Gristle - NON - Bubblegum pop

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Bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, Factrix and SPK soon followed. Blending electronic synthesisers, guitars and early samplers, these bands created an aggressive and abrasive music fusing elements of rock with experimental electronic music. Like their punk cousins, they enjoyed the use of shock-tactics including explicit lyrical content, graphic art and Fascist imagery. Industrial Records enjoyed a fair amount of controversy after using an image of a gas chamber as its logo.

Related Topics:
Cabaret Voltaire - Clock DVA - Factrix - SPK - Synthesiser - Fascist - Gas chamber

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In the rest of Europe, particularly in Italy, the roots were planted by the non-musician/artist Maurizio Bianchi/M.B./Sacher-Pelz at the end of 1979/beginning of 1980, with some electronic/radiographic extreme works edited in a very limited edition ("Cainus", "Venus", "Cease To Exist", "Velours", "Mectpyo Blut" cassette-tapes, and "Symphony For A Genocide", "Menses", "Neuro Habitat" LP's).

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Across the Atlantic, similar experiments were taking place. In San Francisco, shock/performance artist Monte Cazazza (often collaborating with Factrix and Survival Research Labs/SRL) began working with harsh atonal noise. Boyd Rice (aka NON) released several more albums of noise music, with guitar drones and tape loops creating a cacophony of repetitive sounds. In Germany, Einstürzende Neubauten were performing daring acts, mixing metal percussion, guitars and unconventional "instruments" (such as jackhammers) in elaborate stage performances that often damaged the venues they were playing.

Related Topics:
San Francisco - Monte Cazazza - Factrix - Survival Research Labs - Boyd Rice - NON - Noise music - Einstürzende Neubauten - Jackhammers

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