electronic / industrial / EBM

This was a surprise to me. I could have never expected that a world famous act like Lords Of Acid would appear in the Merchants Of Air inbox. I mean, what does Maurice Engelen have to gain from appearing on this website? Or am I being just too modest here? 
Fact is, I have been a Lords Of Acid / Praga Khan fan since 'I Sit On Acid'. I bought the single in 1988 in a local record shop. The next week, the shop went bankrupt but that has nothing to do with the story here. I followed them for a while, watched them live a few times and eventually lost track when my musical interest fully shifted towards metal.

Yet, still once in a while a song popped up, one that I really digged. 'Scrood Bi U' and 'Rough Sex' often appear in my playlist, along with a number of Praga Khan tunes. I loved the rough, uncompromising and in-your-face approach of all those tunes. That's why I eventually selected this album for review. I listened to it for a few times, trying to decide what to write about it. To be honest, I was rather disappointed at first. This felt so goody-goody and even somewhat cheap. Something was wrong here.

Of course, everybody knows that erotica and hedonism are the driving forces behind Lords Of Acid. It's a gimmick, one which works if the music fits well. In that aspect 'Break Me' doesn't seem to be a very good opener. Driving on an old school EBM bassline, the song blends late eighties electronics with female fronted alternative rock. I remember thinking "Doro meets Nitzer Ebb". Don't ask me why. On the other hand, for Lords Of Acid fans, this surely is a sexy tune to kick off twelve electronic adventures, right?

'Ma Fille De Joie' seems to tribute Serge Gainsbourg's tantalizing atmosphere. It's a slow track with heavy drums. It's also somewhat creepy, but I don't think that's a surprise. Still, my first "yes" moment appeared with the old school acid house track 'Flow Juice'. This one takes me right back to those gritty dancefloors, plus, the raps brings that 'You Suck' song by Consolidated to mind. Another unusual name that come to mind is Clawfinger, more specifically on 'Like Pablo Escobar', a neat crossover tune.

The gloomy 'Before The Night Is Over' is my favorite track here. KMFDM and Die Krupps come to mind, which usually is a good thing. 'Androgyny' follows a similar path while 'Goldfinger' successfully attempts to effectuate elements from The Prodigy. But it's not all good. 'What The Fuck' completely misses the point by trying to sound like something edgy from Flo Rida or something. At the end, 'We Are The Freaks' also messes up by turning something that feels like Marilyn Manson into a rather common Soundcloud rapper thing.

The verdict? 'Pretty In Kink' is not a bad album. It contains some awesome dancefloor fillers and a bunch of possible live smashers. However somehow I feel like Maurice Engelen and his new group of deviants have been trying too hard to remain dirty, raunchy and edgy. Obviously, fans will eat this up (or out) but I still remain a bit hungry. The good thing is, it's a good old fashioned Lords Of Acid album, undoubtedly surpassing all of the crappy electronics that are hip and cool these days. So yeah, I will recommend it, mostly because it's still way better than Die Antwoord.


​Serge

EBM / industrial

One of the most amusing perks of being a music reviewer is being able to prove people wrong. Every time someone tells me that this or that genre is dead, I start scrolling my mailbox and rub a recently released album in their face. Only a few days ago a friend told me that EBM is dead.

Oh, what a mistake he made. Two hundred and forty-two seconds later I was pounding the title track for this record through his eardrums. That guy is deaf now, so I guess for him all music genres are currently dead. Sometimes everybody is right, it seems.


Actually, no, I didn't deafen anyone but I could have. Old school EBM is far from dead and once in a while another interesting album appears, one that seems to honor that old militaristic and repetitive pummeling sound that made acts like Front 242, DAF and Nitzer Ebb absolute fan favorites. This album by English trio Flesh Eating Foundation delves deep into the world of industrial electronics. It opens with the intense title track that immediately brings Nitzer Ebb to mind. With raging electronics and hardcore vocals, this trio has everything to make them sound as if they come right out of the eighties, which obviously is nice.

The electronic pounding continues for a while with two more awesome dark dancefloor killers but then, suddenly, 'Shame' shows a completely different side of the band. Here, blues rock comes shining through, which is odd but definitely interesting. Undoubtedly, this adds a lot to the variation. Later, in 'Futurelast' (featuring Adam Probert) the band goes all atmospheric downtempo on our asses. In fact, this is my favorite song so far. I love the drones, the sequencers, the noise and the methodical percussion in this tune. 

'Punk Drunk' brings back the heavy beats and sounds like Depeche Mode would have sounded if they took the same kinds of drugs as The Prodigy. 'Sick Prick Dick Lick (For The Throat)' pushes up the tempo to 'Der Mussolini' levels and might as well become a fan favorite. 'Stand Up And Be Discounted' reminds me of Atari Teenage Riot going dub. Before the customary remixes the massive EBM anthem 'Capacity' seems to take influences from Calva Y Nada, thus becomes another one favorite for me.

So yeah, EBM is far from dead. It's still stomping and kicking...


​Serge