XII WROCŁAW INDUSTRIAL FESTIVAL

Contemporary bands that appeared on the wave of post-punk revival, aim primarily—and unfortunately—to copy the style of their great predecessors. The same cannot be said about the Swedish Agent Side Grinder—its musicians purposefully go back to the roots of the early 80s in order to seek inspiration, the post-punk/krautrock/industrial/electronic sounds they create, however, are genuine, not merely copied. The end result constitutes a radical and bold modern music, sprinkled with the apocalyptic vocal of Kristoffer Gripa. Their songs are clearly influenced by the masters of old—like Kraftwerk, Einstürzende Neubauten, Depeche Mode, Suicide, Cabaret Voltaire and Joy Division—but also spiced up with elements of Belgian EBM and a dash of the psychedelic à la The Doors. The mixture forms a unique, modern and fresh sound that will appeal to fans of all: industrial, electro, old school EBM and krautrock. Against the flow of time, Agent Side Grinder proved to be a band of great performers that utilizes only analog equipment. It’s one of those formations in the music of which you can hear a plethora of different elements—they can play a song filled with complex, experimental sound only to surprise us with a clear melodic tune, served over an industrial background of noises and screeches. At times they can be dark as the original gothic bands, while on other occasions they can surprise us with liveliness and energy of their tracks.

Aluk Todolo literally means “the Way of Ancestors ” and is an ancient animistic religion of the mountainous regions of southern Indonesia. So what can you expect from the team that took the name of such a mysterious faith? The members of this French instrumental trio describe their work as occult rock (which is also the title of their latest album published in 2012). ‘Occult’ because their tracks musically, thematically and aesthetically refer to the knowledge of the hidden, mysterious forces of the universe as well as the mind. ‘Rock’ because they use only traditional rock instruments : guitar, bass and drums. Their musical experimentation results in the methodical exploration of the power of trance music with references mainly to the crudeness and cold of black metal, and the strangeness associated with krautrock genre. The long tracks—sometimes lasting over ten minutes—are in fact a repetitive, hypnotic compositions, filled with harmonic and disharmonic tonal solutions and unusual rhythmic patterns. Aluk Todolo is an alchemical mixture of the opposites: their music is aggressive, heavy and oppressive, and at the same time calm, soothing and filled with unique contemplation. It is a musical, psycho-physical ritual in which the sounds serve as a vehicle carrying the mind of the listener into another dimension.

The music made by Anemone Tube — existing since 1996 and led by Stefan Hanser — can best be described as a unique and skillful mix of dark ambient, noise, power electronics, industrial, and sound art. Anemone Tube offers an intense, even psychogenic sound experience — a comprehensive and well thought-out wholeness that goes far beyond the boundaries of all of the above aesthetics. Compositions of the project skillfully combine characteristics of academic experimentation with the aesthetics of underground music — the sounds of industrial territory. This is noise at its best, retaining its destructive and pure nature, but at the same time complemented by something subtle and very personal. Anemone Tube is a collage of lush industrial soundscapes, a massive wall of sound inlaid with original field recordings from different environments — courtesy of the artist who records numerous samples during their voyages around the world. Finally, the music of Anemone Tube can be described as a thick atmospheric background filled with conflicting emotions. This is not in any way a monotonous brand of music — its line is based primarily on constant changes in tone and mood, with a distinct dynamic and dramatic culminations. Tracks of the project are often conceptually linked together — the artist often examines the empirical world and confronts it with Buddhist psychology and nihilist philosophy, the origins of which can be found in movies and books of such artists as Michael Haneke, Hayao Miyazaki, HP Lovecraft, Yukio Mishima and J. G. Ballard.

Massimo Magrini—a talented musician and engineer of new technologies—has been leading his trademark project: Bad Sector for many, many years now. He is a person utterly fascinated by science, and any electronic sounds and instruments. With years of experience and education gained in the field of computer music, Magrini became famous for creating his very own, new instruments – digital and analog alike—which he later used in his own recordings. Compositions of Bad Sector are best described as a blend of ambient, noise, minimal and experimental music. The artist himself prefers to describe his creations as a deeply emotional, dark ambient noise. Hobbies of the artists can be easily derived from the names of his records and tracks—subjects such as microbiology, algebra, quantum physics and space exploration constitute his sources of inspiration. It is no wonder why the recordings themselves are so diverse in the choice of sounds—radio waves and signals, humming of high-voltage installations, the noises of spacecrafts such as satellites: in Magrini’s mind all of the above are valid ingredients for creating music. The way they get interwoven is masterful indeed, with the final product being a harmonious, drone-like stream of sounds. The music of Bad Sector is extremely rich in detail—shimmering with million individual pieces per minute, where every single click or electric micro-zap is an equivalent of a single molecule or atom. At times the music can lose some of its volume, almost delicate and ethereal it sheds its darkness and aggression, other times it can display some loud, ominous and dark elements.

Existing since 1998, C. H. District is a project of Mirosław Matyasik that combines industrial sounds with contemporary productions based in intelligent electronics. Even the most picky and extravagant connoisseurs of the musical experimentation get swayed by the District’s strong, dynamic beats, recurring melodic lines and broken rhythms. Be warned though! By no means can C. H. District be associated with monotonous and simplistic versions of techno—in their compositions the familiar design elements of dance music are radically deconstructed, classic bit structures are transformed into an unconventional rhythmic concoction packed with glitches, and heavy bass lines are marked by radical tonal experiments . It is a deep, multi-layered music based on ambient landscapes and complemented with a whole range of often unexpected glitches, noise, feedback and rhythmic clicks. One can hear all kinds of influence and all kinds of elements of electronic and technoid industrial music. Although inspirations with the various fresh sounds of the past is clearly visible, the tracks still show genuine character as well as the musicians’ bravado in experimenting with rhythm—typically associated with the masters of IDM. Music of C. H. District is filled to the brim with originality, creativity, clearness and attention to every detail—every sound has its own clearly defined place. A must-hear for fans of such bands as Autechre, Aphex Twin and Black Lung or such producers as Warp, Hymen, Ant-Zen or Metropolis. From 2012 the band can boast with a new member: Adam Białoń, known from bands such as Garaż w Leeds, Nowy Horyzont and Dusseldorf.

For the members of the Austrian team Collapsing New People there is nothing wrong in looking into the past of music while at the same time venturing into its future. The group was founded in 2002 in Vienna where—at the concert in Einstürzende Neubauten—four musicians decided that they want to change the world with sounds created with their own hands. Digging deep into the emotions caused by the newly-discovered post-punk and early electronic led them to their creative experimentations with music. Eventually the experiments bore the distinctive sound of Collapsing New People—a mixture of pop of the 80s and electronics from the 90s and complemented with the musicians’ interests, such as dada, art brut, film noir and science fiction. Every single musical and non-musical element was firstly deconstructed and then rebuilt anew in order to fit into the modern epoch, but also in order to foreshadow the future. Even though the group is not ashamed of their inspirations and is not afraid to derive from them, Collapsing New People is so much more than just the sum of its elements. Their ingenious take on music along with their respect for the past has created something unique and refreshing—something that has a fine chance of becoming a noteworthy experience for the listener, regardless of whether he values experimental music or not.

Founded in 1987 by Stephen Meixner and Jonathan Grieve, the Contrastate formation boasts with one of the richest experience pool among the groups of early industrial movement. Initially embedded firmly in the tradition of industrial music, the band experimented with the limits of sound, volume, and frequency. The purpose? Physical confrontation with the possibilities of sound. Contrastate did not cease to evolve, however, and slowly moved away from extremes and towards the more balanced, subtle compositions. Their current style is situated somewhere in the realm of the avant-garde variety of dark, ritual ambient music combined with elements of experimental noise. Their diverse musical heritage exhibits unique electronic manipulations combined with theatrical monologues—all embedded in heavy, surreal industrial background. The sheer complexity and genuine nature of their sounds is worth applause and admiration. Their tracks are filled with recurrent themes that perpetually—and radically—change their sound, the frequency can jump from the lowest scale to the highest tones, and the trance rhythm is interwoven with multi-level ambient backgrounds. Contrastate is indeed a prime example of experimentation in music—its artists constantly feel the need to try out different ideas, different ways of recording and different ways to use instruments.

In some cases, the environment in which the artist grew up, has a profound influence on his whole worldview and therefore on all of his works. Dead Factory—the music project of Maciej Mutwil from Sosnowiec—is precisely one of those cases. The reality of the city situated at the center of the most industrialized region in Poland strongly influences the musical creations of the project and is also reflected in the accompanying imagery and visuals. The sounds created by Dead Factory can be described as a dark, minimalistic ambient, combined with industrial elements. The sound of this project evokes bleak visions of post-industrial landscapes full of rust and dust and filled with abandoned mines, factories and remnants of the Cold War era—the abandoned military facilities, ruined hangars and monuments torn apart. Dead Factory’s music is an invitation to this world of rust, concrete, and endless wastelands. The sounds and images of the environment where Maciej Mutwil lives are projected straight into his music—the industrial ambient similar to Lustmord, based on mechanized samples and heavy keyboard backgrounds.

Existing from over 30 years and co-starred by twins: Klive and Nigel Homberstone, the band In The Nursery has never shied away from experimentation and looking for an alternative path towards progress. Although the early steps of the formation were definitely industrial in style, with every consecutive album the group has gradually left the industrial behind, and created their own recognizable form in return. Homberstone’s initial fascination with post-punk Joy Division was replaced by infatuation with neoclassical style, which soon became the very marrow of In The Nursery. The team left the grinding sounds of industrial in order to pursue more sophisticated and subtle means of expression. From that point on, the project has primarily associated itself with classical instruments assisted by computer sequencers. It is through that combination the band manages to evoke thrill, excitement and also unique atmosphere. Compositions of In The Nursery, are achieved by the latest technology combined with the classical style and orchestral drum-work. They possess a unique charm and power—which is precisely why the team has been recognized by the producers and their songs regularly appear in the soundtracks of many well-known films (eg. Gran Torino, Beowulf, Aviator, Interview with the Vampire, and many, many others). The group is also famous due to their original self-composed soundtracks for many silent films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Man With a Movie Camera and The Passion of Joan of Arc.

The Ambient is a genre of many faces—sometimes it constitutes merely a pleasant background music, the other time it can become heavy, dark and full of anxiety. Komora A—with its members: Jakub Mikołajczyk , Karol Koszniec and Dominik Kowalczyk—is much closer to the latter than the former. The band’s music is full of barely masked anxiety, deep drones, subtle rhythmic fragments, dignified analog sounds and modular synthesizers, industrial themes and multi-level sound structures—and that’s just a few of the elements used by the group to achieve its own unique sound. The music is improvised, full of trance and contemplation, filled with dark spots and seasoned with radical frequencies. Moments of silence border with dark, quirky electronics, just as meditation borders strong emanations of sound. Komora A radically experiments with music and the sound in general, making it interesting and surprising, creating with ingenuity and innovation.

For almost a decade, the amorphous ensemble around German artist and producer Philip Albus celebrates the decomposition of the thinking mind. Incorporating a range of musical genres such as IDM, noise-fueled krautrock, kosmische or drone music, the group’s body of work appears eclectic just at the very first sight. Besides a simple love for music and sound itself, this adoption and thus the decontextualisation of various musical (and non-musical) sources is deeply rooted in the tradition of post-industrial culture. Understanding music as a means to not only create alternative perceptional spaces, but also as vehicle to alter perception and thereby reality itself, MERCYDESIGN aims to uncover the hidden trails of a ‘higher’ world with equal validity to it’s source – a quest that is romantic in a philosophical sense and occult in the best.

Tomasz Mirt—from whose name the name of the project derives—tends to involve himself with a very broad and diverse spectrum of musical fields—ranging from minimal and ambient, through psychedelia and post-rock, to industrial and lo-fi. Some critics try to encompass his work with a rather general label—industrial—but the artist himself prefers to describe his sounds as neopsychodelia. Mirt creates music using a variety of analog modules and musical instruments such as electric guitars, keyboards and trumpets. Solo recordings of Mirt—who happens to play in other formations such as One Inch of Shadow or Gallowbrothers Brasil and The Band on a daily basis—are sometimes even more quiet than the field recorded samples that he often utilizes in his works. Some tracks can be characterized as monotonously repetitive, but they can also surprise with their hidden rapacity. The musician states that randomness of the sound is of highest importance to him, which by itself is an idea stemming straight from the acoustic world as well as the old electronic. In both music subgenres, small differences are the result of chaotic change, not a complicated digital algorithms. It’s no wonder why his ambient collages are full of unexpected acoustic events and moments. It’s the type of music that’s best experienced while being focused, a powerful, musical synesthesia. Mirt is a virtuoso of the art of putting together field recordings and synth-sounds into one evocative and coherent whole.

Monopium is a one-man project, created by the musician Michał Majcher from Płock. It is not easy to explicitly classify the work of this formation—it can, however, be described as a musical collage, based on the artist’s fascination with Dadaism, avant-garde and the style of old Berlin cabarets. Monopium’s tracks create unusual soundscape hypnotizing with its oneiric properties. It surely is a memorable and unusual blend of various factors, which are sometimes blended in a very surprising way: Neo- Cabaret, postindustrial, musique concrète, drone or even free jazz. The atmosphere created by those sounds evokes the faint associations with soundtracks to noir movies, the art of the Surrealists and Dadaists. Monopium’s music is abstract, somewhat unnatural, almost out of this world—it sounds like a crazy improvisation, cut-up experiments and exotic stylistic maneuvers. Moreover, each of project’s composition is embellished with various kinds of unusual sounds: howling sirens, looped sounds of music boxes, crackles from vinyl, voices in different languages, flowing water, struck piano and a whole bunch of other details. The mixture of those elements is further reinforced by a very specific atmosphere, a certain unexplainable aura of mystery. We can surely say that Monopium, thanks to its open formula, the lack of stylistic barriers and constant search, creates a new quality which significantly distinguishes it from other artists—not only those associated with post-industrial scene.

Nothing But Noise is a new musical experiment led by three musicians – Daniel Bressanutti of Front 242, Dirk Bergen—co-founder and former member of the very same formation—and Erwin Jadot. If one expects the continuation of the project design chosen by Front 242, one may be very surprised—Nothing But Noise is rather anti-Front 242 and is mainly focused on ambient and improvisation, while the native formation of Bergen and Bressanutti was associated with communicative rhythmicity and energy. Inspired by the personas and music projects such as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Kraftwerk, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and numerous groups playing krautrock, the artists decided to add a new chapter to that style, basing on the achievements of the groups and people listed above. The result is progressive electronic genre fueled by the synthesizers utilized in the electronic music from the 70s. Ghost of Jean Michel Jarre, Holger Czukay of Can as well as numerous artists of space rock can still be sensed in the tracks. Nothing But Noise is a tribute to the old analog electronics while utilizing them in a specific way—while many artists use it to invoke the aesthetics of a bygone era, members of the formation emphasize the potential and possibilities of using it in the future.

Andy Oppenheimer is a singer, songwriter, an expert on weapons and used to be a half of the duo Oppenheimer Analysis—formation that could be considered the cutting-edge of synth-pop of the 80s. Mahk Rumbae is a producer and electronic musician, known for his association with industrial band Konstruktivists. Both artists—after a joint appearance at the legendary club Rhiz Vienna in April 2012—decided to team up in order to channel their shared experience. Sharing a fascination with pop 60s and synth from the 80s, they created a project by the name of Oppenheimer Mk II—one name that would combine the mentioned elements and create modern synth-pop—a genre that can sometimes be lively and melodic, at times it can be dark, filled with dangerous and unpleasant sounds. The collaboration of temper and skill of two veteran musicians of such stature was bound to create something great—and what’s more, both artists finally had the opportunity to temporarily cut the bonds with the formations with which they have been always associated. Oppenheimer Mk II walks an road paved long ago by the bands such as Erasure, Soft Cell or Mesh, and yet it still manages to expose a different face of musicians—based on pop sensibility, devoid of melancholic minimalism of Oppenheimer Analysis and aggressiveness of Konstruktivists. Oppenheimer Mk II is truly a genuine synth-pop of twenty-first century, adapted to a new audience and new expectations.

Spherical Disrupted is a musical project led by Mirko Hentrich—a member of Experimentum Crucis and co-founder and owner of the label Audiophob. Musically speaking, Disrupted is a unique minimalist electronics that could be situated somewhere on the border between noise and ambient. Often filled with specific, strange atmosphere it is a surprising mixture of clearly structured sound elements with unbridled, chaotic noise. Spherical Disrupted attacks the listener with a whole lot of heavy beats, distorted sounds and dash of subtle synthetic melodies. It’s not common to hear such a skillful combination of dark ambient IDM; sometimes sounding more industrial, sometimes bordering on techno, and presented in a cold, surgical and mechanical manner. Tracks portray an elaborate combinations of raw, ominous tones, multi-level soundscapes with slowly and meticulously built backgrounds composed of machine noises, pulsating electronics and warm synths—and such kind of mixtures seems to be the specialty of Spherical Disrupted, giving it the specific nature (and structure) of a disturbing dream. Sharp bits are mixed with dense atmosphere, the music’s simple, minimalist rhythms develop into the sounds resembling the old electronics, and screechy, noisy sequences are interwoven with subtle melodies. This project takes the dark structures located somewhere between ambient and noise, electronics and field recordings—and exposes them. It is the meeting place of darkness and rhythm.

Szelest Spadających Papierków (in Polish – “rustle of falling papers”) is considered a precursor of Polish avant-garde and noise music. It was founded in 1981 in Gdansk. In their beginnings the formation did not have a stable roster, the unruly group of wild musicians used to change all the time, and so did the instruments (sometimes just because the artists would destroy them or simply lose them during a concert). At that time, Szelest spadających papierków was a highly provocative avant-garde and pure musical destruction. The concerts of this group were more happenings than actual musical events—the artists would often dress up in their most surprising costumes and read out manifestos between songs. As it turned out, there were times when the happenings became more important than the music itself and the latter would become nothing more than an additional feature. The style of young Szelest could be described as extremely chaotic and noisy—clearly inspired by the achievements of the Western avant-garde and industrial (which at that time was still a relatively fresh genre). The things have changed, however, and now SSP can be described as a noise duet playing abstract not-music with the use of analog generator and a set of Game-Boys. SSP of the twenty-first century is the delicate rustling sound of cyber stacks. It does not provide any respite nor relief. This abstract jumble of eight-bit retro sounds given off by a Nintendo console gets entangled in a virtual labyrinth of beeps , glitches and grinding made by a generator. There is no melody—the music is a cyber trance which could move only a machine. It’s a disco for printers and faxes. Only one thing is certain: it is a radical proposition meant only for the bravest souls in the universe.

The word “underviewer” was supposed to evoke the ideas such as curiosity, something hidden, underground, or looking under something. It also happens that the very name started to evoke the thoughts of electronic music when Jean-Luc De Meyer and Patrick Codenysa formed their own music group. Both artists became famous later as the members of the legendary EBM – Front 242, however, before they managed to join this famous formation—between 1978 and 1981—they performed together under the name of Underviewer, creating music on the first analog synthesizers. The result of these tests were shy, experimental electronic tracks clearly inspired by pop, but based more on sound associations and noise rather than the catchy melodies. Reactivated after many years, the Underviewer takes listeners on a journey back in time, to the period in which there were no prefabricated sounds yet and hyperkinetic rhythms were still to be invented. The musicians decided to resurrect their first project in search of what they felt in the past, creating their early electronics sounds on old synthesizers. Underviewer offers a kind of music from a different time—its sounds are naive, pure and simple, but at the same time filled to the brim with originality and uniqueness which cannot be faked. It is also overflowing with the emotions of curiosity that accompany the inventors, explorers and pioneers of the aesthetics.

Wire—a formation founded in 1973 in London—is indisputably one of the greatest legends in the avant-garde rock and experimental music in general. Furthermore, not many other groups can boast with as large an influence in the twentieth-century music scene. Formations such as hardcore Minor Threat, Fugazi noise-rock, no wave Sonic Youth and new wave The Cure all admitted to being inspired by the Wire. The band may have emerged during a wave of British punk explosion, however, the musicians managed to hone and preserve their own style—on both levels: the ideological and the creative. Even today, after numerous transitions, shifts and changes, the band still cannot be labeled easily. The Wire’s identity is in perpetual motion, hence all the changes in their sound and all the shifts in genre: be it post-punk, industrial or electronic in form. The band is often branded as one of the most important groups of the 70’s and 80’s, it is also said that their music has not only expanded the boundaries of punk sound, but also rock in general, pushing it to another level. The Wire’s music—regardless of their style at the moment—has a specific, climatic sound and unusual, disturbing lyrics that often refer to the ideas of the situationist movement. Members of the wire were also involved in the creation of important experimental groups such as the Dome, Cupola, P’o or Duet Emmo.