These songs of note, plucked from my listening habits over the past few months, have all become real gems in my cd player. There’s no Warning on this, because Kz put one on his.

1. Kill – Deathmessiah
   I picked this CD up on a Whim, whilst visiting Mr Nova UTDS and it fills a foul little gap that needed filling. My favourite thing here is the bass drum sound, which sounds like flak in the distance. Actually, it is the best bass drum production I have ever heard. (liable to change.)
2. Drudkh – Ars Poetica
   This is from the latest Album and leaps out to me. The chords are unique, just wish the drums sounded better.
3. Reverend Bizarre – Dark Sorceress (Barathrum Cover)
   Lots and lots and lots is what I listen to this. In many ways I prefer it to the original, which was already a very cool song. Here, it is less evil and more anecdotal and this suits, as it is a bit of a poem.
4. The Smiths – This Night Has Opened My Eyes
   I used to hate The Smiths, but then, whilst watching ‘Caterrick’, I found that I no longer hated Morrisey’s voice. So a few months later I went and bought a few Smiths albums; this is the song that I like most.
5. Mystifier – Aleister Crowley & Ordo Templi Orientis
   Again, a fairly new band on me, but this really stands out. This has made me reconsider song-structure and the part where he says ‘Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-listeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr crouwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww-leeeee…..in-orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-do-teeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-mpli-orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-ieiiiint’ is actual magic, really happening.
6. Fairport Convention – The Deserter
   Another folkie, I was having a lot of trouble and burnt out two cigs choosing between this and ‘Crazy Man Michael’, but this wins in the end because and I‘m putting it down to mood. P.s. Never trust comrades or your sweetheart, because they will sell you out to the first bidder. Place your trust instead in the highest bidder, Prince Albert, who it turns out is alright.
7. Striborg – With Animosity I Bequeath Thee
   It’s raining it’s pouring Striborg is fucking great, lots of people say the opposite and I can see why one might disapprove of absolutely ridiculous amounts of delay and fuzz, but it is these two things which makes the sound so alien. Cracking drumming here, reminds me of fenriz on Goatlord. Turn up the fucking verb I can‘t hear it!!
8. Charlotte Greig & Johan Asherton – Lay the Bent to the Bonny Broom
   Taken from the ‘John Barleycorn Reborn: Dark Britannica’ compilation, picked up when I was on a folk rampage. This track is very soothing and understated and features a nice, simple guitar progression. The aforementioned compilation is well worth picking up , being both very diverse and excellent value.
9. Manilla Road – Dreams of Eschaton/Epilogue
   This is the appropriate finale. If I could drive and then if I bought a car, I would play this when the wheels went round.

Direct link to this Podcast.

1. Diary of a Taxi Driver, Taxi Driver Soundtrack by Bernard Herrman, 1976
   This song is a description of the disillusion of a worker, of life, going on along the dirty sidewalks of a city…the voice of R. De Niro speaks quietly but strongly right to the hollow of the ear.
2. We Will Fall, by The Stooges on the album The Stooges, 1969
   A long and hypnotising song that tells the truth about a spleen feeling which is difficult to reach without any drug…If you’re lying on the back of my car while I’m driving after a party, you’ll see the first beams of light in a different way than the day before, and never the same after.



3. At Night by The Cure on the album Seventeen Seconds, 1980
   After thirty minutes driving, I could clearly hear some lyrics, even if the voice is undermixed…
   I saw The Cure playing in Paris and at this date, it appears to me that this band is really unique, and the sound perfectly corresponds at the idea of a shouting presence in an underground zone, forced to close its mouth for years, like a child lost in the sewers..
4. Christmas by Norma Loy on the album One Psychic Altercation, 1984
   If you are alone on Christmas day, and if you had the chance to have good souvenirs from childhood’s christmas nights, this song will be very hard.



5. Agent Orange by Depeche Mode on the album Music for the Masses, 1987
   This instrumental sad and low song is a perfect trip for loneliness and thoughts…the low tempo and the piano lead take your mind out of the city diseases…it’s a fresh shot of alcohol, you don’t feel the taste at the first moment, but the effect is a continuous turn over.
6. Life on the Line by Frank Tovey aka Fad Gadget, a single out in 1982
   Maybe, cause it’s the year of my birth, I’m attached to this song…it’s a midtempo song, perfectly synthetic. Fad gadget is a genius, and I often find myself in the deepest of his sounds, his presence, his absurd revendications in answer to a no-sense world.



7. Domed by And Also The Trees on the album (Listen to) The Rag and Bone Man, 2007
   This album is a masterpiece for those who appreciate music.
   Domed is a track you can listen to all your life. At the moment when the human existence turns to an heavy cross. It does not depend on your age, not the place you come from, but only a lost moment reaching your mind while driving, or walking alone, along a never ending beach in a distant land.
8. Underpass by John Foxx on the album Metmatic, 1980
   Made as a solo project by the first singer of Ultravox.
   The soundtrack of a galactic metaphysic war, where humans are machines and love is the will.
9. Sweet Home Under White Clouds by Virgin Prunes on the album If I Die, I Die, 1982
   This song is a mix between madness and wise and as William Blake told,
   “The way of excess leads to the temple of wisdom”
   Virgin Prunes voices let you penetrate a time when the crazy men where shouting down the street to announce the end of the world or the final salvation…in this track, I have the feeling that they wanted to transmit something near…



10. I Saw the Sun by Slowdive on the album I Saw the Sun (unreleased), around 1996
    For me, the best recording of the band, but never released, hard to find…pure shoegazing filter for life…
    If you’ve never been with your best friend on holidays, far from all shitty troubles of life, you’ll not understand this choice.
11. 43° by Soror Dolorosa on the album Severance, 2009
    PS: Concerning SD, my recommendation for driving is to listen strongly 43°, and you’ll be the first to go on, at the red light stops, kicking the mouth of all others around…Joke.

Direct link to this Podcast.

Note: We are making this podcast available on the same day Hammemit’s new full-length “Nature Mystic” is released. You can also see other Emit and Hammemit titles available in the Distro.

1. Anonymous – “Procurans Odium II”
   This track comes from one of my favourite versions of the Carmina Burana, brilliantly interpreted and performed by the Clemencic Consort. It was from recordings like this that I “studied” song structure when I first wanted to make my own music. I still often refer to tracks from this collection as a basic foundation, as with “The Persistent Call” for instance.
2. Anonymous – “Doleo Super Te”
   Purely vocal music is some of the most beautifully simple and uncluttered music you’ll hear. This version is executed with calm precision by the Hilliard Ensemble.
3. John Dowland – “Flow My Tears”
   Melancholia and the lute were all the rage in Elizabethan England and by combining the two with his emotional songs of unrequited love, despair, depression and death, John Dowland was a kind of 16th Century Morrissey figure, but not quite as homosexual. He experienced a resurgence in popularity recently with the release of a best selling CD of his songs recorded by former Police frontman Sting, much to the disgust of music elitists everywhere who want to keep Dowland for themselves. But if Sting’s anaemic and pretentious recordings make people aware of timeless music like “Flow My Tears” and perhaps be intrigued enough to look more deeply into so-called “early music”, then I fail to see the problem.
   This version was performed by Steven Rickards (counter-tenor) and Dorothy Linell (lute).
4. Perunwit – “Arkona”
   This track appears out of place amongst the others at first glance, but I used to listen to this album (”W Kregu Debow”) quite naturally amongst Carmina Burana CDs and such without the transition seeming too jarring. Perunwit’s debut album was a big inspiration for Emit, it conveys a lot using a few simple elements and is played with sincerity and feeling which overcomes the slight clumsiness.
5. Richard Coeur-de-Lion – “Ja Nus Hons Pris”
   Attributed to Richard the Lionheart, this song was probably composed in conditions similar to that of Burzum’s later albums and perhaps has a similar spirit as well though the latter is less focused on his immediate surroundings than the former.
   This version is performed by the Early Music Consort of London, from their “Music of the Crusades” album.
6. Anonymous – “Hymne a la Muse”
   Ancient Greek music is something of an enigma. All we really have left of it is a few fragments here and there and so in reconstruction is patched together with gaps of silence and educated guesswork. In other words, this is the audial equivalent of those broken jars in museums that are held together with blank clay filling in the missing pieces. Incomplete it may be, but in its use of silence as an instrument is similar to that of Hammemit: the silences reveal and shape the music as much as the sounds themselves.
7. Tobias Hume – “My Hope is Decayed”
   One of music’s early experimentalists, Hume would include unorthodox instructions in his manuscripts such as for players to “hit the strings with the bow” to achieve a particular effect.
   Despite the title, this is an energetic, uplifting and even humorous piece that seems to spit in the face of adversity rather than wallow in it as Dowland might.
   Jordi Savall, who performs this piece, is one of the world’s greatest players of the viol (an instrument often passed over in favour of the lute) and perhaps the foremost “early music” musician alive. Listening to this intimate recording where you can hear each swish and breath of the bow is like having cask-strength experience of life poured direct into your ears.
8. Mohammed Saleh Abd Al-Saheb Lelo – “Taqsim 1″
   The oud is the Islamic world’s equivalent of the West’s lute, and Mohammed Saleh Abd Al-Saheb Lelo, an Iraqi expatriate, is a master player of it. Here he’s performing a Taqsim, which is a mainly improvised instrumental piece. According to the Islamic calendar this track was recorded in 1418 (1997 to us Westerners), meaning that our friend Mohammed is actually living in the 15th Century. Makes you think about the so-called certainties of progress and historical timelines doesn’t it? Empires come and go, ours included, but it’s still 2009 if you want to think so. Even if when you go backwards, the years start going back up again after 0AD. Maybe in a couple of centuries we’ll reset the calendar again?
9. Richard Edwards – “Where Grypinge Griefs”
   “Chaotic violence in my eyes
   This whole world moves backwards
   Peace, another sign that lies
   Life today is not worth the pain” (Sepultura, 1991)
   These are words not likely to have been written by Richard Edwards, as they are words conceived from observation of a civilisation in more obvious terminal decline, but he may have agreed with the sentiment. As death metal informs us: by exploring the darker side of life and not shying away from it, we can embrace existence more deeply and more fully.
10. Rytis Mazulis – “Cum Essem Parvulus”
    Someone who’d heard the Hammemit album got in touch with me and sent some material by Lithuanian sound artist Rytis Mazulis, thinking it might be of interest. I include it here for purposes of comparison with the previous tracks. He composes in a similar way to how I often used to, using overlapping layers to create a disconcerting and disturbing track out of elements which by themselves would equal something quite different (and more listenable). It’s a fitting end to this little musical journey: deconstructing what went before at the bleak apparent deadend of history we now find ourselves in.

Direct link to this Podcast.

1. Throbbing Gristle – Hamburger Lady (D.O.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle. 1978)
   Just > Fucking > Hideous. I thought I’d start with a sour note. And what a tart little piece this is. A dirge performed about a letter from Dr. Al Ackerman of Portland, Oregon about a badly burned female. That pitched vocal sound that runs throughout the track brings bile to my throat and the nasal commentary from (now Ms?) Genesis P. Orridge ensures that you will be sitting very uncomfortably.
2. David Bowie – Warszawa (Low. 1977)
   Quite simply one of the most beautiful tunes in history, I doubt it can be beat. Bowie and Eno lost themselves in Berlin and emerged with an album of musical experimentation the likes of which the world had barely seen (and especially from a major artist). Swooping, majestic and crying itself down on the brightly lit city. I can only hope I die as content as this track makes me feel. Damn drippy hippy.
3. Iron Maiden – Déjà Vu (Somewhere In Time. 1986)
   A sadly ignored classic Maiden track as it appears on a sadly ignored classic Maiden album that a lot of people forget. Oooh, I’m going to regret this, but I’ll go out on a limb and say this is my (*deep breathe*) favourite Maiden song.
4. Magazine – Shot By Both Sides. (Real Life. 1978)
   A killer lead running through the track, a superb vintage (you can’t beat ‘77 to ‘84 fuckers) and a sentiment that I can fully identify with. “Shot By Both Sides”
5. Fugazi – Facet Squared (In On The Killtaker. 1993)
   Something a bit different for me, I kind of ‘rediscovered’ Fugazi recently. A lot of my friends when I was a teenager absolutely loved them. I didn’t really see what the big deal was…until now. I got this record for about £3 in a record shop (R.I.P almost all outlets) and it immediately struck me as how Wire would have turned out if they didn’t wimp out after ‘Pink Flag’. Love it.
6. King Crimson – The Court of the Crimson King (In the Court of the Crimson King. 1969)
   Nineteen Sixty Nine. It could have been written yesterday. Ok, if we’re stooping to ‘music’ journalist’s low standards, Prog is the enemy of Punk. Fuck it. My interest in Prog has come from Lydon in his later PiL experimentation. What does that tell you? Anyways, on to the track. I can’t describe this piece without saying woolly. Woolly and Epic.
7. The Ruts – S.U.S (The Crack. 1979)
   “Ver facking Rats you cahnt!” Listen to the riff on the chorus. LISTEN TO IT.
8. Vangelis – Rachel’s Song (Blade runner Original Soundtrack. 1982)
   Ah, Bladerunner. A film that gets better every viewing and a soundtrack that gets better every listen. Is there a better match of music and film? (No, really. I want to know. Suggestions please) Bladerunner (and K. Dick in general) is not only a massive influence on Hateful Abandon but also Swine and the rest of Salute. Sort it.
9. Kraftwerk – The Model (The Man Machine. 1978)
   Ok, there are better tracks in the world, I just love this one at the moment. It scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. So cold, uncaring, inhuman….and catchy.
10. Erik Satie – 4ieme Gnossienne :Lent.
    Thanks for this one Kaptain.
11. The Fall – Reformation (Reformation Post TLC. 2007)
    Like Lemmy and Lydon, Mark E Smith is the fucking boss. He lives hard, he’s been there, he knows music, he likes a drink and a smoke, he doesn’t care what you think and neither do I.
12. Ted Nugent – Stormtroopin’ (Ted Nugent. 1975)
    A cheeky rocker from a cheeky rocker. Ok, this track owes a little to Sabbath, but who doesn’t? I wonder how many under-age virginities went bye-bye to this soundtrack in the ’70s…
13. Napalm Death – Unchallenged Hate (From Enslavement To Obliteration. 1988)
    That guitar sound is like a HUMAN VOICE. Yag yag yag yag!

Direct link to this Podcast.

Here you have one view to the origins of Circle Of Ouroborus. It’s impossible to say what the other half Rauta would say for himself, but I guess he would accept at least a few of these ten bands.
When people describe our music, usually they say it’s a mix of black metal and “something else”. Well, this playlist is also a mix of black metal and “something else”, although the black metal side is already “something else” in my opinion: all these bands have their own vision and touch, and therefore the main thing isn’t the genre but the originality and the pureness of their creations. This is a collection of the old ones, the new ones and something between, and this list can change from day to day – another allusion to the never-ending destruction and creation of ouroborus, eh?

1. Joy Division: Dead Souls
   A predictable start? Maybe, but it’s impossible to hide this band’s influence on us. We made a “She’s Lost Control” cover for our “Shores” album, and we haven’t regretted that decision a bit. The hollowness of this band is unique, and this song has also been nicely covered by Nine Inch Nails.
2. Alcest: Le Secret
   I have always had a soft spot in my heart for black metal bands with a different vocal approach, and Alcest is one of those bands. This Le Secret track combines rawness and dreaminess perfectly.
3. Urfaust: Dämmert, Gelähmt Und Mit Scheinbar Erloschenem Geist
   Another unique band what comes to vocals – and for about everything else also! The split album between Urfaust and Circle Of Ouroborus was a start of a strong friendship, and I’m always hypnotically amazed and impressed when this duo makes its magic – be it opinions, live rituals or the music itself.
4. The Dears: Protest
   I don’t care much of the actual band, but this song has drilled its way to my brain. Again very hollow and laconic atmosphere and the play between just few elements works very naturally and easily. Dangerous and depressed.
5. Current 93: The Carnival Is Dead And Gone
   There can’t be a COO list without C93. David Tibet has charmed me with his apocalyptic neo-folk years before Circle Of Ouroborus, and it was interesting to see how step by step these acoustic elements took space in our music. “All the Pretty Little Horses” is maybe one of the albums in my personal top-5 with its diversity, and here you have one of those catchier and looser tracks from that album.
6. Frail: Poisoning the Seed
   I just listened to Frail’s “Brilliant Darkness” demo tape and I’m more and more satisfied that there will be a split release with them. If Circle Of Ouroborus is described as “post-punk black metal”, I can’t wonder what Frail would be named! This band can create music that is raw and mellow same time.
7. Forgotten Woods: Dimension of the Blackest Dark
   And then a black metal classic. I’m just sipping whiskey and listening to “As the Wolves Gather” and it all flows: the natural drums, these smooth riffs and melodies, the screams and growls. Another example how diverse and multileveled Norse black metal was even in the beginning of the 90ies.
8. Joose Keskitalo & Kolmas Maailmanpalo: Tule minun luokseni kulta
   And then something different. I guess nobody knows this artist outside of Finland but now is your chance. Joose Keskitalo creates very harsh ballads, dirty blues and that famous “something else”. Songs can be tender but they can tell stories about cannibalism same time like this song. A real lo-fi genius.
9. Lik: Hate to be Human
   If there’s one single song which has influenced on the birth of Circle Of Ouroborus, it’s this song. Although Lik’s debut is already sterling steel material from the start to the end, this ghastly anthem against mankind really stands up from the other songs.
10. Vesa-Matti Loiri: Lapin kesä
    And I end my journey to home. Vesa-Matti Loiri is a Finnish singer/actor who made four albums full of musical adaptions of Eino Leino’s poems in the 80ies and these songs can be heard as proto neo-folk – or just songs of sorrow, yearning and regret. Like a Finnish state of mind.

Direct link to this Podcast.

1. Warning – Footsteps
   The vocals and lyrics on this wrench at the heart. It’s also a fine demonstration of how to use reverb on toms! A great song and more than a decent opener I thought. From the album ‘Watching From A Distance’.
2. Negura Bunget – Tesarul De Lumini / Weaver of Lights
   This is the only Romanian band I know. We were booked to play an all-dayer with them last year in Manchester, then for some unfounded political reasons they were banned from playing, very disappointing! From the ‘Om’ album.
3. Siege – Cold War
   Recorded in 1984, Siege don’t let up on this track, later on in the ‘Drop Dead’ album they break out the sax!
4. Witchcraft – No Angel Or Demon
   Arrrrrrrach introduced me to these Swedes a few years back. This song in particular is an absolute classic to me, which of course, is what Witchcraft were aiming for. They played it live, note perfect, in my hometown last year. This is from the self-titled debut full length.
5. Taint – I Fulfil I
   Back as a teenager watching their gigs at the Coach House underground basement, when they too were teenagers, I learned to appreciate drums, previously I’d been hooked on guitar. This track reminds me of a summer spent on and around the Llangennith Beach, in the fields beyond the sand dunes listening to this on repeat. From the 2002 Taint / B.E.R split CD.
   
6. Ahab – The Sermon
   German Nautik Funeral Doom! Their album ‘The Call Of The Wretched Sea’ being inspired by Moby Dick, this track features Herman Melville’s writing as lyrics.
7. Converge – Grim Heart / Black Rose
   Jim (Taint) got me into Converge. I had a bet running with a friend that they wouldn’t play this live once when we went to see them in Newport, they didn’t play it, and I won the bet, bitter sweet! This is from their ‘no heroes’ record.
8. Fen – Bereft
   Fen’s new album ‘The Malediction Fields’ is very good! We cross paths playing around the UK underground circuit from time to time.
9. Gene Krupa – Bugle Call Rag
   My friend Ray (Yohawks, Death Of Chapman Baxter) originally turned me onto Gene Krupa. It’s porn for drummers, especially if you track down some of his drum solos. We had to rip this track from the vinyl ‘The Exciting Gene Krupa’ for this podcast.
10. Wolves In The Throne Room – I Will Lay Down My Bones Among The Rocks And Roots
    I first heard these when Arrrrrrrach showed me a live video of them playing in a barn. The relentless drums are incredible! We opened for them when they played Bristol on their recent tour. The experience of being in the room when they played pissed all over that video. This track is from the ‘Two Hunters’ record, more than a decent closer I think!

Direct link to this Podcast.

As was mentioned in our early interview with the band, Les ruches malades – an early song played at their first gig – has made it onto the album (slightly updated from the split ep). You can read the full January 2007 interview with Amesoeurs here. The last question addresses how Neige and Audrey saw the album a few years before its recording.

The self-titled debut album, officially released today, will be also be the last. A final testament to this collection of talented individuals who will, through their other projects: Alcest, Les Discrets, Peste Noire etc., continue to produce exceptional music. Amesoeurs, as with many modern achievements, will fade out gracefully; leaving behind some fine moments.

And so, after all the bands they have influenced – who inspires Amesoeurs? Neige has given us several songs that have inspired him in his work with Amesoeurs.

On to the playlist…

When Amesoeurs was born I didn’t know a lot about rock music, so I stress that these songs are not my all time favourite ones (even though I love them of course) but precisely songs that significantly influenced Amesoeurs.

1. Joy Division – “New Dawn Fades”
   I like everything in this song; it’s quite perfect in my opinion. I feel close to its lyrics and see it like a description of hope when you recommence everything and begin to breathe the air of your coming new existence. You feel hopeful, discovering new places, new sensations, new people but that can’t prevent you from feeling a kind of melancholy and heavy heart even so. I know very well this sensation since I moved my living place a lot these last 5 years, so you can imagine that this song accompanied me hundreds of times.
   Otherwise I love the strong and beautiful bass line and the vocal progression. I think Ian Curtis made one of his most breathtaking interpretations here. At the beginning whispering quietly in a fragile way, and finishing almost screaming with so much overwhelming emotion in his voice. Pure art.
2. For Against – “Sabres” *
3. B-Movie – “Nowhere Girl” *
4. Depeche Mode – “Stripped”
   We made a cover of this song at our only Amesoeurs concert, it was cool. I like the atmosphere a lot (very romantic and urban) and the melodic strength of this song. Especially the last chorus when Martin Gore and Dave Gahan sing together, so great! The most emotional Depeche Mode song for me.
5. The Chameleons : “Second Skin” *
6. Visage – “Fade to Grey” *
7. New Order – “Bizarre Love Triangle”
   Too few people are able to see the qualities of New Order. Ok, they made a lot of ridiculously bad and cheesy shit, but excellent songs too that would make even the meanest metalhead shake his ass eheh! Check the album Low Life, their best one in my opinion. This song is from another album, Brotherhood, and really it’s a new wave classic, as much disco sounding as interesting on a melodic point of view.
8. The Organ – “Brother” *
9. Virgin Prunes – “Pagan Lovesong” *
10. Joy Division – “The Eternal”
    Maybe one of the first JD songs I listened to. Play it driving at night in a suburb like place, with distant lights, greyish buildings, deserted football playgrounds, etc… Useless to put words on it. The sound of solitude, desolation, frozen urban beauty. I see it blue and abyssal. More than in a strict musical way, it nourished the complete Amesoeurs aesthetic and concept.
11. Talk Talk – “Today” *
12. A Flock of Seagulls – “Space Age Love Song” *
13. Skeletal Family – “Promised Land”
    This song is something we could have composed. It is so similar to what I wanted to express with Amesoeurs for our 80’s passages. The combination of powerful post-punk drums and fucking catchy/melancholic riffing. All Amesoeurs listeners must give this song a try; for sure they will adore it. If I had to choose a song that best defines my vision of post-punk it would be this one.

* Avoiding the classics that I guess you already know, I will take advantage and recommend a few great new wave songs I discovered later.

Direct link to this Podcast.

As was mentioned in our early interview with the band, Les ruches malades – an early song played at their first gig – has made it onto the album (slightly updated from the split ep). You can read the full January 2007 interview with Amesoeurs here. The last question addresses how Neige and Audrey saw the album a few years before its recording.

The self-titled debut album, officially released Friday, will be also be the last. A final testament to this collection of talented individuals who will, through their other projects: Alcest, Les Discrets, Peste Noire etc., continue to produce exceptional music. Amesoeurs, as with many modern achievements, will fade out gracefully; leaving behind some fine moments.

And so, after all the bands they have influenced – who inspires Amesoeurs? Fursy has given us seven songs that inspired him, specifically in his work with Amesoeurs and this album.

On to the playlist…

1. Amesoeurs – Gas in Veins (album: Amesoeurs)
2. M83 – Teen Angst (album: Before the Dawn Heals Us)
   This band is one of those bands that inspired everybody in the Amesoeurs’ trio that we were at the very beginning. It is music for and about people of these two latest decades. This guy seems to be fascinated by the new cities, the night lights and its colors etc. His music is really breathtaking once you have accepted its old-fashioned influences and kitsch moments and so understood that they are part of his music. The title of this song is perfectly chosen in my opinion. This song is for me a fall from the top of a high building. A sad atmosphere with a little bit of hope.
3. Blonde Redhead – Distilled (album: In an Expression of the Inexpressible)
   I’m not able to say precisely how many times I listened to this song… It could be almost 200 or 300 times!! This song is such a dark song, very repetitive. The drum pattern is excellent instead of being really simple, the dissonant guitar lines burst my ears, and I love the grice vocals. This song contains a lot of nervosity that is contained and never blown up, it is really tight. As a perfect ending, the bass line, which is without any doubt the best bass line I have heard.
4. Kill The Thrill – Permanent Imbalance (album: Tellurique)
   Kill The Thrill is a French band from Marseille. Their sound has nothing to do with the French scene. At the very beginning, I didn’t like as much what they were playing, but becoming older, my tastes evolving, this band is now one of my favourites. I LOVE the voice of the guy, and this industrial and modern approach. I just noticed that what I like very much in Kill The Thrill is that even without any visual, you can figure out what they’re talking about and which universe they paint in music. It’s a music which conveys a lot of atmospheres and pictures, very visual…
5. Massive Attack – Angel (album: Mezzanine)
   I am not used to listening to Massive Attack. I think I haven’t listened to it for years. But I am sure that it inspired me in the composition of Gas In Veins. This slow tempo with a big bass line… I noticed it right after having recorded the demo version. But I don’t really like this band actually.
6. The Evpatoria Report – Dipole Experiment (album: Golevka)
   I was a big postrock listener, but I’m tired of that style. This song is one of the postrock songs I still listen to, because it is really “filmic” and floating. It opens my mind to different pictures and scenery and I love when a music offers this possibility for people to imagine what they want while listening to it. It’s really important because in my opinion, every listener must put himself into the music either way. Due to it being a bit epic, you can imagine yourself in space surrounded by stars, in a grave, in a church, in a white or black atmosphere etc… Each time i listen to it, I have new pictures. That’s wonderful.
7. Amesoeurs – Amesoeurs (album: Amesoeurs)
8. Blonde Redhead – Publisher (album: 23)
   I discovered this song a few months ago, we already recorded the Amesoeurs’ album and so it didn’t inspire me for composing. I am a big big big fan of Blonde Redhead, album after album they are evolving. This band is becoming better year after year. The mood of this song is very special. The lyrics are beautiful and the music is, as always, very well composed and arranged. Blonde Redhead are talented to find good vocal lines and arrangements. I love the hiphop chorus with the ride cymbal very tight. Anyway this drummer has the most original patterns I’ve ever heard.
9. Cranes – Adrift (album: EP Collection)
   One of the tracks (bands) that inspired me for everything I do. Sooooo dark….. The singer seems to be a little child very very very sad, this song is a nightmare. This band is not well known and would deserve to be more. Even people who were 20/25 years old in the 80’s don’t know them… The big distorted part with a huge sound is excellent…. A wall of nightmare that falls on your happiness.

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1. KILLING JOKE – ‘Brighter Than a Thousand Suns.’ One of the only albums to make me dance. Jesus, I’d give my right bollock to hear a new album with as many hooks as this today. Written off by many as one of the Joke’s weaker albums because of the 100% proof pop megaton BOMBS this album sweats out like ducklings. Sod ‘em I say…stick this on and dance to your day job. Possibly my choice album from my very favourite band.
2. RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY – ‘The Very Best Of…’ “You can’t put a ‘Best of…’ album in your list!” I just did. Deal. Whereas the few albums they did do stand up on their own, you can’t beat this 23 track behemoth of hit song after hit song. Not a boring second on the record and that it in itself is very rare. Dark, impressive confrontational pop.
3. CELTIC FROST – ‘Into The Pandemonium.’ It’s pretty popular to choose ‘Morbid Tales’ or ‘To Mega Therion’ over this one when gliding your finger lightly along the spines of CDs on the rack. But don’t…next time pick this one and revel in madness. Preferably the more recent edition with ‘In the Chapel in the Moonlight’ on it. THEIR BEST SONG. UH!
4. KROHM – ‘A World Through Dead Eyes.’ Just an incredibly layered record. Takes a few listens but keeps on giving. Really great musicianship gives music like this an extra push. Miserable, beautiful and downright deep. I need to get his most recent recording. Stat.
5. JAPAN – ‘Quiet Life.’ Low, hard –fingered fretless bass like chewing on the rubber hat of a toy Smurf. Melancholy, honey throated vocals lull you with quasi homoerotic 80’s ‘popness’. If I didn’t love Japan, I’d fucking hate them. Consider that to be the highest praise possible.
6. PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED – ‘Public Image.’ Nobody can really label this with a pointless genre. People have tried to give it the Post-Punk tag. It’s just PIL. It is to my mind the most pure Lydon there is. From the sublime and pumping bassline to ‘Public Image’ to the scathing honesty and truth of ‘Religion I’ and ‘Religion II.’ If ever we needed Lydon, it was in ‘77 and now in 2008.
7. GBH – ‘City Baby Attacked by Rats.’ Just makes me feel like drop-kicking newborn babies. Heavy Metal Punk. End.
8. PESTE NOIRE – ‘Folkfuck Folie.’ What a fucking mess. What a fucking FANTASTIC MESS. Actually, scratch that…it sounds like every moment of this record was planned and blueprinted to the finest detail…Nope; it’s just a fantastic fucking mess. Nope, it has to be planned, amazing songwriting. What a mess. Fantastic. Backwards.
9. AUTECHRE – ‘Chiastic Slide.’ An audio jigsaw you put together with your mind. Stunning counter rhythms, plips and (dare I say) plops go by you both at the speed of light and in a sickening crawl through sticky digital fur.
10. WATCHTOWER – ‘Energetic Disassembly’ Like the above but with guitars. It’s Spooky Tooth but a million miles an hour. It’s cunnilingus with a bass guitar. It sounds like someone has thrown the drummer down the stairs and then cut and pasted it back together in a manner fit for TOTAL PINPOINT PERCUSSIVE ACCURACY. Outstanding.

That’s it. Show’s over. Piss off.

V/M

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