I once also owned every single Front 242 record. I wish they still made song structured songs with Jean Luc DeMeyer on lead vocals. Even still, I am glad for the amazing albums they gave us such as Official Version and Front by Front. I saw them perform at the Palidium in the late 80s. It was awesome.
“Belgian industrial group Front 242 were at the crest of the Electronic Body Music wave, carrying the baton from groups like Throbbing Gristle and Caberet Voltaire, combining their post-punk aesthetic with strong backbeats, slices, samples, and ominous vocals. Their raw sound is married with strong militaristic imagery, chopped-up scenes from television, and even evangelical leanings.” – redbullmusicacademy.com
For more info: front242.com
This entry was written by , posted on February 22, 2010 at 8:11 pm, filed under interviews, music, video and tagged electronic body music, Front 242, Red Bull Music Academy. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Ever wonder how popular a band or artist really is? Head over to http://google.com/insights/search/ and find out. Today I have three popularity wars set up (click to enlarge screenshots). First I go old school EBM (of course) and throw VNV Nation into the mix with Nitzer Ebb, Front 242 and Skinny Puppy. Surprisingly Nitzer Ebb looses big time. Next up on stage is MGMT vs Willie Nelson vs The Prodigy. The surprise to me here is that the Prodigy manages to stay on the chart at all. The final contest I go for some big bands: NIN vs Depeche Mode vs Kraftwerk. I knew DM would win but if you look carefully there were a few moments in time NIN over took them.
Of course popularity doesn’t always equal great tunes but this is a fun way to see who’s “the biggest”. Do you think any of these results are surprising?
Related post: Using Google Trends to compare sequencers.
This entry was written by , posted on July 31, 2009 at 7:32 am, filed under business, music and tagged data, Depeche Mode, Front 242, Kraftwerk, music sales, NIN, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, The Prodigy, trends, VNV Nation, Willie Nelson. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
In keeping with a new tradition on Wire to the Ear called “Sunday Sounds” where I post a music playlist each week here’s the next installment: Electronic Body Music. This is my personal favorite music genre. EBM is creative, powerful and mostly electronic music. You can find some sophisticated song arrangements and vocals in a lot of EBM. The genre almost disappeared in the early 90s but it’s back with new blood. Even the old guys are back on the show circuit.
I created this playlist using Imeem. You can find me there at
http://www.imeem.com/thehorrorist
Are you an EBM fan?
This entry was written by , posted on November 9, 2008 at 11:51 am, filed under music and tagged DAF, EBM, electronic body music, Front 242, Front Line Assemby, imeem, Laibach, Nitzer Ebb, Orange Sector, Severed Heads, Sturm Cafe, The Klinik, Vomito Negro. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
An Interview with Ionic Vision. from thingstocome on Vimeo.
One of the best ways to promote a band on your record label is to create a video interview with them. It really doesn’t take much skill, time or money. In fact, the video above was shot using the video mode on a single point and shoot cheapo camera. I used iMovie08 which uses Core Video so any image adjustments, transitions and titles all happen in real time, no rendering! This makes the entire process actually a lot of fun. Sure the video would be better if I was using a better camera, external mic and some lights but you 
know what? If I had to lug all that stuff to the club I probably would not have bothered. Showing up and creating something is the most important thing. I actually own quite a lot of video equipment including Final Cut Pro but workflow always wins in my book so I went for the fastest way to the finish line. I mentioned before on this blog I love Creative Commons and here’s why: See the images I cut during the interview? They are all CC licensed so I’m not stealing anyone’s art to create my own.
The style was characterized by hard and often sparse danceable electronic beats, clear undistorted vocals, shouts or growls with reverberation and echo effects, and repetitive sequencer lines. At this time important synthesizers were Korg MS-20, Emulator II, Oberheim Matrix or the Yamaha DX7. Typical EBM rhythms are based on 4/4 beats, mainly with some minor syncopation to suggest a rock music rhythm structure. – wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_body_music
Sven Lauwers and Andy de Decker are great live which is extremely important for an EBM band. Be sure to check out Ionic Vision’s release on Things to Come Records: Beatport, Junodownload, Things to Come Records
For more info about the event they played:
www.myspace.com/crossingtheparallel
This entry was written by , posted on July 28, 2008 at 3:10 am, filed under interviews, live performance, video and tagged Alfa Matrix, Andy de Decker, Berlin, Club Isolation, Club Maria, Crossing the Parallel, EBM, electronic body music, electronic music, Front 242, Germany, Ionic Vision, Maria am Ostbahnhof, My Cell, Nitzer Ebb, Oberheim, Orange Sector, Propellerheads Reason, Scapa Flow, Sven Lauwers, Terrence Fixmer, The Hacker, The Horrorist, Things to Come Records. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
There is a new magazine that just launched in Germany which covers alternative music and style called Storm. For the debut issue they asked me to write my top five albums of all time and a blurb on why I think each album is so great. I posted this on my record label’s blog too but I thought it would be interesting to you guys here also.
To read the article: click here
This entry was written by , posted on May 6, 2008 at 9:17 am, filed under music and tagged Depeche Mode, Front 242, Granddady, Nitzer Ebb, Storm Magazine, Willie Nelson. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
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