Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park

Skinny Puppy

Too Dark Park

1990

I walk through the silent park alone. The crimson tip of my pale cigarette is the only light piercing the darkness on this moonless night. I gather my black leather jacket close to my chest to stop the cold wind which batters against me and fans the flame which burns my nicotine delivery method. 

My car broke down about a mile ago and left me stranded on the outskirts of an unfamiliar town. Never a hitch-hiker, I was left with no choice but to walk back home along the road and hope that I can find a pay phone. I grabbed my walkman and popped in the new Skinny Puppy tape Too Dark Park to ease my journey. The music was as dark as the night, and when I passed a park along the way I could not resist the lure to walk through it. 

All is still in the ebon confines of the park. Passing a grove if trees, I stop for a minute to relieve myself among them. With few might shakes, I put myself back together. I finish my cigarette and toss the butt end of it to the ground. 

There is a pause in the cacophonous music at my ears, as one song flows into the next and I hear a strange sound all around me. I pause the tape and listen.

There are screams all around me. They are coming from the trees. I hear the screams of nature as it suffers a slow death. The trees shriek as their bark begins to blister and crumble. They extend their weeping branches toward me seeking an answer to their burning question: “Why has your race betrayed us?”

The leaves melt off the branches and fall dead at my feet. The blustering wind sweeps them up, giving them a mockery of renewed life and batters them against my face. As they land, they begin to burn and borrow into my face like bloodthirsty leeches. I begin to scream as the full horror of my fate becomes apparent. It is a scream no one will hear. I am all alone to face nature while it carries out its bloody vengeance upon my body.

I fall to the ground while my face disappears into a mass of gore and blood. The carnage nature is wreaking on me makes me anonymous. I am the anyone. I am everyone. I am nature’s whipping boy, paying for humanity’s sins against nature. This is wilderness that will no longer sit idly by while man destroys it. Now it’s nature’s turn to reclaim what was was once hers. Mother Nature will dispose of the disease known as man. In the end, she will conquer humanity and once more inherit earth. 

All this plays out in my mind while I listen to Skinny Puppy’s Too Dark Park on that long walk home. Skinny Puppy often serve as nature’s dark champions.Their dissonant howls give voice to the twisted roots that lie beneath the soil of the earth, which are quick to rise up to the defense when the trees are threatened. They have always stood on the side of nature in it’s battle against man’s indulgences and do so once again on this new album. 

Too Dark Park opens in an erratic fashion with the chaotic percussion of “Convulsion”. Featuring scores of samples and ear-bleeding yelps, it is reminiscent of “State Aide” from 1988’s ViVi Sect VI. But the chaos here seems much more focused and “Convulsion” serves as a hauntingly appropriate opener for an album of this much urgency. 

“Tormentor” comes next and you can instantly see why it was chosen as the lead single to promote Too Dark Park. Not only are the lyrics creepily appropriate, but it is a hugely accessible dance track. It has already become a staple on the forward-thinking nightclub scene and it is the closest Skinny Puppy have come to a straight-up club music song since “Addiction” from 1987’s Cleanse, Fold And Manipulate. 

All the pop sensibility is instantly forgotten when “Spasmolytic” follows with its frenetic beat and anxiety inducing lyrics. Ogre’s gravelly voice takes us on a guided tour of the underside of society and the ugly truth of drug addiction. You can feel his despair and sickness at having to kick the habit. Ot at least that is what I imagine. I sometimes have a hard time deciphering exactly what Skinny Puppy is truly singing about. I just look to the images their songs put in my head for any understanding. 

A short guitar riffs brings into existence the next track “Rash Reflection”. It soon settles into a hypnotic electronic beat that reminds me a bit of early 70’s electronic bands like Kraftwerk. The cold synthesizer driven song has an added layer of creepiness from the repetitive vocal refrain, but is ultimately one of the least memorable songs on the album. 

Side one ends with my favorite track “Nature’s Revenge”. This mellow song is not only disturbing due to its subject matter, but also because it is the first Skinny Puppy song to my knowledge to feature an acoustic guitar. EGAD! Have they gone folk? I hope not. But it does add a rather good touch to the song. The best part of the song, however, is the sample in which a female voice  asks: “Scared? You really are?” to which a man’s voice replies: “I’m not scared!” The female voice then sarcastically responds: “Hmm. What are you?”

The second side opens with the ecological disaster song “Shoreline Poison”, a cry of helplessness on behalf of beaches drenched in oil. It cold even be seen as a spiritual successor to “Hexonxonx” from last year’s Rabies album. It has one of the best and most original beats on any Skinny Puppy album. It is definitely a standout track and a scary reminder of what horrors we are inflicting on the world around us.

“Grave Wisdom” follows and I predict it will be the next single. There is a certain pop catchiness to its hook which seems like an obvious choice to promote the album. The synths here work in perfect conjunction with the lyrics. And although I have no idea what the song is about, it brings images to my head of a sterile, scary future in which the wisdom we gain will be achieved far too late to save us in any possible way. 

Next up is their party song “T.F.W.O.”. Driven by a sampled guitar riff, this seems to be a call back to the synthetic rock they explored on Rabies. Here the vocals divide and multiply creating a layer on the chorus that sounds to me like a bunch of drunken, whiny people chanting at one time. I have no idea what “T.F.W.O.” stands for, but I can definitely picture them doing this as the last song at one of their shows. Usually in those last songs, they drop all the theatrics and rock out to a good song and this one seems to fit the bill.

“Morpheus Laughing” is the last proper song and the masterpiece of Too Dark Park. A spooky synth line starts the song and remains throughout, even after the addition of a funky beat. This is classic Skinny Puppy with its dark groove and samples set to dark lyrics about the world’s chemical dependence and civil disobedience. It is probably one of the band’s best musical efforts and will be destined to be a classic.

The album ends with the sonic instrumental “Reclamation”. This song sounds like one of the musical collages found on Cleanse, Fold And Manipulate. The music at times sounds like it is going backwards and the lyrics, if any, are undecipherable and buried deep in the track. It feels like the soundtrack to a horror movie which keeps spiraling upward towards a crescendo that ends in a laugh and an explosion. As it ends, you can feel the last bit of tension and horror draining from your body and ready to return once more on your next visit to the Too Dark Park.

I have to mention the packaging of the album itself. The LP, Cassette and CD all have different variants of a horrifically and disturbing, yet beautiful painting by Jim Cummings of monstrous creatures and eyes floating on a gorgeous blue background. It is the perfect complement to the music contained within. 

Even though they included the lyrics on the inside of the album, you probably wont understand them. The way Ogre writes his lyrics, they often seem like random words brought together by stream of consciousness free association. There is meaning behind it all, but it takes a dark and twisted mind to decipher the message. 

Overall, Too Dark Park stands as one of Skinny Puppy’s finest works and a landmark for the modern Industrial sound. Nivek Ogre, cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel, along with their guest musicians have gone beyond anything they have done before and have raised the bar on what experimental electronic bands should strive to achieve. The album is fully consistent throughout and has a unifying theme, while at the same time every single piece has a hauntingly unique sound. This is Skinny Puppy’s Dark Side Of The Moon. 

Consolidated - Play More Music

Consolidated do Play More Music

Facists beware! Consolidated, San Francisco’s champions of human rights and industrial music, have released a new compilations of challenging music and ideas for the ignorant masses to consume. The new disc is called Play More Music and on it Consolidated  do just that. This new album has 27 tracks! (But for honesty’s sake, I must admit not all of them are songs.)

Following on the heels of last year’s masterpiece Friendly Fascism (which spawned the Billboard dance hits “Unity of Oppression”, “Brutal Equation” and “This is Fascism”), Consolidated once more tackle the issues which concern the violation of human rights. Their stance on these issues is clearly defined. They come on very strong on their records and even stronger live. Some find this distasteful and preachy, but I find it necessary in a society where our rights to freedom and happiness are infringed upon every day. 

Play More Music is a combination of new studio material and spoken bits and audience interaction from their last tour. Allow me to explain: When Consolidated go on tour, they don’t just play their music and leave. They turn the concert hall into an open forum regarding the issues they present. Audience members are given the freedom to grab the microphone and express their opinions on the topics at hand. Sometimes the audience members agree with Consolidated’s viewpoints, but most often than not, they violently disagree. This makes for interesting listening as Consolidated and their audience go head to head in heated arguments. Consolidated records the best soundbites from their discussions and offers bits of them on their albums. 

A good example of this kind of discussion on Play More Music is the track “The Men’s Movement”. The topic here is slam dancing. The guys in the audience (me included) love to do it. The girls in the audience, though, are getting hurt as the guys slam into them. Consolidated asks the guys to stop and that’s when the fun begins. Everyone takes turns on the mike fighting for and against slam dancing. Consolidated then added samples from wrestling show announcers and a guitar riff, and the end product is both funny and horrifying.

Some of the issues which Consolidated discusses on the album involve gun control (“Tool And Die”), gay and lesbian rights (“Accept Me For What I Am”), women’s rights (“He”), vegetarianism (“Veggie Beat Manifesto”) and racism (“Guerrillas In The Mist”) among others. 

For this album Consolidated has invited various rappers to perform with them. Rapper Paris does scorching vocals for “Guerrillas In The Mist”. Crack MC kills it on “Crackhouse”. And The Yeastie Girls are hysterical on “You Suck”. “You Suck” is basically and exhortation for men to better attend the needs of their women when it comes to cunnilingus. It is shocking and vulgar, but hilariously original. 

Musically, Consolidated have deviated significantly from their usual electronic/ industrial dance style. Several tracks on this disc feature heavy guitars and acoustic drums. The best example of this is on the track “Accept Me For What I Am”, on which Consolidated manage to sound like The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is a surprising change, but one that is refreshing. 

The dance tracks are not gone, though. They are present and and improved greatly by the mixing work of Meat Beat Manifesto’s Jack Dangers, The first single “Tool And Die” features the Manifesto sound and has become an instant classic on the dance floor. 

Consolidated is a collection of the talents of Philip Steir, Mark Pistel, and Adam Sherburne (formerly of Until December). They formed in in 1998 and released a self-titled ep before signing with Nettwerk Records. Since then, they have released The Myth Of Rock (1990), Friendly Fascism (1991) and the new one Play More Music. Consolidated is a string and important voice which needs to be heard by society. So educate yourself and go out and get Play More Music. The mind you’ll expand will be your own.

Overdosing On Capsulated Reviews

Factory

Overdosing On Capsulated Reviews

Welcome back to another semester at Kean. I hope your winter break was as exciting and fun-filled as mine. If it wasn’t, then obviously you are not living your life to the fullest and you need to escape the shackles which hold you down. It’s never too late to leave your surroundings and start again someplace better. Remember that!

As I am writing this,  am laying in bed with a really bad toothache, It’s 1:15 am and I feel as if a group of angry skinheads are slam dancing on my head. I’ve taken about 4 Advil so far, but the pain hasn’t gone away yet. I’ve decided to tel ya’ll about a couple of records I heard and some flicks I saw. Maybe my pain will flow fro my head out through my pain. I sure hope so.

MUSIC

Erasure - Pop! First 20 Hits

I have waited for something like this forever! This greatest hits showcases the long career of one of my favorite bands: Erasure. From the moment I heard “Oh L’amour” in my buddy JD’s attic in 1986 I have fallen in love with Andy Bell’s soulful vocals and Vince Clarke’s gorgeous melodies. Their songs have lifted me up at the lowest points in my life and have never failed to make me dance. 

This compilation is fantastic, but not perfect. Sure, it complies all of their singles in one easy to digest package; But it leaves out some of their best songs. Some of their strongest songs were never released as singles. Classic songs like “Oh L’amour”, “A Little Respect” and “Blue Savannah” are included alongside snoozers like “Ship Of Fools”, “The Circus” and yet another pointless remix of “Who Needs Love Like That”. But where are “She Won’t be Home” or “My Heart…So Blue” or “Home”? 

That’s my issue with “Best Of” compilations. It’s one thing to have all the singles together and easily accessible. But it would be a whole other thing to have Erasure themselves select which songs they consider to be their best. Now, that would be cool and would most certainly include many songs I love. 

Wait. What? It’s not a best of. It says right there in the title “First 20 Hits”. Dang it. You’re right. I’ll be quiet. 

But I would still argue the “hit” status of “The Circus”. 

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Twice In A Lifetime

A follow up to their previous compilation Once In A Lifetime, this one covers the latter Siouxsie & The Banshees material. Included are the hit singles “Cities In Dust”, “Dear Prudence”, “Kiss Them For Me” and “The Passenger”. I am extremely happy they included two of my favorite Banshees songs “The Last Beat Of My Heart” and “Candyman”.  This truly feels not just like a Greatest Hits but a Best Of  as well.

This package is also great for those interested in studying the history of Punk, Gothic and “Alternative” music. Let’s not forget that both Sid Vicious and Robert Smith were both members of Siouxsie & The Banshees at least once in their lifetimes.

Nine Inch Nails - Fixed

I know everyone must be getting sick of me reviewing Nine Inch Nails all the time, so I will make this short. Fixed is an ep of remixes of the songs from Broken. There is one new song added to make sure you want to get the ep. But this ep is horrible! Avoid it at all costs. The only thing worth listening to on this tape is the new version of “Gave Up” remixed by Coil and turned into a techno song. “Gave Up” is cool but not worth the seven bucks you pay for the ep. 

That’s it! No more Nine Inch Nails reviews… at least until the new album comes out. 

Just Say Yesterday - Various Artists

I got this tape for my birthday from my extremely “close friend” Jimmy. And, what a present it is! A history lesson in “Alternative” music, Just Say Yesterday takes us back in time to a decade where left-of-center pop music was just beginning. This is volume six in the Just Say Yes series of releases from Sire Records. They were the front runners of “new” music at the time and this compilation showcases their catalog between the years 1974 and 1984. What a great decade that was. This tape is fantastic!

Just Say Yesterday includes well known tracks like “Pop Muzik” by M and “One Step Beyond…” by Madness side by side with more underground hits like “Piss Factory” by Patti Smith and “Warm Leatherette” by The Normal. The tape even features legendary rarities such as Aztec Camera’s beautiful, yet controversial acoustic remake of Van Halen’s “Jump” and the ultra odd “Ça plane pour moi” by Plastic Bertrand.  

My favorite track, though, is the seven and a half minute song “Kiss Me” by Tin Tin. I used to love dancing to this song. It always touches me in a deep way that I can’t even explain. This song is so great that even writing about it makes me get all teary-eyed. I never knew the name of it or the artist, so I had been searching for it unsuccessfully for a while. But now, thanks to Jimmy I’ve got the song I’ve always wanted. 

MOVIES

Bad Lieutenant- Starring Harvey Keitel & Jesus

I went to see this flick at the ultra pretentious Angelika Theater in NYC and to be frank, I regret it. Harvey Keitel stars as a hard-drinking, drug addled, sexually perverted NYC cop who’s a real hard-ass. Surprise acting choice there, Harvey. Is it me, or does he always play the same hard-ass character type in nearly every movie? Come on! That’s not acting. Let’s see him play against type in a theatrically challenging role for a change. Then, I’ll be impressed.

Anyway, in this this movie he is trying to track down a couple of kids who raped a nun in a church. The rape scene is, of course, surprisingly graphic. Otherwise, this wouldn’t be a hipster flick. The nun refuses to tell the cops who her attackers were, so Harvey spends most of the movie either getting high, getting laid or cursing out Jesus. 

There are two scenes that made me chuckle in the movie. The first is their great use of Lords Of Acid’s “Let’s Get High” on the soundtrack. The other is a sick, but hilarious scene where Harvey pulls over two “Jersey Girls” and masturbates outside of their driver’s window.  It’s so over the top, that it actually works. 

Overall, Bad Lieutanant was just bad. 

Stay Tuned- Starring John Ritter and Pam Dawber

Just out on video, Stay Tuned is one if the funniest movies I have ever seen. Jack Tripper and Mindy McConnell, oops…I meant John Ritter and Pam Dawber, play a couple of yuppies who get sucked into a satanic cable company, kind of like a nicer version of Suburban Cablevision. They must survive 24 hours within the stations demonic programming. The humor is madcap, while the TV satires are hilarious and effective. 

Some of the best bits are “Driving Over Miss Daisy”, “Autopsies Of The Rich & Famous”, and “Beverly Hills 90666”. John Ritter even gets to revisit his hit show “Three’s Company” again. The skits within the movie border on dumb, but in the right frame of mind they are perfect for a good laugh. For some silly fun with a dash of darkness, check out Stay Tuned.

Well, that’s it for this issue of Factory, kids. It’s now 2:50 am and I am falling asleep. My toothache went away and all it took were eight more Advil. Wait a minute! Let’s see… The packet here reads: “Do not exceed more that six pills in a 24 hour period”. Oh, crap! I’ve taken about twelve! Oh No! My vision is getting blurry. My hands are shaking. I…

Lazarus Effect - Demo

Lazarus Effect

Demo

Walking through the Holy Land I came across a man who was bound hand and foot with funereal wrappings and whose face was covered in a cloth. He lay prone on the edge of the dirt road upon which I traveled. Considering myself to be a Good Samaritan, I approached closer to see if he needed any assistance. 

I uncovered his face and was greeted by a pair of watchful eyes set in a most handsome and rugged face. The traces of dirt which crisscrossed his countenance did nothing to diminish the unearthly beauty I beheld. His eyes moved to meet mine but his mouth remained still. 

I opened my mouth and a far-away voice, which surely couldn’t be mine said: “Hi, are you ok?”

“Yes,” he said curtly.

“Oh,” I blurted, not really knowing how to maintain this conversation. “Hey, do you need any help? Want me to unravel you, or something?”

“If it would make you feel more comfortable,” he said dismissively with a faint trace of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

Deciding it definitely would, I began to unravel the wrappings which bound him like some sort of sarcastic mummy. As I slowly unspooled his soiled linens, I uncovered a book which was pressed against his chest. It was a book by Frank Herbert titled Lazarus Effect. 

Once it was free from the wraps, I reached for the book to prevent it from falling. The man reached up with his one unbound hand and grabbed my arm in a vice-like grip. I could feel the burning desert heat emanating from his hold. 

“Don’t touch it!” he said. “It’s mine!”

“You wrote it?” I said and yanked my hand from his grasp. “Wait. Are you Frank Herbert?”

“No,” he said. “I am Lazarus. I have been resurrected.”

Now, I knew enough of the bible to know that this guy was not the Lazarus that Jesus brought back to life in John 11:43-44. So I looked at him with unbelieving eyes. He stared back at me defiantly.

“You do not believe me?” he asked.

“Nope,” I said and turned my back to walk away. I have had enough of this man’s games. Whatever strange thing he was into, I definitely wanted no part of it.

I heard him rise to his feet behind me and approach. I waited until I almost felt the fiery heat of his touch on my shoulder before I spun around. I wanted to catch him off guard and flip the dynamics of the situation on its head.

There was no one behind me. The only things I saw was the deserted road leading back to Bethany from Jerusalem and the still desert surrounding it. I dropped my gaze to the ground and saw something else. There was a pink and black cassette tape on the ground where the man once lay. There were three laughing on its cover.

I bent down to pick up the tape and that’s when I saw the name scribbled upon it: Lazarus Effect.

Once back in my hotel room in Jerusalem, I popped the cassette tape into my Sony Walkman and prepared a cup of Dead Sea Tea. What I heard was very exciting. It was energetic and dark music which sounded like a cross between Ministry and Bauhaus, but with a fresh and original twist to the despair. The lyrics were very hard-hitting and visual.

I was impressed with the sound and looked inside the tape for some sort of liner notes. What I found was a track listing which informed me of the names of the four songs. They were Moving In The Vertical, From All You Want To All You Have, Caught In A Drag and Rage. There was also a name and address written at the end of the track list. It read: Syncartz P.O. Box 789, Fairview, NJ 07022.

New Jersey? I thought. What the hell was this tape from a band in New Jersey doing in Israel?

The liner notes informed me of one last thing. It read Lazarus Effect is Nelson Pla. The accompanying picture showed my disappearing Lazarus with the piercing eyes. I got a sudden chill up my spine and rewound the tape to listen to it again.

I walked across my hotel room to the large picture window overlooking the city. I held the warm cup of tea in my hands and looked out across the Holy Land as the mesmerizingly mysterious music of Lazarus Effect played on.