Chris & Cosey ‎– Pagan Tango cd

Two days ago I got Cosey Fanni Tutti's Art Sex Music memoir in the mail and I have been devouring it with much interest. I'm about halfway through, right after the breakup of TG and just into her pregnancy and beginning of C&C. She talks extensively about pre-TG activities, COUM Transmissions, her torturous relationship with Genesis P-Orridge (who is portrayed in way less than flattering ways, abusive, physically violent, sexist...) and her youth in Hull , her loving mother, her strict father. I felt particularly sad about the cutting off of contact with her mother as a result of the infamous ICA "wreckers of civilization" exhibition, about which, however, she talks rather little given how important for TG's reputation that event was. In fact, the TG part takes up much less pages than early life/COUM. I'm looking forward to reading about the reunion and second demise of TG. As a tribute to this extraordinary woman who has been central in the shaping of my musical tastes, and with whom I was in love as a teen (there are a few striptease photos inside, too) I'm posting the ninth album of her shared music group with fellow TG-er Chris Carter (her recounting of sexual experiences as a trio with either GPO or Sleazy are fun, plus their making of snuff films), which I heard when I was about 15 from "Big Bear," a scary guy who lived close to mine but whose house I frequented a lot during my teens, because he burned me cdrs of albums by Coil, TG, Current 93, Death In June, etc. When I heard this album I was starting to discover noise and I had read about TG's abrasiveness and horror so I was kinda shocked to hear that this was electro/synth-pop stuff with a hint of dub without any terror inside. But I was especially drawn to Cosey's sensuous, erection-inducing vocals and the dark electronic sound and I now consider it a masterpiece of a music genre I'm not particularly fond of. 1991 album on Play It Again Sam Records.

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Front 242 ‎– 05:22:09:12 Off cd

 

I fucking love this album. It is a huge stylistic shift from the 1980s ebm style, into a vast urban electro-industrial tone with instances of acid techno, scary noise, ambient and electronic love songs. I particularly dig Christine Kowalsky's vocals which alternate from dirty and raspy to calm and loving. Get this. 1993 cd on Red Rhino Europe.

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Front Line Assembly ‎– Implode cd

 

Front Line Assembly is one of the very few industrial/ebm groups I like, along with Skinny Puppy and some Front 242. I think that this sound, which was supposed to be the most modern in its heyday, is completely outdated now, in contrast to noise, drone etc. Anyway, this album came a few years after their classic Millenium, in which they heavily sampled metal bands, and is not close to the industrial metal sound of that album. There are a few anthemic electronic tracks, especially the first three ones and "Don't Trust Anyone," but quite a few instrumental tracks have a slightly more ambient sound that would fit very well in game soundtracks or would be good for driving at night. 1999 cd on Metropolis.

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