sweet effay

Presumably as part of an attempt to establish a fanbase here in the Flatlands, Indianhead have kindly sent me a copy of their latest release, The Strongest Weapon, a collection of recordings made between 1997 and 2003. It’s probably rude to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I heard it, but the truth is that it’s actually rather good. A combination of grinding industrial beats and whooshing abstractions with the odd sample and distorted vocals, it’s quite dark but not at all unpleasant. This is due in no small part to the way that they mostly cut off the more extended moments of repetition before they become annoying, and have enough variety in the material to hold your interest. Think music for an industrial party in a damp basement rather than a soundtrack for moping in your bed-sit cutting your arms with a razor.

I think that Nick Gutterbreakz is right about the vocals, but only because the instrumental bits are better. He’s definitely wrong about Throbbing Gristle though: Genesis P-Orridge’s vocals were (with the odd exception, e.g. ‘Hamburger Lady’ and ‘Very Friendly’) the worst thing about TG. In fact I’ve long suspected that GP-O’s only talent is the ability to attract people to him who are much more talented than he is.

Anyhow, Indianhead have a website here which includes a couple of MP3’s from the album. I should point out that I actually found ‘Embolism’ to be the weakest track therein; some of the other tracks are much better. Also, I’m sure you’re all wondering the same thing as I did: ‘Higher Beings Command’ isn’t a cover of the Coil number, but a spacey thing with samples from Dune.