BIG BLACK – RICH MAN’S EIGHT TRACK TAPE (TOUCH AND GO)
At some point I think there was a hope that all records were going to sound like this because this sounded like the future now. The Rich Man’s Eight Track is a crushing record of accusation and hostility seemingly purposely exhibiting a desire to weed out the waste of the crowd by pummelling everything and anything into submission that stands in its path. This was the brief sound of early industrial music while it was blue collar prior to mutating into a Goth movement and losing the plot.
The Rich Man’s Eight Track is a CD compilation that takes in the Atomizer album, Heartache EP and “Heartbeat” single. The title of the album is a sly dig by Albini at the compact disc format comparing it to the failed format of the seventies, no doubt reflecting a hope and prediction that the new digital format was set to fail also.
With some kind of ironic twist the record opens with “Jordan, Minnesota” which, as per Pigpile, was the track the band would drag out as its explosive set closer. Placed at the beginning of the piece it is no less devastating (if slightly briefly). This is the music that drum machines were born (if not necessarily designed) for. And somehow, just to be that extra bit annoying, the guitars manage to sound like bagpipes.
In essence this is the sonic equivalent of being shouted at for an almost an hour over the course of seventeen tracks. There is a large degree of bile attached to proceedings, serving up a kind of sensation that echoes shaking some sense into an individual.
There are so many great tracks to choose from in this collection. The highlight of the piece is without doubt the suburban angst cum pyromaniac mantra of “Kerosene” with its disillusioning repetition that ultimately points towards sticky gestures. This was the updated version of no future, now served with an extra portion of malice and sonic bombast.
Also in amongst the flurry is perhaps the most upbeat sounding of all Big Black songs in the form of “Passing Complexion” which is a rapid fire jig that contains a machine gig riff destined to get stuck inside your head for the remainder of the day once swallowed whole.
All this and the record has only been rolling for four songs.
On the whole the record is a tough listen to take all in one hit. The influence it had one future acts sounds obvious. “Strange Things” sounds very much like Ministry before Ministry as “Heartbeat” sounds very like The Jesus Lizard before The Jesus Lizard. At the same time nods go in the opposite direction as “Bad Houses” sounds like an evil version of Kraftwerk.
Often at times the record appears to be sound of a sociopath (maybe even psychotic) mind on songs such as “Fists Of Love” which appears to resemble the sounds of domestic violence in full flow while “Bazooka Joe” feels as if all human emotion has been voided as it sounds as robotic as it does psychotic. Then the band reels of its list of “Things To Do Today” which gradually becomes terrifying with each line.
The record remains pummelling until the wire as “Black Grinder” scoops another perversely upbeat riff placed beneath seemingly more threatening words from Albini until it finally and fully closes on “Pete, King Of Detectives” that sounds perversely like a drunken early Depeche Mode playing ping pong as I relentless mad man makes heavy claims over the top.
This is an experience everyone should be made to endure.
Thank Roland.
Thesaurus moment: scold.
Big Black
Touch And Go
At some point I think there was a hope that all records were going to sound like this because this sounded like the future now. The Rich Man’s Eight Track is a crushing record of accusation and hostility seemingly purposely exhibiting a desire to weed out the waste of the crowd by pummelling everything and anything into submission that stands in its path. This was the brief sound of early industrial music while it was blue collar prior to mutating into a Goth movement and losing the plot.
The Rich Man’s Eight Track is a CD compilation that takes in the Atomizer album, Heartache EP and “Heartbeat” single. The title of the album is a sly dig by Albini at the compact disc format comparing it to the failed format of the seventies, no doubt reflecting a hope and prediction that the new digital format was set to fail also.
With some kind of ironic twist the record opens with “Jordan, Minnesota” which, as per Pigpile, was the track the band would drag out as its explosive set closer. Placed at the beginning of the piece it is no less devastating (if slightly briefly). This is the music that drum machines were born (if not necessarily designed) for. And somehow, just to be that extra bit annoying, the guitars manage to sound like bagpipes.
In essence this is the sonic equivalent of being shouted at for an almost an hour over the course of seventeen tracks. There is a large degree of bile attached to proceedings, serving up a kind of sensation that echoes shaking some sense into an individual.
There are so many great tracks to choose from in this collection. The highlight of the piece is without doubt the suburban angst cum pyromaniac mantra of “Kerosene” with its disillusioning repetition that ultimately points towards sticky gestures. This was the updated version of no future, now served with an extra portion of malice and sonic bombast.
Also in amongst the flurry is perhaps the most upbeat sounding of all Big Black songs in the form of “Passing Complexion” which is a rapid fire jig that contains a machine gig riff destined to get stuck inside your head for the remainder of the day once swallowed whole.
All this and the record has only been rolling for four songs.
On the whole the record is a tough listen to take all in one hit. The influence it had one future acts sounds obvious. “Strange Things” sounds very much like Ministry before Ministry as “Heartbeat” sounds very like The Jesus Lizard before The Jesus Lizard. At the same time nods go in the opposite direction as “Bad Houses” sounds like an evil version of Kraftwerk.
Often at times the record appears to be sound of a sociopath (maybe even psychotic) mind on songs such as “Fists Of Love” which appears to resemble the sounds of domestic violence in full flow while “Bazooka Joe” feels as if all human emotion has been voided as it sounds as robotic as it does psychotic. Then the band reels of its list of “Things To Do Today” which gradually becomes terrifying with each line.
The record remains pummelling until the wire as “Black Grinder” scoops another perversely upbeat riff placed beneath seemingly more threatening words from Albini until it finally and fully closes on “Pete, King Of Detectives” that sounds perversely like a drunken early Depeche Mode playing ping pong as I relentless mad man makes heavy claims over the top.
This is an experience everyone should be made to endure.
Thank Roland.
Thesaurus moment: scold.
Big Black
Touch And Go
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