February 2003 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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February 2003 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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Pigface deliver heavy dose of Intelligent Angst Music 24 February 2003
Drummer/producer Martin Atkins, whose beats and studio chops have kept the punk flag flying while energizing Public Image Ltd., Brian Brain, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Killing Joke, Skinny Puppy, and The Damage Manual (among many others), has just released an uncompromising and intense album with his rotating collective known as Pigface. The band has no official membership apart from Atkins, who provides a focus point and infrastructure. He also has a lot to do with the politics of Pigface, which are to pursue immediacy and honesty in music and performance, to seek out and destroy hypocrisy and lies in popular culture, and to embolden the band’s fans to feel equally zenlike and subversive. Atkins christened the new record, with sharp irony, Easy Listening..., a title that’s a bit of a stylistic pendulum swing from the last Pigface studio release, 1998’s Eat Shit You Fucking Redneck. There are too many contributors to list here. Oh, what the hell, this isn’t Salon for god’s sake... so I will. Easy Listening... includes contributions from 34 individuals including Martin Atkins (Damage Manual, PiL), Julian Beeston (Nitzer Ebb), John Bergin (Trust Obey), Fallon Bowman (Kittie), Greta Brinkman (Moby), Meg Lee Chin, Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks, Ministry), Lacey Conner (Nocturne), Edsel Dope (Dope), En Esch (KMFDM, Slick Idiot), Dave Flick (VooDou), Judd Gruenbaum (Dry Cell), Chris Haskett (Rollins Band), Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller), Krztoff (Bile), Keith Levene (PiL, The Clash), Charles Levi (Thrill Kill Kult), Lo (LoLo), Jared Louche (Chemlab), DJ Lumas (Meg Lee Chin), Curse Mackey (Grim Faeries, Evil Mothers), Groovie Mann (Thrill Kill Kult, Darling Kandie), Jason McNinch (Lick), The Method, Jason Miller (Godhead), Mike Miller (Godhead), Jason Novak (DJ? Acucrack), Chris Randall (Sister Machine Gun), Mary Dee Reynolds (Chainsuck), Siebold (Hate Dept), David Suycott (Machines Of Loving Grace), Thig (Bagman), Chris Vrenna (Tweaker, NIN), and Michelle Walters (VooDou). Fuck. Speaking of 'fuck,' take the closing track on Easy Listening..., The Horse You Rode In On. Penn Jillette (the one who talks in the magic/black comedy duo of Penn & Teller) provides spoken vocals on a nonstop hardcore dance rant that begins “Fuck mainstream, fuck the norm, and fuck conformity,” and goes on from there to cut everything and everyone down a notch, from The Queen and The Government on down to Pigface themselves. At the other end of the disc (the start), 19 year old, Capetown, South Africa-born guitarist Fallon Bowman (ex Canadian girl metal trio Kittie) offers the coolest take on the New Wave-era Delta 5 song Mind Your Own Business since Berlin’s Chicks On Speed covered it three years ago. In between on this album you’ll find 11 other tracks that traverse a lot of ground stylistically, but it all hangs together thanks, no doubt, to Atkins’ guidance and minimalist-architecture approach to production. There’s Bitch, a truly disturbing hardcore ditty about getting hate confused with love; Binary Stream, an a-capella, spoken-word H.R. Giger-esque poem, and Miss Sway Action, a haunting, dark, and slow piece by vocalist Chris Connelly, which ventures far beyond our comfortable pop dimensions. Just as Glasgow collective The Reindeer Section, in its world of romantic pop, manifest an unlikely musical coherence with its two-dozen-plus members, Atkins and Pigface 2003, with nearly 3 dozen contributors, have put together a sort of down-your-throat, subvert-the-world art piece that really has no peer. You just don’t come across that many bands who pursue the expression of anger and the perfection of their craft with equal zeal and proficiency. Pigface head out on a five week US tour starting 13 March, along with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Zeromancer, and Bile. The bands have gigs every day without a break—some 40 performances in all. Check our link for tour details. | Pigface | | Invisible Records | | Pigface discography | | Underground, Inc. | | Pigface tour | | CD from Amazon US | | top of page | |
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