The Magic that is Ohgr

Yeah, I remember purchasing the first Ohgr release waaay back in what I think was 2001. If I'm not mistaken an old friend introduced me to the project while I was visiting my home town for the holidays or something like that. Now if you are unfamiliar with Ohgr, Ohgr is a collaboration between Nivek Ogre (of Skinny Puppy), and Mark Walk. Here's the wiki's if you are interested on Ogre and Ohgr!

My interest in Ohgr initially was that a friend of mine thought my second release had similarities to Ohgr's album "Welt". At the time I could hear some of the similarities... and after hearing Ohgr for the first time, I thought that it was a great project! I think the one thing that attracted me to actually purchase the album, was there was a lot of pop structure in the songs, while still having a bit of the Skinny Puppy sound. It sounded "lighter" but still had that industrial stream of thought vocal play that Ogre was known for in Skinny Puppy. If you did take a look at the above wiki's you would know that Ogre structured the music around the lyrics when creating the songs on "Welt"... which I think makes Ohgr, Ohgr. There is a "magic" to it... the way the words are strung together... when listening to it, it's like opening a gift or watching a magician perform an illusion, or sleight-of-hand trick. Everything is strung together in such a way, that it is like magic. You wonder how the music fits so well with the lyrics, but they do!

I remember purchasing it and opening up to find the weird artwork... what was the inspiration for this album... there were no lyrics in the CD booklet, just artwork and credits... It's only as of recently that I've looked up some of the lyrics for the songs... is he telling a story..? are these life events..? I don't know, and can't seem to find any interpretation of what they are online! Still excellent lyrics though!

Over the years I've picked up the various albums "SunnyPsyOp", "Devils In My Details", "Undeveloped", and "Tricks"... each of them having their own characteristics, I will say as time has gone on, the albums seem to have gotten darker, and maybe more aggressive. I love each album, but if I were to pick one, I think "Welt" is probably my favorite!

So, what is it about Ohgr, what makes the project sooo captivating... is it his vocal delivery..? the pop elements..? the way the songs are structured around his lyrics..? the orchestration of the whole thing, and how each song is constructed..? the sound design and programming..? Is it the way Ogre presents the project in the live spectrum..? I will say, I was fortunate to see Ohgr perform a show here in our city, and it was an amazing show (although, I will say, it wasn't very well attended... odd being that it's fucking Ogre, as well as Lead Into Gold, and Omniflux on the bill, but maybe not enough people in our city know of Ohgr [or Ogre], or of the history of Lead Into Gold, and that whole era of industrial music). The funny thing about all of this, when Ogre was younger, he wanted to be a magician, apparently he wasn't very good at it, but he went on to create the magic that is Ohgr... with his wordplay in his lyrics and the amazing music. The one thing about magicians is, we always ask... how do they do it? Often times, we are left with no answers... all that we are left with is awe and amazement... and that my friends is magic!

So, what do you think of Ohgr? Do you think the music and lyricism are magic? Have you seen the project perform live? What were your thought's on the performance?



P.S.: ...and if you are curious what we sounded like in our early days (around the "Welt" era)... check out our second album "We Are Here To Dance!"



... maybe you hear similarities..?

Our Favorite Nine Inch Nails Album, and Why?

Ok, so most of you know, if you've been reading our blog (or you have the digital booklet for our "20 Years of Twitch" retrospective), that we are heavily influenced by Nine Inch Nails, but what is our favorite Nine Inch Nails album..? I could tell you where it started, how I initially got into NIN... I can't quite remember how I came across them in the beginning, but something influenced me to pick up "Pretty Hate Machine", I may have seen the video of 'Head Like A Hole' and that is kinda what started me into the downward spiral 😉 of trying to find and purchase anything I could get my hands on! I loved NIN, and still do!

I could tell you how I purchased "Further Down The Spiral" by accident, thinking it was "The Downward Spiral"... and then putting it on and realizing it was not what I thought it was... but decided to keep it anyway! Then, a little while later I picked up "The Downward Spiral"... and then somewhere between purchasing "The Downward Spiral" and purchasing the "Closure" VHS tapes, I picked up the "March of The Pigs" singles, as well as the "Closer" single, and also somewhere in there "Broken" and "Fixed"...

...I could tell you sometime after moving to Calgary a friend of mine gave me a copy of the "Broken" snuff video... then moving to London, England for a 4.5 month stint, I was thinking about Nine Inch Nails, and was hoping that they would release something new, not knowing that I would randomly walk into a music shop there like 10 minutes later, and found the "The Day The World Went Away" single that they just released, and it would carry on like that, I found out they were releasing a new album "The Fragile" and picked that up as well...

...then I came back to Calgary, and found "Things Falling Apart", then "And All That Could Have Been" live album... then a few years later, I was wondering if they were going to release something again, initially called "Bleedthrough", "With Teeth" was announced! I managed to win a contest at a club here and won the CD and a poster as well... a little while after that, I picked up "Every Day Is Exactly The Same"...

...Then the next year "Year Zero" came out, and the "Survivalism" single... course I don't have everything NIN... I don't have all the Halo's, but I do have a large chunk of them in physical copies... I also managed to get the "And All That Could Have Been" live DVD, as well as the "Beside You In Time" DVD as well...

...I downloaded "The Slip" when it was available online (I would like to find the CD though), I ended up with a collectors edition of "Hesitation Marks" and picked up digital versions of the "Head Like A Hole" and the "Down In It" singles (would love to find this in CD as well), I also have the CD version of "Add Violence" and "Bad Witch", and I managed to get the special black package of "Not The Actual Events" (that was a lot of fun to open, lol)!!.

There's other things I have too like "Ghosts: I - IV", and "Still"... there's quite a few pieces I don't have... but I figure I'll find them someday... soooo, what Nine Inch Nails album is my favorite, and why? To be honest with you, I can't pick one... everything Trent has put out, I love, and I think every album speaks for the time that they were created... and I think each and every one, has their own character and sounds different... the only exception was the last 3 EP's that they did; "Not The Actual Events", "Add Violence", and "Bad Witch", I thought they were great, but I didn't feel Trent (and Atticus), where moving in new territory... I do understand that Trent was feeling nostalgic at the time, and wanted to honor the early days with these EP's, and they are great in that context, but like I said... they weren't really breaking into new territory, and I just felt that it has already been done, but I still do think they are great, just not the best in the Nine Inch Nails spectrum! So, there you have it, now you know what is/are our favorite album(s)!

So, what is your favorite NIN album?

Assemblage 23 and Their Influence on Twitch

Here we are listening to Assemblage 23, and I thought why not write something about how they influenced us in the early days of Twitch. So, back sometime in 2002 I started to write Twitch's 3rd album "TCP/IP", and it was heavily inspired and influenced by Futurepop and EBM... it was definitely a departure from what Twitch normally does (quite frankly after releasing it in 2003, I thought it was a mistake), but while writing the album, I had been listening to Assemblage 23 around the time, and I really loved Tom Shear's lyrical and vocal style, and the rhyming schemes... I loved the way the lyrics rolled out of his mouth in the songs 'Anthem' and 'Sun' off the album "Contempt", I would almost say they were hypnotic.

(Anthem)

(Sun)

(If you don't know who Assemblage 23 is, here is the wiki)

So, I started to write my lyrics a little differently, with similar rhyming structures. I would also say, some of Tom's programming is excellent, and some of that has influenced us a little tiny bit as well... especially some of the drum patterns and such, how they are sequenced and such. Granted, not all of our songs are influenced by Assemblage 23, but I will say, they definitely have had their influence on us!

Here's a couple of songs off of the album "TCP/IP" by Twitch:






After I released this album, it wasn't truly the direction that I wanted to go, and I kinda felt like I was wandering off the beaten path at least for Twitch, but... Assemblage 23 has continued to influence us over the years... and I won't be surprised if they continue to influence us!

Nine Inch Nails... Further Down The Spiral...

I've gone on a very long stint, of not listening to Nine Inch Nails... but the last couple of days, I've been really enjoying them! I think it was probably good that I hadn't listened to them in a while, cause listening to Nine Inch Nails these last couple of days is reminding me why they are my favorite band of all time! Today, I was listening to "The Downward Spiral" and the various singles and EP's that came off this album... and something that came up in the playlist was "Further Down The Spiral"... now, "Further Down The Spiral" is a remix album... but as it came on... I realize I really enjoy this... when I was younger, I remember hearing "The Downward Spiral" at a friends place, and when I went to go and purchase it, I couldn't remember the title of the album, and mistakenly picked up "Further Down The Spiral"... I remember popping it into my CD player and realizing it was not "The Downward Spiral", I didn't return it to the music store and exchange it though... I kept it, cause I liked it.

The first thing that stood out for me, was the abrasive sound it had throughout the album... it was noisey! (A side story: After I purchased it, I remember taking it over to an girlfriend at the time, parents place and popping it into the CD player, and her mom said "...wow, they must have been on some serious drugs to write something like this!”)... This remix album has several collaborators on it, including Aphex Twin, members of Coil, J.G. Thirlwell, as well as Nine Inch Nails live members! Now listening to this remix album... it really is further down the spiral... like I feel like it takes the songs off "The Downward Spiral", and really fucks them up! I feel like this is the last statement of "The Downward Spiral", and pushes the songs into a deep and dark territory! Kinda like a last gasp of breath before drowning.

So, I guess... I'm just really enjoying it, and remembering why I like this remix album... I kinda feel like out of all the remix albums that Trent has done, this one stands out, cause there was a list of collaborators, as well, I feel like... when you listen to traditional remix albums... there really isn't an artistic statement associated with it, typically it's just other bands doing remixes and that's it... with "Further Down The Spiral" I feel like there's an artistic statement, that takes the story of "The Downward Spiral" and expands on it... and goes deeper.

Yeah, really enjoying it right now!

What do you folks think of "Further Down The Spiral"?

Keluar... My Current Music Obsession...

Well, as of the last couple of days, I've been listening to the band Keluar! Keluar was the project of Zoe Zanias (vocals, lyrics) and Sid Lamar (music composition, and production)... I guess lately, it's been my current obsession... I'll turn it on at work, I'll listen to it at home... and I can't seem to get enough of it! I just love the way it sounds... I've been pretty much having it on repeat the last couple of days! I'll even turn on their live performance videos and such (I prefer live performances over just studio produced stuff... Aaaand, out of all honesty, I'm really curious what gear they used for their live shows, as it looks quite minimal [Lot’s of live inspiration! We are retiring some pieces and trying to pair down our live kit... to something small and really quick to set-up, but also fun and interesting to play with live too])!

(You can see some of their gear here... so I guess my above question was answered, lol!)

I'm not really sure how to describe their sound, it's definitely darkwave(ish), with elements of EBM and minimal synth, and maybe some industrial elements thrown in there as well! Whenever I hear the various songs, it kind of reminds me of old 80's television... there's an aesthetic to the way it sounds, and the way it is presented... and whenever I listen to it, for some reason I feel like I'm looking at an old 80's TV show or something... not sure if that really describes it very well, but that is what the music evokes in me. Like, a distant memory, but I can't quite place it for some reason... I love their sound because of that! Whenever I see their live performance videos I'm trying to understand what they are getting across, and I feel kinda like they are trying to drive that "distant memory, old 80's TV show" aesthetic... I will be honest, I almost feel they are living in the past, but it's modern times... and maybe that is the point of what they were trying to get across in their videos and performances, they loved that older sound and aesthetic... and that they were trying to live in it... but that's what I get from it, it's not a criticism, just an observation of what I see... Like I said, I love their sound because of the images it evokes in me! I think my favorite song of theirs is "Instinct" off their EP "Panguna", don't know why... just love this song! Love the way it sounds, love the "distant memory that I can't place" feeling I get from it!

(Instinct)

(Surface)

What do you folks think of Keluar? What images and feelings does the music evoke in you?

Prong: Rude Awakening

Well, while we are on the topic of Prong, I thought I would talk about my favorite Prong album... "Rude Awakening"... why do I like this album, well... first of all... the first time I saw this album, was in a music store in Saskatoon, SK... I saw it, and I thought the cover artwork looked cool! There was no doubt in my mind that this album was going to be excellent... If I'm not mistaken, I think I first heard and saw the video for the song "Rude Awakening" at some point after I had moved into a step-dad figure's house in Saskatoon (1996 or 97). I found out soon after that it was directed by Rob Zombie, who is also a favorite artist of mine! It wasn't until years later that I would pick it up digitally (wish I actually picked up the physical, cause I would've loved to have the booklet and all that shit)! This album really stands out for me cause, it was very angsty, very dark, they were going in a more industrial metal direction... more so than their previous efforts, I feel this album was probably their best! I love the way the guitars sound, the bass in it is nice and chunky, everything is down-tuned... It had all the industrial tropes for the time, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... Tommy Victors trademark voice. If you read our last blog, you would know that we really love the guitar sounds that Tommy has produced over the years... especially the dissonant chords and such! I think my favorite song off this album is "Rude Awakening", it sounds soo dissonant, and Tommy fuckin howls out the lyrics... yeah, love this song!

(Rude Awakening)

(Caprice)

For a crossover band, they are definitely, excellent! I would love to see them live at some point!

Prong: Why I like 'em...

Well, here's a band I've been into since my mid teens... I think the first album I heard of their's was "Cleansing", of course the first song I heard was "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck", matter of fact, I probably saw the video for "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" before actually listening to the album. The one thing I noticed and remembered from this album, is they really had a semi-thrash kind of sound mixed with a darker feel. Something I didn't realize until my adult years, was that Prong, maybe not in their early days, was influenced by darker, industrial sounds... they started to add samples and synths and such to their albums (around the "Prove You Wrong" era), and the "Cleansing" album was definitely influenced by industrial metal (I loved this album as a teenager)... and then they would carry on and go deeper into the dark angsty industrial metal sound with their album "Rude Awakening" which is probably my favorite album by them. I just love the way it sounds... so dissonant and so bleak. The main man, Tommy Victor (vocals and guitars) would end up working with Danzig as a live guitarist, and eventually as a co-writer on an album (You can see him in the Danzig video "Sacrifice"), Tommy Victor would also end up falling into the Ministry camp with Al Jourgensen as a live guitarist as well as a co-writer on "Rio Grande Blood" and "The Last Sucker". 

(Who's Fist Is This Anyway?)

Why do I like Prong..? They've always been on the periphery of industrial music, and Tommy Victor has influenced a lot of bands in the scene... granted they may not be the most popular band in the industrial scene... but they've always kinda been doing something in the background, whether it was releasing their own albums, or Tommy playing roles in Danzig, or Ministry... they were even influenced by post-punk band Killing Joke... I know a lot of folks may not consider them a part of our scene, but I really do think they belong there at least as a crossover band... like I said, they've always been on the periphery. They've even influenced our own sound in the past... I love their guitars, not really sure how to describe them... they're kind of dissonant, and when you hear a Prong song, you know it's Prong, just for the sheer fact that they kind of have their own sound, and Tommy Victor's trademark vocals! Yeah, even though Prong is more on the industrial music periphery, and they are more of a crossover band, I do like their sound and darkness!

(Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck)

Would you fit Prong in the scene? Where do they land on your periphery?

Here's our latest mixtape: "Here My Army Comes... Yeah, Fuck It... Let's Go!!"

Skinny Puppy: The Process

Well, I'm listening to an older Skinny Puppy album called "The Process" today, and I absolutely love this album! I started listening to again recently, and I just love the way this album sounds... not just musically, but the production and sound design that went into it. This album certainly sounds different than all their previous efforts... If you haven't followed Skinny Puppy for very long and you're interested in their history, you can find the wiki here! I will touch a little upon this album... Ogre and Cevin Key, and Dwayne Goettel were fighting with each other, Ogre was trying to stay clean, and get off drugs, and from my understanding Cevin Key and Dwayne were using drugs excessively, which made the process recording it very long... which in turn their label at the time, reduced their contract of three albums to only one. A lot of the process of recording was plagued with fires, and floods as well. Ogre moved to L.A. in this period and was finishing up "The Process"... then eventually Goettel and Key went back to Vancouver with the master tapes... and Ogre quit the band... it was a couple months later that Dwayne Goettel died of a heroin overdose. Eventually, the album would be released... and dedicated in the memory of Dwayne Goettel. The circumstances surrounding the album are very sad, this would be Skinny Puppy's last album, until they rejoined forces in Dresden a few years later... I do love this album, just for the sheer fact that it sounded soo different than their previous efforts... the production and song structures, it is definitely more accessible than their previous efforts, and probably their most "poppy" endeavour to date! This was either the second Skinny Puppy album I picked up or the third... I remember popping it into the disc player and listening to it for the very first time and being surprised by the way it sounded... it sounded soo much different than "Brap 3 + 4"... at first I wasn't sure what to make of it... but listening to it now, I realized I really do love this album, it may not be my favorite Skinny Puppy album, but, if I haven't said this enough, it sounds soo different than their previous efforts, that it really stands out as something different for me!

Here's "Hardset Heat" off of "The Process":

and here's "Jahya" off of "The Process"

What do you think of "The Process"?

Here we are adding some patches to some combat military fatigues, and here is our stage outfit so far: