Highly Experimental Music Video for Twitch single "Yeah, Fuck It... Let's Go!!"

Here's a highly experimental music video that we created for the song "Yeah, Fuck It... Let's Go!!":

Atari Teenage Riot: Why I like them!

Yeah, if you've been in the scene for a while, you may know of a band called Atari Teenage Riot. Granted they aren't exactly industrial, they call the genre of music they create Digital Hardcore... which funnily sounds like a mixture of hardcore punk, and hardcore techno mixed together. I would say they step into the industrial realm slightly though, there are definitely industrial elements in the music. I first came across them in 1997 when a former band member introduced them to me... as his own music was inspired by ATR. I eventually found their album "Burn, Berlin, Burn!" in a record store in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan here in Canada. Atari Teenage Riot started in 1992 in Berlin, Germany. They took their name from a Portuguese Joe song called "Teenage Riot" and added 'Atari' to it, as they used an Atari ST computer to compose songs. Their tracks are highly political, with a very anarchist and anti-facist view. They were and still are quite chaotic and noisey, their songs at least in the beginning, mixed hardcore techno with breaks screamed vocals, and sampled guitars and shit... funnily enough, if I'm not mistaken they sampled Slayer, The Sex Pistols, Nirvana, and all sorts of other bands!

I think the one thing that stood out for me was the screamed vocals, and general chaos with the songs... there is song structure, but I feel like the way things were written and sampled it came out really chaotic... which I really liked! Also, their shit has become more and more pertinent with what's going on in the world politically. They have started riots with their performances! Years and years later, seeing their performances (on Youtube), and how they put together their live show, I find really inspiring! When I was writing the first Twitch album one of the songs I wrote on that album I exclusively sampled one of their songs... not gonna tell you which song, not sure you would recognize the sample I used anyway, as I pitch-shifted it and distorted the fuck out of it!! If you are curious, here's the album:


(And hey, this album is free... so fuckin download it!)

Over the years, Atari Teenage Riot, has remained relevant, and still very politically charged! They came to our city (Calgary) at one point, I could of gone to that show... and now I kind of regret not going, I would love it if they came back... as it would be amazing to see them live!
Are you folks into ATR? If so, why do you like them?

Twitch "Yeah, Fuck It... Let's Go!!" Releases

Our next single "Yeah, Fuck It... Let's Go!!" releases today!




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Industrial Bands That I Wish Were Still Doing Stuff

Alright, today's blog is all about bands that are no longer doing stuff, or have been inactive for a long time that I wish would become active again!

The first band that had a very short life, that I thought their music was excellent was; ERROR. This band was a project of Atticus Ross (now a member of Nine Inch Nails)... it was quite short lived, they put out one EP, and it was kind of in the vein of digital hardcore mixed with industrial. The lyrics were quite nihilistic too. I wasn't really a fan of the lyrics and the subject matter, but I thought the music was excellent, and when I first heard it, I was hoping for more releases. Unfortunately, it didn't make it past the first EP, and I think they could have released more material cause it was quite good!

Here's ERROR's "Nothing's Working":

The second band I wish was still active is Wumpscut! Now, we all know who Rudy Ratzinger is, and his endeavour Wumpscut (if you don't know, here's the wikipedia). I'm not entirely sure why Rudy ended Wumpscut, from what I understand, as time went on, his project started to not do as well commercially (at least in the goth/industrial scene), and he felt the project was dying. So, he decided to cut his losses and fold it. Wumpscut for me was, at least in the earlier days, was highly influential, and inspirational for my own endeavour... and I feel like Rudy could have continued.

Here's Wumpscut's "Soilent Green":

The third band I wish was still active, or has been silent for a very long time is; Necro Facility. Now this band, kinda started off sounding like Skinny Puppy, and from my understand they were highly inspired by Skinny Puppy. Their earlier music I wasn't too keen on, but their last release called "Wintermute" took their music in a more poppy direction... and was quite excellent! It is my favorite album by them, and I thought they could have continued, cause I thought this album really set them outside of what they were doing previously, and they really were starting to create their own sound!

Here's Necro Facility's "You Want It":

Obviously there are a lot of other bands that I wish were still active, but I would say, these are the three that really stand out for me!

What bands do you wish were still active?

Record Labels That I'm a Big Fan of:

There are a lot of record labels that I'm fan of, but are my three top labels that I'm a really big fan of... So, let's just get to it... here are three labels I'm a really big fan of:

1. Metropolis Records:

Now I've been a fan of Metropolis since the early 2000's I think my first purchase of a band on their roster was Covenant "Dreams of A Cryotank"... now there is sooo many memories associated with this particular album (I first saw them when I was living in London, England), and after I had returned to Canada from England, it was shortly afterward that I picked up their album! Love that album, it's probably one of my favorite Covenant albums! After Covenant it was, if I'm not mistaken Assemblage 23 "[contempt]" still love that album, then Wumpscut's "The Dried Blood of Gomorrah"... and then it just spiraled after that... first of all, there are sooo many great bands on Metropolis... and Metropolis broke a lot of new bands or picked up bands right when they were breaking into the scene! Metropolis's roster is massive... not only do they have a lot of the major modern electro/industrial/ebm bands on their roster, they also had or still have some of the major bands that pioneered the scene way back in the day, that they eventually signed to their label, including: KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly... and countless other acts! 

If you'd like to know more about the history of Metropolis Records, here's the Wikipedia article!

Here's Covenant's "Theremin":

 2. Wax Trax! Records:

If you've read any of my blogs lately, you would know, I'm a huge fan of Wax Trax! Records, simply for the fact that sooo many industrial bands that were pioneers in the industrial scene came off this label; KMFDM, Revolting Cocks (and countless other side-projects of Al Jourgensen), Chris Connelly, Front 242, VNV Nation, Front Line Assembly, Chris & Cosey, Lead Into Gold... sooo fuckin many bands! Now, Wax Trax! Records sort of has an afterlife, Julia Nash (daughter of Jim Nash), has made a documentary about the label and her father (Jim Nash) and fathers partner (Dannie Flesher), and they've had a couple of one off releases (Cocksure 12-inch single, as well as a Front 242 7-inch), and they've done a pop-up store and such... but as far as activity goes, not a whole lot... but that is ok, I still expect there to be stuff coming in the future, just kinda... here or there!

If you'd like to know more about the history of Wax Trax! Records... here is the Wikipedia article!

Here's is 1000 Homo DJ's "Supernaut":

3. Null Corporation:

Now this isn't a label per se, but it is what Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has been releasing stuff under for his various endeavors. As far as I know, he hasn't released any other bands on this new imprint, but it's Nine Inch Nails...soo, being that they are my favorite band of all time... that's why it makes it on this list!

If you would like to know a little bit more about the Null Corporation... here is the NINWiki!

Here's Nine Inch Nails "Less Than":

That's it... these are the three core labels that I'm a fan of... obviously there's a lot of other labels that I do enjoy, but I thought I would list the top three, what are your folks favorite labels? Leave them in the comments, and maybe a little bit as to why they are your favorite label!

Guitar Driven Industrial Music that We Were Influenced By!

(Note: I did delete the original post; I felt it was a little too focused on music I don't particularly enjoy... and would rather focus on the stuff I do enjoy... so, here you go here is: Guitar Driven Industrial Music That We Were Influenced By!)

There are many a guitar driven industrial bands out there, some of you know that we are huge fans of Nine Inch Nails... we were heavily influenced by them in the early days! Here's "Down In It":

Here's "Virus" off our first "Self-Titled" album:

  

Ministry (I'm adding them as a general influence, cause how many industrial metal bands can't say they were influenced by Ministry... I mean, they basically started that sub-genre)! Here's probably our favorite song from"The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste" album:

Another guitar driven industrial band that we were highly influenced by was Prong, now they aren't strictly industrial metal/rock, but their album "Rude Awakening" was highly influential to us, as that is the album they had a lot of industrial influences and was generally darker than their previous efforts:

Here's our track "The People We Meet" off our album "ant":

Over the years newer bands have influenced the Twitch sound... I, Parasite, Relic, Acumen Nation, and some older stuff as well SMP, PWEI in particular their album "Dos Dedos Mis Amigos", even some Marilyn Manson (not sure where to put them, they definitely have industrial elements, and they are rock, but are they actually industrial rock.?? Definitely shock rock, but... I think they are kind of on the line...), yeah... lot's of influences and lots of inspiration!

If you are curious, here's Relic's track "Zero Sum":

and our track "The End Game"

Hope your year is going well so far, I mean we are 10 days into it... I hope you are taking the right steps to make this year your best year yet!!

My Favorite Bands that were on NOTHING Records:

Well, if you haven't read my blog post about record labels that I wish were still around, you can find that here! If you have read that, you would have noticed a record label called NOTHING Records that I mentioned that I wish was still around, well today's blog is about NOTHING Records and my favorite bands that were signed to that label, other than Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. So, here's my favorite bands that were signed to that label:

1. This one is pretty obvious, their mix of pop, hiphop, and electronics I find highly inspirational and may not have influenced Twitch in the early years, but definitely in the recent years is: Pop Will Eat Itself! I remember when I first came across this band... I remember listening to them in a music store for the first time from one of their earlier albums (before they were signed to NOTHING), and they didn't really jump out at me, and I thought it was kinda funny that they were called Pop Will Eat Itself, and their music was kind of poppy and catchy... it wasn't until many years later (sometime in the early 2000's) that a DJ at one of the local clubs here played "Ich Bin Ein Auslander" and after hearing that for the first time I loved it! It was such a good song... so eventually I went and purchased the album "Dos Dedos Mis Amigos"... It's too bad they dissolved after this album, I felt like this was probably their strongest album. I would have liked to see them produce more stuff, with Clint Mansell as their lead vocalist. I know the other vocalist Graham Crabb eventually restarted the project... and released a new album (I haven't heard it yet), but yeah... this was one of my favorites off the NOTHING Records label. If it wasn't for "Dos Dedos Mis Amigos", I wouldn't have started to pick up what's in their back-catalogue, even though initially it didn't seem to stick out to me, and kinda was more poppy than their NOTHING release. If you haven't checked them out, I would highly suggest picking up "Dos Dedos Mis Amigos" and take a listen! Here's "Ich Bin Ein Auslander":

2. Here's another band that was a favorite off the NOTHING roster; Prick! Now, I had seen their music video for "Animal" when I was younger, probably on a late night show on Much Music or something like that. Initially, I thought it was good, but at the time I felt the video was a little weak, and didn't really fit the NOTHING roster... then a few years ago, I was searching for stuff on Youtube, and I came across a playlist containing their full first "self-titled" album. I took a listen to it, and I realized I actually really liked them. I think what turned me off initially with the video for "Animal" was that I felt like everyone was jumping on the Industrial Rock bandwagon (it was getting very popular at the time), and I felt like it wasn't dark and angsty enough... but after listening to the full album a few years ago (probably 5 or 6), I realized they were actually pretty good, and I think I was too young to really appreciate the music and videos for what they were, when I initially heard them. If you haven't checked Prick out, here's "Animal", I suggest taking a really good listen to their stuff, especially their first "Self-titled" album:

3. Ok, the third band off the NOTHING roster might be a surprise to you folks, they didn't actually stick around for too long, but the music is excellent... it is Rob Halford's 2wo. Loooooong time ago (1998 sometime), I first heard 2wo, after my girlfriend at the time had returned from Germany, and she popped it into the CD player, I had no idea that it was Mr. Halford, and once again thought it was another artist jumping on the industrial rock bandwagon, because that what was popular at the time... but I quickly learnt, that it was Rob Halford, and that a lot of the production on the album was actually Reznor and Dave "Rave" Ogilvie adding elements after the songs were actually completed, and they kinda rebuilt the tracks... and that is why the tracks had that industrial element to them. Even though I initially thought it was another artist jumping on the industrial rock bandwagon, I actually thought, at the time, it wasn't all that bad. After all these years listening to this again, it really isn't all that bad, and it was kinda cool that Rob Halford did this, it was so different from Judas Priest, and really strayed off the path for most of his artistic output, but yeah this was definitely a favorite! Here is "I am a Pig":

These were my favorite bands off the label besides Mr. Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) himself, and Marilyn Manson. What are your favorite bands off NOTHING Records?