CHROME - 3rd from the Sun (1982)
Since I've already scribed plenty of pointless gibberish about Helios Creed, Damon Edge & Co. here and here, might as well get straight to the seven-horned beast that is "3rd from the Sun." From a personal standpoint, I consider it their magnum opus-- most likely this stems from the fact that I'm a distorto-guitar loony, and this monster is a Helios Creed album to the nth degree. It is also about as "commercial" as Chrome ever got, with stripped-down arrangements that although not completely excised of their sci-fi obsessions, aim mainly at creating big ol' fat gloom-laden rock.
Recorded live in the studio, most tracks are built around singular riffs that are bent into surreal forms with Creed's arsenal of effects, though never quite into the burnt-out oblivion of earlier albums. Damon Edge's blissed out Moog excursions are toned down, though still integral to the overall band dynamic, which by now included the Stenchs: John (drums) and Hillary (bass, who also provides some ethereal backing vox). Of particular note is the album's centerpiece, the eight-minute "Armageddon," which takes you where Hawkwind feared to tread: a multi-layered workout of treated guitar squall, "found sound" electronic detritus and a seemingly infinite chant of the song's title. A definitive hunk o' Chromology.
In comments.
RAMLEH - Blowhole (1991)
Croydon, UK's Ramleh began life in 1982 as a power electronics outfit á la Whitehouse; their vokillist Phillip Best would in fact become a member in the mid-90's for "Cruise," "Mummy & Daddy" and "Bird Seed." Along with guitarist Gary Mundy, they pulled the kinda stunts that are now all too familiar to fans of the form-- including releasing a cassette ("21/5/62/82") to commemorate the execution of Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann (they have since disavowed their flirtations with extreme right wing ideology). Their label, Broken Flag Records, became an early home for Matthew Bower's avant guitar project Skullflower-- which Mundy began contributing to-- laying the foundation for the direction Ramleh would pursue in their nineties incarnation.
If you can imagine what Killing Joke's "Fall of Because" would sound like had it been infused with the headswirling lysergic dirge-sludge of Skullflower's "IIIrd Gatekeeper," you have a tenuous, though not entirely inaccurate picture of the murk presented on "Blowhole." Best's vocals are buried deep in the mix, sounding like desperate screams from the bottom of a well while Mundy provides colossal layers of super-fuzzed glop that shift in levels of intensity and distortion. This heady combo is punctuated by tribal beats courtesy of what sounds like synthetic thud, though one can never be sure with the clinical production applied here. As far as I know, this was an LP-only release that has yet to see the light of day on the oh-so-popular digital format, so get yer fave volatile cocktail nearby and suck it up...
In thee comments.
Chrome: http://lix.in/4e540ce0
ReplyDeleteRamleh: http://sharebee.com/fad44e2d
pass for both = sln2008
nice. I only started the downloads a minute ago but I'm familiar enough with both to be grateful already :)
ReplyDeleteI was more or less introduced to Chrome thanks to Prong's cover of that title track on "Beg to Differ"...
by the way, have you found out about ShareOnAll yet? thought you might be interested... it's a file-spreader a la Sharebee/Massmirror, you can spread to a max of 5 hosts but there are 10 or 12 total to choose from. it has a login/file-management system that tracks number of DLs for each link... AND it has a progress meter while uploading.
I haven't got around to trying that one yet-- I saw your mention of it on your blog, though. Mebbe I'll give it a shot on my next post.
ReplyDeletewell, chrome really is supreme. armageddon is top psy, few things can beat this track on the genre, high energy music with twist and personality. about ramleh, i downloaded, gonna hear. im not much for whitehouse related stuff, as i am black, and think that when you gonna do some blatant political music to reflect your hatred for somebody, its better not to hide on words like "dubious" or "uncertain". so if theres a worse shit than a facist, its a closet facist. with skrewdriver, i got the advantage to know they talk openly about hating who i am. i used too much "i am" on this, sorry for that. excuse going off the point, as you give me the information that ramleh is not a right wing band. well, sometimes i wonder, but thats the point with the comments, no?
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're saying. That's exactly why I always point stuff like that out -- anyone who might be offended knows upfront what they're getting into. I think the majority of those bands-- the early power electronics/industrial-- used the fascist aesthetic as a gimmick to shock; they wrote a lot of shit praising serial killers as well, so I don't take their shtick very seriously. I mean, look at Gen P-- he's practically a flower child!
ReplyDeleteI'm of the opinion that for the most part, the imagery of all those early industrial bands was just that - imagery. deliberately meant to shock and offend. when it comes to stuff like that, I tend to ignore politics and just pay attention to the music itself, judging in on that merit alone. mind you, this might be easier to say and do when one is not part of the group(s) of people being "attacked" by said politics... but it goes both ways: I don't necessarily agree with all of the ideals and politics of the more left-leaning anarcho/crust bands (for example) either, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying their tune-age.
ReplyDeleteI forgot how good both of these records are. your description of Ramleh (this album at least) as a cross between Killing Joke and early Skullflower is pretty damn accurate... I'm gonna go on record as guessing that those are synthetic drums... and not much needs to be said about Chrome, a masterpiece indeed. thanks again.
ah, fine. ramleh is pretty interesting, kinda a follow up for head of david, but with their own twist. well, really early industrial - chrome, gristle, cabaret voltaire - were always up for shock. but when you do dub mix of things yourits hard to believe you go to NF rallys by weekend...my point with whitehouse - who i consider to be great artists on a field where most just stand afeet based on political posing and fashion - is their quality who bothers me. with skrewdriver, friends who are social researchers and heard their records for a work on brazilian white power - there's mullatto people into white power here, this place is a mess... - said as rock, they are pretty much pedestrian, so as time rolled on and their limited skills got to show, they gone more and more on the political thing to keep afloat. so what sound unbelieveble for me is how - as i heard some before knowing his political views, so after this my imput must be biased - whitehouse pretty much keep on getting better as time goes on. to round this up, gotta say: talent and skills always amuse, even in the hands of assholes. so crucify me, what can i say...
ReplyDeleteI was interested in hearing this Ramleh album, as your description sounded nothing like the one album I ever saw for sale (We Created It...Vol III) which is a noisey mess (i.e.ace!). They could be two different bands, which is good.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh, Chrome (makes Homer Simpson droolface). Haven't heard this one. Am excited. Thank you, Jake.
ReplyDeleteNo Irishdave, it's the same group, the just changed dramatically over the years. The singles I have sound like a kid pitifully trying to learn a Nirvana song as it blares out of a boom box in the background. Which is awesome.
ReplyDelete[...] lot while I was high, but I digress… anyway, Jake recently made a passing comparison to it in his recent post of Ramleh’s “Blowhole” LP (which also included Chrome’s exce... and I was prompted to revisit it yet again. sat down with it a good handful of times this past [...]
ReplyDeleteGood post! Chrome rocked from their first album until... this one, which is the last thing by them I'll ever condescend to listen to. After that, it was vorbei, Kinder.
ReplyDeleteI like the rock-era Ramleh (but not as much as the power electronics stuff, classic defining music, that. No wonder they sound like Skullflower, they're pretty incestually related.
And julio, I can GUARANTEE Ramleh are NOT rascist (neither are Whitehouse, Consumer Electronics etc), I know some of these guys personally and people that worked with them... there WAS an early Iphar cassette (P. Best's cassette label) called White Power, Besty was about 16 years old at the time he brought it out and has regretted it ever since. It was provocation, my friend, even if ill-considered. I think you'd be surprised if you mewt these people, their level of cultural sophistication and worldliness might make you reconsider. Now as to accusations of sexism, well...
[...] For noobs, Mr. Creed is well represented at SLN. Further trips can be taken here, here and here. [...]
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