Various Artists

*200 copies limited edition* The 20th century was marked by a turning point in the way we, human beings, relate to technology. Since the First Industrial Revolution until the advent of personal computers and the internet, we have watched almost one hundred years of technological revolutions that culminated into the creation of colour TV, the nuclear bomb, the modernist vanguards and postmodernism. We also saw the rise of a new music genre that was actually translating this industrial, chaotic, in-between wars and highly technological scenario of the 1970s: it was the birth of industrial music. 

The term "Industrial Music" was coined by American sound artist Monte Cazazza in 1977. The name couldn’t be more precise to tell what these European artists were doing in countries like Germany and United Kingdom, such as it was the case of the English band Throbbing Gristle, who coined the music genre with the foundation of the Industrial Records. The 1970s were also a time when punk was growing in the UK, but with Industrial Records we were presented to bands such as Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, The Leather Nun, Monte Cazazza, and S.P.K. While in Germany the band Einstürzende Neubauten was certainly the most influencial in that regard. 

Some of the shared defining characteristics of the industrial music were the (mis)use of technology, moving away from the traditional guitar, bass and drums set-up. The use of found objects, tapes, cheap drum machines and synths. A largely egalitarian approach to band line-ups, without a focus on a frontman. A focus on non-Western sound structures, utilising found sounds, tape recordings, harsh noise and rhythm over melody. A focus on mental health, alienation, extreme politics, the Holocaust and genocide, religious fanaticism, state control and repression, information as power, drugs and mind altering states, modern warfare. Another shared characteristic was a complete disregard and disdain for the music industry (although records were made and sold, it was mostly through small independent record shops, mail order). This music was not made to entertain, but to suggest self-reflection by the listener. 

The heritage of industrial music has been developed over the decades by musicians all over the world, often under the umbrella of the term "post industrial music". It has spread globally, as this Unexplained Sounds Group latest compilation shows, by not only including music from Europe, US and Japan, as we could obviously expect, but also from countries like China, Jordan, Nepal and Tunisia. So many things changed in our societies since the 70's, and the musicians focus is on new topics, challenges, questions, but the original spirit of that underground revolution still pulses behind the contemporary post industrial music frequencies.