A less thought out post than the ones I was aiming to do but the large amounts of writing I'm doing for my course (on misogyny in hip hop and rock lyrics; Alan Moulder's production techniques; and the contextual roots of industrial music) kind of put a stop to the idea of me writing at any length some of the big ideas I had for a while - til I've got that last one out of the way in any case.
I would, though, like to share with you a recent discovery of mine. Well, I say a recent discovery, I've been into this act's work for quite a while. One of the highlights of last year was setting out for a night out with Jesu's Star blasting in my ears, and I've been quite fond of the Silver EP for quite some time but lately with nights growing longer, the skies darkening and winds going cold I've found myself drawn to Jesu. For those readers who don't already know about Jesu, it is the project Justin Broadrick embarked on after breaking up industrial-metal pioneers Godflesh. Broadrick has many projects on the go, and most of them are excellent - even while in Godflesh he found time to work on Ice Techno Animal with Kevin Martin; play on Scorn's first album Vae Sollis with Mick Harris and Nick Bullen (the other two original members of Napalm Death, a lineup preserved on the excellent side 1 of Scum); and generally remix and appear on many other projects. As he continues to do.
In Godflesh tracks like Flowers you can trace the roots of Jesu, a more shoegazy project marrying the slo-mo grinding beats and walls of down tuned guitar with twinkly synths and twisted pop melodies. For the most part on Jesu (itself named after the final track on the final Godflesh album), Broadrick uses clean singing as opposed to the vocal delivery on Godflesh tracks somewhere between a hardcore bark and death vocals. For the most part, Jesu is excellent and the Silver EP was a great start point, from the title track sounding like Disintegration era Cure at their most deathlessly majestic but made even gloomier to Star, still one of my favourites from Jesu, where that down tuned pop really comes in.
This could be a pop-punk track from Green Day or Blink 182 (yeah, where its 80% pop - 10% rawk - 10% punk), you can hear that in the chord sequence, the melody, the lyrics and Justin's breathless delivery. But its delivered over a machine beat straight off a Godflesh track, with that same Jesu guitar sound spilling over into atonality at times. It was my first real exposure to his stuff but I can only think how startling it was to long-time fans that here Broadrick is, making a piece of pop genius - one that is just begging to be used in an American sitcom in a "realising you have to literally run to your love to make it happen" scene.
Then that slams into Wolves, with a wash of droney guitar textures wrapping itself around a brutally slow, punchy machine beat as the bass throbs gently away. The high pitched guitar melodies soon entwine with a big down tuned riff, and you may find yourself involuntarily swaying and headbanging very slowly. His vocals are mixed low at first, soon rising up semi-triumphantly when the drums drop out only to be buried again, and it just evolves slowly. I've noticed this track lasts 8 and a half minutes and Broadrick rarely seems to do anything under four (bloody stoners....), and as I'm usually a lover of short songs that say what they need to and get out quick I'm surprised I've fallen for this (and Nadja) so much lately. Infinity held my attention as one long, hypnotic track for the full 45 minutes of its duration. The final track Dead Eyes is if anything even better, mostly instrumental with treated vocals buried deep under the distorted beats and guitar, throbbing bass and washes of backwards electronics. Another one to cause the involuntary slow motion head banging, for me at least.
Listening to some of his other work (bits of the self titled, Conqueror and Ascension) I'm equally impressed with all of it, and very pleased with my recent discoveries. If you're not yet a fan, then check him out and if you are, feel free to give me some recommendations of what I'd like by him or others.
I would, though, like to share with you a recent discovery of mine. Well, I say a recent discovery, I've been into this act's work for quite a while. One of the highlights of last year was setting out for a night out with Jesu's Star blasting in my ears, and I've been quite fond of the Silver EP for quite some time but lately with nights growing longer, the skies darkening and winds going cold I've found myself drawn to Jesu. For those readers who don't already know about Jesu, it is the project Justin Broadrick embarked on after breaking up industrial-metal pioneers Godflesh. Broadrick has many projects on the go, and most of them are excellent - even while in Godflesh he found time to work on Ice Techno Animal with Kevin Martin; play on Scorn's first album Vae Sollis with Mick Harris and Nick Bullen (the other two original members of Napalm Death, a lineup preserved on the excellent side 1 of Scum); and generally remix and appear on many other projects. As he continues to do.
In Godflesh tracks like Flowers you can trace the roots of Jesu, a more shoegazy project marrying the slo-mo grinding beats and walls of down tuned guitar with twinkly synths and twisted pop melodies. For the most part on Jesu (itself named after the final track on the final Godflesh album), Broadrick uses clean singing as opposed to the vocal delivery on Godflesh tracks somewhere between a hardcore bark and death vocals. For the most part, Jesu is excellent and the Silver EP was a great start point, from the title track sounding like Disintegration era Cure at their most deathlessly majestic but made even gloomier to Star, still one of my favourites from Jesu, where that down tuned pop really comes in.
This could be a pop-punk track from Green Day or Blink 182 (yeah, where its 80% pop - 10% rawk - 10% punk), you can hear that in the chord sequence, the melody, the lyrics and Justin's breathless delivery. But its delivered over a machine beat straight off a Godflesh track, with that same Jesu guitar sound spilling over into atonality at times. It was my first real exposure to his stuff but I can only think how startling it was to long-time fans that here Broadrick is, making a piece of pop genius - one that is just begging to be used in an American sitcom in a "realising you have to literally run to your love to make it happen" scene.
Then that slams into Wolves, with a wash of droney guitar textures wrapping itself around a brutally slow, punchy machine beat as the bass throbs gently away. The high pitched guitar melodies soon entwine with a big down tuned riff, and you may find yourself involuntarily swaying and headbanging very slowly. His vocals are mixed low at first, soon rising up semi-triumphantly when the drums drop out only to be buried again, and it just evolves slowly. I've noticed this track lasts 8 and a half minutes and Broadrick rarely seems to do anything under four (bloody stoners....), and as I'm usually a lover of short songs that say what they need to and get out quick I'm surprised I've fallen for this (and Nadja) so much lately. Infinity held my attention as one long, hypnotic track for the full 45 minutes of its duration. The final track Dead Eyes is if anything even better, mostly instrumental with treated vocals buried deep under the distorted beats and guitar, throbbing bass and washes of backwards electronics. Another one to cause the involuntary slow motion head banging, for me at least.
Listening to some of his other work (bits of the self titled, Conqueror and Ascension) I'm equally impressed with all of it, and very pleased with my recent discoveries. If you're not yet a fan, then check him out and if you are, feel free to give me some recommendations of what I'd like by him or others.
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