The nexus of the industrial scene has long been about cross-pollination, the sharing and swapping of members, collaboration and there have been more than a few supergroups assembled through the years: Pigface and Revolting Cocks may be the best known and most enduring, but the likes of Murder Inc and Acid Horse feature in a long line of ensembles who’ve put out some belting releases.
KMFDM’s revolving door makes them almost a supergroup in their own right, and one-time member Raymond Watts is the man behind the mighty PIG. Since PIG first emerged on Wax Trax! back in the late 80s with a brace of 12” singles and the album ‘A Poke in the Eye.. With a Sharp Stick’, Watts has engineered some of the most innovative (and pun-laden) releases in the genre and earned a huge cult following in the process.
And then there’s Primitive Race, perhaps the ultimate supergroup. They haven’t so much got a lineup as a roll-call.
Conceived by bassist, impresario and Lords Of Acid manager/executive producer Chris Kniker; Primitive Race also feature Graham Crabb (Pop Will Eat Itself), Erie Loch (LUXT, Blownload, Exageist), Mark Gemini Thwaite (Peter Murphy, Tricky, Gary Numan, Combirchrist, The Mission... hell, Thwaites’ resume runs to pages and if he’s not played with them, they’re probably not worth knowing).
For this release, that lot is joined by an all-star cast of contributors including Tommy Victor (Prong, Ministry, Danzig), Dave “Rave” Ogilvie (Skinny Puppy, Jackalope), Kourtney Klein (Combichrist, Nitzer Ebb), Mark “3KSK” Brooks (Warlock Pinchers, Foreskin 500, Night Club), Josh Bradford (RevCo, Stayte, Simple Shelter), Diggie Diamond (Foreskin 500), and more industrial luminaries than you’d imagine possible.
|
So, what this 10-tracker comprises is half a dozen versions of ‘Long in the Tooth’ (and there isn’t a duffer amongst them) plus three of ‘Come for Deutschland’ and a new track, ‘Long Live Death’. ‘Long in the Tooth’ is vintage PIG, Watts’ distinctive vocal paired with a thumping, slow-paced groove and grind that’s reminiscent of PIG at their best (think ‘The Swining’ and ‘Red Raw & Sore’). The various members ma have been in the industry for a long time, but they’re showing no signs of their creativity waning on the strength of this outing.
The intro to ‘Long Live Death’ is heavily reminiscent of the Wiseblood track ‘0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)’. It doesn’t seem such a stretch to contemplate that it may be intentional: Raymond Watts is a former collaborator of JG Thirlwell and a touring member of Foetus, after all.
If releasing an album’s worth of remixes a good three months before the scheduled release date of their debut album proper seems perverse, well, what did you expect? It’s not only good value for money but they’ve set the bar high, and if the rest of the album’s of a similar standard, it’s going to be an absolute fucking belter.
Primitive Race Online
|
