Folks, for just over two months I’ve been digging up the festering carcasses of the BEST and DEADEST of dead bands. People out there seem to like the running theme, and your hearts on my posts are like candy-coated heroine syringes for both my stats and my ego. So, suit up, dear listener. That’s right, into the armored wetsuit with ya! This week we’re diving directly into earth’s molten core, because rare gems built under pressure like this are not meant to be simply forgotten. Let me take you back to the early 2000’s for a moment. George W. was in charge, we were on the verge of the war in Iraq, Korn and Linkin Park were still all the rage on radio waves, and one band that was the very definition of anti-establishment had temporarily broken up. The band I’m referring to is KMFDM, and if you don’t know about them, shame on you. You can self-flagellate repeatedly in any manner you choose after reading this post. For reference, I've covered KMFDM before on this blog, as well as recently creamed my long johns over hottie Lucia Cifarelli. In 1999, industrial techno German powerhouse KMFDM had temporarily broken up over internal stress and creative differences. Two members remained to attempt to formulate a new sound: rock/metal instrumentalist legend Tim Skold and group founder Sascha Konietzko, who shortly thereafter drafted a down-on-her-luck Lucia Cifarelli, making them a trio. This group released a grand total of one album in 2000 which sold over a hundred thousand copies, only to then revert directly back to the KMFDM brand due to popular demand and a new recording label deal. The apparent point of this short-lived breakoff group, MDFMK, was to provide a slight inversion from KMFDM’s dance-club heavy tunes and give their already built-in international audience a far more aggressive and ‘futuristic’ noise. What I think they ended up creating with their one and only album is what we refer to today as electronica, but with a slightly more guitar-laden twist that I would recommend sipping for flavor. It’s not really intended for dancing, but you can sure as hell dance to it. I don’t think it’s meant to be catchy per se, but a big portion of it manages to be. And with three lead vocalists and an endless creative capacity between its members, MDFMK’s sound may have eventually outshined its predecessor if only it had stayed a viable and continuing musical enterprise. Alas, it was not to be, and so the originality and moniker of MDFMK was sacrificed so that KMFDM could live once again. This is Get Out of My Head, a song I’ve loved for something like 15 years. Thanks Pandora! Back with more nostalgic and musical necromancy soon!
Their full album is here if you care to have a gander. It’s a trip, but it's also a decent trip. Next time I post music, it will include the lovely Lucia and come with a 90’s grunge aftertaste. Image source: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCQWxPw6Fvg3cq_MiydIntyw
I always wondered what a university rock band may look like. I thought I could draw my own! (I know I promised a 2 week hiatus, but I did have some time, so I thought I could make one last illustration).
“Trio Entertains at Auto Show Tonight,” Border Cities Star. January 21, 1931. Page 5.
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‘THE SPARKLING TRIO’ will present the entertainment at the Windsor Automobile Show tonight in the Burroughs Building, McDougal and Elliott streets, the program being sponsored by the G. H. Smith Company, Limited, as a stolen of the department store firm’s interest in the automobile industry. The members of the trio, above, from the left, are: ‘Marie Beth,’ ‘Irma Sparkling,’ and ‘Elda Clevenger.’
I do enjoy when people on different continents recommend quality music to me. That way, I can generate my normal half-assed commentary but with a greater sense of accomplishment for branching out of my normal range and delivering something fresh to my dear listener. So, indulge me, and dip your heels into content from another culture for a change. I should mention firstly that this band and track were recommended to me by unicornsglitterandcandyfloss, whose home is South Africa, and she’s been my mutual for an internet eternity on Tumblr. She’s a very talented illustrator and she’s expressed a few times that her and I have a similar but not all-the-same taste in music. I recently asked her to send me some of her favorite music from SA… and she responded in droves, listing off band names that were completely alien to me (Black Math, Fokofpolisiekar, Plush, etc.). The single act that most easily rose to the top of her list, to me, was Shadowclub. This is Good Morning Killer from 2011’s Guns and Money. If there’s one style of music that is criminally underrepresented on my blog, it’s blues music. I do prefer classic blues artists (B.B. King, Etta James, Robert Johnson, etc.) but in my advancing years I am getting used to hearing it mixed in with modern rock, and I can’t say I hate it when used effectively. That said, this trio executes bluesy punk-rock very well, and I found a good portion of their catalog to be downright raw and ballsy compared to your average corporately subsumed and tame American acts. I couldn’t find much of a history on this group surprisingly, I suppose because they’re relatively young and Africa is a 16-to-20-hour flight away. But according to some direct interviews with the band, the group were immature punks when they first started making music. They got drunk a lot; they were often physically fighting with other bands before or after live-shows and their professional attitude and discipline was practically non-existent! Around 2009 or so, they had a chance to retool some of their demo material into a serviceable product and get more mature about their place in the SA music industry. This resulted in a moody, intense, fun, brash and bluesy-punk noise which I can sum up in one word… REFRESHING! Smash play and enjoy, and thanks for the recommendation from thousands of miles away lady, much appreciated!
The trio circa a decade or so ago, no doubt taken shortly before a drunken, bloody brawl with another band. Image credit: https://www.barnyardtheatre.co.za/show.aspx?sid=471