Throbbing Gristle were the band responsible for introducing the concept of Industrial Music to the world, for better or for worse. This track comes from the 1978 release of D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle.
Post-Punk
[Music] Joy Division – Chance (Atmosphere)
Chance was the original working title to one of the most seminal songs of the New Wave–Post-Punk genre, Joy Division’s masterpiece, Atmosphere.
[Music] S.P.K. – White Island
Though late period SPK went into a horrible period of commercial dance music which was, to be frank, an atrocity, they managed to safe a great deal of face with their final works.
[Music] Swans – Cry Me A River
So haunting it’s damn near a suicide dirge. Former Swans co-vocalist Jarboe performs one of the most bleak, desolate covers of this classic torch song penned by Arthur Hamilton.
[Music] Kismet – Love Will Tear Us Apart
Every time I go to Skopje, there is always someone who asks why on Earth I’d bother to come and stay such long periods of time in what they feel is an insignificant city in the heart of the Balkans. You can thank this song, the disc it came on, and a friendship with Gorazd Capovski and Ilija Stojanovski, for this.
I had worked at Tone Casualties records as an A&R Manager, and came across this disc while at my evening job, buying weird music for Aron’s Records (RIP). I had passed through what was then Yugoslavia a few years past, and knew a bit about Macedonian music, but the combination of goth/darkwave and an ethnic, Byzantine sound, came as a huge revelation. I never, in a million years, thought Love Will Tear Us Apart would sound perfect with bagpipes. A pleasant surprise which still strikes a chord after 20 years.
[Music] Villagers of Ioannina City – Krasi
This is beautifully weird, and I have my dear brother, Yasen Kazandjiev, to thank for it.
This sounds like Greek folk music gone somewhere between post-punk and psychedelic music. As if Joy Division discovered the pleasures of lamb and ouzo. I’m looking forward to watching Villagers of Ioannina City grow and develop this sound!
[Video] Swans – Mona Lisa, Mother Earth
I suppose some would call this The Swans’ ‘Joy Division’ phase. The album, The Burning World, showed a marked change in direction from a band who had previously sounded like the equivalent of a drunken brontosaurus stumbling into his cave after a healthy drinking binge (and yes, that’s a good thing). Since they reformed, their sound continues to adapt and grow. They are as vital a band now as they were in the beginning.
[Video] Nolan “N. F.” Porter – Keep On Keepin’ On
Nolan (then known as N. F.) Porter was an American Northern Soul singer whose hit, which we’re hearing now, would be the catalyst for Joy Division getting signed to a major label. While the band scrapped their attempt at covering the song, the guitar lick would serve as the foundation of their track, Interzone, as heard below:
For more on the story between N.F. Porter and Joy Division, check out this post by OpinEars.
[Video] Warsaw (pre-Joy Division) – At A Later Date
To think that the kings of post-punk, Joy Division, started as Warsaw, something not much greater than your typical pub band. Still, this is raw material, and it doesn’t sound too dated.
[Video] SPK – The Garden Of Earthly Delights
SPK had an incredible beginning as one of the brutal first wave of Industrial Music, then dissolved into a dance mess with a couple of utterly forgettable albums. Their swansong, however, is about as sublime as Dead Can Dance was at their best. Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers would be a bridgeway for Graeme Revell to go into soundtrack music, which he is still doing to this day.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 