First Impressions

Never fails to be busy around here, to be honest, but besides having just seen Circle's 2CD reissue of my Triumph release into production for Fourth Dimension, and still overseeing matters surrounding the Autumn Blood (Constructions) compilation CD release on Lumberton Trading Company last month, I have just begun a collaboration with a chap here in Poland, Rafal, who has dedicated a few years so far to putting together a book, The Encyclopaedia of Industrial Music. My role is simply to proofread the translated text (from Polish to English, no less), but I must confess that it's quite an undertaking. The book amounts to an 'A to Z'-type reference book, similar in style to The Crack in the Cosmic Egg one published by Ultima Thule several years ago that itself was devoted to 'krautrock'. My own interest in industrial music doesn't actually extend so far, though. I like several groups associated with it or who themselves were motivated by it but, beyond this, what generally passes for it or its cousins in 'noise' and 'power electronics' or so-called 'dark ambient' these days does extremely little for me. All the same, because of my deep interest in music's corpulent underbelly, and the fact Rafal's research has delved deep into other realms related to the genre, I'm happy to be involved. No idea when it will be completed, unfortunately. I received the 'A' section two weeks ago (now proofread and returned to Rafal) and this alone was 40 pages on a regular Word document. If we're lucky, the book will be ready to publish late next year, but it's going to require a lot dedication to the work. Watch this space for developments, anyway.

Otherwise, Theme's Valentine (Lost) Forever CD is now out (on HCB Recordings) and has so far garnered two reviews. These can be found at:

www.crucialblastshop.net and www.vitalweekly.net (edition 697)

As noted on a blog not long ago posted on Theme's MySpace page: "The idea with Theme, as with Splintered beforehand, is to keep trying out different approaches and push ourselves as much as possible within our limitations. Some of these approaches may well be bound to those we've explored previously, but from a different angle, and some might spiral completely elsewhere. I have personally never considered Theme an 'industrial' group, either. Very little such music has motivated me, and even less so Stuart (who is mostly a post-Revolver Beatles/'60s psychedelic rock fan, believe it or not). Theme is simply a continuation of an interest in exploring sounds whilst simulaneously keeping things both personal and able to translate beyond. The idea of pushing Theme into more 'song'-based territory was touched upon on the first album and, of course, by Splintered. Within this framework, however, we set ourselves new challenges. We will never compromise this."

Whilst I can fully understand the rudimentary 'need' for crutches (reference points) in reviews, I
would still contend those responsible for writing them (myself included, given that I also do this on the Adverse Effect blogspot) should look beyond the surface and exercise a little research. It's very easily done with the help of the internet these days, so there's little reason not to.