Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project; UK Industrial Music

I've already posted numerous videos from early industrial bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, Monoton, Ramleh and Destroy All Monsters but here's a few similar odds and ends.

ROBERT RENTAL & THE NORMAL ~ "SONG NUMBER 6";


Robert Rental (real name Robert Donnachie) was a Scottish pioneer of the the early electro industrial scene working with Thomas Leers and Daniel Miller (Mute Records founder) as The Normal starting in 1978. He released a few records including working with Throbbing Gristle and touring with Stiff Little Fingers. He died of cancer in 2000.

ROBERT RENTAL & THE NORMAL ~ "SONG NUMBER 7";


Both of these vids are from his first album on which the songs have no titles. I used films shot by Andy Warhol in the 1960's as part of his "Screen Tests".

YELLOW ~ "YES TO ANOTHER EXCESS";


Yellow were actually Swiss, not British but I don't know where else to put them. Anyway this vid uses an early rare horror film by DW Griffith based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask Of The Amontillado". The cast includes Henry Walthall (who would later star in "Birth Of A Nation" with supporting roles by Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett and Linda Arvidson, Griffith's wife.

NURSE WITH WOUND ~ "SWAMP RAT";


Nurse With Wound are a UK group who have been around in various formations since 1978 with literally dozens of albums ranging from Industrial drone to Kraut Rock. For this vid I used an old silent fantasy film.

ORCHESTRAL MANEUVERS IN THE DARK ~ "DAZZLE SHIPS";


OMD were known for their series of synth pop hits however their early work was more experimental including this track from their fourth album for which I used a 1905 Segundo De Chomon film.

OMD ~ "UNIVERSAL";


For this later track vid I used a French silent film from between 1904 - 1908 which includes some early animation.

Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project; Cabaret Voltaire pt.3

I already made a bunch of Cabaret Voltaire here and here but since then I've made a few more so....

CABARET VOLTAIRE ~ "THE SET UP";


For this early track I used an early colour film by George Melies.

CABARET VOLTAIRE ~ "PREMONITION";


This vid uses another George Melies short "Satan In Prison".

CABARET VOLTAIRE ~ "NO ESCAPE";


This vid for a live version of a cover of a Seeds song uses an early short about an attack on a train.

CABARET VOLTAIRE ~ "IF THE SHADOWS COULD MARCH";


This bid uses a distressed fragment of a short doc showing a ship entering a harbour in Holland. Sountrack taken froma short track off the second album slowed down multiple times.

CABARET VOLTAIRE ~ "PARTIALLY SUBMERGED";


This vid uses footage of Edie Sedgewick from Andy Warhol's "Poor Little Rich Girl" (1965)

CABARET VOLTAIRE ~ "NEWS FROM NOWHERE";


This vid uses more footage of Edie, this time doing her laundry

CABARET VOLTAIRE ~ "WALLS OF KYOTO";


This vid for a live version off "Hai! Live In Japan" uses an Op Art film by George Cupp from 1977.

CABARET VOLTAIRE vs QUEEN ~ "WE WILL NAG YOU";


This track is a mashup of the Cabs and Queen and uses another Op Art film by George Cup from the 1970's

Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project Pres; Ramleh

Ramleh were one of the bands to emerge from the early Dada-Industrial scene of Northern England led by the likes of Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire (who also made a series of vids for to be scene here and here) and Clock DVA (ditto here). Starting in 1982 they have continued (with an ever shifting lineup) to today releasing records on various small indie labels. Ramleh differ from the other bands mentioned in that while these bands would embrace electronic and even dance music, Ramleh have continued to work within the original Noise-Rock framework of traditional guitar, bass and drums drenched in screeching feedback, distortion, droning echo, shouted vocals (if any) and long, apparently free-form jams.

RAMLEH ~ "FAG-ENDERS";


For this track off the 1994 "Homeless" I used an early silent animated film by Winsor McCay, the father of animation, who incidentally I've also written about here. Note that the "Fag" in the title probably refers to the British slang term for cigarettes but I can't be 100% sure since the vocals are completely indecipherable.

RAMLEH ~ "CHICKENHAWK";


This track from "Homeless" uses a weird early sci-fi film from the great French director Abel Gance ("Napoleon") which includes some hallucinogenic camera tricks.

RAMLEH ~ "MAGIC TIGER";


This track uses another early French film, this time from George Melies which includes some early hand-tinted colour.

RAMLEH ~ "THUMB BUSTER";


This track uses a short art film made by Yoko Ono for the Fluxus Film art collective in New York in about 1967

The Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project Presents; Clock DVA

More from my Throwback Thursday Retro Video Project.
This week; Clock DVA. A Northern English band led by Adi Newton who combined a jazz-funk lineup with post-punk/industrial influences on their first three albums. After that the band broke up and Newton continued on as a purely techno band under the Clock DVA name. Guitarist John Valentine Carruthers would go on to join Siouxsie & The Banshees. They don't seem to have made any proper videos during their classic early phase so mine appear to be the only ones.

CLOCK DVA ~ "SENSORIUM";


A track off their 1981 second album "Thirst" (also their best) using a silent "Lone Ranger" cartoon which was filmed off of a television set. This one definitely has the feel of an early Cabaret Voltaire video.

CLOCK DVA ~ "BLUE TONE";


Another song off of "Thirst" using an early French film "History Of A Crime". The film itself obviously filmed on a stage backdrop and is interesting in using a second stage during the scene where the prisoner is shown sleeping to portray him dreaming of his past life. This was a technique used on stage but not in film once they figured out how to do flashbacks.

CLOCK DVA ~ "MOMENTS";


This song from "Thirst" uses a strange British sci-fi comedy "The Automatic Motorist" from 1911. The film's idea of space is basically that of George Melies films but unlike Melies this film uses multiple sets and allows for a car chase and would have made the Melies films of only a few years earlier seem old hat by comparison.

CLOCK DVA ~ "FOUR HOURS";


The closest thing early Clock DVA had to a single (from "Thirst), here mashed up with a George Melies film "Zeus' Thunderbolts".

CLOCK DVA ~ "PIANO PAIN";


Another track from "Thirst" using some very early BBC TV footage that was captured on an American TV where it was somehow beamed through freak atmospheric conditions. Since almost no TV recordings exist from that era it's interesting to see how similar it was to that of the 1950's Golden Age. Incidentally while most people assume that TV started in the 1950's it's not at all true as I've written about here.

CLOCK DVA ~ "NORTH LOOP";


This one uses Edison Studios newsreel footage of the San Francisco earthquake and fire.

CLOCK DVA ~ "DISCONTENTMENT";


This track off the obscure 1980 debut album "White Souls In Black Suits" which was put out by Industrial godfathers Throbbing Gristle on their Industrial label on cassette only. Yes I actually have one. The video uses newsreel footage of New York shot for the French Pathe company sometime in the mid 1930's. Note; I had some trouble with sound levels on this one.

CLOCK DVA ~ "STILL SILENT";


This track from "White Souls" uses another Op-Art Fluxus film, by John Cavanaugh.

CLOCK DVA ~ "THE CAGE"


This track comes from a set of early demos and uses a "In The Land Of Nod" a weird film which uses some early stop action animation.

CLOCK DVA ~ "SEXUAL OVERTURE";


Another early demo for which I used a WW1 British film "The German Spy Peril". Actually it's only part of the final reel in which the hero is captured by an oddly large group of spies and tossed into a tunnel under Big Ben with a bomb. The rest of the film is apparently lost.

CLOCK DVA ~ "UNTITLED DEMO TRACK 2";


This is another early demo and uses one from a series of amateur videos various people made as homages to the Andy Warhol "Screen Tests" of the 1960's

CLOCK DVA ~ "THE SONOLOGY OF SEX";


This song is from the b-side of the "Sound Mirror" single from 1990 put out by the latter, synth only version of Clock DVA. The song is about Elizabeth Bathory the infamous Bloody Countess of the sixteenth century so I used various still photos portrayals of the Countess including some of actresses who have played her on screen including Isabelle Hupert and Palmoa Picasso.

The Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project Presents; Cabaret Voltaire pt.2

More in my ongoing retro video project. This time more Cabaret Voltaire, pt.2, mid-period recordings.

"IF THE SHADOWS COULD MARCH";


This video for a remixed track recorded in 1974 which eventually turned up in a shortened form on the second album. The footage is from a short art film made by Wolf Vostell for a Dada film collective called Flux Films who made a series of such shorts in 1965-67. I think this one really captures the feel of the Cabs early vids.

In 1983 Cabaret Voltaire did a soundtrack for an obscure film called "Johnny Yesno". I took a couple of these tracks to make videos of.

JOHNNY YESNO";


For this one I used a short art film, "Tails", by Paul Sharits. This film spliced together the faded, underdeveloped ends of other films, hence the title.

"TAXI MUSIC";


Another from "Johnny Yesno". For this one I used one of DW Giffith's first film (from 1908) about a home invasion. I also used this film for a Monoton video but couldn't decide which I liked better so I kept both.

"SPREAD THE VIRUS";


This track is off the 1981 "Red Mecca" album. The video uses newsreel footage of the Red Baron's funeral and wreckage of his plane from 1918.

"INVOCATION";


This track is from the 1988 album "Eight Crepescule Tracks" using a performance art film from 1968 directed by Dutch art film-maker Franz Zwartjes.

Besides these found film videos I also made a few collages using still images.

"BAADER-MEINHOFF";


For this track off the second album about the 1970's terrorist group I used newspaper footage of the group.

"SLUGGIN FOR JESUS";


OK; the idea of three (very) pale white English dudes covering the theme from a 1970's blacksploitation flick may seem ill-advised but you can't argue with the results. We're just talkin' bout Shaft. Shut your mouth.