The Top 40 Songs of 2014
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLR3yqkVQJo
Container – “Glaze”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPJ5BIhLhEs
Vessel – “Drowned in Water and Light
Arca – “Sisters”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIW5U3oIoyE
Evian Christ – “Propeller”
Industrial music, as invented in the mid-70s, sought to bring in the sound of real, ugly things—metal, gears, wires, concrete—to mess with music’s dreamy headspace. “Glaze,” a highlight from Ren Schofield’s Container project, belongs to that tradition. His relentless beats are pushed to the limits of obsolete machinery. When the volume level flares out, it sounds like old gear starting to throw sparks when it can’t handle the the things its asked to do. The music released by the adventurous Transatlantic label Tri Angle is less interested in pre-existing forms. It’s not that artists like Vessel, Arca, and Evian Christ are consciously running away from a sense of tangibility. It’s just that technology has expanded the possibilities of what we can make our machines accomplish. Their records could almost be thought of as industrial music for a near-future moment when factories are equipped with enormous 3D printers, producing shapes previously thought unable to support their own weight.