Plural Machine

Montage by Vera Bremerton.  Next Friday I'll give an experimental presentation at Noise=Noise on the strange parallels between the sonic and conceptual dystopianism of Doctor Who and first generation British industrial music. Dr. Who exposed mass audiences (often very young) to a combination of experimental electronic sound and dystopian themes, a combination that could also summarise industrial music. Dr. Who frequently presented post-apocalyptic scenarios of mutation, mind control and para-militarised societies and, in the process, at least implicitly criticised actual political and technological developments of the time, particularly those associated with the Cold War arms race. Due to budgetary constraints these visionary scenarios were often realised in a rudimentary ad hoc fashion; an approach that also applies to industrial. The early industrial groups highlighted the most serious social and political themes using very primitive electronic equipment, creating a kind of...

I'll be introducing a screening of Johnny Yes No at The Horse Hospital this Friday night from 7.30, details here . The event is to mark the release of a Mute DVD/CD box set containing both the original and new versions of the film and soundtrack plus extensive sleeve notes. There's a timeless quality to CV material and I still find the scratchy, grimy bleakness of the early works strangely uplifting, even if so much has changed over three decades. After all, back then Britain was in the midst of a recession and was governed by an authoritarian clique of free market fundamentalists...