New Wave of American Power Electronics

[Nyodene D]

no real relation to RRRon's thread on Troniks. 

Perhaps it an outgrowth of the scene but compare and contrast the works of Halflings, Cathode Terror Secretion, Yellow Tears, Cowards, Pharmakon and notable others. 

This stuff lies somewhere in the between of power electronics and death industrial, but is far more nebulous of a sound, almost to the sound of stuff like Burial Hex.  Is this a new potential style of P.E.? 

Whereas a great deal of American P.E. is harsh and violent and raw, these guys are quite lush and atmospheric.  Meanwhile, they're not overly similar in sound to American death industrial acts (The Vomit Arsonist, Sewer Goddess, NTT, Murderous Vision) because they're far less "song" oriented then traditional D.I.

Thoughts on this sub-subgenre?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I think the "American PE" suffers probably from prejudice (deserved or not) cause by handful of cases, and even if there is great deal of variety, perhaps it isn't really visible for most people who prefer to keep distance. It could be useful to list some of the acts, PE or related, with short descriptions what they actually are about.
Who qualifies to "new wave"? Are we talking about pretty much everybody who came after I.A., Slogun, Final Solution, Hydra, Taint, etc?
Are bands of late 90's and early 2000's.. despite 10 years in "business", still new wave?

[Strömkarlen]

Are there any good comps with New American Power Electronics?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Has not been done yet, but should be.

[Nyodene D]

I guess yeah, "new wave" meaning since 2005 and active this decade. I like the "bad american PE" scene (Deathpile, Slogun, Bloodyminded, Intrinsic Action) and think it's pretty great.  I just want to make the distinction between these guys.  Honestly, it's not just American stuff, as these acts don't really sound like much Euro stuff that I'm aware of either.  The reason it's "American PE" is because these acts are from America.  I suppose "New Wave of Power Electronics From America" would have been a better title that wouldn't have dragged out the old American P.E. stereotypes argument.

[Nyodene D]

Fusty Cunt Records is currently working on a 2xc-15 comp where each artist does one minute.  It's all made up of harsh noise, p.e. and death industrial stuff. 

Comp contains tracks from:

ADOL, Teeny Bopper (Halflings-related), Ten Little Piggies (other Halflings thing), Nyodene D, Pyrrhic Thanatology Monger, Koufar, Endless Humiliation, Climax Denial (as another project), Ahlzegailzeguh, Contamination Diet, Fellahean, Murderous Vision, Pharmakon and a few more. It's a good sampling of stuff.

I suppose "years of the project" isn't a good way to judge "new wave" but of the artistic style. Amorphous P.E. with very little structure, but lots of sounds. 

I would add Xiphoid Dementia, the later works of Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck and Pyrrhic Thanatology Monger to this list.

I guess:

Halflings
Yellow Tears
Pharmakon
The Cathode Terror Secretion
Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck (later stuff only. first few albums are noisecore/goregrind)
Pyrrhic Thanatology Monger (hn/pe)
Xiphoid Dementia
Cowards

stuff is synthy, bursts of harshness, incomprehensible vocals (for the most part), introspective themes, tendency to do heavy drones evolving into chaos.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

So I assume you mean also thematically/visually "new wave", which is unlike bands in the usual industrial tradition?... so exluding maybe acts like American Boots, County Club, Deathkey, FFH, Shallow Waters, Vomit Arsonist, Bereft,.. ? 

[GEWALTMONOPOL]

Not that I don't know there aren't good acts or cool people from the US but much arrogance from certain players have left me wary of things from that side of the water. Rip off merchants like Solotroff, assholes like Ron, slackers like Greh, the endless stream of "dudes", whiney PC hipster fucks all on parade in the troniks forum but still the idea that the US is the place where it all happens and the rest of the world doesn't matter. Add to that a considerable slump in quality but a steady increase in releases. So yes, I am wary. If people "over there" start adopting a more humble attitude my interest may be reignited, until then I remain sceptical.

That said, the XIPHOID DEMENTIA CD I heard last week is brilliant. I was very impressed by that.

[kettu]

That said, the XIPHOID DEMENTIA CD I heard last week is brilliant. I was very impressed by that.

I listened to one of his songs a while ago and I came up with a funny:what does xd sound like= if streicher wore a silksuit instead of a camocape and drove a prius instead of a tank. 

I think the track had tanks and a very OTT feel to it as far as the amount the stuff going on.

I like several of the newer acts which is only mathematics since its such a huge place. but ill take  great ecstasys route and be a whiny minge for a while. whats up with bereft having only metal looking artwork and fonts. this bothers me.

[GEWALTMONOPOL]

Not sure if you mean that in a negative or a positive way but I welcome people who are trying to move on from the expected. It's nice to see the effort being made. But that's not the only reason I applaud XD, I think it came out well. It's a close call at times but I think he manages to steer it on the right track all the way. I repeat myself but I thought that was very impressive.

Not everything must be crude, primitive and "brutal".

[kettu]

I was postively surprised when I heard the track. just because it was so over the top. I wouldnt mind hearing a couple more tracks but the cover was in poor taste and as a whole it might not really be my cup of tea.

theres one american new wave band, Im not sure  if I should say its name if it turns out to be complete shit but I really liked a few tracks I heard from amy lace. no-fi kind of chaos with really cool shouty vox that worked similar to sloguns chronicle of a serial murder, sort of fighting with the noise for space but sounding super while its happening. probaply no real releases and likely to change in direction but like I said, a few good tracks at least.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

the idea that the US is the place where it all happens and the rest of the world doesn't matter. Add to that a considerable slump in quality but a steady increase in releases. So yes, I am wary. If people "over there" start adopting a more humble attitude my interest may be reignited, until then I remain sceptical.

It is possible to also watch in mirror once in a while. As I said earlier, prejudice might be deserved.. or not. I'm looking at european PE and when we remove all the acts who have been there for decades, how much more europe has to offer, and how valid would be feeling superior over it? Certainly some rip off merchants and people slower beyond acceptable level are around in Europe as well. Ignoring that fact and targeting attention only to favorite targets of disappointment isn't necessarily best route. Greh being slow, or Mark doing CDR, or RRRon fooling around with jouyful pranks, hardly is a sign what American PE is?

Certainly there are some "american" qualities, but one still has to consider that couple bands and labels don't really give accurate view of what country as large as USA has to offer. It's like talking about "european pe", which is possible, but removes all the actual differences of detail and substance what is in different parts of europe. I admit that I do fail to join in to same mentality relatively often. But in reality, I do think that some of NYC acts has different approach than say.. Texas? Providence acts were different from mid west. Some acts coming from metal background has different approach than those coming from punk... or industrial, or rock.

I guess main debate perhaps would be: are some of these acts "power electronics" at all? Like listening to Yellow Tears "don't cry" 12", I think it IS some of the greatest soundworks from USA today, but is it power electronics? Not more than any other experimental sound collage. I recall guys like Solotroff has been removing "PE tag" from Bloodyminded. Perhaps feeling disconnected from "traditional" PE and now presenting it now with other genre tags? Wasn't Rape-X too more like just electronic death metal noise? With very little to do with actual PE, more like US DM music replaced with distortion and then growling vocal on top? XallXforXthis or whatever it was, like straight edge hardcore with music removed. HC yelling over simpe synth noodling. Perhaps there in I.Action / Final Solution fashion, but somehow becoming very non-PE atmosphere afterall? Of course, I'm not against progression or saying that some purity over genre lines would be better than innovations. It's more of thinking do these people think they are PE, and does their labels think they are PE, or is this just tag given on forums and by distributors giving simple selling catchphrases, or "journalist" with intent to find some nice new thing (like "new american weirdo noise"). While those who do the sound maybe rather be just... "noise" ?
I guess, that the term New Wave of American Power Electronics is toward PE analogous to what "new wave of american noise" (coined by Wire??) is towards noise. Perhaps between lines one can see the split to acts that one doesn't need to care that are the die hard loser noise for obsessive home listeners. And the other, is the worldwide touring indified & accepted artists that are written about, celebrated and nice & accessible. I have my doubts how many of artists actually want to be lumped in that, no matter if they differ a bit from trad. clichés.

[P-K]

personally i don't really care about USA-pe, just because there's plenty good stuff over here (ok i digged older things like Deathpile and Final Solution etc....but now? Harsh Judgement, Liver Mortis&co, Sewer Goddess, )......i'm just not into the "noisy-guitar-band" thing, the endless piles of meatbox's, labels more busy releasing 'objects' (lathecut cdr's, lim15 cassettes, ...) the whole synthnoise thing (i like some of it, but i get the idea EVERYONE is going modular), the whole pre-orders-gone-wrong scene.....

and to be honest, mostly the best usa-stuff is released on Euro soil LOL....

[GEWALTMONOPOL]

There's the odd new project that trickles through over here. Not much of a scene and I don't really care if there is or not either. If the odd thing that appears now and then holds up quality wise as opposed to an avalanche of mediocre to sub par bands then obviously I choose the first option. Superior is not the right word. It ranges from lack of interest to contempt depending on how the project/person/label presents itself.

I don't dispute that I have unfairly lumbered these PE acts with the rest of the US noise scene but then again it's mostly one big dysfunctional family nowadays. None of them seem too unhappy about being in bed with each other. Take the PATHETIC NWOAPE thread with Ron at the helm on troniks. So many people falling over themselves going ME ME ME to be on it. Had some of them been up close to Ron he'd need no toiletpaper for the next few months.

Let me be even more unfair when I say that whenever I see something released on RRR, Bloodlust, Hanson, Chondritic (and there's probably more but I forget now) I pass it right the fuck by no matter how interesting it seems. Should I become urgently interested at some point I'd rather contact the bands than do business with any of those labels. Should I draw a short straw and come up with zilch then so be it. There's plenty of timeless classics to spend time and money on.

And to reiterate, there are cool people in the US with some great music being made but most often they aren't the attention whores hyping themselves up on troniks.

[bogskaggmannen]

still the idea that the US is the place where it all happens and the rest of the world doesn't matter.

My impression of this whole "versus" thing is that the scene in the US is very much based around live concerts and personal relationships. Seems to me the most "talked about" groups also are the ones that has toured the most - i e Wolf Eyes and Prurient?

So - the main thing here could also be that European acts very seldom play in the US at all? Add to that the general low value USD and european shipping costs and there you might have the very small interest in European groups in the US. And why should you? You have two million groups in the US already.

Also - I tend to do the same - I mostly enjoy Swedish industrial/noise when it comes to that particular "genre" (though I wouldn't exactly call my interest in non-Swedish groups nonexistant).