This is not an analysis of the EU Referendum

What a vomit-caked hairball of hate the last couple of days have been.

I feel like I'm watching the UK destroy itself, taking with it any semblance of inclusion and love and unicorns and happiness.

There is a long cobbled road ahead of us, and some of it will be easy, and some of it will be like charging into a pack of wolves armed with nunchucks and poky sticks.

But I'm not going to analyse the result of the EU Referendum here. I am sad and angry like many others, but go and read better websites that write about that kind of thing. This is just a music blog. You don't come here for politics.

It has never occurred to me to be anti-European. Without the Trance Europe Express compilation series, I'd be lost. I'm a child of Kraftwerk and Belgian techno and Cafe Del Mar and bands with exotic French-sounding names like Autechre.

I'm finding solace by switching off the internet and listening to music. Good European music. I suggest you do the same.

Here's Belgian EBM outfit Front 242 with their 1988 track Headhunter (below). The Europe of this video seems ever distant now. Mainly because we've smeared our vision with hairballs. Big stinky hairballs. And by hairballs, I mean Michael Gove's pubic hair and Boris Johnson's balls.

Look at the architecture below. The headgear. Mainly the architecture. This video would not have been anywhere near as good if, instead of Brussels, it had been set in Nigel Farage's limescaled bath.

A long road ahead. Love and unicorns and happiness to you all.

The devil has all the best IDM: Front 242 and The Prodigy

Here I am, on Hallowe'en night, choosing my favourite IDM / electronica to accompany your fright-filled evening of pumpkin soup, bad clothes and legal doorstep extortion. See the other posts in this series here. See the introduction to the whole thing here.

Artists: Front 242 / The Prodigy
Track: Religion (Prodigy Bass Under Siege Mix)
Single: Religion
Year: 1993

Front 242 are ideal for Hallowe'en, but I remember getting this 12" and realising it showed the ghostly grandfathers of EDM returning from the grave to subvert the rave aesthetic only to be confronted by a bunch of fire-startin' punk upstarts wielding sticks and chanting "you think you're hard? Try THIS!" For its time, it was an astonishing remix.

Oh, that and the track's called Religion and it has someone screaming "burn you down". Aaah, Hallowe'en for all the family! Seriously, though. Don't burn me down. I wouldn't like it and I've just had me nails done.

Chosen Words: T is for 242

Fat Roland's A-Z guide to the most important words or phrases in electronica and their associated "facts"

Front 242 were my first introduction to a more industrial side of electronic music.

They were an example of EBM (Electronic Body Music), and indeed their releases No Comment and Tyranny For You could be seen as bookending the popularity of the genre.

EBM rose from the industrial movement, which is still propogated by the likes of Einstürzende Neubauten, Nine Inch Nails and Nurse With Wound. That scene took much of its feel from the darker side of human nature. It's for this reason I'm surprised Simon Cowell isn't the world's leading industrial musician.

EBM was known for its primitive beats, barked vocals and electronic repetition. Basically, imagine Mark E Smith if he'd become part-android, doubled the amout of fags he was smoking, then began recording inside a metal pipe.

I came late to EBM. In fact, too late: my first introduction was Front 242's twin albums 06:21:03:11 UP EVIL and 05:22:09:12 OFF. You can only understand those titles if you use the A=1, B=2 code.

I was too busy listening to 18:09:03:08:01:18:04 03:12:01:25:04:18:13:01:14 at the time. Tragic, really.

Top five sexiest industrial or post-industrial band names:

- Android Lust
- SPK (Surgical Penis Klinik)
- Thobbing Gristle
- Armageddon Dildos
- Revolting Cocks

For more Chosen Words, click the tag at the bottom of this post.