Influences: Minimal Violence

Ashlee – “This song is terrifying. The deadpan vocals standing against the bareness of the instrumentation with that breathy reverb filling out all the space in-between. I get a chill down my spine listening to this. This song straddles some invisible line between no-wave, industrial and electro.”

Ashlee – “This song is timeless and haunting. I’ve probably listened to it hundreds of times and it never gets old, rarely does a band achieve something that special. I think the youtube commenter who said “this is the song I would listen to if my life fell apart and I drove off into the sunset in search of another.” gets it.”

Ashlee – “Kim Gordans vocals hold such a threatening presence in this song. She’s always been such an inspiration. This song is so bare yet so visceral, it’s like her voice harnesses the dissonance as a weapon.”

Ashlee – “This song and video are both so surreal. This was by far my favourite era of Psychic TV and a important bridge between industrial and dance music for me. Tracks like this, that connect the dots in the musical galaxy are invaluable. Also, here’s a pretty sick shakuhachi that comes in around 5:20 to close it all out.”

Lida – “I first encountered Christina Kubisch’s Electrical Walks in a sound art class I took during my undergrad. Using specially designed headphones that pick up electromagnetic signals and translate them to sound, participants in Kubisch’s project walk through environments scattered with sources such as ATMs, security systems, cellphones, neon advertising, and methods of transport. There is a distinct musical quality to the various electrical fields and frequencies/rhythms detected that I find make for a completely immersive listening experience. Important Records released a CD compilation titled Five Electrical Walks in 2007 that features tracks such as Security. Homage with Minimal Disinformation is another favourite too.”

Lida – “All the tracks on this compilation are so good. The drumwork is straightforward and there’s really no nonsense overall. I feel like I listen to it whenever we’re writing a new live set and I need some inspiration.”

Lida – “My parents listened to Dead Can Dance when I was growing up, although more of the early 90’s albums where Dead Can Dance drifted into the medieval vein of things. This track Ocean is from their first album released in 1984, which I found on my own when I was a little older. Lisa Gerrard’s voice in this track is incredible.”

Lida – “We sampled a fragment of this clip in one of our earlier tracks titled, of course, David. Needless to say, I’ve always had a soft spot for it. David Wojnarowicz is someone who meant a lot to me in my early 20’s after reading a compilation of his writing Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration. His perspective on the AIDS crisis and the glimpse into his life experience in America during the time was unlike anything I’d ever encountered. There’s also a clip of Wojnarowicz’s silent film A Fire in my Belly aligned with the audio of Diamanda Galás’ Plague Mass on youtube that is a perfect pairing. Plague Mass was close to making this list as well.”