Black Tish bring the vintage noise with their confrontational and cutting-edge cover-tune single Industrial Tribute — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
True to their word, the industrial missing-link band have come back with an offering that proves they are just that: The overlooked bridge between industrial’s past and future. Having released an EP called The Hanged Man earlier this year, Black Tish bandleader Bob Coecke and bassist Bruce Warner are finally ready to go with new material in this double-A single, but they still want to pay homage to the genre’s origins.
Being one of the first bands classed as decidedly industrial in the late ’80s and ’90s, Black Tish have an interesting origin story and timeline to where they are now. Known in their native Belgium for their groundbreaking sound and outrageous shows, they also wrote a massive discography which was never released. Difficulties with recording and production meant that the songs were shelved when Coecke decided to pursue his other passion, quantum physics and consciousness.
Moving to England to work in the University of Oxford’s quantum computing department in 1998, Coecke is more celebrated as a scientist than as a musician. He currently is chief scientist of biggest quantum computing company in the world, and is considered a leading expert not only in quantum computing and technology, but the neuroscience of quantum AI. This world recently intersected with music for Coecke when he and his team worked on a project building a computer which understands not only the sounds created by music but the vibes and experience of music.
With these worlds merging for Coeke, he seems more motivated than ever to create and release music with his own vibes with Black Tish, and Industrial Tribute does just that — while paying homage to other founders of the genre. Coeke and company chose to cover two classic industrial tracks: What A Day by Throbbing Gristle and Zerstörte Zelle by Einstürzende Neubauten.
“Having been called the missing link between the pure experimental nature of bands like Throbbing Gristle and Einstürzende Neubauten and the (comparatively) more radio accessible Ministry or Nine Inch Nails, it seems particularly appropriate to release those two covers,” they say. “We actually where already doing them before the quote came out.”
Staying true to the general structure of the originals, Coecke and company sort of do the opposite of what the original bands did with each song. With What A Day, the originally quite minimal work is filled with raging ambient noise, giving a heavier and more modern industrial feel to is. With Zerstörte Zelle, the waves are widened a bit and the sound becomes richer but also less dense. Coecke’s twists on these classics show he understands industrial music in and out and it ready to take it to the next level. One can only sit back and wait to see what he creates next.
Check out Industrial Tribute below and follow Black Tish on Facebook.
