(Industrial/Experimental) Pigface - "Notes From Thee Underground"

[Zappa]

I was sent this album over AIM several months ago, and I just sort of let the mp3's sit on my iPod, and the burned CD lie on the rack. However, last weekend I decided to give it a listen, and was really blown away. I had been really into "Easy Listening...For Difficult Mother****ers" by Pigface, but for whatever reason had neglected this fine album. This album is now in my opinion much better than "Easy Listening..."

For those of you not familiar with Pigface, here's a little background. A man named Martin Atkins is basically the leader. Atkins is a drummer that has worked with Killing Joke, Nine Inch Nails, and many other high-profile industrial groups. His hard hitting drum style really compliments bleak, mechanical music. In Pigface, Martin is joined by a revolving cast of characters. Every song on every Pigface album has an at least slightly different lineup. Some of the "members" of Pigface are Danny Carey from Tool, Flea from RHCP, Meg Lee Chin (solo artist), and many others. Having a shifting lineuphas its ups and downs. Many Pigface albums are not terribly consistent, and seem to have no one thing stringing all the songs together. However, when Pigface works, like on this album, they really work. The different musicians add a lot of variety and fresh sounds, keeping the listener on their toes. On "Notes From Thee Underground," everything hits its mark.

Even though I typically think that individual song reviews are only interesting to people who have already heard the album, I think that putting them in for Pigface might be nice for people who are unfamiliar as well.

01. Asphole

This is a great song. It starts out with a little message about listening to the album every day, then the regular song begins. It's got lots of layers of drums and various samples, with a British vocalist delivering some interesting lyrics. 9/10

02. Divebomber

This is another top notch song. It's an uptempo song with a sense of urgency and tension. A woman with a great voice sings lead vocal. 9/10

03. Your Own You Own

The same vocalist from "Asphole" is on this one again. At the beginning of the song, the different parts seem to clash with each other in a beautifully ugly manner. It is very dynamic, with accented parts popping out at you and subduing again. The main part of the song has a catchy riff that stops a lot for various vocal samples to come out. "Personally I think you're coming off a bad trip," says one of the vocal samples. Indeed. 8/10

04. **** It Up

This could be called Pigface's anthem. I like this one a lot. It's got sort of a hip-hop feel to it, with heavy bass and drums. It starts out with Meg Lee Chin saying "**** it up Pigface" with her accent on heavy. Then come in some white B-Boys that remind me of the Beastie Boys. There's some spoken word about being an effective businessman and just all around weirdness that you can expect from anything by Pigface. 10/10

05. Hagseed

This is a really odd song. It has sort of a laid back feel to it. The first lyric is "You know how I feel when I'm alive? It's kind of like you giving me sex." I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, and the rest of the song doesn't really make it any clearer. There's a chorus of backing vocals that repeats (I believe) "we like to ****." over and over. It's hard to explain one, it's something you have to hear. This could be the weirdest song on the album. 9/10

06. Chikasaw

This is the song that stands out the most to me. I love it. It starts out by reiterating what was said at the very beginning of the album, before "Asphole." The woman who sings lead vocals has a very passionate, energetic voice, and the understated bass, guitar, and drum parts fit it very well. It's a simplistic, beautiful song. 10/10

07. Empathy

I like this one a lot. It starts out with a sitar part and vocals in a foreign language. The guitar and drums come in, but it stays relatively slow and drawling. The sitar comes back quickly, and plays a very cool part that adds a lot to the song. A different vocalist from the first sings English vocals in a very low range that just adds to the sort of droning feel this song has. This is another one you just have to hear, because so much is going on. 9/10

08. Magazine

This is a silly one. It starst with a woman with a southern accent saying "I was a co-dependent alcoholic bitch...but then I...." then she screams, and the drums, upright bass, and guitar come in. The same woman sings lead throughout, dropping the southern accent for most of it. It's short and energetic. 8/10

09. Think

The intro to this song is a sustained guitar chord and a bunch of acrobatic drum parts. Then the bass comes in, and some spoken word about Jesus comes in. This one reminds me a bit of the group Velvet Acid Christ. It's got sort of a trance-ish feel to it also. 9/10

10. Trivial Sscene

This is Martin Atkins making a call to a tarot card reader. It has phone sounds, then the advert for the tarot card reader's service. Then you can hear Martin and her conversation. All throughout there is drum, guitar, and bass samples weaving around the spoken word. It's not the greatest, but it's a very interesting idea. 8/10

11. Slut/Blood/Pain

This is a pretty uptempo one with heavy bass, drums and electronica. Some guy with a very strange voice repeats the words "blood," "slut," and "pain" over and over. Not really a highlight, but not a bad song at all. 8/10

12. Psalm Springs Eternal

This is a very short song that starts out with a piano vamp and quickly brings in some British guy singing almost operatic vocals. It's meant to be tongue-in-cheek, I think. It's hard to explain, but once you buy this album you'll see what I mean. 8/10

13. Your Music is Garbage

This is apparently a record label rep telling someone that they need the "consesus of the public," and that their music is garbage because they don't have it. It's repetitive and annoying, but it's supposed to be. 5/10

Reading through this, it may seem like it's an album that's really all-over the place and incohesive. However, there is something about it that just connects it all and makes it feel like a single work. If you're not a fan of Industrial, don't let that discourage you from checking this album out, because it has influence from many different places. In fact, to call Pigface an industrial group isn't really that accurate. Overall, I would definitely give it 4 stars out of 5.

[BirdsOfFires]

Wow.. sounds cool, wanna send it to me? You have my AIM i think.

[Zappa]

It's been driving me nuts! I've been trying for about 2 weeks to find the CD copy I have of this, and I haven't been able to. I can't send it to you, or anyone else, or make copies for friends until I find the CD, because it's not on my computer. Hopefully I'll find it this weekend sometime. It's an awesome album.