Although on the surface, things have appeared to be relatively quiet in the NINE INCH NAILS camp, the core duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have over the last few years been busy working on soundtrack material.
This included providing a superb score for the Boston marathon bombing film ‘Patriots Day’ and the pair are currently working on music for the upcoming Ken Burns documentary ‘The Vietnam War’. Since providing the Oscar winning soundtrack to the ‘The Social Network’, this sidestep into film music composition has been a lucrative and creative outlet for the band.
But all this has been at the expense of releasing material for their day job with NINE INCH NAILS. So now following the release of the ‘Not The Actual Events’ EP back at the cusp of 2017, Trent Reznor has followed through with his promise to deliver a trilogy of EP releases this year with the announcement of the second one ‘Add Violence’ and its lead-off track ‘Less Than’. Whereas the previous release was certainly dark and musically satisfying, it lacked a definitive stand-out track with the sort of killer chorus that Reznor had previously delivered with tracks such ‘The Hand That Feeds’ and ‘Only’.
Track number one of five, ‘Less Than’ is certainly one of the most commercial tracks that NIN has released in a while, accompanied by a hypnotic retro video game-inspired video, the song is a satisfying combination of analogue sequencers, a SISTERS OF MERCY inspired programmed drum pattern (see ‘Dominion’) and most importantly, a BIG hooky chorus.
Worthy of a mention is the urban legend surrounding the video game ‘Polybius’; featured in the NIN promo; in 1981 an arcade version of the game was supposedly produced by the US government as a tool to test reaction times for the potential recruitment of military personnel. More sinister are the accusations that the game itself could induce seizures and brain aneurysms after multiple plays, a backstory which neatly lends itself to the lyrical content of the NIN song.
‘Less Than’ comes across as a super-charged version of the kind of material found on 2013’s ‘Hesitation Marks’, to the point where there are lyrical and structural similarities with ‘Copy of A’ from that album. Long-term fans of the band will undoubtedly welcome ‘Less Than’ like a long lost friend and it certainly showcases Reznor’s continuing ability to still be able to construct more single-like material.
After the opening gambit of ‘Less Than’, second EP track ‘The Lovers’ throws in a considerable curveball by stripping things back with a glitchy rhythm track and an underpinning hypnotic analogue sequencer part. A slow burning piece, the song gradually bleeds into the consciousness after a radio EQ’d Reznor vocal acts as an unconventional verse segment. The soaring “take me into the arms of the lovers…” chorus provides a great hook for the track which could be best described musically as an ambient MASSIVE ATTACK.
‘This Isn’t The Place’ centres around a waltz-time analogue drum pattern, piano figure and synthetic drones; its opening two minutes or so fools you into thinking it’s going to be an experimental instrumental before an upfront Reznor vocal intones “And if you see, my friend. I thought I would again. A single thin straight line. I thought we had more time”. In some quarters this song has been interpreted as a eulogy to DAVID BOWIE (who Reznor worked with) and it showcases one of his most emotional and intimate vocal deliveries.
After the soft-ish verse part of fourth track ‘Not Anymore’, the chorus hits the listener with an abrasive wall of sound; akin to being caught in an audio firestorm, this is NIN at their most aggressive and will satisfy fans of their earlier work on confrontational albums such ‘The Downward Spiral’.
‘The Background World’ takes the listener on a trip over its eleven minutes, and is the most sequencer-driven and electronic track on the EP. The first five minutes are darkly melodic but the final six is built around a progressively degrading and deliberately out of time looped song section.
The climax of this EP could be seen as a metaphor for human existence, repeating certain things daily until the individual becomes worn down and ultimately broken. The outro to ‘The Background World’ is arguably one of the most extreme and post-apocalyptic endings to a piece of music; by the end of the eleven minute mark, there are barely tiny shards of the original loop audible and when it finishes there is an incredible sense of release.
There is a bit of everything in ‘Add Violence’ to satisfy most long-term NINE INCH NAILS fans, it back-references eras of their previous work, but at the same time still remains a fresh and challenging experience. Listeners seeking a melodic fix may find it hard to skip past opener ‘Less Than’, but those who wish to be taken out of their comfort zone should experience the EP as a whole.
The mission for this project (should the remixer choose to accept it) was as follows:
“WRANGLER would like to ask you to submit an experimental piece of music for inclusion on an album entitled ‘Modular Remix’. The idea is very simple. We provide some basic stems from a track selected by you from our debut album ‘LA Spark’ and you add whatever sounds you like – the only rule being that you use just one analog modular synthesiser system of your choice. We’ve approached you because we admire your passion and commitment to electronic music, and we hope you will be interested in taking part.”
Naturally, given the specialised nature of the brief, WRANGLER approached electronic artists known for their modular approach to synthesis, hence the presence here of DANIEL MILLER, ALESSANDRO CORTINI (NINE INCH NAILS), SOLVENT and CHRIS CARTER.
In what is arguably the stand-out remix on the album, Mute boss DANIEL MILLER extracts the gliding bassline and a vocal loop from ‘Theme from Wrangler’ and builds a new track around it with a driving 4/4 kick and flanged Solina strings. Ex-THROBBING GRISTLE synthesist CHRIS CARTER takes the dystopian ‘Lava Land’ and completely reconstructs it, turning it into an industrial wasteland soundscape, leaving the main Logan string part as a ghostly skeletal echo in the far off distance.
Whilst SCANNER reworks the title track from the original album, by jettisoning all the original musical parts and building a hypnotic sequencer driven web around Stephen Mallinder’s ‘LA Spark’ vocal, ALESSANDRO CORTINI strips out all of the vocals and percussion, leaving very little (if any residue) from the original ‘Modern World’. What remains is a throbbing, shifting, filtered piece which slowly rises over four minutes before dropping back down again – reminiscent of his film work with TRENT REZNOR, this ‘Modern World’ could quite easily function in a soundtrack context.
SOLVENT, who are probably best known for soundtracking the acclaimed ‘I Dream of Wires’ modular synthesizer documentary, remix ‘Harder’, adding a skanking electro-dub vibe with spring reverbed snares and tape delayed vocals. Hissing white noise and analogue drum machine beats frame the track as snippets of sound from the original drift in and out. This leaves the final piece on the album, entitled ‘Theme Meme’, where the band remix themselves over an epic 14 minutes.
With KRAFTWERK styled electronic textures and retro Roland Compurhythm beats, the remix acts as a soundbed for Stephen Mallinder’s electronically mangled vocals and harsh synthetic sound effects on top. The final four minutes wind down and help bring the track to a half-tempo closedown.
With the emphasis being on the word ‘experimental’ from the original brief, none of these versions (with the exception of DANIEL MILLER’s ‘Theme…’ and DAVID BURRASTON’s ‘Mus IIC’) bear much resemblance to the ‘LA Spark’ originals which is undoubtedly what WRANGLER had in mind when first guesting out the project. As such, the band should be applauded for giving the remixers involved complete artistic freedom here.
But fans of ‘LA Spark’ will probably be more comfortable with the original versions, which despite occupying the darker fringes of synthesized music, still feature enough melodic hooks to act as a gateway for those into more mainstream electronica.
With thanks to Steve Malins at Random Music Management
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has recently been gaining much enjoyment from a video which brutally satirises TRENT REZNOR and NINE INCH NAILS.
‘This is a Trent Reznor Song’ by FREDDY SCOTT hits the proverbial nail (sorry couldn’t resist it) on the head in deconstructing the various elements that make up a NINE INCH NAILS song.
Based around ‘A Copy Of’ from the last NIN album ‘Hesitation Marks’, Scott’s rather hilarious track is structured in such a way that it wickedly pokes fun at many of the trademarks of Reznor’s act – including the “random percussion”, “weird guitar” and several knowing references to their lead singer’s vocal production techniques.
What makes the song so successful is the attention to detail, like the little delays in the verse and the use of the “Weird sound” FX pedal before the song’s bridge. The video itself contains what have now become recognisable tropes in certain NIN promos, the silhouette shot, the creepy sepia dead animal shot and the intercut band performances with Scott perfectly aping Reznor’s stage posture.
Comedian Scott had previously caused a bit of a stir with his RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS aping ‘Abracadabralifornia’, which although semi-fooling some into thinking it was a new Chili’s track, in places actually came across more like a MORRISSEY sound-a-like than lead vocalist Anthony Keidis.
This more recent parody is far more on the money and although there’s been no public reaction from Reznor to the track, what is certain is that you’ll find it hard to get the chorus out of your head… altogether now: “This is a Trent Reznor song / Yeah it’s still going on / Seriously it’s the same song / But it’s very awesome!”
The rusting hulk of a vehicle on the album cover of ‘V – Metal Machine Music’ is set against a desolate/post-apocalyptic ‘Mad Max’ style wasteland
It gives an idea as to what one might expect from the new DIE KRUPPS long player. Following the more electronic-based ‘Machinists of Joy’, it’s a return to a sound which indelibly influenced RAMMSTEIN and several other metal / electronic hybrid bands. The crunching twin guitar riffs are back up in the mix and in most cases, Ralf Dörper‘s synth/sequencer programming (regrettably) takes more of a back seat in the musical proceedings.
The shift back to a more guitar-oriented sound is possibly an attempt to reclaim the throne of a genre that DIE KRUPPS undeniably pioneered, especially as RAMMSTEIN are currently on a hiatus to allow lead vocalist TIL LINDEMANN to promote his solo album. With ex-drummer Volker Borchert returning to the fold and the addition of guitarist Steve Roemhild, the overall concept of ‘Metal Machine Music’ is a far more live and rocky sounding one.
The prelude ‘Die Verdammten’ is a doomy and Teutonic sounding introduction to the album with filtered gothic foreboding strings and hard hitting guitars heralding bad things looming on the horizon… ’Kaltes Herz’, the first proper song on the album, is a high octane thrash with driving synth bass at its heart, its delayed Koto intro lulling the listener into a false sense of security. Double A-sided single ‘Battle Extreme’ (vocalled in English) is another competent / fast BPM industrial metal track with very little to distinguish it from the previous one, although some later high pitched synth squeals provide a bit of welcome respite from the angry guitars.
‘Fly Martyrs Fly’ (the other side of the single) is the most electronic sounding track so far, LFO-filtered synths mixed with an EBM bassline contrast with guitars which are a little further back in the mix this time. There is also the addition of some welcome electronic drum textures mixed in with the live percussion. Lyrically, halfway through the track, it becomes apparent that the song is based around the Germanwings Flight 9525 air disaster where the co-pilot of the plane locked his captain out of the cockpit before setting it on a fatal trajectory into a nearby French Alps mountain. News reports of the event are recreated using speech synthesis in the middle section of the song, before the crunching guitars and sequencers return.
‘Road Rage Warrior’ musically and sonically reinforces the album cover’s ‘Mad Max’ theme and is probably the most original sounding track on the album in that it doesn’t steadfastly stick to the generic Industrial Metal template.
Sounding more like THE PRODIGY gone metal in places, it weirdly includes the frantic / trippy sequencer part from PINK FLOYD’s ‘On The Run’ early on in the piece. Although a brave attempt, the sung title hook in the middle eight doesn’t quite cut it against the more antagonistic / shouty vocals.
‘Alive in a Glass Cage’ is the standout melodic cut on ‘V – Metal Machine Music’ – with a properly sung lyric throughout, it introduces a softer sound to the album and with the exception of its middle eight guitar riff, relies more on melody than aggression. Also present are echoes of NEW ORDER’s ‘This Time of Night’ in the bass synth and the vocals of Andy LaPlegua from COMBICHRIST’s side project ICON OF COIL – it would have been fruitful for this sound to have been explored more on this album, if only to provide respite from some of the less subtle in-your-face guitar-oriented songs. The appropriately named ‘Kaos Reigns’ ups the tempo even further, with frantic double-kick drums and guitars to match. When eventually joined by several cross-panned synths, the track leaves you exhausted and breathless by the end…
In a way, one could feel aggrieved for DIE KRUPPS in the way in which RAMMSTEIN took their sound, ramped it up several notches (with added pyrotechnics), ran with it and became a global, multi-million-selling act. But as in many cases, sadly often the musical innovators don’t always get their just rewards and recognition.
If you are fan of big metal guitars and live drums mixed with bass synths you will ADORE this album, it certainly reinforces DIE KRUPPS (alongside MINISTRY and NINE INCH NAILS) as THE pioneers of the Industrial genre. But those seduced by the electronic textures that ‘Machinists of Joy’ offered may come away feeling disappointed with the emphasis on metal rather than machine in ‘V – Metal Machine Music’.
‘V – Metal Machine Music’ is released as a CD, deluxe 2CD and download via Oblivion on 28th August 2015
DIE KRUPPS play The Garage in London on Wednesday 16th September 2015, please check the website for other dates
Having started his career at London’s Blackwing Studios in 1980 as an assistant engineer, John Fryer had a very basic knowledge of recording technology.
Employed by Eric Radcliffe, he promptly progressed from engineering into production and became the very reason for the first two COCTEAU TWINS albums sounding as sui generis as they did.
FAD GADGET and DEPECHE MODE; freshly discovered by Daniel Miller, were two of the first acts Fryer co-engineered on a rather limited studio equipment with the pressures of time. Technology started to progress fast and Daniel Miller would often bring the newly released toys into the studio.
The second DM album, ‘A Broken Frame’, written by the newly appointed chief songwriter Martin Gore, used the likes of PPG Wave 2 and Roland TR808 amongst others. The freshly formed YAZOO, with Alison Moyet and ex-Depeche member Vince Clarke, decided to record simultaneously.
To avoid any friction between the acts, John continued at Blackwing, while Eric looked after YAZOO from his home. Fryer did work on ‘Only You’ for them however. Soon enough Fryer’s growing sound manipulation would lend itself to his side project THIS MORTAL COIL with 4AD kingpin Ivo Watts-Russell, named after Monty Python’s ‘Dead Parrot Sketch’. The idea behind the venture was to create music as collaborations with artists signed to or associated with 4AD.
Fryer continued his career in Blackwing, producing MODERN ENGLISH, DEAD CAN DANCE, THE WOLFGANG PRESS, CLAN OF XYMOX and notably HE SAID, whose track ‘Pump’ Fryer still reminisces with fondness.
He has described his time as “a blur”, having worked on multiple projects simultaneously and producing one artist after another. In ten years, he only had five days off sick and worked incredibly long hours, an example being a 36 hour session with Alison Moyet, followed by “the next band”. Outsiders thought Fryer was indeed the owner of the studio, having spent all his time there!
Nine years after the start of his love affair with Blackwing, Fryer decided to go freelance. Truth being, if an artist wanted to work with him, they would approach him anyway. And that was certainly the case with NINE INCH NAILS, Trent Reznor having admired what Fryer had done for HE SAID. Fryer proudly recalls the feeling after finishing the album’s production, upon re-playing it to NIN’s record company boss, who had thought the record was ruined.
For Fryer, the desired effect had been achieved. The production work rolled in and notable clients included HIS NAME IS ALIVE, PARADISE LOST, LUSH and THE GO-BETWEENS.
Having not been in a band as such before, in 2011 Fryer decided to head his own project DARKDRIVECLINIC. 2014 brought the hungry listener SILVER GHOST SHIMMER while in the recent months, Fryer has indulged in the softer, ethereal offerings of two MURICIDAE EPs accompanied by the LA based Louise Fraser.
With such wealth of experience, Fryer surely deserves a break. Living in Oslo, the master does not rest on his laurels however; hungry to produce, in his stripped down studio, he will no doubt work with some amazing acts again.
In the meantime, let’s imagine what a John Fryer retrospective would look like, made up from a choice of his best work as an engineer, co-producer and producer. The list is not comprehensive and the tracks are not necessarily the best songs on their respective albums, but they certainly showcase Fryer’s production and engineering skills, which evolved over the years, giving him a signature sound of his own.
With a restriction of one track per album project, here are eighteen songs choices in a Beginner’s Guide to the studio legend that is John Fryer, with additional choice commentary from the man himself.
FAD GADGET The Box (1980)
‘The Box’ was the B-side to ‘Back To Nature’, the second ever single on Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Later appearing in re-recorded form on the magnificent ‘Fireside Favourites’ album released in 1980, interestingly enough, the vocals were recorded with Frank Tovey being uncomfortably locked up in a flight case. This was to signify the “boxed” feel of the vocals. John fondly remembers the collaboration: “Yes, Frank wanted to get a claustrophobic close sound and we just happened to have a big flight case sitting there in the live room, big enough to fit him inside. So we decided to record the vocals in the flight case to get the authentic box sound”
Available on the FAD GADGET album ‘Fireside Favourites’ via Mute Records
Not having the digital luxuries of the world we know today, ‘Speak And Spell’ was solely recorded on a 8 track tape machine, but Fryer made do with anything which came to hand, as long as it could make some sort of noise. ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’ was one of two songs written by Martin Gore on the Vince Clarke dominated ‘Speak And Spell’. A clever love song about a decaying relationship, crying out for help, hidden within highly political lyrical content, it was fabulously intertwined in a steady beat to which Dave Gahan has performed some of his best early dances live.
Available on the DEPECHE MODE album ‘Speak & Spell’ via Mute Records
‘Leave In Silence’ was DEPECHE MODE’s sixth single. Taken from ‘A Broken Frame’, it was written by Martin Gore, who suddenly got elevated into being the band’s chief songwriter, upon Vince Clarke’s departure. After the previous pop slanted singles ‘See You’ and ‘The Meaning Of Love’, it introduced the darker, more melancholic tones of what was to be in store for DEPECHE MODE – John: “Martin took to writing like a duck to water, he always had in it him, it just had to be coaxed out of him. Once Vince had left, the new DM was born”
Available on the DEPECHE MODE album ‘A Broken Frame’ via Mute Records
From COCTEAU TWINS’ third EP ‘Sunburst & Snowblind’, the Fryer produced ‘From The Flagstones’ was recorded by Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie as a duo, after Will Heggie left the band. There was a feeling of improvisation, including Fraser’s distinctive, yet “wordless” vocals and Guthrie’s effected guitar riffs. Those two elements intertwined and went on to become the band’s signature sound on the eventual ‘Head Over Heels’ album – John: “We recorded up in Scotland where the band felt more at home. The album wasn’t improvised, it was written and we just played around with sounds and over dubs. Why do people think Liz never sang words? She sat for hours with a dictionary writing lyrics for the album, she just has a unique way of singing and phrasing, that’s all”
Available on the COCTEAU TWINS album ‘Lullabies To Violaine – Volume 1’ via 4AD Records
Originally released by Tim Buckley on his 1970 album ‘Starsailor’, the song has become his most famous, mainly due to the numerous cover versions, THIS MORTAL COIL’s take being one of the most prominent. The single featuring Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie was released in 1983, peaking at No66 on the UK singles charts. Due to its cult popularity, it also spent 101 weeks on the UK Indie Charts. ‘Song To The Siren’ was included on the 1984 debut album ‘It’ll End In Tears’. None other than David Lynch appreciated the version to such an extent, he featured it on his 1997 ‘Lost Highway’ film and the first two Julee Cruise albums are said to be inspired by the production – John: “‘Song To The Siren’ was originally recorded as a B-side to the tracks ’16 Day’ and ‘Gathering Dust’; that was the start of the epic journey THIS MORTAL COIL went on”
Available on the THIS MORTAL COIL album ‘It’ll End In Tears’ via 4AD Records
M/A/R/R/S could be considered the ‘dance’ version of THIS MORTAL COIL, with Watts-Russell suggesting a union of COLOURBOX and AR KANE, two 4AD acts who had each suggested to him independently about making records inspired by the emerging American House scene. Engineering the sessions, Fryer found himself an unwilling referee between the conflicting factions. So the two parties worked separately with the COLOURBOX led ‘Pump Up The Volume’ coming out on top in white label club trials. With Fryer utilising an Akai MPC / S900 combination for the programming plus scratch effects by DJs CJ Macintosh and Dave Dorrell, the rest became history…
Available on the compilation album ‘Pump Up The Volume’ (V/A) via Universal Music
With THIS MORTAL COIL, the likes of Elizabeth Fraser, Gordon Sharp, Tanya Donelly, Heidi Berry and Lisa Gerrard were recruited amongst others, to perform either cover versions or original material. However, much of the latter comprised of enigmatic instrumentals steered by Fryer and Watts-Russell. A good example was ‘Acid, Bitter & Sad’ which featured the abstract vocals of Alison Limerick and turned up on the ‘Lonely Is An Eyesore’ compendium. The three studio albums that surfaced from the project ‘It’ll End In Tears’, ‘Filigree & Shadow’ and ‘Blood’ were all highly acclaimed. The idea continued as THE HOPE BLISTER with Louise Rutkowski on vocals for two albums before Watts-Russell retired from the music industry in 1999.
Available on the compilation album ‘Lonely Is An Eyesore’ (V/A) via 4AD Records
‘Sin’ was the third single from the critically acclaimed NINE INCH NAILS’ debut LP ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ which achieved triple platinum certification in 2003, having sold three million copies in the US alone. Still a live favourite, ‘Sin’ peaked at number 35 in the UK Singles Chart in 1990. The song’s sexual connotations are clearly portrayed in its video, which features the “Short” remix of the track. Fryer engineered, mixed and produced the song and fondly remembers working on the album, which went to become a huge commercial success – John: “‘PHM’ was a slow burner, it took a while for it to catch on but once it did, there was no stopping it or the band…”
Available on the NINE INCH NAILS album ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ via Island Records
Led by Mike Edwards, JESUS JONES’ ‘Right Here, Right Now’ was released in September 1990 and peaked at No31 in the UK Charts at the height of the indie dance ‘baggy’ craze. However in the US, it went to No2 in the Billboard Hot 100. Inspired by the Russian Perestroika changes, as well as other events in Eastern Europe, the tune is still used in adverts and video games alike – John: “Mike had a unique approach to writing pop music, it was great to work with him on that album. Great poptastic record”
Available on the JESUS JONES album ‘Doubt’ via Food Records
Remixed by Stephen Hague, ‘Falling Down’ appeared on the band’s EP ‘Freefall’ and Fryer-produced LP ‘Whirlpool’. The band was placed into Shoegazing genre, a name invented by NME and Melody Maker describing the performance style based on being not engaged with the audience and simply “staring downwards at their shoes”. Of course, this could have been the outcome of constantly looking downwards while using the effects pedals! John: “The NME has been great at making up labels for types of music. CHAPTERHOUSE was, and still is a live awesome band. The first thing the band did on starting the recordings, was take off their shoes…”
Available on the CHAPTERHOUSE album ‘Whirlpool’ via Cherry Red Records
From their album ‘Blow’, it was the only record SWALLOW put out on 4AD. Sometimes described as part of the Shoegazing genre, the Camberwell based band came together in 1990. ‘Blow’ was later remixed by the band itself, breaking down the Fryer production and releasing it under the name of ‘Blowback’. Louise Trehy and Mike Mason joined forces with Rough Trade Records afterwards to release ‘Hush’ EP before disbanding – John: “I don’t really know why they were called shoegaze, they should be called more art-gaze, more of an arty CURVE”
Available on the SWALLOW album ‘Blow’ via 4AD Records
‘Join Me In Death’ was from the band’s second album out in 1999 ‘Razorblade Romance’. It was also released as ‘Join Me’ in the US, as they were not able to use the word “death” in the title. Although the song’s title provoked widespread controversy, it has become the fifteenth best-selling song in Finland and was used in the European version of the soundtrack for ‘The Thirteenth Floor’. There are four versions of the song’s video and a vague ‘Romeo & Juliet’ theme was also associated to the song – John: “Yes, they had a lot of trouble in the US with the lyrical content for this album. The Americans thought it was a lawsuit waiting to happen with all the teenage suicides and shootings at school, but it was just a romantic love album”
Available on the HIM album ‘Razorblade Romance’ via BMG Finland
‘10,000 Watts’ was positively received by critics and audiences alike, mainly thanks to aggressive vocals by Victor Love. The parent ‘Neuromance’ album was backed up with numerous festival appearances and sold out in no time. Victor Love has always praised John Fryer’s style of production, admitting his technical knowledge had improved drastically upon working with the magic maker – John: “Pop music comes in various forms and this was another one of them. Victor knows how to write a great pop song and give it a provocative edge”
Available on the DOPE STARS INC album ‘Neuromance’ via Trisol Music Group
‘Methods Of Chaos’ was from the 2006 album of the same title in Spanish ‘Metodos Del Caos’. RABIA SORDA has been described as a gentler version of Erk Aicrag’s other project, Mexican Hardfloor legends HOCICO. The word “gentler” needs to be used with care, however, as to a standard listener, it is aggressive, loud and violent. RABIA SORDA’s style is characterised by a very industrial goth sound that has been hugely popular in his native Mexico and Europe – John: “I liked working with Erk and it’s a shame we aren’t working together any longer. He makes interesting kinda industrial pop music and is a very nice guy , I would love to work with him again”
Available on the RABIA SORDA album ‘Metodos Del Caos’ via Out Of Line Records
ASHBURY HEIGHTS Derrick Is A Strange Machine (2007)
From the critically acclaimed ‘Three Cheers For The Newlydeads’ in 2007, the Swedish duo has come through many changes, including disbanding and returning; this record remains one of their best however. ASHBURY HEIGHTS were hailed around 2006 as the hottest newcomers onto the electronic music scene, having played the big German and Swedish festivals. They have remixed endless amounts of artists including RABIA SORDA, AESTHETIC PERFECTION, GOD MODULE, and SPACEBUOY as well as many others – John: “ASHBURY HEIGHTS should have gone on to be one of the biggest electronic bands around with their super slick pop sound. It was a joy to work with them”
Available on the ASHBURY HEIGHTS album ‘Three Cheers For The Newlydeads’ via Out Of Line Records
‘Silhouettes’ was released a year after Fryer started collaborating with STRIPMALL ARCHITECTURE vocalist Rebecca Coseboom. Ethereal and textured, yet a catchy pop tune, it stands out on the ‘Noise In My Head’ album production. On this record, Fryer decided to be personally involved in a band member’s capacity, giving it celestial and sublime endorsement, and that certainly comes across – John: “‘Noise In My Head’ is the culmination of 25 years of work. It had been worked on over that time in-between producing other people’s records, but it was something I really wanted and needed to do for myself”
Available on the DARKDRIVECLINIC album ‘Noise In My Head’ via Metropolis Music
‘Soft Landing’ was released on 30th October 2014 to launch his “over the pond” collaboration with über talented LA based vocalist Pinky Turzo. This twinkling gem, which opens the album of the same title, is hints at the 1962 hit by JAY & THE AMERICANS ‘She Cried’. The songs on ‘Soft Landing’ can be easily described as a marriage of Dave Gahan’s solo projects and Alison Goldfrapp’s vocals, with the song itself being a masterpiece and a proud moment for Fryer. September 2015 will see gigs from Fryer and Turzo showcasing ‘Soft Landing’ to the hungry audiences – John: “The ‘Soft Landing’ album is more of a homage to the girl groups of the sixties. We wanted to marry that vocal sound of the girl groups to my electronic noise pop and I think we succeeded, in my opinion anyway”
Available on the SILVER GHOST SHIMMER download album ‘Soft Landing’ via Silver Ghost Shimmer
‘Strange’ comes from Fryer’s latest EP with Louise Fraser, an LA based vocalist. An exquisite continuation from the first EP entitled ‘Tales From A Silent Ocean’, the production on ‘Strange’ cunningly resembles Alan Wilder’s (did he learn from the best?) on his RECOIL gems, yet it’s even softer and powerful, which proves why John Fryer is THE PRODUCER of now. The droplets of synth perfection are skilfully intertwined with airy vocals of Fraser, sounding almost JULEE CRUISE-like – John: “MURICIDAE is a project that I’m proud of. It compares to my roots of a 4AD sound, capturing the ambient, ethereal soundscapes and bringing them up to date with my own twists and noise”
Available on the MURICIDAE download EP ‘Tears Are Stronger Than Waves’ via Muricidae Music
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This included providing a superb score for the Boston marathon bombing film ‘Patriots Day’ and the pair are currently working on music for the upcoming Ken Burns documentary ‘The Vietnam War’. Since providing the Oscar winning soundtrack to the ‘The Social Network’, this sidestep into film music composition has been a lucrative and creative outlet for the band.
After the soft-ish verse part of fourth track ‘Not Anymore’, the chorus hits the listener with an abrasive wall of sound; akin to being caught in an audio firestorm, this is NIN at their most aggressive and will satisfy fans of their earlier work on confrontational albums such ‘The Downward Spiral’
With KRAFTWERK styled electronic textures and retro Roland Compurhythm beats, the remix acts as a soundbed for Stephen Mallinder’s electronically mangled vocals and harsh synthetic sound effects on top. The final four minutes wind down and help bring the track to a half-tempo closedown.
is released by Memetune in double vinyl, CD and digital formats on 10th June 2016, available from 
by FREDDY SCOTT is available from the usual digital outlets
, the production on ‘Strange’ cunningly resembles Alan Wilder’s (did he learn from the best?) on his RECOIL gems, yet it’s even softer and powerful, which proves why John Fryer is THE PRODUCER of now. The droplets of synth perfection are skilfully intertwined with airy vocals of Fraser, sounding almost JULEE CRUISE-like – John: “MURICIDAE is a project that I’m proud of. It compares to my roots of a 4AD sound, capturing the ambient, ethereal soundscapes and bringing them up to date with my own twists and noise”
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