A song from forty years ago. Pink Industry were formed by Liverpool legend Jayne Casey after the break up of her previous band Pink Military in 1981, Jayne with Ambrose Reynolds (previously in Big In Japan and an early member of Frankie Goes To Hollywood). Pink Industry were more electronic than Pink Military had been, the Yamaha
In 1983 they released an album called Low Technology on Zulu Records, based on Liverpool's Bold Street.
Spindly guitars, a crashing Yamaha drumbeat and a very FXed bassline with Jayne's melancholic vox on top, darkwave/ goth electronic rock, several years before Depeche Mode (among others) took this sound to the stadiums of Europe and the US. One of those songs that has slipped through the net but a sound that seems very contemporary.
Back in 2020 Andrew Weatherall and Nina Walsh's Woodleigh Research Facility had a year long series of releases, an EP a month. The third, released in March 2020, came out only weeks after Andrew Weatherall had died. It was three tracks long, the second being Lottie's Theme.
Lottie's Theme starts with a child, Lottie I think, saying 'Mum, says you have to and Dad says and Granny says and everybody says and the whole world says...' as a wash of industrial noise swirls in. Clanging drums and percussion take up and Lottie carries on, 'the computer says it, the TV says it...', as more noise and grinding bass pick up. 'The sun says it, the moon says it, everything says...'
Nina has just released a four track EP of her own, Retrospective, four songs from the last twenty years bound together. The first song is a cover of Pink Military's Did You See Her, dating from the late 90s when Nina was recoding with Lol Hammond as Slab. Pink Military were faces on the Liverpool post- punk scene, Jayne Casey and a dozen or so members including various drummers that went off to Simply Red, Durutti Column, Slits and Siouxsie and The Banshees.
Three more tracks complete the EP- Lover Teacher has a grungy, fuzzy guitar riff (the fabled 60s Vox Invader guitar sold by WRF to Andy Bell ) and a harmonica, sounding like something from Laurel Canyon timeshifted into the mid 80s indie garage scene. Darkest Night is from the mid 00s, a blasted, small hours ballad, summoning the ghosts of early 70s Stones and their musical heirs. Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down is a lament for another loss from Nina's world, Erick Legrand, with unearthly droning synths and guitar combining for several minutes before Nina's voice comes in for the last minute. The Retrospective EP can be bought here.
