Look around here and you can find a shit ton of the Hitch, a band that I’d like to think I may have sung for, had I stayed in Humboldt (now that would have been cool, but probably better that I wasn’t, just would have brought them down a notch and they were top fucking notch). Only saw them play once, in downtown LA sometime in the mid-90s and as was natural for any fellow seeing them play, was completely blown away. I was drunk, as was the norm in those days, so the specifics are hazy, but I remember very well being overjoyed at getting to hang out with my old buds Steve and Jeff (turns out it’s the last time I got to hang with them in person). My bro Jefe, recently posted this vid and had this to say, “the hitch, new huevo instrumental. live video from e&o lanes in blue lake shot by metal mike, song recorded at prairie sun by noah landis.”…
Month: June 2014
Blitzkrieg Baby – Kids’ World EP
Put your big boy pants on because I’m bringing guns to a knife fight with this one…if you have an inkling towards any one of the many incarnations, under the greater umbrella of Industrial music, this band will blow you away. Blitzkrieg Baby isn’t some amateur toying around with some sampling program, this is as real as it gets and I would stack them up against any of the greats in the genre. Here’s the little bio type deal…
“Blitzkrieg Baby are back after 2012’s epic Porcus Norvegius CD on Neuropa. And what a return. Four brand new, bile-spewing pork rind delights, backed up by four, previously released compilation tracks, and a reworking of Children In Uniform from the above-mentioned album. Blitzkrieg Baby fuses diverse influences from Industrial, Electronic Pop and Neo-Classical into dissonant marching music for the balaclava-wearing youths secretly rallying in the pig pens and gutters of the bleak post-industrial wasteland Blitzkrieg Baby live in. Kids’ World EP dives face first into the stink-hole of humanity in the present and impending future; child soldiers, paranoia, rape rallies, broken childhood, terror, and death, often delivered with a sardonic smile.”
Sardonic smile indeed, let your ears bleed to this one…
“Half Pig Half Man”
Kim Sølve is the driving force behind this sinister beast and he takes no prisoners when it comes to his compositions. In the reviews on Discogs of their previous release, some guy wrote, “The finest modern industrial stuff I have listened to since the times of Sektor 304. Refined, filthy, innocent, perverted, a marriage of Heaven and Hell. Masterpiece.” That guy should have his own blog because I don’t know if I could say it better than that. I will say that the diversity within the compositions is amazing, numerous sub-genres are toyed with…dark ambient, EBM, power electronics, neo-classical, old school Industrial…there seems to be no limits and what your left with is pure genius. A special award for one the best song titles ever, goes to “Those They Could Not Fuck, They Killed”, it’s an instrumental, the title pretty much is a story in itself (check it)…
I don’t know if my babbling makes this clear or not, but I REALLY like BB. I’m a music lover, in general, who is really keen on Industrial music in it’s many shapes and sizes. Specifically, in having found out about BB, this is what it must feel like when an astronomer or astrophysicist discovers a habitable planet out in the void and you just have to tell everyone about it. Anyway, my curiosity got the better of me, just had to fuckin know more, got those fanboy jitters, so I hit up Kim Sølve for some details in the form of a mini interview, here’s how it went…
Have to say Kim, after listening to this EP several more times I am literally blown away. I went back and listened to your previous EP and was likewise blown away by the tornado that is Blitzkrieg Baby. You have a talent that puts you up there with some of the best in the history of Industrial music. It’s amazing how the songs are so varied yet all come from you. You would be the first Norwegian group I’ve heard playing this genre of music, the only other Scandinavian one that I can think of off the top of my head is Karjalan Sissitt. I noticed on your Facebook page that a lot of people/sites have given you very glowing reviews, and they probably have said it better than I ever could, but I have gone ahead and started my own (basically cut and pasted all your info and come up with a few thoughts). I was wondering if I could make my review a little special and ask you a few questions, a sort of mini-interview? I realize that some artists like to keep things mysterious, so if you don’t want to that’s fine, I will just write my review. Here are some of the questions that came to mind in listening to your compositions (again, if you don’t want to answer, just let me know)…
Who are Blitzkrieg Baby, what are your origins? How did you come to create music?
Blitzkrieg Baby is me, Kim Sølve, making most of the music and being the main chauffeur. At my side I have invaluable collaborators: Mr. B doing a lot of the vocals and often co-writing lyrics with me, Bjeima assisting me with production and arrangements, and sometimes Anders B. from Mind & Flesh on electronics.
Creating has always been a necessity for me, if it is not I see no reason to do it. When I was a kid I used to draw when I was upset. I had a troubled relation to my father and whenever we had a fight, which was often, I would make drawings of him in unspeakable situations and pin them up in the apartment in an effort to get back at him. It is similar with Blitzkrieg Baby; it is venting, focusing on and expressing frustration for certain parts of this troubled existence, a chance to chew it up and spit it out, and have a good time doing it.
What is the meaning of Blitzkrieg Baby?
The name Blitzkrieg Baby is stolen from Una Mae Carlisle’s track of the same name.. The original track has one meaning, my usage of it has others. Although there is not one definitive explanation it does sum up the parts of the project quite well: one part war, one part childhood; total war on humanity and oneself.
I hear a lot of different influences in your music and sociology in your words, what are your influences (music, politics, culture)? What mood are you trying to communicate?
When I started out, the musical inspiration was the so-called post-Industrial underground which caught my interest in the early nineties when I was a young teenager into anything dark and dangerous. But it was never my intention to sound like anything or anyone in particular, it was more intuitive than that. Up through the years, as Blitzkrieg Baby has matured and found itself more, the musical inspiration comes from anywhere and everything around me. The lyrical inspiration comes from being a pig in a pig supremacy. From the second we open our eyes in the morning we are bombarded with reasons to kill ourselves. Blitzkrieg Baby is not about politics of any kind. Blitzkrieg Baby is way beyond that. Blitzkrieg Baby is an outpouring, where inspiration comes from frustration with humanity and life, and from the darker tendencies within us. Political music, to me, seems to often be about choosing alliances, narrow minded idealism, pointing fingers and offering naive, tunnel-vision solutions to social problems according to pre-existing dogmas and -isms that people haven’t really questioned or examined thoroughly to begin with. Music with a political message is to me the most tedious music there is and I have never at any point in my life been interested in it. It’s one dimensional focal point robs it of so much of what makes music fulfilling to me in the first place. I don’t need or want definitive answers in music; I want music to leave something for the listeners, to let them give it a meaning of their own. Blitzkrieg Baby has no political agenda, no political starting point nor ending point. Blitzkrieg Baby is a sewer where I and my cohorts empty our frustrations and minds without offering any kind of answers or solutions to anything. I haven’t set out with a specific goal for mood nor genre nor acceptance. I stand by my own, I do not follow the program, and I do what I want.
The compositions are quite powerful and at times intricate, what are your instruments, tools, programs? How do you create your sound?
Blitzkrieg Baby uses whatever is at hand and whatever is needed to fulfill an idea. It is like shaping a clump of barbed wire, news articles, porn, comics, and hate letters into a figure that in some way is pleasing to look at, and that I want to return to, to get my fix. I record instruments and I work with electronics and sometimes I steal whatever I feel fits my intention. Gut feeling directs the musical process, not specific tools or aims, therefore I make use of anything and anyone that feels right. Blitzkrieg Baby is abrasive, dissonant music, sometimes structured to work like shameless Pop music.
You said that you started this project back in 2001 (I would love to hear some of that early stuff), what made you wait so long to making your music public and why now?
There are several reasons: one of them was that I was being a negative, self destructive perfectionist. Also, I made the music for myself only, and it took some time for me to realize that I truly needed this music to be released. The material you have heard already is full of early recordings. It is all baked in there like a landmine in a kids toy. The Kids World EP even has recorded material going back to the nineties, from before I started and named the project.
What are your thoughts on the human race, it’s morality, politics, religion? Where do you see us in 100 years?
That’s a big one, Justin. I don’t think it would be wise of me to start ranting on such big themes here and now. I am no optimist that’s for sure. The world is so ugly, dumb, and merciless, so full of injustice and senseless suffering. Existing among fellow humans is a source to endless disappointment, fatigue and frustration. We are all pigs. Without that frustration there would be no Blitzkrieg Baby. Recording is like vomiting poison and releasing an album is like flushing it down in the sewers. So we have a lot of fun.
Two outstanding releases in two years, what are your plans with this project, where are you all headed? Any new releases on the horizon?
Blitzkrieg Baby is making itself more and more important to me every day. There is a collaborative release with belgian project Corrugator Supercilii coming out as a cassette through norwegian label Grimtown. There is talk about some split 7 inches with other scandinavian artists, a two track 7 inch, a 12 inch, and some compilation appearances. But plans like that are never certain until the releases are actually out. I am working on finishing the second proper full length album sometime this year.
If you have anything that you would like to add, please do so, I am just as interested in your thought as I am your music. Thanx Kim, take it easy…
Thanks so much for your time and interest, Justin. Your support is much appreciated.
People curious about Blitzkrieg Baby can visit the official Facebook page, my personal Facebook profile, the website for my workplace Trine + Kim design studio, or follow me on Instagram. At this point these are the places where news is being shared.
Blitzkrieg Baby Facebook
Kim Solve Facebook
Trine + Kim Design Studio
Instagram
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
Proud Poppa!
Not just proud of him for graduating from high school and getting accepted to a university, but for the person he has become…not sure I had my head on that straight at 17.
Sisca Locca
About a month ago, I featured a band, Missiles of October, and mentioned that I was blown away by the cover art. In my opinion, the day somebody came up with the idea of putting a picture sleeve on a record, changed recorded music, art representing art. I have always been a sucker when it comes to buying a record based on the sleeve and an admirer of artists who will take that step and do it right. Smart bands have taken an artist like Frazetta, Petibone, Pushead or photographers like Edward Colver, and put a face on their music. So I gave huge props to Missiles of October for using such a wonderful piece to represent themselves. The artist, Sisca Locca, left a comment thanking me for mentioning her work and a link to see more. I was further captivated by these images that are almost playful at times, yet at other times stark and grim. So asked Sisca to give me the lowdown on her artistic endeavors and send me some pieces to post here…
“I was born in France in 1974, I have been living in Bruxelles since 2000, and before that, I had lived in Paris. I have been studying philosophy for three years. In Paris, I started working in a collective, « Zichaos » . We organized punk, hardcore and noise gigs. I was in charge of flyers and music’s fanzine’s graphic design, (and also mini roadie, sometimes!) therefore it was my first experience as punk graphic designer, and it was free style! I moved in Brussels, Belgium, to turn my life on, drink the best beers of the world and I have been studying silkscreen print, and computer graphics technics. I began to make some comix and collaborative exhibitions with some crazy illustrators and painters I has developping my personnal artwork too. Micro-editor, I had founded fanzines “Jacqueline” (current collection) with Peggy Van Reeth in 2008, and “Minette” with Mrs. Gruikkk in 2009. The both of them are a kind of Trash and funny graphzines, with a touch of Riot Grrrrzl…and boys! I contribute regularly to other publications (“La Gazette du Rock”, a comix about the imaginary history of rock , “Jukebox” by Vanille Goudron Editions (France) as illustrator and graphic designer and more …) I have created in collaboration with the Bunker Cinema Theatre, the “Fanzine Fest” (which changes its name in each edition) in 2011 and Fanzinorama website, a fanzinat portal, online showcase of “La petite fanzinotheque belge”, also hosted by Bunker at Brussels. I regularly exhibited my personal artwork in galleries, bars and events, in solo shows, or with the artist collective like “Painting Fucking Tour”, or “Jukebox collective” for example. I am the graphic designer of Missiles Of October because one day my boyfriend, Lionel (who is the bass player of M.O.O) asked me to do a design for “Hangover EP”. “Sure darling”, I answered, “but what is the dead line?” “Today Honey!” “Bloody hell!” I took an artwork I just finished. It was of a child afraid by the war. Probably me in fact. With “Dont Panic” LP, the band being sufficiently matured to confirm his powerfull punk sludge. This is why the new design is more agressive and “explosive”, the character has strengthened too. I do less digital art now, because I enjoy coming back to ink but both are linked! Music is also a part of my work. It is a source of inspiration. I’m currently making a poster for the 20 years of Magasin 4 , a really nice Rock venue in Brussels. My upcoming projects are first the next fanzine’s fest, called this year “5èmes Rencontres félines du Fanzine” where I will show a selection of artworks and book’s projects… and a new brand website… to be continued!”
Facebook
Fanzinorama
artist/author page @ Fanzinorama
Tumbler
“Alcool” 
“Back to School”
“E.L.M.” 
“Fanzinefest 2014” 
“Minette” 
“Sadomicro” 
“Wake Up in a New Blood” 
DAD – Explicit Parental Advisory cassette
Before the days of the internet, it was mostly by word of mouth that you got turned on to new music. It felt sort of like that when Karstein Volle dropped me a lime and asked me to give his band a listen. Listen, I did to his band DAD and I gotta say that it took me back to those pre-internet days when I would be amazed and thankful at the same time, some kind of fateful discovery. This is one of the feel good moments when a band hits the spot like a quality meal, a feeling of satisfaction. These guys have a unique spin, a take that is new to me, one that makes total sense. Here’s the blurb that I got from their Soundcloud bio… “Dad plays punkrock in the Flipper/Hüsker Dü/DK style. The subject matter is sleep deprivation, diapers and all other dementia that follows the miracle of procreation. Anyone saying punk rock is a young person´s game is either lying or a goddamn fool. Punkrock is at best geezer culture and Dad is here to prove it. Punkrock should be honest. Punkrock should be direct. That´s why we´re not gonna pretend we´re young delinquents being hassled by the man. Fuck that. We´re suburban parents in our late 30s. We got IKEA furniture, dammit. We OWN our mediocrity and unhipness and we´ll make good use of it. We´re here to rescue the reputation of so called dad-rock with DAD-PUNKROCK. Dad is not pleased with you. Dad thinks your pathetic attempts at coolness are silly and sad. Dad will mess you up. Dad knows best.”
Dad is:
Heikki, drums
Lasse, bass
Karstein, guitar + vox
One of the best bios I’ve run across. This is a fun band, honest, no contrived attempt to sound like something old, but reminiscent of those bands that could play hard with a smile on their faces. No macho posturing, not in Helsinki Finland, they choose to have fun instead. I asked Karstein to give me his person take on what was going with this DAD thing, “There’s quite a healthy punk scene here in Helsinki. There’s old hc classics like Terveet Kädet still touring and excellent newcomers like Kovaa Rasvaa, Hopejärvi n us geezers in Dad. With us, I still think the old ‘three chords and the truth’-credo applies. We just face different things nowadays. Being a dad is HARD. If you act upon your frustrations, anger and obvious shortcomings bringing up kids, you would become a monster. So suck it up and count to ten million. That’s where punkrock comes in. It’s the safety valve with a safety pin on it 🙂 At the moment, we’ve just self released a cassette, while polishing new recordings. Hoping to get an EP out by the end of the year and even a flexi before that. The best way to support us nowadays is to drop us a line and order the tape and the very attractive cloth patch we made. We’ve just been around since April last year, so we’re still working on things.” They have a Soundcloud and a Facebook that you can contact them at. Every single solitary song I listened to from these guys is pure gold of the uber catchiest kind. This is the kind of stuff that upon first listen, will become instantly implanted on your brain and before you know it, you’ll be singing the songs to yourself. Give em a spin, here’s one of my favorites…
MY KID´S FRIEND´S DAD
My kid has a friend
That kid has a dad.
I´m spending time with my kid.
That kid spending time with his dad.
Agh.
Shut up about your car!
Shut up about Somalis!
Shut up about hunting!
Shut up about your tax!
Of course I´m
I´m polite.
That kid is a friend of my kid.
So I, I shut up.
I wish you could do the same.
Ack! Ack! Ack!
Shut up about your car!
Shut up about Somalis!
Shut up about hunting!
Shut up about your tax!
Shut up about political correctness!
Shut up about fishing!
Shut! Up!
SHUT! UP!
SHUT! UP!
SHUT! UP! Shaddup!
