Streetcleaner (album)

Last updated
Streetcleaner
Streetcleaner.jpg
Studio album by Godflesh
Released 13 November 1989
Recorded May–August 1989
Studio Soundcheck in Birmingham, England and Square Dance in Derby, England
Genre Industrial metal
Length
  • 52:21(vinyl and cassette releases)
  • 66:22(CD releases)
Label Earache Records
Producer
Godflesh chronology
Godflesh
(1988) Godflesh1988		Streetcleaner
(1989)		 Slavestate
(1991) Slavestate1991

Streetcleaner is the debut studio album of English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 13 November 1989 through Earache Records. The album was widely acclaimed by critics and is often cited as a landmark album in the industrial metal genre. [1] [2] Streetcleaner has since been remastered, reissued, and praised as the band's signature album. [3]

Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal music and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Godflesh, KMFDM and Nine Inch Nails.

Godflesh English industrial metal band

Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, England. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick and G. C. Green (bass) renamed the band and decided to use a drum machine for percussion. Melding heavy metal with industrial music and later with electronic music and dub, Godflesh's innovative sound is widely regarded as a foundational influence on other industrial metal and post-metal acts and as significant to both experimental metal and extreme metal.

Earache Records is an independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson, based in Nottingham, England with offices in London and New York. It helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing early grindcore and death metal records between 1988 and 1994. The label roster has since diversified into more mainstream guitar music, working with bands such as Rival Sons, The Temperance Movement, Blackberry Smoke and The White Buffalo. The company also hosted the 'Earache Express' stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and will be hosting 'The Earache Factory' at Boomtown Fair 2018.

Contents

In 2013, Godflesh released a live album performing Streetcleaner in its entirety. The album was originally distributed on vinyl and later saw release digitally and on CD in 2017. [4]

<i>Streetcleaner: Live at Roadburn 2011</i> album by Godflesh

Streetcleaner: Live at Roadburn 2011 is the first live album from English industrial metal band Godflesh. The release was recorded on 14 April 2011 at the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. Apart from being the group's debut live album, it was also the first time they played Streetcleaner in its entirety.

Background

In 1986, English musicians Justin Broadrick, G. C. Green, and Paul Neville recorded a demo, Extirpate, together as the band Fall of Because. [5] After Broadrick dissolved the group to join Head of David as a drummer, the three briefly parted ways. In 1988, Broadrick left Head of David and contacted Green to reform Fall of Because. This reformation became Godflesh, and three songs from Extirpate were turned into Godflesh tracks, two of which appear on Streetcleaner ("Devastator" and "Life Is Easy") and can be heard in their original rough state on the 1999 compilation Life Is Easy . [6]

Justin Broadrick Record producer, musician, singer

Justin Karl Michael Broadrick is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist and drummer. He is best known as a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and industrial music. He was briefly in the English grindcore band Napalm Death when he was a teenager in the mid-1980s, writing and recording guitar for Side One of Napalm Death's debut album, Scum. Broadrick has also maintained a parallel career as a producer, producing records and remixes for groups such as Pantera, Isis, Mogwai and Hydra Head labelmates Pelican. Since 2012, he has been releasing hard techno music under the solo moniker JK Flesh. Broadrick has set up record labels such as HeadDirt, Avalanche Recordings, Post Mortem Productions, Lo Fibre and Heartache.

G. C. Green British musician

Ben George Christian "G. C." Green is an English musician, best known as the co-founder and bass guitarist of the Birmingham-based industrial metal band, Godflesh.

Paul Neville is an underground experimental industrial metal guitarist and musician from Birmingham, England.

Streetcleaner was recorded in several sessions. The first five songs were recorded by Broadrick and Green at Soundcheck, a studio in Birmingham, from May to August 1989. [7] The next five songs were recorded at Square Dance in Derby in May 1989 with the reintroduction of Neville as second guitarist. [7] The last four songs were originally recorded before Streetcleaner as a separate EP titled Tiny Tears, which the band wanted their label, Earache Records, to release as the follow-up to their self-titled EP. [8] Earache, however, pushed the band to record a full-length album instead, and the Tiny Tears EP never saw independent release. [3] The songs were appended as bonus tracks to the CD versions of Streetcleaner. [9]

Birmingham City in the English Midlands, 2nd highest population of UK cities

Birmingham is the second-most populous city in the United Kingdom, after London, and the most populous city in the English Midlands. With an estimated population of 1,137,100 as of 2017, Birmingham is the cultural, social, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands. It is the main centre of the West Midlands conurbation, which is the third most populated urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population in 2011 of 2,440,986. The wider Birmingham metropolitan area is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a population of over 3.7 million. Birmingham is frequently referred to as the United Kingdom's "second city".

Derby City and Unitary authority area in England

Derby is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, of which it was traditionally the county town. At the 2011 census, the population was 248,700. Derby gained city status in 1977.

<i>Godflesh</i> (EP) 1988 extended play by Godflesh

Godflesh is the debut extended play (EP) by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was originally released in 1988 through Swordfish Records and later saw several reissues on Earache Records with two additional songs. An unexpected underground success, the eponymous EP made it onto the UK Indie Chart and peaked at position 20. Though not supported by any singles or music videos at the time, a fan-made video for "Avalanche Master Song" has since been made official by the band.

The album's cover is a still frame of a hallucination scene from the 1980 Ken Russell movie Altered States . [10]

Ken Russell British film director

Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.

<i>Altered States</i> 1980 film by Ken Russell

Altered States is a 1980 American science-fiction horror film directed by Ken Russell based on the novel of the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. The film was adapted from Chayefsky's only novel and is his final screenplay. Both the novel and the film are based on John C. Lilly's sensory deprivation research conducted in isolation tanks under the influence of psychoactive drugs like mescaline, ketamine, and LSD.

Composition and style

Streetcleaner is one of the first albums to merge industrial music and heavy metal. [11] [12] [13] The album accomplishes such a fusion with its heavy reliance upon the drum machine along with Green's driving bass and Broadrick's distorted guitar and guttural vocals. [14] Writing for The Quietus , Noel Gardner said, "the original nine tracks [...] effect a great compromise, in a brilliantly uncompromising way, between making a drum machine sound like the consummate heavy metal instrument and making metal guitars sound like their bulk renders them unplayable by human hands." [3] In The Rough Guide to Rock, Richard Fontenoy said, "With the heaviest of metal riffs, slowed down to a crushing, claustrophobic pace and backed by a drum machine, Godflesh created a relentless, alienating wall of sound overlaid with feedback, samples, and Broadrick's misanthropic vocals." [15] The use of the drum machine, an Alesis HR-16, [10] was in part inspired by the American bands Big Black and Swans [16] [1] and by hip hop music, like Public Enemy and Eric B. & Rakim. [10] [17] About the instrument, Broadrick said:

Industrial music is a genre of experimental music which draws on harsh, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments and punk provocation". The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by members of Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza. While the genre name originated with Throbbing Gristle's emergence in the United Kingdom, concentrations of artists and labels vital to the genre also emerged in Chicago.

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock, and acid rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. The genre's lyrics and performance styles are sometimes associated with aggression and machismo.

Drum machine electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments

A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds. Most modern drum machines allow users to program their own rhythms. Drum machines may create sounds using analog synthesis or play prerecorded samples.

An Alesis HR-16, the type of drum machine used for Streetcleaner's percussion Alesis HR-16 circuit bent 07.jpg
An Alesis HR-16, the type of drum machine used for Streetcleaner's percussion
"That was an amazing machine. It's fucking mental, mostly because you could layer kicks. You could layer everything. Most of what the Godflesh early sound was—you could literally blend six kick drums. Other drum machines we played with at the time, they sounded much more plasticky and much more synthetic, and they also didn't have the ability to tune. What we were doing was, like, putting three kick drums together and tuning two of them to -12, and shit like that. We weren't doing it with any sense of technical perfection; we were doing it because it sounded rough, because it sounded raw and nasty." [10]

Aside from mechanical percussion, Streetcleaner employs another staple of industrial music: samples, the most notable of which appears as the introduction to the album's title track. The audio clip is the voice of convicted serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, taken from an interrogation. [18]

Release

Streetcleaner was originally released on 13 November 1989 through Earache Records. It was remastered and reissued on 21 June 2010. This reissue includes a second disc of bonus material, which is composed of alternate mixes, live excerpts from 1990, guitar and drum machine demo tracks and rehearsals. [19]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [16]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Entertainment Weekly B+ [20]

Streetcleaner received critical acclaim and was later hailed as a creative masterpiece. [1] [2] Ned Raggett of AllMusic said, "Compared to so many metal wimps who invoke Satan and death in the cheesiest of ways [...] Godflesh let their own brusque impact do the talking for them, and the result is suitably apocalyptic." Raggett also wrote that "the band deliver everything with a pinpoint precision". [16] Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot stated that "the sonic landscape is something else, blending the vicious with the ethereal." [14] For Entertainment Weekly , David Browne wrote, "Sounding like a visit to an out-of-control crackhouse that sits next to a train station, Streetcleaner should make Stephen King think twice about calling the comparatively tame AC/DC his favorite band." [20] In a retrospective review of the album, The Quietus' Noel Gardner wrote, "It's not going to atomise too many folks' received wisdom if I suggest Streetcleaner is probably the best thing Godflesh ever did." [3] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune called the album one of the most menacing ever released. [21] In 2007, Burton C. Bell of the industrial metal band Fear Factory said, "Streetcleaner is a fantastically produced and written record; every song is an opus." [22]

Streetcleaner has since appeared on many publications' greatest albums lists.

Accolades

YearPublicationCountryAccoladeRank
1995 Alternative Press United States "Top 99 of '85 to '95"34 [23]
1998Alternative PressUnited States"The 90 Greatest Albums of the '90s"79 [24]
2000 Kerrang! United Kingdom "200 Albums for the Year 2000 (Industrial)"5 [25]
2000 Terrorizer United Kingdom"100 Most Important Albums of the Eighties"* [26]
2002 Revolver United States"The 69 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time"66 [27]
2011 NME United Kingdom"The Twenty Heaviest (Metal) Records of All Time"7 [28]
2011 Terrorizer United Kingdom"The Heaviest Albums Ever"1 [29]
2013 Fact United Kingdom"The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s"3 [2]
2017 Rolling Stone United States"The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time"64 [1]
2018 Loudwire United States"The Best Metal Album from 40 Subgenres"* [30]
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Track listing

All tracks written by J. K. Broadrick and G. C. Green. Tracks 6 to 10 also written by Paul Neville.

No.TitleLength
1."Like Rats"4:29
2."Christbait Rising"7:00
3."Pulp"4:16
4."Dream Long Dead"5:19
5."Head Dirt"6:09
6."Devastator"3:20
7."Mighty Trust Krusher"5:26
8."Life Is Easy"4:51
9."Streetcleaner"6:42
10."Locust Furnace"4:45
Total length:52:21
CD-only bonus tracks (Tiny Tears EP)
No.TitleLength
11."Tiny Tears"3:25
12."Wound"3:05
13."Dead Head"4:09
14."Suction"3:22
Total length:66:22

Notes

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1989)Peak
position
UK Indie Chart [31] 19

Related Research Articles

<i>Slavestate</i> extended play

Slavestate is an EP by industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released in July 1991 through Earache Records. The EP saw the band experimenting with more samples and electronic sounds than their predominantly industrial metal prior releases.

<i>Pure</i> (Godflesh album) album by Godflesh

Pure is the second studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 13 April 1992 through Earache Records. Though originally labeled only as industrial metal, the album has since been recognised as one of the earliest post-metal releases. Musically, Pure is harsh and mechanical, with protracted songs and an abundance of deliberate repetition. Like much of Godflesh's music, it is regarded as particularly heavy and aggressive.

<i>Selfless</i> (album) album by Godflesh

Selfless is the third studio album by British industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 26 September 1994 in Europe and on 18 October 1994 through Earache and Columbia Records. Being the band's major-label debut, the record features a more conventional and rock-oriented sound compared to Godflesh's previous releases. It spawned two singles, "Xnoybis" and "Crush My Soul". The music video for the latter was directed by photographer Andres Serrano.

<i>Songs of Love and Hate</i> (Godflesh album) album by Godflesh

Songs of Love and Hate is the fourth studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. Released on 20 August 1996 through Earache Records, it is the band's first album to feature live drums, played by drummer Bryan Mantia, and a more traditional heavy metal sound, generally lacking the experimental and mechanical elements of previous releases. The cover is a photograph of Cancer Alley, Louisiana.

<i>Us and Them</i> (Godflesh album) album by Godflesh

Us and Them is the fifth studio album by English band Godflesh. It was released through Earache Records on 17 May 1999 in Europe and on 8 June 1999 in North America. As with Godflesh's 1997 remix album Love and Hate in Dub, Us and Them is influenced by breakbeats, drum and bass, oldschool jungle, trip hop and hip hop.

<i>Hymns</i> (Godflesh album) Godfleshs sixth studio album

Hymns is the sixth studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 23 October 2001 through Music for Nations and was the band's final album before breaking up in 2002. In 2010, Godflesh reformed and in 2014 released their comeback album A World Lit Only by Fire. Hymns had a troubled production and was intended to be distinct departure from Godflesh's intensely regimented industrial sound to something more traditionally hard rock. It was the band's second and final album to feature a live drummer rather than a drum machine.

<i>Merciless</i> (EP) extended play by Godflesh

Merciless is an EP released by industrial metal band Godflesh in 1994 through Earache and Columbia. In 1996, the EP was reissued along with the Selfless (1994) album as the compilation Selfless/Merciless.

<i>In All Languages</i> (Godflesh album) 2001 compilation album by Godflesh

In All Languages is a compilation album by British industrial metal band Godflesh, released on 24 July 2001 through Earache Records. It is a double album, and a companion music video DVD was also released in 2001. In All Languages' first disc acts as a greatest hits collection spanning from Godflesh's 1988 self-titled EP to their 1999 studio album, Us and Them. The second disc compiles rare and unreleased tracks.

Godflesh discography

The English industrial metal band Godflesh have released eight studio albums and six extended plays along with a number of singles, compilations and remix and live albums. The group formed in 1982 under the name Fall of Because, but they did not release any music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick and G. C. Green changed the project's name to Godflesh and recorded a self-titled debut EP. That EP, released through the independent label Swordfish, was met with underground success and has since been recognised as one of the first industrial metal releases, if not the first.

<i>A World Lit Only by Fire</i> (album) album by Godflesh

A World Lit Only by Fire is the seventh studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 7 October 2014 through frontman Justin Broadrick's own label, Avalanche Recordings, and was the band's first full-length album since 2001's Hymns. It was preceded by the digital singles "New Dark Ages" in August 2014 and "Imperator" in September 2014, and it was followed by several international tours.

Xnoybis

"Xnoybis" is a song by the industrial metal band Godflesh, taken from the album Selfless (1994). It was released in 1995 through Earache Records as a CD, and was also distributed as a promotional to radio stations.

<i>Post Self</i> album by Godflesh

Post Self is the eighth studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 17 November 2017 through frontman Justin Broadrick's own record label, Avalanche Recordings, and was the band's second album since reforming in 2010. The single "Post Self" was released for streaming on 31 October 2017, and a second track, "Be God", was released for streaming on 11 November 2017, six days in advance of the full release. Godflesh avoided interviews in the wake of Post Self, hoping to retain some of the album's purity and give listeners a chance to digest the music in a vacuum.

<i>Life Is Easy</i> album

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Mothra (song)

"Mothra" is a song by industrial metal band Godflesh. It was taken from their 1992 album Pure and saw release as a radio promo and music video in the same year. The track's title is derived from 1961 Japanese film of the same name by Ishirō Honda. Musically, "Mothra" is a grinding, mechanical song with shouted vocals and heavily distorted instruments.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Christe, Ian. "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone . Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s". Fact . Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Gardner, Noel. "Godflesh – Streetcleaner (reissue)". The Quietus . Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  4. ↑ Streetcleaner: Live at Roadburn 2011 (Digital liner notes). Godflesh. Avalanche Recordings. 2017. AREC028. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  5. ↑ Ankeny, Jason. "Fall of Because". AllMusic . Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  6. ↑ Life Is Easy (CD liner notes). Fall of Because. Invisible Records. 1999. INV 9042. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Streetcleaner (2010 remaster) (CD liner notes). Godflesh. Earache Records. 2010. MOSH1501. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  8. ↑ Pearson, Digby. "Godflesh -'Tiny Tears' 12inch?". Earache Records . Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  9. ↑ Streetcleaner (CD liner notes). Godflesh. Earache Records. 1989. MOSH15. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Cimarusti, Luca (April 8, 2014). "Artist on Artist: Justin Broadrick of Godflesh talks to producer Sanford Parker". The Chicago Reader . Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  11. ↑ Prato, Greg. "Godflesh biography". AllMusic . Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  12. ↑ Newquist, H. P.; Maloof, Rich (May 2004). The New Metal Masters. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 38–39. ISBN   0879308044.
  13. ↑ The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History: The grunge and post-grunge years, 1991-2005. Greenwood. 2006. ISBN   0313329818.
  14. 1 2 3 Kot, Greg (February 21, 1991). "Godflesh Streetcleaner (Combat/Earache..." Chicago Tribune . Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  15. ↑ Buckley, Peter (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. p. 432. ISBN   1858284570.
  16. 1 2 3 Raggett, Ned. "Streetcleaner Review". AllMusic . Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  17. ↑ Usery, Roy C. "Interview with Justin Broadrick". Slap Magazine. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  18. ↑ Necci, Marilyn Drew (August 17, 2010). "Godflesh "Streetcleaner" Receives Deluxe Double-disc Reissue". RVA Magazine . Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Godflesh's 'Streetcleaner' To Be Reissued With Bonus Disc". Blabbermouth.net. May 7, 2010. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  20. 1 2 Browne, David (January 1991). "Streetcleaner". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 19 March 2010.
  21. ↑ Kot, Greg (May 21, 1992). "Technology Expands Skinny Puppy's Apocalyptic Sound". Chicago Tribune : 84.
  22. ↑ Bartkewitcz, Anthony (March 2007). "Vision: Escape: Justin Broadrick". Decibel : 68–74.
  23. ↑ "Alternative Press – Top 99 Of '85 to '95". Alternative Press . Retrieved December 3, 2009.
  24. ↑ "Alternative Press – The 90 Greatest Albums of the '90s". Alternative Press . Retrieved December 3, 2009.
  25. ↑ "Kerrang! – 200 Albums For The Year 2000". Kerrang! . Retrieved April 16, 2008.
  26. ↑ "Terrorizer – 100 Most Important Albums of the Eighties". Terrorizer . Retrieved April 16, 2008.
  27. ↑ "Revolver – The 69 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Revolver . Retrieved December 3, 2009.
  28. ↑ "The Twenty Heaviest (Metal) Records of All Time". NME . Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  29. ↑ Yardley, Miranda. "The Heaviest Albums Ever: The albums Kerrang! forgot". Terrorizer . Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  30. ↑ "The Best Metal Album from 40 Subgenres". Loudwire . Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  31. ↑ Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
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