46 minutes, 17 seconds

Attrition
Dante's Kitchen

July 4th, and do I find myself listening to good old-fashioned American-made industrial music? Of course not. After all, it's not next on the total-time list. But Attrition, a fine bunch of redcoats from Coventry, are. So if I'm somehow offending your sense of patriotism, please don't blame me. Blame my obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Anyway, Attrition: I think my first exposure to them was via the Recollection '84-'89 cassette (remember those, kids?) from the Projekt label. Kind of a greatest-hits-so-far release, including "A'dam and Eva" (one of my all-time favorite Attrition songs), "Shrinkwrap," and "Mind Drop," among many others. They crafted these fractured goth-pop songs that wormed their way into your brain. Julia Waller's sweet soprano voice didn't so much complement Martin Bowes's gravelly croak as leaven it, much like the male-female vocal interplay in bands like Regenerator or Die Form.

They didn't release a truly great album until 1991's A Tricky Business, in my opinion, but it's been downhill from there. Dante's Kitchen, from 2004, is their most recent release, but as was the case with its predecessor, 1999's The Jeopardy Maze, the songs just aren't memorable. Or am I just getting forgetful?

Also today:

46:17 In Slaughter Natives, In Slaughter Natives
46:17 KIFOTH, Spectaclebreakers
46:17 Rrupt, Traverser