SHADES OF BLACK:
(14 pre-apocalyptic anthems for the past, present and future of life as we know it)
SHADES OF BLACK is the story of life. A life-spread of three years of agony, ecstasy, torture, confrontation and ultimately, realization. Every effort was made to capture these intense moments in our lives & portray them in the most realistic light possible. Every effort was made to overcome the various obstacles that almost prevented this collection of recordings from ever seeing the light of day. It was an incredible journey, full of incredible setbacks & overwhelming odds, but we forged on.... and pursued our vision to the very end. SHADES OF BLACK is the story, and it begins with....
THE WRAPPER - It's hard to believe that this song was conceived on 9-15-1994, and took until 1998 to be born to the world! But... nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. The lyrics were written when we were still infatuated with the hip-hop rap scene, and I think the words reflect that. We were also becoming disillusioned with the commercial "potential" that major labels saw in rap, and the direction that many rappers were taking in an attempt to cash in on a genre facing depletion. With the advent of "gangsta-rap" and pop-rap, it was obvious to us that were were watching a culture in decline. It was even more apparent that despite the name on the CD cover, the same old, tame old, lame old ideas were being recycled and sold as "innovative new product". So we put on our songlasses & saw the light. True & innovative ideas are more than a vastly-increasing quantity of products designed for mass-consumption. Which brings us to...
SHOUT! - The same commercial ideas & inherent drawbacks of rap music were quickly spreading to another musical ideal we held dear to our hearts: Industrial. The popularity of watered-down Industrial sounds mixed with disco dance beats was leading to one & only one obvious & mundane spectacle. I'm speaking of what I call "fast-food industrial" - the generic equivalent of a Big Mac Attack on the commercial industrial playground. So now, we were disillusioned with a second style of music which once motivated & inspired us. What could we do but look back to the beginnings of true Rock'N Roll? Why? Because it meant something.... because it was fun! It wasn't "art" - it was real.... more than just lyrics. Truth.
NONSTOP TIMEBEAT - In early 1995, we gave up on the "lyric" ideas in our music because we wanted to concentrate on using some of the original distorted beatbox sounds that were trademarks of our early recordings. So we created an entire set of these drumloops for use in MIDI sampling technology. NSTB was the first such attempt on joining old sounds with new technology. After hearing the initial mixes, we felt that it had a certain German electronic feel & it was also part of a timewarp where the beat was infinite & eternal. We think NSTB is good driving music.... music for the long haul.... and the long hall.
WARP DRIVE - This was conceived as a pure BLACKHOUSE "rhythmus" track, and the song was almost entirely finished until..... the sampler discs would not load into the keyboard! Our only choice was to attempt to "retrieve" the data bit by bit. It was a lengthy process, and we salvaged all but one sample which ended up as a deep bass rumble punctuated by several "clicks" or "ticks" of destroyed data sounds. We decided that fate was fate, and used the sample the way it was.... clicks & all. The result is computerized "logic" mixed with divine intervention.
KEIN SPASS - Started as a long driving song mixed with the sounds of airports in motion... later, we added the trendy disco-dance aspect as a put-on & everybody enjoyed it so much... it became part of the song! The military counting and vocal samples were stolen from our own CD called "The Father, Son & Holy Ghost", and the German vocals were recorded by Heiner Goebbels from a Berlin street riot. All these samples mixed together illuminate our concern regarding the burgeoning police state that is rapidly sweeping the planet. The governments of the world have failed in their attempts to stabilize the global mindset, and in their despair over their own useless doctrine, have resorted to punish the peoples of this planet. It's indeed a sad state of affairs as trivial crimes are capitolized & the so-called-criminals and their "punishments" are held up as examples of what happens to those who defy the corrupt power-servers of the planet. We don't believe in this ideal as positive or truthful. Government does NOT exist! It is merely a concept - a thought control process! People exist! People are real. WE are people! We will fight back! And we will win.
SON DAY - Even though the parameters of rap have been nullified by negativity & the lack of creativity, the music called hip-hop continued to interest us ... mainly because of the GOOD vibe associated with upbeat & positive dance steps combined with creative sampling techniques. Yeah: we know it's corny & sappy... but we like it! It makes us feel good... the pounding bass beats & Just-Ice vocal samples shred up the joint. Feelin' good... it's a valid emotion & sometimes (too often) we get bogged down in the serious aspects of the material world... too bogged down.... everything is kein spass (no fun)... So we gotta let loose. We gotta swing with the party people. We gotta release. Son Day is a release for us.... a release from being "heavy" intellectually.... and just a whole lotta fun.
BACK IN THE DAZE - Another simple hip-hop excursion, this time: feeling out our Jazz roots with samples from Weather Report & half-time off-beat pre-samples from swing just rockin' back & forth over a clam-bed of echoes ala' dub reggae. It's another good feeling with cool breaks, off beats & just a trip into good times & good feelings. We were feelin' pretty good when we made this cut in 1995. 1995 - You know: BEFORE the calm was interrupted by the storm of chaos & madness & contemptuous critique over our self worth. IE: The good ol' daze.
BUSS DAT GRÜV - Hip hop with a twist. Distorted Hip hop.... disgruntled & noisy hip hop for disgruntled & noisy minds. The beginning of the fall..... the fall of the House of Blackhouse. Decay... creeping in like a little cavity forming in a tooth.... it started out small... it grew... it started to rot. Ya know: we've done these distorted rhythms before... and when we did them, the typical (albeit naive') reaction was... "Is it SUPPOSED to sound like that?" (in a naggy, little whiney voice!)... yeah: Like Blackhouse is gonna make a mistake in NOISE! Like, we're gonna make a NOISE FAUX PAS! Like, sound is NOT our ally! Get real!!! We don't make mistakes in SOUND! We make MISTAKES IN LIFE! Just like everybody else.... we make mistakes... the truth: We're human. We admit it.
REASON TO LIVE - Is just that.... you make mistakes... you realize it.... you consider your dilemma.... and then you realize: There IS a reason to live! Just because you've made a mistake ... or two... or.... that's no reason to cash it all in.... EVERYBODY makes mistakes! You've got to LEARN from your mistakes. You've got to make the experience rewarding in itself. You've got to realize WHERE you went wrong... And NEVER make the same mistakes again. You've got to correct the mistakes... the best you can... Learn from your experiences .... and move on. Most importantly, you've got to realize the REASON why you're alive. That gives you a reason TO live. THEN... you live the rest of your life... in REASON. Not Reason for the sake of justifying yourself. But reason for LIVING. The reason for the season. Some may say... that it's merely tape manipulation & found sound. But we all know better. There's no such thing as coincidence. Not any more. Nope.
BRRRR BRRRR - It's a cold cold winter... outside. And inside... it's even colder. But if you take drum rolls at 60bpm and play them back at 300bpm, they become more than drum rolls - they become synthetic notes that warm up the space between your ears. Do the repetitive strings & foreboding symphonic textures remind us of the aftermath of war... the final conflict? Perhaps. That has been said more than once in this listening room of life.
X-MISSION - There's a video for this song that plays over and over in my head. I'm travelling on the well-worn road of my life in slow motion with the sun & trees & sky overhead... more driving music see? I'm tooling along, minding my own business & enjoying my life, when all of a sudden.... up ahead... I see a hitch-hiker.... I know her very well - she's TROUBLE. In my mind, I see it all very clearly.... I look directly at her and just drive on by in slow-mo. Up ahead, I see more hitch-hikers and as I get closer.... I see them more clearly.... I know them very well also - they're my loved ones. I stop and give them a ride. We are all laughing & singing X-MISSION. It's a never-ending cruise down the highway of life - complete with every pothole and benefit imaginable. 'Cause that's what life is all about. The good and the bad... and how you work things out. This dream replays endlessly in my head every time I hear this song. I used to wonder & ponder who I was singing "Who Loves Ya Baby? I Do!" to..... then I realized that those lyrics were being sung unto ME.... and I was not the one singing them. I love this song & I love my life. How could it be any other way?
TG II - Ten years ago, the song "Totally Gone" was part of our infamous "WE WILL FIGHT BACK!" LP on Staalplaat Records of Holland. Five years ago, it became a big hit on the emerging electronic-industrial dancehall scene that blasted through Germany. Since that time, we have been literally bombarded with requests for music similar to "Totally Gone". We once stated in an interview that we would never create endless re-mixes of "hit" songs just to please our fanbase, and that is indeed true. However, we have always been a band that breaks the rules - even those rules made by our own minds & mouths, so we present to you... in the fine tradition of "Totally Gone".... TG II. Is it a re-mix or a brand new cut??? Both. This cut is actually the closing of a deep wound - and the opening of a brand new philosophical stance. The vocal samples are pure Blackhouse & the deep dark hip-hop beats are courtesy of Eric B & Rakim.
SLEAZY - I was always promoting & hyping this unique cut as "Blackhouse's answer to 'I'M TOO SEXY FOR MY SHIRT', and maybe it is.... I don't know. To me, it's just a swirly booming deep dark dub mix of an overtly "club" club hit. There's a nod or two to the original funk synth squads, and the start/stop breaks punctuated with the dry vocal samples are only offset by that original re-sampled fuzz drumbox set I spoke of previously. I don't really care how you look at it or listen to it.... as long as you realize that it's darn good fun - a little silly... a little serious.... and basically... just a gas. Fill 'er up!
I'M THE GUY - The ending cut for this project. The endless loop has come full circle. From the aggressive & philosophical political stance to the fun for fun's sake to the confusion, decay & sadness to the healing and re-emerging humor to this. The one constant throughout this entire escapade.... I'm still the guy. The guy I was.... the guy I became... the guy I ended up being.... the guy I will ALWAYS be! The guy I am. I'm the guy... and there's that same guitar sample that started off this whole crazy trip. Yeah: I'm the guy. I'm the one. What else could I be? Who else could I be? I'm the guy. Yeah.
PRO-LIFE
HOPE LIKE A CANDLE
HOLY WAR
MATERIAL WORLD
THE FATHER, THE SON, and THE HOLY GHOST
HIDDEN BENEATH THE METAL(CS) (1991) Ladd-Frith (USA)
STAIRWAY TO THE GOSPEL WORD
.
.Y2K(7" record) (1999) Klang Galerie GG5 (Austria)
Posts
