04/08/2008
Electrify Yourself! An Accelerated, Super-Charged History of Chrome
Chrome was an innovative San Francisco-based band who established a hyper-real style of industrial and post-punk music, paving the way for future acts like Skinny Puppy, Chicks on Speed and The Rapture. They were led by Damon Edge (drums and synths) and Helios Creed (guitar) who, in addition to having amazing names, wrote super-charged, sci-fi inspired tunes enhanced with distortion and television samples.
Their first two albums Visitations and Alien Soundtracks were solid efforts, but their 1979 album Half Machine Lip Moves, with songs like "TV As Eyes," would be the peak of their early sound--one that looked back to the Stooges, yet kept a cybernetic eye on the future.
Chrome continued their electrical sound experiment on 1980's Red Exposure, but added a new-wave polish. The sharp groove and screeching electric violins of the juiced-up, "Electric Chair," would have made Philip K. Dick do the Neutron Dance.
However, when it came to their 1981 album Blood on the Moon, the band opted for a more normalized rock sound. Just one problem: nothing they ever touched ended up sounding normal. For example, the straight-laced muscle-rock of "Perfumed Metal" becomes eclipsed by the song's ethereal and other-worldly vocals and ends up sounding like an extra-terrestrial metal band. Awesome!
The band officially broke up in 1982 (both Damon and Helios individually revived the name in the mid 80s and mid 90s with mixed results). Unfortunately, like so many influential bands, they never achieved the success they deserved. Despite this, their music is and will always be an exciting cornerstone of early industrial and new-wave.
In addition to a great anthology set, which I highly recommend, all of Chrome's albums are available via Amazon. Get electrified!
MP3
Download 'Chrome - TV as Eyes (From Half Machine Lip Moves)'2:18 | 4.55MB
Download 'Chrome - Electric Chair (From Red Exposure)'4:09 | 7.85MB
Download 'Chrome - Perfumed Metal (From Blood on the Moon)'4:41 | 8.95MB
Posted by Michael on 04/08/2008 8:16 AM in Experimental, Post-Punk, New-Wave, Industrial
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