The Y2K explosion…

What a difference five years can make (compare, if you like, with the mid 90s mix, previous). As this mix may suggest, 2000 was perhaps the big year for future pop. The genre defining albums of Apoptygma Bezerk (Welcome to Earth) and Covenant (United States of Mind) complemented VNV Nation’s ‘Empires’ in combination to yield massive ebm trance anthem after anthem. Whilst futurepop had been creeping onto industrial dance floors throughout the 90s (arguably as far back as Front 242’s ‘Tragedy For You’, and at least as far as Covenant’s 1995 ‘Figurehead’ a track that seemed to dominate industrial dance floors for at least two years), these three releases represented a seismic alteration of the industrial dance landscape.

A number of further massive album releases followed from each of these outfits in subsequent years (VNV Nation - Futureperfect, Covenant - Northern Light, Apoptygma Berzerk - Harmonizer). Futurepop however, seemed to burn brightly, but quickly. Whilst the sound is by no means gone, the genre seems to suffer from the weight of its’ millennial glory days. There is perhaps a sense that the sound has already been explored, and its greatest heights scaled. The strength of the new wave of electro has no doubt drawn away the attention of many, seduced by grittier, deeper and more varied textures than the increasingly streamlined and trance oriented futurepop sound seemed able to deliver.

Perhaps not so surprising then that Aptogyma have turned away from futurepop. More surprising however, that their turn has been as drastic as it has; a reinvention as a sometimes Placebo-like alternative synth rock band. It’ll be interesting to see how the two strands mesh, or otherwise, this Sunday night at The Corner. I’ll be more than curious to see how their new style comes across - and equally as hopeful to hear at least a taste of the sound they perfected back in y2k.

Kathy’s Song (Come Lie Next to Me) Apoptygma Berzerk 122 6:34 Welcome to Earth 2000 http://www.discogs.com/release/10509 Dead Stars (Club Version) Covenant 133 6:54 Dead Stars 2000 http://www.discogs.com/release/103426 Twothreezerone Defcon 4 134.9 3:49 Sex, Drugs & EBM 1992 http://www.discogs.com/release/299537 Once In A Lifetime Wolfsheim 124 3:42 Spectators 1999 http://www.discogs.com/release/159889 Cold (rated R mix by mig-29) VNV Nation 134 5:23 [non-album tracks] 2001 http://www.discogs.com/release/515811 Today Ivory Frequency 142 7:16 Plug-in 2002 http://www.discogs.com/release/95229 Disappoint (Funker Vogt remix) Assemblage 23 130 6:01 Disappoint 2001 http://www.discogs.com/release/175034 Hellraiser (VNV Nation Remix) Suicide Commando 140 6:43 Hellraiser 2000 http://www.discogs.com/release/90839 Advance Diorama 135 6:07 Her Liquid Arms 2001 http://www.discogs.com/release/443633 Beloved VNV Nation 140 7:24 Futureperfect 2002 http://www.discogs.com/release/28137 Everlasting Icon of Coil 145 5:22 Serenity is the Devil 2000 http://www.discogs.com/release/91019 Steelrose (Apoptygma Berzerk Remix) Project Pitchfork 133 6:05 Steelrose 1998 http://www.discogs.com/release/193678 One World One Sky Covenant 132 5:01 United States of Mind 2000 http://www.discogs.com/release/17301 Starsign Apoptygma Bezerk 133 5:09 Welcome to Earth 2000 http://www.discogs.com/release/10509 Destillat (VNV Nation remix) Das Ich 123.9 6:06 Re_Laborat 1999 http://www.discogs.com/release/721539 Travelling Seabound 125 5:20 No Sleep Demon 2001 http://www.discogs.com/release/342916 Eclipse Apoptygma Berzerk 133 5:57 Welcome to Earth 2000 http://www.discogs.com/release/10509 Amphetamine Drax LTD II 142.2 6:31 Amphetamine 1994 / 1999 http://www.discogs.com/release/140592

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