Hello, Aetix starts of this year on a hard edge, recharge those batteries that have been sapped during the holidaze, time to stand up and be counted, although that figure of speech has gotten a somewhat sinister connotation in these digital days. Adapted then for our age into; Stand Up and be anonymous !
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Paul Ferguson was drumming for the Matt Stagger Band when he met Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards) in the late '70s. Coleman joined the band briefly, but soon he and Ferguson split to form Killing Joke in late 1978. The duo recruited bassist Youth (born Martin Glover Youth), who had previously played with the punk group the Rage, and guitarist Geordie (born Kevin Walker) to complete the Killing Joke's lineup.
They recorded their debut EP, Almost Red, with money borrowed from Coleman's girlfriend of the time. John Peel was impressed by the EP and offered the group a session on his show. In late 1979, they began the Malicious Damage record label with graphic artist Mike Coles as a way to press and sell their music, Island Records distributed the records, until Malicious Damage switched to E.G. Records in 1980. The songs on Killing Joke's early singles were primitive punk rock sometimes mixed with electronic ("Nervous System") and ("Turn to Red"). They quickly progressed this sound into something denser, more aggressive, and more akin to heavy metal, as heard on their first two albums, Killing Joke (1980) and the more abrasive What's THIS For...! (1981) The group began playing shows regularly throughout England and gained a reputation for being controversial. Their artwork often featured repulsive or inflammatory images, and after one of their concert posters pictured the Pope blessing legions of Nazis, the group was banned from performing a concert in Glasgow. Despite the controversy, the group began amassing a following of both punk and disco fans with hard-edged but danceable singles like "Psyche" and "Follow the Leader." The band released its second album, What's THIS For...!, in 1981.
After recording and releasing the group's third album, 1982's Revelations, Jaz Coleman -- who had developed an obsession with the occult -- decided that the apocalypse was near, so he left the group and ran away to Iceland with Geordie. Youth followed Coleman to Iceland shortly after his departure. After a few months with no sign of the end of the world, Youth returned to England and formed Brilliant with Ferguson. However, Ferguson left shortly after the group's formation and moved to Iceland with Killing Joke's new bassist, Paul Raven. Killing Joke's new lineup -- featuring Coleman, Geordie, Ferguson, and Raven -- worked in Iceland for a brief period. Soon, the group returned to England and recorded Fire Dances, which was released in 1983. It demonstrated a calmer, more straightforward band than the one showcased on the group's earlier records.
Killing Joke had developed a variation of new wave on their fifth album, Night Time (1985). They achieved mainstream success with the single "Love Like Blood", which peaked at #16 in the UK. The album itself reached #11 in the UK The music on Killing Joke's sixth album, Brighter than a Thousand Suns (1986), was mostly similar in sound and mood to "Love like Blood". While no less aggressive and heavy than their older work, Brighter than a Thousand Suns diverged musically in ways that lead to controversy among the public. In 1987, Coleman began plans for a solo record of unusual music, and he made demos of his songs, on which he performed with Geordie's assistance. The project ran way over budget and so, despite Coleman's objections, the record company decided that the music would be released under the name "Killing Joke" in order to best recoup the costs. The resulting album, Outside the Gate (1988), is Killing Joke's most controversial album, with opinion ranging from admiration to total disgust, owing to its synth-led sonics (experimentally, and disagreement over the quality of the material. It is not signature-sound Killing Joke, being built around Coleman's orchestral keyboards instead of Geordie's distinctive guitar riffs.
With Martin Atkins (drums ex PIL) and Paul Raven aboard Coleman/Geordie recorded Killing Joke's eighth album, the ferocious Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions, released on the German Noise International label in 1990. It included some of the heaviest, noisiest and harshest music ever to appear on a Killing Joke record, although the progressive musical spirit of the previous two albums remained as well. Once again, the band toured Europe and North America, but by the middle of 1991 this promising new line up had imploded. Coleman emigrated to New Zealand to live on a remote Pacific island, and it looked as though Killing Joke was over for good.
3 years later...The reactivated Killing Joke released two strong and well-received albums on Youth's Butterfly Recordings label, Pandemonium and Democracy, which saw the band shift back to the simpler arrangements of their early albums. Pandemonium (1994) wove a metallesque ritualistic sound with mosh beats and loops After the Democracy tour, the band went on an extended hiatus. Coleman became Composer-in-Residence for New Zealand and Czech symphony orchestras. He starred in a czechfilm Rok ďábla (Year of the Devil). Coleman, Geordie and Youth reformed Killing Joke in 2002, and recorded their second self-titled album with producer Andy Gill, released to much acclaim in 2003 . Opting for simplicity and raw energy, the band recorded the new album in its basement rehearsal studio, going for live takes with the minimum of overdubs. The result was Hosannas from the Basements of Hell, released in April 2006 on Cooking Vinyl.
In October 2006, it was announced that Coleman had been chosen as Composer in Residence for the European Union. As Composer in Residence he will be commissioned to write music for special occasions. On October 20th 2007, Paul Raven died of heart failure prior to a recording session in Geneva, Switzerland. Killing Joke have announced a world tour commencing in September 2008. The band will be reuniting with their original lineup and they will be playing two nights per venue. The first night they will play their first two albums 'Killing Joke' and 'What's THIS For...!' in their entirety. The second night will feature the whole of 'Pandemonium' plus their early singles released on Island records. The tour will begin on September 11 in Tokyo and conclude in Chicago on October 14
At the time the cold metallic throb of Killing Joke was exciting and fresh. The harshly sung vocals riding over the pulsating synth lines of the opener "Requiem" have a vigor and passion that few imitators have managed to match. The precise riffs and tight rhythms found in songs like "Wardance" would influence a generation of hardcore musicians That such a bleak and furious album could have such a widespread influence is a testament to its importance, and becoming an underground classic
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Since 1980, there have been a hundred bands who sound like this; but before Steve Albini and Al Jourgensen made it hip, the cold metallic throb of Killing Joke was exciting and fresh. The harshly sung vocals riding over the pulsating synth lines of the opener "Requiem" have a vigor and passion that few imitators have managed to match. The precise riffs and tight rhythms found in songs like "Wardance" would influence a generation of hardcore musicians. That such a bleak and furious album could have such a widespread influence is a testament to its importance. This is an underground classic and deserves better than its relative unknown status.
Killing Joke - Killing Joke (flac 382mb)
01 Requiem 3:45
02 Wardance 3:47
03 Tomorrow's World 5:30
04 Bloodsport 4:47
05 The Wait 3:42
06 Complications 3:08
07 S.O.36 6:52
08 Primitive 3:39
Bonus Tracks
09 Change 4:01
10 Requiem (Single Version) 3:47
11 Change (Dub) 4:00
12 Primitive (Rough Mix) 3:34
13 Bloodsport (Rough Mix) 4:50
Killing Joke - Killing Joke (132mb)
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Marking the full return from the band's out-of-nowhere hiatus in 1982, Night Time, following after a couple of test-the-waters EPs, finds the reconstituted Killing Joke, with Paul Raven in on bass but otherwise unchanged, caught between their earlier aggression and a calmer, more immediately accessible approach. At this point, however, the tension between the two sides had a perfect balance, and as a result Night Time is arguably the quartet's freshest album since its debut, with a warm, anthemic quality now supplementing the blasting, driving approach that made the band's name, as songs like "Kings and Queens" demonstrate. Geordie Walker pulls off some jaw-dropping solos amid his fierce riffs -- check out his turns on the title track -- while Paul Ferguson mixes and matches electronic beats with his own very well (perhaps a little less intensely than before, but not by much). Jaz Coleman's experimentation with keyboards -- chopped-up vocal samples, calmer and sweet lead melodies -- is paralleled by his own singing, now mostly free of the treatments and echoes familiar from earlier days. He's got a great singing voice as it stands, and it's a treat to hear him let it flow forth without forcing it. "Eighties" turned out to be the retrospectively most well-known song, Love Like Blood was the breakthrough single in the U.K
Killing Joke – Night Time ( flac 519mb)
01 Night Time 4:55
02 Darkness Before Dawn 5:18
03 Love Like Blood 6:48
04 Kings And Queens 4:38
05 Tabazan 4:34
06 Multitudes 4:56
07 Europe 4:35
08 Eighties 3:50
Bonus Tracks
09 Eighties (Kid Jensen Session 17/4/84) 2:51
10 New Culture (Kid Jensen Session 17/4/84) 3:09
11 Blue Feather (Kid Jensen Session 17/4/84) 4:29
12 All Play Rebel (Kid Jensen Session 17/4/84) 3:18
13 A New Day (7") 4:10
14 The Madding Crowd 5:13
15 Blue Feather (Joke Mix) 3:59
16 Love Like Blood (Gestalt Mix) 5:12
17 Kings And Queens (Geordie's Dub Mix) 4:57
Killing Joke – Night Time ( ogg 180mb)
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Brighter Than a Thousand Suns was a definite transformation from the days of "The Wait" and "Complications." The unexpected success of Night Time and new commercial pressures clearly came to bear. Still, the band hadn't changed any from Night Time, and even that lineup was three-quarters of the original incarnation of the group. The emphasis still focused clearly on volume and strong, full-bodied playing -- Geordie Walker, Paul Ferguson, and Paul Raven don't sound like they're holding back at all even if their individual performances are less on the edge. Jaz Coleman's newfound way around inspiring singing, meanwhile, pays off in dividends; though it's impossible to square the results here with his earlier hectoring and cutting rage, the warm, sweet passion that he brings to bear often transforms an OK track into a great one. "Adorations," the killer opening track and easily the album standout, is a perfect example of how this era of the group could make it all connect, Coleman's beautiful performance on the chorus and the overall ensemble effort making it the best anthem neither U2 nor Simple Minds ever wrote.
Killing Joke – Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (flac 516mb)
01 Adorations 4:28
02 Sanity 4:15
03 Chessboards 5:47
04 Twilight Of The Mortal 4:13
05 Love Of The Masses 6:07
06 A Southern Sky 4:38
07 Victory 3:57
08 Wintergardens 5:32
09 Rubicon 6:35
10 Goodbye To The Village 5:17
11 Exile 6:27
Bonus Tracks
12 Ecstasy 4:10
13 Adorations (Supernatural Mix) 6:40
14 Sanity (Insane Mix) 6:16
Killing Joke – Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (ogg 168mb)
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Paul Ferguson was drumming for the Matt Stagger Band when he met Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards) in the late '70s. Coleman joined the band briefly, but soon he and Ferguson split to form Killing Joke in late 1978. The duo recruited bassist Youth (born Martin Glover Youth), who had previously played with the punk group the Rage, and guitarist Geordie (born Kevin Walker) to complete the Killing Joke's lineup.
They recorded their debut EP, Almost Red, with money borrowed from Coleman's girlfriend of the time. John Peel was impressed by the EP and offered the group a session on his show. In late 1979, they began the Malicious Damage record label with graphic artist Mike Coles as a way to press and sell their music, Island Records distributed the records, until Malicious Damage switched to E.G. Records in 1980. The songs on Killing Joke's early singles were primitive punk rock sometimes mixed with electronic ("Nervous System") and ("Turn to Red"). They quickly progressed this sound into something denser, more aggressive, and more akin to heavy metal, as heard on their first two albums, Killing Joke (1980) and the more abrasive What's THIS For...! (1981) The group began playing shows regularly throughout England and gained a reputation for being controversial. Their artwork often featured repulsive or inflammatory images, and after one of their concert posters pictured the Pope blessing legions of Nazis, the group was banned from performing a concert in Glasgow. Despite the controversy, the group began amassing a following of both punk and disco fans with hard-edged but danceable singles like "Psyche" and "Follow the Leader." The band released its second album, What's THIS For...!, in 1981.
After recording and releasing the group's third album, 1982's Revelations, Jaz Coleman -- who had developed an obsession with the occult -- decided that the apocalypse was near, so he left the group and ran away to Iceland with Geordie. Youth followed Coleman to Iceland shortly after his departure. After a few months with no sign of the end of the world, Youth returned to England and formed Brilliant with Ferguson. However, Ferguson left shortly after the group's formation and moved to Iceland with Killing Joke's new bassist, Paul Raven. Killing Joke's new lineup -- featuring Coleman, Geordie, Ferguson, and Raven -- worked in Iceland for a brief period. Soon, the group returned to England and recorded Fire Dances, which was released in 1983. It demonstrated a calmer, more straightforward band than the one showcased on the group's earlier records.
Killing Joke had developed a variation of new wave on their fifth album, Night Time (1985). They achieved mainstream success with the single "Love Like Blood", which peaked at #16 in the UK. The album itself reached #11 in the UK The music on Killing Joke's sixth album, Brighter than a Thousand Suns (1986), was mostly similar in sound and mood to "Love like Blood". While no less aggressive and heavy than their older work, Brighter than a Thousand Suns diverged musically in ways that lead to controversy among the public. In 1987, Coleman began plans for a solo record of unusual music, and he made demos of his songs, on which he performed with Geordie's assistance. The project ran way over budget and so, despite Coleman's objections, the record company decided that the music would be released under the name "Killing Joke" in order to best recoup the costs. The resulting album, Outside the Gate (1988), is Killing Joke's most controversial album, with opinion ranging from admiration to total disgust, owing to its synth-led sonics (experimentally, and disagreement over the quality of the material. It is not signature-sound Killing Joke, being built around Coleman's orchestral keyboards instead of Geordie's distinctive guitar riffs.
With Martin Atkins (drums ex PIL) and Paul Raven aboard Coleman/Geordie recorded Killing Joke's eighth album, the ferocious Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions, released on the German Noise International label in 1990. It included some of the heaviest, noisiest and harshest music ever to appear on a Killing Joke record, although the progressive musical spirit of the previous two albums remained as well. Once again, the band toured Europe and North America, but by the middle of 1991 this promising new line up had imploded. Coleman emigrated to New Zealand to live on a remote Pacific island, and it looked as though Killing Joke was over for good.
3 years later...The reactivated Killing Joke released two strong and well-received albums on Youth's Butterfly Recordings label, Pandemonium and Democracy, which saw the band shift back to the simpler arrangements of their early albums. Pandemonium (1994) wove a metallesque ritualistic sound with mosh beats and loops After the Democracy tour, the band went on an extended hiatus. Coleman became Composer-in-Residence for New Zealand and Czech symphony orchestras. He starred in a czechfilm Rok ďábla (Year of the Devil). Coleman, Geordie and Youth reformed Killing Joke in 2002, and recorded their second self-titled album with producer Andy Gill, released to much acclaim in 2003 . Opting for simplicity and raw energy, the band recorded the new album in its basement rehearsal studio, going for live takes with the minimum of overdubs. The result was Hosannas from the Basements of Hell, released in April 2006 on Cooking Vinyl.
In October 2006, it was announced that Coleman had been chosen as Composer in Residence for the European Union. As Composer in Residence he will be commissioned to write music for special occasions. On October 20th 2007, Paul Raven died of heart failure prior to a recording session in Geneva, Switzerland. Killing Joke have announced a world tour commencing in September 2008. The band will be reuniting with their original lineup and they will be playing two nights per venue. The first night they will play their first two albums 'Killing Joke' and 'What's THIS For...!' in their entirety. The second night will feature the whole of 'Pandemonium' plus their early singles released on Island records. The tour will begin on September 11 in Tokyo and conclude in Chicago on October 14
At the time the cold metallic throb of Killing Joke was exciting and fresh. The harshly sung vocals riding over the pulsating synth lines of the opener "Requiem" have a vigor and passion that few imitators have managed to match. The precise riffs and tight rhythms found in songs like "Wardance" would influence a generation of hardcore musicians That such a bleak and furious album could have such a widespread influence is a testament to its importance, and becoming an underground classic
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Since 1980, there have been a hundred bands who sound like this; but before Steve Albini and Al Jourgensen made it hip, the cold metallic throb of Killing Joke was exciting and fresh. The harshly sung vocals riding over the pulsating synth lines of the opener "Requiem" have a vigor and passion that few imitators have managed to match. The precise riffs and tight rhythms found in songs like "Wardance" would influence a generation of hardcore musicians. That such a bleak and furious album could have such a widespread influence is a testament to its importance. This is an underground classic and deserves better than its relative unknown status.
Killing Joke - Killing Joke (flac 382mb)
01 Requiem 3:45
02 Wardance 3:47
03 Tomorrow's World 5:30
04 Bloodsport 4:47
05 The Wait 3:42
06 Complications 3:08
07 S.O.36 6:52
08 Primitive 3:39
Bonus Tracks
09 Change 4:01
10 Requiem (Single Version) 3:47
11 Change (Dub) 4:00
12 Primitive (Rough Mix) 3:34
13 Bloodsport (Rough Mix) 4:50
Killing Joke - Killing Joke (132mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Marking the full return from the band's out-of-nowhere hiatus in 1982, Night Time, following after a couple of test-the-waters EPs, finds the reconstituted Killing Joke, with Paul Raven in on bass but otherwise unchanged, caught between their earlier aggression and a calmer, more immediately accessible approach. At this point, however, the tension between the two sides had a perfect balance, and as a result Night Time is arguably the quartet's freshest album since its debut, with a warm, anthemic quality now supplementing the blasting, driving approach that made the band's name, as songs like "Kings and Queens" demonstrate. Geordie Walker pulls off some jaw-dropping solos amid his fierce riffs -- check out his turns on the title track -- while Paul Ferguson mixes and matches electronic beats with his own very well (perhaps a little less intensely than before, but not by much). Jaz Coleman's experimentation with keyboards -- chopped-up vocal samples, calmer and sweet lead melodies -- is paralleled by his own singing, now mostly free of the treatments and echoes familiar from earlier days. He's got a great singing voice as it stands, and it's a treat to hear him let it flow forth without forcing it. "Eighties" turned out to be the retrospectively most well-known song, Love Like Blood was the breakthrough single in the U.K
Killing Joke – Night Time ( flac 519mb)
01 Night Time 4:55
02 Darkness Before Dawn 5:18
03 Love Like Blood 6:48
04 Kings And Queens 4:38
05 Tabazan 4:34
06 Multitudes 4:56
07 Europe 4:35
08 Eighties 3:50
Bonus Tracks
09 Eighties (Kid Jensen Session 17/4/84) 2:51
10 New Culture (Kid Jensen Session 17/4/84) 3:09
11 Blue Feather (Kid Jensen Session 17/4/84) 4:29
12 All Play Rebel (Kid Jensen Session 17/4/84) 3:18
13 A New Day (7") 4:10
14 The Madding Crowd 5:13
15 Blue Feather (Joke Mix) 3:59
16 Love Like Blood (Gestalt Mix) 5:12
17 Kings And Queens (Geordie's Dub Mix) 4:57
Killing Joke – Night Time ( ogg 180mb)
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Brighter Than a Thousand Suns was a definite transformation from the days of "The Wait" and "Complications." The unexpected success of Night Time and new commercial pressures clearly came to bear. Still, the band hadn't changed any from Night Time, and even that lineup was three-quarters of the original incarnation of the group. The emphasis still focused clearly on volume and strong, full-bodied playing -- Geordie Walker, Paul Ferguson, and Paul Raven don't sound like they're holding back at all even if their individual performances are less on the edge. Jaz Coleman's newfound way around inspiring singing, meanwhile, pays off in dividends; though it's impossible to square the results here with his earlier hectoring and cutting rage, the warm, sweet passion that he brings to bear often transforms an OK track into a great one. "Adorations," the killer opening track and easily the album standout, is a perfect example of how this era of the group could make it all connect, Coleman's beautiful performance on the chorus and the overall ensemble effort making it the best anthem neither U2 nor Simple Minds ever wrote.
Killing Joke – Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (flac 516mb)
01 Adorations 4:28
02 Sanity 4:15
03 Chessboards 5:47
04 Twilight Of The Mortal 4:13
05 Love Of The Masses 6:07
06 A Southern Sky 4:38
07 Victory 3:57
08 Wintergardens 5:32
09 Rubicon 6:35
10 Goodbye To The Village 5:17
11 Exile 6:27
Bonus Tracks
12 Ecstasy 4:10
13 Adorations (Supernatural Mix) 6:40
14 Sanity (Insane Mix) 6:16
Killing Joke – Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (ogg 168mb)
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6 comments:
Would you please re-up these Killing Joke selections on flac? I'm sorry to bother you, but I keep finding awesome stuff in your backlogs. :)
Thank you,
J.R.
Hello Anon, Rejoice ! Your wish has been fulfilled. All flacs have been re-upped. N'Joy
Thanks again! Much appreciated! :)
Hi Rho,
Could you plese re-up Killing Joke's "Brighter than a Thousand's Suns"?
Thanks , your blog really rocks!
By the way, I wonder if you have some other music of this BAND by this era like "Fire Dances" or "Revelations" ... I guess a lot of your followers might love them ... I have not heard this music in a while ... I'd love it!
Hi Rho X
Thanks for the Killing Joke stuff, I am extremely grateful to you.
Kindest regards
Roger Dodger : )
Hi Rho
Is it possible to re-up the self-titled debut?
Thank you
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