Big Black "Atomizer"

Big Black's career started around 1982. They didn't found much mainstream success, however they've influenced the early industrial rock scene and have been remarked as a "must" for any person who's into noise. Their use of provocative lyrics garnered much attention.
This album entitled "Atomizer" (which is their debut album), as received good reviews .Take this into consideration: All Music gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Their brutal slashing guitars and great use of drum machines were widely influencial. This album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. I know this sounds awkward, but the singer's [Steve Albini] voice of Gray Matter's vocals.
The track list for this album is:

1. "Jordan, Minnesota"
2. "Passing Complexion"
3. "Big Money"
4. "Kerosene"
5. "Bad Houses"
6. "Fists of Love"
7. "Stinking Drunk"
8. "Bazooka Joe"
9. "Strange Things"
10. "Cables" (live)

My favourite ones are: "Passing Complexion", "Stinking Drunk", "Big Money" and also "Kerosene". The album's lenght is 37 minutes and 37 seconds. The whole album is really dense and has a lot of cohesion along the song's transitions. Some people who aren't into "noise" should think about this fact: this work has more thoughts behind than it seems.
You can get the album here too.

Below is "Passing Complexion":

Gray Matter "Food for Thought/Take it Back"

One great punk band, Gray Matter didn't have much success. This info was extracted directly from their myspace: "Formed in the summer 1983 from the ashes of several Washington, D.C., area punk bands, Gray Matter's mix of melody and punk power helped key the 1984-1985 punk resurgence in the nation's capitol. Consisting of guitarist Mark Haggerty and drummer Dante Ferrando (both of controversial first wave Dischord band Iron Cross), guitarist and singer Jeff Turner (founder of WGNS cassette label and studio), and bassist Steve Niles, Gray Matter was inspired by British punk bands. The band rehearsed but rarely played out, and it wasn't until the summer of 1984 that they played their first important public gigs, finding alliance with bands like Rites of Spring and Beefeater."
You can also find some more information related with this band here, on Dischord Records.
This album, "Food for Thought" is their first album and probably their best work.
The track list is:
1."Retrospect"
2."Oscars Eyes"
3."Fill a Void"
4."Give me a Clue"
5."Gray Matter"
6."Caffeine Blues"
7."Crisis and Compromise"
8."Flash in Time"
9."Phobias"
10."I Am the Walrus"
11."Chutes and Ladders"
12."Burn no Bridges"
13."Walk the Line"
14."Take it Back"
15.4 "A.M."
16."Head"
17."Phobias"
18."The Spy"
19."Walk the Line"

My favourite tracks are "Burn no Bridges", "I am the Walrus" (Beatles cover), "Chutes and Ladders" and "Give me a Clue". Still, this album, when inserted into the punk scene, is marvelous, with great vocals and faithful to what I'd call a punk philosophy (somewhat nihilist, as it's always associated); there's energy to take and give, on this record.
Get the album here or here (if you don't apreciate that much rapidshare links and use more often mediafire).

You should also check Ali Boulala's skateboard part on the film "Sorry" from Flip Skateboards, that features the song "Burn no Bridges" (it was this part that got me into Gray Matter, some years ago).

Below is a video of my favourite song from this album, "Burn no Bridges".:

Public Image Limited "First Issue"

Sir Lydon's project after murdering Sex Pistols [although in the 21st century he has ressurected them] this album is filled with a nihilistic new wave / post-punk / weirdo spirit. In the 80's there weren't many bands similar to P.I.L.:John Lydon had once again found a new way to shock the UK.
Released in 1978 (by Virgin Records), this public attack record entitled "First Issue" has 8 tracks:
1.Theme (9:06)
2. Religion I (1:30)
3. Religion II (5:49)
4. Annalisa (6:07)
5. Public Image (3:01)
6. Low Life (3:39)
7. Attack (2:56)
8. Fodderstompf (7:46)

Songs like "Religion I" and "Religion II" mock any christian, verbally spitting straight at their face. Just examine these lyrics: "He takes the money / While you take the lie / This is Religion". Or take a look at these ones: "(...) And prey to the bitch / That spelled backwards is Dog". Musically, I prefer the following songs: "Theme", "Public Image" and "Fodderstompf".
Some critics have said P.I.L. were responsible for developing the post-rock movement (since their music changed -thanks to Lydon, once again - rock music upside down).
The album's lenght is 39 minutes and 54 seconds. All Music rated it with 4 out of 5 stars.
You can get the album here.

The following video is a live version (in Tokyo, 1983, I guess) of the song "Religion I":

Death in June "The Guilty have no Past"

Death in June is probably one of the most important bands of the neofolk genre, a sub-genre of the more famous Industrial movement. Founded in the 80s by Douglas Pierce, which had previously a punk band called "Crisis" (draining its sound to a mix between the extreme right political movements and the post-punk music). This previous band evolved to a more melancholic, but still (as we hear in this album) which post-punk influences. Take into consideration that this album collects songs since 1983 to 1993 and almost all of them are from their early performances.
You can download the album here.

This is the 4th song from their album:

COIL's discography

Ok, if you don't know COIL, you better kill yourself... No wait, please don't do it! Ok, speaking more seriously, this band started with Peter Christopherson and Jhonn Balance in 1982, following their departure from Genesis P-Orridge's industrial group called "Psychic TV". First, they started working on a project called Zos Kia, which had only 4 live performances and one release (a cassete tape called Transparent, in 1984).
Later, Jhonn and Peter would meet Boyd Rice and the ecletic band Current 93. This just shows how stable the relationships among this esoteric movement were.
Their first record as COIL was "How to destroy angels". That same year, 1984, they also made the album "Scatology", with was their most "industrial" album, according to fans and critics and myself. They got their name album derived from the word "scatter", hence the name "Scatology".
Next was release "Horse Rotorvator", an album that speaks about death and existential dilemmas: listening to this one was like feeling the last seconds before you were stomped by the horse on the album's cover (shot with fisheye lens). It's my favourite album so far. It was released in 1986.
Love's Secret Domain- L.S.D.- was the next album launched into stores. Also quite "industrial" and now with more influences of the genre "Post-Punk" this album was well succeeded and even one of its songs, Tainted Love, was featured [and still is] on The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

As the wind of time blew, they got more experimental and got swallowed by drone influences (see their album "Time Machines" here- pt1 and pt2), noise (like in the album "Constant Shallowness leads to Evil") and many, many times, their characteristic 90's style: melodramatic harmonies, lullabies that could haunt many humans.
With Jhonn Balance's death some years later, the band had found its end. Their last album- Ape of Naples - was an amount of songs they recorded more than one decade ago (e.g. amethyst deceiver) and songs they recorded some months ago. The album is so fluid, so coherent, it depicts the band's efforts to express themselves (particularly, Jhonn...). Inside this album, there are some photographies that are a metaphoric representation of death: there's a beautiful sunset, a hanged man, a lamb with its legs amputated, a zoomed dark crow and a dead seahorse (semi-preserved in a similar state of a fossil). The name "Ape of Naples" comes from a time when Jhonn and Peter worked on a shop of gay bootleg videos: they invented names for those items and one of them was "Ape Of Naples" (there's also one which is "Black Antlers" that's an album released by them).
If you want most of this band's albums you can check this spot or this one, if you prefer torrents.
This is the infamous "Tainted Love" videoclip:

Next, I'll show you one of COIL's few live videos on youtube:





Their official myspace is this one here. If you really enjoyed this band, there are super-limited editions available on their online shop, some of them very rare...and some album downloads, if you want to. Go to Threshould House and check it out.Please, promote the artists- they deserve it.

Frustration "Relax"

The French crossed their frontiers, having plans for a new Cold Wave movement: they are Frustration. Lost in Post-Punk and Cold Wave music they launched their debut album last year. It's called "Relax" as ironic as it sounds. I discovered them thanks to Drop Dead Festival's bands list on their website.
According to Discogs, it's rated 4.67 (in a scale of 5). In a scale of 10, I'd give it a 7.8: they have awesome songs, but some of them are [almost obviously] ripped from Joy Division. The track called "She's so tired" is probably the most notorious one concerning the similiraties between Joy Division and Frustration. In this one you can hear almost Ian Curtis' voice and the specific guitar tunes created originally on J.D.'s album "Closer".
However, it's an awesome album. The intro is perfect, accompanied by splendid lyrics: "We have some... Frustration! / They have some... Frustration!". My favourite tracks are: Too Many Questions", "Faster" and "Waiting for the Bad Things"- I recommend them. There's only a little bad fact about the song "Waiting for the Bad Things" due to the singer's accent seem a bit strange and too french-like. The dissonance transmited by their synthesizers at "Too Many Questions" and "Faster" are marvelous, really great. It's a catchy depressive sound, known to be omnipresent in the Cold Wave genre, I'd say.
In conclusion I take that this is one good album (worth acquiring), from a band that has got enough guts to revive the early 80s - and I say this in a good way.

Feel free to listen to their songs on myspace, if you don't want to download the entire album...
http://www.myspace.com/_frustration

If you want to hear their album, download it here.
However, if you have enough money to spend on this, buy their album or a song of them or go see them live... all these tactics of promoting their music are featured on their myspace.