Ohgr
cevin Key
Download
Doubting Thomas
Puppy Gristle
What Sp side projects do people here listen to?
Are there any that I have missed out? I’m sure there are a few.
I’m really into cevin Key’s solo albums at the mo. Especially ‘The Dragon Experience’.
Anyone else? I know there are a few Download fans here. Any recommendations?
Furnace by Download - the be all and end all of Skinny Puppy side projects.
If you haven’t heard it yet do so fast. You will not be disappointed.
The Eyes Of Stanley Pain by Download - another goodie. Not as good as Furnace but decent nonetheless. Has some cool Gen P Orrridge vocal bits here and there.
Cevin Key’s solo work is exceptional also.
Still, cannot recommend Furnace highly enough.
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning by The Tear Garden is still my favorite SP side project.
1002
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning is a good one, I bought that one on cassette in 1987. It still gets a lot of play here.
Of all the side projects I think the Doubting Thomas album The Infidel is my favorite, just cEvin and Dwayne making sound tracks for imaginary horror/sci-fi films. The rerelease of that is worth picking up from Subcon.
Hilt is another project that doesn’t get a whole lot of attention because it is so lo-fi and not so serious compared to the other stuff. Their second album Journey To The Center of The Bowl is really interesting though, some Jesus and Mary Chain fuzz and with some electronic madness.
Some other projects not mentioned:
Plateau (Key and Phil Western)
A Chud Convention (a droney 12" with Ogre, Key and à;Grumh)
Lee Chubby King (a one-off rap single)
Bananasloth
Raw Dog (Ogre and Dave Ogilvie, 1 song on Rivet Head Culture comp)
Petty Tyrants (Ogre, Reiflin, and Mark Walk, 1 song on a Wire tribute album)
Dont forget about Rx (Ogre and Martin Atkins)
Ogre also did some stuff with Pigface
Nitpick time - Puppy Gristle isn’t a side project, it’s a “Skinny Puppy” album. More Download-ish than anything, to me. Any fan of Throbbing Gristle would be into it, surely.
Recommendations? Well, if you dig the above suggestions check out Download’s Inception compilation - very raw, out there shit.
Check out Hilt. It’s cEvin, Dwayne and local canuck Al Nelson doing jams. They are a mish-mash of reggae, punk, syrupy pop and out there jams.
There’s also Plateau, originally minimalist techno ala Plastikman but recently is another extension of glitched-out Download sounds. That is cEvin and Phil Western…
Ummm…there’s also the Paradigm Shift compilation that cevin made and put out on Nettwerk. It’s odds and ends by ALL projects, mostly, and they are wayyyyyy ahead of their time, especially aDuck.
I like anything that cKey is involved in. He’s a fabulous musician. Not a weak spot on his portfolio, imo.
I am also really into Phil Western, who is part of Download/Plateau. He’s successfully merged psychedelia, shoegaze and techno in great lengths I might say. His album Dark Features is one of my top 10’s…
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning by The Tear Garden is still my favorite SP side project.
1002
I didn’t know Tear Garden was a Skinny Puppy side project.
Interesting.
I have never heard of Hilt either. Might check it out. I thought I’d heard most SP side projects, but it looks like I was only scraping the surface.
If any of these are half as good as Furnace, I’ll be stoked.
[reply]Tired Eyes Slowly Burning by The Tear Garden is still my favorite SP side project.
1002
I didn’t know Tear Garden was a Skinny Puppy side project.
Interesting.
I have never heard of Hilt either. Might check it out. I thought I’d heard most SP side projects, but it looks like I was only scraping the surface.
If any of these are half as good as Furnace, I’ll be stoked.[/reply]
Around 1989-1992 they put out a lot of stuff while Ogre was touring with Ministry and Pigface. I forgot about Cyberaktif with Bill Leeb from FLA which is sort of mediocre but spawned a couple of awesome singles.
Hilt is more of an acquired taste, but the reggae/dub flavored Orange Pony EP is good as is the album I mentioned above. Later releases are more lo-fi and usually just studio jamming/demos as Al Nelson has passed away.
Hilt actually predates SP in a way as it is an extension of the punk band Illegal Youth that Key and Al Nelson were in as teenagers. cEvin then played with Al’s brother Glen in Images In Vogue, although he seems to be more fond of his synthpop past than Al. That band also had Don Gordon who would later form Numb.
The Last Man To Fly is flawless my favorite Tear Garden release.
Heard Download was pretty dope I need to get into them asap!
I sold most of my Puppy and related stuff, but I really recommend Download’s "Furnace Redux " if you’re looking for a sound closer to Puppy. Like James, I’m also a fan of Inception as well. III is a beautiful album. I consider Eyes of Stanley Pain and Effector as their “pop” albums so to speak, but on two different sides of the electronic spectrum. I liked III Steps Forward, but honestly wasn’t crazy for fixer or Helicopter.
Plateau is the sister project of Download. Iceolator is my favorite Plateau album actually, then probably Kushbush and Gort. It’s a bit dancier and less crazy than Download stuff.
As others have said, you can’t really go wrong with Tear Garden, though I haven’t been crazy for the past two releases (perhaps I prefer when the rest of the Dots are on board) .
Hilt is fun if you’re in the mood for some nonsense. Don’t expect much of the electronic side of Puppy. It’s everything, rolled up into one actually.
Doubting Thomas doesn’t do much for me either anymore. It’s just a one off project. Cool in concept, to me it’s the first version of Download, but most of it doesn’t stand up to the test of time in my opinion.
ohGr’s solo stuff- all 3 are good in different ways, the first two being great pop records. The 3rd one plays like one giant suite, and is a bit noiser, but still good if you’re in the mood for that type of stuff.
I do enjoy cevin’s solo material. I used to hate Music Fur Cats but now I love it, perhaps my favorite. similar in sound to download’s “inception” album. I also like The Dragon Experience, much more than earlier Puppy albums (it’s music mostly recorded in the 83-85 period with a few tweaks here and there) . The Ghost of Each Room is good electronica at times, a mishmash of styles.
But like James, I’m a HUGE Phil Western fan. Haven’t sold any of his records and certainly don’t plan on it. Can’t recommend his stuff enough. Shoegaze, drone, phsycadelic, electronic goodness, all rolled up in one.
Plateau and Download sounds too similar imo, but I still like both. Tear Garden is a must. Maybe I overlooked it, but I dont think anyone even mentioned Effector. Same vein of III, but a bit more sci-fi-ish. Carrier Tone all the way. Never heard Dragon Experience, but that’s interesting to know.
Phil’s my favorite of the Download crew, his solo work is awesome! My favorite Download album is “Effector” which is the most Phil imo.
I actually quite like the Cyberaktif and Doubting Thomas singles but the full lengths are a little off. The last Ohgr album was great, the first two not so much. I’m not a big fan of cevin’s solo work, but I should give it more of a chance one of these days.
I really need to check some of this stuff out as I’m in the dark about most of it.
From the little I have heard, I would say I like the side projects more than I like Skinny Puppy.
Of all the ‘electronic’ albums I own - and I own alot-, Key’s ‘The Dragon Experience’ gets the most play time.
I would play it more than I play Aphex Twin.
‘The Ghost Of Each Room’ is very good also - I don’t think anyone’s mentioned that yet.
I really need to check some of this stuff out as I’m in the dark about most of it.
From the little I have heard, I would say I like the side projects more than I like Skinny Puppy.
Of all the ‘electronic’ albums I own - and I own alot-, Key’s ‘The Dragon Experience’ gets the most play time.
I would play it more than I play Aphex Twin.
‘The Ghost Of Each Room’ is very good also - I don’t think anyone’s mentioned that yet.
When I said I wasn’t a fan of cevin’s solo stuff I had forgotten about Dragon Experience, that is a great album! Good call.
I enjoy:
Ohgr
Doubting Thomas
Not counting the last two puppy albums. Key and Ogre (and Dwayne) do/did no wrong.
I’m a huge fan of The Dragon Experience as well. I must say though, I think Cev does his best work when Hiwatt Marshall adds his touch to things, and his presence feels very evident on the Dragon Experience.
The Last Ohgr album was great too!
Last ohgr got some mixed reactions. Personally, I loved it.
I’ll definitely check into Download. Those two albums have been on my mind for years and I never got around to checking them out.
“Welt” is more enjoyable than the last two Skinny Puppy albums, IMO. Every song is very unique and some of the catchiest songs to ever grace the industrial rock genre. One of the best albums of the last ten years? Yes!
I had ordered Eyes of Stanley Pain and III on a whim. It was weird at first. Too experimental for me at the time, but ended up really growing on Stanley. III was a real drastic change of pace (understandable so. RIP Dwayne), but eventually grew on me a great deal. I see no real difference between Download and Plateau (still cevin and western). All good stuff though.