Front 242

Just saw Front 242 close out a sold out show last night at Numbers Nightclub, Houston TX, a beloved city to the group. Opening act was C.C.C.P. followed by The Revolting Cocks then the headliner. These guys gave it their all and outperformed the audience with their energy. What a show!!

They still have a connection with Aarschot, the city that was once Antler-Subway Records' heimat and proudly counts Jean-Marie Aerts (of T.C. Matic fame) among its inhabitants. A local youth club occasionally has the pleasure of the group using their small venue for semi-secret tryout gigs that are usually only announced via their label Alfa Matrix.

Also, Daniel Bressanutti still lives there. Until recently, my sister-in-law hired an appartment opposite his house. When standing on her balcony, I could look into his kitchen.

Front's studio is the so-called Art & Strategy studio, located in Aarschot. It's a conventional-looking house, built in a typical early sixties-style, almost identical to mine and to many thousand other houses in Aarschot. The outside of the studio can be seen in a short fragment of the Belpop documentary about the group (see Youtube).

But in all other respects, Aarschot is a dull city.

Front 242 delivered some of the most fascinating electronic dance music to date. Ironically, at their most popular, the group remains with its earlier catalogue that helped defining the term 'EBM' - now a tiresome genre drowning hopelessly in morbid image grotesques, with countless imitators on both sides of industrial apocalypse and with less physical aspects to the genre's, once pristine, naive but direct electronic pulse.

Despite the fact 242 remain EBM's cult figureheads, throughout the last decade they too fell prey to over-production. Of course, it is reasonable that bands make progress. However, the problem is, when 242 delivered something called 'Geography' in 1982 (which by the way still sounds straight-forwardly fresh today), with creative highlights in 'Front By Front' and 'Tyranny For You' considered deserved masterpieces, the ambition of competing with themselves by later achievements became a sad image of what EBM should've been - both in audio or visual terms.

Instead of pushing boundaries, 242 ended up putting them on - sounding more like a life support machine. Their adventures in modern sound throughout the 90s did give some hint of what might be the 'new' 242 sound (ambitious 'Up Evil' and 'Off' plus one of their latest, decent 'back-to-basics' efforts, called 'Pulse').

But as they occasionally crossed over into the guitar territory, pulling many of their contemporaries with them, 242 gave way to aggressive trance void, now cemented by dominating, so-called 'Future pop' artists that pioneer more to exhibitionist levels without much substance.

Hello, my name is Steve Eagle, and I am a Front 242 addict.

It all started when I stole "Tyranny For You" from my brother's bedroom one night. I had no idea what sort of music it was, only that the cover looked bad ass so I had to listen to it. I popped it in my CD player back in my own bedroom and took a listen. My criminal activity brought about one of the best experiences in my life. This was the missing link in all the music I had listened to up to this point. It is safe to say, my love for music begins and ends with Front 242.

Since that day many years ago, 242 has remained in rotation wherever life has taken me. When I finally got to see them in San Francisco in 2000, it was like being in a dream. So much energy, such an amazing crowd response, it couldn't have been better. I've never seen an industrial/ebm band get that much praise, respect and adoration from its fans. Front 242 didn't just coin the term "EBM", they invented a sound that spawned legions and legions of imitators - the greatest form of flattery.

From stripped down, bassline-and-drum machine techno to super complex ambient and rhythmic soundscapes, Front 242 redefined the role of dance music not just in their home of Belgium but all across the world, showing us that dance music didn't always have to be short, poppy and radio-friendly, but it could also be dark, melancholy, and, well, "industrial" in its approach. Front 242 will always be one of the most important, influential and inspiring bands of all time.

Front 242 had an enormous impact on my life. It came with the album "05:22:09:12 Off". Previously I had heard several cool tracks, but when listening to the the above mentioned, I almost fell to the floor. The dark and desperate atmosphere of the album, featuring the excellent vocals by 99 Kowalski, is truly mindblowing and second to none.

Later that year I bought "06:21:03:11 Up Evil", and the following "Angels Versus Animals". Both albums are top notch (just listen to "Born To Breathe" and "Der Verfluchte Engel" on "Angels Versus Animals", woooow!).
These albums, especially "05:22:09:12 Off" will always be on the very top of my list.

Regarding their latest album, "Pulse", it's a very welcome return for Front 242. This is a great album, and tracks like "One (With The Fire)" and "Together" are simply awesome.

I can not for the life of me understand the criticism by some people of Front 242's 1993 albums. Yes, Front 242 was a breakthrough act, and yes, they have superb tracks from their early days, but the '93 albums are unmatched; they marked a new sound for the band, and all great bands develop. The albums from '93 were the band at its very best, I feel these albums captured all that Front 242 had ever stood for.
How can one not like this music? It's beyond me...

I submit this comment for reclaim the Front 242 later albums to 1992. The old romantics of the EBM has expanded the common idea that all F242 material later to that date is shit, and all the interesting material is previous to it. I disagree.

Of course I love the old F242 material, and I'm not going to say that "Up Evil" is better that "Geography". But for those who consider that F242 material after "Tyranny for you" is not as good as the previous one, let me ask you a couple of questions:

How many really good songs are in each of the F242 albums previous to 1992? 6 or 5 per album?
Are "Religion", "Motion", "Crapage", "Melt", "Fuel", and "SKin" ("Up Evil") bad songs?
Are "Animal", "Happiness", "Crushed", and "Junkodrome" ("Evil Off") bad songs?
If they are bad song, why is people asking for them in live shows?

For those who consider those albums commercial "cheap techno stuff":
Which are the commercial possibilities of publishing a conceptual double long play record very different to the style that have made you famous?
Can we consider commercial a 17'56" song like "Born to breathe" ("Angels vs Animals ep")?

Today are really usual the long remix albums, many of them million times better than "[email protected] [email protected]". But before 1993, how many groups have done a long remix album? Furthermore, today The Orb, The Prodigy and Underworld are worlwide famous groups. Their records fight in the top of the pops with the most comercial pop musicians. But how many people did know any thing about them before 1993?

For those who consider "[:RE:BOOT: (L. IV. E])" a bad live album:
What do you consider a live show? The exact reproduction of the original song, do you? Do you pay your ticket for that? For that I put the cd in my home. Of course, I prefer the original version of "Masterhit" or "Moldavia" than the "rebooted" ones. But, with which one do you want to dance in a live show? I was in 1999 in a F242 live, and I really enjoyed the "rebooted" versions. My fucking feets were burning after the show.

Of course many of my favourite songs of F242 ("Headhunter", "Tragedy for you", "Moldavia", "Welcome to paradise", "Funkhadafi", "Work 242", "Never Stop!" and many more) are part of their "clasic albums". But "nostalgia" is not an excuse for been unjust.

I think that most part of old F242 fanatics have not understand that the albums that follows "Tyranny for you", as the others that preceded it, are essential to understand the development of the electronic music. From "Geography" to "Tyrany for you" we can find a constant progression of which "Up evil", "Evil Off", "Angels vs. Animals" are their next steps.

F242 have always been a couple of steps before the rest. If you listen carefully those,albums, "[email protected] [email protected]" and "[:RE:BOOT: (L. IV. E])" and then you listen the music that was done from 1993 to 2000; you will realise that maybe not critics and public, but time have give them the reason.

Finally, said that pulse haven't impressed me very much, but "Still & Raw" It's perfect!

Long life for Front 242!