Thrift Store Music: Pop Will Eat Itself - This is the Day...This is the Hour...This is THIS!

Friday, June 26, 2020

Pop Will Eat Itself - This is the Day...This is the Hour...This is THIS!

Name: Pop Will Eat Itself
Album: This is the Day...This is the Hour...This is THIS!
Year: 1989
Style: Electronic, Techno, Industrial, Rap
Similar Bands: Sigue Sigue Sputnik, EMF, B.A.D., M/A/R/R/S, Einsturzende Neubauten
"One-Word" Review: Eastern European Industrial Rap
Based Out Of: Stourbridge, England
Label: RCA, BMG

Cover & Record

This is the Day...This is the Hour...This is THIS! (1989)

PWEI is a Four Letter Word - 1:12
Preaching to the Perverted 4:25
Wise Up Sucker 3:16 (single)
Sixteen Different Flavours of Hell 1:23
Inject Me 3:51
Can U Dig It? 4:31 (single)
The Fuses Have Been Lit 4:02 /
Poison to the Mind 0:57
Def Con One 3:59 (single, US #30 Mod Rock)
Radio P.W.E.I 3:37
Shortwave Transmission on "Up To The Minuteman Nine" 1:01
Satellite Ecstatica 3:33
Not Now James, We're Busy 3:08
Wake Up Time To Die 6:41

Album Rating (1-10): 5.0

Members & Other Bands:

Flood (Mark Ellis) - Producer, Mixing
Dave Pine - Engineer & Re-Mix Engineer
Karl Broadie - Asst. Engineer
Robin Goodfellow - Engineer
Mr. X & Mr. Y - Producer
Mark Dodson - Additional Production
D. Steele - Producer
A. Cox - Producer
Robert Gordon - Producer
Cenzo Townshend - Engineer
Frank Booth - Guitar (Situation B)
Kerry The Buzzard Hammond - Guitar (Yeah God!)
Twig the Wonder Kid - Backing Vox
Mastermix - Turntables (Hardnoise, Beatmasters, Cookie Crew)
DJ Winston (Hazel) - Turntables (Forgemasters, Supafix, The Step, Winston & Ross)
Vestan Pance - Words & Music Pseudonym for PWEI
This Is The Designerstar Republica - Sleeve Design, Artwork
Phil Wolstenholme - Computer Images
Kevin Cumings - Live Photos
Craig Jennings - Worldwide Rep
Paul Boswell -UK Agent
Ian Copeland - US Agent
Graham Crabb - Vox Keys (Golden Claw, Wild & Wondering, Je Suis Crabbi, Primitive Race, Vile Evils, Fuzz Townshend)
Adam Mole - Keys, Programming (Wild & Wondering, From Eden, Kut Loaf, Vile Evils)
Richard March - Keys Programming (Wild & Wondering, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Charlatans UK, Wonder Stuff)
Clint Mansell - Vox, Guitar (Wild & Wondering, From Eden, Buddah Boys Choir, Cerebral Fix, NIN, Lavish, Vile Evils)

Unknown-ness: I have heard of them, but i know not what they are like...from the artwork ( i do like how the initials PWEI make up the 5 "monsters" attacking the biohazard clock in the middle), and mention of BPMS on the back, i imagine some sort of future-techno EDM band, but for some reason, i think they may sound like Nitzer Ebb or Low Pop Suicide or Stabbing Westward...maybe part of the industrial KMFDM / Front 242 genre, which is not a reach from the formerly listed bands.

Album Review: This one required some research, as the style of music had an origin in the UK and is called Grebo Rock, a subculture and genre, adopted from a slang term for long hair bikers and/or rock music fans in the late 80's. When grunge and brit pop took hold in the early - mid 90's PWEI was shuffled over to the Industrial sub-genre, but they were a posterband for the Grebo niche. Their big trivia bit is that they were the first Western independent band invited to play the Soviet Union in 1988. The songs on this album are similar to the back of the album: a collage of bits and pieces strung together with samples, turntables and beats that bear a strong association with cold, mechanical industrial sounds. Sometimes the vocals have melody, sometimes, they are like an Eastern European cold wave rap. Def Con One uses samples of "Funky Town" and "The Twilight Zone" among a string of other musical borrows. They are still around, as a 2020 tour was planned in NZ, alas, everything was postponed Mar/April to Oct, so maybe?

Stand Out Track: Def Con One

Links:
Wiki

touring NZ 2020 & playing this album in full