Die Warzau

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Formed in 1987 by performance artists Jim Marcus and Van Christie, Die Warzau (originally referred to as Die Warzau Synfony) has operated on the fringes of industrial music, creating a unique sound that is a genre-bending excursion into the soul of the music form. An everpresent and important part of Die Warzau's appeal is the sociopolitical lyricism and emotive vocals of Jim Marcus.

1 History
2 Discography
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] History

Originally signed to Chris Parry's Fiction Records, the group released Disco Rigido in the late 1980s (distributed in the United States by Atlantic Records), which featured "Welcome To America", "Land of the Free" and "I've Got To Make Sense". Though the album falls solidly into the EBM genre, it contains hints of the experimentation and genre-bending that later recordings would feature (e.g. "Y Tagata en Situ").

A second album, Big Electric Metal Bass Face, built on the foundation laid with Disco Rigido and upped the ante with excursions into funk (listen to "Funkopolis" as well as the live take of "Coming Down"). Contributors to the band at the time included Chris Vrenna and James Woolley, who both served time in Nine Inch Nails during its popularity's early peak in the mid-Nineties.

Engine, a 1995 release on Wax Trax/TVT, was a huge jump forward and found critical acclaim for its decimation of genre boundaries. Die Warzau could no longer be simply pigeonholed into the "industrial" category, as their music became more organic, rounder on the edges yet still retaining their trademark knack for insistent rhythm and pure, unrefined electronic noise. "Liberated" and "All Good Girls" became trademark songs for the group. Fellow act Sister Machine Gun "inherited" an unused song from this period ("Hole In the Ground"), which they included on their Burn album.

Die Warzau as a group then went on hiatus for a number of years, with Marcus and Christie working on other projects--Jim Marcus founded the pure funk group Everplastic while Van Christie worked on Eco-Hed.

By 2005, though, the duo had reconvened and released Convenience (on their Chicago-based Pulseblack Records). A continuation of the path they started on with Engine, songs like "Radiation Babies", "Kleen" and "Linoleum" further blur any genre lines and leave something truly original. More output is expected from the group in 2006, including a collaboration with funk pioneer George Clinton.

[edit] Discography

Disco Rigido (1989)
Big Electric Metal Bass Face (1991)
Engine (1995)
Convenience (2005)
Supergangbang High (2006)
Supergangbang Low (2006)

[edit] Trivia

Both Christopher Hall (Stabbing Westward / The Dreaming) and Chris Vrenna were members at one point.
Warzone Recorders was started by Van Christie and Jim Marcus in part of Cabrini Green Housing Projects

Sonic Boom Interview

PULSEBLACK Records, a Chicago Indie Label is now home to Die Warzau Pulseblack Records
In 1991 Die Warzau supported Nine Inch Nails on tour. NIN Hotline
Van Christie worked at Traxx Records (from 1994-2004) and worked with Lil Louis on the hit "French Kiss"
Abel Garibaldi who is credited on "Convenience" is head recording engineer for R. Kelly
Jim Marcus is a well-respected typeface designer for T26 Font Foundry.