Electronic body music
Electronic body music (acronymed and mainly known as
EBM) is a
music genre that combines elements of
industrial music and
electronic punk music.
Emerging in the early-to-mid 1980s, the genre's early influences range from the industrial music of the time (
Throbbing Gristle,
Cabaret Voltaire), European
electropunk (
DAF,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Portion Control) and straight-ahead electronic music (
Kraftwerk).
The style was characterized by hard and often sparse dancable electronic beats, clear undistorted vocals, shouts or
growls with reverberation and echo effects, and repetitive sequencer lines. At this time important synthesizers were
Korg MS-20,
Emulator II,
Oberheim Matrix or the
Yamaha DX7.
|
Inside covers of the 1988 Wax Trax! CD rerelease of No Comment including reprint of first reference to electronic body music. |
The term
electronic body music was coined by the
Belgian band
Front 242 in 1984 to describe the music [
1]) of their EP
No Comment, released in the same year.
A few years before,
DAF from
Germany used the term "Körpermusik" (
body music) in an interview to describe their dancable electronic punk sound.
Another term that has been used to refer to EBM is
aggrepo, an acronym of "aggressive pop", mainly used in Germany in the late 1980s.
In the early 1980s artists like
Front 242 or
Nitzer Ebb (both influenced by acts such as
Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Cabaret Voltaire and
Throbbing Gristle) started to combine German
electropunk with elements of the british
industrial music. The result of this mixture was a straight dancable sound that was called
EBM back in 1984. EBM became popular in the underground club scene, particularly in Europe. In this period the most important labels were the Belgian
PIAS,
Antler-Subway and
KK Records, the German
Techno Drome International,
Animalized and
Zoth Ommog, the North American
Wax Trax! and the Swedish
Front Music Production and
Energy (later Energy Rekords).
Other artists besides Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb were
Die Krupps,
Bigod 20,
Vomito Negro,
Signal Aout 42,
Force Dimension,
Electro Assassin,
Insekt and early
Front Line Assembly. A few other groups were
A Split Second (a Belgian electro-rock/new beat act),
AAAK,
The Weathermen,
The Klinik,
Borghesia,
The Neon Judgement or
Ministry. These acts produced some genre-typical songs, although they were not EBM groups.
Some EBM artists also had an influence on many
New beat and
Goa trance artists (e.g.
Juno Reactor, Astral Projection, Eon Project).
Between the early and the mid 1990s, many EBM artists splitted up or changed their music style and began to borrow more distorted
industrial elements or elements of
rock music or
metal. The album "Tyranny for you" and following albums from the pioneers Front 242 initiated the end of the EBM epoch of the 1980s. Nitzer Ebb, one of the most important artists, became a simply
electronic rock band. Without the strength of its figureheads, electronic body music finally faded by the mid-1990s.
New groups, e.g.
Leæther Strip,
:wumpscut: or
Plastic Noise Experience, combining harsh distorted beats with
synthesizer-driven melodies. This evolution of the dying EBM genre has been termed by the music press and labels as
hardcore electro or
electro-industrial [
2] or especially in Germany and South America as
elektro for short (not to be confused with the hip-hop subgenre
electro). Other notable artists of this era include
Allied Vision,
Psychopomps,
Controlled Fusion, early
Decoded Feedback or
NVMPH. A second developed genre at this time was
dark electro. Dark electro combined sinister electronic soundscapes with
grunts or croaking vocals with a special attention to despair. Important artists were
yelworC,
Mortal Constraint,
Trial or
Tri-state.
An outgrowth of these genres that developed in the mid-/late-1990s and resurfaced more recently is
aggrotech, which combines the basics of electro-industrial and dark electro with harsher song structures, aggressive lyrics and straight
techno-influenced beats, usually distorted, of a militant, pessimistic or explicit nature. Some acts are
Funker Vogt,
Tactical Sekt,
Hocico, newer
Suicide Commando,
Feindflug,
Dismantled, and
Velvet Acid Christ.
By the late 1990s a few bands (notably
VNV Nation,
Covenant, and
Apoptygma Berzerk) were incorporating more influences from
synthpop and
trance. VNV Nation's
Ronan Harris and Apoptygma Berzerk's
Stephan Groth called this new style
futurepop, a term now more widely used to describe their later music and that of similar groups.
Other more recent bands such as
Ionic Vision,
Spetsnaz or
Proceed have gone the other way by reproducing the old EBM style with some releases in the new millennium.
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A Split-Second (Belgium)
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Aircrash Bureau (Germany)
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And One (Germany)
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Armageddon Dildos (Germany)
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Bigod 20 (Germany)
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D.A.F. (Germany)
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DRP (Japan)
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Dupont (Sweden)
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Electro Assassin (UK)
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Fatal Morgana (Belgium)
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Force Dimension (Netherlands)
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Front 242 (Belgium)
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Insekt (Belgium)
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Inside Treatment (Sweden)
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The Klinik (Belgium)
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Kode IV (Belgium)
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Die Krupps (Germany)
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Leæther Strip (Denmark) [debut only]
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Nitzer Ebb (UK)
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Orange Sector (Germany)
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Oomph! (Germany)
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Paranoid (Germany)
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Pouppée Fabrikk (Sweden)
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Proceed (Germany)
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Scapa Flow (Sweden)
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Shift (Belgium)
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Signal Aout 42 (Belgium)
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Sturm Café (Sweden)
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Tommi Stumpff (Germany)
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Typis Belgis (Belgium)
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Volt (Sweden)
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Vomito Negro (Belgium)
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List of EBM artists*
List of industrial music subgenres*
New Beat*
electric-tremor - The History of EBM in Belgium (
written by Ionic Vision)
