Customer Reviews

DISCriminate (1981 ~ '97)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The cultural baggage attached to this band is immense. Douglas is a gay man whose experience with the punk scene made him realize that leftism and anarchism have just as many uncompassionate psychos as the right does, and unfortunately his reaction was a complete 180 into fascist sympathizing (or at least fetishizing), which is something that pervades the majority of his work. Further, his lyrics often reach a level of self-parody in their intentional obscurity and disposition toward cliche autumnal imagery, and the music relies too heavily on simplistic strumming. Somehow, though, the result is larger than the sum of its parts. Death in June has obviously been a labor of love since the early 80s, and despite its flaws there has been a lot of ethereal, transportive music put out under its banner.

With no particular narrative, this collects a little of everything from DiJ's conception as a spindly, shambolic, plodding post-punk unit a la Joy Division to something much more martial and bare. I find that Douglas' selection of material here matches his hit & miss musical philosophy. On one hand, some of the band's best material is here, on the other hand, there are a lot of two chord strums with flatly murmured, Nietzschean lyrics littered with a few atmospheric touches; it makes a world of difference in terms of texture and composition when the songs are arranged around the lightly baroque counterpoint of trumpet, melodica, bells, etc.

But simplicity is occasionally a boon here. Douglas writes very well around tawdry 80s dance beats, and "Come Before Christ and Murder Love" shows what pop music could be in a perfect world, with its mix of celestial synth and horns completing the cadences. Meanwhile "Heilige Leben" dips into purely atmospheric territory, and in 2011 proves you don't need an idiotic genre name like "chillwave" to make gauzy, dreamlike music.

At any rate, Death in June are still one of the last real deals in industrial/neofolk, and now that this compilation has been re-released at a sane price, now might be a good time to start exploring.

I can't really say i'm a fan of goth music, nor am i a fan of folk music. But when an artist finds a way to meld the two together, i seem to be drawn to the music in ways i cannot begin to describe. This cd should appeals to anyone who is a fan of melody and obscure yet compelling lyrics. Sure, some of the lyrics have some suspect tangents (Rose Clouds of Holocaust, Giddy Giddy Carousel and a multitude of others), but it's easy to glance over this and appreciate the music for what it is, well crafted neo-folk(or whatever the kids call it these days).

This is a compilation of a personal choice, tracks picked up by DIJ mastermind Douglas P from the years 83-98. Lots of remixes and other unreleased material is featured on this compilation. Still there are no new songs, just new versions of old songs. Great compilation introducing many sounds DIJ has had over the years. Even thought this is not a "best of", all the songs you'd expect are there. This is the one DIJ album to start with.

Although I own most of the tracks on vinyl, I decided to buy this on CD as it is as close to a DIJ "best of" as you are likely to find (so far). The selection spans from about 1981 to 1995 on 2 CDs. The style is difficult to describe. It's moody, dark & folky, in a psychotic, not hippy sense; lyrically there are images of nightmares & flirtions with nazi imagery. It sometimes makes the hairs on your back stand on end. Key tracks: Heaven Street, Leper Lord, Fields of Rape & The Gulity Have No Pride. Sublime, yet scandelously overlooked by critics, I cannot recommend this enough, if you like your sounds spooky and original.

I had the (mis)fortune of only hearing a few, very good Death in June songs before I bought this compilation; I sort of thought that everything else might match up to those in terms of atmosphere, and I was a little disappointed. If you've never heard this band, think New Order meets Bauhaus with a horn section on some tracks. This is an oversimplification; some tracks have a very restrained, more folksy feel and some veer off more into straight dance territory, but usually there is some combination of strings and synth with occasional shots of trumpet. The vocals are all done in a restrained manner that kind of reminds me of a little of Ian Curtis but really more of the guy from Swans. There are some tracks that remind me a little of Dead Can Dance but without their own complex blend of sounds. The reason I rated this three stars is that there are tracks on here all over the scale from two to five, most tending around 3-3.5 or thereabouts. The lyrics are uniformly boring and pretentious; I think industrial, neofolk, and similar musicians often use the same kinds of references over and over again without actually saying anything coherent with them, and Death in June certainly seems to. I've read interviews with Douglas Pearce, the core member of the group, and he's pretty obviously a moron; but on its own, away from his dodgy personal politics and inability to make any worthwhile statements, the music itself often holds up pretty well. Songs like "Luther's Army", "Rose Clouds of Holocaust", and "Giddy Giddy Carousel" are full of ambiance and extremely well arranged. Some songs towards the middle, like "Fields of Rape" and "Hullo Angel" are perfectly listenable but unlikely to make any new converts. A few songs are frankly annoying; "Hail the White Grain" could have been cut in half, it's so repetitive, and "Till The Living Flesh is Burned" is just a boring exercise in grimness. If you're already a dij fan, you already know if you like this or not; if you discovered the group relatively recently, like I did, you may find it a bit more image than substance. Either way, I'll give this a listen again sometime, but doubt I'll pick anything else up.

Tracks
1 Fields of Rape-1985
2 Hail! The white Grain-1987
3 Rose Clouds of Holocaust-1995
4 Till the living Flesh is burned-1982
5 Break the black Ice-1986
6 Torture by Roses-1986
7 To drown a Rose-1986
8 Luther's Army-1995
9 Little black Angel-1992
10 But, what ends when the Symbols shatter?-1992
11 Heilige Leben-1989
12 Cathedral of Tears-1993
13 Leopard Flowers-1996
14 The Guilty have no Pride-1982
15 Accidental Protege-1995

Disc 2

16 Hullo Angel-1989
17 Heaven Street-1981
18 She said destroy-1984
19 Fall apart-1989
20 Leper Lord-1985
21 C'est un Reve-1985
22 Touch Defiles-1987
23 Come before Christ and murder Love-1986
24 Rocking Horse Night-1986
25 Hollows of Devotion-1992
26 Golden Wedding of Sorrow-1992
27 Black Radio-1984
28 Runes and Men-1987
29 Giddy Giddy Carousel-1989
30 13 Years of Carrion-1995
31 Crush My Soul-1985
32 Honour of Silence-1985

Personally the most accurate "best of" DIJ album featuring material from '81-'97. If this is your first experience in hearing their wonderful music this is a very good starting point since they have a very exhaustive discography. Out of all the DIJ albums I own,I love them all but this one is an essential since it covers more of their popular songs on 2 discs. But for the newcomer I would seriously consider purchasing their music at I-tunes because import prices are seriously ridiculous. Seriously.

This album is incredible. The words 'hauntingly beautiful' would apply if they were'nt already a cliche. It may be too morbid for some, and I can see how people might find it a little repetitive, but I loved it. Great accoustic folk-goth.