The Heartland

Zyklon

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 7, 2007)
• Original Release Date: April 11, 2007
• Number of Discs: 10
• Label: GRiM Records
• ASIN: B000R9YE0Q
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #156,775 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. All Night War Film

2. Rangewalk

3. No Mexiko

4. Amtrak

5. Do the Quiver

6. Brand New Key

7. Space Lust

8. Space Dub

9. Kelvin

10. Gary, IN

11. Part-time

12. H

13. Tarpon Pond

14. Zerfallen

15. Wir Sind (45)

16. Gary, IN (45)

17. Part-time (45)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A tornado was what a lot of their music sounded like." New Wave fans and critics tended to be hostile to any deviation from safety pins and skinny ties. And as if Zyklon s sound wasn t foreign enough, here they were on stage three guys playing three boxes on slide projector stands. Twenty five years ago, audiences had no reference point for a live band with no drums, no guitars, not even a recognizable keyboard. They felt exposed to something alien and did not like it. They cheered when someone pulled the plug Today it s kind of funny to consider the resemblance between Zyklon s 1981 stage set up and Kraftwerk on tour in 2006 (four men with laptops on slide projector stands). But Zyklon were unwittingly ahead of their time, and had not calculated their presentation. None of them had been to art school. They didn t come out of any scene; they had no mentor. There wasn t anyone like them within a thousand mile radius. Stateside, the only still-living bands they felt any kinship with were Pere Ubu and Devo (significantly, both from neighbor state Ohio). But TG, the Cabs, Ubu et al. all performed using conventional rock instruments. And every synth-pop act from Kraftwerk on down at the very least had somebody reassuringly hitting a syndrum. Not Zyklon. In 1981 America, they were the only band of their generation playing live using voice and synthesizers only (sometimes augmented with backing tapes of machine rhythms recorded by Tom Purdy at the refrigerator factory where he worked). This sort of activity was marginal enough in 1981 West Berlin. Zyklon s hometown was the last possible place on earth you would expect. Grand Rapids is so normal it s strange. Geographically, Grand Rapids, MI., is a curious confluence of northern end stations. Last stop north of the bible belt. Last Michigan stop of the rust belt. Meteorologically, the MI terminus of tornado alley. A mid-sized Midwestern city midway between Chicago and Detroit. Zyklon was as all-American as Skafish, Sparks and Suicide. They didn t need to act strange. By the time of Heartland (late 1981, cat. no. GR002, distributed by Rough Trade US; track 10 included on SUB POP 7) they were even making some effort to fit in Like a tornado that, in between reducing your neighborhood to the waste you knew it always was, has the nerve to turn friendly, try to be funny, then losing patience laughs itself sick. Nowadays, almost anyone with a computer can create electronic noise with basic software replete with presets named industrial. But if there s one thing you can t do with a computer, it s make the music on Heartland. --GRiM Records

Product Description

Zyklon n. 1. A three-man, three-synthesizer Industrial-Electro pop group from Grand Rapids, Michigan comprising T. Purdy, B. Younker and S. Zuidema (all 1960 ). Active 1979 1982. Self-produced single Wir Sind b/w Gary, IN and Part-Time (GRiM Records, 1981) distinguishes Zyklon as first US electronica recording artist to champion Industrial noise as music genre. Progenitors of later sub-genre Glitch. [German : Zyklon, cyclone or tornado]

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far better than the latest Throbbing Gristle and Wolf Eyes albums, August 30, 2007

By	horuscope (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

I just picked this up and it destroys most other albums of the industrial noise genre. Especially for 1981, there was nothing else like it that I know of. Unlike most other albums that are industrial or noise in nature, this album has diversity. It's not just the same crap over and over again. It starts with the synth pop of All Night War Film and travels through the murky waters of melodic synth noise for the rest of the album, often sounding like if Kraftwerk scored a Jodorowsky film funded by Einstürzende Neubauten. Devo absurdness creeps in here and there. There are strange samples and natural recordings. The track Tarpon Pond is like nothing else I've ever heard, sounding like some unknown monster growling from the depths of an analog synthesizer. There's nothing else to say except that if you like industrial, noise, synth pop, or electronic music, you will find all of that here and often all together at the same time.