90s industrial band Black Rain's (incredible) soundtrack work compiled by Blackest Ever Black
In the early 90s, avant garde New York veteran Stuart Argabright set up an industrial death metal band called Black Rain. He had led other projects like Ike Yard and Dominatrix and worked with hip hop artist Rammellzee, but Black Rain was to morph into a fascinating duo with Shinichi Shimokawa.
Oddly, and presciently, considering the soundtrack work of fellow early-90s industrial musician Trent Reznor, they worked on two soundtrack works – Robert Longo’s 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic and an audiobook of cyberpunk core-reading text Neuromancer by William Gibson. Neither of which saw the light of day beyond a very limited CD releases (Sony cut the vast majority of Black Rain’s music from the Keanu Reeves turkey Johnny Mnemonic), and were, in the words of the press release, largely forgotten.
Now, in 2012, Blackest Ever Black, a label who care, have taken it upon themselves to collect the seven best pieces from these soundtrack sessions. And they are absolutely terrific, and would go down well with anyone who likes Grouper, Raime, Andy Stott, Actress, The Haxan Cloak, coats, Hull, that sort of thing. In short, it’s one of the best pieces of music out in the next two months, and it will be available from February. Observe the tracklisting, along with a sampler, below
