Mushroom In Our Shoes - Quarter Libeň
Mostly, I like to think that I know every industrial band that has existed. I also like to think (sometimes) that if I haven´t heard about it, then I usually dismiss it thinking that it probably isn´t worth bothering. But sometimes that isn´t entirely true. Sometimes you just end you stumbling and falling over something... hidden and totally unheard of. Someone has created a Bandcamp label site called CS Industrial 1982-2002, which means Czech and Slovak industrial. And no... Laibach and Borghesia aren´t the only ones. And then I decided to check up on it, and then just examine the first release which they had on their site.
This act is called as you can see ... Mushroom In Our Shoes sounds... sounds cool when you say it, not actually a disturbing industrial band name is it? Title of the album, couldn´t actually translate it on the web... think it is about a specific quarter of living location of some sort, maybe where the band lives? About 36 minutes, 10 tracks. This was their debut, released in 1987 on cassette via Eastmush Records and then re-released digitally on CS Industrial in 2018.
Disturbing and good industrial material here. Very experimental, ritualistic, inventive and primal stuff. First track called For Your Body Part 1 takes you instantly back to the early-decaying scrab metal sound of Test Dept and SPK. Metallic percussions, huge machines humming. The second track has a Cabaret Voltaire/Richard Kirk feel with the free-jazzy hornet blowing, mixed up with primal and esoteric ritualistic drummings. So far a perfect apocalyptic utopian unease confronts the listener. The most disturbing piece (for me) might be the My Child And My Love Part 1, and that is just because that I am a dad for 2 ... And waiting for the third as we speak. It is just a recording of a mother trying to calm an angry baby, probably tired and hungry as they are from time to time. Mixed up with ritualistic drummings, which gives the track an eerie and slightly sinister quality. I am of course sure when I actually listen to this track, that there are no ill intentions with it. A proud (and probably VERY tired dad!) getting an idea of immortalizing a recording with his child. Luckily in the next track, My Child And My Love Part 2 his love/mother sings to the baby and calms it down... apparently, the male industrial musician wasn´t able to do that with the ritualistic drummings. The album continues in the experimental, free-jazzy-industrial vibe and doesn't let the listener down. It´s a hidden gloomy treat for those who are digging the early days and sound of pre-industrial and murky avant-garde music. Recommendable!
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