Download is a
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
electronic music group formed by
Dwayne Goettel
Dwayne Rudolph Goettel (February 1, 1964August 23, 1995) was a Canadian Electronic music, electronic musician, best known for his work in the industrial music group Skinny Puppy. Starting his career playing for a variety of acts around Edmonton, h ...
and Kevin Crompton (aka
cEvin Key
Kevin William Crompton (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as cEvin Key, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. He is best known as a member of the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded in 1982 ...
) of
Skinny Puppy in 1994.
The initial lineup also included, Off & Gone's
Phil Western and
Mark Spybey of
Dead Voices on Air,
but has since been particularly fluid, with Key and Western being the only constant members following
Goettel's death. Download's music has been described as
post-industrial, drawing from the band's genesis as part of
Skinny Puppy but also sharing common stylistic ground with such artists as
Aphex Twin
Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...
and
Autechre
Autechre ( ) are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all o ...
. The primary instrumentation common throughout their albums is a blend of
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
s and
sampled
instruments; the music is particularly centered on the elements of
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
and
rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...
.
Other artists that have been involved are
Genesis P. Orridge, Anthony Valcic, Bill Van Rooy, and Ken Marshall. Earlier releases frequently included
vocal elements and
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...
, but since
III (and Mark Spybey's departure in 1996) their work has been strictly instrumental.
History
Formation
As tensions within
Skinny Puppy began to mount in the early nineties,
band members
Dwayne Goettel
Dwayne Rudolph Goettel (February 1, 1964August 23, 1995) was a Canadian Electronic music, electronic musician, best known for his work in the industrial music group Skinny Puppy. Starting his career playing for a variety of acts around Edmonton, h ...
and
cEvin Key
Kevin William Crompton (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as cEvin Key, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. He is best known as a member of the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded in 1982 ...
began experimenting with musical improvisations that they felt were more true to their "roots".
Early on, the duo brought in
Mark Spybey who Key had met in Vancouver some years previous through Spybey's involvement with Zoviet France.
The name for the band came from the last track on Skinny Puppy's album ''Last Rights'',
an especially abstract track for the band produced by Goettel and Anthony Valcic.
''Furnace'' and ''Microscopic''
In the first era of Download's career, the band's sound was an Experimental Industrial style which featured vocals by Mark Spybey and guest vocals by Genesis P. Orridge.
Their first LP, ''
Furnace'', was arguably their least accessible — most of the tracks lasted for over four minutes, some lasting as long as nine minutes. Their next release, the ''
Microscopic EP'' continued this style. It featured three remixes of tracks from ''Furnace'' (only one of which was remixed by the band itself, the other two were remixed by
Biosphere
The biosphere (), also called the ecosphere (), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on the Earth. The biosphere (which is technically a spherical shell) is virtually a closed system with regard to mat ...
and
Newt
A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...
), along with five original tracks.
''Charlie's Family''
''
Charlie's Family
''Charlie's Family'' is the third Album, LP release by the industrial music group Download (band), Download. It was initially released through Download's 1996 tour in a limited run of 2,000 copies, though it was later re-issued as a digipak throug ...
'' was another experimental industrial LP by Download, except this LP was a soundtrack to the movie of the same name, and it had significantly different sound than the previous two releases. Instead of the beat-oriented music that dominated ''Furnace'' and ''Microscopic'', this LP's music was mostly dominated by a simple beat along with many samples of anything from women
orgasm
Orgasm (from Greek , ; "excitement, swelling"), sexual climax, or simply climax, is the sudden release of accumulated sexual excitement during the sexual response cycle, characterized by intense sexual pleasure resulting in rhythmic, involu ...
ing to
airplane
An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...
s taking off.
''The Eyes of Stanley Pain'' and ''Sidewinder''
''
The Eyes of Stanley Pain'', arguably Download's most diverse-sounding and accessible industrial album, was released in 1996.
It spanned 14 tracks, most of which were about four or five minutes long. The only exceptions were the tracks "Glassblower" and "Collision", which were 3:02 and 10:38, respectively. Later that year, the EP ''
Sidewinder'' was released by the band.
In the same vein as their first EP - ''Microscopic'' - it contained eight tracks, of which four were remixes. Three were remixes by Download of songs from ''The Eyes of Stanley Pain'', and one was a remix of the song "Attalal" from ''Furnace'' by the band
Haujobb (although the packaging of Sidewinder spells it "Attallal"). The other four songs were original songs recorded by Download, and the last of Download's
post-industrial era.
''III'' and ''Effector''
''
III'' marked a turning point for Download. Their sound became more melodic and accessible while still retaining the experimental quirks of their older material. Their next album ''
Effector'' continued this direction and peaked at #12 on the
CMJ
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...
RPM Charts in the U.S.
''III Steps Forward'' and ''Inception''
Two more albums, ''
III Steps Forward'' and ''
Inception'' were released as part of Subconscious Studio's ''From The Vault'' series. ''Inception'' contained outtakes from Download's more experimental early era, while ''
III Steps Forward'' included outtakes from the ''III'' and ''Effector'' eras as well as new tracks. Although the original pressing of each was limited to 1000 copies, 2nd pressing editions are currently available from Subconscious Studio's website.
''Fixer''
In December 2006, cEvin Key announced that new material has been recorded for a new album (titled ''
Fixer''). The album was released in April 2007.
''HElicopTEr'' & ''Wookie Wall''
In late 2009, Subconscious Communications announced the release of the ''Beyond the Vault'' series.
With it, a new Download album titled ''
HElicopTEr
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
'' was included in the series which was written by cEvin Key and Phil Western with a guest appearance by Mark Spybey.
As stated on the official Subconscious Communications website, the album employs some of the oldest synthesizers the studio has in its collection.
The result differs from the more ambient releases of ''Effector'' and ''Fixer'' and is more akin to Download's previous works such as ''Furnace'' or ''Charlie's Family''.
Wookie Wall: For the 2010 "SubCon Beyond Fest", a tour in support of the albums released in the Beyond The Vault series, Download announced plans to release an EP that would be sold during the tour. Though Download apparently went as far as to commission album art, the so-called ''Wookie Wall EP'' never materialized during the tour though the title track was integrated into the setlist. Supposedly the band considered the possibility of expanding Wookie Wall into its own full-length album, but in 2011 three of the proposed Wookie Wall tracks were added onto a re-release of Download's Helicopter.
A special-edition of ''Furnace'' (''Furnace Re:dux'') was also released with Subconscious' From the Vault II series. The new release includes a second disc with a collection of the live jams and improvisations that were the basis of the finished album.
''LingAM''
On June 11, 2013, Download released their ninth studio album ''Lingam''.
In Hindu scripture, the lingam is the beginning-less and endless cosmic pillar, symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva.
''Lingam'' employs some of the band's more ambient styles featured on previous albums like ''Effector'' and ''Fixer''.
''Unknown Room''
On March 8, 2019, Download released their eleventh studio album ''Unknown Room''.
From the bandcamp listing: 'Unknown Room is the project's 11th studio album, recorded in Los Angeles over a several-year period, culminating in a recent two-month session in the Fall that Key describes as being "extremely intense."
Unknown Room is the last album to feature Phil Western who died while the album was being prepared for release in 2019.
Discography
References
External links
* Official Site
Litany.net - Unofficial Site Covering Skinny Puppy and other side projects of Ogre and cEvin kEy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Download
Musical groups established in 1994
Musical groups from Vancouver
Canadian electronic music groups
Canadian industrial music groups
Skinny Puppy
Intelligent dance musicians
Metropolis Records artists
Off Beat label artists
1994 establishments in British Columbia