Techno Animal was an electronic duo formed in 1990 in London, England by British musicians Justin Broadrick (of the band

Godflesh Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the original title O.P.D. (later Fall of Because) but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals, programmi ...

) and Kevin Martin (aka the Bug, of the band

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

). The duo released six LPs beginning with their 1991 debut ''

Ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

''. They blended dub production with dark, beat-oriented

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

and paranoiac themes.

History

Kevin Martin had already formed the

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of Heavy metal music, heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating Heavy metal guitar, metal guitar riffs, sampling (music), sampling, synthesizer or music sequencer, sequencer lines, and Distor ...

group

in 1987. Justin Broadrick had founded

in 1988, recorded with

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands, in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mi ...

and would soon join God alongside Martin. The Techno Animal project came to fruition in 1990, arising from the musicians' shared interest in studio exploration. The intent was to restrict the project to the studio and use sampling to develop the music, with no intent to perform the material live. The name refers to the concept of a technological animal and is not a direct reference to the

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

genre. Techno Animal's debut album ''

'' was released in 1991. In his review of the album, English music critic

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his career at ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He subsequently worked as a freelancer and published a number of books on music and popular culture. Reynold ...

compared the music to that of other sample-based acts such as

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The band currently comprises founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, ...

Die Krupps Die Krupps () ("The Krupps") is a German industrial metal/electronic body music, EBM band, formed in 1980 by Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper, and Bernward Malaka in Düsseldorf. The band has had a diverse range of musical influences over time, i ...

and 23 Skidoo. In 2017, Martin and Broadrick reunited after fifteen years and formed the band Zonal. According to Broadrick, this new project is a spiritual continuation of Techno Animal. Regarding Zonal, he said:

Influence

Notably, Techno Animal's music was an important source of inspiration for

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

musician

Kid606 Miguel Trost De Pedro (born July 27, 1979), better known by his stage name Kid606, is an electronic musician who was raised in San Diego and later moved to San Francisco. He is most closely associated with the Glitch (music), glitch, Intelligent ...

, with their debut album ''

'' being particularly influential to him. "It was one of the first experimental electronic records I had ever heard," he said, "Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick were humongous influences on me from early on."

Discography

;Albums *''

'' (Pathological, 1991) *''

Re-Entry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

'' (

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

, 1995) *'' Radio Hades'' (Position Chrome, 1998) *'' Techno Animal Versus Reality'' (

City Slang City Slang is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany. History The independent music label City Slang was founded in 1990 as a European outpost for American indie rock. Thirty years later, the imprint represents a diverse roster o ...

, 1998) *'' Symbiotics'' (with Porter Ricks) (Force Inc. Music Works, 1999) *'' The Brotherhood of the Bomb'' (

Matador A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activ ...

, 2001) ;Singles & EPs *''Babylon Seeker'' (Blue Angel, 1996) *''Unmanned'' (Position Chrome, 1996) *''Demonoid'' (City Slang, 1997) *''Phobic'' (Position Chrome, 1997) *''Cyclops'' (Position Chrome, 1998) *''Brotherhood of the Bomb/Monolith'' (Force Inc. Music Works, 1999) *''Megaton/Classical Homicide'' (with Dälek) (Matador, 2000) *''Dead Man's Curse'' (Matador, 2001) *''We Can Build You'' (Matador, 2001)

References

{{Authority control 1991 establishments in England Alternative hip-hop groups British electronic music groups British experimental musical groups British industrial music groups Electronic music duos Musical groups established in 1991 Musical groups disestablished in 2004