./monroec

We were finally seated at the Cracker Barrel. For some reason, this one felt different. The waitress, skeptical of my order, kept verifying my “sunny side up” request. For me, it was the only sane thing about the last 24 hours. Dustin looks at his phone and says “I’m turning the GPS off, it’s a fucking waste.”

(You can read Dustin’s side of the story here: http://www.dustinbarbour.com/2009/10/leaving-houston/)

I knew I had forgotten something when I boarded the plane. I kept repeating “keys, phone, plastic, keys, phone, plastic” over and over again to try to figure out what was missing. The croissan’wich was settling in, and my eye lids grew too heavy. Whatever was missing could be dealt with in San Antonio.

Dustin picked me up at Terminal 1 and we were off. The drive to Houston is an easy one. Texas has the horrible characteristic of being flat. As we reached city limits, we focused all of our attention in spotting a La Quinta Inn hotel he had booked days earlier.

We must have missed it. That’s the only explanation. Loop after loop around the city, no sign of our destination. The frustration levels kept rising, and his phone quickly ran out of batteries.

We had:

We pull over to a convenience store to check the phone book listings. Not a single one of them familiar to us. We call a random one and start working the Vegas charm. It couldn’t be…. No record of the reservation. If only we could find an open wireless access point.

We pull over again, but this time directly in front of two guys waiting on the bus. “Weezy” walks up to us speaking all kinds of jive trying to help us get to our location. His directions might as well have been from National Lampoon’s Vacation. “Maybe now you can help ME” he replied. And just like that, all the knowledge I picked up in Brazil came flying back. Redskins jersey was a hustler, and his pal was a spotter. Before I knew it, our car was surrounded by homeless transients. Feeling his Tupperware totes were in danger of theft, Dustin hands the guy four dollars, and we break out of there. We pull into a T-mobile store and borrow one of their power outlets.

I had used Google’s SMS 411 feature and obtained a list of La Quinta’s in town. Dustin makes a backup reservation just in case, and we go searching again.

6:53 PM - We turn on the GPS feature of the phone. Cell phone tower triangulation just wasn’t good enough for us. 13290 SM 1960 Roadwest. I wondered what kind of genius names their streets like that. GPS led us further down the spiral. We decide to try other locations: Greenway Plaza-Galleria-Airport — No reservation.

7:30 PM - We pull into a different La Quinta. This time, we’re able to jump onto an open wireless access point. Dustin pulls up his laptop browser history, the reservations were for a Baymont Inn Hotel. My brain goes into a state of shock, and my body starts running down the street. The level of madness is enough to make me laugh uncontrollably. I was drowning in nonsense.

7:53 PM - A mere seven minutes before doors open, we decide to get some food at Prince’s Hamburgers and check in after our concert.

12:00 AM - We head out looking for our Baymont Inn hotel, we pull in after GPS fails us a few more times. I had his laptop scanning for networks, I look down to see network “laquinta”. Am I delirious? I jump on Google to make sense of all this. July 15 2009 - La Quinta Acquires Baymont Inn Hotels.

No wonder. The conversion and branding process was still going on. La Quinta’s website never specified we’d be looking for a different name. It’s no surprise our reservation didn’t show, their systems are probably still not linked.

We walk inside our room. Dustin headed to the furniture, “I bet you these two bottom drawers are locked… HA!”. I take a quick shower turn on the Wi-Fi on my phone. All I wanted was a new day and some good breakfast.

I wasn’t aware that there is a remix of AFRAIDOFSWORDS. It’s actually pretty good. (FROM: http://users.stargate.net/~tofu/music.html)

On the topic of ridiculous, I was also forwarded this video - “Look at My Horse”.

Why is Electro/Synth music so easy to ridicule?

Without fail, all newcomers to the Goth/Industrial subculture will get confused as to what exactly they’re listening to. Is it Industrial? Is it Synthpop? Why do I keep hearing Johnny Depp’s voice?

The causes are twofold:

1) A lack of knowledge of the history of the genres.
2) Cross-pollination by artists.

Since musicians and bands are always evolving, let’s focus on the history of Industrial and Synthpop music.

Industrial and Synthpop both emerged in the mid to late 70’s as a result of the Krautrock, Post-Punk, and Electronic movements. Industrial focused on experimentation, performance art, provocative themes, stark percussion, and distorted loops with harsh noise(Examples: Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Laibach) while Synthpop focused on standard song structures, exclusive use of synthesizers, and vocal arrangements (Examples: Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Devo). Each style is a Ying to the other’s Yang. Industrial is anti-music while Synthpop is music for the masses.

Industrial music died in the late 80’s and broke into several sub genres while Synthpop seems to come and go with the years.

Today, there are 9 sub genres of Industrial:

1. Ambient Industrial - An unobtrusive blend of noise with non musical material. Examples: Coil, Lilith
2. EBM - A blend of Industrial and Electronic dance music with minimal amounts of layering and danceable beats. Examples: Front 242, OOMPH
3. Electro-Industrial - Stemming from EBM, it included the addition of clean production and deeply layered sound. Examples: Skinny Puppy, Frontline Assembly
4. Industrial Hip Hop - A mix of Hip Hop lyricism with the aggressiveness of Electro-Industrial. Examples: Saul Williams
5. Industrial Rock - The most commercially successful of the bunch, a perfect blend of Rock and Industrial. Examples: KMFDM, 16Volt, Chemlab
6. Japanoise - Structured noise music of Japanese origin. Examples: Merzbow
7. Neo Folk - Folk instruments with heavy experimentation and heavy Industrial elements. Examples: n/a*
8. Power Electronics - Atonal, pulsating waves of feedback. Examples: n/a*
9. Power Noise - Noise meets Electronic dance music. Examples: Terrofakt, Iszoloscope

* Since I don’t care for the style, I won’t give any examples/recommendations.

Synthpop, on the other hand, has given birth to two main sub genres:

1. Electropop - Complete focus on songwriting and danceability. Examples: Fischerspooner, Ladytron
2. Futurepop - A blend of Synthpop with Trance. Examples: VNV Nation, Covenant, Apoptygma Berzerk

You might be wondering where Velvet Acid Christ, :Wumpscut:, Decoded Feedback, Combichrist, etc fall in. They fall under what’s called Aggrotech - A blend of Electro-Industrial and Techno.

And there you have it! It took me a few years to wrap my head around most of this. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Brap on.

FEEL FREE TO USE MY HANDY DANDY INDUSTRIAL FLOWCHART.

From http://16volt.com/downloads/

16volt is now giving away the back catalog, making it freely and openly available to anyone and everyone who wants to hear it. All files are 192 kbps, 44.1kHz mp3s. Give it to your friends, your enemies, your family, share it with everyone, everywhere. The goal is to get it out to the people more than it ever has. 16volt wants everyone to hear it, own it and share it. Use it for whatever you want as long as you aren’t making any money off it.

Creative Commons License

Help support 16volt. If you feel like making a donation please click the donate button.
Your money will go towards touring and merchandise expenses. Please also take a moment to sign up for our mailing list (over to the right). We’ll send news updates right to you!

Fantastic! You might remember 16Volt from the 2002 KMFDM tour. Download and enjoy!

Why is it
that I stop doing
what I like?