Industrial

Industrial on vinyl: sound from the factory floor

In short: Industrial emerged in England in the mid-seventies: Throbbing Gristle in London and Cabaret Voltaire in Sheffield made music from noise, tape and electronics – harsh, cold and deliberately uncomfortable. In the eighties and nineties this grew into danceable EBM and industrial rock. The Vinyl Room currently has 48 industrial records.

What is industrial?

Machine rhythm instead of guitar riff: the pioneers are here – Throbbing Gristle with “Journey Through A Body”, Cabaret Voltaire with “The Crackdown”. From Throbbing Gristle’s circle came the duo Coil, here with “Recoiled”, a collection of remixes of Nine Inch Nails tracks.

It gets danceable with Nitzer Ebb’s “Ascend” and heavier with Swans. Trent Reznor wrote the music for the series “Watchmen” with Atticus Ross.

What to look for

Many industrial records first came out on small labels and later as reissues; label, catalogue number and year of release help you tell which edition you have – it’s noted with each copy.

From our stock

First pressings

New in

→ EBM · Post-punk · Experimental · Electronic on vinyl · How to spot a first pressing · Grading explained

FAQ

Where does industrial come from? From England in the mid-seventies – with Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire.

Where does industrial get its name? From Industrial Records, Throbbing Gristle’s label.

What is EBM? Electronic body music – a danceable form from the eighties, here for example Nitzer Ebb.

Are there newer industrial records? Yes – here, for example, Pan Daijing and Trent Reznor with Atticus Ross.