EBM Defiance

Terence Fixmer – Danse avec les ombres (Citizen)

At some point in the early nineties the first wave of EBM began to ossify into cliché. Once the most dynamic and forceful variant of electronic dance, it was far outdone by the harsher new sounds of techno and gabba and retreated into conservatism. Vocals and guitars predominated and the whole form seemed tired. Critical opinion almost never referred to it except as a strictly historical phenomenon and in some ways it became a niche scene. In fact, many of the techno producers (including those in Detroit) had grown up on a diet of Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy et al. and at some point in the late nineties it became acceptable to acknowledge and even to re-incorporate this sound. Belgian producer Fixmer was in the vanguard of this movement but more “fashionable” figures such as DJ Hell have also championed EBM and its textures have bled into electroclash and the work of many contemporary producers whose work seems to have no conceptual connection to EBM. The rediscovery of EBM (and other recently repressed and rejected sounds of the eighties) seems to be an acknowledgement that EBM (and also New Beat) stalled prematurely, and that its full potential was never fully realised. With the quantum leaps in technology during the nineties and the pushing back of the limits of force by techno it has now become possible to take the EBM template much further. However, much of this does not explicitly call itself EBM and certainly does not originate from within the defined EBM scene. Fixmer acknowledges his influences openly (even recording an album with Nitzer Ebb’s Doug McCarthy) but operates primarily within the techno/dance scene. Danse avec les ombres is one of the finest pieces of what could be called the neo-EBM sound and sets a standard even beyond the best of Fixmer’s previous tracks. Starting with what sounds like a reversed Stuka sample, it is joyfully strict, linear and harsh. It has the classic EBM spirit but is backed by a massive, previously unimaginable techno punch. B1, Impulsion, is rawer and bleaker, scoured by primitive sci-fi sound effects but still sustained by a massive kick and far beyond the majority of similar tracks. Only the O.Kaiser remix of Danse disappoints with its guitar-led electroclash populism. Yet if it attracts some new listeners and infects them with the EBM virus it may be no bad thing. Even with the remix this is a classic single, one of Fixmer’s finest. Unashamed “eighties industrial diehards” need look no further for a re-injection of the EBM spirit. Colossal.