Marking
40 years on the shelf this month is the sophomore LP from Belgian EBM
pioneers, Front 242, with No Comment being released in September of
1984. The album contains the actual first documented use of the term
"electronic body music" in the album's credits, which included the
phrase "Electronic Body Music Composed and Produced On Eight Tracks by
Front 242", a reference to their use of an 8-track recording device.
Although Cabaret Voltaire had arguably cut the first stylistic swath
into the EBM genre with their Crackdown LP from the previous year, Front
242 codified the style on this release.
The
key elements for this music came from the new generation of synths,
drum machines and sequencers that were taking over the gear racks at the
time. The introduction of digital sample based drum machines allowed
for a much tighter and tougher drum sound than what was typical with
earlier analogue machines, while the more sophisticated digital
"composer" style sequencers allowed for much more complex arrangements
than the primitive step sequencers that preceded them. There was also
the introduction of a new generation of synthesizers, incorporating "FM"
digital synthesis, which also broadened the musical palettes available
to electronic artists. This trifecta of innovations directly fed into
the evolution of EBM as the dominating alternative variant on the dance
floor in the mid 1980s. No Comment became a blueprint for a genre that
has continued to thrive in various branches over the past forty years.
