New Badass Player Script, Y'All

Can you dig it? Listen, share -- and remember, these albums are mad cheap this month. Just use the code "hoodooluv" on checkout. 50% off, which means all the mp3s for both of our albums (3 years of work), all yours for the cost of a cappuccino.

June Sale!

For the entire month of june, you can get 50% ANY HoodooEngine Bandcamp purchase with code: "hoodooluv"- that means $1-2 ALBUMS.

Go get em!

KMFDM Bitch-Slaps Plutocracy With A Drug Against Wall Street

The whole #OccupyWallStreet thing is cool and all, but it's not a real party until some heavyweights of radical music start throwing their weight behind it. Fans of industrial metal will be pleased to know that KMFDM has done just that, releasing a new version of their classic track (which the more angsty of us rocked in our angsty bedrooms over a decade ago), A Drug Against War, but have altered their own lyrics to spotlight the recent rebellion against evil psycho-clown corporations.

The vocals in the track are now all about defeating our shady bankster-GMO-Annunaki overlords with the new title A Drug Against Wall Street! Calling upon the 99% to "march to the drum of the ultra heavy beat," the vocals warn against remaining passive to the ravages of class warfare, warning us rather succinctly that "make no mistake, our children's future is at stake."

Shortly after the release of this slammer in its new incarnation, KMFDM's founder and front-man, Sascha K, stated, "On Oct 15, I suddenly had this idea of doing a new version... using alternate lyrics voicing support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Working quickly I was able to get it done and posted so it could be made available for free to everyone during the Global Day Of Action."

You heard right! The key to success is to take action before it's too late. Give em hell, people.

Skinny Puppy Thwarts Ambush From The Great Vampire Squid

It is a story that most musicians and bands are now accustomed to as economic imbalance continues to sabotage their creative potential. With the release of the new Skinny Puppy album, HanDover, this past October, we bear witness to a record that has been on hold from release for two years thanks to the ongoing sickening ravages of the global financial plague waged on anyone who isn't in the 1%. Obviously, there is an interesting back story to this. In 2009, Skinny Puppy's label, the German-based SPV, went into insolvency, instantly nullifying any possibility of the album's release that year. While this was happening, the band had also scheduled their 2009 Fall tour throughout the US and Europe, yet decided to go forward with the shows despite not at all having their new album on hand. The trouble with the label's lack of financing for the release of their album inevitably gave the band's singer, Ohgr, an idea to harness his patented gothy word-manipulation powers and christened the tour name "In Solvent See".

In the run up to their tour, Skinny Puppy learned of the label's insolvency, so the band's manager, Jeff Jacquin, put out a press release, which stated "I just wanted to attempt to make everyone aware of the current situation that Skinny Puppy is in. Due to the fact that SPV filed for insolvency earlier in the year, the new Skinny Puppy LP will not be out in time for the tour. We have been in discussion with SPV and had hoped to find a solution to the mess they have put us in, but it looks as though things will not get sorted out until years end. We have meetings set with them in the near future and I hope to be able to let everyone know that things will be back on track soon. Songs have been recorded and artwork has been worked on and once we resolve the issues we have with SPV we will release them."

That was October 2009. Fast forward two years later and we are finally able to enjoy this legendary industrial band's new album hanDover, a long-awaited follow up to their 2007 album, Mythmaker. Sporting a poignant design by the visual artist who has done nearly all their album covers since the beginning, Steven R. Gilmore, the release turns a giant mirror on this naughty little world in a way that only Skinny Puppy can pull off. One can assume that the band must have continued to record and tweak the album while waiting to put it out so that it wouldn't be too dated. If so, they succeeded. Stylistically, the record has similarities to their post-millenium sound (Cullorblind, Ashas, Icktums, Village), but at times can possibly even remind diehard fans of their earlier, grittier, analog synth legacy (Ovirt, Wavy, Point) while continuing to explore production techniques that tap into new territory (Gambatte, Brownstone, Vyrisus, Noisex). Overall, the album is a worthwhile buy if you are a fan, but probably not the best pick for newcomers, who should likely first be exposed to their classic albums (such as Remission, Too Dark Park, and The Process) for the best potential long term impact.

"So what in the hell does this blog have to do with your band HoodooEngine?" you may be furiously asking yourself while sitting in total isolation (in true troll form). Aside from being one of the most influential groups for us and wanting to show respect for their continued efforts, we are also intrigued by this tale of an extended monetary struggle to release their art. Much like our own (and most others) sustained professional difficulties, Skinny Puppy has undergone major stresses and delays of their work due to the persistent specter of economic disparity. Their true hella swag gangsta ability to persevere as a band continues to inspire us. As such, we have learned to gladly punt any silly obstacles (such as total world meltdown) that might stand in the way of releasing stuff such as our newest cheerful release, Murder The World, and we will continue to stand for groundbreaking art that isn't afraid to raise its voice to make a worthwhile pissed-off statement. In closing, we feel it really helps to make an impact against the powers that be if you offer bands that you really appreciate a little bit of your money. I mean, c'mon, otherwise its just going to go toward that corporate slush fund for genetically modifying your unborn children. Nobody wants that.

Fretboard masturbation

Sirona Releases Murder The World LP

4 of the tracks from "Murder The World" are available on the free Sirona promotional LP.

Like the album? Pick up the 13 track full release.

Primus Portrays Tales Of Crustacean Class Struggle

This is Johan Ess, lead singer and lyricist for HoodooEngine, bringing you the best and newest mindstuffs floating about in the void. The new video by Primus, Tragedy's 'A Comin', gives a rather inspired take on the ravenous inequity that has been given such widespread attention lately. This type of mass obsession with the horrible condition of class issues is largely due to the #OccupyWallStreet movement going on right now, which we fully support. Anyway, back to the video. Basically, you've got their bassist/singer Les Claypool wearing a giant lobster costume on the beach in the daydream of one of the lobsters awaiting his fate in a restaurant's tank, as the privileged dine and party like there's no tomorrow. The video has an amusing climax with an astronaut riding in on a horse to devour the Claypool lobster, making me wonder if this was all just inspired by a nightmare he recently had.

Primus is no stranger to infusing class commentary into their music, with previous songs like Too Many Puppies, American Life, Welcome To This World, DMV, and of course, who could forget Those Damn Blue Collar Tweakers amongst the more obvious critical jabs of society at large. In fact, despite their reputation as a stoner's wet dream of a proggy funky slippery mud rock trio, Primus has always managed to balance their infamous alternative wackyness with a deeper set of socially conscious views. "Musically, it's upbeat," Les Claypool says, "But lyrically, the song is all about impending doom." When there's "a storm coming, the rain must fall. But to depict that would have been the cliché thing to do, so we've got lobsters."

Keeping in line with the invertebrate theme, the track Invocation from my new solo album, vltrahex, has a line that calls on listeners to "raise up your claws!" in defiance of the submission demanded by an economically obsessed society...



In much the same vein, with projects like HoodooEngine, I have always intended to convey the very palpable sense of impending doom without devolving into utter cliché. This has always been best remedied by the vigorous application of comic relief.

Whether it is referencing Grant Morrison's cancer-dimensional Archons from The Invisibles graphic series, the absurd notion of "alchemists in their fancy aether, turning their shit to gold", or the inhumanly robotic "machinations of silicon, making their way to your rear", these lyrics are designed to amuse and alter your brain chemistry...


If you like that last track, be sure to get our new album that just came out, Murder The World.