THOUGHT INDUSTRY - "Black Umbrella"

Artist:  Thought Industry
Song:  Pink Dumbo
Album:  Black Umbrella
Year:  1997
Genre:  Alternative / Pop / Experimental

Some bands that find their way to my ears from my collection are just plain difficult to describe.  The reason?  They're beyond being pigeonholed by a single genre.  Bands such as Faith No More, Primus, Swans, Jesus Lizard and Voivod are so damn hard to tell people about without leaving them more confused.  Thought Industry is another band that will make that list just a bit longer.  If you were to listen to their debut record "Songs For Insects" and compare it to their swansong Short Wave On A Cold Day there's a strong possibility you would believe you are listening to a different musical act.  The origins of Thought Industry were strongly rooted in thrash metal.  Yet, their choice of producer Dave Ogilvie (of Skinny Puppy fame!) and the Salvador Dali cover art for their debut release, you knew this wasn't going to be the typical thrash-by-numbers outing.  Over the course of their criminally overlooked catalogue, the songwriting contorted and swayed to the point where you'd swear you hear Devo or Tom Waits or The Cure or Slayer or Nirvana.  In the end, Thought Industry morphed into what I would call a progressive, despondent, stream of consciousness pop band.  Told ya you'd be confused.  Seriously, what does any of that mean?  Well, to me, it means originality.  If you can't describe it, it's original.  And it just so happens they were phenomenal at creating their form of sonic weirdness.  If you follow their records, you'll hear multiple personalities of the band, but each release actually leads you to the spot the ended up, and you can hear hints of where they were going on the record previous.  As with so many talented and immensely creative bands, Thought Industry never really found an audience; which generally spells death for career-minded musicians.  For Thought Industry it meant one demo and five odd and wonderful albums.  This band is one of those diamonds in the rough people find in bargain CD bins everywhere.  They deserved better than that fate.

Listen to "Pink Dumbo" here.