The Blood Brothers' "March on Electric Children" turns 20

...wait...what? THIS album? In a place like that?! Yeah, most definitely. As awesome as "Burn Piano Island, burn" and as good "Crimes" may be, this will always remain my favourite BLOOD BROTHERS-album. And once again, it's all about the connection, the memories, the nostalgia...

More like most other records "March on Electric Children" was in the right place at the right time for me. Getting in to HC/Punk two years prior, I was listening to stuff like AT THE DRIVE-IN, BOYSETSFIRE, THURSDAY, FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES, POISON THE WELL and so on. This may be extreme bands to some people, but compared to early BLOOD BROTHERS they were virtually radiofriendly. It was around 2002 when I started to get more into spastic, chaotic, or even more complex Hardcore. Yeah, I came to knew "Jane Doe" before, but it just didn't click with me. But "March on Electric Children" did. As far as I remember I just blindly ordered this record, cause I liked the artwork and it got a rave review in my favourite mailorder...

At first I was overwhelmed. The most unusually thing was the screeching voice of Jordan Blilie. It was polarizing as fuck, and after the first few listens I was battling with myself if I should love or hate it. Also the song structures were pretty challenging to me at this time. The strange & imaginative lyrics were the tip of the iceberg. It's a coherent story of a young girl marrying a rich oldtimer (I guess you call this golddigger nowadays) and then getting pushed into pornography in search of celebrity fame. It's a comment on the fucked up celebrity-society and something like the "american dream" gone bad. It's a tiny story for a whole album, but it's full of challenging metaphors and creative wording, the execution ist downright excellent. Lyrics-wise it's one of the most original records I know.

All this totally fascinated me. I was 16 when receiving this record and in the middle of my rebel phase. Therefor "March on Electric Children" was the perfect soundtrack to my life. I remember loving to blast this as loud as possible to disturb parents and neighbors, especially "American Vultures" was the number 1 hit to shock the people who were surrounding me. Everyone hearing the intro and the outro (consisting of piano strokes and ear-splittering high pitched screams) of said song must've got the feeling that something is wrong with me.

Ultimately I fell in love with "March", spinning it like no other record in 2002. The energy, the intensity, the amazing grooves (!), the striking two-voice-vocals, the abstract but oh so unique and memorable lyricsm, and the fact that it was a perfect little oeuvre of an album - what was not to like about the BLOOD BROTHERS? "March" is a rare gem, cause it's small in every way possible, but I don't know many albums who are as tight and as flawless. Personally I'm a sucker for lo-fi-productions and a hater of remasters. I guess in 98 out of 100 times I'd prefer the original version over the pimped up new version... but with "March" I always felt that it'd have deserved a remaster. The sound is thin and it's really low in the mix. The melodies and grooves are terrific as fuck, but can't quite hit the impact that they would've been able to. The production just can't do justice to this masterpiece. I still rock out heavy to this shit, but first I got to turn up the volume like crazy...

Would I love this record as much when I would've discovered it 10 or 20 years later? No, for certain. For me personally it was there at the right time. Many years later, revisiting with more trained ears, it's not among the most fucked up records of all time, even if I got exactly this impression 20 years ago. In fact, it's amazing how much catchy melodies & chorusses are "buried" underneath all the noise and the odd vocal delivery. Take the already mentioned "American Vultures", remove the screaming and get the song a well trained singer, and you got a radio hit. Or "Kiss of the Octopus": What a chorus! 

"March on Electric Children" is a record I get never tired of listening to. It's not only a record full of nostalgia and memories for me, but also a truly unique and timeless record. Along with JR EWING's "Ride Paranoia" (another 2002-record) it was the album that led me to Screamo, Mathcore, and all the other mad-man-music I came to discover. And the rest is history.

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