They’re nobody’s buzz bands anymore. But since 1993, MAGNET has discovered and documented more great music than memory will allow. The groups may have broken up or the albums may be out of print, but this time, history is written by the losers. Here are some of the finest albums that time forgot but we remembered in issue #75, plus all-new additions to our list of Lost Classics.
:: GODHEADSILO
Skyward In Triumph // Sub Pop, 1996
The mid-’90s are often characterized as Sub Pop’s fallow period, a time when the label tried to shield itself from the post-grunge bust by diversifying its holdings. However, its most enduring acts from the era weren’t the ones with the most immediate pop appeal but those embodying a more caustic, confrontational ethos: Six Finger Satellite, Earth and, the most punishing of the bunch, North Dakota duo godheadSilo. Skyward In Triumph’s toxic sludgefests were astonishing not just for their torturous abrasion, but their instrumental economy as well; bassist Mike Kunka and drummer Dan Haugh preached a philosophy of maximal minimalism that’s informed everything from the avant-metal contortions of Lightning Bolt to the thrash disco of Death From Above 1979. But nothing can prepare you for 11-minute monstrosity “Guardians Of The Threshold,” more than half of which consisted of a piercing, repeated note that would have even My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields plugging his ears and begging for mercy.
Catching Up: godheadSilo disbanded following 1998’s less momentous Share The Fantasy. Kunka formed Enemymine (which briefly featured Low’s Zak Sally) before reuniting with Haugh (who was in a band called Dirty Knives) in 2004 to back former Murder City Devil Spencer Moody in Smoke And Smoke. Haugh now plays with Time Promises Power.
“Booby Trap”:
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/BoobyTrap.mp3
