''War Music'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

of Vampire Rodents, released in 1990 by V.R. Productions. It introduced the sound of the band, and several of the techniques they would use in their later works, such as sound clips and songs in different languages. Daniel has described ''War Music'' as being "a little primitive, but very funny".Villa, Stefano
Vampire Rodents: Science Collage
Vampire Rodents biography (translated). Retrieved on July 22, 2010.

Music and lyrics

A simpler musical foundation consisting of drums, bass guitar and electric guitar was utilized to trick listeners into believing the duo were an industrial rock group. Similar to other industrial music of the time, sampled movie and television dialogue was peppered throughout the compositions. This prompted some to draw comparisons between the Rodents and other prominent musical acts such as

Skinny Puppy Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group is among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton ...

and

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments; perc ...

. The compositions also borrow snippets of sound from previously recorded and released music, such as "Momentous" from older

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

tunes. The album probably gained the most recognition for Vahnke's lyrics, which utilize dark humor to explore environmentalist and anti-human themes. Although primary an English language album, lyrics for two tracks were translated into another language: "Dumme Weisse Menschen", whose lyrics were written in German, and "PLA Man", which was written in Chinese. "Dumme Weisse Menschen", which opened the album, even caused some listeners to assume that the band comprised German musicians. The song, which translates to "stupid white people", was described by Victor Wulf as a critiquing of Western culture and an archetype of the band's philosophy. Vahnke described the Chinese language song "Pla Man" as a polemic against the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

government and for its involvement in the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989. The track ''Abortion Clinic Deli'' was inspired by the famous satirical piece, A Modest Proposal.

Release and reception

The record was completed in January 1990 and released on

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

for a limited run of 918 pressings under the label V.R. Productions. The album was then adopted by Dossier in 1991 and re-released on CD for a wider distribution. When ''War Music'' was re-issued, the song "Meat" was moved from being the album's opener to its closer. The album is currently out of print on both labels. There were plans to re-issue the album with '' Premonition'' and an expanded track listing, including the unreleased songs "Lizardman", "Blind Acceleration", "Smartass", "Harelip", and "Annexation II". Robert Baird of the '' Phoenix New Times'' was somewhat enthusiastic about the album, saying that although "the band's darkly humorous, apocalyptic visions are set to a cyber-aggressive post-industrialist beat" that there is "a point to all the sickness and gore."

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the ''War Music'' liner notes. Vampire Rodents *

Daniel Vahnke Daniel Vahnke (born April 2, 1965), sometimes credited as Anton Rathausen, is a Canadian composer and lyricist. He is best known as a co-founding member of Vampire Rodents, a band that integrated elements of classical, ambient, and industrial m ...

(as Anton Rathausen) –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

sampler Sampler may refer to: * Sampler (signal), a digital signal processing device that converts a continuous signal to a discrete signal * Sampler (needlework), a handstitched piece of embroidery used to demonstrate skill in needlework * Sampler (surna ...

Victor Wulf Victor Wulf is a Canadian keyboard player and composer. He is recognized for his solo ambient music project Dilate and as a founding member of sound collage band Vampire Rodents. Biography Victor Wulf was involved in composing music for televis ...

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, lead vocals (17) Additional musicians * Karl Geist –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Jing Laoshu –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Release history

References

External links

''War Music''
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

''War Music''
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

(list of releases) {{DEFAULTSORT:War Music (Vampire Rodents album) 1990 debut albums Vampire Rodents albums