Genre: Industrial Cabaret

Black Sun Productions is an artistic collective founded by multimedia artists and performers Massimo & Pierce and fellow artist draZen. Massimo & Pierce first came to the attention of the industrial community with the release of the Plastic Spider Thing album which was released in 2002 by legendary band Coil on Eskaton / World Serpent. Plastic Spider Thing featured a selection of remixed music by Coil which was previously used to supplement Massimo & Pierces 2 nd performance in a series of ritualistic / magickal live sex performances which were also titled Plastic Spider Thing. Massimo & Pierce also gained notability through their appearance on the 2002 European Coil tour in which they performed live on stage during Coil’s musical performance.

Since their memorable emergence Massimo & Pierce and fellow artist draZen have founded Black Sun Productions as a collective for queer artists and performers active in the post industrial underground. OperretAmorale is the fifth official release by Black Sun Productions and it features Massimo & Pierce paying homage to the poetry of German poet, playwright and thinker Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956) who influenced both men’s lives from an early age. Joined by fellow artists and performers, Fabrizo M, Plumbo, Lydia Lunch, Coil and H.R. Giger Massimo & Pierce create an electro acoustic folk tinged dusky cabaret that brings to life the work of Bertolt Brecht through personally retranslated compositions written by Massimo & Pierce. OperretAmorale focuses upon works by Bertolt Brecht that have direct themes relating to human sexuality, morality and prostitution. The accompanying CD booklet explains that Massimo & Pierce were prostitutes in separate countries before meeting on the set of an underground pornography film and falling subsequently in love. Massimo & Pierce quickly realized a shared passion for the work of Brecht and conceived of using his poetry as a way to give voice to their own life experience and transformation. The couple jointly cultivated the idea for a Bertolt Brecht project and began writing the music and collaborating with fellow musicians and producers over the subsequent years.

OperretAmorale begins with the introductory song “Brothel Tango.” “Brothel Tango” begins with a shrill passage of strings and electronics before erupting into a riveting sensual ethnic tango brought to life by expert acoustic instrumentation in the hands of skilled musicians. The Tango easily seduces as it effortlessly draws you deep into its saddened depths. All the sensuality and tragedy of the brothel is weaved together in a powerful spell that delivers the listner into sultry impressions. “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” follows with the very sexy vocals of Lydia Lunch paired with darkly wavering atmospherics and sluggish beats. Lydia Lunch recites a sordid tale draped in poetics and psychological commentary. “Pimp Ballad” is the third song on OperretAmorale and it delivers a dark pop cabaret offering by Massimo & Pierce. “Pimp Ballad” features acoustic accordion, percussion, and electric guitar paired with minimal electronics. The vocals are a duet featuring Massimo & Pierce reminiscing about bygone days of prostitution, tricks, cash, and brothels. Track four titled “Ratschläge (einer älteren Fohse an eine Jüngere)” is one of several songs delivered in Bertolt Brecht’s native German tongue. The music is a gentle flowing electro acoustic ballad that gently meanders e through dreamy casual domains while Pierce recites verse in German. Track five titled “Seeräuber-Jenny” features Massimo and infamous artists H.R. Giger singing a duet In German against a tapestry of dark psychedelic music that drifts between tense acoustic moments and simplistic moments of experimental electronics and disembodied beats.

Track six titled “Johnny Over The Sea” begins with a powerful ambient introduction lead by solid slabs of steady electronic drone music accompanied by serene female vocals. After the ambience has established itself Massimo & Pierce join the music accompanied by experimental electronic elements. The boys perform psychedelic and spiritually inspiring vocals amidst an oscillating environment of psychedelic sound that creates ritualistic environments impregnated with divine frequencies. “La canzone dei pendagli da forca” is the seventh song on OperretAmorale and it features a gentle Italian ballad sung alongside piano and string orchestration. The song invokes a deeply romantic atmosphere marked by loss and remembrance. “A List Of Wishes” is the eighth song and the album and it is offered by Massimo & Pierces musical and spiritual mentors John Balance and Peter Christopherson of Coil. “A List Of Wishes” features John Balance on vocals while Peter Christopherson blends a constant repetitious musical loop with various instrumentation and electronic effects. The music is most akin to the Moon Music albums previously released by Coil. This song also marks the last collaboration between Massimo & Pierce and Coil before John Balance’s untimely demise. The ninth song is titled “Ballade von der Höllenlili” and it features Pierce singing to a lively and very dramatic rendition that invokes images of a vintage era. The lyrics are once again in German though the theatrical nature of the music is very narrative as well. “Über die Verführung von Engeln” delivers the listner back into the grasp of experimental electronic music as Pierce recites German spoken word lyrics amidst tranquil experimental ambient atmospheres and serene keyboards. “What Keeps Mankind Alive?” is the finale of the album and it features a final spoken word composition performed by Pierce, draZen and Marco set against a lounge infused industrial composition that sounds like O Paradis and Novy Svet merged with Coil.

OperretAmorale is a crowning achievement for Massimo & Pierce musically and it establishes these two musicians and their fellow artists as fitting inheritors of the post industrial mantle first realized by Peter Christopherson and John Balance. Music lover seeking to tap into something sensual, personal, eclectic and experimental are encouraged to embark on the voyage of OperretAmorale. Like their predecessors Coil, Black Sun Productions has once again established an unabashedly queer radical perspective and presence within the post industrial music community continuing the legacy of talent and spiritualized electronic psychedelia first begun over two decades ago by the pioneering musicians of Coil.