Download

One of the most productive offshoots of Canadian industrial legends <a href="spotify:artist:5Mu0EMEsUIVE132pNMywns">Skinny Puppy</a>, Download explored a free-form electronic style which often drew from experimental techno, IDM/glitch, and ambient. Originally founded by <a href="spotify:artist:5Mu0EMEsUIVE132pNMywns">Puppy</a> members <a href="spotify:artist:5h7b6M62frh97O68HEneX1">cEvin Key</a> and Dwayne Goettel in 1994, the majority of the project's recordings were helmed by <a href="spotify:artist:5h7b6M62frh97O68HEneX1">Key</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7sNhCqpEAXurQd1jXr0Hmv">Phil Western</a>, with artists such as <a href="spotify:artist:2DHs6O6rLJrtdK3j9cKtQM">Mark Spybey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1LIz0YepKcwUvVwWfMAUA6">Genesis P-Orridge</a> contributing heavily to early releases such as Furnace (1995) and The Eyes of Stanley Pain (1996). While those releases were generally more aggressive and industrial-leaning, incorporating distorted vocals along with samples, the group went in a more melodic, fully instrumental direction starting with 1997's III. Since then, Download (down to just <a href="spotify:artist:5h7b6M62frh97O68HEneX1">Key</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7sNhCqpEAXurQd1jXr0Hmv">Western</a>) sporadically resurfaced with studio albums including HElicopTEr (2009) and Unknown Room (2019).

Originating from a series of jam sessions between <a href="spotify:artist:5h7b6M62frh97O68HEneX1">Key</a> and Goettel, Download began in 1994. <a href="spotify:artist:2DHs6O6rLJrtdK3j9cKtQM">Mark Spybey</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:0JeJUimuD50OUT7iSpJT5p">Dead Voices on Air</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0tBx19i6OAx0Z3gGiDtsTO">:zoviet*france:</a>), techno producer <a href="spotify:artist:7sNhCqpEAXurQd1jXr0Hmv">Phil Western</a>, and Anthony Valcic were also among the project's revolving cast of contributors. Download's debut, the tense, noisy Furnace, was issued shortly after Goettel tragically died from a heroin overdose in 1995. The album featured vocals by <a href="spotify:artist:2DHs6O6rLJrtdK3j9cKtQM">Spybey</a> as well as guest <a href="spotify:artist:1LIz0YepKcwUvVwWfMAUA6">Genesis P-Orridge</a>, and was released by the group's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22SubConscious+Communications%22">SubConscious Communications</a>, distributed by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cleopatra%22">Cleopatra</a> in America. Microscopic, an EP featuring a remix by <a href="spotify:artist:2rcnAZ6DvORQ365X3zVYpr">Biosphere</a>, appeared in early 1996, with another EP, Sidewinder, following on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nettwerk%22">Nettwerk</a> soon after. Charlie's Family, a more atmospheric release written for a film about <a href="spotify:artist:1ALiu7S9gPJPSw122Ds1t2">Charles Manson</a> that was eventually completed several years later, was given a limited release in 1996 (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metropolis%22">Metropolis</a> reissued it the following year). The significantly more accessible The Eyes of Stanley Pain, produced by <a href="spotify:artist:5h7b6M62frh97O68HEneX1">Key</a> and Ken "Hiwatt" Marshall, was also released in 1996, and became one of the group's most acclaimed releases.

After <a href="spotify:artist:2DHs6O6rLJrtdK3j9cKtQM">Spybey</a> left Download, the group shifted to an instrumental sound and released III (produced by <a href="spotify:artist:5h7b6M62frh97O68HEneX1">Key</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7sNhCqpEAXurQd1jXr0Hmv">Western</a>, and Valcic) in 1997. Around the same time, the group initiated a druggy techno offshoot called <a href="spotify:artist:69p5LhKGkfZafZjubMqsOG">platEAU</a>, which debuted with 1997's Music for Grass Bars. Effector, the first Download album to be produced solely by <a href="spotify:artist:5h7b6M62frh97O68HEneX1">Key</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7sNhCqpEAXurQd1jXr0Hmv">Western</a>, appeared in 2000, marking the project's final release through <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nettwerk%22">Nettwerk</a>. Two albums of archival Download material were released as part of <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22SubConscious+Communications%22">SubConscious Communications</a>' From The Vault series in 2002. III Steps Forward contained material dating back to the sessions for III, while Inception consisted of some of the group's initial jam sessions.

Download returned in 2007 with FiXeR, a studio album featuring guest appearances by <a href="spotify:artist:2DHs6O6rLJrtdK3j9cKtQM">Spybey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5LNKJqTTwBurtQ79xMK8Ai">Otto von Schirach</a>. The group also released Furnace Re:Dux, a reissue of their debut containing a disc of previously unreleased jam sessions. HElicopTEr, focusing on material created using analog equipment, was given a limited release in 2009. After the edition sold out, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metropolis%22">Metropolis</a> gave it an expanded release in 2011, titled HElicopTEr + Wookie Wall (incorporating material from an EP which never materialized). LingAM, taking inspiration from Hindu scripture, appeared in 2013. Following the album's release, Toronto-based label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Artoffact%22">Artoffact</a> began reissuing the band's back catalog on vinyl. The label issued studio album Unknown Room in March 2019; sadly, however, <a href="spotify:artist:7sNhCqpEAXurQd1jXr0Hmv">Western</a> passed away a month before the album's release. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi