Download

One of the most prolific side projects to emerge from Canadian industrial icons Skinny Puppy, Download pursued an open-ended electronic approach frequently incorporating experimental techno, IDM/glitch, and ambient elements. The project was initially established in 1994 by Skinny Puppy members cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel, though the bulk of its recordings came under the direction of Key and Phil Western, with significant input from Mark Spybey and Genesis P-Orridge on the early releases Furnace (1995) and The Eyes of Stanley Pain (1996). Those initial works leaned toward a harsher, more industrial character marked by distorted vocals and samples, yet beginning with III in 1997 the outfit moved toward a melodic and entirely instrumental direction. Thereafter Download, reduced to the core of Key and Western, issued further studio albums at irregular intervals such as HElicopTEr (2009) and Unknown Room (2019).

Download originated from jam sessions involving Key and Goettel in 1994, soon drawing in additional contributors including Mark Spybey (Dead Voices on Air, :zoviet*france:), techno producer Phil Western, and Anthony Valcic. Issued shortly after Goettel’s death from a heroin overdose in 1995, the tense and abrasive debut Furnace appeared on the band’s own SubConscious Communications imprint, with American distribution handled by Cleopatra. It included vocals from Spybey along with guest Genesis P-Orridge. Early the following year the EP Microscopic surfaced, containing a Biosphere remix, while the Nettwerk-issued Sidewinder EP arrived shortly afterward. Also in 1996 came the limited-edition Charlie’s Family, an atmospheric work composed for a film on Charles Manson that was not completed until years later; Metropolis reissued the recording in 1997. The more approachable The Eyes of Stanley Pain, produced by Key and Ken “Hiwatt” Marshall, likewise appeared in 1996 and stands among the project’s most celebrated efforts.

Once Spybey departed, Download adopted a fully instrumental approach and released III in 1997, produced by Key, Western, and Valcic. Around that period the group launched the druggy techno side project platEAU, whose debut Music for Grass Bars arrived in 1997. Effector, the first album produced exclusively by Key and Western, followed in 2000 and marked Download’s final Nettwerk release. In 2002 SubConscious Communications issued two volumes of archival material under its From The Vault series: III Steps Forward, drawn from the III sessions, and Inception, which compiled some of the earliest jam recordings.

Download resurfaced in 2007 with FiXeR, featuring guest contributions from Spybey and Otto von Schirach, and simultaneously issued Furnace Re:Dux, a reissue of the debut augmented by a disc of previously unheard jam sessions. HElicopTEr, centered on analog-sourced material, received a limited release in 2009; after selling out, Metropolis expanded it in 2011 as HElicopTEr + Wookie Wall, adding tracks from an unrealized EP. LingAM, inspired by Hindu scripture, appeared in 2013. Toronto-based Artoffact subsequently began reissuing the catalog on vinyl. The label released the studio album Unknown Room in March 2019, though Western passed away a month prior to its arrival.