Biography
Konstruktivists, occasionally spelled Konstruktivits or Konstruktivist, emerged as a British experimental industrial outfit when Glenn Michael Wallis launched the project in the early 1980s. Wallis had already played in the Krautrock-leaning Heute and maintained ties with Throbbing Gristle before issuing his first solo recordings under his own name in 1980. While also performing with the power electronics unit Whitehouse, he began issuing material as Konstruktivits, starting with several cassettes on Flowmotion and the debut album A Dissembly. Cut in London alongside Dave Rouse, Adrian Grover, and Dave Kenny, that record assembled murky, unsettling layers of ominous drones, submerged vocals, and malfunctioning gear; Chris Carter from Throbbing Gristle altered one of the drum machines to produce its distinctive echo. Subsequent albums appeared on Third Mind Records (Psykho Genetika, Black December) and Sterile Records (Glennascaul), together with further cassettes on Harsh Reality Music. Although the mid-1980s output grew somewhat more rhythmic, it remained abstract and detached compared with the emerging dance-oriented industrial and EBM styles.
After 1985 the group withdrew from active releasing and performing, though it did complete an unreleased album called Jihad. Activity resumed in 1990 with a revised sound and membership that included Joseph Ahmed and Lawrence Burton. World Serpent picked up the band and issued the “Tic Tac Toe” single in 1991; the album Forbidden was recorded at that time but did not appear until 1993. Mark Crumby, publisher of Impulse Magazine, joined and the ensemble began extensive European touring while continuing to release cassettes. Saxophonist and percussionist Dr. R. Alcapone Shiells became a member in 1995. Crumby relocated to Vienna in 2000 and departed the group. Wallis adopted the spelling Konstruktivist for his solo work, yet any recordings or performances involving additional musicians still appeared under the Konstruktivists name. On the 2006 album Dark Odyessey, Wallis and Shiells were joined by songwriter Bridgette Cassese. Also that year came Back to Black, a more approachable release containing Konstruktivists versions of material by David Bowie, John Lennon, and Yello.
New recordings continued to surface on CD-R and as digital downloads, alongside occasional compilations of earlier material. In 2009 Vinyl-On-Demand issued the two-LP anthology Flowmotion Years: 1980-1982. After the 2014 digital collection Their Darkest Hour, which gathered rare and unreleased tracks, the group delivered two further albums in early 2015 that both featured the returning Crumby: Anarchic Arcadia on Germany’s E-Klageto and Destiny Drive on Austria’s Bleak label. Two songs appeared in the 2015 documentary Industrial Soundtrack for the Urban Decay. Dark Entries reissued the debut album A Dissembly on vinyl in 2016.
After 1985 the group withdrew from active releasing and performing, though it did complete an unreleased album called Jihad. Activity resumed in 1990 with a revised sound and membership that included Joseph Ahmed and Lawrence Burton. World Serpent picked up the band and issued the “Tic Tac Toe” single in 1991; the album Forbidden was recorded at that time but did not appear until 1993. Mark Crumby, publisher of Impulse Magazine, joined and the ensemble began extensive European touring while continuing to release cassettes. Saxophonist and percussionist Dr. R. Alcapone Shiells became a member in 1995. Crumby relocated to Vienna in 2000 and departed the group. Wallis adopted the spelling Konstruktivist for his solo work, yet any recordings or performances involving additional musicians still appeared under the Konstruktivists name. On the 2006 album Dark Odyessey, Wallis and Shiells were joined by songwriter Bridgette Cassese. Also that year came Back to Black, a more approachable release containing Konstruktivists versions of material by David Bowie, John Lennon, and Yello.
New recordings continued to surface on CD-R and as digital downloads, alongside occasional compilations of earlier material. In 2009 Vinyl-On-Demand issued the two-LP anthology Flowmotion Years: 1980-1982. After the 2014 digital collection Their Darkest Hour, which gathered rare and unreleased tracks, the group delivered two further albums in early 2015 that both featured the returning Crumby: Anarchic Arcadia on Germany’s E-Klageto and Destiny Drive on Austria’s Bleak label. Two songs appeared in the 2015 documentary Industrial Soundtrack for the Urban Decay. Dark Entries reissued the debut album A Dissembly on vinyl in 2016.
Albums
