I will haunt your thoughts tonight, and you will thank me...

Review by Gregory S. Burkart

If you're like me, and seek out the kind of music that tends to confuse, alienate or just plain creep out the ?average? (yawn) listener, one of the great perks of this obsession is the discovery of a hidden gem in a world of knock-offs, sound-alikes and wannabes. Sometimes you?ve got to reach into dark corners where you've never ventured before, hopping through the untamed web-wilderness to find macabre musical gold. MySpace makes it a lot easier, obviously, but there's just so many average, below average, and total freakin? crap bands kicking around in there you can't pick through them all without turning your brain to tapioca before you find a track that really grabs you and says ?I will haunt your thoughts tonight, and you will thank me.? That said, stubbornness usually pays off and sometimes you get lucky. I did when I stumbled across this one-woman-show from Germany, and was served a spicy helping from the menu of Compulsory Skin?s self-described ?Industrial Cabaret.?

Founded 15 years ago by singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist PiaPale (real name Valeska Weich), Compulsory Skin processes the artist's emotional inner works through the filter of hard electronics and multi-layered production to weave a 13-chapter saga of anger, pain and desire. Equally adept with guitar, bass, keyboards and even the accordion, Pia supplements her individual sound with a full band for live performances (currently Yankeerose on bass, Niko Siller on guitar, Nikolas Basler on drums and Vampir Vampy on keys and backing vocals), but this is no home-project operation. The studio recordings of these songs are as fully-fleshed, precisely arranged and expertly crafted as any big-budget studio product ? but with a coarse, intimate, personal vibe that glossy major label recordings usually miss. You can tell right away that Pia has poured all of herself into this material, and scores where it counts.

That being said, I have to take issue with the artist's self-description as ?Nine Inch Nails meets Bjork? ? a combination which to me sounds about as appealing as a smoothie made of Jagermeister and Marshmallow Peeps. Don't get me wrong ? I can kind of see where they're coming from, and I adore those artists individually, but I think Pia does herself a disservice in using this kind of industry-friendly pitch. In song structures and production technique, the Trent Reznor influence is obviously there (?Twisted? sounds like a cover of a lost track from Pretty Hate Machine) but I also get strong echoes from the dawn of the Industrial era (check out ?ConsensualMotors?), of which Germany can claim proud parentage. Although Pia's intense, smoky vocals are difficult to describe, Siouxsie Sioux is the first name that springs to mind with its tarnished burlesque feel (apparent in cuts like ?AllYouCanEat?) along with the avant-garde touch of New Wave vamp Mona Mur (especially in the title track) and more than a hint of Shikhee from Android Lust (?Smeared? seems a virtual homage to Lust's ?Stained?).

There's also a raw purity in Pia's lyrical style, which seems to come from a real emotional place, further twisted through a colorful visual sensibility (?A picture of your souls how they were meant to be/Hanging on the wall of my living room?), a gift for crafting unusual hooks and the courage to hammer them home relentlessly ? often to great effect, in tracks like ?BonesOfThePast.? The result rises above standard electro-pop or hard techno to become something strange, challenging and moving.

But don?t take my word for it? hit their MySpace to preview several tracks from NakedToTheBones, as well as some bonus remixes and other goodies (last time I checked, some of the tracks were download-enabled as well). Unfortunately, Pia?s latest blog entry indicates that lukewarm sales for this current album may be sandbagging her ability to produce the next one ? much of which is already in the works. But in today?s super-saturated music industry, it takes time to build a base for independent artists like this. So if you like what you hear, be sure to give this band some props and pick up a copy, or their unique sound may pass from the world far too soon.