UAIOE

UAIOE is industrial rock group KMFDM's fourth album. It was released in 1989. UAIOE began a KMFDM tradition of using five-letter words as album titles, a tradition that survived until the release of Hau Ruck in 2005.

Background

Vocalist Raymond Watts had left the group midway through the recording of the previous album, Don't Blow Your Top. Multi-instrumentalists Sascha Konietzko and En Esch brought drummer Rudolph Naomi on board, who had previously worked with the group in the mid-1980s, along with reggae vocalist Morgan Adjei. UAIOE was recorded in Hamburg, Germany at M.O.B. Studios.

Release

UAIOE was released in 1989 on Cash Beat Records in Germany, on Deutschland Strikeback Records in the United Kingdom, and on Wax Trax! Records in the United States. A remastered reissue of UAIOE was released September 12, 2006, featuring new liner notes and photos of the band.

Reception

UAIOE received somewhat positive reviews. Andy Hinds of AllMusic said the work sounded more complete than previous releases, and called "More & Faster" the band's first classic song.Robert Christgau said the album was "groovier than the noise norm" and said the guest vocalists "add personality".

KMFDM

KMFDM (from Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit [sic], translated by the band as "no pity for the majority" [sic]) is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project. KMFDM has released nineteen studio albums and two dozen singles, with sales of more than two million records worldwide.

The band has undergone many line-up changes and featured dozens of guest musicians. Its earliest incarnation included German drummer En Esch and British vocalist Raymond Watts, the latter of whom left and rejoined the group several times over its history. German guitarist Günter Schulz joined in 1990; both he and Esch continued with the band until KMFDM broke up in 1999. Konietzko resurrected KMFDM in 2002 (Esch and Schulz declined to rejoin), and by 2005 he had assembled a consistent line-up that included American singer Lucia Cifarelli, British guitarists Jules Hodgson and Steve White, and British drummer Andy Selway.

Critics consider KMFDM to be one of the first bands to bring industrial music to mainstream audiences, though Konietzko refers to the band's music as "The Ultra-Heavy Beat". The band incorporates heavy metal guitar riffs, electronic music, samples, and both male and female vocals in its music, which encompasses a variety of styles. KMFDM normally tours at least once after every major release, and band members are known for their accessibility to and interaction with fans, both online and at concerts. Members, singly or working with each other and others, have recorded under many other names, primarily Watts' Pig in 1988, Konietzko's Excessive Force in 1991, and Esch and Schulz's Slick Idiot in 2001.