Biography
about:blank is a two man project originally formed in Gothenburg, Sweden, created from an explosive meeting between two musical worlds.
In a way, the sound of about:blank is a crossover between ebm, industrial, rock, electronica and in some way even classical. The tracks are usually heavily laden with effects, strange industrial samples, rich evolving soundscapes and thick distorsion on the lyrics, but they're also engulfed in a warmth of strings, choir samples and heavy guitar riffs complementing highly melodic tunes and the hard hitting basslines that make up the core of the tracks.
Niklas Weidel (lyrics, music) was influenced from the alt-rock (NIN etc) scene and started as an amiga tracker artist (nightowl in the demo group Goto10, for example) in the demo scene in the 90's.
Martin Pettersson (music, effects) came from the underground ebm and noise scenes. The results of their combined musical vision was to become about:blank around the shift of the millenium (named officially in 2001).
The name of the band is meant to convey a digital start with no previous history and unknown future, as the music in itself doesn't lend itself to be easily categorized and thus it is up to the listener to make their own minds if it fits their tastes and what it really is. (ie: when opening a web browser with no site to load, the adress bar says about:blank as destination, and when typing it in the adress field you clear the page you are on)
Building a studio in an apartment and living together there 24/7 for over two years, they had amassed a massive collection of tracks with such a varying sound it became near impossible to categorize the style. But in an effort to narrow down their sound, they collected some of the songs that had a consistent style and created their first complete album - Destruction means progress.
It gained a very small fan following with some praised reviews in underground magazines demo sections (Neurozine '05: 8/10), and it was sent out to selected labels and distributors in order to put about:blank on the map. But during 2004 Niklas had to move away for studies, Martin was working full time, the studio gear was stored away, and the group split and produced very little new material after this.
Very little was heard since, but in 2007 both were ready to pursue music again. In order to spread their name, get people used to their special crossover sound and build a little inspiration, in november 2007 their entire first album with added bonus tracks was released completely for free to the public in high quality MP3 downloads with highres covers and booklet.
Preliminary work has begun on a new production, as well as releasing old material not on the album.
The entire free album can be downloaded from their official website, www.aboutblank.se, where it is also possible to listen to unreleased tracks.
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