Pitchshifter were a huge band for me and my friends for quite a number of years (something I've written about in much more detail here) but digging out their back-catalogue took quite some effort. We got into them when Deviant came out so it was quite easy to find that album and "dot com" in the shops. The first mini-album Industrial had been re-issued on cd and was fairly easy to come by too. Of course after hearing Deviant and "dot com" we were all quite knocked back by Industrial. I remember having read on the internet that Pitchshifter started as an industrial band (with a space in their name) and that the sampling and drum'n'bass came much later, however at 16 my knowledge of industrial music only really consisted of a couple of Nine Inch Nails albums so I was quite shocked by what met my ears. Still, I enjoyed it despite it almost being a different band to the one we had come to love.
Over the next few years I set about trying to find the other early Pitch Shifter albums, which was a task eBay helped considerably with. There were a few years when I spent hundreds on eBay, sending cheques to people across the country for records I'd won (these were the pre-PayPal days, and they were sloooow). During that time I picked up all the Pitch Shifter albums I was after either on cd or vinyl. I was lucky in finding this copy of Desensitized in reasonable condition for a mere £7, complete with insert.
Musically, Desensitized and Infotainment feeling like the jigsaw pieces that connect Industrial and "dot com"; the samples are there and they're starting to experiment but this album still fits perfectly on Earache Records - the guitars are cutting and vocals are still mean as shit. It's a pretty bleak album too, but that's one of the things I love about it. Diable and Triad are two of the best early Pitch Shifter songs for me (and I think the only two I ever saw them play live), but the whole album is enjoyable.
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £7 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 18/06/03
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A:"Immitate your friends" (spelt with two m's) Side B: "Death to Pitch Shifter"
mp3s: no
