The debut album from Bound By Endogamy, a Genevan duo featuring Shlomo Balexert and Kleio Thomaïdes, is like a high-octane factory tour—fast, furious, and unapologetically raw. Bound By Endogamy drags their punk roots onto the techno dancefloor, delivering a relentless first album that shifts gears from high-energy industrial anthems to coldwave heartstrings. Their music, a fusion of industrial, electro, and coldwave, hits you with a rhythmic punch.
Shlomo and Kleio, the masterminds behind the group, are longtime veterans of Geneva’s punk and squat scene veterans, thriving in the Swiss city’s countercultural underbelly. Shlomo’s squat-mates sparked his “escape normal life” vibe, while Kleio juggles BBE, her EBM band Savage Grounds, truck repairs, and teaching photography.
Their live shows are punk DIY at its finest, with Shlomo on ‘real’ drums to crank up the energy. Yet, their loyalty in the studio lies with drum machines— notably, the vintage Electro-Harmonix DRM16 from 1978 and the modern Korg Volca Drum synth, blending old-school grit with new-school beats.
The trippy Going To The Mine kicks off with spacey, dubbed-out synths and thudding kick drums that scream big room techno but soon morph into a stompy rhythm reminiscent of a hypnotic jazz-era Funeral March. Kleio’s deadpan declaration of heading to the mines feels less like excitement and more like she’s in a state of unhinged resignation toward her bleak factory fate. Think Metropolis with a hangover and a Synth-Punk version of the Merle Travis folk classic Sixteen Tons.
The video, however, flips the script. Instead of the black-coated griminess of coal mines, we get a slow-motion locker room scene with freshly showered and saunaed individuals applying body spray. At least the mines will smell fresh, right? Is there charcoal in that deodorant?
Watch the video for “Going To The Mine” below:
Bound By Endogamy’s origin story goes back to early 2020, when Shlomo and Kleio first cranked up their project. Nearly three years of writing, recording, editing, and mixing in their home studio finally birthed this album. If you’re sensing a perfectionist streak, don’t expect slick, high-tech production. Armed with a modest but mighty collection of hardware, they lean into the fuzz, crunch, and hum of analog electronics with an ever-present punk aesthetic.
Their self-titled eight-track release, debuting on Swiss label Bongo Joe Records, follows a 2021 single and an early 2023 EP. It’s a rough-and-tumble ride through a musical factory line, cranking out tracks that hit like a pneumatic drill.
Order the song here, and listen below:
Catch Bound By Endogamy live this summer and autumn:
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