A '90s industrial band with nary a heavy-metal riff nor computer-oriented beat to be seen, Savage Aural Hotbed formed in 1986 playing the same electronic body music as their contemporaries. The influence of Japanese Taiko drumming, however, led percussionists Mark Black, Stuart DeVaan, David Sarrazin and Valts Treibergs (plus bassist/vocalist William Melton) to begin playing music with more organic qualities -- as though Einsturzende Neubaten used Asian percussion instruments instead of metallic objects. As the group fine-tuned their live show during the early '90s -- playing at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center, the Hennepin Center for the Arts, and running their original music-theater pieces Bio-Robot (Ressurection) and Alkahest (Audio Solvent) at the Red Eye Theatre -- they began to explore found-sound instruments more traditionally American, such as hubcaps and major appliances. After releasing a cassette of their work titled Gomi Daiko (Garbage Drums), Savage Aural Hotbed signed to Minneapolis' own Twintone Records and released Cold Is the Absence of Heat in 1996. One year later, the quintet returned with Pressure of Silence. ~ John Bush