"Minamata started their activities in 1984 and were composed of Marie, Xavier, and Tiburce. They were one of the first French groups to propose an extreme music...dark and tortured atmospheres, aggressive voices full of hate...the metallic rage of Minamata was in line with the precursors of the industrial movement. [Impurely pure-industrial? --S] The name itself bears the stigmas of violence, as it is the name of a small village on the Japanese coast that suffered an ecological disaster due to Methylmercury. It came from a fertilizer plant and poisoned the food chain of the fishermen living in this bay. Many people were killed, and some children having contaminated parents were born with disease. In 1984 the group releases its first tape, 'Mit Lautem Geschrei' on the New Wave label, then a second one in 1985, 'Methylmercure', on Europa, but facing the difficulties of these labels, Minamata decided to make its own productions and created 'Les Nouvelles Propagandes'. Minamata splits in 1986 after a third tape, 'Niigata 1964-1965', the height of obscure rhythms and dull saturations, some of its dark atmospheres reminding the cults of SPK. A posthumous tape, titled 'Residuels', appeared late in 1987."
