About me:
[ko·mor·bid]
CD [TA009]
DIGIPACK limited ed. 300
01. [ko·mor·bid]
02. circling the drain
03. how you forget [clip
preview]
04. down in the earth [clip
preview]
05. slow chatter [clip
preview]
06. high order harmonic
07. grinderscraper [clip
preview]
08. dischordant live mix
09. the turning
10. a helpful bit of advice [feat. it-clings]
11. moment already gone [clip
preview]
12. slow chatter [melt]
13. stoneface
14. automatic nation [pd vs alessandro pacciani]
FREE LIVE TRACKS
01. morphoine / sona - live from downtime NYC [Download]
02. fortex / domination - live from the DNA lounge San Francisco [Download]
03. initial reaction / fortex / interim - live from the DNA lounge San Francisco [Download]
04. meth - live from the providence industrial fest 3 [Download]
05. experiments in psychosis - live from the providence industrial fest 3 [Download]
06. burning leaves - live from the providence industrial fest 2 [Download]
01. necessary evil [clip
preview] 02. important stuff 03. i get ready for sleep and tomorrow I wake up and everything is the same
04. fantastic ass
05. public space [clip
preview]
06. maybe these wounds won't heal anymore
07. how terrible it all is [clip
preview]
08. spoons
09. rats & purpose
10. drinking and mutilated genitalia [clip
preview]
11. murder & fucking
12. I react poorly to the way my head warps reality [clip
preview]
13. is it wrong for me to hate her? [clip
preview]
14. end
William Seward Buroughs was one of the first I suppose. He bunged out spoken worded recordings of his written work depicting his time as an honoured alumni of the junkie fraternity and his extreme obsessions. Which were many by the way. That’s the problem with writers. Most are fuck-ups in one way or another. Reviewers fall into this category as well come to think of it. Many other artists have followed in Mr Buroughs illustrious footsteps. Lydia Lunch…damaged goods in more ways than one, Jello Biafra…putting the dead into The Dead Kennedys. Henry Rollins…the muscle bound thug with brains. The list goes on. Of course some artists use the spoken word with accompanying music. Some make it an art form in itself. Who needs to sing when you can spew / yell forth your viewpoint on whatever happens to be bugging the shit out of you that day. The Extreme Electronic music fraternity have been doing this sort of stuff for years. William Bennett of Whitehouse being the eldest of elder statesman of the spoken rant and roll with accompanying visceral noise. Now though it’s time for a different take on the spoken word with musical backing. I give you…the spoken word with rampant blasting beats. Are you ready? I hope to fuck you are because this is one eye, or ear for that matter, opener.
The past: There’s this young guy. He’s called Squid. Not on his birth certificate obviously. His true identity remains a secret between close family and friends. Of which I’m neither. He finds he has a knack for making music. So he works within the Toronto, that’s a big fuck off city in Canada in case you didn’t know, music scene with some fairly well known Industrial bands. One day he takes the big step of starting his own Record label. He calls it Bugs Crawling Out Of People. Catchy but with a faintly disturbing aura. That was back in 2004...or thereabouts. Time means nothing. Unless you’re Dr Who of course. He releases the very good V/A - Revelation as a first release. This recording featured Nitrous Flesh, Iszoloscope, Scrap.Edx and Pneumatic Detach amongst others. Reviews were mixed. Aren’t they always? Squid then goes one step better and releases Dead Man's Hill - Lakes Of Sacrifice. A tasty recording when all said and done. Although Squid has contributed to other artists recordings in the past he has this urge to put his creative juices to better use. A seed is sown He needs an outlet for all the thoughts continually buzzing through his head. He needs a Robin to his Batman. He needs someone who can dig and go with his vision. Enter stage left Justin Brink. He of Pneumatic Detach. The seed takes root. What flowers no-one could have expected.
The present: The result of this combining of creative minds is the third release from Squid’s own Bugs Crawling Out Of People record label. Re-inventing himself as ‘it-clings’ Squid and Justin set down 14 tracks of spoken word pontificating over hardcore devastating beats, electronic squiggles and melodic tunes. The combined effect is awe inspiring and terrifying at the same time. Luckily the comprehensive booklet that comes with the release features all the words that Squid throws about with a gusto so you can follow / rant along with it if you so want. But be warned. Squid’s thoughts are very dark and disturbed and tinged with the whiff of misogyny. His words would make a whore or the Yorkshire Ripper blush. This is a man who apparently has serious issues that transcends onto the insanity side of things. Or at least he likes you to think he has these issues. He is after all an artist. And artists use their vivid imaginations more than others to shock and awe in their attempt to be creative. Tales of self abuse, loathing, hatred and murderous visions litter the release giving off a pungent stench that is hard to eradicate. If this is the ‘real deal’ then Squid is not someone I would want to meet in a dark alleyway. Not by myself. Certainly not without a weapon or two. Such is the strength of feeling he puts into his pronunciation that you start believing he means every word. A scary thought. The borderline psychotic he portrays is played to the hilt and comes across too convincing in places. Which makes the release the musical equivalent of Bret Easton Ellis’s ‘American Psycho’. Only without the riches and swish swanky apartments. And as Squid regales in the torments of his mindset Justin, whose contribution to the release shouldn’t in anyway be underestimated, provides the thumping backdrop…raising and dropping the tempo as required. The listener caught in the two pronged assault to the senses as the music and wordplay intensifies through each track. Anyone who can make that most innocuous of implements, the spoon, seem like the Devils own instrument of torture gets my vote. And another vote also goes for calling a tune ‘Murder and fucking’. The first line in the last track ‘the end’ says it all…‘mind blurred, can no longer think and I need some scotch and a long dirty stick that is twisted and corrupt’. Strong fucking stuff. After sitting through ‘the all too logical descent into madness’ a few times I know exactly how he feels. Squids words are a thunderous rain of verbal horror that torrents down upon the listener with no chance for a break amongst the black clouds. It stupefies and stuns and is more enjoyable for that fact. Nihilists will have a field day with this release. They should put it top of their shopping list if they haven’t already done so.
The future: well its looking bright if nothing else for our man Squid. The depressiveness of his words will strike a cord with many people. Having aligned himself with an approachable musical accompaniment, rather than using the standard extreme electronic fare found in similar recordings, gives him an unusual edge which he should be able to mine for a few years yet. Although the copyists are probably already out in force as I write this. That’s the way it goes in today’s music scene. In the meantime I’ll happily listen to more from his twisted mind so hope that this won’t be the last I hear from it-clings vs pneumatic detach. The success for his Bugs Crawling Out Of People record label is, of course, rightly assured. He'll be squids in as they say.
Alan Milne - heathen harvest
[VIS·CER·A] REVIEWS
01. holowh
02. separator
03. sona
04. patternerase
05. moment of comprehension
06. putrescence
07. discordant
08. embers
09. domination [short mix]
10. relentless
11. mindless brutal apparatus
12. dischordant [Remix by C2]
13. sona [Remix by 02]
It is good to see that there are artists out there still willing to take chances. Justin Brink is this kind of artist and his rhythm as melody approach on his latest CD release is nothing short of stunning. Yes, this is my favorite release this year, thus far. It’s in your face, but it’s not looking for a fight or a kiss.
This isn’t for everyone, this pounding rhythmic machinery that is more techno-based than one would like to admit, but nevertheless delivers a bit of controlled ambience and blasts of industrial noise to join the rhythmic fray.
One might be tempted to suggest that this is some apocalyptic future sound of machinery pounding the debris littered earth with junked parts. But to me there is nothing futuristic about this music. Rather it’s about a moment in time when the music comes alive and becomes painfully self-aware, temporally cognizant and twisting in every direction to see where it should go and where it has been.
It is the sound of music trying to find its noisy niche in a noisier world. It is the sound of the present, of neatly welded seams being ripped apart and of failed circuitry frying on a grill, of tyrants and anarchists breakbeating one another with crowbars and chainsaws. It is the sound of chaos and order at the breaking point of balance. It is the sound before the silence.
Michael Casano - Virus Magazine
Expectations were high for Pneumatic Detach's long-awaited release of their last album on Hive Records. Only knowing them from a couple of tracks in compilations, I can't compare this album with their previous work or evaluate the progression of their music. In any case, "[vis.cer.a]" is an excellent release and a showcase of accomplished musicianship in rhythmic noise genre. It also has one of the best covers I've seen.
Distorted beats and rhythmic noise of any kind can easily become boring and predictable, with pretty much anyone being able to put out a rhythmic noise/distorted beats track. Given the intrinsic limitations of this musical genre, it takes someone that knows what they are doing to actually succeed in creating a solid, coherent and engaging album that isn't just a pile-up of beats and a crescendo of "faster-harder-louder".
Distinct hard, pounding beats of many kinds layered on top of each other, with liberal use of sound effects as respite and the occasional spark of underlying melody for added variety may sound like a simple recipe. Simple in theory but, in practice, it's surely hard to achieve a final result even remotely like Pneumatic Detach's "[vis.cer.a]". He excels at the creation of compositions made almost entirely out of beats, skillfully plays around with them, structuring, shaping and giving them meaning and ultimately making the rhythmic structures into something extremely organic.
The care put into the music in this album extends into track choice and placement as well as the actual flow of the music, which is seamless. Despite the quality of its individual tracks, "[vis.cer.a]" is definitely more interesting as a global album experience, the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. The duration of the album seems to be just ideal as well, for music as intense as this, a longer duration could prove tiring for the listener.
Picking stand-out tracks in "[vis.cer.a]" is a difficult feat since the album flows remarkably well, without interruption, from beginning to end. Or at least until track eleven, "Mindless Brutal Apparatus (w/ It-Clings)", which stands out for having vocals: spoken word by It-Clings layered on the beats, a strange combination but it works quite well and is a nice ending touch to a great album. As are the two remix tracks by C2 and O2 at the end. Nevertheless, "Embers" comes across as a particularly intense track and I find the metallic nature of part of the beats in "Relentless" fascinating. For some reason, "Putrescence" also clicked something in my mind.
Brutal and visceral like its title suggests, "[vis.cer.a]" is a very interesting album, showing great creativity and which never becomes tiring, despite its constant over-the-top intensity.
For all that might be interested - a review of Vis. Ce. Ra. CD is posted on my blog. Polish, together with (not perfect probably) English translation. Enjoy ! I can't wait to get the new album into my hands, but it has to wait few weeks. All the best Justin.
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