Controlled Bleeding - “Body Samples” 2xCD

Early sounds from legendary avant group

Controlled Bleeding’s 1985 debut LP for Germany’s Dossier Records is here reissued into a definitive double-disc edition, thanks to the wonderful ArtOfFact/Storming The Base label. “Body Samples” was an early breaking of tradition for the experimental group. Prior to this LP, the band had become known more for brutal power noise and agonized feedback with albums like “Knees And Bones” and a series of limited cassette albums. “Body Samples” showed the group opening their sound up with more subtle ambient textures alongside their post-industrial electronics. 

Opening with the ambient-oriented “Chote/Wheels/Hair”, the band quickly dissolved minds with the brief harsh feedback piece “Lungs Half” before heading into different waters with the percussive Neubauten-inspired “Experiments With Fuck”. “Blood Sack” is another hard noise cut, before “Scourge Sack” throws some tape loop atmospheres into the mix. “II” is a brief mournful ambient piece that anticipates the band’s later interest in dark proto-classical atmospheres. “Wall Shine Seed” sounds like Middle Eastern music behind a wall of screams and feedback. “Bulges Fakes” closes the initial disc with an upbeat melodic guitar sketch.

The second disc here is 39 minutes of other tracks recorded around the same time period (1983-1985), and with a similar mix of textures and noise. The ominous “Rust Bag” was recorded for a Broken Flag compilation but was left unreleased. Other tracks were either unreleased or originally bonus tracks on the initial “Body Samples” CD release on the now-defunct Dossier label. 

The diverse textures of “Body Samples” were still raw and certainly harsh, but the forceful insistence and unrelenting nature of the group’s earliest releases was held back a bit in favor of different moods and more subtle textures. Hints of the band’s later forays into ambience and beat-driven songs can be found here alongside the jagged feedback and screams. “Body Samples” is a challenging recording, sure, but it’s a classic and unique listening experience, and one that takes some unpredictable turns and diversions into areas of relevance for any fan of experimental and early electronic music. Cheers to Paul Lemos and all involved in bringing this landmark recording back into consciousness.

Artoffact/Storming The Base

Controlled Bleeding site

Con-Dom - "The Eighth Pillar - A Confession Of Faith" CD

Originally released in 1992 by a small French label, this 5-track album by English noise artist Mike Dando is 41 minutes of old-school industrial. This is raw and primitive noisemaking, of a similar vein as early Throbbing Gristle or SPK. "Seven Pillars Of Wisdom" opens with an ominous gray static, punctuated by declarative and reverbed shouts with cascades of ghostly drone. "Triumph" is more gray static with similar violent tendencies. "Confession Of Faith" pulses for almost 17 minutes with odd and seemingly random sounds, including a choir, what seems like engine noise, drones, TV & tape voices spliced in, and declarative vocals. "The Eighth Pillar" closes it out with a collage of distant bells, howling winds, and calliope sounds in the distance -- at once lovely yet haunting. A fine album with plenty of mystery and sinister darkness to wile away the late late hours to. (Tesco Germany)

Con-Domspace

Der Blutharsch - "Der Blutharsch (aka "First")" CD

A reissue of the 1996 debut album from Austrian composer Albin Julius, this one opens with bold and strident military marching music, but quickly moves more towards an ambient post-industrial sound by the untitled 5th track.

A frequent collaborator with Death In June, and other occult/Germanic-leaning groups, Julius seasons his gray-tinged soundscapes with World War II imagery and martial industrial moods. Samples of military music pepper the 6th track, which appears as a ghost among the tense and thick textured drones. Track 10 is an ominous and percussive cut reminiscent of early Laibach or Test Dept, whereas Track 13 is more Neubauten-like, with crashing percussion and simplistic melody.

Overall, an impressive release, and perfect for fans of heavy-handed percussive music with proto-military motifs. (Tesco Germany)


Der Blutharschspace

Nekrasov / Aderlating - "Split" LP

This is an ultra-limited (300 copies) split vinyl album from a couple of little-known artists who are working well outside the lines of the mainstream. Australia's Nekrasov take one side, and their "Qualities Of Being Futile And Valueless" is an epic 24-minute ambient doom-ride, and certainly coming from the darkest recesses. Drones, disembodied voices, and effected electronics make this one an unsettling listen, like a trip through a horrific fun house. They refer to themselves as 'black metal/ambient/experimental', and that seems relatively appropriate based on the material here. Not bad, and certainly not for the easily-spooked. Aderlating is a project of Mories from Dutch extreme metal/noise group Gnaw Their Tongues, and it's outlook is much the same. Blackened ambient drone with atmospheres that evoke an oppressive mood of claustrophobia and tension. Flashes of noise and feedback litter the opener, "Chalic Of Abalam", and though there are 3 tracks listed (including the charmingly-titled "Dog Semen"), Aderlating's music flows into one. It seems a little more static and less subtle (and thus less interesting) than Nekrasov's side, but the mood and texture fits. For fans of classic noise-based ambient industrial, this LP will prove to be a fulfilling journey to a hellish sound-world. (Chrome Leaf)

Chromeleafspace

Nekrasovspace

Aderlatingspace

Free download of Aderlating's new "Dying Of The Light" EP

N.Strahl.N / Metek - "Drowning Devices" CDR

This collaboration between a pair of obscure avante sound-artists from Germany (N.Strahl.N, aka W.Loehr) and Sweden (Metek, aka F.Nilsson) is a series of subtle, cinematic, and often dark experimental/industrial-type soundscapes, often minimalistic and sparse yet wholly effective. It seems that most of "Drowning Devices" consists of field recordings with processing and electronic effects, and Loehr and Nilsson utilize these with a strong sense of tension and restraint. "Ambient 8", for example, creeps along like a shadow along a wall, perhaps hinting at a presence unseen. "Komfort" is very much in the realm of ambient-industrial, with the humming of what sounds like big machines in a spooky, long-abandoned warehouse. Perfect for creating your own '"Saw" scenario! Hah! "Eiserne Reserve" is a quiet mix of grinding metal, drones, and cavernous reverberations. Superb work, and a top-notch soundtrack to your paranoid thoughts. (Cohort Records)

N.Strahl.Nspace

Metekspace