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

Controlled Bleeding - “Distress Signals I + II” 2xCD

Early violent noise remasters

A surprise deluxe reissue of the ultra-rare 1984 cassette originally issued on the legendary Broken Flag label, this debut album from NY based Controlled Bleeding includes an extra disc of previously unreleased material that was originally intended to be the Broken Flag release, but somehow the tapes got mixed up and, well, 30 years later we get both albums, remastered and together for the first time.

The initial disc is the Broken Flag album, here titled “Distress Signals I”. With track titles given from Broken Flag owner and Ramleh member Gary Mundy (and favoring his early affinity for Holocaust shock value), this, like the band’s vinyl debut “Knees & Bones” (also rereleased at the same time), is harsh and jagged power electronics / industrial noise. There are moments of reprieve, as with the use of Middle Eastern religious tapes in “The Spitting Cell” or “A Human Invention”, but it's all based around overloaded feedback and unintelligible primal screams. Brutal, uncompromising, and not for unadventurous listeners.

Cd2 is the recently unearthed “Distress Signals II”, a set of 11 never-released harsh noise tracks from the same era, and these follow the same pattern. This is destroyed music, full of primal violence and anything resembling structure or melody. Fans of Controlled Bleeding’s later forays into textural gothic soundtracks or industrial dance should think twice if they can handle this scarring assault on their eardrums. Me? I enjoy, but only in smaller doses. 

A great thing to have this rare material available again after so many years. Here’s my vote for Artoffact to release all the other obscure Controlled Bleeding albums and tapes that have sadly never been reissued, and some that are just plain unavailable. Great, legendary stuff for experimental and noise fans, for certain.

Artoffact Records

Controlled Bleeding site