Crucial Blast on BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls"

Crucial Blast has always spent time writing thoughtful reviews of BloodLust! releases and here is a look at the BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls" album that we had not previously seen:

Still one of the key shapers of American power electronics, Chicago PE mainstays Bloodyminded return with their first new album in seven years, and it's one of the most harrowing industrial/noise albums of their career. Within The Walls is some of the grimmest material I've ever heard from the band, steeped in clinical electronic drones and waves of deeply unsettling dark ambience that move through uneasy psychological spaces. The album wastes no time in its effort to creep you out as the opener "All The Cities Are Occupied" layers those eerie dissonant drones and cold wheezing electronics over sounds of creaking, scraping metal, like the sound of a pick-axe being dragged down the length of some long, dank culvert, surrounded by bleak synthesizer sounds that have been summoned by David Reed of Luasa Raelon / Envenomist. But then they'll follow that up that with something like the Whitehouse-worthy blast of squealing feedback abuse and pandemonic derangement of the title track, a disorienting din of crazed voices shrieking and raving over an assault of pestilent fluttering distortion and severe speaker-shredding noise. The album often surges into that level of extreme, assaultive sound, traveling swiftly out of the passages of cold dark ambience into these vicious onslaughts of deformed synth noise and sputtering oscillators, becoming a churning backdrop of diseased drone and insectile chaos that takes that classic Whitehouse-influenced style of power electronics and twists it into something even more monstrous.

    But the focal point of Bloodyminded's bleakly violent vision on Within The Walls is not the harsh, ear-rending electronics, but actually the myriad of voices that appear together throughout the album, a legion of voices that evokes the interior pandemonium of a schizophrenic, the screeching garbled horror of tracks like "Night Strikes" teeming with a barely controlled violence, the nihilist lyrics spilling out in streams of surrealist horror as the voices shift between English and Spanish, gouts of guttural bellowing and sneering hatefulness, a multitude of psychotic howling and gnashing teeth that ceaselessly pan back and forth over the screaming malignant squeal and chirping electronics. It's only at the very end, when the band slips into a reworking of the Locrian song "Inverted Ruins" that the album transforms, as the coldly ambivalent synth melody that Sanford Parker weaves around the skull-scraping feedback slowly blossoms into a kind of mesmeric, malignant darkwave; in that final moment, Bloodyminded's high-end violence somehow morphs into some akin to a more atmospheric Skinny Puppy, a striking and wholly unexpected climax to the otherwise blistering aural abuse that makes up Walls.   © CRUCIAL BLAST

Two new BLOODYMINDED reviews: SWQW and Yellow Green Red

A new review of BLOODYMINDED's "Within The Walls" on the French SWQW site: http://www.swqw.fr/chroniques/musiques-electroniques/bloodyminded-within-the-walls.html

A new review of BLOODYMINDED's "Within The Walls" on the Yellow Green Red blog, with thanks to Matt K.!: http://www.yellowgreenred.com/?p=7540

BLOODYMINDED on Tone Science Playlist

Thanks to David Menestres for including BLOODYMINDED on the latest edition of his Tone Science webcast!  http://davidmenestres.com/2014/02/tone-science-149/

"Within The Walls" review on Kulturterrorismus

Here is a brief "Within The Walls" review on the Kulturterrorismus site from German: http://kulturterrorismus.de/rezensionen/bloodyminded-within-the-walls.html

Obskure Magazine (France) on BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls"

Thanks to Xavier for sending!

BLOODYMINDED LP Packages

I apologize for the slight delay caused by the holidays and my trip to the Destination Morgue festival.  I picked up the silk screen prints for the limited edition on Monday, and I have been assembling and packing records as quickly as possible.  I am catching up on outstanding packages this weekend, so this should only result in a one-week delay for most people. I appreciate everyone's patience! - Mark Solotroff

The New Noise (Italy) on BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls"

http://www.thenewnoise.it/bloodyminded-within-walls/

Zero Tolerance on BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls"

Thanks to Scott McKeating at Zero Tolerance for including a review of the BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls" in this month's issue!

Pitchfork on BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls"

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18744-bloodyminded-within-the-walls/

Our thanks to Grayson Currin!

Bloodyminded
Within The Walls
BloodLust!; 2013
By Grayson Currin
December 6, 2013

7.5

For more than 40 minutes, the raw noise collective Bloodyminded plows through a series of harrowing drones, feedback bursts, mutated screams, static blitzes, and circuit collapses. There are imprecations hurled in both English and Spanish and floods of sound so caustic and strong they rattle both brain and core. But the real shock of Within the Walls, the group’s first LP in seven years, comes at the start of the final track. Through a layer of squall and around the calm narration of Bloodyminded leader Mark Solotroff, a gently eerie keyboard line arrives like a glowing ghost. It’s only a few lurid notes, set to repeat and distend slowly into a blur. It’s also one of the most reserved and beautiful sounds in Bloodyminded’s two decades as a group—a sudden, surprising melody surrounded on all sides by madness. Played by heavy metal producer Sanford Parker, the little synthesizer theme eventually gives into Bloodyminded’s power electronics din, battling the squall in both volume and insistence. But make no mistake: It's a successful attempt from long-running noise veterans to use a new trick. It works.

The coda is actually a cover of “Inverted Ruins”, a Locrian number under which Solotroff hissed the same words on that group’s great 2010 album, Territories. The Bloodyminded reworking is faithful enough, using the same slow crawl toward chaos but promoting his vocals to the position of overlord. The choice to include the cover is an apt one; in the past few years, harsh electronic music has wormed its way closer toward indie rock’s core, thanks to the likes of Prurient, Pharmakon, Wolf Eyes, and, in some capacity, Locrian, too. “Inverted Ruins”, then, makes the precursor position of Solotroff and Bloodyminded clear. They are pioneers to a scene that has sprawled. Indirectly, it also reinforces the group’s fiercely prolific nature, no matter how slow the group’s proper output or live appearances have become. Member Pieter Schoolwerth helms Wierd Records, for instance, while Solotroff and his fellow vocalist Isidro Reyes have pumped out more than a dozen volumes in less than seven years under the name Fortieth Day. Bloodyminded itself has slowed, but its members have necessarily not.

What’s more, the time between Within the Walls and 2006’s Magnetism has only seemed to condense the band’s strengths, as these 13 songs consolidate what’s often been best and most intriguing about Bloodyminded’s output. For instance, Gift Givers, from 2005, pitted Solotroff’s clipped English phrases against the French lyrics of Xavier Laradji. Within the Walls instead works with Solotroff’s words and the Spanish lyrics of Reyes, who often hurls them out beneath the dominant tongue. Two scripts in two different languages might sound disorienting, but this multilingual approach actually makes Within the Walls a truly multivalent listen, the sort of thing you’ll want to hear again and again in order to tease out the nuances of what they’ve made. How do Solotroff and Reyes’ interconnected lyrics relate, and how do they work against the shifts around them? During “Fatal Breath”, for instance, Solotroff seethes about the inevitability of destruction, about systems that fall apart simply by existing; meanwhile, Reyes lurks beneath him and then occasionally jumps in front, retrenching the invective with his own views on corruption, oblivion, and unavoidable anguish. The sound is a nightmare. They complement and contradict one another throughout the record, constantly reinforcing the music’s tumult.

Within the Walls alternates between long, ponderous poems shouted into or against the noise vortex and five ruthless bursts of pugilistic feedback and static lasting between nine and 68 seconds each. Bloodyminded has often used this see-saw technique in the past, onstage and offstage, but here it’s more deliberate and careful, meant to break up the verbose musings as much as it to show the group’s sonic willpower. More than anything, however, the ebb and flow appropriately spotlights the depth of Bloodyminded, a group whose very power and antagonistic nature could make their records monolithic and paradoxically sedate. But once again, they’ve found new ways to shock and enthrall, even if that requires a vivid recollection and recombination of the past.

BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls" LP - LIMITED EDITION - Pre-orders

Pre-orders are now being accepted for the LIMITED EDITION version of the BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls" LP

http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/b-176-bloodyminded-within-the-walls-lp-limited-edition

BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls" LP Update

Good News and Bad News:

Good - BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls" LP test pressings were just delivered.

Bad - The LPs will not be available at our show this Saturday at The Empty Bottle with Corrections House.

Jackets and inner sleeves are printed and in-house.

More news soon on an anticipated revised release date...

Spin Magazine on "Within The Walls"

Spin Magazine

Written by: Christopher R. Weingarten

http://www.spin.com/articles/avant-column-concrete-jungle-necks-rhys-chatham-phill-niblock/

Bloodyminded, Within the Walls (BloodLust!)
Long-standing power-electronics fang-sharpeners go the Wolf Eyes route for a couple of songs here ("All the Cities are Occupied," Locrian cover "Inverted Ruins"), often opting for desolate landscapes instead of the confrontational blast of their last album, in 2006, which opened with a song called "Visiting an Ex-Girlfriend in the Hospital (AIDS Ward)." These tracks create dissonance — not in a harsh way, but in a low-key, lightweight-nauseating way, Davy Jones music of creaking boards and blackened seas and sounds that swell and fall. In the more grueling parts, the five members create a dense tapestry of swirling feedback, and a multiple-vocal assault they say is inspired by bands like Extreme Noise Terror and Crass. The rest depends on your tolerance for Whitehouse-gone-Pantera yells of "Repentence! Humiliation! Confession! Shame! Regret! Guilt! Shame! Regret! Guilt!"

Brainwashed on BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls"

A big thanks to Creaig Dunton at Brainwashed for the very favorable review of "Within The Walls":

http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9861%3Abloodyminded-qwithin-the-wallsq&catid=13%3Aalbums-and-singles&Itemid=133

Chicago Reader on Varnish Festival and BLOODYMINDED

More nice coverage from the Reader, with thanks to Luca!

http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/11/07/varnish-brings-a-huge-lineup-of-weird-and-obscure-acts-to-logan-square-this-weekend
 
Varnish brings a huge lineup of weird and obscure acts to Logan Square this weekend

Posted by Luca Cimarusti today at 02.00 PM

 

Imagine this image as music.

 

Over the summer, Rotted Tooth Fest hosted twelve weird acts over two nights during Pitchfork. It was an epic feat for Chicago's underground weirdo-rock community, and this weekend it looks like it'll get a run for its money. The festival year closes out this Saturday with Varnish, an event that features almost twice as many acts as Rotted Tooth in half as much time. Varnish kicks off at 3 PM sharp, and features a whopping 19 bands that will perform nonstop late into the night.

The massive lineup includes a handful of bands that appeared at Rotted Tooth (including Oozing Wound and Rectal Hygenics) and a ton of others, both from Chicago and elsewhere. The big draw of the night is a headlining set from Mark Solotroff's power electronics collective Bloodyminded, who are celebrating the release of the truly upsetting and brutal Within the Walls, their first new record in seven years. Also playing is New York noisecore act Raspberry Bulbs, Andy Ortmann's confrontational Panicsville project, local powerviolence band Sea of Shit, synth master Neil Jendon, and industrial noise act Alberich. This, of course, is just a small taste of the many, many acts playing this thing.

 

It costs $20 at the door, $17 in advance (you can buy tickets at Permanent Records or by contacting varnishunderground@gmail.com). Need the exact address? Ask a punk, because I can't publish that info here. Varnish is also all ages, so you can totally bring your kids to see Climax Denial and Lil Tits.

Varnish's full lineup and schedule (which they swear they'll strictly stick to) are after the jump.

 

Murdered Man: 3-3:15 PM
Plagues: 3:25-3:40 PM
Pazuzu: 3:50-4:05 PM
Plague Mother: 4:15-4:30 PM
Apocalypse Of Death: 4:40-4:55 PM
Sea Of Shit: 5:05-5:20 PM
Neil Jendon: 5:30-5:50 PM
Lil Tits: 6-6:20 PM
Reptile Worship: 6:30-6:50 PM
Forced Into Femininity: 7-7:20 PM
Muck: 7:30-8 PM
Rectal Hygienics: 8-8:25 PM
Deterge: 8:35-8:55 PM
Climax Denial: 9:05-9:30 PM
Oozing Wound: 9:40-10:05 PM
Panicsville: 10:15-10:45 PM
Alberich: 10:55-11:25 PM
Raspberry Bulbs: 11:35 PM-12:15 AM
Bloodyminded: 12:25 AM

Vomit Metal Blah Review of BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls"

"Within The Walls" review on Vomit Metal Blah, with thanks to Wade Tilton!

http://vomitmetalblah.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/withinwithout/

Chicago Reader on BLOODYMINDED

Thanks to Gossip Wolf for mentioning our new release!

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bloodyminded-bring-ray-gun-azita-brian-torrey-scott-velcro/Content?oid=11451633

CVLT Nation Streaming BLOODYMINDED "Outside The Gate"

Thanks to CVLT Nation for streaming a track from the new BLOODYMINDED album!

http://www.cvltnation.com/exclusive-cvlt-nation-streaming-bloodyminded-outside-gate/

Noisey/Vice BLOODYMINDED Interview

A big thanks to Jamie Ludwig for taking the time to speak to me at the show on Sunday night, on behalf of Noisey/Vice!  -Mark

http://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/blog/poetry-and-power-electronics-bloodyminded-discuss-their-new-album

B!176 BLOODYMINDED "Within The Walls" CD

Webstore: http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/b-176-bloodyminded-within-the-walls-cd
Bandcamp: http://bloodyminded.bandcamp.com/album/within-the-walls
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gw/album/within-the-walls/id725557901

BLOODYMINDED
“Within The Walls”
BloodLust! (B!176)
Compact Disc in 8-Panel Digipak



BLOODYMINDED is a heavy electronic band that was formed in New York, in 1995, after the dissolution of the early American industrial noise group Intrinsic Action, founded by Mark Solotroff in 1984. The group’s live shows are extremely energetic, characterized by layers of screeching analog synthesizer, aggressive vocals, and a copious amount of feedback. While BLOODYMINDED operate within the noise scene, their sound is broadly informed by their industrial forbearers, NYC pre-punk and noise rock, and British hardcore and grindcore. BLOODYMINDED has performed with diverse artists covering noise, power-electronics, experimental, avant-garde, death-rock, industrial, hardcore, metal and punk. Although currently based in Chicago, members also live in Brooklyn, New York, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Toulouse, France.

“Within The Walls” is the band’s fifth full-length studio recording and the first to be issued since their 2006 album, “Magnetism.” Numerous false starts led to the band entering the studio with acclaimed doom metal producer, Sanford Parker, to finally commit the new set of songs to tape (no, computer). The album is based on the concept of “love and loss in a time of great sadness,” and it follows themes established by members Isidro Reyes and Mark Solotroff in their offshoot band, The Fortieth Day. Reyes and Solotroff closely collaborated on the lyrics, working in both Spanish and English. Released on LP, CD and digital, this marks the first BLOODYMINDED full-length on vinyl. In addition to basic black, a special edition of 100 copies will be released on white vinyl, with a silk screen print based on the front cover artwork, printed by Erin Page of Kill Hatsumomo Prints.

Along with core members Xavier Laradji, James Moy, Isidro Reyes, Pieter Schoolwerth and Mark Solotroff, select guest musicians were drafted to assist with the album. Longstanding BLOODYMINDED family member, David Reed (Envenomist, Luasa Raelon), who has played live with the band on numerous occasions, was brought in to create an atmospheric opener for the album. He was aided by Blake Edwards (Vertonen), Solotroff’s ex-band mate in Anatomy of Habit and Animal Law. Edwards created a collection of metal-on-metal textures that add to the disquieting feel of “All The Cities Are Occupied.” Along with co-producing, Sanford Parker played lead synthesizer on the album closer, “Inverted Ruins,” a remake of the Locrian song – which Solotroff originally sang on – from that group’s 2010 album, “Territories.” Edwards reprised his dark metallic drones for the uncharacteristically melodic song. What happens in between those two songs is a bombastic, high-fidelity assault of electronic noise, screams, feedback and purgation.

During the long gap between albums, the members of BLOODYMINDED were hardly idle. Laradji stepped up his role as a publisher, releasing increasingly lavish editions of art and negative-culture books under the Timeless banner. Moy established his reputation as a true death-industrial force, with solo work under the charming Anal Hearse moniker. Reyes remained exceptionally busy, performing live and releasing over a dozen full-length albums with The Fortieth Day, and in 2012, he released his first solo work through the esteemed Mexican label, Ruido Horrible. Based in Brooklyn, Schoolwerth continues his successful painting career, and until early 2013, he helmed Wierd Records, releasing numerous acclaimed recordings of minimal-synth, cold wave and challenging electronic music. His weekly parties under the Wierd name brought hundreds of dark music artists to eager, debauched, late-night audiences in NYC. Solotroff worked closely with Reyes in The Fortieth Day and he recorded and toured in the synth trio Nightmares (with David Reed and Jonathan Canady), while also joining the doom band Animal Law and later co-founding the group Anatomy of Habit. He has made guest appearances, live and/or recorded, with Alma Negra, The Atlas Moth, Brutal Truth, Consumer Electronics, Indian, Locrian, Rabid Rabbit, etc. Although his solo microphone-feedback performances have become infrequent, he has also been recording and performing with Thrill Jockey artists Wrekmeister Harmonies, since late-2011. Solotroff continues to oversee the noise, synth and metal label, BloodLust!, which he founded in 1994.

Track Listing:
01. “All The Cities Are Occupied” (9:06)
02. “Within The Walls” (2:16)
03. “Night Strikes” (5:13)
04. “Token 3” (0:58)
05. “Disintegration” (6:26)
06. “Token 4” (0:34)
07. “Fatal Breath” (6:27)
08. “Token 5” (1:18)
09. “Circular Relations” (3:36)
10. “Token 6” (1:06)
11. “Token 7” (0:08)
12. “Outside The Gate” (3:03)
13. “Inverted Ruins” (6:49)

Let the Press Begin...

From WORT (89.9 FM) Madison, WI, Most Pit Radio:

Bloodyminded
Within The Walls
BloodLust!
Listening to this… So, there’s a lot of noise going on with distortion, feedback and screaming.  All it sounds like is that it’s a broken CD player, corrupt mp3 players, the needle broke, the cassette tape got eaten, the signal doesn’t come in.  WTF!?  No thanks.

http://moshpitradio.com/?p=3568