Crucial Blast on Intrinsic Action "Sado-Electronics" CD

 

INTRINSIC ACTION   Sado-Electronics   CD   (Bloodlust!)

A classic slab of American power electronics that is finally available again, the debut Intrinsic Action album Sado-Electronics was originally released on Tesco Organisation back in 1992 and later reissued with new artwork on Bloodlust!, the label run by IA's own Mark Solotroff (also of Bloodyminded and Anatomy Of Habit). Although the band had been in action since 1984, they only released a handful of cassette releases prior to this Cd, and leather clad and frothing at the mouth they set upon this collection of brute force sadistic-sexual nightmares, lust-murder fantasies and terminally morbid visions gushing from the skull of bandleader Solotroff on tracks like "In A Glass Cage", "Metamorph" and "Shock Pit", set to a pulsating backdrop of primitive electronic noise and throbbing black synthesizer. The eleven tracks that make up the Sado-Electronics portion of the disc center around stripped down arrangements of delayed vocals rippling across heavy carcinogenic electronic throb, agonizing feedback abuse and crackling pestilential static, and often settling into an evil hypnotic lock groove pulse that took the Whitehouse influence into an obsessive new direction and combined it with a sinister minimal synth sound that had echoes of Suicide (just check out the opener "Male Payment"). The other half of the disc comprises the Surgical Stainless Steel: First Operation Incision Durations, a series of ten untitled short extreme electronics/death-synth pieces that range from crushing PE attacks to ghastly Atrax Morgue-esque drones.

I've been dyin' to get my hands on this disc for awhile and am seriously stoked that it turned up again in the Bloodlust! catalog; it's definitely one of that labels must-hear releases if you're into the early U.S. PE underground. Re-mastered for this new edition, with updated artwork and photos that differ from the old Tesco version.

http://www.crucialblastshop.net/

Crucial Blast on Bereft 7-Inch

 

 

 

 

 

BEREFT   Tough Man   7" VINYL   (Bloodlust!)

A couple of the older "private series" 7" Eps from Bloodlust! turned up recently, allowing us to get both the hard-to-find Whorebutcher 7" and this 2006 Ep from the misanthropic New England power electronics duo Bereft in stock for the first time. As with the rest of Bereft's stuff, this is ultra-heavy shit that combines a hardcore-influenced vocal attack with excoriating lyrics and ferocious electronic noise. The a-side track "Tough Man" immediately launches into a sonic assault of extreme high-end feedback and distorted rabid vocals, a ferocious seething power electronics delivery that repeats the threatening lyrics over and over for maximum effect, while harsh rhythmic rumblings detonate beneath the acidic high-end skree, growing into the monstrous mechanical vibrations that take over the final few minutes. Real fuckin' intense. The other track "Religious Leaders" is at first a departure from the aggression on the first track, unleashing massive waves of cosmic synthdrift and metallic drone across deep, reverberating blasts of percussive power, creating a really heavy death industrial feel. The demonic vocals are situated deeper in the mix, adding to the malevolent atmosphere, but then it evolves into something harsher, erupting into roars of collapsing metal and nuclear blast distortion, transforming into a slow-moving and monstrous maelstrom of broken metal and irradiated synth noise that dominates the last few minutes of the side.
 
Comes in a plain white sleeve with a xeroxed insert, limited to three hundred copies.

http://www.crucialblastshop.net/

Crucial Blast on Whorebutcher 7-Inch

 

WHOREBUTCHER   Fanatic   7" VINYL   (Bloodlust!)

There have only been a handful of releases from this American power electronics project over the past decade, but every one that I've picked up has been incredibly violent and vicious sounding, and I'd rate Whorebutcher's output as some of the harshest to come out of the American PE scene. His works have tended to be hard for me to come by though, with this limited 7" from the Bloodlust! label being the first of his titles that I've even been able to get for the shop. Released several years ago as part of Bloodlust!'s minimally packaged "private" series of white sleeve 7"s, Fanatic is a two-track eruption of extreme power electronics that flaunts some of the most agonal feedback manipulation this side of early Prurient. Opening with a roar of fast-moving distorted chaos, the first track "Fanatic" is a relentless shrieking nightmare of painful feedback abuse, brutal blasts of percussive distortion-pulses and murderous whispered vocals blasted through insane levels of distortion. What you can make out through that squealing, shrieking chaos paints a hideous picture of sexual sadism and obsessive violence, visions of violent debauchery set against layers of crushing electronics.

The b-side "Obsession " is more subdued, following the vicious noise of the first track with what begins as an atmospheric electronic soundscape fluttering with distant klaxon pulses and crashing waves of blackened static, a steady ceaseless feedback hum running like a thick black vein through the lightless factory ambience of the track, only veering from this dark pulsating driftscape in its final seconds as it explodes into a brief gale of shrieking noise that brings this around full circle to the waves of vicious electronic hate. 

Comes in a plain white sleeve with a xeroxed insert, issued in a limited edition of three hundred copies on white vinyl.

http://www.crucialblastshop.net/

Crucial Blast on Sun Splitter LP

 

SUN SPLITTER   III   LP   (Bloodlust!)

I've definitely been picking up on a certain industrial influence that has been creeping into a lot of the underground metal/avant rock that's been coming out of Chicago lately; dunno if it's a direct by-product of that city's long history with mechanized sound with labels like Wax Trax and Invisible, but there's definitely traces of machine-music coming through in some of the Windy City's more doom-laden outfits like Bloodiest, Anatomy Of Habit, Rabid Rabbit, and Minsk. I love hearing metallic music incorporate industrial influences, and the latest Chicago band mixing the mecha with their metal is Sun Splitter, who I first heard on their excellent II cassette on Land Of Decay a while back. Sun Splitter has put a unique, punishing stamp on this sound, using drum machines to create the pummeling slow-motion assembly-line rhythms that drive their crushing guitar/bass drones and sludgy riffage, blending in electric organs and piano into their sound for added atmosphere.

III is the latest offering from Sun Splitter, a vinyl-only album out from Bloodlust!. As soon as opener "Eye Of Jupiter" kicks in, the band is battering you with you their concussive industro-sludge, a hypnotic assault of heavy mechanical drumming and chant-like vocals that snake through clouds of shimmering synth noise around the crushing low-end riffage, building into something akin to a psychedelic version of early Godflesh or Swans, but with that monstrous chugging industrial grind becoming fused to the vast droning narco-crush of Sleep and Om; a weird mixture on paper, but man, I was hooked from the first track. From there the album heads deeper into bludgeoning, down-tuned riffs weighted with moments of striking Sabbathian doom n' gloom, majestic leads soaring over bizarrely-arranged programmed blast beats, and a vocal delivery that goes from harsh frantic screams to weird chant-like utterances. Totally sounds like something that could have come off of the HeadDirt or Pathological Records labels, but with a very modern level of metallic heaviosity. The other tracks follow similar suit in their drive to pummel the listener with brutal repetition, the eleven minute "Parasitic Machine" driving home a pounding pneumatic rhythm while spacey, almost blackened guitar melodies and tremolo riffing ascend skyward as it builds to a crescendo that never comes. Instead, it drops off into an almost Lustmordain abyss of cavernous drones and distant ethereal chanting smeared with streaks of psych guitar, prayer-bowl resonance, and monstrous subterranean rumblings.

Sun Splitter drop a number of these long, mesmeric dronescapes among their heavier songs, and also make a couple of surprising detours from the chugging, industrialized hypno-crush. Like on the closer "Two Cold Oceans", where they lock in to an infectious hypno-rock jam that sounds surprisingly like Finnish avant-rockers Circle at first, a pounding shuffling drum beat driving the hypnotic music into endless circular grooves, a simple chugging riff repeating over and over, the guitars laying down a lysergic meandering melody; after awhile, it suddenly kicks in with much harsher, more evil intensity, the vocals changing from a stoned yowl to harsh blackened shrieks, the guitars surging in heaviness, continuing that looping heavy psych-hook as more and more electronic layers of noise and effects descend upon the music, until everything is swallowed up in a monstrous roar of crushing industrial drone and starry electronic nebulae and whirring Hawkwindian synth effects.

http://www.crucialblastshop.net/

Crucial Blast on Anatomy of Habit CD

ANATOMY OF HABIT   self-titled   CD
 
Although Chicago noise artist Mark Solotroff has been destroying eardrums for nearly thirty years, first with his early American power electronics outfit Intrinsic Action that combined rabid Whitehouse worship with an evil undercurrent of S&M sleaze, later with the extreme electronic abuse of Bloodyminded and the apocalyptic industrial sludge-scapes of The Fortieth Day, it hasn't been until recently that Solotroff has started to explore more rock-based delivery systems for his visions of dystopian violence and collapse. Starting with a self-titled 12" released in 2011 and followed by another, similarly untitled 12" the following year, Solotroff's new band Anatomy Of Habit (which also features Blake Edwards of Vertonen on metal percussion, drummer Dylan Posa, formerly of Flying Luttenbachers and Cheer Accident, bassist Kenny Rasmussen, and Greg Ratajczak of Plague Bringer and Winters In Osaka) has been building a sound that is equal parts crushing noise rock, 80's-style goth n' gloom, metallic sludge and hypnotic post-punk, with long songs that stretch out across an entire side of a record, marked by marked by slow buildups into pummeling sludgy heaviness and long circular grooves. Swans and Joy Division are obvious influences on the band's music, but there's also a bit of Om-like psychedelic repetition here as well, giving this a heavy, trance-inducing feel at times.

The band has assembled their first Cd release with this re-mastered collection of all of their vinyl tracks to date, compiling both of the self-titled 12"s here on this full-length disc. Packaged in a six-panel digipack, this is an excellent entry point into Anatomy Of Habit's dour, industrial-tinged gloom-rock.

The first Lp features the tracks "Overcome" and "Torch": "Overcome" sprawls out into a dark, brooding mass of slow-moving gloom rock, the minimal guitars and droning bass line giving this a real Joy Division-ish feel, the deep distant vocals cloaked in shadows, the song seeming to be building eternally as the chiming delay-streaked guitar notes and incantatory singing rises ever skyward. It gradually takes on a ritualistic vibe as the drums come in and the song locks into a kind of circular trance, the melody slowly spinning around, over and over, a gloomy shambling hypnorock loop; it builds like this for minutes at a time, the sound slowly growing in intensity, until it all suddenly lurches into the pounding, sludgy heaviness that takes over the last half of the song, a lumbering, droning low-end crush fused to a catchy melodic hook, somewhere in between Killing Joke and Neurosis's calmer moments of apocalyptic dirge. The seventeen minute "Torch" is another powerful gloom epic, coming in on waves of shimmering cymbals and distant whirring synths, then shifts into dark piano sounds and those far-off vocals before slipping into another monstrous slo-mo groove. This one has some of the band's heaviest stuff, blooming into crushing metallic war-sludge and massive chugging riffage, then later devolving into discordant, plodding heaviness at the end. 

The second 12" from Anatomy Of Habit features two more long tracks of their crushing, hypnotic post-punk, "After The Water" and "The Decade Plan", and sees the band introducing piano and synthesizer into their sound. After a haunting introduction of simple laid-back percussion and jangling guitar melody, "After The Water" opens up into a kind of slow, brooding gloom-rock, somewhere in between Swans and some slow-moving math rock outfit, the heartfelt vocals droning over this slowly developing hook; somewhere around the middle of the song, it changes into an almost militaristic rhythm with clanging bass and the vocals becoming harder, more stentorian, right before surging into a blast of crushing, pummeling sludge. "The Decade Plan" follows with slowly cascading clean guitars and speak-sing vocals that make the beginning of the song sound like some early 90s slowcore, then blasts into a crushing doom-laden riff, a strange stilted heaviness with clanking metallic percussion rattling in the background, slowly but inexorably building into a majestic finale.

http://www.crucialblastshop.net/

Helen Money in Chicago tonight (3/15)

Our friend Helen Money is playing tonight at Township, with Doug McCombs of Tortoise playing a solo set

Invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/317241001712492/

Familiar poster style?

Locrian in Chicago Tonight (3/12)

Locrian make a very rare appearance in Chicago tonight at The Burlington, with Dead Dragon Mountain (members of Sun Splitter) and Deadlevel:

https://www.facebook.com/events/361584113949527/

Wrekmeister Wrap-Up

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Logan Theatre on Friday night to see/hear the film/score! It was officially sold out, so I am sorry that not all of my friends were able to get a seat. It sounds like there is an interesting new Wrekmeister Harmonies performance in the works for late June, so stay tuned...

--Mark

TONIGHT!

Mark Solotroff is pleased to be taking part in another special Wrekmeister Harmonies performance:

Friday March 8, 2013 - 10:00 PM

"Beyond the Black Rainbow" with a live score by Wrekmeister Harmonies

Drinks and music with Permanent Records in the Logan Theatre Lounge starting at 10:00 PM.

Screening of Beyond the Black Rainbow with a live score by WREKMEISTER HARMONIES starting at 11:30 PM.

WREKMEISTER HARMONIES is J.R. ROBINSON and CHANEL PEASE and tonight's performance will also feature JEREMY LEMOS of WHITE/LIGHT and MARK SOLOTROFF of ANATOMY OF HABIT + BLOODYMINDED.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/126240164220646/

Tickets: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3408854&REFERRAL_ID=twfb

BLOODYMINDED "Gift Givers" release info

New Release - Now shipping:
Artist: BLOODYMINDED
Title: "Gift Givers"
Format: Compact disc in eight-panel digipak
Catalog Number: B!045
Genre: Power-Electronics / Noise / Industrial / Experimental


 
What was the best day of your life?
 
“Gift Givers” is the third full-length release from BLOODYMINDED, and it follows their late-2003 single, "Mothercare," and their previous album, "True Crime" (2002). Moving on from "crime," this time the group has placed its focus on numerous other types of obsessive behaviors. A recurring theme, initiated on "Mothercare" (if not hinted at on their first CD, "Trophy"), is self-destructive behavior - particular, but certainly not exclusive to - teenage girls. As the album title hints, such dangerous behavior cuts across both sexes and all ages.  "Gift Givers" takes some of its cues from "True Crime," such as that album's deep layering of vocals. This time, however, the band takes things a step further by utilizing its international depth - creating a multi-lingual recording with English, French, and Spanish vocals. Hearkening back to "Trophy," this album mixes 10 songs in the four- to six-minute range with several of the band's trademark blast songs. An likely unexpected introductory track starts things off, while a middle passage, based on new recordings by special guest Pierpaolo Zoppo (of the pioneering Italian project Mauthausen Orchestra), acts as a curious segue between the central "Pro-Ana"/"Pro-Mia" suite. Another special guest, Michael D. Williams (Eyehategod/Outlaw Order/TEN SUICIDES/Corrections House), adds lead vocals to the key track, "Ten Suicides," which incorporates a number of true successes and near misses, and which carries the album's prevalent theme/question.  Brian Gaynor, who has worked on numerous BloodLust! recording projects, engineered the majority of the recording sessions and the ultramaximized master, and he co-produced the album with Mark Solotroff, at Alien Soundscapes, Inc., Chicago. Additional recording was completed by the band, as well as by Amadou Sall (Collapse/Treponem Pal), in Paris, France. Veteran BloodLust! designer and former BLOODYMINDED member Megan Emish executed the exquisite packaging design. Packaged in a beautifully re-designed eight panel digipak; Originally released in 2005; Re-released in 2013.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Track Listing:
 
1. Exercise (One) (2:52)
2. Aller/Venir (6:51)
3. Stick Insects (3:54)
4. Chalk Eater (0:34)
5. The Love Haters Vs. The Hate Lovers (3:23)
6. Shivery (5:44)
7. Mind The Gap (0:17)
8. Genital Panic (0:35)
9. Organization (4:40)
10. Pro-Ana (5:06)
11. Private Thoughts (6:12) Synthesizer, Vocals - Pierpaolo Zoppo
12. Pro-Mia (6:10)
13. Blood Customs (3:07)
14. Ten Suicides (6:14) Vocals - Mike Williams
15. Angel Of Terror (0:19)
16. Under Siege (5:02)
17. A Song For Lisanne, A Young Model (Album Version) (0:25)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Stream the album:

http://bloodyminded.bandcamp.com/album/gift-givers
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bloodyminded/album/gift-givers

-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Purchase the CD:

BloodShop!: http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/b-045-bloodyminded-gift-givers-cd
Bandcamp: http://bloodyminded.bandcamp.com/album/gift-givers

Purchase digital:

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/album/gift-givers/id602360746
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Givers-Explicit/dp/B00BEWEXBK
eMusic: http://www.emusic.com/album/-/-/13906313/

--------------------------------------------------------------------

About the artist:

BLOODYMINDED is a heavy electronic band that was formed in New York, in 1995, after the disbanding of the group Intrinsic Action. Their live shows are extremely energetic, and layers of screeching analog synthesizer, aggressively delivered vocals, and a copious amount of feedback, characterize their sound.  While BLOODYMINDED operate within a small, established subgenre of the noise scene, their sound is broadly informed by bands such as their industrial forbearers; New York pre + post-punk and noise rock; and British hardcore and grindcore. BLOODYMINDED has performed with a diverse range of artists, including traditional power-electronics groups, noise artists of various types, experimental, improv, and avant-garde artists, gothic and industrial groups, and hardcore, metal, and punk bands.  Though currently based in Chicago, key members live in Brooklyn, New York, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Toulouse, France.

Discography:
"Trophy" (CD, 1995, BloodLust!)
"West" (7-inch, 1996, BloodLust!) [Edition of 100 copies, sold out]
"True Crime" (Enhanced CD, 2002, BloodLust!)
"Mothercare" (CD-Single, 2003, BloodLust!)
"Gift Givers" (CD, 2005, re-pressed 20130, BloodLust!)
"Live: Behind The Green Door" (3-inch CD-R, 2005, Chondritic Sound / BloodLust!) [Edition of 98 copies, sold out]
"Live: Behind The Green Door / Live: Street Level At VG Kids" (Enhanced CD, 2006, BloodLust!)
"Magnetism" (CD, 2006, re-pressed 2010, BloodLust!)
"Phases : One" (Cassette, 2006, BloodLust!) [Edition of 100 copies, sold out]
"Phases : Two" (CD-R, 2007, BloodLust!) [Edition of 200 copies, sold out]
"BLOODYMINDED PLAYS BLOODYMINDED" (Cassette, 2007, BloodLust!) [Edition of 100 copies, sold out]
"Live In Mexico City" (CD-R, 2007, BloodLust!) [Edition of 100 copies, sold out]
"BLOODYMINDED PLAYS BLOODYMINDED" (CD, 2008, BloodLust!)
"Boston 2008" (CD, 2009, BloodLust!)
"Phases : Three" (Triple-7-inch, 2009, Rococo Records)
"Boston 2009" (CD, 2010, BloodLust!)
"Phases : Four" (Digital, 2012, BloodLust!)

Forthcoming:
"Within The Walls" (New studio album)

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Select prior praise for "Gift Givers":
'Gift Givers' is the third full-length release from Bloodyminded, the group fronted by Mark Solotroff formerly of Intrinsic Action. Following on from their 'Mothercare' single 'Gift Givers' lyrically deals with the similar subject matter of obsessive and self-destructive behaviour. Multi-layered desperate, pained vocals in English, Spanish and French form a coded web of messages over a violent, aggressive noise inferno that sounds like field-recordings from the apocalypse. Here are some hefty power-electronics that quite frankly kick the crap out of 90% of noise artist who work within similar means of synths, analog tape and basic electronics. Harkening back to Bloodyminded's 'Trophy' album 'Gift Givers' also features ten songs in the 4-6 minute range, interspersed with their trademark short blast songs. Michael D Williams from EyeHateGod and Outlaw Order is a guest vocalist on the track 'Ten Suicides' and Pierpaolo Zoppo of Mauthausen Orchestra contributes "synths and screams" on 'Pro-Ana/Pro-Mia'.  With a recent outstanding performance at the No-Fun Fest (available on Chondritic Sound) and other performances alongside likeminded artists such as Hive Mind, Dead Machines, Illusion Of Safety, Crawl Unit and Nautical Almanac to name a few, Bloodyminded are finally getting the attention they deserve and 'Gift Givers' along with their previous output since 1984 as Intrinsic Action stands as evidence that the group were way ahead of their time. Highly recommended for fans of Wolf Eyes, Swans, Oxbow, Whitehouse and Throbbing Gristle. --Second Layer
Bloodyminded have truly outdone themselves with this new release. Following in the heavily layered footsteps of True Crime but including "blast" tracks like those found on Trophy, the band have found a perfect balance between drawn-out, creepy pieces and short attacks of aggression. This release is themed around self-destructive behavior and if you've caught them live recently you know just how intense these newer songs are. --Chondritic Sound
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Links:

http://bloodyminded.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BLOODYMINDED/66854847254
http://www.myspace.com/officialbloodyminded
http://www.last.fm/music/Bloodyminded

--------------------------------------------------------------------