Blood Music join Powell’s Diagonal Records

Powell’s Diagonal Records imprint will look outwards for its next release, with an EP from London outfit Blood Music.

The project of London-based musician Simon Pomery, Blood Music takes its name from the story of how composer John Cage once stepped into an anechoic chamber expecting to hear silence, but instead, heard the pulsing of his own blood pumping through his body; in a more literal fashion however, Pomery elects to put real blood into his sound, hitting his guitar with screwdrivers, mallets and his bare fists to achieve the desired sonic effect, which takes in noise, drone, post-punk and industrial influences.

Although Blood Music’s current live incarnation consists of bass player Jordan Cunningham, who also plays a table of home-crafted electronics, and Kenichi Iwasa, who plays taiko rhythms and drum machine, all of the sounds on this EP were performed by Pomery himself; described by the label as “a 12″ of brute physical force”, it’s guitar sounds are supposedly reminiscent of Sonic Youth and Rhys Chatham, while its phased drum patterns recall Steve Reich.

Although a previous 7″ saw a collaboration with Factory Floor’s Nik Void, and was released on the O Genesis Recordings run by platinum blonde popper Tim Burgess, Blood Music’s fusion of sounds are a perfect fit for Diagonal Records. The label’s owner Powell has worked similar influences into his own brand of techno across EPs on Diagonal, The Death Of Rave and soon Mute’s Liberation Technologies. Blood Music’s self titled EP will be the first time Powell has opened the label up to outside artists, though a future Diagonal release from noise veteran Russell Haswell has also been hinted at.

Fans of the label should probably head to Stoke Newington next month for a BleeD curated Diagonal Records showcase featuring Powell, Laswell, Blood Music and the like-minded Raime – more details on that can be found here.

No release date has been announced as yet, but the EP will be released on red vinyl with screenprinted poly jacket.

Tracklisting:

A1. Rare Earth Material
A2. Infinite Process 1
B1. Speak Like Violence
B2. Infinite Process 2