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The best new albums this week

Our writers choose their favourites

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Cosey Fanni Tutti – Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And The Legendary Tapes – Original Soundtrack Recording (Conspiracy International)

Industrial music pioneer, performance artist and author, this one-time tabloid-anointed “wrecker of civilisation” is fast become something of alt national treasure. While her CV includes blazing trials with COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey and Carter Tutti, it’s her most recent solo work that’s putting Cosey Fanni Tutti firmly, rightly, in the limelight.

Released on her own Conspiracy International label, ‘Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And The Legendary Tapes’, the soundtrack to Caroline Catz’s BBC Arena film from last year, follows hot on the heels of Cosey’s new book, ‘Re-Sisters’, a beautifully conceived take on how the lives of three women – herself, Delia Derbyshire and Margery Kempe, a 15th century mystic visionary from King’s Lynn – are interconnected across 600 years.

In fact, it seems that everything Cosey’s touched since the publication of ‘Art Sex Music’, her critically acclaimed autobiography, is somehow connected too. Take for example this soundtrack. The catalyst was an audio-visual COUM Transmissions retrospective called ‘Harmonic COUMaction’ which was first performed at her hometown of Hull’s City Of Culture celebrations in 2017.

The piece was shown later the same year as an installation at London’s Cabinet Gallery… which Caroline Catz visited. Twice. Cosey’s soundtrack took her back to watching ‘Doctor Who’ as a child and to Delia’s famous theme tune. To Catz’s mind, Cosey’s work had that same primal feel, that feeling of not really understanding where the sounds come from or what was even making them. It was exactly the feeling Catz wanted for her film.

So with Cosey onboard the pair set about immersing themselves in all things Delia, boiling down her audio sketches, letters and notes into her very essence. It would have been way easier to just sample Delia’s work and shape it into a soundtrack, but that wasn’t ever on the cards. Her voice features, sampled from interviews with the journalist John Cavanagh and transfered to a strip of 1/4-inch tape along which Cosey ran a tape head, giving her “pieces” of Delia that she then manipulated for use throughout the soundtrack.

Also important was the equipment list consisted of gear Delia would have had access to. Cosey’s arsenal included an EMS Synthi A, guitar pedals including space echo, a BBC Nagra portable tape recorder and a modest Eurorack set-up using period-authentic modules compiled by Mr Cosey, Chris Carter.

The results pack a proper period-authentic radiophonica punch. See it as a meeting of Delia Derbyshire’s ideas with Cosey Fanni Tutti’s execution. “An alliance of our sensibilities” is how Cosey describes it.

The more you listen, the less you understand what or even how these sounds have been generated. Of course, there’s the opener ‘Cornet Lament’, which features Cosey on her beloved brass, but beyond that you just have to marvel. The jittery echo and stalking tones of ‘Four Bebe’ nods in the direction of another electronic pioneer, Bebe Baron, whose work on the ‘Forbidden Planet’ soundtrack in 1950s really shook things up.

The woozy ‘Corridor’ conjures up a rich image of Delia’s lengthy tape loops shimmering as they flow round those Madia Vale corridors, while ‘Psychedelic Projections’ is as close to a “song” as things get with an infectious bassline and all manner of trippy noises on the periphery, including a slurry Delia. It’s a track that has a Pierre Henry sheen to it, which considering the concrète approach here perhaps isn’t surprising. There’s also moments of lovely humour. The knockabout ‘Snuff Chorus’, a nod to Delia’s bad habit, also features her delightful posh-girl giggle.

Many of the track titles are eye-catching and some, like ‘Ceiling Of Sickening Sound’, taken word-for-word from descriptive notes provided by Catz. The neat full circle is that the ‘Doctor Who’ theme also began life as notes left by Ron Granger before he buggered off on holiday returning to find Delia had worked considerable magic. You figure that same magic is also at work here.

NM

The Mars Volta – The Mars Volta (Clouds Hill)

The incomparable duo of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López, have maintained a creative partnership for well over two decades now, while many had naturally assumed their relationship would come to an amicable end following the self-titled release of the Antemasque project in 2014.

The truth is, many felt the two artists didn’t owe their listeners anything more. At the Drive-In; the iconic post-hardcore outfit that started their journey, reformed and delivered the somewhat unnecessary, slightly lacklustre, ‘in•ter a•li•a’, in 2017, yet allowed latecomers a final shot to experience older cuts from the seminal, ‘Relationship Of Command’, in a live setting. 

While Rodríguez-López has kept busy throughout the years with a myriad of solo works, as well as the criminally overlooked and underrated, Bosnian Rainbows, it’s no small secret that The Mars Volta is still the name that garners the most ample praise and reverence.

A revival was surely hinted by the mass repressing of their discography just last year, but confirmation only came at the start of summer, that a self-titled, seventh full-length, was imminent.

To clarify, this is not the natural continuation of 2012’s, ‘Noctourniquet’, nor does it truly resemble any album baring the band’s moniker to date. Make no mistake, however, this still inherently feels like The Mars Volta of old, hence its declarative lack of a title.

Drawing ever further on their (always present) Latin influences, and utilising a delicate, softer touch based around minimalism, the material here is a far cry from the psych-prog mayhem of, ‘De-Loused In The Comatorium’, or, ‘The Bedlam In Goliath’.

From the shimmering synths and tranquil groove of, ‘Graveyard Love’, to the percussive funk of, ‘Vigil’, it becomes evident that any hope of mammoth drum fills, or frenetic, effects-laden guitar solos, should be put to rest. This is an album of reflection, with Bixler-Zavala bearing the years on his words while his inflections are tender and nuanced. 

The ambient tranquillity of, ‘Shore Story’, exudes a peaceful acceptance only attained over time, while the muted bleeps of, ‘Palm Full Of Crux’, provide just the most minute element of menace. ‘No Case Gain’ even offers a slight glimmer of old, with pulsing swells and unhinged vocal cadences, while standout single, ‘Black Condolences’, evokes a Mariachi band’s interpolation of prog-rock giants, Yes.


All in all, it’s a miracle in itself to be discussing a new full-length from The Mars Volta in 2022. A full decade removed from what was initially perceived as their swan song, this is a work crafted on its own terms, drawing from every previously tampered sonic well, yet retaining its own sense of poise and purpose. Regardless of whether the project serves as a momentous return or a final, definitive closing of the door, it’s a welcome, quieter addition to a legacy that’s all the better for it. 

ZB

Herva – Seez (Planet Mu)

Even at the outset of his musical career, Herva displayed a slipperiness which marked him out as an original. Back then, when he was primarily recording for hometown label Bosconi, the Florence-based producer was juggling and warping samples into mind-melting patchworks, rooted somewhat in hip-hop and house dynamics even if presenting a wild abstract of those genres. As he moved on to the likes of Delsin, his interests turned more towards mutations of techno, which inevitably leads down the path of electronica as the processes become more complex and the sound more intricate.

And so we arrive with Herva as he is today, onto his third album for Planet Mu after some time out developing high-end modular gear, and he’s reportedly headed back into the box and focused on generative processes to elicit his sound. It’s instantly apparent on Seez that a renewed focus guides the Italian artist’s hand, even if that focus comes from machine logic and system building rather than anything as old fashioned as composition and ‘musicianship’. There’s a distinct braindance quality to the synthesis, with those microtonal harmonics which sound achingly emotional and utterly alien in the same heartbeat. The cybernetic swoon of ‘Anm’ can’t help but remind of The Tuss, a Richard D. James project which is too often overlooked for its sentimental content.

As with all great electronica, Seez is all over the place as well. The beats rarely stick on a pattern, rather rising and falling, coalescing and dissembling in fluid motion, but the overall sonic is consistent and tangible in a way we haven’t heard from Herva before. His musical intentions sound crystal clear, even as his creations behave in seemingly chaotic ways. That such erratic, twitchy material can also have a calming effect is testament to that sense of control. He may have handed some of the leg work over to the machines, but Herva ensures his system stays faithful as an instrument of expression and feeling, however techy the process and product becomes.

OW


God Is War – Predation Perfected (Closed Casket Activities)

The ever-elusive Los Angeles based, God Is War, is a one-man project devoted to obliterating the boarders between the spectrums of extremity, be they electronic or metal-centric, with a focus on caustic, minimal aggression. Melding elements of industrial, harsh noise, and ambient with a metallic, nigh on grindcore leaning approach to composition, there’s a striking dissonance to his craft that invites none and all physical reactions simultaneously.

Across a myriad of mixtapes, EPs and full-lengths, the producer has remained an outlier in the more tranquil realms of the electronic scenes, while his welcoming into the metal/hardcore underworld has been in no small part down to the expansion of many modern acts into more industrial territory.

One need only look at the likes of HEALTH, Full of Hell, Portrayal Of Guilt or Uniform, to notice that the Venn diagram intertwining of the darkest aspects of both harsh industrial and modern hardcore punk and extreme metal, have been making strange bedfellows for years now.

Further finding his place amongst sonic misfits, this latest offering, Predation Perfected, is the first project to be released upon signing to Closed Casket Activities; label home to some of the most decrepit and visceral acts in the game such as Gulch, Vermin Womb and Regional Justice Center.

The signing seems like a statement of intent, not just for the artist willing to lie down with the punks, but for the label opting to expand their roster further afield to encompass even more forms of sonic, audible hatred.

Even the long form, block capital, walls of text style song titles conjure glooming dread and intrusive thoughts, such as the punishing clatter of, ‘I ADMIRE YOU…LIKE YOU I USED TO THINK THE WORLD WAS THIS GREAT PLACE WHERE EVERYBODY LIVED BY THE SAME STANDARD THAT I DID…AND THEN SOME KID WITH A GUN SHOWED ME I WAS LIVING IN HIS WORLD’, to the hallucinogenic anguish of standout cut, ‘ON LSD AT THE LEGION OF DOOM (THE GRIMIEST AND GULLIEST OF GOONS)’.


That being said, there’s definitely an air of self-awareness displayed on the humorous semi-title-track, ‘PREDATION PERFECTED (I DON’T TO RESPECT ANY OG IN INDUSTRIAL OR POWER ELECTRONICS CUZ I AM ONE MOTHER FUCKER)’. 

While perhaps too abrasive for the casual industrial, or metal fan, those with a predilection towards the uglier, minimal, horrific side of the path, will find a deluge of electronic despair and grim machinations lying in wait, ready to pounce, not dissimilar to the feral adorning artwork. You’ve been warned.

ZB

Ian Boddy & Erik Wøllo – Revolve (DiN)

Among the raft of independent DIY electronic labels whose wares fill a good chunk of my waking hours, DiN has the musical boot print of the label’s big cheese, Ian Boddy, stamped all over it. Sure, the north-east-based outfit does a sterling job with a release schedule that serves up ambient modular goodness from many notable artists – including the likes of Scanner and Polypores – but it’s the releases that bear the name of the boss that resonate the most.

With two previous studio albums, 2012’s ‘Frontiers’ and 2018’s ‘Meridian’, as well as ‘EC12’, a live performance from Electronic Circus Festival V in 2014, ‘Revolve’ is a fourth collaborative project from Boddy and Norwegian composer/guitarist Erik Wøllo. Consisting of eight tracks, or more accurately eight movements, ‘Revolve’ is very much an album that should be listened to as the artists intended. It is, they say, “a continuous sonic journey” and handily they present it as a continuous 50-minute mix, with the tracks melted into each other via “slices of sonic ambience and field recordings”.

The opening shot, ‘Tellus Mater’, brings a ‘Blade Runner’ vibe to proceedings, all swooping minor chords and squalls of haunting synth. The title track has a distant almost 60’s TV theme tune flavour while the super-slow build of ‘Turnabout’ is a masterclass in the art of subtle. Throughout, Wøllo’s ostinato guitar motifs sit seamlessly, complimenting Boddy’s shimmering Moog sequences in what is a totally immersive listen. If pushed to pick a highlight, the tip-toe bass rumble of ‘The Winding Path’, which gives way to the almost funky ‘Apogee’ is a real thrill.

There’s real craft on show here. But this is DiN, it’s only what we’ve come to expect.

NM 

Clear Path Ensemble – Solar Eclipse (Soundway)

Clear Path Ensemble follow-up on 2020’s magical eponymous album with their second long-player, landing on London’s Soundway Records with the irresistible Solar Eclipse. The New Zealand pairing of Cory Champion and Jake Baxendale vividly demonstrate their formidable musical chops from the first bar to the last, with a selection of jazz-informed grooves that draw on influences from the form’s farthest reaches.

From the cinematic scope of ‘Revolution’ to the mutant funk of ‘Interlock’, the life-affirming positivity of ‘Solar Eclipse’ to the deviant throb of ‘Plazma Plaza’, the album refuses to rest as the music effortlessly morphs and gyrates. ‘Talking To Water’ provides perhaps the most introspective experience, with blissed-out refrains echoing over undulating drones and hallucinatory sweeps.

The upbeat pulse of ‘Tennis Ball’ is ripe for the dancefloor, with agogo rhythms powering hypnotic horns across immaculately-spun orchestration, while the tension-building poise of opening track ‘Kihi’ mystically sets the tone for the kaleidoscopic delights that follow. A complete album in every sense, only repeat listens will reveal the hidden treasures that lay within the grooves. Rich with experimentation and free-flowing virtuosity, Solar Eclipse should provide the most fitting of soundtracks to the evolving light of the end-of-summer days.

PC

‘Free All Angels’ doesn’t pick up where the darker ‘Nu Clear Sounds’ left off. If anything it’s the natural follow-up to ‘1977’, packed to the gills with the kind of infectious melody-driven pop licks we know and love from this lot. No wonder it was a platinum-selling Number One album. Dripping in strings, tracks like ‘Candy’, ‘Someday’ and ‘There’s A Star’ as well as the big-beaty sampleadelic ‘Submission’ show there is more to Ash than perky pop blasts. That said, the opening salvo is an utter showstopper – ‘Walking Barefoot’, the Ivor Novello Award-wining ‘Shining Light’ and NME Single Of The Year, ‘Burn Baby Burn’. What a way to open a record that is.

Don’t let yourself forget how good Ash are. This reissue is a helpful reminder.

NM


Exaltation – Under Blind Reasoning (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)
Five years on from their admittedly lo-fi demo, New Zealand blackened death metal outfit, Exaltation, deliver on all of their malevolent promise with the long-gestating debut full-length, ‘Under Blind Reasoning’.

Combining technical fluidity with abrasive chaos, there’s an undeniable cohesion blanketed subtly beneath the roaring cacophony of pummelling blast beats, angular riffage and foul vocals. From the sludgy, trudging bombast of opener, ‘Iron Rebellion’, an aura of gloom clouds the atmosphere with oppressive menace, which is broken only in sparse moments of harrowing respite. 

Take the unsettling shrieks at the backend of, ‘Impending Decease’, that bastardise the sonic ease with tortured, inhuman howls, while the mammoth closer, ‘Divider Of Redemption’, veers into ambient nihilistic territory, echoing the horrific artistry of Blood Incantation, before returning for one more hateful dirge. Cuts such as the brief self-titled, ‘Exaltation’, or, ‘Impious Massacre’, flex the more prevalent black metal aspects, with cascading tremolo picking distinguishing the clustering, caustic barrages from their death-trodden counterparts. 

It’s this astute understanding of differing extreme metal motifs, imbued with Lovecraftian execution and grim vision, that elevates Exaltation’s debut to its own cavernous, cosmic plain. Part brutalised tech-death, part black metal revival, this is a truly ugly, despairing plummet to the sonic depths of the cavernous abyss.

ZB

This week’s reviewers: Zach Buggy, Neil Mason, Patrick Cavaliere, Oli Warwick.