b ă k - t î r 'ē - ə m
Bacterium is the first compilation from the Australian label Adeptsound and it's a good one. Based around the concept of bacteria, the compilers Tim Bayes and Steve Cammack dig deep into the underground to bring together veterans (DDAA, Column One, Dieter Müh) with a whole bunch of newcomers. The varied strains of experimental industrial are covered here from noise excursions through industrial ambience to those that straddle both. It's an uncompromising listen that's certainly worth the effort.
On the noise front Maison Close whip up something of a noise blizzard set against layers of crunchy electronics offset by the increasingly panicky outbursts of a distressed female. Josef Nadek, meanwhile, opts for short layered bursts of harsh grating noise. There's a compositional edge to Maison Close and Josef Nadek when compared to the full on brutal power noise of Praying For Oblivion which is thankfully cut short with its abrupt ending.
Bacterium is particularly strong on industrial ambience with some engaging tracks from Dieter Müh, Schuster, The Psychogeographical Commission and Mnem. 'Bacteria 2' from Dieter Müh is an impressive live recording from early 2010. Opening with scraping bowls and an incessant throb it soon settles into an uneasy ambience with reverbed singing bowls and crackling tones. With the departure of Dave Uden I was uncertain whether they would continue as a solo act under the auspices of Steve Cammack but with the assistance of Simon Kane Dieter Müh, a band I have long championed, continue to deliver the goods carrying with them the hallmarks of old school industrial. Schuster is Tim Bayes, an early member of Dieter Müh circa Black Square and his contribution 'The Scattering Of Bones - Place & Call (Klebsiella)' is a fine piece of occultic ambience with a still atmosphere punctuated with growls and micro-detailing of sound. Good stuff and I'd be keen to hear more. The Psychogeographical Commission are no strangers to viruses their latest album Patient Zero imagines the effects of a solar virus on a cities populous. 'Pathogenic Suspension', their contribution here, deals with bacteria which form a parasitic association with the living. It's a turbulent instrumental of twisted electronics sounds and eerie ambience showing a more dark ambient side to this excellent project. Finnish industrial experimentalists Mnem offer 'Invisible Organism' an otherworldy creation of gritty tones mixed with subtly crafted looped sounds.
German industrial stalwarts Column One don't appear to get caught up in the concept of the album. Their strangely titled 'Cindy, Loraine & Hank' offers sample ridden beaty textures wrapped seemingly around what appears to be a deconstructed dub record. 'Verdeter' from veteran French outfit DDAA use an old piece of Victor Hugo writings about earthworm. They've always been a strange proposition and this track based around gruff vocalisations and scraping violin strings and electronics, with little bursts of harmonica does little to change my opinion.
From the gritty industrial ambience of the opening track from Cheapmachines that is conversely soothing and harsh as analogue electronics get swept up into a gushing drone to the closing sample ridden electronica of Sevan Oh it's clear the compilers have put a lot of thought into the running order of Bacterium. Adeptsound have secured a lot of good material here. It does what good compilations should do: presents solid contributions from established artists with plenty of intriguing tracks from the less well known. Bacterium is released in a 4 panel digipak with 12-page booklet and a hand-numbered postcard. If post-industrial still means anything to you then this is well worth your time. Spread the virus.
Compulsion (Tony Dickie)
Bacterium is the first Adeptsound compilation. I have to admit that due to the huge number of compilations being released these days, I usually start the task of reviewing one with a slight sigh. More often than not, I find a bunch of helpless tracks by unknown bands that can't seem to land a deal with anyone. And to top it all off, I was having a shitty day.But I stand corrected. Bakterium is the kind of quality that will make me raise my eyebrow and go "well hey now... Now we're talking". From the very first track this release asserts it self as a solid and high quality compilation. No bullshit, no fluff, just to the point, hard hitting music for people into high quality dark experimental. Cheaomaschines sets a intriguing mood as the first band, it's an excellent choise by Adeptsound to have "culture" as the first track as it's an evoking in it self with soothing sounbdscapes. Column one blew me away with their interesting mix of genres in their track "Cindy, Loraine & Hank". By now I'm thinking it can't get better than this, but then DDAA completely blows me away with "Verdeter" with a dark, occult drone infected vibe. The vocals are out of this world and I will most definately be looking into their discography. I guess being around since 1977 will give you that nerve newcomers are so seldom able to express. A fav track without a doubt.
Track 4 by Dieter Müh "Bacteria 2" is a much more contemporary track, with subtle minimalist sounds lingering in the background. Then Maison Close shreds the vibe with their power electronic infested "Filoviridae Mutatis". Excellent dirty noise, combined with eerie samples they master the art of the genre perfectly. I love the production here, it's not too polished as much of what comes out of this genre is today. The layers are very present, and I know quite a few sound geeks who would drool over this track for sure. Brutal, yet controlled. Well done. Mnem - Invisible Organism". Not a track for everyone, but I love it. It's a meditative noisy drone trip with excellent atonal electronic sounds. I never grow tired of bands who are confident enough in their art to make music like this. This track pulls you into what I call the white light of noise meditation. Tres relaxing.
N.Strahl.N with "Plasma-Spaltung" is defenetly interesting, but the mastering is too clean. This sounds too much like the film score of a 70's sci-if film witch in it self isn’t a bad thing, but compared the the other tracks it's too clean, to pretty and has no nerve. The sounds are interesting, I can tell that there are some really nice sonic experiments hiding in the production. Dig those out next time. Next up is Josef Nadek with the track "Yersinia Pestis" is Hard hitting noise track complimented by dark ambient soundscapes. Oh, I really love some of the sounds they've come up with. I get a slight Sun o))) vibe at times actually, and my mind also wanders into Tetsuo territory. It's all good.
Schuster "The Scattering Of Bones - Place & Call (Klebsiella)" is track #9. A soothing aural chill out zone in between all the uncompromising noise tracks. Multi layered and very tactile, Schuster evokes mental images of long forgotten spirits. It's a very interesting listen as it is unpredictable in all the right ways. And again I really like the production on this, it's really quite crisp.
Praying For Oblivion – ALH84001 comes in as track #10 and from the get go kicks it off with brutal power electronics. I like how Adeptsound obvsiously has put a great deal of thought into the progression of the track list. Praying for oblivion actually reminds me of Grammal Seizure except for the loud mastering he is well known for, and not so unforgiving. But certainly up there regarding quality. It ends abruptly however, mind the glitch, or intentional?
Next up is The Psychogeographical Commission's "Pathogenic Suspension". TPC is a band I really admire and I was pleased to see their name in the track list, as I knew at least of of the tracks would be good. "Pathogenic Suspension" is without a doubt a TPC track, but with a dark vibe. We found that dark vibe in their latest release as well, and it suits their unusual approach to sound. Soothing and calming with a little evil twist. Love it. Last but not least we have Sevan Oh with "Natural Unit", who has the, at times unforgiving, job of delivering the last track of a compilation. Did Adeptsound save the best for last? The track starts off with cut up samples looped on top of minimalist snippets of sounds. Very interesting indeed with a Biosphere kind of feeling to it. It's an intelligent track with a philosophical message "Will you be ready" It's the perfect ending to a really impressive compilation. I would say that this compilation is perfect for those of you who are in your 30's, who are sick of the mass produced shit the industry spews out.
Kaliglimmer (Batcheeba)
Tirée à trois cents exemplaires, cette compilation, basée entièrement autour du concept de la bactérie, constitue la première production du label Adeptsound, derrière lequel se cache Tim Bayes du projet Schuster. Chaque artiste invité a travaillé sur ce thème, développe également autour de photographies et de textes à l’intérieur du livret. De tonalité industrielle tendance expérimentale, on retrouve ici quelques grandes figures du genre : les précurseurs français DDAA ou encore Column One, excellents. Le reste se partage entre formations de tonalité abstract ambient tendance sombre (Schuster, The Psychogeographical Commission), artistes noise / bruitistes (Maison Close, Praying for Oblivion, Josef Nadek) et bidouillages expérimentaux (Sevan_Oh), certains musiciens conjuguant à l’intérieur d’un même titre nappes apaisantes et fureur sonore la plus complète (Cheapmachines, N.Strahl.N). Silence et chaos, séduction et abjection, terreur cotonneuse et agression hypnotique, les compositions se confrontent et dialoguent, toutes reliées par une approche organique du son (notamment chez Dieter Muh ou Mnem), privilégiant l’analogique, les travaux de collage sur cassettes, les ondes radio, les vieux synthétiseurs, walkman et autres matériaux obsolètes, renvoyant indéniablement à la première vague industrielle. On pense à ces cassettes qui circulaient dans le réseau mail-art dans les années quatre-vingts. Cela donne à ce premier essai un charme indéniable.
Ever since Industrial Music hit its stride in the early 80s there's been a countless number of compilation albums in its wake. It's become a genre of itself, sometimes becoming the benchmark of independent labels such as Broken Flag (for example...) There's been so many most of the ones in the past have probably been forgotten by now, but occasionally some stand out as either an open-window view of the scene in general (Paul Lemos' Dry Lungs series), or of certain genres (the mammoth three-disc set Don't Hunt What You Can't Kill, with its look at the "Cultural Terrorism" sub-genre), or a particular regional scene or theme (which Susan Lawly would do with their "Extreme Music" series...)
But this particular new one -- Bak-tir'e-em -- suggests that times have changed since Industrial Music began as a genre. Whereas the first Dry Lungs release revealed a very dirty-sounding low-tech scene, Bak-tir'e-em represents a very state-of-the-art production value, if not being purely digital in how many of these pieces were put together. There are plenty of noisy moments to be sure, particularily by Josef Nadek, Column One and Praying For Oblivion, but also alot of Dark Ambient stuff as well with artists like Dieter Müh.
So is this compilation worth having? Well just about every track is top-notch as far as this kind of music goes, and it gives you an idea where "Industrial" and other experimental music is headed in a new decade.
Head Heritage (Lawrence)
Its a taken for granted piece of software these days but I still get a kick out inserting a CD into the computer and finding all the track information appearing on the media player - for someone who remembers the days when you had to get up off your arse to switch TV channels [all three of them] its like alchemy. Even the most obscure of releases seems to have been dutifully transcribed by some eager listener. Bacterium was no different but what brought a wry smile to my face was that under the column ‘Genre’ were the words ‘Unclassifiable’. Which is ridiculous of course, there is no such thing as unclassifiable any more. Every major genre of music you can think of has numerous sub genres and then there’s all the new sub sub sub genres that appear at regular intervals where ‘x’ multiplies with ‘y’ to produce a ‘z’.
But what to pigeonhole Bacterium with? I always favour ‘Industrial Ambience’ but with a push you could nail it with ‘Dark Ambience’ but then maybe thats a bit too Cold Meat Industry. Post Apocalyptic Industrial Ambience I’ve used before too but today I’m going to go with Industrial Noise Ambience With Slight Ritualistic Tendencies And A Leaning Towards Noise And Experimentation. It’s a tad clumsy I know but it may just stick.
We’ve been here before, most recently with the various artist comp Stählerne Lichter, with which this shares a number of artists, but whereas that release contained several real stinkers Bacterium’s bad contribution factor is but the merest ripples on a smooth mill pond of excellence.
Theres some unfamiliar names to conjure with first [to these ears at least] most of which would appear to be worth further investigation; Psychogeographical Commission’s eerie chatterings are sublime, Maison Close’s noise blizzard coupled with stressed female vocal sample would appear to hold much promise and Josef Nadek’s contribution will have the Apocalyptic Power Electronic genre fans going all weak and weepy. French duo DDAA’s track finds them mixing treated harmonica with electronic burbles, strings and deep throat vocals the end result sounding like a cross between Jac Berrocal and Extended Organ. Sevan_Oh veer into Illusion of Safety land with two looped vocal samples played over each other to a background of slowly morphing keyboard work and the merest hint of a trip-hop beat.
This is no reason to gloss over what is offered by the more familiar names, Dieter Müh, Column One, Schuster, N.Strahl.N, MNEM and Cheapmachines all weigh in with some prime Industrial Ambient groan, which is nothing less than I expected. The only runt of the litter is Praying For Oblivion whose three minute noise stab appears like an unwanted grease stain but that aside this is an excellent release.
My only big problem is with the packaging. Dulled out grey font on a glossy black background never goes down a storm here but it may explain why the online database has Schuster down as Chuster. It’s still doesn’t explain ‘unclassifiable’ though does it?
Adeptsound rather coyly characterizes its first compilation CD Bacterium as a “rewarding and intriguing listen.” It certainly is intriguing and by and large rewarding too but that's not to say that it's an easy or always enjoyable listen. To some degree that admittedly should be the case for a project whose driving concept concerns “one-celled organisms that lack a cell nucleus, reproduce by fission or by forming spores, and in some cases cause disease.” There's unquestionably a toxic quality to some of it, or perhaps nightmarish would be the more accurate term. Listening ot the collection, one often feels as if one's entered a subcutaneous world where infection reigns and viruses proliferate.
Some contributors appear to pay homage to favoured strains of bacteria. “Yersinia Pestis,” Josef Nadek's piece, refers to a kind of infection that can take three forms—pneumonic, septicaemic, and bubonic plague—all of which have been responsible for high mortality epidemics throughout human history (fittingly, the setting itself is an abrasive slab of grinding noise). The Psychogeographical Commission's “Pathogenic Suspension” focuses on parasitical bacteria that weaken, break down, and eventually destroy the human body (sonically, the piece is a black drone characterized by microsound burrowing). Elsewhere, DDAA, a self-described industrial poetic French band in operation since 1977, contributes a noxious setting called “Verdeter” whose violin sawing, noise squeals, and monotone voice recitations are purportedly concerned with “earthworm writing by Victor Hugo.” For “Culture,” Cheapmachines deploys guitars, electronics, computers, and modular analogue synthesizer to give birth to droning duststorms of silvery shards and industrial smears.
On the nightmarish tip there's Maison Close's “Filoviridae Mutatis,” which whips short-wave radio-transmissions into a torrential frenzy for the reason that, like bacteria, such transmissions are everywhere—inside and outside of us, infecting us at every moment with their presence. Praying For Oblivion's smattering of screech and churn, “ALH84001” (the title a reference to a meteorite discovered in Antarctica in 1984), is equally punishing. The album isn't without its more restrained moments, however. Mnem's “Invisible Organism” might be a sickly, pestilential ambient-drone, but it also offers a temporary shelter from the storm, while “The Scattering Of Bones - Place & Call (Klebsiella)” by Adeptsound mainstay Schuster (Tim Bayes) is likewise a relatively easy-on-the-ears spectral sound sculpture.
It's no exaggeration to state that Bacterium will be a challenging sixty-eight-minute undertaking for even the most adventurous listener. Even so, one must admire or at least have grudging respect for a label that would commit itself so resolutely to a project so uncommercial and uncompromising, and the release certainly impresses on presentation grounds, with its digipack accompanied by a twelve-page colour booklet that includes images and production details for each of the CD's twelve pieces.
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