Fin de Siecle
This CD is the fourth Contrastate (related) release on Fin de Siecle. Not the best of the four imho, but definitly an addition to your collection. All but one track were previously released on either Tesco ('A Live Coal Under The Ashes') or on Tesco in collaboration with Art Konkret, being the legendary 'Festival Karlsruhe' double cassette. Oppressing soundscapes which will give you with an uneasy feeling ...
'Perhaps it comes out of the black sea' is a track with noisey guitar and a grim voice layered over a two tone theme. A perfect opener because ten minutes pass without really noticing the change of time.
The middle four tracks are taken from the Karlsruhe recordings. 'To The Princes Of The New Republics', 'Altering The Circumstances Of Human Life', 'A String Of Puppets' and 'Like A Saint On A Stake' therefore sound quite alike.
On the one hand it's powerelectronics without distortion, without actual noise. Again guitar themes, more in a freaky way. The spoken words are done with an English accent and you can actually follow them and understand what it's all about ...
On the other hand the Karlsruhe recordings were deep ambient with slow rhythms. But again that nice 'n noisy guitar in combination with the spoken word.
The CD closes with 'The Repust Sal', a genius piece with vocal sounds. The sacral atmosphere is aurally placed in the front, while in the back of your mind Tibetan landscapes become visible. Rhythms and feedback form the second part, followed by analog synthsweeps in combination with guitars. The track ends with noise created by djembees (?) and feedbacking guitars which conclude the last Contrastate performance ever.
'Handbags & DADA' gives a good impression of what Contrastate were about in a Live-setting, but it leaves you with a little sadness that recordings and good memories are all that is left ...
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