28 Inches of Final

Well, 16 inches really if you subtract the 3 inches per side for the labels. 

What can really be said about Final?  Justin Broadrick's original and continuing project started in 1983 and still currently active.  By far some of the most solid ambient work available.  It has a "creep factor" of approximately 12,000 on this author's "music that you fall asleep to and then wake up in the middle of thinking you are being watched by something other than your cat" scale of 1 -100.  I would highly recommend picking up the Final album "First Millionth of a Second" if you can find it.  Outstanding.

Well for today's post we have the two 7"s that Final put out in '95 and '96.  Flow/Openings, released by the wonderful Manifold Records in an edition of 1000.  Manifold also put out the aforementioned album I told you to get.  Sadly, Manifold isn't really a label anymore.  Flow/Openings is a wonderful little thing.  More somber and melodic than most of the Final material up to that point, the a side, Flow, is a frightening piece somewhat akin to getting lost underground only to come to the surface in a city abandoned and destroyed with no explanation.  The b side, Openings, is then coming to terms with the fact that you are utterly alone in this new world.  This record is a bit on the noisy side, probably due to trying to cram seven and a half minutes on each side.  I cleaned it up as best I could with my current tools.  Not too bad.  Incidentally, I remember buying this from Newbury Comics in Cambridge for $2 in the bargain 7" boxes a year or two after it came out.  Score.

The second record is Urge/Fail, released by Fever Pitch in two pressings.  The first was 250 copies, the second was 400.  This is a second press I got from Avalanche directly when the Godflesh album Messiah originally came out.  This 7" is much harsher than the other.  Urge, the a side, sits as one of my favorite Final tracks.  You remember that abandoned city I told you about?  This piece is what happened while you were trying to find your way in the dark while still underground.  The b side, Fail, is not quite as good as Urge but still a solid track.  More solidly guitar based it sounds sort of like an outtake from the Skinner's Black Laboratories cd.  Still creepy, still good.  I'm also out of apt, silly descriptions so you'll just have to leave it at that.

Two totally solid releases from one of most superb ambient/soundscape/isolationist projects out there.

Final - 7"s - Flac

PS - I realize that so far the blog is a bit heavy on the Broadrick stuff.  There will be other stuff, I promise.  These just happen to be the records I'm transferring at the moment.

Sweet Tooth - Soft White Underbelly

A hugely overlooked band formed by Dave Cochran of Head of David, Scott Kiehl of Slab! and Justin K Broadrick of Godflesh.  All three members were playing in God,  Cochran and Broadrick had recently both quit Head of David and Kiehl had quit Slab!.  Sweet Tooth was active for only a couple years releasing the studio album we have here, a live album on Broadrick's own Headdirt and a split 7" before dissolving.

 

 

Soft White Underbelly was their first release.  Co-released by Earache and Staindrop as MOSH26 it was available on LP and Cassette and classified as a "mini-album".  Granted it's only 34 minutes long but it feels like a whole album so it is a whole album.  There is nothing "mini" about this release at all.  Big bass, bigger drums and even bigger guitars, it packs a serious wallop.  Cochran lays down the foundation with pulverizing bass lines, Kiehl works his drums in and out of the bass with deadly precision and Broadrick finishes it off with some searing, noisy, guitar.  The vocals, by Cochran, are almost an afterthought.  They punch through with a reserved, almost lazy anger that seems to be only kept in check by apathy.  You would not be wrong, dear reader, to say that this sounds quite a bit like Head of David's fantastic Dustbowl.  Considering that DC and JB both play on that, it makes sense.  Some serious, pounding rock that on occasion loops away into the stratosphere.  If you want to hear what kind of effect a depressed, filthy, industrial atmosphere like Birmingham can have on balls out rock (besides Sabbath), this is it.

Soft White Underbelly - Flac

God - Breach Birth

For the first real post we have God's first release, Breach Birth.  God was a behemoth of a band fronted by Kevin Martin (currently of The Bug and King Midas Sound) and featuring a lineup of anywhere from 8 to 12 people with multiple drummers and bassists.  They put out three full lengths and a few singles and eps of pummeling, scorching, heavy slabs of transcendent free jazz/noise rock until imploding under their own weight.  This band, at various points, featured members of Slab!, 16-17, Head of David, Oxbow and also John Zorn who produced their album Possession.  Most notable though was the inclusion of one Justin K Broadrick who produced the first couple releases before joining the band.  He and Martin would go on to collaborate on numerous projects over the next ten years.  Sadly, all of God's material is out of print and will most likely stay that way.  It can all be found relatively cheap if you are patient and I would recommend getting all of it.

If I seem overly gushing about them it should be noted that this blog takes its name from a God track, so that should say something. 

Breach Birth, released by Situation Two, is a monster of a 12".  The A side, Meat Head, is an eight and a half minute onslaught of a heavy repetitive beat, monolithic bass, vicious vocals and blistering, dissonant sax and guitar.  This track shows what they would become on their later releases while having a more melodic, almost psych-rock feel with the guitars that was gone by their next release.  The B side features two tracks, Swine Fever and Crash Victim and is about 4 minutes long in total.  These are pretty unique in the God catalog for their brevity.  These are just as heavy as the A side but have more of a noise rock feel to them.  More like being stabbed than bludgeoned.  All in all as good a first release for a band as any you'll find.

God - Breach Birth in Flac

First blog thingie.

Well hello.  This is the first post of this blog.  Not sure where it'll all end up but music will be involved. Hopefully I'll turn you on to some new sounds or some old, depending on how you look at it.  There may be other stuff as well.  I just don't know.  I really just don't know.  Until next time.