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.
Cheers for these singles. Been looking for them for a while. Do you happen to have Youpho - Malfunktion by any chance. If so could you post it.
ReplyDeleteI do. I've been hiding from the computer for various reasons but I'll try to have them up very soon. Stay tuned.
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