Description
Ultra Mail Prod begins an exciting series of new and archive releases by the innovative New York based group, Controlled Bleeding, with this 4 CD box, compiled by original member, Paul Lemos.
Disc #1 features fifty minutes of new music that debuted on the last year’s very limited vinyl box, “SONGS FROM A SEWER OF DREAMS”. This material represents some of the group’s most explosive yet refined sonic experiments, intermingled with passages of lush textural beauty and screaming free improvisation. Few groups move so effortlessly between genres. The first CD of this massive collection provides fascinating sonic exploration, moving from the glistening warmth of “Rothko” (the full 8 minute version appearing for the first time) to the howling power electronics of “Dedicated to Richard R.” onto the swirling maelstrom of darkness that is “GRINDER’S SONG” before blasting into free jazz heaven with “Spattered in the Key of “O””. And that’s just the beginning!
With assitance from world class drummers like Weasel Walter and Tatsuya Yoshida, Controlled Bleeding delivers some of their most varied, powerful music to date. This CD alone is worth the price of admission.
Disc #2 is another bizzare, totally unpredicatable journey, packed with unreleased gems, starting off with 21 minutes of absolutely unrelenting power electronics taken from recently unearthed tapes, recorded in 1983, around the same time as the the group’s infamous debut lp, “KNEES AND BONES”. From this point, we move into wildly obsure realms, like Boston’s famous punk club The Rat, circa 1977, where some formation of Cont Bleeding appeared onstage in a drunken disorganized mess…In the next moment, we are live at NYC’s new music venue, TONIC circa 2005, where another formation of the band spatters the walls with scattershot hardcore improv, sounding like some weird cross between Captain Beefheart and The Locust…A couple of truly twisted outtakes from 2004’s Breastfed Yak sessions (“Chunky Love Boy” pts 1&2) are featured along with ancient live recordings documenting Joe Papa and Chris Moriatry’s first appearance in the band, around 1982,
playing highly sturctured progressive music.(Luckly, the tape was running since this was the only gig to feature this line up of the group.)
Disc #3 is a must for collectors and noise completists: the entire first cassette, issued in 1983 on the XXX label. Taken from the original masters, this self titled recording is still extremely powerful. Some of these tracks would eventulally appear on the “Knees and Bones” album in severely edited form.
CD #4 is another one that will delight collectors of early power electronics and industrial music, the long out of print cassette, “SHITSLIPPER”, the group’s final release for XXX… Again, taken from the master recordings, this version includes 12 minutes of material that could not fit onto the original C-60 tape. Already, one can hear the group broadening its sound, moving away from pure screaming noise (of which there is plenty), experimenting with multitracking and keyboards for the first time.