Opening with the 'Fog Detonator' sounding like ashort field recording of doomed chickens lte loose on a minefield, it'simmediately clear that this is going to be a bumpy ride. Thesecond track is a Coil mix / collaboration in homage to'Hobgoblins'. John Balance asked Mount Vernon Arts Lab to contribute toan as yet unreleased compilation (possibly the elusive "Star ShapedIndividual in Society"?) and in return Coil did this remix, ameandering quirky snakecharmer gothic synth melody over a simplemedieval squelching pulsebeat. At first it seemed quite slight but grewinto a more monstrous merry-go-round pervride as day became night. It'salso one of the two most conventionally tuneful tracks here. It'snot surprising that John Balance should like the Arts Lab, as anearlier release "Warminster" in cahoots with Portishead's Adrian Utleyactually sounded surprisingly reminiscent of Coil, and at the time Iwas playing it a lot followed by the elpH 20 to 2000' CD which itseemed to compliment very well. There's an excerpt from "Warminster" onhere, although I'm not sure why. Maybe the original's deleted now andit was too good to leave behind?
There's also a collaboration with Barry 7 of Add N to X on 'TheSubmariners Song', which is an eerie moonlit descent to the bubblingdepths of synth burble. It's a shame it's so short as the oxygen supplygets cut just as the vessel's penetrated the murky unexplored depths ofthe oceanic abyss.'The Mandrake Club' pitches Norman Blake's guitar playing into far moretempestuous expanses than Teenage Fanclub could envisage in AlexChilton's worst hungover nightmare. It sounds like heavy effects boxshenanigens slung over a stylus stuck in a run out groove. Maybe theyjust found the most interesting noise on a Teenage Fanclub record...There is also a member of twee popsters Belle & Sebastien involvedbut there's no need to leap off the nearest roof as it's not thesinger. Isobel Campbell's descending cello runs are showcased alongsidesome erratic harpsichord fills on 'The Black Drop'. This ode to theVictorian slang for opium brings fitting respite from the storm ragingaround it and seems to give the CD a structure like a tarnishedalternate universe reflection of Coil's first "Unnatural History"compilation. Cut to 'Sir Keith at Lambeth' presiding over a furiouslyimmolating satanic mindbrain noise generator, which continues it'sturbulent thrum 'While London Sleeps'. When the Arts Lab adds Coil to Xthere's Hell and Sebastian in Mean Rage Bang Pub!
'Dashwood's Reverie' is an earlier spot of bother, radar blipsindicating giant vampire lizards crawling up the beach by night. Theinfluence of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's groundbreaking soundtracksfor 'Dr Who' certainly pokes through on this eerie soiree! It'dbe very surprising if Mt Vernon hasn't heard and been heavilyinfluenced by the stunning Evan Parker Disinformation collaboration'London's Overthrow' that opened the second Ash Internationalcollection of Disinformation remixes "Al-Jabr". Evan Parker improvisedsome stellar sax over a repeating bludgeoning VLF radio recording. MtVernon must've thought it was a great idea because he pulls off a verysimilar trick on two tracks here, with Raymond MacDonald improvisingsax over thudding electronic noises. There's no techhead breakdown ofwhich device made what noise, so whether this is actually atmosphericelectromagnetic radio storms just like Disinformation or severelydistorted analog synthing remains a mystery, but Mullholland hasrevealed in interview that his gadgets are Moogs, a Synth VCS3, atheremin and a custom built Turbine Generator. Hats off to monocledmutineer 'Percy Topliss'! The tribute to the officer impersonator wholed an uprising against WWI insanity gets an emergency siren synthblast for the sax to wail over on full red alert. Raymond has a goodbash at Percy, however neither he nor the spookier 'Vauxhall Labyrinth'approach the intensity of Evan Parker, but what does?
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