CD with 8-page booklet, limited to 300 copies. A definitive collection of 20 of the rarest ATTRITION songs...; With previously unreleased tracks, demos and alternate versions. So many experiments with analogue synths, drum machines, tape loop, bass guitar and effects... Many of these tracks were released on cassette compilations at the time ...; and 2 of them on our very first vinyl release... a 2 track flexi disc with Adventures in reality fanzine in 82... But there were a lot of tracks that never did get released back then... some were demos, some just never found a home at the time... For the last 30 years i have been carrying boxes of those cassettes around with me as i travelled around the UK, and Holland briefly... I've spent a lot of time selecting the best and cleaning them up in my studio from the old cassette mixes, and in some cases from the original 4 track tapes... It's time to put these to bed.... i hope you enjoy this little slice of our life.... Martin Bowes, Coventry, England, 2014
Review:
Another twenty tracks of primordial goodness from Coventry's Attrition. Martin Bowes gives up some his most remarkable darlings with the release of this new collection from the band's earliest days. A word of warning, dear listeners, these are the rough outtakes and alternate takes which never saw the light of day and which Bowes lugged around all these many years in boxes on slowly decaying cassettes. I suspect this is being released for the fans like myself who knew that 'Something Stirs' was just the appetizer because unlike that release this one is sprawling. It's like being locked in a tiny, constricted room with no windows or ventilation listening to this.
The desperate intensity which these pieces give off burns like a fluorescent bulb stripped of it's insulation. Naked, savage and crudely abrasive, this era of Attrition was certainly the most unpredictable. You never know where these compositions are going to wind up, most are extremely minimal. A couple synth lines, some jarring percussion and over the top Martin bellows while Julia rasps and wails. The pacing is manic, the production definitely shoe-string, which only expands the raw power this album displays with glee. Every time I go back and immerse myself in this sort of work from them I come away with the feeling of having just been pummeled by an avalanche of sharply hewn boulders.
If free-formed electronic experimentation is your forte, you'd be wise to check this out. Their later refinements are not to be found here, these are the private moments of a group who during this time were well praised for 'The Attrition of Reason' but out of the media glare and that infamous 'Elephant Table' compilation did some remarkably inhuman sounding songs. Don't worry, there's a demo version of "Monkey in a Bin" to give an indication that they could play nice when the situation required it. There's also another take on "Mind Drop" which gives the officially released version over to the dogs to rip apart. You spooky types are not going to be very enamored with what is on here, 'Etude' this is definitely not.
Whenever there's need to torpedo yet another youngster's view of how safe and slick the 1980s were, I know I can always pull out what this bunch did in those days to underline the point. No clever hooks, no catchy choruses. This is the bare bones skeleton of Attrition, the cement and steel foundation to a band who continue even now to confront and confound. I'm so pleased to get more of this, it's like a breath of fresh air given what the state of the underground has mainly become. The dynamics they achieve with so little equipment is remarkable, I can't imagine many of these dervishes could have been done in any kind of proper studio setting.
Renegade sound tacticians roaming the countryside composing whenever and wherever they could. I only wish I'd have been able to see them live during these days, the audience reaction must have been one of complete repulsion (remember, the punk era was still going on during these years). Did they get it as bad as Suicide A lot of what's on here has that same kind of anarchic core to it which Rev and Vega pioneered in the early 70s. Attrition took it in a different direction, however, adding a few more layers of effects and contrasting vocal styles.
There's some serious exploration going on here with 'Demonstro', if he's hiding any more of this I cannot wait to hear it. I'm more than familiar with what he does musically but this one threw me for a loop, I had no idea Attrition got this far outside the established norms of song structure. Somehow, I know I'm not alone in this. Step through the curtain and hold on for dear life.
1 Interference
2 Monkey In A Bin
3 Shrinkwrap
4 Black Death
5 The Mistake
6 Devoid
7 The Visitor
8 Mutation
9 Dilemma
10 Twisted
11 Fear
12 Commandment - Live
13 Head Culture Rally
14 Oblivion
15 Pendulum Turns
16 Vision
17 Retrograde
18 In The Attic
19 First Onslaught
20 Mind Drop In Centre
