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CONTRASTATE - A breeding Ground for Flies

Format: CD Label & Cat.Number: Dirter Promotions DPROMCD91 Release Year: 2012 Note: the return of the unique dark/poetic/surrealistic post-industrial group (and legendary early Drone Rec. artist) from UK !! lim. 500 oversized slipcase & booklet Price (incl. 19% VAT): €13.00 More Info "After a ten year break, the unique, incredible Contrastate have resumed activities and we at Dirter are immensely proud and excited to be able to announce this full length CD of brand new material. This follows a number of re-issues and releases of live and unreleased material, that just about quenched their loyal following's thirst. It seems like Contrastate never really went away and they, along other experimental acts from the 80's and 90's, have gone through something of a critical re-assessment of late. When Contrastate ceased activities nothing like them really came to take their place. Wilfully obscure with just a handful of memorable live shows to their name, Contrastate's music has come to be understood on its own terms. Simply, if you are familiar with them you need to know no more; if you're not, you've been missing out and this is as good a place as any to start. Contrastate's sound insinuates itself somewhere inside the dark ritual ambiance of the electronic avant-garde shot through with a vein of experimental noise and vocals strewn amongst industrial surrealism." [label info] www.dirter.co.uk "Ah Contrastate. Did I ever say that I loved the group's earliest output very much, but when they allowed more room for vocals, I thought it was all a bit too 'gothic' for me - and I use that term for a lot of things which I guess I simply don't like. Then I lost track of Contrastate, although it was good to see their first LP on a CD in Vital Weekly 480. Stephen Meixner occasionally pops up in Vital Weekly every now and then. But here is an entirely new album, their first new recording in ten years and of course of the band as trio. Long term serving members Jonathan Grieve and Stephen Meixner and 'new boy' Stephen J. Pomeroy. I must admit I had no idea what to expect this time around. Good news is that the voice that put me off before is not very well present on this new album - for the majority it's all very instrumental. It's the kind of instrumental is that is close to the original sound of Contrastate, but perhaps better recorded than before, using more smooth equipment. Contrastate is still very good in creating highly atmospheric music with the use analogue synthesizers, electronics, bits of field recordings, some voices (not a lot, not a lot) and an odd use of the collage form for their pieces. A piece like 'Against The Sky' moves through a number of different places which could have been easily separate pieces by themselves. Excellent stuff all around but a downside is perhaps that once they get 'poppy' (by their own standard, I guess), in 'Operation Infinite Truth', they show their political side, which is not a bad thing per se, but isn't a sampled speech on the situation in Iraq by one George W perhaps a bit outdated with Obama in his second term already (or in his first when this was recorded). Being political is always a key point for Contrastate, although I never grasped the finesse of their politics, but here it seems a bit outdated. But besides that, I think this is great return to their best form. Moody, dark, atmospheric, vaguely experimental, a bit pop-like, what more could we want?" [FdW/Vital Weekly]