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CONTRASTATE - A live Coal under the Ashes

Format: CD Label & Cat.Number: Tesco 010 Release Year: 2008 Note: 1992 saw the release of CONTRASTATE's third proper album (after two brilliant self-released LPs) on Tesco, with a packaging no one had seen before: a CD placed "inside" a clear die-cut vinyl LP; this is the re-issue of the CD with one bonus-track, their mixture of experimental ambience, ritual industrial and poetry / lyrics let's this still stand out! "There is an odd sense of mania whilst listening to ‘A Live Coal’ strange whistling, off key guitar strings and trance like paranoia" [blackaudio]; BACK IN STOCK - special priced now Price (incl. 19% VAT): €8.00 More Info "1992 saw the release of "A live coal under the ashes" which was inspired by the events leading up to the changes across Eastern and Central Europe during 1989. This release marked the change conceptually in which the group's ideas became more specific and more focused on contemporary political issues. "A live coal…" was critically acclaimed not just for the music, but also for the artwork and packaging: - a CD placed in the middle of a 12 inch clear vinyl record. After many years of unavailabity Tesco can finally present a rerelease with remastered tracks and a new yet unreleased track called: "Death follows the one eyed cow." An album full of ambient atmospheres, drones, percussion, suitable dark narrations and some steady muted rhythms. These are intense, highly charged recordings with a powerful mystic and ritual feeling. A masterpiece of sound poetry. Comes in nice Digipak. Total Playing time 50:30. Contrastate were formed in 1987 and disbanded in 2000. Ever since the demise of Contrastate there has been a void in the experimental music scene that no other act has managed to fill. Their diverse creative output, manifested as sweeping electronics and sound manipulation together with theatrical spoken word, was nothing less than mind blowing in its complexity and originality." [press release] www.tesco-germany.com "A peculiar start with tribal smatterings of drums, deep resonating black drones broken up with light orchestral patches, attention halting splatters and further sparse drones, pulling on rather obscure nightmarish elements. Contrastate surprisingly draw on a hell of a lot of quietness that just rarely breaks up into beats that dissolve no sooner than they start. After an interesting if not completely inspiring start its time for this trio to get down to business and actually show us what they are made of. Pleasant film like ambience sets this off with low-end straight vocal lines gathering the backdrop together and you begin to believe this album may actually be going somewhere, especially when the ambience is allowed to build dramatically onward. Its a little hard to pigeon hole this lot and that’s where their appeal lies for me. There is a deep sense of ritualism within their folds, but it’s not as obvious as you might expect; another plus point being that they simply do not remind me of anyone else, no matter how hard I try to fathom it out. There is an odd sense of mania whilst listening to ‘A Live Coal…’ strange whistling, off key guitar strings and trance like paranoia. I can’t help but applaud them for pulling something off that simply shouldn’t work on paper. The use of vocals, although male in origin are used much in the same way, as say Diamanda Gallas probably would with full on croaking used as a backdrop. Even if this isn’t your cup of tea it doesn’t take much to grasp just how much thought has gone into this. Completely out there…somewhere, but relevant; refreshingly original, scoring highly on sheer thought process and effort alone." [Blackaudio]