Lustmord – [TRANSMUTED]

(Hydrahead)

For most of the twenty-eight years since Lustmord’s debut, the lot of a devotee has involved much twiddling of thumbs between infrequent releases and little chance of catching the man live – the portentous date of 06/06/06 seeing his first (and to date only) live appearance since the early eighties.

Happily, in contrast to most creative trajectories, the old contrarian seems to have grown more prolific during his third decade in the business, releasing new material during most years of the noughties. Startlingly, the past eighteen months have brought a further acceleration of output, with the [OTHER] album and its associated releases [THE DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH], [BEYOND] and [OTHER DUB] appearing in fast succession as well as a series of remixes for prog-metal giants Tool and the indispensable D is for Dubby collaboration with Tool offshoot Puscifer.

Grumblings on the web suggest that many of Lustmord’s older ‘industrial’ fans, to say nothing of his recent post-Tool ‘rock’ fans, look upon his forays into dub with bemused disapproval if not open hostility. The direction comes as no surprise, however to long-term followers who have known him as a keen and knowledgeable dub and reggae fan since the mid-seventies, so it should be no more of a surprise that he turns out to be very good at it himself.

[TRANSMUTED] is a limited edition 12” and is the first Lustmord vinyl release in a quarter of a century. Both sides feature remixes of tracks from [OTHER], one by Justin K Broadrick (Jesu / Godflesh / Techno Animal) and the other by Lustmord himself. Guest appearances from ex-Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger and Tool guitarist Adam Jones make this Lustmord’s most collaborative project in some time.

Broadrick’s side transforms “Dark Awakening” into “Dub Awakening” – an eight and a half minute slow motion paranoid walk through dystopian landscapes at the edge of town. Broadrick evaporates Adam Jones’ original guitar parts into the kind of clammy grey cloud formations that make Jesu’s work so alluring, introducing metallic dubstep beats and slightly irritating buzzy synth lines that are sparse enough to see off any danger of a groove developing.

Flipping the record, Lustmord provides “Er Dub Us”, a ten and a half minute remix of “Er Ub Us,” a track already appearing in several very different mixes across recent releases. This is the best of the lot though, pumping that already seismic bass ever deeper, sucking the listener into the vast corners of some forbidding sonic subterranea. Lustmord’s forté has always been in creating detailed and persuasive virtual worlds, sculpting seemingly abstract sounds into tangible, almost visible terrain, a talent no doubt honed to precision during his past work in Hollywood sound design. In “Er Dub Us”’s bottomless chasm, rimshots ricochet past your ears as the ghost of Link Wray drifts in from some distant chamber of the labyrinth, all the while the relentless suction of the bass pulse drawing you ever further into the void – this is dub as all enveloping inescapable vortex.

Having been neglected for too many years, dub has found saviours in the most unlikely places. Not too long ago, Moritz von Oswald’s remarkable Rhythm and Sound project showed that Berliners still remembered how to do what seemed forgotten in Jamaica, and now it’s the turn of a Los Angeles based Welsh ex-pat to show them how it’s done. Whereas von Oswald fashioned his airy dub around a low-density post-Kraftwerk titanium frame, Lustmord’s more brooding model seems hewn from slabs of raw obsidian and tarnished gunmetal.

It would be wise to grab this limited 12” while you can, but also be sure to check out the man’s other recent output.

-Alan Holmes-