Label: Acrylnimbus Format: CD
Hmmm. where to start with this one? From the packaging (which is, incidentally, very nice) and the track titles (which are, incidentally, very funny) you’d be forgiven for expecting something along the lines of Nurse With Wound. Funnily enough… …though I don’t remember the boy Stapleton ever having a passion for Drum’n’Bass.
Think about that last sentence. Think harder. Yup, they said it could never be done. (Or at least, they probably would have if you’d asked them). A D’n’B NWW. (Sorry, me acronyms are playing up a bit at the moment.) Which obviously leads itself into Coil territory. And that’s never a bad thing, as Coil territory is damn sparsely populated, so there’s always room for a few more. Suspicion Breeds Confidence, as with NWW and Coil, is obviously big into his “disturbingly unidentifiable” sounds, and puts them to bloody good use. He’s also a Not the Nine O’Clock News fan as far as I can tell, ‘cos opener “The Downgrade Vortex” uses the “Rowan Atkinson as Satan welcoming new arrivals to Hell” sketch, which is made more sinister by the judicious application of a Vocoder. (Yeah, I know, but just listen to it… somehow it works, okay?) There’s not enough of this dark Drum’n’Bass thing, and Witchman can’t (isn’t? – ED) keep it going for everyone forever… this kind of shit is to be applauded.
There’s noise in here, there’s cool sounds, there’s mad fucked-up Electronica… Basically, it’s very, very good indeed, and it also has a track called “The Man Who Was Mistaken For Two Menstruating Women”, and that’s not something you can say about many (or, indeed, any) albums. Which, incidentally, is also a damn good track – a combination of “fat bloke music” – yes, you DO know what I mean, you’re just pretending not to (imagine it played on a tuba or, better yet, a sousaphone – or maybe even a flugelhorn) and spooky noises, with that ol’ fucked-up breakbeat that never quite happens kind of thing… it’s all rather wonderful, in a deranged kind of way.
One to scare your granny with… though she’ll probably end up borrowing it. (Hmm, maybe not… but if she’s exceptionally cool then she might. Who can tell? For fuck’s sake, I’m guessing here- I’ve never even met the woman.)
-Deuteronemu (two sheds) 90210-
