SLAUGHTER IN A TINY PLACE

Avant-garde heavyweights, Sub Rosa present a fascinating collection of previously unpublished darkwave experiments from a young Belgian trio circa 1980-82. It's an area that's been extensively mined for precious oils and gases by the likes of Dark Entries, Minimal Wave and Wierd Records among others, but you can trust Sub Rosa to strike upon seams of the sort of expressive gold which Psueodcore specialized in. The trio of Xavier Ess, Alain Neffe and Guy Marc Hinant would meet up almost every sunday at a small studio in the Charleroi suburbs, plug in, and jam on an array of drum machines, synths, tape-loops and exotic instrumentation for the two years between 1980 and 1982. In Guy's sleevnotes he states "We weren't friends, we very rarely saw each other outside of this action", so this was almost essentially three loosely connected people converging their energies in the most esoteric, telepathic mode. These 12 recordings capture their dark imaginations in flow, Xavier's disaffected vocals borrowing some of Genesis P-Orridge's torment, but adding his own idiosyncratic expression, while the sounds range from incredibly ethereal 20 minute hypnotisers such as 'Fight Back (The Angels)' to scrawny garage blasts and empty-stomach experimentalism on 'You're Not Alone'. All together this is the quintessential sound of early '80s mittel-European ennui and it's massively recommended if that appeals to you. (Boomkat)

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