Disturbing
the comfortable, comforting the disturbed.....
I’ve waited
months for this album. And months. And months.
It’s been 6
years since Adrian Sherwood’s last album, Becoming A Cliché, and with the
arrival of 2012’s Survival & Resistance, it’s been well worth the wait.
I first
became aware of Sherwood when I heard Bop Bop by Fats Comet in 1985. Fats were then made up of Skip McDonald (Little
Axe), Keith LeBlanc and Doug Wimbush with
Adrian, and, a certain Daniel Miller on Synclavier, and, were the ‘flip’ to the
mighty Tackhead. To borrow from Steve
Barker of BBC Radio Lancashire’s On The Wire – ‘Tackhead would take dub/funk on
a journey to the unknown, and, Fats Comet would return you safely with sounds
you recognised without ever being heard before.’ And that, really starts to explain what
Adrian’s label, On-U Sound does for me. It
was on the same radio show that I first heard Adrian interviewed, and, I became
an instant follower.
If you’re
unfamiliar with his work, there are many artists who aren’t. He’s worked with Depeche Mode, Nine Inch
Nails, Primal Scream and Reverend & The Makers to name a few. On-U has been the launch-pad for New Aged
Steppers, Mark Stewart, Dub Syndicate and Gary Clail. His work with Lee Perry has been some of
‘Scratch’s best.
Many On-U
recordings from the 80s still sound as fresh as the day they were released,
probably why, 30 years on, they are still releasing music of quite astonishing
quality. They have always had that
sharp, clean, precise sound – and Survival & Resistance is no
exception. I’m listening to it (again!)
as I write this article. The sound of
the album is just made for the digital age, with dubs and repeat-echoes all
over the place, it’s a delight.
Opener,
Balance, features Adamski (long time, no hear?) with some trademark synth
work. Track 2 features African Head
Charge’s Ghetto Priest on vocals to the haunting Trapped. Sound bytes of American psychologist Dr
Timothy Leary grace U.R. Sound, and, so the album contnues. It's an incredible journey, largely instrumental, but who needs words when the music sounds this good?!
To my knowledge, it's also the first time that Adrian has used all of his 'own' sounds on an album, something that predecessors, Never Trust A Hippy and Becoming a Cliche didn't. Piano, harp and violin used to great effect embroiled in a swirl of reggae,dub and trance beats. It's also the first of his albums on On-U, with the others being released through Peter Gabriel's RealWorld.
What I always find particularly amazing about Adrian is his ability to always come up with something sounding new. Different ways of presenting something old. For instance, dub is hardly a new thing, but when it's intermingled with a cello, as it is on Effective, it makes a sound so haunting and provocative that you could almost be listening to a 'new' instrument. Given the Sherwood recording/mixing/production touch, it becomes and album unparalleled.
With still a third of the year remaining, Survivial & Resistance is already the main contender for my album of the year. Listen to this album through headphones and admire the pure quality of Mr Sherwood.
Genius.
PS If you're reading this Adrian, get yourself Oop North, do a session for Mr Barker, and, book some live dates in the North West!!
Published on Louder Than War 21/08/12 - http://louderthanwar.com/adrian-sherwood-survival-resistance-album-review/
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