due to an inherent state of apathy/stress/exhaustion its not often an album gets put on the stereo these days and makes me go 'whoaaaaaa' but today this album released on richard h. kirks own intone label back in 2004 did just that.
and to think i nearly walked straight past as the cd remained unloved in the clearance racks at a city centre emporium.
thankfully, the strange disjointed lettering on the cd spine caught my eye amongst the 99p specials making me pull out the cd from the racks of all saints comeback albums. it was only upon closer inspection did i realise what i was holding (not that easy it has to be said as the albums title is hidden in the inner part of the cd casing). while the archive has plenty of releases by cabaret voltaire, and a good chunk of stuff by rhk in solo mode, i am anything but a hardcore collector of his material as it has to be said there is a lot to track down (though the majority of his material is now only ever made available in digital form which doesn't interest me), so i only pick up his releases when i randomly chance upon them.
once again, the cover art was sorted out by longtime associates, the designers republic, meaning that other than the track titles, the place of recording ( the legendary western works of course), and the presence of vocals here and there by someone going by the name of pat riot, there is little to really go on.
once brought home, the cd was placed in the pile and left unloved for a few weeks while i continued to check out various blue note releases as machine made music and i was going through a period of disconnection.
today though that injustice has been sorted out.
given that a lot of richards solo material is of the ambient-dub-techno groove, the fact that this albums opens with the albums title track, the truck bombers of suburbia, featuring a breathtaking hard rocking, big beat infused slice of cut up guitars, twisted vocals, and bass line distortion proves that richard was going for broke with this release, it's an immense way to open an album. then just as your nerves settle, the track veres off and becomes a lost treasure from lee scratch perrys black ark studios, as the skanking rhythm revives richard love for 70s dub reggae.
next up is the track with vocals, who's afraid (of the red white and blue). not a nice sing-song at all, but a disorientating slab of paranoid industrial electronic beats, distortion and treated vocals during which you try to work out if 'pat riot' is actually mark stewart in disguise, and is the nearest track in a long time that seems to look back at the glory years of his partnership with stephen, both in sound, and in the obvious ongoing love/hate relationship that cabaret voltaire had with the kult of the united states of america (as evidenced with cabaret voltaires constant use of cut up vocals of god sqaud tv junkies, gun law supporters, news reports, and everything else in between).
more detail : here – – brainwashed