BLANCK MASS
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
Tue 3 Dec
It seems hard to believe, but Fuck Buttons’ Tarot Sport – an electronic masterpiece that simultaneously dragged post-rock fans onto the dancefloor and introduced clubheads to the seductive qualities of noise – has just turned 10. Benjamin John Power and Andrew Hung regularly pushed everything well into the red, but remarkably the results were rarely abrasive or oppressive; on the contrary, there was a sense of warmth and euphoria in their twinkling synths and spacey drones.
Power fondly recalls the duo’s formative early days on the noise scene, a “lawless” environment in which he thrived: “It was amazing to be as free as you like. That acted as a huge gateway for me and I really feel that it helped me end up where I am now.” And where he is now is Animated Violence Mild, his fourth solo album under the banner Blanck Mass.
On Blanck Mass’ 2011 self-titled debut, Power ventured beyond his work with Fuck Buttons into beatific abstraction and celestial reverie, but since then his records have become progressively busier and less ambient. 2015’s Dumb Flesh flirted lewdly with pop but the new LP has more in common with its immediate predecessor, 2017’s World Eater, whose menace was accurately conveyed by the dog baring its teeth on the cover. Animated Violence Mild ups the ante further, a series of brutal mash-ups that feast on the flesh of everything from black metal and ear-scouring industrial to rave.
Not that Power himself sees the trajectory of his solo career in quite such simple terms, however. “The palette on Animated Violence Mild definitely takes references from a more ‘aggressive’ type of music, but I find the emotional weight on the first record to be just as aggressive.”
Nevertheless, the new songs promise to make for an extremely visceral and intense live experience – one that he notes “changes every night depending on how the room feels”. What’s more, the album is by his own admission fuelled not by sweet love for planet Earth (to reference the opening track on Fuck Buttons’ debut Street Horrrsing) but by anger and disgust. Power has described it as a commentary on the way in which consumerism threatens to devour its own creators – but does he hold out any hope that it’s a fate we can yet escape?
“Unfortunately not. I think we are now in a ‘damage limitation’ style situation. I would love to be proved wrong but I am not sure I believe in human beings to do the right thing. Sorry.” Happy Christmas, everyone.
words BEN WOOLHEAD
Tickets: £10. Info: 029 2023 2199 / www.clwb.net
