Kerridge - Always Offended Never Ashamed

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  • When I interviewed Samuel Kerridge last year, he said he can lose himself in the studio by listening to the same loop for eight hours or so. "I really zone out," he said. At the time, the idea of anyone immersing themselves in such grotesque noises to that extent seemed like a recipe for insanity (perhaps it is). But, in the context of Always Offended Never Ashamed, it makes perfect sense. Try and half-listen to this barrage of noise and it will be a peripheral irritant you have to switch off. Instead, you need to give yourself over to it. You need to play it loud and listen. If you can do that you will discover a work that brilliantly manifests the pressure of 21st century urban living, albeit through music that, for all its electronic origin, sounds raw, elemental, even ancient. Kerridge's first album, A Fallen Empire, could feasibly be called techno. Last year's "Operation Neptune" flirted with dance floor utility, but here you're greeted with what sounds like an enormous doom-metal guitar riff pitched way down to a greasy, queasy crawl. That sets the tone for an album of unearthly spasms and ungodly drones, one that twitches with unmanageable energy. The effect is closer to a freeform jam by Sun O))) (a group Kerridge loves) than the usual rigidity of grid-based laptop production. His distorted voice adds another hellish layer to the mix. The chest-crushing weight of this music links it back to jungle and dub reggae, but only in the abstract. Club music is a distant memory here. Eventually, you are spat out gasping for air, exhilarated by this visceral, highly cathartic punishment. But Kerridge doesn't just bully you into submission. All shifting Saharan sands and hot, dry winds, "WOSN" is beautiful: a moment of spiritual succour. Given what has preceded it, the closing track, "WIAGW," is audacious—a thundering arpeggiated synth nailed to splintering beats, it sounds like a chewed-up EBM cassette, reeking of poppers and black leather. You will be glad of the light relief.
  • Tracklist
      01. GOFD 02. MPH 03. DAYT 04. TRN5 05. WOSN 06. NCV 07. WIAGW
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