Cipher Productions

Grubenwehr Freiburg has been amassing an impressive array of releases by highly regarded artists from the noise/industrial scene in a rather short time. This latest addition to their roster, by Italian genre pioneer M.B. (aka Maurizio Bianchi), comes as a co-release with attenuation circuit. The 75-minute CD is accompanied by an oversized 7” artwork insert, which neatly showcases the fact that M.B. is not only a prolific sound artist, but also has something to offer in the visual domain.

The three long tracks „Bacillus“, „Metrial“, and „Endopathogen“, as well as the sound sources „infectronics, muconoises, microbdrones“ point to the concerns with physical defects and decay present in M.B.'s works since its very early stages – the heritage of old school industrial's rather nihilistic outlook. Musically, M.B. makes the most of the underlying concept of inevitability: ambient loops overlap and circulate, pumping sound into the listener's ear like a heart pumps blood into organs, but gradually they slow down and die away. And from track to track the sound textures become harsher and more uncomfortable – not in a harsh noise kind of way, but in a more subliminal manner. Yet somehow the relentless pulsing – as long as it lasts – of the music is strangely comforting: as long as you can still hear these sounds, you are not dead yet.

Released February 2024.