Blurt:
Live in Berlin:
Factory Benelux:
10" + 7" bonus:
Out Now:
8/10
One of many superb reissues from the recently-revived Factory Benelux and perhaps the most exquisite, package-wise. Initially released as a standard long-player on Armageddon in 1981, Live in Berlin heralded Blurt's first album issue, originally intended to appear on Factory Benelux as a 10", hence this respectful and long overdue facsimile.
This new version splits the eight tracks over two discs, incorporating a 10" with six songs and a 7" with just two. Bearing all the hallmarks of a trad-jazz album, both format and design-wise, Blurt are anything but traditional. Ted Milton is Tom Waits, John Zorn and Captain Beefheart rolled into a gravel-voiced sax maniac who remains niche, misunderstood and/or a legend, depending on your taste. Musically, they're all of the above with a nod to New York no-noiseniks like James Chance, Defunkt and even Afrique superstar Fela Kuti.
Hypnotic, tribal, breathless and a blistering prospect live, tracks such as Cherry Blossom Polish and Puppeteers of the World Unite pummel and pulsate in equal measure with Blurt's most familiar track of the times, My Mother Was a Friend of an Enemy of the People, also present. Blurt's funky bluster bubbles furiously like a simmering pan, threatening to spill over at any moment. Ubu best demonstrates this like some crazed uncompromising rhythmic steamhammer punctuated by Ted the sax maniac and his fidgeting cohorts. It isn't pretty but it is oddly enthralling stuff.
Beautifully packaged and limited to 500 copies, Live in Berlin doubles as a document of the times and a raw treasure to behold. It's even got a nice FBN catalogue number (its original allocated number, Facgeeks).
For more information, head to Factory Benelux here
Live in Berlin:
Factory Benelux:
10" + 7" bonus:
Out Now:
8/10
This new version splits the eight tracks over two discs, incorporating a 10" with six songs and a 7" with just two. Bearing all the hallmarks of a trad-jazz album, both format and design-wise, Blurt are anything but traditional. Ted Milton is Tom Waits, John Zorn and Captain Beefheart rolled into a gravel-voiced sax maniac who remains niche, misunderstood and/or a legend, depending on your taste. Musically, they're all of the above with a nod to New York no-noiseniks like James Chance, Defunkt and even Afrique superstar Fela Kuti.
Hypnotic, tribal, breathless and a blistering prospect live, tracks such as Cherry Blossom Polish and Puppeteers of the World Unite pummel and pulsate in equal measure with Blurt's most familiar track of the times, My Mother Was a Friend of an Enemy of the People, also present. Blurt's funky bluster bubbles furiously like a simmering pan, threatening to spill over at any moment. Ubu best demonstrates this like some crazed uncompromising rhythmic steamhammer punctuated by Ted the sax maniac and his fidgeting cohorts. It isn't pretty but it is oddly enthralling stuff.
Beautifully packaged and limited to 500 copies, Live in Berlin doubles as a document of the times and a raw treasure to behold. It's even got a nice FBN catalogue number (its original allocated number, Facgeeks).
For more information, head to Factory Benelux here
