Blanck Mass – The Great Confuso EP

Mere addendum to this year’s Dumb Flesh LP? Well, no; split 50/50 between remix and new material it may be, but The Great Confuso creates its own gravity well. And then some…

Built upon a fifteen second Korg loop, the three movement title track morphs from mutated synth pop motif, through visceral, industrial workout, then into widescreen, ambient pay-off, each step not only logical progression but revelatory in how the triptych moulds perception. The listener receives a pummelling, but it’s a pummelling that’s as thrilling as it is necessary.

Not that the remixes are any less integral to the narrative. Dalhous takes Dead Format and strips it of all skin, exposing the pumping veins and atrophied muscle of the original. Konx-Om-Pax’s revisit to Detritus skilfully deposits ecclesiastical grace on the cusp of atonality. And throughout: the presence of Genesis P-Orridge, providing godhead narration to conclude The Great Confuso, then reinterpreting No Lite as an act of warped, snapping tribalism.

That this much depth can be found in a mere 33 minutes is as audacious as it is bewitching. Recommended? Bloody essential, more like.