The Hand that Feeds

reviews

Heathen Harvest zine 2009

Just like an obelisk defying the course of time and standing in there, immovable and lustrous, preserving its very essence in the continuous variation granted by entropy there is Attrition, the band, not the misfortune. This is one of those bands that has transcended experimentation and has definitively rooted its name in history with their multiple sonic vocations: Avant garde Electronica, Industrial and Neoclassical, their sonic palette is extensive and with such a vast discography that ranks them in the status of a prolific authority. “The hand that feeds” is a particular compilation that probably sides them with most of their famous counterparts from the scene, it is a compendium of remixes from their albums by highly regarded bands such as –In the Nursery-, -Chris n’Cosey-, -Dance or Die- and –Regenerator- and additional guests that finds curious interstices to adapt tracks and add an special touch, demark contours and characters or simply rejuvenate certain details.
The CD was issued by the band’s own label A Two God records and has a suggestive erotica artwork by John Santerineross.

The whole album set preserves a remix quality pretty much following the standards from the 80s-90s techniques, basically oriented beat worshipping later transcending into bits of break beat and amplifying the groovy experience from 808s sequences. Enhancing the sound mix for the pristine Neoclassical parts and giving more danceable punch to the whole repertoire. It is indeed an Attrition compilation, but these variations manage to transport the versions a bit more into a contemporary status and most of the times they are guessed right by the bands who choose them.

After passing the beautiful artwork and the introductory track the work dives directly into Henry Purcell’s adaptation of “Cold Song” named by Attrition as “Cold Genious” and remixed by Polaxe, this is really moving track, with an exquisite neoclassical cadence and succulent set of electronic arrangements that suits perfectly in tempo and harmonic synchrony. This track will demark the aesthetic that the work introduced with its cover artwork, sexy and devious, a bit darkened and above all rhythmically provocative. Imagine Die Form went more psychedelic and classy, perhaps a bit more sophisticated but still too deviant there you’ll have the album’s direction. The shadows from an epoch appears through the compendium of tracks like for example: “Waste Not, Want...More” that comes as a ghost sequel from Kraftwerk and twisted Die form influences to a Front Line Assembly presence on the following “Cosmetic citizen” punctuating the beat and malicious sequence with the obscured voice and joined by the glorious operatic chorals and Neoclassical details.

Chris n’ Cosey opted in “I Am (Eternity)” for tribal beat joined with a mind engulfing canticle and an instrumental eastern influx that imprints its characteristic dark touch and magical mesmerism over the track, transforming it in a hit for the dance hall of a savage sex ritual or perhaps a private party with lustful finalities. Another dark erotica with heart oppressing pulsation would be “My Friend Is Golden” by Regenerator back again with this retro remix and ritualistic rhythmic cadence, very oblivious and dark. My personal favourite from the album is “The mercy machine”, a remix executed by the band itself, it is a brilliant track with a really seducing rhythm and vicious voice along with the a catchy chorus sequence at charge of the female vocalist. All in all the remixes maintain a constant tension that combines a twisted sexual insight represented in the moving rhythms sided with the sublime spirituality from the Neo classical contours and atmospherics all this contrasted with the frantic mechanizations from Industrial music and the mantra like vocals.
This work compilation summons a certain aura with its listening, a veil of seductive mystery and sexual secrecy that cleverly represents an epoch and results a clever diversion for the dark side of electronica.

All Music Guide. USA. 2008

Cold, austere darkwave electronica gets an injection of human soul with the music of Attrition. Their programmed sounds vary from urgent, tight patterns to subtler, almost ambient, rhythms. Into this they weave orchestration (largely absent in this remix edition) and the warmth of the human voice. Medieval, plainsong melodies are the inspiration to Attrition's vocal facet. On "Cold Genius (Polaxe Remix)" they go for the real thing, including the work of baroque English composer Henry Purcell. Their exquisite juxtaposition has the possibility of being majestic at times. Here that highpoint found on all Attrition albums is the vaguely Native American "White Men Talk (Morbus Kitahara Remix)." The Hand That Feeds the Remixes looks back on two decades of cross-century composition. ~ Tom Schulte,

Electroage's webzine Favorite - USA - 2000

"Attrition’s Martin Bowes has always approached his take on electro-gothic music with a precise and artistic touch, and this collection of remixes only enhances that aspect of the band. Unlike most remix albums, The Hand That Feeds is not a showcase for other bands to deconstruct the original material and dominate with their own styles, this album handles the original songs with a great deal of respect, improving and strengthening the original material.

Attrition have always been a nexus of industrial fury, gothic drama, ambient structural finesse and classical chamber orchestrations. Stunning in scope, character and intellect, Martin Bowes has always been a paragon of true creative prowess, holding in two hands the past and future of music, and smashing them together with a calculated and charismatic menace. Bowes will build his dark industrial music with all the compassion and attention to detail of a classical musician, and with this to work with, the remixers on The Hand That Feeds have a lot to live up to, and they do it.

Cold Genius and Waste Not Want….More are turned into moments of darkly electronic minimalist dance tracks by Polaxe and D.O.S. respectively, after which a heavy punch is delivered by Stromkern’s apocalyptic assault on Cosmetic Citizen, a track that single-handedly reinvents “industrial-gothic”, mixing the banshee vocals of Julia Waller down against the elegant menace of Bowes’ voice, all against a raging and beautiful electronic storm. Chris And Cosey place a sinister electronica pulse under I Am (Eternity), while In The Nursery apply their skeletal filmic touches to the same song. A wicked Middle Eastern gothic groove propels Morbus Kitahara’s mix of White Men Talk, creating a truly engaging and vaguely ominous piece of music. Attrition remix The Mercy Machine, a violent and extremely visual track, and heighten the surreal theme of submitting to a strange bio-machine. Of particular note is The Truth remix of Ephemeral by Craig Ward; the Ephemera was a limited-edition release of Bowes’ sound experimentations, and Ward here gives them a sublime beat while maintaining the original cold minimalism.

Each mix does justice to the original tracks and often improves them by an overall update of the sound... The Hand That Feeds is a monumental release; it takes a brilliant band and augments or highlights their strengths and artistically smoothes the rough spots, allowing Attrition’s true capabilities to ultimately shine through."

Freq. zine. UK. 2000

O hail and wail, the Goth revolution lingers... In glorious cinema-like
splendor, Martin Bowes and Attrition present us with a double CD collection of some of the most little known but well done Goth extravaganzas chronicling some seventeen years of persistent vision and beauty of sound.
Over time, Mr.Bowes and his various collaborators have done much for the bringing together of electronics with raw form music, and though I doubt anyone would rush to give credit to him for this, perhaps we should re-think it all. Attrition is somewhere just to the upper left hand corner of the Gothic world, riding off-center of Industrial Dance and crawling out from under some stacks of baroque centuries old Classical. There is a definite remembrance involved in listening to this collection of the late Eighties/early Nineties, a time when gay clubs in America were just about the only haven for lovers of the darker side, for the kids who wanted to paint themselves and go dance. Now of course, this is all just a fashion statement in the minds of many, and goth clubs turn into tourist attractions in almost every city of the world.

Every now and again, one can hear the question being asked concerning how it is that over and over again there is this resurgence of the black-clad, death abiding, vampire worship trend in outcast youth. How does the market rebuild itself over and over and over and who are the icons of the genre? Certainly there is no danger of thinking that death and darkness are only explored by children of recent times. As Colette wrote in 1936 "...There is always a moment in the lives of the very young when death seems as natural and as attractive as life..." and one only needs to study history, of any
time, and any place, to learn that youth has always speculated on the wonders of the dark, on the nether.That this preocupation has found its way to expression in modern times through musick and through its surrounding cultures and fashions should be of no suprise. As for the icons of this mystery in the sense of now, Martin Bowes deserves to be considered a major force in the proliferation of darkness as a way of light.

And how polite and considerate of Attrition to put together this sort of
"Best of.." to waken the memories and pull down the shrouds. I have caught the big lump in my sad throat with almost every track, carried back and heralding my own zombie walk through youth as I listen and remember. It is only now with this nearly 20 year perspective that I realized how much of that was soundtracked by Attrition. Less obvious in name than Bauhaus or the late Roz Williams and his Christian Death, but nevertheless as powerful and influential. Perhaps more so as Attrition did give us that bridge from vampire land over to the isles of the likes of Skinny Puppy and Coil. And Goth-Industrial has led a lot of us back into early Jazz and Blues and further still past to all forms of Classical music and literature and art.
Forever there will be the speculation that the exploration of darkness as a beautiful place will lessen our fear of it all, ease the pain a little.

The Hand That Feeds is like a sweet melancholic map through the years of this apparent dream. From 1986 there is the eighth track "Dreamsleep", from the album In The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts which speaks of all this, and all like this, "I have climbed the peak to seek new sensation/Can't retrace my steps trapped in my own creation". Then there is the matter of the other CD in the set. This is a collection of remixes. I do not generally like remixes, don't understand the idea behind it. Why bother with others' interpretations of someone else's musick? Still, this being now, and now being the time everything is rehashed for dancability, I will say there is a
certain fun in having the subject being some of the world's slowest music turned fast. Like chasing up the barbituates with E's. No big suprise, but the best effort on this portion of the set is "I Am (Eternity)" by Chris 'n' Cosey. Less clubby than the rest, more true to the nature of the music and therefore quite more in the traditions, C&C's version almost succeeds in not exploring the what if of Attrition having been an millennial rave band. Almost. Actually, I want to go to the club which plays Attrition remixes and explore for myself the idea of dancing faster, if not happier. I suppose it can be said then that this remix album has opened my mind to the idea more
than any other, and it is still Attrition after all, and thankfully
recognizable as such.

-Lilly Novak-