Whitehouse - Bird Seed

One of the most horrible experiences I've ever encountered was deciding to drop an ecstasy tablet at a Whitehouse gig years ago "for a laugh". I was in there for 10 minutes before making a hasty exit after a menacing Peter Sotos had shoulder barged this saluting nazi creep to the floor whilst a grimacing/grinning William Bennett stood there behind a black box in a seedy leather jacket, pressing buttons that projected wave upon wave of audio terror upon an edgy looking crowd. All this topped by a fat guy in round glasses who stood there screaming confrontational, provocative "poetry" into your face like a demented preacher/frustrated bingo caller. It must have been good because I remember it so clearly knocking on a decade later.

We've a vinyl repress of 'Bird Seed' here, the one where Bennett started experimenting with heavily processed and distorted afro rhythms. It really makes for remarkable listening, the electro acoustic wailing and screeching backed with this weird elastic pummeling that could almost be a percussion of sorts. Phillip Best is totally on form here, this album contains one of the most visceral, popular tracks they put their name to - 'Wriggle Like a Fucking Eel' - and the whole album is something of a Noise bar-raiser. There was once a time when this would merely strike me as a nihilistic, hateful racket but it's actually just very stunning, challenging sound art with the "band" truly crossing into more pioneering & even dare I say it "enjoyable" territory! Lavish double vinyl, cracking stuff!