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Scorn, "List of Takers"
Listening to this record at high volume is your best chance to hear Scorn live.
Vivo
From out of nowhere, the Polish label Vivo has released the newest Scorn record, a live set recorded for the radio and presented here as one long track. Those looking for an introductory Scorn record or something with some new Scorn tunes that you can be added to an mp3 player playlist will probably not find it here. I was initially taken aback by the format, as discs that are comprised of a single, enormous track are usually hard to listen to repeatedly. They take a certain amount of dedication. However, having just seen a Scorn live set in Berlin, I can honestly say that List of Takers is an indespensible document of how the project works live. The live version of Scorn doesn't include strictly definied songs, starts and stops. It flows from the drones and spooky detuned pianos into the head nodding beats and immense bass that are Mick Harris' signature. For stiff, electronic beat music, it's actually quite organic live as Harris performs a live dub mix with effects and knob-twiddling that gives the sounds life and depth and movement not always found on the static albums. Since the sound set is fairly basic—distorted bass warps, atonal electro-acoustic drones, heavy electro drumbeats and the occassional piano riff—it's easy to think of List of Takers as an extended jam on a theme that manages to stay rough, compelling, and unflinching for 70 minutes. That's where this album in fact wins me over: it's a completely uncompromising document from an artist who has a body of work that's so influential at this point that he needs answer to no one. There are identifiable songs here, but none are listed or named individually, and none stand out but serve to make up the extended whole. The tempo slowly creeps up across the disc to ramp up the tension so that by the end the groove is less of a friendly bump and more of a diabolical grinding, but the record never loses the ability to make heads bob and hips sway. List of Takers is at times a challenge to the listener to keep up, but the rewards for zoning out and getting lost in the throb are worth it.
From out of nowhere, the Polish label Vivo has released the newest Scorn record, a live set recorded for the radio and presented here as one long track. Those looking for an introductory Scorn record or something with some new Scorn tunes that you can be added to an mp3 player playlist will probably not find it here. I was initially taken aback by the format, as discs that are comprised of a single, enormous track are usually hard to listen to repeatedly. They take a certain amount of dedication. However, having just seen a Scorn live set in Berlin, I can honestly say that List of Takers is an indespensible document of how the project works live. The live version of Scorn doesn't include strictly definied songs, starts and stops. It flows from the drones and spooky detuned pianos into the head nodding beats and immense bass that are Mick Harris' signature. For stiff, electronic beat music, it's actually quite organic live as Harris performs a live dub mix with effects and knob-twiddling that gives the sounds life and depth and movement not always found on the static albums. Since the sound set is fairly basic—distorted bass warps, atonal electro-acoustic drones, heavy electro drumbeats and the occassional piano riff—it's easy to think of List of Takers as an extended jam on a theme that manages to stay rough, compelling, and unflinching for 70 minutes. That's where this album in fact wins me over: it's a completely uncompromising document from an artist who has a body of work that's so influential at this point that he needs answer to no one. There are identifiable songs here, but none are listed or named individually, and none stand out but serve to make up the extended whole. The tempo slowly creeps up across the disc to ramp up the tension so that by the end the groove is less of a friendly bump and more of a diabolical grinding, but the record never loses the ability to make heads bob and hips sway. List of Takers is at times a challenge to the listener to keep up, but the rewards for zoning out and getting lost in the throb are worth it. samples:
