NASH THE SLASH - DECOMPOSING @ 40

 

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this month is Nash the Slash's groundbreaking EP, Decomposing. Released independently on Nash's Cut-Throad imprint, it was claimed to be the first album to be playable at any speed, though I'd suggest Boyd Rice may have something to say about that with his "black" album offering similar potentials a few years earlier. Regardless, it was still an innovative approach and marketing strategy. In actuality, the recordings did lend themselves to working at the various speeds available on a standard turntable. They were all instrumental and heavily processed and electronic, so the concept proved to be entirely practical without making the music sound "wrong" (though at 78rpm, it may have felt a bit "rushed"). It likely occurred to Nash to do this after his first EP, Bedside Companion, was inadvertently played at the wrong speed on a radio show. That error eventually lead to that EP being released on CD in both its native 45rpm speed AND the 33-1/3rpm variation. The original vinyl version of Decomposing has since become a rather rare collectors item given that it was only ever independently released in Canada and not licensed to any European market like his other Cut-Throat titles. For me, it's one of my favorite releases from Nash along with the Bedside Companion EP and the Dreams and Nightmares LP.

CHRIS & COSEY - HEARTBEAT @ 40

 

40 years ago this month, in November of 1981, Chris & Cosey officially stepped out of the Throbbing Gristle shadows and began their career as the dynamic duo of electronic music.

It wasn't long after Chris Carter joined Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti & Peter Christopherson to form Throbbing Gristle that sparks began to fly between him and his future life and creative partner. By the time TG began to spiral down towards their termination, Chris & Cosey had already started working on material that would end up on their first post TG album. Heartbeat would come as a celebration of their new freedom and the beginning of their life together as they became a family with the addition of their soon to be born child, pictured in an ultrasound on the cover and commemorated by the title. It's an album about birth and new life and is bursting with a sense of liberation, enthusiasm and optimism about facing the future. While it still hints at some of the darkness that was the hallmark of TG, there's much more of a sense of beauty and wonder about it all as they were in the flush of their romance and finally being able to live openly and create freely within their own domain. Signing to Rough Trade records, the duo were able to focus on the music without having to deal with the administrative issues of running an independent label, though they'd eventually get back to doing that soon enough.

For me, Heartbeat is a critical release within the arena of electronic music as it offers clear signposts towards styles and approaches which would become foundational for the future of the genre, particularly as the 80s ran out the clock in its final years. What makes this album so important is that it was so far ahead of the curve and ended up becoming a touchstone years later as producers inspired by the first waves of the techno & acid house movements began to look for ideas as to where to take that music as they strove to innovate and evolve. Many people quickly began to realize that Chris & Cosey had already plotted out the paths of where to go, nearly a full decade beforehand. As such, the album has retained a certain vitality and timelessness as it was so effective in opening the floodgates for the potential of electronic music for generations to come.