***In 2006 Community Library released Special Powers, a full length collection of tracks by a mysterious duo called REANIMATOR. Cobbled together from reel-to-reel tapes recorded in Portland in 2000 and rescued from New Orleans on the eve before Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, Special Powers made waves internationally for its fusion of bass driven, saturated electronics, uncompromising experimentalism, improvisational curiosity, and raw power. Reanimator was highly prescient of the ‘noise techno’ idea, and has since become an international phenomenon. Damaged Bads sees Reanimator re-joining a wave they quietly helped to start, with another set of archive recordings providing a window into their world. The polyrhythmic, alien, and basscentric sound of Damaged Bads retains the pummeling drum interplay that won fans to Special Powers. But while their earlier work relies heavily on blown-out distortion, Reanimator introduce gestures that are cleaner, edgier, and more ornate—though still high-impact. Beneath the music’s technological expression, less obvious influences sneak in: the polyrhythmic time signatures of Balkan folk music, the skittering curiosity of free improv, and the irreverence of punk. The results are joyous, confrontational, physical, and cerebral.
LP $15.50
07/28/2015