The Boston-rooted Experimental/Industrial band Controlled Bleeding will reissue two of their very first recordings, Distress Signals I and Distress Signals II, on Artoffact Records in August. The long out of print Distress Signals I, released on the legendary Noise label Broken Flag in 1984, is now made available physically without selling your daughter to Discogs—Distress Signals II never saw the light of day and gets released for the first time!
Their first two records had very little to do with the eerie and rather melodious output on Wax Trax! (among them the dancefloor stomper Words Of The Dying from 1989)—instead, the project focused on distorted Noise improvisations, close in spirit to their contemporaries Whitehouse or Con-Dom—influenced by various experimental music genres, Controlled Bleeding recorded two sonic monoliths.
Somewhat overshadowed by their more EBM-driven, danceable outputs on Wax Trax!, Controlled Bleeding’s early works have a life of their own, and the experimental spirit of these recordings was transferred onto their new releases, bringing them close to experimental Industrial outfits, like Coil or Clock DVA, making them stand out from the rather anonymous EBM dancefloor stormers that emerged in the wake of the commercial success of Nitzer Ebb and Front 242.
To this day, with short interruptions in which the group was inactive, Controlled Bleeding are releasing cutting-edge material and perform on occasion. Their next new record, Larva Lumps and Baby Bumps, will hit the stores on September 23rd—a teaser track is already available on Bandcamp—until then, you can get your fix of Controlled Bleeding by uncontrolledly putting on their classics on repeat.
Order Distress Signals I on vinyl on Storming The Base (US) or Artoffact (EU)
Order Distress Signals II on vinyl on Storming The Base (US) or Artoffact (EU)
Order them both as 2CD or Vinyl on Storming The Base
All records are available digitally on Bandcamp.