Nocturnal Emissions
Drowning in a Sea of Bliss
Touch TO:4CD (1992)
Track listing
Originally recorded and released in the early ‘80s, this CD is a reissue of NE’s second recording. As such, it offers a historical perspective on the band that was later to give us such works as Cathedral and Mouth of Babes.
The first track is 20-plus minutes of recorded pieces of noise: mechanical throbbing, tape-stretched screams, Woodstock recordings, helicopter blades, and miscellaneous voices. Although these various sounds appear to be thrown in randomly, one does not feel pulled in opposite directions due to the unsophisticated nature of this cacophony.
The second track is more cohesive, its 19 minute span being continually urged onward by pulsing beats that seem to be derived from the electrical buzzing of a malfunctioning transformer. A series of voices, old radio shows, and occasional keyboards are layered over this.
The CD shows a band in an early stage of development. The CD stands up on its own, but it does pale in view of NE’s later works
Michael C Mahan
Alternative Press 62
1993
Originally released on Sterile Records in 1983. Sheer violent noise which dissolves back and forth between found sounds, cut-ups and rhythmic, hypnotic beats. Reminiscent of Nurse With Wound and later Throbbing Gristle. Extremely interesting piece of work
ND 18
1993