Jesu - Duchess | Veiled

This is a short, limited edition EP that Jesu released towards the arse end of 2012 on some rediculously limited quantity (I can't remember what number it was exactly but it sold out and I missed out on a copy, but to be honest, I probably wasn't paying enough attention and let it slide). It contains an unreleased Jesu track in the form of "Veiled" and a beautiful cover of The Stranglers' "Duchess", redesigned in the usual more-sombre-than-sombre Jesu approach.

I've linked the cover below because it's simply amazing, but the B side is just as good. I believe this came out not so long after the Ascension album, which was a bit of a miss in my opinion, so it was nice to find that Jesu hadn't completely lost it's way (future releases also completely cemented this fact). Doomy, gloomy, and as a YouTube commenter so rightfully pointed out - very Killing Joke-y. Excellent!

There is just something magical about the guitars on this thing, and I've poured my heart out about Jesu synths to you all before....

Jesu - Silver

There’s a lot of Jesu stuff out there now – I think this project ended up being much more productive than even Justin Broadrick could have anticipated when he first started lurching out the aching melancholic drones of Jesu. Silver however, simply has to be some of the best material recorded under this moniker. It fights for the top spot against Lifeline, which was the first Jesu release I heard and therefore I have an immense soft spot for. I think Lifeline is probably more solid overall, but Silver might just take the crown simply because of the title track alone.

 

"Star” and “Wolves” are also two fantastic Jesu songs ranking high up there, but “Silver” itself is something else. It has the components of any other great Jesu track; the droning, distorted guitars and bass creating a wall of sound, a basic drumming backbone and a bright, melodic synth to carry the whole thing. It’s a brilliant song but it’s not until the middle of the track that all these components come together so beautifully that it sends shivers up my spine every single time I hear it. The band chug through their heartbroken metal whilst that synth just fucking soars and unfolds and goes on and on and on…Then the vocal kicks back in; “Silver’s just another gold…” repeated over and over and over. I’m not sure of the intended message in this song but I get feelings of reassurance and comfort, as if it’s saying “things aren’t the best, but they could be a lot worse. Look on the bright side, pal!”

 

The only time I’ve ever taken magic mushrooms (well, Dutch truffles) was the day that Jesu played Roadburn 2012 and the experience, although mild, peaked during the band’s set. I was able to intricately study the music and dissect it in my head, really get behind every aspect of it, and hearing “Friends Are Evil” and “Silver” in that way nearly brought me to tears. It was a powerful moment I’ll never forget and definitely brought me a lot closer to Jesu’s music.

 

If you’re gonna play this video, please play this as loud as you possibly can.  

Nadja - Numbness

This is the first time I've actually successfully sat through an entire Nadja album. They definitely made delivering kebabs and pizza an ethereal experience, I can say that much. Numbness is like many other releases in the sizeable Nadja catalogue; ridiculously fuzzy, enormously slow, miserable yet hopeful and just a little bit pretentious. Numbness offers (to me) nothing new; it is simply Nadja for Nadja's sake. Depending on how much you like Nadja, you may or may not be in for a treat. If you're secretly hoping for the band to mix it up a little bit from the usual template, then you might as well uncross your fingers now. This duo are the Agathocles of the 'slow and moody' universe. 

This isn't to say that Numbness is a particularly bad album - it's actually very enjoyable - it's just that it genuinely baffles me how Nadja can release so much of this stuff sounding all the same yet still be able to craft new and genuine songs from it? Surely there is only so much you can do with a drum kit, a synth that apparently plays only one note and a bass guitar that sounds like radio static pumped through a sunn O))) amplifier. At times songs resemble something altogether more Jesu, and others sound almost like Merzbow fell asleep on the lower-end of a keyboard. Closing track "Numb", which builds slowly and with menacing purpose, was set to be my favourite track, until some crazy effect on the drums kinda ruined it for me. 

Honestly don't know what to make of this. Really on the fence with Nadja. Guess I just gotta be in the mood to listen to them, which is very, very rare. If you know and love what Nadja is all about though, you'll fucking love this. 

PS - after listening to this I found out that this is actually a fucking BEST OF compilation! (??????). I think it's safe to say I'm done with Nadja for the foreseeable future)

JK Flesh - Posthuman

Seeing Justin Broadrick performing live as JK Flesh in Roadburn 2012 really opened up my eyes; it was like a dream coming true, the dirgy rhythms, haunting vocals and nasty guitar sound of Godflesh mashed head on into dubstep-style heavy bass and programmed drums. I didn't really know wether I should dance or punch somebody in the face. To be true, I did neither; I just stood there bobbing my head as the awesomeness washed over me, pummelling me into a pulp of useless flesh and deafening me past the point of ever comprehending music ever again. A slight overstatement, but a fantastic experience nonetheless. 

When I heard that his debut LP under this name would be coming out a short-while later, I almost jumped for joy. When the record dropped I was skint as fuck so I didn't get it initially, but I picked it up a few months later on my birthday. The true depth of the vinyl format is needed for something that sounds as massive as this; the pressing is excellent and does a cracking job of portraying the full bottomless sound of JK Flesh's aural assault. Things get off to a slow and creepy start with "Knuckledragger", but then "Idle Hands" chugs things up in true JK style. 

It's a fairly long record, considering the simplicity of the subject matter, but it doesn't make for a tiring listen; every song is perfect. Honestly, it doesn't get spun as much as my Godflesh records, but it's still pretty damn awesome. Released in 2012 by 3BY3 Records, and seemingly still available at a decent price (about £20, which isn't bad considering they are fairly limited (500 only)). Check it out and get one!

Jesu - Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came

Oh, how I have longed for a new Jesu release! I snoozed on the previous new material (the Duchess 7") and it sold out before I had even the slightest chance of even considering buying it, and now it is added to my neverending list of expensive shit to buy off Discogs. Trouble is, it's hard to find the money to keep up with all the new releases in the first place, doubly hard when there's a growing backlog of rare shit forever tempting you online! The woes of the record collector on a budget! Ha!

Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came is a fantastic and rather "in the feels" type of record title. That, along with the abstract cover art, which to me conjures feelings of times past, brings on the realisation that our time on this planet is a very short one indeed...only getting shorter and shorter with every passing second. Fuck this! When the first track, "Homesick", kicks in with the usual Jesu-brand laid back electronica meets heavy riffage and melancholic atmosphere, the feeling only gets heavier. I heard that Justin wrote a song about missing his kid whilst on tour, and whilst I'm not entirely sure that's true, the title "Homesick" could well reveal that this is that track. Maybe.

I don't really see Everyday... as an EP, even though it is only 5 tracks in length, "The Great Leveller" - which starts with a nice piano and builds and builds - is over 17 minutes long, bringing the total run time up to something like 45 minutes. Which is good value for money, seeing as we are on the subject! Well impressed with this new Jesu stuff...it ranks a lot higher than the recent Ascension album which I think a lot of people didn't really like and I never bought since I want all the Jesu stuff on vinyl and the vinyl version doesn't seem to be materializing anytime soon. It's no Silver, but I can see Everyday... becoming a Jesu must-hear with time. Justin Broadrick, you're a genius! My fandom knows no bounds (although I'm not that familiar with Techno Animal haha!).

As far as I can tell this was self-released by Justin and his Avalanche Recordings label. It's pretty limited, and the grey copies are all sold out, so I got the black. I'd get this before it's gone!

Jesu - Lifeline

This is the first Jesu record I heard and it is still probably one of my favourite releases by him. It also introduced me to Jarboe, which opened up a whole can of worms in my life in the form of Swans (another very long story for another day), who appears here as a special guest, not to mention as a precursor to the pair's collaboration album that would follow. Lifeline was released on the now sadly dying Hydra Head Records, who handled all CD and vinyl presses. As well as the black pressing you've got a golden one the same dirty colour as the EP artwork, and a swanky dirty-gold / black splatter edition, which I've got here.

 

The song "Lifeline" introduced me to the lush beats and melancholy droning that is Jesu. Gone are the brain-battering barrages that adorned mighty Godflesh tracks; here the sample work is a laid back affair of deep basses and hissing snares, that whilst coming to and fro in the mix alongside the sparkling, hopeful synth sound almost like audible waves of the ocean lapping at stony shores. How the sound sums up the artwork (a photo taken by the man himself) so perfectly! "You Wear Their Masks" continues in the same vein before Jarboe (not to mention Ted Parsons) come along and all of a sudden it's half of 1987-Era Swans up in this bitch. Early Swans basically invented Godflesh so it is rather ironic that all these musicians should work together so many years later and make music that is actually nothing like either early Swans or Godflesh.

"End Of The Road" is one of my favourite Jesu songs ever, with Justin's distant, distorted voice simply crooning "these scars don't heal / I don't mind". Once upon a time, a friend of mine told me that Broadrick sounds like Ville Valo from HIM on this recording and I just can't shake that now, every time I listen to it I'm reminded of that hatted Finnish cocksucker. Similar things have happened in other artist's work, like Godflesh's "Predominance" becoming "Dommelsch" after the Dutch lager, or even worse Electric Wizard's "Venus In Furs" becoming "My Penis, It Burns" (don't try it, I promise you will regret it), but I digress. Lifeline is a fantastic record and a great place to start with the Jesu discography, even if it is not the most logicial.