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Review: 'Membranes, The'
'Inner Space / Outer Space'   

-  Album: 'Inner Space / Outer Space'
-  Genre: 'Punk/New Wave' -  Release Date: '30th September 2016'

Our Rating:
Since a revitalised Membranes emerged in 2009, the band – one of the original class of ’77 – have been showing the young ‘uns what energy means with some explosive live shows – I was fortunate to catch their set at Long Division earlier this year, and they (metaphorically) pissed on most of the other bands on that day. And there were some great bands, as it happened, but none quite had the same level of force and ferocity. And, in 2015, seemingly from out of nowhere, 26 years after their last release, a new album. And a huge, sprawling double-vinyl concept album at that. What the hell? And yet ‘Dark Matter / Dark Energy’ was one of the most credible (post) punk albums to have emerged in yonks. One of the things that made it truly punk, though, was the fact it was the work of a band doing whatever the ell they pleased.

So what else is there for a (post) punk band to do which is so un-punk that it’s the punkest thing to do? How about a remix album? Yes, ‘Inner Space / Outer Space’ is an album of remixes of tracks from ‘Dark Matter / Dark Energy’.

Now, it so happens that John Robb knows a few people. Cool people. The kind of people ‘We just asked other bands who said they liked the album if they wanted to do a remix… and they did...’ is how he pitches it. It’s probably true, but just take a moment to digest that track-listing. No, really, just look at it. The remixers come from a staggeringly broad sector, and some may be better known than others, but there are no two ways about it: this is a stellar lineup, regardless of your personal tastes.

It begins with the Manic Street Preachers reworking ‘Universe Explodes.’ Now, while I personally feel the Manics have been on a course of diminishing returns due to endless dilution of a formula following the watershed of ‘Everything Must Go’, what they’ve done here is pretty special, amalgamating a certain proginess with the ostentatious strings that have been their post-96 trademark.

Mark Lanegan – yes, Mark fucking Lanegan – takes ‘Dark Energy’ down the road of pulsating bass and shuffling drums to create a supremely swampy, psyched-out effort, and Clint Mansell’s contribution is unexpectedly dark.

You can always rely on JK Broadrick of Godflesh legend to brutalize a track, and his aggressive industrial mangling of ‘21st Century Man’ is as brilliant as it is punishingly nasty, with its pulverizing beats and mesh of noise, head-shredding guitars.

Reverend and the Makers turn in a surprisingly decent and dubby cut of ‘Space Junk’. Mark Stewart’s take of the same track is quite something else, and while there’s still a thumping dub-centric bass groove driving it, it’s the spasmodic guitar splinters, which are pure Pop Group, which define the track. Carter Tutti (that’s legendary industrial disco pioneers Chris and Cosey, aka Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, formerly of Throbbing Gristle… but you knew that) dish up a suitably grating industrial disco grind that reminds us why Factory Floor are merely a tribute act, and Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten delivers a menacing revision, which features some incongruously smooth and jazzy sax which strangely works remarkably well. Kudos to 90s survivors Therapy? too, for their off-kilter, grungy drum ‘n’ bass assault based on ‘Hail to the Lovers.’

The fact is, there isn’t a duff track on here. Sure, the quality of the original versions is a factor, but it’s easy to render a great song shit when tinkering on a remix. There isn’t a single instance of that happening here, making for a remix album that stands up alongside some of the best – like Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Fixed – and more importantly, stands up in its own right.

The Membranes Online

  author: Christopher Nosnibor

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Membranes, The - Inner Space / Outer Space