Sutcliffe Jugend - Blue Rabbit
Reads: 1915 times
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Galleries:
- Wrocław Industrial Festival 2009 - 2009-11-08 (Festivals)
- Berlin Bruit Festival - 2008-09-04 (Festivals)
There are times when all those who constantly seek out new musical experiences encounter tunes, which are not only difficult to categorise, but also leave its tainted mark on the listener, who after the last track has ended wishes he or she had never reached for this particular project or performer. Such were my exact feelings during (and right after) the listening of ‘Blue Rabbit’ by Sutcliffe Jugend which, according to certain sources, has been labelled the harshest project of the Power Electro scene during the 1980s. I have no knowledge of any other albums of SJ, however ‘Blue Rabbit’ is anything but harsh. And by ‘anything’ I don’t actually mean something more pleasant.
On a basic level, one could put a ‘dark ambient’ label on ‘Blue Rabbit’, though that would be an understatement at the very least. I’ve heard dark ambient albums which compared to SJ production were more of a lullaby than a piece of eerie music. ‘Blue Rabbit’ is a composition of 8 tracks dripping with darkness, filth and perversion. I literally had to force myself to listen to this production more than once, and each time I felt like I was half-consciously looking around a room in some God-forsaken cellar, with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, listening to some bloke mumbling to himself, at the same time realising I’m tied up to the chair, and the bloke is about to do something nasty. A number of various glitches, cracks and ghastly sounds only bolster those feelings, which were not of the pleasant sort to begin with.
If evoking such feeling in the listener was the goal of SJ, then by all means they managed to reach it.
Apart from the content, the very length of the album makes it a challenge to listen to. Clearly the music on ‘Blue Rabbit’ is not to be listened and enjoyed (!) everyday, as that would simply be a torture. However if there is anyone who enjoys such twisted creation, then by all means, do listen and have fun. Others should approach with caution.
Tracklist:
01. Solace
02. Seedless
03. The Bad Mannered Prophet
04. Blue Rabbit
05. Feeding the Mouth That Bites You
06. The Good Child
07. Offal
08. The Death of Pornography
On a basic level, one could put a ‘dark ambient’ label on ‘Blue Rabbit’, though that would be an understatement at the very least. I’ve heard dark ambient albums which compared to SJ production were more of a lullaby than a piece of eerie music. ‘Blue Rabbit’ is a composition of 8 tracks dripping with darkness, filth and perversion. I literally had to force myself to listen to this production more than once, and each time I felt like I was half-consciously looking around a room in some God-forsaken cellar, with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, listening to some bloke mumbling to himself, at the same time realising I’m tied up to the chair, and the bloke is about to do something nasty. A number of various glitches, cracks and ghastly sounds only bolster those feelings, which were not of the pleasant sort to begin with.
If evoking such feeling in the listener was the goal of SJ, then by all means they managed to reach it.
Apart from the content, the very length of the album makes it a challenge to listen to. Clearly the music on ‘Blue Rabbit’ is not to be listened and enjoyed (!) everyday, as that would simply be a torture. However if there is anyone who enjoys such twisted creation, then by all means, do listen and have fun. Others should approach with caution.
Tracklist:
01. Solace
02. Seedless
03. The Bad Mannered Prophet
04. Blue Rabbit
05. Feeding the Mouth That Bites You
06. The Good Child
07. Offal
08. The Death of Pornography
