CD Reviews

Nurse with Wound

Nurse With Wound | The Bacteria Magnet

By GUSTAVO TURNER | July 15, 2008

3.0 Stars

Experimental elder statesman Steven Stapleton has just released Huffin’ Rag Blues, another intriguing full-length CD set of idiosyncratic compositions and sound collages. Bacteria Magnet is that record’s more radical companion piece, a limited-edition “mini album” pairing two remixes from the CD with two new tracks. The shorter work is an original riff on Stapleton’s obsession with film noir, soundtrack music, and the always rewarding (if you have a truly open mind) “Easy Listening” and “Pop Vocals” sections of used-record stores. This is cinematic pastiche at its best, similar to Barry Adamson’s phantasmal scores but with the dada knob tweaked way to the right. If opener “Cruisin for a Bruisin’ ” evokes a world where Tarantino’s Death Proof was scripted by J.G. Ballard, the rest is nothing if not pure Lynch, from the early-’90s Badalamenti vibe of “Thrill of Romance . . . ” (haunted by the souls of Peggy Lee, Julie London, and Jessica Rabbit) to closer “The Bottom Feeder,” an inland empire of debauched dolls doing the demonic frug to the strains of “Blues in the Night.”

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ARTICLES BY GUSTAVO TURNER

IAN KING | PANIC GRASS AND FEVER FEW | March 16, 2010
Just a few weeks after we reviewed the belated release of African Head Charge's latest, another, more recent gem from the always rewarding sonic laboratory of Adrian Sherwood arrives.

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ALEJANDRO FRANOV | DIGITARIA | March 03, 2010
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AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE | VISION OF PSYCHEDELIC AFRICA | February 09, 2010
UK dub guru Adrian Sherwood and adventurous percussionist Bonjo I have been releasing their sonic experiments as African Head Charge since the early 1980s.