Could have posted these album comments in "Playlist", but perhaps wouldn't be a bad idea to revive a specific thread.
Sutcliffe Jügend – Pigdaddy (2008, Cold Spring)
This work from the frequently criticized period of the project's activity actually grew to be one of my favourites in the discography. The filthiness & ugliness of the concept is perfectly presented in the material. Dense and muddy guitar feedback layering, surgically cold electronic pulsations, atonal autoharp convulsions, creepy «damaged tape» effects and filthy samples of choking & regurgitating sounds thrown in the overall sound cesspool... The result is not harsh and radical "ear punishment" at all, but a really enjoyable experience of stinking aural mudbath. Tomkins' vocal perfomance on this one is also very noteworthy of course, this "perverted old creep" style works really well with the concept, it's quite comical on the one hand, but in a quite an unhealthy way, sort of "John Waters movie"-style of intentionally bad taste humour. It also somewhat rhymes with my impressions from some of Marco Corbelli's vocal tricks for example, which can also sometimes seem to be a bit comical, but in the context of sickening atmosphere of Corbelli's music they somehow add more unhealthy craziness to the music, make it even more fucked-up. The same situation with this "dirty old fuck groping in the boy's pants" style of Tomkins' delivery on "Pigdaddy". Especially impressive are the moments, when the old fuck goes hysterical and starts to yell the same shit over and over until he probably gets a heart attack. "Defacer", the second track on the album, is a good example of this: "It's not enough! It's not enough!" and a fuckload of more repitition until it all grows into fucked-up mumbling senile dementia. I also really enjoy the cold, pulsating synthwork on this track, some kind of gloomy surgery-room electronics, reminds me of Corbelli again and his traditional style of gloomy rhythmic synth-throbbings with minimalistic structure. Paul Taylor's guitar freakout on this track is also really enjoyable, maybe a bit too laid-back in the mix, but the dense layered sound comfortably envelops you like warm mud. Probably, "Defacer" is my overall favourite on the album. "Pigdaddy", the title track, comes close with its' (dis)tastefully sampled "choke & spit" electronics, and more fucked-up silliness and bad taste humour in the concept and vocal/lyrical performance - this time the old fuck supposedly (judging by what I could make out from the lyrics) mumbles about his unfortunate impotence problems, while the falsetto voice probably impersonates his young "prey" making fun of him, and it all gives an impression of some kind of satirical take on Sotos' prose. "Dirty" is also interesting stuff - some twisted circus, carnival-ish rhythm and catchy vocal lines (sometimes even resembling a sort of "singalongs"), weird production with sampled grunts following the rhythm and something like turntable fuckery. Among the weaker sides of the album I would point only to the last overextended track "Nonce", a bit tiresome stuff, fails to keep me interested during the whole length. But as for the other 5 - really strong pieces to my opinion, with the 3 mentioned as the standing out. Old pervert electronics at its' best.
Sutcliffe Jügend – Offal (2016, Cold Spring)
My favourite among the heap of work which was released last year (haven't heard the giant "S L A V E S" release though). The main structure of the 1st track "Cleave" is constituted from extended high-pitched drones (sound like produced by electronic organ, but maybe I am mistaken), swelling mass of guitar sound by Taylor will be layered along the way. The introductory electrified-sounding tone strongly reminds me of Whitehouse's famous "Wriggle Like A Fuckin' Eel". Fierce vocal delivery by Tomkins is top notch, the way the vocal tracks are treated in the mix (high-pitched, compressed, razor sharp sounding) is also to my taste. My favourite track comes next though - fuck, "Howl" is really intense. Menacing sound loop of some destructive stuff which sounds like string orchestra getting absorbed in napalm-soaked distortion, even more aggressive vocal delivery with rhythmic precision and use of hysterical repitition of phrases in the manner close to some moments on "Pigdaddy". "Slice" is no less impressive with it's seismic pounding, quite Swans-reminding stuff, I love these rhythmically lined mini-explosions of sound going into non-stop ecstatic frenzy. The last track "Crawl" is in a more experimental vein, strange fragments of sound are organized into some warped rhythmic fuss, which definitely doesn't sound aggressive, crushing or powerful (like the rhythm on the previous track for example), but perhaps the "weirdness" factor may work for someone - the combination of this strange foolish rhythm with background sound madness and Tomkins' psycho ramblings results in something fucked-up and hallucinatory. The overall impression about the album is very similar to my opinion about "Pigdaddy" - very strong main body of work, but mixed feelings about the somewhat uninspiring ending, which unfortunately occupies quite a portion of the album's whole playtime (in this case it is the longest track on the album and lasts about 16 minutes).
