It was possible that the Black Dog Mark 2 would simply take up where the original line-up left off but ‘Vexations’ — the third album from the new members — proves once again that there’s no danger of The Black Dog ever standing still. There is some reference to their last two albums ‘Silenced’ and ‘Radio Scarecrow’ on the deep electronic textures of ‘Biomantric L-if-E’ but that’s where any similarities end. ‘You’re Only SQL’ could be the accompanying music as the hero chases the villain up a skyscraper in a Hollywood blockbuster — its chilling strings and clipped breaks adding to the sense of drama. Meanwhile, ‘Northern Electronic Soul Parts 1-3’ pursues a different agenda with their stripped back rhythms, subtle bass pulses and acid gurgles providing a considered take on minimal techno. That’s not to suggest that the dogs have mellowed out. ‘Tunnels Ov Set’ is a bleak serving of bassy techno while the muttered vocals, cut-up rhythms and stop-start nature of ‘Skin Clock’ and ‘Dada Mindstab’ are closer in ideology than sound to the ‘Bytes’ and ‘Spanners’-era Black Dog. ‘Cctv Nation’, contrastingly, is an epic, Kenny Larkin-inspired Detroit techno anthem. And that they manage to use the whole thing as an opportunity to put their bugbears about modern society under their own spotlight proves yet again that there’s more bite to their bark than expected.

Check out all the latest reviews and quotes on our new release on this one single post, we’ll be posting the good, the bad and the ugly here for everyone to read.

If you find any reviews or postings please hit us up on Contact or post a link in the comments sections.

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After the cerebral trampoline of last year’s Radio Scarecrow, The Black Dog humped a punishing gigging schedule which has galvanised them into a more floor-friendly follow-up, but with an underlying message attacking increasingly-Orwellian Government tactics and public complacency at how our lives are monitored and controlled. This punk-style discontent manifests in the pressure cooker grooves underpinning piledriving tech-kneesups like ’0093′ and ‘We Are Haunted’, the mix of boiling anger in the complex rhythms and spatial beauty of the strings often recalling Underground Resistance.

Seething emotions soar in tracks like ‘Stempel’ and ‘CCTV Nation’, the pounding grooves and intertwining textures swelling into glorious meteor-storms of rafter-swinging proportions which sometimes manage to enter the realms of avant classical. ‘You’re Only SQL’ carves a monolithic acid-funk path slashed with eerie strings and ‘Tunnels Ov Set’ hammers a slo-mo industrial dub-crash soundscape which closes the album on a suitably-ominous note. The timeless Dog have produced a work of astounding vision, terrible beauty and merciless dancefloor carnage, cocking a leg to techno glory once more but squirting out possibly their most complete work yet. Not mincing words, Further Vexations ranks among the great UK electronic albums.

We are pleased to announce that our latest album is being mastered and will drop on 09/04/09 on Soma. More news, website and samples to follow.

The Black Dog – Further Vexations
1. Biomantric L-if-e
2. 0093
3. Phil: Because Ov, indeed
4. You’re Only SQL
5. We Are Haunted
6. CCTV Nation
7. Stempel
8. Northern Electronic Soul [Part 1]
9. Northern Electronic Soul [Part 2]
10. Northern Electronic Soul [Part 3]
11. Skin Clock
12. Dada Mindstab
13. Tunnels Ov Set
14. Later Vexations
15. Kissing Someone Else’s D.O.G

http://www.furthervexations.com

What better way to sign off this years releases than this – chufty badges for all

# “Radio Scarecrow” incorporates production techniques like EVP and number stations. What is the idea behind it, did you just decide ‘oh, let’s do that’, or is there a underlying theme?

[Martin] I’ve been interested in EVP recordings for many years and Numbers Station still hold a lot of fascination to me, so I’ve been collecting and swapping recordings for around 10 years. When Radio Scarecrow started to manifest and it seemed like the ideal project to pour all this information and data into the music we where writing at the time ? it felt right. Plus I wanted to put some curses into the project because there’s a couple of people I’d like to see die in hotel fires and using Morse and number ciphers it allowed me to do that. Things happen naturally in Black Dog, there?s no stupid ?back-story? or PR stunts. If we?d had more time and space we would have also put some of our Satie pieces in as well. Things with us manifest by their own nature, we?ve learned to live that over the last four years

[Ken] The album is a soundtrack for a real person. the production technique was akin to knitting the web of wyrd, or splicing disparate strands of rope together, to lead us through the labyrinth. It’s up to the listener to discern “the idea” behind the album. Summing it all up here in 50 words, would be too cheap, and too easy. Like much of our stuff, you’re asked to arrive at your own conclusions.

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There’s a new interview up on FACT, one where I seem to swear a lot Click Here?