Pigface

A New High in Low (Invisible)
by Lex Marburger

Top of the list: Pigface. Martin Atkins and friends have once again blown my mind with A New High In Low, a bold exposition in sound and texture. From the droning “Radio Bagpipe” to the angelic, Roger Waters-ish “You Know/ You Know/You Know,” Pigface stuffs in evocative rhythms (“First Taken Third Found” with impossibly junglefied drum tracks), aggression (the over-the-top assault of “Burundi”), disturbing sound effects (such as a stuttering sitar on “Kiss King”) and wraps it all up in an enveloping environment of mood and mope. And that’s just the first disc. The second is only three tracks. Well, two really. Okay, it’s one track that’s separated into three parts. “The Howler: An English Breakfast” is a slow, treacherous dub with a booming bass and unidentified sonic attacks flitting about. Over the top of this is the daunting Genesis P-Orridge, reciting a tale of a debauched castle’s breakfast. The voice of Genesis is enough to cause hallucinations. In fact, I had this on the stereo while I was making love to my girlfriend. She went into convulsions of pleasure and horror, completely out of her mind. To this day she can’t really listen to it. Coming between the two sections of his story is a horrific ambient trance known as “Train.” An absolutely necessary disc.