Richard H. Kirk – Disposable Half-Truths

This and 2x45... gold mine vinyl reissue, my hussicat pasturefieldhands.

A stand-alone vinyl reissue would be very much appreciated. RIP Kirky.

This cassette release dates back to 1978 and is closer in sound to CABS' "1974-76" album than to anything later. Again it is one very familiar to me (having bought it the same day I bought "1974-76"), so didn't need too many listens to get an opinion of it. The cover has changed, the uniform grey INDUSTRIAL RECORDS cover being replaced by a 'Modern Art' painting and porno photomontage booklet. Side one opens with "Synesthesia", which begins with noise blasts which step aside to allow the drifting synthesizer / effects free rein. It drifts like amorphous clouds across strange and Surreal landscapes, dream-state shapes portrayed in noise. "Outburst" drifts in on the tail of the previous track, being very similar in many ways, although a little more harsh in many ways. A very CV drum pattern rises up through the audio ashes, bringing with it typical mutated vocals, watery sounds and alien torture guitar. It transforms into something very different towards the end (thank goodness for CD - I'd have thought it was the next track), a much darker and more drifting piece of music. "Information Therapy" follows this, a more formed piece of music with the same cruising-shark-guitar as on such recordings as "On Every Street" and "Nag, Nag, Nag" etc., and the treated drum machine sounds they were renowned for. It's brighter than the aforementioned recordings, and has some chaotic sounds bobbing up and down in the mix. "Magic Words Command" is along similar lines, yet is of a more ive, laid-back nature, with elements, albeit slight, of "Silent Command". "Thermal Damage" follows after a brief interlude, rising from silence on gradually opening filters to become something along the lines of "Is That Me (Finding Someone At The Door Again)" - strange and minimal soundscapes indeed. "Plate Glass Replicas" is a lot more interesting, being structured, yet moving away from the 'typical' CABS sound to allow wild and eccentric experimentation to follow the clattering drum pattern. "Insect Friends Of Allah" follows this, having a decidedly Eastern feel to it, meandering twangy guitar spiralling over phasing drumbox pattern. It seems to fill a lot of space with it's sound which must be a lot bigger than it first appears. "Scatalist" follows next, another strange DADAIST piece of drifting, barely connected sounds. Typical VOLTAIRE tricks are employed - sudden silence then the same pattern fading back in from a distance. It seems to change drum patterns every 20 seconds or so, al but fading out completely, then ri again on distorted voice. "False Erotic Love" rattles into existance with a higher-pitched loop-tape-voice putting the listener in his / her place: it's a clattering, chaotic piece of dissociating noise. "L.D.50" is another grizzling piece of 'music' built on barely-heard drum machine and rhythmic bass. "L.D.60" sounds a little like a thin mix of some obscure CHROME track with rolling drums and flanging guitars. It throbs along like atmospheric music with unsightly lumps. The vocals on this are not unlike a higher-pitched version of "Photophobia". "Amnesic Disassociation" closes the album on a non-beat note, a piece of music creating the impression of something dark impending. nothing is too clear, nothing too obvious, but whatever's about to happen, no sane person wants to be there to see.
I'll it this is not one of my favourite cassettes, but now on CD I can at least skip it along. It's more loose and artistic than much of his / their later stuff, and will appeal to those into DADA weirdness. Considering the primitive gear they were using, it's still an amazing achievementand deserves to be heard at least once.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.