I've lived with Estuary English for a couple of weeks now (Dirter Productions DPROMDLP108 2 X 12" with CD, soon) and should maybe give some thoughts. The music is very varied throughout. The opening track Teknon is a kind of anti-music of seemingly random synth blurts which is a shock to the ears. Co-Opted By Cunts does appear in the 'disco' version but sounds much better than that youtube clip - it's like a cross between TG and Digital Hardcore with some squelchy frequencies - that's the only track remotely like dance music. Come Clean is a remake of Cockpit from the previous CE album but now buried under sheets of distortion and vile noise. Affirmation starts like a minimal version of Hamburger Lady and has a shocking twenty seconds where the synths almost but not quite become a melody before it deteriorates into hiss and squalls as an especially vitriolic lyric full of cranky put-downs gets ranted. Air Lock is simply a thirty second spoken poem about death/rebirth with possible religious overtones - I've spotted a few Biblical references in the lyrics but don't worry, this isn't a Christian album any more than it's a Techno album - it's definitely Noise, and it's much closer to Whitehouse's output from their last ten years than it is to Cut Hands. There are some distinctly WHesque instant classic nasty phrases - like a disgusted sounding "rotten English booze tits" from the title track.
Standout track for me now is Sex Offender Boyfriend. Some distant beats mixed very oddly with electronic groans with a completely psychotic vocal delivery, tearing his throat apart as a three-part story unfolds - first section very enigmatic and mysterious and ends with "this gift I give you, don't lose it" , then the narrator is taking some photos and getting someone to pose, and the final part has a pervert with bin-liners over his windows which have been put through apparently looking at the pictures? "You weren't here, you didn't fucking lose it". Weird and unsettling. The lyric sheet is very long and obviously has had a lot of work put into it. I can spot things I remember from Philip's blog but now re-ordered unfamiliarly. I can spot a Sinead O'Connor quote from one of her public meltdowns and at least one William Blake reference. But lots of this writing, I'm not sure what the hell it's about really. It all sounds very worrying and upsetting and there's a lot of swearing. No surprise there then.
