"Legendary plus-sized shape-shifters Controlled Bleeding's newest collection in their 30 year history adds a layer of bludgeoning noise experiments to the oeuvre. With a history that started in guitar muck and rose into dark industrial quasi commercial success, this latest outing, Odes To Bubbler, hearkens back to their earliest sludge." - IMPOSE
"In 2010, Lemos reinvented Controlled Bleeding. Drummer Tony Meola rejoined the band, which was filled out by Michael Bazini on electronics. The group began playing a slew of live gigs in the New York City area, blasting audiences with an improvised instrumental mix of blistering guitar riffs, hypnotic bass loops, pounding drumbeats and fractured noise." - Dusted
"Pitting blistering, prog-y art-rock against ambient soundscapes and harsh noise is no small feat, but Lemos and company do so with a deftness that only comes from experience. Controlled Bleeding have attained a longevity that's the envy of many of their peers. Odes to Bubbler proves that they deserve it." - Exclaim!
Prolific experimental band Controlled Bleeding have announced their first new album in five years, titled "ODES TO BUBBLER" out digitally June 14th on the Winged Disk record label and limited edition CD courtesy of Soleilmoon Recordings. Featuring two live tracks, and four recorded with Martin Bisi in the Summer of 2010, the remainder of the album consists of rare tracks spanning the band’s very musically diverse last decade, some featuring the now deceased Joe Papa’s signature vocal work, others including guest players like Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida or Weasel Walter. The nineteen track opus also features the band's signature meditative textural pieces, harsh sonic caterwauls, and industrial dissonance they've become famous for.
Originally formed in Boston around 1978 by Paul Lemos, Jack Salerno and Dave Southerland, later returning to Massapequa, New York, Lemos joined forces with old school chums, Gary Pecorino and Tony Meola in the first recorded version of the band, creating instrumental music that has been described as a collision between The Ramones and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Their blazing performances at CBGB's and Stony Brook University in the early '80s, along with various demos, and studio recordings (including the group's first 7"), were released on the BEFORE THE QUIET CD (on MVD Audio).
Pecorino and Lemos would soon part ways due to musical differences over the presence of the three hundred pound scat singing eccentric that was Joe Papa. (Papa answered an ad for a singer in a local music paper, since the group was getting frustrated by the lack of response to their instrumental exercises). With the addition of Chris Moriarty on drums and a few other players, the band continued briefly, but soon imploded after their first disastrous show with the new expanded line up. Frustrated working with others, Lemos soon started venting his inner poisons through solo experiments in pure screaming cacophony, first documented on the SWALLOWING SCRAP METAL cassette compilation issued in 1982. After receiving encouraging response to these first noise experiments, Lemos recruited Moriarty and Papa once more and soon embarked on a violent creative course that resulted in cassette releases on early noise labels like Broken Flag, XXX, and Swinging Axe. The band's classic first album, KNEES AND BONES which now stands as one of the earliest documents of American power electronics, was issued in 1983.
Through the course of the next few years, the group would issue a number of varied releases, moving away from pure noise into more textural areas. Albums like BODY SAMPLES, CURD, SONGS FROM THE DRAIN, and BETWEEN TIDES capture the group's raw, increasingly sophisticated aesthetic, blending elements of noise, prog rock, sacred music and musique concrete into something that was very much their own. Although most of their music has been fiercely experimental, Controlled Bleeding did work with Wax Trax! and Roadrunner Records, issuing a handful of very visible, intensely rhythmic records. Recordings like TRUDGE and PENETRATION document this period and have dated surprisingly well.
Unfortunately, these more commercial endeavors never sat well with Lemos, and he soon moved away from the commercial marketplace almost entirely, issuing dark sonic experiments like those found on the group's best works, THE DROWNING, INANITION, DUB SONGS FROM A SHALLOW GRAVE, GILDED SHADOWS and THE POISONER CDs. Moriarty would soon leave the fold to pursue his own music in Body Clock, while Lemos and Papa would continue developing music of mournful, spiritual depth (MUSIC FOR STOLEN ICONS II, GOLGOTHA CDs). Today, we are sad to say that both Chris and Joe have passed away.
Although various side projects came and went through the years (Joined at the Head, Fat Hacker, In Blind Embrace, Breastfed Yak and Skin Chamber), Controlled Bleeding still exists and has recently issued the massive four LP archive project, SONGS FROM A SEWER OF DREAMS for the Vinyl On Demand label. The expanded reissue of IN BLIND EMBRACE (MVD Audio), which includes "Tormentor's Song" and "Red Hands Waiting," was released in October 2009. Now available is the four CD Box, GIBBERING CANKER OPERA SLAVES (STUDIES IN MEDITATION AND EVISCERATION) VOLUME ONE from the Hong Kong based label Ultra Mail Prod. A fifth bonus CD appears with the first 250 copies.
Meanwhile, Lemos and Papa, along with Ruins drummer, Tatsuya Yoshida, had also immersed themselves in the free jazz madness that is The Breastfed Yak. Their debut CD, GET YOUR GREASY HEAD OFF THE SHAM, was released by Birdman Records a few years ago and remains one of the most completely OUT musical experiences you are bound to encounter. Bleeding fans generally despise it, but Lemos feels it's some of his finest work to date.
In 2010, Lemos once again reinvented Controlled Bleeding. Drummer Tony Meola rejoined the band, which was filled out by Michael Bazini (a.k.a. DJ Butterface) on electronics. The group began playing a slew of live gigs in the New York City area, blasting audiences with an instrumental improvised mix of blistering guitar riffs over hypnotic bass loops, pounding drumbeats and fractured noise. ODES TO BUBBLER, the band’s latest album, contains the first new recorded work by Controlled Bleeding with this revitalized lineup.
* The digital version of ODES TO BUBBLER will be released on Long Island’s Winged Disk label. A very limited CD version will be released on Soleilmoon.
Controlled Bleeding Live!
Saturday, July 9th Wantagh, NY @ The Loft
Saturday, July 23rd Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
Saturday, August 13th Brooklyn, NY @ The Acheron
Saturday, August 20th Brooklyn, NY @ Silent Barn
Saturday, August 27th Boston, MA @ The Great Scott
www.controlledbleeding.com
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www.myspace.com/controlledbleeding
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