Darwin would have been proud of Alien Sex Fiend, a highly successful
musical organism that has resisted over 16 years worth of attempts at pigeonholing,
issuing 11 barrier-breaking studio albums, 3 live albums and various compilations
and collections in the process. Continually cited for this brazen shedding
of norms, the beautifully bizarre duo of Nik Fiend and Mrs Fiend - aided
by a shifting squad of henchmen - have yet to stand still in any zone of
space and time.
Inspired by their latest DJ/remix incarnation as Fiend At The Controls,
ASF have taken a new look at some of the cobwebbed ghosts lurking within
their archives, resulting in their latest, greatest collection. 2-CD monsterwork
"Fiend At The Controls Volume 1 & 2" (issued on Anagram in
the UK/Europe and Cleopatra in the USA) is ripe with the unavailable, the
unreleased, and most importantly, the unexpected! Offering 26 tormented
tracks of classic Fiendish hijinx, many out-of-print and now impossible
to find in any format, "F.A.T.C" meanders wonderfully like a radio
program beamed from the outer rings of Saturn. Touching on all eras and
elements of the band, it spins an cyber-spiderweb that allows no rest, wickedly
slipping from one dizzying remix (the devious dub of "Manic Depression")
to another (the thunderous rococo rhythm of "Ain't Got Time to Bleed"),
interspersed with a sardonic smorgasbord of demos (the original "Dead
And Buried"), previously-unreleased lab experiments such as the superbly
spectral "Tron-Bone", and utterly bonkers bits (interview snippets,
bizarre collages... even strange noises from their spellbound audiences).
Unearthed from the cryonic vaults, seminal psychotic b-sides (classic "Hurricane
Fighter Dub", frenetic "They All Call Me Crazee", munchkins-
in-hell miasma of "Toytown Mix", and aptly titled "Mrs Fiend
Goes to Outer Space") are like sonic landmines---still perfectly dangerous
and able to blow your mind at will. Each track bleeds into the next, inducing
a hyper-stimulated sense of opulent overload in the lucky listener---almost
more Fiend than the mortal mind can encompass. Generously spread over two
potent discs, "Fiend At The Controls" illustrates the band's lovely
chaos as well as their creative longevity and continuity--tracks as far
apart in time as 1984's "R.I.P. (New Dub Truck)" and 1992's "Comatose
(The Ultra Mix)" show clear genetic affinities. Like H.R. Giger's facehugger-to-adult
Alien metamorphosis in that fabled film, Alien Sex Fiend '99 aren't
a different band, simply a more advanced form of the very same, very
special beastie.
For those in need of further mental refreshment, let us backtrack to the
genesis of ASF in the dank mists of the early 80s. Paranormal pulsations
began to emanate from the environs of London - a strange and unholy grafting
together of percolating synth rhythms and a ghoulish, theatric aesthetic.
Primed by Nik Fiend's phantasmagoric vocals, Mrs Fiend's highly original
use of trippy, industrial drum machines and inscrutable electronic gear
became a trademark - often imitated, never duplicated.
Alien Sex Fiend brought attention to the notorious Batcave club in London
and its subsequent scene, though the Fiends soon outgrew the genre's narrow
confines. This formative period was later documented on "The Legendary
Batcave Tapes" album.
Classic 1983 debut, the Youth produced "Ignore The Machine" single
and accompanying album, "Who's Been Sleeping In My Brain?", captured
the Fiends initial burst of psychotic energy. Riveting lysergic follow up
"Acid Bath" moved further into strange and spine tingling song
structures, leading into the bleaker, more brooding interludes of 1985's
"Maximum Security". With 1986 experimental monsterpiece "It
-The Album", Alien Sex Fiend scaled unearthly peaks of creativity and/or
insanity, followed by a pair of 1987 gems - "The Impossible Mission
Mini LP" and hallucinogenic "Here Cum Germs" album - and
era-ending singles compilation "All Our Yesterdays".
In an atomic renaissance of Fiendish style, 1988's "Another Planet"
charted a new course of luscious lunacy, merrily continued on 1990's
chaotic "Curse" and 1992's mysterioso menagerie "Open Head
Surgery".
Throughout this eerie ouvre, Alien Sex Fiend built a fanatical following
for their enthrallingly garish gigs, enticing David Bowie into fervent Fiend
fandom (an amusing phone call from the original Space Oddity himself is
deftly dropped into "Fiend At The Controls"), and even opening
for Alice Cooper on his 1986 Nightmare Returns jaunt. Live, the ASF
experience is a creature-feature cabaret with Munsterian magician Nik as
ringleader, armed with his array of lethal props, and surrounded by utterly
gonzo self-designed stage sets. Their near-endless tyrannical tours have
been documented on three merciless live albums to date: "Liquid Head
In Tokyo" (1985), epic double set "Too Much Acid?" (1989),
and "The Altered States Of America" (1993).
Not limited to aural adventures, Alien Sex Fiend have left no form of media
untouched by their insidious presence. Nik Fiend has shown his sardonic
Dali-esque paintings and artwork - naturally featured on each and every
ASF album - to great acclaim at several art exhibitions around the globe.
Videowise, Alien Sex Fiend were championed by MTV's callow creeps Beavis
and Butthead, who regularly assaulted viewers with "Now I'm Feeling
Zombiefied", while the Hellraiser special effects crew provided the
visceral FX for "Magic". A steady stream of video collections
("A Purple Glistener", "Edit", "Overdose",
"Re-Animated", "Making Of Inferno") have emanated from
Fiend headquarters since their early days. Finally, Nik and Mrs Fiend
find the time to produce their own yearly magazine, the ultra-wacky, ultra-witty
Fiendzine "Alien World News".
1994 found Alien Sex Fiend venturing where no group had gone before - into
the sensory-stunning world of computer recreation. With hot sci-fi entry
"Inferno - The Odyssey Continues", they became the first band
in the history of our solar system to compose and record a CD-ROM computer
game soundtrack. Although it serves a functional gaming purpose, the "Inferno"
score stands on its own as a fascinating musical sonogram - an irresistible
mix of man and machine, fiend and fun.
Anagram Records compilation "The Singles 1983-1995" neatly encapsulated
the band's first dozen years worth of musical mayhem, including every sordidly
superb single from diabolical introduction "Ignore The Machine"
to the unprecedently progressive "Inferno" mixes.
The birth of Alien Sex Fiend's own 13th Moon Records, and the subsequent
release of the "Evolution" singles marked the dawning of their
next insane reign. Unshackled from any and all artificial boundaries, 13th
Moon, has enabled the gruesome twosome to more efficiently pursue their
surreal and humorously deviant vision with total and complete independence.
Surprise has remained an ASF hallmark, and 1997 studio album "Nocturnal
Emissions" was no exception. Far and away their most futuristic effort,
yet quintessentially Fiendish, "Nocturnal Emissions" flows
and feints with a seamless sense of cool. It's a curvaceous cybernetic
jamboree, opening with the groundbreaking single "Evolution" ,
a dancefloor juggernaut full of otherworldly blips, bleeps and bastard beats,
(clearly a precursor to the album's delightful mastery of techno/ambient
sorcery) and continuing on through the robotic urgency of "Tarot"
and more elegant electronic cataracts like "Warp Out". By closing
concoction "Sticky", it was obvious that the Fiends evolutionary
space race was far from over, a point hammered home even harder and hipper
by their subsequent triumphant entry into the world of remixing (ably demonstrated
by the "Tarot Mixes" terrorific 12" single), and the audacious
DJing stint as "Fiend At The Controls".
Which brings us back to the present. Still mutating faster than the normal
brain can comprehend, their mega-musical tentacles reaching into uncharted
lands of sight, sound, and sanity, this is one Alien you won't see on The
X-Files. Nik and Mrs Fiend remain a nefarious nucleus, able to attract the
finest in contributing satellites for their ravishing reverberations. The
"Fiend At The Controls" project and its ensuing album are only
the latest launch pads for this band's ongoing exploration of new sonic
terrain. Their next aural opus (tentatively titled "Information Overload")
is brewing at this very moment, a perfect potion for the year 2000 that
is sure to find this fungal fantasia of a group once again refusing to stand
stock still. Where exactly they will take you, the listener, only the Fiendish
ones know.
Evolve or die is the mantra of choice, and facing the millennium with minds
expanded and samplers blazing, Alien Sex Fiend show no signs of extinction. |
