Portion Control
Album: Dissolve Plus
Category: EBM / Electronic / Experimental
Label: VUZ Records
Release Date: 2022-09-05
In the 20 years since the pioneering electronic act’s return to activity, Portion Control has managed to maintain a rigorous output of material, much of which has already been relegated to the categories of rare and out-of-print. In steps VUZ Records, in association with Maneki Neko Tapes, with Dissolve Plus to offer a hearty selection of 21 tracks spanning the band’s more obscure and limited releases. Of course, by this time, it would be redundant to examine the extensive impact that Dean Piavanni and John Whybrew have had on modern EBM, electro/industrial, techno, and IDM, having been cited by some of the biggest names in the genre, while also successfully transcending that distinctive past to forge a singular niche in the present. Tracks like “Compumix” and “Meatbag” from Dissolve, “Surge” from Solar Enemy vs. Portion Control, or “Taunt” from Continued Violence Download all showcase Portion Control’s trademark experimentations with sampling, rhythm, and electronics. The same may be said of both versions of “Sonic Jack” with their percolating layers of synths and minimal beat patterns gradually building in tension and intensity, the vocals punchy and punklike, while the sparse and spacey atmospheres by way of mangled samples and disparate vocals passing by the speakers on “Blood Rushed to Dub” and “Chew You Dubbed” from the Stansted EP further demonstrate the magnitude of the group’s influence. Other pieces like “Dissolve,” “Earl Blue (Segue),” or “Gate 57” are more tonally centered, the ambient swells of pads and stylized rhythms often acting more as interludes that could have been expounded upon, but are perhaps best left as momentary curiosities. Given the limited availability of the myriad releases from which Dissolve Plus is assembled, the album can be considered an essential supplement to connoisseurs’ collections. At the same time, it provides newcomers with a viable cross-section of Portion Control’s latter day efforts.
Track list:
- Barely Alive
- Burning
- Surge
- Is This
- Compumix
- Blood Stem
- Dissolve
- Meatbag
- Miliamp
- Sonic Jack
- Pisser
- Fidelity (Transmission)
- Earl Blue (Segue)
- Tremor Cake Exit
- Sonic Jack (Un-Dissolved Version)
- Gate 57
- The Way Out
- Blood Rushed to Dub
- Chew You Dubbed
- Taunt
- Chrome Teeth
Portion Control
Website, Twitter, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Instagram
VUZ Records
Website, Facebook, Bandcamp, YouTube
Ilker Yücel (Ilker81x)
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