The Body
The Body is a prolific musical force whose creativity is matched only by the astonishing weight of their sound. Duo Lee Buford and Chip King have established their own musical language that reimagines how rhythm, dynamics, and sonics can shape or dismantle song structure. Over the course of two decades, the duo has consistently challenged assumptions and defied categorization, redefining what it means to be a heavy band. On their new album, The Body are again pushing limits and testing the boundaries of the studio to explore the extremes and microtonality of distortion to find its maximal impact. I’ve Seen All I Need To See is The Body at their most incisively bleak, a towering monolith of noise.
I’ve Seen All I Need To See marks both a return and departure for The Body. In contrast to the electronic-centric instrumentation and production-heavy arrangements of previous albums and Buford’s work in Sightless Pit, this album is focused on their core live sound: Buford’s booming, resolute drums paired with King’s obliterated guitar and howl. Following albums with extensive guest performances and acclaimed collaborations with Thou, Uniform, Full of Hell, and more, I’ve Seen All I Need To See is almost entirely the core duo. Guests vocalist/pianist Chrissy Wolpert and vocalist Ben Eberle are used very sparingly. Course, bristling distortion contorts every instrument, with samples of spoken word, cymbals, toms and King’s already noxious tone emerging from layers of feedback. The myriad of tonal interplays, captured in detail, has a movement all its own. The Body, together with engineer Seth Manchester of Machines With Magnets, capture the complexities of distorted sound in stunning detail. The clarity and the cacophony exceed anything they’ve created before, morphing desolate, festering soundscapes into an exhilarating sonic universe.
Dis Fig
For Berlin-based producer and DJ Felicia Chen (aka Dis Fig), risk-taking and provocation is an integral part of the creative process. Chen’s live show fleshes out the unflinching sonics of debut LP PURGE (released in Spring 2019 on New York collective and experimental label PTP) into an astonishing and annihilating spectacle, her singularity on stage only augmenting the sense of a very personal rite of exorcism.
Marking a move away from the dancefloor strictures that Dis Fig continues to explore in her full-blooded, multi-layered DJ sets, PURGE is a calculated procedure towards a new chaotic world. Tinted by fever dream atmospherics, Chen places her own vocals, which morph between inconsolable distorted wails and polyphonic reverie, at the forefront. Purge is an involuntary act; it journeys into the body-breaking cost of emotional repression and the crippling catharsis that inevitably follows.
“This ain’t just your run-of-the-mill wall of power electronics and angry screams … Dis Fig’s range is surprisingly undogmatic, including synthetic brass sections, flutes, and piles of quiet” – The Quietus
“Harrowing as they can be, PURGE’s compositional twists and turns are harsh enough to offer you the same thing that they offered Dis Fig herself — relief from the bad shit you’re holding inside” – VICE
In 2020, Dis Fig linked up with The Bug to create their album In Blue (released on Hyperdub), leaving her productions aside for intimate vocals and lyricism to match.
“Dis Fig is the latest collaborator who brings out the best in (The Bug), revealing a new facet of her own artistry and unlocking a new dimension to The Bug’s sound. Dis Fig transcends In Blue’s origins in genre exercise into an otherworldly fever dream, an album of tectonic bass and thundering drums that somehow feels intimate and sensual. It’s as much her triumph as it is his.” – Resident Advisor