Electric Sewer Age — Bad White Corpuscle
At under 42 minutes for the vinyl version and 35 minutes on CD, Electric Sewer Age is quite a short album by modern standards, however it feels like a natural length. Unlike some modern ambient music that outstays its welcome, nothing feels overly long or out of place here. As one would expect from a producer with such a good pedigree, you can hear elements of Psychic TV and Coil in the music. The glitchy vocals and electronic droid like bleeps work really well over the atmospheric, creepy ambient drones. Hyde produced Horse Rotorvator, and Love’s Secret Domain for Coil as well as assisting Christopherson with the re-issues of Black Antlers and Remote Viewing, however it is mid 90s Coil that this album draws most comparison to. Coming on more like a sister recording to the likes of The Angelic Conversation or Music to Play in the Dark.
The album is stretched across 7 thematically named tracks of ambient gloom, one of which was added as a bonus to the vinyl edition. That bonus track Redocine (Death of the Corpuscle) changes things up a little compared to the other tracks, it raises the tempo and almost soars in comparison to the rest of the album. Beginning with album opener Grey Corpuscle and liquefying through tracks such Corpuscular Corpuscle, Amber Corpuscle, Rising Corpuscle, and Bad White Corpuscle, to the final track Black Corpuscle the album flows beautifully. Each track making way for the next, often merging into one another seamlessly. The album is beautifully produced as one would expect, and provides a fully rounded listening experience.
Overall this is a pretty good dark ambient record which most definitely draws influence from the bands Hyde has worked with in the past, namely Coil and 90s Psychic TV. The album is very soundscapey and much of it would work really well for darker sci-fi or horror movie scores.