Mlehst — Breathing In Dead Flies/ Cock Sucking Lips

Here’s a CD release bringing together two out of print releases from Mlehst- aka UK noisemaker/ electro experimentalist All Brentnall. There’s 1996’s Breathing In Dead Flies, and 1995’s Cock Sucking Lips- each highlights a different side of the project sound, and together make for a consistent and rewarding CD release.

The CD appeared on Illinois based Oxidation, and is presented in a black and white four-panel digipak. On its outside, we have a picture of a seductive looking woman's face, and inside layered line drawing and image collage- and the track listings. Not sure how many of these were pressed, though I can imagine it was a huge number- so if this sound like your thing, I’d act sooner than later.

So first up on the disc we have Breathing In Dead Flies- this originally appeared in 1996 as a vinyl release on Brentnall's own Bandaged Hand Produce label. It’s a nine-track release- with runtimes between two and nine minutes. The tracks go from the sour pitch hoover-meets-wrap, click, and price gun buzz of “Breast Milk Drainage”. Onto hissing and whistling grate of “How To Eat Shit”- which later on brings into the mix distant machine chops and blends of waver ‘n’ clunk.  Through to the muffled ambient hoover meets forking, dragging and hissing of the rather haunting title track. Onto the electro pitch dwells and swoops of “Natural Submissive” – which features faint/ difficult to hear female dialogue and textural drags to great mysterious effect. 

Next, we have Cock Sucking Lips- this appeared back in 1995, once again on Bandaged Hand Produce as a C30. This takes in six tracks, and each of these two and six minutes. We move from the decidedly jiving ‘n’ quirky-meets- shifting sear of “Playmate” which layers together muffled easy listening harmonic’s with swooping noise pitches.  Onto the warped musak and female harmonizing of the title track, which pot marks its woozy unfold with drifting grates and sudden noise tone chops. Through to the wacky-yet-sinister “In The Right Direction” which finds sped-up voice loops blended with skid, grate, spiral- with a backdrop of distant toning harmonics.

It’s great to see Oxidation pairing together and bringing out these two mid 90’s Mlehst releases- and both highlight Brentnall talent as a creative and daring sound maker, whose work sits somewhere between noise, ambient, and woozy electro experimental sound. Let us hope there are more Mlehst reissues in the works, as more folk need to hear Brentnall take on sound-making.