Customer Reviews

Cleanse Fold & Manipulate

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While most Skinny Puppy albums are easily labeled "dark", CFM is certainly one of the most. Cevin Key later reflected that the production technology employed had as much to do with it as did the mindset of the band at the time. This was the band's first album written completely to hard disk, and the use of the computer as arranger certainly added a cold, technical element to it.

Musically, the CD broke new ground for the group. While many of SP's songs made references to film samples, and often began or ended in dark, ambient loops, whole tracks here are devoted to such. Draining Faces, The Mourn, and Epilogue contain a track long presentation of film samples, loops, and general background noise that are crafted in a way to create dark, haunting pieces. While more dismissive comparisons have been made to Pink Floyd, this element made a lasting and distinct impact. In a strange crossover, SP's use of film in its tracks led it back into film; for example, many years later, the Blair Witch filmmakers listed Draining Faces as a track on a tape found in the project's abandoned car.

Other tracks were more accessible to the DJ booth. The second track, Addiction, which was also released as one of two singles, features the layered and rhythmic approach that would be the signature of many CDs to come from SP. While a song with serious lyrical content, Ogre's vocal style on this was actually a dig on Front Line Assembly and former SP member Bill Leeb's vocal style. The second to last track, Anger, while devoid of most lyrical or musically thematic content, provides a fantastic conclusion to the album - a driving, pounding beat comprised of six or seven separate elements all beautifully orchestrated into one, with Ogre's clenched-teeth ranting moving in and out of the track.

On a slightly critical note, some of the tracks seemed to rely on pre-set synthesizer sounds (some of them you'd hear on a The Cars album!) rather than the fantastic abilities of Dwayne Gottell and his multi timbral, polyphoic signature pads and noises.

SP's promo shot for this album featured Nivek Ogre sporting massive bruises to his face and appearing to be an inch from death; most of his lyrical content on this album was highly focused on the politics of repression and violence. Songs like Second Tooth, Tear Or Beat, and Deep Down Trauma Hounds are all suggestive of the contrived politcal power of many third world countries during the cold war eighties.

An essential album, for it represents more or less the last of SP's eighties sound before Vivisect VI gave it a head start into the 90's.

Although I am a huge fan of All of SP's music, as far as I am concerned nothing that they have done compares to Cleanse Fold and Manipulate, even though Vivisect VI ans Too Park Park are also great great albums in their own rights. If you are thinking of buying their reunion album, or better yet catching one of their few US concerts, and want to see just how far they have evolved, by all means get this album now! Of course, CF&M represents Skinny Puppy in their gloomiest and darkest era, and this is truly a beutifully punishing album to listen to. Tracks like Shadow Cast, Draining Faces and the Mourn meld gothic horror, ingenious sampling, with industrial percussion like no other band ever has, :wumpscut: probably coming the closest on Eevil Young Flesh. On other tracks such as Addiction and deep down Trauma Hounds, cEVIN and Goettel manage to meld seamlessly catchy, even dancy beats with the menacing lyrics provided by Ogre, which as always have something to say about the ills of contemporary society, without sounding preachy or pretentious. And who said Industrial music couldn't be a vehicle for social change! Cleanse Fold and Manipulate sounds as fresh and original as any Industrial music out today, being far more original and inventive too, and is an essential album for any fan of industrial music, ebm or darkwave.
Brap On!

For the first few years in their career, Skinny Puppy released some fine material in the Industrial/EBM movement that was just getting bigger and bigger. Yet for me, Manipulate is the first SP album that began to prove that the band was here to stay. Manipulate easily proved that SP could do more things with loops, beats, and synths. It proved that they were evolving as a tight unit and had plenty to say to the masses.

This would be their first great socio-political conscious record played to a moody, creepy background. Issues such as political agendas (Trauma Hounds) and abortion (First Aid) are fiercely played and sung. Mention about people's rights and countless deaths, among other problematic realities, run throughout the album. Sampling in this album is also better than on previous releases.

First time I bought this cd, it crept me out mainly because the music and lyrics were so chilling. It also got me hooked for more and I haven't stopped listening to it since. Draining Faces and Addiction are among the best, not to mention the very chilling ender, Anger / Epilogue. Manipulate makes a fine first impression to an SP newcomer and shows how important they are in the Industrial/EBM music.

What can I say about this albulm? Its one of the darkest albums I have ever heard. Every song is relentless in its attack. Skinny Puppy really experiments into the dark emotions of the human soul. Songs like First Aid and Shadow Cast will quickly hurdle you into SP's sinister world. Songs like Addiction and Deep Down Trauma Hounds will slowly drain at you. Songs like Draining Faces and The Mourn or more experimental and "audio sculpture" and will really paint a picture in your mind. I would NOT call this album "electronic goth rock". Its way beyond that!

As for starting out with this CD, well one thing I found with SP is that everyone has a different favorite album. They are not a band known for one good album. EVERY Skinny Puppy album is good in its own way. I would recommend getting Too Dark Park before this but thats just my opinion. Also others have said this and it is true- the first time you hear puppy it will sound like distorted garbage. The second time it will you will hear more of a 'song' behind the garbage. Keep listening and you will be Addicted!

I'm just commenting on the Seattle music fan who is so upset that Skinny Puppy don't sound like NIN. To which I cheerfully say THANK GOD. In terms of talent, that little Spin-cover posing, noncing mincing girl's blouse of a Marilyn Manson svengali Trent Reznor couldn't match Nivek Ogre on one of his WORST DAYS. If you're into Gadzooks clothes and wearing white greasepaint to your local HOT TOPIC to buy your latest Korn T-Shirt, leave Skinny Puppy alone. But if you're a dark SOB and like drinking in pure atmosfear, SP are the way to go.

I know this isn't a bulletin board or a news group, but I'm really sick of the "Industrial" pretentiousness. Skinny Puppy fans calling NIN mainstream. Front 242 fans calling Skinny Puppy mainstream. Wumpscut fans calling Front 242 mainstream.

It's all relative. It's all good. I got into Skinny Puppy when I bought a Ministry 12" Burning Inside single (yes vinyl...that ages me) that had the Ministry/Ogre version of Smothered Hope on it. I thought, "Hmmmm! Now there's some good music!" and went out and bought Bites and Remission. Great music was found on both!

Years later I got into NIN. A fantastic band. Trent never claimed to be Industrial, and neither did Ministry or Puppy. In fact, Al from Ministry wretches at the thought, because he's never been afraid of using guitars, and has stated that he doesn't want his music to be restricted by having it classified. That hasn't stopped him from collaborating with Ogre and Key on several occasion (regardless of the fans' dismay, Ogre and Key can admit that Al inspires them...Rabies anyone?).

So...stop all this petty arguing. If you like a music style and want to be a purist, then you are really limiting yourself and being close minded to new experience. (Go buy some Coletrane, he'll blow your house down!) ...and if you want to argue about what "real" industrial is, listen to some Throbbing Gristle, Foetus, Wumpscut, Project Pitchfork, and Frontline Assembly to hear what came before and after the Puppy. Puppy is really mainstream compared to all those bands...or at least last time I checked you couldn't but a Wumpscut sticker at Hot Topic.

BTW...CFM is fantastic!!!!

I would recomend the new comer to Skinny Puppy should start thier new long road ;) with Cleanse Fold and Manipulate. This album is a short album nevertheless a romp through the early/middle of thier evolution. This album would ready someone for "Too Dark Park" and for "Bites" two albums more often reguarded as thier best (which maybe true) but are in need of greater patience to absorb.

This more so then other Puppy albums gives you a mid-tempo dark blast of pulsing beats and loops, takeing off right where Bites left off but adding to Skinny Puppy's allover accesability. Still for your money you get 3 genious(absoloutely awesome!) dance hits First Aid, Addiction and Deep Down Trauma Hounds they alone being worth admission yet still several excellent noise scapes that give mainstream music listeners an insight to the underworld of noise and anti-music and is a Skinny Puppy trademark. Such musical psychedellia can be SO sumptuously profound with emotional articulation.

Welcome to Skinny Puppy... if you dont like them right off they will scare you and irratate you untill you love them for thier perfect genious!

If you're new to Skinny Puppy this is a great album to buy.
The best songs on Cleanse Fold And Manipulate are First Aid, Addiction, and Deep Down Trauma Hounds. First Aid is a great song with very meaningful lyrics. Addiction is actually kind of catchy (not negatively) for a Skinny Puppy song. Deep Down Trauma Hounds is an SP classic. Cleanse Fold And Manipulate will seem a bit caustic to the uninitiated, though this is to be expected with Skinny Puppy. Of their works, I would definitely recommend this album (or Last Rights) to anyone who has an open mind and likes industrial/experimental music.

This album was brilliant 10 years ago, and it still has the power to make all your arm-hairs stick up like icicles if you happen to be listening to it on a Walkman on a sunny day. All those haunting layers and demented samples, that digitized inhuman voice. I'm not the first nor will I be the last to invoke the word "visceral" here, but that's as far down as our language goes (until they invent a word for "that weird vibraty feeling in your bone marrow"). I can't say exactly *why* I like music to give me the feeling that my intestines are just slightly frightened, but there you are. Skinny Puppy isn't for everyone. Never was.

In 1987, the album 'Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate' arrived. As the follow up to 'Mind...' it took the creepy, brooding atmosphere of 'Bites' and 'Mind..." and ran. 'Cleanse' is probably the most consistently dark and morbid sounding album Ogre, Key and Goettel ever produced. A sense of decay and Lovecraftian Gothic/apocalyptic horror pervades nearly every track. This is also the first album to bring the band's overtly political views to the fore.

Unfortunately, this same thematic consistency proved to be a bit of a liability in the end. Most of the album, as cool as it is, isn't exactly the most memorable collection of songs. In fact when I'm not listening to the album, I have difficulty recalling what exactly happens between tracks 2 and 8. For me that middle section kinda fades away when I'm not physically immersed in the music. But I still really love this album and its horror movie sensibility. I'm not bothered by the fact that it's a mostly mid-tempo affair with less variety than most Puppy works, but I think some people might be.

"First Aid" starts the album off strongly as usual, with a solid beat and typically esoteric lyrics bemoaning abortion (or AIDS). I've heard this song described as a dance-club hit, but it doesn't strike me as particularly dancey, just pounding and dark. "Addiction" (a song about addiction!) is more catchy still, rather like a song from their 'Bites' LP. The drum pattern is immediately engaging, and Ogre's unusually raspy and down pitched vocals are countered by a very beautiful synth-violin that floats elegantly in the background mix.

"Shadow Cast" moves the album away from the dance floor with a messy collage of odd percussion, sampled screaming and synth noise that recalls aspects of some 1970's-style horror movie. "Draining Faces" is even less of an instrumental than a dramatic tension builder. It begins with a long loop of creepy samples that are stark and absolutely chilling, bringing to mind Poe's aesthetic of decaying Victorian architecture and its mad occupants. Slowly the collage of whispers and sounds builds and finally erupts into frantic electronic beats that do nothing to resolve the ongoing sense of gloom. "The Mourn" starts off with a loop of distant, hazy-sounding piano that again is evocative of some turn of the century tale of fright. A barely restrained electronic drone swells and recedes, threatening to drown out everything else. This is a very serious Halloween atmosphere.

"Second Tooth" starts off awkwardly, with a sputtering beat and strange timing on Ogre's lines. It does start to flow more easily after the first minute however, and becomes downright catchy in an angry, unconventional way right around the second minute. It's an angry song, not at all bad, but not as memorable as maybe it could've been. "Tear or Beat" is a slightly less interesting song, with an off-kilter feeling with some very interesting elements and some other elements that don't work so well. The song's reliance on a very dated synth-bass melody that thumps throughout its duration really annoys me. It's quite silly sounding and completely unnecessary, undermining the brutal sound that I love about the rest of this album.

"Deep Down Trauma Hounds" is as well known as it is brilliant. It's a brutal, intelligent sounding indictment of war-mongering that was as timely and political during the years of Reagan's presidency as it is today. It's also bloody catchy, dance floor worthy and a beautifully layered composition. I'd say this, even more than "Addiction," is an SP classic on par with "Dig It" from the 'Mind the Perpetual Intercourse' LP.

"Anger" is a deeply intriguing song because it's deep layers are so hard to penetrate. The beat is solid, but there is so much else going on that it takes several listens to really grasp everything. Ogre's lyrics are indecipherable, mixed way down, and there seems to be no official transcription of them available anywhere online. Based on what I've gathered from listening to various live versions, the lyrics are even more unusual than in most Puppy songs. Anyhow this grim song is pretty great (the version on the album 'Ain't It Dead Yet [Live]' is even more powerful). "Epilogue" is the final, brief nightmarish atmospheric that caps the album.

'Cleanse...' isn't perfect but it is a terrific addition to anyone's collection, especially fans of horror, fans of Skinny Puppy, and fans of unconventional music in general. The recording style of this album sort of anticipates the density of later albums like 'Too Dark Park' and 'Last Rights' but also retains just a tad of the minimalist feel of earlier works. I enjoy 'Mind...' slightly more than this, but I still give this 5 stars.