fusetron BLACK RAIN, Dark Pool

Blackest Ever Black

BLACK RAIN - Dark Pool

Dark Pool is the new studio album from Black Rain, the projects first in 18 years. Produced in New York City by Stuart Argabright, Black Rains founder and figurehead, Dark Pool is a work of hard-edged sonic fiction rooted in cyberpunks quintessential neo-noir cityscape/dataspace but projecting into a farther future of biotechnological advancement and alienation. Stuart Argabright first landed in New York in 1978. By day, he worked as a landscape gardener for the upscale likes of Rock Hudson and Bob Dylan, while at night involving himself in all manner of subcultural activity -- the reverberations of which are still being felt today. He co-founded seminal no wave minimalists Ike Yard (whose early 1980s work has been cited as an influence by the likes of Kode9, Young Echo and Silent Servant), collaborated with the late Rammellzee in futurist hip-hop outfit Death Comet Crew (recently reactivated for an LP on Powells Diagonal label) and as Dominatrix scored a bona fide club hit with the downtown electro classic The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight" (1984). Black Rain was revived in the wake of 2011s Now Im Just a Numbers release and Argabright has toured extensively under the name and in 2013 released an EP of live recordings, Protoplasm, on BEB. Three of the EPs four tracks appear here on Dark Pool in radically revised and expanded form: the stuttering ribofunk of "Endourban" is now anchored by ominous string pads faintly redolent of Argabrights label-mates Raime, while "Data River" revisits the accelerated beat-stream of Black Rains 1996 album Nanarchy, and the low-slung "Protoplasm" has evolved into a sprawling, syncopated techno epic -- the sound of red dawn rising on an illegal replicant rave. A further seven new productions feature. "Burst," its title perhaps a nod toSogo Ishiis 1982 biker gang saga Burst City, harks back to the scrap-metal-banging brutalism of Black Rain mk.1; "Xibalba Road Metamorph," the albums angry, anguished centerpiece, externalizes the sadness and self-loathing of Jeters oppressed post-human workforce. "Night in New Chiang Saen" reimagines dub as the viral product of one of AgriGens morally-suspect scientific initiatives in The Windup Girl, before "Who Will Save the Tiger?" calls upon spidery, Metalheadz-esque breakbeats and wailing guitar drones to summon a 23rd century Ark. Vocals (on "Profusion" and "Profusion II") from Zoe Zanias (Keluar), and a brief spoken intervention from Sean Young (who of course played Rachel inBlade Runner) are simply the most audible manifestations of a dejected feminine presence that haunts the entire album. For all its textual references, Dark Pool is a visceral and straight-talking affair: its body-hammer rhythms and brooding sound design require no explanation for their impact to be felt." - Blackest Ever Black.

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After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.

This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).

Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.

Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.

Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
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