Scorn – Anamnesis (1999)

March 4, 2015

Anamnesis is a ‘rarities’ collection from Mick Harris’ genre-spanning project Scorn. It’s actually a bizarre cross-section of the sounds that Scorn had made up until the late 90s; encompassing the early Nik Bullen material, the loud beatwork of the Logghi Barogghi era and the minimalist, bass heavy electronic beats that would come later.
 
It’s all a bit of a mess, to be honest. It’s like this CD can’t decide if it’s a b-sides collection, a remix album or a super cool round-up of unheard stuff. It’s great though, if like me, you’ve rinsed all life out of nearly every Scorn record and want to hear some long lost material from the vaults. There are some quality beats and vibes on here, especially the more minimalist stuff. When lined up back to back with the older stuff you kinda realise how much of a snoozer Nik Bullen is with his vocals (and this is coming from someone who loves Vae Solis). The track here from that era sounds like Godflesh withering in the final stages of a long battle with AIDS.
 
Not a bad CD overall but definitely not the place to start with Scorn. There is some phenomenal material out there linked to this project.