Alternative TV - Direct Action

Housed in a sleeve modelled after the special edition of Whitehouse's Great White Death, this expanded CD edition of Alternative TV's most recent album - originally released on vinyl - is as the Sniffin' Glue site states intended to "set fire to the 'punk' label that the band still seemed to be saddled with." Created with longtime member Dave Morgan, it is a collection of instrumental pieces inspired by early industrial, drone and improvisation. It's an unpredictable collection from a group who are no strangers to delivering the unexpected, having incorporated everything from reggae, improv, avant garde, tape loops into their sound.

If you're expecting something along the lines of The Image Has Cracked, or even their the last studio album from 2015, Opposing Forces, you'll be disappointed. Right from the start, they break free from the confines of the typical punk sound and any semblance of punk - or even conventional songs - is gone. The opening track, 'The Hammer', is smothered in a murky, saturated hiss, pierced by lulling frequencies and shrieks, building with squeaks and scrapes over noise rumbles edging subtly into an analogue electronic pulse, at times reminiscent of the electronics of Throbbing Gristle. It's the first of several tracks that explore industrial and crude electronics. The title track features dual layers of noise, one textured, the other deeper and coruscating. The power electronics of Whitehouse is the obvious reference point here, especially when they pile on shrill frequency shrieks along with additional juddering effects. Brutal and eviscerating, it's great stuff. In Lost In Room Richard Johnson's book about Alternative TV Mark Perry speaks at length about his love of Whitehouse and other noise and experimental artists so it's perhaps surprising that it is only now Alternative TV have focussed on creating something so confrontational.

Elsewhere, Alternative TV turn their hand to improvisation with an extended line-up, additionally featuring Gareth Matthews, Ruth Tidmarsh, and Cos Chapman. 'Causewayhead' is a loose interplay of expressive guitar work - its jangles and chimes layered with slabs of fizz - set against a sporadic, pulsing electronic tone. 'Free the Nipple', meanwhile, leans more heavily on improvisation, anchored by drum rhythms and oboe scrapes, while guitars loosely jam amidst the occasional bass tone and all sorts of squeaks and squalls. As is the way with these things, it's all rather freeform and chaotic - perhaps most reminiscent of parts of their Vibing Up the Senile Man album, where they once again broke punk boundaries and confounded expectations with a second album that drew on the avant-garde and free improvisation. Then there's 'Cornelius C', a tracks no doubt named after the avant garde composer, which clatters to a series of ricocheting metallic percussive clanks over a wavering organ drone and lashings of subdued noise. Harsher and more hypnotic than the improvisations, it's all the better whilst retaining a sense of chaos and disarray.

The high point of Direct Action is 'Saudade', an exemplary drone piece that masks a blurred vocal amidst glassy tones and shrieking, buzzing hypnotics. The hallucinogenic potency of these drones is firmly in the vein of Nurse With Wound, and at just shy of 10 minutes, it's a piece that should have lasted longer. How much longer? Much longer.

The additional track on the special edition is 'Never Went to Art School - Remix', featuring a Mark Perry rant railing against the industry and punk acts taking their turn on the heritage circuit. His voice is treated and echoed over an experimental soundscape of minimal processing, which heats up into throbbing bass tones sheathed in noise. Formed in the early days of punk, Alternative TV have always pushed beyond the restrictive format of a typical punk sound, and it's clear that reductive association with punk is something Mark Perry is still not comfortable with. Still burning with rage and intensity, this stands as another surprising and unpredictable turn from a group intent on pursuing an independent vision.

This is direct action.

Direct Action was originally released on vinyl in an edition of 600 on vinyl - with some copies still available. This special CD edition is limited to 400 copies from Fourth Dimension Records