Nurse With Wound - Zero Mix

Images/Zero Mix (2008) 1. Zero Mix 2. Zero Mix [continued] (17:35) 3. Zero Mix [continued] (27:23) In 2004, the Beta-lactam Ring label released three albums entitled Angry Eelectric Finger, volumes one through three, all billed to Nurse with Wound and someone else (Jim O’Rourke, Cyclobe, and irr. app. (ext.)). These consisted in reconstructions by other artists of original material provided by Nurse with Wound. Released four years later, Zero Mix is that original material. It consists of a long three-part piece by Steve Stapleton and Colin Potter, with special guests David Tibet (guitar) and Xhol Caravan’s Tim Belbe and Hansi Fischer (flute and sax). Part one is a very ambient and dark piece built from a low church bell and a creaky rocking chair (or something similar). The piece breathes slowly, hardly escalating at all but fascinating nonetheless. Odd guitar events launch part two, the album’s harsher movement, with electronics turning louder but remaining drone-like. Sax and flute are added in part three, as the piece hovers between industrial drone and free improvisation -- something that pulls it surprisingly close to the textural side of the Legendary Pink Dots’ music. Zero Mix is a strong album in its own right, but you will get an extra kick out of it if you already know the three Angry Eelectric Finger CDs -- some sounds are readily recognizable (and it turns out that irr. app. (ext.) had followed the original piece’s structure to the letter for his remix). Zero Mix has been released as a standalone CD, but it is also part of the Limited Edition Box release, which adds a superb 226-page hardbound book documenting the 100 individually hand painted 12“ discs Stapleton produced (under his graphic design moniker Babs Santini) for an exhibition. All variations on a handful of basic elements (a hand, the Egyptian eye, a vagina), these art pieces are vivid and very colorful. The book marks the first documentation of Stapleton’s graphic art (beside album covers) and, as such, is a must-have for Nurse with Wound fans. The regular edition of Images/Zero Mix was produced in 1500 copies. There is also a “gallery edition“ of 400 copies with the Zero Mix CD, the Images book, an extra CD entitled “Requital for Lady Day,“ and a signed and numbered insert, all housed in a 14“ x 7“ black box. “Requital for Lady Day“ consists of two pieces that seem to come from the Zero Mix sessions. The title track is a very quiet and delicate piece, while “Ocean“ gradually builds, wave after wave of sonic wash, into a disquieting storm. This “gallery edition“ stands as one of Beta-lactam Ring’s most luxurious deluxe sets. []