Sometimes the busiest electronic music is the most fulfilling. Listening to Animated Violence Mild, Benjamin John Power’s latest solo record as Blanck Mass, can turn a task like driving to the grocery store into a full-blown action sequence. Sonically, it is sharper and more focused than 2017’s World Eater, and possibly the most realized Blanck Mass release yet.
The album’s first single, the nearly eight-minute “House vs. House,” begins with two similarly chopped and panned vocal samples working off each other to counter an absolutely relentless kick and snare beat. Bright synths work their way into the mix, all building to a loud, euphoric chorus. The comedown introduces sang (possibly reversed) vocal samples that build on the melodic aspects of the tune. What is being said here can be difficult to make out – a theme in Power’s music that was first noticeable in Fuck Buttons’ (his influential, Bristol based electronic duo with Andrew Hung,) 2008 debut Street Horrrsing, where he screamed poetry into a distorted children’s toy microphone and speaker combo. At times, Power’s vocals can sound like a loud whisper: used only to provide texture for the listener and meaning for himself. On Animated Violence Mild, Power embraces his vocal delivery on the tracks “Death Drop,” and for less than 30 seconds at the end of “Love Is a Parasite.” The sparse nature in which his own vocals appear makes these two songs all the more compelling.
Power manages to make the slower tempo cuts into heavy-hitters as well. “Hush Money,” incorporates scattered gang-vocal samples that sound like they could have been lifted from an old T.I. album. Similar vocal samples come back on “No Dice,” but in more noticeable, leading fashion. One of the great aspects of Animated Violence Mild is shown through Power’s ability to craft songs that are very different from one another but are comprised of the same elements. The one noticeably different track, “Creature/West Fuqua,” incorporates elements of drone before turning into a harp-sampling sauna of peace and light. It is a nice break in the tracklist – one that feels gradual and deserved.
“Wings of Hate,” the album’s explosive final track, sounds like it could actually be a Fuck Buttons song. It is a truly monumental artistic achievement considering that Fuck Buttons are a duo, and it makes the desire for them to follow up their practically perfect third LP, 2013’s Slow Focus, even greater. It is currently unknown if the group ever plans on working together again, but if this allows Power to continue making Blanck Mass records as exceptional as Animated Violence Mild, then maybe – just maybe – we don’t need the return of Fuck Buttons as much as we think.