White Stains
Singleminded Dualisms
POLAND ZOHARUM RECORDS ZOHAR 296-2 C.D. (2023)
Having this land on the doormat recently set me thinking that I always assumed that, when the Gen. P. Multi-national corp. was in the pink, White Stains were either a shadow-hugging Psychic T.V. offshoot (with an interchangeable membership), or, some kinda naughty wicked Orridgean spoof. But now those vague suppositions can be thoroughly rubbished. Th’ Stains really were a living, breathing musical entity, replete with just a pinch or two of brimstone in its D.N.A. Formed in Sweden by bassist/vocalist Carl Abrahamsson in the mid-eighties, they were, not surprisingly, named after a book of porno-poesie authored by “the great beast” hisself; Aleister Crowley (working under the pen name of G.A. Bishop).
Here, they find themselves comped in a chronological, warts’n’all crammer detailing all of their single releases (and an album track) before the band morphed into the curiously-named Cotton Ferox. And a crammer it certainly is as during this two-year period, they appear to have skidded across (micro) genres like there was no tomorrow. “Sweet Jayne” open the collection, having nothing to do with the V.U. standard and everything to do with American actress Jayne Mansfield’s fatal dalliance with the Church of Satan; wah-wah’d to the max (c/o Jan Ekman) and sharing the same set of dilated pupils as the Stooges’ Detroit/gregorian downer anthem “We Will Fall”. Well, a celebrity car smash certainly sets a certain mood, but then, it’s all change as those restless genes start to kick in. Neo-gothic/hard, flinty garage rock signatures emerge in “Express Your Desire” and “The Energy”, and if accompanying sleeve art (a goat/human skull hybrid and a shaven head band member portrait) could ever encapsulate the sounds within… It’s here, wearing a Cheshire cat scowl and bathed in the same dark aura last encountered in the works of fellow countrymen The Leather Nun years previous. “The Awareness” and “The Result” (both dedicated to Mr. Crowley), round off the set. The ‘all change’ on this occasion finds the again, re-jigged combo in machine-tooled electro-funk mode (a la Sheffield’s Chakk and/or Hula).
The Stains’ releases were only ever pressed in severely limited numbers, some not even realising triple figures (!), leaving even the most intrepid vinyl junkie regularly clutching thin air. Thankfully, Zoharum’s thorough investigations have now plugged this gap.