Black Pus – All My Relations

Black Pus is Brian Chippendale, who rose to prominence as the drummer of noise rock titans Lightning Bolt and Mindflayer. The first Black Pus CD-R was self released in early 2006, and was a collection of ferocious free jazz, multi-tracked on Chippendale’s cassette four-track. Enamored of the control of recording solo, Chippendale followed with more CD-Rs, and began playing live under the Black Pus moniker. He refined the Black Pus sound over numerous self-released CDs and 2011’s Primordial Pus on Load Records, replacing the saxophone with a drum-mounted oscillator and experimenting with pop structures. The oscillator creates gigantic bass tones that are then fed through a series of pedals. Over the course of the past several years Chippendale has been hand-picked by Bjo?rk and The Flaming Lips as a collaborator, and recruited by Andrew W.K. for Lee “Scratch” Perry’s 2008 album Repentance.

All My Relations is constant forward motion and audible physicality. Chippendale’s furious drumming style is ever present and instantly recognizable, but the pop element, which Chippendale explored in more contained ways on earlier Black Pus releases, is more fully integrated. Tracks like “1000 Years” and “Hear No Evil” bear a snarl and a smile, the sound of wild abandon that is both aggressive and inviting. Chippendale creates maximalist music out of the simple elements of drums, vocals, and an oscillator triggered by the kick drum, looping and repeating phrases and rhythms in a way that can only be called meditative. The album closes with “A Better Man,” an almost ten minute epic that expertly alternates between the minimal pulse of the kick drum and oscillator and some of the most voracious and unrestrained drumming on the album.

For the first time with any group he’s been a part of, Chippendale fully embraced the studio to realize All My Relations. He entrusted recording and producing to Keith Souza and Seth Manchester (who have worked with The Body, Battles and Skull Defekts) at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, RI. All My Relations retains the expansive, primal sound of Chippendale’s earlier recordings, enhanced by the clarity of the studio. Black Pus has attained vicious transcendence.