Long-awaited solo debut from Napalm Death founder Nicholas Bullen. Initial copies on blue vinyl - cut at Dubplates & Mastering** Type surpass themselves with this incredible solo debut of visceral electro-acoustic and concrete composition by Birmingham's OG extremist, Nik Bullen. Since starting Napalm Death aged 13 with Miles Ratledge and subsequently coining the Grindcore genre with their debut album 'Scum' in 1986 (at which point he left the group), Nik has tended to a key role in his home city's experimental music scene over the last quarter century to arrive at an aesthetic hardly recognisable from his original work, yet intrinsically connected by its uncompromising intent. Crafted entirely from sounds taken off field recordings made around his house and garden, and processed through tape and computer manipulation, his solo debut proper, 'Component Fixtures' is, as John Twells ov Type puts it, "a work which absolutely represents him as an artist both visually and aurally". Decomposing and corrupting his immediate and private environment over two extended tracks, Bullen presents sounds which reference the '60s avant garde - Xenakis, Parmegiani or Schaeffer - yet manifest a much more personal sonic manifesto, whose ostensibly electronic product mask a searching and ultimately human spirit. Coupled with the cover artwork - stills from Nik's film 'The Inverse Heliograph' - we're privy to the internal confines of a white hot mind which has irrevocably altered the planet's musical landscape. It's an album that slowly creeps up on you, drawing you in with subtle shifts and occasional sonic extremeties that will engross those of you who appreciate the works of GRM, Eleh or Eliane Radigue.
