''Brainbloodvolume'' is the third and final album from English rock band

Ned's Atomic Dustbin Ned's Atomic Dustbin are an English rock band formed in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in November 1987. The band took their name from an episode of radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show''. The band is unusual for using two bass-players in their ...

with their original line-up. It was released in the United States on 21 March 1995 but did not appear in the United Kingdom until July of that year.

Music

''Brainbloodvolume'' finds the band "decisively stepping beyond" their usual style "to embrace a variety of styles and approaches," and is marked by "ultramodern production", electronics and sampling, all of which were introduced to a lesser extent on ''Are You Normal?'' Ned Raggett of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said the album was "brimming with energy and a willingness to experiment" while "retaining the yearning heart" of many early songs by the band. The album is "an altogether happier effort" than its predecessor and shows the band seeming "confident and relaxed enough to work; the songs appear to be the result of actual woodshedding, not last-minute whip-ups." Palmer's "especially careful" production "gets

he material He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

all down in a clear mix of bristling, textured power and slick commercial" whilst ably following "the group's minor stylistic perambulations while juggling modern

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

beats, driving rock, pinging atmospherics, found-sound silliness and glossy mid-tempo pop." Guitarist Rat and sometimes bassist Alex Griffin indulge "in crispier sometimes-abstract performances that suggest early-'80s

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

''à la'' New Order and

the Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

." According to Raggett, opening song "All I Ask of Myself Is That I Hold Together" features an "absolutely massive guitar blast and partially sampled metallic percussion" with "John Penney's always-reliable vocals riding the chaos with increasing desperation, serves notice that the quintet isn't into doing anything half-assed." "Floote" is another instance "of the band's ear for newer approaches", and features a

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

and "an attractive

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

filigree for a trippily eerie crunch." According to ''Trouser Press'', the song is witty "pop-hop" and its flute is "jammy." "Your Only Joke" and "I Want It Over" are together an "epic but not overbearing collapse." "Premonition" features the Funky Drummer breakbeat loop sped-up, acoustic guitar and "a quietly hyperactive keyboard

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

riff." "...To Be Right" combines "heavily processed wash" with "gentler chime."

Album title

The album title is named after a

medical theory Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...

concerning increasing brain blood volume in order to enlarge awareness in sensitivity and empathy; in an interview with James Bonisteel, the band described the album title: "Well, there's a certain school of theory--a medical theory--that thinks if you increase the volume of blood in the brain that you can increase your awareness in your empathy and your sensitivity. There were some people in the 60's who tried to increase their brain blood volume by drilling a hole into the skull to crack sort of a pressure release. I don't know how crazy it is. People are trying to do that to themselves all the time, maybe not like that literally, but that's what people use drugs for and that's why people exercise--basically to release the pressure that's in them. I think it's something that everybody does in their own way; it's just that this is a particularly interesting way to relieve the pressures in your head."

Reception

The staff of ''Melody Maker'' said "we asked Neil Kulkarni to review the new Ned's Atomic Dustbin LP. Instead, he's written one very long sentence, and one very short one. Well, you can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might get what you need." Christopher Lloyd of ''Louder Than War'' retrospectively called the album "a solid piece of work." ''xsilence'' noted how, instead of transitioning into a Britpop band, as multiple "noisy groups" did at the time, Ned's Atomic Dustbin surprisingly took "the option to integrate electronic sounds into their scabby rock."

Track listing

# "All I Ask of Myself Is That I Hold Together" (4:17) # "Floote" (2:51) # "Premonition" (4:03) # "Talk Me Down" (3:31) # "Borehole" (3:25) # "Your Only Joke" (3:18) # "Stuck" (3:40) # "...To Be Right" (3:35) # "I Want It Over" (3:58) # "Traffic" (3:30) # "Song Eleven Could Take Forever" (4:00)

Credits

* Alex - bass, electric guitar, keyboards, backing vocals * Mat - bass, sampler * Jonn Penney - vocals * Rat - electric and acoustic guitar, keyboards, sampler * D.C. Worton - drums, synthesizer, sampler * Tim Palmer - producer * Mark O'Donoughue - engineer

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Ned's Atomic Dustbin albums Albums produced by Tim Palmer Columbia Records albums