Review

Martin Rev

The Sum Of Our Wounds Cassette Recordings 1973-85

Bureau B • 2023

It’s unbelievable what can still be found lying around. They simply made a lot, and really good ones. Now old demos or sketches of the demigod Martin Rev—he was a god together with Alan Vega as Suicide—have been released. It is said that there are people who lose all doubts when they read the name, but there are also people with bad taste. So you can ask yourself: do you need this? Unfinished drafts, playing around, when you can have the finished product? The answer is an emphatic yes: more than even a fan would have thought. The 16 rather unpleasantly titled tracks on »The Sum of Our Wounds (Cassette Recordings 1973-85)« are more than just a preliminary product. It all seems very coherent as a whole. There’s so much melody and atmosphere even in these gimmicks, the unfiltered only reinforces the suicide vibe, the (creative) power flows out of this thing from all channels. Newcomers will find the best lo-fi drum machine album of the year here, while those who love it will adore the raw structure of supersongs like »Dream Baby Dream«, »Surrender« or »Ghost Rider«, and will also find more material throughout to prove that Martin Rev is one of the most important instrumentalists of all time.