Jes Aurelius is a busy dude. This last year has seen him put out music as a solo artist, as a part of Marshstepper, and as a guitarist in Destruction Unit. I'm probably missing something, but who gives a rat's ass? One of the cassettes that snuck up on me out of nowhere was his first release under the alias Pleasure Korps, Blessings. Blessings is a nine-song concoction of mixed electronica and field recordings, languishing somewhere between industrial, techno, and musique concrete.I'll say right off the bat that it is probably my favorite of his solo releases. At times harsh and at others danceable, Blessings is hard to pin down, but that's what makes it really great. I personally love field recordings. I collect them. It's one of the big pros of the traveling lifestyle - I can find sounds from places that many people wouldn't. Jes does the same thing. You only need to take a look at Destruction Unit's tour dates or even just the Marshstepper Europe itinerary from this previous fall to know that he has taken in a lot of sights and sounds. It fucking shows. I can't claim to know what most of the samples of Blessings are, but I can tell you that they are striking in their beauty and discomfort because the truth is that this release is not tied together by one mood but by one mind and a mind can be a frightening expansive thing.
Blessings is out on Nostilevo from California. This release is definitely worth a listen and if you ask me, it's worth a purchase.
The first hyperlink goes to the release, since I can't figure out how to embed Bandcamp links. Anyway, I'm going to embed a live set that Jes did with Chris Hansell as Pleasure Korps.
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