2LP – Black Vinyl

First time available on vinyl for 16 years, considered a high point in the early Clark catalogue

Remastered for increased dynamics, overseen by Clark

Part of a larger Clark reissue campaign alongside companion 05-10 2LP album of rarities, outtakes and new material (WARPLP346) and Body Double anthology 2CD (WARPCD149X)

Clarkannounces a remastered edition of his 2006 albumBody Riddle, alongside a 2LP companion record,05-10, that compiles new material, unreleased tracks from the period and sought after rarities. The two records are also anthologised in theBody Double2CD set.

Now regarded as something of a classic in the Clark catalogue, it has been cited by producers including Arca, Rustie and Hudson Mohawke as being an influential record. Writing forThe Quietusback in 2014,Ed Gillettcommented: It’s no hyperbole to say that Clark’s 2006 LP Body Riddle is one of electronic music’s unheralded masterpieces, its layers of heat-warped melodies, flickering textures and muscular drumming (played by Clark himself) creating a beautiful and unstable mixture of violence and wistfulness. Its production is immaculate, almost inhumanly so, swaddling the listener in midrange before pummelling them viciously, shifting seamlessly between organic instruments and impossible, vertiginous sound design.

Recorded during a period the producer was living in the Midlands city of Birmingham in the UK, shortly before leaving for Berlin, Clark recalls the genesis of the album: I can remember that period as getting really into krautrock and spending the day drumming on pillows along to Can records for six hours a day, when I think of that record thats what I think of.

Striking up a friendship with local band (andWarplabelmates)Broadcastwas also a key factor: They lived about ten minutes from me and I borrowedJames Cargills drum kit and some mics of his, and all of the drums on that album are his old drum kit. There were some jams that me and James had, theres one at the end of Roulette Thrift Run which is basically just him on guitar and me plundering away on some drums, and I just pitched it up. Broadcast werent really in my circle of friends at the time but going to their place was sort of like a holiday from my normal social life, and I just loved it. Both Trish and James were both so full of wisdom, but I wasnt really in with their scene of people at all, Id just go there on my own and listen to records and have cups of tea.

Broadcast also feature on an improvised version of Herr Barr that was only previously available as a download on the Clark website. It has been compiled alongside other sought after rarities and unreleased material that related toBody Riddleon the new05-10 collection. Clark explains a bit more about the tracks on it:

It is that thing of collecting things that would otherwise be lost to the internet and wanting to put a shell around it. Its important to do because I really love some of that material. I suppose what I love is some of those processes, theres a modular jam called Boiler The Wick that I just had all my gear setup and was recording like five modular tracks a day. I still miss that time because my studio is very different today and Im slightly sick of modular because everyones got modular and everyones doing it, but this was like ten years ago and I cant really say its connected toBody Riddleexactly, but it feels like a companion piece of sorts. For example that Boiler The Wick track has a very similar energy to Re-Scar Kiln and it feels like it could be from the same world.

TheThrottle Furniture EPwas 2005, and some of those tracks could have gone onBody Riddlebut they would have took it in a more clubby direction, so it felt good to put a fence around them and just use those for live shows. Around the time of the Body Riddle live shows I was playing those tracks out a lot in various forms. So tracks like Urgent Jel Hack were written beforeBody Riddlewas finished, that was me getting into Valve and Dillinja and loving that stuff as well.

The more beatless, reflective pieces that are included connect to my recent album onDeutsche Grammophon, and also other ambient pieces Ive done for Warp, theyve been peppered throughout my back catalogue. Sparrow Arc Tall is like a cousin of Springtime Epigram or Dew On The Mouth, its that vibe of something captured on 4-track and rendered in a session. So they all feel connected to that family of pieces, and its nice giving people ten more tracks after however many years.

In conclusion, looking back onBody Riddlewith 16 years of hindsight, Clark reflects: I feel really good about it, its interesting hearing it again. It seems to be an album that meant a lot to some people and be a significant record, but for me it is just another album of mine.

It is a bit of a blueprint for how things have gone with my music since then, because its just so dynamic and all over the place and messy, but intentional, and the mess feels deliberate and the accidents feel illuminating and exciting, and thats a spirit that I think I always want to capture in music. You know when you hear music that is less than the sum of its parts, and it should work because everythings tidy and in its place but something doesnt work? I think I always aspire to make music thats more than the sum of its parts, that shouldnt really work but it does, and thats such a magical quality. I dont know whether the record has that or not, but the album is certainly the result of trying to be like that, all of these diverse styles sitting alongside each other but the overall album makes it coherent.

Ive always tried to write albums rather than tracks for streaming services. Im always going to be an album artist whether the forms alive or only loved by a hundred people on the planet, for me its still the ultimate form of expression. An albums a perfect length of time, its like a short story, you can do it in a sitting and its not too much. With an album you can just go for a walk and have it in your headphones, and Body Riddle is that classic go for a walk and listen to an album in one go kind of record. Its not trying to be a club record, its pure listening music.

Tracklist:

A1. Herr Bar

A2. Frau Wav

A3. Springtime Epigram

B1. Herzog

B2. Ted

B3. Roulette Thrift Run

C1. Vengeance Drools

C2. Dew On The Mouth

C3. Matthew Unburdened

D1. Night Knuckles

D2. The Autumnal Crush