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Songs We Love: Blanck Mass, 'Dead Format'

Benjamin John Power, a.k.a. Blanck Mass, released his new album, <em>Dumb Flesh</em>, on Tuesday.
Alex De Mora
/
Courtesy of the artist
Benjamin John Power, a.k.a. Blanck Mass, released his new album, Dumb Flesh, on Tuesday.

Benjamin John Power's new album as Blanck Mass, Dumb Flesh, is quite literally electronic body music. Its artwork zooms in uncomfortably on synthetically disfigured flab; its track titles make reference to various states of corporeal corrosion.

/ Courtesy of the artist
/
Courtesy of the artist

And what a feeling, this flesh dance. Power's monstrous duo F*** Buttons makes heavy, rhythmic music that rewires your mind (and scores Olympic ceremonies), and his previous recordings as Blanck Mass have been brainy noise, but Dumb Flesh is mental in a very different way. Take its lead single, "Dead Format," an ominous, jacked-up juggernaut that's as seductive as it is scary. The sinewy beat throttles forward as distortion coats a vintage Nine Inch Nails melody that grows more intense by the measure. It's dance music for heavy sweating — when Power finally drops contorted, chopped-up vocals into the fray, the froth is damn near palpable.

Dumb Flesh is out now on Sacred Bones.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.