• Basket
  • RA Store
  • Login / Register
  • Login
  • Register
Resident Advisor
×
Search
Submit
Did you mean
×
  • Resident Advisor
  • Magazine
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Features
    • Videos
  • Listings
    • Events
    • Clubs
    • Festivals
    • Photos
  • Music
    • Artists
    • New Tracks
    • DJ Charts
    • Podcasts
  • Search
  • Reviews
  • /
  • Albums

Pharmakon - Contact

    • Label /
      Sacred Bones Records
      SBR175LP
    • Released /
      March 2017
    • Style /
      Noise
    • Comments /
      6 / View
    • Rating /
      4.0/5
    • Previous
    • Next
    Pharmakon - Contact Pharmakon - Contact
    Pharmakon - Contact The world can be a terrifying place, full of pain, suffering and evil. Most of us shy away from that harsh reality. Margaret Chardiet is acutely aware of this, and she wants to make us aware of it, too. The human condition and its dual nature is a longstanding theme of her Pharmakon project. On Contact, Chardiet's latest album, she asks us to face what it really means to be human, in all of its splendour and agony.

    Previous Pharmakon albums—Abandon and Bestial Burden—have touched on issues of the flesh. Bestial Burden portrayed the body as a failing system, a "rotting vessel" and jailer of the mind. Contact considers what happens when the mind breaks free. "Sentient"'s soaring instrumental, which whooshes upwards and expand from all sides, seems to convey that idea. It's one of the record's few moments of respite.

    The searing production on Contact is one thing—what's most rousing, though, is Chardiet's voice. Her banshee cries pierce the soul on opener "Nakedness Of Need." On "No Natural Order," her black metal vocals are so shrill that they could shatter glass. She always sounds on the edge of a knife, prepared to bleed out for her art. Her lyrics—mostly incomprehensible—are at the heart of her project's beauty and philosophy. But even without discernible words, Contact sends a clear and uncomfortable message.

    The album is hostile and debilitating. But playing Contact at home still falls short of experiencing Pharmakon live, despite Chardiet's efforts to transpose the energy that's exchanged between audience and performer at her shows. Chardiet's presence on the album is so commanding, however, that you can almost feel her reaching out to you from beyond the recording. It'll shake you up, no matter what.
    • Published /
      Fri / 28 Apr 2017
    • Words /
      Holly Dicker
    • Share
    • Tracklist /
      01. Nakedness Of Need
      02. Sentient
      03. Transmission
      04. Sleepwalking Form
      05. Somatic
      06. No Natural Order
    0/
  • Popular reviews

    • 102 comments

      DJ Healer - Nothing 2 Loose / Prime Minister Of Doom - Mudshadow Propaganda

    • 26 comments

      Daniel Avery - Song For Alpha

    • 27 comments

      DJ Koze ‎- Pick Up

    • 19 comments

      Regal / Amelie Lens ‎- Involve 020

    • 4 comments

      DGTL Amsterdam 2018: Five key performances

    • 12 comments

      Krystal Klear ‎- The Division

    • 28 comments

      Mr. Fingers - Cerebral Hemispheres

    • 11 comments

      Laurent Garnier at Rex Club

    0/
  • Comments loading

    0/ #312638
    • More on Sacred Bones Records

      Sacred Bones Records


      View the full label profile

    • Reviews

      • 1 comments

        Föllakzoid - London Sessions feat. J. Spaceman

      • 10 comments

        Blanck Mass - World Eater

      • 22 comments

        Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh

      • 15 comments

        Pharmakon - Bestial Burden

      • 4 comments

        Lust For Youth - International

      • 3 comments

        Prolife - Overheated / Gold Leaves

    0/
  • More on Pharmakon

    • Pharmakon
      Add to favourites


      View the full artist profile

    Upcoming dates

    • Thu24/May 2018

      Atlantic Provinces

      Obey Convention XI

    News

    • Mon, 29 May 2017

      5 comments

      Unsound reveals first names for 2017

      Gas, Jlin and a back-to-back set from DJ Bone and DJ Stingray are confirmed.

    • Tue, 04 Apr 2017

      Post a comment

      Trip Metal returns with Chicago and Detroit festivals featuring Wolf Eyes, Container

      Pharmakon and Aaron Dilloway are also on board for both May events.

    • Tue, 20 Dec 2016

      6 comments

      Perc, Merzbow, Arca appear on Adult Swim noise compilation

      Prurient, Vessel and Pharmakon are also on the free-to-download album.

    • Wed, 23 Nov 2016

      4 comments

      Arca, Jessy Lanza booked for Rewire 2017

      The Dutch festival will also host SUMS—the duo of Kangding Ray and Mogwai's Barry Burns—in late March and early April.

    • Tue, 29 Sep 2015

      Post a comment

      Shawn O'Sullivan and 51717 billed in Oberlin

      The two artists will head in from New York for a show this weekend hosted by a student events group on the Oberlin College campus.

    • Wed, 22 Jul 2015

      3 comments

      Kevin Drumm heads to SF for a Hostile Ambient Takeover

      The uncompromising Chicago musician will play the Bay Area event in August.

    • Wed, 22 Jul 2015

      17 comments

      Autechre play RA showcase at Decibel 2015

      Laurel Halo and Cygnus will also join us at the Seattle festival in September, which has announced the rest of its 2015 lineup.

    • Fri, 17 Jul 2015

      1 comments

      Northern Electronics and Posh Isolation tour the US

      Varg, Damien Dubrovnik and Puce Mary will play three American dates in August.

    Reviews

    • 6 comments

      Pharmakon - Contact

    • 15 comments

      Pharmakon - Bestial Burden

    0/
    • RA
    • Copyright © 2018 Resident Advisor Ltd.
    • All rights reserved
    • Privacy & Terms
    • Resident Advisor /
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Jobs
    • RA Events

    • RA Tickets /
    • My Tickets
    • Ticketing FAQ
    • Resale
    • Sell tickets on RA
    • Submit event

    • Apps /
    • RA Guide
    • RA Ticket Scanner
    • Elsewhere /
    • Watch on YouTube
    • Follow on Facebook
    • Listen on Apple Music
    • Stream on Spotify
  • RA is also available in Japanese. 日本版
    • RA on YouTube
    • RA on Facebook
    • RA on Twitter
    • RA on Google+
    • RA on Instagram
    • RA on Soundcloud