Review Summary: Between flower power and atomic physics a small imperfect but edgy milestone for Electro Industrial was created
Abortive Gasp recorded their second album 'Raw Scent' in Hamburg in winter 1988/89. As far as the degree of improvisation is concerned, it is an exception, since Luehr and Paal this time put much more emphasis on fixed song structures than on other recordings. This was also due to the fact that they went to a conventional recording studio (Ingo Schüttes 'Lamplight', Hamburg) for 4 titles and met there personnel who were not very keen on experimenting. Therefore many of the songs on 'Raw Scent' sound quite solid and almost radio compatible, which also benefited the first version of 'Psychgod'. But also other firmly structured and driving songs, like 'Morph Pusher' and 'Reckon On You' clearly assign this album to the 'EBM' genre, even if with strong industrial parts...
Except for the hippie energy inspired 'Lamplight' recordings, the remaining songs were taped and mixed at the auditorium of a particle acceleration Hamburg research center, which unfortunately had a negative impact on the sound quality this time. During that period, the general transition from analog to digital music recording took place, and Abortive Gasp were audibly not quite up to the standards of the recording technology of that time, despite the high-tech environment in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld.
Like British musicians from the independent sector,
Abortive Gasp felt an urge to work creatively on the then Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: She can be heard with a few sound samples on 'Media Overload' and also decorates the group photo on the album cover with a photo composition, where she covers the secret third band member, of whom it is now only known that it is not Carsten Friedrichs from Superpunk, as was sometimes suspected. However, unlike various Britwavers such as Gary Clail, Peter Hope or Adrian Sherwood, Abortive Gasps use of Thatcher had a humorous rather than a political character, confirming once again that Paal and Luehr had no intention of adopting any other attitude than a juvenile hedonistic one. The latter was probably one of the reasons why Abortive Gasp and other bands and musicians never cooperated to any significant extent.
