This new posthumous release from Alan Vega is a full-length album with two previously  released songs. The songs came out a few years ago as a 12” e.p. om Sacred Bones  Records and one of the tracks made it to a 7” on In The Red. This record collects other tracks recorded around that time. 

The tracks are jarring and abrasive and it does not sound at all like a recording by someone  who was Vega’s age when he wrote and performed these songs. This is angry music by a  guy who should have been enjoying his retirement but instead decided to let his voice be  heard. As stated in a previous review the song “Invasion” may be the most accessible song  in the collection with a catchy keyboard phrase to power it. In “Cyanide Soul” we get  treated to hearing Alan in a speaking voice although it is much lower and menacing than  his regular speaking voice. After the grueling 9-minute plus “Murder One” two more tracks,  “Fireball Fever” and “Genocide”, sound like Vega is giving us a glimpse at the true Hell we  have created here on earth. And a real rarity on a Vega record is the instrumental “Jet  Lord”. Fans of Vega’s solo work with Liz Lamere helming the “machines” will find this to be  a completely satisfying listening experience. 

I asked Liz about these recordings and was surprised to learn that they were recorded  before the year 2000. Surprised, because thanks to Liz’s electronic knowhow and producer  Jared Artaud tweaking the tracks, this record sounds like it could have been recorded last  week. “Insurrection is the cluster of songs that Alan & I recorded after Mutator and before  2007 (which came out in 1999). Both those albums were recorded in the period between  Dujang Prang (1995) and 2007 (1999)”, Liz explains. It seems like there is more Vega  related music coming out on a regular basis than when he was actively working. Will we be  hearing more unreleased material in the near future? “We didn’t release Station until 2007  so there’s a bunch of vault recordings from that 8-year time period as well. There’s also  unreleased material from between the 2007 album and when we finished IT.” Vega fans  will indeed have more excellent material to look forward to. 

In The Red has released this as a two-disc set in a gatefold sleeve featuring Vega art and  inner sleeves with a Vega live pic and album info.