REVIEW. Philip Best - Alien Existence (Infinity Land Press, 2016)

Philip Best (born 1968) is an English pioneer of power electronics, who formed the band Consumer Electronics in 1982 at the age of 14. He joined the group Whitehouse, led by William Bennett, in 1983. After a nine-year hiatus starting in 1984, Best rejoined and remained with the group until departing again in 2008. In the early 1980s, Best also ran his own DIY label Iphar, releasing compilations of power electronics. Through the circulation of these controversial cassettes he succeeded in promoting the burgeoning extreme noise genre.

Best has been a frequent collaborator with Gary Mundy on projects such as Ramleh (c.1987-1997).[3] In 1995, under the Consumer Electronics moniker, Best joined forces with Japanese noise musician Masami Akita - along with several Ramleh cohorts - to release "Horn of the Goat."In 1998, Best published his doctoral thesis at Durham University entitled "Apocalypticism in the Fiction of William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard and Thomas Pynchon", and later received a doctorate in English literature.

In 2010, a collection of Best's artwork entitled 'American Campgrounds' was published by Creation Books, with a foreword written by Peter Sotos.

Now, Philip Best comes with his probably best work. Harsh, aesthetic and angry in a good sense of the word. It makes me shiver as the first sounds of Coil's Musick to Play in the Dark.

It is dark.

Heavy.

Death is death.

Sincere.

You know, you must read it.

Happiness. It's what you get from this book. Strange? It should be so.

P.S.Also, You can read here my review of another book of Infinity Land Press:

Coloured by death, but beautiful. Jeremy Reed & Karolina Urbaniak. ALTERED BALANCE – A Tribute to Coil (Infinity Land Press, 2014–2015)

Big thanks to Karolina and Martin for their great work.