About
The first Blanck Mass album, recorded for Mogwai’s Rock Action imprint, was recorded and released in 2011. Originally intended as a studio only project, whilst Fuck Buttons were on hiatus, the album soon took on a life of its own when it received critical plaudits. A brief tour followed, with dates in the UK, Europe and the US.
In July 2012, Danny Boyle and musical director Rick Smith handpicked ‘Sundowner’ from the album to be performed in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra at key moments of the Olympic Games opening ceremony in London, which was broadcast to 900 million people worldwide. Some of Benjamin’s work with Fuck Buttons was also featured at the games and on the TV broadcast.
Oneohtrix Point Never’s Software label released the ‘White Math / Polymorph’ 12” the following month, which was a departure from the ambient hi-fi sound of the debut, and Blanck Mass’ first move into Techno.
By this point Blanck Mass had become a fully functioning live and studio outfit and was handpicked by Sigur Ros to be the main support act on their European tour. Shortly afterwards Benjamin appeared in Ben Wheatley’s ‘A Field in England’ movie, which featured the Blanck Mass track ‘Chernobyl’.
Spring 2015 saw the release of ‘Dumb Flesh’, a landmark recording both in terms of production and composition, with Blanck Mass now fully established as Benjamin’s main creative outlet. This period also saw his first foray into the soundtrack world, as he curated and featured on an alternative score for Belgian independent movie ‘The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears’, in collaboration with the East End Film Festival. The year closed with the release of ‘The Great Confuso’, an epic 33- minute EP featuring contributions from the legendary former Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV leader Genesis P. Orridge.
Extensive touring and writing the next album were the order of the day in 2016, with the Adult Swim singles club release of ‘D7 D5’ (entitled as a response chess move to Manuel Gottsching’s classic ‘E2 E4’), and this was also released as a limited edition one-sided 12” single on the Richter Sound label.
The ‘World Eater’ album came next and propelled Blanck Mass to the forefront of experimental electronic music. Critical acclaim followed, firmly putting Blanck Mass in people’s minds as a premier league outfit. A world tour cemented cult status and established a post-Fuck Buttons global fan base. The record further solidified Benjamin’s position as a cutting edge producer and performer, with other established artists approaching him to produce and oversee recording sessions. This manifested itself in the release of the Blanck Mass produced Editors album ‘Violence’, and another Editors release followed, the eight track ‘Blanck Mass Sessions’ album.
In 2018 ‘Please’ from ‘World Eater’ became BM’s first track to be streamed over a million times on Spotify, and this was followed by a remix of the track, featuring original vocals from Sacred Bones label mate Zola Jesus. The same year witnessed the one-off double A-sided single ‘Odd Scene’ / ‘Shit Luck’, which was a nod to Benjamin’s youth in the UK punk and hardcore scene.
In 2019 the ambitious ‘Animated Violence Mild’ album was a creative step forward, with metal and dance music colouring his palette to produce another record which made it clear that the re-invention process was a part of the ongoing Blanck Mass agenda. Again, critical response was extremely positive, with the album attracting listeners beyond the confines of the existing fan base.
Blanck Mass was now attracting interest from the film world, and first-time director Nick Rowland made an approach regarding scoring his staggering debut feature length movie ‘Calm with Horses’ (re-titled ‘The Shadow of Violence’ for the North American market). The soundtrack was issued on Geoff Barrow’s (Portishead) label, Invada Records and was awarded the highly prestigious Ivor Novello award for Best Film Score
In 2021.
At the start of the COVID-19 lockdown Benjamin had instigated a series of improvised live performances, broadcast worldwide through social media outlets, as a means of sharing new and original Blanck Mass material, during trying times for all. The first of these was edited down to one long track, which was released on Blanck Mass’ Weirding Way label. Entitled ‘Mind Killer’, the album was released as a limited LP. This was swiftly followed by the more experimental ‘In Ferneaux’ which incorporated field recordings, found sounds and a distinctly European flavour.
The world of film and TV had been alerted to Benjamin‘s compositional talent and the soundtrack to ‘Ted K’ (the titular unabomber Ted Kaczynski) was the next release to appear, on Sacred Bones worldwide. Within a few months the soundtrack to the documentary film ‘Gazza’ was issued, a work that still awaits a physical release.
Around this time Blanck Mass once again teamed up with Nick Rowland for the TV docudrama ‘Floodlights’, a film about Andy Woodward, the former professional footballer who in 2016 revealed that he was a victim of child sexual abuse by the predatory coach Barry Bennell. To date there has been no release of the music on any format.
Early 2023 saw the release of Blanck Mass’ score to the six-part Amazon TV series ‘The Rig’ and at the end of the year a second season was commissioned with the show and its score set for release in 2025.
Discography
Blanck Mass (Album, CD) 2011
White Math / Polymorph (12” Vinyl single) 2012
Hellion Earth (Digital single) 2012
Tour EP (Promo CD single) 2013
Dumb Flesh (Album, CD/Vinyl/Digital) 2015
Blanck Mass Presents The Strange Colour Of Your Body’s Tears (Re-scored soundtrack (Album, Vinyl) 2015
The Great Confuso EP (Digital single) 2015
No Lite (One-sided 12” Vinyl single) 2015
Dead Format (Radio Edit) (Promo CD single) 2015
D7-D5 (12” Vinyl single) 2016
Silent Treatment (Radio Edit / Full version) (Promo CD single) 2017
The Rat (Promo CD single)
Please (Radio Edit / Full version) (Promo CD single) 2017
World Eater (Album, CD/Vinyl/Digital) 2017
Odd Scene / Shit Luck (12” Vinyl single) 2018
World Eater Re-Voxed (Four BM tracks remixed by other artists) (Digital single) 2018
Editors vs. Blanck Mass (Album, Vinyl) 2019
Animated Violence Mild (Album, CD/Vinyl/Digital) 2019
Calm With Horses (Original Soundtrack) (Album, CD/Vinyl/Digital) 2020
Mind Killer (Album, Vinyl) 2021
Ted K (Original Soundtrack) (Album, CD/Vinyl/Digital) 2022
Gazza (Original Soundtrack) (Album, Digital) 2022
Floodlights (TV Score) (Album, Unreleased) 2022
* EBM – As member of Editors (Album, CD/Vinyl/Digital) 2022
The Rig (TV Score) (Album, CD/Vinyl/Digital) 2023
Remixes
As Blanck Mass
John Carpenter
Mogwai
Moby
Placebo
East India Youth
Sigur Ros
The Horrors
Gazelle Twin
Editors
Deftones
Live Collaborations
Part of GLENN BRANCA'S 7 guitars + Drums Steve Reich piece @ ATP Minehead 2007
'Group leader' in BOREDOMS live performance at Station to Station (88 Cymbals) at Barbican, 2015
GENESIS BREYER P. ORRIDGE/ EDLEY O DOWD/ BLANCK MASS improvised live performance at SACRED BONES 10 Year Anniversary, 2017