PROFILE - The Complete IEM by IEM Incredible Expanding Mindfuck

The Complete IEM by IEM Incredible Expanding Mindfuck, from 2010, is a box set that contains the entire discography of the side project of Steven Wilson, released in a limited edition of 2,000 copies and quite hard to find 

I recall that the name "Incredible Expanding Mindfuck" is a joke referring to the initial promotional material of Porcupine Tree, in which Porcupine Tree was given an entirely invented history from the '70s and in which Incredible Expanding Mindfuck was mentioned as a related project. A prank that then became reality. 

Pure experimentation, whose strength lies in the search for sounds, certainly coming from a studio where the Wilson Genius isolated himself and began to play with the PC and synths, giving birth to something absolutely distant from any of his other work, nothing melodic or structured. On the border between psychedelic rock and space rock but also with one foot in the world of Kosmische Musik (Krautrock) and the other in electronic music and jazz rock reminiscences. All with undisputed mastery in fusions.

This is the “Wilsonian” interpretation of Krautrock and psychedelia, a hypnotic sound and, as the band name suggests, you can sense the intention of an “incredibly revolutionary expansion of consciousness” that sounds very similar to the experimental works of Porcupine Tree

The characteristics are a recurring repetitive baseline in almost every track, a riff is repeated in a continuous loop, overlaid with a carpet of synths and variations with psychedelic solos, a driving drum and voices that appear sporadically as spoken word.

The box set contains the four albums

I.E.M. from 1996

An Escalator to Christmas from 1999

Arcadia Son from 2001
IEM Have Come For Your Children from 2001

… together with a large collection of photos in a truly interesting book that do not seem in any way connected to the project and which mainly date back to the period between 1900 and 1950, depicting British and German soldiers, children, scenes of daily life, as well as beautiful cover photos of the four records. Cryptic artwork like the albums themselves.

Steven Wilson himself recalled how "The Complete IEM" is officially an untitled box set and tells us to define it as "it should be seen as the official conclusion of Incredible Expanding Mindfuck: "this is all the IEM music there will ever be". 

All the material had already been previously released but was no longer available and was therefore aggregated and optimized for this definitive edition.

The (instrumental) music of IEM is largely improvised, performed by Wilson or with other musicians, including Colin Edwin, the bassist of Porcupine Tree. 

The IEM project, in my opinion, is of equal value to No-Man and Porcupine Tree but also Blackfield in the early phase and this box set is the perfect synthesis of an experimental phase of Wilson clearly influenced by kraut and space rock but which has a unique flavor and can be traced back to Wilson's solo work or with the later Porcupine Tree.

An MUST-HAVE for fans of this great Artist.

Technical Notes for the Release

This complete I.E.M. box set contains every single liner note officially released for the project. Housed in a hardcover slipcase, with all four discs packaged in Japanese mini-album-style cardboard sleeves with inner sleeves and a 60-page booklet, this release is both a tribute and a final farewell, and is strictly limited to 2,000 copies worldwide.

The box set consists of:
CD1: I.E.M. (tf73)
CD2: An Escalator to Christmas (tf74)
CD3: Arcadia Son (tf75)
CD4: IEM Have Come For Your Children (tf76)

I.E.M. previously released I.E.M. on vinyl in 1996 and I.E.M. in 1998. The CD included "Headphone Dust" as a bonus track.
Arcadia Son previously released I.E.M. - Arcadia Son on vinyl in May 2001 and I.E.M. - Arcadia Son CD, January 2002.
IEM Have Come For Your Children had already released I.E.M. - IEM Have Come For Your Children on CD, September 2001, and as a double vinyl LP, March and August 2003.
A CD "An Escalator to Christmas" compiled from various releases:
Tracks 2-1 and 2-2 were previously released as the 12" EP "An Escalator to Christmas," April 1999.
Tracks 2-3 and 2-4 were bonus tracks included on the CD compilation "IEM 1996-99," October 2005.
Tracks 2-5 were a bonus track on the double vinyl LP "IEM Have Come For Your Children."
Contains an unlistened track (2-6) with a 30-second preview of silence, including a parody of lens cleaning CDs.

LineUp

Colin Edwin (4-1 a 4-6)

Geoff Leigh (4-1 a 4-6)

Mark Simnett (4-1 a 4-6)

Steven Wilson

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page