Category: news + premieres

DECAYCAST PREMIERES: Yama Uba breaks down the walls with “Facade”

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YAMA UBA are no strangers to breaking down walls. Through the strings connecting their previous musical efforts to the seminal album, Silhouettes (releasing January 23, 2024 on Psychic Eye Records and Ratskin Records), the US-based duo of Akiko and Winter has slowly and methodically chiseled a sonic and conceptual world all their own.

Through music videos and selective live performances culminating with a Fall 2023 Japan tour, the duo has been steadily building momentum, but all at their own pace and by their own rules. Silhouettes is the culmination of years of refining a vision over time, yet it feels natural and timeless in the most refreshing way possible. Decaycast team sits down with the duo to discuss their new album Silhouettes and their single “Facade,” which is out today! Listen below, and pre-order the album today.

What ground does Silhouettes cover, musically and conceptually?

Akiko: The album didn’t start out with any particular concept, but just because of the timeframe of our writing — five years, as opposed to one-and-a-half or two years in my previous work, we ended up with something that represented that passage of time in our own lives. I think, more universally, the album also speaks to the long-term process of personal evolution. These songs individually are all about the sometimes-difficult moments that give us an opportunity for reflection, and lead to self-discovery. As a whole, I’d say the album is about personal transformation. It’s about how for that to happen, you have to be willing to shed false or outdated beliefs, confront aspects of your life and self that aren’t fun to look at, and give voice to the parts of yourself that have been silenced.

Winter: Silhouettes covers a lot of experiences and expressions of transforming and transmuting energies. It’s a representation of becoming many different forms of self. It’s one the first recordings of me debuting my vocals and saxophone in a full album. It’s an album we both had full creative freedom with, and we were able to expand musically as much as we felt we needed to. We both went through many changes and transformations throughout this album, and this album portrays and reflects that.

Your latest single is called “Facade.” What is it about? 

Winter: “Facade” is about tearing down the walls of false illusion, dismantling any and all power over us that keeps us from being our truest and best selves. It’s a commemoration and celebration of dismantling old structures of belief from a worldwide perspective, within ourselves and outside ourselves, taking down all forms of oppression and injustice.

Akiko: I also think of “Facade” as being about dismantling power and tearing down the illusion of hierarchy. I’ve always had that anarchistic instinct to destroy systemic power structures in the larger world, but this song is about the moment you realize how insidiously those power dynamics are replicated in your own life. It’s about no longer making it your sole responsibility to make a relationship work, and finding the courage to admit that your only way forward is out – out of an abusive situation, out of toxic cycles, out of a social environment that seeks to pigeon-hole, define, or take advantage of you, and out of any structure that is held up by holding you down. It’s about finally breaking free from oppressive power dynamics, and then watching those who held you down fall apart around you. That’s when you can recognize that the abuse you tolerated, to some degree, required your own permission. Even if you get mad at yourself for that, acknowledging and taking responsibility for it becomes its own form of freedom. 

We might not individually have the power to stop the most advanced military in history, but we do have the ability to state that the institutional narratives are outright lies, and to simply refuse to be brainwashed… The crack in the facade, and the tumbling of the tower, starts with each of us.

In “Facade,” there is a long refrain of “It’s just a kiss from a narcissist” throughout the outro. What are you referring to?

Akiko: The song is about breaking free of abuse, and that line speaks to how it feels when you realize how cheap and effortless the scraps of recognition or affection are that you receive in uneven relationships. When we sing it, it reminds me how many times I would have to repeat something like that to myself, sometimes for years, to build up the resolve to finally escape an abusive relationship. I think that, as well as the exhilaration of finding your freedom, is something any abuse survivor can understand. 

We don’t limit ourselves with our sound and we embrace fully going anywhere we want to go. We utilize anything and everything we can, constantly experimenting and approaching our music in a way that feels exciting.

I also think of those lines in “Facade” as I witness global events, where you can see the dynamic of the narcissistic abuser and the abused in imperialism and in capitalism. It feels very personal to witness, for example, the US and Israeli government committing genocide in realtime, right in front of us. In this case, the US and Israeli governments play the role of the narcissist, who only sees others as tools to get what they want, and not as human beings. In colonization, we see the same tactics used in abusive personal relationships: systemic gaslighting, outright lying, abuse of social and institutional power, enforced isolation of the victim, humiliation and dehumanization, leading finally to physical harm or murder. We see the colonizer’s attacks on culture, history and identity in tandem with attacks on the colonized people’s humanity and on life itself. It’s very similar to how personal attacks, criticism and belittling are a part of a larger campaign for total control in abusive personal relationships. 

We might not individually have the power to stop the world’s most advanced military in history, but we do have the ability to state that institutional narratives are outright lies, and to simply refuse to be brainwashed. We can say, “We see you, the richest and most elite people in the world, using all the world’s wealth without our consent, to kill the poorest and the most powerless. You employ weapons of mass destruction to purposely target and kill children, poets, doctors, and teachers, and then you claim a moral superiority.” That has to happen for any other change to take place, and it’s something we’ll always have the power to do. The crack in the facade, and the tumbling of the tower, starts within each of us.

There is a noticeable difference in the sound of Yama Uba vs either of your previous projects, Ötzi or Mystic Priestess. How does the difference in sound palette affect your compositions?

Winter: The difference is there are no bounds in Yama Uba. We don’t limit ourselves with our sound and we embrace fully going anywhere we want to go. We utilize anything and everything we can, constantly experimenting and approaching our music in a way that feels exciting. We are able to break out of our comfort zone to explore and express ourselves in every way possible. One song can portray the energy of tearing down walls and setting fire to everything, while another is about looking at something from a new perspective, and rebuilding everything in a new way. 

Akiko: I think because we have less defined roles in Yama Uba than in a traditional band structure, we can start purely from the intentional and emotional root of a song. We can play improvisationally and build off that if we want to, but it’s not required to have a bunch of people jam together until something clicks, and that alone makes a huge difference. It’s more like, “I’m feeling a song about this subject. Here are the lyrics, or here is this guitar line” – and then if we’re both feeling it, we build a world around that emotion, supporting it with whatever seems appropriate. Of course I’m unlikely to take up guitar or saxophone in this band, and Winter is unlikely to take up bass or synth drum programming, but we can have all or none of those instruments at our disposal. There’s no sense that we have to, for example, write a line so the synth player has something to play. Every sound is purposeful and exists in service to the idea, and that is definitely freeing. I think it’s really advanced us both as artists. 

Winter’s vocals artfully emanate raw emotion on the tracks “Facade,” “Isolation” and “Claustrophobia.” What led to Winter’s singing on these particular tracks? 

Winter: I have always been shown great support from Akiko to sing more. At the time we wrote these songs, we felt it was fitting to capture the raw feeling and emotion in my vocals to signify the atmosphere of those songs. It’s a representation of how overcoming something is not always comforting or pretty. It’s about finding beauty and appreciation in the raw expression of releasing, and to find strength and power within that vulnerability. It’s about truly appreciating and embracing the rawness, no matter what it looks or feels like, because it is the most genuine form of expression. 

What inspires you as musicians?

Winter: I grew up listening to a lot of different styles of music. Everything from jazz, pop, punk and heavy metal. I draw inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. I am inspired by any form of expression that portrays a message and deeper meaning.

Akiko: I’ve always enjoyed all kinds of modern music, but in the past few years I’ve become very inspired by traditional musical forms from Japan. I’m learning several forms of traditional music and dancing arts, and by that I mean going back to 800 years ago! I also meditate and do somatic therapies for my chronic illness, which encourages me to sing and to learn scales from non-Western cultures. I’ve been playing music long enough that it’s become inseparable from life itself, so I view music and life in a very holistic way at this point, and as a sort of spiritual path. Everything in my life influences and inspires my music, and my music influences and inspires everything in the rest of my life. 

What’s next for Yama Uba?

Akiko: The next release after Silhouettes drops is a 2-CD compilation I curated on my label, Psychic Eye Records, that jointly benefits the people of Gaza and the unhoused community of Oakland, California, where I live. That compilation is called The Ancient Wall, and drops in early February. It has over 40 of my favorite bands, so I’m really excited to get that out there. The Yama Uba song on the compilation is actually “Facade,” so I’d encourage anyone reading this to buy the compilation, which will probably sell out pretty fast!

Then, we’ll have a new music video coming out that I’ve worked on harder than any video in my life, so I’ll be proud of it just being out there and existing. Other than that, I’m trying to learn to not always worry about what’s next, and just enjoy the present. I’ve taken a step back from the sometimes manic-feeling cycle of music production and promotion, and I’m just enjoying this quiet time before Spring. Nothing is fully scheduled yet, but Yama Uba will definitely be touring parts of the US, and is likely to tour Italy, in 2024. Japan was incredibly fun to tour in 2023, so we might go back there in 2024, and maybe to Australia. We’re interested in so many things and so many places that I try to just stay flexible, and be open to the opportunities to come to us.

DECAYCAST Premieres: A.S. Valentino summons sleaze, synths, and sin in new single “Let Me See Your Sin”

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A.S. Valentino’s new single, “Let Me See Your Sin,” is a slinking exploration of kink and redemption and is the first track from Valentino’s forthcoming debut album, Summoning on Psychic Eye Records. In “Let Me See Your Sin,” synthpop glides effortlessly into darkwave, with occasional industrial elements grinding against each other, all underscoring lyrics that swell with pain, resolve and love. Describing his music as “trans darkwave,” A.S. Valentino expands in the interview below on the almost inseparable links between his trans identity and his music. In “Let Me See Your Sin” and throughout the album as a whole, A.S. Valentino’s Summoning invokes enough power and mystery to set him apart as a gatecrasher to watch in 2024.

What is your newest single, ‘Let Me See Your Sin,’ about?

A.S. Valentino: “Let Me See Your Sin” is about the redemptive power of BDSM and kink to expel or reclaim shame around sexuality and desire. I was raised Catholic, and I am very attracted to the overlap between religious imagery and ritual and the power of ritual in BDSM and D/s relationships. Particularly in Catholicism, it’s so kinky, gory, sadistic and masochistic all at once. And of course, I enjoy the blasphemy and perversion as well, that’s an added bonus. Catholicism is all about shame, guilt, and the confession of sins for repentance, to be wiped clean again, to be accepted into heaven. In the world of “Let Me See Your Sin,” sinners are encouraged to present their lust, sins and impurity like holy sacraments to be amplified, bringing rapture and redemption through the ritual of BDSM.

How do you describe your music generally?

I would describe my music as informed by darkwave, coldwave, industrial, synth pop, and metal at times, but filtered through a specifically trans and queer lens. The music on Summoning vacillates between creepy and sexy, frenetic and crushing, but some songs are pretty melodic. I like to describe it offhandedly as a soundtrack of sleaze, synths, and sin. 

What inspires you to create the kind of music that you make?

I am drawn to dark music, to the interplay between dissonance and melody. 

I started this project about the same time as I started medically transitioning. I think my music channels the anxiety of being transgender in a world that hates and fears us. You can hear my voice changing over the course of the Dancing with Dysphoria EP to Summoning, my debut album. Rather than hide it, I leaned more heavily into the androgynous, gravelly sound of my voice. It’s very vulnerable to record a record while your voice is actively changing. I also leaned more into how much of the world sees me, as monstrous, shapeshifting, that which subverts and perverts the natural order. 

On the one hand, a lot of my music dwells in the darkness in life – oppression (“Gatekeeper,” “Circle of Dissonance”), death and mortality (“Bodies,” “The Attic”). And in other ways, I explore what is life-affirming for me – kink as spirituality, trans self-determination, the power in being a monster, of being a threat to the order of society. 

“I think the synthesizer is inherently sort of a trans instrument – it can emulate and embody new sounds, despite how it looks, and is infinite in its expression.”
— A.S. Valentino

The title of your upcoming album is Summoning. What is this album summoning?

The track “The Summoning” is about returning to what is natural and authentic. It starts with the moon calling, asking you to shed your identity, your clothes, name and money and instead bring your “claws, hair and fang.” 

I think for me the album is a summoning of what is natural and authentic in me that others may see as unnatural. I believe that people are often most authentic when they are children before they have completed their indoctrination and domestication into society. Part of my adult life has been dissecting this process of indoctrination, shedding the parts that aren’t actually me. It’s also the first full-length I’ve put out since medically transitioning and the first one under A.S. Valentino, so it’s a couple of firsts all in one. 

There’s also a ton of sounds from the natural world on here even though they sound unnatural. Wolves, bats, hyenas, vultures, wind, stuff like that. I love pairing natural sounds with unnatural, synthesized sounds, which is why there’s also a lot of live, improvised percussion samples on the record. I don’t own many proper percussion instruments, however, so I usually improvise with different items and textures around my house. I love going on a sound hunt, looking for what would add atmosphere or excitement to a track. 

I think the record also summons the duality of lightness and darkness in myself and in life – the horror and the beauty, the dissonance and the melody, and the anxiety in between. The song “Bodies” deals a lot with that. How the body can be a site for miracles, but also horror, and the way bodies are controlled, perceived, and policed by society at large – particularly trans bodies, Black and Brown bodies, and so on. 

What is your musical background, and how did you decide to focus your output into this sonic sphere?

I started out in punk, indie rock, and metal bands, and then fell in love with drum machines and synthesizers and the ability to work alone and write whole songs and control all the parts. I think the synthesizer is inherently sort of a trans instrument – it can emulate and embody new sounds, despite how it looks, and is infinite in its expression. 

I spent over a decade writing electronic pop music. I liked the challenge of trying to write hooks and earworms. However, my original creative impulses were towards darker music. I’ve struggled with depression throughout my life, so darkwave is a natural way to channel that part of myself. Songwriting is often a process of chewing and digesting for me. However, you can still hear some of the pop boy come through on “Summoning”. 

The song “Butch Dyke” is a sort of industrial ode to butches of the world, which is an interesting flip from the standard “sexy femme” trope and implied (hetero)sexuality of most of industrial music. I have to ask: Which came first in writing this song, the lyrics, or the music? And what was your thought process as you worked on the track?

This is an interesting question. I would say the concept came first. I wanted to write a tribute to my butch ancestors, and in particular, a love song to the first butch I ever saw. 

I grew up in a very rural, isolated area and didn’t see my first d*ke until I was 17. Me and my best friend had fake IDs and we snuck into a bar and that was where I saw my first butch, shooting pool, short cropped hair in a white T-shirt. I’d like to say I had a revelatory moment and was struck with awe, but honestly, I felt a reflex of repulsion and fear. What I didn’t know at the time is that I was seeing a part of myself that I wasn’t ready to accept. 

But also, I think that’s a common reaction to butch and transmasculine people in general. Our existence is a threat to many. It’s taken many years to accept and love my butchness and transness, and I wrote this song as a sort of love song, a reclamation, and an apology to that first butch I ever saw and to all of my butch and trans ancestors, many of which have disappeared into history, their names and stories erased.

It’s also interesting because I feel like in the queer community there is a narrative that the “butches are disappearing” because more people are choosing to pursue medical transition. I guess I don’t see that as mutually exclusive. I am butch and I am trans masculine and I am forever grateful to my butch ancestors who made it possible for me to exist in this form. 

In terms of the music, I wanted it to sound intimidating, confrontational, but also sexy, with a lot of swagger. I actually wrote several different drafts and this is the one that made it on the record. 

What artists do you think have influenced your music?

Honestly, I find this one of the hardest questions to answer because I have a voracious appetite for music. I listen to so many genres and pull inspiration from so much. Just today, I listened to modal jazz, house, industrial hip-hop, doom metal. I guess in my genre I would say big influences are Siouxsie and the Banshees, HEALTH, She Past Away, Paradox Obscur, Author & Punisher, artists like that. I’m sure I’m missing a ton. But in terms of an artist I’ve probably listened to more than any other artist – I’d have to say Prince. 

Will you be touring in 2024? If so, where do you foresee going?

In 2024, I plan to do a West Coast tour and play cities from Seattle down to the Bay Area, maybe down to LA as well. 

DECAYCAST Premieres: Karl Vorndran’s Psychedelic “Re-Enter the Orthogonal Phase Shift” Video – Watch Now!

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We’re brushing the cobwebs off to bring you a beautiful new video from Karl Vorndran in collaboration with artist/director Eucarya. The video has a folk and experimental feel combining raw, unmanipulated footage with bright, and resilient animation overlays. A blue-ish, purple-ish amorphous shape hovers and bleeds into a background of blue sky and trees as the soundtrack belts out pyroclastic walls of noise and transmission. The orb seems to blend and meld with the sky in an organic way that gels wonderfully with the sound. As the track crescendos, so does the imagery as these distant worlds slowly merge into one, and then in an instant, poof, we are back to our reality. The video is simple, elegant and impactful, just like the accompanying track. The visual efx are just enough to stimulate the narrative imagination, while still leaving room for interpretation while remaining grounded in “reality”.

The music video for “Re-Enter the Orthogonal Phase Shift” was made by Eucarya using footage shot in the woods of Akron, Ohio, computer generated 3D imagery and effects, and original artwork by Nathan Bowers of Tusco/Embassy created for the Cathartic Automation cassette. This masterful blending of video art/folk art technologies with the rawness and natural beauty of both the track and the environment the video was made in make for a wonderful and psychedelic synergy, but see for yourself below, and make sure to pick up the cassette as well!

“Re-Enter the Orthogonal Phase Shift” is a track from Karl Vorndran’s second solo cassette album Cathartic Automation, which was released in February 2022. Cathartic Automation consists of modular synthesizer patches that were recorded to tape in 2014 by Jeff ‘Fej’ France (Imperial Emporium) in Akron, Ohio and mastered by Chris Koltay at High Bias Recordings in Detroit, Michigan. The master tapes were lost for several years before being found and digitized for cassette release.

Karl Vorndran is a co-founder of Rubber City Noise, co-founder of the CAVE (Center for AudioVisual Experimentation) in Akron, board member of the Big Noise Candy Mountain festival, and the Sales Manager at EarthQuaker Devices. He has released and performed in a variety of projects such as Nervous Future, Fringe Candidate, Area Man, XXX Super Arcade, and Cane Swords.

DECAYCAST Essential ListEning: Dan Kletter Shares Favorite New Releases 0f 2021

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Every year at Decaycast we like to invite some guest contributors to contribute end of the year thoughts, threats etc, titled “Essential ListEning”. Excited to share the first of many to drop over the next few weeks. First up is DJ/community enabler Dan Kletter.

This year was extremely fucked up for me, so I really leaned hard into music to help soothe the pain. In no particular order, here’s some of my favorites:

This Darc Rama was recommended by [Robert Smith](https://twitter.com/robertsmith) and it’s the perfect balm for when you need cheering up. Really captures a certain essence of mid-80’s new wave music. All of his songs are fantastic. This one is my favorite.

Been listening to versions of the new R.K. Faulhaber from Helen Scarsdale for months. Really wanted to say something sooner about this masterpiece. Everything is constructed entirely from digital synthesizers without any external effects or processing.

For the past few years irr. app. (ext.) has been producing a monthly digital single. His Legends of Frogtown series is the most varied and complex. They’re all amazing. This one is my favorite.

Once again Headboggle has topped himself applying a constraint and working his whimsical style within that framework. Everything is composed with MIDI, digital synthesizers, and a Steinway grand piano, hence the title.

I found these shimmering improvisations for prepared 12-string guitar by Jef Mertens by peeking someone’s Bandcamp collection. Helps me get in the zone with my data science schoolwork.

I don’t know anything about Imperial Valley from Other Forms Of Consecrated Life except it’s meant to be a kind of evocative soundscape to accompany Dorothea Lange’s depression-era photography.

I think Claire Rousay recommended this LP by Skirts and, man oh man, it’s some really wonderful summer vibes music that just makes everything feel warm and delightful.

This LP by MARV from the enmeshed label is a real journey of wistful sounds that will carry you on a bed of fluffy clouds. It’s all about how you spend your time instead of the destination.

Can I say Spiritual Exit is Aaron Davis aka Acre? First met at a Noise Pancakes show and was transfixed by the immense drone conjured from a few guitar pedals. Slip into this trancendental bath and relax.

This debut LP by Sweeping Promises is an immense powerhouse duo of driving no wave inflected post-punk meets gliding new wave. Instantly hooked and played on repeat endlessly.

This incredible piece by Shanna Sordahl reflecting on the transformation from hurting to healing after a physical injury must have been as cathartic to make as it is to listen to.

This Yasmin Williams LP is transformative and rejuvenating. There’s depth and layers demanding attention. Or you can also just be vicariously present.

This LP made with hand-built stringed instruments by Ashley Bellouin & Ben Bracken from Debacle Records is a profoundly immersive experience.

This Byron Westbrook LP is thoroughly engrossing. Feels like a reflection of the emotionally heavy times we’re going through without any of the aftertaste.

This compilation from Camp Cryptid Records feels so hopeful in the face of all the crushing despair and overwhelming tragedy. Also, there’s something deviously, beautifully playful about inviting your cryptids to join you round a campfire.

Another random Bandcamp find. I just feel more people should experience this mysterious LP and let its viscous transmission flow and envelope you like a gentle cocoon.

This LP by Raub Roy aka Horaflora weaves a tapestry of resonances from motorized objects and other acoustic instruments, accented by a delightful tour of everyday neighborhood life.

Third installment of John Wiese’s keenly improvisational conversations with various collaborators from overlapping scenes. Because the lineup keeps changing, the result is different yet unpredictably familiar.

Anecdotally, I’ve purchased more accordion music this year than previously. For example… This LP by Walt McClements is a truly exceptional companion soundtrack for real or imaginary travel through the fleeting slices of everyday life.

This LP by Sofie Birch & Johan Carøe from STROOM.tv fills the void with delicate, dreamy sonic prose.

Extremely attracted to this Vanessa Amara LP from Posh Isolation of random microphone feedback (by intentionally placing them wrong) taunting tender, plaintive arrangements with acoustic instruments.

First heard of Guanaco± via [microphones in the trees](http://calmintrees.blogspot.com) about their tape from Sweat Lodge Guru. This LP is like picking up a conversation with an old friend. Beautiful 6 and 12-string guitar arrangements.

Ever since Love of Diagrams broke up I’ve been searching for a band with that driving angular sound and this debut LP by Chimers (also from Australia) is everything you could ask for and more.

This LP of hallucinatory synths and reverb drenched beats by Kristen Gallerneaux from Shadow World is infectious listening. Techno isn’t really my bag but this is simply exquisite.

Below are things released late this year which I haven’t had enough time to really dig into but are currently getting play:

This Ava Mendoza LP of guitar might from Astral Spirits (cassette) and Relative Pitch (CD).

This tranquil EP by Sunken Cathedral from Full Spectrum.

This incomparable LP of bagpipe drone duo by David Watson and Matthew Welch from Room40.

This uncategorizable LP of trumpet playing by the mighty Liz Allbee.

###

Dan Kletter loves music, classic movies, fonts, and YOU. Ask him about rabbits! He’s an erstwhile freeform radio DJ and great community enabler at [KFJC](http://kfjc.org) where he booked, produced, and hosted countless live, on-air performances. He also ran 24 Hour Drone with [Norman Teale](http://www.thenormanconquest.net). His acclaimed radio show, [Psychoacoustic Soundclash](http://kletter.us/soundclash) ran from 2000 to 2008.

DECAYCAST Premieres: GORGEOUS DYKES DAZZLE IN ‘SWORDS REVERSED’

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GORGEOUS DYKES DAZZLES IN BRAND NEW VIDEO ‘SWORDS REVERSED’

Gorgeous Dykes is a dynamic duo from Oakland, CA. Their sound is comprised of new wave, house, post-punk, funk, and synth pop that keeps the dance party going all night and until the sun comes up. Gorgeous Dykes brings the magic girl energy to encourage divine unity in uplifting the spirits in the queer/trans community alike. Their latest album “Swords Reversed” is a powerful statement to keep looking up to what lies ahead. 

Supporting their rousing album Swords Reversed (set for release February 11th, 2022 on Psychic Eye Records), Gorgeous Dykes unveil the music video to their first eponymously named single. Swirling with anime-worthy imagery, the band dances amongst nebulas and falls through cotton candy skies while guided by euphoric, pulsating synths.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

Where do you draw your inspiration from musically and artistically?

Lucy: We draw a lot of our inspiration for our artwork from magical girl shows. We’re inspired by a lot of  80’s post-punk bands, but also really enjoy house music.

Ana: I’m really drawn to music that is meant to dance to, to move your body to. I’m always searching for music that gives one a certain frisson and to learn about what elements contributed to that in a song. It’s fascinating and challenging.

Who are some of your favorite artists you’ve performed with and/or would love to see yourself performing with?

Lucy: I would like to play a show with Sneaks.

Ana: Totally. That would be a really cool time. 

Tell us more about your upcoming album release. What led you to write this album?

Lucy: We tried a lot of new things and experimented with a lot of new sounds. We  wanted to write an album where each song felt unique and had space for its own feel. 

Ana: We still have two more singles we’re working on getting out that we’re really excited about. Since a majority of it was written during the lockdowns, I had a lot of time to get introspective and philosophical, ha. We tried to tell stories about isolation and regeneration – coming out on the other end. Some of them are just about us being in love, which whoever would or could have a problem with that, can play in traffic. 

How does the process begin for you writing songs? Is it always the same or different each time?

Lucy: A lot of the times we like to start with a beat that we can jam on/groove to. We always like to start with either a melody or beat and just let the song evolve from there. 

Ana: It definitely has to start out with room for us to mess around and see what sticks first. Sometimes I’ll hear a new melody jump out in my head that couldn’t have come from anywhere but the song and that’s always a cool moment. Lucy is really inspiring to work with – she has damn near perfect pitch. She’s so humble about it, though.

What is your favorite song on the album?

Lucy: I think for me it’s Unsolicited because it has a really fast and fun energy that I’ve always wanted to create in a song. It’s also really enjoyable to play.

Ana: It’s hard because I like them all so much but Swords Reversed was when I  felt we were really in our element. I  actually felt very emotional when writing the lyrics, which while I tend to put a lot of feeling into writing lyrics, I don’t usually get all choked up like that.  

How do you see yourself as an influence to the younger trans/queer community?

Lucy: I haven’t really thought about it that much because I’ve always felt like I was the one looking up to other trans artists for inspiration and motivation but I hope I can inspire other trans people to just be themselves and wear whatever they want and have confidence about it and I’d like to think of our music being sort of a background theme song to that feeling.

Ana: I would hope to be more of a tool or comfort if possible, rather than an influence I suppose. If someone younger found our work and could appreciate it and if it could help get them through a tough time or to stand up for themselves, that would make me happy. 

What advice would you give to someone that aspires to be a part of the trans/queer artist community who has trouble meeting other peers?

Lucy: Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and try to meet other  queer folks in the community – you never know who can help you or motivate you to get your art  out  there in the world.

Ana:  Reach out to collab with someone whose work you admire, show your support when you can and practice maintaining a strong sense of integrity. Look for kind people who don’t want the world on a platter. As an introvert with a couple of mental illnesses, I would say don’t hide yourself but also value yourself enough to recognize the qualities in others that make you feel safe. Nobody’s perfect but as long as there is love and (clearly demonstrated) respect between you and the other person, connecting with special people is so worth it. 

Do you have any plans to do a tour?

Lucy: Yes, we want to go on one!

Ana: If we don’t get to go on a tour (I’ve never been on one before) I’m going to climb to the top of a mountain and scream, ha. It’s a huge goal.

Trippers & Askers Release Stunning New Video for “Pulsing Place” Ahead of New Album Out This July

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“Pulsing Place” is the brand new single and video, which you can watch here for the first time, from Trippers & Askers ahead of their new full length album, “Acorn” . The song begins with distant acoustic guitar and voice which tells a complicated tale with deep underpinnings. The track, much like the video feels very very close; morose and present, laying it all on the line, earnestly connecting with the listener in a very up front and personal style lyrically and recording wise which really serves to draw us in to this soon to be modern folk/jazz classic. I often felt like I was in the room with Trippers & Askers, being sung directly to, almost as if in question form, and the video is a beautiful, cinematic representation of this closeness and humanness that seems to be such an important part of the music of “Acorn” and this track specifically. Pulling equally from Modern Americana Folk traditions as well as modern jazz and literary worlds, “Pulsing Place” is a complex and meaningful investigation through song.

The video itself is a visually arresting story of a fluttering gold being navigating uncertainly throughout the world as the band plays on. The churning of a tide, the gentle flutter of a gust of wind from an undefined direction, the gentle crinkling of dried leaves as we search for meaning and a way out, a way forward all paint a picture of the hope of discovery of something better, of something to take us forward.

“Inspired by the world building, Afrofuturist radicalism of the novel “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler, the latest Trippers & Askers LP “Acorn” blends spiritual jazz and traditional styles in ways that pose fundamental questions about the nature of “American” music…..

“Parable of the Sower was written in the 1990’s and set in 2020’s U.S. when society has collapsed for everyone but the super wealthy due to climate change, wealth inequality, religious fundamentalism, and corporate greed. The protagonist – a woman named Lauren Olamina – embodies a kind of radical hope that has nothing to do with denial. In fact, it’s a kind of hope that can only spring from the fact that she understands the severity of her and her community’s situation better than anyone else.”

Make sure to pre oder “Acorn” from Sleepy Cat Records ahead of it’s July 16th release date! And we leave you with these parting lyrics from the single/video here:

“Grab the car and pull around the side

We’ll peel and steal away

All the time we’ve been afraid to take” – Trippers & Askers

TWO NEW RELEASES OUT TOMORROW ON DECAYCAST MAGAZINE!

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TWO NEW RELEASES OUT TOMORROW ON DECAYCAST MAGAZINE!

Thanks all for following Decaycast! DECAYCAST is a sub label of Ratskin Records and specializes in small edition handmade cassettes, CDr’s, digital releases and small edition art objects as well as a Online Fanzine (decaycast.wordpress.com)

we’re really excited to present two new albums for release tomorrow both on limited edition CDR with handmade card stock slipcases.

Thank you so much to everyone that preordered! All pre orders have been shipped and any orders placed for Bandcamp Friday or over the weekend will ship out this coming Monday!

HAURAS “Chant For A broken Chalice” CDR/DL

decaycastoakland.bandcamp.com/album/chant-for-a-broken-chalice

AURAS has crafted a lush and foreboding sonic landscape with “Chant For A Broken Chalice”, their first release for Oakland based imprint DECAYCAST. On “Chant For A Broken Chalice” intentional and otherworldly sounds envelop into a whirlwind of a slow churning concoction of beauty and anxiety. Dense choral envocations pulse over a sea of strings, keys, percussion and voice. HAURAS crafts tense and delicate music concerned with the rapid decline of empathy as intensified through the violent throes of capitalism. Both meditative and a warning, like a distant pulse of a lighthouse gently peaking over the fog as a distant warning of impending doom and collapse, scary and at this point completely unavoidable, but wow the beauty and elegance of the message is not something to soon be forgotten.

“My work is concerned with the psychology of society at the end of Civilization.” – HAURAS

The first single “Hold My Hand” takes a psychedelic dubbed out industrial approach to transport the mood and psyche of the listener to a blissful yet slightly unnerving underworld. The vocals glide through the mix like a robotic worm infecting an unknown host. Like most of Hauras’s work; “Chant For A Broken Chalice” holds the listener in an hourglass where time is rapidly and chaotically slipping away. Intentional, heartfelt, and intense.

“You’ve heard of the Music of Tomorrow? This is the Music of the Day After
Tomorrow.” – Chris Ryan (Composer, Cerddorion Ensemble,, Tzadik)

“The sonic equivalent of expired film in my Holga.” – Richard Youngs 

BONUS BEAST “Live at Lewcid Joosebox” CDR/DL

decaycastoakland.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-lewcid-joosebox

BONUS BEAST (Ratskin Records, Coral Remains, Ryan King, et al) always brings a new and modified sonic whirlwind to the table and this recently unearthed board recording of live from Lewcid Joosebox is no different. A complex and psychedelic spattering of amalgamated synths, blasting and curdling mangled beats, with the occasional and sporadic transmission twisted warped vocals patterings peak out ever so slightly from the sampler, but this is no dance party, this is blasted out sonic destruction, controlled chaos, collapsing towers, the rhythms of the machines of the city clang and hammer against each other like a seizing engine about to blow. their first release for Oakland based imprint DECAYCAST and ir is not to be missed. One of the masters in the game. Very very limited

Nearly twenty minutes of blown out acid noise, crunched beats, signwave radio interference, mental decayed sprayed on the walls of the box as BOBUS BEAST blasts forth a sonic mayhem like no other. In the realm of early Robert Turman, MB, Esplendor Gemoetrico, etc

Please consider picking something up as it helps us sustain the project (both the imprint and fanzine) side of things.

Thank you so much for your support.

DECAYCAST Guest Mix: DJ MICOSE “Digesting 2020: Decaycast Edition.

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We’re back with another installment of DECAYCST Guest Mixes, this one from frequent mixer and digger DJ MICOSE.

This is a continuation of the “Digesting 2020” series I’ve been posting on the ploque Mixcloud, featuring only music that was released in 2020. It’s a free-form mix with abstract ambient sounds, industrial-influenced electronic songs, plus a variety of loud and repetitive rhythmic tracks. Features artists from Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Peru, Poland, Norway, and the US.

The Soft Pink Truth – Go

Racine – Geranium

Ale Hop – La Procesíon

Sébastien Brun – Empty

Tantão e os Fita – Ich Bin Der Fluss

Thoom – Large Fly

Negro Leo – Absolutíssimo Lacrador

Eartheater – Burning Feather

SIKSA – Proste Hasło

Jonquera – Artisou

Golden Oriole – The Granitoid Panics

The End – Allt Är Intet

Arrington de Dionyso – The Mani Malaikat Awakening

Mit Mir Kann – Loop It Yourself

V.E.X./Moira Scar – Dancing At The End Of Time

DECAYCAST Announces Preorder For HAURAS 4/9/21  “Chant For A Broken Chalice” OUT 5/7/21

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DECAYCAST Announces Preorder For HAURAS 4/9/21  “Chant For A Broken Chalice” OUT  5/7/21

HAURAS has crafted a lush and foreboding sonic landscape with “Chant For A Broken Chalice”, their first release for Oakland based imprint DECAYCAST. On “Chant For A Broken Chalice” intentional and otherworldly sounds envelop into a whirlwind of a slow churning concoction of beauty and anxiety. Dense choral envocations pulse over a sea of strings, keys, percussion and voice. HAURAS crafts tense and delicate music concerned with the rapid decline of empathy as intensified through the violent throes of capitalism. Both meditative and a warning, like a distant pulse of a lighthouse gently peaking over the fog as a distant warning of impending doom and collapse, scary and at this point completely unavoidable, but wow the beauty and elegance of the message is not something to soon be forgotten. 

“My work is concerned with the psychology of society at the end of Civilization.” – HAURAS

 The first single “Hold My Hand” takes a psychedelic dubbed out industrial approach to transport the mood and psyche of the listener to a blissful yet slightly unnerving underworld. The vocals glide through the mix like a robotic worm infecting an unknown host. Like most of Hauras’s work; “Chant For A Broken Chalice” holds the listener in an hourglass where time is rapidly and chaotically slipping away.  Intentional, heartfelt, and intense. 

“You’ve heard of the Music of Tomorrow? This is the Music of the Day After

Tomorrow.” – Chris Ryan (Composer, Cerddorion Ensemble,, Tzadik)

“The sonic equivalent of expired film in my Holga.” – Richard Youngs

RIYL: COIL, Psychic TV, The Residents, Snickers 

“Hold My Hand” Public Stream

Tracklisting:

1.  Somnia

2.  On The Morning

3.  Rotagivan

4.  Hold My Hand

5,   Chant For A Broken Chalice

6.   Standing At The Entrance

HAURAS has shared bills with:

Sarah Davachi, Laaraji, Father Murphy, Low, Tom Carter, Common Eider King Eider, Mary Lattimore, Tom Weeks, Lee Noble, Louise Bock, Clarice Jensen, Jonas Reinhardt, Carl Hultgren, John King, Lea Bertucci,

Saariselka, Nels Cline, Jessica Moss

ARTIST PHOTO:

More info / questions / press requests: decaycast@gmail.com

http://decaycastoakland.bandcamp.com

DECAYCAST Premieres: Home Learning Shares New Video “Let Us Know You Are Here” – Watch Now!

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Home Learning has shared their newest video and song “Let Us Know You Are Here” from their new album released this past December, “The Case for Final” via Healing Sound Propagandist. “Let Us Know You Are Here”– is a beautiful ambient, soothing A/V tone poem exploring slow undulating shifting spaces within a beautiful marriage between image and sound. The track is evocative of sadness, unknowing, maybe even discovery, but within a paused and pregnant framework and the slow moving psychedelic visual eruptions are constantly birthing something new to be contemplated.

“This video for the first track off of Home Learning’s album “the case for final” was put together during the COVID 19 pandemic. It combines footage of suburban mall-sprawl, crowded with shoppers in spite of the health risks, with abstract visuals that evoke chemicals, fire, and a gradual build up of distortion/disintegration. Not everything is bleak…the colors and sounds also bring metamorphosis, slow but significant change, and eventually, light sifts in. “

Ethereal washes of sound and shape blend together like flickering bacteria under a microscope excited by a newfound chemical reaction. Gentle explosions are what come to mind visually, and the track itself brings thoughts of time collapsing between unknown worlds. Sounds delicately drone slightly in the red which gives the recording a slight bit of intensity without compromising the vibe or intent of the morose, and often times blissful offering that is “Let Us Know You Are Here”. Smoke dances across the failed architecture of a forgotten society and we dream and try to dream of a land almost totally forgotten. Very beautiful marriage of parallel moods to create an evocative and intriguing visual representation of the track bringing to the table both uncertainty and emotional resolution. WATCH BELOW NOW!

Home Learning is a long distance collaboration between Tom Schmidlin (Pagination) located in Bentonville, Arkansas. and Edmund Osterman (Screener) in Covington, KY