DECAYCAST Interviews: A Deep Look Into Collective Grimalkin Records

DECAYCAST Interviews: A Deep Look Into Collective Grimalkin Records.

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We  stumbled across VA based label collective Grimalkin Records on the internet, and this discovery proved the internet still occasionally can surprise you in the best way. Here’s a in depth look into the label and collective as told by, and questioned by their own collective members. The best interviews often feature little of the interviewer, so we went one step further and  removed ourselves entirely from the discussion, enjoy and make sure to buy some of their fantastic music here! The label varies aesthetically however the overall presentation is unified and concise, yet sonically there’s something for everyone on their bandcamp, so take a look!

https://grimalkinrecords.bandcamp.com/

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Nancy Kells (Richmond, VA), founder and leading facilitator of Grimalkin Records, also creates music as Spartan Jet-Plex.

Elizabeth Owens (Richmond, VA) is a musician and visual artist and helps with various logistical and design work for the label.

Liz (to Nancy): What are some big plans you have for Grimalkin down the line? Any specific projects you have in mind?

Nancy: I would love to put out a collective member compilation. It could benefit a specific person or organization or whatever we want to do. It would be nice to do some other compilations with various members curating different ones or members collaborating on curating it together. We could also do one as a collective where we each pick a song of someone else- we each ask one person/band we know for a song for it. I would love it if we could grow enough to do releases of 100 where proceeds from 50 could go to a non-profit or cause and the half could be given to artist to sell as they want at live shows or on Bandcamp or their website. It would eventually be great to have a setup to dub and do all j-card printing work. I hand dub them now, but it’s a small setup where realistically it would be too much to do runs or 50 or more. I’d love to have a community recording studio and do workshops on how to home record, do releases on your own, play music, whatever people were interested in hosting and attending. I love collaboration and would be interested in  putting together small projects with others. I love that kind of thing. Maybe we could do one large mega-collaborative song with all of us? That would be very cool and probably a lot of fun.

Liz: In what ways do you hope Grimalkin differs from other labels?

Nancy: In comparison to bigger labels, even some smaller indie labels, we aren’t a business. If we were to grow and could get grants and be non-profit to support people on a larger level with stipends and then also in terms of raising money for organizations and collectives but also individuals in need. I personally admire Virginia Anti-Violence Project and the work they do. I would love for GR to be a place were we could do workshops and educational things but also support on learning things and how to be creative and play music- and then also individual support for people and even counseling. I also really admire Nationz and what Zakia McKensey has done for RVA. I see Grimalkin as a collective group of musicians who can help organize the community through music and in doing so can organize with others in the community as well and support other organizations and individual people.

Liz: How do you find new artists and decide who to approach about doing a Grimalkin release/joining the collective?

Nancy: My hope is that collective members will naturally know people or have friends who’d like to release- just building a community and support our talented friends.  The people I’ve asked to join or release with us are people I’ve seen play live or from playing with them in Womajich Dialyseiz Mainly from being out at shows in Richmond.. I have met a few people on Twitter or through organizing benefit compilations as well which is great. So Kate is from Guayanilla, Puerto Rico and Berko is from Baltimore, Mabel is in Philly and Quinn is from Springfield, MO. It’s really cool to have people elsewhere and that our collective is branching outside of RVA..  I envision Grimalkin one day as supporting small music communities in various places. I know that’s lofty, but I can dream. We encourage people to reach out to us though.

Liz: If someone wanted to support or join Grimalkin, what are some of the biggest needs of the org in terms of labor right now?

Nancy: We want people to join us who feel like what we are doing is right for them. You don’t need to be in collective to release with collective so it’s more about just collaborating in various ways. Having people join us who feel like they have something that the collective would benefit from but at same time, it’s a no pressure thing. No one has to do anything specific, but if you want to contribute, that’s welcomed and encouraged. Everybody in our collective now contributes in various ways- graphic design, artwork, recruiting new people to join us or release music, social media promo, mastering songs- and we could help with mixing and recording as well, helping book shows and organize benefit shows. Also, just being a supportive friend to others is being part of the collective. Sometimes support is just showing up when you can. To me, that is important and I have a lot of respect for everyone in collective. And each person cares greatly for the world and all of the injustice and wants to do better and I think that ’with music is what brings us together.

Liz: Where you you like to see Grimalkin go?

Nancy: I’d like it to be a place where people can come to for help with their music and for support but also without expectations and strings. Like a home away from home or place you can come and be creative and help others and collaborate but a place you can come and go as you please. I’d love it if eventually we had enough money where we could pay people stipends to help them create their work or take care of themselves. Get paid for shows or creating artwork. Just a positive community where we raise one another up and help people when we can. Being around creative people inspires creativity and collaboration and support. It would be great if at some point we had a recording space people could use with equipment. It would be great if we eventually had a proper printer setup to do j-cards completely on our own. I’d like to get two of my tape decks fixed and try to have a much better dubbing setup. If we ever grow to doing larger runs, that would be wonderful. Maybe we could dub albums for friends then as well which would help a lot of people. I’d love more people to join the collective but at same time don’t want people to feel they have to join to release or collaborate with us. I’d like Grimalkin to support other people’s collectives and projects. And on same hand, would love to see us grow with people who really want to contribute every now and again or as much as they want and be part of the collective. I want us to be this network of people basically and we do what we do when we want or can to work with and help others

Nancy: I think benefits of creating music might be similar for both of us. We’ve both talked about how music is a way to process life and channel a lot of dark emotions into something positive. When did you know creating and writing your own music was important to you?

Liz: I started writing music as early as 7 years old, and knew it was important then. I used to get punished a lot as a kid and as a result ended up spending a lot of time in my room with nothing but a pen and paper and a lot of feelings. Before I knew how to write my own music I would just put my own lyrics to other songs (an early favorite of mine was the Harry Potter opening theme…). I’ve always used poetry as a way to work through my feelings and putting the words to music helps solidify the message in an emotional way for me. It didn’t really occur to me that my emotional/mental health largely depended on making music as a therapeutic device until about 5 years ago, though. I think I’ve gained a lot of clarity and healed a lot as a result of that insight.

Nancy: How has your personal sound changed over the years?

Liz: I think most of the change in my sound has come from collaborating with other musicians and challenging myself to think differently. My dear friend and musical sister, Micah Barry, has had a huge impact on my sound because we flow really well when we write together. She’s an incredible guitarist, so challenged me to write more complex and fluid guitar parts for Coming of Age, for example. Access to weird instruments has also shaped my sound a lot; Dave Watkins, who helped record Coming of Age, lent me a bowed psaltery which I learned to play and used heavily on the album. I also just acquired and fell in love with a lever harp. So curiosity and a love of learning new instruments has a lot to do with it, too.

Nancy: How did you meet the people who play in your band? You all really seem like you fit together when you play live like perfect puzzle pieces. Your music solo is wonderful. Growing Pain is particularly beautiful. I love that EP and all of those songs except the intro are on Coming of Age. The intro is this beautiful ambient and vocal piece that you can also hear ideas that end up on Coming of Age. Perhaps you think of Growing Pain as sketches for Coming of Age or maybe they sit separately as two entirely different things or a bit of both. I wonder how you view them in relationship to one another and what you think your current band brings to the songs on your new album?

Liz: First, wow thank you! Regarding my band mates, we fit really well together because I was friends with everyone before we started playing together. They’re all kind, perceptive listeners and I think that’s the key to making a band work really well. We have fun together. Regarding the EP vs. full album, I definitely think of the EP as a sketch of Coming of Age. It helped me lay down an intention for the record and feel out the sound before committing to a full band and recording plan. It also helped me realize that the songs were begging for added instrumentation and a spirit that could only exist with more people present, hence the band. It was really difficult to hand over these extremely personal songs to other people at first, but I’m so glad I did because the record wouldn’t be what it is otherwise, and I wouldn’t be where I am otherwise. Working with a band has done amazing things for my depression.

Mabel Harper (Philadelphia, PA) has a variety of music and writing projects including their solo project Don’t Do It, Neil, and helps with recruiting bands, artwork and graphic design, and mastering releases. She has a new album, B/X, out with us late June 2019. You can view her first video and single, Strawberry Cake, below.

Nancy: Your new album that you’re working on has a newish sound for you. What do you think inspired this change? I actually think your sound varies from listening to your Bandcamp. I think experimenting and trying new things is great and important in growing as a musician. I think it’s really exciting that you’re trying new things. Is there anything that stands out to you about doing things differently than you have previously?

Mabel: K-pop inspired the change. People shit on boy bands and pop music and stuff, but I think, when it’s really good, it’s good at crystalizing emotion in an accessible way. I basically see Don’t do it, Neil as an experimental pop project—not experimental as in, I wanna make something alienating, but experimental as in, I don’t wanna limit myself. It gets boring if you do the same shit over and over! I really believe that you can’t grow as an artist if you just keep doing the same thing over and over.

Nancy: You collaborate on a web serial through Form and Void. How did you get the idea for that series? You also have some music collaborations as well. How does your music collaborations differ from the writing and how to you see them in relation to each other?  How does writing differ creatively for you from music and from your various collaborations?

Mabel: We got the idea for Form and Void after a long time of not collaborating and then one day just being like, “Maybe we should do something?” And, from our mutual interests in the historical practice of magic, queerness and identity issues, and stark human fucking darkness, Form and Void arose. I see writing as totally different than making music. Writing for me is something I find naturally collaborative, while I find that hard as fuck to do with music. I’m just so into my particular vision, that I find collaborating on music really frustrating. Of course people have their own ideas, but, if I feel strongly about something aesthetically-speaking, that’s it. That’s the way that shit’s gotta be.

Molly Kate Rodriguez (Guayanilla, Puerto Rico) makes music as kate can wait, and helps with recruiting new artists and collective members.

Nancy: Kate, I think you said you just recently played out solo as kate can wait for first time or first in a long time. I played my first ever solo set as Spartan Jet-Plex a month ago which was very scary. Just guitar and vocals is really intimate and kind of intimidating to do in front of people, at least it was for me.How did you get prepared for your show and how did it go? Do you have any advice on how to prepare and for getting your head in the right space for it?

Kate: It was my first time as kate can wait but it was the 3rd solo show I’ve ever played. My first 2 shows were me singing over a backing track but this one was the first time it was just me and my guitar. I practiced a lot,more than I ever have and the show actually went well. I’m a very indecisive person so I was still choosing songs for the setlist the day of the show which added a lot of stress to an already stressful occasion. My advice would be to not think about things too much and just have fun with it. People react positively to honesty and passion in a performance so just go for it.

Nancy: Kate, Out of everyone in the collective, your music is probably most similar to what I do with Spartan Jet-Plex. What is your writing process usually? And do you usually write lyrics and guitar simultaneously or which usually comes first for you?

Kate: My writing process involves me grabbing my guitar and playing around until I’ve found a chord progression I like,then I sing over it and if I like the vocal melody enough then I decide to make it a full song. Sometimes I end up recording the first thing I play and sometimes it takes me a long while until I come up with something worthwhile. I almost always write lyrics after the music, I find it super difficult to match up music to pre-written lyrics though I do it on rare occasions. I don’t like to spend too much time working on songs because I enjoy my first reaction to the music so my writing process for the most part coincides with the recording process. Sometimes I’ll go back and add or subtract things here and there but I normally spend a day on each song,2 at most.

Nancy: Kate, You mentioned that kate can wait and this current style of music for you is fairly new. I think you mentioned doing ambient and noise type music projects previously. How were you inspired to switch gears and write the kind of songs you’ve been currently writing? And do you ever miss doing ambient and noise and do you feel like there is room within the kate can wait project to bring those other sounds into it or how does that work when you’re writing music?

Kate: I made ambient and drone music from 2010 to 2017. I also dabbled a bit with instrumental hip hop,meditation and noise music and while all of those things were very exciting to make I’ve always wanted to make singer-songwriter type of music. Experimental music is very gratifying to make but sometimes you just wanna work on songs with verses and choruses and the like. I never felt confident enough to do it and my access to recording gear has always been limited so I always saw it as a pipe dream. I’d like to mix both things in the future but at the moment I have no real desire to go back to that sound. I feel like I ended those projects off on a high note and I’m ok with that.

Berko Lover (Baltimore, MD) met founding member Nancy Kells through organizing one of the compilations we put out as Friends For Equality. She’s been supportive of the work we are doing and helps with recruitment as well. Berko and Nancy just released their collaborative project, MERGE, this month.

Nancy: Berko, what is the music scene like in Baltimore? What are your favorite hangouts and places to see or play music there?

Berko: The music scene in Baltimore is very vibrant and and eclectic. There’s something for everyone.i love it and I am very proud of my peers. I love playing anywhere where the sound guy really loves to mix. That’s hard to come by but it’s a magical night when you sound like you want to sound.

Nancy: You created a food show. I loved how you edited it together with the different restaurant visits around the city and also the music. How did you come up with the idea to do your show and how do you view it in relationship to your music and other collaborations you do with various people?

Berko: I use my show as a vehicle to drive my music. I shot a bunch of footage but lately have been in a weird creative slump. I’m working on getting mySelf out of it and am pushing myself to get my show back up. I love food so coming up with the idea was easy. The execution and discipline to continue on hasn’t been as simple.

Nancy: I know we collaborated and I am excited to finally release it. I love So Nice Yesterday. Whenever I do a collaboration, the other person is bringing something unique and different to the table and it’s fun to see how you can bounce ideas and mesh with someone that works and possibly sounds different than you do. What is your motivating factor for working with Cazre?  You both sound great together musically and vocally. You also were in another collective a while back and have collaborated quite a bit. What do you think makes it work?

Berko: Cazre is my best friend. Working with him is easy and the friendship motivates it. However, working with someone is always difficult when your both inspired in spurts. Getting on the same page can get challenging but once we do it feels and sound gorgeous. But our mutual respect for the talent each brings to the work is what works. I know that I perform my best in collaboration with him & I know that also does in regards to working with me. We bring out the best in each other musically and understanding that is what we focus on.

Sarmistha Talukdar (Richmond, VA) is a scientist, visual artist, and musician, and founding member of Womajich Dialyseiz, a queer improv noise collective. They help with organizing benefit shows and designing artwork for releases and events. Their solo music project is Tavishi.

Nancy: Sarmistha, why did you form Womajich Dialyseiz and how to you think Grimalkin can support the goals of WD? My favorite times playing with WD were when it was just a get together and not a show. Liz and I have talked about scheduling one seasonally. Emily R said she would be down to host at her house. We could not only get together for an improv session but also share what we are all working on outside of WD.

Sarmistha: Womajich Dialyseiz was formed to create a safe(r) space for women, non-binary and trans artists to improvise and collaborate artistically. I think Grimalkin can continue to support the goals of WD by continuing to support and provide platform to marginalized artists. It makes me happy to see members of WD having and organizing cozy musical get togethers!!

Nancy: What types of benefit shows, events and people do you think we should organize a benefit show for this year?

Sarmistha: I feel we could host fundraisers for ICE out of RVA, Southerners on New Ground (Black Mama Bail Fund), Richmond Food and Clothing Initiative, Advocates for Richmond Youth, The Doula Project, these organizations tend to not get enough funding or visibility even though they are really doing great work. We can try to support undocumented immigrants who have taken up sanctuary in Richmond (ex Hands off Abbie campaign), there are many community advocates in Richmond who are struggling but hesitate to ask for help, I would like to fundraise for them as well. For example Maria Escalante has been trying to help migrants in Southside through Richmond Conexiones, but has been going through a lot in her own life. There are several QPOC folks who need money for hormones, gender-affirming surgeries but do not have the means to do that, we could try to fundraise for them as well. We could potentially even fundraise for a small scholarship for QPOC folks who might need a little help with their work/studies/creative efforts.

Martina Fortin Jonas (Portsmouth, VA), who makes music as MELVL, helps with recruiting bands and musicians and organizing benefit shows. They also serve on the board of The Transgender Assistance Program of Virginia.

Nancy: Martina, Your music sounds both ancient and new. What are your inspirations?

Martina: I am a classically trained instrumentalist and have been an early music enthusiast for most of my life, so ancient music, medieval music (shout out to my girl Hildegard von Bingen!!), renaissance music, and generally just music before 1750 A.D. have a huge grip on me. Some of my other favorite composers include Leonin, Machaut, Josquin, Mealli, Uccellini, Marais, Handel, and of course, Anonymous. Other artists I love that influence my work are Enya, Sade, early Grimes, Alcest, Pink Floyd, Treha Sektori, Csejthe, Araphel, Batushka, Atrium Carceri, Endvra, Coph Nia, and more.

Nancy: You teach at ODU? I think that is correct. What do you teach there? How do if at all does your teaching impact or influence your music? I was a special education teacher and taught middle school math, algebra and English. I always felt like my work was directly in relation to my music. I feel the same now too as a vocational counselor. I think my job always affected my art or music but it has had a more positive impact as I felt like what I was doing was meaningful to me outside of a paycheck.

Martina: I have taught at ODU before, but currently I teach Intro to Linguistics, Written Communications, and German at Hampton University.  Usually I keep my music and teaching pretty separate from each other, but over the years I have found that it is teaching that helps me the most with the stage fright I deal with in my musical endeavors.  

Quinn Wolf (Springfield, MO) is a musician and podcaster who recently reached out to Grimalkin about joining via email. She plans to help with recruiting and planning future podcasts.

Nancy: How did you get involved in the video game project Transhaping? Can you tell us about your experience working on the project and how you came up with songs for the soundtrack and what attracted you to the project?

Quinn: Unbound Interactive put out a call on Twitter for trans musicians to contribute to the soundtrack. A friend of mine sent me the link, and I just sent them a quick DM with some SoundCloud links and forgot about it until they messaged me back. I really wasn’t expecting anything, since I hadn’t done any paid work of this scale before, but the Unbound team were both super cool and committed to telling their trans story with trans talent. I let them know the genres I’m used to working in, and they gave me the task of making a handful of short songs to play on in-game radios. I naturally sketch out short musical ideas with different synths, so making these tiny tracks came easily to me. Unbound Interactive is a fantastic group of folks with some real business smarts, so I’m looking forward to watching their next project take shape.

Nancy: Tell us about Luminous Studios and how you got involved in that podcast team and what your goals are with that and some of the main topics you like to discuss on there?

Quinn: Where to start? The founding members of Luminous Studios – myself, Cole Shepard and Jack Grimes – decided to form our own network after discovering our love for podcasting on a now-defunct podcast arm of a vaporwave music label of all things. Originally the three of us wanted a space to create more serious works of analysis and criticism about media, but instead the network became more of a place to showcase new and experimental audio content. We have a large group of friends from our past creative endeavors, and Luminous Studios became a great way to introduce a lot of them to podcasting and vice versa. Right now, we’re pushing forward with this idea of honing our craft and trying things without worrying too much about being commercially viable or anything like that. To be honest, we’re somewhere in this weird middle space between podcast network and publishing co-operative and art collective. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Nancy: Tell us about your music and what inspired you to reach out to Grimalkin and what you hope to gain from working with us, how you hope to contribute to the collective and how the label can help you personally but also what you would like to see us do for others and communities?

Quinn: Music has always been a bit of a lonely pursuit for me. I grew up around church music and school bands and choirs, but I’ve never had friends who were into pursuing music independently. […]

Osser Smith (Richmond, VA), a.k.a. Peter Pierpont, is a visual artist and musician and helps with various aspects of the creative work Grimalkin does (i.e. posters, merch, promotion, etc.).

Nancy: Similar to me, you just performed live for the first time. I find that exciting but it was also very scary to me but I felt like it was time to push myself to do not only for me personally to grow as a person and musician, but also as a way to give myself some kind of validation that my music is worthy to share with others in a live setting. I guess I never really felt like I was good enough or valid enough to play in front of people. I was really holding myself back and fearful of failing and falling flat on my face. What are your thoughts on this and what drove you to finally take the plunge? Did you have to psych yourself up for days, weeks? How did you prepare and overcome any fear or reservations you may have had?

Osser: Oh my gosh I was terrified. I told all my friends I would never perform my music because it’s too scary. But a couple nights before Kosmo, my friend running the show, asked if I would hop on. I practiced a couple hours before, hoping I would remember all the words. I remembered most of them! I think I just really was driven to share the feelings I got making those songs.

Nancy: Tell us about Peter Pierpont. Where did you come up with that name and are you taking on a persona when you do your music or is that just a band/project name?

Osser: Peter Pierpont is actually a character from a narrative I’ve been working on for some time. I decided to use his name for my music project because he sort of represents the positive sides to being overly emotional and mentally ill for me. In my narrative, Peter lives a very similar life to mine in the beginning, dies in his early 20’s then comes back from the dead some time in the future to sing songs about his past life and find a new path to plunge his heart and soul into. Metaphorically, Pete’s death represents killing the happy parts of myself early in life and slowly picking them back up. I don’t know what my future holds but I hope Pete can bring myself others empathy and aural elation!

As for the name, Osser is actually the origin. Osser was the original “Peter” persona. He was actually called “Ossy” and his character design was based on the sad clown, Pierrot. At some point in my late adolescence I was too embarrassed of how queer Ossy was so I created Peter from him. I used “Pier” as a starting point then. Peter and Pierpont both mean “stone” in some way.. (and that’s a whole other story) Peter was a more gender confirming character for me even though I was still years away from coming out. I started to miss the old Ossy and brought “them” back in my art and via myself. Their name changed to “Osservalten” in a car ride one day and it just stuck. Peter lived through the narrative for sometime gaining more and more relevance. Now I happily serve as a vessel for Peter’s musical numbers he writes about his past life in his new life. We are all much more comfortable with ourselves now.

Nancy: Osser: I know we’ve talked about the Legendary Pink Dots together already. I mentioned how your live set (my first intro to hearing your music) reminded me slightly of them and your voice of Edward Ka-Spel. When did you discover their music and is there anything you’d like to share about your music and them? I know you mentioned Edward is a music idol of sorts to you.

Osser: LPD is my biggest inspiration! Back in my teen years I was very angry and listened to lots of Skinny Puppy. This one time I was watching some tour footage and one of the band members pointed out “The Legendary Pink Dots” was written on the wall backstage somewhere. I didn’t know anything about LPD til one day soon after that I walked into Plan 9 records in 2007 and found their album “Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves.” and bought it on impulse. I thought their sound was fantastic then slowly discovered more and more… (and I’m still finding things I’ve never heard by them) One of the most inspiring moments in my life was watching Edward Ka-Spel perform “Salem” live in DC. I’ve looked everywhere for a video of my favorite part of the song where he screeches “YOU??? I MEAN YOUUU?????” Ka-Spel is a compelling story teller and I will always aspire to follow a similar direction.

Nancy: I believe you are also an artist? Can you tell us how you see music and art in relation to one another and specifically your creative relationship to both music and art? I made artwork and drew and painted and then got into sculpture long before I tried creating music so I am interested in how people relate the two who do both or have done both. I always had a love of music throughout my life but drawing and painting seemed more natural to me creatively when I was young and then overtime that flipped for me. I feel like artwork was limiting me to what I need to get out of myself and so I think that is where the change came for me.

Osser: I’ve been having a very similar experience as of late! I grew up in a musical family but didn’t really take interest in playing an instrument or learning anything about music because I was always more passionate about my drawing ability. I watched my mom participate in choirs, my dad play music with his friends every thursday night, and my brother pick up drums and electric guitar at an early age. I was excelling in art and it was the only thing I really cared about growing up so I stuck to that for the longest time. As I grew older though I began hanging out in different Richmond music scenes trying to find my place. I’ve always been an audience member because I didn’t want to share my narrative with anyone. But one day in late 2018 I opened GarageBand on my computer and just started obsessively piecing together some heavy loops to sing over. And I haven’t been able to stop ever since!!! It definitely took me a while to even want to take that first step away from the pencils and paintbrushes. I didn’t think I could make something that sounded decent but thanks to modern technology I can focus on narrating and create a digital piece as a catalyst for my stories. Together with art and music I want to create a complete work. I’ve thought of making a comic book with soundtracks to go along with them but that seems very involved. We’ll see what life throws at me.

 

Heaven Imanchinello. Richmond, Virgina.

Heaven IImanchinello is involved in several community projects that help people in Richmond. including Great Dismal, which hosts and books benefit shows and supports local and touring musicians. They help with recruiting bands and musicians and with organizing shows and with giving us general advice. Heaven is also in Womajich Dialyseiz and curated our live set release. They also will be curating an upcoming compilation Grimalkin is putting out of collective members & friends hopefully this fall. They were unable to participate in this interview this go around due to life getting in the way.

Backxwash. Montreal, Québec, Canada.

Backxwash helps with promotion and recruiting. We met her through her Twitter and discovered her killer music and checked out her music video for F.R.E.A.K.S. and you should too. We asked her if she would be interested in releasing and/or joining and we’re so glad she’s a part of our collective. Look for a release from her in July 2019. Backxwash just joined the collective this week prior to conducting and submitting this interview.

DECAYCAST #47: DISKOTEKA – Soviet Disco, New Wave and Folk Pop mixtape by Big Debbie

DECAYCAST #47: DISKOTEKA – Soviet Disco, New Wave and Folk pop mixtape by Big Debbie. 
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We’ve  strayed farther and farther into reviews but  Decaycast started as a pirate radio show / radio collages so this guest mix from Big Debbie takes it back to the roots with this  wild guest mix for Decaycast, blending new beat, disco proto punk, and so much more with some seriously cryptic gems hiddin within, take a  deep listen and check out Big Debbie’s newest LP “Ab Ra Ca Deb Ra” out last Nov on Ratskin. Click the cover to listen and read a statement below on the mix from Debbie themself!
“Most of the music on here was officially State sponsored, but couple tracks were underground classics. From Eastern Europe to Central Asia, the songs would practically spread overnight, due to the rapid tape trade culture. Some of these jams I actually grew up with.  They were the mainstream hits, I remember hearing coming out of the crackling, night train radio, as you drifted to sleep. Some of them you had to go out of your way to get. By the late 80’s the music piracy was more out in the open. I used to get my music, from the guy at the grocery store. He had a little set up in the corner that consisted of a chair, some blank tapes and a Boombox.The bootlegger usually had a  “D.I.Y” encyclopedia as well, that you could sift through. Everything from disco and smooth jazz, to punk and death medal. You pointed to what you wanted and the next day he usually had a dubbed copy ready for you. However, to tell the truth, most of these gems I discovered recently through youtube, just in the past year. Hope you enjoy them, at least as half, as much, as me!”

1.Nasiba Abdullayeva – “Lazgi” (Uzbekistan, USSR, 1983?)

2.Rahima Shaloer & Gulshan – “Shiriniy” (Tajikistan, USSR, 1986)

3. Gunesh “Chayhana” (Turkmenistan, USSR, 1989)

4. Sevda Alpay & Zafer Dilek “Kara Kasli Yar” (Turkey, 1974)

5. Grup Akdeniz “Sine, Sine” (Turkey, 1984)

6. Eolika “Karavana” (Latvia, USSR, 1985)

7. Vishnya “Raschoska” (Russia, USSR, 1988)

8. Isabela Trojanowska “Jestem Twoim Grzechem” (Poland, 80’s)

9. Snezhniy Avgust “Fialki” (Russia, 1991)

10. Rusya “Nye Stiy Pid Viknom” (Ukraine, 1991)

11. Dos Mukasan “Barinende Sen Sulu” (Kazakhstan, USSR 1971)

12. Kino “Kamchatka” (Russia, USSR, 1984)

13. Original “Sen Kaydan Bilasan” (Uzbekhistan, USSR, 1981)

14. Biokonstruktor “Teletourism” (Russia, USSR, 1987)

15. ???

16. Murad Kajlayev “Fakir” (Azerbaijan, USSR, 1972)

17. Alla Pugachyova “Sirena” (Russia, USSR, 1987)

18. Glass Wings “This Music” (Russia, 1991

 

 

DECAYCAST Premieres: Watergate Sandals Releases “Presidential Bootleg” via Under The Counter Tapes. Listen to “Ukranian March” Below!

DECAYCAST Premieres: Watergate Sandals’ Releases “Presidential Bootleg” via Under The Counter Tapes

 

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Here we have a genre we haven’t really covered before on Decaycast and what better way to bridge this gap then with a fantastic new release from underground mainstays Under The Counter Tapes. For their newest release, they present “Presidential Bootleg”  from Watergate Sandals. W/S excavate their twanged, fuzzed out, up beat, four to the floor garage rock sound to it’s fullest extend on “Ukrainian March” which you can listen to for the first time below. The track combines thick distorted guitars, driving basses, and cavernous drums accented with vocals oscillating between a fed up, accentuated yell and blown out howls which perfectly complement the sound and vibe of this upbeat, but heavy  track, perhaps the standout on the album.  Ukrainian March is like an old beat up machine inching down the road  toward  uncertainty , exhaling billows of smoke behind it’s rusty, decaying exterior, but it keeps going and going and going until the job is done. in a  seemingly oversaturated genre, Watergate Sandals offers a unique and refreshing take on garage rock / power pop, not something we have covered much here in the  past, although this offering is  both uniquely refreshing and captures a sound well those  familiar with the genre can appreciate and understand.

“Light” offers a more upbeat, slower and more controlled take on expanded garage rock / blues  with more out front vocal harmonies gelling with the guitars and drums perfectly. Light still has a garage rock feel but  defiantly oscillates into some straight classic rock territories as well. The cassette ends with “Chilly” the perfect combination of up beat guitars and vocals while acting as a crescendo for the album. This was  explained to us more as a compilation, but the flow to beginning to end and  consistent recording style lends itself as more of a complete album, energetic and fun listen, also check out the beautiful J card art below. Order this today!

 

Presidential Bootleg pulls together all 20 of Watergate Sandals recorded songs, from the 8 featured on Pick Apart the Jewels and Gems, the 5 featured on their final digital-only EP, 4 newly mastered former demo recordings, and 3 never before heard recordings to form the ultimate document of the Santa Cruz band’s history. Watergate Sandals notably went through a few distinct shifts during their run, starting as a noisy punk blues band, then moving towards more power pop oriented garage rock and then finally landing on psych rock influenced by the Paisley Underground. As such, none of their previous works quite captured a true picture of the band in isolation. Presidential Bootleg is arranged not as a chronological compilation, but its own album released (and not released) in bits and pieces over the years, flashing back and forth between the eras in a way that feels as though it were always meant to be and lending immense range and dynamism to the 70 minute runtime. Shockingly seamless transitions from the destructive force of the newly mastered “Landlord” into the soft, floating “Ways Away” paint a perfect picture of the band’s uncommon deftness and versatility.

Thanks to the efforts of Jesse Nestler (Watergate Sandals bassist) and Kevin Percy Linn (owner of Paisley Shirt Records and genius behind Sad Eyed Beatniks), we’ve been able to put together an incredible package honoring the band in celebration of the 4th anniversary of their previously only physical release, Pick Apart the Jewels and Gems. Featuring a stunning double-sided 7-panel j-card collage including archival photography, old gig flyers, and satirical American and presidential iconography, Presidential Bootleg is not only musically comprehensive, but visually as well.

UTC is absolutely thrilled to bring this incredible band’s catalog to true fruition in the form of Presidential Bootleg.

Presidential Bootleg releases April 26 digitally and on limited edition cassette bundle. Bundles are limited to 50 worldwide and include a chrome cassette tape with a double-sided 7-panel j-card, and 3 release specific collector’s pins. A portion of sales through UTC will go to Planned Parenthood.

Open Call For Works for #ActuallyAutistic Musicians Awareness Compilation

Open Call For Works for #ActuallyAutistic Musicians Awareness Compilation

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The twelfth annual World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2019, and this is the same day musician, writer, and activist  mynameisblueskye has chosen to release  “On The Spectrum 2: Red April”a compilation featuring mixed-genre artists who are on the Autistic Spectrum.  The title is a reference to  the often problematic Autism Speaks’ Light It Up Blue campaign, as the majority of autistic people having problems with Autism Speaks (pretty much saying Autism Speaks is low key an autistic hate group that masquerades as a harmless Autism-focused organization.) The artists have chosen to focus on the color red, with the slogan “Light It Up Red”.  We can’t  wait to hear the submissions for this and if it’s anything like the diverse sounds championed on I Heart Noise in the past, (the label slated to co-release the project) it’s sure to be a diverse and eclectic sonic offering. In a time where artists are already exploited within shifting narratives of  global chaos of racism, sexism, transphobia, ableism and other forms of  systemic oppression, artists and activists must often function as double sided advocates for both their own work and their friends and peers  work who might not have the same  set of resources to fight these menacing, and this to be titled compilation is a fantastic step in fighting against this very system. Representation matters. Below is the call for works from the organizer. Please spread this far and wide and contact the organizer with any direct questions, inquiries or submissions!

From the organizer: “we are doing a compilation wrapping around artists who are on the Autism Spectrum. For Autism Acceptance/Awareness Month, me and IHeartNoise decided to put together a compilation to showcase some talent within the spectrum. Are you interested in being a part of it or do you know anyone on the spectrum who might be? If so, is there a song you would like to offer to the compilation? Although, we accept covers, we prefer your material be original. 🙂

If so, please email a song that you wish to contribute to lightningpill@protonmail.com. If you need more information, don’t be hesitate to ask. Also, if you know other artists with Autism that might be interested, please do not hesitate to spread the word,

Addendum: we cannot promise every song will make it, but you will be shouted out when the whole operation is done. Thank you so much not only for reading, but for being interested. 

You can listen to mynameisblueskye ‘s  personal music below!

Stay tuned as this  article will be updated with a link to the compilation once released.

DECAYCAST Presents: Thirty-Seven MORE Genre-Defying & Impactful Releases of 2018: Part Two

DECAYCAST Presents: Thirty-Seven More Genre-Defying & Impactful Releases of 2018: Part Two.

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Presented more or less without comment. Please seek out these records and  support the artist in any way you can. We are NO authority on anything,  and everyone should make their own lists and thanks for reading ours! Without ado. Check out all these records, most are in print at least digitally.

8ulentina “Eucalyptus” (Club Chai)

Anatomy “S/T” (Self Released)

Austin Davis & How I Quit Crack “Far Away” (Noisequanoise)

Avola “Zone”

Bonedust “Fruit of the Ash” (Dirt Palace)

Caspar Brotzmann Massaker ‘Black Axis’

Chuck Johnson “Blood Moon Boulder” (Scissor Tail)

Collections Of Dead Souls “The Vault 12​/​2017 – 10​/​2018” (Self Released)

Daughters “You Won’t Get What You Want” (Ipecac)

Divtech “Spit Blood” (Realicide Youth Records)

Echo Beds “Buried Language” (The Flenser)

E.W. Wainwright “African roots of Jazz” (Private Press)

Fire-Toolz “Skinless X-1” (Hausu Mountain)

Gaylord “The Black Metal Scene Needs To Be Destroyed” (Blackened Death)

Gurrumul  “Djarimirri: Child of the Rainbow” (Skinnyfish)

Hama “Houmeissa” (Sahel Sounds)

Keiji Haino + Sumac “American Dollar Bill – Keep Facing Sideways, You’re Too Hideous To Look At Face On” (Thrill Jockey)

Klara Lewis and Simon Fisher Turner “Care” (Editions Mego)

Licking Wounds “Licking Wounds” (Phage Tapes)

Lingua Ignota “All Bitches Die” (Self Released)

Lizard Bitch “Souvenir”

Lonnie Holley  “MITH” (Jagjaguwar)

Meitei   “Kwaidan” (Self Released)

Mika Vainio + Ryoji Ikeda + Alva Noto “Live 2002{” (Noton)

Neckbeard Deathcamp “White Nationalism Is For Basement Dwelling Losers” (Prosthetic Records)

Nomadic War Machine “Always/Forever”

Nursalim Yadi Anugerah  “Selected Pieces from HNNUNG” (Hasana Editions)

Ragana / Thou “Let Our Names Be Forgotten” (Feast Of  Tentacles)

Ricardo Donoso “In Search of Lost Time” (Inverted Audio)

Senyawa “Tanggalkan Di Dunia” (Sublime Frequencies)

Thou “Magus” (Sacred Bones)

Ulfur, Oren Ambarchi, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Alex Somers

“Arborescence {remixes}” (Figureight)

Various Artists “Ex Abyss I” (Evening Of Light)

This is by no means whatsoever meant to be comprehensive in any way just some records that we played many times throughout the  year that we’re specifically released in 2018!

Read PART ONE HERE

DECAYCAST : Fifty + Impactful Genre- Defying Music Releases of 2018 : Part One

DECAYCAST : Fifty + Impactful Genre Defying Music Releases of 2018 : Part One
*part two to be released Feb 2018

2018 was a wild year for music and the world. Bad politics and worse people coming to positions of power often spark good art. Here’s fifty genre defying releases from 2018 that we at Decaycast found absolutely exceptional.
Please seek these albums out and support the artists as directly as possible!

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700 Bliss “Spa 700” (Halcyon Veil)

Akvan “بلک متال آریایی” (Self Released)

Anna LuisaGreen” (Practical Records)

Attilo Novellino & Collin McKelvey “Métaphysiques cannibales” (Weird Ear)

BbymuthaMD3” (Self Released)

Beast NestA History Of Sexual Violence” (Self Released)

Black Spirituals “Black Access / Black Axes” (SIGE Records)

Bonemagic “Cult Of The Red Vest” (Cult Love!)

The Breathing Light “Light Fast, Black Power!” (Self Released)

Burmese “Privilege” (Fuck Yoga Records)

CBN “Neblastya” (Phage Tapes)

Colin Bragg & Bill Pritchard “Andedyr” (Self Released)

Compactor “Technology Worship” (Oppressive Existence Recordings)

Conscious Summary “Exhaustions” (Skin Trade Recordings

Dental Work “Fog Of Summer Ghosts” (Placenta Recordings)

Dreamcrusher “Grudge2” (C-I-P)

Drew McDowall “The Third Helix” (Dias Records)

Eleh “Wear Patterns” (Self Released)

The Fathers “Sound Advice” (T/ECA)

Fletcher Pratt “Dub Sessions, Volume 4” (Crash Symbols)

Lara Sarkissian “Disruption” (Club Chai)

Girlz N The Hood ‘All 4 Nia’ (Self Released)

Golden Donna “Date Night” (Self Released)

Hiro Kone “Pire Expenditure” (Dias Records)

HIRS “Friends. Lovers. Favorites” (Self Released)

House Of Cake “House Of Cake” (Houdini Mansions)

Jeff Carey “Zero Player Game” (Ehse)

Jasmine Infiniti “Sis” (Club Chai)

Jonathan Snipes “The Nightmare” (Deathbomb Arc)

JPEGMAFIA “Veteran”  (Deathbomb Arc)

K 23 “Blacklight Sessions” (Fantasy 1)

Kepla & DeForrest Brown Jr. “The Wages of Being Black is Death ” (PTP)

King Vision Ultra “Pain Of Mind” (Self Released)

KK NULL “Pulsar X” (Self Released)

Kohinoorgasm “Synthwali and The War Empire” (Self Released)

Lunar Tomb “Tierra de las Brujas” (Distort Discos)

LSDXOXO “Body Mods” (Self Released)

Luke Stewart “Works For Upright Bass And Amplifier” (Self Released)

Lana Del Rabies “Shadow World” (Deathbomb Arc)

Macho Blush “Users Guide” (Tymbal Tapes)

Midmight “Cut Cut Cut Bruise” (Resipiscent)

Moira Scar “Wound World Part 1” (Psychic Eye)

Nightmare Difficulty “Run and Gun” (Self Released)

Open Mike Eagle “What Happens When I Try To Relax”

ONO “Your Future Is Metal” (American Damage)

Portal “Ion” (Profound Lore)

Russell E.L. Butler “The Home I’d Build For Myself And All My Friends”

Ryan King “How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love To Bomb” (Serious Hype)

SAN CHA “Capricha Del Diablo” (self released)

Serpentwithfeet “Soil”

S.B.S.M “Leave Your Body” (Thrilling Living)

The Sorcerer Family “Hidden Rooms” (Stay Strange)

TAHNZZ “XILA” (Self Released)

The Bedroom Witch “Triptych” (Self Released)

Turkish Delight “Howcha Magowcha” (I Heart Noise)

Voicehandler “Light From Another Light” (Humbler Records)

White Boy Scream “Remains” (Crystalline Morphologies)

Witches Of Malibu “Fever Dreams” (Self Released)

Yves Tumor “Safe In The Hands Of Love” (Warp)

V/A: “Energies” (Practical Records)

V/A: “Stable Submissions, Vol 2” (Stable)

 

DECAYCAST Interviews: ROSTOV’S HATCHET: AN INTERVIEW WITH JAY PAUL WATSON of Dental Work / Placenta Recordings

ROSTOV’S HATCHET : AN INTERVIEW WITH JAY PAUL WATSON of Dental Work / Placenta Recordings.

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I’ve been following the work of Michigan based surrealist artist, label head, musician, and all around intellectually deep and philosophically and visually  rewarding stalwart of the noise scene Jay Watson for over ten years. I first met him in the flesh after trading tapes online at a show i put on at our old house in Oakland, The Razorwire Compound, and we instantly became great friends and collaborators. It’s been great to see Jay’s projects evolve over the years including his main recording project, Dental Work expand into a three piece entourage and his label, Placenta Recordings slowly inch it’s way toward its  500th release. After many years, we finally pinned him down for a short penning of the strategies and philosophies of his past and current practice, enjoy!

Dr. Decaycast: Please introduce yourself, and introduce your various projects?

Jay Watson: Hola! Thanks for having me. My name is Jay Watson, I am the leader of an international collective/record label called Placenta Recordings. I also participate in a number of musical/non-musical endeavors but my main squeeze is my project Dental Work.

Can you talk  first a little bit about Placenta Recordigs? When and why you started the label, and how has it changed over time?

Sure! The concept of Placenta Recordings came to my head in 2005. I was making really weird music, and I was looking for a way to release it. I was 18 years old and I saw an actual placenta for the first time when a litter of kittens was born at my apartment. Disgusted and intrigued, I asked my roommates what it was. The told me about it, and that we all had one, it’s vital to life, helping us with nutrients. Apparently some have even grown hair and teeth! I knew then that this would be a fitting name for my new label. The first actual releases were in 2006 and 2007, when I switched from one project “Jehova Wrinkle” to “Dental Work”. I really didn’t even know what Noise was, I was listening to stuff like Agoraphobic Nosebleed, discovered Merzbow, and wanted to make something a bit heavier, and that’s when Dental Work was born. The first releases I put out were on handmade and distributed CD-R, probably around 50 copies of each of the first EP releases. I never intended on releasing other people’s music, but that quickly changed. What started as a bedroom “noise” label has evolved into an entire international family of artists, over 700 projects deep.

We surpassed our own expectations to the point that we actually released our heroes and idols including Agoraphobic Nosebleed AND Merzbow. Now we are releasing everything from Detroit Rap artists like Menacide, Esham The Unholy and Team Eastside to Doom Metal legends like Black Mayonnaise, Canadian Gorenoise, Norwegian Black Metal, the list goes on. If you would have told 18 year old me this, I would say “ha, right”…Now our aim is mainly to document and archive extreme pockets of diverse music from all over the world, in a variety of formats. We also organize and host shows, run a distribution for underground artists, do printing and manufacturing work, release films, have a dedicated team of alternative models who represent us, graphic design, charity work, you name it.

How has Placenta Recordings became so diverse in the genres represented, it seemed to start as mostly a noise label, but now you’re releasing  everything from hip hop to gorenoise to black metal, can you talk a bit about how that progression took place?

I have always been into all kinds of music. I started collecting tapes at 5 years old, I would save up quarters I earned for stacking firewood and buy cassettes from the liquor store down the street. My first tape ever was something called “Rap The Beat”…My 2nd was some Metal mix that I can’t recall. This was around 1991. My obsession continued to grow, I started buying CDs and digging through my relatives vinyl collections, picking up whatever I could get my hands on. My Dad was into psychedelic music and Jazz, my Grandma was into classical, so I absorbed plenty of that, and continued to soak up as much music as possible, which definitely reflects. Magazines and the internet definitely helped later on.

With the label I realized that there weren’t too many labels releasing more than just one kind of music. I wanted to share diversity with people in such a narrow minded world. Just because you listen to 80’s Hardcore doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy Rap, Techno, Noise, or whatever you find to get into! Pretty much as long as your music isn’t racist, it deserves to be hear somewhere by someone!

Interesting, yeah it boggles  my mind how many labels stick to a very formulaic presentation through the  artists and genres they work with. Was this a conscious decision or did it happen more naturally?

I would say it started to begin naturally, and over time I really started to zero in on this being a certain code to live by!

You also have a very longstaning recording project, Dental Work, can you talk a  little bit about this, it’s philosophy, and how it has evolved over time?

For sure! I got bored with the confinement of my previous project Jehova Wrinkle, which was a quirky Industrial/Trip Hop mutant offspring thing, and wanted to create something with less rules, and something to reflect some of my own internal struggles. I have always loved aggressive music since I discovered it, Death Metal, Horrorcore, Grind, Hardcore, and stuff so I definitely draw inspiration from all of that, Horror movies, etc. – anyway I’m rambling on. I was heavily influenced specifically by Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s “PCP Torpedo” which came with this remix disc that blew my fucking mind. Still does. So yeah I wanted to push the limits making really fast, untraditional, loud, almost Punk but not…You feel me? That’s when I cranked out the first DW release, “Mike Vick Raped By Pit bulls” EP, self released on CD-R via Placenta Recordings, which was my version of a revenge fantasy scenario against Micheal Vick, who was a football player who was involved in dog fighting rings. I am firmly against all forms of animal abuse and cruelty. So yeah it was a total platform to get out all of my aggression, weird, uncomfortable thoughts, anything.

Over time i developed multiple split personalities within the project, becoming some sort of bizarre anti-hero out for all of the underdogs…I ended up adding 2 full time members after a variety of live collaborations and ghost members, and since around 2014 we have been performing and releasing albums as a trio, merging Noise, discomfort, BDSM, Comedy, and a trash attitude with plenty of sarcasm, inside jokes, political unrest, anti-society ethics, and general distaste. We like to leave our fans, family, friends, and haters wondering “what the fuck just happened?” LolZ

Is Dental Work more of a live based performance project or are the recordings more important, less important, or incomparable?

It started with recordings. The first DW EP was released in 2007, I believe there were about 6-7 more releases before the first live set in 2008. Both have been evolution. When I first started doing live shows I was wearing normal clothes during the sets. After a few years performing in the Midwest and8fee5225-22ee-4918-82ec-21de4f73ab00 east coast, I did my first west coast tour and saw what people in California were doing, so I took all of that in, and decided to craft my own aesthetic, which I have been building upon, manipulating, morphing, and upsetting people with since. Now I even have other people joining me and ordering raincoats from China to collaborate with us…It’s crazy. So yeah I think that you really need both the albums and to catch a few performances to complete the puzzle, to understand some of the humor, inside jokes, sarcasm, and love that is put into it all.

Would you ever allow a Dental Work performance to happen without you for any reason?

Actually, yes. It’s already happened twice. Once around 2012, when I couldn’t make it to one of my shows in Chicago I had my friend Billy Sides perform as Dental Work, he wore a hoodie and bandana and only a few people noticed. The other time was literally last week, I couldn’t make it to one of my shows, ironically because I just had oral surgery…So I asked if Justin and Sean could pull it off without me. They did, and it was fine. The project will die with me though.

Talk to me about the connection between your art and food, because between track titles, cover art, and photographs that my pop up online, it seems to permeate your artistic practice. What role does food play in your practice, and if none talk about some of your favorite foods.

Food is crucial. Food is life. Food is death, and death is important. I love food. I grew up eating food. I’m not vegetarian, but I respect every creature that feeds me. Man has been eating meat since the dawn of time. I am totally against unfair treatment of animals in any way, like fuck Tyson. You would definitely catch me at a Halal butcher shop though. I started working at 14 in restaurants. I did prep cook and line cook for years. I’ve always been into writing my own recipes, and the last 10 or so years I’ve been working on a cookbook of all original recipes with my own photography included. It won’t be available another 5 years I would imagine, but I will be publishing it. I’ve also always had a dream of running my own food truck. I come from a diverse background, I am part Lebanese and learned a ton of middle eastern recipes and skills from my Dad and Aunt…I worked in Mexican restaurants so I have a huge background there, and I grew up in Michigan so I have a ton of BBQ knowledge and a growing obsession for Canadian favorites like Poutine. My favorite foods besides what I just mentioned would be Pizza, Chorizo, Tacos, Shawarma, Indian food (hotter the better), Pakistani cuisine…Coney Island (Detroit or Flint), Gyros, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, even recently got turned onto Portuguese. Fucking A I love food, dude.

Can you talk about any up and coming acts that are inspiring, or new music or art that you’ve heard or seen which has made an impact on you as an artist?

I’m inspired in some way by everything I come in contact with…I am always peeping what cats in Oakland are up to, some great stuff seems to be coming out of Toronto lately, definitely digging a lot of Gorenoise, basically Goregrind but even more liquified…lots of wild mutations always seeping out of Japan, but I can’t name any specific acts.

As far as shout outs, totally. I have so many people I want to thank, but I’m gonna keep it pretty simple for the interview. Definitely number one to my parents, my cats, my girl, the entire Placenta Recordings Family, Ratskin Records, Grindcore Karaoke, Jay Randall, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Patrick Doyle, Trashfuck Records, Morgan Feger, Will Olter, Justin Lee Smith, Sean Barry, Krysti Mathz, Doc Colony, Nice, Clee, Billy Sides, James Lee Jones, Dan Bale, Menacide, Bad Mind, Esham, Jon Pilbeam, Nerfbau, Styrofoam Sanchez, Coral Remains, Tommy “2 Blades” Kittendorf, Bobby Waters, Hex, Project Born, Bonus Beast, Ben Durham, Craniophagus Parasiticus Records, Lexie, Luke, Nirma, Todd, Caleb, Aaron, Vincent Trotto, Watabou, Cock ESP, Evan Glicker, McCarthy’s Pub, Lob, NorCal Noisefest, Caroliner, Denver Noise Fest, WZRD FM, and R.I.P. Heidi Johnson. Dental Work is forever dedicated to YOU, and everyone who ever gave us a chance…R.I.P. Jsun, R.I.P. Uncle Charlie, love and miss y’all.

 

100+ Albums Made By Black, Brown, and Indigenous Artists You Should Support on Bandcamp TODAY!

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100+ Albums Made By Black, Brown,  Indigenous and POC Artists You Should Support on Bandcamp TODAY!

Bandcamp is donating one hundred  percent of their proceeds to The Voting Rights  Project, which offers assistance and encouragement for  folks to  vote. Our personal  feelings on electoral politics aside, a lot of folks will be making purchases on Bandcamp, so we decided to make a (by no means exhaustive) list of one hundered Black. Brown and  and POC artists on bandcamp that you should buy music from this Friday! In no particular order whatsoever….Support these artists! This list will be added to! In our  current  state of  politics where  white supremacy is a dominant  narrative, the bare bones work that can be done is to support artists of color, first and foremost, this is a  list to help facilitate  with that! Curated by Ratskin Records with members of the community. Thank you to anyone  who  made recommendations for this list! Support marginalized artists everyday, fuck white supremacy,  sexism, transphobia, ableism, and all forms of ignorance and systemic oppression.

 

1.Moor Mother “Fetish Bones”

“Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) is a national and international touring musician, poet, visual artist, and workshop facilitator, and has performed at numerous festivals, colleges, galleries, and museums around the world, sharing the stage with King Britt, Roscoe Mitchell, Claudia Rankine, Bell Hooks, and more. Camae is a vocalist in three collaborative performance groups: Irreversible Entanglements, MoorJewelry and 700bliss.

As a soundscape and visual artist, Ayewa’s work has been featured at Baltic Biennale, Samek Art Museum, Vox Populi, Pearlman Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art Chicago, ICA Philadelphia, Bergan Kunstall, Hirshorn Gallery, and in an upcoming 2018 solo show at The Kitchen NYC.  As a workshop facilitator, Camae has presented at Cornell University, MOFO Festival, Moogfest, Black Dot Gallery and others.  Camae is co-founder and curator of Rockers Philly Project a 10-year long running event series and festival focused on marginalized musicians and artists spanning multiple genres of music.”

 

2. 8ULENTINA “Eucalyptus”

“8ULENTINA’s debut EP ‘EUCALYPTUS’ released via CLUB CHAI is a gathering of experimental club tracks exploring self care, ritual and healing. The selection of tracks on the EP address non traditional approaches to composition, utilizing middle eastern percussive sounds, recordings of objects or making processes. 8ULENTINA has a specific interest in sound as material and creating physical space through sound, rooted in their origins and process as a visual artist. The EP also features a collaboration between 8ULENTINA and London based producer and vocalist Organ Tapes.”

3. Jasmine Infiniti “SIS’

“CLUB CHAI is set to release Jasmine Infiniti’s debut EP ‘SiS’ on September 26th.

“SiS is a work of very personal and emotional thematic material. It’s dealing with my experience as a black trans woman in this new era, in a time of discovery and publicity, where the gaze of the media found its attention on us, a time where Paris is Burning exists as a historical document. It’s for my sisters. It’s a commentary on fear, sexuality, the importance of community and camaraderie, and the anger and shade of it all. It’s also about how we are more similar than we are different, how more of us are sisters than we know.”

– Jasmine Infiniti ”

4. dreamcrusher “Hackers All Of Them Hackers”

” NIHILIST QUEER REVOLT MUSIK ☥ Genderqueer, non-binary (they/them/their pronouns). Industrial, noise, punk, shitgaze, hardcore. Eat 2003″

5. Russell E.L. Butler “God Is Change”

” Russell has been making waves in the Bay Area music scene for years. Their project Black Jeans evoked the emotional and physical qualities of minimal synth and electronic body music to transport listeners to hidden and forgotten sonic landscapes. For the past few years they have been making a brand of stripped down machine techno that has evolved rapidly with each successive release. Transplantation, evolution, and healing are themes in Russell’s music. They based their 2015 album, “God is Change”, on Octavia Butler’s Parable series of novels, in which these are central tenets of the philosophy that the books explore. Since its release “God is Change” has received major acclaim, with NPR naming it one of their top 10 favorite electronic albums of 2015. In 2016, Russell released Visions of the Future on Jacktone Records, which is a collection of improvised modular synthesizer sessions. A month later, Russell’s follow up to “God is Change”, “The First Step”, was released on Black Opal. “The First Step” is dedicated to the “…black, brown, trans, queer, and gay folks of Oakland” and posits that “…sometimes to resist oppression, all we must do is simply exist. That is the first step. Let us strive to walk without fear.”

6. Beast Nest “A History Of  Sexual Violence”

“SHARMI BASU is an Oakland born and based South Asian woman of color creating experimental music as a means of decolonizing musical language. She attempts to catalyze a political, yet ethereal aesthetic by combining her anti-colonial and anti-imperialist politics with a commitment to spirituality within the arts. She is an MFA graduate from the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College in Electronic Music and Recording Media and has worked with Fred Frith, Roscoe Mitchell, John Bischoff, Pauline Oliveros, Chris Brown, George Lewis, Nicholas Collins, Laetitia Sonami, Jesse Drew, Bob Ostertag, Dr. Nalini Ghuman, Maggi Payne, and more. Her workshops on “Decolonizing Sound” have been featured at the International Society for Improvised Music, the Empowering Women of Color Conference, and have reached international audiences. She performs almost 100 times a year and has toured through the US and Canada as well as internationally in Europe. She specializes in new media controllers, improvisation in electronic music, and intersectionality within music and social justice. She currently teaches Sound Art and Interactive Art at Ex’pression College in the Bay Area. She also founded and hosts an all people-of-color improvisation and performance group called the MARA Performance Collective in Oakland, CA. You can find out more about Sharmi at http://www.sharmi.info.”

7. Signor Benedick The Moor “el Negro”

The image of today’s new act that accompanies his debut album on his bandcamp was almost enough on its own to pique our interest. He looks like a 16th-century courtier or a medieval polymath, a black Michelangelo, and this tallied with what we’d been told by his PR, who warned us to expect someone “definitely in the weird rap category, like Danny Brown rapping over super theory-based Renaissance music.” The name of the project, El Negro by Signor Benedick the Moor, seemed to bear out this idea of someone freakily intelligent and incendiary in the court of King Louis, rapping about the perils of absolutism and the like. In fact, the titles on the album further this vision of a Danny Brown character marooned in the middle ages: there’s one called Aristotelian Reptilian Pavilion, another called Existential Humanitarianism as a Fashion Choice, even one called Poeticism as an Extrinsic Finality.

There are some plucked pizzicato strings on Signor Benedick, lots of brass and assorted orchestration, and there is a general air of symphonia about it, but it’s not quite XXX in XIV, as anticipated. It’s quirky enough, though, and it is pretty Danny Brown-ish – the Pope even makes a cameo, as he does on Pac Blood. The music has a similar frantic charge to Brown’s, and even though the words are put through a strange historic filter, it’s clear that Christian A. McLaurin, who is Signor Benedick, shares DB’s obsessions, vocal tics and worldview. ”  – THE GUARDIAN

8.  They Hate Change “Cycles”

“Deluxe reissue of They Hate Change’s 2015 release on Deathbomb Arc, ‘Cycles’. Expanded from 9 tracks to 16, featuring remastered b-sides, one offs, and brand new joints!!”

9. Anna Luisa “Green”

“Anna Luisa soars in utopic hyperspace with interstellar synthscapes and optimistic songwriting in her debut solo album “Green,” an ambitious suite of shimmering summer-ready tracks that emphasize her craft as a healer, producer, and empathic collaborator.

“Green” invites listeners to Luisa’s “green place”—a new age refuge of lush landscapes and verdant soil, an oasis of collaborators and friends in the Los Angeles desert, where she lives and works. “I imagine us all chilling in a rich green ambiance of plants, herbs, birds, lizards… a conjured space to provide a mental and spiritual break from reality,” said Luisa.

Luisa is also a visual artist who produces her own videos and paints immersive environments that draw viewers into her lush, vibrant universe. These aesthetics extend to her sonic palette, evident in the warm analog synths and hymnal vocals that emanate from her music. Luisa also lends her work to further art forms—album opener “Offering” expands on music she produced for sci-fi video game “Jeep Jeep” and “Green Place” is derived from a composition made for contemporary dance artist Kevin Williamson.

Written while grieving the sudden passing of a close friend, Luisa set out to imagine a paradise for ancestors and friends through songs that could very well be heard in a dance floor or a new age wellness center. She chose the color green for its symbolism of growth, renewal, and abundance. “Green is the color of your heart chakra. I gaze inward towards my green place which rules the capacity to love, forgive, sympathize, grieve, give and receive,” 

10. White Boy Scream “Remains”

“Micaela Tobin is a classically trained soprano and sound artist who makes her own hybrid of noise-opera under the moniker “White Boy Scream” as a process of reclaiming and reconciling the construct of the “diva”. Her latest release, “Remains” is an accumulation of pieces composed between 2015-2017 that bear witness to her unique process of dissecting her operatic voice through the use of electronic fx pedals. The album itself serves as a tender and abstracted dedication to the poetry of a late friend. ”

11. Kepla & DeForrest Brown Jr. “The Wages of Being Black Is Death”

“‘The Wages of Being Black is Death’ is an exhausted and defeated audio documentation of the alienation – and eventual distillation – of the Black Body as a subject and content of the social sphere by Kepla & DeForrest Brown, Jr. Written and recorded in a week’s time between file-sharing and overnight home studio binges, the mixtape is framed as a deadpan comedy that follows a slothful and downtrodden Black Body as it drifts amongst the ambient commons of the Whites. Artist Ryan Kuo states that, “Whiteness acts by dictating the terms and categories that describe everything in the universe except itself.” ‘The Wages of Being Black is Death’ in turn serves as a reversal of the nominal gaze of categorization, a paranoid disavowal of an uneven and silent social contract as well as an intimate encounter with the daily, incessant slights and traumas felt by the Black Body in everyday life. ”

 

12. Ritual Chair “Title ix”

“Noise project that is uncomfortable and anxiety creating. Based out of Pomona, she yells about past pain to force you to feel it with her.”

13.  TAHNZZ “XILA”

32 minutes of heavy drones and wide walls from New Mexico sound artist Tahnee Udero. Tones moving at such undifferentiated speeds have to disintegrate when they can’t synch up. Like many releases on this label, the continuing story of the shape of the desert and its soundtrack onward…”

Noise artist from Albuquerque, NM.
Member of Death Convention Singers, Milch de la Máquina, and The Black Range.

14. SBSM “Leave Your Body”

“Hardcore was an adjective before it was a noun. This is haunting, cacophonous, strange and beautiful music. Machines with heartbeats and minds of their own, live drums, a table full of noise, and three geniuses in complete control, laying joy and rage to tape.”

15. Kohinoorgasm “Synthwali and the War Empire”

16. Yves Tumor “Serpent Music”

“The enigmatic Tennessee-raised, Turin-based Yves Tumor presents a poignant new album, recorded between Miami, Leipzig, Los Angeles and Berlin over the past three years.

Evolved from a diverse and prolific creative history under an expansive plethora of covert aliases via various forward-thinking labels, ‘Yves Tumor’ emerges as his most personal and matured incarnation to date.

With involvement across various artistic outlets expanding to fashion such as a visceral live performance for LA’s Hood By Air earlier this year, the global artist has built a distinctly bold personal aesthetic both musically and visually as a performer. ”

17. Black Quantum Futurism “Temporal Technologies”

“TEMPORAL TECHNOLOGIES is part of a Black Quantum Futurism series of sonic timescapes that consider what technologies are practically and readily available to us to help shift/adjust/manipulate/augment/enhance our experiences of space-time at will. BQF is exploring and developing temporal technologies that are more beneficial to marginalized peoples’ survival in a “high-tech” world currently dominated by oppressive, fatalistic linear time constructs.

Originally commissioned and released on AFROVISIONARY : DARK MATTER Label – kinnara-desila–afrovisionary-creations.bandcamp.com/track/afrovisionary-dark-matter-6-artist-black-quantum-futurism-temporal-technologies”

18. Las Sucias “Salte del medio”

“Las Sucias is a duo formed by Danishta Rivero and Alexandra Buschman, mixing anti-patriarchal riotgrrrl lyrics, afrocaribbean rhythms, brujería noise and possessed vocals. Each performance is a ritual that combines all of the senses and elevates into a higher realm, inspiring the listener to dance, speak in tongues, laugh hysterically and get possessed by the spirits awoken”

19. JLin “Black Origami”

““Black Origami” is driven by a deep creative thirst which she describes as “this driving feeling that I wanted to do something different, something that challenged me to my core. Black Origami for me, comes from letting go creatively, creating with no boundaries. The simple definition of origami is the art of folding and constructing paper into a beautiful, yet complex design. Composing music for me is like origami, only I’m replacing paper with sound. I chose to title the album “Black Origami” because like “Dark Energy” I still create from the beauty of darkness and blackness. The willingness to go into the hardest places within myself to create for me means that I can touch the Infinity.”

20. The Creatrix “Approaching An Abandoned Helm”

21. AhMerAhSu “STAR”

22. Fuck You Pay Us “Live at the Cielo Gallery…”

23. Z5A Z5A GABOR “Left Skull bank”

24. 700 BLISS “SPA 700”

“700 Bliss is the reality check we all needed. The sonic encapsulating structure of “SPA 700” leaks blood and futuristic knowledge into our empty cup, the education of the trash of imperialism, all while affirming the artists and their collaborators within their own uncompromising positions within the histories of futuristic sounds and societies. 700 Bliss’ music tells their unheard stories through an uncannily stark and real web of historical knowledge, black futurism, and sonic sorcery. 700 Bliss is radical protest music for the beginnings of a world which must leave this current place far behind to burn in peace. With “Spa 700,” 700 Bliss stands as one of the most sonically important contemporary electronic music duos to date. Which side are you on? (SORRY, you don’t get to choose, they do.)”

25. Mykki Blanco “Mykki”

“A singular artist who has made an indelible mark on the pop music landscape with a string of street-level releases and mixtapes, Mykki Blanco releases his debut album “Mykki” on 16th September. Produced by Woodkid and Jeremiah Meece, the album finds Blanco simultaneously at his most fearless and his most accessible.”

26. Akvan “بلک متال آریایی”

27. SPELLLING “Hard to Please”

“SPELLLING released her first full length Pantheon of Me in September 2017 and it was self written, performed and produced in her apartment in Berkeley, California. She began experimenting with music production in 2015 in effort to carry on the creative legacy of a lost loved one. Drawing heavily from messages in her dreams, her sound spirals through clarity and obscurity searching through landscapes of psychic space. The result is a divine soul music, soft in its restraint but heavy with passion. SPELLLING’s powerful vocal range dances over compositions that vary from rhythmic and ethereal to crunchy and hypnotic, while all remaining singularly cohesive to her distinct and enveloping sound. Pantheon of Me was Bandcamp’s #4 record of the year in 2017 and they raved of that sound: “Cabral has it, from her careful sense of composition to her charismatic presence to her ability to communicate with her music straight through to the listener’s heart.”

28. Nnamdi Ogbonnaya “DROOL”

29. DJ Haram “Body Count”

DJ Haram is a producer and DJ originally from New Jersey, currently based in Philadelphia. Stylistically versatile, she throws down for Jersey, Philly, and Baltimore with club and booty bounce sets but also has been known to pay homage to her roots in the tradition of Middle Eastern dance music and of DIY noise and experimental sound. DJ Haram (along with Moor Mother) is 1/2 of the noise/rap group 700 BLISS. In spring 2017 Haram composed and original score for the debut tour of Richard Siegal’s Munich-based modern dance company “Ballet of Difference.” Dj Haram participated in Redbull Music Academy Bass Camp in summer 2017. While in Philly Haram curates a few nights; a legal fundraiser party series (f)LAWLESS, a monthly live/DIY hip hop night ‘Gas’, and a monthly radio program RAGE RADIO on 91.7FM. She has curated events for MoMa Ps1 Sunday Sessions and Fringe Arts Festival Philadelphia. Dj Haram is touring North America and Europe in summer/fall 2017; recent and upcoming tour highlight performances include Unsound Krakow, MoMa Ps1 Warm Up, Bonnaroo, De School Amsterdam, Creamcake Berlin, Razzmatazz Barcelona, Damas Lisbon, Paradox Baltimore, GHE2OG0TH1K New York City, Club Chai Oakland, and Drake Hotel Toronto.

30. Marlo Eggplant “Delayed”

“Marlo Eggplant is a prominent figure in a thriving and diverse international scene of female experimental music performers. As curator of the pioneering Ladyz in Noyz compilation series, an ongoing project from 2008 to the present, she has helped to foster this scene and continues to promote emerging artists from around the world on her record label Corpus Callosum. With an intuitive command of minimal instrumentation, including processed autoharp and contact microphones, Marlo Eggplant’s sparsely structured notes and layered static textures build into sonically dense drone improvisations.

Receiving childhood classical training in voice, guitar, piano, and cello, Marlo began her solo musical career in the 1990s favoring folk and punk, playing local coffee shops and arty hangouts as a teen. When she attended college in the Berkshires, she became more interested in avant garde and bizarre musics. A burst of raw creativity in the early 2000s brought the playful lo-fi pop experiments of the first recordings released under the name Marlo Eggplant, concurrent with her disjointed trance-like drumming as half of the deconstructionist rock duo Hazardous Guadalupe, and her co-founding of the Spleencoffin record label with Timothy Wisniewski in 2003.”

31. Tyler Holmes “Invisible Island”

“Tyler Holmes makes music for people caught between worlds. As a queer, gender non-binary, person of color their music reflects what it is to exist outside/around the forced categorization and trappings of tradition and societal norms. Sonically diverse; Tyler blends Hip Hop, R&B, Gospel, and Techno into gorgeous collages that reflect on sexual, spiritual and physical identities.”

32. Bigawatt “Past Perfect”

“Bigawatt is Marisa Demarco, a journalist, musician and event curator in the high desert”

33. Maya Songbird “Writing My Life”

 

34. SAN CHA “Capricha Del Diablo”

“San Cha is a singer-songwriter known for her explosive, visceral and emotional live performances. Her name is derived from the spanish word ‘sancha’ which translates to ‘mistress’, and is also a reference to the title of ‘San’ given to male saints in the catholic tradition”

35. Mirel Wagner “When The Cellar Children See The Light of  Day”

36. The  Sorcerer Family “Hidden Rooms demo”

37. Monochromacy “Living Posture”

“Monochromacy was originally known as Van Clitt when founded in 2007 by Esteban Flores. The lineup has included Flores, Sam Lopez (aka noise artist and Stay Strange promoter Zsa Zsa Gabor), and Misty Sunglow on bass and vocals, though most of the band’s first ten years was basically spent as a Flores solo project.

Their 5-song Cement Cathedrals EP was released in summer 2013, mastered by James Plotkin and released on the local Stay Strange lable founded by Lopez. Limited to only 50 copies released on cassette, all tracks were mastered by James Plotkin (mastered for SUNN, Earth, Khanate) and manufactured by National Audio Company, with package design by dark artist Brandon Geurts.

Cement Cathedrals is a bleak landscape of ominous ambiance. A followup released in Autumn 2016, Live Isolated, features songs recorded all in one take.

By 2017, Flores had expanded the band once again to include collaborations with electronic keyboardist and percussionist Brian Ivan and Ariel Iribe on drums and electron”

38.  CBN “Buried and  Bald”

39. Cheflee “Hawaii Tape”

40. PU22L3 “Slight Of Hand Styles”

41. Nihar “Chrysalis”

42. Zachary James Watkins ‘Mixed  Raced”

“Zachary James Watkins studied composition with Janice Giteck, Jarrad Powell, Robin Holcomb and Jovino Santos Neto at Cornish College. In 2006, Zachary received an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College where he studied with Chris Brown, Fred Frith, Alvin Curran and Pauline Oliveros. Zachary has received commissions from Cornish College of The Arts, The Microscores Project, the Beam Foundation, Somnubutone Radio Series free103point9.orgsfsound and the Seattle Chamber Players. His 2006 composition Suite for String Quartetwas awarded the Paul Merritt Henry Prize for Composition and has subsequently been performed at the Labs 25th Anniversary Celebration, the Labor Sonor Series at Kule in Berlin Germany and in Seattle Wa, as part of the 2nd Annual Town Hall New Music Marathon featuring violist Eyvind Kang. Zachary has performed in numerous festivals across the United States, Mexico and Europe and his band Black Spirituals opened for pionering Drone Metal bandEarth during their 2015 European tour. In 2008, Zachary premiered a new multi-media work entitled Country Western as part of the Meridian Gallery’s Composers in Performance Series that received grants from the The American Music Center and The Foundation for Contemporary Arts. An excerpt of this piece is published on a compilation album entitled “The Harmonic Series” along side Pauline Oliveros, Ellen Fullman, Theresa Wong Charles Curtis and Duane Pitre among others. Zachary designed the sound and composed music for the plays “I have loved Strangers” produced by Just Theatre, which listed “top ten of 2007” in the East Bay Express and the 8th Annual ReOrient Theatre Festival. His sound art work entitled Third Floor::Designed Obsolescence, “spoke as a metaphor for the breakdown of the dream of technology and the myth of our society’s permanence,” review by Susan Noyes Platt in the Summer 05 issue of ARTLIES. Zachary releases music on the labels SigeCassaunaConfront (UK)The Tapeworm and Touch (UK)Novembre Magazine (DE)ITCH (ZA), Walrus Press and the New York Miniature Ensemble have published his writings and scores. Zachary has been an artist in resident at the Espy Foundation, Djerassi and the Headlands Center for The Arts.”

43. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids “An Angel Fell”

“Idris Ackamoor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, actor, tap dancer, producer, administrator, and director. He is the Founder, Executive/Co-Artistic Director of the multi-disciplinary San Francisco performance company Cultural Odyssey”

44. Xuxa Santamaria “Billionair Rainbow”

“XUXA SANTAMARIA (XXSM) is a music and performance project made up of artist Sofía Córdova (b. 1985 Carolina, Puerto Rico) and electronic musician Matthew Gonzalez Kirkland aka ABAIA (b. 1982 New York, New York). Interested in subverting and working within pop forms, the collective works within both pop and experimental frameworks to create albums and performances.

The duo first worked together in creating the sound pieces associated with Baby, Remember My Name, Córdova’s first project merging performance, video art and music. The duo pressed and released the record ChuCha Santamaria y Usted in 2011, composed of the tracks from this piece. They’ve since produced several discrete XXSM performances, including a 30 minute experimental performance titled Brothyrs and Systers of the Mystery, and a limited edition cassette mixtape titled BILLIONAIR RAINBOW about the trappings of labor and capital. The latter features a suite of unique music videos made by Córdova which range from works of durational performance in a 1970’s feminist tradition to videos made through the appropriation of moving image. Both ChuCha Santamaria y Usted and BILLIONAIR RAINBOW were released by YOUNG CUBS records in Austin. They are currently working on a new release, Chancletas de Oro (to be released by RATSKIN RECORDS Fall 2018), focusing this time on feminist/ femme narratives drawn from both history and works of fiction. Together, they also score all of Córdova’s independent video and live performance work, most recently they worked together BILONGO LILA: Nobody Dies in a Foretold War, an epic, 7 musician performance with dance and video performed at Mills College as part of a residency Córdova participated in through the school’s museum. ”

45. Raven Chacon “At The Point Where the Rivers Crossed, We  Drew Our Knives”

Raven Chacon (born December 1977 in Fort DefianceNavajo NationArizonaUnited States) is an American composerand artist. He is known as a composer of chamber music as well as a solo performer of noise music. He is recognized as one of few Native Americans working in either genre.

Chacon is a member of the American Indian art collective, Postcommodity, with whom he has developed multi-media installations which have been exhibited internationally. His collective and solo work has been presented at Sydney Biennale,[1] Kennedy CenterAdelaide InternationalVancouver Art GalleryMusée d’art contemporain de Montréal, The San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Chaco Canyon, and Performance Today.[2]

Chacon also performs in the projects KILT with Bob Bellerue, Mesa Ritual with William Fowler Collins, Endlings with John Dieterich, and collaborations with composers Robert Henke and Thollem McDonas. In 2016, he was commissioned by Kronos Quartet to compose a work for their Fifty For The Future project”

46. Demogoroth Satanum “Kingdom of Hell”

47.  The Younger Lovers “4/4 Kick and Let The Beat Ride”

48: The Breathing Light “Light Fast, Black Power!”

“The Breathing Light began around 2008 in Normal, Alabama. In 2010 it relocated to Chicago.”

49:  Cruz De Navajas “Dominacion”

 

50. ANATOMY “S/T”

51. Kelis “Jerk Ribs”

 

52. Quay Dash “Satan’s Angel”

Dash’s bleak outlook comes after a life of struggle, a childhood filled with foster care and group homes as she tried to find an identity in her surroundings. “It was a real tough time for me,” she says. “I ended up living with my sister, and that’s when I started writing music and talking about the shit that was bothering me in society. That’s when I started being Quay Dash.”

Her background might have led to this awakening but it doesn’t overwhelm her music. Transphobic isn’t just an EP about Quay Dash’s struggles, it’s raw and braggadocious, and quickly making her name known. “People are feeling it,” she says. “I’m pretty stoked about the future and the present is just, it’s live right now.” Despite the growth in female rappers, Dash is largely unmoved by her peers (“There’s nobody inspiring me”) and instead, acknowledges Lil’ Kim, Remy Ma and Foxy Brown as her inspirations from the past.

Dash wants to fill this void and represent her city, which she feels is too often overlooked for the south, and she’s confident about her ability to push a genre that’s often transphobic and misogynist. “I’m sure it’s no different than being on the street,” she says. “I know that I’m better than most of those rappers anyways. As far as my music I just want everybody to hear my voice and let them know that I’m here, and I’m here to stay; I’m here to stay and slay.”

53. Android Lust “Crater, Vol 1”

54. Lawrence Lindell “Eclectic Frequencies”

“”Combining the abrasive DnB inflected beats of Aphex Twin with Flying Lotus’ gift for beautiful atmosphere, Lindell’s music is truly unique.” -Nathan Leigh (AFROPUNK)

“Lawrence Lindell of Los Angeles is an artist that falls into the realm of the unexplored regions in electronic music and it’s mind bending to process every sound that speeds past you. It calls to a reminiscent state of sonic pioneers such as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Autechre, glowing with the same rapid rhythmic intensity and translucent liquid like layering that those artists have become synonymous for. Highly intricate and technical, his music is buzzing with a flourishing sequence of experimental grids that is a really special blend of genres and ideas.” -Erik Otis (Sound Colour Vibration)

“Lawrence’s trademark sound is as intricate as they come, pushing the boundaries of conceptual electronica like the great minds Aphex Twin, Four Tet, and Flying Lotus are known so well for.” -Nick Abitia (Sound Colour Vibration)”

55. The Bedroom Witch “Triptych”

“Cast as the misunderstood maker of the veil, the Bedroom Witch lyrically chants spells alluding to an inevitable apocalypsewhile embodying the creative exhaustion of isolation. Her aesthetics build on dark pop ballads, an ominous execution of chord progressions through mysterious allure and a danceable haunting that produces the nostalgic agony of Hell/Limbo theories   ”

56. Slanted Square “Three Sides”

57. King Vision Ultra “Pain Of Mind”

58. Felidae “s/t”

59. Snatch Power ft/ The Uhuruverse & SondriaWRITES “Channeling Calafia”

60. Edge Slayer “Edge Slayer”

61. Mosca Muerta “s/t”

62.  Jeepneys & Sister Mantos “My Loves  Shines Up In Circles”

63. Ase Manual “Oh Okay”

64.  Dengue Dengue Dengue  “Semillero”

65. Golden Champagne Flavored Sweatshirt  ‘Animals Calling Animals”

66. Muyassar Kurdi “Travelling”

67.  B L A C K I E “Remains”

68. Compactor “Basic”

69. Softie “Emotional Reasoning”

70. Earthbound “The Flood”

71. Amenta Abioto “Opening Flower Hymns”

72. E. Hernandez “Rave In Perpetuity”

73. African Ghost Valley “Colony”

74. Zedgar Infiniti “Toxic Femme”

75. Black Hat “Willow”

76.  Volahn “CN-26 Aq-Ab-Al”

77. LSDXOXO “BODY MODS”

78. Ana Roxanna “~~~”

79. XINA XURNER “Queens Of The Night”

“Marvin Astorga and Young Joon Kwak join forces as XINA XURNER, to bring you sadical and sexperimental industrial-noise-diva-dance anthems that ooze sex, death, and decay. Xina Xurner will make you sweat.”

80. Elisa Harkiss “Stomp Dance”

“Elisa Harkins is a Native American (Cherokee/Muscogee) composer and artist originally hailing from Miami, Oklahoma. Harkins received her BA from Columbia College Chicago and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. She has since continued her education at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Harkins is an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) tribe”

81.  Moor Mother x Mental Jewelry “Big Crime” (Remix by : mdmdata

82. Tavishi “HOME: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack:”

83. ONO “Your Future Is Metal”

ONO is an Industrial/Avant/Gospel/Noise Band, founded in 1980 and played all over the Chicago and parts of the Midwest till the mid 80’s.

The Band rehearsed weekly in a finished basement on the South Side near the affluent “PILL HILL” area. ONO shared the space with End Result at their inception July 1980 till they moved to the Mercy Mission.

84. LeRoi X M{A}B “…trio along the  story’s end”

“Formed in 2015 by RA Washington, M[A]B looks to forage new pathways toward heart music by melding soul, blues, electronics, avant-poetics w/ futurist beats.”

85.  Obliferous “Liminal Space”

86.  DRAMA “Drama”


All songs recorded by Jose Hernandez except songs 1 and 3 by Ryan Fleming and Jason King. Mastering by Sharmi Basu. Layout by Eric. Design by Tyler. Out on Aklasan Records. All songs written by Drama.

Guitar/Vocals: Monica
Bass: Krista
Drums: Aimee”

87. PURPURA ” COURONNE DE MERD

“Mexican female harsh noise unit based in Switzerland and France.
Half of Power Harsh duo TZITZIMIME.”

88. Queens D. Light :Flavor Of Green”

“Queens D.Light is an Oakland based rap artist.”

89. Melanin “Not Your Target”

“‘Not Your Target’ demo cassette tape features 6 tracks on Side A and a bonus ‘Culture Clash’ mash-up on Side B which is exclusive for both digital download and physical copy. ”

90. Ed Balloon “No Smoking”

“Where most people would look at the club as a place to lose your mind and your morals for a few hours, Ed Balloon’s genius is his ability to shamelessly find some humanity, some feeling amongst the people just looking for one-night-stands.” – AFROPUNK

91. Delish “Violet EP”

92. Squid Ink “Under  Siege”

“Squid Ink is a four piece band from Fresno, CA. With members Amber Williams (vox/guitar), Vishinna Turner (bass/vox), AudreyJohnson (drums/guitar), and Janell Bowen (bass/drums); blending the sounds of grunge, punk, and riot grrrl. Squid Ink creates music amplifying the voices of womxn and femmes combating the misogynoir, white supremacist, cis-heterosexist, capitalist, actual dystopia we live in”

93.  The Genie “Crystal Mirror, Part 1”

“The Genie is an avant-garde performing artist and guitar looping innovator; taking a DJ approach to guitar, he is the creator of a live-looping method called ‘scratch guitar’ and a unique brand of live-remixing called ‘g-mixing’.

94.  Chip Scout “Ice Cold Nine”

95. Natalia “Six”

“Independent -Multi Media Artist. Molding and manipulating sound, symbol and body.”

96.  Genital Quartz “Alien Trust’

97. George Chen “Word Origami”

98. Chaki & The Mystic Defenders

“Chaki is a funky alien wizard from Outer Space hailing from the planet Chaka 12. With his unique take on electro punk bassthump, he has brought his weird ass stage show to festivals like Noise Pop and has opened up for like minded weirdos Peelander Z, Bob Log III, Metalachi, Captured By Robots and The Oingo Boingo Dance Party. Rolling Stone said he is like Prince except not sexy and much fatter.”

99. Jennifer Simone x Zijnzijn Zijnzijn! “Inward  / Outward”

100.   TZITZIMIME “live at SONORECTURES: CHRONOPHAGOLOGY”

101. V/A: To catch A Light : Field recordings from Madagascar

102. Daveed Diggs “Small Things To A Giant”

103.  DemonSleeper “Dream Sequence, 1”

104. Julia Mazawa “Dream Of El Dorado”

105. Collude Noise Unit “The Black Earth”

106. Black Spirituals “black Access / Black Axes

107.  Diavol Strain “Demonio”

 

108.  False Figure “False Figure”

“US Tour with Cruz De Navajas (CDMX) May 24th-June 24th

12″ out on Near Dark // Last Hour records

@falsefigure”

109.  Hel “el ojo de dios”

110.  Twin Tribes “Still In Still”

“Dark melodic sounds, synthesizers, lyrics about the undead, the occult and parallel universes.”

111. DoNormaal “THIRD DAUGHTER”

112.  Half-Breed “Practice Makes Something”

113. Wizard Apprentice “I Am Invisible”

114.  Nightmare Difficulty “Run And Gun”

80s action, violent video games… Formerly of many different metal, punk, and grind bands.

115. Postcommodity “We Lost Half The Forest and The Rest Will Burn This Summer

Combining Western classical instruments and performers with their own Southwestern-rasquache electronics, Postcommodity’s third full-length release is a 16-song concept album recounting the ever-cycling decay of a desert drought from the view of its flora and fauna. Trumpets, bass drums, strings, piano and voices dirge through the only path to the end. Jackets printed and embossed with ash. Limited to 200 copies.

116.  S O L V “Wasted In  Arcana”

117. LEXAGON “Electric Meats”

118. Green Ova Undergrounds “Green Ova Records Greatest Hits (produced by Squadda B)”

119. Head Boggle “Live at I.N.C. Oakland, 2016”

120. VANKMEN “The maxx (part 1)”

121. JPAGMAFIA “Communist Slow Jams”

122. Flower Pattern “total drip”

123. Dax Pierson “macrobid”

Being The Machine : DECAYCAST Interviews Derek Rush (Chthonic Streams, Compactor)

Being The Machine : DECAYCAST Interviews Derek Rush (Chthonic Streams, Compactor)

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Compactor live at Knockdown Center, NYC during the No Workers Paradise release show. Photo by Kim Wirt.

Derek Rush is a man of many hats in the contemporary noise/industrial scene; like many artists these days, Rush has taken a ground-up, DIY ethos to his various musical projects, his imprint Chthonic Streams, his DJ sets, as well as mixing, mastering, and designing artwork for his releases. Many times, when artists spread themselves this razor-thin, for a myriad of creative, philosophical, and logistical reasons, aspects of the work suffer, or appear rushed, but not in the case of Derek Rush. His commitment to the preservation and documentation of the New York City and North American noise and industrial scene is impressive to say the least. Make sure to keep up with his various projects here and here.

Hello Derek and welcome to Decaycast. Can you talk a little bit about your current creative projects and what you’re up to these days both with your label, Chthonic Streams and related projects?

My main current project is as SysAdmin for Compactor. This means I’m overseeing the production of recorded Documents, and I handle tech, setup and breakdown of Live Shifts. Compactor is a machine, or series of machines, operated by a uniformed person called The Worker. The idea is that this is an anonymous figure who could be anyone, they represent everyone who works for a living. The project is a series of ongoing statements about work and its place in society, the dehumanization of people, the focus, fetishization, and trust in technology, the push-pull of how it can be pretty cool but also pretty destructive. In May 2018 Oppressive Resistance Recordings released the full-length CD “Technology Worship.”

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Chthonic Streams started as an outlet to release my own work when other labels are unavailable, as well as distribute the work of others I’m even tangentially involved with. Recently I’ve been expanding it to put out short-run releases of artists I like. I usually collaborate on some aspect, at least the design, sometimes a bit of mastering or even mixing, it varies. The latest release as we’re talking now is a tape by Endless Chasm, a dark ambient/experimental artist from Kansas. I also try to combine the release with a show I present under the Chthonic Streams banner with a variety of complementary artists.

As for other related projects happening now, I’ve been contributing to Theologian, which is the project of Lee Bartow. I recently sent him some melodic/harmonic elements which were turned into a track on the cassette “Reconcile,” and we have been sending files back and forth for the next major album, “Contrapasso.”

How did the collaboration with Theologian come about? How do you (if at all) separate the sounds you use for Compactor vs. the sounds you use for Theologian or other collaborations, and also how important is collaboration to you on general?
Theologian is Lee Bartow, but sometimes he likes to collaborate with others. We’ve known each other from a distance for years, but connected more in 2010 when I asked him to remix a song from my band Dream Into Dust. In return, he asked me to contribute to a project called Love Is Nothing, and then he sent me material which I added to along with others that became the Theologian EP “Some Things Have To Be Endured”. I mixed the “Forced Utopia” album last year, and I’ve been editing/producing material for the forthcoming album “Contrapasso.” The “Reconcile” album came about because of the Darkness Descends industrial festival in Cleveland put on by Stephen Petrus of Murderous Vision. Lee asked Stephen, Andy (The Vomit Arsonist) and myself to send material that he would turn into an album (mixed by Mike McClatchey of Lament Cityscape), and the four of us played in Theologian for the fest.

The mindset, sound, and material for Compactor is very different from other projects or collaborations. Compactor sonically is all about different textures of primarily atonal sounds. The material I sent in for “Reconcile” was very melodic and droning and in a specific key. In general when working on Theologian, I know what that sound is and where Lee is coming from, and I’m just trying to do something that goes along with that but adds a dimension he doesn’t usually do when working on his own, things like trying to add a different structure or little synth melodies and string parts.

I think in any collaboration, it’s important to find out what the other person wants and needs, which may not be the same thing. I’m mostly just trying to help their project be the best it can be to my ears. But in the end, they give the final seal of approval and may even change things I’ve done initially. I find that totally democratic collaboration often doesn’t work. Someone has to be in charge of a project and someone else in more of a supportive role.

Seems like the sounds of Compactor and your collaborative projects come from very different places, intention-wise. Oftentimes in experimental music artists can take an “anything goes” approach, but that might end up not working for every situation, or even many situations. Do you think noise and experimental music, more than other genres, emphasize collaboration, or on the contrary does it discourage collaboration and focus on promoting the individual. Is removing yourself from the identity of Compactor a conceptual move or does it occur for different reasons? 
I think noise music by its nature might not discourage collaboration, but it’s kind of unnecessary and sometimes a bad idea. With many types of noise, the more distortion and frequencies that are happening, the harder it is to fit in other sounds. It needs to have people even more attuned to each other than in conventional music, to know what and when to play or not play. Otherwise it can just become total white noise, filling up every space. There’s a place for that, obviously HN and HNW, but even one person can generate that on their own. So collaboration usually seems to come more out of a need for cameraderie and community. I think there’s a lot of loners, myself included, for whom noise has somehow had the opposite effect of connecting with others on the same wavelength. So it’s not like a rock band where you’re a guitarist who needs a bassist and drummer. You can do it all yourself, but you want your buddies with you, especially if they by themselves create something you respect.

Compactor being the machine, operated by the faceless figure of The Worker, is something that naturally came about from the early titles and imagery. It basically wrote its own backstory. Once that was in place, other details just obviously follow. The Worker’s story is a conglomeration of what goes on in this country and other parts of the world. The greed and inhumanity of corporations, the constantly working, often exhausted working class and shrinking middle class. It’s more important, and more interesting, to refer to these things than just say, wow work sucked today, I’m going to write a song about that. Because it’s not about me, it’s about everyone. And it’s sadly a pretty common feeling.

Can you talk a little bit more of the aesthetics of “The Worker” or “Compactor” from the mask/outfit to the unified aesthetics in the artworks well as music videos?

The predominantly black, white, and grey color schemes are just naturally bleak, and also give things a vintage or archival quality. A lot of the look of things is intentionally old, outdated, and ragged looking. For all the advancements in technology, there’s still a lot of old stuff being used by businesses that aren’t upgrading in order to save money. The Worker is kind of a personification of that, wearing a gas mask from 30 years ago, always the same worn-out shirt and work boots, and a generic cap, sometimes additional tools that are old, dirty, rusted or cheap-looking. It seems like a lot of companies are providing the bare minimum, or even leaving it up to employees to take care of their own uniforms or supplies.

Most of the videos in the past were outsourced to F Squared Media, who do some amazing work. Something to note is that there are never any people in them, in order to increase feelings of dehumanization and isolation.

Speaking of unified aesthetics, let’s talk about your imprint, Chthonic Streams. Most of your releases are rather involved with artist editions and elaborate packaging, including a boxset housed in a tool box?!? Is this true, care to elaborate?!

I’ve only started doing more elaborate packaging in the past few years, but have always strived to make sure there is really something to hold in your hands and look at. Also, it has to make sense and have a purpose. Although I appreciate albums that come with buttons and stickers, that’s not my thing. So I come up with images, words, and objects that bring the meaning of the music into the physical world.

The boxset you’re talking about is “No Workers Paradise”, which is 8 x 60-minute tapes, each one from a different noise artist. Compactor, Gnawed, Redrot, The Vomit Arsonist, Filth, Blsphm, Existence In Decline, and Work/Death each recorded a full album’s worth of material, so the total time is 8 hours, the standard American work day (although many people work longer than that). It also includes a 7″x10″ 12-page booklet with images, credits, and an essay I wrote about the prevalent relationship of people to work these days. Putting it in a tool box just made the most sense to me, as though someone woNWPboxuld carry it to work with them and listen to it all day. Though this was my concept I have to give serious props and thanks to all the artists, who did some of their best work.

What is the most difficult part of running your own imprint and also what is the most rewarding? Also please discuss any upcoming releases you have for both the label, and Compactor.

The most difficult part is dealing with money. While I can save money doing pretty much everything myself, as soon as you start adding in the kind of crazy ideas I have, the cost goes right back up again. Not to mention the time and labor. I’m cheating myself in some ways, but I guess I’d rather do that than cheat an artist. Then again, probably a lot of labels at this level operate this way, which is sad. We’ve become so used to busting our asses incredibly hard just to get anything done and not lose our shirts.

On the positive side, it’s so rewarding to hear from other artists that they’re happy with how a release came out. These are people whose work I respect a lot, and we are friends and peers, so that’s the most important thing. Though we’re also happy to sell out of things too!

Just released is a compilation called Prematurely Purgatoried, which is a benefit for fellow musician Casey Grabowski (Nearest, Obligate Surrogate, Secret Societies) who has cancer. In the works is a release from Seattle-based artist Morher, who was until recently known as OKA Amnesia. I’ve booked her a number of times, and she recorded several long pieces live to multitrack at my studio, with plans to do more and make it a full-length, which I’ll be mixing, as I did with STCLVR’s Predator. She’s also a visual artist and we hope to collaborate using her work to come up with some kind of special edition that suits her and this material, which is incredibly open and visceral. It’s gorgeous sung and spoken word live and looped vocals, with ethereal backing based on field recordings bleeding into harsh noise.

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By winter there will also be a special edition cassette by Mortuary Womb, a duo project between myself and the late John Binder of Exhuma and Arkanau. It’s full-on death industrial in the vein of early Cold Meat Industry and Slaughter Productions, recorded in Winter 2014. The limited edition will include a second cassette with the final recordings John did before he left us.

Compactor will have split releases with Vitriol Gauge and Ruiner. coming in Fall and Winter, respectively. There will also be tracks on compilations from Black Ring Rituals (for Fargo Noise Fest) and Spiricom Tapes, as well as a remix on the deluxe reissue of the Theologian/Lament Cityscape album. Beyond that, work has begun on a gabber album for Sonic Terror Recordings.

Chthonic Streams: www.chthonicstreams.com
Compactor: www.wastemgt.info

DECAYCAST Track Reviews: SIGNOR BENEDICK THE MOOR “Srsly” (Deathbomb Arc, 2018) + Tour Dates!

DECAYCAST Track Reviews: SIGNOR BENEDICK THE MOOR “Srsly” (Deathbomb Arc, 2018)

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Deathbomb Arc recording artist, and genre mutilator SIGNOR BENEDICK THE MOOR holds nothing back emotionally or stylistically with their reverent track “srsly” from the “Toybox” release on the esteemed longstanding imprint, who has helped spawn such artists as Death Grips, clipping. JPEGMAFIA and many more. On “srsly”  Moor begins with an honest, present, fuzzed out vocal presentation “bout to lose my body and soul” as an equally fuzzed out bass drum thuds in the backroom over the  artists melodic and vehement vocal presentation. The voice then mutates to a cleaner version, back to an ancient telephone fuzz, and then again to layered, almost “auto-tune” style vocals as the bass drum and claps refrain and break down, allowing the artists voice to dictate the pacing and  emotional expressions that is SB THE MOOR.

 

Un-categorized, yet defined, concise yet expansive, the sound of “srsly” is unmistakable, yet nothing quite like I’ve heard in contemporary hip hop.  Moor’s vocals oscillate between sung, spoken, and stuck in sonic sorcery as the track floats into a beautifully melodic breakdown where Moor’s voice shines atop the throbbing, warm, pulsating beat underneath. Warm synth pads creep underneath the beat to give a tingling sonic  topping to the already flushed out  beat, and ends as beautifully as it begins.  Moor creates music that defies rigid genre configurations and limitations and instead offers a futuristic, radical, idiosyncratic take on experimental  hip hop and r&b. Catch them on a  west coast tour right now,  stopping  in Oakland this Friday at at Pro Arts  gallery with  openers  Golden Champagne Flavored Sweatshirt and WOE. Check the tour poster below for remaining dates!

 

 

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– Maniere Zappone