Decaycast REVIEWS : ARVO ZYLO “Sequencer Works, Volume 1” Cassette / DIGITAL

ARVO ZYLO “Sequencer Works, Volume 1” Cassette / DIGITAL 

 (OOBR, 2015) 

   
 
(Photos courtesy of OOBR ) 

This one was released back in march of 2015 on one of our all time favorite labels here at DECAYCAST, OUT OD BODY RECORDS. This is some of the most intense / frantic offerings I’ve heard from Mr. ARVO ZYLO of Chicago, IL. ARVO has been making experimental music in multiple genres and formats for decades and their work is always dark, unnerving, at times whimsical but always unique, and “Sequencer Works, Volume 1” is no exception. According to the label description , some of these tracks are out takes from the now underground famous “333” album Arvo released several years ago, but this work breathes it’s own breath without a doubt. 
The first track on side A, “Hypnochondria” is a spastic, arrhythmic exercise in sequenced chaos, starting off overloaded and blown out the track slowly gives way to more musical sections, funky freak downs, chaotic synth stabs and textured low end bass rumbles all sequenced in a choking, nervous fervor. Some of the sections are dialed in with intricate precision, as if Aphex Twin was taking stabs at post industrial music, or inversely, if Nocturnal Emissions covered Squarepusher . 
About halfway through the first side, the track begins to clarify even more, getting further reduced to just the essential rhythmic synthesizer elements. Stabby, no frills Bass elements , abridged hi hats and snare like punches and mid range rhythm exercises, ARVO has worked the sequencer inside and out. The a side eventually slows down and as the dust settles, the listener is left with a more ambient , atmospheric piece which continues onto the B SiDe
ARVO IS NO STRANGER to creating dark , esoteric sound collages and dense, textured scrapes and the B side of “Synthesizer Works, Volume 1” is further proof of that indeed. The B side is much more reminiscent of many of the works from the “333” album we have all grown to know and love, or even his delicately crafted, masterful, yet playfully dark radio collage exercises. The B side’s two tracks really open up the scope of sonic territory on this album. Dense, decaying percussion hits, phased out static walls of distortion and arrhythmic exercises round out the album nicely. The second Side is definitely less rhythmic and structured overall but still holds a nice tension and tight compositional choices. This album covers a wide array of noise, synthesizer music and collage techniques glued together to create the soundtrack to your nightmare stuck inside. Dying pinball machine buried under the earth. 
Beautifully packaged full color artwork printed on transparent j card with an underlay, as does everything on Out Of Body Records, this tape looks and sounds fantastic! Highly recommended! 

ARVO ZYLO – BANDCAMP 

OUT OF BODY RECORDS 

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DECAYCAST reviews : GHOST MINER “Shadow Factory” Cassette (OOBR, 2015)

DECAYCAST reviews : GHOST MINER “Shadow Factory” Cassette (OOBR, 2015)

GHOST MINER is one of the newest cassette releases from the relentlessly consistent OUT OF BODY RECORDS from Denton, TX. GHOST MINER continues in the rich tradition of broken sounding, analog styled heavy electronics that the label
has slowly and steadily become known for. This release doesn’t waste any time cutting to the in ear throb chase with their unique style of beat driven dark electronic offering on the Texas label. “Shadow Factory ” does the style properly and uniquely with sliding, scraping high end bustled to completion through heavy, blown off the radar beats, murky,
Dissonant synth work and hauntingly cavernous and muffled, gnawing vocals. These are actual
SONGS, and they’re good !

Comprised of dense layers of distorted, ripping percussion, rhythmic yet blown out
Voice/Sample Snippets, and wavering nauseous bass / synth lines and the bleeb of a faded radio transmission, GM, digs deep into a toolbox of esoteric sounds and obtuse strategies . As the album progresses, more vocal forward pieces shine out, notably “Slither” and “Vacant Eyes” The album Is comprised of several shorter tracks per side, most clocking in around two minutes or so, but there’s a definite and intentional flow to the whole album. “Shadow Factory” pays its respect to early minimal Industrial, electro, and dark electronics, pulsating and wringing its own sonic neck , to a sonic palette not entirely detached from say a chopped and screwed early Nocturnal Emissions, or a sped up Pan Sonic blown out through a rickety, on its last legs tape player, or even with reference f early TG or Tuxedomoon, but in no way is pigeonholed into this style. Ghost Miner has a wide variety of timbres and aural architectures that are explored and exercised to a healthy degree through out the entirety of “Shadow Factory”. The voice is often exposed in a muddled, Dissonant lofting style, curdling in the background but always in the pocket. As a fan of heavy dark 80’s music, I’ve heard lots of post industrial vocal stylings all riffed off of Portion Control, Tuxedomoon and the like, but GM creates a dirty, in the background style of voice , moaning of agony and confusion, which is referential, yet original, distinguishable, yet mysterious, and it’s the perfect cherry on top of these funky, post industrial esoteric works on this album. highly enjoyed the cassette and will be looking forward to more from Ghost Miner in the future!

https://outofbodyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-miner-shadow-factory-c25

http://www.outofbodyrecords.bandcamp.com

TONGHT IN OAKLAND – CRAZY INDUSTRIAL/ NOISE / EBM SHOW !!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/577789872359599/

TONIGHT.!!!! a SPECIAL EVENING OF NOISE AND INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE AT LCM. CORAL REMAINS kicks off nearly a three week US Tour! Come hang. $5-15 , no one turned away.
LORD TANG : 9;15-9;35
LAS SUCIAS 9;50-10;10
ZANNA NERA 10:30-10;55
CORAL REMAINS 11;20;11;45

DJ BOBBY G ON THE DECKS and maybe someone else !!! dont miss out!!!!!

Decaycast Reviews : BLACK LOVE “soundtrack for Black Power” Cassette (Hertz-Lion,2014)

cassette DECAYCAST REVIEWS : DECAYCAST REVIEWS: BLACK LOVE “Soundtrack for Black Power” This tape has been in the review pile for a minute and the title and project name were rather intriguing, especially with the juxtaposition of the tape cove BLACK LOVE starts out with a low fi, buzzy crackling modem sound distortion. Upon reading the liner notes, we learned the sound source was STRANGE ODYSSEY, an early 80’s calculator game. The sounds themselves seem to be a strange hybrid of early digital and analog tape messiness. The piece builds up in a rhythmic, yet abstract fervor and ends just as quickly and awkwardly as it started. Black Love lays forth low fi, simple, frequency crunched and squashed textures which changes radically sound wise when played on a Walkman versus the stereo system, this noisy little tape seems to have a sound mind of its own, which references the media in a subtle but important way. source sounds are said to be various forms of tape; torn , ripped, spliced, manipulated, secure, sticky, malleable. The sound itself has little variance, yet at certain points sounds like a guitar running through a cable modem, sonically an interesting piece , but the title and project name seem quite detached from the sound source, and rather confusing.

Perhaps there’s some context we are left in the dark dealing with, as this tape was part of a performance, but the title does add an amount of confusion /mystery when trying to review this tape as a whole. Black Love was a performance by David Cotner and Sergio Segovia at Redcat in LA in 2008, released on the Hertz-Liolabel.

DECAYCAST REVIEWS: COCK ESP & GINGER CORTES Split Cassette (Forever Escaping Boredom Records, 2014)

DECAYCAST REVIEWS: COCK ESP & GINGER CORTES  Split  Cassette (Forever Escaping Boredom Records, 2014)

I’ve been a Cock E.S.P. fan for a lonnnnnnng  time  but i have  never  written about, or  attempted to write about their music/noise/destruction, etc but  with this tape, i’m going to, The  side  starts out  with  an insane bass  blast low -end wall of noise  and  a woman’s  voice, twisted, demonic, screaming and  howling as  it’s being  choked with blood and laughter. The  voice is a constant but a  hellish wall of  squelching noise  ensues and  swallows the voice into despair and hatred.  The transmission is broken, and high frequency walls of nauseating   piercing feedback give a bloody birth, to, what , a thumping beat, a beat???? Yes  folks, thats tight, Cock E.S.P. brings the booty bass on this one. The  distraught voice chugs and howls on,  grabbing onto and biting through the beat until the  skilled vocalist spits it out into a superhero’s afterbirth of a noise  menacing, dark noise  wall,  screaming at and  attacking  the listener  with unrelenting precision and terror. I do  NOT want to know what was going on in the  studio when this was  being recorded, or maybe  i do, but  either way something hilarious, dark, and nauseating was the influence, oh I dunno this  filth of a planet? COCK E.S.P.  does what most harsh bands cant  do, EVERYTHING. they bring the ultimate  package of visual and  aural insanity.Here’s the thing though, this is noise, but it’s done with a  jazz like attention to detail, all whilst embracing the  murky guts of the  chaotic element of bodily fluids, chicken masks, and flying objects.

They literally NEVER  let me down, even when when they’re  trying to let  you down, they don’t, and  that’ll hopefully piss them off 🙂  and this recording, like many I’ve heard are a testament to their hard work in the  studio, in the gutter,  and their  blatant infatuation with  and  disgust with humanity… What a  fucking  good  band, seriously, see them live, but  don’t blink because it’ll be over.  Like this  shit  inspires me. Thank you Emil Hagstrom, Jason Wade, Julia Rau, Paige Flesh, and John Vance for  releasing this blatant harsh assault on my ears and mind, it was much needed.

Despite COCK E.S.P.  being  a very tough, and messy act to follow on the  stage  and on a  recording, The  Ginger Cortes  side holds it’s  own on the B side of this harsh  brain jammer.  GC opens up with a dark, heavy, grinding, repulsive wall of harsh decaying belt  sander  style harsh noise. The  dark, brooding  sound continues on, slaughtering the  listener  with an unrelenting sledgehammer of a  scraping mid  range  springed out static  attack.  Ginger  Cortes grinds and  grinds and  grinds  away until the cochlear begins to flake  and shred off, bleed  and disappear, and  then they stop. They stop for a few  seconds of unknown scraping and  fumbling  around, and then a few  sharp  cuts  and blasts and we’re  right back into the harsh noise anus of Ginger Cortes. Quick,  cutting, bloody  cuts of high range  feedback give splinters of disease Ridden mid-range  feedback clusters, and  atomic blasts of  distortion,…and then ‘be  a good  little girl”……….??????????????   wow, what a tape, what a wild  tape, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED,.

FOREVER  ESCAPING BOREDOM RECORDS

COCK E.S.P.

GINGER  CORTES

Decaycast REVIEWS : REGOSPHERE “VHHEX” VHS ( OOBR Records, 2014 )

Decaycast REVIEWS : REGOSPHERE “VHHEX” VHS ( OOBR Records, 2014 )

REGOSPHERE is the harsh / ambient / dark / noise project of the west coast’s Andrew Quitter / DumpsterScore Home Recordings. “VHHEX” is the first official VHS release from the project and melds the classic dark noise styling of the project which has been going strong since 2007, with a video soundtrack that fits the sound like a glove. The video portion seems to be made using a lot of VHS manipulations so the format of this release is perfect . Distant ghostly images appear and then are geometrically swallowed and manipulated by pillars of glitched lines , fragmented transmission waves and pulses of static and interference. The image and sound sync up quite well at parts and The work itself contains a certain abstract narrative quality, despite the non linearity of the images / story itself. Segmented loops overlay and modify each other to create a nauseous palette of dark, anxious imagery ; death looping , fading and eating itself in a cacophonous synesthesia of sound , image and anxiety. The timbre of the sound compliments the images very well, creating a cold, dark, alienating landscape of brooding , cavernous and callous sounds, occasionally building up to intense peaks of distortion and heavy chaos whilst slowly decaying out to a low ambient rumble.

REGOSPHERE can’t really be pinned down to sticking on one “style” for the audio aspect of “VHHEX”, it blurs boundaries between dark ambient, early industrial , horror synth / soundtrack music to even at times, sputtered blasts of harsh noise. The wide , yet still articulate sonic palette of REGOSPHERE is one of this release stronger points as the sounds never drones for too long or stays in one place, nor does the video, which provides a liquid and fluent movement through the two longer pieces and even the “credits” section.

The video , like the audio seems to be heavily analog based in source material as well as execution , especially in comparison to the other VHS released by Out of Body Records , by the glitch artist Somnophon , which we review HERE.
Heavily manipulated VHS is the central source material for the imagery where the sound seems to possess a certain analog warmth to it as well. Overall this is a really strong release from Out Of Body Records, and we look forward to seeing more in the series as well as hearing more works from REGOSPHERE (which I believe we have a cassette cued up in the review pile as well so check the artists links below!

The packaging is TOP NOTCH , as is pretty much every release I own on OOBR, these folks always go above and beyond on packaging / print quality and it does the artists right! This VHS. Is housed In a beautiful plastic case and made up to look like an 80’s horror movie with brilliant art direction . top of the line art and packaging!

Watch the TRAILER HERE

REGOSPHERE

OUT OF BODY RECORDS

DECAYCAST REVIEWS : Phemale “City Silk” LP (Redscroll Records , 2013 )

DECAYCAST REVIEWS : Phemale “City Silk” LP (Redscroll Records , 2013 )

From the moment I first glanced / heard about / had suspicion of this record, I was intrigued by mystery.
PHEMALE is a unique and elusive project, remaining relatively obscure and under the radar in the east coast experimental music scene , all the while slowly building up a dense meticulously crafted archive of recordings. From browsing the archives or WFMU , Phemale flexes from more traditional drone/ noise to what could be nearly considered fucked up “pop ballads”. Phemale crafts delicate collages that morph into full on structured haunting compositions. Delicate, eerie synthesizers, present but non dominating beats, soft vocals, and samples/ field recordings all mingle to create a hauntingly beautiful mix of dark ambient experimental “pop” songs. Some tracks are more collaged / sample based it appears as they take the listener on a subtle, yet articulate journey through space, time, and emotion. These are cold songs , but never wholly alienating the listener, yet keeping them in a delicate sonic balance of yearning for more information all while embracing the mystery of intention.

Just when things start to get really busy, there’s a calm in the storm and were right back in the artists headspace, for better or for worse. Loss, uncertainty, and identity politics all seem to play a role in the mood and concept of this record with really interesting and unique results. This record is all over the place, in the best possible way, taking outward journeys both with it’s structure and intent, yet always resolving to a plane of solid ground where the listener can regain their bearings and then venturing back out into uncertain terrain, all the better. A loop, inside ones brain , tucked away behind the mask of self progress. From finely tuned minimal sound collage to lushly dark but warm pop slings . “City Silk” DEFINATLEY references early 80s industrial synth pop , but in a highly refreshing and unique way, which soars above and beyond many others dabbling in those genres these days. Phemales sounds are as dark, elusive and under the radar as he is. So don’t sleep on this , or it might just vanish . A beautiful layout and the record comes with a cutout mask! Can’t beat it .

PHEMALE

REDSCROLL RECORDS

Decaycast REVIEWS : MEDVED “Archives 2” Cassette (PREVED TAPES , 2012)

MEDVED “Archives 2” Cassette (PREVED TAPES , 2012)

MEDVED is Paul Haney (Rust Worship/ Obsolete Units head honcho) and Ceci Moss ( Boxlienter / YBCA etc ) and this tape is just as weird and fucked up as this project is live, as I’ve been lucky to catch them live, and even book them on a few occasions since their relocation to Oakland from NYC. MEDVED crafts sharp, manipulated loops from what I can guess are synths, voice, maybe even some strings ? And tape manipulation. MEDVED belches out well crafted minimal industrial loops, with whirling perfectly placed synth rhythms over the top of subtle yet intentional percussive rhythms. “Archives 2” is like EARLY SPK , slowed down, chopped , and re assembled for the contemporary listener, but then goes so far and wide beyond that.

Just when you are falling into the pulse of the rhythm, everything changes and you’re propelled into a totally different riff / headspace / sonic landscape. Mangled, distorted, guitar? And drums or drum machine pulse forward a militant yet textured rhythm which puts everything else in its place and marches forward. Industrial dance loops for the damaged brain that can’t process contemporary pop rhythms- a MIND BEND. Sometimes sounding more minimal industrial and other times like a drum machine at 300 BPM about to explode, with all of it’s failing circuits amplified , MEDVED never dwells on any one rhythm / approach for too long, things are always changing for the better. Vocals play a small role, but occasionally distant, delayed, decayed howlings creep into the mix and are then slowly swallowed up by well crafted , heavy , distorted loops that are the backbone of MEDVED on this release.

MEDVED is just as weird, damaged, and awesome recorded as they are live so don’t sleep on this tape, or maybe you already did and it’s gone. I got my copy tucked away for safe keeping for ripping on a damaged , toxic rain soaked day.

MEDVED

OBSOLETE UNITS

Decaycast REVIEWS : 156 “A Life Lived As If In Hell” cs (OUT OF BODY RECORDS, 2013)

156 “A Life Lived As If In Hell” cs (OUT OF BODY RECORDS, 2013)

156 is the cut up / field recordings project of NYC Based multimedia artist Adel Souto. 156 is apparently all field recordings and no “after market” sounds, just raw field recordings, but while many field recordings composed into an album can have a “compilation” sort of feel 156 seamlessly and skillfully weaves these raw recordings into a composition that for the most part, held my attention. The sources of the sounds have a wide range but always hold a similar recording aesthetic and rhythmic tension.

The A side starts off with some metal industrial rhythms which sound like machines scraping and pounding out their input/ output input/ output with no human in site, except for the microphone. These raw, early industrial influenced recordings slowly morph into layers of distorted howls. pings and scrapes, seemingly connected to but different from the recordings which came right before it. Perhaps some of the strongest points of this tape are the moments when you’re into a totally different “track” and yet you don’t even know how, sonically, you got there, a true sign of a seasoned and practiced vet at the chopping block. The low fidelity nature of the source material of course helps it to blend together, but 156 makes some concise and interesting mixing choices which emphasize that this is, in fact, a composition rather than a bunch of unrelated recordings spliced together. What sounds like a train running through a car wash or smashing into a metal shop on loop which accelerates with pacing and intensity near the end of the first side is the highlight of this cassette for me.

The B side starts out more subtly with a slow gentle pulsing wind sound, as if a microphone was held outside a car window and turned way down in the mix, and then sole subtle disagreement emerges … On a train ? On a plane ? Underground ? We don’t really know where we are or what’s being said, but we know it’s most likely an uncomfortable conversation and then the subtle rhythmic clacking of another unknown object and what sounds like poorly played guitar, reversed, and amplified through a long distant corridor over the top gives breath to a new section of the piece. KNIVES scrape scrape scrape, a creepy and lonely pulse, slow and itching, provides a great point of tension. 156 builds up the rhythms and loops on side B but it never quite holds the compositional weight that the A side did, but still a unique listening experience overall. For fans of early E N , S P K etc ….

OUT OF BODY RECORDS

Decaycast REVIEWS :Kelly Churko : Transient Compared to Stone CDr (Mandarangan Records, 2012)

Decaycast REVIEWS :Kelly Churko : Transient Compared to Stone CDr (Mandarangan Records, 2012)

The CD we received in the mail wouldn’t play in the computer.

So I listened to this recording on http://mandarangan.bandcamp.com/album/transient-compared-to-stone.

1.History of Wind

A machine like animal greets us,  gurgling us in its throat while strings are plucked in the tonsils pattering through stereo space something scatters its scales down a hallway slow strobing, something rising stalling waiting lurching along a old haunted train ride in an abandoned park there is a lost child whose mother is long since gone and swallowed by the writhing machine.

The pulse fades and metallic brakes skate in and grind to a halt . A light ahead goes out. By the end of the first track you are sure that somewhere someone is in need of help or at least in need of being woken up from a fever dream thats torturing them.  Long ambient drone-scapes with scraped swells.

2. Keitai Casualty

Someone starts attacking you with a vacuum hose in the ear, throbbing demon grips  with convulsing rhythm and highly resonate screeching. Pummeling ear drum cleaning.  An elephant trapped in a rubber balloon is chained to the bottom of a swimming pool. Spaces slide out from stereo space, pulses mix and new interwoven rhythms emerge.  Digital bomb decays to blast a hole in silence. Full stop.

3. Outside Context Problem

A zippy stomp bounce crunches through razor sharp layers and fat pulpy chunks cut to stomp roll then we climb a cloud of impenetrable cicada whirs but find ourselves breaking through some barrier and slamming into a bouncy tom and snare roll rhythm. then abruptly thrust into high pitched ear scrubbing. Eye bulging blast. then spit into blast scape of maniacal power surges and almost train horn rhodes drones lain under blistering ear cooking. My ears are cooked. Raw. Exit on ping pong chirping .

4.Palette Fatigue

Giant pillar of Church drone is cooking under the breath of some lawnmower man squeegeed grimace rumbles.  The Church organ is tumbling through space wrestling with Noise sheets that give birth to a quiet plucking melody that then gets swallowed by a 6000 foot tall Tsunami wave scorch your braincells, but have no fear the Church organ is here to save you wrapped in noise stain.

5. I Cant drive

We are tumbling down a hill and see some godlike sparkling tone and then tumble out into a different plucking chirping space sounding like the batteries are dying in the space ship then a chugging sludge metal noise throb emerges with something sounding like tape warp manipulations fast forwarding to noise blast then insect night, a roaring motorcycle, back to the dirge slum chug accented by a high ringing percussion. A ping ponging doodle and spongey mumbling gives way to a pipe bomb in a toilet.

6.Flattening deceleration

A slow tone creeps in overhead and some soft shortwave-like radio fuzz undulates with the slow stereo wafting tones rising in frequency I see the ultra violet light and the flat long open space of a parking garage : A lower distorted throb begins to rise into the mix, I imagine the parking garage strobing and evacuated cars and silently screaming people flickering in and out of the evacuated garage. A bilging microphone ruffle bump sound makes me feel like Im trapped in someones pocket in the machine room of ship accelerating to light speed.  A digital feed back flutters and tenses all the neurons in my skull giving way SLOWLY to softened white noise when a big dirty synth churns and bubble through, we emerge in a slow whistling scream  traveling through the VLF spectrum—this is what it must sound like to be attached to a NASA Rocket brought up to the pinnacle of the Ionosphere and then dropped falling back to earth and being sucked into a ride through slowed down shortwave surfing. At 21:12 this track is definitely for an altered time scale. A meditation piece that crawls into the smallest places of your brain.

This Disc is for  those interested in Harsh Noise, rhythmic throbbing raw synthesizer blisters and intensely crafted sheets of scathing sculpted white noise mosaics. The first half of this disc is a well paced journey through finely edited varied noise throb spaces that happen just long enough before changing to hold your attention on well sculpted noise drifts pulses and attacks. The second half is the opposite: a slow melt through the frequency spectrum giving the disc a good balance. Coming in at over 40 minutes this is a pretty demanding onslaught of a listen but it rewards with lavishly sculpted blasts and psychologically haunting and psychotic spaces.

http://mandarangan.bandcamp.com/album/transient-compared-to-stone.

written by: Verbjieff