Exploring the audible outer realms of outsider electronics, strange computer games and exquisite and thrilling movies from the past and beyond.
torsdag den 28. september 2023
Black Purification - Post-mortem Reflex
The project Black Purification is by the same bloke who brought us the same ambient/noise act called Kostnitsa and Katakombnaya Tserkov as well. Highly productive fellow indeed! This release has also been released on E.C.T Recordings and with this act he is, learning towards primal death industrial... old school style if you ask me. Released back in January of 2023. Recorded in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2022. Limited edition of 25 numbered copies [hand-numbered in Latin digits I-XXV with red ink]. Comes in high-quality black and white, with full color-printed inner side covers. The CD is stored in a cool black paper envelope. It all looks very nice... if you look away from the gory photos smeared inside and outside of the cover artwork! But anyway. the 3 tracks, are about 35 minutes in total.
The first track, Slow Death, starts with a thick, grim, low-fi, and wobbling distorted bass sound. Already entering familiar grounds here. This cold and mechanical bass sound gets joined up with other.. altered buzz-zaw sounds. Sounds with more or less chops and cuts up the listener. Very similar to that classic Atrax Morque sound, with a touch of early MB and Mauthausen Orchestra. Morbid hypnotic stuff!
The second track Post-Mortem Reflex really explores those excellent and atmospheric analog sounds. The sound of massive low-tech sounds will leave an almost physical presence in the surroundings of the listener. Although we are dealing with some pretty dark and morbid stuff, the recorded material here (so far) is highly meditative. Ritualistic undercurrents and ambient moods are also present here as well. Lots of moods, and lots of thought here.
The third and final track Open Throat Wound follows the same wobbling analog punishment. It has more of a minimal approach than the former track. Really love those thick analog bass sounds, really murky stuff! There's not much being multi-layered here, just a really pure and focused death-industrial/ambient sound.
And that is where the album ends! It´s pure, focused, simple, and to the point. It doesn't need anything more to be better, it´s absolutely spot-on in my world. Only one sound through the entire album that you should have your focus on, which is sort of ... refreshing really. It gives it that lovely old-school feel, less is more...right? Wanne get your hands on the physical release, and track it down on Discogs... it´s sold out on the label.
Kalteldur will review releases from the French industrial cult label Nuit Et Brouillard! If you don´t know the label, then I HIGHLY suggest that you should go and check it out! Alongside similar labels like Old Europa Cafe, CMI, Tesco, Dark Vinyl, etc. And has been in existence since the early 90s. The first album is a release from a side-label called Zone De Confusion, and with a band called Minamata. A really old French industrial/power-electronics act that started back in 1984. This one is from 1986, and it is a re-issue on CD. Let me just be honest here! The graphics/cover artwork is... well... let us just say that you shouldn't let it get you. Just put it away, and put the CD in your CD player. The stuff inside (Which I can already reveal) is pretty massive, really good stuff. Anyway, before we go on with the tracks inside, here is a bit of information.
"Interesting" tragic name for the band indeed. The concept of the album works around... something that just might be one of the biggest industrial catastrophes... if you ask me (besides the likes of Bhopal in India). Minamata is a town (In Japan) with a chemical factory being built, providing work and prosperity for the town. Little did they know that the wastewater was being poured straight into the town´s river. It became much worse when mercury sulfate was going into the river as well. And the sad thing, the town ate the fish from the river offcourse. The result? Something we call the Minamata disease includes severe convulsion, coma, and death. Go and do Wikipedia research and read all about it.
The first track is called Niigata 1965. A chopped-up and pulsating buzzing mechanic sound starts the album. Rhythmic scrap metal and devastating distorted vocals. Kind of like a power-electronics version of the early Test Dept with a touch of Hunting Lodge. The thing is a pure early industrial fix for the fans of the extreme stuff. A really nasty, harsh, brutal, and desperate sound here, but disturbingly controlled and focused as well! I am already sold here!
The second track Niigata Part I continues the industrial onslaught. The sound of grinding factory machines, torturous screaming voices, punctuating tribal beatings, and throbbing mechanical pumps pulsates into emptiness. I still follow that classic industrial sound, which I REALLY dig. Why have this act evaded my eyes and ears?
The third track Niigata Part II might just sound a bit like early Esplendor Geometrico. The feeling and the fear of gruesome industrial factories are really being felt here. Electronic drums sound like... underground explosions! Love the way they have added vocals here. Sort of really atmospheric vocals with a religious touch attached. The devasting stuff here is truly devastating!
The fourth track Es Ist Schwer Zu Leben includes a monotone synthy (kind-of) melody with added female vocals. I actually love those female vocals in the early industrial sound (SPK, Attrition, Hunting Lodge). When that ritualistic part ends, it runs directly into a devastating electronic rhythmic soundscape. Feels like a smack in the face!
The fifth track Niigata Fetal Case includes some kind of string work, guitar strings maybe? A simple distorted drum rhythm, and some subtle male vocals! The darkness so far, is quite overwhelming... but I guess that is the point of the whole idea. I (still) am quite convinced at this point of this release. Really excellent use of reverbed sound effects here, old school analog at it´s best!
I could continue with reviewing each track, but then the review wound up/could be too long. Let me just say this, every second on this album is a second spent with god. It´s bloody amazing. The darkness equals the darkness on SPK´s Leichenshrei, the brutality even equals Genocide Organ´s Leichenlinie! Why this act ( or this album ) hasn´t been recognized is beyond my understanding! And again we return to the artwork... don´t let it scare you!
Michael Idehall - Recepitulation reviewed by Anders Berggren
Michael Idehall is a Scandinavian veteran of ritualistic industrial music. This is the first time I get to listen to one of his numerous works, besides being a recording artist he also manages his own ritual-music label Belzebez. This release called Recapitulation is a limited 50 copies cassette compilation released by Rabbau. The cassette is sadly sold out, so you have to locate it on Discogs. Well, onto the review itself.
It's a bit of a journey into the dark. A damp, oily darkness. In places, it is hot and humid, while at other times it is freezing cold.
It reminds me a lot of the atmosphere of cyberpunk novels and stories (think people like Gibson and Sterling) when you move around bars and seedy tech shops, the places where the illegal implants are implanted.
The music leads the listener on a journey into the dark.
The first track has a very ritualistic feel. The text is almost read as if it were a creed or a political statement - slowly and clearly. At the same time, a very mechanical sound universe runs with various effects, both of a rhythmic and noisy nature. The idea of using a ticking clock to drive things forward works pretty well. It is fine that it is used as an element in the track, while it is also good that it is not used all the time.
In the second track, you are led deeper into the darkness. With a consistently sharp rhythmic beat that repeats very quickly. The lyrics are delivered very mechanically, and throughout the song, the vocals become more and more disturbed as if it were a cassette tape recorder slowly running out of battery. There are some nice little breaks of silence throughout the track, just long enough to make you wonder. Is there something completely new, or is it just a break? There is a combination of rhythmic elements and, in some places, almost ambient passages. It generally works very well.
I'm not sure where the second issue ends and the third begins, but these two are closely related.
The fourth track is very noisy, where many effects and elements are used at the same time. An atmosphere of chaos and unrest is created. The vocals are somewhat harder to follow here.
The last track on page 1 'Shall be once more' has a very industrial feel. The text is first performed almost in a whisper but then becomes rancid, harsh, and almost threatening. Here we are almost down in the deepest darkness on the album.
It starts on side 2 with a very mechanical number. A repeated 'XMI re20' occurs throughout large parts of the song, as if it were a tribute to a piece of mechanics. While this messes, a steady noisy rhythm runs in the background. This track was the first one that made sense to me when I got to know this album. Since then, the middle of side 1 of the tape has received more attention from me.
The next number is very marked by chaos and madness. It is laid out quietly. Both in terms of effects on the vocals and the background sounds, which sound like a mix between cicadas and a cutting torch.
First, the vocals are like a bunch of mad monks saying a little phrase in each other's mouths. Since then it dives into a jumble of effects.
The last number is disturbing and cold. The vocals have lots of reverb-like effects on them. Underneath, a mechanical rhythm emerges by hand, a bit like a ticking clock or a machine that repeats the same action. The rhythm and the effects of this gradually take over more and more.
It's a very ambient track to end the album with, which I like.
For people with a taste for industrial and noisy electronic music (but not exactly noise), the album can be recommended.
Elena M. Rosa Lavita - Dismembering a Dead Swan[Still Death]
A new concept album released by Industrial Ölocaust Recordings. A Elena M. Rosa Levita from Italian, a visual artist and bassist by trade. Have released a handful of releases on various labels... HGM, Luce Sia, Toten Schwan. I have reviewed some departures from the record label HGM (so there is a connection there), and this time her latest release is on a label which I have done a lot of reviews for. Industrial Ölocaust Recordings have always had a good ear for esoteric aesthetic mystical stuff, so I am looking forward to reviewing this.
The album has been released in a CD-jewel case format, and a lovely thick booklet and some great-looking graphics come with it. As I mentioned earlier, this is a concept-driven album. An experimental interpretation of Tjajkovskij´s olden-goldie Swan Lake, which many of us think of as being the immortal theme for Dracula, used for the first time in the classic black-and-white Bela Lugosi´s version from 1931. 6 tracks, 36 minutes all on a great-looking black CD.
The first track The Beak already enters that well-known creepiness that early gothic-horror flicks contained. Minimalistic, atmospheric, stark, and very immersive. The sound of an accordion, bass, various bells, and some finger-nail scraping sound. Perfect gothic-horror sound.
The second track The Eye. Sounds like the bass is being played like a violin, or is it a manipulated viola? Sounds great, the sound makes me think of the gothic post-punk band Bauhaus... in some way. You can still sense the idea of vampires crawling up church walls. Good use of creepy and subtle reversed sounds here.
The third track The Heart offers layered grinding nails on rusty steel bars. Still contains the cool and simple bass and the additional sounds of ritualistic moods.
The fourth track The Feathers, you get the sound of... sandpaper on cement (sort of sound), thumping sounds, and the nails on the steely bass strings. A lovely organic feel to the album so far, with sound quality being top-of-the-line.
The fifth track The Wing mostly contains shimmering ambient-bell sounds and bass. It still follows that excellent sound aesthetic. There is a strangely disturbing vibe to this track, the subtle gentleness keeps my nerves awake!
The sixth (and last track) The Death. Another example of how home-recorded sounds can be used in a pure soundscape. Love the skeletal sound-feel here. Wandering inside home huge haunted house, and all the tiny sounds are caught by your ear.
Exellent mini-album by Elena M. Rosa Lavita! One of those albums that you (almost) can listen to nearly every day. A worthy tribute to early gothic horror. There isn´t much I can compare it with, I guess I could mention some of the early (and ritualistic) tracks by Psychic TV or Coil. I don´t have anything bad to say about the album, only that it´s good all the way through. It´s a downside that the same sounds are being used, but then again it´s part of the concept. And the concept (of sound) works! Very good album here!
Yes, the first interview since.... like forever. It´s hard to follow up on an interview with the request for reviews, and releases are flooding my physical and digital mailbox. Although at other times I do get a chance to interview someone, and in this case, it caught my attention... pretty much I do say! We are talking about a truly legendary and veteran act of industrial music on American soil, Illusion of Safety.
I must admit, I do not know much about Illusion of Safety, although I do have 6 of their albums. I do know that the act is one of those that you just keep returning to... because the recorded material is just something that you don't get to understand that quickly. But the mystery and the otherworldly darkness of their sound have always charmed me. Any fan of old-school industrial (Industrial Records) will immediately get into Illusion of Safety, that I can guarantee. However, describing the Illusion of Safety solely as an industrial act would again be a long stretch. In much the same way as acts like Nocturnal Emissions or say Controlled Bleeding, Illusion of Safety gets around various styles of experimental moods with every album released. At times they do music concrete, illbient, electro, field recordings, and very eerie sampled cut-up sound collages.
Without that knowledge about the band, the WWW was able to provide me with some additional information. Here goes:
Illusion Of Safety started around 1983, inspired by witnessing the final two live performances in the U.S. with Throbbing Gristle. The act was (and is still) spearheaded by Daniel Burke, and since then he has worked with a lot of different artists/people. They have had releases on such cult labels as Soleilmoon, Tesco, Staalplaat, and Old Europa Cafe (just to name a few!). The act is still active, and still releasing albums! Which of course ( kind of ) makes them one of the oldest U.S-based post-industrial acts around! I managed to locate the headmaster (Daniel Burke), and prepared some questions for this interview... so here goes!.
1) When you started IOS, what made you start the act in the first place, and what motivated/inspired you back then?
Originally the impetus to make the band happen was seeing the (original) final 2 Throbbing Gristle performances in 1981. They even sent out a postcard to all on their mailing list: The Mission IS Terminated. I already had some desires to do something with sound & music but seeing them live flipped the switch. I really wanted to play with that kind of provocative sound, Imagery, and ideas. The power of volume and the techniques I saw resonated with me, and probably already having misanthropic iconoclastic tendencies was fueled by their fire. Recently I recalled that seeing 2001 A Space Odyssey when it came out at the theatre was probably my earliest formative art experience. The soundtrack, that imagery, that kind of internal/external psychology, and ambiguous storytelling altered my orbit early. Play has always inspired me, and I try to keep that at the heart of my music-making, Playing with powerful sounds and images was a way to satisfy some deep desires and also to provoke which was quite a necessity back then, still present but less so now, thankfully.
2) Are there elements of criticism of society within the sound of IOS, and if so in what way?
For sure, criticism of society, civilization, institutions, expectations, norms, humanity, you name it, we probably had something to say about it if not explicitly, then implied. In the images, the texts, and the titles, I love to play with words. To imply something without completely spelling it out is always the best way to instigate thought. I probably have spelled things out a little too explicitly at times. Always having a questioning nature, part of my goal in every artistic endeavor has usually been to provoke others to question the things that should be questioned; following rules, accepting authority, believing what you are told. I loved being an Iconoclast! Illusion of Safety Now More Than Ever.. pretty timely or has it always been?
3) Your sound has always had a kind of movie-based soundtrack to it. Do you feel that this approach is more convincing than a lyrical one?
I was always a loner, never got along well in groups, & was never a good communicator with words, It's always been easier to express myself visually or then later sonically. There have been some IOS pieces with spoken text but very few with lyrics as it were, I have never been comfortable with that. I am getting more comfortable with that now that I am making music outside of the context of IOS, actual songs, but that's a new and different story. With IOS it just wasn’t appropriate for me to try to express myself with words, implied meaning and power through sonic or visual imagery is a better way to express in the kind of way that I could. Originally I was calling our output Music Without A Film and I am returning to that organizing principle more and more, bringing back at least the sound of what the project name has always signified for me: long-form immersion into dark internal psychological soundtracks, encompassing and playing with events in large spaces, loops, shortwaves, ominous synthesizer waves, controlled feedback, traditional instruments used in unconventional ways, and undefinable cryptic voices. The emphasis on play I like to stress because it has always been present despite my serious nature. These sounds, words, & ideas are fun to play with and I try to enjoy the moment in every session or performance. I would actually love to make soundtracks for films, especially for Chris Nolan. The best I can do now is the video work making small films for our soundtracks. I have been posting the old videos no one has seen since live shows in the mid-90s on our YouTube channel as well as new ones. Collage is at the heart of what I have been doing as IOS all these years, A love for DADA is a major influence on the content conceptually, sonically, and visually. I have been using Final Cut Pro and other software doing new video work making these small films as I can and releasing one new or old piece a month.
4) Can you name your best live performance, and explain why?.
For best performance maybe the show set up by Doug Kaplan/Hausu Mountain with Good Willsmith opening set for Negativland at Empty Bottle Chicago 8/25/2013. I played as I usually like to in front of the PA on the floor so I could experience the sound, power, & volume myself. I usually request a loud level from the soundman and use that as I can. Sometimes the output is very quiet and subtle other times pushed to the limit. In that show I hit the standing wave in the room, very powerful as that P.A. is pretty great & the performance itself felt very good, was coherent, and held a good narrative.
Many times over the years (in my solo shows and recorded work) my tendency to shift things quickly has been too much, I think it works sometimes, but not always. It indeed lost a bunch of people who would have preferred the long-form drone and a scrap of the early days. I can’t say I blame them, that early stuff sounds really good to me now (Cancer, Of & The, More Violence and Geography, the early cassettes). I try to make every piece, album, & performance some kind of internal personal barely detectable narrative for the listener (which includes me), and the last few releases (Same Game, New Rules, Less, Instruction, & Organ Choir Drone, + Frontal) reflect that as well as a return to the earlier more soundtrack like forms.
Another good one was the Rennes, France solo show, 1997 no other performers, as was usual in France the audience was VERY enthusiastic and appreciative. I played a long set as I like to do when there is no other performers or the circumstance is right. Maybe 90 minutes, and they still wanted more, which I was happy to provide. I love to perform live and connect with people in that way (nonverbal). This music has been therapeutic for me and others, and I think of the opportunity to perform as an honor to connect and provide something useful. And if traveling to a remote location to perform rarely why not give whatever is possible? I would love to do live performance sound installation for the right event. Kevin Drumm and I played a stream from The Lab Chicago in the late 90s that was 3 hours, we had no idea.
5) Has there been a good response to your European-based releases? (Tesco, Staalplaat, etc). Did they open the door to a new audience in Europe?
Yes, they did pretty well. That was a long time ago, and they were mostly very interesting packages too which helps. The leather pouch of Historical with a bullet through the center was a standout of many cool releases. Staalplaat did great work, a really cool place. New Rules, Same Game, Less Instruction CD on Drone Records released in 2022 was far more recent and did pretty good, I think he pressed 300 and there are about 30 left. I think those all helped get more listeners in Europe. The shows over the touring years were always a bit better in most ways over there, funded and well promoted, with good accommodations, good turnout, and some very enthusiastic receptions. Also, probably more interest from labels in general over there asking to release IOS.
7) How would you describe the sound of IOS today, compared to the early stuff?
The answer will be sprawling like the output itself because there have been many changes in the lineup of the project that have been responsible for the content as much as changing technology. We were always tech driven probably to a fault. Early on it was variable speed cassette decks along with Digitech 3.6 & 7.6 second delays acting as our samplers and loopers. Synthesizers have always played a part. Guitar and Bass guitar processed and as prepared extended techniques (seeing AMM perform in Chicago as a sensitive unit improvising together in 1984 was an altering event for me and Keith Rowe’s technique with prepared guitar was huge). Mirage sampler came on the scene and was another jump forward, then with the Emax 12-bit sampler and getting a Macintosh computer working with Deck sequencer was another jump (inside Agitator). Getting DAT recorders and a good stereo microphone in 1991 started us down a path that continues today, using field & location recordings in almost every release and performance.
Mitch Enderle (dead Tech) and I had been working together at first since 1981 but not live, all on tape and we loved Throbbing Gristle. The first few shows as IOS 1983/84 though was the group Dot Dot Dot and I improvising together. They were coming from jazz/improv/prog-rock & were really great listeners willing to go into challenging experimental territory with the drone, scrape, rumble, & silence mode. Some of this from our 2nd show at the Cubby Bear on 2-5-84 is available as bonus material on the IOS40 Boxset and as extras on other new Bandcamp releases. But they were not into TG and the Industrial culture like Mitch & I. Dot Dot Dot morphed into CHEER-ACCIDENT and then Mitch and I hooked up with Mark Klein & Mark Sorensen and became for a few years the so-called “main core” IOS to pursue darker heavier sound work. This era was Music Without A Film and this version of the band you can hear on all the complacency cassettes, More Violence & Geography LP, Of & The, and parts of the CD’s Historical, Inside Agitator, Fifteen/Finite & Cancer.
A shift came after Sorensen moved to San Francisco in 1989 & Jim O’Rourke arrived in the project. After this point, RVE cassette, Inside Agitator, Mort aux caches, Of & The, and From Nothing to Less were really a series of mostly duo collaborations. Probe with O’Rourke, From Nothing to Less with Thymme Jones, Of & The with Mark Klein, Mort aux Vaches & Fin de Siecle with Kurt Griesch. They were responsible for reigning in my tendencies & the sound of these releases/performances. These works show a more patient long-form approach, dark ambiance, more refined electro-acoustic elements & location recordings appearing.
I began sometimes working solo on Water Seeks its Own Level, Distraction, Bad Karma, and Mort Aux Caches 2….with various more fluid collaborations interspersed. Distraction, Rules of The Game, and releases around this time reflect my use of sampling and what I liked to call Decomposition, manipulating structure and existing music into a new form, a sort of a plunderphonics approach. While we had been using tape & loopers/delays as our primitive sampling teach, once the Mirage sampler (later the Emax2) was available the game changed big time.
Then the laptop came into the picture and the music changed again throughout the mid to late 2000’s, especially in the live context. This shift can be heard in 2003 Time Remaining (https://illusionofsafety.bandcamp.com/album/time-remaining). The laptop made available (using Ableton) all sound sources at once, sampling, and sound manipulation capabilities all in one box and that was exciting, but later felt limiting and the return to and immersion in modular synthesis was like a breath of new life. The computer made it easier to sound glitched, shattered, more abrupt changes, less ground to stand on, and short attention span music. And that for a time was good, at least for me, probably lost a few along this path.
Around 2010 modular synths entered my life. Although I have had and used Moog and Roland analogs for years, the modular world really opened up some new fun and exploratory sonic areas for me. This was also the time I took a break from public music activities. Not a lot of releases in that decade, but the Z’EV/IOS record and Surrender on no part of it, Live at No Fun are fairly representational of what kind of sound collage I was making then. Some good about taking a decade off are the accumulation of raw materials available, the maturity of vision, & renewed energy. I did not record very much over that time and only chose to turn on the recorder when the output was worthy. Over time it was a lot of good raw material to draw on and all of it is modular synthesizer-based. I am using much of that and new pure synthesizer material for my Soundoferror project (https://soundoferror.bandcamp.com/), but some of it is available to use in new IOS issues.
Thanks to Arvo Zylo (no part of it) for pushing me through the years, doing the “final” IOS CD Surrender on his label in 2015, then again getting me off my ass to get the Z’EV/IOS record issued, finally working with me to edit together Organ Choir Drone last year. Also big thanks to Philippe Petit of Modulisme for reaching out to me in 2020 to contribute a session to his program (https://modular-station.com/modulisme/session/31/) and convincing me to make it as IOS, so he is really responsible for my consideration to renew and continue the project.
Over the years only In my hands I usually tried to make every possible kind of experimental music present in every release, every performance, and sometimes in every track, part of my racing thoughts nature coming out in my art. But I have changed now and so has the music. I am more relaxed and can enjoy taking time more, so the compositions can have room to breathe and take time to immerse in depth for some time while transforming. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any surprises but overall less jarring less often. Part of that desire to shift is also just wanting to make so many kinds of music, and perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to put all my needs into IOS. In any case, what is done is done, and time to move on. At this point, I am actually working on a few other projects to keep IOS a bit purer and to move at times, backward a bit with my intentions for it.
Currently, my intention is a return to form represented in the newer releases incorporating material from 1983-now, Frontal, Organ Choir Drone, Same Game, New Rules, and Less Instruction are the most recent examples.
8) Care to explain the experience of witnessing TG in the US?
My friend Jay Closser was really responsible for introducing me to TG and other bands of that sort during a visit in 1979. Later when I moved there for a short time I was part of Aktion Direkt Faktion a power electronics group he was doing with Ray Sena and Robert Gillespie out of Sherpa Studios in Orange County. I went to LA in 1981 to visit Jay and see the TG performance there. Their performance was powerful, and their presence and command of the tools were very inspiring. Genesis was a force by himself, his presence was intoxicating, and he commanded your attention, I think his interest in magic was represented during performance and also just in conversation, in any case, he exuded charisma. Their tech was also really cool, they had these custom flight cases with the gear well fit in so that the lids came off and became the foot pedals and the tops were the rack gear. Peters's “sampler” system of multiple cassette decks gated by a one-octave-built keyboard was inspiring. My only complaint about the L.A. show was the lack of Cosey’s guitar in the mix. We were way in the back though, the sound was not the best. Years later Jay reminded me I was the first person to leap onstage after the concert and gave her a kiss. We were so inspired that a few days later we looked at each other and said lets go to S.F. and see them again and got on a bus.
We arrived at 7 AM the day of the show and had time on our hands so we went over to Minna Street and found Ralph Records. Beautiful metal gated doorway we were admiring when someone arrived to go in, asked us what we were doing, said we were Residents fans, invited us in and showed us the new One Minute videos, gave us a bunch of posters and buttons, We even saw the Residents studio from a distance. Then we walked to Kezar Pavillion and arrived about 6 hours early. One guy in there was laying out mats to protect the floor, asked us what we were doing, and told him here to see TG, he asked us to help and we ended up helping to build and set the stage up. Saw the sound check, and talked to Gen at length, he was extremely congenial, and he even lent his Bass (with the prized Gizmo!) to the bass player from Flipper during their set when he was broken. That show was magic, really felt like spirits were flying. It was apparent there was tension in the band at these shows as Gen introduced Paula. They had just married in Tijuana before the shows, and later it was revealed the breakup of Cosey and Gen was the end of TG.
9) Can we actually spot you amongst the audience in those TG shows?
I don’t know about LA. Never saw a video. Is there a guy jumping on stage after the show and giving Cozy a kiss?? No! I actually had that in the answer in the interview that target video was, those guys were stepping all over us on the stage filming and finally, they asked us to get off the stage, and nowhere to be seen in that video
9) Future of IOS? What are the plans right now?
Also thanks to Arvo, Immanent is IOS40 a 10 C-60 tape set, in black case edition of 40, includes the first IOS releases on tape from 1986-1991 + bonus tracks from the second IOS performance in 1984, + live performances in Colorado 1988 taken from the More Altitude Than Attitude tape on We Never Sleep + digital files with many rare flyers and photos pre-1991 available digitally.
Another IOS Modulsime session Focused Systems Approach #3: [Buchla/Euro] >More Margins Of Error is imminent as well as 2 contributions to his next Buchlaïsms compilation series. https://modular-station.com/modulisme/
11/4/23 is the 40th-anniversary performance, the first in Chicago since 2015, on the CLEAT 16 Channel system at Elastic Arts Chicago along with CHEER-ACCIDENT and Hali Polombo. Doing a set of old school improv and the presentation of FLOAT a multi-channel piece about water which will be recorded in Binaural and released as CD on Andrew Weathers Full Spectrum label.
Performances in SF were the first since 2015 on October 5th & 8th.
Euro tour set up by Auf Aubwegen in November so far Hamburg 11/22, Bremen 11/23, Münster 11/24, Brussels 11/25, & Amsterdam 11/26, more to add. We are seeking more opportunities there…
Ongoing additions to BandCamp monthly subscriber exclusives of new and old unheard material at least 10 minutes in addition to other scheduled releases. https://illusionofsafety.bandcamp.com/
The issue of very heavy dark industrial early IOS recordings recently unearthed from 1983/84.
Revised edition of the 1997 dark ambient double CD Of & The as vinyl.
T-shirts in 3 designs.
Spontaneous live-action streaming on Facebook might end up being a semi-regular occurrence. They remain available to watch after for some time as well.
New video work as well as uploading the very old videos unseen since live performances in the 90s on https://www.youtube.com/@illusionofsafety
First time ever I get to introduce a new label on Kalteldur. Dark Oddessey Records is a new label with their first upcoming release. Dark Oddessey Records hails from Toronto, Ontario, and has its primal focus on high-quality dark ambient music. The label will also deliver classic re-issues in the genre as well. Will be looking forward (and being very curious) to what sort of re-issues they will be doing (CMI, Slaughter Productions etc, etc.?).
The headmaster of the label is Devin Sabatini, who has also been active in a duo group called DEV-I-ANT (together with Anthony Prudo). With decent guidance from Tomas Pettersson (Archon Satani, Ordo Equilibrio) they managed to get releases on Reverse Alignment and Rabbau, which are pretty cool labels (to start with) if you ask me! Their releases were mastered by Tomas Pettersson, Simon Heath (Cryo Chamber), and Jouni Haukainen himself (In Slaughter Natives).
Besides their focus on dark ambient music, the label will also be doing re-issues & releases with other genres as well! Death-industrial, neoclassic dark-wave, experimental, neo-folk, and even dungeon-synth! About time someone did some decent dungeon-synth re-issues if you ask me!
Their first (and upcoming) release is with an Italian act called Chaigidel. This album is also a re-issue, which was first released on a label from Brazil called Nailed Nazarene Industries. It was released back then, by digital means (Bandcamp) and out on CD as well. The CD version is quite hard to find, not a single copy for sale on Discogs, etc. So a good re-issue should be in order! It will be a limited cassette release, with some cool and nice designs attached to it. You can pre-order it right now, and you can listen to some of it on the label´s Bandcamp site (link below!). The release is being recommended for fans of death-industrial!
So, It´s always a good thing for something 2 look forward to. Kalteldur readers should also be expecting a review of the upcoming release as well. We wish ½all the best for the birth of Dark Oddessey Records! Blessed be.
I have known about the act Praying For Oblivion since... a compilation called Apocalyptic Streams (2008). A compilation that opened a lot of doors for me (Go and seek it out!). Praying For Oblivion is a solo act that has been running since 1997, within the realms of power-electronics, industrial, and noise. This one is one of the latest with Praying For Oblivion, and it is also the first time I have heard the act venturing into atmospheric ambient music. And Praying For Oblivion isn´t alone this time! In good company with an act called Nerthus. A German-based dark-ambient act that has been active since 2003, and has been releasing albums on such cool labels as Art Konkret, Audiophob, and even neo-folk label Eis Und Licht.
This album is a collab-album, not a split!. Andrew-Johnathan Seal (Praying For Oblivion) has been doing field recordings, which are reprocessed with additional sound and music by Nerthus. As you can figure out, this is a concept album that works around the atmosphere, aesthetic, and mood surrounding abandoned places. If you take a look at the cover artwork, you´ll notice that we´re dealing with places that have contained a lot of human activity. Places where people have worked and lived. Now the place only shows an empty shell, reminding visitors of days long gone by. A 7-track album, containing 43 minutes of highly concentrated decayed atmospheres. Note for the reader, every track is just called I, II, III etc, etc... A limited 50 copies CD-R, so please be quick!
On the first track, I instantly tell/inform where he/she is. Ever tried entering one such place? You get that eerie feeling that you probably shouldn't be here, and you also get that feeling that the ghosts (spiritual leftovers) are still remaining (for some unknown reason). The entire place screams for the final deliverance, for a big bull-dozer to tear the place apart. That feeling is perfectly described in the first track. Hizzing drones, metallic rumblings, echo sounds through steel tubes... You got it all. Perfect intro.
The second track II has more of a basement sort of feeling. How the sound is transformed when you are in the basement of some abandoned factory. Your hearing gets way more acute for the small sounds, and every sound happening above gets amplified when you are below. Incredible haunting stuff so far!
The third track III, goes from the basement to the empty storage halls. High to the ceiling and lots of.. well space! You almost need those few sounds of... well various birds, building nests. Flickering of their wings, and their chirping bird sounds. A good place to imagine that sort of human activity, especially in a huge sort of warehouse-place. Love how the sounds are here as well, giving the listener the idea that walls can talk (or whisper!). If you have a decent stereo with this, the experience is quite otherworldly.
The fourth track IV goes to the rooms of the various office rooms. Where one could imagine people, talking a lot offcourse. Lots of human voices on this track, whispering and talking through the thin air. Love the way the two artists make a perfect (and unique) fusion of ambient and industrial music, to simply call it dark-ambient would be a dull thing to do. So far, this is more than just dark-ambient.
The fifth track V is where we (might) enter the attic of the building. You can hear how sounds from below, gently move upwards. There is also the sound of wind, how the wind enters the building, and how it locates an exit through the building. Maybee, there are also, air-shafts... moving air and sound through them. To me, it´s almost like every track describes a location in the location. Sandbox ambient anyone, feels like a place for the listener to explore. Getting a nostalgic feeling with this track, thinking of Aphex Twin´s Selected Ambient Works Vol.2 and This Crying Age by Morthond. (which is a good thing, people!).
To further describe this beautiful album would be to spoil the adventure that the album will deliver to the listener. It broadens with every track, a tiny world continuously growing with every second going. It´s like I said, It´s a perfect sandbox album. You can explore every bit here, and the album keeps on motivating you to do that. The sound is... absolutely superb. Recommended listening through headphones, or your stereo-speakers with your vintage CD player. My small speakers work like an absolute charm in my basement. It´s bloody high-quality ambient stuff here, way more than the rest! Be sure to check out the supportive links below!
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