Haunted House activity / Edgar Allen "Poecast" / Pleasure Tunnel reviewed by Heathen Harvest

Poe portrait by Marilyn Manson

I have contributed unreleased music to a DIY haunted house that is being built by my friend Brian Klein.
There is a great deal of unreleased material of mine happening.  I may also act in said haunted house, if time prevails.  More information as it's available.

I have also contributed a reading of an Edgar Allen Poe story to the Undressing Underground Podcast (Edgar Allen Poecast).  I'm told it will air on October 27th.

ALSO, Heathen Harvest has just reviewed the collaboration with Bryan Lewis Saunders.  It is reviewed by Jacob DeRaadt, who performs under the name "Sterile Garden".  HH is getting to have an all-star cast of sorts, for reviewers on experimental music.  One thing though, I was the one reading BLS's transcript upon waking near the end of Side B there, but otherwise the review is golden.  Thanks HH!!

Breathing is one of the most metaphorically loaded sounds in the human audial repertoire. The connotations are scattered throughout various psychological/physiological states: sexual activity, heavy physical labor, asthma/emphysema, the experience of focusing on one’s own breath cycle during meditation, the respiratory system being exposed to hostile or poisonous conditions, air supplies to the human body in outer space or deep-sea diving, fear, anticipation, etc.  The A-side of this tape is almost exclusively composed of this primal element.  It’s a dense, constant loop that slowly morphs over the course of the entire side.  Hypnotic approaches a description of the overall effect on the listener.  I tried to listen to this while driving through the countryside of Maine and had to pull the tape out of the stereo.  The internal environments were overwhelming my external experience of the changing pastoral landscape.

Where “The Pleasure Tunnel” slowly builds upon itself, “The Temple of Paradise” is full of twisted passageways and abrupt turns.  Creeping, cold, vaporous drones emanate from the depths of the subconscious, worked into a cut-up style the brings to mind early works ofNurse with Wound.  Only halfway through this seemingly endless hallway do we hear Bryan Lewis Saunders’ twin stereo vocals begin to describe this fractured dreamscape.  Finally, there’s the startling payoff of white-hot harsh frequencies evaporating the memory of dreamstate.

The liner notes for this collaboration are illuminating and thought-provoking; seldom is a working process explained in such detail.  Rather than robbing the mystery from the work, it operates on a curatorial level of providing a specific context and deeper appreciation for the circumstances contributing to such a superb end product.  Here’s an excerpt:

“One time while I was ill with a severe lung infection I had extremely similar dreams on two consecutive nights.  Both nights I entered the most vibrant and wonderful places ever created but they were now totally vacant, desolate, voids of despair and in ruin and disrepair.  Amazingly, the recordings I made of them were almost equal in length as well as being extremely similar in sound quality.  Over the course of 2 nights my subconscious had become a reflection of my phlegm and I was drowning in it.” —Bryan Lewis Saunders

_____________________________________________________

Track List:

A1) The Pleasure Tunnel
B1) The Temple of Paradise

Rating: 9/10
Written by: Jacob DeRaadt
Label: No Part of It (United States) / None / Tape
Experimental / Noise

Guest podcast, Reviews, Velcro Bismol added on Bandcamp

Guests From Chaos 1: Arvo Zylo by Otomo_Hava on Mixcloud

I did a guest podcast for a series in Greece.  Normally the show is called "Notes From Chaos", and I had the pleasure of being the first of a series of guests; "Guests from Chaos".  The theme is industrial, but rooted in the experimental, cerebral qualities that began with the movement.  Otomo Hava, the host, has a knack for incorporating the raw and abrasive with the particularly ratty compositional avante-garde and classical elements.  

PLAYLIST

1.  Delia Derbyshire / Barry Bermange ‎– Falling - Inventions For Radio: The Dreams 

2.  Haus Arafna - Today You Died [Did You Know Who I Am]

3.  Women of the SS - Silent Weapon 

4.  COIL - The Gimp, Sometimes 

5.  DOME - Danse - Dome 3 

6.  GLOD - Black Song For A Dead Sun 

7.  State Research Bureau - Non-Place  S/T CDR self released

8.  Ptôse - Stalking in the Dark 

9.  RUTH - She Brings The Rain 

10. Theatre of Ice - excerpt from The Haunting cassette Side A 

11. Ono - Ennui  

12. Illusion of Safety - Fade-N-Die - More Violence and Geography CD 

13. Throbbing Gristle - Catholic Sex - Journey Through A Body 

14. dave phillips - The Possibility of Life's Destruction - Collection of Hair 2CD 

15. Nurse with Wound - Futurismo (excerpt) - Merzbild Schwet  UDT/RRR cassette

16. Gyorgy Ligeti - Lontano - The Shining unofficial soundtrack 

17. Frans Zwartjes - Excerpt from Anamnesis film soundtrack extract 

Review on Memory Wave Transmissions, here is the summation...
Falling Tower, Terrible Fountain is a solid release, and Arvo Zylo has proven time and again that his noise is something much deeper than the simple twist and turn of knobs. This tape is like a void, easily sucking the listener into the whir of noise aberrations, and one should attempt to find this tape by contacting punkferret138 AT yahoo.com (since Side of the Sun doesn’t really have a web presence).

Illusion of Safety reviewed at Heathen Harvest.
Now I will say first, that I think this is one of IOS's best albums.  I know I'm biased, but while the writer overall fails to latch onto, it find it to be one of the most engrossing sonic adventures I've heard.  There is a difference between being able to find meaning in something and being able to find substance.  This is a surrealistic journey, a damn near cyber punk outing in digesting the whole, that brings up different subtleties in every listen.  Never the less, I respect this writer's effort.  

....One can only guess at the reasoning behind this down-turn in productivity outside of the obvious, but it’s clear from the onset of Surrender that Burke’s will to craft marvelously complex experimental compositions from a variety of sources is still as intact and impressive as it ever was.  Virtually any element that you’ve ever heard in experimental music can be found interwoven with other assorted, sometimes seemingly incompatible sounds:  mathematical digital beats, distant pipe-organ dirges, feedback loops, squalling disharmonious harsh noise, engulfing bass-end drones, manic shifts in atmosphere and volume, a vast assortment of samples and field recordings, and fragmented electro-acoustic general weirdness.  Impressive in its scope and intricacy, Surrender—at face-value—is an experimental sonic-sculptor’s dream; it is an epic journey through all manner of digital visions and vivid hallucinations, wherein we are led everywhere from the bleak and barren cut-up introduction of “We Numb” as it develops into an EBM-meets-free-jazz freak-out passage to the raging angelic inferno of synthetic choir layers in “Popular Delusions.”






Moving on, "Velcro Bismol" by Arvo Zylo & Dental Work is now on Bandcamp, with a reminder that one can purchase prints of the cover art in numerous sizes and shapes.  

I am working almost entirely with a wide-ranging slew of sounds by Dental Work, from demented disco to coke snorting, all kinds of madness. The result is constantly compared to Nurse with Wound, and at other times, extremely harsh noise. Deep bass medleys, HI SPEED CUT UPS, screwed dirge, splish splash tape loops. I did the cover art, and it was part of a series of collages I did for an art exhibition of the same name. All art is from collaged women's magazines.

credits

Bryan Lewis Saunders & Arvo Zylo - "The Pleasure Tunnel / The Temple of Paradise" now on Bandcamp

Bryan Lewis Saunders is a creative juggernaut.  He's probably best known for his art book of daily self-portraits on various different mind-altering drugs, if not his huge collection of found photography, his aptitude for surrealistic visual art glossolalia and his "Stand Up Tragedy" Performance Art.  He recorded 2 different dreams that took place at the same dream location. He has done dream recordings hundreds of times, including his multi-volume audio book "The Confessor". This was the only time he returned to the same location in his dream, so he put the two audio recordings together, because they also happened to have damn near the same length. Saunders had a severe lung infection at the time, so it's doubly weezy. I did what I could to honor this magical place "The Pleasure Tunnel / The Temple of Paradise", including recording myself reading the transcripts upon waking, and making a soundtrack to it. It comes on pro cassette with 2 colors on clear no liner shells, a full color, double sided 5 panel J card with dream transcript, liner notes from each artist, and is a c40 or so on Chrome tapes. Mastered by Zach Adams.  At this time there are 4 copies remaining.

Bandcamp download includes dream transcript text file and original recording of Bryan Lewis Saunders' two dream speeches fused together.

In the process of digifying things that are still in print since the "off-the-grid" money order/xerox newsletter period for the label, there will be more from Illusion of Safety and WILT, among others, with bonus tracks and other items.  

Sequencer Works VOLUME TWO

Copies of the SEQUENCER WORKS VOLUME TWO are here!  This also marks the end of the "off-the-grid" era of NO PART OF IT label.  I will still give discounts to people who want to send money orders to my mail box, but I will no longer neglect the possibilities that the WORLD WIDE WEB provide.  This is the sequel to VOLUME ONE on the excellent OUT-OF-BODY RECORDS label.

Sequencer Works Volume Two  is co-released with 3 other labels, and seems to be the last release on the venerable C.I.P. label, which has now closed its door and shape-shifted into the extremely intimate and specialized BALLAST label.  Also taking up the torch are RAINBOW BRIDGE, and FOREVER ESCAPING BOREDOM.  The copies arrived today.   This is technically a PRE ORDER, although I have the copies on hand and will ship immediately.  The download will not be released until October 15, because I want to make sure the other labels have copies at that time.  I will leave them to writing a descriptive scrawl on the nature of this material, I am no good at being poetic or even vaguely hyperbolic about my own work.  I will just say, as I have said before, I had no idea about experimental music at this time, basically, and I thought what I was doing was totally ground-breaking.  I usually tried to start making a song, but it often delineated into me messing with sounds, layering as much as I can, and just letting the machine do its work. The goal was to finish a piece not knowing how I made the sounds that happened.  In that context, this is the most musical of the output, the least expansive and freeform.  VOLUME THREE is already bubbling, and that will be my most insane material.  I feel like every track on this one is very unique and still stands out compared to other instrumental/experimental music, certainly very few people write entire albums on a single sequencer alone, much less spend a decade or more messing with its character traits.

The tape includes liner notes, a full color, two sided 4-panel j-card, a two color imprint on black cassettes.  60 minutes.


Here is a tidbit of history for how the first track came to be-

Originally, this piece started out as a backdrop to my first performance in 2003, where I played a noise arrangement entirely from applause sounds on the sequencer, at an extremely loud volume. The police arrived shortly after. Later on, I was given the offer to open for the now defunct band Coughs, in Detroit, and I made this piece beginning from those applause sounds and expanding for the show, among other things.




Also, I was interviewed again on the UNDRESSING UNDERGROUND podcast, it was released today.  I talk about this release, the Transitory Reflection project I'm working on, and the recent debacle with Tonetta.   You can download directly HERE.  I come in at about an hour in.  An artist called SassyBlack who refers to her work as "psychedelic sci fi funk" is also interviewed, as well as poetry recitals of craigslist missed connections.

Here is the short description.

Material recorded between 2000-2003 entirely with a Yamaha Rm1x sequencer in a closet or crawlspace. Among Arvo Zylo's most musical work to date, much of the material took up the entire memory of the sequencer, because of the amount of automation. Culled from dozens of hours of archives, either released in extremely limited quantities in 2004 or before, or previously unreleased. A Sequel to Sequencer Works Volume One on Out-of-Body Records.  Mastered by Zach Adams

CASSETTE VERSION : Co-Released by NO PART OF IT, C.I.P., Rainbow Bridge, and Forever Escaping Boredom, this is a professionally duplicated c60 cassette with two-sided, full color 4-panel j-cards in a norelco case, with liner notes. . Cobalt tapes, 2 color Silver and Violet imprints on black tapes. Limited to 100 copies.

Includes digital pre-order of Sequencer Works Volume Two. You get 3 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it's released. 

Tonetta problem.

LET IT BE KNOWN:  I have tried to send a xerox of Moneygram information twice, and it has been returned to me both times.  This is regarding payment in advance for the s/t Tonetta cassette I released earlier this month.  My honesty is being publicly called into question, and here is my modest evidence.  Please forgive the quality, I couldn't find my camera, and I used a flip phone to take the picture.  Anthony Jeffrey's address is obscured in the event that it is actually his real address, to protect his privacy.   I initially spoke to him on the phone, but his number is no longer in service.  I have tried to send the MoneyGram info to Jeffrey online, but he won't accept it, unless it's sent by post for some reason, and now he is calling me a scammer.  The man doesn't own a computer, or a bank account, and now also a phone line.  He's not exactly making it easy for me.

.  When I announced the release of the cassette, I said that he was paid in advance, because it had been 3 weeks since I had sent him the Moneygram information, and I wouldn't be surprised if I never heard from him again.  Literally the day after I made the announcement, the first letter was returned to me, at which point I sent it again.  He obviously doesn't know much about the flaws of the American postal system.  Make of it what you will.  If this stubborn, counterproductive nonsense continues, I will burn the remaining cassettes in the street.   I didn't do this for money, I did this to support a person whose music lifts my spirits, and who has been screwed over in the past.  No good deed goes unpunished, as they say.

Update 09/23/15-

Here is my receipt for mailing a registered letter to Anthony Jeffrey.  This includes the Moneygram information for him to pick up cash at any Moneygram location with a valid ID.  The tracking number is re126770295us, and a signature will be required.  Hopefully this address works this time.  I have been told he hasn't moved, and there was just some error twice in a row, mysteriously.  Here is the link to USPS tracking for this letter.

9/24/15-  My comments are being deleted.  Here are those that I remember, I'm sure there were more.  

UPDATE 09/26/15:  Now he's saying I owe him 500 dollars and is sending supposed "representatives" after me.  I only agreed to give him $100 in advance and an unspecified amount of copies.  I also went over the tracklisting with him on the phone, and he told me to credit D.L. Waters as the songwriter for one of the songs, which I did do.  I have removed the album from bandcamp and ceased the sale of copies.  I probably won't make them available again.

UPDATE 09/28/15

An animal sacrificing type of Satanist with bad grammar has contacted me as his "U.S. Rep", trying to perpetuate Tonetta's lies with equally bad grammar.
I commented with the following statement:

Tony, I'm not selling your cassettes anymore. I stopped immediately when you had your "US REP" contact me. I am going to burn the rest of the copies. I'll post a video of it. I don't want any more to do with you. I wanted to help you. You have the reference number, you can pick up the money any time. A copy of the info is in the mail to you registered. You neglected to give me your apartment number so the letters were returned. You should really get professional help.

UPDATE:
More comments have ensued, they're even more redundant, nonsensical, and erratic than before.  People like to waste time.  However, I did get in contact with the head of Black Tent Press, the label that Tonetta alleged to have ripped him off.  Here is what he had to say:

Hi, my name is Dirk Knibbe, I run Black Tent. I’d like the opportunity to respond to the recent accusations implied in the newly released video work of Tony Jeffrey, known to all as Tonetta. Our relationship began a few years ago under the agreement and understanding that there would be little money in this venture and that the art, and its purpose was the primarily goal to share, promote and focus on. I have repeatedly encouraged him to play shows and tour a little so he could make money on his own with his work. Even facilitating musicians in Toronto who were willing to back him as his band. Where profits have come in they have been paid out to Tony. He has received well over 2 grand in sales payments actually. Why he has chosen to imply that he has not received any payment is simply false. Like many of you know as fellow musicians and music lovers there is very little money in selling records these days. Especially the variety of high quality and expensively produced hand printed limited edition LP’s by such a NSFW explicate and provocative artist such as Tonetta. On top of the large investments into producing shows by his request, professionally documenting his work, travel cost to Canada to do work with him, the purchase of new audio and video and gear for him, the re-mastering of poor quality audio, sending out large of amounts of free LP’s & CD’s to share this remarkable artist with all there has been very little return of profits in this venture.

When I met Tony for the first time I was the first person to set foot in his apartment in 10 years. He lives in an isolated world that is his. And as much as it is remarkable it has not always been in tune to a larger reality. Having to explain what I now explain to you, dear reader to a man who stopped listening to music in 1980 and didn’t know what downloading off the internet meant, has been, lets say, interesting.

I do this all by myself. I work full time outside of this to support just myself. I do this because I love it and believe fully in the works of the artists I have worked with and shown to people. I am not claiming I have done things perfectly. This entity is a challenging beast to feed and keep afloat. But I feel honored to have worked with such a truly remarkable, brilliant, albeit challenging person such as Tony. It is unfortunate that our trust has been marred, but he has chosen to stop communicating with me over these last few months so there has been little I can do to mend things. I hope there is a record label that can give Tony what he now seems to most desire. A steady paycheck. I hope to do his work honor in this last release from black tent press.

Best

Dirk Knibbe

UPDATE 09/29/15
This is my final word on the matter.

Kommisar Hjuler und Mama Baer und Arvo Zylo und Heathen Harvest review mit Fecalove

Now available from Psych.KG, a collaboration between Arvo Zylo & Kommissar Hjuler und Frau split with a collaboration between Conrad Schnitzler & Gen Ken Montgomery circa 1987!  Some really nice piano/synth/field recording juxtapositions on this one. It is a c60 cassette limited to 30 copies, with a full color Kodak j-card of the lovely Mama Baer apparently standing in front of a clothing store littered with garbage!  KH + MB did a short rendition of segments from the classic Jane Fonda film, Barbarella, and I did the soundtrack.  For me, this is a return to quasi-insane musical form on my sequencer...  true soundtrack elements, with plenty of experimental, almost musique concret mannerisms.  This is a fun recording.  They sent this material to me two years ago.  I finally got to it this summer.  

In other news, Heathen Harvest reviewed something I sent to them about two years ago, incidentally, and it is reviewed by none other than TURGID ANIMAL label head and filth connoisseur Nicola Vinciguerra (Fecalove) himself.   This is my collaboration with Dental Work entitled "Velcro Bismol", one of my prouder releases, and certainly among the proudest of collaborations.  Heathen Harvest works very hard to keep certain facets of lesser known experimental music and (industrial) noise vibrant, and I appreciate them for it.  

A snippet: The entire CD-R alternates between heavy, rich, and absurdly loud harsh noise tracks like the aforementioned opener, ‘Rehab Artist’, and more laid-back, deranged, and hypnotic loop-centered ventures into old-school industrial cut-up music. And indeed, what Arvo Zylo seems to be best at is finding the right chunks of sound to loop and exploit ad nauseam, while celebrating what seems to be a genuine passion for old Nurse with Wound and NONrecords.

GO HERE for the full review

I do have a passion for the aforementioned, but as I have said many times, my influences begin and and end with COIL and FOETUS.  If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have continued.  I go with my gut entirely, but it's not bad company to be compared to at all.

TONETTA c90 cassette (NOT AVAILABLE)

The short:  Tonetta is a 66 year old recluse who's been making  home recordings, often augmented with performative videos, since the 80s.  His music is some of the most raw and catchy pop-funk in existence, and certainly the most sleazy.  While it's incredibly melodic, there's also an oddness to it, an otherworldliness to it that makes it clear that it's coming from an absolute outsider without an inner censor at all.  Vulgar and contagious, it speaks for itself.  

The long:

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to present my favorite artist of this century:  TONETTA is the alias of one Anthony Jeffrey, age 66, Toronto, Ontario, a self-taught musician who claims that he (according to interviews) stopped listening to music when John Lennon died in 1980.  He was also divorced around the same time, and took to a resolutely reclusive life.  For the last 30 years or so, Jeffrey's been making music on his Fostex 8 track recorder, and gradually performing in front of a camcorder or eventually the modern equivalent.  At the advent of online resources such as Youtube, Tony began paying people to upload his work for him, and became something of a "viral success".  He doesn't have a computer, internet connection, cell phone, or bank account to this day.  

His videos had evolved over the years to incorporate dressing in drag at times, or at other times, odd (full body) make up, masks, and costumes, with a series of decorative curtained backdrops in his apartment.  The nature of most of the music is absolutely sleazy.  The omnisexual, unrepressed, and unresolved nature of it would make Prince blush.  Tonetta has become not only an alter-ego, but an alternate outlet for sexual repression, and if what Mr. Jeffrey says is true, the songs seem to write themselves.   Contrary to most "outsider artists" or home recording artists, Jeffrey is also an extremely talented musician, but with very little beard-scratching, meandering, or self-conscious naval-gazing to be found.  Most  of the songs, he says, are done in one take, and he does two or three a day; A kitchen-sink aesthetic for sure.  A couple of them go on while the phone is ringing in the background.  I have been saying for years, that while young bucks are gazing into the omnipresent haze of glowing screens, somehow the old folks are showing people how to let loose, and somehow weave the idea of dancing in drag to their own music on youtube into a groundbreaking genre.  

 At times, it seems like many of these songs were written to the same drum machine pattern, at the same bpm, and remnants of a certain string of ideas wrapped around a single beat can be found.  I focused on what seems to be a period that incorporated a mid-tempo, funky drum phrase, a children's keyboard, and what seems like body slapping as alternate percussion.  Other times there are several tracks with a cowbell, and faster pacing.  Some of them were written in the moment, just little thoughts that translate into catchy songs, for a sort of self-sufficient and fun, yet bizarre and lonely narrative that altogether comes off as otherworldly and almost disconcerting.  The songs range from sexist, self effacing filth, to lovelorn and lost sweetness; both have a melody so catchy that it almost makes you ashamed of getting such perverse lyrics stuck in your head.  People report finding one of his videos and ending up in an odd wormhole, watching as many as they can all night.  

Tony has proven to be a flagrant liar, and when I initially thought he had been ripped off by other labels, I think more likely that he is an attention starved neurotic.  Here is one of the label's testaments.  Here is mine.

  When I spontaneously decided to call Tonetta on the phone at 3AM, he had an old-fashioned microcassette driven answering machine, and after he screened the call, he picked up right away.  Not a man of many words, he explained when I offered,  that he can only take money through Western Union, and asked if I think I can sell cassettes (Ay?), and I said yeah.  He said "Well, good luck." still shy, and maybe unaware of how much water he draws.   Early on, the explicit nature of his videos led to his accounts being deleted.  He thought that he might get less negative attention if he had a female name on his youtube account, so he named his next one "Tonetta777", followed by a series of others.  Dozens of people flocked to repost his videos to keep them alive...  lots of Silence of The Lambs references were made...  and something of a phenomenon began, over 5 years ago.  

I am pleased to announce that I have spent months compiling my favorite tracks by Tonetta, and it is being released on a pro duplicated, imprinted cassette with a double-sided, 8-panel fold out j- card featuring Anthony Jeffrey's surrealistic, vivid illustrations.  It's 90 minutes, and it could have been twice as long.  This is an authorized, shrink-wrapped release, and the artist was paid in advance*.  28 tracks in all. 

  Limited edition of 100 copies. *more than half of which were burned. 

*I have ceased the sale of these copies, I burned them.  More information can be found HERE.

Transitory Reflection (CANCELLED)

****   This event has been cancelled.  ****

On November 1st, in collaboration with Tritriangle, I'll be conducting a sort of serialist musique concrete sound installation, and I'm having an open call for participants.  I'm looking for Chicago residents to record a segment of their ride on an "L" train.  Bonus if you can also record video, and it doesn't need to be of other people, it could be out of the window, your reflection, etc.   Participants, or "Passengers" would ideally be able to play music tracks on a device with headphones/earbuds and also their recording of the train on command.   Segments of the piece will be amplified, while others will capitalize on the acoustic value of earbuds going at once in the space.  There will be two performances of this, 20 "passengers" each performance.  Interested participants can email me at nopartofit AT gmail dot com.   This will be part of Chicago Artists Month, and will be promoted considerably.  Participants will be credited in a program distributed at the venue, Tritriangle.

Also, I did an interview with the podcast "Undressing Underground", co-hosted by Rob M, a friend I made  who also interviewed me at Indiana Noise Fest.  It will be aired tomorrow night after a bit with Shotgun Seamstress.

Radio remnants and a review

Illusion of Safety "Surrender"

We spent a collective 8.5 hours at WZRD on 7/13/2015-  Sarah Moskowitz, Mike Krause, Lidia Vomito, Bryan Chump Change, and myself.  Here is a document of that madness.  Metal, synth-pop, punk, outsider music, experimental, ambient, shoegaze, soundtracks, industrial, noise, synth soundscapes, gamelan, latin pop, prog, rockabilly, novelty, doo-wop...   some fine freeform programming, if I may say so myself.

My scheduled appearance on WNUR with Dan Burke was not to be, but I did find a Memory Waves Transmission review of Illusion of Safety's "Surrender", which was released on no part of it, and may be the last release with the now defunct Illusion of Safety moniker.

Here's  a short blip:
Surrender is a great return to the genre for Illusion of Safety, a release that finds Burke switching expertly between forms of noise for a variety of great tracks. The first side is generally quieter, while Side B opens up for catchy beats, sampling, and a more pronounced sound. Both are good listens, and fans of Illusion of Safety’s work will find Burke has crafted another exceptional record.

Some airplay from my friend Little Fyodor on his Under The Floorboards radio show on KGNU--
From June.  WILT (from Nocturnal Requiem on NO PART OF IT), Architeuthis Dux, Merzbow, Jeff Chenault, and others were included.

Radio happenings and autohypnosis

Monday July 13th will be a reunion of sorts, as it will feature myself as well as Lidia Vomito & Bryan Chump Change as guests on WZRD with other alumni who were regular hosts/guest hosts/co-hosts on my defunkt Delirious Insomniac Freeform Radio Show.  This will be from 4pm to at least 10pm CST and possibly beyond that.  88.3 fm in Chicago, and streaming worldwide.

In other radio news, long time freeform radio personality, 1st generation industrial cassette culture maverick, and veteran pizza / frisbee enthusiast Daniel Burke has asked me to join him once again for this Sound of Error/Voice of Reason radio show on WNUR.   This will be Thursday July 23rd on 89.3fm in Chicago from 2-6:30pm CST or so.  Dan usually has a one hour long synth segment called "Patchworks" between 5-6pm, and we usually pretty much dismantle the rock paradigm for the rest of the time.  There are others, but here is my first time being a guest with Dan on WNUR, if you want.

And one more thing, a Spaniard label, Mute Sound, released a series of CDRs called "Autohypnosis", these are compilations featuring one minute tracks.  You can hear and download my contribution "Upheaval Version 60", to the 28th volume here.  Lots of serendipity going on here.   Speaking of "Upheaval", keep an eye out for an entire cassette of new Upheaval versions at the amazing "luxurious linen/sterling silver ink" label Tymbal Tapes some time this year.

Blood Rhythms aired on Wm. Berger's My Castle of Quiet Radio Show at WFMU!

MY CASTLE OF QUIET is one of my favorite radio shows and one of the things that drags me to the internet again and again.  Wm.  has aired the Blood Rhythms LP once before, and he's now aired it a second time, this time with an excerpt from Side B.   Also played/highlights were Night Terrors, Night Bitch, Nightstick, Ash Pool, Peste Noire, DDAA, and Circuit Des Yeux.

"Assembly" reviewed at Heathen Harvest

The hardworking team of Post-Industrial torch-bearers over at Heathen Harvest kindly produced a fond review of the recent Blood Rhythms LP "Assembly".  The full review can be found HERE.

I’ve purchased noise tapes that have been nailed to planks of wood, unlabeled floppy disks, painted mini-disks, and CDs whose cases are covered in some sort of plastic goo. Even among these nihilistic competitors of packaging, Blood Rhythms’ Assembly stands out for its intensive craftsmanship (in the most appropriately filthy way) and calls back to earlier days of underground experimental music.

The record’s multi-directional recording foundation demands a beautiful sound-system in order to take in the full experience of the industrial decay that Arvo Zylo has pressed to vinyl. However, I suppose playing the record over the PA of an abandoned warehouse would work just as well. The rusted conveyor belts and creaking meat lockers of Chicago still lord over American noise music.

Transistor Recording

For those interested, the live recording of my live soundtrack to a segment of the 1925 silent film version of  The Wizard of Oz at Transistor is now available HERE.

Finally there was a satisfactory incarnation of this piece, without power outage, blown speakers, or burnt bulbs of any kind.  Thanks to Andy at Transistor for letting it happen.  

Good Stuff House was also excellent to share a bill with.  

Arvo featured in the Chicago Reader's "In Rotation" this week!

photo of COIL by the late Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, from his book of Photography 

I am very pleased to announce that after months of carefully dancing words around in my mind every time I listened to something, my contribution to the Chicago Reader's IN ROTATION is finally here!   Copies will be around news-stands all over Chicago for the next week!

The Chicago Reader's benevolent staff writer, Leor Galil, asked me to write down three things I'm currently obsessing over, and then pass it on for someone else to do the same thing.  I passed the torch to my friend Sarah Moskowitz, who had made regular appearances on my old Delirious Insomniac Freeform Radio Show, and is now a regular DJ at WZRD.  She's always had some of the best and diverse tastes I've known, and I think what she came up with is great.  

Leor first interviewed me for an article on "deliberately obscure" labels some months ago.  He's also written articles on Record Store Day, recently departed Chicago superfan Ray Ellingsen, and that Mafia/Murder expo whose name I can't remember, among many other things.  Check out that Dennis Larsson album if you can!  

Thanks to the Chicago Reader!

New review of Sequencer Works from Traumatic Static

I will have copies of this tape with me at TRANSISTOR when I do a set on May 15th, for the record.  
Here is a rather freewheeling and excitable review of the new tape on OUT-OF-BODY RECORDS.

Many thanks for the detailed writing!  Some choice excerpts:

I swear to God I feel 

like I can hear colors and see sounds after this one.

I can't remember the last

time a release has left me with my jaw dragging on the floor and my eyes bulging

out of my head like this one has.Don't even get me started on how my ears reacted

to this shit.Too late, I've already started.  The A side contains a single track 

of brain melting music that feels like a sexual assault on the senses...And like a

whore working the streets to pay for her next fix, you'll find yourself completely

hooked on this shit

This whole thing is just bizarre but totally addictive.

Off tempo music that sounds like something between a school marching band and a gypsy

caravan is heard for a while until heavy synth bass blasts like a fog horn over ghastly

graveyard ambiance.Sorta sounds like it could have been in the movie Creepshow at times.

Arvo's Sequencer Works played at Words On Sounds Podcast

Scott Scholz's Words on Sounds blog used to be an excellent review site, which has now morphed into a podcast.  Scott used to have a radio show which was not archived in any way, so it's really nice to see that he has moved on to being a podcast.  Generally, Scholz has a great taste for what he'll call "creative" music, where it is tied by only the single strain of being "experimental", and otherwise diverse without the meandering aspects associated with the genre, often with particularly innovative uses of melody.  I'm always thrilled to be aired in the company of the artists he plays, and in this case, my recent cassette on Out-of-Body Records was sampled among other artists such as Crown Larks, who recently played an excellent show at the Empty Bottle here in Chicago, as well as Wei Zhongle, Invisible Things featuring Mark Shippy of U.S. Maple & a member of Parts & Labor, Corpo Mente, Millions, and some other things you've probably never heard of.  Scott has also recently started a cassette label called Tymbal Tapes, packed with stainless steel ink on "luxurious" linen.