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.