Jott fortysixandtwo: Many Small Steps…

“My goal is to build atmospheres that allow the listener to tell his or her own story.”

Once again, Desert…Mountain…Dust…travels to Germany. This time on our list is Walsrode, a town in Lower Saxony where young Ambient / Drone / Noise maker Jott can be found. 

Despite balancing music with becoming a father, Jott’s nonstop flow of creativity has paid off handsomely, with him already making a mark on the US...

Jott’s former primary project How I Met Lauren first caught my attention a few years back with the fantastic  ‘//////sixsixsick//////’ originally released on Kansas based label Big Pharma Records back in March of 2016 (BPR would later appoint Jott the head of their sub label Big Pharma Europa in early 2017). 

To me, it still holds up as some of his most ambitious and amazing work. Resulting in the successful merging of Brian Eno's positive energies with a much darker, indescribable force. Listen below:

Jott then hooked up with the New York based Ben Hudgins, and released a strew of material via Ben’s highly praised tape labels Endless Landscape of Decay and Zero Sum Recordings (under the banner of Machine Tribe Recordings).

The rest of 2016 and most of 2017 saw many collaborations for HImL, including the elaborate storytelling audio experiment in episodic form ‘the_cyberpunk:episode zero’ with Endless Chasm, and the more Wall Noise orientated release ‘Void’ with Melinoe and See Through Buildings. 

But the biggest team up had to be ‘With the Blessing of Satan’ - which saw contributions from Armor Breach, hallwayss and Black Sheet Servitude to name a few, resulting in a unique, multifaceted extreme music experience.

Soon after, Jott joined forces once again with one of the participants - Ben Rehling of See Through Buildings - to form the noise / soundtrack duo ‘a wet palace’ who released an EP entitled ‘[]’ on Analog Cowboy Records and their debut cassette on Machine Tribe.

The following September, MT released the cassette ‘Todallem’ (Death to Everything) an EP by Jott’s Metal band “Dovahkiief” which featured stellar remixes by such artists as Lorenzo Abattoir (Mare Di Dirac) and Jack Lynch as well as bonus Dovahkiief tracks. 

As well as the title track, the highlights of the release for me include ‘Schluss Machen Bei McDonald’s’ which is rather an out of body audio experience with haunting vocals that truly stealing the show. 

Then ‘Satanic Death Ritual’ personifies a powerful conjuration with thunderous tribal drums and low guitar rumbles, the blackened ceremony reaching it’s climax with a wash of feedback as the drums change up their pace to the fadeout. 

Finally the tape closes with the simple but effective guitar delay run of ‘-’ It’s a stripped down and sleepy sound but remains one of the most memorable tracks on the release. In short, Todallem’ balances Jott’s love of metal and more eclectic electronic pallette brilliantly. 

Purchase a cassette copy of Todallem HERE

In late 2018, Jott took another step forward and formed a new solo project entitled ‘Kummer' which saw a release on LSD Induced Nightmares Records in Texas. As well as the creation of a new Ambient duo with his other half ‘K8’ entitled ‘MOMOFUKU’ that fuses both analogue and digital software who were gifted a debut tape release via Chicago based label Lurker Bias ‘Blessed By The Algorithm’ a perfect modern yet minimalistic  dream…drift…scape. Listen below:

I caught up with Jott to find out more about his musical beginnings, the happenings of Big Pharma Europa and what the future holds for him and his other projects…

DMD: What artists and bands had the biggest influence on you growing up?

J: ISIS (the band). They are by far the biggest creative influence I've ever experienced. Other people that influence me are The Mars Volta, Tim Hecker and The Boats. 

DMD: Where did you first hear drone / ambient / noise / experimental music?

J: I was always interested in audio plays and therefore listened to a lot of ambiences and noises as a kid. I got fascinated by how some noises can give you real shivers.

‘Carry’ my favourite track by ISIS has a heavy drone intro that I listened to on repeat when I was younger. It was used as music in a video about parachuting. 

A year later, YouTube added the feature that tells you the song playing underneath the video and that's how I found my favourite band of all time.

DMD: Please tell us the story of How I Met Lauren so far, I am particularly curious as to how you came by the name…

J: How I Met Lauren was the name of my personal music project because I became friends with an exchange student named Lauren from the USA in 2009. She was not the only reason I chose to express myself with music but certainly the biggest at that time.

How I Met Lauren started with a lot of shit songs and evolved into this ambient/drone thing it is now. I had never thought to get into this scene when I started making music at first.

I have put How I Met Lauren on hiatus for now because I felt like I had to leave something for later on. I will return to this project and make some violent ambient again (in the future) but I personally want to focus on more structured music at the moment.

DMD: Is there a strong noise scene in Walsrode?

J: There is none.

DMD: What recording gear do you use?

J: I used to have a studio/rehearsal room with my band Dovahkiief, the hyaenidae. It was a great spot and for two years I recorded most of my music there. 

We had to abandon it after moving to another city and now I make most of my music in my bedroom studio. 

In terms of software I was using Cubase and Audacity but made the switch to Logic Pro X last year. Recently I got into randomised step sequencing using a digital step sequencer with two oscillators, letting it generate chords within set parameters. 

I'm also working with an elektron digitakt at the moment to realise randomised breakbeats and chance-based triggering with samples. I got the digitakt to work less with synths and more with samples but found myself quickly adding synthesisers to the setup since the digitakt has elaborate midi features.

I like to use gear that other people have thrown away. If I have to climb inside a dumpster to get it, it makes it more interesting. I like to use broken gear and I use a lot of circuit-bent stuff. 

If I need a certain effect I'd rather let one of my more able friends build it for me to suit my needs rather than buying an expensive pedal everyone else already has.

DMD: Speaking of which, can please you elaborate on any pedals that have been custom made for you? 

J: The metaldrone is a hardcore bend by simon the magpie. It's patch bay enables you to connect the bending points yourself. the barbed wire is functional and serves similar to a Thermerin in some settings.

J: The Endless Chasm made by abraxas devotionals (AKA ZS Lawrence from the Futuristic Ambient project of the same name) is a delay pedal with a feedback loop that allows you to process only the wet signal with outboard gear and create feedback with it, for the purpose of creating washes of sound.

J: The phase of the sun (also made by abraxas devotionals) is a circuit-bent phaser that glitches and mangles the input sound then routes it through an echo to create washes and waves. Both the EC and SP are custom build for my needs and basically the only two in existence.

DMD: What’s going on with Big Pharma Europa? 

J: Big Pharma Europa has been releasing free music since May '17. All of our releases are free for everyone from everywhere. Since my personal life has gotten more busy lately this project isn’t that active at the moment. We've had a small hiatus since my life got a bit busy but we are back on track and have just released a new split between MOMOFUKU and Dakota Snaketail's project The Flesh, Full of Black Sand which you can listen to here

DMD: What is your favourite release from How I Met Lauren? Also will there be any more releases in the sixsixsaga?

J: My favourite release is //////sixsixsin///// and yeah there will be more.

DMD: Tell us about your other projects and bands:

J: Kummer is my main focus at the moment. I want to combine ambient music with a more structured, approachable track concept. It’s basically a blend of Drum ’N’ Bass elements and Ambient / Drone atmospheres. 

My first full album with Kummer is still in the process of recording at the moment.

‘a wet palace’ is an experimental collaboration between californian noise artist ‘See Through Buildings‘ and me. We’re burying real instruments in walls of terror. We’ve got an album out on MTRec and we’re working on a new EP at the moment.

'MOMOFUKU' is my newest project. In a phrase, it's complicated Ambient. I’m doing this with the Mother of my Daughter. It’s better than couple's therapy, trust me. MOMOFUKU blends digital possibilities like chance based triggering, randomising sample slices and random chord generation with experimental analogue gear that's in part custom build for our needs.

We are two people behind the hardware but we often feel like randomness is our third bandmate as it's the essential part for creating interesting artefacts and sonic environments that feel organic.

‘Dovahkiief‘ is a stoner/sludge band project I founded in 2015 with a good friend of mine. since we had to abandon our studio, this project is on hiatus until we find a place to shred again. The next tape is currently in the mastering stage though!  

DMD: Could you please explain the meaning behind the name Dovahkiief?

J: ’Dovahkiin' is the main character in the video game 'Skyrim'. there it means ‘Dragonborn’. 'Dovahkiief' is a word that I came up with, figuring it would translate to ‘Dragonbong’.

'Dovahkiief' also sounds a hell of a lot like 'Doofer kifft' which is german for 'dumb person who smokes reefer’. ’Todallen' would really translate to 'death to all' but it’s actually 'Todallem' which means 'death to everything’ it's a made up word made from 'Tod' and ‘allem'.

DMD: Tell us some of your favourite albums

J: Isis - Oceanic

Tool - Lateralus

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday

Denzel Curry - Imperial

Arsonists get all the girls - Portals

Bob Marley - Exodus

Billy Talent - Billy Talent II

DMD: Any plans to play live with How I Met Lauren?

J: I’m working on a proper live setup but it's not a main concern at the moment. 

You can check out my 'Magpie Metaldrone' video (see below) for a How I met Lauren live experience.

DMD: If you could work with any artist living or dead who would it be?

J: Isis or Aaron Turner

DMD: Was there a concept behind ‘NORSEFIRES’ and the ‘A Wet Palace’ albums?

J: Many artists try to tell a story in their concept art. My goal is to build atmospheres that allow the listener to tell his or her own story.

NORSEFIRES was a 'study piece' for me because it is the product of me figuring out a steady effect chain for my guitar setup.

With a wet palace, my partner Ben and I were trying to take this DIY niche music we already make to the next level. Not in terms of popularity, but in terms of production value. 

The album definitely tells a story but I am sure mine differs from yours, a wet palace is by far my most complicated album to date.

DMD: How did the record ‘With the Blessing of Satan’ come to be? Are there more plans for another huge collaboration like that in the future?

J: I made WTBOS over the course of 2016, I had so many collaborations going that I found it more a curse than a gift, hence the name of the album. It’s a collection of tracks I made with a lot of great friends.

WTBOS Part II will be a thing at some future time but other things are more important at the moment.

DMD: In the past did you play in any other musical projects / bands? Also how many different instruments do you play?

J: Before going on hiatus, How I met Lauren was my musical outlet since 2009. I didn’t switch from the name but I have switched genres a lot, always doing what I wanted to do. 

I’ve played with some bands, mainly keyboard in a metalcore band and vocals in another metalcore band after that.

I own a violin and trumpet next to a variety of synth equipment and my bass / guitar setup but I don't claim to know how any of this works.

DMD: Apart from music, where else do you find inspiration?

J: Movies, people, trash and nature.

DMD: What music have you been listening to recently?

J: I dug up my stoner rock vinyls and got those spinning in the last few days…

At the moment I’m trying to avoid any and all radio music. I tend to stick to Amenra and Old Man Gloom these days.

DMD: Do you have a favourite HImL release?

J: //////sixsixsin//////...However the ////// series is currently on hiatus, as is the rest of HImL. But there is already new material recorded for part four.

DMD: Do you have any plans to play live?

J: it was never my main focus but I am working on a live setup at the moment to be able to play my music in front of an audience.

DMD: Anyone you want to give a shout out to?

J: SHOUTOUTS!  

I think I would have stopped making music if i haven't been 'picked up' by my buddy and mentor Benjamin Joseph, the head of Big Pharma Records. What they did for me when they believed in me and my music and challenging me to create a whole album that they would like to put out on CD was the push into the right direction I needed. 

If I had to name one person that influenced my music more than anyone else I would name them.

s/o to the three Benjamins, (Hudgins / Joseph /Rehling) who each had their own way to support me and my music. 

s/o to the moorstrassegang for being the local support I need.

s/o to Dakota Snaketail for their endless creativity and powerful spirit. The brightest diamonds really are made under the highest pressures. 

s/o to K8 and every friendly noise fire out there. You know who you are!

Everyone who put me on his or her label, everyone who collaborated with me, everyone who waited days for me to send over files I promised. You are what makes me an artist after all. Thank you.

LINKS:

Kummer / How I Met Lauren Soundcloud

How I Met Lauren bandcamp

Big Pharma Europa bandcamp

If you'd like to hear more of Jott, click HERE for a mammoth 3 hour MOMOFUKU YouTube mix!!!

Endless Chasm - Dweller at the Threshold Review

For those not so familiar with Wellington, Kansas sound mangler Zachary Lawrence and his musical outlet Endless Chasm here’s a brief catch up.

By now quite a well known face on the US underground Ambient / Drone / Noise / Experimental Electronic scene, it wasn’t until after a small collection of bandcamp singles that the ‘official’ debut Endless Chasm record exploded onto the scene in the form of a 2015 EP, an all out noise assault entitled ‘A Pedantic Critique of Modern Cultural Discourse’.

Keen not to kill any momentum, the following year saw plenty of activity from the project including two albums, ‘The Myth of Sisyphus' and ‘We Cannot Keep This A Secret Any Longer’ both released on Kansas label Big Pharma Records, run by fellow noise-heads RAGK and Contraktor.

Spreading across the states to various cult tape labels, New York's Endless Landscapes Of Decay put out a cassette titled ‘Sorcery is the Rich Man’s Curbstomping’ that was warmly received while the Chicago based Lurker Bias released ‘Harm Health' which sold out almost as quickly as the tapes could be dubbed! It presented a glowing if not slightly scatterbrained example of EC's progress and potential. 

One of it’s most notable contents was the title track, which I stumbled across one day in the YouTube video linked below. Filmed in a decrepit Kansas tavern, Zach clad in smart shirt and trousers works away over his pedals, manipulating dials to twist the chilling words of American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman into a frenzy of cacophony. 

Bringing us back to the present day, Endless Chasm returned to another Kansas based label, this time Wichita’s This Ain’t Heaven Recording Concern to release ‘Dweller On The Threshold’ making it’s arrival back in July 2017.

The physical release opts for a simple layout with a few token extras. After breaking the seal stretched across the cassette’s case, it’s front cover splashed with some delightfully entrancing glitch art, I spy tucked behind the colourful tape a translucent plastic card sporting the EC logo, as well as a free download code written upon a small strip of paper that I happily help myself to. 

Looking at the tracklist, with titles named after locations in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks series you'd be right to expect an abstract audio experience as opposed to some easy listening. 

-Although for those still yet to indulge in the addictive surrealist TV series, the ‘White Lodge’ is a place of purity and all things good while the ‘Black Lodge’ is a darker, more evil spot. (Which must certainly mean that we are due a ‘Red Room’ themed release sometime in the future). 

Listen below:

SIDE A: White Lodge

With ethereal whooshes whose harshness could only be found in the coldest, deepest point of space, a descending two note intercom like mantra plus some sparkling audio residue that twinkle like distant stars, White lodge gets itself well underway. 

To me, these sounds resemble life onboard a travelling hotel space ship, and it’s continual journey through the cosmos observed through a port side window. 

For a brief moment everything cuts out, and we are left with nothing but the isolated whooshing and sparkling, illustrating the emptiness of the cold, dark spacial void. Just past the track’s mid point a soft synth passage glides into view, it seems to want to detune itself into oblivion but it keeps rolling on. In the meantime, the housekeeping impatiently fire up the hoover.

A haze of feedback makes itself known, causing the huge space cruiser to groan as if on it’s last legs while the hum of the vacuum cleaner seems to combine with the engine’s thrusters for maximum velocity and maximum cleanliness. An electronic bleeping quietly hints at some approaching sinister space beings but the primary synth part is reprised and calm is soon restored. The ship speeds on.

It is when beheld, a very well layered soundscape with various effects that could have been lifted from some long forgotten sci-fi motion picture soundtrack (think Dr Who meets Stanley Kubrick) now it’s over to Side B.

SIDE B: Black Lodge 

This is where our imaginary traveller aboard the hotel space ship finally decides to get some rest, he lays down his head and begins to dream. Backwards loops lead the way along a path of toasty synths illuminated by the hypnotic echoing of soft cymbal hits.

As the track progresses deeper, it builds in thickness, as if closing in around the listener, like some kind of psychedelic beginning to take a firm grip of our protagonist, who is now unable to shake off the trip. 

At one point, an icy layer of drone noise gains vast momentum, reaching a raucous level that borders on harsh, it sputters indignantly but doesn’t manage to break away. The shrieking fizz is eventually drowned in the tide of backwards sonics that lap over it like the waves of an uncaring ocean, crackling into nothingness as it expels it’s last. 

While the track may dip it’s toe in the abyss, there is no wandering off into the darkness that the title would suggest, instead remaining as a trance induced, meditative slow burner that makes for an exquisitely beautiful listen. It’s pure abstract theatre for the musical mind.

Conclusion

Like many an Endless Chasm release, ’Dweller…’ brings together both the vintage and modern sonic worlds, brilliantly showcasing the duality and ever expanding consciousness of the Chasm. 

The project’s ability to transport the listener into far away musical dimensions is remarkable and undeniable as always.

Caving helmets on, it’s time to begin the descent into the Endless Chasm once again.

Special thanks to Zachary for sending me a physical copy of the album.

You can order the cassette here

Also try:

Phantom Burn

Phantom Burn

And a formidable collaboration with How I Met Lauren

The Cyber Punk Episode Zero

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Endless Chasm bandcamp

Endless Chasm Soundcloud

Endless Chasm Facebook

Snowbeasts: Polar Predators

Since 2014, Dark Ambient/Electronic Industrial act Snowbeasts (comprised of Robert Galbraith & Elizabeth Virosa) have been hell-bent on creating Arctic soundscapes for their namesakes to roam.

Their debut record caught the attention of French Electronic label M-Tronic Records and that year were invited to appear on the label’s 10th anniversary compilation

5 Releases later, the Rhode Island based duo returned to M-Tronic last September with album
‘+ -’ which you can listen to below and read my thoughts on after this interview. 

I met up with Rob and Elizabeth to discuss their beginnings, the new album, and find out what the beasts are on the hunt for next...

DMD: First of all, how did you come up with the name Snowbeasts?

Elizabeth: Rob came up with the name. We had a particularly rough and long winter. I think that is why he chose the name since we felt like Snowbeasts.

DMD: How did you both meet?

Elizabeth: We met through a mutual friend in NYC. I was trying to get back into sound art or music at the time and heard that Rob had put a studio together and was looking to collaborate with other musicians.

DMD: What did you work on together musically before Snowbeasts?

Rob: Our other project, Pattern Behavior, pre-dates Snowbeasts by about a year and a half or so.  We have four EPs and a full length out under that name. We will be doing more under that name in the upcoming year. We also record under the name Mon(o)taur  with our friend David Dodson which was started around the same time. Before that I was doing stuff under the names Logiq (with Matt Crofoot of Informatik), Codec, & Raab Codec.

DMD: Snowbeasts began in 2014, how much has changed these past 2 years?

Rob: A ton has changed for us both personally and musically since 2014. It started out as a solo project with a focus on using modular synths to create soundscapes. Over the last couple of years we have added and developed more percussive elements and also use Elizabeth’s processed vocals more prominently. We have also been starting to play more live shows.

DMD: For both of you, what records had a big effect on you throughout your childhood and teens?

Rob: For me, my musical discovery took place around the time I was 15 or so. The Cure's Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss, New Order's Substance, and Depeche Mode's Music for the Masse & Violator all were in heavy rotation. My tastes shifted a bit more industrial as I discovered college radio.

Elizabeth: I listened to whatever records or albums my older brothers were listening to when I was a child, mostly classic rock or whatever was on MTV. Suburban 80’s music. I started going to local shows in Boston when I was around 16. First punk or hardcore shows at places like the Rat, then raves and later in college I discovered more industrial music. I was really into NIN the downward spiral as a teen. I think that was my gateway album into discovering more electronic and experimental music. That and I ended up taking sound art classes while in college.

Snowbeasts live at the Park Church Co-op,
Brooklyn. Photo credit: Stella Perish

DMD: Tell me about Component Recordings, are there any exciting new releases coming out this year?

Rob: I started Component in 1999 as a vehicle for putting out my own music. It is something that ballooned very fast after putting together the Integral Components comp.  In Component’s original run I put out music by Mochipet, Dryft, Proem, Xyn, Somatic Responses and a bunch more.  I ended up closing down the first incarnation of the label in 2005 due to changes in the industry and associated financial issues. 

After taking a very long break, I decided to bring things back in 2013 and have built up a new roster over the last few years. We have a core group of great artists who are continually sending me new tracks to put out: Witch Eyes, Alpturer, Cathode Ray Tube, Maduro, Solypsis, & Production Unit Xero. The next couple releases from Component are going to be Cathode Ray Tube's 'Famous Monsters & Solypsis's "Smoke Signals".

DMD: What is the electronic/ambient live scene like in Rhode Island?

Elizabeth: I enjoy the scene here. Providence is kind of more known for its noise and metal scene but it has a good mix of other genres and artists. Some shows will mix genres together but it somehow works. There are a fair amount of spaces to play at for a smaller city. There is almost always something happening.

DMD: What is your live and recording setup?

Rob: We approach live and studio with different mindsets. In the studio, everything from the modular, any external instruments and Elizabeth's voice all get recorded into Ableton and are pretty heavily synced up. Our live setup is pretty organic and improvisational. 

We typically start with a few basic sequences on the modular and then build up a bunch of layers from there. Along with my modular, Elizabeth has a pedal board with a pitch shifter, looper and reverb for her vocal stuff. We try to do something a bit different each time with the live stuff and keep it interesting.

DMD: Apart from music, what else inspires you both to create? 

Rob: For me, I take a lot of inspiration from film. I am a huge horror & sci-fi fan especially of stuff from the late 60’s to early 80’s.  Nature also is a big influence as well as emotions.

Elizabeth: Generally the news, emotions, nature, the city and sometimes visual art.

DMD: Who are your favourite artists on M-tronic?

Rob: Mlada Fronta is really awesome! I also really dig the the new albums from Kuta and Mnemonic.

DMD: Do you have any plans to add lyrics to Elizabeth’s singing or will they remain vocalised?

Elizabeth: We go back and forth on that. We tend to have the vocals in Pattern Behavior be more distinct. But in general we are more interested in capturing a mood or atmosphere than telling a story.

DMD: Is there a meaning behind the album title (+ -)?

Rob: + - is about duality. It is about the struggle that we all have inside of us between positive instincts and self defeating behaviours.  From a musical standpoint, it is a contrast between the beautiful and the harsh.

DMD: How would you both compare the new album to the Snowbeasts’ back catalogue?     

            

Rob: I would say it is a progression from what we were doing on our last album Instincts. We wanted to explore the directions we laid out on that album and push them out further. I would say that if you compared it to our debut or Ice & Shadow they would seem like quite a departure but if you listen to all the albums back to back a path can be found.

DMD: You guys used a de-tuned Autoharp on the track ‘Midnight’  did you use any other new instruments too? 

Rob: Other than the autoharp we used an EBow on Elizabeth's guitar for some of the textures on 'Tangled Wires'. For this release, our primary instrument was an Elektron Analog Keys. We just picked this up while we were starting the new album and it is all over it. 

My modular rig took a bit of a backseat on + - but we did use a ton of the Basilimus Iteratus from Noise Engineering for the drum sounds.

DMD: Any plans for CD and Vinyl releases in the future?

Rob: There is some talk about that but nothing set in stone.  Right now we are just focusing our energies on writing music and performing.  We would both love to see a Snowbeasts release on Vinyl in the future but in the meantime digital allows us the freedom to do what we want.

DMD: When you guys aren’t writing music or performing how do you spend your time?

Elizabeth: Aside from working as a software developer, I try to travel as much as I can, go to shows and play with our cats. 

Rob: I work full time as an engineer and that takes up a good portion of my waking hours. What is left after that and working on music goes in to running the label, going to shows and watching movies.

DMD: What does the rest of 2016 hold for Snowbeasts?

Elizabeth: We have some remixes planned for a few artists, a collaboration track with Displacer to complete, and possibly some live shows coming up.

DMD: Anybody you want to give a shout out to?

Rob: M-Tronic for releasing + -, everyone who supported the Component releases, DJ Deftly D for his support over the years and all the artists who we have played with and have remixed our music.

My thoughts on + -

First track ‘Disruption’ pauses to take in the view of the vast icy landscape that is ‘+ -.’ Sinister looped strings riding distorted beats with snare cracks resembling falling chunks of ice smashing on the ground set the tone. Elizabeth’s unearthly voice seems to stretch out to the horizon of this imaginary cold world.

‘Phantom Limb’ is a bit more Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross flavoured, a thickened clicky drum pulse, an oozing bass line and a trembling synth pattern all help bring out the sci-fi/horror vibe too.
Third track ‘Secrets’ picks up the pace and threatens to kick into full on dance club tempo but instead pulls back, filling the space with metallic bounces and chants that resemble some kind of esoteric ritual. 

Meanwhile during the more cautionary tones of ‘Bridges to Nowhere’ night has fallen and the beautiful sub-zero scenery now becomes a less inviting place, which leads into my favourite track ‘Midnight.’ 

This is where the eerie-ness on the record reaches fever pitch, a heavy echoing percussive effect kicks the track off and the more distorted beats return this time with cymbal crashes sound off like gun-fire. In between all this lurks a scraping sound interchanged with ghostly tapping.

On the shortest track ‘Empathy Gap’ things get a little more chilled out rather than spine-chilling, Elizabeth’s powerful voice illuminates the glacial earth like the rising sun but it doesn't stay positive for long, and transforms into a sonic breeze that hints of more malevolence to come.

The marching beat and driving feel of ‘The Sky Cracks Open’ replicate an animal colony traversing through dangerous predator ridden territory, while ‘Tangled Wires’ features metallic synths married with guitar drones that evolve into a keyboard melody that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Porcupine Tree record.

Ending track ‘Selfless’ made me envision someone slowly climbing a snow covered mountain, creeping synths build as they get higher and the air thins, a stacked vocal ostinato and locked synth pattern signify them stopping to admire the view before the track fades out. 

In conclusion, the 6th Snowbeasts record delivers a numbing shot of cold energy that will have you reaching for the thermostat, the duo sound 100% focused on grabbing the listener and taking them to another dimension, leaving them wanting to re-experience that journey again and again.

It also helps that this time round they haven’t over indulged on track lengths (‘Selfless’ being the album’s longest at 6:20). ‘+ -’ is a record that I would recommend to anyone from the Witch House crowd, Industrial listeners and fans of the darker side of Ambient/Electronic music. 

Wrap up warm folks, because Snowbeasts are here to stay.

8/10

Photo credit: mind on photography

You can also listen to a Snowbeasts ‘best of’ release assembled by the duo here

Snowbeasts Facebook

Component Recordings bandcamp

M-Tronic Official Website

Building Castles out of Matchsticks: A Sense of Wander

Ever since forming solo project 'Building Castles out of Matchsticks' in the Winter of 2000, Canadian experimental musician Anne Sulikowski has been writing music that refuses to sit quietly in the music genre filing cabinet.

Achieving the enviable position of having her music appear on the popular TV show CSI (which is actually rather fitting since her full-time work is in forensic psychiatry) these days Anne divides her time between radio show ‘The Infinite Echo’ where she dishes out an eclectic mix to the morning commuters, as well documenting regular off-grid wanderings set to her tracks on YouTube. 

Reflecting Anne's love of adventure, the music of Building Castles out of Matchsticks offers an extraordinary audio prescription for the modern day escapist.

DMD: Please give me the epic story behind Building Castles out of Matchsticks 

Anne Sulikowski: I sort of wish I could begin this story by saying that one day I was coming home from school and I found an old chest packed with vintage guitar pedals inside a tree trunk that was actually an entrance to a secret underground city, with the leaves of the trees itself whispering for me to go inside. 

Or maybe I could tell the story of a girl who built an arc so big to take at least 300 cool people all the way up north to find the entrance leading deep within the hollow earth, where apparently there is a secret city where everyone is good. Or better yet the story when I was woken from a deep sleep by shadow people, whom, not only could see through walls, but through time, through space, through you.....

The real story is I was barely out of high school, lost as most were that age. I wasn’t very popular at school because I always floated to the stranger side of all things, including music, films, political outlooks, fashion, conversations. I had a wildly vivid imagination and many things would bore me, leaving me spending significant time alone. 

I played in a few bands and wanted to do something solo, didn't have any money, or gear or really didn't really know where I could have started, hence the name "building castles out of matchsticks" a friend said that to me once, as I was trying to get all my shit together. He said, “don't worry, with that kind of imagination, you could build castles out of matchsticks!" I thought it was such a cute phrase, but with deep meanings. I decided to start recording under that name.

DMD: What artists/bands initially inspired you to produce the sounds you are now making? 

AS: I have always been all over the place musically, even back then. I can vividly remember exactly what I was listening to though on heavy rotation when I first started recorded music. My room was always filled with sounds of Sonic Youth, Oval, Stereolab and American Analog set. 

Not to mention all the recordings my friends were doing, involving lots of knobs and dials....I was doing a radio show at the time (and still am) so I was always listening to so much music......its actually really difficult to state what inspired me initially....but I feel it was the actual people around me that inspired me most with their art.

DMD: What 10 albums do you always come back to?

AS: Flying Saucer Attack - New Lands

Casino versus Japan - Whole numbers play the basics

Oval - O

Broadcast and the Focus Group - Investigate witch cults of the radio age

Do Make Say Think - & yet & yet

Gary Numan /Tubeway Army - Replicas

Nudge - cached

Loscil - Submers

Atlas Sound - Parallax

Modern English - After the Snow

DMD: What is the Ontario experimental music scene like?

AS: Since I work full time in forensic psychiatry, most of the time I have left I spend recording, creating and wandering. I used to play live often but music is such a personal experience for me I actually get more out of the music process itself, so I focus more on presenting it as an aftermath for those interested.

I could list hundreds of talented and innovative artists around here, but the same can be said for any area really.  Although I am quite extroverted at the same time I am also extremely introverted in the sense that showcasing myself and how I do my music process live is somewhat of a lower priority than showing the results I come up with.

DMD: What instruments did you learn growing up? 

AS: Growing up I spent quite some time singing in choirs, so I guess voice would have been the focus? In grade school I did train to use a recorder, which I hated but actually used in some tracks years later. 

I played a piano at my grandmothers house the wrong way, and a long time ago my father bought me a Casio keyboard that came with a song book which I grew sick of playing, so I would rearrange the existing songs and play then in strange arrangements, even backwards. The first real instrument I bought was a JP8000 when I was 19 years old. I can read music now, but never write music in any formal way. 

DMD: What is your recording set-up? 

AS: I experiment often with my recording setup and my music process. Things are never the same from day to day in my studio. I'm always changing things and trying new ideas and new ways to get new sounds or to arrange the sounds preexisting in my head together somehow. 

Lately, I have been recording a long series of drones and improvised ambient sounds with guitar and various pedal chains and either using those as foundations to build tracks upon or simply sampling segments from those drone recordings and looping them into a sequenced program, lets say, like fruit loops.

I do not rely on soft synths or samples which I find limiting and hard to work with, making my music process really easy. I'm mostly doing multi-tracking with me playing instruments (guitar and keys) and real time processing with pedals using freeware like audacity. Then I use the sounds I created and build from there. Layering in subtle ways is how I create my recordings. I also use secrets. Lots of secrets. :)

DMD: How did you come to get your music featured in CSI?

AS: Out of the blue they contacted me on myspace. They said they have "hired people just looking online for music to use for the show" and added "your work is perfect". Even though I had never seen the show (been TV free since I was 19!) 

I agreed to let them use my music as it was not only financially rewarding but an amazing way to build my resume, for future work for me. They used my music for some creepy parts.....it was a really cool experience to be involved in.

I have also sold works to the Ontario life network for a few episodes of their documentary series "Descending". One was called "ghosts of the pacific" where my music played while divers explored fallen war ships at the bottom of the ocean. Super cool to say the least. I really want to do more music for Films or TV in the future. 

 

DMD: How many guitars, amplifiers & pedals do you own and which are your favourites?

AS: I literally have so much gear it makes people sick. Rather than fuelling peoples "gear envy" (don’t worry I have it too) I will focus on the main gear I’ve been using lately in my current set up. I have so many pedals I could open a little shop, but I won’t, because they are mine and I actually love them.  

Pedals frequently used: Earthquaker devices Arpanoid, EHX Pog2, Boss Harmonist, Boss DD20, Red Panda Particle, EHX Cathedral, TC Electronic Trinity 2 Reverb, Boss Terra echo, Boss Multi Overtone, EHX Pitchfork, Boss RV3, EHX Superego, Boss DD3, EHX Memory Boy, Boss Feedback booster, Boss Slicer, EHX Flanger Hoax, Korg Kaoss pad, EHX switchblade. Sometimes I use a looper too. I desperately need a volume pedal.

Guitars: Fender Jazzmaster, Fender American Stratocaster & Epiphone Orange 

Synthesizers: Moog MG - 1, two Roland JP8000s, Roland JX3P with controller, casio keyboards. 

Anne's pedal hoard

DMD: Apart from music, where else do you find inspiration?

AS: Most of my inspiration comes from thought disorder, ideas of reference, circumstantial thinking, driving around for hours on end looking for for anything abandoned, my daydreams and of course my wildly vivid imagination. 

DMD: What about your music would you say has changed since you released Window Pain 12 years ago?

AS: Let me tell you how much can happen in the span of 12 years. I could honestly go on and on and on. and on. I had amazing times, and really really terrible times, times so terrible that it forced me even to leave recording music for a couple of years altogether. 

I survived my father dying which changed my life forever, he had cancer and it was honestly surreal to see his body give up against his wishes. I also survived a horrific relationship with someone who ended up being very very dark, and this darkness made him really really sick. 

Things have changed for me now and I live the life I always wanted, and I am surrounded by people who are supportive, real and good.  What has changed musically is the tone of my music, going from songs of remembering tormented times to newer times like now, times when I can focus on themes within myself and things I imagine rather than painfully expressing awful things that have happened and were happening to me. I am so much stronger now, both as a person and a musician. 

I am not questioning things I record like I did when I was recording 12 years ago when it wasn't "the best of times". I dived into my personal life here as my music if a direct reflection of my experience. Now my songs are recorded with ease and I cover themes I want to cover, rather than recording as a mere coping tool. I am so much happier these days. A more tangible answer could be that the last two years I have introduced guitar as one of my main sources of my ambient sounds. Guitar with dozens of pedals. 😊

DMD: What made you feel the need to document these abandoned places? Would you encourage more DIY musicians to do the same since the golden age of MTV has been replaced by YouTube?

AS: I love taking photos, lots of them, and I've been addicted to taking photos for years now. I'm quite bipolar with a camera, it seems as though I'm drawn to either things forgotten, abandoned, decayed or ruined to that which is natural, untouched and places barely walked upon by man. It only made sense to also make videos, as the music I record is quite open to interpretation, making it a perfect medium to add a visual element to it, especially one that moves and tells some sort of story. 

Having said that, the video design I arrange is also quite open to interpretation, as I very much enjoy the concept of an abstract story line, allowing the viewer to adapt whatever emotion the imagery to presents to them, paired with the music. 

It is actually a wonderful age to live in, having things like YouTube, making the creative process easily shared without making sure it has a commercial quality to it. It allows for a lot of "real art" to occur, without all the corporate obstacles associated with things like MTV etc...

DMD: Please tell us about your radio show

AS: My radio show is called the Infinite Echo and it's a mix of experimental and electric music focusing on the obscure, the ambient, new and other forgotten genres. Mostly it's the sounds of robots all singing to themselves. It airs here in Hamilton, Ontario every Friday morning from 8 to 9 am on 93.3 FM and can be streamed from cfmu.mcmaster.ca 

DMD: What do we need to look out for in the future from you and your various projects? 

AS: I have quite a bit on my plate right now which I am pleased to say! The past year I have been heavily focused on music with all my spare time. An EP I have completed, called "magical thinking" is being currently released with Paper Plus Sound Records.

I have upcoming EP’s (many on cassette) in the works for release this year and early next year with the following labels: Zero Sum Recordings, Big Pharma Records, Orb Tapes, Grey Matter, and Assembly Field with my "dickhop" ep. Most of these are in the works and have not yet been finalized. 

I have also just recently been featured on godhatesgodrecords compilation Anti fOrm 2 and Assembly fields V/A Compilation 4. My track "I have been to the bottom of the ocean" which is to be released on the Drone 8 compilation on Paper plus sound records.  

Paracelsian Productions recently released their amazing three disc 30 artists compilation called "Cybernetic Ecosystems" which includes my track "Oscillating forest". I have two vinyl releases scheduled: A Vinyl split with Casino versus Japan (Erik Kowalski) and a split with Horizonte-de-sucesos (Marco Roberti, who is also occasional composer at dead voices on air) in Summer 2017. 

I’m also doing more collaborative works with announcements coming soon. I am also planning on continuing video works for my music as well as for video works for musical friends.  I am planning also on starting an online site devoted to my obsession of photographing abandoned places called "recreational trespassing" with my good friend Sonja Bernhard.

DMD: Lastly, is there anybody you want to give a shout out to?

AS: Hello everyone and thank you for listening xo

You can listen to the excellent Paracelsian Productions compilation here  

(Anne's track appears on part 2) 

and you can read an interview with PP founder Steven Beaumont here

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