NO
PART OF IT #1 – Leslie Keffer, Sterile Garden, Architeuthis Dux & Arvo
Zylo.
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/
Imagine
my surprise when I received a generous package of 4 albums off Arvo Zylo’s label
NO PART OF IT a few months ago. NO PART OF IT have been releasing albums since
2008, originally based in Chicago, they are now based in Sparks Nevada.
Releases span across all main formats: Lathe Cuts vinyl, regular vinyl, CDrs,
Tapes and CDs. Their roster consists of people who work quietly and aren’t
great at self-promotion or schmoozing. NO PART OF IT worked away from the
internet for a couple of years off the grid, producing Xerox newsletters taking
payment from money orders or hidden cash. There is a massive sense of loyalty
from the label to its artists, with benefit compilations released to help
several artists that are linked to them.
Leslie
Keffer – Reverie – Sept 22 – pro CDR/Download.
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/reverie
https://lesliekeffer.bandcamp.com/album/perceive
https://www.instagram.com/dielectriclull/
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Temple-Leslie-Kennedy-Keffer/dp/B09VWGFK4G
1. Reciprocate.
2. Predacious.
3. Reverie.
4. Titrate.
5. Ingest.
6. Expansion.
7. Sap.
8. Ruminate.
The
first thing that hits me about Reverie is the striking artwork which consists
of beautifully coloured, absorbing painterly forms of faceless, dissected, semi
abstracted bodies. They look like paintings but they are generated from
Artificial Intelligence. I am unsure how that works, is it a graphics programme
on a tablet or computer? The works reflects living with trauma and PTSD; there
is a book of this amazing artwork out there to see and behold, the link is
above.
Leslie
Keffer has an interesting history, she has released on Ecstatic Peace and collaborated
with many different artists including Rodger Stella and Robedoor. Keffer has
been reviewed heavily in Wire Magazine recently. She played All Tomorrow’s
parties festival in the UK and I was at, this was the year that Thurston Moore
curated in 2006. The sounds are apparently made from FM radio static and
Keffer’s voice is projected onto the radios through different machines she
uses. In texts I have read that there is a clairvoyant aspect to how she uses
radios and voices in her work.
Reverie
fits right into one of my latest obsessions, which is noise artists who use approaches
that subtly disrupt silence with quiet noise and slight build ups of sound.
This work thrives with gradually increasing layers of ticking, clicking and
drones that converse with each other. Tension is raised through use of subtle drones
that arise or slight tweaks in volume to individual noises to intensify their
voice within the mix of existing sounds. The negative space in the work is a
void awaiting disruption. The work can be threatening, ominous and hostile in parts,
it achieves this easily without shouting. Reverie is work from 20 years ago,
that was never released. The visuals and audio work together perfectly, this is
a beautiful, strong and very impressive album. Keffer has several releases on
NO PART OF IT that I look forward to checking out.
Sterile
Garden – Acidosis – CDR – pro CDR/Download - 2020.
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/acidosis
https://sterilegarden.bandcamp.com/
1. Acidosis 1.
2. Acidosis 2.
3. Acidosis 3.
4. Acidosis 4.
5. Acidosis 5.
6. Acidosis 6.
Acidosis
is a condition in which there is too much acid in the bodily fluids.
Google search result on the meaning of Acidosis.
I
immediately like the sound of Acidosis, it feels like an accelerated journey
through a landscape, linking it to the title artwork which is a collaged and
hand drawn body taken through various degrees of abstraction, I would guess
that the work is a journey through the mind and body during Acidosis? The
artwork is by Jacob Deraadt, who makes the sounds and runs the Basement Tapes
label.
Throughout
the album, tracks strike a good, delicate balance of what I hear as electronic
noise, sampled sounds and field recordings. There is a lo-fi atmosphere that
adds authenticity to the work, noises seem to throw different timescales over
the work, the radio sounds give a feeling of past times as if this is the
journey over time with the body or different cases of Acidosis. Industrial creaking
pulls the work into another time, as if in a factory with huge old machines
busily operating away. The sense of time shift is present within some Acidosis’s.
Sounds
of decay and corrosion give a Death Industrial feel that seems to weave in and
out of the work. Long drones can make the work bleak and barren, as if in a
wasteland – the atmosphere is strong across each Acidosis. Harsh Noise causes
storms across tracks, allowing the work to accelerate its pace and aggression.
In contrast to this sounds can become quieter and things subtly scrape and
chime at each other, the sound can be stripped down to a whisper at times. The
final Acidosis is the fiercest piece of work, things go to higher levels of
extremity with the feedback and noise.
Acidosis
is an impressive album that doesn’t stay in one place for too long. Sterile Garden
stretches back to 2006, Acidosis serves has served as a good introduction for
me to begin my exploration of the project’s work.
Architeuthis
Dux – Submergence – CDR/Download – 2016.
https://www.facebook.com/architeuthisduxnoiseatx
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/submergence
https://soundcloud.com/architeuthis-dux
1. Skin Walker.
2. Empires and Churches are all Born Under
the Sun of Death.
3. Chains of Prometheus.
4. Breaking Wheel.
5. Ice Cave Mystic.
6. Polar Slave Compass 4.
7. Axis Mundi.
8. Red In Tooth & Claw.
Architeuthis
Dux is a giant underwater squid that can grow up to 12-13 metres, it is also a
Texas duo of Kenny Brieger and Tony Duran, who have been actively releasing and
playing live since 2011.
Keyboards
serve an introduction to the album’s opener Skin Walker; this goes smoothly
until the melodic sound abstracts through rising drones and warbling noise. This
is only a taste of the chaos that erupts on Empires and Churches are all
Born Under the Sun of Death, this has a pulsating back noise as urgent vocal
samples go off. Horns and distorted hissing intensify the work further. Dense drones
and humming rumble alone for a time, eventually punctuated by bursts of noise –
these elements battle it out until strangled string sounds try to be soothe but
kill everything off. Chains of Prometheus, hisses and throws out
looping, pulsating noise that descends into industrial, ambient hostility. Bells
jingle, backed by feedback to intensify the track. The sound becomes slower by
dragging more as if to create static tension in the sound until it grinds to a
halt.
Subtle
ambient sound forms the beginning of Breaking Wheel, this uses the
feedback for tension as drones hum underneath, the friction between the two
gives a submerged feeling to the overall sound. Repetitive flute-like melody is
backed by drones and a slow thudding beat, bell like jangling helps create Ice
Cave Mystic. This mixture of sounds starts to juxtapose around each other,
creating a gentle state of flux. Things are brought to a slower pace as Polar
Slave Compass 4 begins, I like the subtle shifts that this track demonstrates,
especially as the sound stirs and becomes ominous as the rumbling drones begin
to expand. Axis Mundi drops right back into subtle tremors of ambient
territory, this plunges into deeper sonic depths than before. I feel that Axis
Mundi pulls the album into deep waters of sound, it has a slow, rumbling
beauty that radiates from its’ explorations. The finale, Red In Tooth and
Claw immediately returns to an aggressive Power Electronics territory, it
partially muffles parts of the sound allowing the churning drones to rule the
roost with any shifts and changes that they make.
As
this is my intro to Architethis Dux, my initial impression is that they create
very strong, textured work. The variety in the work is strong, when styles are
used more than once, they are kept interesting through how they differ with
what they are mixed with. There is a lot of mastery of their technique
displayed on Submergence to make a solid, good album. I am definitely now a
fan.
Arvo
Zylo – Upheaval – CDR/Download – 2018
https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/upheaval-2
1. Upheaval Version 93.
2. Upheaval Version 94.
3. Upheaval Version 95.
4. Upheaval Version 96.
5. Upheaval Version 97.
6. Upheaval Version 98.
7. Upheaval Version 99.
Arvo
Zylo is Blood Rhythms and NO PART OF IT. Upheaval is from 2018. This is the
second set of Upheaval’s, there appear to be several in physical and digital
format across Discogs. The
Bandcamp description says the sounds here are sourced from different pop divas
holding down sustained notes whilst singing. It is impossible to tell, the
sounds don’t sound like voices at times due to how they have been processed and
treated. However, at other times the mind suspects that they are voices, at
times a fine line is balanced upon.
I
am immediately confronted by aggressive looping and repetition backed by
different noises that loop out of sync to the main noise. Different aspects
used to make Upheaval Version 93 come to prominence throughout its’
duration. I’d describe this as an initially ruthless sound that becomes sparkly
and beautiful across its’ duration. Melodic loops run across Upheaval
Version 94, guitar like noises and symphonic sounds cause an increase in
the tension of the work, making it similar to a dramatic opera reaching a
screaming conclusion. Upheaval version 95, crashes, drones and hums a repetitive
blast of impact. Upheaval Version 96 dives back into hostile ambient
dreams, the sound wavers in slow, roaring, bass-heavy distortion. As the track
progresses, the sound begins to drag and the roaring back noise takes the lead,
it seems to throb and push the sound massively. Upheaval Version 96
thrives on the pressure cooker effect, roaring away at the end, my brain took all
the impact from my headphones, thanks boss.
Upheaval
version 97, begins, it
has that ambient, infected feel that can either get sicker or be a prelude to
heightened terror. However, this eventually seems to allow beauty to flow
through the noises, very surprising. Quieter, murky drones build Upheaval
Version 98, it seems to out murk 97. The thick sound that hums through
everything, initially sounded like a bit of contact mic abuse, but I think it
is a slowed down voice note slurring across the others. The longest Upheaval is
the last, Upheaval version 99. Throbbing loops of distorted noise (is it
voice) pulsate at me, violently. The sound/battering goes through slow, subtle
shifts in output and speed. So technically, the head battering varies as I get
a sonic smacking about – I hasten to add that I am not complaining. Voices seem
to moan in the background.
I
haven’t heard anything like this and I am a bit blown away. The whole album seems
to consistently try to one-up the past track with the next track. This album is
a Gem that is well worthy of your purchase and listening attention!
An
outstanding package, thanks!
Army of One 2023.
