Mike Brown of Livewire Electronics was one of the first people I met in the modular community when I started some 8 years ago. The Chaos Computer was more of a myth than an actual module in the 5 or so years it took to develop. It would show up in various incarnations, growing in features and then disappear for years. Then Mike died.
When Steve Rightnour of Monorocket handed me the Chaos Computer this past weekend, I was equal parts thrilled and saddened. Thrilled because of the obvious reasons of obtaining a module that you’ve heard, tested, and lusted after for several years but saddened because its another Livewire Electronics design that became realized, finalized and put into the “done†category in Mike’s legacy. This thing is in for a world of hurt, just as Mike would’ve wanted it to be.
Caspar of Version Industries wrote up on the process of creating the artwork to Embraced. Here are some selected excerpts, read the entire article: HERE
“it must have been late last year that surachai told me he wanted me to work on the artwork for his next record. given he’d already employed the likes of bridget driessen and sarah sitkin to handle such duties on his last two records, it came as a great compliment. he said the record wasn’t anywhere near done yet, and in typical fashion i told him i’m not really much use until i hear something closer to the final music. it’s always the sense that something’s close to done that allows me the chance to fully immerse myself and see what images come.
finally in march of this year i holed myself up in my studio for the weekend, put the record on loop for the umpteenth time and let loose. i remember clearly that i’d wanted to create something close to how it felt to read the end of DM thomas’s novel the white hotel. this was a book i’d recently finished that had an ending so fiercely out of left-field that i’d found myself in tears on the train i was riding at the time. the feeling of despair i’d been left with was quite unmanageable and combined with a photograph surachai had shown me a few weeks before of fingernail scratch marks on the wall of a concentration camp gas chamber, i felt compelled to make him something that would tear the world down. something that at the very least was as harrowing and sad.
however, as i’ve learnt over the years if you go into these things trying to force a thing like that or even start with a visual idea so incongruent from what you were actually hearing in the music and lyrics of the songs, it’s not going to work. i hold the belief that the artwork for a record must in some prevalent capacity be a visual response to the sound. it can speak to outside influences without question – doubtless you and the band will have discussed the many ideas that went into making the songs – but hopefully you’ve not been hired to simply imitate another artist or illustrate someone else’s description. hopefully your job here is to interpret what you hear visually, and in so doing create something that gives people a unique and unconscious taste of what they’re about to hear.
surachai didn’t hesitate for a moment when i sent him the final layouts. in fact i think it was just minutes after emailing him that i got a message from him on ichat saying, ‘i fucking LOVE you.’ still i can’t say i wasn’t terrified as to what he’d think. interpreting someone else’s music with a picture takes a lot of trust, and you just have to hope they really understand what they’re asking when they hire you for the job. in this case i think it’s fair to say we made a good match and i’m still incredibly honoured to this day to have been responsible for producing the artwork for such a fantastic record.”
This one came out of nowhere and it fuckin rules, just one dude who enlisted a bunch of pals to flesh things out and give this a truly overwhelming sound, Embraced is some next level shit, complex wall of sound black metal that’s super fuckin precise, tight tremolo shredding on top of a controlled chaos of percussion a la Zach Hill or Greg Fox, this is nonstop amazing.
For the next week, Embraced vinyl is 20% off. Discount code: embracedvinyl
If you want To No Avail or Plague Diagram vinyl as well, e-mail info@surachai.org and we’ll work out a deal.
TRASH_AUDIO shirts are back! Soft, high quality material, and intricate detailing by Offbeat Press. International orders are being held off for now, e-mail trashaudio@gmail.com and I’ll put you in queue.
We’re currently working on, and very close to, releasing Robert AA Lowe’s (MNR003) contribution to the Shared System Series on Make Noise Records. Keith Fullerton Whitman’s (MNR004) release is scheduled after. Surachai’s (MNR005) release is the “last” of the series but you can preview the entire release months before its release. You’ll just need a Make Noise System…
AEON Dual Prismatic Oscillator
DPO Final -> Optomix
DPO OSC 2 Square -> Phonogene Shift
DPO OSC 2 Sine -> Echphon in Optomix
Optomix Channel 2 in -> Echophon out
Optomix sum output -> Echophon in
Optomix Sum output->Moddemix Aux In Phonogene
Phonogene Audio Out -> Wogglebug Ringmod In
Phonogene Audio Out -> Moddemix channel 1 Carrier (left input) Pressure Points
Pressure Points Channel 4 Gate -> MATHS Channel 1 Trigger
Pressure Points Channel 4 Gate -> Phonogene Record
Pressure Points Channel 4 Gate -> moddemix channel 1 modulator (right)
Pressure Points Sequencer 2 output -> DPO Channel 1 v/oct MATHS
Maths Channel 1 -> Phonogene Gene Size In
Maths Channel 4 Cycle Mode -> DPO Angle In Wogglebug
Wogglebug Ring Out -> Modemix Channel Two Modulator (right)
Wogglebug Stepped VC Out -> Phonogene Slide RENE
Rene XCLK -> Wogglebug Clock out
RENE QCV -> DPO OSC 2 v/oct
RENE CV -> Maths Both Channel 4
RENE Gate X -> DPO Strike Main Output -> Moddemix Sum output
BELIAL Wogglebug
Heart In -> Echophon Clock Out
Ringmod In -> Echophon Feedback Out
Stepped CV Out -> DPO Fold CV In
Stepped CV Out -> Echophon Echo CV In
Stepped CV Out -> ModDeMix Channel 2 Carrier (left input)
Stepped CV Out -> MATHS Channel 4 Fall CV In
Random Clock -> RENE XCLK In
Clock Out -> RENE YCLK In
Woggle CV Out -> MATHS Channel 1 Fall In
Woggle CV Out -> Phonogene Gene Shift In RENE
X-CV In -> MATHS Channel 3 (Negative Voltage)
YMOD In -> MATHS Channel 1 Out
Y-CV -> DPO Channel 2 Sine Out
QCV Out -> Echophon Mix CV In
QCV Out -> MATHS Channel 2 input (Negative Voltage)
QCV Out -> DPO FM Bus CV In
CV Out -> DPO Angle CV In
CV Out -> DPO Channel 1 1V/oct In
G-X Out -> DPO Strike In
G-Y Out -> MATHS Channel 1 Trigger In Pressure Points
Channel 1 Pressure Out -> DPO Channel 2 Expo CV In
Channel 2 Pressure Out -> DPO Channel 1 Expo CV In
Channel 3 Pressure Out -> Echophon Depth CV In
Channel 4 Pressure Out -> Echophon Freeze In
Channel 4 Gate Out -> Phonogene Rec In MATHS
Channel 1 Both CV In – > MATHS Channel 4 out
Channel 1 Out -> Phonogene Slide CV In
Channel 1 Out -> DPO Modbus Index CV In
Channel 2 Out -> Echophon Echo CV In
OR Out -> Echophon Feedback CV In
Channel 3 Out -> DPO Shape CV In
Channel 4 Out -> MATHS Channel 3 In (Negative Voltage)
Channel 4 Trigger In -> Echophon Clock Out Dual Prismatic Oscillator
Channel 1 Triangle Out -> ModDeMix Channel 1 Modulator (right input)
Channel 1 Saw -> Phonogene Gene Size CV In
Final Output -> Optomix Channel 2 In
Final Output -> ModDeMix Channel 1 Carrier In (left input)
Channel 2 Expo In -> ModDeMix Out 2 ModDeMix
Moddemix Channel 1 output -> Echophon Audio In
Moddemix Channel 1 output -> Optomix Channel 1 Audio In Optomix
Aux In -> Echophon Mix Out
Sum out -> Phonogene Audio In Main Output -> Phonogene Out
The stereotype of black-metal musicians as murderous, church-burning, white-Âsupremacist pagans in corpsepaint was out of date ten years ago—by now the style has worked its way into almost every corner of the underground, and you can find just about as many kinds of black metallers as you can metalÂheads in general. However, it’s still unusual to encounter one who spends just as much time obsessing over arcane modular synthesizers and ancient analog drum machines as he does practicing tremolo picking and blastbeats. Local artist Surachai has released more than a dozen albums in the past six years, including full-band ensemble pieces that stick fairly close to the black-Âmetal playbook (such as this spring’s Embraced) and total avant-garde synth freak-outs. In his spare time he’s part of the collective, a coalition of gearheads that delights in making esoteric sounds with alarmingly complicated synthesizer setups.
Surachai/Embraced (Trash_Audio / Bandcamp) Easily one of the worst black metal I have heard in years. Total tin can sounding drums along with useless shit speed played as fast as possible and sounds like a wall of noise and the singing is a total joke. All he does is screech and scream into the mic. This is so fuckin bad it isn’t funny and the first song is 15 min. Yeah 15 min of torture. Guys do the black metal world a favor and break up.
‘Embraced’ is Surachai’s first album to be recorded as a full band and is written in a four-part harmonic style, with bass, tenor, alto and soprano guitars. Stylistically, ‘Embraced’ is a continuation from 2011’s ‘To No Avail’, which saw Surachai adopting a black metal style mixed with noisy modular synthesizers. There is less noise to be found on this album however, with most of the music following a more conventional modern black metal style. The aforementioned harmony guitars sound fantastic, complete with lots of tremolo picking and dissonant harmonies. The drumming is incredible and the harsh vocals mix in perfectly.
Opening track Ancestral is a fifteen minute epic of intense black metal, ending with a beautiful, eerie ambient section filled with contrasting modular synthesizers which build up unsettling dissonance. The pace picks back up again with the excellent Sentinel and the album closer Surrender continues the relentless assault until it ends with a much more elegant melodic section which is slowly stripped away.
If you are a fan of modern black metal, then you should almost certainly enjoy this album.
