Black Line

From the legendary minds behind some of the most well known acts across the EBM, industrial and electronics spectrum comes the new project Black Line. A constantly evolving collective of mostly Los Angeles based collaborators, Black Line is led by Nitzer Ebb founding member and iconic frontman Douglas J. McCarthy and well regarded producer/engineer Cyrus Rex. A continuation of the duo's previous project DJM|REX, Black Line has access to some of the most advanced technology and creative minds which results in a distinctive sound. Current collaborators include:

DOUGLAS J MCCARTHY- Vocals / Production
founding member of NITZER EBB
BON HARRIS- Synthesis / Production
founding member of NITZER EBB
CYRUSREX
PAUL BARKER - Bass Guitar
Ministry, REVOLTING COCKS and Pigface.
CHRISTIAN EIGNER - Drums
JON BATES - Guest Vocals / Production / Instrumentation
MARK WALK - Vocal Production
Producer behind Skinny Puppy and OhGr.
ZACK MEYERS
KEN ‘Hiwatt’ MARSHALL
BRAD APODACA
MICHAEL ‘prophei’ DIETEL
ANTHONY BALDINO
MARIA LUI
DERRICK BASEK

The collective is staging their debut live performance this Friday (7/7) at the Terragram Ballroom in Los Angeles and we were able to speak with contributing member Brad Apodaca about the project and what we can expect from the show. (Q&A below)

The Brvtalist: So I have to ask you to talk about how this whole thing came about and what is the idea behind it.

Brad Apodaca: The band is a bit free-flowing. People can come and go and return when they please. I would say it's centered around the studio that Cyrusrex has built and branches out from there as we have friends all over that have helped in some way. The record began with the preproduction on what would have been the next DJM/Rex album. Cyrus, Douglas, and Ken had started working on a follow up to their EP's 1 & 2 & 3 (3 being unreleased). . . . and as friends and collaborators started to help out, it soon became much more than the duo that started it. Once you open the door to working with people and nurture a creative environment you will either get a massive pile of egos that nothing good will come of, or you luck out like we did and have a lot of fun and make something original, with no singular voice that we can all be proud of.

TB: With two founding members of Nitzer Ebb, the bassist from Ministry and one of the most well known names in the electronics world just to START, what can we expect in terms of sound?

BA: I suggest listening in headphones. There is a lot of ear candy on this record. Zack, Douglas, Cyrus, and Ken did a really great job of reeling some of us in. It's easy to get in there and just make so many cool sounds, but sculpting it into listenable "music" can be a chore. We wanted the record to be challenging but not unlistenable. We want people to hear it and feel that we've done something different and that it was worth every bit of work we put into it.

  
    <a href="http://black-line.bandcamp.com/album/treason-sedition-and-subversive-activities">Treason, Sedition, and Subversive Activities by BLACK LINE</a>
  

TB: Tells us about the live show on Friday at Terragram. Who will be performing that night and what did you guys want to do with the live show?

BA: I can't say everyone that will be there as we might have some special guests that want to join. . . . but at any given minute most of the collaborators will be there, at least for this show. We will also be joined by Nitzer Ebb drummer, Jason Payne. It's going to be a lot of fun. We have our friends Surachai and Bana Hafar as supporting acts and SSLEEPERHOLD, who've not met. Expect a lot of cables and wires everywhere!

TB: What's coming up next for the project?

BA: Up next will be a remix EP with some new tracks. We already have a few new artists that want to work on the new material. More female voices which will be a lovely addition. A few of the people in the band have some projects that are near completion that we can hopefully share before the end of the year. Tour? Maybe. As a production group, we'd like to do another soundtrack. Cyrus, Ken, and Douglas did a soundtrack for Hazel's documentary Bight Of The Twin (Hazel was also instrumental in creating our visuals for the show) that is making it's way through the gallery scene. . . . and I think we owe a few people remixes.

Treason, Sedition, and Subversive Activities is available now with a signed CD to be released July 10th. Be sure to catch the debut Black Line live performance this Friday with support from Surachai and Bana Haffar. For more information visit Facebook.

-JRS

Ancient Methods - The Asking Breath Comes to Each

Ancient Methods strikes again with a new EP on London's Candela Rising. The Asking Breath Comes To Each is a 4 track vinyl release which many would consider a departure from the sound of the artist's vast repertoire. While that may be true, we consider this a soothing evolution which masterfully bridges the past, present and future of not only techno but electronic music as a whole. Each track features a different vocalist and between Azar Swan, Huren, Tropic of Cancer and Zanias, it's difficult to find a more powerful release in that arena.

The open track, "Swallow", pushes us into the action with an uptempo industrial hymn that is accompanied by Azar Swan's heavenly ritualistic chants. "The Standards Will Come and Go" sees legendary producer Huren, assault us with his vicious, nihilist aggression that is set against hypnotic percussion that bleeds into your mind.

Side B opens with "It Won't Take Me" which features the seductive, melancholy stylings of L.A.'s Tropic of Cancer. The track is a nice post-punk laced offering which keeps us coming back for more. Concluding the EP is thecelestial "Andromeda". Featuring Brvtalist favorite Zanias, her distinctive sound dances perfectly over the producer's warm yet ominous conclusion. Perhaps the most appropriate way to end the record.

Pressed on nice looking colored vinyl with reptilian artwork by Camille Blake, The Asking Breath Comes To Each is another fine release by Michael Wollenhaupt and exemplifies evolution, advancement and continued artistic integrity. Out now on Candela Rising.

-JRS

DYNAMIKA - Fantasma Mix

The Brvtalist is proud to present a new mix from Colombia's DYNAMIKA. Contributor of New Brvtalism No. 001, we though it fitting to have her usher us in to the 100th installment, coming next week. The Fantasma Mix reminds us of why she was the first, with a haunting mix of EBM, wave, techno and more.

-JRS

Track list:

Rouge Mécanique - Cosi Cosi
Marie - Marterpfahl
Anticipation - Photograph
Autumns - Posthumous Remorse
MAS 2008 - So Suss
Pyramid Club – The Law
Identified Patient - Vermoedens Van Achterdocht
Ancient Methods - Knights & Bishops
Bintus - 7th Nov Jam
Volition Immanent - Wake Up
NMX - Palais Intimes
Blac Kolor - Skele Ton (Schwefelgelb Remix)
Ancient Methods - AM-4 B2
Phase Fatale - SOL740

SΛRIN - "Exocet" Video Premiere

The Brvtalist is pleased to premiere the music video for "Exocet" by SΛRIN. This mutant EBM monster comes off the upcoming 12", Shifting Allegiance, out June 30th on Berlin's infamous [aufnahme + wiedergabe]. One of our favorite artists to emerge over the last few years, the new release picks up right where Current Conflict left off, except the new tracks escalate the madness to new levels of technoid dance floor destruction. The video (X-IMG) fuses retro-future dystopian sci-fi to add visual lunacy to the attack.

Shifting Allegiance is out June 30th. Pre-orders available here.

-JRS

The Brvtalist Premieres: Raum - "Never Explain"

The Brvtalist is pleased to present an exclusive track premiere + download of "Never Explain" by Raum. The recently launched solo project of Yannick Franck (Orphan Swords), the Belgian artist has already released a stellar tape on French label, Third Type Tapes. We are thrilled to offer this industrial tour de force exclusively for download on The Brvtalist.

In addition to production, Franck also heads standout label Idiosyncratics. For more information visit Soundcloud and Facebook.

-JRS

New Brvtalism No. 099 - Killawatt

The Brvtalist is proud to present a new mix by Killawatt. The U.K. based artist contributes a colossal offering that highlights his striking style of immense atmospherics and bass heavy electronics. With standout releases on labels like Osiris Music, Derelicht and a new EP on 47, Killawatt's productions always leaving a punishing imprint. New Brvtalism No. 099 pushes us to the very brink with an hour of the artist's signature blend of sonic annihilation. For more visit Facebook and Soundcloud.

-JRS

Cuffed, Not Gagged

Highlights from the Chicago Underground Film Festival
May 31 – June 4, 2017

by Leslie Gray

1992, a Chicago suburb

Open on two male clerks at Video Adventure. Guy #1 has returned from the Famous Monsters of Filmland Convention, where he had a revelation. He pitches it to Guy #2.

“Let’s start an underground film festival.”

“Alright”, Guy #2 says, recently post-woman, post-job and possibly post-Chicago, “what have I got to lose.”

Fast-forward a quarter century later to the 24th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) – the longest running in the world.

This year, 102 independent, experimental and documentary films were showcased from May 31 – June 4 at Chicago’s Logan Theatre. Widely recognized and respected, the festival is helmed by none other than Guy #2, Artistic Director and Programmer Bryan Wendorf.

I ask Bryan what he looks for when choosing films.

In our early days we were very influenced by Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, George Kuchar, Craig Baldwin, John Waters. Films that were deliberately shocking or provocative. Over the years I became much more interested in formal experimentation. ‘Underground’ means a lot of different things to different people and I try to explore all those different interpretations.

While CUFF’s films push boundaries in either subject or format, the fest’s vibe is decidedly mid-Western: laid-back, intimate and unpolished. This is a beer and T-shirt kind of film fest.

Given that the boundaries between filmmaker and audience, creator and critic are almost nonexistent here, I ask Bryan what he thinks a filmmaker is anyway.

I've attended film screenings where no actual film ran through the projector…where a super8 projector was turned on a screen and various objects (a crystal ashtray, a glass of whiskey etc) manipulated by the "filmmaker" to create patterns of light.

To me, Bryan says, that is as much a "film" by a "filmmaker" as a narrative feature or a documentary.

A filmmaker, he says, is anyone who uses film or more often video to create or express something.

Below are a few standouts from the festival – you can view a full list here. If you want to submit your film for 2018, check CUFF.org in August for details.

All used with permission of CUFF.org, unless otherwise noted.

CUFF JURY AWARD:
THE PINK EGG, dir. Jim Trainor
71 min., 2016, USA
“You can find all of Shakespeare and De Sade in the lives of insects”
Luis Buñuel

The Sex Montage from The Pink Egg, © 2017 Jim Trainor

THE PINK EGG - excerpt - Sex Montage from Jim Trainor on Vimeo.

MADE IN CHICAGO AWARD:
HOW TO HAVE YOUR / OWN TELEVISION SHOW / (YOU ALREADY DO), dir. Jesse Malmed

13 min., 2016, USA

Trippy instructions on how to save yourself in the age of surveillance, set to a bootleg of Peter Hutton’s “Florence”. Channels that moment when stoner philosophy, the Twilight Zone and insomnia start to make sense.

CUFF JURY AWARD:
As Without So Within, dir. Manuela de Laborde

25 min., 2016, Mexico/United Kingdom/US

Do surfaces have depth? As Without So Within Investigates by transforming prop sculptures with framing, lighting, superimposition and projection.

CUFF JURY AWARD
Indefinite Pitch, dir. James N. Kienitz Wilkins

23 min., 2016, USA

We’re pitched a “pathetic” movie for a film set in Berlin, New Hampshire, that evolves into an extended reflection on the Northeast

– all using a pitch that has been reconfigured from a 1927 silent movie filmed in Berlin.

HONORABLE MENTION
Luna E Santur , dir. Joshua Gen Solondz

10 min., 2016, USA

As reviewer Colin Beckett described, the film intertwines “Sex and death with the supernatural and subnaturalistic. Isn’t it always like that?

PERSONAL FAVORITES
Fuck All Boys From Uptown, dir. K$K (Kira Summer Klein)

15 min., 2016, USA

Director’s Summary: Sometimes "f*ck you" and "I love you" means the same thing.

Fuck All Boys From Uptown, dir. K$K (Kira Summer Klein) — *Fuck All Boys From Uptown*, dir. K$K (Kira Summer Klein)

STATES OF DECAY dir. James Bishop

14 min., 2016, UK

Middle America is filled with stunning abandoned buildings you’re not allowed to go into. Photographer Todd Daleish went there and James Bishop filmed it.

The Brvtalist Premieres: Ian Martin - "Populist Protectionst"

The Brvtalist is pleased to present a new track from Ian Martin. The Dutch artist is no stranger to dark electronics, with standout releases on Bunker, Panzerkreuz and Strange Life. He now returns with a new EP on Brvtalist favorite Gooiland Elektro. Rights of Passage is a 4 track vinyl release that showcases Martin's expert precision when combing everything from EBM, techno, elektro and more. "Populist Protectionist" is a hypnotic composition that transports you to the depths of an unknown realm.

Rites of Passage will be released this week on 12" vinyl. For more information visit Enfant Terrible.

-JRS

New Brvtalism No. 098 - Last Days of S.E.X.

The Brvtalist is proud to present a new mix from Greek artist Last Days of S.E.X. Athens-based producer Manos Chrisovergis (Black Spring, Solar Anus, No Danger No Beauty) contributes an absolutely brvtal offering of rhythmic noise, thrashed techno and much more. Play at high volumes. For more visit Soundcloud.

-JRS

Løt Te - "Ultra Vires" Video Premiere

With obliterating force, comes the new video from Turkish-born, Brooklyn-based artist Løt Te. The track "Ultra Vires" comes off the new EP and 5th installment from Brvtalist favorite New York Trax. Combining protest footage from Gezi Park and Taksim, Istanbul, Turkey (2013) with the gritty details of New York City, the video's alarming pace matches the track's merciless, synth driven havoc. Underground techno at its finest.

After two standout vinyl EP's on The Bunker New York, this politically charged release, titled State of Exception, is Løt.te’s personal reflection on the current social and political climate in Turkey. The striking artwork is by contemporary artist Jakub Gliński, based on the photographs of Nicole Grier. State of Exception is available to order now at New York Trax.

Credits:

Protest at Gezi Park and Taksim, Istanbul, Turkey, 2013 (Tom Palmers, Leo Rokita) Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York (recording by Pablo Herrera, locations by Nicole Gier)

Production: Pablo Herrera (Electrofilmika) Nicole Gier (New York Trax)