Author: elaflash

Multi-instrumentalist for Decent News Drums for Chrome Corps

“Katharsis” – Amulet

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Oh look, some wonderful friends have appeared to read some shit I wrote. Greetings! Today I’ll be covering the 19 track behemoth “Katharsis” by Washington DC’s own Amulet. Amulet is a duo fronted by Stephanie Stryker and along with her is MJ Phoenix who handles the bulk of the instrumental work and does some vocals as well. This album features some collaborators as well which is nice. Bob Carr adds some guitar work here. James Scott does bass on a track, Rob Early contributes some keys, Emmanuel B. Minko shows up to do some engineering. Oh and check this out, my own personal sleep paralysis demon Dan Milligan is here on drums. How nice, I can’t fucking get away from this dude. Dan is the fucking man and his work can be seen nearly everywhere in the scene so I already have high hopes.

Now when i saw there were NINETEEN total tracks in “Katharsis” clocking in at about 74 minutes I was worried that the album might get a little stale. Then I remembered that my band Decent News put out an album that had less tracks but still had a 70 minute runtime. By no means would runtime be a reason to complain but it would be hypocritical if I did. That being said, by the time is was 6 tracks in I was pretty sold. The duo’s vocals work really well with each other. MJ’s sawzall grime juxtaposed against Stephanie’s soft melodic voice is really fun to listen too. I wish there was more layering of the twos vocals, but that’s just me.

Production wise, everything’s mixed very well. Sometimes it does kind of feel like there was a spill at the reverb factory, but I’ll give that a pass. On the technical side, everything is done very well. Even in songwriting, every song here could have stood out as a single. While on paper that sounds incredible, In practice, when you have 19 songs on an album that are at a technical level good songs, things start to blend together a little. I know most people aren’t listening to albums front to back anymore but as a cohesive piece of work, there’s not a lot of risk taking or experimentation and it feels pretty safe. Personally I feel like this album would be more powerful if it was split in two. Every track on this Katharsis is very vocal driven, and the vocals are excellent. Every song does have a catchy vocal hook that’s hard to shake. Like I have shit to do right now but the chorus to “The Hope That Kills You” keeps distracting me, which right now sucks because I can’t find my keys and I have to pick up laundry. Aside from the Vocals, there are some synth leads and guitar melodies in the album but they’re not an identifying feature of the songs. Alot of the instrumentation feels like it’s only there to support the vocals. I felt like I was waiting for someone to step out of the mix and do a cool interlude into the next section of the song. Your focus is on the vocals the entire time. Please don’t let my own critiques steer you away from checking the album out. My own weird preferences don’t take away at all from “Katharsis”. As I said every track here could absolutely stand out as a single. It’s still catchy, with some great standouts here.

The opening track “Wyrdwork” is a chilling crescendo of reverbed piano and pained cooing that really forces you to settle in. “Erase Me” as some ambient coldwave guitar work in it that is tastefully executed. “Walk Away” is surprisingly more hard hitting than you’d expect in contrast to the rest of “Katharsis”. There really is alot to enjoy here, personally I would’ve preferred a little more variation. Looking back on their previous releases I’m surprised this album didn’t explore more (I highly Recomend listening to “Secrets and Lies” and “Clear Blue Skies” – Chef’s kiss). I give Katharsis 7 whole Demonia Gift Cards out of 10.

UPDATE: I found my keys, I got too high and put them in the fridge

Music | Amulet

“Unhallowed” by Apparitional

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Oh! How splendid! Hello traveler, I see you’ve found my shop. Would you like to peruse my wares? I may have something that may aid you on your journey. I’m in a bit of a bind here so I can’t quite hand it to you. It’s flipped up into my waistband, there you’ve got it. Oh how nice, It’s the debut single from the Orange County California based band Apparitional.

This single is set to drop August 23rd, So by the time this gets published it probably will have been out for a little while. Let’s get some Biographical stuff out of the way first. Apparitional is the side project of Rik Turner (of The Returners) and Rikk R Treat (of The Writhers). I peeped both bands and they’re pretty cool, I’ll let you explore on your own because I want to focus on this release by itself. Rik Turner handles the guitar, bass and vocal work on the single, while Rikk R Treat tackles percussion. Lets see how well this translates!

Unhallowed | Apparitional (bandcamp.com)

I want to start off by saying I REALLY wish this this had a B-Side to it. For a debut single it’s always good to have more than one sample of what you have to offer. That being said, Unhallowed is a pretty solid track. Composition-wise, it flows very nice. You’re not being thrown off by anything which really works here. If they wanted to stray off the path with a nice knuckleball they could’ve. Instead you’re mostly given 2-seam fastballs down the middle, BUT there is a curveball with the dissonant hardcore style breakdown riffs halfway through the song. Baseball!

As for the mix, It’s not bad at all. The guitars are nice and fat. Personally I have a thing for a rugged clicky deep bass, and in a down tempo song like this it really shines through and glues it all together. Instrumentally, these two guys are really talented. I wish Rik’s vocals popped out in the mix a little more, because holy shit this dude can sing. It’s damn smooth too. There’s an arpeggiated guitar voicing in the track that doesn’t necessarily need to be there, but I’m really glad it is. While it does make the space a little claustrophobic it does add just a touch more melody here. The drum work is on point. Nothing is over the top or show-offy, It’s nice and in the pocket and does exactly what the track calls for so no complaints there.

I have only two points of constructive criticism. This should’ve had a B-side to accompany it. “Unhallowed” is a good song, and like most good songs it took me a few listens to really appreciate it. Once that was all absorbed in my brain my next thought was “alright, what else can they do together?”. So for now we’ll just have to wait. Minor gripe #2, and I could be completely wrong on this one so go easy on me. The artwork. Even though both Rik(k)s are relatively established, this is still a debut release for a new project. I feel like you’d want to attract as much attention as possible and a great way to do that is by having eye catching artwork. By itself, the imagery is pretty good, I know what I’m going to be listening to once I hit play. The issue is, well let’s do a little experiment. Go to bandcamp right now and go to new releases in any of the industrial/dark wave adjacent categories. This artwork kind of blends in. It doesn’t pop out against the raging sea of other releases that feature a lady in the woods set in monochrome which may deter new listeners. Not to say the artwork is bad by any means. It just blends in a bit. I don’t want that to take away from the musicality of these two guys because “Unhallowed” definitely stands its ground, and I do look forward to hearing more from the two Rik(k)s.

“Femme Boy” – Caleb De Casper

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Oh no! It’s me. Before I get started with my review, I’d like to start off by thanking Ken for letting me come back as a writer for S&S. Maybe it’s because I just got back from Germany with Chrome Corps and I’m riding a stage high, but here I am. It’s been a few dark years for me, but I finally feel ready to fully come back to the scene. Not just with my various projects, but as some piece of shit that has bad opinions.

When Ken had sent me a list of releases to cover, I was kind of confused as to why a release from 2022 was sent. I mean, that’s about the time that I had dropped off from the face of the Earth so maybe that was his way of saying I had some catching up to do. Bare with me cause I might be a tad rusty but here goes nothing. The lead in track “Too Many Boys” sets the entire mood for what’s coming in this LP, and that’s alot of fucking fun. It opens with a heart-throbbing kick and Perc-y bassline that reminds me of a very popular song from 2003, which I won’t say the name of. Reason being, I think there’s plenty of loving nods to 2000’s pop scattered through this album which I adore. Anyways, after you get hit with this gentle gated super saw melody, this jangly guitar leads you into the verse. It’s not quite a left turn, but it has the same feeling of missing a turn on your GPS. I’ll refer this as rerouting. Now this isn’t the kind of misdirection that makes you scream “FUCK” and punch your horn, It’s more of the feeling of “Ooooo we’re going on a little adventure today”. This album is FILLED with these types of reroutes and it certainly adds to the overall fun feeling of everything. Now, I did a little research into Caleb De Casper after my first listen and, come to find out, he’s a classically trained vocalist. That shines through on the huge choruses on each track and it rules.

Femme Boy | Caleb De Casper (bandcamp.com)

The second track, “Do You Feel” has an absolutely killer guitar throughout the track. It’s in a very flamenco style which is an immediate thumbs up from me. Victor Bustos and Jordan Good are credited for the guitar work, I’m not sure who does what tracks here, but their work throughout is really well done. In fact there’s not much on “Femme Boy” that isn’t well done. I peeped the linear notes to see if I recognized any names. After a little bit of digging, turns out I don’t know any of these fucking people and I love that. There’s something sort of mystic about reading a list of names that you’re unfamiliar with that all came together to make something really solid. It would be like if you asked “Who invented the Fire Extinguisher” and someone just picked a name out of a phone book. Although that’s a bad example because we all know the Fire Extinguisher was invented by Thomas Fire Extinguisher in 1854. It appears that everyone involved is somewhat local to the Austin scene. Even the producer Joe Stacey appears to stay pretty close to the Austin scene, working with Jack Charles and Pathetick.

Back to the music itself. “Real Girl” is very fun to blast in your car in heavy traffic. 10/10. Also there’s defiantly another nod to 2000’s pop in hear a la Missy Elliot and you can’t miss it. Another honorable mention for me is “Danny You’re A F*ckboy” (Real quick, if I can just get the uncensored title that would be great cause I have no fucking idea what that last word is.) The way Caleb wraps his voice around the backing chord changes is done super well. Also fuck Danny he sounds like he sucks, you deserve better. I also heavily recommend the track “Dreamer” featuring vocal accompaniment by Sabrina Ellis. The blippy bell melody was a very welcome surprise.

To wrap this up, I’ll say one thing. Check this out, do yourself a favor. While it is heavily pop, style-wise it covers plenty of ground and you can get some decent mileage out of this one. Also, I wasn’t sure where to drop this fact in there but, back in 2022 The city of Austin declared one day to be Caleb De Casper Day for all of his contributions to the LGBT culture in the city. Pretty sick. Also, the pictures below should set an industry standard on how merch is sold. Overall I give “Femme Boy” a 7 entire boys out of 10. It’s should also be noted that Caleb De Casper released a new single last month so check that out too.

A Cozy Fireside Chat with SLIGHTER

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Greetings Sounds and Shadows family! It’s been a while. I’m currently shouting through the ether of fatherhood to get this interview to your head holes today and I have a very special guest. I was able to catch up with Colin Cameron of SLIGHTER and do I top tit interview with him. You know him, You love him and you wish he was your fuckin’ boyfriend.

He’s too fast for average film exposure times

EL: So ill try and get all the arbitrary music interview stuff out of the way. How did you get your start in music and made you get into industrial?

CC: Like most I gravitated towards music really young, I did my first ‘garage bands’ with my friends in middle school. Then I ended up going to high school in the middle-of-nowhere Colorado when I discovered Front Line Assembly, Chemlab, KMFDM, God Lives Underwater, and I didn’t really know that idea or whatever of calling it “Industrial”. Record shops were small and didn’t file under that. And there wasn’t a scene or more than just me and a couple of friends listening to that stuff. I tend to gravitate to darker and atmospheric stuff, so I think that is what draws me to any music that fits that.

EL: As far as the underground scene goes, I’d probably rate you as one of the best producers out there in the scene. Your mixes are unique in that you accomplish a very hard dance floor attack but there are these layers of soft ambience in your tracks. Its like a perfect yon and yang and I think it sets you apart. Now that I’m done gushing I want to ask, what are some of your influences out side of the general industrial/electronic genres that you incorporate into your style?

CC: Thanks for saying that, even though I might not agree with you! Ha! Really the biggest influences on my work as Slighter are film scores. I think that’s where the atmospheric and ambient side of my tracks come from. Really enjoy Sci-Fi and strange films with great scores, that’s where I go to get inspiration to write again.

EL: What is your process when you sit down to start working on a remix.

CC: With remixes, I’m usually firstly deciding what way I want to take it, and that direction I get from the original song. If there’s something I think could go real 4-on-the-floor Techno, then I’ll go there. If it’s something I can do Drum & Bass crazy edits and glitch to, I’ll go there. Then the fun part is taking everything they give me, and fucking it all up into a new ‘palette’ I can make a new version with. I’m very big on incorporating much of the original, even if it is thrown through a 20 step evolution via sound design.

EL: Marry, Fuck, Kill: Mr. Goodbar, 3 musketeers, and the yellow m&m?

CC: Ha! I think all three are quite trash as far as candy goes. So I’d elope with a box of Nerds and GTFO!

(I would like to point out that Colin answered this incorrectly. The answer we were looking for was: Marry Mr. Goodbar, Kill the Three Musketeers, and Fuck the yellow M&M)

EL: I know you fancy yourself as a multi instrumentalist, what is your favorite instrument to play and what instrument do you think you’re the best at playing?

CC: I hate that term “multi-instrumentalist” because it wreaks in self aggrandizing. I’m a piss poor player of a lot of things, but I get instruments to bend to my will, so to speak that makes it artful. I guess I would say, I play a MEAN computer. 🙂

VOID Releases on June 4th

EL: I got a chance to listen to your new album (coming out June 4th btw) and I was pleasantly surprised. In general, how important do you think it is for an artist to evolve their sound?

CC: I think it depends on the musician, if you’re a performer and want to play shows and entertain your whole career, you have to be careful to not loose those fans who want you to ‘shut up and play the hits’ as it were. That’s not me at all. I’m of the side that looks at music as an art form, and as such my work ethic and style musically would be equated to watching a painter paint a painting. So in this sense, I find it very important to treat my art as evolutionary, as much as it is to hit on clever musical necessities, or formalities of electronic music for a dance floor requirements, I want to push my creativity with each new piece.

EL: What is your favorite piece of studio gear? Also, what’s a piece of gear that you regret selling?

CC: I’ve not been able to part with any of my gear! I always have that “oh you’ll need it for something” so I still even have my shitty Digitech pedals from high school. I think my favorite kit these days is everything that Ivo at Glitchmachines makes. Highly inventive plugins, makes for a lot of fun with sound design.

EL: I like to end my interviews with a desert island scenario question. So you’re stranded on a desert island, you have 3 albums, 1 movie, 1 complete TV series on DVD and an unlimited supply of 1 breakfast cereal. What do you pick

CC: The 3 albums would be: Dubnobasswithmyheadman by Underworld, K&D Sessions from Kruder and Dorfmeister, and Formless from Gridlock. Film would be: James Gunn’s Slither. TV series: X-Files because there’s an almost endless amount of those episodes. Cereal: Am I getting milk? Because if not, I’m going Chex, if I am, get me those Fruit Loops and I’ll be pretty content.

SLIGHTER drops VOID on June 6th, so you better keep your peepers peeled for it. Or Else

Interview with Bill Weedmark by Eddie LaFlash

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Good whatever time of day it is that you’re reading this! Ken said I could interview anybody in the whole wide inner circle of industrial music so I thought long and hard and chose homeboy Bill Weedmark. If you’re on facebook at all you’ve definitely seen him at the forefront of many of the scene pages. I took a deep dive skinny dipping session with our lovable friend here and asked him the hard pressing questions that’s on everyone’s minds.

EL: You seem to have your finger on the pulse of the scene, you mod several band groups (OMF for 3teeth, Dreadfully Possessed for GosT, Nuclear Family for Nuclear*Sun and others, and the Anti-Hearts for Night Club). How THE FUCK have you made these connections and how do you have the mental strength to handle all of these groups?


BW: Kind of random chance really, but it all ties back to 3teeth and OMF. I got to know those guys online a little bit after they opened for Tool…I loved their stuff, got hooked, and created a subreddit for them. That ended up leading to modding OMF when it got big enough to need a cat herder, which is where I got to know some of the other artists from chatting with them in there. Then I met up with some of them on tour and became friends and it just kind of happened organically after that.

It’s surprisingly not as much work as you’d think. There are so many cool, progressive, amazing people in this music scene, so for the most part these groups are awesome communities that lift each other up and share art and support each other. I don’t have the patience for the bickering and drama in groups so I don’t get involved with groups that have a lot of that.

Probably Bill Weedmark

EL: What do you look for in a group that you’re hearing and interacting with for the first time? How should aspiring bands interact with their fans to ensure they hang onto them for life?


BW: Passion is key. I don’t personally care if an artist has the best production values or the biggest budget, I just want to hear in their work that it matters to them. That’s kind of intangible and subjective, but it’s a gut feeling of “Oh yeah, they love doing this.” That will show through in everything they do. I’m also much more likely to check an artist out based on good word of mouth from other people in music groups, too.

As far as fan interaction, I think authenticity is the most important thing. All of the newer artists which have become big favorites of mine are themselves online. They’re somewhat active in groups or on their own pages, they answer questions, stay moderately accessible. It’s a tough balance I think and it takes time, and not everyone has the free time for it and not everyone wants to be open or accessible. But just engaging like a human being rather than spamming links to your stuff once a day at noon and never TALKING to people will always get me to pay attention, and it seems to build a more genuine connection with the fans. It doesn’t have to be a daily thing, but just popping around and being a person and even chatting about a movie or something is more engaging than people realize.

EL: Now with the industrial scene (and any scene for that matter) aesthetic seems to play a big role in terms of fitting in. Whether it be robot beep boop looks or just a heavy goth appearance. Are there any tropes and clichés in this scene that makes you role your eyes? And do you think looks are just as important as the product being released by a band?


BW: I’m very much over the edgy “let’s be offensive for attention” trend that seemed to be big in the 90s/00s, like adopting pseudo-fascist clothes and logos, but thankfully that’s dying off. But as long as it’s not an offensive appearance, I don’t think looks alone are hugely important. It’s cool to have a unique look but I’d rather have a unique sound or voice to listen to. Tristan Shone of Author & Punisher is usually just wearing jeans and a t-shirt on stage but no one would deny that he’s got a unique aesthetic and sound. I think the logos, art, and iconography around an artist are more important than an on-stage aesthetic, especially right now with touring being dead and global audiences…people will find an artist online way before they’ll find them at a show. But you can’t go wrong with black and leather and rivets, can you?

EL: What got you into industrial music?


BW: The Mortal Kombat soundtrack! I grew up in the sticks and didn’t even know what industrial music was back in 1995 but that soundtrack set the stage for my musical taste. Gravity Kills, KMFDM, Fear Factory…that soundtrack is still awesome. Then a few years later The Fragile came out and I fell down a huge rabbit hole of everything NIN, everyone who ever worked with or toured with NIN, Trent’s infuences, and that was that. Led me to Ministry and Skinny Puppy and PIG and on and on.

EL: Do you have any experience playing an instrument? If so, how many sublime songs can you play?


BW: I do! I play bass, and I think I’m actually pretty good at it. My problem is I can’t WRITE music for shit, but I can learn new songs fast. I’d probably be a good session bassist because I’m good at picking things up and playing them right but suck at being creative and have no ego. I was also a pretty bad-ass trombone player back in the day and rocked a trombone solo in a polka song in high school band. I think that was my musical peak. And I currently know zero Sublime songs but I’m pretty sure I still remember the Meow Mix theme, does that count? ‘Cuz it’s what I got.

EL: Fuck Combos


BW: Combo brand stuffed-pretzels by the Mars Corporation are a tasty snack, available in multiple flavor varieties. Pepperoni Pizza is my personal favorite but there’s a wide selection to choose from, and I hear that guy from Decent News LOVES them.

Literal Shit

EL: Alright, desert island scenario. So you’re stranded on a desert island, you have 3 albums, 2 movies, 1 complete TV series on DVD and an unlimited supply of 1 breakfast cereal. What do you pick?


BW: Three albums…definitely The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails. Then I guess Shutdown.exe by 3teeth and Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live by Pink Floyd. Cheat a bit and take two double albums. Movie picks would be The Terminator and Heat, I’m a sucker for great shoot-out scenes. TV series, maybe recency-bias but I’m going with The Expanse. And Honey Comb. Honey Comb is delicious, and their mascot is a cracked-out ball of fur that somehow made it past the concept stage, which is incredible.

EL: Let’s say you have Charles Barkley money and you’re putting together a festival. Pick 3 headliners and 7 supporting acts. Also what energy drink is sponsoring this event?


BW: Headliners are Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, and Duran Duran. Support is Gary Numan, 3teeth, PIG, Stabbing Westward, Curse Mackey, HEALTH and GosT. Sponsored by Powerthirst, they have GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF ENERGY. Just like this festival.