Interview with Jason Crumer

No Rent Records started in 2008, though Jason Crumer - Founder, CEO, Chairman, Investor, Criminal Mastermind - began really taking it seriously about a year ago. Previously used as a vehicle for self-releasing, No Rent began its quick ascent from a a labor of love to a professional, revenue-generating record label. Within the last year, Crumer has been tirelessly curating and producing experimental cassettes while still managing to release music of his own; in just a few months, he will release his 7th full-length LP on Chicago's dirty-lovechild Depravity Label.

Aside from a perceptive ear and a hardened work ethic, Crumer has a leg up on much competition. He's no bullshit: the man believes in both his own art and the art he puts out, and even though it may be delivered with a devil's grin, it'll be delivered on time. He's been involved with more projects and people than I want to name so here's his Discogs Page. He's showing no signs of slowing down, trying to release a tape every week or two on No Rent. If you haven't checked out his label yet, do it now - you can thank me later, you filthy fuck.

Jordan Reyes: Tell me about your earliest memory of experimental music - how did it affect you? Did you immediately know you wanted to do it?

Jason Crumer: My friend Blake played me a Whitehouse 7" - I don't remember which one - and Flux of Pink Indians' "Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks" while we were on acid in 1994 in St. Louis. I didn't immediately know I wanted to do it, no. It was exclusively a drug-related (lsd) activity.

JR: When did it cross the threshold into non-drug-related life?

JC: Several years after. I had been recording with a friend as Aluminum Noise. We traded tapes with about everybody who was doing noise in the late 90's out of some probably embarrassing ambition to be heard. I never liked anything I got back, always thinking "why would someone make this" until I got some Crawl Unit and realized we had similar intentions. Around that time, I started taking it more seriously.

JR: So Aluminum Noise didn't start as that serious of a project?

JC: Not at all. Aluminum Noise started because Nate's dad got him a 4-track for Christmas.

JR: And you just got roped along for the ride?

JC: I've always recorded music, and Nate and I had been making whatever kind of music together at the time. It slowly became my project. I googled "noise music label" and got SSSM in Japan, sent them a demo, and from there some small demand was created. Nate slowly phased out of the project.

JR: That's a pretty serendipitous way to go about things - I'm glad it worked out! Did you begin to hear more, I guess, "interesting" experimental or noise releases after that?

JC: Yeah I was dating a woman who was originally from Berkeley and she moved back, so I went to visit her. Hung out with Troniks Phil when he still lived there - we had been trading together and he gave me lots of good free noise. It was a fun time.

JR: And you began putting out music under your own name in the mid 2000s? What was that leap like?

JC: Nate lived in the mountains and would come to Greensboro, NC a lot, but he sort of stopped coming. I played in a rock band too and just wanted a non-punk outlet that nobody else had any influence on. So I decided fuck it I'll just record under my own name. It wasn't because I thought I was fancy or anything. I just felt like it was more pretentious to have a band name for a one person project than just use your name.

JR: I kinda agree. I was going to use my name for my power electronics project, even though I use it for a folk project, and my friend told me to make up a name for it. It feels weird that the "title" of your name can't mean more than one kind of thing.

JC: That's one of the worst features of the noise scene. Every single emotion doesn't need some slap dick side project. People don't need to know exactly what they're getting. It's okay to cover a range.

JR: I think you're right about that. Why do you think people do that?

JC: Well, that's complex. I think some of it is that they don't want to disappoint people who would listen to their work. You know, there's that stupid divide. People only listen to one thing. A lot of it involves social scenes. I understand different projects for different people, but come on.

JR: It's more out of condescending to a listener than any sort of creative essence?

JC: Pandering maybe.

JR: Yeah - better word. What sort of equipment do you use for your releases? I assume that your set up has changed quite a bit.

JC: Mostly it's just microphones on instruments or objects and tons of processing and pre-planned layering. I like tape over digital and through-the-air over line-in as a general rule, but I'll use anything at all. Mic placement is a big part of my recorded sound, and natural room reverb, for instance.

JR: Do you use mostly dynamic mics for that?

JC: Shure SM58 and cheap radio shack ones. I do try to record in stereo as often as I can but don't have a stereo pair, so just two crappy mics hard panned.

JR: Gotcha. What about contact mics? In a live setting, perhaps?

JC: Yeah, I use contact mics on most things too.

JR: And so when did you know you wanted to start No Rent Records?

JC: No Rent started in Oakland around the time I was recording Walk With Me.  We had to raise money for a bill and put out a weird limited live tape. I began to pursue it a lot more seriously around the middle of last year.

JR: Was that around the time you rolled out the Noise Hotline? How did you think of the Noise Hotline?

JC: The crew of kids I hung around with in high school all loved They Might Be Giants and I thought their dial-a-song thing was a cool idea, so I stole it. It was from a desire to give people a non-internet way to listen to music. It is a really fun and bizarre way to interact with music, experimental music in particular. It adds a layer of surrealism that I like.

JR: Do you think you approach music from a surrealist lens in general?

JC: I don't know if it's that lofty. I approach it from a communication standpoint, making the audience important to the whole thing. I just do what I have to to get across to the listener. That's the main goal. I try to have parts that make sense coming after the part before them, and don't put much or any emphasis on initial sound quality just that the song gets there.

JR: So does each song have its own purpose?

JC: Yes! I generally record for what could be called album momentum but I do tailor each piece so that it has its own logic and makes sense as a single entity, divorced from full length view.

JR: So each piece functions as part of the macrocosm and as its own microcosm?

JC: Yes

JR: Is there an arc to your work as a whole?

JC: Absolutely. I do smaller releases occasionally if I have something I like that doesn't make sense in the overall arc but the 6 (going on 7) "real full length albums" make a lot of sense one after the other. I want my discography to be digestible in a linear way.

JR: That's really cool. Do you like the idea of a narrative in art and music?

JC: At first I tried to force narratives on things but over the years I have realized that time creates its own narrative. I do like the idea, but more from a nature of the beast way than an execution way.

JR: I understand that. Do you think that No Rent has an arc? Do you think there's a goal for that?

JC: We will see what No Rent's ultimate arc winds up being. I can say that I do curate my ass off and think hard about demographics, meaning I don't want to be "just another label" or a boys club type thing. No Rent has been a real label for under a year at this point so the arc will be evident later on. I put out music by people I respect and admire. It's a kind of life time achievement award / charity work for the older, more established artists and a first chance for the younger ones.

JR: Very cool. Like I said before we've started, it's already built the reputation of being prolific to me, and it seems like you've got a lot planned for it

JC: Yeah there are tons of releases in the works, one per week at the most and bi-weekly at the least. I charge slightly higher prices because the label has to make money to exist, but also because I give 30% of the pressing to the artists, and it gives me a buffer zone if things don't sell, I don't have to go into desperation mode. It allows me to take chances on things I believe in that maybe nobody has heard of. Everything on No Rent is worthwhile and I've turned down multiple masters from artists who I asked to work with, just to keep the standard as high as I can, while still operating as a functional, semi-functional business.

JR: Wow - that balance of consistency, reputation, and making money has got to be a hard one to maintain, especially when working with people who might be friends

JC: It really isn't. I only ask people who have thick skin who I personally know, there's no artist whose music I'd just put on no rent because of their name. People understand that I may say eh, no, and tend to make better releases. There are five or six artists whose best work appears on no rent. The bigger stuff like that FFH tape that sold super quickly pays for the smaller stuff, and I don't mind things sitting around because when they do sell it feels like a bonus. I'm equally proud of every tape on no rent.

JR: Very cool. Switching gears a little bit, do you read much? Do you have any good book recommendations?

JC: HAHAHA no. I'm an idiot. Last book I read was the Slash autobiography. I'm sorry, a Run-DMC autobiography. I like artists’ biographies because I kind of only care about music, unfortunately.

JR: That's cool! I was just talking to someone about how easy it is to spread yourself thin through having many outlets and interests.

JC: I don't feel spread thin at all. Every time I read a book I get excited about reading because I enjoy it so much but it has never been a go to. Attn: parents, don't use reading as punishment for your children, because they'll wind up like me.

JR: Hahaha wonderful. Last couple of questions. What all is in the future for Jason Crumer and No Rent Records?

JC: There is a Reverse Baptism 7" coming out, and my 7th full length LP "Stare at the Devil" both on Depravity label out of Chicago. In regards to No Rent, next week is Horoscope, then the brilliant ambient work of Radboud Mens, then a messed up tape by Gerritt Wittmer. I’m currently waiting on masters from Valise, Dromez, Gabi Losocny, and Joe Colley as well as a few others, so in some order those will be in the next few updates. I have a lot of longer term projects that I'm afraid to curse by speaking of.

JR: All of those sound really exciting. Finally, what I have to ask every interview, do you have anything else you'd like to say?

JC: No sir. Thank you for the interview, and thanks to anyone whatever enough to read it. norentrecords.com

Release of the Day: L.O.T.I.O.N. - Digital Control and Man's Obsolescence

There are more reasons to be paranoid than not in This Year of Our Lord 2015. New York's cyborg punk band L.O.T.I.O.N., no stranger to paranoia, questions authority from digital, organic, and systemic realms. Where does this authority come from? What damage it can do? How likely is it that I will take the brunt of misuse? On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was the recipient of an illegal restraining tactic on the suspicion of selling "illegal cigarettes" and swatting away an encroaching government-sponsored arm. Due to victim's health, the illegal maneuver, and the extended period of time over which the maneuver was delivered, Eric Garner died. This isn't an isolated event, either; rather, it's one incident in the contemporary string of police brutality.

So when L.O.T.I.O.N. is talking about the "Militarized Urban Zone" on the first track from their excellent debut LP Digital Control and Man's Obsolescence, it isn't simply a dig at eerily imperialistic practices of the United States Military. This is status quo on American soil. Even a beacon of civilization and commerce like New York City is held hostage by those obligated to serve and protect. L.O.T.I.O.N.'s lyrical themes concerning control, violence, and censure aren't the stuff of sci-fi, though they certainly have a historical home there. The band is cognizant of this, but to hammer home the importance and ubiquity of their ideas, they use the present tense during lyrics. On "Torture Report," the sickening lyrical mantra "They Do This To People" repeats with the cyclicality of truth. They may have done this to people in the past and will continue to do it in the future, but it's applicable to now. And that's a terrifying thing.

Release of the Day: Hogg - Bury the Dog Deeper

Samuel R. Delany, coincidentally my favorite author, has books of a great variety: science-fiction, non-fiction, theory, erotica, etc. Within the last six months, I had the pleasure of reading one of his most confounding, transgressive books, Hogg, for the first time  All you need to know is this: Hogg is the name of the central character in the book, the embodiment of everything perverse in human society - his paying job is to rape and break people, which he'd do without the promise of financial compensation.

This is a sufficient backdrop to Hogg - I think it's where they got the name because it certainly makes sense. The Chicago postpunk two-piece made of Emma Sims and Hanna Elliott released their first album Bury the Dog Deeper, a cassette on Andy Ortmann's Nihilist label, earlier this month. It makes me feel so terrible and goddamn I love it so much. At a live show, the duo changes formation and instruments - guitar, drums, drum machine, bass, and vocal duties - between songs. This is done effortlessly and efficiently.

There's an element of hypnotism to both performance and song, as Hogg builds its foundation on deep, dark bass and drum grooves. This is sinister music. This is unsafe music. Additionally, Hanna and Emma get a ton of mileage out of their instruments and their voices. Sometimes guitar sounds like guitar and sometimes like a factory line. Similarly, sometimes their vocals are siren-like, but at other times they recall The Keres, the Greek female spirits of violent death. The eight songs on Bury the Dog Depper are reminders that we have yet to squeeze every ounce of postpunk out of its drying husk and I personally can't wait to see what vice-gripping method the band comes up with next.

Release of the Day: Quittinirpaaq - Dead September

Quittinirpaq, the Austin-based psychedelic industrial project led by Matthew Turner, revels in a reeling, claustrophobic crunch. A drum machine provides the steady ground while feedbacking guitars and a sinister bass make up the filling. Vocals, as if croaked from a dying priest, come and go, occasionally lingering to swirl atop the psychedelic miasma. The only thing that someone resembles your mom or dad’s psych rock, though, and what Quittinirpaaq provides, are the deep grooves a la Kraftwerk’s first two albums, albeit through a dark filter.

Dead September appears to be Quittinirpaaq’s third LP, and the experience shows. The record appears fully structured, because it's so dirge-riddled and rhythmic, but the flurries of noise and other accoutrements give away the spirit of improvisation and experimentation. This is what keeps the record engaging: it is never a completely comfortable listen. Don't mistake your bobbing head with understanding - this is dangerous, chaotic movement. Just before the snake strikes, it rattles its tail as a dog greets its master.

Dead Septemer is out on Rural Isolation Records 

Release of the Day: Shredded Nerve - Retention

Justin Lakes has been in projects like Friends with Corpses (with Joel Walter of Inbreeder) and the newly-formed Surgical Improv Ensemble (with JR Nelson of Saran Man and Chris Hansell of Ligature). He also has a history of solo projects, of which Shredded Nerve is the most contemporary. In addition to the Retention 7" on Torn Light Records, Shredded Nerve has released a handful of cassettes and digital files.

Retention features two pieces of collaged noise and musique concrète. The A-side "Mind Begins to Crumble as Dots are Connected (alternate)" begins with the sound of a yawning mosquito, which repeats and takes on the role of a rhythmic signifier before a nightmare clang, reminiscent of sounds Freddy Krueger's boiler room, jars the listener from an already discomforting atmosphere. Then things get chaotic. Harsh blasts of wall noise barrage with only tidbits of the original ambience cutting through static overdrive.

Side B, the title track, is equally unnerving. Rhythm in this piece takes on a monstrous quality, where screeching pulses eject a steady, chopped gurgling and sputtering from its central place. It calls to mind Donna Haraway's haunting essay "A Cyborg Manifesto," an absolutely essential critique on technology and how it affects daily life in the modern era, in that the piece begins with a sound that might be human. It is then distorted and manipulated into uncanny cacophony, which I can't help but think echoes man breaking from his old form, becoming one with the New Flesh.

Interview with Alexandra Pharmakidis of Power Monster

Dissonance is a human concept, though largely an elusive one. The same notes that might sound out of place on a European piano piece might be perfectly tailored to a Japanese folk song on the shamisen. "Noise" as we think of it today has always existed, though it has not always been recorded. I briefly likened the sound of power electronics and noise to the great and terrible forces of nature in my interview with Jim Haras of Deterge and it's true - a good noise show transfers sublimity onto the listener like the sound of a dozen redwoods falling in unity. In Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Burke talks about beauty as something that fits nicely into a form, like the gentle neck of a swan or the notes and harmonies of Handel's "Messiah." The sublime is something formless and unknowable. As far as sublimity in recorded music goes, I'd argue that while classical, baroque, and jazz can be sublime in grandiosity, the form in which the substance fits still languish in the Romantic idea of beauty. I think of the scores behind Fritz Lang's films as being both sublime and beautiful - obviously the visuals have something to do with the music being sublime, but it's not experimental or unexpected and at the bottom of everything, it's still nice.

When people like John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen began putting their mark on instrumental music, things began to get sublime as fuck and F-A-S-T. This trajectory of music as an unwelcome, nebulous, possibly destructive and monstrous force has continued to evolve through the 80s and 90s when artists like Incapacitants, Hijokaidan, Whitehouse, Merzbow, Atrax Morgue, Genocide Organ, MSBR, and Maurizio Bianchi did their best to keep the train moving-right-along.  All aboard the abstruse caboose.

Except now there are people who listen to noise. People are no longer shocked by noise. And sometimes noise fits nicely into a "noise form." So does that make it beautiful? Does that cheapen its effect? Does noise become both priest and heretic to its message?

Doesn't matter, but it's a cool thought exercise. If you listen to noise or are new to its call, Alexandra Pharmakidis' solo project Power Monster can be both sublime and beautiful. To the untrained listener, it can seem overwhelming, but it's also the sound of transcendence. Occasionally, Ali's vocals break through the static. The listener leans in to hear what secrets emerge from the small hole in the wall only to find the opening to have changed positions. It's a give and take interaction. The listener puts in what he or she will take out. I find that I enjoy reading while listening - for me, Ali's music has crossed the threshold of harsh into calming, meditative. The world takes all kinds.

Give her new tape on PopNihil a listen and a pick up on their bandcamp page. 

Jordan Reyes: The PopNihil cassette is actually the first Power Monster release that I own but I’ve heard your stuff online before. I was looking at the track listing and a lot of the songs seem very existential, conscious-based. Do you think about that a lot?

Alexandra Pharmakidis: Oh yeah. Constantly. It’s hard for me to stop, which can be exhausting. Working on noise gives the thoughts directions so they’re not just stewing in my brain.

Photo by Gyna Bootleg

JR: I couldn’t really make out the vocals on your tape What do you talk about?

AP: That’s a conscious thing. I like the vocals to be buried, chopped up, and as difficult as the rest of the music is. I feel like some of my lyrics are so goofy or personal. I’m pretty shy so it is hard for me to let them out and be heard for what they are.

JR: Why would you choose to put in lyrics if it’s so uncomfortable?

AP: I just feel driven to get those thoughts and emotions out: to release that tension and anxiety rather than holding it in all the time. That’s not really healthy.

JR: Is that why you sought out and decided to do noise?

AP: Well, I’ve been drawn to noise and experimental music for a really long time. I find creating it compelling. There’s no boundaries with noise: you can make it with anything - any kind of gear or trash and endlessly manipulate it digitally. That’s very meditative for me. I can do it for hours and hours and hours. I can read music and plunk out a tune on the keyboard. My piano teacher when I was eight actually told my mother to give up on me.

JR: Oh my gosh!

AP: Apparently the talent just wasn’t there.

JR: Wow, that’s like super cruel!

AP: Yeah. (laughs). And I have some minor nerve damage that affects my right hand so I can’t play traditional instruments as much as I might like to.

JR: Do you mind me asking what happened?

AP: No, that’s no problem. About two years ago I woke up and my right hand was numb. I thought it was Carpal-Tunnel at first, but I realized that the numbness was spreading up my arm and going down my body. It got to the point where I couldn’t make a fist. It turned out to be an inflammation of nerves in my spine that was affecting my hands. It’s much better now, but they still don’t know what caused it.

JR: Did you have to get surgery?

AP: They gave me steroids to bring down the inflammation, I got acupuncture, and then there was physical and occupational therapy to rebuild the muscles in my hands. The sensation in my hand is about 75% of what it was. That’s what it will probably stay at.

JR: Wow, that’s terrifying. I’ve never had anything like that happen. I’ve had a lot of injuries, but they’ve all been from doing stupid things. The idea of not having control over something that’s so physically affecting has got to be unsettling.

AP: It was and is. It was a rough few months right before I moved from Austin, TX.

JR: I didn’t know you were from Austin.

AP: I grew up in Providence, but I lived in Austin for about eleven years.

JR: Why the move?

Photo by Gyna Bootleg

AP: Oh no. It was because I had 50K in medical debt (laughs). I couldn’t use my hand so I lost my job. I got really depressed. My boyfriend broke up with me.

JR: That’s super rough.

AP: I was originally intending on moving back to Austin, but it’s gotten so expensive there and gentrified. It’s a completely different beast than the city I moved to. I decided to stay in Providence and put down roots, which I think was a good decision.

JR: I’ve never been to Texas or Providence. I’ve been to a lot of places around the country because I drive a lot. That’s meditative for me. One day. Does noise give you a sense of control when you play or make music?

AP: When I’m working on tracks and recording absolutely. When I’m playing live, it’s almost completely the opposite. I know I have a good set if I sort of black out. I go to another place, really. I’ll have to watch the video later to see what it sounded like and what actually happened.

JR: Do you get that sensation frequently?

AP: Pretty much every time I play unless it’s a really bad set when I’m tense, nervous and concentrating on everything too much. That’s usually when things go wrong and I remember every excruciating detail.

JR: Is there a ritual to gear your mind into that place?

AP: Not really. I try to have a couple beers before I play. Any more and I’ll be sloppy. Any less and I’ll be too tense. Then just making sure I can set up as early as possible so I know everything works and I know where my levels are. I hate having to set up right before I play and getting to check. I don’t like having people waiting around while I’m plugging in cables.

JR: I hear you. I do sort of a dark folk thing and I just have my acoustic guitar, a pick up, a couple pedals, an amp and I don’t have to check anything. When I’ve seen people prepare for noise it’s very, very intensive. It can take as long as the set.

AP: Yeah, yeah, it definitely can. And gear malfunctions are par for the course. I recently played at AS220 here in Providence. I don’t know how much you know about gear in noise, but I had a DOD Buzzbox, which is a highly coveted pedal by some noise artists because they don’t make them anymore. It’s gone through so much abuse that the shell has actually crumbled. I was testing it out, turning it off and on, and it literally fell to bits on the table. I had a little bit of a meltdown (laughs). I was checking Ebay and one in mint condition goes for about $300, which is not quite in my budget right now.

JR: That’s a ton of money. So, to answer your question - I don’t know that much about noise equipment - I know how things work in terms of circuitry but I don’t have any sort of mental catalogue of pedals. I would just know what makes what sound it would make if you told me what it was and how everything works together. When you do noise, you do have to know all these pedals though, right?

Photo by Gyna Bootleg

AP: Pretty much. I’ve spent many, many nights on wikipedia and pedal forum k-holes reading up on stuff because I’m always looking to change my set up a little bit. What tweaks can I do to make the sound more full? I read about pedals and gear a lot. By comparison, I’m not even a gear nerd (laughs).

JR: Do you think people are generally collaborative and willing to help when you have questions?

AP: Oh yeah. The noise community is an open, friendly place. A lot of the imagery is foreboding - lots of sex and violence, but most of the people involved are the nicest people that you could get to meet. There are lots of people who will answer any questions you might have about gear, or tell you where to go to get gear repaired or get new gear. There’s also noise forums for that. In comparison to some people, I’m not a big gear nerd. I don’t even have that big of a set up.

JR: What does “not that big of a set up” mean?

AP: (Laughs) It means my live set up is two pedal chains and a contact mic. I don’t have multiple synths or chains of twenty pedals or anything like that.

JR: The only noise I’ve really made is with people manipulating my guitar sound or using my electric guitar as a more percussive instrument.

AP: That’s actually something I used to do in a project I was in called Sex Bruises. It was kind of guitar rape (laughs).

JR: That’s really vivid (laughs). I think using things atypically is always interesting. So what was your first noise project?

AP: I had been messing around with noise without calling it a “project” for a long time. In my storage space in Austin, I have tapes going back to the early 2000s but I didn’t really have like a “project.” I was too shy to even name it! So Power Monster is my first solo project and then in Texas I was in a number of different projects. Sex Bruises was a duo project I was in with  Matt LaComette. I was also in Mucophagia, which is a really dorky name (laughs).

JR: I have no idea what that means.

AP: It’s the medical term for the compulsion to eat your own snot (laughs). That was me, Matt LaComette, and Johnny Cash. There were a few others. When I moved to Providence, I didn’t really know anyone when I first got here because I hadn’t lived here in years. I really went for putting out as much Power Monster material as possible. It was really the first chance I had had in a while to concentrate just on that.

JR: What ideas do you try to get across in Power Monster as opposed to in a group?

Photo by Gyna Bootleg

AP: That’s a hard one because it’s so abstract. It varies from release to release. I did a release last winter on Altar of Waste, which is a CD-R label out of Minneapolis called Love is a Lie and that was obviously an angry post-break-up thing because I had that to get out (laughs). I did another on the same label called Leviticus, which was me reflecting on religion and how women are just held down globally by it and have been for centuries. I have addressed the issue of being a female in noise because that is kind of an anomaly. It’s easy, I think, to go on a feminist diatribe about how it’s not fair that there aren’t enough women in music, et cetera, et cetera. It’s really easy to do something like that. It’s much harder and cathartic to put yourself out there and start making things and releasing things. People will pay attention.

JR: Absolutely. I was talking to my friend Lauren [Bach] in Chicago. I just moved to Miami and honestly just got an apartment last week (laughs) so it’s been very recent. She was a bit taken aback by the pressure for women power electronics artists to become this overly-sexualized woman. Both of us didn’t think that a woman should have to play into this trope and be objectified or let yourself be objectified to have success in noise. I think everyone should be able to do what they want, but it does make me feel a bit disheartened to see that as being the reason behind female noise musicians' success - being exactly what every noise nerd wants to see.

AP: Oh yeah. I’ve definitely used images of my own body on my tapes and releases. I have no shame about it. I used to get really annoyed about noise releases that had porn on them. You see that a lot, especially on 90s Japanoise tapes. It's just been done so much. It really bugs me. Someone asked me “What’s the difference? You’re putting your body out on display.” But it’s me. It’s not just some girl cut up from a magazine who has no idea it’s happening. I can express myself however I damn well please.

JR: There’s a difference between affirmation and exploitation too.

AP: For sure. And I don’t feel like I’m exploiting myself by doing that.

JR: I couldn’t help but read on your Facebook page that some shop refused to print some of the J-cards for the PopNihil release.

AP: Yeah! They printed part of it, but then they stopped! That was highly amusing. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Matthew Moyer, who runs PopNihil and is the nicest guy, just asked around “Where do the punks in town get their fliers printed? Okay, I’ll go there.” and he just went there and they printed them without even batting an eye.

JR: Yeah. He’s a total sweetheart. I met him one of the first weekends I moved down here at the International Noise Conference and we were kindred spirits almost immediately. But yeah, that was a bit funny to hear. Do you have any other Power Monster releases or shows coming up?

AP: Yeah! I’m going to be doing a release for Signora Ward Records - they’re a tape label in Italy. Omar from Rectal Hygienics asked me to do something for Depravity Label. Matthew Moyer is interested in doing a tape for a project I’m in called Mercy Gait, which is me and my friend Steph who used to be in Tinsel Teeth. That’s sort of a bondage noise project. We build contact mics into bondage gear. We have a few shows coming up on May 5th and June 1st. And then there’s a Power Monster show at the end of the month here in Providence.

Interview with Jim Haras of Deterge

Deterge means "to cleanse thoroughly" in modern dictionaries, though the word finds its origins in the Latin word detergere, which, more profoundly, means to "wipe away" or "to erase." It raises an uncomfortable question of purity and tabula rasa: can anything be immaculate after creation? At what point does a sick world's influence become noticeable? And how can you wash even the most seemingly insignificant marking away without losing a possible identifier?

I'm not arrogant enough to presume I know what goes on in Jim Haras' mind, though don't let that dissuade you in thinking I'm not arrogant. I do, however, tend to migrate towards lingual signifiers - words and their definitions help me sequester people, sensorial experiences, and ideas in different mental compartments. But a name in music is often at once fundamentally important as a bridge from artist to audience and fundamentally useless as any sort of defining attribute.

Except I can't help but liken harsh noise and even power electronics to the forces of erosion in nature. A waterfall. Wind. The friction from feet of sand compacted and piled on top of each other. These things make sounds too - monstrous ones at times. And they erase. And they cleanse. And they combine, touch, caress, and eventually destroy the vestiges of even our oldest gods. So yes, I think "Deterge" applies quite nicely to Jim's power electronics/noise project.

And that's all I got, sportsfans. Check out his label Fusty Cunt if you haven't and also be aware that he's got a Deterge LP coming out in the future. It's in Gestation right now. Haha. Just jokes, folks.

Jordan Reyes: You've been putting out noise-related music since 2009. Tell me about your beginning set up. What sorts of equipment did you use when you began? What sounds were you trying to create? Was this even a conscious decision or thought?

Jim Haras: I've actually been putting stuff out since mid 2000, but it was just never completely public. The early days was a lot of noisecore and (shitty) pedal noise. I started to get more into recording and distributing by the end of 2008. PTM basically became cut up and involved a lot of pedal work and acoustic sounds of junk. Around that time the set up consisted of contact mics, mics, a zoom 505, distortion and a degitech whammy wah. I more or less just used what was available to me at the time. All the old recordings were done on this karaoke machine that sounded like total garbage and I would record, then play the previous recording while recording in the second tape deck. I haven't used it in many years and now I kind of want to rediscover it. See if I can get anything new out of the device.

JR: How has your understanding of equipment and sound developed since then?

JH: I knew absolutely nothing of the equipment and a part of me wishes I could become willfully ignorant of it again. I used to make actual noise then, and now the stuff I make is extremely structured, even if loosely structured live. The actual sound development has ultimately become a style of my own I believe. There are certain aspects that, even in experimenting, I feel people would be able to recognize. It's all in HOW you do things rather than the actual sounds that are produced. I'm torn on whether I like that or not.

JR: How much of sonic growth and development is from self-guided exploration and how much is seeing another project and getting ideas from that?

JH: Mostly self-guided. I would rather not see someone and steal an idea to be honest. There may be little tricks that I pick up along the way because it's inevitable, but while seeing another noise/PE, I don't see the point. I do get ideas from other kinds of music though and try to work them into a power electronics format. I'm increasingly adding a hardstyle sound to certain tracks or passages as of 2010, but haven't fully realized what I wanted to do with it yet - that's why almost zero recordings have surfaced.

JR: Do you find that you listen to one particular style of music more than others?

JH: I listen to noise and PE way more than anything else. Every once in a while I'll listen to some black metal or electronic music. I'll always have a soft spot for late 90s-early 00s goregrind. I like a lot of stuff, I just don't listen as much.

JR: Are there any modern noise or power electronics artists from nowadays that you find to be of merit?

JH: Plenty from all different approaches. I don't really dwell on too many past favorites from the 80s because it just doesn't interest me. Aside from a lot of great 90s Harsh Noise like Skin Crime and Macronympha, I'd rather live in the now. Noise and PE are supposed to be experienced live so if I can physically be present, I'm more interested. That doesn't mean I'd shun going to see something like Whitehouse or Masonna, on the contrary; I just know I'll never be able to, so I keep it out of my mind. I get more excited over seeing things like Ahlzdeveloper and Action/Discipline than anything else. Friends that are excellent solo, but tearing apart shit in a collab setting is enticing. 

JR: I'll admit to being more familiar with Deterge as a live act than as a recorded project. For you, is there overlap? Do you find yourself summoning recorded material in a live setting or is it more improvisation?

JH: The live setting for Deterge is kind of weird. Due to my recording process often consisting of pieces to make a whole, I incorporate only parts of songs and try to meld them together in one continuous piece rather than play "songs." So when you hear a few recordings, then see me live you might be able to pick out parts from one tape and other parts from another immediately following or happening simultaneously. I feel in doing this I can still keep the set improvised because there are unrecorded/unpracticed passages intertwined also. I can appreciate people that make a great track, throw it on an iPod and do vocals over it because sonically it can be great. I like to play though. It's an experience not a cut-out. Every live set, to me, should be different than the last. I like the idea of me completely fucking something up and having to fix or accept it. It makes the experience more cerebral. I'd like others to be entertained by it, but ultimately a live performance is for me. 

JR: Is there an average amount of time it takes for you to start and finish a Deterge recording? What's your process?

JH: It can be as easy as hitting record or can take up to a year to get a track just right. All Deterge stuff is conceptual so when I recorded pieces they may remain dormant until there is a perfect combination of parts. I think I can attribute that to my background in cut-up Harsh Noise. If vocals are present they are almost always added after everything else is complete, unless the recording is live start to finish.

JR: Do you have a certain recording of yours that you're more proud of than others?

JH: I personally like "Roscosmos" on Collapsed Hole and "Always Around" on Danvers State. They are perfect examples of purely conceptual and purely personal, respectively. I'd like to get Always Around reissued on vinyl eventually. I am very excited about the (almost complete) LP though. It will stand out among all my other recordings I feel. 

JR: Your label Fusty Cunt does mostly cassette releases, something that's been a part of noise culture for most of its existence. Perhaps not the most sophisticated of questions but I'm always curious to hear what people say. What do you like about tapes?

JH: They are easier to make non-standard packages for because of their size. I don't do that as often as I'd like, but it's the best when I, or others, do. They also require you to take an active part in listening because you have to switch sides. You do with vinyl, of course, but noise has always sounded more at home on tape.

JR: I've always loved the slogan "No Coast, No Hope" that many Midwest PE and noise musicians have adopted. It's actually kind of catchy, if that's the right word. Do you think this idea or slogan is actually an accurate representation of Midwest noise musicians or perhaps the Midwest at large?

JH: In a way, yes. Mack (Koufar), Omar (machismo) and I basically came up with it without much thought, but it makes sense. We will never really get recognition like East and West Coasters do and we kind of get shit on. There just tends to be a dirtier, more hopeless vibe in the No Coast. Less positivity.

JR: Is having hope worthwhile?

JH: If you have something to look forward to, I say go for it. The worst that can happen is you will fail miserably. And at that point, whatever, it doesn't really matter. However, the act of having hope doesn't change the outcome of what you're hoping for in the first place, whether it good or bad. So, no, having hope is a waste of time.

JR: I know you have a pretty time-consuming job. I know you've toured in the past, but is it at all an option for you at this point?

JH: It's an option for sure. I work a lot, but I get paid vacation time so I can make it happen. There are talks of a Deterge/Machismo tour eventually as well as Deterge/Shredded Nerve. Also this summer I'd like to hit the west coast if I can. 

JR: What all is in the future for Jim Haras?

JH: Deterge LP on the way. Many more from Fusty including a single-sided Rectal Hygienics 12" and tapes from Terror Cell Unit, Ahlzagailzehguh, Frequensleep, etc. Some good shows including a Killed In Prison set at Scum Fest in Brooklyn this July. Me working and absolutely hating all customers that shop in my store.

JR: Anything else you'd like to say?

JH: Everyone needs to quit being a crybaby in the scene and learn to separate concept from person. Power Electronics shouldn't make you feel good about yourself or others. Nothing is sacred.

Interview with Mackenzie Chami of Koufar

Koufar played the best power electronics set I've ever seen on October 24, 2014, a show featuring heavy hitters Brighter Death Now, Deutsch Nepal, and Raison D'etre. At one level, it's because Mackenzie Chami simply has unrivaled vocal ability and intensity, but on another, it was his staunch commitment to a belief and a group of people. Mackenzie began his set with the anthem for the Lebanese Armed Forces, smiling and holding his heart before a Lebanese flag. As that ended, he turned with eyes like daggers before engulfing the room in the rolling crunch and feedback of power electronics. Mackenzie's lyrics are intense, personal, and political. But most of all, they're important to him and it shows. I'd never been moved like I was when he played. I'm rarely "moved" during a noise set - the only other time I can think of being "moved" was during a Pedestrian Deposit show.

But Mackenzie's set made me wonder what was I loyal to. Is there anything that I care about that much? I don't know. It's unsettling. And it's something I still find myself thinking about.

Though Koufar has many releases on tapes and CD-Rs, it recently put out its debut slab of wax on Jim Haras' Fusty Cunt label, Lebanon for Lebanese with four tracks of downright pummeling, permeating power electronics. Mackenzie's vocals are once again spotlighted on this release, a narrative arc spun around Mackenzie's meditations of Lebanon and what it means to him.

Jordan Reyes: Tell me a little bit about being a Maronite, an obvious centerpiece to your work as Koufar. Has the Maronite identity always been important in your life? Has it changed as you've gotten older?

Mackenzie Chami: There isn’t a whole lot to discuss about being a Maronite. We’re a small group of Catholics that originate from Lebanon. Most of us do not live there, however, due to the temperamental state that the country is consistently in. It wasn’t until I was 18 and finally had gotten the opportunity to visit Lebanon for the first time. It was then that I really got a firm understanding of myself, the culture, and what it “means” to be a Maronite. I use parentheses because I feel that ultimately its your own understanding of your cultural/ethnic background that will serve you, not the other way around. My beliefs have only been reaffirmed as I’ve gotten older. I will be proud forever.

Lebanon for Lebanese

JR: Your heritage is Caucasian and Lebanese, right? Do you find it difficult to reconcile your heritage? I too am mixed race and often have a difficult time "choosing" one piece of my heritage to identify with rather than another.

MK: You are correct. I am only half-Lebanese and can’t speak the language nor read it that well. I do not find it difficult because it is what I am comfortable with. As I mentioned before, during my first trip in 2006 was when it really made things clear for me. Never before had I walked into a room and realized that everyone in it looked liked me. I felt comfortable, and even though my grasp on the language is poor, people were courteous to me because they could see it in my face that I was one of them. This is how I have come to terms with who I am as man. Growing up, it was a constant barrage of people telling me what I was. I made this decision in 2006 and have stuck firmly with it.

JR: You've had a lot of different projects from Crown of Cerberus to Insurgent to Koufar. What distinguishes one project from another for you? How do you know when to create another moniker for your work?

MC: Well, I have trimmed things down a bit, but staying plenty active all the same. The things that have distinguished them have been thematics, as well as the approach sonically. The monikers have come and gone with time, my attempts, my failures, and my victories. However, I can say that I’m trying to focus more on Koufar, Terror Cell Unit, and Crown of Cerberus the most. Other projects might flare up here and there because I’m not afraid to experiment or try something new, but those three are the main ones, especially Koufar and TCU.

JR: Tell me a little bit about the upcoming LP on Fusty Cunt, Lebanon for Lebanese. How did you write and record the material? What specific themes and ideas does the record cover?

MC: The whole thing took place from 2010-2014. Its quite a long and boring story, but let's just say I had some excellent help from fellow artists that I respect, and couldn’t have completed it without their help.  Thematically it picks up where Guardians of the Cedars left off, with  “Damascus in Flames” and “Flares Over the Bay of Jounieh” remaining very much in the vein of “restoring Lebanon to its glory days, eliminating all of the Maronite enemies, civil war refrences, etc.” Meanwhile “Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite (And Implore God to Break it)” is much, much more personal. The track is actually about me returning to this project and breathing life back into it. Me defiantly screaming “ I WILL NEVER BE WHITE. ARAB SMILE AND HATEFUL SPITE.” over and over at the end of the vocal section on the track. This leads us to the future of Koufar material which will be taking a slightly more twisted, personal route that collides with the various political agendas of Maronite led political groups both past and present. As the project continues forward, it is more along the lines of a modern day spiritual warrior. Taking what I have studied in the past and applying it with my own visions, beliefs, and personal struggles over the last 5 years.

JR: Why did you decide to release the new record as an LP rather than a CS or CD as you have in the past?

MC: It’s all thanks and praise to Jim Haras (Fusty Cunt). He made me the offer and I couldn’t have been more excited for the opportunity or more proud of the material on that record. I am eternally grateful for him to give me the opportunity. Plus, he couldn’t say no to the album artwork...

JR: Your set at the Brighter Death Now show may have been the best power electronics set I've ever seen. What goes into a Koufar set? How do you plan for one?

MC: Thank you very, very much for the kind words Jordan. I really appreciate it. What goes into a Koufar set? Quite a bit. Hours and hours of finding the right sounds, and then hours and hours of rehearsing the set. Hours and hours of figuring proper transitions, followed by hours and hours of frustration upon piecing it all together and attempting to make it cohesive as possible. Ever since I started writing songs for Terror Cell Unit, though I decided to bring that approach to Koufar. In all honesty, it's made me more comfortable with performing in general.

JR: I think one of the edges you have against other PE acts is that your message is clearly a political and ideological one you believe in, rather than the played out exploitation of nihilism so common to the scene. Do you think your ideology and its use in Koufar gives you strength? How?

MC: This is where things get fun. My message is political, ideological, and personal all at the same time. I do not personally believe in every last thing that I present or yell about, however. I like to stick to the “unsafe” side of power electronics when it comes to presentation because therein lies the true power in creating Power Electronics or Industrial music. Earlier in the history of the project, it was me telling a twisted, one-sided view of the Maronites, as well as my story of the history of Lebanon. It's not so much the ideology with the project that gives me strength but more so with being a proud Lebanese man. It is my pride that gives me strength within this project.

JR: You began your set with the Lebanese national anthem, I think. You had a big smile on your face as you looked at the Lebanese flag during that part but you went completely cold and serious when you turned to face the audience. Why the change in demeanor?

MC:The set actually began with the anthem for the Lebanese Armed Forces. The reason behind the smile, well, I was extremely excited to be back and performing for everyone that I’ve missed while living out in Oakland. The change was to subtly let everyone know that I was about to come at them and give them a Koufar performance unlike any other.

JR: Is the idea of ritual a big part of Koufar?

MC: Not ritual, but making sure to pay tribute, no matter how big or small, is of the utmost importance to Koufar.  

JR: What all is in the future for Mackenzie Chami and Koufar?

MC: Endlessly recording, performing, touring, and working with my label Crown Tapes. The moment I stop having fun with it I’ll be done with it.

JR: Anything else you'd like to say?

MC: Thank you Jordan for the interest, support, and patience with me answering you!
Allah Ma3k.