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Paul Hüttel & Erik Bæk’s Orkester - Skillingsviser It might not be considered that “Experimental” or “Alternative” but it’s definitely weird and not very mainstream these days, but this time we are looking at an old record with some much older songs on it. Sung by Paul Hüttel who is mostly known as an actor, but was a talented folk singer in his youth. And not an American style folk singer, but I promise I’ll ramble over some Danish American-style 60’s folk singer in the future. As usual nothing is scripted and not edited aside from titling the video, and shot on second hand hi8 videotapes.
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Trying out something new with a video format. Rambling on the record “Hvem er Don Saund” by Don Saund released on mastermind records.
Hello Good people of the Electronic Cottage! Sorry for the silence on my part, but i’ve been uninspired to write lately, and life got a bit in the way, as it tends to do. I was complaining about this lack of inspiration to my friend Adam Naworal on facebook messenger, and apparently i was’nt alone in this. So We decided to ask each other some interview questions.
Adam Naworal is a great noise-enthusiast ,record/cd/tape collector, anti-musician and artist of Jacksonville, Florida , over in America. His musical endevours include among others Waste of Tape and Tomokie’s Cup aswell as solo experimentations. Armed with strange exotic instruments, drums,synthesizers, And even one of those crazy tiny Ashbory basses, he records whatever he feels like recording. This eclectic instrumentation always ends up adding a flavor to his sound that is’nt quite like anyone else’s. I interviewed him over email lately, because both of us had writers block and decided to fix that by interviewing each other. 
Adam circa 2000 dressed all “Trve” and “Kvlt”
Ditlev: You have collected quite a few instruments over the years. What are some of your favorites to play ?
Adam: The Ashbory bass is my current favorite, due to its versatility and uniqueness. It's somewhat hard to pick favorites, though, since the different instruments we have each have their own charms, strengths, and weaknesses. It also really depends on my mood and my ideas as to what I choose to play at any given time. I will say I prefer strings, electronics, and keys, but I've been known to dabble with drums and other percussion as well. Ditlev: What are some of the artists that you grew up listening to? Even artists You dont like but that your parents played all the time counts. Sometimes reacting to music,that You dont like can inspire too. Adam: My folks listened to a weird mix of poppy stuff (Neil Young, Kenny Loggins, Sade, etc.) and Tangerine Dream, oddly enough. I went through a lot of discovery with music over the years. The first band I got really into was the Beatles. Circa high school I discovered extreme metal, industrial, goth rock, and noise rock. Around my late teens/early twenties I started getting into free improvisation and free jazz, which I saw as similar to early industrial music. Exploring the Nurse With Wound list was officially when I decided that I too could make experimental music and find an audience Ditlev: Yor’re originally from Maryland, but came to Florida. What attracted you to FL? I always wanted to go there because of the art and noise community Adam: Well, my life was literally falling apart at the seams. My relationships were getting complicated, people let me down, I had issues with drug abuse and mental instability. I needed to get out of there if I was going to live. My folks had recently moved to Florida and offered to let me stay with them while I figured things out. They had a condo in Jacksonville for rent and we decided that was the best option. Being here literally saved my life and improved my outlook. The art and music communities are just a welcome bonus! Ditlev: I recently started viewing nature as art more, its just a matter of seeing it. The symmetry of a snowflake and the structure of a leaf, for example. You and your wife Aimee go hiking alot, i’ve been told. What are some of your favorite places to go for inspiration? Adam: I agree with that! Nature is its own special form of artwork. Our top three parks in FL are Washington Oaks State Gardens, Tomoka State Park, and Ravine Gardens State Park. All are endlessly inspirational and there's always a good chance you can walk for hours and never run into anyone else. It's truly liberating when you live in a big city like we do. Ditlev: You and I both have a fascination with Japan and it’s culture. You with your manga and me with my importing of nintendo famicom games. Does japanese culture influence your art in any way? I have’nt seen you with a shamisen yet, so maybe not, but you never know. Have you travelled there before? Adam: I'm not as into manga and anime these days, but for a long while both were fascinations of mine. I tend to be inspired by Japanese music, movies, and horror fiction these days. There's a very unique approach to horror in Japan which you just don't find anywhere else. We don't have a shamisen, but we do have a taishogoto! In a lot of ways things OTHER than music inspire what I do, though naturally there's exceptions to that. Ditlev: And last but not least do you have any hyperlinks you want to share, relating to your art? Adam: For a look inside my musical and cinematic mindset, visit my RateYourMusic page. Thanks so much for the interview, Ditlev! It was fun!
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And If you want to explore the strange rythms in Adam’s head further i recommend this video from Hal McGee’s Apartment Music 29 starring Adam and his significant other (Aimee) performing as Tomokie’s Cup
Aswell as his track on the new EC compilation wich can be heard or downloaded on bandcamp:
And keep an eye on Adam’s Electronic Cottage page, where he will be interviewing me one of these days!
Adam and his best friend Scott, taken in MD in April '18
I was asked by a peer lately “Do you think rock music will ever be as great as it was in the sixties and seventies again?”. Unfortunately I had to tell him no. Because I don’t. In fact it’s amazing to me that it was ever that good once. I think most Rock bands at this point in time are imitators of what once was. And people who look to the future instead are few and far between. There is a ton of “Stoner” groups out there, making the art of ripping off Black Sabbath their entire style. At the end of the day, these bands are all as underwhelming to me as the 60’s cover bands playing at singles-parties at the taverns about town. They write their own songs, but they might as well play covers. And whenever I talk to these people they tell me “There is no such thing as originality anymore”. My response is always “Says who?”. Every bird sings uniquely through their specific beak. And in 2018 I think it is important to appreciate your influences, but not be your influences. The way I found my sound was that I became completely acoustically based. That way I could reach the skeleton of the music, and build upon it later. But that clearly isn’t the solution for everyone. Music is way behind other art forms these days. Writers rarely think about imitating other writers for an example. Originality is real. Musicians are just stuck in a rut of what came before them, more often than not. Which is why I tend not to care for most new music, excluding anti-music and experimental audio art. Basically if you start a rock band. Don’t just figure out a style and dismiss new compositions as “not our style”. Do all of it! Make it your style! Ween is the perfect example.   Roger Ebert hating a movie I have decided, ever since I was invited on board Electronic Cottage, to never write negative reviews. What on Earth is the point of a bad review? Is it EVER enlightening to read “here is a good piece of art you never heard of, and it SUCKS!”. Even a good review serves no real purpose. I had bad as well as good reviews of my Stilletid releases, and in the beginning I read them, but soon discovered a review is just a review. Nothing more, and nothing less. The opinion of some useless journalist. But a bad review serves no purpose whatsoever. The whole mentality that the reviewer’s opinion matters needs to die. It is literally one person’s opinion. People like Roger Ebert, the famous movie reviewer, for example. Even he, a distinguished journalist, shouldn’t ever be able to tell you what you think. That is why I refuse to do bad reviews on EC and would sooner not write anything. If I ever write on here “this thing was not really my thing” I strongly recommend looking at it anyway! When reviewers die and get asked by St. Peter “what did you do with your life” and have to reply “I pointed out what was shit about other people’s work”, I don’t think they’ll definitely be sent to hell, but I don’t doubt they will severely underwhelm our maker. SO! If you have dreams of writing, I don’t think you should write reviews. Write poetry. Write stories. Write a diary. But don’t write reviews Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated by people who do it their own way. In Denmark theres a sort of pop music called Dansktop, which got really bad in the 80’s. In the 60’s and 70’s Dansktop consisted mostly of translated pop, jazz and country songs from overseas.  Teddy Edelmann’s translation of Ricky Nelsons “Garden Party” Four Jacks’ translated version of the Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up Little Susie” But in the 80’s most of the artists began writing their own songs, with extremely cheesy lyrics, similar to the German Schlager music. And with extremely ugly keyboard sounds and simple drums, Dansktop became disgusting to members of the music elite. That’s the Dansktop I got to know first. Kitschy people like Richard Ragnvald, Jodle Birge and Bjørn & Okay. Jodle Birge Richard Ragnvald Bjørn & Okay That, of all things was what got me interested in stuff, which was heard less than most other music. Later I discovered the true outsiders like Little Fyodor, Jad Fair, Wild Man Fischer and Daniel Johnston, but what makes Jodle Birge just as special to me, is that he does it in spite of criticism. Basically I discovered that, no matter how poppy the music is, it is always in spite of someone. Someone told all of us “You can’t do that”. Which is the most inspiring feeling I think. The feeling of “I’ll show them”. I think experimental artists share this with more people than we will ever know! Even in the so-called mainstream! I’ll leave you with this translated version of “Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys”, by the truck driver turned singer, Mr. President, because being a Danish cowboy, he had plenty of criticism, but kept on keeping on!  On four handpicked examples of my homemade experimental movies: I never had a budget to do these short videos, and if I did I most likely spent it on making music. Or food. Or beer. But I put a lot of effort into them, even if it was most definitely in vain. I did most of the acting, in some cases every role. I spoke Danish in these, because it was more natural to me, but subtitled it for “the Danishly handicapped”. Whatever that means. I remember showing these to a few friends, but they all rolled their eyes. So of course, I want to share them with my fellow EC weirdos. You might roll your eyes at a slower pace! 1. “Dem” (Them) In this one I dragged a bicycle into my parents’ bathroom, along with a flamingo head with make-up, a bowl of cookies and a Danish flag. Then I made a movie based on those props. The score is all done in MIDI on my 200? iMac. A bit of ridiculous fun that was interpreted in many ways by people. It was even labeled art by some people. 2. Morten Severin på skideren (Morten Severin in Deep Shit) Based on a story I wrote in elementary school, this one includes aliens, vampires, detectives, comedy and mystery. It’s bad. But it was the most fun I had making this kind of movie! I wrote the script for it first, which might make it the most professional of my stupid home movies. 3. Døds-missen (The Death Pussy) This one has a story but was mostly improvised. Filmed in my parents’ yard and featuring their cat in a main role. It’s about a Danish expedition to the faraway country of Denmark in search of the dangerous Death Pussy! 4. Til Helvede (To Hell) This one is the most experimental of the four movies I chose to share on EC. It is basically all free-formed around the idea of a guy who has three distinct personalities. I play all three and my niece Ronja who was about 5 years old at the time, plays a medusa. I think. Hope you enjoy my stupid homemade theatre!
But I can hope all I want! As long as you got some kind of entertainment out of it it is more than I ever aimed for with these! I wanted to kill time, and I did.
Arvo Zylo is an experimental/noise artist out of Chicago, IL, USA
He’s been at it for many years and changed over the years without changing his basic form. Not unlike a chameleon changing color... but while a chameleon tries to fit in with his surroundings Arvo doesn't seem to want to fit in anywhere in the least
This page has been updated with sound samples from the Assembly LP by Blood Rhythms.
Look for them below, between the pics of my personal copy of the record. Also, two photos of Arvo, at the bottom of the page!
For the longest time I thought all his work was in that vein, but that was very wrong of me. And I learned not to jump to conclusions, without hearing a larger body of work from any artist. I think Arvo was among the people who taught me that you can do pretty much any genre/subgenre of music, and have it be recognizable as yours, as long as you have a style that is your own. Arvo’s sounds are always covered in a porridge of his own design. And that is very admirable, within noise and anti-music, where a lot of artists sound the same.
Arvo Zylo playing the first piano that John Cage prepared. Photo by Blake DeGraw.
Ditlev: You have used quite a few names for your projects over the years. What are some of the Google-able names, that EC readers can find you under online?
Arvo: I basically go under my name, Arvo Zylo, for solo work. Blood Rhythms is considered a collective, but I will also use that moniker to present the material as something that I need to have a more direct tone, separating my name from it and focusing more on an abstract concept. Ditlev: When did you discover your love for the noisier side of things? And did you have local mentors ? Arvo: I had some friends in 1999 who had some electronics. I was in a band with them, technically, but I had nowhere to practice. I had a drum kit but nowhere to learn drums. So they put some drum machines and sequencers in front of me, and I made noise with them thinking that it had never been done before. I enjoyed the chaos more than the music. Ditlev: Tell me about your “NO PART OF IT” label. What releases are out by now? And where does the name come from? Arvo: "NO PART OF IT" is just where I find myself personally. No niches, just personal interactions and various degrees of misunderstandings. I initially thought of it based on something from a book by Blixa Bargeld, stating that Einstürzende Neubauten was operating with the intention "to be no part of it". But also there is Jesus being "not of this world", and a quote from a Tom Robbins book that stuck with me "everything is part of it". Basically, in effect, I like to release things by people who I think are really not operating in the context of a "scene". Not necessarily "outsiders", but people who are doing their own thing and not trying to keep up with the Joneses, and also are good at it! Another thing is that I never really nag people. If I ask someone to do a release, I only ask once. There would be a lot more releases if this weren't the case! 
now obsolete No Part Of It catalog list that was enclosed with the Assembly LP by Blood Rhythms
The first release was Trunculence, a locked groove 7 inch compilation in 2008, featuring 55 artists, including Nurse with Wound, Crash Worship, Helios Creed, Black Leather Jesus, To Live and Shave In LA, Sudden Infant, Dave Phillips, and more.
There is also Assembly, a Blood Rhythms LP with hand made covers by myself and Ron Lessard, co-released with RRRECORDS.
EC Editor Hal McGee's personal copy of Assembly by Blood Rhythms
detail from EC Editor Hal McGee's personal copy of Assembly by Blood Rhythms
There is a digipak CD compilation called "Delirious Music For Delirious People" featuring Pharmakon, Zola Jesus, Jarboe, Hans Grusel, Big City Orchestra, Gary Wilson, BeNe GeSSeRiT, Irene Moon, etc.
Other than that, there have been tapes and pro CDRs by Illusion of Safety (Illusion of Safety's final release before retiring that name), Architeuthis Dux, Ataraxic Ataxia, Machine Listener, Thirteen Hurts, WILT, and more. The pro CDRs are kept in print, and I have produced more than 700 copies of some of them. 
I was honored to have 33 different people create from material on my "333" release, and it is a DVD called "333REDUX", including 5 videos and my first surround sound piece, with art done by Yasutoshi Yoshida (Government Alpha). It includes Bruce Lamont, Comfort Link, Verdant, Critter Piss, AODL, Vertonen, Protman, Bull of Heaven, jliat, etc. Very happy with it.
Recently I did a series of splits with myself, because I have a new appreciation for the split tape format, and I needed to get loose personally. Those are with PBK, Marlo Eggplant, Andrew Quitter, and BBJR.
Ditlev: Since I never saw you live, I was wondering how you actually make your noises. Are there any specific input devices or noise signals that you use a lot these days? And what would some of the ones be, that you rarely use anymore?
Arvo: The most consistent thing I do is use contact mic'ed objects/body parts and a sequencer. Occasionally I'll also use a Line 6 Delay pedal too. Basically, I use the sequencer to create rhythms that interfere with layers of loud feedback and screaming. Blood Rhythms live has been included many different people and ideas, but it started as a "brass ensemble" of as many people as possible blaring horns through effects (and hopefully not trying to make music, just drone). It has evolved a lot since then, and each idea is a case-by-case basis.
Ditlev: What would be some of your favorite live shows you did? Or moments from shows?
Arvo: The first live performance as Blood Rhythms was with the entire band ONO backing me. We were opening for Illusion of Safety. Lots of strange errors happened, and I took a piece of sheet metal against my head and put a belt sander to it. People thought I was setting something on fire, but there was no fire. My mixer just stopped having volume for no reason. The volume was up, the electricity was on, etc. So I was screaming and playing horns without amplification, and it worked for a more intense performance. We were to start by playing sheet metal, all of us, and as such, ONO started playing before I even did a sound check! So I jumped in and started rolling, and I thought everything was great, despite the setbacks.
There was also Blood Rhythms at Club Rectum, for our record release show. There were 5 drummers and 4 brass players, and a good amount of people there. There was actually a line of people waiting to buy the record and I was extremely humbled and honored by the whole thing.
Another time travis from ONO joined a Blood Rhythms brass line up alone with Mike Weis of Zelienople on percussion. The rule was to have everyone stop when they are done, and let me be the last man standing, because I was tied to my mixer, my throat was taped up with a contact mic. So instead of that happening, people sat down for a bit when they were tired, and got back up on stage when they felt like it. We went for 75 minutes, until the venue started turning the lights on and off, and all the while, travis was doing stream of consciousness vocals. It was incredible, it had these nice ebbs and flows that were totally intuitive in nature, but still hardly musical at all.
I do have to mention playing LEMP in 2010 for St. Louis Noise Fest. The crowd was unforgettable in that one. Also playing in Atlanta Georgia on a Sunday night to a small amount of people, a show that Robby Kee set up. Everyone was extremely friendly and supportive.
And I must mention Denver Noise Fest 2011. Todd Novasak collected bottles for months for me. I put the bottles into boxes and taped them up with duct tape. The line up was G.X. Jupitter-Larsen, Clayton Counts, Chris Turner, Elizabeth Floersch, and more. I had a bunch of white Christmas lights, some lamps, and some mirrors set up. Some of us threw around boxes of glass and others played sheet metal with belt sanders. By the end of the set, all of this stuff was smashed. That is what you hear on the Little Fyodor tribute CD, we did a version of "Won't Somebody Fill The Void" then. Too many good experiences to cover here!
Ditlev: And lastly, you have done quite a bit of radio shows/podcasts. I think I saw on Facebook, that you donated a large collection of music to a radio station too, right? What motivated you for such a generous act? Also is there some online archive links you’d like to share with the readers?
Arvo: I moved from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest, and I just needed to trim down. I didn't want to try to sell these releases, so I donated to WZRD. I was first inspired to do radio when I went to WZRD in 2005, so it was natural. I have been to WZRD hundreds of times, but I had a radio show that was syndicated in Croatia at WLUW for 7 years, called "The Delirious Insomniac Freeform Radio Show". http://posterityplaylists.blogspot.com/ And if you want to explore Arvo’s universe further, have a look at his Bandcamp page And there is archives of the WZRD show here
Arvo at the 2013 Saint Petersburg Noise Festival two still shots from William Davenport's film The People's Music
 I want to introduce the readers of Electronic Cottage to David “Rock” Nelson. Or if you already know about this extremely enthusiastic, hyperactive filmmaker, I want to remind you of him. Often referred to as “The Ed Wood of the 21st century”, he is a former US Marine, was an extra in the 1993 Hollywood movie “Groundhog Day”, as well as a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman and a boxer. But his true passion is no-budget homemade monster movies, with amazing and somewhat crazy titles like Frankenstein vs Sodom Insane, Conrad Brooks vs The Werewolf, The Giant Horny Toad Monster, The Devil Ant, and Nosferatu Bites  Shot on regular video8 tapes, with a camera he inherited from his late brother, using cheap-looking almost Halloween-like costumes, and titled with a VHS titling and editing machine for home videos, they have a very unique look to them. These movies are mostly one man efforts, but besides having himself in many of the roles, it also has the acting talent (or lack of it, if you want to be technical) of his family and friends. David’s films don’t conform to continuity or even to having an actual script. He puts on a Halloween mask and goes to a cemetery in his local area of Illinois, or just out in his own yard, and sees where the mood takes him. Lets the movie make itself. Then he dubs VHS copies of it to sell and send to his fans in the mail. These are very valuable movies. Not because they will ever make billions, or because of the quality, or indeed the quantity of them. (There are MANY gems in the David Rock Nelson Vault). But because of the passion he puts into it. My impression is he doesn't choose to make movies. He has to. Unfortunately I am in PAL territory over here in Denmark, so actually getting to see more than short clips of these American NTSC movies is a challenge. What I have had the chance to see have been hilarious and stupid and somewhat brilliant. Rock said it himself: “People say my movies are stupid. Of course they are, the movies I like are all stupid”.  Have a look at The Rock’s Java-fueled YouTube videos on his channel Mostly the movies are not available on YouTube, but there are some other interesting things, from his “Basement of Bloody Horror”. For example there is this video, in which he shows us some of his VHS tape collection, and some xeroxed flyers for his movies, as well as telling us about when he met Conrad Brooks (RIP) Also this is a great short documentary on him made by VICE. Editor's note: while it's true that Nelson's movies mostly aren't on YouTube, he does have hundreds of videos!
For those of you who are following Ditlev Buster here on Electronic Cottage...
This morning he posted an announcement in the BULLETIN BOARD section of EC about his new album, folk & støj - Hal, EC Editor |
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ELECTRONIC COTTAGE is an international community where independent artists, musicians, writers and freethinkers can meet and share ideas, sounds, visual art, photos, zines, videos, reviews, news and info, opinions, tech and gear articles, and much more, all in the spirit of two-way communication.
EC draws inspiration from the Cassette Culture Revolution of the 1980s, 90s and beyond; Mail Art, Small Press and Zines, Dada, Fluxus, Punk Rock, Hacking, Circuit Bending, Anarchy, and Noise.
EC values inclusion, democracy, experimentation, independence and freedom of thought and expression, open-minded exchange, and Community.
EC draws inspiration from the Cassette Culture Revolution of the 1980s, 90s and beyond; Mail Art, Small Press and Zines, Dada, Fluxus, Punk Rock, Hacking, Circuit Bending, Anarchy, and Noise.
EC values inclusion, democracy, experimentation, independence and freedom of thought and expression, open-minded exchange, and Community.