Category: Experimental

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A Mayfly Records Spotlight Interview (#4)

Benjamin Murray; aka Arcane Synthetic

Mayfly Records continues to shine a well-deserved spotlight on its roster and those associated with it, in some form or another, in WordPress form. *cough*

This is the Big Time… writ very, very small.

Today’s interview is with New Zealand’s own, the enigmatic multipotentialite, Benjamin Murray. Better known as the time traveling reporter on the human condition, Arcane Synthetic. 

It has been said that a good gimmick can travel miles. But a good gimmick with talent and brains behind it can travel the entirety of the world. The more Benjamin Murray does with this character, the more interesting it gets for the listener. 

And what a treat it is. 

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. 

What are some of the things that have shaped you – as a person and as an artist? 

What are some of the things you are most proud of? 

Benjamin and Nora

AS: My loves and fears. 

I’m most proud of getting engaged to my fiancée, Nora and in turn creating a baby boy together, Félix.

Who are some of your favorite artists? 

In no particular order – Tool, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Atrium Carceri, Mr. Bungle, Chelsea Wolfe, Michael Jackson, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, Faith No More, Tomahawk, Fantômas, Killing Joke, Drab Majesty, Sisters Of Mercy, The Cure, Melvins, Meshuggah, Kammarheit, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Tom Waits, Radiohead, N E U R O S H O C K, Lost Cause Industry, Plains Desperate Symphony, Bärkər, Entropy In Motion, The Primary Phase Principle, Rojinski, Ghost Orange, Embracing Discomfort… Too many! I could list so many more… 

What is your favorite book? 

I’m a very slow reader so I tend to not read too many books – lately Audible’s helped change that. For the sake of this question, I’ll go with ‘Hamlet’.

“To thine own self be true.”

Is happiness the primary gauge in Life? And if not, what is?

No. Stillness is the primary gauge in life.

When was it that you decided that music and/or sound design was a passion? 

Is it a passion? 

Why?

Hmm… I’ve always been surrounded by music. It’s had an enormous impact on me. However I think I realised it was and always has been a passion of mine the moment I created my first track as Arcane Synthetic, ‘Quieten’ during one of the many COVID lockdowns in 2021.

Acting was a passion I was always aware of and took immediate action on ever since I can remember anything at all. I think I didn’t feel I possessed any real musical talent until the past few years having first introduced Arcane to the world.

Can you explain the time traveling persona to those that might be unfamiliar with it?  

Arcane Synthetic has been sent by his superiors to travel time and report on the human condition. He’s basically a better version of myself in my imagination.

What is it that you are trying to get across to the listeners you manage to snare?  

What have been your artistic highlights?

I want them to think. Challenge their beliefs. Continually work towards bettering themselves. I most of all want them to participate as artists alongside me expressing their consciousness simultaneously through interpretations of my art.

Any single time my audience receives something, anything at all, that’s meaningful from my work.

Many claim that we do this for ourselves – but if that were truly the case, we’d all pull an Emily Dickinson.

From where have you gained the confidence to put yourself out there (musically or otherwise)? 

I’m neurodivergent, queer, basically in more ways than one, “different” – not someone who naturally fits in with the regular. Like many “odd” people growing up in the 90’s I was severely bullied. I’d be lucky not to have the living shit kicked out of me more than once a week throughout the majority of my school years. That’s just the physical aspect, never mind the emotional/verbal bullying that brought it all together quite nicely…

My point is that having endured that level of abuse in my formative years really destroys one’s confidence. It started a knock on effect of codependency and everything that comes with that flavour of vulnerability. It’s been a journey of self actualisation for me. I guess the moment you begin to accept yourself for who you are then you can kind of do anything you want.    

Our societies have become a sports rivalry Writ Large: My Team vs. Your Team; in politics, in theatre, and even in polite conversation. Who or what do you inevitably cheer for? Who or what do you inevitably hiss? 

I cheer on kindness. I hiss cruelty.

This is a question inspired by Deb LeMotta’s interviews: If you could go back and give your younger self a piece of much needed advice, what would it be?

“Trust yourself”. To this day I still struggle to remember that.

The Time Traveler, Arcane Synthetic

Thank you for reading this peek behind the persona that is Arcane Synthetic. As the wise person ages, a foolish poet once wrote, the more they shrug off, “the slings and the arrows from those that must narrow our happinesses one step at a time”. Having said that, our younger selves are justified in enacting revenge on those that have harmed us. Not necessarily with violence, mind you – but through accomplishment.

Benjamin Murray has far surpassed the bullies and the tormenters of his youth. He has found his happiness, he has his muse to chase, and he creates like a motherfucker*. The bullies will have been found to have created nothing, other than blank and spiraling self-worths.

moth*er*fuck*er | ˈməT͟Hərˌfəkər | 

noun North American English vulgar slang 

1 a despicable or very unpleasant person or thing. 

2 ...one that is formidable, remarkable, or impressive in some way

 

Power to the Imagination.

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A Mayfly Records Spotlight Interview (#1)

Tom Parsons; aka Arwr Neb

In the next few days, Mayfly Records will be pointing a well deserved spotlight on its roster’s esteemed talents. In WordPress form.  *cough* 

We start with an interview conducted with Tom Parsons, who has gone under the guise of Arwr Neb these past few years. The last year of it has seen a remarkable output of subversive materials by the artist. Not in quantity, mind you – but in sheer quality.

He is an artist that not only encourages the listener to laugh out loud, but also to pause and think. It’s challenging enough to find a genuinely good person, but when they’re also a talented sound designer with a purposeful vision, it’s an irresistible combination.

Tom Parsons is that good person. 

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. 

AN: I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the youngest of three kids. I think I was always struggling between acceptance as part of the crowd and shining a light on my own uniqueness.

What are some of the things that have shaped you? 

I started playing music at a fairly young age – starting with piano lessons at the age of six and continuing them throughout my youth until my final year of high school. I also played trumpet in the grade school band and played the bagpipes, competing in solo and band competitions throughout North America. 

I also believe I’ve been shaped by my experiences of living abroad in Asia and in Europe. Getting out of Minneapolis to go to college in Upstate New York really broadened my horizons and gave me a lot of confidence in establishing myself in the world.

What are some of the things that you are most proud of? 

I’m probably most proud of the friendships I’ve cultivated, the knowledge of language and culture that I’ve explored, and the knowledge that has helped me broaden my horizons.

Who are some of your favorite artists? 

I have a pretty broad taste in music. From a young age, I was very taken with classical music, particularly Beethoven and Mozart. That interest blossomed into broader and deeper tastes in the Romantic and Modernist composers, namely Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Saint-Saëns. 

As a teenager, I followed mostly pop groups that were mainstream until a friend of mine in eight grade introduced me to such wonders as Devo, Iggy Pop, Talking Heads, The Cure, James Chance (and his various permutations) Kraftwerk (which really stuck with me when I started doing electronic music) and ska bands, such as The Specials and Madness. That’s when the subversiveness in my musical tastes really took root. I’ve been exploring the weird, wacky, wonderful stuff since then.

These days, some of my favorite artists are Four Tet, Super Furry Animals, Datblygu, and Gwenno, and many too many others to name. I just can’t box myself into who is my favorite.

What is your favorite book? 

My favorite book is Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He is hands down my favorite author.

Is happiness the main gauge of Life? 

Happiness is a spectrum as far as I’m concerned. It’s not the be all and end all of satisfaction with life, but a pretty good gauge of how well you’re enjoying it. That said, I think it’s important to know what makes you happy in life and not rely on what others tell you it should be, namely a good job, status, etc. When I’m listening to and playing music, I’m at my happiest.

The MindbENdeRs (MR S 07): Neb’s latest

When was it that you decided that music and/or sound design was a passion? 

Initially, it was just a way of me working on music without the need to play in a band. I then started working with Ableton and needed some more formal training. I took a few classes and really enjoyed it. 

Is it a passion? 

Yes, very much so! 

Why? 

After realizing what sounds I could create, I became enchanted with synthesis and sound design. A whole new world opened up to me and I feel like I can’t go back to the rigidity of pop music.

Profile Diethrol (Uncommon Experience)

What is it that you are trying to get across to the listeners you manage to snare?  

Initially, my focus was to promote the Welsh language in electronic music, and I still aim to do that, but now I’m trying to create sound environments that shake people out of their reliance on traditional formulas of how music is experienced. Whether that makes them uncomfortable or not, but ultimately to make them think about sound in a new way.

What have been your artistic highlights? 

I thought creating my first EP was quite a highlight, but after working on collaborations with such inspiration and talented artists like Bärkər, Subtlety, and Feminoise that has been the greatest highlight so far in my short electronic musical career. 

Amygdala (2024)

Many claim that we do this for ourselves – but if that were truly the case, we’d all pull an Emily Dickinson and keep the work to ourselves:

From where have you gained the confidence to put yourself out there (musically or otherwise)? 

I have developed a close-knit group of supporters, both old friends and new, who have really shown great support to my strange musical endeavors. I never expected to have this much support and am truly grateful for those that have shown an interest in my rantings via sound design.

This is a question inspired by Deb LeMotta’s interviews: If you could go back and give your younger self a piece of needed advice, what would it be?  

I would absolutely tell my younger self to express myself with more passion and less fear of being accepted by polite society. The interesting people are the ones that really matter in this existence.

Tom Parsons – Arwr Neb

Thank you for reading. You can also find the works of Arwr Neb on the Mayfly Records Bandcamp page. There you can find the various collaborative efforts that he has enriched – Uned Drydan’s C3: C4: Energy, Bärkər & Arwr Neb’s Subversions, and the Mayfly Radio compilation.

Power to the Imagination. 

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Bärkər’s One Year Anniversary Spectacular…

… in shitty WordPress oriented fashion (Part Two). 

Celebrating the one year anniversary of my excursion into noise pop (as Bärkər), I asked a former friend of mine to run a sit-down Q&A session with me. I figured that I could maybe shed more light on the motivations and accomplishments of this Bärkər thing, to allow a reversed timeline peek behind the curtain, so to speak.

Unfortunately, that gesture was undone by bad acting.

Yet I am going to continue to humor myself by thinking that the reader might find interest in me covering some releases.

There’s Something You’re Missing – 2024, Mayfly Records

Ghost of Rucker 的幽灵拉克 is a respected low-fi’er on the independent music scene. Besides an ever growing solo discography, Rucker has collaborated with Plains Desperate Symphony (Canada), Nadine De Macedo (Germany), and Nick Lang (U.K.). 

He asked if I wanted to work with him, and I jumped at the chance. 

He presented me an instrumental piece that could have been the lead track off any of his albums. The piece was everything one expects from Rucker; low-fi, melodic, and touching. He handed the track off and gave me free rein to do whatever it was I wanted. I am still honored by that.

There’s Something You’re Missing Back Cover

I added a 30 second prelude that I thought was pretty neat. I then put some effects on a straggler track, which bled through the mix to add interesting sounds. Finally, I took a bit from my prelude and processed it to sound ‘harmonium’, then wove it throughout 2/3rds of the piece. The ending instrumental was, well… Ghostly, almost translucent. 

The dialogue samples came from an anti-media outfit from the early 2000s, these centering on how television (a metaphor for the ilk of today) subjected latchkey children to constant barrages of alcohol ads, sex, and television violence. I thought the finished piece (released October 25, 2024) rather poignant. It sounds different. The listener is taken on a pleasant journey, while still presented an opportunity to think.

I thought it would be a winner. 

Live: From the Basement – Kent, Ohio ’24 – 2024, Mayfly Records

Gimmicks, contrary to the connotations associated them (KISS? 🤮), can be powerful tools in the grand cause of Subversion.

Live: From the Basement (released October 8, 2024) is one of my personal favorites. Rather than pussyfooting around, as I had done for some time, I dove headfirst into the tape loop inspired avant-garde with this extended player (EP). 

Over a played soundscape, pre-recorded loops were triggered, cut up, and then manipulated/processed live. I greatly missed recording in this fashion. I did so with Linda Sharpe for close to two years and always had fun with it. When done ‘properly’, the improvisational aspect can be creatively rewarding.

There is a bit at the end of Not Completely Like Other People (@4’15”) that basically hypnotized me. I came out of it a couple of minutes later and hastily threw in a sample of Reverend Ernest Angley that I stretched and manipulated to interesting effect on, ‘Do You Believe?‘

I made VERY liberal use of Puremagnetik’s Ember micro collage plug-in when recording this. Ember can do some magical things. In live situations, it can also very easily escape its pen and do some damage to your petunias. You never know. 

Live: From the Basement original back cover
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Mayfly Radio, Volume One

… (and only).

Early last summer (2024), I was asked by acclaimed Emo-Gazey pop artist Feminoise to collaborate on a project that would become Dystopian Communications. To this day, I consider that single to be one of my highest of achievements. Her asking me to collaborate was a blessing, as it opened the doors to so much that would follow; other collaborations, a wider exposure, the confidence to continue doing what I’ve been doing, AND the outline for an ambitious project left in its wake.

Dystopian Comms Dub (the B Side)

© All Rights (P)Reserved – 2024, Qiot Grrrl Records

When seeking inspiration for the lyrics she would pen, Feminoise asked me for a concept. That concept, a lonely and isolated person culture jamming a pirated radio broadcast in effort to communicate with others, would eventually evolve into Mayfly Radio, Volume One.

Thanks, Mel!

I would continue chasing down that idea with ‘A Dystopian Broadcast’, a radio-waved sound collage, off my ‘Don’t Cry Upon Arrival’ EP.

A Dystopian Broadcast

But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go all-in on the concept. What if I actually put a radio program together? Or at least something that could pass for one. What if it was ‘call-in’ based, like the programs I remember listening to as a child? What if I masked a compilation album as a radio drama and vice versa?

Maybe…

Maybe I could convince the talents that I most respect from the independent music scene to contribute songs? Without songs, there could be no pseudo radio program. I was lucky enough to have been provided original pieces by Feminoise, neuroshock, Lost Cause Industry, House of Warwick, and Histheory. I was also granted permission (hand shake licensing? GASP!) to use previously released works by Subtlety (and myself), Arwr Neb, Betrav Kolektiv, Plains Desperate Symphony, Czña, and Ghost of Rucker.

And maybe I could convince some of the best voices of the independent arts scene to record ‘call-ins’ to the station? Without people calling in to cement the central themes, there was no point to any of this. I was very lucky to have received spoken word contributions from Entropy in Motion, Plains Desperate Symphony (3x), GAB, Arcane Synthetic, Subtlety, Deb LaMotta, Lost Cause Industry, Arwr Neb, and Montgomery Van.

Mayfly Radio Volume One (and only)  is the result; a one hour, forty four minute broadcast that tells as many stories as the listener is willing to hear. Or willing to bear. Whichever works for you.

Mayfly Radio is the crown jewel of this Bärkər experiment, yet ‘Bärkər’ doesn’t exist anywhere on it. That is not only fitting, but prophetic.

For anyone that might be interested, here is a PDF itinerary for the broadcast (included with purchase on Bandcamp):  Mayfly Radio Itinerary

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There once was a woman named Linda…

… Linda Sharpe.

For just over two years I was the sound designer, dialogue looper, mix guy, and chief conceptualist in an outfit called the Linda Sharpe Trio. I worked with an excellent musician who did the majority of synth and rhythm work, which I always felt resulted in the extraordinary. It eventually fell apart to the point I was told to cancel the distribution account being used. This, of course, wiped all material off – I believe – all streaming platforms. Rats.

Linda Sharpe Trio (no ‘the’) is still around doing its thing. Check it out. I’d link the reader to his output platform, but he’d probably threaten another cease & desist for my efforts. 

But I’ve got the prior goods. And I want to share a couple of them. This outfit could’a been a contender. 

 

Linda’s Suitcase (It’s Her Bag)

Radio and Television (It’s in the Bag)

Nemier: Synthesizers, Sounds
Bärkər: Optical theremin, Shortwave manipulations, Sounds, Dialogue loops

Produced: Nemier & Bärkər
Engineered: Bärkər 
Recorded: Cyclops' Lair - Middleburg Heights, Ohio - 2022
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Emeline – an American Tragedy

Lend me your ears, my friends. Spare me short a quarter hour, for I have a soundtrack that is born of righteousness.

David Hoffman, a renowned documentarian, interviewed Nettie Mitchell of Fayette, Maine in 1979. The yarn she spun was pure, unadulterated Americana; gothic, resilient, and far too oftentimes unbearably tragic. An impromptu, warts and all jam between Bärkər and Toxic Nemier in 2022 would serve as foundation to the soundtrack. After some 200+ meticulous edits to match the story being told to the music, the finalized track was rejected by the latter due, I’ve reasoned, to musician’s hubris.

Ambitious, emotional, and unflinching, this particular piece has remained dear to me. The storytelling, combined with the emotional build of the instrumentation, is rather powerful. And the payoff of both is a kick to the shins.

Power to the Imagination.

Emeline 

Music written: Eric Baker / Lee Nemier

Bass Guitar, Effects: Bärkər
Electric Guitar, Effects: Nemier

Conceptualized, Sculpted, Engineered, Produced: Bärkər
Recorded & Mixed: Cyclops' Lair - Middleburg Heights, OH.

© All Rights (P)Reserved, 2024
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Publicly Executed in 40 minutes

It is late 1978. I am halfway through my eighth year. My father, taking another step in his spiraling downfall, became involved with a fringe Pentecostal church on the lower west side of Cleveland. He would provide acoustic guitar accompaniment to sermons and hymns during services, and right hand man the preacher throughout the week. I always wondered what the old man got out of the efforts.

I call him ‘old man’, but at the time my father was 27.

It was at these services that I learned the band KISS stood for ‘kids in the service of satan’. Heavy stuff. I also learned that human beings could twist their bodies, their languages, and their minds in a heated celebration of their God. To the left, on any given Sunday, were weeping old women that smelled of licorice. Old men in the back, hooting and hollering their agreements. To the right, younger men and women rolling around on the floor – clawing at themselves, while speaking in tongues.

I was eight.

One Sunday I came in early and noticed stacks upon stacks of Time Magazines littering the first row of pews. This Time Magazine…

The sermon that day, as it often tended, warned of the upcoming Christian decimation that was going to take place prior to THE RAPTURE (always capitalized). This terrible incident at Jonestown, the preacher raged, was proof of God’s plan in action. “If the People’s Temple could be destroyed, so shall us all”.

It was at this point a small part of my soul disintegrated.

My father just stood there, playing his guitar. I have been suspicious of musicians and the fervent ever since.

Two years later, and thanks to some fringe radio program, the old man got his hands on a copy of the infamous ‘Jonestown death tape’. His obsession with the subject was reaching fever pitch. Thinking I was asleep, he would play those recordings late into the nights. Play > Stop > Rewind > Play > Stop > Rewind.

I’d just lay there, trying my best not to cry.

These are the voices you are about to hear: Jim Jones – Maria Katsaris – Jim McElvane – Jim Jones. These are the voices that orchestrated and justified the deaths of 918 people. These were the voices of evil.

It isn’t just the anti-Christs we need to worry about. It is the fervent that blindly follow that are of much greater concern. 

Publicly Executed (40 Minutes)

Written: Eric Baker / Bradford Manelski
Drums: Brad Manelski
Synthesizers: Bärkər

Conceptualized, Sculpted, Engineered, and Produced: Bärkər 
Recorded at Cyclops’ Lair, Middleburg Heights, OH.

How Golden Is Your Calf? – Mayfly Records 
© All Rights (P)Reserved, 2024
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The Past Chambered

… A burial chamber dedicated to one’s Past.

I come here not to praise my former efforts, but to bury them; to dedicate to the past a most damnable end, and to the future, a most cordial of welcomes.

It is not now I first remark, but oft ere this, how unruly a pest is a harsh temper. For instance, thou… hadst thou but patiently endured the will of thy superiors, mightest have remained here in this land and house, but now for thy idle words wilt thou be banished. Thy words are naught to me.

– Euripides’ Medea, Jason speaks

– bärkər, ‘the past chambered’, digital collage of various ai manipulations of stock photo, ’24

The Sun’s Ra

What’s it about? A former collaborator once called and relayed to me an experience where two radio frequencies merged on a highway drive. The result was, as suggested ‘like Sun Ra mixed with a radio preacher’. I knew then that was the experimental path that I wanted to travel. I said as much. And I followed through.

Years later, I slaved over this piece as gift and homage for the inspiration provided me. And, considering we would eventually partner up in a project called ‘Linda Sharpe Trio’ – the inspiration provided Us. It was a rough cut, but it was a token that I wanted to share with my desperately wanted friend. The former immediately sneered the effort away. Oof. His idea, you see, didn’t include the Little Rascals.

His idea…

… I should’ve known that trouble was on the horizon. Always trust your instincts, friends. Always.

Within this left unfinished rough cut you will find an Our Gang short, Sun Ra’s brilliance, radio waves from Venus, a short-waved evangelical, underlying sound effects, and grave conviction.

Sculpted, Engineered, and Produced by: Bärkər

Conceptualized: Toxic Nemier

Recorded at Cyclops’ Lair, Middleburg Heights, OH.

The Past Chambered – Mayfly Records 

© All Rights (P)Reserved, 2024