EB Premiere: Stream Ultrademon’s new LP Voidic Charms
Seapunk: it’s a genre oft-derided by dumb idiot critics, stolen by pop star’s stylists, and generally treated with the same amount of respect that goth, punk and basically any other ‘strange’ youth culture has (healthgoth doesn’t count because it’s just not eating bread in a black tank top), only with the perspective of ADD URL attitudes. We’ve been on it and in to it since it started leaking, natch, but that’s just because:
1. It’s always summer in our hearts.
2. We actually pay attention to the Internet.
So the prospect of a new record from Seapunk’s earthly Poseidon Ultrademon, aka Albert Redwine, gave us the kind of pleasure that requires you to move below waist-height in the pool, if you get our flippin’ meaning. Get ready to flip your lid on this one: we’ve got the full stream of his upcoming LP Voidic Charms, out via Coral Records on this very dang day. Try it, buy it, catch the wave into sunset psychedelia. The diabolicalicious demon himself gave us an ultra-in-depth track-by-track description. Read along with him as you listen, or play the Masterpiece Theatre theme, or just rock out in your own way. Plenty of PLUR to go around.
Exclusive Track-by-Track:
“Wake Up”
Albert Redwine: An intro bit—the listener can understand if they just ‘wake up’. Reminds me of how certain monks tell themselves to ‘wake up’ every time they read the letter A.
“Desert Star”
AR: This bit sets the stage in a desert landscape . . . basically it’s this.
“Drive U Crazy” (Feat. The GTW, Zombelle)
AR: This bit really has summed up my experience since moving to Chicago (well not the lyrical content, I didn’t write that… but the feeling of the music). I made the original track in May 2012 and it was sort of my anthem over that summer. That’s when we were throwing a small run of parties called Mainframe (which also happens to be the name of my girlfriend’s t-shirt company) in this karaoke bar in Chinatown. I actually performed the instrumental of this track that summer. It was pretty rad, Slava played that night too. Anyway, the vibe of the track is an analogue distorted bass with house undertones. I wanted to capture the magic and rawness while also trying to show people the madness of the post-industrial wasteland known as “the city”, but really I just made a track I like. You know . . . that bit of psychic power that transcends the crippling technology that tries to mask the very thing that makes us human.
“Full Moon”
AR: I made the original version of this bit in 2009 when I was living in Los Angeles, pulling from the Latin house sound I kept hearing. I finally revisited it a few months back to finish it, adding in an acid house flare to complete the feel. The psychedelic pulls make reference to the pulling of the full moon.
“Ultrademon Killin’ It”
AR: This track was made on a desktop PC with an early version of Reason—the desktop is probably from the 2003 or something. The computer is owned by Yob of Kansas City underground electronic duo One Million Tiny Tiny Jesuses. Pretty heady electronic underground stuff if you know ’em. Really happy with this track, totally channeled the Ultrademon entity for this.
“Wasteland (44,000 Years In the Making)“
AR: Another track reminding the listener to wake up. The full version of this was about ten minutes long and contained a lot of live drum machine, though I prefer this more ambient build-up. This track directly talks about the urban decay and industrial wasteland we all have to live in. It’s about time we as a species get things sorted out and stop trashing our planet. The “44,000 years in the making” part refers to the age of the Ultrademon entity. If you know where the vocal rap samples are from then I applaud you. So far a journalist that reviewed the album thought it was from a video game or something . . . surprisingly I use no video game or anime samples in this album.
“Vine Hung Horizon”
AR: The first half of this track uses a bit of a modified M1 Korg organ sound which is completed with those hard sample hits throughout the last half. Imagine an island approach, only instead of “Welcome to Jurassic Park” it’s “Welcome to jungle adventure with heaps of ripe jackfruit, durian, and bananas.”
“Voidic Charm”
AR: This track was influenced pretty heavily by Chicago hard house, and even more directly by my buddy Umbertron. I was trying to mix together grime and hard house.
“Nautical Elves”
AR: You’ll notice this track uses the same samples as the last half of “Vine Hung Horizon”. Whereas the earlier track is supposed to feel like a jungle, this track implements a bit of jungle influence musically. “Nautical Elves” was a concept I had that predated the whole “seapunk” thing. Actually, I preferred this term over “seapunk” but went with that due to people resonating with it.
“March 29 – Viral Host“
AR: Straight ahead jacking bit right here. The viral host is me, being the host for the Ultrademon entity. Some of these samples came from a buddy of mine TSARS who I put out via Coral Records in the past (SPLASH007). He’s made a bunch of analog tape samples actually that are really stellar, I’ve used them in a bunch of tracks. This track also has influence from some techno joint I used to listen to when I was younger; tracks that were like twenty seconds long made in MS-DOS, you know—the way CDJs are supposed to be used.
“Fantasy House”
AR: The drums on this track are all from the drum machine. I’ve really been into using live gear with Ableton throughout this album. This track has rhythmic influence from (Jersey/Baltimore) club music but with the tempo jacked up.
“Step Into Liquid” (Wayback Mix)
AR: This is the original VIP mix of “Step Into Liquid (It’s A Trap)”, the vinyl single put out via Rephlex. See the “original“.
“Flash”
AR: This track was originally just a DJ tool I used—it uses the same basic drum parts as “Drive U Crazy”. I just used the Queen sample without permission because I don’t give a fuck. And yeah, it is a chaotic ending that talks about the state of the earth. ~
Voidic Charms is now available via Coral Records.
Published July 22, 2014. Words by EB Team.