Review: Caustic – 'American Carrion'

CAUSTIC
'American Carrion'
NEGATIVE GAIN PRODUCTIONS

The last few Caustic albums 'The Golden Vagina Of Fame And Profit', 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop', and 'Industrial Music' have proved to be among the highlights of their respective years of release. It's good to see that 2018 is starting the right way with another full-length outing full of piss and vinegar from Matt Fanale.

Fanale has continued to evolve and grow as an artist experimenting on EPs and singles, as well as going outside of his comfort zone on his side projects. And his full-length Caustic albums always have a tendency to to pull the best of these experiences into one mighty manifesto.

Picking up right where the forthright middle-finger that was 'Industrial Music' left off, 'American Carrion' sees Fanale kick things up a notch. Hard, groovy, and dance friendly ebm elements are filtered through classic industrial vitriol before being doused with Fanale's own patented Jizzcore. It's a perfect musical palette for what has to be the most explicitly political Caustic album too date.

Big beats and fist-in-the-air, shout-a-long choruses colour tracks such as 'Purgative', 'Heads Down, Fingers Up', and 'Fuck That Fascist Beat' with relatable anger a solid sequenced grooves. The likes of 'American Carrion', 'Stoma' and 'Angel Grinder' with their distorted lo-fi beats and prominent bass-lines that give the album an addictive backbone.

While the progressive and more experimental flavours 'The Coital Staircase', 'Drugskill', and 'Methmouth' show off the wider and more eclectic scope of his work with a blend of old school minimal techno and ebm, but with a rhythmically pleasing core. It's the album's parting shot, 'One Nation Under Fear', though that successfully encapsulates everything going on here and melds it into an undeniable club banger to rally around with it's incendiary but supportive message.

Production-wise the album, much as 'Industrial Music' did before it, straddles the line between polished and tight techno and ebm and gritty unfriendly industrial. It's always been one of Fanale's strengths that he can flick back-and-forth between styles and genres in both his music and vocal performances and yet remain utterly focused and 'American Carrion' is no exception to this trend.

'American Carrion' holds a mirror up to the world and reflects its bullshit right back at it. But it does so in a rather positive way. There is a message of unity, and ultimately hope within the anger and disillusionment that as a result makes this album a compelling listening experience as well as a cathartic dance/mosh-friendly one. It may only be month one of 2018 but 'American Carrion' has set the bar pretty high right from the off.

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Review: Caustic – 'Stimulation'

CAUSTIC
'Stimulation'
UNDUSTRIAL RECORDS

Following on from the Coil-inducing 'The Coital Staircase' comes a surprise EP from Matt Fanale in the form of 'Stimulation'. With critically acclaimed albums such as 'The Golden Vagina Of Fame And Profit', 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' and 'Industrial Music' under his belt it would forgivable if Fanale were to drop a few tracks that repeated previous successes. But instead we get a continuation from the more minimal and experimental sounds of the last single that takes what we thought Caustic was and once again moulds it into something new.

Featuring a more experimental and ambient textures, with a big does of old school minimal techno and ebm, but with a rhythmically pleasing core, the EP blends elements of Fanale's Jizzcore origins with analogue sounds (both melodic and dissonant) for thoughtful yet strangely infectious outing.

Tracks such as 'Mask Of A Face (Stoma v.0)', and 'Induction' feel the most experimental with their distorted dance beats surrounded my beeps and drones. While the likes of 'Buzzkill', 'Geistfick', and 'A.D.I.D.A.S' bring in the techno and ebm flavours with their bass and melodies powering the tracks forward.

The production is excellent. It's tempting to leave “experimental” influenced recordings as rough and ready as possible... because underground and low-fi etc. But Fanale gives these tracks the spit and polish they deserve, enhancing all of the elements within and letting them shine through whether melodic or dissonant.

This might be another curve-ball from Fanale, but there is no denying he is an artist of substance who seems to be able to assimilate different styles and genres with ease and still produce something that can only be described as Caustic. It remains to be seen as to whether this is a permanent stylistic direction, but in the here and now, 'Stimulation' is a great EP and worth your time.  

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Review: Caustic – 'The Coital Staircase'

CAUSTIC
'The Coital Staircase'
UNDUSTRIAL RECORDS

With a subtly subversive to industrial legends Coil, Caustic, AKA Matt Fanale returns with a new single comprising of... minimalist techno. Yep, if you're expecting hard beats, growled vocals and infectiously catchy leads then 'The Coital Staircase' will certainly confound you.

Slightly ambient, slightly psychedelic, the track builds from a simple repeating lead to an old school techno base interspersed with vocal samples, which again morphs further into something that sounds like the KLF on some serious chill pills. At eight-minutes long it's a nice sizeable offering, but a real curve-ball. It could of course be a classic example of Fanale toying with people's expectations, but it really does raise serious questions about his direction for the next Caustic full-length album.

Axhan's remix of the title track brings it nicely back towards it's nod to Coil with a grittier, slightly more primal industrial feel to it's central techno framework. Null Device bring in ethnic rhythms and a hint of new age into the mix to almost give it an air of mid-90s Enigma. Finally, the radio edit brings the single to a tidy close with a concise presentation of the original.

As you'd come to expect from Fanale's recent output, it is a really well written, surprisingly catchy and very well produced release. While there are certainly some old school nods at work on the original as well as the remixes, the single still sounds fresh and modern throughout.

This is an interesting move from Caustic, one that will have people scratching their heads until the next full-length album is released. But in the present this is a surprising yet delightful new face from on of the industrial scene's most exciting artists.  

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Review: Caustic – 'Industrial Music'

CAUSTIC
'Industrial Music'
NEGATIVE GAIN PRODUCTIONS

If 'The Golden Vagina Of Fame And Profit' was Matt Fanale's club album, and 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' was his grand concept album, then 'Industrial Music' is a return to his roots. Matt Fanale's recent output under the Caustic moniker, along with his work with Beauty Queen Autopsy, The Causticles and Prude has shown the world that the king of Jizzcore is industrial's answer to Mike Patton. Moving one from his DIY, rough and ready style into ever more eclectic waters Fanale has shown he has the sight and talent to create fresh, exciting and memorable music.

After another successful Kickstarter campaign, the first full-length Caustic album in three years – and the début on new label Negative Gain Productions – sees Fanale making a stand and embracing the industrial tag. Returning to the big distorted beats, crunchy synths and aggressive vocals that characterised his Crunch Pod years, but adding the skill and experience that made 'The Golden Vagina...' and 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' such must have albums. The cover may be a simple and straight forward design evocative of something from the heyday of Factory Records, but that black and yellow colour scheme should also serve as a warning that Fanale means business.

Tracks such as 'Bomb The Clubs', 'Scream Your Name', 'Military Facist Show', 'Fuck In A Suit', 'Toxic Waste', and 'Why Because' in essence hark back to the likes of 'This Is Jizzcore' and 'Unicorns, Kittens And Shit' with elements of breakbeat, industrial, noise, and hard ebm coming through. However the arrangements are more mature and well-rounded and there is still a nice club-potential feel on each of them. Also, lyrically the album is more dynamic, clear-minded, and vitriolic than ever and in keeping with the wry and intelligent humour of his previous two efforts. The end result is something that while it has that DIY feel to it, it is far more grown up and polished that could sit alongside classic album or two with ease..

The album also shows off the deeper and more subtle end of Fanale's sonic palette with the down-tempo and almost psychedelic 'Gravity Bong'. The dark malice of 'The Casualties' featuring the melodic counterpoint of Aaimon's Nancy. While the album's parting shot 'Bleached Asshole/The Deafening Beat Of My Heart' delves into rhythmic noise and dark ambient before erupting into the anguished and repeated screams of “All I hear is the deafening beat of my heart.” Its an incredibly powerful track that's strength lies in its simplicity and the impact of its final sentiment.

'Industrial Music' is a very strong album that shows more of Matt Fanale exposing himself as an artist than ever before. The humour is present, but less in your face in the music. The gritty DIY feel has returned, but is executed with greater skill and expertise than ever before. With this album Fanale continues to take risks and they continue to pay off for him. It is not an album that takes any steps backwards. It continues to push forward and in doing so reclaiming industrial music as a tag to be proud of.  

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Review: Caustic – 'Faux Caus'

CAUSTIC
'Faux Caus'
UNDUSTRIAL MUSIC

Only a concept such as a fake album could come from the mind of an artist like Matt Fanale. The king of jizzcore returns... only he doesn't. Not on this new Caustic album which doesn't feature one note of material by Caustic. Instead Fanale has invited his music making peers to each write what they think a Caustic song should be. The result is brilliant and best of all all proceeds go to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

The majority of the album focusses on recapturing the early caustic sound as heard on the likes of 'This Is Jizzcore' and '…And You Will know Me By The Trail Of Vomit' with an overall leaning towards powernoise and electro-punk from the various artists contributing. The likes of Flammpunkt, Killcrop, Null Device, Robots On Drugs, Fedorahead, and Pill Brigade provide some genuinely brilliant moments as embrace the spirit of jizzcore and evoke some tracks that would make you doubt that they weren't taken from Matt's own personal stash of unreleased monstrosities.

With this being a compilation and one where the low-fi early works of Caustic are being used as the main source of inspiration, it goes without saying that this is a rough and ready sounding track list. However it has been mixed and mastered well and maintains its focus across every track.

This may not be the new Caustic album most people were expecting, but it is a brilliant move from Fanale. In terms of his own songwriting his last two albums under the Caustic moniker, as well as his first full-length outing with Beauty Queen Autopsy have shown that he has grown substantially beyond his root sound. Yet there are plenty of endearing tracks contained within that part of his discography. So while Fanale continues to move onwards and upwards with each full-length studio album, why not invite some friends over to do their best impressions of you in the meantime? It's fun, it's different and most importantly it's all for a good cause.

Don't worry, Matt Fanale will return soon with the hotly anticipated REAL Caustic album 'Industrial Music'.

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Interview: Beauty Queen Autopsy

All these dirty thoughts...

“It's really different for me because Matt is doing all the writing, including lyrics. So for me it's how can I challenge myself to go as far into this character as possible, really embody her, and record amazing vocals so every song really shines, and tells part of the character's story.”

The collaboration between Erica Mulkey of Unwoman and Matt Fanale of Caustic has, in a short space of time, yielded one of the most interesting and dynamic electronic releases of recent years. Minimal in construction but vast in scope, the duo known as Beauty Queen Autopsy have been making people sit up and pay attention since the release of their 2013 demo 'Roughest Cuts'. 2015 sees the release of their full-length début album 'Lotharia' on Undustrial Records after the culmination of a successful crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter.
Intravenous Magazine caught up with Erica and Matt to discuss the Beauty Queen Autopsy story so far and their plans for the future.

Intravenous Magazine: First of all how did the idea for Beauty Queen Autopsy as a band come about?

Matt: It’s been a long gestating project in a lot of ways, but really came into focus in the last couple years. Erica and I had a few small collaborations previously (I helped her on an Attrition cover and she helped me on a track on 'The Golden Vagina of Fame And Profit') and in there somewhere I thought doing a different kind of project covering different themes and ideas that I normally couldn’t really do with Caustic, with me on lyrics, both of us on the music, and her singing would be fun. As the sound evolved I took more of the reins on everything except the vocals, but that’s what’s been working for us thus far, and we’re really happy with the results.

IVM: The band's moniker is a nice interplay of sex and violence. How did you settle on it and were there any other contenders?

Matt: When I came up with it I honestly just thought it was a provocative name, maybe a subtle nod one of my favourite bands Bikini Kill, who are one of several influences on the attitude and sound of BQA. It’s also open to several interpretations. Like the band itself it’s come to mean something different to us as the album evolved, as there’s a dissection of femininity and what women’s roles are expected to be.

IVM: At what point did you realise that you were onto something as a creative partnership?

Matt: Since we worked together a few times I think we had a good understanding how we already communicated. We’re also in a situation of mutual respect, where we both have a say in the final product as BQA represents both of us. We’ve had very few actual stumbling blocks.

IVM: As you're both primarily solo songwriters, what has the writing and recording process of your début album 'Lotharia' been like and did you take it as an opportunity to approach things differently?

Erica: It's really different for me because Matt is doing all the writing, including lyrics. So for me it's how can I challenge myself to go as far into this character as possible, really embody her, and record amazing vocals so every song really shines, and tells part of the character's story. I definitely have veto power and feel very listened to and respected on my musical and lyrical critiques, and the fact that I don't write the songs myself actually means it's easier to commit to them emotionally, because it's less personal, it's acting, but I can allow myself to feel them very personally.

Matt: It’s been a lot of fun to me to write lyrics that are actually sung. I just tend to scream a lot with Caustic, so it’s been a good challenge writing music with a melody that Erica can appreciate and work with. I just put together the best music and lyrics I can and let Erica knock the vocals out of the park. The layers of emotion and harmony she adds to the tracks does nothing but elevate the music.

IVM: What has the reception been to 'Lotharia' and Beauty Queen Autopsy been like so far?

Erica: I've been so pleased with the response. It seems both Matt and myself have acquaintances who don't like either of our solo stuff who love BQA!

Matt: It’s been surprising to a lot of people, as their expectations on what the collaboration would be is often shattered. People don’t expect me to write this way, especially lyrically, so it’s been rewarding to me to know we’ve been able to pull it off, and also that my instincts were dead on about this being a worthwhile creative idea.

IVM: The album is a diverse and varied mix of genres. What were your main inspirations when writing the album?

Matt: For BQA’s sound I was inspired a lot by EMA, Sleigh Bells, and The Kills in terms of the big distorted sound with a strong female vocal presence, but with a more sultry, femme fatale element to it. The lyrics were inspired by everyone from Jarvis Cocker and Brett Anderson to Liz Phair and PJ Harvey. All of those lyricists talk about people’s relationships in terms of little details to convey the emotion of the song. The poetry and lyrical details were big to me on this album.

IVM: The mixing was done courtesy of Tom Shear of Assemblage 23. What do you think he brought to the songs?

Erica: I was really excited to have his mixing talents as his releases are incredibly polished and impeccably mixed. Since Matt's tracks for BQA are a little noisy and though there aren't too many elements, if mixed badly they could easily turn out muddy, and we really wanted a delicious pop flavor. He definitely brought out some of Matt's more unique elements that needed spotlight, and overall made the tracks cohesive and glossy. I'm really pleased with the end result.

Matt: The joke I made early on was that we needed a Butch Vig to Nirvana type of mixer, or just someone who could clean up my sound and make it more palatable to a larger audience; to make it pop. Tom’s production chops are so honed that we knew that, even if this was different than what you’d normally hear Tom mix (I’m mostly familiar with his mixing more EBM/dance stuff), I knew his sensibilities would be dead on. I’m not a major audio nerd, but my friends that are conveyed how flawless his mixing was on this.

IVM: There's also a very strong sense of narrative thanks to the evocative lyrics and strong vocal performances. Is there a unifying thread at work and if so is this likely to be typical of future albums?

Matt: This is the story of one woman, and there’s a definite plot structure that came forward as the album developed. I’m not sure in terms of the next album continuing with the same story or we dive into another person’s life. The only thing I am sure of is that I have a pretty high standard of what I now expect from us, as does Erica, so I look forward to seeing where inspiration takes us.

IVM: You've previously covered The Sex Pistols 'Submission', and Placebo's 'Pure Morning' adding new dimensions to both tracks. Is this something that you will carry on on future releases, and if so what songs could we expect to get the BQA treatment?

Erica: We actually have two cover songs we're going to do for a couple special Kickstarter backers, and I'm pretty excited about those choices. We'll probably go ahead and release them once we've finished them, if not publicly at least to our core fans.

Matt: I tried to pick a few covers that wouldn’t be expected of us—doing tracks that originally had male vocals added a different element when Erica tackled the lyrics made the covers a lot more interesting to us than us covering something more, for lack of a better term, common. It’s fun to noise up a song that’s not typically heard that way, too.

IVM: The album was funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign and released via Matt's Undustrial Records label. Is this DIY ethic something that will continue with future releases and how important do you feel it is to maintain that independence in this musical climate?

Erica: I feel there's not a ton a label can do for us that we can't do well ourselves, especially since we're both so comfortable with self-promotion and crowdfunding; given that I'd just as soon maintain complete control of our image and music and I think Matt feels the same way.

Matt: Erica and I decided early on that we can handle this ourselves. In some ways it’s easier since we both know the drill and how to do this, so unlike our normal self-released material we can divide the duties better and know the other person can do their share. Like Erica said we wanted to control our own image, and we already received a decent amount of traction with the first EP and subsequent single so we knew there was an audience for our sound.

IVM: So far you've released a music video for the song 'Spread'. Where did the concept for that come from and are you happy with the end result?

Matt: The video is a fairly literal representation of the song itself. I came up with the concept and talked it over with my pal Maggie Snyder, who shot the video with me and did the editing. We both liked the thought of using elements of the Dogme 95 manifesto, which worked well with the scenario we were portraying and also within our tight budget. I think the end result was exactly what we were looking for, too. The video is sexy and visceral. It’s hot, and it’s heartbreaking. What more could we ask for?

IVM: Are there plans for any more videos in support of the album?

Matt: We’ll be putting up a few lyrics videos in the next coming weeks and have another one shot, but it still needs editing. That will hopefully be out in the next few months, as we’re trying to stagger them to keep some momentum going.

IVM: You've played live as Beauty Queen Autopsy once so far. Are there any more live dates planned?

Erica: I'm definitely hoping we play live again but nothing concrete is planned at the moment.

Matt: Yeah, we had a great time but with our schedules, especially mine with having another kid on the way, will have to open up for us to rock out live again. Our first show went amazingly well though, so hopefully something will happen in the future.

IVM: What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Matt: I’m finishing off my new Caustic album called ‘Industrial Music’, which will be out later this year on Negative Gain. Other than that just preparing for the next kid and trying to get all the Kickstarter rewards out the door.

IVM: Finally, going back to the subject of Kickstarter, do you think that glorious day will come when someone will finally pay you to punch Eric Gottesman in the balls?

Erica: I'll do it for free if we ever end up in a dark alley together, but so far he's managed to avoid that scenario.

Matt: I’ll take a quarter at this point. I just want to profit off that little man’s pain.




'Lotharia', the début album from Beauty Queen Autopsy is available now through Undustrial Records. For more information on the band, including upcoming liver performances and new releases, please visit their official website.  

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Review: Caustic – 'OBΔMΔCΔRE'

CAUSTIC 

'OBΔMΔCΔRE' 

UNDUSTRIAL RECORDS 

The lone shining light of Jizzcore, Matt Fanale, returns with another free release to add to the burgeoning and diverse Caustic catalogue. An eleven track EP, 'OBΔMΔCΔRE', features three new tracks, a slew of remixes and two covers of classic Babyland and Godflesh.

'OBΔMΔCΔRE' is a marked return to the “classic” Caustic sound. More stripped back than his recent long player output on 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' which featured a pronounced progressive streak. Here the tracks are harder, more rhythmically orientated and full of tongue-in-cheek wit.

The EP opens with 'Persistence of Anti-Division', an instrumental track that is driven by a simple central beat and pulsing bassline. It's minimalistic in it's approach but still quite satisfying. The second of the original tracks, 'More Requested To Not Stay Away From Uteri Than a Republican', continues the musical formula with a more up-tempo beat and airy melodic synths over a constant throb, while Fanale drenches his vocals in cavernous reverb. The final of the three 'Industrial Home Ownership' invokes the frantic madness of 'Booze Up And Riot' and 'The Bible, The Bottle, The Bomb' while Fanale does his best rant over the top of it.

The first of the covers is a lo-fi sounding cover of Babyland's 'Worse Case Scenario'. Again Fanale keeps it hard and gritty giving the song more bottom end than the original version. The same is true of 'Christbait Rising' which sees Fanale team up with Vomit Arsonist. It doesn't make any bold moves away from the original but tries to up the heaviness of the original.

The remixes courtesy of Loss, iVardensphere, Mahr, Slavo, Tinhead and Null Device all bring something new to their respected source material, ranging from club, to dub and dark ambient, which rounds off the tra

The lo-fi style and hard rhythms are a nice nod back to the earlier material in the Caustic discography. But this isn't a backwards step or a nostalgia trip. This is one of the many faces of the Caustic sound. Fanale may always be moving on in terms of his songwriting ability, but he doesn't forget where he has already been. ck list quite nicely.

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New from Caustic

Matt Fanale, AKA Caustic has unleashed another free EP of his own brand of industrial madness in the form of 'OBΔMΔCΔRE'.

The EP contains new cuts of Jizzcore such as 'Persistence of Anti-Division' as well as covers of Babyland's 'Worst Case Scenario' and Godflesh's 'Christbait Rising' as well as remixes from the likes of Null Device and iVardensphere.

In regards to the title of the album, Fanale had this to say:

“Because no other strangely spelled word in the English language today describes CAUSTIC as accurately. CAUSTIC regularly creates a tsunami of reactionary criticism, speculation, and sheer, uninformed hatred through his obviously baiting tactics for his unapologetic, take-no-prisoners industrial (and is it even CONSIDERED industrial? Start a debate over it! Argue about it on your Facebook!). However, HE WILL NOT BE SWAYED. The haters simply ignite a biggerer tsunami of creative wordplay and over-the-top war comparisons for the music he makes in his basement on a computer.”

Track List:

1.Persistence of Anti-Division
2. More Requested To Not Stay Away From Uteri Than a Republican
3. Industrial Home Ownership
4. Worst Case Scenario
5. Christbait Rising (VOMIT ARSONIST vs CAUSTIC)
6. Eyes Pried Wide (LOSS mix)
7. Industrial Home Ownership (SALVO mix)
8. Bring Out Your Dub (NULL DEVICE mix)
9. Must Have Pills (TINHEAD mix)
10.More Requested To Not Stay Away From Uteri Than a Republican (IVARDENSPHERE MIX)
11.Eyes Pried Wide (MAHR mix)

'OBΔMΔCΔRE' is available to download for free or to pay what you want via the Caustic bandcamp page. For more on Caustic, please visit the official website.

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Review: Caustic – 'The Coprophagia/Consummatia EP'

CAUSTIC 

'The Coprophagia/Consummatia EP' 

UNDUSTRIAL RECORDS  

Matt Fanale, (AKA the industrial necrophile) is back with the companion EP to his last full-length outing 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop'. A more complex offering (both musically and conceptually) that fans were used to, which saw Fanale build the album around the novel 'Ulysses' by James Joyce and follow two distinct story lines around a failed relationship and a revolution. It is this kind of ambition and determination that has seen Fanale prove himself time and time again, transforming Caustic from a musical oddity to a serious international name. He's still odd though. But in a good way.

Essentially the final six tracks from 'The Man That Couldn't Stop', 'The Coprophagia/Consummatia EP' harks back to the breakthrough success of 2011's 'The Golden Vagina Of Fame And Profit' in that it is a relentless dance floor assault. Hard beats, aggressive leads and shout-along vocals are on the menu, and despite the unpalatable title, it's a rather tasty sound.

Opening with the, “massive” sounding 'Massiv Aggressiv' (which features j-l from Straftanz), Fanale wastes no time in unleashing this assured dance floor hit. This is quickly followed by the playfully schizophrenic style of 'Hands Up (It's A Raid)', which has the pure fun of KMFDM's 'Me And My Gun'. 'Bring Out Your Dead' is a somewhat darker with its Skinny Puppy-esque steady beat and sinister-half whispered vocal over a catchy synth lead. 'Must Have Pills' again carries on the darker darker vibe with the hanging drone before morphing into a mid-paced dance track, but again retaining the down-beat vocal style. 'Gossamer' follows on down the dark path but this time it recalls the likes of 'White Knuckle Headfuck' with its steady dance pace, and damn addictive lead. The final track 'Eyes Pried Wide' is a wonderfully demented duet with Fanale's coarse whisper over the cavernous beat counterbalanced by airy synths and vocals courtesy of Meghan Rose.

As we've come to expect, the quality of Fanale's song-writing continues to grow and the production always brings out the best in the recordings. So much so, that it's becoming increasingly hard to find fault with his work on any level. This may be an off label EP released but Fanale hasn't scrimped on the quality of the music within. 'Massiv Aggressiv' , 'Hands Up (It's A Raid)' and 'Must Have Pills' are some of the finest dance floor offerings to have been stamped with the Caustic moniker. Fanale continues to aim high and surpass himself.

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Interview: Caustic

Matt Fanale — The Man Who Couldn't Stop...

"It’s also 20 times crazier and more raw than anything I put on '[The] Golden Vagina...', so it was a palette cleanser of sorts.  I wanted to say “Welcome to the party, fuckers.  This ain’t 'Golden Vagina', Pt II”."

If the breakthrough success of his 2011 album 'The Golden Vagina Of Fame And Profit' wasn't enough, Matt Fanale of Caustic fame released another daring and exciting work in the form of 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop'. Perhaps even more surprising is that 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' is a concept album based loosely around the novel Ulysses by James Joyce. That would be enough to raise more than a few eyebrows. Yet Matt has crafted an album that manages to balance dance floor appeal with genre pushing experiments.
As 2012 draws to a close and 2013 begins 'TMWCS' has begun making its way on to more and more critics top albums of the year lists, Sean Palfrey got Matt (The man who couldn't stop) to get in-depth regarding his latest work.



Intravenous Magazine: 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' has been out for a little while now, how do you feel it has been received so far?

Matt Fanale: I think it’s been received better than expected.  It’s not an easy album in a lot of respects, being as long as it is.  It’s not really meant for listening in one shot, you know?  The way I figured it though, people listen to stuff on shuffle all the time so even if they only enjoyed ten or twelve tracks they still got their money’s worth.  Fortunately people have really embraced the ideas and the diversity of styles seems to have kept a lot of people on board with listening to it all the way through.

I kept referring to this one as “The complicated album”.  I’m glad so many people have given it a chance and hope more people keep discovering it.


IVM: 'The Golden Vagina Of Fame And Profit' was a break out album for you and completely shattered a lot of people's expectations for Caustic. How did this effect your approach to song writing for the new album?

MF: In the simplest terms, I proved to myself I could do it.  “It” meaning make that kind of album and do it with some degree of success.  It was actually a weird place for me to be, as I actually made an album quite a few people liked, even people outside of my normal (and awesome) group of fans.  When ' [The] Golden Vagina...' came out and was essentially an extremely calculated attempt to put together a “club album”, and I quickly realized when I started thinking of the new album that I didn’t want to repeat that.  Maybe it was partially out of fear that I’d “sold out” or maybe it was just because I hate doing the same thing twice, but I wanted a new challenge, and since I felt I’d built up some karma in terms of my fan base I thought I’d go all in and try something crazy as shit for me: A concept album…of sorts.

I also thought it was funny to basically say to anyone new listening to my music that “You thought you knew Caustic.  You were wrong.”

It’s always been a major part of my thinking artistically that people think artists that take chances (which, to me, just means making what I like) are automatically more transgressive than artists that try and shock.  Personally I couldn’t be more bored with artists that try and shock, but that’s just because I think it’s easy and generally a substitute for actual creativity.  It doesn’t mean it can’t be done well, mind you, but it’s just not my thing, and while '[The] Golden Vagina...' was calculated it was done so as an experiment and test to myself, as I didn’t think I could pull it off.  I did for the most part, so I wanted to use that confidence to create something I’d never heard before.

You only live once, and it’s not like I have to worry about selling a million copies, so why not do exactly what I want to?

IVM: The album once again features several collaborations with artists such as Android Lust and iVardensphere. Which was the most satisfying for you and is there anyone you approach but didn't make an appearance in the end?

MF: Given that I had so many collaborations on '[The] Golden Vagina...' I actually wanted to keep the ones on this album to a minimum, but when I came up with 'Bleed You Out' I thought it would be amazing to see if Shikhee was interested in doing the vocals, as I was looking to make something that people wouldn’t expect from me (which is generally what I go for a lot of the time) and I figured nobody would expect a club anthem from me with Shikhee on vocals. It’s just not what we’re known for, and I think we both enjoyed it more because of that.

With Scott and my collaboration it just worked out as a nice coincidence, as I’d read an interview with him where he mentioned wanting to make a trip-hop project in the style of the original Bristol scene, and that was the exact vibe I was going for with 'Ghost Like Swayze'.  I emailed him and everything just worked out great.  It was nice doing a trade with Scott as I’d done vocals for Myopic on his last album 'Apok', so now we’re even Steven and can go back to hating each other.


IVM: Looking back to your earlier work how do you feel the new album stands up in comparison?

MF: Honestly everything is night and day.  Unlike a lot of artists in this scene people can actually chart the evolution of Caustic they can hear literally my first (awful) track until now.  I’ve had some complaints that people miss my noisier stuff, and I actually do go back to it sometimes, but I’ve put out a massive amount of music since my first EP and have learned a ridiculous amount since I started so there’s no way I can look back and even want to make that music anymore.  It’s just not interesting to me, and that’s not because I don’t love it, it’s just already been done. It’s no challenge to make it again.

It’s a bit of an odd comparison, especially since I wrote a song “about” them, but if you listen to AFI’s first few albums and where they’re at now you can hear the same kind of evolution.  I didn’t start making music with the expectation to get where I’m at now.  How could I, since I didn’t know shit when I started?  I love and respect all of my albums, massive faults and all, as they’re all Caustic.  They’re all me, and people all have their favourites and even though I might wonder why someone loves my first album best I kinda love that they do.  It means I was doing something right and something was connecting with people beyond the stupid titles.


IVM: 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' is loosely based around Ulysses by James Joyce and the eighteen tracks cover a huge range of styles and themes. Can you take us through your motivations, inspirations and influences track-by-track?

MF: I guess it’s important to note why I did this to begin with.  I’d had an idea brewing in my head for a few years in using Ulysses in some context for an album because I thought it was a ridiculous, completely overcomplicated idea…and it is/was.  I’d read Ulysses in college when I took a class on James Joyce, and was always fascinated by the complexity in it and the million references and interpretations you could glean from it.  Like Joyce I wanted to use another work of art — The Odyssey for him, Ulysses for me — to inspire a new work of art.  By the way, I’m not comparing anything I’ve done to the magnitude of Ulysses, by the way — it’s an unparalleled work of self-indulgent genius.  Mine’s…not that.

While directly following the story and its themes directly didn’t hold much interest to me because I simply didn’t think it would work (or end up being eighteen albums due tothe denseness), I found more inspiration in trying to pull elements or small ideas from each chapter of the book to write tracks based on them, adding my own references and relationships in the album between pairs/groups of songs, whether by direct link or, more often, to show a juxtaposition of them.  I also wanted to give a few nods to the overall structure of Ulysses by doing things like having spoken word intros to where the section breaks are in Ulysses (chapters 1-3, 4-15, 16-18).

One of the major themes in 'TMWCS' is of mirroring tracks (this was a huge influence on the “reflecting” effect in the album art as well), with titles and songs relating to each other in some ways (for instance, 'Failing at the School of Life' references school and youth while 'Fin (Again) Begin (Again)' is referencing the end of life in some ways. There are generally a few layers to each track: The song itself as a whole, the Ulysses (and by default Odyssey) reference and influence, the references to other works/artists in there, whether directly or stylistically, and then how the song may fit thematically with the whole album, since there are reoccurring images and words that pop up elsewhere at times.  Often there are several ideas coming through at once, but it’s really up to the listener to figure out which interpretation they want to take…or create their own.  I keep finding parallels myself as I listen to it and decipher it further, so please don’t take anything I say as “the definitive answer”.  The beauty of art is that the original intent can expand to mean much more depending on who’s interpreting it.  It’s all “correct”, regardless of what the song means to the composer.  Hell, 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police is about stalking an ex and I’ve heard it’s been the couple’s first dance at countless weddings.  So there you go.

There are also two basic story-lines, one about a failed relationship and one about an Occupy-ish revolution, completely separate from the Ulysses theme.  If you have the album art you get the track list of how they fit together, as essentially there are two concept albums WITHIN the concept album.  Soon they’ll both be added to, as well.

I called it 'The Man Who Couldn’t Stop' for a reason.  Actually, like five or six reasons, but I get into them more below.

As for the tracks…

'Failing at the School of Life' (based on Telemachus)- This is actually one of the few tracks I’d written lyrics for prior to quitting drinking, but felt right placing it in the album in the context. Like I mentioned above I thought it worked well as an introductory track in the sense that the title and images refer to the start of life and getting your ass kicked in school, but obviously in the context of your whole life.

It’s also 20 times crazier and more raw than anything I put on '[The] Golden Vagina...', so it was a palette cleanser of sorts.  I wanted to say “Welcome to the party, fuckers.  This ain’t 'Golden Vagina', Pt II”. I also loved how short and jagged it was in comparison to the relative elegance and length of 'Fin (Again)...'.

In terms of the Ulysses-ness of it, this chapter introduced the character of Stephen Daedelus, who, much like the song describes, is a bit of a loser who doesn’t have much direction.

'Laugh Like Mutants' (Nestor)- There were some themes and instances of anti-Semitism in this chapter towards Leopold Bloom, the novel’s main character, and it related to a song I’d written a bit earlier about the white power movement and how fucking stupid it is to me that people always scapegoat instead of taking the blame when they might have actually succeeded had they actually tried.

'Man-E-Faces' (Proteus)- There are a lot of themes of what identity is and people mixing up identities in the novel and how that confuse and cause harm in your lives.  'Man-E-Faces' is all about that and knowing who you are.  It’s also the name of a He-Man character who had three faces he switched in and out (maybe more- I just remember the action figure), so there’s a nerdy reference for everyone there.  I think this song is one of my favourites because it’s got so few elements but is the complete picture to me in terms of simple structure and power.  I also love it because it was where I really decided to start pushing my writing lyrically, which to me is one of the things I’m most pleased with in the album.  I still smile every time I hear the lyrics “Job had a very short list for Christmas”.

This one flowed out of me really fast.  It felt effortless. I wish all my music did.

'Bleed You Out' (Calypso)- Calypso in the Odyssey is a woman that held Ulysses hostage on an island, so this is a fairly direct translation, as it’s about a woman who gets a man in her grips sexually and won’t let him go. I had a few basic lines written for it and Shikhee improvised the rest. I was going for a modern Nitzer Ebb-y feel to it.

'Ghost Like Swayze' (Lotus Eaters)- This song is about getting high with someone you’re really into, and get more into them because you’re both high together.  Floating and wasting away the day.  It’s a huge love letter from iVardensphere and myself to the Bristol Wild Bunch trip-hop scene, with references to lyrics from Tricky and 3D, if I recall.  This isn’t what anyone expected from Scott and I, so I love it even more for that reason.

'Bury You Alive' (Hades)- This track’s a pretty obvious one about dragging someone to hell and destroying them.  I actually originally wrote it from the viewpoint of someone actually burying someone alive but realized it just sounded like a stupid terror ebm track, so I started it on a Suicide Commando vs Prodigy model, with more simple imagery which I think made it more powerful in the end.  I also love this track because I sampled my alma mater’s (UW-Madison) football cheer of “EAT SHIT! FUCK YOU!” for it.  Finding a loud “Eat shit!” on YouTube and then another clip of the “Fuck you!” was way too stupid, since they were all just videos that fans shot and only one side came across with the right volume.

'Bigger Better Faster NOW!!!' (Aeolus)- The part of this chapter that really resonated with me was the newspaper office where Bloom was going to buy an ad.  Like a lot of people I have an issue with people just buying the newest and best models of something so they can say they have it, not because the older model is even faulty or broken.  I’m not one of those people that hates consumer culture as much as hating how manipulative advertising is to make people think they have to buy the newest everything or they’re not keeping up with the rest of the world, so this is a fuck you to people who can’t think past the fact that commercials are written to prey on your fear and guilt so you’ll give them your money.

© Imago Mortis Photography

'PigEatBone' (Lestrygonians)- This may be the most directly translated chapter in some ways, as it actually uses a line of dialogue (“See the animals feed”) from Ulysses.  The song is similar to Bigger Better in that it’s attacking people who will say and do anything, including destroy people less fortunate than them, to make a buck.  I got arthouse with the samples too, as one was from Pasolini’s Salo (truly one of the most disturbing movies you could ever see) and a few others from The Cook The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (also disturbing).

'Stains on the Coattails' (Scylla and Chardblis)- Shakespeare, specifically Hamlet, is discussed a lot in this chapter, and it got me to thinking about how many people emulate their heroes to a fault artistically without ever developing their own style. It also related to a blog I wrote where I don’t think most people’s heroes would want to hear someone ripping them off, even if it was because they were so influenced by them.  It’s one of the more directly confrontational songs I wrote for the album, or at least it felt like it at the time.  I also peppered this with references to industrial and punk pioneers in the lyrics and the mantra of “respect it, dissect it, eject it, and go” is influenced from Pop Will Eat Itself’s “Sample It, Loop It, Fuck It and Eat It.”

There’s also a loop from Morrissey’s “Disappointed” hidden in there. Truly truly truly…

'Zen Castrato' (Wandering Rocks)- The symbolic “rock and a hard place, always ever changing” lyric directly relates to the Wandering Rocks chapter of The Odyssey, probably more than Ulysses.  In the Ulysses chapter there are nineteen vignettes about people in the city, so I decided to challenge myself and there are exactly nineteen “I’m through withs” in the rant.  It also starts off with a Red Hot Chili Pepper lyric, because I’m a dork.

I’ll also point out that in the original demo of this I sounded just like Chris Connelly.  Some people couldn’t believe I was the same vocalist on all of the (non-Shikhee) songs, but I wanted as much variety vocally as possible and pushed myself to try new techniques and manipulations with my voice.  It’s also because I figured people would get sick of me just screaming the same way for 75 minutes.

'Graver Guru' (Sirens)- This song’s title is another nod to Pop Will Eat Itself and their song 'Greebo Guru'.  I thought this was the dumbest idea I’ve come up with in a while (I hadn’t gotten into writing the upcoming Causticles album yet), where I messed with my voice to sound like some hip-hop girl from the streets, but rocking out dumb rhymes and references to other bands in the scene.  I probably don’t sound like some hip-hop girl, but that was what I was going for.  In relation to the chapter Sirens, I thought it would be funny to have the line “YOU CANNOT RESIST” in the song, and I’m making the comparison that that a DJ is a siren of sorts, calling everyone to the dance floor.

When people say they think this album could be considered pretentious I just think of how stupid the whole thought process for this track was. Yeah, not pretentious. Just intensely stupidly layered.

'We Never Learn' (Cyclops)- The whole chapter in Ulysses is set in a workman’s bar.  The original version of this song was more powernoisey and the demo went out as freebie track for my last Kickstarter, but I ended up halving the BPM and turning it into a 2nd wave electronic ska song.  Due to the Cyclops being a part of the Odyssey chapter I realized the myopic-ness of people in shitty circumstances (which I knew all too well) and how there’s no helping people who won’t help themselves.  I wrote this more as a celebration of being a fuck-up, which ends up being the weird source of pride for addicts, alcoholics, etc. who don’t want to deal with reality.  It also relates back to 'Laugh Like Mutants' and 'PigEatBone'.

'Internet Model'- (Nausicaa) This was maybe the track I was most worried about but most excited to put on the album, as it’s by far one of the least “Caustic” songs I’ve written. It plays heavily into the fantasy vs reality of relationships before, during, and after.  Originally it ended up having a bit of a Switchblade Symphony feel but Eric Oehler glitched it out a lot, and I had ideas of using a backing vocalist and was fortunate that my friend Dana was able to step in and provide some gorgeous textures to the track.

I also actually kinda sorta sang, which was…not easy.

'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' (Oxen of the Sun)- This may be the least related to the two texts that inspired the album, but in a lot of ways speaks about them in different ways.  'The Man Who Couldn’t Stop', as a title, refers to several things.  One is me, and this album, and how I wouldn’t just stop at 10-12 tracks like a “normal” album, and it’s also a reference to my not being able to stop drinking.  Another refers to James Joyce himself and how he wouldn’t stop adding layer after layer into the novel, showing style after style and reference after reference.  Another reference is to Odysseus, who wouldn’t stop until he returned home.  And yet another is where I got the title to begin with, from an underground 80s comic book story called Ed The Happy Clown, where “The Man Who Couldn’t Stop” was a character who literally shit nonstop until he drowned in his own crap (look to the album art and references in several of the songs to this wonderful subject matter).

This song, which was conceived and written as an homage to 80s labels Wax Trax and Touch and Go however, deals with the first and the last references mainly. It’s about overdoing it and the motivations and desperation that perpetuates it, which relates very directly to my life at times.  Conan Neutron of Victory and Associates added Big Black-y guitars harmonics over it as well, though vocally and lyrically I was also going for a bit of a Jesus Lizard vibe.

I also liked how I had the song cut off before it was over.  Klevar, Fanale…

'Suck Me Dry' (Circe)- This song both bookends the second “book” of Ulysses in the album, spoken word at the end and all, and is also a mirror of 'Bleed You Out', as the lyrics are in direct relation, from the male’s perspective, of the character Shikhee plays in the earlier track.  There’s even the repetition of the “begging for mercy” line. Originally the music was inspired by Suicide’s 'First Album', but I asked Dan from The Dark Clan to add some majorly reverbed Jesus and Mary Chain-y guitars over it to punk it up (note the Stooges reference in the lyrics).

Speaking of JAMC, the “plastic toy” line is out of Just Like Honey. I used to think they said “plastic toilet”. I also think I sound like Moby on his Animal Rights album in the breakdown. You probably don’t care, but if you’re still reading this I assume it’s at least a bit interesting still to you.

'Demon Seed Semen Deed' (Eumaeus)- In Ulysses there’s some discussion of Steven’s preoccupation with prostitution and it inspired the idea of a good ol’ manwhore song, but with a twist of him actually falling for someone as screwed up as him.  This is the opening track of the “concept album in a concept album” as it sets the tone for how well the relationship is destined to turn out.

'Collide With Me' (Ithaca)- If memory serves this was inspired partially by remembering the looks I got as a rivety kid from adults who looked down on me for wearing black all the time and thinking there was something wrong with me.  The chorus of “come collide with me” isn’t as much of a violent thing as a joining the fun thing.  A lot of the lyrics also relate to how I feel about my music in this scene, where I’m still the weird kid at the party a lot of the time.  What’s funny is that it’s maybe the most traditionally “industrial” sounding song on the album in many ways, as it’s got a very 242 feel to it which I love.

'Fin (Again) Begin (Again)'- eight minutes of repetition to represent the eight unpunctuality sentences ending the novel. The title references ending and beginning, but also Joyce’s last novel Finnegan’s Wake AND a stupid 80’s HBO movie called Finnegan Begin Again, which for some reason I remember seeing when I was a kid.  It’s all about the cycle starting over again though, so it eludes to the “Fail Better” ethos I’ve been pushing for a while in my blogs and on other albums.  I also really enjoyed starting the album off with a shorter, more breakcore inspired track and finishing with a slow, prettier, and significantly longer track.  Again, it’s the mirroring of tracks which adds some interesting dichotomies to the overall album.

IVM: The final track on the album 'Fin (Again) Begin (Again)' is a particular curve-ball that veers into dark ambient/neo-classical waters. Is this something that could could potentially feature more in your future work?

MF: Maybe, maybe not.  I never know exactly where my head is going to go but it has been nice getting such a positive reaction to the track in all of the reviews and from fans.  It certainly gave me a lot more confidence to try tracks like that more often.


IVM: Once again you chose to fund your album via Kickstarter. How was the reaction this time around?

MF: In one word: Insane.  I had hoped to equal my first Kickstarter, which was around $5,000, and instead hit $15,000 when all was said and done.  I’m STILL finishing up stuff for the backers, as I hadn’t in any way anticipated the response or how much I actually was going to need to do for everyone.  I refuse to half-ass it and just churn out everyone’s backing rewards, which meant unwrapping, signing, and writing a different message on over 250 CDs to backers.  I’m finishing off a lot of the fanfic stories this week for backers as well, and then I have to write seven new songs for different backers as well.

All well worth it, but I’m really looking forward to all of it being done finally…in a few months.


IVM: In a climate where major labels are pursuing file-sharers for breaching copyright your Kickstarter campaign managed to accumulate pledges of $100-300 at a time. What do you attribute this level of support to?

MF: I think it’s directly related to the relationship you have with your fanbase.  I make every effort to be available for people online and at shows and treat my social media sites — Facebook and Twitter especially — more like clubhouses for us all to hang out in and party.  I have an immense amount of fun doing this and try and make it as much fun for everyone else as well.

I also had no idea people would pledge that much in a lot of cases.  You kind of just set things up and hope for the best. I was (and still am) incredibly humbled by the support and faith people have shown in what I do. It makes me want to try even harder, as if my own perpetual drive to keep creating wasn’t enough.


IVM: It's evidently been a lot of work for you to fulfil your Kickstarter packages, but you've now finally completed this mammoth task. What will be on the agenda then for you going into 2013?

MF: As I mentioned I’m STILL finishing some stuff off, but 2013 will ideally be a year of side project releases, with Prude (the long gestating collaboration between myself, Jared from Chemlab, Howie Beno, Phil Infocollapse, and Marc Plastic), The Causticles (myself and Brian from The Gothsicles), CTRLSTIC (a 2009 live session with the CTRLSHFT kids), and Mutation (the live CTRLSHFT/Endif/Caustic show we did in 2006).  I’m also planning to release the last 6 tracks of 'The Man Who Couldn’t Stop', which will complete the two albums-in-the-album that I mentioned earlier.

Oh yeah, and I’m going to be a father this year, so I need to get as much of this done before I have to start changing diapers.  Luckily most of the side projects are nearly completed or already done, so it’s just a matter of getting the CDs pressed or finding labels to release them.  The Caustic stuff should be on Metropolis still though, as I don’t think they’re sick of me yet.


IVM: Finally, you shaved your beard off in the summer. What led to the decision to leave the “Fraternal Order of Beardy Weirdies”?

MF: I actually chopped it a while ago, but didn’t have any new press pictures taken so people didn’t know.  Mostly I just needed a change.  I could get into the myriad of reasons I just didn’t want it any more but the main one was I just needed to move on.  I went through a lot of shit with that beard so chopping it off signalled a new beginning of sorts for me.   A lot of this has.   And to anyone that misses it I could probably send you a lock.  I think I saved it somewhere.

And yes, that’s creepy.  But that’s how I roll, bitches.


Caustic's 'The Man Who Couldn't Stop' is available now from Metropolis Records. For all the latest news you can check out the official Caustic website.

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