SKINNY PUPPY FOUNDER CEVIN KEY TO RELEASE EARLY DEMOS

In the early days of Skinny Puppy, when the band was mostly just an idea, cEvin Key spent much of his time in his apartment, recording demos and experimenting with electronic equipment. These recordings, some of which went on to be the basis for early Skinny Puppy releases like Back and Forth, Bites, and Remission, are finally released as part of the famous Back and Forth series, through Toronto-based Artoffact Records.

Brap and Forth Vol. 8 is a collection of a dozen demos, out-takes, and braps by cEvin Key, recorded between 1983 and 1985. The collection finally gives us a glimpse into the birth of Skinny Puppy, those first experiments that would blossom and contort into the visionary sound of the band’s first albums. A dozen Bites and Remission-era demos are presented here, transferred from cEvin Key’s own archive, restored, and remastered. Three of the recordings feature Wilhelm Schroeder, aka Bill Leeb, founder and singer of Front Line Assembly, and of course an early Skinny Puppy band-member.

The release is bookended by two other demos from later periods, perhaps to emphasize the centrality that the earlier material represents.

Artoffact Records will be releasing Brap and Forth Vol. 8 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. There are several versions of the vinyl: an audiophile black edition and a limited yellow vinyl edition will receive wider release. The vinyl itself comes in a beautifully designed gatefold sleeve, with a digital version available to Bandcamp customers. The first pressing of the CD edition is housed in a beautifully designed digipak.

On top of this, a special collectors’ edition is made available, for which both label and cEvin Key have pulled out all the stops. This version, limited to 200 copies, is pressed on a special white and clear “inside-outside” effect vinyl. It is accompanied by a strictly limited 7” flexi disc vinyl, pressed on green and with silver foil text and design. The one-sided flexi features two exclusive, unreleased demos, which will not be available anywhere else (including no digital).

CEVIN KEY:

Bandcamp / Facebook

ARTOFFACT:

Bandcamp / Facebook

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Artoffact Records announce new vinyl reissues

This March 30th Toronto-based Artoffact Records will be releasing four very highly sought-after recordings from Skinny Puppy's Cevin Key and other various collaborators, including material from Hilt and PlatEAU, as well as very rare material from Lee Chubby King and The Flu. See below for the full release list:

THE FLU / A Collection Of Absolute Insanity - Between 1986 and 1989, Cevin Key (Skinny Puppy) and the late Alan Nelson (Hilt) spent countless hours recording out of Nelson's third story apartment at 781 Queen Street in Toronto as The Flu. The music they produced in those sessions is quite remarkable, blending electronics, guitars, live drums, drum machines, live singing by cats, and recordings from tele-personals, all with Al's inimitable lyrics and vocals. Artoffact Records is proud to offer a limited edition, double LP reissue of what is the absolute rarest Cevin Key-related album of all time, re-mastered for vinyl and using audio digitally transferred directly from the original masters.

LEE CHUBBY KING / Yo’ Pusface - This Beastie Boys-inspired record, originally released on Revolving Records in 1987, is one of the rarest pieces of Cevin Key lore. Lee Chubby King was a one-off project from Cevin Key, Alan Nelson (of Hilt), Dwayne Goettel (Skinny Puppy, Download, here as “Beat Master Duck”), and Lee Salford (who drummed on Tear Garden’s Tired Eyes Slowly Burning). With such an amazing crew, one can only expect magic, but one definitely doesn’t expect this! This Artoffact Records reissue will be released on 10” vinyl.

PLATEAU / Spacecake - For the first time, the brilliant second album from PlatEAU, i.e. Cevin Key (Skinny Puppy) and Phil Western (Download), with guest appearances from Tim Hill and kaRIN (Collide), finally sees the light of day on vinyl! This Artoffact Records edition is fully re-mastered, beautifully treated to an epic gatefold sleeve, and comes with a collectable, branded MP3 download card.

HILT / Minoot Bowl Dropped The Ball - Hilt is one of the strangest bands ever created. Rock? Punk? Electronic psychedelic experimental new wave? Formed by Vancouver rocker Alan Nelson, as well as Skinny Puppy members Cevin Key and Dwayne Goettel, the band signed with Nettwerk in the late 80s for two albums, and Key's Subconscious Communications released the third Hilt album, Minoot Bowl Dropped the Ball, in 2007. All three Hilt albums are now out of print. For the first time, Artoffact Records presents Hilt's third album on beautiful double vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve. Includes a collectable, branded download card.

ARTOFFACT: Bandcamp / Facebook

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DOWNLOAD to reissue NETTWERK catalogue via ARTOFFACT

Toronto-based label Artoffact Records announced in April that it would be reissuing the entire Nettwerk Records-owned catalogue of electronic and experimental group Download. The releases will come this summer, for the first time ever, on vinyl.

Download recorded three albums and one full-length EP for Nettwerk between 1996 and 2000: The Eyes of Stanley Pain, III, and Effector, along with the Sidewinder EP. Those albums, particularly The Eyes of Stanley Pain, have become legendary to electronic music fans and Skinny Puppy collectors alike. Famously, all the artwork, save for that on Effector, was done by Dave McKean.

Download started as a post-Skinny Puppy project, following the break-up of the famous industrial band in the mid-90s, initially as a collaboration between Cevin Key and the late Dwayne Goettel. Dead Voices on Air mastermind Mark Spybey, as well as Phil Western (AKA Philth) also joined the band. The band has recorded several albums for Nettwerk, Metropolis Records, and Key's own Subsconscious Communications imprint, and the majority of these have been reissued on vinyl by Artoffact.

Mark Spybey on recording The Eyes of Stanley Pain:

"Much of the Eyes of Stanley Pain and Sidewinder were recorded within a month, in very different circumstances to Furnace and Microscopic (which were largely made up of edited improvisations) shortly after Dwayne passed away and Phil’s temporary exit from the band. cEvin and I [Mark Spybey] held the fort and Ken Marshall engineered the recordings. Most of the recordings were done by cEvin and me with a lot of help from Ken. There was more of an emphasis on creating coherent song structures featuring more of my vocals. Extended members of the family contributed in passing and Anthony Valcic entered late in the day to help. Anthony and Ken for example did a lot of work on Glassblower, and my vocals were recorded in Bryan Adams' studio. It all came together very quickly. cEvin and I were determined to create a harsher, more aggressive feel to this album."

Details about the four new reissues can be found online at these links:

http://www.stormingthebase.com/download-the-eyes-of-stanley-pain-2lp-vinyl-splatter/

http://www.stormingthebase.com/download-sidewinder-vinyl-splatter/

http://www.stormingthebase.com/download-iii-2lp-vinyl-splatter/
http://www.stormingthebase.com/download-effector-2lp-vinyl-splatter/

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Review: cEvin Key – 'Music For Cats'

CEVIN KEY
'Music For Cats'
ARTOFFACT RECORDS

There really isn't anything that cEvin Key can't do. The pioneering Canadian musician has made his name with Skinny Puppy and a whole host of side projects over the years. Everything from Industrial to Dub has been successfully incorporated into his musical palette. It is with this in mind that Artoffact Records have seen fit to re-release his 1998 solo début 'Music For Cats' on vinyl after years as a digital download only. So the time seems right for a retrospective review to see how the album holds up nearly 20 years later.

At the time the album was first released, Skinny Puppy had just been dissolved and Key was unencumbered by any pre-existing expectations for this first release. As such the album is a heady and experimental clash of styles that encompass classical influences, glitch, erratic and noise-driven pieces and collaborations with a number of artists including Dwayne Goettel (Skinny Puppy), Genesis P.Orridge (Psychic TV, Throbbing Gristle), Philth (Download),and Mark Spybey (Dead Voices on Air).

The opening track 'Music Für Cats' immediately kicks in with a symphonic score that shows off the true depth of Key's song writing talent. This then fades into the electro-industrial sci-fi style of 'Wind On Small Paws'. The ten-plus minutes of 'Meteorite' follows on with it's crazy glitchy beats and circuit bent sounds.

There is some familiar territory though as tracks such as 'Bird', 'Blotter', 'Inside Jam World', 'Greenhouse Gasses', 'Beauty Is The Enemy', and 'Full Circle' provide more accessible listening, if still somewhat more experimental than Skinny Puppy fans would have been used to.

'Music For Cats' is an esoteric exorcism that see's Key's ideas unrestrained my commercial bias or traditional structures. It is gritty, noisy, and against the grain. But at the same time there are infectious melodies and an almost soundtrack quality in places that make it quite listenable.

It may no be everyone's cup of tear, but 'Music For Cats' is an interesting and well-crafted album full of imagination. There is little club potential and it isn't the kind of album made with mass consumption in mind. But that's kind of the point. It is Key, uninhibited by his past. Perhaps it is one for the completists, but fans of experimental electronics will also find something here to get stuck into.  

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