records

Domestic Exile Releases

DEX001

Fist & Shout' is the debut release from Glasgow band Total Leatherette and the first to be released on Domestic Exile.

Recorded at the now infamous Green Door Studios, the album is a raw, visceral interpretation of instrumental post-punk, no wave, drone and industrial, complete with a fully immersive and foreboding gothic atmosphere.

Traces of minimal electronics and manipulated effects / vocals are present throughout, engulfing ones entire body with a sudden cold adrenaline rush - teeth rattling, muscles contracting, nails nervously scratching at walls, shivering - a combination of detached, minimalist drum machines, rhythmic noise and dense processed mutations mechanically dislocating as if oil is needed to stop the rust from corroding the engine. Chilling feedback loops, effects pedals and brutal yet infectious bass guitar grooves leave us stunned, shackled, agitated, weary and submissive.

Thematically channelling a hidden narrative of societal repression, queer sexual frustration and sleazy hedonism, the record conveys a twisted and alienating distorted version of reality.

During live performances the duo are shrouded in darkness, venues left pitch black with nothing but strobe lights to disturb ones eye sight. The intense and thought provoking suspense that is experienced at a Leatherette show uniquely translates to the duos recorded material.

Musically, influences can be traced back to radical counter-culture movements and their pioneers; most notably D.A.F., Malaria and Geile Teire during Berlins NDW period through to the 'Ambulance Station' nexus - Bourbonese Qualk and Zahgurim in London or Ike Yard, Nitzer Ebb and R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day during New York’s No Wave period to Minimal Man, however it is important to note that while comparisons can be drawn the music of Leatherette is never derivative or emulating in its approach.

DEX002

Another Exhibition by The Modern Institute

An unflinching, disturbing and satirical commentary on the detached veneer and inaccessibility of the contemporary art world.

Absurdist stream of consciousness lyrics with a sharp-witted, observational and deadpan delivery with an indulgent narcissistic tendency of self-gratification and worship that seems to distort the nature of one's own reality as demonstrated on the first track of the tape 'From Eye To Eye' where Christ The Messiah's crown of thorns is referenced.

Pointillistic microtonal frequencies flicker and scatter. Arpeggiated clinical wave to besmirched and dissonant atonal industrial sensibilities; drenched in thick layers of smudgy, grubby greyscale downtrodden tekno. Saturated, blotchy drum machines that metamorphose into idiosyncratic throbbing dancehall riddims to the densely compressed, asphyxiated layers of nauseating noise and feedback drone.

This one perturbs our cognition making our inner organs tremble and quake in sheer disbelief. An absolute peculiarity. Utterly remarkable.

~~~~

Here is the artist's statement, accompanying the music below:

"Another exhibition at The Modern Institute.

As communication is becoming less and less trustworthy – and one could say, purposely and progressively emptied out of meaning through politics and mass media – we search for meanings that lie elsewhere.

How can we free ourselves from set definitions enforced by spoken language’s power structures? This current exhibition (or rather the works within it) deal with the relative non-state and impossibility of that passage. This sort of empirical navigation can’t be discovered through an unavoidable application—its compass is the unconscious knot that throbs in your lower gut when you learn your therapist’s office is one level up from the fine French bistro where you first met.

In this new ambitious Exhibition by The Modern Institute, the subtle frictions of—faux—eel skin, ostrich, snake, crocodile make for a tactile image of vital interiority; and keep one from slipping haplessly through the ceiling cracks.

The Modern Institutes recent awards include Werkbeitrag, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia; Weiner Werkstipendium (Art Prize) City of Zurich, CH; and Art Prize 2011, Nationale Suisse Credit, Basel, CH; the recipient of a selection of very important awards such as the Spanish National Radio prize ‘El Rojo Crítico’, J. Vettriano Excellence Achievement, and scholarship from the Pièce Montée Fondantion in Paris. The Modern Institute have been awarded by a number of institutions including Arts Council Britain and Helvetia Arts Council, and National Council of the Kingdom of Iceland."
~~~~

Another Exhibition' by The Modern Institute.
DEX002
Pro dubbed c70 cassette with risographed artwork & encased in coalesced molten candy floss blue and pink expandable foam
Mastering by Richard McMaster.
Design credit to Katie Shannon.
credits
released December 12, 2016

DEX003 We Are All Very Anxious by SUE ZUKI (11 track album)
SUE ZUKI’s inaugural recorded document the ''WE ARE ALL VERY ANXIOUS'' tape is in our opinion one of the most innovative audio expeditions that has resonated with us. Boldly defying and deconstructing conventional genre tropes we aren’t being bias by saying that either. This is a genuinely sincere perspective.

The key to SUE ZUKI’s music is her vocals where she misanthropically preaches the records themes of psychological alienation and despair, trapped within an augmented virtual reality. Whilst trapped and unable to properly function inside this distorted simulation there are the bewildering sounds of a thousand voices and ‘every conversation’ unhealthily looping inside you’re mind, through the echo chamber. Manifesting into a bleakly; vacuous, neurotic obsession and feelings of inadequacy, a desperate plea, blinded and fatigued by the unnerving glare of the computer screen, processing too much information and not knowing if the human ‘interactions’ you’re experiencing are genuine or artificial.

The trauma of this hollow existence is further emphasised with the combination of fragmented and jarring rhythmic grime percussive kick drums that is boosted by the metallic coiling density of detached, propulsive industrial structures. Synthetic frequencies writhe, becoming more lysergic as they progress. DnB tempos accelerate and shift in pitch as if in an erratic state of panic, dissonant foreboding drones absorb you as if drowning under the hypothermic pressure of the deepest, coldest and darkest frozen oceans. Throbbing sub bass fuelled with dread and agonising noise grips you into a suffocating claustrophobia, compressing further and further.

Rather than suppressing these feelings of insecurity and affliction there is a degree of exaggerated, self-deprecating sardonic humour that gradually unravels helping to confront the despondent nature of the record. Accompanied also by subdued, fragile and sunken RnB / Rhythm and Gloom vocals with desolate acoustic guitar fusions which overall provides an empathetic tone. SUE ZUKI’s music is a profound and startling glimpse into the growing cultural discomfort and paranoia of the conscious state of the human condition in the 21st Century.

~~~~

'WE ARE ALL VERY ANXIOUS' by SUE ZUKI
DEX003

Pro dubbed c60 cassette with digitally printed artwork to be released in March 2017.

Design by Jason Kerley.
credits
released May 4, 2017
DEX004 SUNP0101 by Grim Lusk
For those who are already familiar with Grim Lusk’s varied recording projects, established elements are further developed as sublimely demonstrated on the sample and loop based ‘Search’, an abstract blunted dub / hip-hop excursion that echoes the unconventional experimentalism of WordSound Records / Sensational. Shuffles, ricochets and shimmers before becoming more narcotic like a subdued dreamy languor.

Free from constraints, transcending into ‘It’s My Nature’, as all of that serotonin depletion is suddenly transformed into nutritional sustenance. A scintillating hallucinogenic, hypnotic collage of exotic rhythmic disco percussion patterns which organically blossoms and glistens, ascending to the sky above like the feathery wildlife spreading their wings on the front sleeve with uninhibited adventure and freedom; a luscious, evocative, beguiling anomaly. ‘Sea Club-Rush’ further develops the experimental shape shifting, with a dense, drowsy sludgy quagmire of oddball tekno discombobulations, before the record submerges into the deepest of voids, a k-hole induced sense of purposeful confusion and disorientation.

Depressurised as if drifting in the mysterious vacuum of space or a vast ocean whilst subtle layers of distorted bass prod at you to keep you afloat, ‘It’s Happening’ utilises a descending Shepard – Risset Glissando to leave you barely clinging on to reality, the tone appears to fall continuously in pitch almost as if you are experiencing an astral projection that is submerging under an ominous iceberg strewn antarctic ocean, trapped within a dissociated nightmare that you can’t escape. ‘Yes He Did’ has an infectious and killer bouncing boogie bass guitar spread over a slippery, lopsided beat which never quite settles; weaving in and out further bewitching your mind.

The record culminates in the downtempo ‘Laces’, pulling you into the all-consuming squelch and pressure of the suction below; a claustrophobic suffocation that intensely builds up suspense, squeezing and melting as it develops. Reminiscent of Sherwood’s exceptional technique of incisively slicing, cutting and pasting manipulated dub / industrial percussion, ‘Laces’ works equally well at 45rpm.

In its fullness, the sounds presented on ‘SUNP0101’ are an intoxicating slip down a neon-lined chute into eternal dance floor darkness.

~~~~

'SUNP0101' by Grim Lusk
DEX004

~~~~

Immaculate and surrealist sleeve artwork by Australian-born, London-based designer Brodie Kaman.

cargocollective.com/brodiekaman

~~~~

Mastering by Ten Eight Seven (London, England)

www.teneightsevenmastering.co.uk

~~~~

Distribution by Rubadub (Glasgow, Scotland)

www.rubadub.co.uk
credits
released July 30, 2018
DEX3.5 Hilja by Cucina Povera
We are proud to bring you a limited cassette edition of Cucina Povera's blinding debut album, 'Hilja'. The album was originally released on LP and digital platforms via Night School Records in collaboration with Domestic Exile. We have manufactured a limited run of 50 cassettes, 30 of which will be distributed worldwide by Rubadub Records and the remainder will be available via the Domestic Exile bandcamp page and in-store at Monorail Music in Glasgow, Scotland.

The original press release read as follows:

'An ethereal, unresolved presence fading into the stereo field, Hilja breathes into life with a haunted synth line and self-sampling vocal hook that instantly creates an enchanted space. Hilja is the debut album by Glasgow-based musician Maria Rossi aka Cucina Povera. Named after a style of southern Italian traditional cooking associated with precarity and making-do, a philosophy of simplicity and stoicism that applies perfectly to the spare but beautiful music Rossi experiments with. Hilja’s marriage of minimal synth, field recordings and the hymnal dexterity of Rossi’s vocal performances creates a new language, sometimes literally, to be spoken in some mythological Fourth World we’ve yet to create.

Originally from Finland, Rossi brings an acute sense of space, surroundings, and practicality to her working practice, with each composition often relying on a limited sound palette to create deeply affecting messages which transcend language. Cucina Povera’s power is to communicate purely, often down to the solo-choir nature of Rossi’s multi-layered voice, an achingly beautiful instrument which has seems to have an innate spirituality in its grain. The tension between the means and the end is at the heart of Cucina Povera, the invocation of a kind of secular spirituality at times using nothing but Rossi’s voice. Indeed there’s almost a Dogme-like purity to the arrangements: Elektra is a soothing song based around the lapping waves of Rossi’s wordless backing vocals and a simple field recording of stones knocked together. Kehoitus is completely a cappella, a haunted fairytale told in glossolalia, evoking a quasi-religious experience with very little.

For music often minimal and simple there’s a boldness that belies Hilja’s status as a debut. Rossi allows each word, each sound and rhythm to exist in its own space, finding its own relationship with its surroundings. Mesikämmenen Veisu is perhaps the most ecclesiastical sounding composition here; burbling water trickles below a virtuoso vocal, with incredible arrangements in several registers undulating above. A meditation to relieve hunger and restriction, it’s a perfect summing up of Hilja, a music ambient but completely earthed, finding enchantment in what you have to hand, the realism of magic, the magic of realism.'
credits
released October 1, 2018
DEX005 H+Sexualis by KLEFT
Domestic Exile are proud to present the devastatingly deplorable and malevolent recordings (that are sure to corrode yet electrify your ears) by Glasgow’s very own KLEFT.

KLEFT aka Vickie McDonald is rooted in and has actively propagated the underground DIY radical queer punk and feminist movement here in Glasgow. Their projects have included the skull crushing sludge doom of Cartilage, the unflinching and infamous multi- membered hard core stars that were DIVORCE and the sacrificial, druid drone glitch of MOURN. Alongside these projects they have uncompromisingly disrupted, motivated and facilitated collective endeavours to take down the capital power structure of the dominant system of patriarchal club venues and abhorrent fuckers in this town.

For this record ‘H+ Sexualis’, KLEFT explores the neo-modern space where flesh is left behind. Negotiating, analysing and tearing to shreds the relationship and balance between flesh and technology. KLEFT’s expansive and palpable sonic offerings delve into themes of transhumanism and body hacking and seep into our collective skin begging the question; can flesh ever be created digitally. Does a lack of physicality alienate human experience in a post transhumanism society? Are we all destined to be skinless yet digitally connected? Will the body become superfluous? Toward "the utopian dream of the hope for a monstrous world without gender," as stated on Donna Haraway’s essay ‘‘A Cyborg Manifesto.”

From the opening track ‘Ossein’ the listener grasps a foreboding lethargic build up, lurking out of the spatial ritualistic shadows into a sea of suffocating nothingness. A void where there is no gravity. Skeletal and brittle shattering rhythms which echo DMZ / Skull Disco dubstep alongside the more frozen, glacial ominous explorations of grime are often felt proving KLEFT is an artist whose inspirations run deep and wide and generally exist in the darkest recesses of our subconscious. These fearful, disjointed rhythms are set against weightless atmospheric oscillated synths, as if roaming through bleakly opaque, claustrophobic narrow corridors on a first person survival horror video game such as Resident Evil.

Moving through to ‘CMBR’, KLEFT’s dissonant, degrading soundscape ferociously ascends. The resilient kick drum is propulsive and pulverising akin to ‘aaaardcore tekno - or intense gabber if you have the guts to adjust the tempo up to +8 - aesthetics that overwhelm and agitate finally revealing it’s grotesque biological / amorphous bio structure. Elevating the repetitive 4/4 kick to a destructive, distorted banger of a track as layers of converging atonal noise and sound design simultaneously further enhances the sense of imminent radioactive contamination.

Next is ‘Writhe, Squirm, Broken’ continuing the convulsive, nauseating permutations of the prior track but reconfigured like a mangled, gruesome Cronenberg-esque parasite that has infiltrated an open wound, excruciatingly feeding off of the inner anatomy of it’s hosts body from within. Repulsively reformulating the shape and dimension. The intro is akin to a panic stricken bouncy ball contracting and expanding, the spring reverb building momentum and traveling further away in distance and speed.

‘Hackfleisch Deluxe’ is a muuurrderous stomper and is one of the more grime / bass orientated tracks that deconstructs and disrupts the tempo familiar to sub-low producers on Black Ops / Jon E Cash / DJ Dread D. The crawling, plummeting frequency of the synth is a nauseating rush of coagulating blood to the heed; a deep throbbing sensory depravation in sharp, paradoxical contrast with the driving eski melody layered on top which proves to be infectiously addictive. Furthermore are splintering programmed vocal samples that gives a sense of artificial disorientation, mind over matter, a possible hint at our evolving sentient cognition within a nightmarish simulated, augmented reality?

Second to last we have ‘Keratin’ which is filled with the near fatal dissolving thud of Djax-Up acid that gives the impression that you’re a biologist peering through a microscope into a petrie dish and witnessing the rapid and furious genetic cellular replication of bacterial and viral organisms.

Culminating in ‘Bruised and Bleeding Hands’ where the squashed density of a deflated and depressurised helium filled balloon and elastic umbilical cords, barbed wire and copper wires grind n’ coil around the lens of a zooming camera. Taking no prisoners, this is a punishing grime weapon. A phat, surgical kick drum bulldozes its way thru causing carnage, syncopated punching snares after every rave stab and dizzying third beat. It won’t be long until ye hear this on Silver Drizzle’s youtube channel in the near future.

This record transports us to the hyperkinetic mutation scene on the cult cyberpunk film Tetsuo The Iron Man where the organic flesh / mechanical rust of the Iron Man metamorphoses with the Metal Fetishist during the rebirth sequence and we say “LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!’'.

~~~~

'H+ Sexualis' by KLEFT
DEX005

~~~~

Exceptional, unsettling and nauseating sleeve design / photography by Vickie McDonald

~~~~

Mastering by Ten Eight Seven (London, England)

www.teneightsevenmastering.co.uk

~~~~

Distribution by Rubadub (Glasgow, Scotland)

www.rubadub.co.uk
credits
released January 21, 2019

DEX006

Domestic Exile returns with the debut LP by Portuguese artist Luar Domatrix. LD has previously operated as 1/2 of Lisbon duo Yong Yong on Akashic Records and Night School, reworked traditional Portuguese workers songs for Discrepant Records, and released other solo material on Sucata Tapes, 12th Isle and Offshore Drilling Limited.

Recorded between Lisbon and Glasgow, track 08 from the record 'I'll Fly With You' has featured on The Wire magazine’s Below The Radar 33 compilation as well as being supported by the likes of Jon K, Debonair, SIREN, Latete Atoto, SUE ZUKI and Body Motion on their respected NTS Radio shows. Bokeh Versions on Noods Radio and Vaj Power on Subcity Radio.

‘Nova Vida Passada’, which translated from Portugese means ‘New Past Life’, surveys the progressive expressions, technological innovations and futuristic aesthetics of late 90's & early 00's R&B, Hip Hop and Pop culture. NVP explores the way in which visionary songs of that nature can demonstrate being intimate and lavish but at the same time anonymous, intangible, enigmatic & metaphysical. Luminescent, glacial synthesisers merge with syncopated, multi-layered accelerated metallic percussion. Ebullient rhythms conjure up flourishing, intricate fractal patterns whilst euphoric, fragmented vocal edits gaze into a dazzling, psychedelic, precious crystal opal gemstone. How the moral sensibility of music is ever changing with the passage of time and propositions the listener to reflect upon the dynamics, ethics and desires of a generation. What does the ‘90s’ spirit epitomise? Music videos with abstract ice particle brick walls, gravitational fields, silver pagers, holographic iridescent spaceships, moral dilemmas and aluminium cyborg feelings. Pop music reverberating loud in a sci-fi celestial club in the distant future. Channels the same energies as Equiknoxx, NAAFI, Hakuna Kulala, BFDM and fellow Lisboners Principe.

--------

Physical copies of the 12" LP can be purchased directly from Rubadub:

www.rubadub.co.uk/records/nova-vida-passada

--------

Mastering by Ten Eight Seven
Distribution by Rubadub Records
credits
released June 29, 2020

DEX007
Domestic Exile warmly welcome the return of Grim Lusk, coming full circle to follow up 2018’s ‘SUNP0101’ after releasing under their Dip Friso and Sunny Balm aliases in the interim. ‘Diving Pool’ is a hallucinogenic concoction of marshy, aquatic, oscillated dubs and skittering, microtonal beat experiments. Grim Lusk's signature production style is in full effect, often occupying some liminal space nearing offbeat discordancy, but beautifully pulling together on the brink.

Gelatinous machine funk rhythms and sweet, syrupy dub bass ooozing with a vibrant convergence of bright psychedelic greens, yellows and oranges, akin to bubbling sulphur pools and lava lakes, are present throughout the 6 tracks; Nuovo takes late 80’s drum machine patterns and twists them up with rough-cut vocal chops and long-form sampling of a 60’s film on the first iteration of ‘Il Gruppo”. Striding into the turbulent sea, Partans is kept jovial by rim shots, cymbals and snares fed back over the forward bass buzz. Not Enough is a bizarre, primordial, stretched-out gloop sludge half-speed version of the B-side track Too Much, twisted into new rhythmic territory by an off-kilter breakbeat sample.

Diving Pool takes crushed, bouncing drum machines and loop-focussed experimentation to find incidental interplay between the two, whilst somehow retaining ebullient make-you-movable gusto. Angular rhythm and zealous sample manipulation seep through in Too Much, live drums patched, extrapolated and pulled further out in the mix, where jump cuts between familiar vocal chops and distorted tape delay contort manically- a warped, swinging echo of Slum Village's ‘I Don’t Know’. Wazoo rounds things out with the most club-leaning moment of the record, a saturated, throbbing atmosphere hanging over a beat-up, lurching drum sample layered with malleable pitched percussion and fuzz guitar.

Peculiar shapes, fragmented shards of rhythmic patterns, crushed, crystallised snares, and congealed, jelly-like dubs; the music embodies a sense of carefree fun and playfulness, where dissolving layers of organic echoes, warm, slippery reverbs, and expansive phaser EFX stretch out into nebulous space…

released August 29, 2022

Illustrations by Sensi. Mastering by Ten Eight Seven. Distribution by Rubadub.

0
Archive of record & tape releases, radio projects, music video commisions, record sleeve designs and music supervision.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Domestic Exile was an event series and record/tape label which ran from 2015-2023, organised by Conal Blake, Gareth Roberts, Katie Shannon and Alicia Matthews releasing mostly debut records from artists from Glasgow's DIY music scene. Distributed around the globe by Rubadub.

~~~~

DEX001

Fist & Shout' is the debut release from Glasgow band Total Leatherette and the first to be released on Domestic Exile.

Recorded at the now infamous Green Door Studios, the album is a raw, visceral interpretation of instrumental post-punk, no wave, drone and industrial, complete with a fully immersive and foreboding gothic atmosphere.

Traces of minimal electronics and manipulated effects / vocals are present throughout, engulfing ones entire body with a sudden cold adrenaline rush - teeth rattling, muscles contracting, nails nervously scratching at walls, shivering - a combination of detached, minimalist drum machines, rhythmic noise and dense processed mutations mechanically dislocating as if oil is needed to stop the rust from corroding the engine. Chilling feedback loops, effects pedals and brutal yet infectious bass guitar grooves leave us stunned, shackled, agitated, weary and submissive.

Thematically channelling a hidden narrative of societal repression, queer sexual frustration and sleazy hedonism, the record conveys a twisted and alienating distorted version of reality.

During live performances the duo are shrouded in darkness, venues left pitch black with nothing but strobe lights to disturb ones eye sight. The intense and thought provoking suspense that is experienced at a Leatherette show uniquely translates to the duos recorded material.

Musically, influences can be traced back to radical counter-culture movements and their pioneers; most notably D.A.F., Malaria and Geile Teire during Berlins NDW period through to the 'Ambulance Station' nexus - Bourbonese Qualk and Zahgurim in London or Ike Yard, Nitzer Ebb and R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day during New York’s No Wave period to Minimal Man, however it is important to note that while comparisons can be drawn the music of Leatherette is never derivative or emulating in its approach.

~~~~

DEX002

Another Exhibition by The Modern Institute released

An unflinching, disturbing and satirical commentary on the detached veneer and inaccessibility of the contemporary art world.

Absurdist stream of consciousness lyrics with a sharp-witted, observational and deadpan delivery with an indulgent narcissistic tendency of self-gratification and worship that seems to distort the nature of one's own reality as demonstrated on the first track of the tape 'From Eye To Eye' where Christ The Messiah's crown of thorns is referenced.

Pointillistic microtonal frequencies flicker and scatter. Arpeggiated clinical wave to besmirched and dissonant atonal industrial sensibilities; drenched in thick layers of smudgy, grubby greyscale downtrodden tekno. Saturated, blotchy drum machines that metamorphose into idiosyncratic throbbing dancehall riddims to the densely compressed, asphyxiated layers of nauseating noise and feedback drone.

This one perturbs our cognition making our inner organs tremble and quake in sheer disbelief. An absolute peculiarity. Utterly remarkable.

Here is the artist's statement, accompanying the music below:

"Another exhibition at The Modern Institute.

As communication is becoming less and less trustworthy – and one could say, purposely and progressively emptied out of meaning through politics and mass media – we search for meanings that lie elsewhere.

How can we free ourselves from set definitions enforced by spoken language’s power structures? This current exhibition (or rather the works within it) deal with the relative non-state and impossibility of that passage. This sort of empirical navigation can’t be discovered through an unavoidable application—its compass is the unconscious knot that throbs in your lower gut when you learn your therapist’s office is one level up from the fine French bistro where you first met.

In this new ambitious Exhibition by The Modern Institute, the subtle frictions of—faux—eel skin, ostrich, snake, crocodile make for a tactile image of vital interiority; and keep one from slipping haplessly through the ceiling cracks.

The Modern Institutes recent awards include Werkbeitrag, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia; Weiner Werkstipendium (Art Prize) City of Zurich, CH; and Art Prize 2011, Nationale Suisse Credit, Basel, CH; the recipient of a selection of very important awards such as the Spanish National Radio prize ‘El Rojo Crítico’, J. Vettriano Excellence Achievement, and scholarship from the Pièce Montée Fondantion in Paris. The Modern Institute have been awarded by a number of institutions including Arts Council Britain and Helvetia Arts Council, and National Council of the Kingdom of Iceland."

['Another Exhibition' by The Modern Institute.
DEX002
Pro dubbed c70 cassette with risographed artwork & encased in coalesced molten candy floss blue and pink expandable foam
Mastering by Richard McMaster.
Design credit to Katie Shannon.
credits
released December 12, 2016]

~~~~

DEX003

We Are All Very Anxious by SUE ZUKI (11 track album)

SUE ZUKI’s inaugural recorded document the ''WE ARE ALL VERY ANXIOUS'' tape is in our opinion one of the most innovative audio expeditions that has resonated with us. Boldly defying and deconstructing conventional genre tropes we aren’t being bias by saying that either. This is a genuinely sincere perspective.

The key to SUE ZUKI’s music is her vocals where she misanthropically preaches the records themes of psychological alienation and despair, trapped within an augmented virtual reality. Whilst trapped and unable to properly function inside this distorted simulation there are the bewildering sounds of a thousand voices and ‘every conversation’ unhealthily looping inside you’re mind, through the echo chamber. Manifesting into a bleakly; vacuous, neurotic obsession and feelings of inadequacy, a desperate plea, blinded and fatigued by the unnerving glare of the computer screen, processing too much information and not knowing if the human ‘interactions’ you’re experiencing are genuine or artificial.

The trauma of this hollow existence is further emphasised with the combination of fragmented and jarring rhythmic grime percussive kick drums that is boosted by the metallic coiling density of detached, propulsive industrial structures. Synthetic frequencies writhe, becoming more lysergic as they progress. DnB tempos accelerate and shift in pitch as if in an erratic state of panic, dissonant foreboding drones absorb you as if drowning under the hypothermic pressure of the deepest, coldest and darkest frozen oceans. Throbbing sub bass fuelled with dread and agonising noise grips you into a suffocating claustrophobia, compressing further and further.

Rather than suppressing these feelings of insecurity and affliction there is a degree of exaggerated, self-deprecating sardonic humour that gradually unravels helping to confront the despondent nature of the record. Accompanied also by subdued, fragile and sunken RnB / Rhythm and Gloom vocals with desolate acoustic guitar fusions which overall provides an empathetic tone. SUE ZUKI’s music is a profound and startling glimpse into the growing cultural discomfort and paranoia of the conscious state of the human condition in the 21st Century.

['WE ARE ALL VERY ANXIOUS' by SUE ZUKI
DEX003
Pro dubbed c60 cassette with digitally printed artwork to be released in March 2017.
Design by Jason Kerley.
released May 4, 2017]

~~~~

DEX004

SUNP0101 by Grim Lusk

For those who are already familiar with Grim Lusk’s varied recording projects, established elements are further developed as sublimely demonstrated on the sample and loop based ‘Search’, an abstract blunted dub / hip-hop excursion that echoes the unconventional experimentalism of WordSound Records / Sensational. Shuffles, ricochets and shimmers before becoming more narcotic like a subdued dreamy languor.

Free from constraints, transcending into ‘It’s My Nature’, as all of that serotonin depletion is suddenly transformed into nutritional sustenance. A scintillating hallucinogenic, hypnotic collage of exotic rhythmic disco percussion patterns which organically blossoms and glistens, ascending to the sky above like the feathery wildlife spreading their wings on the front sleeve with uninhibited adventure and freedom; a luscious, evocative, beguiling anomaly. ‘Sea Club-Rush’ further develops the experimental shape shifting, with a dense, drowsy sludgy quagmire of oddball tekno discombobulations, before the record submerges into the deepest of voids, a k-hole induced sense of purposeful confusion and disorientation.

Depressurised as if drifting in the mysterious vacuum of space or a vast ocean whilst subtle layers of distorted bass prod at you to keep you afloat, ‘It’s Happening’ utilises a descending Shepard – Risset Glissando to leave you barely clinging on to reality, the tone appears to fall continuously in pitch almost as if you are experiencing an astral projection that is submerging under an ominous iceberg strewn antarctic ocean, trapped within a dissociated nightmare that you can’t escape. ‘Yes He Did’ has an infectious and killer bouncing boogie bass guitar spread over a slippery, lopsided beat which never quite settles; weaving in and out further bewitching your mind.

The record culminates in the downtempo ‘Laces’, pulling you into the all-consuming squelch and pressure of the suction below; a claustrophobic suffocation that intensely builds up suspense, squeezing and melting as it develops. Reminiscent of Sherwood’s exceptional technique of incisively slicing, cutting and pasting manipulated dub / industrial percussion, ‘Laces’ works equally well at 45rpm.

In its fullness, the sounds presented on ‘SUNP0101’ are an intoxicating slip down a neon-lined chute into eternal dance floor darkness.

~~~~

'SUNP0101' by Grim Lusk
DEX004

~~~~

Immaculate and surrealist sleeve artwork by Australian-born, London-based designer Brodie Kaman.

cargocollective.com/brodiekaman

~~~~

Mastering by Ten Eight Seven (London, England)

www.teneightsevenmastering.co.uk

~~~~

Distribution by Rubadub (Glasgow, Scotland)

www.rubadub.co.uk
credits
released July 30, 2018
DEX3.5 Hilja by Cucina Povera
We are proud to bring you a limited cassette edition of Cucina Povera's blinding debut album, 'Hilja'. The album was originally released on LP and digital platforms via Night School Records in collaboration with Domestic Exile. We have manufactured a limited run of 50 cassettes, 30 of which will be distributed worldwide by Rubadub Records and the remainder will be available via the Domestic Exile bandcamp page and in-store at Monorail Music in Glasgow, Scotland.

The original press release read as follows:

'An ethereal, unresolved presence fading into the stereo field, Hilja breathes into life with a haunted synth line and self-sampling vocal hook that instantly creates an enchanted space. Hilja is the debut album by Glasgow-based musician Maria Rossi aka Cucina Povera. Named after a style of southern Italian traditional cooking associated with precarity and making-do, a philosophy of simplicity and stoicism that applies perfectly to the spare but beautiful music Rossi experiments with. Hilja’s marriage of minimal synth, field recordings and the hymnal dexterity of Rossi’s vocal performances creates a new language, sometimes literally, to be spoken in some mythological Fourth World we’ve yet to create.

Originally from Finland, Rossi brings an acute sense of space, surroundings, and practicality to her working practice, with each composition often relying on a limited sound palette to create deeply affecting messages which transcend language. Cucina Povera’s power is to communicate purely, often down to the solo-choir nature of Rossi’s multi-layered voice, an achingly beautiful instrument which has seems to have an innate spirituality in its grain. The tension between the means and the end is at the heart of Cucina Povera, the invocation of a kind of secular spirituality at times using nothing but Rossi’s voice. Indeed there’s almost a Dogme-like purity to the arrangements: Elektra is a soothing song based around the lapping waves of Rossi’s wordless backing vocals and a simple field recording of stones knocked together. Kehoitus is completely a cappella, a haunted fairytale told in glossolalia, evoking a quasi-religious experience with very little.

For music often minimal and simple there’s a boldness that belies Hilja’s status as a debut. Rossi allows each word, each sound and rhythm to exist in its own space, finding its own relationship with its surroundings. Mesikämmenen Veisu is perhaps the most ecclesiastical sounding composition here; burbling water trickles below a virtuoso vocal, with incredible arrangements in several registers undulating above. A meditation to relieve hunger and restriction, it’s a perfect summing up of Hilja, a music ambient but completely earthed, finding enchantment in what you have to hand, the realism of magic, the magic of realism.'
credits
released October 1, 2018
DEX005 H+Sexualis by KLEFT
Domestic Exile are proud to present the devastatingly deplorable and malevolent recordings (that are sure to corrode yet electrify your ears) by Glasgow’s very own KLEFT.

KLEFT aka Vickie McDonald is rooted in and has actively propagated the underground DIY radical queer punk and feminist movement here in Glasgow. Their projects have included the skull crushing sludge doom of Cartilage, the unflinching and infamous multi- membered hard core stars that were DIVORCE and the sacrificial, druid drone glitch of MOURN. Alongside these projects they have uncompromisingly disrupted, motivated and facilitated collective endeavours to take down the capital power structure of the dominant system of patriarchal club venues and abhorrent fuckers in this town.

For this record ‘H+ Sexualis’, KLEFT explores the neo-modern space where flesh is left behind. Negotiating, analysing and tearing to shreds the relationship and balance between flesh and technology. KLEFT’s expansive and palpable sonic offerings delve into themes of transhumanism and body hacking and seep into our collective skin begging the question; can flesh ever be created digitally. Does a lack of physicality alienate human experience in a post transhumanism society? Are we all destined to be skinless yet digitally connected? Will the body become superfluous? Toward "the utopian dream of the hope for a monstrous world without gender," as stated on Donna Haraway’s essay ‘‘A Cyborg Manifesto.”

From the opening track ‘Ossein’ the listener grasps a foreboding lethargic build up, lurking out of the spatial ritualistic shadows into a sea of suffocating nothingness. A void where there is no gravity. Skeletal and brittle shattering rhythms which echo DMZ / Skull Disco dubstep alongside the more frozen, glacial ominous explorations of grime are often felt proving KLEFT is an artist whose inspirations run deep and wide and generally exist in the darkest recesses of our subconscious. These fearful, disjointed rhythms are set against weightless atmospheric oscillated synths, as if roaming through bleakly opaque, claustrophobic narrow corridors on a first person survival horror video game such as Resident Evil.

Moving through to ‘CMBR’, KLEFT’s dissonant, degrading soundscape ferociously ascends. The resilient kick drum is propulsive and pulverising akin to ‘aaaardcore tekno - or intense gabber if you have the guts to adjust the tempo up to +8 - aesthetics that overwhelm and agitate finally revealing it’s grotesque biological / amorphous bio structure. Elevating the repetitive 4/4 kick to a destructive, distorted banger of a track as layers of converging atonal noise and sound design simultaneously further enhances the sense of imminent radioactive contamination.

Next is ‘Writhe, Squirm, Broken’ continuing the convulsive, nauseating permutations of the prior track but reconfigured like a mangled, gruesome Cronenberg-esque parasite that has infiltrated an open wound, excruciatingly feeding off of the inner anatomy of it’s hosts body from within. Repulsively reformulating the shape and dimension. The intro is akin to a panic stricken bouncy ball contracting and expanding, the spring reverb building momentum and traveling further away in distance and speed.

‘Hackfleisch Deluxe’ is a muuurrderous stomper and is one of the more grime / bass orientated tracks that deconstructs and disrupts the tempo familiar to sub-low producers on Black Ops / Jon E Cash / DJ Dread D. The crawling, plummeting frequency of the synth is a nauseating rush of coagulating blood to the heed; a deep throbbing sensory depravation in sharp, paradoxical contrast with the driving eski melody layered on top which proves to be infectiously addictive. Furthermore are splintering programmed vocal samples that gives a sense of artificial disorientation, mind over matter, a possible hint at our evolving sentient cognition within a nightmarish simulated, augmented reality?

Second to last we have ‘Keratin’ which is filled with the near fatal dissolving thud of Djax-Up acid that gives the impression that you’re a biologist peering through a microscope into a petrie dish and witnessing the rapid and furious genetic cellular replication of bacterial and viral organisms.

Culminating in ‘Bruised and Bleeding Hands’ where the squashed density of a deflated and depressurised helium filled balloon and elastic umbilical cords, barbed wire and copper wires grind n’ coil around the lens of a zooming camera. Taking no prisoners, this is a punishing grime weapon. A phat, surgical kick drum bulldozes its way thru causing carnage, syncopated punching snares after every rave stab and dizzying third beat. It won’t be long until ye hear this on Silver Drizzle’s youtube channel in the near future.

This record transports us to the hyperkinetic mutation scene on the cult cyberpunk film Tetsuo The Iron Man where the organic flesh / mechanical rust of the Iron Man metamorphoses with the Metal Fetishist during the rebirth sequence and we say “LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!’'.

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'H+ Sexualis' by KLEFT
DEX005

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Exceptional, unsettling and nauseating sleeve design / photography by Vickie McDonald

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Mastering by Ten Eight Seven (London, England)

www.teneightsevenmastering.co.uk

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Distribution by Rubadub (Glasgow, Scotland)

www.rubadub.co.uk
credits
released January 21, 2019

DEX006

Domestic Exile returns with the debut LP by Portuguese artist Luar Domatrix. LD has previously operated as 1/2 of Lisbon duo Yong Yong on Akashic Records and Night School, reworked traditional Portuguese workers songs for Discrepant Records, and released other solo material on Sucata Tapes, 12th Isle and Offshore Drilling Limited.

Recorded between Lisbon and Glasgow, track 08 from the record 'I'll Fly With You' has featured on The Wire magazine’s Below The Radar 33 compilation as well as being supported by the likes of Jon K, Debonair, SIREN, Latete Atoto, SUE ZUKI and Body Motion on their respected NTS Radio shows. Bokeh Versions on Noods Radio and Vaj Power on Subcity Radio.

‘Nova Vida Passada’, which translated from Portugese means ‘New Past Life’, surveys the progressive expressions, technological innovations and futuristic aesthetics of late 90's & early 00's R&B, Hip Hop and Pop culture. NVP explores the way in which visionary songs of that nature can demonstrate being intimate and lavish but at the same time anonymous, intangible, enigmatic & metaphysical. Luminescent, glacial synthesisers merge with syncopated, multi-layered accelerated metallic percussion. Ebullient rhythms conjure up flourishing, intricate fractal patterns whilst euphoric, fragmented vocal edits gaze into a dazzling, psychedelic, precious crystal opal gemstone. How the moral sensibility of music is ever changing with the passage of time and propositions the listener to reflect upon the dynamics, ethics and desires of a generation. What does the ‘90s’ spirit epitomise? Music videos with abstract ice particle brick walls, gravitational fields, silver pagers, holographic iridescent spaceships, moral dilemmas and aluminium cyborg feelings. Pop music reverberating loud in a sci-fi celestial club in the distant future. Channels the same energies as Equiknoxx, NAAFI, Hakuna Kulala, BFDM and fellow Lisboners Principe.

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Physical copies of the 12" LP can be purchased directly from Rubadub:

www.rubadub.co.uk/records/nova-vida-passada

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Mastering by Ten Eight Seven
Distribution by Rubadub Records
credits
released June 29, 2020

DEX007
Domestic Exile warmly welcome the return of Grim Lusk, coming full circle to follow up 2018’s ‘SUNP0101’ after releasing under their Dip Friso and Sunny Balm aliases in the interim. ‘Diving Pool’ is a hallucinogenic concoction of marshy, aquatic, oscillated dubs and skittering, microtonal beat experiments. Grim Lusk's signature production style is in full effect, often occupying some liminal space nearing offbeat discordancy, but beautifully pulling together on the brink.

Gelatinous machine funk rhythms and sweet, syrupy dub bass ooozing with a vibrant convergence of bright psychedelic greens, yellows and oranges, akin to bubbling sulphur pools and lava lakes, are present throughout the 6 tracks; Nuovo takes late 80’s drum machine patterns and twists them up with rough-cut vocal chops and long-form sampling of a 60’s film on the first iteration of ‘Il Gruppo”. Striding into the turbulent sea, Partans is kept jovial by rim shots, cymbals and snares fed back over the forward bass buzz. Not Enough is a bizarre, primordial, stretched-out gloop sludge half-speed version of the B-side track Too Much, twisted into new rhythmic territory by an off-kilter breakbeat sample.

Diving Pool takes crushed, bouncing drum machines and loop-focussed experimentation to find incidental interplay between the two, whilst somehow retaining ebullient make-you-movable gusto. Angular rhythm and zealous sample manipulation seep through in Too Much, live drums patched, extrapolated and pulled further out in the mix, where jump cuts between familiar vocal chops and distorted tape delay contort manically- a warped, swinging echo of Slum Village's ‘I Don’t Know’. Wazoo rounds things out with the most club-leaning moment of the record, a saturated, throbbing atmosphere hanging over a beat-up, lurching drum sample layered with malleable pitched percussion and fuzz guitar.

Peculiar shapes, fragmented shards of rhythmic patterns, crushed, crystallised snares, and congealed, jelly-like dubs; the music embodies a sense of carefree fun and playfulness, where dissolving layers of organic echoes, warm, slippery reverbs, and expansive phaser EFX stretch out into nebulous space…

released August 29, 2022

Illustrations by Sensi. Mastering by Ten Eight Seven. Distribution by Rubadub.

So Low Releases
[So Low is a club night which has ran from 2014 to present which is organised by resident DJs Ribeka, JD Twictch, Katie Shannon and formerly Iona Fortune. There was short lived collaborative record label ran from 2017 to 2018 as a sublabel of Optimo Music which is organsied by JD Twitch.]

Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony (Volumes IV - VI) by Happy Meals

The inaugural release on Optimo Music's new "So Low" imprint is from Glasgow’s much loved Happy Meals, a duo comprised of Suzanne Rodden and Lewis Cook and is their second album release after 2014’s acclaimed “Apero” on Glasgow’s Night School label.

Full Ashram is the name of Happy Meals’ recording studio. The Devotional Ceremony is Happy Meals connecting with their cosmic inner selves. They realise their Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony, banishing demons, devils and ill will. Devote your soul to the positive forces before the misguided, suffering spirits pull you down and wipe you out.

While the album is comprised of individual tracks segueing into each other, for full salvation it is recommended to be listened to as one continuous session.

12" LP
artwork by Happy Meals
released June 30, 2017
distributed by Kompact

NOW £ THEN EP

“Now & Then” is a various artists 4-track EP featuring two tracks from now and two from then.

The four tracks are -

A1) Ian Hicks - False Awakening (2017). 100% Modern Maximal 110bpm Synth masterpiece with buried vox from half of Portland’s much missed Soft Metals.

A2) Luxos - Vihreä Ovi (2017). 100% hypno atmospherics from Glasgow’s Luxos aka Maria Rossi (Cucina Povera) & Daniel Magee (Lo Kindre).

AA1) Carl Matthews - As Above So Below (1982). 100% synth XTC out of Cumbria originally released on the Flowmotion compilation on Colin Potter’s ICR label.

AA2) The Schmutz Sisters - La Folle (1988). 100% Goth waltz classic from Switzerland. End of the night dancefloor drama assured.
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12" EP
artwork by Katie Shannon
released July 21, 2017
distributed by Kompakt

Changeless by Ian Hicks

The third release on So Low is a 5-track EP from Ian Hicks, formerly one half of Soft Metals. Ian also appeared on our “Now & Then” compilation EP. Here he commands his own release and sets the synths to stun with 5 tracks of analogue waves ranging from the XTC bliss out of “Character Collapse” and “Depths Of Psyche” to the shockwave klang of “Chemical Environments” and “Specter”, perhaps leaving the very best to last with the ultimate hypno, sex slug groove of “Continuous”. Subliminal vocals. Wrecked drum boxes. Synths spiralling.

12" EP
artwork by Katie Shannon
released March 16, 2018
distributed by Kompakt

Personal musical projects

Kubler-Ross is Dave Clark, Craig Clark & Katie Shannon, the band has run form 2015 to present with a five year break in communication in between, playing very occasional live shows strictly within Glasgow. KR released an album whihc was self titled on Akashic Records in 2020, compiled from phone recorded live shows, Green Door Studio session and Dave Clark's studio. Surprinsignly this collection was nominated for Scottish Album of The Year having zero online oresence, no imagery, video, or even a band at that point in time but a reputation for 'incendiary live performance.'

Kubler-Ross by Kubler-Ross

Akashic Records brings you the debut collection of mournful but vital, club blurred industrial electronics by Glasgow's Kübler Ross (Dave Clark, Craig Clark & Katie Shannon).

Stage one: Denial - cling to a false, preferable reality.

Kübler-Ross take their name from Swiss psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross. During an extraordinary career she worked with Holocaust survivors and pioneered palliative care but is mainly known for proposing the (now largely discredited) theory of The Five Stages of Grief. Her latter years saw her become interested in near death experiences and contacting the dead.

Stage two: Anger - "Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; "Who is to blame?"; "Why would this happen?".

You might hear echoes of Suicide. In 1978 synth-punks Suicide played the Glasgow Apollo, supporting The Clash. An axe was thrown at Alan Vega by someone in the audience after his taunt that “You fuckers have to live through us to get to the main band”.

A mood of ferocious and manic uneasiness prevails on these recordings.

Stage three: Bargaining - Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made in exchange for a reformed lifestyle.

You might hear echoes of Deutsch Amerikansiche Freundschaft’s Die Kleinen und die Bösen , one side studio and most of the other side live.

Polished anarchy of abused instruments, brutal rhythms and wailing electronics.

Raw sophistication. Nihilistic joy.

The mysterious insouciance and seductive belligerence of Katie Shannon’s vocals battle and flirt with motorik percussion and luscious but menacing synths.

Stage four: Depression - the individual despairs at the recognition of their mortality. In this state, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time mournful and sullen.

A Gloomy rapture of moral distress in Gothic latex.

Kübler-Ross established a headquarters called Shanti Nilaya—”ultimate home of peace” in Sanskrit. Its purpose was to investigate psychic healing and administer “life, death and transition” workshops that involve psychodrama and such purging acts as beating a telephone book with a rubber hose.

Stage five: Acceptance - individuals embrace mortality or inevitable future.

Appearing at sessions in darkened rooms at Shanti Nilaya these “entities” assumed human form and engaged in sexual relations with church members. “How is it,” one asked, “that an entity, a pure spirit, has cigarette breath?”.

You might hear echoes of Throbbing Gristle. Deformed pulses, distorted voices, drenched with reverb, sweat, ectoplasm and Buckfast.
Electro brutalist pop sensibilities entangled with metal and flesh and machine and flesh.

Sultry screaming and amputated yearning in a torrid love affair with death. Nightclub thanatology.

The dead are much wiser than us.

- Barry Burns
credits
released July 3, 2020

C45 Smokey Grey Cassette
Two colour screen print, hand made slip case featuring original artwork by artist and singer Katie Shannon. Designed by Oliver Pitt.
'Victims of victimless crimes' originally by John Bender.

This album was reissued on 12" Vinyl with additional 'bonus' 7" by Canadian label Suction Records sublabel Ice Machine in 2023.

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We like Ben and Ben likes David and We like David too

by

Langside

lockdown album encased in a prison cassette

small limited release

Physical music only

NOT FOR ONLINE UPLOAD

can be purchased in person on Langside Road over the holidays, for £5 if broke £10 if not. Cash only

Sleeve Design by Ben Wallers

RIP David from Datblygu

self released 12th December 2023, at the Artists Self Publishing Fair, Conway Hall, London.