Cave Comp One
Compilation
Custom CDr
Buy / Stream

Cave Comp One is the first in a series of limited, handmade CDr compilations featuring artists connected w/ the RCNCAVE in some capacity.

One details the Cave's innermost dwellers and features one-of-a-kind hand painted/numbered covers by the Cave dewds.

In order —

1.) Faangface's chaotic assault tells the tale of a misnamed canine. Gerald or Siegfried (depending on who you talk to) is snarling freeform jettisoned jazz black metal from the smoldering wreckage of a downed dirigible. Assembled as a Cave break-in and featuring an eclectic cast of cave-dwellers led by inductor Joshua Novak—Ram Youssefi on blackened guitar wall, James Bryan Parks on twinkled bells and funereal synth chords, Curt Brown on beat struggling in antimatter explode percussives while Novak issues dog manifesto and wraps things up w/ acoustic layers of cosmopolitan catharsis.

2.) Cane Swords assemble a golem from melted laserdiscs and scattered transistors. The smell of obsolete technology hums as facsimile didgeridoo in post-apocalyptic walkabout. Recorded live at Thursday's in Akron and assembled on loaned computers on top-floor couches. An intro/extro examination of collapsed societies, robot uprisings, and technology's ghosts. Through warped time earthwormholes, dirt covered temples, and flashing headlamps comes this future wave communication.

3.) Zurvan's dialect is melted glass stretched phonemes and enlightenment drones, a balance of dark mystery and beautiful rapture. The soundwaves manifest in physical pattern and amid the paced syllables the tales of heretical and buried knowledge creeps like conjured monsters. A cosmogony of factoried rubber and shifting sands, where the folded universe encompasses 1930s tire strike revolt and worker revolution in the same masonic backroom as hash fueled assassins carrying out clandestine midnight missions.

4.) Black Unicorn was launched in an experimental space craft, aimed at the source of the Wow! signal, and returned w/ this coded message. Nearing Chi Sagittarii, his onboard radio tuned to interstellar motorik was taken control of by unseen entities and redirected to the sounds of star birth and dark matter mystery. Before the mission was completed, the space baby finale of Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite was reenacted and Black Unicorn awoke in Akron holding this song on an Iomega Zip disk marked "cellar door" is faded sharpie.

5.) XXX Super Arcade's song is playing after the big game, friendly ass slaps and derogatory banter aside, you and the bros are ready to hit the strip club fr a night of hard drinking and party-harding. The dancer comes out, dancing in seductive stutter to the rocking semi-Sabbath riff and yeah, hell yeah, she's taking it off. But, wait, what's that under the g-string? A tentacled spawn of Cthulhu oozing hues of swamp slush and toxic waste, tendrils whipping outward in furry and peeling faces back to reveal the muscle and bone underneath, gently cracking the skull to suck back the brain juice. All they found the next day was a deflated football and a room full of ectoplasm.

6.) Vatican is a mystery. We do not know who made these recordings, when, or why. When one of the RCN dewds inherited some land in Tennessee, it included a falling down barn. A large metal flight case w/ the word VATICAN stamped on the side was found amidst ancient tech manuals, cases of resistors and capacitors, and scattered 1970s pornography. Inside the case were scores of unlabeled or minimally labeled recordings on everything from quarter inch reel to reel to cassette to vinyl. This recording was from a cassette labeled "Per Gli Idioti 1644" in weathered, blue ball point. No one in the immediate family had any knowledge of the recordings or their origin.

7.) Human's lone banjo quickly becomes magnet and pulls in an assorted cast of melancholic, haunting tones. Attracted like small blocks of metal, each piece fits puzzle-like as temporal leanings stride. Retaining a strong element of folk pop, the darker less stable components run like liquid at room temperature through this portrait of isolation where a haunted house looms against a textured landscape of Ohio winter.

Zurvan
Cymatic Sacrament
Cassette c51
Stream / Buy Online

In the forgotten places and factory shadows of Akron, Ohio, two Zoroastrian heretics are droningly amassing a sonic mystery cult in an effort to unlock ancient secrets hidden in waves of sound. Zurvan, James Bryan Parks and Ram Youssefi's meditative drone conjuration, follows up a limited CDr debut with Cymatic Sacrament—two side-long explorations of psychedelic ambience through Sunn amplifications and processed vocal mantra. Ethereal voices intersperse with sustained guitar tone, feedback, and subtle electronics in an ultraworldly summoning.

Deeeeeeep drone w/ artwork designed by Ram. A edition of 50, full-length c51 pro-dubbed and imprinted on clear red cassette w/ printed j-card.

Press:

"Two dudes from Akron, OH making some seriously minimal dark drone. Just vocals & guitar meditations, way deep, way zen. Long form glacial drifts, blackened nothing amplified into ritualistic mantras, the sound of air moving while monks question existence. Hum & thrum, bleak & empty, eye opening in the most dangerous sense. The loneliness of forever embodied in two side long pieces. One of the best overlooked albums of last year. Only five goddamn dollars and only 50 made. This is way too good to miss." — Justin Snow, Anti-Gravity Bunny

Video:

vimeo.com/rubbercitynoise

Jeremy Bible
The Journey of Enoch
Cassette c78
Free Download / SOLD OUT

The Journey of Enoch is ambient apocrypha—dark, dirty synthesizer soundscapes built from eerie, expansive timbres and drones read from an ancient tome written in fractured oscillations and noise generator syllables. Created between 1998 and 2000 w/ a range of hardware synthesizers and effects, Enoch was first released in 2004 as incredibly limited CDr and netlabel release that went on to over 22,000 downloads and became an internet cult classic. Far from youthful synthesizer experiments, Enoch is a haunting account of the world-generative abilities of synthesis and soundscape storytelling loosely based around hidden books and warring angels.

"A newly remastered reissue, the RCN version of Enoch features a new track listing and original art designed by Jeremy. An edition of 50, full-length c78 pro-dubbed and imprinted on solid blue cassette w/ handmade vellum j-cards.

Press:

"Enoch is a long solo synth piece with a dark outlook and sonics that possess a timeless heft. The movements have some of the textures associated with the Kosmische tradition, but they never rely on crackpot melodicism. Without getting harsh, this music rubs many things in various 'wrong' ways." — Byron Coley, The Wire

". . . dark, piercing synth reverberating from the hollow earth from where Enoch was buried, as Bible busts through the dirt and ascends the physical plane, only to find a world seeking salvation at the hands of the synthesizer. Of course, the persistent hums key a chorus of angels, singing in a language that needs not to be fully recognized to be understood. Bible’s cult classic now finds itself on tape, a place its manifesto was meant to be guarded all those years ago. With a new track lineup and art, Bible’s cherished Enoch is given the dressings of a king without tarnishing its halo. But come the end of Enoch, you may begin to discover that Bible has not produced the new savior, but has in fact given rise to the horn-tailed devil, as the album pokes you with its sharp pitchfork, the angelic chorus turning to fiery cackles." — Tiny Mix Tapes Cerberus 26

"Contrary to the melodic, sequence-fed nostalgia shared by many, Bible's electronics function as a purely tonal entity, stark and lustrous. The album's most compelling facet is in the absence of connotation in Bible's textures, for they elicit neither sublimity nor disquietude. These are ululations of pure emptiness, a locale parsed well enough to consume its observers." — Olive Music

". . .a re-release of one of the most influential synth-based drone releases of the last 10 years and a totally killer set that’s been out of print entirely too long. Dark, chilling, and utterly essential." — Zen Effects

Video:

vimeo.com/rubbercitynoise

The Wandering Cave
T-Shirt
Buy Online

Black on grey American Apparel Tri-Blend Track Shirt t-shirt. Fits true to size, available in S, M, L, and XL.

The Cave aka the RCNCAVE aka the Rubber City Noise Center for Audio Visual Experimentation was our headquarters and community arts space in Northeast Ohio. In July 2011 we were shut down after hosting a huge show. The Wandering Cave represents our space in transition, and we're still wandering and trying to find a new location in Akron. Our good buddy HORAK (who also did the art fr our first tape, Cane Swords' Big Warmup in the Mouth of Eternity) drew up the awesome cave-on-wheels logo for our recent event at IngenuityFest 2011. We got these super nice t-shirts made and we've only got a few left. They're only $20, super comfy (seriously, these will be yr new favorite t-shirt), and all proceeds go towards helping us establish a new space. Visit cave.rubbercitynoise.com fr more info on how you can help the Cave.

Black Unicorn
Cinco de Mayo in Space
Digital
Stream / Free Download

This is a free, digital release.

A galactic drone, frozen and shattered to shards of sample & hold space ice, undermines an abandoned vessel as it drifts toward infinity. The lone survivor, a machine, utters in fractured phonemes the arrival of Cinco de Mayo in Space. Sequenced synthesizers, circuit bent voices, vintage drums, and polysynth pads combine in a strange meeting place between Mexican holiday and intergalactic travel.

Conceived as part of a show w/ XXX Super Arcade and Dreamroot's Boltzmann's Brain, Cinco de Mayo in Space took place on 5.5.2011 at Annabell's in Akron, Ohio. This album is the studio version of Black Unicorn's set.

Video:

vimeo.com/rubbercitynoise

Griefhound / Cane Swords
Split
CDr
Stream / Free Download

(A completely separate split (w/ completely separate music) released in limited CDr for Griefhound's and Cane Sword's (completely separate) 2011 summer tours. Up fr free download now!!!)

Both a companion to the Cane Swords / Griefhound cassette and a stand-alone release—this split flips things around. Griefhound start it off with foreshadowing acoustics, a simple guitar piece that strums headfirst into feedback noise and Sabbath riffs filtered through Cuyahoga River chemical sludge. Further, toy keyboard arpeggios and electric wheezes stalk like the masked killer in a fuzzed out horror movie. The monster's hidden lair is infiltrated, chaos reigns, and a field recording of 2011's most brutal thunderstorm transitions to the outer space yearnings of Cane Swords. Raw synth and oscillated swirls of post-digital dust funnel cloud their way to space shuttle bass drum hits and gamma ray sequenced leads that disintegrate into 8-bit coin hunting heaven. Pounding drums sound in militant step against vintage polysynth alarm calls and odes to dark future machine take-over. Electronic storms reflect the Ohio sky in binary and control voltages, then the synthesists depart, blasting off and leaving the atmosphere behind in sine waves and electric chirps.

Press:

"/approaching disgust/
/cave trolls versus space wizards/
/degenerate beats/" — Justin Snow, Anti-Gravity Bunny Haiku Review

Video:

Cane Swords / Griefhound
Split
Cassette c63
Stream / Buy Online

Do human archetypes translate to alien species? For example, could the familiar image of the swamp—a dismal place of gloom, sludge, and mystery—exist intact on a planet orbiting a twin sun two million light years away? Would the intensity of such an atmosphere translate into a dialect of the stars? Cane Swords and Griefhound seek to reconcile these questions through a dialog begun in the hidden places of Northeast Ohio but applied to the furthest reaches of the universe. Here, stars are born and swamp gas ignites in simultaneity, the light from both shining on the manifest soundwaves.
Cane Swords start with star birth synthesis, tiny pin points amidst nebulaic drones, build to a scattering of light through epic low frequency oscillators, sample and hold patches, and projected phrases of celestial sound. This is space.
Griefhound begin with ambient whispers of feedback and will-o'-the-wisp struck strings then settle in deep doom with mud and moss distorted bass, airboat churned alligator drums, and howls from creatures summoned in dark ritual. This is swamp.

Custom art by Curt from Cane Swords and random inserts by Curt, Karl, Harvey, and Novak taken from Time-Life nature books, ancient tech manuals, retro porn, and various handmade things. An edition of 100, split c63 pro-dubbed and imprinted on clear solar yellow with swamp sludge green print w/ printed j-card.

Press:

"[A] time-warping split between synth demons Cane Swords and swamp sludgers Griefhounds. Needless to say, both sides are absolutely mental and totally captivating. It’s powerful and crucial stuff and just another reason why Rubber City Noise is killing it in 2011." — Zen Effects

"The Cane Swords side is totally killer, just absolutely great outer-space synth exploration. It feels like a bunch of different alien crafts coming at you at the same time. . . . The Griefhound side takes a while to get going, but then it tears into some lo-fi sludge metal." — Foxy Digitalis

Featured on The Wire Magazine's Sleeves Received.

"Akron, Ohio duo Cane Swords deal in fractured synthesizer textures, the kinds that build on the darker hues of early electronic pioneers Morton Subotnick and Raymond Scott. Rather than watery new age sounds, we get desolate, almost metallic scraping and pinching electronics — an overall struggle revealed through modular synthesis." — Keith Rankin, Tiny Mix Tapes' Chocolate Grinder

Preview:

cane swords & griefhound - split (album preview) by experimedia

Black Unicorn
Squid and Whale
Cassette c27
Stream / Sold Out

Black Unicorn shifts the focus from deep space to the deep seas. Squid and Whale follows the tale of two sea-beasts, their quarrel, and reconciliation in the shadow of a cosmic intuition. Heavy underwater arpeggios and synthesizers prove the ocean and outer space as selfsame, both representing the universal expanse and individual intimacy in the titular animals' struggle for identity and awareness. With a heavy focus on drone, pulsing patterns, and dramatic accidentals, Squid and Whale is a journey that evokes the classic synthesis of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter, as well as bedroom synthesizer contemporaries—but this isn't another kosmische revival or throwback tribute album. Black Unicorn carefully balances drone and rhythm, noise and melody, pattern and chaos, and pulls these elements together to tell a story, one that is elaborated upon through the artwork and micro-fiction accompanying text. Comes on solid black cassette with dark blue ink in printed and hand stamped j-card. Limited to 50 copies.

Press:

"For those of you who think that they just don’t make massive, thought-inducing, concept tapes like they used to, have I got the album for you. Following the intertwined activities of its titular beasts, Squid & Whale swirls around with with awesome synth based melodic movements that totally bring the story to life. Even if you get too wrapped up in the music, you can follow the story along with a Spark Notes-esque summary generously printed in the tape’s packaging. Still, there is enough to enjoy here for those just looking to bliss out to a fantastic droning synth tape without worrying about the bigger picture. Enormous humpback recommendation!" — Zen Effects

"Fresh off a red-hot CD-r debut, Black Unicorn (aka half of Cane Swords) is back with a total burner, this time presented on magnetic tape. “Squid And Whale” is here to fuel your blade running fantasies. Soaring arpeggios, deep sea drones, claustrophobic headfuckery, it’s all here." — OMGVinyl

"Layering oscillating electronic patterns over deep-sea drone, Black Unicorn has fucking outdone itself. The musical narrative of a battle between two oceanic collosi; I was initially expecting some hokey, dramatic synth bullshit. What I got completely blew me away. A masterfully crafted and theatrical composition, Squid and Whale is required listening. Fuckin' go get it." — "Geräuschkrieg!

"It's a record of layered hardware synths: some old, some new. The sounds roll on top of each other with a belief in 'real-time' recordings. The sheer vibrancy within the minimal structures is astonishing. ...not so much a revision of the past, but rather the instruments are employed to create a sense of lighthearted futurism—think a beta soundtrack for 16-bit Star Fox. As with the music of his peers, the ostensible limits of the machines provide a platform for endless experimentation and novel creation." — Samuel Breen, Clash Magazine

". . . primitive, old-school electronica brings to mind Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Kraftwerk and other pioneers of their kind. At the same time, a dark current seems to flow through the robotic, analog rhythms, which are amateurish and soulful at the same time. The music becomes threatening, bringing forth a threat long forgotten, but once prevalent in popular culture as seen in films such as Blade Runner or Tron. The nostalgia for more innocent times, generates dreamy but thoughtful synth melodies, reverberating beats, which draw the listener in a world where magic is still possible. Highly recommended for anyone in love with early '80s electronic music." — The Silent Ballet

"Half of the Ohio dream-team known as Cane Swords, Black Unicorn actually beat The Emeralds at their own game. Breezy (almost New Age-ist) electronics that still somehow manage to hold my interest. Who'd've thunk it?" — Byron Coley, The Wire

Preview:

black unicorn - squid and whale (album preview) by experimedia

Video:

vimeo.com/rubbercitynoise

Black Unicorn
Prosper Drift ∞
CDr

This is a story about a spaceship Ultra limited CDr edition of Prosper Drift. Comes on printed CD in heavy-stock sleeve w/ art by Black Unicorn. Bonus 15 minute song, "Epilog: Quartz Proton Zipper" available nowhere else.

Preview:

Black Unicorn - Epilog: Quartz Proton Zipper by Rubber City Noise

XXX Super Arcade
Ladies and Gentlemen Gather Around, This Is XXX Super Arcade
Digital
Stream / Free Download

This is a free, digital release.

Recorded live at the RCNCAVE grand opening and clocking in at just over 16 minutes, this album oozes the furry fury that is XXX Super Arcade. Now a two-piece, Gather Around... is a record of a rougher, rawer solo XXX Super Arcade.

Black Unicorn
Prosper Drift
Digital
Stream / Free Download

This is a free, digital release.

This is a story about a space ship. Black Unicorn's debut follows the space ship Prosper Drift as is journeys through interstellar waters—encountering battle, rebellion, and mystery among stars and space dust.

Cane Swords
Shit Gold Bootleg!!!
Cassette / Digital
Free download

Shit gold!!! Ultra limited edition of 5 solid gold cassettes distributed at the Big Warmup release party. Download a free ultra unlimited digital copy above.

Cane Swords
Big Warmup in the Mouth of Eternity
Cassette / Digital
Buy Online / Free Download

The debut album from the Cane Swords duo—swelling drones, sustained synthesizer tones, scattered rhythms and arpeggios carved from walls of noise. Utilizing vintage analog, handmade, and digital equipment, Cane Swords engage in a sonic conversation that moves from meditative to abrasive; holding the organic and robotic in the same breath. Limited to 100 numbered copies on clear purple cassette with metallic silver and gold print and three panel foldout art by HORAK

Press:

"Big Warmup In The Mouth Of Eternity is a fucking journey and a half. Layers upon layers of static & space dust, glitches & anti-matter. They build dense clouds of electro mist, raining ice crystals down through murky tumble drones, bubbling swamps of gamma rays, pulsars of technoise in a blazin hot swarm . . . Big Warmup is goddamn fantastic, an hour long disarray of non-abrasive synth noise that spits in your face and tells you to chill the fuck out." — Anti-Gravity Bunny

Preview:

cane swords - big warmup in the mouth of eternity (album preview) by experimedia