The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Julia Gaeta of Dreamwheel

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Playing music feels like an inevitable path, but one that didn’t become clear to me until around 21 years old. My parents are both professional classical musicians and I spent much of my early life in the musical world surrounded by virtuosos. I tried various instruments that never held my interest. But something hit me while I was in college with the guitar. I started skipping university classes to stay home and play. Since those early days of covering stuff on guitar in my bedroom, I’ve ventured into songwriting, playing live, etc.

Describe your first musical memory.

My mom had a big ’90s wooden entertainment console in our living room when I was growing up. There was a TV, stereo system with 2 giant black speakers on the sides, and drawers full of cassettes and CDs. I remember picking out Holst’s The Planets – specifically the version recorded by the Berliner Philharmonic and conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

I sat with my back against the speakers so I could feel the bass, and closed my eyes. I was totally transfixed by “Mars”. I would go back there and play it over and over again and just become enveloped in a feeling, like I was floating in the complete blackness of space. I think this shaped my love of 5/4 time signature specifically, as well as variation in textures and dynamics in music. “Jupiter” is another great one – it’s got an absolutely heart-wrenching melody towards the middle.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Seeing my dad play clarinet with Metallica in-the-round for S&M2. I’m not sure anything I ever do with music will bring the same level of unbridled joy I felt from that one, since Metallica is the band that got me into heavy music. I laughed and cried and screamed and all that. After the gig, my dad and I were out at a random pizza joint and some Metallica fans came up to him and were freaking out. He ate it up – he’s totally not used to that. It was hilarious.

Wow, I’m talking about my parents a lot, aren’t I? I guess there’s a reason for that. They’re mostly responsible for this path I’m on, whether they like it or not!

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Every time I’ve made it through a tidal wave of self-doubt or crippling anxiety. You are not your brain…

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I feel that the second I get caught up in outcomes or final destinations, things start to feel less authentic. So I don’t really think about this too often.

How do you define success?

As a musician? I don’t think I have a single definition – it depends on the day. It could be creating something that stands the test of time in my own head, or creating something that pushes me into more authentic expression – like when I started solo music. It could be having an awesome musical collaborator like I do in Dreamwheel or getting to know incredible people through the act of creating. It could be someone telling me they resonated strongly with a song, getting my music played to more ears or being invited to play somewhere new. It could be having access to a clean bathroom backstage.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I love big bustling metropolises, and over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to call several of them my home. But recently, especially since the pandemic, big cities in both the US and Europe seem to be more and more challenging places to live for not just artists but people in general. Homelessness, drugs, rising prices, lack of affordable housing, etc. It’s a tough pill to swallow for those affected.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Plenty of stuff. Something gnarly and anonymous. A film score. More weird guitar-based stuff. My first full-length solo record.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

If I knew, I probably wouldn’t feel compelled to create anything.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Snuggling my cat.

https://www.instagram.com/dreamwheel
https://dreamwheel.bandcamp.com

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https://facebook.com/nefariousIndustries
https://nefariousindustries.bandcamp.com
https://nefariousindustries.com

Dreamwheel, Redeemer EP teaser

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Alex Bossen of Oxx

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I like to play and write music. I try to keep it at that.

An unhealthy consequence, I think, of how we tend to mythologize art and artists, is that it ends up being about everything else than the art. We’re so obsessed with the personal lives of our favorite musicians, that the music becomes intrinsically linked to their sufferings and trials. I mean, even the PR campaign for Oxx’s own, most recent record, has been heavy on the personal stuff. So I’m no better. But I think there’s a widespread misconception that suffering produces great art, and that miserable people are more creatively inclined. Or more broadly: that music is as much about how you feel as it is about the actual music. Which is wrong. Everybody suffers in very real, very valid ways. Some suffer a lot more. A lot of both groups make music. And most of it sucks. The notion that the intensity of your emotional life is somehow linked to the validity of your music is a distraction that keeps people from seriously discussing the art and practicing the craft as much as they should.

I’ve certainly been guilty of this myself. So I try to keep it simple these days. I play and write because I enjoy being around art as much as possible. And it keeps me out of trouble.

Anyway: how did I come to do it? Too dysfunctional to do anything else, I suppose.

Describe your first musical memory.

My parents playing Ibrahim Ferrer on the stereo while having guests over.

Or Scatman John on some shitty eurodance-for-kids-compilation. I don’t remember which. The first is vastly more romantic, but eurodance gets a bad rap. So let’s go with Scatman John. Rest in peace, King.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Probably by myself, practicing. Occasionally, everything falls into place, and I fool myself into thinking that I’m completely uninhibited, without any technical or cognitive constraints, and get to just play and feel good about it. That’s pretty great.

Or perhaps walking 6 k through a literal storm in Copenhagen with shit falling from the buildings and debris flying everywhere, to get to a Mark Lanegan concert. Only to arrive and find out that 1: the gig is cancelled and 2: me and the five other morons stupid enough to brave the weather are forced to stay and wait out the storm. Turns out Lanegan was stuck as well, and though pissed, decided to play anyway. In a massive concert hall for eight people sitting on the floor. I got to see Lanegan a bunch of times, and every one was transformative in different ways, but this was perfect.

And Lou Reed had just died the day before, so they did four impromptu Velvet Underground songs as well.

And a million others. I love music.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

All the time. I resist the urge to rant about politics here…

But in the less serious department: it’s a continual source of frustration and mild disillusionment to me how many bands insist on espousing the old hardcore tenets of scene-solidarity and community, without any actual interest in either beyond how it can benefit them personally. That posturing is especially exhausting, but every other kind of careerist behaviour in heavy music is off putting to me as well.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Poverty? I’m not sure… sorta continuing where my massive rant a couple of questions back ended, i don’t think it’s very constructive to attach any grandiose goals to creative pursuits, or make it out to be anything more noble than any of the innumerable other ways of passing the time while we’re waiting to croak. I play and write music because it makes me happy. And in order to stay happy I need to do my best with it and keep in tune with whichever directions my musical interests might be heading. So it’s self-regulating in that it’s only fun if I put in an unreasonable amount of effort. It’s a worthwhile pursuit, and making an effort at honing a craft should be reward enough.

How do you define success?

If I can get to a point where I, with reasonable confidence, can declare that I’m not an asshole, I’d be happy. Not being miserable would be a bonus. Hippy shit.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I feel like this question could lead me down a road that might end up at me becoming unemployable. Or at several other, less serious, but no less regrettable pit stops on the spectrum of oversharing.

But pertaining specifically to the topic at hand, music, I’m immensely bummed out every time I’m confronted with how much my favorite musicians have to hustle to scrape by. It’s symptomatic of much broader structural problems in late-stage capitalism as well, but Jesus Christ. We should really get our collective acts together and take better care of the people keeping art alive and evolving.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Let me count the ways… I suffer from the same malaise that has driven The Rock to the delusion that he should act. The affliction in the grasp of which Dwight Yoakam thought it wise to direct a movie (he really can act though). The very ailment that, in its most terminal stages, had Sean Penn write a book.

That is to say, the particular kind of arrogance that creative people have, that makes them think they should stray from their chosen craft, and would probably be “like, pretty sick, brah,” at something completely unrelated, aside from the fact that it’s another act of “creative” self-realization. To wit: I have recurring fantasies (delusions?) of writing novels, making movies and.. I think I got offered to do porn once as well. Luckily, these kinds of moonlighting are a privilege reserved for the filthy rich. And since I’m occasionally filthy and always broke, I never had the chance of acting upon any of it. Which is probably in humanity’s best interest. I do however have a, slightly more modest, ambition of making a guitar record. Like a guitar-guitar record. I’m hoping for some weird mix between Danny Gatton, Charlie Parker and Allan Holdsworth. That I could make in good conscience, and I probably will at some point.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Letting us get in contact with the sublime.

But for me, this implicates a much broader definition of art. Same thing goes for sports. Or food. Actually standing face to face with proof of the extent of what a human body/mind is capable of, in spite of everything, is the most life affirming thing to me, and very far removed from any mystical notions of the soul of the artist as it relates to the cosmos, or whatever.

Experiencing someone at the peak of their craft freely expressing themselves is the most genuinely touching thing, and I try to get as much of that as I can. But again, that’s not restricted to the arts. My most substantial aesthetic experience last year was Alexander Volkanovski’s performance against Max Holloway in their third match.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

The inevitable fall of western civilization.

A distant second place, and much less probable: that the upcoming Blood Meridian adaptation doesn’t disappoint me immensely.

Nah, fuck it… I’ll go with something much more mundane, and much more adult. I’m looking forward to getting out of bed tomorrow, hanging out with my cat, having a good 4 hours of practice time and going to the gym.

https://www.facebook.com/oxxmusic
http://instagram.com/oxxmusic
https://oxxmusic.bandcamp.com

https://instagram.com/nefarious_industries
https://facebook.com/nefariousIndustries
https://nefariousindustries.bandcamp.com
https://nefariousindustries.com

Oxx, “The Coast” official video

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Evan Linger of Dreamwheel and Skeletonwitch

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I never really liked anything the way I like and gravitate towards music. Growing up, everything felt like static. Not horribly terrible but also not stimulating or exciting to any degree. It was all going through the motions to fit in like everyone else; get up, go to school (later work), play sports or have a typical hobby, watch TV, spend time with people I called friends and repeat. Even at a young age this all felt like being in some kind of tedious purgatory, especially growing up in the homogenous American Midwest. I was, even at a young age, full of complex feeling and emotions that had no place in the static and dull world that surrounded me. Luckily for me, my mother is a music fan and has great taste. I began to realise that, although I could not physically escape my grey and monotone surroundings, there is a bigger and more vibrant world out there. A world that fit me or at least had room for complex emotions and thoughts. I think this is true for so many people. When we have or create music, as a fan or artist, the world doesn’t seem so dull and depressing and grey. One can give some meaning and color to an otherwise chaotic an tragic world with music. At the very least we can express or feel something deep and rich we would not normally get to feel with the power of music. I essentially came to do what I do out of necessity.

Describe your first musical memory.

It is all a mix of not physical memories but rather a switched being turned on at some point. If I had to take a guess it would be riding in the car with my mother and her knowing the words to 60s and 70s rock songs and telling me all about the song and the artists. Later thumbing through piles of LPs and listening to certain songs over and over just to catch a certain feeling again.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I have been very lucky to not just be a listener, which would have been fine enough for me, but to have put music out in the world that may have also given a handful of people the same feelings I get when listening to music. This is the best for me. On a stage or on a record, it doesn’t matter.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I believe nothing is fixed or permanent. If you have firm beliefs eventually you are going to get very disappointed. Everyone is living their own reality and having their own experience and you have to be flexible or at least cognisant of that. You have to be open to everyone’s perspective even of its polarising to yours. It is a daily exercise for me to recognise this and I still struggle with it.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

The whole exercise itself of progressing as an artist isn’t a means to an end or leading to some final goal. The effort to progress is the end game. Art isn’t a science with defined parameters. If you pick up an instrument or put on a new record or go to a museum that effort itself is what’s important. Our willingness to create or absorb art leads us to want to create and absorb more. Art and creativity lead to more art and creativity.

How do you define success?

This is a very personal. There is commercial, monetary and personal success. Music can exist in one or all of these spaces. For me, it is being satisfied with the effort I put in to create the music. This always feels like a big success. If I can listen back to a record I played on and know, even with its flaws, I did the best I could in that time then I feel like it was a successful undertaking.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I have had some good and bad experiences in the music world. All of them helped me get where I am now and I try and find some gold even in the shit ones.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I am on a constant quest to make songs and music that pushes emotions deeper and farther. I think a good artist always thinks he/she still has to create no matter how far they have come. I cannot imagine one day saying ‘’I did it all and it was all great and I have nothing more to say’’.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

To move people to a place they otherwise couldn’t be moved without art.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Just spending time with good people that I have in my life.

https://www.instagram.com/dreamwheel
https://dreamwheel.bandcamp.com

https://instagram.com/nefarious_industries
https://facebook.com/nefariousIndustries
https://nefariousindustries.bandcamp.com
https://nefariousindustries.com

Dreamwheel, Redeemer EP teaser

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Matt Hollenberg of Sarattma, Titan to Tachyons, Cleric, John Frum, John Zorn and More

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Generally I try to be spontaneous and interactive with music as an energy unto itself. I value sensory first, non-ideological, anti-marketable approach. Engaging with “the thing itself” through subconscious methods. Also interested in genre-busting approaches and building bridges between disparate elements.

Describe your first musical memory.

When I was six years old I went to a funeral and saw the piece Albeniz ‘Asturias’ played on piano. It was trance inducing and transcendent. I immediately went home and figured out the main themes on the house piano. From then on I was very hooked into music and understood a fundamental thing that it was about that was viscerally felt.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Probably watching Secret Chiefs 3 on the floor of the stone in 2007 before I knew anyone in that scene and it was just purely mind blowing. Feeling that I was watching from the outside and wishing I could do something like that it. Was a viscerally magical experience.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Definitely the last few years when my belief that human beings and the systems we’ve created generally would progress over time and get better. It’s easy to think that through your early life as it’s what feels most comfortable to believe. But then to see the world’s systems and institutions continually fail and get worse over time, not better; this changes one’s general outlook on human delusion and destiny for sure!

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Ideally to self actualization that reflects an energy beyond culture and beyond localized time and space.

How do you define success?

Doing what you want on your own terms the best you can do it with no interfering forces in the way.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

One time I saw a cat get run over and I watched it die and it’s always stuck with me as it was awful to watch. It had a seizure and shook all over the place and its head exploded it was terrible.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

My favorite thing is not knowing what I’d like to create and finding out as a progression. The more I do, the more I realize it’s best not to plan things too intricately as it ruins the mystery of art.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

To trigger experiences that are unique and singular onto the art object itself that triggers the experience.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

James Webb telescope and everything it uncovers.

Photo by Ray Marmolejo.

https://www.instagram.com/sarattma
https://www.facebook.com/Sarattma.band
https://sarattma.bandcamp.com

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https://facebook.com/nefariousIndustries
https://nefariousindustries.bandcamp.com
https://nefariousindustries.com

Sarattma, Escape Velocity (2022)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Sara Neidorf of Sarattma & Aptera

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

As for me: I play drums, whatever the occasion calls for. I don’t feel very bound to style, though metal was such a big part of my upbringing that it finds its way into a lot of what I do. Also music with a lot of pathos and/or a lot of idiosyncrasy. I don’t like music that’s too cool for school. It has to interact with some brooding and possibly also some autistic part of me. I came to drumming when I was around 10 because it helped me to focus and relax, and also because it was a way of connecting with people, and I kept doing it for that reason, as well as because it helps me connect with myself, to feel grounded, to feel like I’m doing something meaningful and honest.
As for Sarattma: We push each other, try to lock in and lock out, try to explore different trajectories, to create some shit that we’d enjoy hearing, but which we don’t feel has been done a bunch already. We came to play together because we came up in the same music community in Philly and had some of the same music mentors. Eventually one of our mutual friends/teachers, Yanni Papadopoulos from Stinking Lizaveta, said he thought it would be rad if we formed a band, and we did, and we’ve been linking up and doing that over the past 10 years whenever I’m Stateside visiting friends and family. (I’ve been based in Berlin since 2012.)

Describe your first musical memory.

I remember singing the song “Breakdown” by Tom Petty with my mom in the car when I was 4 or 5, getting many of the words wrong and coming up with my own lyrics phonetically. Or singing the song “Montana” by Frank Zappa with my dad in the car around that same age, knowing each word by heart. “I don’t care if you think it’s silly, folks. I don’t care if you think it’s silly folks.” Drumming out the fives in that phrase on my lap, enjoying the rhythmic puzzles in the breaks without consciously knowing they were odd. I also knew how to sing every guitar solo on Metallica’s Black Album when I was 5 or 6. Not their hottest album, I know, but luckily you don’t care about such things when you’re on your way to kindergarten.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

This is honestly impossible to answer because there have been so many occasions that felt like pinnacles, from live performances I’ve witnessed, to shows where I performed in front of dancing, hyper-engaged crowds, to recording sessions that felt fluid, free, and perfectly aligned, to albums I blasted and sang along to with my mother in the living room as a teen, to songs shared with my partner in intimate moments, to jam sessions in a basement or rehearsal space where everything just meshed so seamlessly… I really can’t come up with a hierarchy among these moments. Music is consistently bringing me new joys, new highs and groundings, new reasons to keep pushing forward.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

This is a toughie. Perhaps it was when I did my biggest tour to date as a session drummer, that my ideas of success were definitely thrown into question. It was also the best paid gig I’ve ever had. I guess I believed that it would feel like ‘success’ or ‘arrival’ but it actually tore me down in a lot of ways, destroyed my short term memory for a couple of years due to prolonged emotional distress, basically traumatized me. I learned that recognition ain’t worth shit if you’re not happy. Otherwise there have been lots of other times, involving friendships or relationships, where my ideas about love, commitment, and loyalty have been tested and thrown into turmoil.

People giving me what I felt I always needed most, turning out to be manipulative and abusive, people I thought I’d have forever dying or leaving me in different ways, not knowing at first if I could live without these people, but then finding my way through it. I think the pandemic has also taught me a lot about how to slow down, especially about accomplishment-based things — to not put a ton of importance or emphasis on something and to think that something has to be perfect or has to happen in a certain way or within a certain timeframe. It all might be called off at any moment. Just do what you can; appreciate the present more.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I hope it just continuously leads to new places you can’t anticipate or know until you’re there. It’s exciting to me that this really doesn’t have a destination, just further journey, travel, discovery. New ways of articulating. It also fosters connections with new people and places, and also more pathways within.

How do you define success?

I’m still figuring that one out. For sure it involves making work that feels true to me. Releasing that work and having that work recognized and enjoyed (and yes, paid for) by others is also still important to me, though I aim for that to be less of a priority. Of course, it’s not about quantity; it’s about the quality of the interaction. My general experience is that a show in front of 50 really tuned-in people is way more fulfilling than a super distant-feeling one in front of 2,000. Sharing your life with people who are good to you and who understand you, and vice versa, is also a big part of success. A mindset of abundance, generosity, freedom, ease, and exchange.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I wish I hadn’t seen my mother in so much pain in her final year of life. I am still haunted by some images I will not recount here. It’s a relief to know that she isn’t suffering anymore, but I miss her every minute of every day.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’d like to collaborate on creating the soundtrack to a film. I’d like to start by doing some live scoring for some silent horror films, which I’m beginning to do with a new project I’ve started playing with in Berlin, Pausa a Pausa. I’m excited to explore combining my love of music with my love of cinema. I’d also like to eventually write a sort of memoir, a collection of short stories or essays.
Other than that, also looking forward to recording and releasing more work with my projects Mellowdeath, Choral Hearse, and Aptera.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

It needs to keep pushing us to new places, presenting us with new images that test our imaginations, lead us to question systems of power, push us to feel uncomfortable sometimes but with an intentionally devised frame to make that discomfort productive, and to create affective environments in which we can reflect and experience things in personal ways.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to visiting my grandmother for her 95th birthday this September. I’m excited to attend Fantasia Film Fest in Montreal next summer, which I’m currently sad to be missing. I’m stoked for the next edition of the feminist horror film fest I co-organize each February, Final Girls Berlin Film Fest, which is just a lovely community of artists and film nerds. Lots of little things too — I’m excited to meet an old friend for dinner later.

https://www.instagram.com/sarattma
https://www.facebook.com/Sarattma.band
https://sarattma.bandcamp.com

https://instagram.com/nefarious_industries
https://facebook.com/nefariousIndustries
https://nefariousindustries.bandcamp.com
https://nefariousindustries.com

https://www.instagram.com/apteraberlin/
https://facebook.com/apteraberlin/
https://apteraberlin.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/ripplemusic/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/

Sarattma, Escape Velocity (2022)

Aptera, You Can’t Bury What Still Burns (2022)

Plum Green, ‘Valentine’ (Sisters of Mercy cover) video premiere

[Click play above to stream the premiere of Plum Green’s video for the Sisters of Mercy cover, “Valentine.” Her latest full-length, Somnambulistic, is out now on Nefarious Industries and can be found at the bottom of this post.]

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Plum Green

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I made a decision a long time ago to be as honest as possible while writing lyrics. I need to completely connect with the overall message and meaning behind a song to feel good with performing and releasing it. I’ve never written music based on trends or what other people might think. I’ve been criticised in the past for not being goth enough or fully committing to the “darkness” in my dress, aesthetic and sound because I write dark lyrics/music. I don’t do it because I’ve chosen any specific fashion or genre to stick to or stay inside of. If I write something and listen back to it and don’t feel like I’ve expressed myself truthfully enough it makes me feel deeply uncomfortable so I go back to it and work on it until it feels like I’ve told the complete truth and then I am satisfied. I wrote ‘Somnambulistic’ to be a comforting protection spell for my friends, family and everyone who listens to my music because the people who tend to find and enjoy it always seem to have huge, battered and bleeding hearts just like I do. I don’t want to rub any more salt in. I want to acknowledge the pain and make it better. Sometimes you have to face it to ease it.

Describe your first musical memory.

The most fun musical memory I have is dancing to the Ghostbusters theme song, I would have been around 4 or 5. I was the type of little kid that REALLY got into it. I would have been the stand out kid fully headbanging and totally losing my shit.

Describe your best musical memory to date

I have a lot of great memories from our tour of Europe in 2018 and I wrote a book on it, which is available via my Patreon. The best one that’s the freshest in my mind is from 2021 during a break in Melbourne’s long and torturous lockdowns. We were invited to play in a gold rush era mansion in regional Victoria. As soon as we entered the house I recognised that the audience were a group of fun and lovely people who had been partying for 3 days and they encouraged me to join them. I agreed, partially due to the languishing at home alone and partially because of the stunning surroundings and how safe I felt. It was only during the first song I started to recognise how trippy the lyrics of ‘Somnambulistic’ are. “Your fingertips are leaves, your stems are growing roots”. I looked up into the corner of this gigantic, old living room we were performing in and noticed the intricate wallpaper consisted of long, winding vines with leaves growing off them. They came to life before my eyes and started writhing and twisting into each other as I sang. I looked into the faces of our audience and saw that some of them were crying, their tears were glittering in streams on their faces and everyone was so silent as they watched us. Some of them were filming us. I told them they were the most beautiful audience I had ever seen, and they were. All in costume, a woman had an enormous headdress that comprised of two feathered wings that extended out each side of her head. There were people in togas, roses wrapped around their heads in garlands and everyone was serene and so welcoming.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

A friend of mine recently said to me “there is no right or wrong”. That makes me feel uncomfortable because I feel in my heart that I KNOW hurting animals is bad or giving someone something they need that you have a lot of is good. But I have to face that there is no right or wrong, just culture, traditions and expectations attached to human behaviour. The world and the universe still exists without humanity. Truth is subjective. Humans have generational traumas and instincts from thousands of years ago, There is no “us” without culture and society attached. Sometimes you have to hurt people to heal them, sometimes hurting someone breaks them even further. The intention behind the hurt is everything. If your intention is well meaning, the action is right, if the intention is negative, the action is bad. My belief was tested, but it came around and landed me in exactly the same place.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I feel that it depends on who it is and what their art form is. It could lead further into truth and fulfilment or denial and absolute rubbish. It’s important either way, to experiment and try different things.

How do you define success?

Being able to express something exactly as you want to and mean it to come across. A venture is even more successful if you manage to compromise with someone else’s artistic ideas and still achieve the desired outcome. As long as you stay truthful to yourself, enjoy what you have created, feel proud of it and manage to positively touch someone who interacts with it then this is absolute success.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Honestly, I really shouldn’t get into it because I don’t want to ruin someones day, or life. I will say that I think the world gets dark enough without having to deal with people who don’t have empathy. I think the world could easily do without the existence of sadistic sociopaths/psychopaths, narcissists and people who get enjoyment from hurting others. I know that in order to be happy you need to feel pain in order to distinguish between the two. It’s easier to understand how you should be treated by someone once someone has been cruel to you. I think that this can exist with all the miscommunication, bad timing and incompatibility amongst people. Sometimes I wonder if this world we’re in is just a giant experiment and we all exist in a petri dish somewhere with a master tormentor prodding us to see how we will react. Or maybe there are multiple universes that are identical to our own, but exist on a gradient of how harsh reality is. If that was the case I suspect our current universe would be on the harsher end of the spectrum. My ideal universe is this one, minus humans who are compulsively sadistic.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’ve been experimenting with operatic vocals. I found it really freeing and expressive. I’m looking forward to reaching that part of my voice again. We’ve also been working on a new EP which might turn into an album called ‘Gogic’, although we might rename it. It’s similar to the last album, ‘Somnambulistic’ but also a progression. It’s a little bit darker and has more elements of black metal than Somnambulistic. We’re working on changing the name from ‘Plum Green’ (which is my name) to a band name, because that fits more with what we’re doing now. It’s not my solo project anymore.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

I think essentially it needs to make you feel something. Really good art should entertain you and make you feel seen or understood on a level. It should capture your attention so fully that it takes you out of yourself and away from your current point of existence and into a different world. But of course, what is “good” is so subjective and changes drastically depending on perception. I know that it’s important to make people feel connected to society. It can provide a link between cultures and a thread into the past to our ancestors. But the essential function of art shouldn’t even be that it’s “good”, because anything can be art.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

I’m really looking forward to a bit of travel. I love museums, art galleries and architecture. I can’t wait to return to Europe so I can explore it further and finally visit Italy. I want to spend more time in Paris and to return to Basque Country. I just want to see the world before my chance ends.

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Plum Green, Somnambulistic (2022)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jon Ehlers of Astrometer & Bangladeafy

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I’d like to think that I take the overlooked elements of musical timbres and turn it into something that demands attention. If it’s a synth tone, I kind of zero in on the ugliest feature of it and extract it in its purest form and put truck nuts on it.

Describe your first musical memory.

I remember sitting in the backwards facing seat of a station wagon and listening to Marshall Tucker and ZZ Top on the radio while watching the world pass by in reverse.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Watching Nine Inch Nails perform as I was crammed at the foot of the stage on Randall’s Island during the Panorama Music Festival. It was extremely hot out and I had already drank all my water but was too stubborn to leave my coveted spot. As the band began to play, a cool breeze came off the East River and everything fell into place.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I’ve never thought this strongly about my convictions and it’s tough to answer. I’ve been in certain situations where I am forced to interact with extremely ignorant people and I believe that they are victims of some awful circumstance out of their control. I try to approach them with patience and understanding until I can’t because my own circumstances have reached a breaking point.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I can tell you where it does not lead: perfection. It is a series of challenges, pride and letdowns that hopefully amount to a legacy that will be uncovered by alien archaeologists.

How do you define success?

Success in terms of music or the visual medium of art is best defined in its replay value. How often do you listen or look at what you created and feel satisfaction?

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

When I was about 10 years old, I watched my dog kill a puppy when I was home alone. I blocked it out for a long time.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I would one day like to create a retro-style kaiju series that captures and expands on the magical campiness of it all.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Discipline in regards to the time put aside for it.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

What quantum computing will bring to mankind.

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Astrometer, Incubation EP (2022)

Bangladeafy, House Fly (2020)

Philly astral jazz-of-death instrumentalist duo Sarattma — Sara Neidorf and Matt Hollenberg, from whose given names that of the band derives — will release their debut album, Escape Velocity, through Nefarious Industries on Aug. 12. It’s not every band that can pull the skronk out of extreme metal and use technical wizardry to turn it into something that speaks to an avant garde history of fuckery, but Escape Velocity trades between longer and shorter tracks across seven songs — starts longer, ends longest with the 15-minute finale “Twilight Realm of Imaginary Notes” — and offers the frenetic intensity of its opening title-track (premiering below) as a beginning burst of intention, carrying djent riffing and Fredrik Thordendal-esque lead work to a place of atmospheric openness that clues the listener on the quick that anything can and just might happen throughout the proceedings that follow, save perhaps for vocals, though who the hell knows where they’d go anyway.

But if “Escape Velocity” begins the record that shares its name with only the most urgent of tech-jazz-metal shenanigans, that’s a fitting representation of ethic if not the complete sound of what follows, as “Theraphosidae” reinvents Primus‘ “John the Fisherman” as perhaps what would’ve happened if Mr. Bungle-era Trevor Dunn wrote it instead of Les Claypool and the subsequent “Sublingual Excavation” — which I’m not even going to look up perchance I might see an image of one — digs into on-its-own-wavelength-and-dares-you-to-get-there atmospheric range, breaking almost at its halfway point into a comedown that if nothing else gives the listener a moment to realize that Hollenberg and Neidorf have been running circles around them as suits their respective pedigrees playing with John Zorn, the thrashier Aptera, and so on.

A solo-on-top, skillfully-layered, and relatively un-manic stretch reminds of fellow Philly residents Stinking Lizaveta, but while Sarattma might find a home on a bill with that outfit, the purpose across Escape Velocity is the band’s own, as the turn toward the sweeter and wistful dystopian melody of centerpiece “To Touch the Dust” unveils. I won’t call it straightforward, since structurally speaking it’s not, but its ebbs and flows emphasize dynamic in a way that stands it out and makes the entire album experience of Escape Velocity richer, so that when its post-crescendo quiet finish gives way to the echoing resonant guitar at the outset of “Socotra,” the duo are even less predictable than they already were. Is the next punch coming? From where?

I mean, yes, obviously the next punch is coming. It would be a fun adventure if Sarattma went ambient drone for the entire second half of their debut LP — unexpected, if nothing else — but even on their own level it wouldn’t make sense. “Socotra” is eight minutes long, and there’s plenty of room for it to make you feel like you’re being crunched between oddly-shaped gears, all hexagons and intertwining trapezoids and whatnot, so that when “Sciatic Haze” takes over and soon enough runs backward and forward at the same time in Blind Idiot God knows only what rhythmic pattern before it resets and launches face-first into a red giant star and you feel like they just dropped Advanced Calc II on your head, it’s well earned.

And that 15-minute capper? It’s there, lurking, waiting. A goodly portion of it sees Neidorf and Hollenberg on relatively stable and serene ground, though its peacefulness is a reshaped clay of reality, urbane and sharp-cornered without necessarily being brutalist, but even the proggier landing spot for Escape Velocity would be inevitably bent in the brazen spirit of what’s preceded it. That it holds attention until unveiling its final metallic roll at about 12:20 into its 15:02 is a credit to the versatility of the players involved, though clearly if they couldn’t pull this stuff of technically, the band wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Some late forward bass rumble is welcome and continues the less-than-onslaught vibe that Sarattma have worked into, and I more than a little bit feel like I should be applauding when the song ends, so I suppose that’s probably a good sign.

Recorded in 2019, Escape Velocity won’t speak to everybody. It’s a challenging, demanding listen, and its rewards are in appreciating the level of performance and the substance as well as the controlled chaos of styles which it inhabits. But if you can keep up with it, those rewards are easily worth the effort.

PR wire info and preorder link follow the player below.

As always, I hope you enjoy:

Sarattma on “Escape Velocity”:

“The title track of the album is meant to feel like a cross-species motherboard takeover, the terror of spotting an oasis only to realize it’s a wormhole, a crash-landing into an unknown ecosystem. The album’s overarching theme is the alien within the body, in the form of pain and illness. We know this at different intensities at different points in our own lives and in witnessing the experiences of loved ones. Though we can’t necessarily take the reins on this process, there’s some reprieve in depicting it.”

Nefarious Industries presents Escape Velocity, the debut LP from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based experimental instrumental post-metal duo SARATTMA.

The follow-up to their 2017-released Inner Spaces EP, SARATTMA creates an entrancing, psychedelic, apocalyptic journey through extraterrestrial landscapes on their debut album Escape Velocity. Drummer Sara Neidorf (Mellowdeath, ex-Brian Jonestown Massacre, Aptera) and guitarist Matt Hollenberg (Cleric, John Frum, John Zorn) weave an intricate fusion of modern improv, punk, jazz, djent, avante-psych-rock, and prog, evoking Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Dysrhythmia, Don Caballero, and Stinking Lizaveta. Their visually arousing music is a cinematic space punk anthem for those grimy enough to have survived the end of days.

Dedicated to Jill Neidorf (1957-2020), Escape Velocity was recorded in July 2019 at Black Spine Studios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, mixed and engineered by Matt Hollenberg with additional mixing from Steve Roche, guitar re-amping engineered by Kevin Antreassian at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, New Jersey, and mastered by Colin Marston at The Thousand Caves in Queens, New York. The striking cover artwork was created by Caroline Harrison and the layout handled by Erich Kriebel.

Escape Velocity will be released digitally and on LP in a run of 250 copies on Black vinyl on August 12th. Fine preorder/presave options at the Nefarious Industries shop HERE: https://www.nefariousindustries.com/collections/sarattma-escape-velocity

Escape Velocity Track Listing:
1. Escape Velocity
2. Theraphosidae
3. Sublingual Excavation
4. To Touch The Dust
5. Socotra
6. Sciatic Haze
7. Twilight Realm Of Imaginary Notes

SARATTMA:
Sara Neidorf – drums
Matt Hollenberg – guitars, bass VI, bass

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