Rob Buttrum and His OUT-OF-BODY RECORDS Imprint Mix Experimental Audio and Visual Analog Elements with the Release of Noise Groups REGOSPHERE and SOMNAPHON via Fresh VHS!
Out-of-Body Records main man Rob Buttrum just can’t stop. His undying affection for all things analog accompanied by his unstoppable drive to make as much radical stuff as humanly possible has impelled him to arrive at that all-too-familiar intersection of artistic creation we call Exhilarated and Engulfed. His tireless efforts to glorify magnetic tape have yielded a cache of awesomely independent cassette releases containing experimental aural sounds that are as engaging as they are obscure. And now with his newest creation, Buttrum has blended elements of aural and visual experimentation to produce the first fresh VHS releases for his Out-of-Body imprint featuring noise outfits REGOSPHERE and SOMNAPHON. Read on, my fellow analog travelers, and appease your need for some esoteric audio / video indulgence, indeed…
NITE SHADES. I also play Drums in a Doom/ Prog band VAULTS OF ZIN. In addition, over the last several years I’ve been slowly experimenting with an 8mm project I’ve been working on, that seems never ending, and only gets attention when I have time! My life is surrounded by music and art, and I love it that way; however I'm always too busy for my own good .
Now some history on how OUT-OF-BODY started. I moved to Denton, TX in my mid-20's and started a DIY venue out of my living room called HOUSE OF TINNITUS. I had over 50 shows and hundreds of bands play between the years 05-2010. During the last two years of running H.O.T., A friend and I started a cassette label called AFTER DEATH RECORDS, focusing primarily on harsh noise. OUT-OF-BODY RECORDS started out of the ashes of AFTER DEATH RECORDS. We disbanded because of scheduling issues and the fact we were both so busy; it was hard to find time to work together. So we both started our own independent labels. OUT-OF-BODY was mine. The label stared in summer of 2011 with the a tagline of OUT-OF-BODY RECORDS - "ESOTERIC SOUNDS & EXTRATERRESTRIAL SIGHTINGS" I decided, right off the bat, that I wanted to run a label not only focusing on music but also video. Focusing on Cassettes and VHS (This being the first batch) and eventually (hopefully) vinyl. Also focus on releasing material that was not only noise but esoteric music in general / non-genre specific. I run the label out of my house/ex-venue HOUSE OF TINNITUS here in Denton, TX. In addition, I have also done all of the artwork /design for all of the releases thus far. This is a small one-man operation. I like to keep it as hands on as possible. I cut / fold the J-cards / assemble / package the cassette and run the mail order in house. I do however send the tapes out to be dubbed professionally for quality purposes.
from harsh noise/ death industrial, to industrial beat driven tunes, to tape collage weirdness, to danceable electronic jams to soundtrack / synth compositions.
a super twisted analog journey layers of manipulated video and tortured video signals, with an intense throbbing death industrial soundtrack. The SOMNAPHON VHS focuses on data bending - a way of distorting and abstracting a digital video or audio signal through circuit bending. A type of "glitch art". It’s a mind-bending video of 11 tracks of crazy fucked up twisted and deranged digital music and video. I thought it would be an interesting concept to work with a digital artist and present their art in an analog format. In a way, I feel the art itself is kind of an anti-digital, digital form of art.
a product of my obsession with the analog format. I’m obsessed with analog gear. 85% of all the gear I use in my music and video art is analog. I collect tape machines, reel to reels, cassette decks, field recorders, VCR's, 4-tracks, Video cameras, Vintage projectors, cameras, audio receivers, record players, 8 track players, and any audio/video gear that is analog in nature. I grew up watching VHS and playing cassettes and they are still my preferred medium today. There was no doubt that when I decided to release artist’s visual art that it would be on VHS.
The Out-of-Body Records Logo. Heady, man... HEADY.
Can you tell us a little bit about your creative history, and the impetus to start up OUT OF BODY RECORDS? Well I've always be a fan of the arts. I’ve always been drawn to music, painting and video specifically. I’ve enjoyed creating artistically since I was a kid, and still continue to now. In general, I overwhelm myself, and work on as many art and music projects as possible. I still paint a lot, and create VHS video art as much as time allows, with also being involved with multiple bands. I play noise/electronics in an experimental sludge band called TERMINATOR 2; I also have a solo noise/industrial project called FILTH, and have a cassette/ video collage / manipulation project with my roommate
A small sample of some of the cassette releases from Out-of-Body. Dig that groovy ghost stuck in the VCR, mang. See OOB's full analog output RIGHT HURR.
Can you give us an idea of your catalog for Out-Of-Body? Previous to this , I have only released cassette tapes. Since I have so many projects going on at once, the label has a fairly slow release schedule. So far I have released 12 cassette tapes (always releasing two at a time) and I have plans to release vinyl eventually, as well. Thus far I have released tapes from the Following Artists - FILTH, FLESH COFFIN, GNAWED, DEVELOPER, DRAG AGE, DEIGN, NITE SHADEZ, COMPACTOR, 156, OPPONENTS, EN NIHIL & MATTHEW AKERS.
A look at the full-artwork for both VHS releases now available from OOB. Clickity-click and dig on 'em.
Tell us a little bit about your newest releases SOMNAPHON and REGOSPHERE. What can Tapeheads expect when they feed these to their VCR? I'm extremely excited about these two releases! These releases mark the first batch of VHS for OUT-OF-BODY RECORDS, something I’ve been wanting to do since I started the label 3 years ago! The releases are experimental music and video both created by the artist. (I knew from the beginning the idea was to work with artists that work in both the audio and visual realms and to and create an outlet for their arts to be seen in an analog medium.) The music and video from these two artists vary quite differently. The REGOSPHERE VHS is an all analog experience, with the video being created using start / stop VHS editing techniques and utilizing DIY homemade video mixers.
A taste of the glitched out dichotomy that awaits you on the SOMNAPHON VHS release. TRIP IT UP.
Experimental noise is a niche genre to say the least. What is your attraction to it? Why do you think people dig it? Why did you want to put these projects on VHS? I’ve always tended to be more attracted to the weirder and more esoteric sides of art and music. I’m very interested in the dark and abstract sides of life, and things that are mysterious and unusual. The same goes for me with music, as well. At a young age I discovered that I just really like sound in general, fascinated with how things sounded when hit or scratched. The sounds that are around us all the time, in nature, and man-made sounds, machines, industry, factories, trains, explosions, et al. When I was a kid I had a tape recorder that I carried around, and thought it was the greatest thing to be able to capture sound, record something and be able listen to it over and over. I loved the way anything sounded. Then I got into realizing you can create a new sound by manipulating an existing sound, and it never ends. In my early teens I was into Metal and eventually Industrial / experimental music /extreme music, but was still searching for something more intense. When I discovered Noise I realized there are others that are into pure sound or noise as music, and that any sound can be enjoyed as music. Noise can be very cathartic; it’s a good release, in both the listening aspect as well as a performing aspect. As for the urge to put these releases out on VHS format,
The REGOSPHERE and SOMNAPHON release side by VHSide. Super-dig those PLEASE STOP AND REWIND stickers. Damn rad! These are available RIGHT HURR.
Dang, that’s a lot of analog awesome, mang! So, what are some of your VHSpecific Videovores habits and analog consumption inclinations? Why do you think it’s important to keep VHS around and rolling? My collection is not a huge as a lot of VHS collectors, but I think the last time I counted I have around 800 (and still growing) VHS. As far as habits go I pretty much go to all the local thrift shops and record stores that sell VHS on a weekly basis and go through all the VHS. I normally come home with something each time. This town has a used book store called Recycled Books that still buys and sells used VHS, as well as books, CDs, DVD's, tapes and records… it’s an awesome store! The VHS section is getting smaller and smaller but it’s been a gem for finding good ones now and then. I’ve gotten hundreds alone from that place, I'm sure. I also hunt for VHS on eBay and various online trading groups. I tend to only visit those sites occasionally ‘cause they end up being dangerous to my wallet. I tour quite a bit with my various music projects as well, therefore every city I go to I look for places that sell used VHS. So, far I’ve hit the jackpot a few times (at 2 different stores) in Milwaukee; they have some crazy stores with thousands of VHS there. It's very important in my eyes to keep VHS around. For one, just archival reasons alone. There are thousands of films that will never be converted to a digital format. This means that it’s possible for that art to become extinct if someone does not keep or preserve a copy of the movie on physical film. VHS also has some of the best artwork on the covers, and the art alone is worth collecting, as its own legit piece of art. It’s also still the most archival / reliable form of video format. The Library of Congress still uses VHS and Cassette to archive art / music / film because it’s the most durable format made. Digital formats are so easy to lose or scratch, or become unable to watch or listen to if barley damaged, where film / video / tape is repairable, and splice-able even if needed. It’s the most superior format ever created to this day in my opinion. The quality of the analog medium is actually very good if not better then digital if you have good / the right equipment to play it on. The format itself was super high-quality and production but the playback machines / industry standards is what gave video / cassette quality a bad wrap, even though it’s still probably the best format quality wise. There is nothing better than a good warm analog sound / picture.
The soft, noisy and totally analog-influenced compositions are looking radical. Check out a VHSample of REGOSPHERE, mang.
Yo, preach, my man! What’s next for you, mang? Where can we keep up with you? Well, after these two VHS releases I have 4 more tapes by ARVO ZYLO, BOTTOMED , GHOST MINER, CBN/SATANIC ABORTION that are planned to be released. Then I plan on releasing two more VHS releases, one is a project of mine (NITE SHADEZ) that I'm extremely excited about. It’s a project I do with my friend Andrew Michael; it’s a music and video collage project, and we have slowly been working on the video for a while now. Also a VHS by the killer Houston project FUTURE BLONDS. After that I have dozens more cassettes on the slate to be releases as well as a bunch more VHS releases. Including another project of mine (FILTH) that will be a VHS of my 8mm experimentations. You can keep up with what is available and what is coming soon at outofbodyrecords.blogspot.com and you can also keep up with us on Facebook… and to sample tunes and what not, visit outofbodyrecords.bandcamp.com Anything else you want to say to all the Videovores in Lunchmeat Land? Thank you for your interest in VHS and all things analog, and thank you to everyone who is keeping the VHS culture alive! I hope to cross paths with as many other Videovores as I can while on the road with any of my musical endeavor, and talk VHS!!! Also if your ever in my neck of the woods, hit me up and we will watch some killer movies!Yo, you know we will, Rob! We analog aficionados are just naturally drawn to each other through that mystical yet manifest magnetic mind connection, mang! Both REGOSPHERE and SOMNAPHON are available RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW and all fans of obscure and esoteric aural entertainment are VHSure to be stoked on the effusion of analog aesthetics that abound once they feed these independently-produced slabs to their playback machines. And don’t forget to stay tuned to Out-of-Body’s Official Facebook and Blogspot page to stay updated on all the undoubtedly radical upcoming projects from Rob’s bitchin’ analog-obsessed imprint.
Groove and Groove and Follow the Noise.
Josh Schafer