Auris Apothecary is easily one of the coolest labels ever. They release an incredible variety of music (black metal, drone, harsh noise, fuzzy psych, chiptune, bedroom pop) by artists I already know and love (Sutekh Hexen, Sujo, William Basinski) and artists I would’ve never otherwise heard (Unholy Triforce, Hymnal Bruise, Morsunda).
And then there’s the packaging. They “spend countless hours perfecting each fold and drop of ink on [their] releases,” each is wholly unique (like Pendra Gon’s 16-song Mu Blaksids Nogard Nep that has each song on a separate 3.5″ floppy disk) and some considered as “anti-releases” that are unplayable (Unholy Triforce’s Siberiliszt Inferno cassette that’s melted beyond repair) or intentionally created to damage your equipment (Unholy Triforce’s The Library Of Babel vinyl whose grooves have been screen-printed over so your stylus gets irrevocably fucked up while it chips away the ink to reveal the audio underneath) or maybe just something you don’t even want to touch (Mike IX Williams’ Glass Torn And War Shortage tape that’s permanently covered in broken glass).
One of the dudes behind the label, Dante Augustus Scarlatti, was quoted in an article from The Wire saying “part of the absurdity in what we do is that we also promote absolute destruction – sonically, physically, socially, spiritually and mentally. If that happens to entail destroying part of the package we worked so hard to make, it was all part of the greater plan and should be considered an acceptable casualty in the pursuit of understanding. Anti-cassettes are our extension of that idea, promoting physical alteration to a degree that it would appear unplayable or damaging to perform in its presented state… They are obstacles designed to provide tangible insight into otherwise abstract concepts, and we encourage the listener to perform whatever tasks are necessary to hear the audio.”
I did my best to showcase AA's genre variety, to not play artists I’ve repped on AGB before, and to play songs that are difficult to hear in their physical form (which I was able to do because they celebrated their 100th release a few years ago by putting out a microSD card with all the music from their releases including everything from the traditional 12″ LP to the locked grooves and 7 second tape loops).
So much amazing art to appreciate in so many different forms. Thanks x1000000, Auris Apothecary.
Playlist
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Vinyl Etchings Containing Hymns Of The Sacred Greek Orthodox Funeral by Dante Augustus Scarlatti on Demises Of The Dynamic Microphone [In Monodelity] (Auris Apothecary) -
Sleeping Beast by Icuab Drain on Icuab Drain, You're Uncomfortably Sane (Auris Apothecary) -
Void [Society's Infernal Holocaust] by Hail Architeuthis! on The Horseman Who Revived Organic Institutions (Auris Apothecary) -
A Cancer To Spare Us by Iw on Death Patterns (Auris Apothecary) -
Movement 1:39 by The Gentlemen's Butcher on Preservation: Consistent Melodic Passages Enhanced With Clouds Of Aural Opiates (Auris Apothecary) -
Thixophobia by Pendra Gon on Mu Blaksids Nogard Nep (Auris Apothecary) -
Side One by Pusdrainer on Worms Beneath Thy Cold Flesh (Auris Apothecary) -
Side Two by Unholy Triforce on Sandin' Yr Vagina (Auris Apothecary) -
Lucre: Part II by False Flag on Lucre/Teeth (Auris Apothecary) -
Gold by John Flannelly on Spaced (Auris Apothecary) -
Drauzma Gestalt Domnar by Semilanceata on En Wallmoburen Myhr, Där Döön Grödha Mellom Bitter Root Ok Frucht (Auris Apothecary) -
Alien Lair by Hidenori Maezawa & Kyouhei Sada on Contra (Auris Apothecary) -
Boss Battle by Hidenori Maezawa & Kyouhei Sada on Contra (Auris Apothecary) -
Movement I by Hymnal Bruise on untitled (Auris Apothecary) -
Parte Dos by (((o))) on Fuego Somos, Fuego Seremos: Roars And Abstractions (Auris Apothecary) -
Side Two by Mike IX Williams on Glass Torn And War Shortage: The Purposeful Poisoning Of A Shardless Society (Auris Apothecary) -
Darkness Of the Night by The Constants on No Organ (Auris Apothecary) -
Drinking Away Demons by Lord Fyre on Destruction At 2013 (Auris Apothecary) -
Tacked Into It by Baroke Misty Queens on Tacked Into It (Auris Apothecary) -
Cacophony Of Vertical Horror by Morsunda on Analogital (Auris Apothecary) -
Falling Lakes by HOU on Seren Summation Of Years Past (Auris Apothecary) -
Moon Pool by Deserter on Sister Cities (Auris Apothecary)