Don't Count On It Reviews: Interview

Last year Melted Cassettes released their debut full-length album The Real Sounds From Hell Recordings and brought new life to spastic electronic noise rock. From those who heard it, it was definitely a breath of fresh air into the realms of noise rock and cybergrind and seemed to make me take an interest in cybergrind for once. It was honestly one of the most bizarre releases I had heard last year.

Ian: Why don't you tell us how Melted Cassettes came to be. What were your intentions when you first started the band?

Melted Cassettes: We had no intentions initially except for coming together to make music. Eventually, syncronicity led us to an autonomous intention for the band.

Ian: I curious how you would describe your sound since it is quite different?

Melted Cassettes: Intergalactic struggle jams or alchemical noise.

Ian: Who were some of your influences? You've been described by some as cybergrind, do you feel that is an accurate description?

Melted Cassettes: Creative pursuits as observed in the confines of culture often retain arbitrary attributes to explain what is most often ineffible. I never really identified too much with the cybergrind tag but people can call things as they do. I identify with bands such as Arab On Radar and Big Black and many others as well. Raw shit that sparks an interest and makes you question the sound/source.

Ian: What equipment did you use on the album?

Melted Cassettes: Hardware: Realistic moog, various yamaha synths, stringed instruments. Software: ableton live, fm7, Reason, Logic pro, Pure Data.

Ian: I personally enjoyed how diverse you made the album, it wasn't just going berserk all the time. When you wrote the album, what kind of ideas and concepts did you go into it with?

Melted Cassettes: Much of the concepts for the album were paranormal jokes as heard through a thick muffling veil. On our next album, that veil is lifted.

Ian: Did you mean to make it as diverse as possible?

Melted Cassettes: Diversity seems to be merely a side effect of our source of musings.

Ian: How do you view the connection between electronic music and rock/metal?

Melted Cassettes: Either a paintbrush or a pencil can be used to bring an idea to life. Both are tools that require patience and skill to get the job done. Sometimes you can use both for one project.

Ian: Despite your sound being quite unique, you often utilize sounds that wouldn't be out of the ordinary in club oriented dance and electronic music, what is it about those sounds that made you more inclined to use them on the album?

Melted Cassettes: Coincidence, perhaps.

Ian: How do you approach your vocals, they're quite different and they really stick out as being one of the defining factors on the album in my opinion?

Melted Cassettes: After a series of mutations, the vocals have 'self-actualized' through trial and error, crystalizing them into an identifiable character in the Melted Cassettes continuum. There is very limited lyrical content on real sounds. Alot of what you hear is struggle forced out of the body through audible fits and vocal experimentation.

Ian: I'm curious how you came up with some of the song titles for the album as they are quite bizarre? How do titles like Altered Beatststs or Xzrzrz reflect those songs?

Melted Cassettes: Inside jokes at times. Sometimes it could be based of an original file name or derived from lyrical content. Older material could have many howler and artiznoiz references.

Ian: What is your take on the whole cassette format? Are you favorable towards it and could you see releasing future material in that format? How do you think they compare to vinyl and CDs?

Melted Cassettes: Media format, like genres are just shades in the larger spectrum of given potential. Each has its own appreciable qualities. We'd like to think extraterrestrials could be jamming to us via telekinetic broadcasting frequencies, but tapes are fine as well.

Ian: I've read that you're already working on a new album? What can fans expect from this new release?

Melted Cassettes: As we said, a veil is lifted to reveal somewhat of a rabbit-hole and/or puzzle. One of the songs Body is already streaming online. There has been a lot of strange occurences surrounding the recording of the new album that we will reveal at a later date, hopefully.

Ian: Well, I guess those are all the questions I have. Thank you for your time and music, the last words are yours.

Melted Cassettes: Thank you for the opportunity to speak our minds, and the new album will be out sometime this year.