Over the last few years within my art practice, I’ve come to the conclusion that less is always more. The idea of endless possibilities within anything has always made me anxious. Through an inspiration completely unrelated to music—a friend of mine, a PhD graduate and published author—I found a parallel. His room contains only what is necessary for his practice: books, a bed, and a laptop. The idea of cutting away circuitry to clear the path ahead resonates deeply with me.
This reductionist approach has helped me hone in on concepts amidst the mess of everyday ideas. When it comes to patching and programming any form of musical gear, it can be a drowning experience—endless wires, endless possibilities, and endless questions: Which goes where? Will it fit on the table at the show?
Watching Dominick Fernow (Vatican Shadow) deliver a highlight performance in New York reaffirmed to me that less is more. With a simplified arrangement—a CDJ mixer, one launch pad, and a microphone—Fernow executed a one-hour set of brutal electronics spanning fifteen years. No fancy tactics, no tricks, no complex displays of mixing technique—just an honest delivery of cold, rhythmic industrial technoscapes.
In my own practice, the idea of using only what’s chosen has taken shape in the planning of my next album. It will be created using four pieces of analogue gear: the Sonicware Ambient Liven, the Magnetar Black Distortion Unit, and two echo and reverb pedals by Death By Audio. By allowing only the possibilities within these machines to define the sound of the album, I aim to clear the path ahead—to focus, refine, and push both the limits of the machines and my own creative mind.
OCTOBER 11TH 2025. HOSPITAL FESTIVAL RETURNS TO FEAR CITY NYC. 28 YEARS SINCE ITS HUMBLE BEGINNING, HOSPITAL PRODUCTIONS WAS BORN OUT OF NECESSITY AND PASSION FOR THE FRINGE ARTFORM AND PRACTISE, TO BRING NOISE MUSIC TO THOSE SEARCHING FOR A SMALL SADO MASOCHISTIC FAMILY. ITS CREATOR DOMINICK FERNOW OF PRURIENT, VATICAN SHADOW, RAINFOREST SPIRITUAL ENSLAVEMENT WITH LEGENDARY RELEASES SUCH AS RAINBOW MIRROR, FROZEN NIAGRA FALLS AND MANY OTHER GENRE DEFINING ALBUMS AND MANY MORE ROTATING ALIAS’S, HAS CARVED INTO UNDERGROUND MUSIC A STATEMENT AND CATALOGUE OF MATERIAL THAT DEFINES TRUE UNDERGROUND MUSIC ITSELF. A LABEL DECIPHERING THEMES OF DEEP HUMAN ANGUISH, THE WORST OF HUMANITIES CRIMES AGAINST ITSELF, INDUSTRIAL FALLOUT AND JOURNEYS OF DEEP SELF REFLECTION. THE INFAMOUS HOSPITAL FEST HOSTS A ROSTER OF ARTISTS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO OVER ALMOST THREE DECADES OF INDUSTRIAL MUSIC, RANGING FROM SPHERES OF TECHNO, POWER ELECTRONICS, BLACK AMBIENT AND AMERICAN HARDCORE.
2PM SATURDAY OCTOBER 11TH. WE DESCEND THE LOWER SIDE OF BROOKLYN. WE JOIN A SLOW MASSING QUEUE LEADING TO A PREVIOUSLY UNDISCLOSED LOCATION. LIKE-MINDED CONSUMERS AND CREATORS OF PATIENTLY WAIT TO BE ISSUED THEIR BADGE, YOUR BADGE IS YOUR TICKET, NO BADGE NO ENTRY, NO ACCEPTIONS. WITH RUMOURS BUZZING OF A LAST MINUTE VENUE CHANGE DUE TO THE HEADLINE BOOKING OF THE INFAMOUS GENOCIDE ORAGN, LONG STANDING GERMAN PIONEERS OF POWER ELECTRONICS, WE ENTER A SMALL SIZED BUILDING SPACE FITTED WITH 2 HUGE DIY SKATE RAMPS. HOSPITAL BEING KNOWN FOR ITS QUALITY PRODUCED GRAPHIC DESIGN AND MERCHANDISE, THE QUEUE OF ABOUT 100 PEOPLE HAD ALREADY BEGAN EAGER TO BAG EXCLUSIVES FROM THE LABEL AND OTHER DISRUPTORS SUCH AS FRINGE RECORDS OF NYC AND TOTAL BLACK OF BERLIN. THE ATMOSPHERE IS DENSE AND PALPABLE DUE TO EXCITEMENT AND LACK OF ADEQUATE AIR CONDITIONING AND THE BODY HEAT OF 400 EAGERLY ANTICIPATING ATTENDEES.
LINEKRAFT
THE FIRST ARTIST TO CLAIM THE STAGE IS JAPANS LINEKRAFT (MASAHIKO OKUBO). ARMED WITH MODULAR SYNTHESIS, AN OIL TANKER AND A PLETHORA OF MULTI EFFECTS PEDALS, A SLOW ASCENSION INTO CATHARSIS BEGINS. A CALCULATED APPROACH TO AUDIO VIOLENCE MASAHIKO DOES WITH EASE, STRIKING THE OIL TANKER LIKE A POST CIVILISATION CEREMONIAL GONG TO A RISING BACKDROP OF BLISTERING DISTORTION AND TAPE RECORDINGS OF SOCIOPOLITICAL COMMENTARY. MASAHIKO HAS COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE CHAOS HE’S INSTIGATING WHICH IS WHAT MOST IMPRESSED ME, HIS APPROACH IS SPONTANEOUS AND IMPROVISED WHILE HAVING FULL CONTROL OF THE MULTITUDE OF MACHINES BEFORE HIM. WITH THE CROWD AT FULL TILT, HE ENTERS THE CROWD TO THE EMBRACE OF HIS FANS, SPEWING UPWARD HUNDREDS OF PIECES OF PAPER READING
In an industrial society that has become a cleans chamber
where filth has been eliminated
To all of you who are on the verge of Suicide
spread your shit. Clutch your stool
I am the dark monkey man, yell and scream
Death to industry. Primitive survival instinct
Stain appalling are ape ape ape ape ape ape ape ape
ape ape ape ape ape ape ape ape ape ape ape ape ape
Dog! Monkey, humans, shit, dust, and craziness
with a sudden Yell tomorrow
THE STATEMENT LITTERS THE FLOOR STAMPED IN BY HUMANS SHIT AND DUST. THE STANDARD IS SET.
VATICAN SHADOW – ANCIENT METHODS – SALFORD ELECTRONICS
TOP OF THE BILL FOR HOSPITAL FEST WAS THE CELEBRATION OF 15 YEARS OF VATICAN SHADOW, THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX INSPIRED TECHNO PROJECT OF DOMINICK FERNOW. THINK OF THE MUSIC AS AN APPROACH TO SCORING CERTAIN MOMENTS OF AMERICAN POLITICS, HISTORY OF WAR AND THE MEDIA MACHINE THROUGH A RHYTHMIC LANGUAGE OF ELECTRONICS, ALWAYS EVOKING EMOTIONS OF INTROSPECTION WITH THE DELIVERING CINEMATIC AUDIO EXPERIENCES. CREATED DUE TO A LACK OF THEMATICS IN TECHNO SCENE AND A LOVE FOR EARLY ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC , WITH ICONIC RELEASES ON BLACKEST EVER BLACK AND HIS OWN LABEL, WITH TITLES OFTEN TAKEN FROM NEWSPAPER ARTICLES DEFINING AN ERA OF CONSPIRACY WARFARE AND BLOODSHED IN THE MIDDLE EAST .THIS PROJECT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A HUGE INSPIRATION TO MY APPROACH IN GRAPHIC DESIGN ALSO BY DELIVERING A MESSAGE AN THE MUSIC WHILE FOCUSING ON THE STRONGEST ELEMENTS, IN WHICH HIS MUSIC AND DESIGN DOES SO EFFECTIVELY AND ITS APPROACH TO SUBLETY OVER EMBELLISHMENT.
RUMOURS WERE CIRCULATING OF A REUNITING OF TWO CLOSE COLLABORATORS AND HIGHLY ESTEEMED ARTISTS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT, BERLINS TECHNO MAESTRO ANCIENT METHODS AND BLACKPOOLS DARK AMBIENT OUTFIT SALFORD ELECTRONICS. RUMOURS WERE CONFIRMED AS THE THREE BEGIN TO SET UP A COMPLEX ARRANGEMENT OF EQUIPMENT ON STAGE AS THE CROWD WAITES ON BAITED BREATH. WITHOUT WARNING AND RESULTING IN A INSTANT EXPLOSION OF BEER GLASS, DOMINICK BLASTS INTO WELL KNOWN PIECE FROM BERMUDA DRAIN, A MEAL CAN BE MADE, A CATALYST THAT BEGINS A FRENZY AMONG THE MASS. WITH CROWN AND ARTIST IN COMPLETE SYNERGY, THE LYRICS OF A MEAL CAN BE MADE TEAR THROUGH THE BUILDING CREATING AN UNPREDICTABLE MOVEMENT FROM EVERY ANGLE OF A PIT OF BODIES IN FRENZY.
Red arrow sent to hurt Where will she choose to strike? Moss rolls around Wet rock like claws Arrow strikes fat Diving through the center of you
COLD DRUMS OF PRECISION AND FORCE BEGINS TO SET A STEADY PATH OF UNIFIED MOVEMENT, UNRELENTING ELEMENTS OF POWER ELECTRONICS, DARK AMBIENT AND TECHNO FORM A TRIANGLE OF SOUND AMONG THOSE LEADING THE DANCE. WITH AN EXTREME LACK OF OXYGEN SURROUNDED BY A FEVER OF TARANTISM THE NEXT 60 MINUTES WERE OF ABSOLUTE IMPORTANCE. THE FEELING OF BEING UNIFIED BY MUSIC AND ART UNCOMPROMISING, UNFLINCHING AND UNWAVERING, SURROUNDED BY THOSE LIKEMINDED INDIVIDUALS OF DEDICATION AND LOVE FOR ART OF IT ALL. I FELT AT HOME IN A INSTANCE.
GENOCIDE ORGAN
HOSPITAL FEST HAD REACHED FEVER PITCH. THE CROWD UNITES FOR A CROWNING JEWEL IN INDUSTRIAL MUSIC. GENOCIDE ORGAN. INFAMOUS FOR ACCUSATIONS OF FAR RIGHT SYMPATHY AND TIES TO EXTREMIST IDEOLOGY, IN MY OPINION GENOCIDE ORGAN IS INFAMOUS FOR THE SAME REASON WHITEHOUSE WAS IN THE EARLY 80’S, THEY DONT REVEAL THEIR POLITICAL AGENDA TO THE AUDIENCE, THEY PURELY PRESENT ART IN WHICH REFLECTS AND REFERENCES THE DISASTERS OF WAR AND HUMANITY, THE AMBIGUITY UNSETTLES THOSE TRYING TO CATEGORISE AND LABEL. REGARDLESS OF ANYONES OPINION, A PERFORMANCE BY GENOCIDE ORGAN DEMANDS ATTENTION. EACH MEMBER PRIMED FOR WAR LINES THE STAGE FOR TOTAL WAR. 400 BODIES ANTICIPATE A SERMON OF TRUTH AND HERESY OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. SWELLS OF DISORIENTATING PURGING DRONES ENCOMPASS THE ROOM OF SLOWLY DWINDLING OXYGEN AND BODY FLUIDS. THE CROWD REPEATS IN UNISON THE CHANTS OF HAIL AMERICA, A FITTING ANTHEM OF PROVOCATION AND TRUTH ON BROOKLYN GROUNDS.
US AMONGST THE BROKEN GLASS
TO SUMMARISE HOSPITAL FEST WOULD BE A HALF JUSTICE. MY OVERALL FEELINGS AND EXPERIENCE WERE THOSE OF A COMMUNITY BOUND BY FRINGE ART AND UNBOUND BY SOCIAL NORMS AND STRUCTURES. MOST FORMS OF ART THAT HONE IN ON CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECT MATTER USUALLY ARE MISINTERPRETED BY SOCIETY AS EITHER THE FETISHISATION OF PAIN AND SUFFERING OR SOME HIDDEN AGENDA OF QUESTIONABLE VALUES AND POLITICS. THIS MAY BE THE CASE IN SOME INSTANCES, BUT HOSPITAL FEST WAS A DISPLAY OF NOT ONLY BROTHERHOOD AND AFFECTION AMONGST FRIENDS AND STRANGERS BUT A CELEBRATION OF OUTSIDERS, THOSE WHO CARE FOR THE MUSIC AND EACH OTHER. I ENCOUNTERED LIKE LIKE MINDED ARTISTS FROM ALL OF THE WORLD, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA AND THE UK, INDUSTRIAL MUSIC STILL AS RELEVANT AND NESCERSSARY TODAY AS IT WAS FROM ITS MOMENT OF CONCEPTION.
“The punk rockers said, ‘Learn three chords and form a band.’ And we thought, ‘Why learn any chords?’ We wanted to make music like Ford made cars on the industrial belt. Industrial music for industrial people.” – GENESIS P ORRIDGE OF THROBBING GRISTLE & PSYCHIC TV
1969, Hull, England — COUM Transmissions, an art collective founded by Genesis P-Orridge (Neil Megson) and Cosey Fanni Tutti, inspired by Dadaist art and the transgressive writings of William Burroughs, They took to the streets with an absurdist and subversive approach, they sought to break the mold of stagnation and challenge the social norms embedded in the stiff upper lip of the British psyche.
Through artistic provocation and a confrontational approach to performance, COUM was built to explore social taboos and ask fundamental questions about the potential artist in all of us — and, in my opinion, to face the shadow, a concept written about extensively by Carl Jung and many other esoteric philosophers.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” — Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 13 (Alchemical Studies)
The infamous Prostitution show, held at London’s ICA, combined collage work and physical artefacts from COUM member Cosey Fanni Tutti’s pornographic ventures through modelling for sex magazines. This put COUM on the radar of both aspiring artists and the powers that be. Their unwillingness to conform laid the groundwork for an imminent artistic revolution — the philosophy of DIY culture, the “do it yourself” ethos upon which industrial music and art would be defined
24 August 1983 — Air Gallery, London, UK. John Balance (Coil), Peter Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Coil), Zos Kia and Marc Almond (Soft Cell) present How to Destroy Angels – A Slow Fade to Total Transparency, a live performance combining tape electronics and ritualistic actions inspired by the Thelemic occult work of Aleister Crowley. The piece incorporated self-immolation imagery and served as both a statement of philosophy and sonic identity.
With atonal elements of percussion, synthesisers and tape loops, this ritual noise work explored the ecstatic and violent nature of man, as well as the transformative qualities of performance and esoteric ritual. Occult inquiry has often been a central theme for many industrial bands such as Psychic TV, creating a kind of satire of the cultism found in both religion and high society. In effect, these performances act as a mirror to ourselves, reflecting the often deplorable nature of mankind.
Many attendees of the performance were appalled and left soon after acts of defecation and bloodletting began. The recording was later remastered and released by the U.S. label Cold Spring, and it is now regarded as a key moment in the history of industrial music and performance art.
DIY – DO IT YOURSELF
The idea of musicianship has often been relative to the idea of skill, the fundamental understanding of chord structure, melody and a technical proficiency to create sound of a palatable nature. An essential fact of industrial music history is none of the artists of the early years had any musical “ability” per se, but a desire to create, an innate calling to push the inside outwards into reality, not creating to please the concert hall but to artistically “do it yourself” by any means necessary. Not to say through years of practice they don’t learn more technical skill, but the action is not from the essence of classical training or conventional understanding. This breathes new life into art and rewires our approach to music and art which will always be of us the people. This Modernist approach to art and music has inspired multiple generations of ” Wreckers of Civilisation ” to further break the stagnation of formulaic approaches to artistic practises, always posing the questions to further challenge our understanding of ourselves and the ultimate journey of self expression.
“We must break out of this limited circle of sounds and conquer the infinite variety of noise-sounds.” Luigi Russolo – The Art of Noises 1913
” I want the releases and even the performances to be rooms much more than narratives, so that the music becomes an invitation to go into that room and do whatever you want in there. It’s architecture, and I would like for it to be a very emotional and loving piece of architecture ” – LOKE RAHBEK OF DAMIAN DUBROVNIK
Arrow 5, from Damian Dubrovnik’s sixth studio album released under the Copenhagen label Posh Isolation, has remained one of the most poignant tracks in my life. The collaboration between Loke Rahbek and Christian Stadsgaard explores poetry, sublime dissonance, fragility, and grief — all delicately balanced between power electronics and contemporary classical/electroacoustic music.
The juxtapositions in Arrow 5 — consisting of minor chord drone melodies, atonal string work, recognizable tropes of melancholia, and the use of reversed sounds to create dissonance — guide the listener through a slow procession of tragedy and beauty. The textural quality evokes both nature and the machine: reeds, chains, metal, and wood are balanced together to form a unique harmony of emotion and sound.
Loke’s vocals progressively become more direct and forceful; through distortion and overdrive, the poetry transforms into immolation. The careful balancing of the familiar and the unfamiliar creates a powerful sense of duality — pain and pleasure, grief and awe, anguish and relief.
Arrow 5 is, ultimately, an expression of duality in sound: a push and pull, heartbreak and romance, glory and disgust.
That morning Great many arrows Formed a flight And I formed A cage With my fingers To hold you in
This will be the first post of a three-year exploration into sound arts and experimental music at UAL. My interest in music and sound has always felt very innate. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to sources of sound that have a physical and spiritual effect on my body and mind.
As a child, I was blessed with a mother who had eclectic tastes. She introduced me to a world of sound, always reminding me to “listen without prejudice” — a reference to George Michael’s seminal masterpiece of soul. An average Sunday would consist of records ranging from Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, to Slipmatt’s SMD hardcore cuts from the ’94 era, to Otis Redding’s live performance at Monterey.
I was exposed to left-field, deep-cut, underground music from such a young age that it rapidly became an obsession. Since then, the study, search, and analysis of music and sound have consumed my life in a profound way.
After years of struggling to find my place in artistic practice — due to the effects of PTSD and autism — I felt unable to translate what was in my mind and body into a tangible, audible, and physical reality. During the pandemic, after a crisis of faith, I decided to channel that anguish onto paper. Around this time, I was reading the works of William Burroughs, Genesis P-Orridge, Aleister Crowley, and Terence McKenna. Their ideas helped me worry less about the product and more about the act itself — the action of art.
This shift eventually led me to a successful career working with artists and record labels around the world who shared a similar philosophy: an industrial, DIY approach to art. Even if you have nothing, it’s the work that matters and speaks the truth. I naturally gravitated toward DIY, noise, and industrial labels, as I felt I could express my spiritual turmoil through collage techniques and an analogue approach — something industrial music reflects both poignantly and beautifully.
After a few years of still feeling technically inept, I eventually found a group of artists with broad academic and creative backgrounds squatting in a disused bookshop in London. I had finally found a home — a community of people who shared my artistic and philosophical beliefs. Since then, we’ve been running what feels like the last bastion of underground industrial music and performance culture under the event name Chronic Illness.
In parallel to this, I created two separate aliases for my creative output: Sin of the Father for my visual design work and Hands of Providence for my audio projects. Over the years, I’ve felt increasingly compelled to understand why catharsis through sound feels like such a necessary act — and whether it can be used therapeutically to help others who live with autism and PTSD. Hands of Providence is, for me, a way to realign myself spiritually through sound and vibration, and hopefully, through further research and education, to find ways to support others.
The title of this post, What Was Sown Into History, references an album by Internazionale that first sparked my interest in ambient music. It led me to look more deeply into the history of music and sound — and how it has always acted as a catalyst for something deeply innate and spiritual within us all. I hope you enjoy the album.
