D.U.S.K. - 28 EP (Fist in the Eye Records)

D.U.S.K. is a collection of experimental music inspired by the grim darkness of the far future!

Warhammer 40,000’s tag line is “In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.” That phrase, along with the game’s oppressive bleakness in concept and imagery, has led to the coining of the phrase “grimdark”. The game and its setting have inspired hobbyists worldwide to create miniatures exploring the nightmares of a war-torn future, each trying their best to embody the nihilistic horror of grimdark. This inspiration has also captured the imagination of musicians, though this receives less attention on hobby blogs and websites. The legendary British death metal band Bolt Thrower famously released a Warhammer 40,000-themed album called Realm of Chaos, which included Games Workshop artwork for the album cover (my teenage self thought Bolt Thrower was far too harsh for my tastes, though I eventually came to appreciate the band as I got older). While extreme metal might seem like the obvious choice to explore a desolate future, other genres have been doing the same with equal success. Dark ambient musicians like Lustmord have been trawling the depths of cosmic bleakness for decades (Lustmord’s album Dark Matter has a song called "Astronomicon", which was created using audio from cosmological recordings acquired during space missions from NASA and other sources). Simon Heath's dark ambient record label Cryochamber abounds with artists creating droney music to score any dystopian science fiction film/story/game effectively. Heath even created a Warhammer 40,000-inspired playlist. Beyond dark ambient music, other experimental music genres lend themselves well to grimdark settings, merging elements of noise, tape loops, field recordings, and dungeon synth. D.U.S.K., a compilation EP of experimental music created by miniature gaming hobbyists, is a new example of music inspired by war-torn futures.

Creating an EP of experimental grimdark music was an idea sparked by the team behind 28, a free online digital magazine exploring the dark corners of miniature gaming and art. Adam had just designed a stitched patch for 28, which featured the number 28 as a gnarled tree in the style of a black metal band logo. If we could create music-inspired merchandise, it would be cool to create music for 28. Surely, there would be hobbyists in the community who would be interested in creating music to release in the spirit of 28? Before we knew it, we had people who were enthusiastic about creating music, and Jan Warnke, of the experimental German music label Geräuschmanufaktur, was willing to release it on cassette! In the end, enough music was created for the project to fit on two cassettes! There is a diverse assortment of music on the release, including dark ambient, arranged field recordings, dungeon synth, and harsh noise. The collection is titled D.U.S.K. and is available to listen to on Bandcamp, as the first release on 28’s music label, Fist in the Eye Records!

The stitched patch that Adam designed for 28! The number 28 forms a wizened old tree with its root structure resembling a skull!

A physical version of D.U.S.K. was made with the music being housed on two cassette tapes. Additionally, the physical release includes a miniature skirmish game called  BADCYBORG.EXE, which was designed specifically for D.U.S.K. by Apocrypha_now. The artwork for BADCYBORG.EXE was illustrated by Lettuce, including some awesome paper miniatures and terrain. The two cassettes, the game and the paper miniatures, and a collection of three small metal dice are all packaged in a cardboard box. Unfortunately, as of this writing, all of the physical copies of D.U.S.K. have been sold.

A few physical copies of the D.U.S.K. were made, complete with this cardboard box!

The contents of the physical copies of the D.U.S.K..

In addition to the two cassettes, a small tabletop game, BADCYBORG.EXE, is included (designed by Apocrypha_now and illustrated by Lettuce). It has three tiny metal dice (d4, d6, d20) and some cardboard cutout miniatures and terrain!

The tiny metal dice from BADCYBORG.EXE, next to a Grobnik sentry conversion.

Excitingly, I had the privilege of creating two tracks for D.U.S.K.! For the last few years, I have been experimenting with making noise music via no-input mixing. Interesting, no-input mixing uses an audio mixer as an instrument. An audio mixer is usually used to combine audio signals from numerous sources, like microphones and electric instruments, and "mix" them into a single signal that can be sent to a loudspeaker to be projected to an audience. With no-input mixing, instead of connecting instruments to the audio mixer, you connect an output of the audio mixer directly to one of its inputs, which creates feedback. In most musical applications, feedback is unpleasant noise that musicians want to avoid, but in this application, that noise is what we are striving for! You can then fiddle with the knobs on the audio mixer to modulate that noise. Furthermore, you can hook up guitar effects pedals to your setup to further distort and modulate the feedback. The noise music I make has been for a project titled Persistent Self Abuse, and the songs on D.U.S.K. are the first songs officially released for the project (though you can find some earlier recorded songs on my Soundcloud page).

The two songs of mine on D.U.S.K. are titled “The illusion of intimacy” and “BADCYBORG.EXE” (which was named after the skirmish game included with the physical release of D.U.S.K.). Both of my songs were recorded live, each in a single take. I used a Behringer Xenyx 802 as my audio mixer. I also used a Rucci Electronics Minimal Drone synthesizer, a Chondritic Sound Contact Microphone, a Mosky Blue Delay Pedal, and a Catalinbread Karma Suture Fuzz Pedal. I am quite happy with how the two songs turned out, though they are not for the faint of heart (at least if you are not accustomed to listening to harsh noise music).

For those interested in how I set up my equipment on the Behringer Xenyx 802:

Mic Line In 1 > Mosky Blue Delay > Minimal Drone

Mic Line In 2 > Catalinbread Karma Suture Fuzz Pedal > FX Send

Line In 3 Right > Chondritic Sound Contact Microphone

If any of this sounds interesting to you, please check out D.U.S.K. on Bandcamp!

- Greg Wier