Sucht

PH4NT- MONSTER (THEATRAL SOUP REMIX)

In the years between my last album and this one, I really struggled not to bury my head in the sand. The AfD is growing more powerful, right-wing extremist views are becoming more openly expressed, and right-wing extremist actions are increasingly tolerated. In the USA, Donald Trump and his entourage of climate change deniers and tech bros are establishing a fascist dystopia that is slowly but surely becoming a parody of every cyberpunk story. People seem to care less and less about which information is based on facts and what is entirely made up. Conspiracy theories that were considered completely absurd just a few years ago are now accepted as legitimate narratives. Until now, I had little to no fear for my physical safety, for the recognition of my (gender) identity, or for access to HIV medication. That has now changed.

Before this album, I also felt like I had already said everything. Sure, I still enjoy making music very much, but over the last 5 years, I’ve written 104 songs, made two concept albums tackling climate catastrophe, and in another one, explored the feeling of failure and despair of one’s own bubble. I didn’t know what to say except "Nazis suck" and for a long time, I felt paralyzed – both personally and artistically. At some point, around Trump’s re-election and after random encounters with fascist apologists at some lake, the knot burst with "Dunkel" & "Kollaps." I just started to express my frustration with myself for not knowing what to do in such shitty times – not knowing what to say, whether to argue or shut up, whether to respond to propaganda and insults with insults & rage or swallow my anger. Whether I should break out of my wage labor and finally hit the streets instead of not standing in the way of fascists on a Monday night because the alarm clock will ring tomorrow and I’m already burning out.

Still, I don’t want to lose myself in fatalism, quite the opposite – Augen zu & durch is full of defiance – against fascism, racists, nationalism, capitalism, TERFs and other queerphobes, against nihilism, and the eternal feeling of being overwhelmed by expectations of others. Similar to my second album, it’s a loud, angry creation of being against, while it also leaves room for doubt and failure.

Musically, the 14 tracks incorporate a lot of Industrial and especially a lot of Punk – almost every song is adorned with more or less riff-heavy guitars, and almost every one is driven forward by punchy beats. Some tracks are complemented by a violin, as I was lucky enough to receive lessons from a friend without a trade-off in the first half of the year. The synths remained largely the same compared to 2047 – on drums: Sonic Potions x Erica Synths LXR-02 & Moog DFAM, for melodies the UNO Synth Pro Desktop, and for acidic basslines the new Novation Bass Station II. For cutting, editing, mixing and mastering, I switched to the DAW Reaper, based on a recommendation by Konst Fischer (www.konstfischermixing.com), who helped me as a tutor in music production. I think this explains the even heavier overall sound.

So please don’t close your eyes and duck away, but face & fight all this crap as best you can! If this album or maybe my live performances can help with that, I’d die a happy Enby. Enjoy Augen zu & durch.

As always, Augen zu & durch is released under a Creative Commons license, meaning you can listen to the music, download it for free, share, use, and remix it as you like. Basti, my long-time supporter and „label boss“ at nasserecords.bandcamp.com, is also releasing the album as a fantastic DIY tape in the physical world. Thank you so much for our 8th Collaboration <3

The whole album was created with my hardware-synths Sonic Potions x Erica Synths LXR-02, Moog DFAM, UNO Synth Pro Desktop, Novation Bass Station, an electric guitar, a violin and the effectively free DAW Reaper (www.reaper.fm) 

Wolf

The Fish

04/2025 (released 2025-06-16, remastered 2025-05-22)
original Master: https://soundcloud.com/schlingelkind/acab_old/s-AVo6Uu1PtMq

ACAB

Fascho

ive given up.
ive had enough.
wish i could fucking rot
but youll look back and you'll see
That you were perfect for me
and now theres nobody else.


I thougt about you alot.
i want ur body to rot.
i wanna see you dead.
why wont you fucking see


ive had enough x2
let my body rot. x4
i wanna fucking rot.

Saturday

Tabakrauch enthält über 70 Stoffe, die erwiesenermaßen krebserregend sind.