SHADOWCASTER ALBUMS
Shortly after the anticipated release of The Alchemical Visions Of Zosimos, Aleph.Null began studying regularly at a small Kali temple located in the heart of downtown Denver. Under the guidance and training of John C. Mayer he received training in Kriya practices at Chamunda Mandir. After studying over the following year, this album was written to honor the 10 wisdoms of Kali.
Part of the now infamous “2012 destruction event”, the music recorded on this album was played along side a terrifying barrage of glass, fire, destruction and incantations. This elaborate event included a piano performance by Nightingale Machine which culminated in the violent deconstruction of her piano along side the creation and destruction of 5 beautiful, one of a kind “glass mandalas” hand painted by the now renown occult artist and writer Kevin Foy.
The alchemist-poet Ink Kensington held us captive as he told us a brutal story of tragedy and survival and John Mayer performed a Puja to each of the aspects of Kali whom we honored that night. All the while Aleph.Null performed a storm of electronic music while hurling glass jars of symbolic “offerings” into the crowd, equaling to wave after wave of shrapnel, meat, frogs, ammunition, blood and wine.
Little did we know that what would happen on this night would change us and our audience for a lifetime. Without provocation or planning our audience began making their own chaotic music and destruction.
At the end of the night among shards of glass, mirror, wood, wires, puddles of blood, meat, fish, and ammunition, our newly found selves were the only thing whole that remained. Live recordings of that sacred night were later released as a third and unexpected component along side this and its sister album.
CREDITS
released December 21, 2012
This album consists of a single 22 minute long song which is meant to tell the story of the war between the two camps of deities long before the existence of mankind: the Titans, based on Mount Othrys, and the Olympians, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus.
It illustrates Zeus as a lightning swift justice bringer. A Luciferian archetype who stands up against a vicious tyrant.
Tragically, once he conquers Chronos he then becomes a tyrant himself, further illuminating the nature of power and corruption.
credits
released February 12, 2012
This album/performance was based entirely on the dreams recorded by Zosimos of Panopolis in or around the year 300AD. It depicts subjects related to Alchemy in a particularly interesting light. Including what Carl Jung referred to as the first concept of the homunculus in alchemical literature.
Like other works of Shadowcaster the performance associated to this was recorded as a short film and only performed once. Presented at the Denver Underground Film Festival in 2011 it received the award for BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM.
The performance included the insertion of hooks into a collaborator and suspending him by ropes from a semi-temporary structure which had to be designed and built inside of the building the performance was held in.
Fire, sigils, interactive multimedia, strobes and a woman painted entirely bronze were all used to further convey the symbolism.
Ultimately, the entire performance was a part of the first illegal ritual in the united states since the banning of the Ghost Dance in the 1800's. The Reverend Steven Johnson Leyba hosted a "death curse" on the Monsanto corporation which violated the Food Libel Law (aka veggie libel law) as the second act of this enigmatic show. Thus, all performers involved faced the threat of felony for performing publicly or speaking against a genetically modified food corporation in one of 12 states which use the law to deter from such practices.
CREDITS
released October 7, 2011
Mysterium Umbris is my own personal attempt at recreating the concepts, goals and direction of my favorite composers work. THIS ALBUM TOOK 8 YEARS BETWEEN CONCEPT AND COMPLETION.
Sharing the name MYSTERIUM is an unfinished musical work by composer Alexander Scriabin. He started working on the composition in 1903, but it was incomplete at the time of his death in 1915.
Scriabin planned that the work would be synesthetic, exploiting the senses of smell and touch as well as hearing. He wrote that
"There will not be a single spectator. All will be participants. The work requires special people, special artists and a completely new culture. The cast of performers includes an orchestra, a large mixed choir, an instrument with visual effects, dancers, a procession, incense, and rhythmic textural articulation. The cathedral in which it will take place will not be of one single type of stone but will continually change with the atmosphere and motion of the Mysterium. This will be done with the aid of mists and lights, which will modify the architectural contours."
Scriabin intended that the performance of this work, to be given in the foothills of the Himalayas in India, would last seven days and would be followed by the end of the world, with the human race replaced by "nobler beings".
credits
released July 7, 2011
Written as a half joke and half serious project. this remix is mocking the band AWOL Nation as it attempts to capitalize on the conspiracy/illuminati bandwagon.
credits
released January 1, 2011
This album was written and performed as a concept album centered around the idea of mixing the musicians personal dreams on the archetype of Leviathan with concepts taken from the Goetia and several forms of ancestor worship which most heavily influenced the artist during that time.
It was performed only once while a collaborator screamed poetry read from Andrew Chumbley's Qutub at the crowd and littered the room with parchment paper covered in sigils.
credits
released October 6, 2010
These are ambient recording from our performance on 12/21/2012. For best results listen to them with headphones.
Track one :
Originally recorded live and in 5.1 surround sound, sit back, close your eyes and feel the destructive power of our sacred mother destroyer as you imagine us tormenting our stagepiano with sledgehammers, drums and horns, all while Kevin Foy smashes his one of a kind, hand painted mandalas.
Track 2:
A live (and in no way planned) recording of spontaneous music created by the crowd at our EXIT:LIFE event (on 12/21/2012). After destroying our piano and summoning the goddess Kali, the creative energy of the room was electrifying. After our glass
mandalas had been destroyed as well as a piano earlier in the night there was now live ammunition, dead frogs, meat, blood and glass everywhere. The room looked like a warzone.
Out of that chaos came this recording.
These sounds were made by strangers to us. Using splinters of wood and the remaining components of our broken piano, it was neither planned for or expected that this might happen. The "musicians" involved did not seem to be in collaboration, nor were they necessarily even acquainted with each other. This unique recording illustrates the tone set that night.
...Rhythmic, chaotic, destructive and totally unpredictable.
Jai Ma Kali!
CREDITS
released December 21, 2012
cover photo taken by Doran Robischon