“X” was Phÿcus’ first release on vinyl, appearing on the Musicus Phÿcus label (MPLP981 – MPLP982 – MPLP983) in a run of 500 copies. The release date was October 31, 1998.
“X” is a sprawling journey through Phÿcus’ past and (then) present, split over three LPs.
The first LP, “Blood” (pressed on red vinyl) contains one side of noisy material and one side of droning tracks taken from Phÿcus’ many cassette recordings.
The second LP, “Gold” (pressed on amber vinyl) contains more song-oriented material and is roughly split between cassette recordings and material recorded for the album.
The third LP, “Zero” (pressed on clear vinyl) contains all 1998 material. The three records come in a heavyweight vinyl bag with spray-painted logos and inserts.
The logos were spray-painted by hand by Brian Damage on the balcony of his apartment in Ottawa, much to the bemusement of his neighbours. It took about three weekends to finish the job. The inserts were designed by BruSex. Originally, we had intended to release “X” as a box set, but record boxes were prohibitively expensive. Still, the final product looked great and we thought that finally, we had a release that would be impossible to ignore. As always, we were wrong! X was a commercial failure and derailed plans for two following releases (a CD by Ultima Futura and a vinyl pressing of the next Phÿcus recording, META). Still, we managed to sell 100 copies via a German distributor (Thanks Frank!!!), and a handful at gigs and by consignment. “X” became something of a kvlt classic, so no complaints, really.
The new material for “X” was recorded at Studio DnA, Montreal, engineered by Rob Gauvin, who also did the engineering for the Phÿcus CDs. Recording was supposed to begin at the beginning of January, 1998, but was delayed several weeks due to a massive blackout caused by an ice storm. Mastering of the album, both new and old material, was done at Db Sound, Ottawa. Pressing was done in Canada via MMS.
The archival material was selected by Brian Damage and BruSex. A master list of all Phÿcus songs, sorted by cassette, was created. Then, through a process of elimination, one cover, “Working Man”, and 10 originals were selected. The idea was to include material from as many different releases as possible while trying to keep some type of thematic flow as the record played. An early version of the list included two other choices for the cover, “What A Day” and “Back In Black”, and 20 originals.
The sequencing of the tracks on the digital release is all-new, based on a sequence that was prepared in case we ever had the means to re-issue it as a double CD. Part one, X: Zero, contains the material recorded in 1998 (plus a few bonus tracks), and part two, Blood X, contains the archival material. Notes on the individual tracks follow.
X: Zero – New Recordings 1998
01 Cari Amici Neoista
This track is based on Laibach’s Cari Amici Soldati. While Laibach chose to repurpose a speech by Mussolinni, Phÿcus eliminated actual words altogether. Words are useless, intonation is all. This one includes contributions from Monty Cantsin, Steve Markowsky and BruSex (via his NMG Noise cassette). The vocals were recorded in a cement room adjacent to the studio.
02 VHEMT
VHEMT stands for Voluntary Human Extinction, a movement that advocates human depopulation by abstention from reproduction. The track is in 12/4 time and features the drumming duo Ichor and a metal spring that was brought back to Canada as a souvenir of Phÿcus’ Hungarian adventure.
03 Yes!
Being harbingers of the apocalypse, Phÿcus could be perceived as being somewhat negative. As a joke, it was decided to create a song with a positive word as the title. Musically, the idea was based on the hard minimal sound coming out of Europe at the time. The main lyric was inspired by the film sample that appears in the song (source unknown). The lyrics were intended to imply a mental combat – such as a debate or chess match – rather than a physical combat.
04 Lessons In Pain
Part three of the Pain trilogy that includes Endorphinate and No (More!) Pain. We had intended to do a dub version of this track (as we had with the first two parts of the trilogy) but ran out of time in the studio to do so. The dialog comes from a softcore SM film by Rick Savage. Musically, there were two ideas at play. The first was to base a melody on a descending series of notes, much like Arvo Pärt's "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten", and the second was to gradually augment the orchestral samples in the first half of the song with analogue counterparts in the second half of the song. The original idea came from an improv performed by Brian Damage and William Davison.
05 Hymn To The Great Grand Goat
This one was originally recorded by Goathead (Bill Abominog and Peter Azagthoth). Phÿcus was interested in Satanism and the Satanic Panic as a social phenomenon, and were inspired by Satanist kitsch, such as Project Werewolf. Project Werewolf was the duo of Nikolas Schreck and Zeena Schreck (daughter of Aton LaVey). Phÿcus’ friends Mind Skelp-cher were in contact with Zeena, and thru them we sent a cordial message inviting Zeena to contribute to the song. She agreed as long as she could change the lyrics to her verse, which seemed like a reasonable request at the time. Peter Azagthoth never liked the idea of Zeena changing the lyrics. Phÿcus rarely compromised on anything to anyone, perhaps we should have not compromised this time as well. The speech at the end of the track comes from the film Paradise Lost.
06 Feed The Goat
Also originally a Goathead track. This is the oldest of the new recordings on X, dating from 1995, and became Phÿcus’ signature track.
07 Dementia PsychoPhÿcus
This was an exercise into how much could be packed into 80 seconds of sound: The telephone voice in the intro comes from the artist Sybil Lamb (then known as Emily Whit), the main vocals are a reference to Sleep Chamber, the backing vocals are provided by Jacek from Zaraza, and the operatic vocals during the Moog solo are by Corpusse, taken from his intro to the band during the Legacy of Rust Festival.
08 Greenland
The idea for this song came from the thought experiment ‘If I was a super-villain, what would be a fun thing to do? Ah, yes, detonate some kind of explosion that would melt the Greenland ice caps and cover coastal areas with water’. The main sample and the idea for the beat both come from the early Phÿcus track ‘Be My Naber’.
09 Nova Apocrypha
Another Laibach reference, this time to the LP Nova Akropola. This track was originally intended for the Rosary Remix compilation. Finally a shorter track was used on the comp and this one was saved for X. The roots of the post-Phÿcus project Discipline X can be heard here in the phasing of the various analog synth lines.
10 Mental Illness
We were never very happy with the final mix of Mental Illness as it appeared on the Sonder CD, so Jacek decided to do a version with beefed-up drums and vocals.
11 Blood And Guts
This one is just a straight-up banger, featuring long-time friend and collaborator James Hamilton on noise-producing apparatus. The dialog comes from the Canadian horror film Things. Things has become a cult classic in the it’s-so-bad-it’s-good category. Years later, we were contacted by the producer of the film who was flattered to find out that it had been sampled and the Phÿcus track was included as a bonus on the DVD reissue of the film.
12 The Final Plague
This one was based on the film 12 Monkeys and some ominous drones.
X: Zero – Bonus Tracks
13 Yes! – Short Version
A shorter version of the track, just in case we ever had the opportunity to release it as a 7’ single (we didn’t). This is a different recording of the song, and not just an edit of the longer track.
14 Cari Amici Neoista - Brian's Tonal Breath – Infant Cycle Remix
We created a CD of the individual tracks used in Cari Amici Neoista and sent it to a few friends to see what kind of remix they could come up with. The Infant Cycle - the former project of Jim Di Jong – created this sparse remix.
15 Cari Amici Neoista – Spectra Labs Remix
Um, this one is a mystery. Nice remix, though!
Blood X – Archival Tracks
16 Fanculo Neoismo
Originally from “BURN“ 1991. This track is based on a sample from Monty Cantsin’s “I Am Monty Cantsin“, and features Monty on megaphone.
17 Groovy Chainsaw
Previously unreleased, recorded 1989, issued as a bonus track on the digital release of “renck/reck“. An ode to the film Evil Dead.
18 Psychiatric Exile
Originally from the radio demo “Kinder! Gentler! Now”, released in 1990 and on “rench/reck”, 1991.
19 Guerra Devastadora
Originally from “Effluviator”, 1993. Features the poetry of two Brazilian Death Metal fans we met at Foufounes Electriques.
20 Feel Da Noize
Originally from “Sado-Kommander Nine”, 1997. It was originally conceived as a cover of “Cum On Feel The Noize”, but got so far removed from the original that we no longer considered it as a cover.
21 Bottomless
Previously unreleased, recorded 1989, issued as a bonus track on the digital release of “Leonomorphic“ under the title of “Bottomless Brain”. The title is also a reference to how bottomless is the barrel of Phÿcus archives.
22 La Claire Fontaine
Originally from “Lumpthz”, 1994. Features William Davison on guitar and the daughter of Claude Charnier (of Terra Vox) on vocals.
23 Empty Temples
Originally from “Burn”, 1991. The empty temples refers not only to the growing disavowal of organized religion, but also to the emptiness between the temples of those who cling to ancient beliefs.
24 Working Man
Originally from “Buttmower”, 1996. A song originally recorded by Cape Breton songstress Rita McNeil, done in a Laibach style.
25 Individual Consumption
Originally from “Bring Me the Brain Of Kurt Cobain”, 1995. The minimalism in this track is similar to that found in the new recordings done for “X”.
26 Power
Originally from “rench/reck”, 1991.
27 Change Your Life
Originally from the radio demo “Kinder! Gentler! Now”, released in 1990 , issued on the digital release “Start Digging“.
28 Locked Out Of My House
Originally from “TREE”, 1988. The first Phÿcus track ever.
credits
released October 31, 1998
Appearing on X: Zero:
Brian Damage – Roland S-550 Sampler and Sequencer, Casio CZ-1, Moog MG-1, Vocals, “Master Of Chaomonies”
Steve Markowsky – Metal and Power Tools
Dave Catheter – Guitar and Medical Devices
BruSex – Noise-Making Devices (01, 09, 14, 15)
33 Second Delay – Noise-Making Devices (01, 09, 14, 15)
Jacek, The Doom Hammer – Growling Vocals (02, 03, 05, 07, 10, 13), Remix and Drum Machine (10), Additional mixing on many tracks.
Bill Abominog – Lyrics and Music (05, 06), “Everything Evil Everywhere”
Peter Azagthoth – Lyrics and Music (05, 06)
Scott Righteous – Drums (08)
William Davison – Scratchy Violin (04), Noise-Producing Devices (09), Additional Samples (06)
Monty Cantsin – Megaphone (01), “Spiritual guidance on all tracks”
Zeena Schreck – Vocals (05)
Ichor / I-Totem (Karl Sweet and Christian Lisso) – Drums (02, 05)
Sherri “Virginia Blood” Higgins – Rinklebaum (09)
Knurl – Amplified Metal (01)
James Hamilton - Noise-Producing Devices (11)
Emily Whit / Sybil Lamb – Telephone Voice (07)
Corpusse – Operatic Vocals (07)
Chloë Lum – Accordion (09)
Violinni – Violin (05, 09)
Jim Di Jong – Remix (14)
Spectra Labs – Remix (15)
Appearing on Blood X:
BruSex, SPK-553, Brian Damage, Scott Righteous, Bill Abominog, Art Damage, Tiboe, William “Bill Satan” Davison, Monty Cantsin, Maxime Charnier, and the Brazilian Death Girls.
Phÿcus was a Canadian industrial / experimental band that existed from 1988 to 2000. Phÿcus transformed from the traditional
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