First off: Zero Years his my favorite Phycus song ever and the first one I remastered.
I only heard this album after it was made. I gave advice that a better studio was very worth it … a tough sell to noise artists. Brian took the cue and had it well recorded.
Zero Years - 0
No (More!) Pain - is this song about me?
Hopeless - pretty hopeless. Thanks Monty.
Creed - believe it.
You’re Killing Me: this one I knew would benefit from a boost… overkill.
I used ikMultimedia T-Racks plug-in’s, Nomad Magnetic… BBE sonic Maximizer… audio was ripped from the original CD. Final files were 44.1 24 bit.
I’m very happy with how this turned out. I think the songs are strong and benefit from the treatment…
ART DAMAGE, MARCH 15, 2021
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NOTES FROM THE ORIGINAL DIGITAL RELEASE:
“Sonderkommando Now!” was the second Phÿcus CD, the follow-up to “brainmower”. It was released on the Musicus Phÿcus label (MPCD 961) on August 18, 1996, in an edition of 666 numbered copies.
In the spring of 1996, Brian, broke as usual, was looking for a way to record the new material. He called William to let him know he would be visiting Toronto soon. “Great”, said William, “we can do some music together while you're here.” Imagine William's surprise when Brian arrived with all his gear and announced that they would be recording the new Phÿcus CD. The sessions went well, and Jim De Jong (of The Infant Cycle) and longtime Phÿcus drummer Scott Righteous dropped by to contribute to the recordings. Additional recording and final mixes were done at studio DNA in Montreal shortly afterwards.
The oldest track on the CD is “No (More) Pain”, which started appearing in Phÿcus sets around 1993, the last ones were “You're Killing Me” (recorded at DNA), “Metal Mantra” (an on-the spot remix done in the studio) and “Where There's Smoke There's Phÿcus”, which was recorded at The Clown Pad, Ottawa.
Four songs were considered for this CD, but were finally left off: “What A Day”, “Get On The Drugs”, “NightFlight to Phÿcus” and “Schizmatic”. It could have been a very different-sounding record.
Musically, the material on “Sonderkommando Now!” is a lot more complex – in fact, many of the tracks were difficult or impossible to play live, even with backing tracks – and also, following the style of the 90's, more melodic, with layers of noise on top. In a sense, it was less true to the Phÿcus spirit than any of our other releases, but got good reviews.
The artwork was created by BruSex (Bruce X) assisted by Töné. The cover features Bruce's sculpture “The Orator”, which was part of an installation at the St. John's Sound Symposium in 1994. At The Sound Symposium, The Orators (there were four) broadcast various speeches and noises. On the front and back covers of the CD, we see The Orator broadcasting into desolate, unpopulated landscapes. One transmitter, no receivers. This was the case for our message, too.
The packaging was done at a custom wallet manufacturer in Montreal. Brian brought the guy a mock-up in cardboard, and the wallet guy did the rest. There are two versions: Shiny and matte, both in genuine leatherette! Note to collectors: the shiny one is rarer. We figured a package like that could not possibly be ignored. We were wrong.
Regarding the title, we were trying to make the point how Western governments had been appropriating the terminology and the tactics of the Nazis, seemingly without any sense of wrong-doing or any reproach. We were shocked to see George Bush appropriate the Nazi terminology “The New Order” for his own plan for world domination “The New World Order”. This type of appropriation continues to this day: A recent Conservative government in Canada proposed a snitch line so people could report on their Muslim neighbours “barbaric cultural practices”. The title is open to misinterpretation, and it is possible that some may have misinterpreted our intentions with it, but Phÿcus knew our audience well enough (and usually on a first-name basis) to know that most of our fans would understand what we were trying to say.
credits
released March 15, 2021
Art Damage - Mastering
Brian Damage - “Brain Surgery, Noise and Voice”: Roland S-550 Sampler and Sequencer, Casio CZ-1, Moog MG-1, Vocals
William “Bill Satan” Davison - “Bulk Disembraining and Things”: Guitar (05, 12), yamaha analog keyboard (04), Tapes (10, 13), Turntable (13), Noisemaking Devices (04, 13)
Dave Catheter – Guitar (02, 07, 11)
Jim De Jong – Electronic Insect Eliminator (04)
Neil Wiernik – Tapes (05)
Istvan Kantor / Monty Cantsin – Lyrics (06)
Bill Abominog - Additional Lyrics (07)
Todd Hunde – Additional Lyrics (07)
Scott Righteous – Drums (09)
LQ – Guitar (09)
Jacek, The Doom Hammer – Drum programming and Monster Vocals (11)
Steve Markowsky – Metal (11)
BruSeX – Artwork and Design
All tracks recorded at Surgical transmissions, Toronto, engineered by William Davison, except:
Track 11, additional recordings on tracks 02, 07, and 09, and final mixes done at Studio DNA, Montreal, engineered by Rob Gauvin.
Track 10 recorded at The Clown Pad, Ottawa.
Phÿcus was a Canadian industrial / experimental band that existed from 1988 to 2000. Phÿcus transformed from the traditional
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