Caulbearer is a relatively unheard of, if not completely new project from a world of music that borders the barrier between noise and dark ambient. The project was born in 2010 and is made up of a simple duo — Cody Spencer Drasser and Benjamin Roe Jr. — whom recorded the tracks found here in the opening Winter months of 2011-2012 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Austin, Texas respectively. Though the acknowledgement that these two artists are all but interweaving shadows in the vast world of noise and ambient music and non-music, one figure stands tall, stretching his gnarled fingers towards the light as he always has; that figure is the prolific producer and musician James Plotkin, known not only for his solo work, but also for that in Khanate, O.L.D., Lotus Eaters and many others. Anything that this man is a part of on the mastering end of things typically comes out with an artistic production that is exactly what the music calls for. It isn’t always beautiful, sometimes it’s filthy and grotesque, and that’s precisely what you’ll find here with Caulbearer’s debut.
A caulbearer is — you guessed it — one who bears a caul, but the caul is much stranger than you may realize or think. The caul itself is actually a membrane that can accompany a newborn’s head during birth and can be otherwise known as the “veil of tears” or just simply the “veil”. As explained by the “Caul Bearers United” website, “There are two types of cauls. One type, which appears to be the more common of the two, is the thin, transparent amniotic lining which becomes tightly formed to the infant’s head during the birthing process and is easily removed. The other type, less common, is the thick, skin-like covering which is looped around the ears. This one must be carefully removed, as it literally has attachment points on the scalp and face, and is a “second skin”. It is said to have the DNA of the child…” There aren’t many notable caulbearers in the history of man, but of the few that are mentioned are the legendary poet Lord Byron, and the famous 19th century actor Edwin Thomas Booth.
As mentioned, the music of Caulbearer borders somewhere between the sound of noise and dark ambient — it’s minimal and ethereal but somehow abrasive at the same time. It has elements of drone but is decisively raw. Its structure remains constant through tracks but the details are in the building of the tracks where, when the volume swells, different complex, abstract characteristics of the music can be heard and sometimes defined. The music seems to resemble the characteristics of harsh noise wall of the ‘harsh’ was replaced by an adjective more related to the album title itself; ghostly, intangible. True, “Haunts” is a perfect title for this album, recreating that which is both violent and beautiful in death through subtle shifts in sound and production. The music could also be seen as reminiscent of the area that surrounds these two musicians, following the ghosts that roam the desert lands of the American Southwest, from the ancient eras of the indigenous Pueblo tribes stretching up through the arrival of the conquistadors all the way into the modern-day. It is music that reaches back through time, sometimes simply existing in a guttural, primal drone for minutes at a time, and sometimes finally burgeoning to a climax of violent disposition.
Unfortunately, while the music shows a great deal of promise, the actual release itself falls to very amateur depths. The packaging of the album itself is the worst part of the album and resides on the far low-end of what a homemade CD-R release could be. It comes as a simple white CD-R with no information or writing whatsoever and a matte finish. Beyond this, the album is at least packaged in a jewel case instead of a slim-line CD-R case, but the artwork itself leaves a lot to be desired. There are two inserts, including the front cover, which, along with the back cover, is a regular printer paper cut-out. The front cover fits in so loosely that the label or the artist has scotch taped the corners of one end to make it stay in the case. The images were also printed at a low quality so the text is choppy at best and the printed insert is difficult to read. Of course, the music is the most important part of any release, but the fact that the physical product here is of such a low quality begs the question “why wasn’t this just released digitally?,” especially since the album is limited to a mere 15 copies. Perhaps I’m being too harsh, but it seems that if you’re going to release a product that contains your art — something that is beyond personal to many — you should strive to make it as perfect to your vision as possible in every respect.
The good news? Apparently this album is being released again in a new version, utilizing the album cover featured here. So if you happen to find yourself interested in this album, don’t be dissuaded by the packaging quality — just seek out the forthcoming new version.
Track List:
01) The Absorbing Ghost Pt. I
02) The Absorbing Ghost Pt. II
03) Siege Machines Pt. I
04) Siege Machines Pt. II
05) Siege Machines Pt. III
06) Shipwrecked Cathedrals Pt. I
07) Shipwrecked Cathedrals Pt. II
08) Shipwrecked Cathedrals Pt. III
09) Infinite Rooms of the Afterlife Pt. I
10) Infinite Rooms of the Afterlife Pt. II
Rating: 3/5
Written by: Sage
Label: Burial Recordings (US) / BR26 / CD-R
Dark Ambient / Noise
Band Contact: caulbearer [at] hotmail [dot] com
Did the physical release itself need to be criticized so harshly? The label who released this is a freshly starting out diy label, I do take into consideration that you didn’t just assume it was the label who had dealt with or created the artwork, which they didn’t, however this was one of the first few releases this label put out. No, I am not the label owner but I have worked with hi and he has released something of mine and it turned out beautifully. put Burial recordings has also put out some leading names in noise, Vomir, werewolf Jerusalem, and those too turned out fantastically. I think a benefit of the doubt should be given, instead because I’m sure it is discouraging to read a whole paragraph about how your release sucks. You are correct that it is ,in fact work of an amateur, and aren’t we all when we start out with something? The owner of burial recordings is only getting better and more professional with time, and I vouch to say its latest work is outstanding.
Sage here. Not only do I think the physical release needed to be criticized, I feel like I held back a bit from what I wanted to say. Owning a label, no matter how small it is, is an incredibly important role in the world of underground music. When an artist releases their music through a label, they’re putting their trust in that entity to put out a quality, artistic product.
Now, my beef wasn’t with the artwork itself, but rather with the PACKAGING of the album. I went into great detail to explain that it was printed on low-resolution, basic printer paper with a scotch tape job done on the inside to hold the sleeve in. You’re going to tell me that if they took the proper time to put out a release, that they couldn’t have done a better job? It’s embarrassing for them, and should be insulting to the artist.
This isn’t the first time that I’ve called out a label on their lack of adequate time put towards a release. You need to realize that I don’t do this to shoot down the label — I do it so A.), a reader will understand what kind of release they’re purchasing before they do (which if I wasn’t completely honest, what kind of journalist would I be?) and B), the label realizes that someone has noticed their rush job and that perhaps next time they’ll put a deserving amount of time into it.
I hope the label does well, I really do. I just hope they learn from my review and up the quality a bit for current and future releases. Their artists deserve better than what they produced with this release, and I’m sure even they’ll admit to that. If they can’t, they’re lying to themselves and every customer that buys an album from them.
But you failed to address something I brought up and that is of course, starting out fresh. When you are a novice at something, I don’t care what it is, you are not going to produce something perfect. I’m sure the first review, paper, essay, whatever it might be that you put out wasn’t perfect to a T. You did comment on the fact that it is a small label, however that is not the situation at hand. Hopefully you will get to review something else that Burial Recordings puts out in the future and you will see that mistakes are realized, revisions are made, and that this label is striving to give the best and quality work it can produce.
This was their 26th release. I’d hardly call that “starting out fresh”.
I never expected a perfect product. What I do expect is for a label to put an appropriate amount of time and energy into a release — especially 26 releases down the line.
…Hi all, this is Cody from Caulbearer here…If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!…To play off of what Sage has written in the last paragraph, the reissue of ‘Haunts’ is now available and can be purchased directly from us if you are interested…Our email contact is above and we welcome any and all correspondence in regards to this or anything else related to Caulbearer…