156
156 is a collective musical
project conducted by Adel Souto, and blends the likes of Einstürzende
Neubauten, Test Dept., Z’ev and Crash Worship, often being descrided
as
a drum circle in a rusty junkyard. Having tribal elements, the music can often
be used in shamanistic practices, as it comes from the soul, and is meditation
music for metalheads.
Adel began recording as 156 in 2009, after moving to Brooklyn, NY, when finding
a few underground passageways under buildings,
as well as the city’s subway system. All sounds are captured via field
recorder, and are organic. No outside samples are ever used.
Adel is currently working on the same project, but with different sounds besides
industrial.
Adel was in many punk bands since the late 80s, and in 1991 he joined hardcore
outfit Timescape Zero, until leaving in 1999.
He has also played in sound4sound (vocals), Martini Kulture
(tape manipulation), None Dare Call It Treason (vocals), and The
Goslings (drums).
156 has no official website, though you can hear all tracks from the discography
below via 156's Bandcamp
page.
DISCOGRAPHY:
Self-titled debut CD EP, 2010 (limited to 156 copies released on NYC's Feast of Hate and Fear)
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), July 2010 - April 2011, released August 2011
Track listing:
Meditation 17
The Appearance of Pan (video)
Refute the Refrain (video)
past / present / future
Horse-Drawn Carnage (video)
An Unbelievable Delete
Artist edition with CDr
sealed within two plies of wood, which have image transfers
of original layout (limited to two copies by artist).
click on image for larger view
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Eight Steps In the Dance cassette EP (limited to 93 copies on NYC's Goat-Eater Arts)
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), May 2011 - July 2011, released September 2013
Track listing:
Mahakala Awakes (video)
This Is For Lorrie
Strikes to the Body
Planting Seeds
A Fire Inside (video)
Sense of Entitlement
Organ and Drum* (video)
Hearts Explode In Starlight
[*Angus MacLise
cover]
Artist edition had one
cassette tape, enclosed in a 6x9” envelope,
with unique, 8-pointed, hand-drawn work on cover, each containing a sealed
slide of artist’s blood,
collected after 156-day ritual (limited to eight copies by artist).
click on images for larger view
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Frontyard / Backyard cassette EP, 2012 (limited to 100 copies on FL's Acid Casualty)
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), August 2011 - December 2011, released March 2012
Track listing:
Frontyard
Backyard
Artist edition contained
CDr w/ extra
unreleased track [Under
the Spell of Another City],
attached to 7" black steel sawblade w/ hand-painted logo (limited
to four copies by artist).
click on image
for larger view
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My Deed Is Love
CDr / DVDr EP (limited to 33 copies by artist)
Released in handwritten layout, spray-painted covers, stenciled 7-track CDr
and 3-film DVDr, along with 6 poetic placards in DVD case, sealed with ribbon
and wax.
click on image
for larger view
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), Jan 2012 - March 2012, released May 2012
CD track listing:
Static Group of Friends
An Industrial Dub, Plate 1
Knifeplay
An Industrial Dub, Plate 2
A Daughter of Infidels (video)
An Industrial Dub, Plate 3
Strength In Numbers
DVD track listing:
Staring At the Ground
Where Even Fools Often Fear to Tread
Four Throwaways
Special edition of My
Deed Is Love, titled My
Deed Is Jacket, CDr / DVDr EP, with
stenciled 7-track CDr and 3-film DVDr, along with 6 poetic placards inside
pockets of black, vintage men's small
army jacket, with two hand-painted logos - back logo designed by tattoo artist
Liorcifer (limited
to one copy by artist).
click on
image for larger view
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A Life Lived As If In Hell cassette EP (limited to 100 copies on TX's Out of Body)
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), April 2012 - May 2012, released May 2013
with the exception of the "cult therapy" sample: Miami, 2002
Track listing:
Sad A
Sad B
Artist edition contained
CDr w/ extra unreleased track [Sad C],
tucked within a handmade straitjacket (limited
to one copy by artist).
click on image
for larger view
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Taking A Look At A Moment Lost cassette EP (limited to 100 copies on
L.A,'s Chondritic
Sound)
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), June 2012 - November 2012, released November 2013
Track listing:
Fading Images (video)
And the Crowd Calls For His Head
Expand and Contract (video)
Leaving Without Dinner
Compression
Blasting Away (video)
The Midnight Hour [May Day]
About to Kowtow
The Midnight Hour [All Soul's Day]
Artist edition is a 1.25"
SanDisk containing all 9 songs,
w/ two extra unreleased tracks [Subway System Funeral Dirge
+ Zyklus],
with a hand-painted recreation of cassette cover in acrylic paint, using
a cat whisker (limited
to one copy by artist).
click on image
for larger view
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Voice Box VHS LP (limited to one copy by artist)
click on image
for larger view
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), February 2013 - June 2014, released September 2014
Track listing:
Call to Prayer I [traditional Islamic morning call]
Within the Spoken Word
Lord of This Realm
The Essence of Laughter [words by Charles Baudelaire]
War Cry
Yeh Come T' Be [Jeanne Lee cover]
A Story From Deep Down
Murmur
Swollen Vocal Cords
Universi Qui te Expectant [traditional Gregorian chant]
Broken Philosophy
Curse Words
This Is The Law of the Plague [Diamanda Galas cover]
I Beseech You, I Entreat You
Alma Redemptoris Mater [traditional Gregorian chant]
Heavy Breathing
Did You Hear?
Call to Prayer II [traditional Islamic evening call]
Box set (in hand-painted
box) containing all 18 songs,
set to a secret 45-minute film, in a hand-painted VHS cassette (within handmade
cover), along with one hand-painted t-shirt,
hand-painted
art on Xray of artist's cranium, and one fanzine containing a story about
the recording experience (limited to one copy by artist).
No song, besides the Jeanne Lee cover, will be released in full, and buyer
became sole owner of complete work.
All money from sale went to throat cancer charity.
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Steel Rarely Stands Alone digital LP (unlimited, not on label)
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), January 2012 - February 2015, released April 2015
Track listing:
Drive It Home (unreleased)
Glass Heart (unreleased)
Floundering (compilation)
Subway System Funeral Dirge (rare)
When the Sword Swings (unreleased)
Hark! (compilation)
Playing With the Third Rail (compilation)
Cycle on the Radio [Karlheinz Stockhausen cover] (rare)
This LP is a collection of rare songs, unreleased music, and compilation tracks, all recorded from 2012 through 2015.
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Memento Mori 10" vinyl EP (limited to 500 copies released on NYC's Feast of Hate and Fear)
Recorded in Brooklyn and
Manhattan (New York City), July 2012 - June 2015, released August 2016
Track listing:
Kokoro (video)
A Swarm of Butterflies
Demeter and Persephone Run From Hades
Winds of Vayu
Me-Olam, Ad-Olam
Dance of the Ophites
Starlit Mire [Zero Kama cover]
To My Sons and Daughters
Chödpa
Artist editions contained
the standard vinyl release, plus a one test pressing with
hand-painted labels,
along with a human rib bone, with hand-painted lettering of
EP title (limited to four copies by artist; #001.1 - 001.4).
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Upcoming works include a grindcore EP, and a shoegazer-influenced EP.
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156 also has a few one-off
tracks which are listenable only on YouTube.
The list is:
Buddha Doesn't Like the Meccans (a video-edit of the track "Frontyard" from the Frontyard / Backyard EP)
Stop Driving Us Crazy (a video-edit of the track "Backyard" from the Frontyard / Backyard EP)
Joining In the Madness (a video-edit of the track "Sad A" from the A Life Lived As If In Hell EP)
untitled soundtrack to short film Where Even Fools Often Fear to Tread, also by A. Souto
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A list of live sets, with links to video and downloads, is available here.
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156
the ticking of many clocks