The Static Cult Label is a small top secret operation from Seattle, Washington. Most of our projects are available for zero dollars and we plan to keep it that way. You can purchase some physical versions of releases here or directly from the artists that created them, and if you ever have any questions or other reason to contact us, do it.
Mr. Parton is no longer involved with this label, it merged with Somber Atlantic a few years ago and now they run it 100%. Thank you for all your support.
A split 7" by The Butter Up Band and The Scarecrow Frequency. Pressed to thick, white vinyl in hand stamped cover art drawn by Justin Phillips. We are looking for anyone that would like to distro the last of these records to Mars in 2023. Feel free to get in touch if you are interested. They might also have some form of use in Curling.
Grizzled fuzz above despondent whispered vocals, swimming in a sea of washing cymbals and dischordant waves of coliding riffs reverberating, Robin Reines presents a familiar sound that is both haunting and surreal. He takes us to different places, from the mysterious madness of the track, "Drove Away," to the beautiful sounds of a clean les paul humming quietly above fuzz on, "Too Far Too Big," to pianos, to acoustic guitars. The Butter Up Band is the art of the weird, for the weird, and free. If you wish to support the artist and purchase physical media you can do so here.
Incineration Blue has all the key elements of past releases, Ghost Dance vibes and all.
Fotosputnik brings the fuzz and the drone on these two free songs recorded in 2010. Turn it up loud and pretend your neighbors don't exist.
Recordings from 2009 - 2012 that never made it on any previous Helvetia record for whatever reason. A little heavier and more indulgent, Helvetia kicks your ass. Please enjoy the lack of quality control.
Glass & Bone is a time-bending, shape-shifting voyage through turbulence and power from experimental American rockers Parton Kooper Planetarium.
Two constant founding members (E. Parton, T. Kooper) and a small assortment of conspirators have created Glass & Bone to open minds to new realities and propel the human race 1000 years into the future.
This debut album is lo-fi but wide; it has drones, delays, hooks, grit, bite, bad trips, earth, fire, holy water, rock and roll and alienation.
300 LPs were pressed, all on grey vinyl.
The download version is available for free.
Frenetic, noisy beats meet clashing axes on a vicious, disjointed battlefield.
Mammoth & Saber are not trying to reinvent the punk wheel or offer a new take on any tested and familiar genre with this six-song EP, instead they deliver a solid middle finger of what-the-fuck neurotic aggression, and then close with a quiet, creepy peak at the wounded when the smoke clears.
From the Breasts vault, more non-stop hits.
Recorded immediately after releasing the debut “Translucent Marmoset,” this second album was completed between Summer 2009 and Winter 2011. A direct successor to the debut album in every sense, “Idiolects” picks up right where “Translucent Marmoset” left off—tape machine experimentation, thick drones, disco samples, open tunings, atmospheric guitar sweeps, and plenty of effects pedals.
Mind-expanding sounds from electric bass guitar and hammond organ. Not intended for the timid.
The physical version is limited to 30 handmade copies (silkscreened insert and CD-R in silkscreened cover, sealed with a wax stamp). The physical version is sold out.
Opening with piano and words for the Seattle Police Department, Hand Carved Cobwebs slowly morphs into a world of crispy layers of fuzz and squealing bourbon fueled slide guitar. Recorded in three months during the spring of 2011, tracks like "A Quick Laugh", try to tell the story of a single man with few words and a lighter against strings on a telecaster. The album marks the fifth official installment by The Scarecrow Frequency.
The fifth album from experimental psych band Helvetia might hint at some acclaimed songwriting from decades past (Paul Simon, Billy Joel), but thankfully it is light years away from the sugary timbre and romantic tone in that material.
It is a raw sound constantly threatening to come off the tracks, but at the same time masterfully trained on a common vibe, providing a sticky, lush and layered listen. Vocals and guitars echo and transform, keyboards chime in to weave a psychedelic layer over the groove of drums and bass. Real music time!
LP includes digital download card.
A guitar, a bass, a drum and a voice on a hard fiction road, playing this unique music totally stripped down to the bone. A roaring experimental, percussive and sonic sound experience, recorded by Jim Roth (Built to Spill).
This is the fourth album from this Swiss band, recorded during a recent U.S. tour. Possibly their most experimental, definitely their most minimal. Raw, haunting sounds to take you to another realm.
Also released on Defer Records, Switzerland and Rakete Musik, Germany. In Europe or close to those countries, please order from those labels directly.
With a title stolen from a line in The Ticket That Exploded by one, William S. Burroughs, Burning in Nova is a 31 minute romp through the odd. Where Dawn She Waits carried a theme of dinosaurs, this time around Red Dunes has ventured into the murky depths of the oceans where the shark is king, and garbage from ships is a perfectly reasonable food supply.
These shark interludes sit between hashed out eight track experiments with lyrics of discontent positioned to guide you upon your murky journey. Although Argetsinger performed most of the instrumentation, what stands out are the contributions by the Totten twins who pitched in their time, sweat and efforts to add a bit more spice by way of lap steel, drums and chords on a moldy old piano.
Fire Island is a meditation on murky layering and unresolved guitar atmospheres. The EP is mostly built out of an afternoon of drums manned by Totten in a basement. These tracks were refined into songs for The Scarecrow Frequency by Argetsinger. Fire Island is the location of a fish camp Argetsinger spent part of his summers at as a kid on Cook Inlet, located just outside Anchorage, Alaska.
Prime Mover is one flexible, graceful man.
This man lives in Seattle, Washington.
We wanted to charge you top dollar for this EP, and then threaten to litigate/prosecute/harass when you freely share it with others. But Jonathan Mercer gently persuaded us to simply share some Prime Mover music with you. He may be trying to turn us on to some new-wave generosity, but now we feel like you owe us something. Wait till you see how much we're going to charge for his full length!
This free download includes front and back cover artwork, so you can make your own cover and pretend this is a physical release if you are crafty.
A collection of songs recorded 2007-2009 that either were never finished or not a fit for their debut release, Translucent Marmoset.
The download includes 4 panels of artwork, so you can make your own miniature gatefold jacket or simply view on screen while you trip out.
Originally self released in 2007 by then 17 year old Dane Chadwick (My Feral Kin, Small Group, Abe Vigoda), The Faded Tapes self titled debut was later distributed through the SAR catalog as a limited edition panoramic desert DigiPack. Recorded in his bedroom in Arizona these instrumental vignettes capture the interweaved emotions of a young man preparing to venture out into the world.
From colorful guitars blended into upbeat and forward yearning jam sessions to desolate and longing riffs simmering outward into spaces beyond closed walls, this self titled album is strikingly vivid, not for having been recorded by a 17 year old on summer vacation, but for the presence of how much sheer human emotion is channeled through every song without words, non filtered and unwavering. It is a collection of instrumental music wich was mined out of youthful exuberance rather than roiling epic-ness and yields enough four track gold to replace those foil fronts you've got on layaway.
It's a good one. Serious, this album is blowing my mind on the regular. Vinyl/download only. No more compact discs, suckers. Well, okay, fine, the first 100 vinyl copies also include a compact disc version, so you can rip it as whatever format you want. Records beyond the first 100 will include a download card so you can download a high bit-rate, DRM-free mp3 version for use with whatever digital device(s) you desire.
Dawn She Waits is a collection of recording sessions in a Seattle apartment throughout the winter of 2009, mostly in the middle of the night. It's fueled by marrow-draining minimalism, distorted drums, screaming humans in the streets below and nature-based field recordings. John Argetsinger and Erica Sherman branch out into new realms of songwriting, moving further away from the spontaneous recording process which defined much of Argetsinger's work as The Scarecrow Frequency.
Squeaking chairs, closing doors, popping heaters and various samples captured on a cheap portable GE tape recorder all sift through mixes on magnetic tape, creating a deep night soundtrack. Product dubbed, designed and manufactured by TSCL.
The cassette version has sold out, so enjoy the free download version.
34 songs, like a steamer trunk stuffed with a mysterious relative's precious artifacts. These are all otherwise unreleased songs or alternate versions of songs that appeared on Helvetia's studio albums.
Terminal Eclipse of the American Heart by The Scarecrow Frequency is the second release from musician/photographer John Argetsinger and features an underlying political agenda that serves more as a decisive commentary with its use of historical samples embedded throughout the albums duration.
With ghoul like guitar layering, panned thunderstorms and buried vocals it makes for an almost indirect, subconscious message from some dreary realm of the suppressed annotations of manifest destiny. Released just after the 2008 election but recorded under the previous administration, it fell on newly deaf ears.
Recorded in the living room of The Ginger Bread House with his San Jose cohorts, Nick Smith entrenched upon the creation of He Never Goes Anywhere a phosphorescent trip through plush nostalgia igniting sound textures and skeletal hymned guitar drone. Entirely instrumental, with graveyard dance beats backing balmy guitar riffs and song titles hinting at the roots from which they were spawned, the production was so overwhelming for one reviewer that it made him feel like he was looking at the stars through a grease stained telescope. An almost universe unto itself and nearly impossible to pigeon hole, He Never Goes Anywhere is a phenomenal piece of art fully embraced by the properly educated college radio scholars over at that learning hole called Stanford University.
Originally released in 2007, Giant Chemical was written, engineered and conceived by Robin Reines under the moniker of The Butter Up Band. Recorded on quarter inch tape at his San Francisco studio and post processed on a home computer, Robin Reines spins a web of dreamy sound textures from instrumental compositions guided by demonic drum machines to loud crunching drums and heavy fuzz oriented mind melting. A world traveler himself, Giant Chemical feels as if it is of the world in that it doesn’t quite belong to one place, one time period, or maybe even this reality. Giant Chemical plays out like an opus of the electric beast, hidden, secretive and most certainly surreal.
The debut album from Fotosputnik, a psychedelic instrumental krautrock collective from Chicago, Illinois.
Recommended if you like Can, Ash Ra Tempel, Neu!, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, Faust, Amon Düül, Dungen, or if you'll be driving for about 48 minutes on the Autobahn.
This limited edition (222) disc comes in a silkscreened grey cloth pouch, sewn with red thread. Inside is the compact disc, hand-numbered color insert with tracklisting and liner notes, and a protective square piece of black archival paper.
Jason returns for the third Helvetia album armed with a four track recorder and some top serious hooks.
The music plays out like a series of snapshots, subtle and hazy, dreamlike in consistency. It's a cut and paste style of arranging, much like the making of a mix tape, but lending to a time before computers took over. Ideas and musical concepts come and go, haunting, but never imposing. Guitars weave around drums with simple execution. It's spaced out soul and pop with a black heart.
Canaan Amber finally gets a solo release to stretch his wings.
This limited edition (222) disc comes in a brown paper bag, stamped "CA" and closed with a rubber band. Inside the bag is the compact disc in a handnumbered printed sleeve and several printed inserts. Each copy also includes a unique/different bonus insert.
Originally released as a 7" on the Skylab Operations imprint. These two cuts of Duster's lo-fi four-track fuzzy drone are some of the bands' favorite material.
A year and a half after the release of Helvetia's critically acclaimed debut record The Clever North Wind, the Pacific Northwest outfit released their sophomore album, The Acrobats. Alongside Helvetia founder Jason Albertini, Dove Amber (Duster, Arthur & Yu, Love As Laughter) on drums and Adam Howery (Vells, Arthur & Yu) on bass created a sound that was hard to pin down. A beautifully lo fi, unclassifiable rock sound, complete with stoner rock chords, jazzy time signatures, sound effects, and honeyed vocals.
For The Acrobats, Albertini also enlisted the help of multi instrumentalist Jim Roth and Tara Der Yeghiayan on backing vocals and harmonies. The album features the occasional guitar duel with guest players like Brett Netson (Caustic Resin, Built To Spill) and Mike Johnson (Dinosaur Jr., Mark Lanegan).
The Acrobats focuses on the potential and possibilities of the quintessential rock combo (guitar, bass, drums) and is enriched by swirling organ touches. Albertini's vocals are more pronounced on this collection of songs compared to The Clever North Wind but still capture an intimacy that engages the listener, with soothing and unconventional melodies that grow on you and seem oddly familiar. The signature guitar styling that Helvetia are known for and is confidently displayed on The Acrobats, squelching and sighing through out.
A noise-rock EP soundtrack for dirty living. “Songs For Total Dicks” might get your lady knocked up, empty your liquor cabinet and crash your pickup truck.
For fans of Melvins, Unsane, Karp, Black Sabbath, The Jesus Lizard, Winger. Also for dirtheads in general.
Original version was a CD-R demo in silkscreened digipaks. The CD face was spraypainted or stamped with skulls and shit. Inserts were a few square cards, photocopied artwork/liner notes stuck inside a pocket in the digipak. The CD-R versions are all gone.
Jason and Dove of Duster weave intriguing layers of sound on this haunting debut.
Alternative Press described The Clever North Wind as “Built to Spill on a mellow, psychedelically enhanced pop bender.” It is a display of pure songwriting command from the heart, but not in a cheeseball ballad sort of way.
“A beautiful collage of antique effects, soulful rhythms and guitars that sigh, squelch and swirl.” - Magnet Magazine
The sound on The Clever North Wind is unclassifiable yet invitingly familiar. Helvetia rocks in the strangest of places, going with and against its own flow. A sonically complex affair, layered with lackadaisically honeyed vocals. On the first listen, it feels warm and welcoming, contradicted by an uncertain heaviness that lingers on well after the introduction.
Eiafuawn (pronounced ee-uh-fon), an acronym for Everything Is All Fucked Up And What Not, has only one permanent member. The dude plays all the instruments on Eiafuawn's releases. This album was recorded at home over a few long years, mostly on analog four track machines.
The CD (green cover) is a foldout digipak, designed by koop. The LP (white cover) is a matte finished illustration by Brendan Monroe. The LP was released by Pillowscars of Sweden.