Split between ARU and Underwater Escape from the Black Hole

Submerged full tracklist:
1. And You And I We Atomize Together
2. Ground Swell
3. Drinking From the Well
4. Dubbing an Arab IV
5. Early Fall Everything's Melting Version
6. An Overwhelming Feeling of Bass
7. Why We Fight
8. Blackout Protest Media Dub
9. Ground Zero

For more of ARU's music visit
arumusic.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/pages/ARU/195137673838477

For more of Underwater Escape's music visit
5cmrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/split
underwaterescapefromtheblackhole.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/underwaterescapefromtheblackhole


5CM-005

www.facebook.com/5cmrecordings
5cmrecordings.tumblr.com

'While I have never heard ARU before (I assumed it stood for something, but I’m still unclear as to what that might be exactly) it is always good to hear new music by Underwater Escape from the Black Hole. Sometimes the continuing saga of UWEFTBH makes me think he should’ve either escaped or been caught escaping by now, but nonetheless…

ARU begins with these skipping sort of beats. They almost sound like they’re underwater and I can think of them as being a minimalistic version of The Prodigy or a song like “Head Like a Hole”. There are these sort of vocals and I can’t explain them but they’re there and they aren’t really vocals, but otherwise this is instrumental. Sounds of records scratching (As if the record is being scratched, not that sound specifically) lead us into a slower and quieter version of these sounds.

This is mainly filled with a lot of loops and it should have some kind of label to attach to it- some sort of subgenre if you will- and I kept trying to think of one but kept coming up blank. It’s not vaporwave, though that was my first thought, and it’s not even really glo-fi though I feel that might be a bit closer, but it is something and it is quite good.

Side B features UWEFTBH and it begins in a sense of FNL music. There is dark, distorted drone and then it becomes this chopped up sort of triumphant synth. There are sort of vocals in here as well, but not the same as from the ARU side. UWEFTBH finds some beats and just overall these sort of electronic keytar type of sounds within loops and patterns.

While this may not be how I remember UWEFTBH exactly, it is still something I can get behind and I feel like the addition of ARU to the mix will only help matters in the long run. People might be drawn to this for UWEFTBH and why wouldn’t they be? But if they find the ARU side they are sure to like it as well, and I call that win-win.'

-Raised by Gypsies

'I’ve been in fights. There was a time when I went looking for them. Not any sort of hooliganism, mind you — just the pure, I-need-to-outwit-a-frat-hero sort of drunken stupor that happens when one too many people think you’re an easy target. I’ve taken my wallops but I also win most of the time. I was a beast of adrenaline. I knew how to choke someone out. I knew how to use their strength against them until they tired and gave up before being made a complete fool of. That’s the feeling of ARU: 21 minutes of a back and forth spar with both coming out with welts and scars. It’s a black and blue kinship that you can only experience by taking the punches to the gut, throat, and ears. Underwater Escape from the Black Hole is that nervous aftermath. Senses are buzzing, the pain has yet to settle, and you’re sharp to what’s happening around you. The world is in slow motion and for a brief moment you can see all the little details you miss even as large gaps of what just happen are slowly erased from memory. Fighting is a drug unto itself. It feeds a different desire, but it doesn’t last forever. Soon, a smashed nose and bloody lip grows tiring. There’s nothing left to prove, but should you find your honor at stake, ARU and UEFTBH have you covered.'

-TINY MIX TAPES

'Since launching in March earlier this year with a split featuring Soma and Underwater Escape from the Black Hole, Des Moines-based cassette imprint 5cm has released roughly a cassette of spaced-out sounds per month from the likes of Demonstration Synthesis and BBJr. The label now returns with a split by UEftBH and ARU, an expansive collaboration featuring Randy Carter, David Pauly, Bob Bucko Jr, Lucas Berns, and Kristina Casteneda. The project leads off the set with a sidelong suite of clipped, dubby sonic vignettes that move along with the narcotic focus perfected by Excepter. After the opening display of blitzed, quasi-drum and bass, things slowly implode into a cloud of smoked-out low-end noise. What sounds like a vacuum inhaling bits and pieces of found sounds clears the room for yet another scene of chopped, amplified beats seemingly sourced from eastern locales before fed through a filter of dust and Sleng Teng riddims. Mutated percussion loops strut by, narrated by a maniacal ring leader speaking in backward tongues. From this point on, the opium kicks in and boundaries fade. Just as the seventh minute kicks in, ARU unfurls it’s blissed-out, minimal symphony comprised of bleary-eyed coos delivered by sweetly nefarious sirens. The processed vocal loops chant tragic phrases (“Feels too good to forgive you…”) in a sort of electronic-leaning Quickspace, slowly extracting snippets of forlorn disdain. But it’s utterly gorgeous, cycling through the air over the cooly repetitive bassline and drum track. Soon enough, the scene drops out again, leaving ample time for the remaining 10-minute miasmah of hallucination after hallucination, careening past moments of blurred noises and nightmarish images.'

-DECODER Magazine