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).


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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).


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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.


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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).


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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 (limit
ed to one copy by artist).


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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).


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Voice Box VHS LP (limited to one copy by artist)


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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