Released
on cassette in September of 1984, the debut and only full studio album
from Zero Kama, The Secret Eye of L.A.Y.L.A.H., turns 40 years old this
month. Subsequently reissued on vinyl in 1988, and CD in 1991, with a
special edition remastered 30th anniversary edition in 2014, this might
be the most sinister sounding album ever created. If any recording is
capable of summoning "Evil Dead" style undead demons by playing it, this
could be IT!
Austrian native,
Michael Sperlhofer, later Michael Dewitt, now Zoe Dewitt, was an avid
admirer of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV in the late '70s and early
'80s, respectively. Dewitt engaged in frequent correspondence with
members of both projects, especially Geoff Rushton (John Balance),
before deciding to found the cassette label, Nekrophile Rekords, with
the 1983 release of the compilation, The Beast 666. After initially
working under the name, Korpses Katatonik, utilizing fairly standard
tools such as tape loops and electronics, Dewitt began conceiving of
something far more transgressive, leveraging an interest in occult
practices, specifically those of Aleister Crowley and his Thelemic
esoteric system. Rechristening their project as Zero Kama, Dewitt began
making excursions to the mausoleums of the local graveyard, which were
often poorly maintained, with minimal or no security, to procure raw
materials for this new endeavour. Various skulls, leg and arm bones
were collected, dried, cleaned and carved into a collection of ornately
decorated percussion and wind instruments. It was a long process
requiring painstaking and often grim preparation.
The
resulting recordings created with these hand-crafted instruments, were
nothing if not evocative of the most clandestine ritual music one could
expect to find in the deepest darkest caverns of some obscure Satanic
cult. Initially the identity of the creator of this music was kept a
bit secret, which helped develop a mythology around the production of
the music. Record collectors could only imagine the sorts of depraved
ghouls who would put something like this together. Eventually, it would
become common knowledge that Dewitt had been the sole creator of these
recordings, likely keeping it quiet initially to avoid potential legal
issues.
Since its initial
release, the album has gone on to become somewhat legendary in
avant-garde music circles as one of the more controversial products of
the underground music scene. It inspired other artists like
Metgubnerbone to go grave robbing for raw materials as well, though not
as discretely since they did face legal blow-back from their actions.
Dewitt would subsequently put on a couple of live performances as Zero
Kama before withdrawing from pursuing the project any further, though in
recent years, a revival has taken place. A lecture by Dewitt at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna on April 30, 2015, offered a detailed
exploration of the creation of the album and its relationship to the
broader spectrum of experimental music at that time. It is linked below
and is well worth the time as a unique perspective on the scene.
