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Ash Barrett is done with polish. The former member of Arizona industrial outfit Tassel has emerged from the Texas underground with UNCAGED, a twelve-track assault that arrives October 31st as the inaugural release from Feral Crone Recordings. This isn’t darkwave refined for algorithm-friendly playlists, it’s industrial music dragged through a truck-stop gravel lot and left to rust in the sun.
Recorded entirely on 8-track with zero compression, UNCAGED channels raw rock noise and industrial rumble that Barrett describes as “music without mercy.” The format isn’t retro affectation; it’s strategic brutalism. Each track maintains its jagged edges and tonal harshness, refusing the sonic compromises that have gradually smoothed contemporary industrial music into background listening.
Barrett’s approach throughout UNCAGED careens between synthetic noise rock and processed industrial bass, occasionally warping what sounds like psycho-billy riffs through clamouring junk metal textures. The result occupies territory between the abrasive experimentation of Einstürzende Neubauten and the restless energy of early Deerhunter, though Barrett’s vision is less interested in homage than in confrontation. Moments of the record suggest The Cramps‘ garage primitivism fed through malfunctioning machinery, creating a sound that gives contemporary darkwave a junkyard bashing.
The artist’s trajectory from Tassel, an Arizona-based industrial project, to this solo work represents a geographic and sonic shift. Now based in Texas and self-described as a “rogue truck-stop artist and arcane force,” Barrett has shed any remnants of the genre’s gothic romance in favor of unvarnished aggression. Where much of today’s darkwave scene has gravitated toward atmospheric melancholy and dancefloor functionality, UNCAGED strips the form back to its most confrontational impulses.
UNCAGED also launches Feral Crone Recordings, a new label founded by Sam An, better known as gothic industrial noise artist Lana Del Rabies. The label’s stated ethos, “feral music and art, beyond aesthetics,” positions itself against the commodified fringes of industrial and experimental music. An’s choice of Barrett’s work as the label’s first release signals Feral Crone’s intentions: this is a platform for artists who prioritize sonic extremity over accessibility.
UNCAGED is available now via Feral Crone Recordings at the following streaming links. Follow Ash Barrett at @ashbarrettl and Feral Crone Recordings at @feralcronerecordings on Instagram. For press inquiries, contact feralcronerecordings@gmail.com.
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