Given the supreme musical proficiency of techno legends Cathode Ray Tube and Chaircrusher, they were always going to be able to figure out how to stitch something cool like this together, but you'll still find yourself taken aback by just how tight it all ends up being.

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I N T E R V I E W
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George Ernst (Triplicate Records): So I guess these are for both of you. First off, how did this come about? How long did you guys know each other before deciding to come together and make one of the coolest records of 2024?

Kent Williams (Chaircrusher): I think we talked about it first about 2 years ago and it took until this spring to get our shit together. Originally we were going to do a remix of each other's track on top of submitting our own tracks. That didn't happen because remixes are hard for me. Either I like the track and can't think of anything to add, or I get sidetracked doing something else and never get around to doing it. As for CRT, I was also too scattered to actually collect stems for him. I've known Charles since he reached out about my review of his debut album "Subzero Sensei" in Alternative Press in 2001. We seem to be patient with each other, which I guess is why we keep talking.

Charles Terhune (Cathode Ray Tube): I’ve know Kent since the early 90’s from online at the Analogue Heaven mailing list or the IDM email list (I have a split 12” with him and someone else on vinyl from his CORNWARNING label). He and I were frequent contributors (though his contributions were always smarter than mine). Kent also reviewed my 2000 release Subzero Sensei (C-FOM/CNDHMN) for Alternative Press back in the day. I found this out not from him but from Kid606 whom he gave a copy to I believe. And after connecting on social media we began to converse more. Not sure who started sharing their tracks with the other but It was probably Kent because I’ve always been extremely shy about sharing my music with only a select few. But then Kent made the cut, survived the “enhanced interview” process and we began sharing our tracks with each other which has been immensely helpful for me. I don’t know about Kent but his insights into my music has literally changed it for the better. So after all that we’d been talking about doing something together. I’m a remix ho’ so we talked about that but it didn’t work out for a number of reasons. Then we talked about a variety of scenarios I think (Livestream, Edison wax cylinder, semaphore signals between his home in Iowa and mine in Maine) until we figured the versus angle which I think worked out extraordinarily well.

GE: Can you tell us a bit about the title of the project? I've been making music for 12 years and I still cringe when I listen back to something I made even a couple of years ago, so it resonated with me a lot.

KW: As I recall I just blurted it out as a possibility in Facebook chat, and CRT was amenable. We're both been making electronic music for a long time, in my case, 30 years. For me it's only in the past few years that I can consistently make music I like. So I am literally a slow learner. Of course all my musical failures and unlistenable tracks are prelude to what I do now, so they're valuable on that count, just not to my poor listeners. Though I have released some things on bandcamp I rescued from CDRs I'd misplaced recently, from the late 90s. They're there for all to hear, my brilliant mistakes.

CT: LOL ain’t that the way though? Personally I’m confident I will die repeating the same mistakes over and over with my music and production. But I think Kent came up with the title which given both of our propensity for kind of lofty, profound titles is a pretty simple one. Kent and I have been making music for roughly the same amount of time (40 years for me and about 30 for him despite me being a tad younger but much less handsome). To me it conjures up an image of a pair of land mammals (which we technically are) ambling along our way through ancient paths trod by the giants who came before us. Which is hard because we’re both fairly tall dudes.

GE: How much planning was involved? Were you working to a structural mandate or was it all quite free and loose?

KW: Planning is for smart people. The structural mandate was "you do 4 tracks I do 4 tracks." I proposed the split album to Mike Southard and he said OK. I did the track order, alternating tracks between us. If people actually listen to albums any more, they'll get a CRT/Chaircrusher linzer torte. We're also including a continuous mix, which might be the best way to hear it if you have an hour or so to devote to the task.

CT: We’ve been throwing tracks at each other for a few years now and I think the idea of a collaboration of some kind came about. Kent is kind enough to let me keep a secret folder on his server where my works in progress go. Usually one of us will upload something and send a link to the other with a comment about it - in Kent’s case it’s usually something wild and weird he’s cooked up in VCV Rack with a nice mix of shortwave samples and turned it into a crystalline opus suitable for the wedding march of aliens living in the skies above Jupiter. Or a nice Friday night chill out channel. We’re pretty blunt with each other which can be hilarious (Kent once described a track of mine as “over-caffeinated Richard H Kirk gets into some Adderall” and it was dead accurate) as we describe what does or doesn’t work for us. With this what happened was we each had about a dozen or so songs that we sent the other and chose from there. I think Kent’s megamix really beautifully shows where our styles compliment each other but shows of each of our strengths. I don’t remember too many strictures or mandates but that doesn’t mean I didn’t forget them lol.

GE: Chaircrusher, what's your favourite CRT song, and Cathode Ray Tube, same question to you but vise-versified.

KW: A difficult question. We pass tracks back and forth, so I've heard hundreds of CRT tracks. Having a favorite is tough. On this album I like "Atlantis" a lot. It has a bit of Tangerine Dream vibe, what with the arpeggios and all. But it goes all over the place, and incorporates a bunch of swooping and diving synth sounds. A soundtrack for a chase through a burning city.

CT: Oh man that’s a toughie. I love his music so much. Right now it’s Debouch from his “Stars Have Fallen” album. Yes I did the artwork but that’s not why I like it! The fat synth stabs sound like a Korg Poly800 which I’ve owned since it came out. He does cool delay stuff here with the drums and piano. It shows off his deft hand because there’s a lot going on that could easily get out of hand. But he lets all the elements fly and play without crashing into each other.

GE: Can you both right now start a vicious rumour about the other?

KW: CRT's mom wears army boots. Actually she might, nothing wrong with that, so that isn't a particularly vicious rumor. It is rumored that CRT is taller than me. If we meet IRL I will require he slouch so as not to tower over me.

CT: Well Kent Williams owns the largest collection of erotica penned by pre-Civil War presidents including the infamous “The Rude Lad’s Guide to The Americas” pamphlets written by John Quincy Adams which he got after a furious bidding war between the other two biggest collectors of early 19th century presidential smut: Conan O’Brien and Brie Larson.

GE: You think you'll end up collaborating more down the line? This seems like too fun of a project to be a one and done, but I'm curious to know if you had as good a time making it as I did listening to it.

KW: We chat online nearly every day so who knows. CRT is my first sounding board for tracks, and vice versa. If you've worked alone for a long time it's harder to figure out what working with someone would look like. I'd like to visit him in Maine and try to do music together, in actual physical presence of each other. Could be brilliant, could be awkward. Alice might lock me out of the house if it gets out of hand. We'll see.

CT: I hope so! We’ve been talking about a split cassette or an actual collaboration not just a remix. I’ve been enjoying those more in the last few years and I think we’d make some great music together. We have a good musical relationship and lord knows few others could work at the glacial pace we do. Makes Kraftwerk look like The Fall in terms of output!

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R E V I E W
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'Versus' releases don't come around often nowadays. Certainly this is the first one we've distributed. Listening to it, you start to wonder why artists don't collaborate in this manner with greater frequency. In addition to being an excellent cross-promotional vehicle, it nicely juxtaposes and showcases subtle differences in musical approach between two people who have a lot of know-how-crossover.

The gentlemen in question are one Charles "Chang" Terhune aka Cathode Ray Tube, having previously released a handful of techno nuggets in collaboration with Triplicate, and Kent Williams aka Chaircrusher, who already has four fabulous records with us under his belt. Both tend towards ambitious fantastical electronica compositions, which makes them excellent candidates for a fun project such as this.

The aforementioned 'fun' is near instantaneous, as CRT brings things to an immediate frenzy with the absurdly expansive and opulent banger 'Orgy Song'; and what an orgy it is! The kind that comes with a buffalo chicken buffet! It's a baller move, sequencing your record and putting the longest track first. It'd be a litmus test for the commitment of their audience if it wasn't such an easily loveable bop, especially once the gritty percussion steams on in.

Then, almost as an answer to CRT's challenge (it's a Versus compilation after all), CC hits us with some absolutely bananas avant-garde acid, anchored with an absurdly tight and head-noddable beat. It's a fantastically eccentric piece of music, comparable in length to CRT's opener. Clearly quantity was a heavily emphasized part of the brief for putting this record together, though we're two for two on these stellar tracks not out-staying their welcome. Though given the résumé of these top tier musical chums, that was never a danger.

Back immediately to CRT for the similarly lengthy 'Micro Dalliance'. Back to the bassy distorted percussion booms, metronomic taps and complimented this time with a truly mesmerizing acid arpeggio line. These two are just serving serenity back and forth and it feels effortless. Given the proficiency of CRT and CC, they were always going to be able to figure out how to stitch something cool like this together, but you'll still find yourself taken aback by just how tight it all ends up being. CC immediately confirms this with the more laid back 'Silvadene'. A glimmeringly pretty 4-4 odyssey which nicely offsets the dance-ready oppressiveness of 'Micro Dalliance' with a more colourful, yet equally sophisticated melody. Sublime.

Back to CRT with the blistering cyberspook number 'Chew Toy'. At this point, the two artists contrasting approaches to songcraft; at least in terms of composing for this 'Slow Learners'. It's like they're sonically conveying a scene in which the alien mothership hovers above your town; Terhune explores the cosmic horror of the impossible H.R.Giger-esque monstrosity looming over you, in glorious rich detail, whereas Williams notes, with wide-eyed wonder, the colourful intricacies of the hitherto unimagined array of lights emanating from it, as with the impeccable 'Olefin'. No it's not the spanish word for Dolphin, it's a synthetic insulator. Synthetic is right. This quiet yet beautiful banger feels like it came alive inside some haunted CPU and immediately started partying.

Finally, we come to our final offerings from both of our lovely electronic lads. There's a strange omnipresent tenseness to CRT's 'Atlantis'. A coolness, constantly under threat of invasion from the warm weirdness of the instrumentation. One could be forgiven for thinking these last two numbers were a deliberate attempt for these two excellent producers to take a leaf out of each others books, though they probably just ended up in this order because they sound cool, and they most certainly do. CC closes things up with the enigmatically titled 'ASAM-ISBHMTP'. It's the shortest track on the record, and ties things up neatly with a restrained and mysterious collection of oddball electronica that at times borders on ambient; that is, until the second half, wherein the melody truly comes alive from between the brittle beats with bright chords and disembodied pretty voices, securing the vibes you're left with at the end of this listening experience as good ones.

Get on this immediately. Four absolute bangers each by two of our finest collaborators. What's not to love?