Dysrhythmia
- Story by Kevin Stewart-Panko
Instru-metalist Dysrhythmia just want you to spell their name correctly
Every signed band has a litany of complaints about its label. The grumbling usually pertains to finances: CD sales and well-attended tour dates versus unpaid royalties and empty stomachs. Other customary beefs involve lack of promotion and matters of artistic compromise. Rarely can the gripers do much except bitch to anyone willing to listen. But for two years, Kevin Hufnagel, guitarist in instrumental post-metal technicians Dysrhythmia, found himself in the unique position of punching the clock at his band’s label.
“Working at Relapse was cool because it was so flexible,” he concedes. “There was always that understanding that when we’d tour, I’d have a job when we came back.” ¶ Whether or not Hufnagel’s presence around the Relapse offices acted as a mediating factor is not a topic the guitarist broaches, unless the conversation turns to the inattention paid a particular detail.
“You wanna know my biggest gripe with Relapse? They still can’t spell our name right!” he laughs. “It’s such a pet peeve; why can’t anyone spell ‘rhythm’? When I worked there they called me ‘micromanager’ because any time graphics was working on something involving Dysrhythmia, I’d be keeping an eye out. I’d walk into the office, look over their shoulders and be like, ‘You left the “h” out.’ Now that I’m not there—nothing against them, they’re great, but I’ve already caught where our name was spelled wrong in an ad.”
Hufnagel had to abandon his spellchecking duties at Relapse after Dysrhythmia convened in New York with new bassist Colin Marston (Behold… the Arctopus, Infidel?/Castro!). It was at Marston’s house/studio/rehearsal space that Dysrhythmia wrote and initially recorded the tightly structured tracks for their latest album, Barriers and Passages, culling the sounds and attitudes of Rodan, Slint, Black Flag and Quicksand. The band later laid down the final version with producer Martin Bisi.
“We actually recorded the album at Colin’s, but that was a demo for ourselves,” Hufnagel elaborates. “It sounded good, but we were excited about using Martin because we wanted a bigger drum sound and an analog recording, so we did it all over again. One thing I wanted was not to have the music so stripped down. I wanted to keep the live feel, but with a fuller sound, doubled parts and acoustic guitars buried in the mix, stuff like that. By the time we went in with Martin, we were able to work fast because we knew exactly what we wanted.
“This the most excited I’ve ever been about our music. I’ve found myself listening to it and actually trying to envision that I didn’t play on it. And even though I’ve heard these songs a million times, it still sounds fresh to me and that’s a good sign.
