first met Otto Von Schirach when some of the Milwaukee breakcore/IDM scene demanded we bring him to the barn. I was against outsiders, but his stuff did something for me. I remember being gruff in the negotiations. He agreed and a date was set.

I picked Otto up from the Milwaukee airport with Aaron Snares. We both had hair to our backs and unkempt beards. We were driving a big old green Ford Explorer that had Addict stickers all over it. We jacked gabber tapes all day, LOUD.

Otto later told me he was scared for his safety. Something about dragging him out to a barn and...

Otto stayed at my flat in Riverwest and met the whole crew. The Bacon Manager took special care of his new client; Otto had no idea who he was or that he was a ‘client’ but soon picked up on the vibes. Shit was weird and stayed weird, 24/7. We played Wednesday at the Circle A, our literal corner bar (100 meters door-to-door) and nearly collapsed the place. The neighbors hated us and Warrick, the owner, loved us. We played loud and the crowd drank hard. The glassware had to be removed from the single room bar’s shelves, after the bass started shaking and breaking the glassware.

I think we played one other local show, then went to the barn. I doubt Otto has experienced anything close to it before or since.

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As the story would go, my daughter was conceived and I decided to move to Miami to be with my now wife.

I packed everything into that SUV and drove straight through with a truck load of gear, records and a few t-shirts. At the 22 hour mark I was delirious and seeing double at the Florida/Georgia line. I tried to sleep but I couldn’t. The truck was packed so tight I had nowhere to spread out. I looked through my CDs. Slayer had been played 3 times already, NWA twice and almost everything else at least once...except the one buried at the bottom of the center console.

NKOTB - Hangin’ Tough

I put that thing in and I sang a long, pounding my fist on the steering wheel. For six hours, it probably played 15 times through. I hit Miami at morning rush hour, awake for 48 hours, driving for 28. I clearly remember a few drivers gawking. I was headbanging violently with the windows down and the system on max volume, screaming along to The New Kids on The Block. I knew at that moment I had to cover the entire album.

Otto was the only person I knew, outside of my wife’s circle of friends. I don’t think he believed me when I first told him I was coming. We were both full time musicians at this point and spent many afternoons in his studio apartments in Little Havana laughing our asses off and making asinine, technical music. We made about 15 tracks. We played them out often, we toured separate and together and played them. They were never released….until now.

I remember finishing the second New Kids parody track and saying, “Okay, now we have to do the next one.” Otto flatly refused. I understood. We moved on to bass music with disgusting samples, experimental gabber and hi concept instrumental glitch-hop. I think most of it will be released. Maybe.

g.co/kgs/42iNze