BIO: The Ptyl Story

ptyl, born in 1977, is an isareli musician, currently signed on danse macabre records.ptyl has been making music since 1993. he has always been involved in the creation of art.
although starting with fine arts, he was always more attracted to music creation. listening to bands like jane's addiction, soundgarden, and alice in chains, he got fascinated by the explicit way in which a person can radiate his inner self into an esthetic object through songs. and so like any typical teenager, ptyl bought an electric guitar. to his disappointment, he could never really play on cue.
and so ptyl was introduced to electronic music. the computer never missed a cue. ptyl began working on his amiga computer, using the oldschool classic tracker programs such as octa-med. these trackers were basically made for hackers who wanted to add a cool tune to their demos, not for REAL music. they where all purely sample based. ptyl didn't mind these restrictions, figuring that if he can't really play REAL instruments, he doesn't need them. not to mention how they get...
so ptyl began recording songs into cassettes. sketches over sketches, made with 8 bit samples and a crap microphone, recorded on regular audio cassettes.
at the age of 15, ptyl teamed up with eyal bari to form ptyl's first band, "failed experiment". neither ptyl nor eyal new how to play, but they were both into music so much, that they didn't care. ptyl all into american grunge, just discovering depeche mode, nine inch nails, and coil, was introduced by eyal to the industrial scene, just coming out of the 80s. a clash was created in ptyl's head between the american rock guitars of dave nevarro, the hard edge production of nine inch nails's broken ep, the sour-mellodic atmosphere of the apocalyptic folk scene, the sample driven rock of the young gods, the ebm groove of front 242 and nitzer-ebb, all wraped around with the fresh rave scene rising in the UK., to form a "failed experiment"...
failed experiment recorded 3 albums: "that's what went wrong" (1995), "the failed side"(1997), and "bloop: the hard drive that wouldn't fail" (1996 - 2004). failed experiment's songs were some in english and some in hebrew. the album "bloop" was originally released in 1996, but most of the songs where re-released on "the failed side", and so it became a compilation of failed experiment outtakes.
during the "bloop" era, failed experiment shifted to recording on a 16 bit computer with 32MB of RAM, and so a new possibility was made available: digital recording. the vocals where stored as any other sample. and so, the "ptyl studio" was founded: a pc, samples, and a mic. c'est tout. techinally, not much has changed since then.
during his army service, ptyl began a growing need for a more personal form of expression. while failed experiment was fun, the passions in ptyl's head did not longed for realization. and so, ptyl debued his solo project, with his album "spasm" (1998).
more than anything "spasm" represent a vortex of artistic muses. the songs are more like compositions, stretching endlessly, changing musical direction every 20 seconds or so. a typical "spasm" song would start sounding like a gothic ballad, then change into industrial punk rock, then to tekno-elektro-rave, and through a trip-hop section, would find it's way to the next verse. the next verse would be completely different than the first one, and after an average 12 minutes, the song would end.
allthough "spasm" was very impressive, ptyl found it to be too "baroque". through the mixture of musical genres, ptyl could hardly find himself in it anymore. his goal, the clear representation of his true inner self through songs, was achieved, but was not explicit enough. also, the dark feel of "spasm" aresult of his army service, was gone. ptyl was a civilian now, and so he decided to re-create the songs on "spasm" in a more clear and possibly happy manner.
there were allready some new ptyl some new songs made, and so in 1999 ptyl released his 2nd album "re:ptyl" (as in spasm's remix album). allthough it was basically a remix album, the songs were changed so much, sometimes redone from scratch. assured enough with his musical skills, ptyl decided to perform his matrial on stage, for the first time, and it was...nice.
after "re:ptyl" it was a time for ptyl to get some new inspiration: london, paris, liepzig and tokyo. seeing live on stage bands such as skinny puppy, das ich, the chemical brothers, gus gus, ltno, and fad gadget, shifted ptyl's musical direction into more straightforward song oriented material. ptyl's muses were rising again, to try and blend his own personal life with his music. to become songs. ptyl found himself struggeling between his daylife: a standard computer science/art student, and his nightlife: a decdent underground israeli artist.
this clash in his personal life led to the ptyl's 3rd album "triptyl: the 3rd complexion" (2002). "triptyl" is ptyl's first "mature" album. the songs got a much more "stable" structure, although the "spasm shifts" in genres remained. "triptyl" has a distinct 80s feel, allthough it's hard to spot exactly where it comes from, probably due to the fact that at that time, ptyl was living in a cultural vaccum. all his inspirations he got from listening to cds, rather than goth clubs. so instead of following a formula to create dancefloor hits, ptyl "re-invented" the industrial-ebm-goth genres in his head, into a version he could relate to the most.
to this extent, the "triptyl" album is really a travel-log of ptyl's life, begining with ptyl being possessed by the 3rd complexion, his muses, in late august, 2000, tokyo, getting lost in a vortex of emotions, left stranded alone in 3 zone, his inner world. his muses rise again, and he betrays his past ideals, complying to his vivid passions, defecting from his own inner self, and transforms into a decadent performing artist, in downtown tel aviv, 2002.
at that point ptyl formed a live band: "the glam bitches from hell". "the glam bitches from hell" were liad cher (guitar, vocals), shira mogilner (tapes, vocals), tal argaman (tapes), and nikola (drums). the idea behind was to form a REAL playing industrial fetish all-girl live band, while performing a fetish-like performance with ptyl. the israeli scene was by far too tame to ptyl's taste. the band had only a few shows, but still, it was a good ride.
after the dispatch of "the glam bitches from hell", ptyl found a new partner for his musical endevours: tzvi cooper. cooper, vocalist of british metal band nutcase, a talented electronic musician, as well as a well established raver in the israeli underground tekno scene, saw ptyl perform live with the glam bitches, and offered they write a track together. and so they recorded the first pvc (I.E. Ptyl Vs Cooper) song: "a 2 b slave". being happy with the result, pvc continued working, performing in just about every venue they could find. pvc released their debut album "in plastic", in 2005.
pvc tried to mix all the fresh trends in the industrial, nu-metal, and tekno genres, with the hebrew language, in a sleezy/glammy manner. the music draws it's roots from the likes of marilyn manson, rammstein, nine inch nails, skinny puppy, david bowie, underworld, and detroit's tekno scene, all mixed in a kind of "elvis feel". ptyl carried on with fetish and snm motives in pvc, performing in fetish clubs, and incorporating real snm queens in pvc's live shows.
but the main theme behind pvc is lyrical. both the text and way it is sang are completely different from standard hebrew speaking bands. ptyl did a lot of work adapting his voice and forming it into a instrument strong enough to cope with the limitation of the hebrew language. the meaning behind the songs is also unique. pvc are very critic of society in general, but they never fold into standard preaching. instead, in pvc ptyl developed his "down-to-earth" approach to lyrics, slapping reality in the face of the audience, and let them decide who they criticise: society, themselves, or pvc.
while working on "in plastic" ptyl continued on working on his solo project, and released "hell sounds". while performing in a local festival along with das ich, who were headlining the event, ptyl manage to give a copy of "hell sounds" to bruno kramm, who immidiatly signed ptyl for the release of "hell sounds" on danse macabre records, in mid 2005.
"hell sounds" is by far ptyl best work to date, allthough it is by far his most sinister album. for this album, ptyl decided to go in a really strict approach. different songs shift between ebm, electro, industrial, rock, and pop, but each song has a very clear orientation. allthough not falling into categories and genres, it has it's own specific style, mostly generated by ptyl's newly adapted vocal approach. the result is a long but tight album, compounded of really strong simple songs, most of them could be played on an acoustic guitar (allthough apart from guest female vocalsits, there where not any real live musician involved).
lyrically, the album is really a straightforward conclusion to "triptyl". it follows ptyl attempt to mold his life into art, a failed effort, which resulted in the creation of a new artistic term in ptyl's vocabulary: hell. hell is the representation of reality, when viewed from the religious/artistic perspective. the abscence of god or art in the chaos of reality, forced itself on ptyl. he could not make his life become art, unless he accepted the transformation of reality into the metaphore of hell. the only solution would be to become a "dragon": a person who accepts this chaos, but driven by his own imminent passions, he proudly keeps on fighting, regardless of the knowledge of his imminent defeat. in a way, a "dragon" is the reincarnation of the ancient tragic hero in real life, through devotion into passions, rather than rational.
the term 'hell sounds' itself is another one ptyl's inventions, or rather a discovery of a family of audio textures, that generate a diabolic atmosphere: both repulsing and intrigging at the same time. these 'hell sounds' are probably another reason for the album's distinct feel.
while working with pvc and on "hell sounds" , ptyl began working with many israeli underground figures. one of them is dj michelle la hysteric (a.k.a. moshe kutner), with whom he started working on a project "storm". another is tami ben tor, a performing artist currently working in new york, with whom he worked on her electroyiddish project, mixing electroclash with the yiddish language. ptyl also remixed many local industrial bands such as "vultures" (mixes appear on "vultures: great dicoveries and plasma ticks", "observe and control" (archtype multimedia records), "17 migs of spring", and "antiochus" (as part of a "pvc vs antiochus: remix wars" extended ep).
apart from music creation, ptyl continued his interest in esthetic theories and philosophy. in late 2004 ptyl finished his first philosphy book "delta theory". in "delta theory" ptyl investigates the possibility of metaphysical theories, from which epistemological, ethical, and esthetical conclusions can be driven. these conclusion where incorporated into the creation of "hell sounds", and became the last track of the album "loki".
for the release of "hell sounds" on danse macabre records, ptyl has moved to europe, to promote the release of hell sounds. after the album was awarded "newcomer of the month" in the may edition zillo magazine, and "electronic act of the month" in the may edition of sonic seducer magazine, ptyl played live for the first time on european ground on woodstage 2005 festival, along with bands like oomph and marilyn manson, and later the same year, ptyl went on endless danse macabre tour, sharing the stage with das ich, the eternal afflict, and the invincible spirit, to name a few.
apart from live concerts and working on his next album "loki", ptyl has now put his focus on extending his work outside the boundries of his own songwriting. remixing and production work with european based musicians. he has already remixed bands like seelenzorn, 90s german cult band printed at bismark's death, scarlet, as well as a teaming up with bruno kramm of das ich on a remix for christian powien, and working on das ich's "variete" remix album, for their "cabaret" album. along the way ptyl remixed also labelmates metallspürhunde, and schneewittchen, as well as the israeli EBM project i.w.r (signed on black rain records).
as ptyl returned to israel, his envolvement with the local israeli scene, has increased. not just performing, or just remixing, ptyl found himself channeling israeli dark music by various artists, back to germany, in an attempt to link up these scenes. an evolutionary socialization process one might say, that has now seen it's first bloom, with the release of "harmonia mundi 2: israel", a compilation of israeli dark music, released on danse macabre records. ptyl which at first wanted only to adjust his local scene to some basic normalized market, ended up managing the chaotic israeli scene, to make one combined effort...goth works in mysterious ways
between "hellsounds and loki", ptyl released a teaser web ep: "ptyl is missing". a compilation of outakes and remixes done to and by ptyl. an uncharted segment of ptyl's work.
now, at last, ptyl's long awaited album is released on http://ptyl.demoncast.com. for this release, ptyl decided to take a different route, and instead releasing it via a record label or any other "standard" promotional mean, it is released for free. by removing this burden, ptyl was able to upgrade the album loki, into a B.A.D.A.S.S.
to learn more what a B.A.D.A.S.S is, click here