David Zuzelo is a guy that loves weird cinema. Weird sounds. Strict EBM. And spooky ambiences in every form. He makes his own. Sometimes as himself. Sometimes as Black Market Brains, AtmosFEROX or Desecrator Of Dunwich. Soundtracks for the films in his head and sometimes the ones you can see as well... he doesn’t plan on stopping. Ever.
https://soundcloud.com/blackmarketbrains
- What is the meaning and the concept behind the name of your music project?
The name was a happy accident of reading through old pulp magazines and seeing the pitch for a market of stolen minds... it was a suitable phrase when I was starting out. Taking the bits of sounds and genres I loved and filtering through the constant risk of randomness to find my own black market brain. You might get a genius. Or a killer. Or a mix of both!
- What equipment do you use for creating music?
I started with a Volca Sample... a little 16 step sequencer that opened up my mind to the joy of limitations. I’ve added and subtracted gear over the last few years but my home base will always be an UnoDrum, Volcas (Sample, the amazing Drum and some of the others on occasion) and Arturia’s deceptively powerful Micro and Mini Freak machines. I’ve never used midi, only a sync pulse to keep things in line and only use onboard sequencers and features to keep those limits and challenge me every time I approach them. And those little Behringer micro synths are a load of fun with the keyboards smaller than a fingernail and janky sequencers. And Audacity... a lovely little free DAW that gets a lot of flack but I find it simple and flexible.
- Tell us a little biography about your project, when you started to make music?
I’ve been writing essays, comics and more for decades but music was a real love. For many years I was doing movie reviews and processing out my thoughts about the films I was obsessed with. I needed a challenge and music presented itself as an option. I decided I would do it every day in 2020 and just never stopped. Lots of film inspirations and my love of industrial and electronic music would become my pen and paper. I also dreamed of scoring a film and I now have even been able to see photos of my name on a drive-in screen as “music by” which is the thrill of a lifetime. 2300 tracks on soundcloud later, here we are. I never stop. It brings me joy be it in dark drones or karate kicking around making EBM, horror synth or just building up a drum pattern.
- Who are your main music and artistic influences?
For music it ranges from the amazing Wax Trax! Catalog to European horror and action scores by artists such as Goblin or Fabio Frizzi and a healthy love of thrash metal stirred around with Italo Disco and of course EBM which I’d say is my favorite. I want to mix all that stuff up and make something that is mine from all the bones and gristle. And Skinny Puppy blew my mind in 1985. Never got it back. I’m deeply influenced by European exploitation films ranging from horror to post apocalyptic and New Wave / Punk porn of the 80s of course. The world needed my covers of various Dark Bros. theme songs, right?
Probably not but I have fun with them!
- What underground artists from the netlabel scene do you like?
I discovered a few via my soundcloud posting and doing open collaborations. Humanfobia is my favorite as they are accessible and experimental and gothic and horror and beautiful all at once. I’ve run into so many though! I love all the works coming from Brutal Forms and Synthicide and for individuals I’m always happy to see noxpox, Insatiable Void, Tea R. Sea and many many more.
- Do you have some influence from your country in your music?
The US has been in a crazed flux for the last decade and how could any music not reflect the unease of it all?
- What is your favorite album/ep composed by you? And why?
With so much to choose from and compounded by my rarely listening back I’d say the soundtrack to DREAMS OF THE DEAD is my proudest work and for scope and single minded achievement I’d say AND YOU WILL FACE THE SEA OF DARKNESS. It’s a six hour tribute to Lucio Fulci’s films and the artists that made them possible with over 130 tracks.
- What are your preferred music platforms/websites? Why?
For simplicity sake I only use soundcloud and have not monetized my work as I am anxious that I will begin to overthink the work. To become more interested in perfection than evolution is something I grapple with a lot. It does make one heck of a library though!
- Any funny anecdote in the composition of a track or an album?
On WORLD GOTH DAY this year I was reminded to celebrate by Tiffany Helm via her Facebook. Tiffany played Violet, the gothy dancer killed by Jason in FRIDAY THE 13th Part V! So, I did a little post punk piece using the microfreak’s voice synth to say “VIOLET” into the beat. That track ended up on a radioshow I could share with her! If you had told either of us that someone would be writing songs about her work in 1985 or that I’d be sharing them with her because I made it back in those days I bet we both would have laughed.
- Do you play live? How was the experience?
I have not though I’ve built up a custom batch of patches and patterns that I’d love to improv over some kind of interesting exhibition. I also enjoy improvisational live scoring over random weird regional horror films and gritty hardcore XXX loops of the 1970s... and that would be fun to share.
- Any news for 2025?
More music. Every day. Learning new techniques or just making up my own! And hopefully more movie scores to spook you!
- Do you want to say anything else to your listeners?
I know the robots of soundcloud like me and if you enjoy what I do I appreciate you more than you could possibly imagine. Make art yourself or reach out to me and we can do it together!!
