Null - Void is the first LP from Iowa scumdog and digital hardcore raconteur Voiddweller. Voiddweller is, allegedly, the side project of one DJ Rozwell. I say allegedly, because there is some evidence for this conclusion, but it's mostly based on conjecture. I usually strive for accuracy in my writing, but I probably shouldn't be shy about spreading roamers about this guy or his work. Everything he does to promote the project has the smell of a psy-op... something that has to be is entirely intentional. I might actually be doing him a favor by disseminating information that I just made up. This is literally just an assumption I'm going to make going forward.
In the spirit of relaying the real, hard facts about this project, it demands to be pointed out, that in addition to being DJ Rozwell, Voiddweller is also an alias of JFK Jr. A person who is very much still alive and who is heavily invested in meme culture. So much so that he's become a pioneer of the information economy of Gen Z. You know that stupid, sexy, dancing Shrek the kids are all obsessed with? Well, who do you think did the motion capture for it? Save your guesses. It was Voiddweller. Prove me wrong!
Now that I've thoroughly confused and/or enraged you, you're in a pretty good mental space to invite Null - Void into your life. Put simply, the album is a filthy, soul-staining search through the rock bottom depths of bad intentions and even worse outcomes. Stylistically, the album blurs the lines between industrial hip-hop and digital hardcore like blood and piss mixing as they are squeezed from an infected bladder. It's impressive and offputting, astonishing and menacing as only sound deployed in an offensive strategy against good taste can be.
Voiddweller does have some favored modes that he operates in on Null - Void, and it can feel a little redundant at times. I apparently have a high threshold tolerance for hearing someone straining their vocal cords over back-bitting breakbeats and stolen synth samples, because I am with him on every sick and arranged stage of his journey like a dog chasing a greasy boa of sausage links as it's dragged through the dirt. The grimier this album gets the more satisfying it is to my senses.
Sticking with things that help give this Null - Void the right sort of ambiance, it's very fitting that nearly every sample makes its appearance by liberty rather than permission (Ask for forgiveness, not a signed release). Now I don't want to imply anything, but I can't imagine that the Amy Winehouse sample in the venomous flame-out "Excess" was cleared. I might actually be disappointed to learn that it had been, because the abandonment of proper protocols and due diligence is what this album is all about. Absolutely freedom is its flag hoisting cry. The freedom to love and hate. The freedom to sink into a well of your own alienated torpor. And the freedom to self-destruct into a million bits of ash and broken bone.
Listen to Voiddweller's Null - Void. Listen long and hard. But don't be surprised to find that the deeper you listen, the deeper it listens back.
