Vinyl Vault Entry #6: Conceptual Music Journey with The Caretaker's Everywhere at the end of time

Everywhere at the end of time is a project by The Caretaker that consists of six albums recorded over three years, with the goal of exploring the concept of dementia. This gargantuan project is a harrowing conceptual journey carried through dark ambient soundscapes. For the fourth entry in the T&E Vinyl Vault, writer and photographer ​​Noé Loyola reflects on the deeply emotional themes of this record, as well as the abstract artwork featured in the gatefolds. 

Album: Everywhere at the end of time (2016 - 2019)
Artist: The Caretaker
Label: Boomkat
Genre(s): Dark Ambient, Sound Collage, Turntable Music
Favorite song: It's not about the songs, it's about the journey

 
Why did you choose this record? 
 
I picked Everywhere at the end of time because it is an album that reminds me how powerful music is as an art form. I am quite the nerd and I love when music is built on top of well thought out concepts and it becomes more than the sum of its parts. This is such an album. Plus, the vinyl artwork is gorgeous and I wanted to share it.
 
What does it sound like? 
 
The Caretaker takes samples from big band and jazz music recorded between the world wars and adds vinyl crackle and distortion that results in a feeling of listening to a dusted memory lost in a frozen place in time. It is haunting, beautiful in its melancholy, and somehow soothing due to the warmth of the production. The record changes in the later stages but I won’t spoil that here.
 
Talk about the significant history of this album.
 
Everywhere at the end of time is a project that consists of six albums recorded over three years, with the goal of exploring the concept of dementia. Each album is a step in exploring the gradual deterioration of memory, and I could think of no other way to better represent such an abstract concept with music.
 
The album is a haunting experience that takes you by surprise with the unexpected turns it takes as the stages progress. It is a project that made me feel serene, melancholic, scared, baffled, and devastated. It took me closer to a topic that was very foreign to me and made me mindful of how precious my own memory is.
 
The album is also pretty fascinating philosophically. The cultural critic Mark Fisher explores the concept of “hauntology” with the works of The Caretaker. It refers to how in our present age we have become trapped in time, unable to imagine a future after capitalism nor overcome our past:
 
“The threat is no longer the deadly sweet seduction of nostalgia. The problem is not, any more, the longing to get to the past, but the inability to get out of it. You find yourself in a grey black drizzle of static, a haze of crackle. Why is it always raining here? Or is that just the sound of the television, tuned to a dead channel?”
  
In my opinion, this is one of the most creative and solid concepts put out in music in recent years. The concept, the artwork, the process with which the music was constructed, the progression of the stages: everything works together so well as part of an artistic statement. And as a good art piece, it gave me much to think about and was a gut punch to my feelings.

Tell us about the album art featured on this record.
 
All of the artwork for this album was done by Ivan Seal. I think it is very significant to the music contained in the records and illustrates every stage very accurately. Since this project tackles the topic of dementia, the images are twisted and out of place, but still have resemblance to things of everyday life. As the stages progress, the images become more chaotic, until the last one, the backside of a painting. No matter how hard you try to remember the front, you just can’t.
 
The art pieces included in the gatefolds were a pleasant surprise, as they are very colorful and impressive to look at. I would love to see Seal’s paintings in person some time, as the brushstrokes feel so physical and layered.
 
Fun fact: I am missing the first album from this series in my collection, so I substituted with the other record of his I own, An empty bliss beyond this world. It is also a wonderful album, and I recommend it is a more digestible primer to this gargantuan project. ​

 
When would you listen to this record?
 
There was one time where I got particularly enchanted with this album. It was a gloomy and rainy day, the atmosphere was very contemplative and melancholic. I was reading Mark Fisher  and listening to the album. The ideas from the book and the atmosphere set the perfect mood for the music.
 
I decided to go on a walk to a park that had a cemetery. I spent a couple of hours completely absorbed by the music. It made me feel a lot of things and gave me much to think about. Music is in the background very often and moments where it takes the center stage remind me why it is so powerful and special.
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​Tell us more about your record collection in general.
 
The collection you see in the photo (below) is one I started recently after I moved to the United States. Before that, I lived in Mexico, where I mostly bought CDs I liked during high school and college. When I had to move, I realized I had amassed quite a bit of CDs, many of which I didn’t love as much anymore as time passed. I left that collection behind at my mom’s house and began anew buying vinyl records.
 
So now, I am more of a minimalist and try to be more selective of what I buy, as I am mindful of space and the pain involved with moving things. The LPs I buy tend to be things that I absolutely love, have an importance in my life, or I consider unique experiences that I like to revisit or share with friends. 
 
I also have a small CD collection, as some releases cannot be found on vinyl. I am specially interested in video game soundtracks, homemade or experimental music, music from underground gigs, or CDs that I get while I travel. Since they are smaller and easier to carry around, they are wonderful mementos from those experiences.

 What does record collecting mean to you? 
 
Collecting records is sort of building an archive of the music I find distinctive and unique. It allows me to form a more solid connection with the music, as I need to play the records and listen to them with attention while looking at the artwork. It is also a way to explore and become more attuned with my musical taste.
 
For the longest time I was obsessed with keeping up with everything that was new, looking back to the classics, and rating every record with numerical ratings. I think this was a symptom of following people like Anthony Fantano or music blogs. I have now learned and changed a lot, and I am working to move away from that race that was fueled by FOMO and by trying to follow the universal definition of “good”.
 
I am realizing now that a lot of the music reviewed and the “classics” canon is very narrow minded and euro-centric (joke’s on me because The Caretaker is European haha). Regardless, I am realizing that there is a lot of music that comes from many places. And that giving numerical ratings limits what music can be. How can you even compare a fun album with a contemplative one? Some records I own are very imperfect but I still think are wonderful and unique at what they do. 
 
Being mindful about my record purchases makes me appreciate the music more, and makes me reflect on what I (not others) think is a good record. It has been a wonderful exploration and I am looking forward to continue!
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