Once again, I’m listening to SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ‘s industrial d-beat synth crust and it’s got me thinking in a way that almost hurts. You know when you have a thought that’s so meta it starts to explode out from itself like the endless reflections of a hall of mirrors and you have to stop thinking to get ahold of yourself before you get lost in your own mind? That’s what’s happening as I contemplate the video for “Ratchet” and reflect on the meaning behind the song. At what point in our lives to we agree to take part in the performance of human society? As SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ‘s beats rain down on me like hammers from the sky and the buzz and hum of “Ratchet”‘s melody interferes with my brain waves, I think about that point where I lost who I really was to the game of getting along with everyone else so I could grasp at feelings of being safe and cared for. To be honest, it wasn’t a game I was great at, but now I’m starting to understand that this doesn’t indicate some deep flaw in me.
Kieren Hills, the artist behind SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ, is also speaking of his performance as an artist — which he’s about to be doing via a series of live dates from April to July across Australia. He’s asking himself, what actual level of rawness of emotion, expression, and ego is on display when he stands on stage, berating his audience with caustic, danceable sonics? Today we’re stoked to share his new video for “Ratchet” with you below, watch it and if you’re one of our Aussie readers, make sure to check SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ’s live dates below…”Ratchet” is a track off the 2023 record No Life Left that came out via Bad Habit Records — get it here.
This song started with the beat that sits under the verse, and it all came together from there: first the kind of bouncy, almost circus-like synth line – I could hear it in my head as soon as the drums came together. And from that, I put the lyrics together: about the show, the performance that is both what I do with music, but also the performance that is life. The whole thing is reanalysing what is going on in my head as I try to throw everything I have into life, whilst always hearing that clock ticking: knowing I am getting older and falling apart, and that it is going to end one day.
Kieren Hills, SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ
Video produced and directed by David Xuereb at Grim Reflections @grim.reflections
SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ – LIVE – AUSTRALIA – APRIL to JULY, 2024
(More dates to be added)
20 April Nambour QLD Old Ambulance Station
26 April Castlemaine VIC Red Hill Hotel
27 April Eaglehawk VIC Trashcult
03 May Sydney NSW The Duke
07 June Adelaide SA Metro Hotel
14 June Sydney NSW Lazy Thinking
15 June Elands NSW The Mill
06 July Sydney NSW Slow Death Fest
20 July Port Macquarie NSW Planet Skate
