Otto Kentrol - No Mistakes - 2LP for RSD June 2022

Sax Driven NYC No Wave Post Punk! Finally the recorded studio work of Bill Ylitalo as Otto Kentrol and Faceless has been assembled! Featuring hard to find post punk & no wave cuts, four track demos, and previously unissued gems. Sax, strange electronic instruments, recitative vocals and sporadic bass, guitar and drums all spread over two LPs with liner notes by WFMU’s Erick Bradshaw, host of Spin Age Blasters! In addition creating sought after EPs from the early 80s on German labels and self released cassettes, Bill (aka Otto) was also touring jazz clubs with the “Funky Drummer,” Clyde Stubblefield (as his entire horn section), and maintaining the toilets at CBGBs. Seriously! Bill was their plumber, you can’t make this stuff up! Inspired by multi-instrumentalists like Stevie Wonder and conceptualists like Brian Eno, Ylitalo manifested these no-wave faves as a creative act of will. In addition to playing all the instruments, Ylitalo got the lyrics down by banging them out on his trusty Olivetti typewriter and then furiously editing them on his way to the studio. Perfectly complimenting the disjointed grooves of the record, the lyrics reveled in wry observations and street-level absurdism. When paired with drummer Rick Tarantelli and bassist James Quinlan, Ylitalo recorded as Faceless. After their Fake/Ghost Boy (included here) came out in 1983, Faceless toured Germany where they played with kindred spirits like Blurt, Sonic Youth and Einstürzende Neubauten. The new wave movement was happening concurrently in New York City, but ultimately, Ylitalo was separate from the notorious downtown scene. Over the course of his first LP, the Otto Kentrol aesthetic is laid bare. Ylitalo seems to be constructing fractured songs out of spit, glue, rubber bands and broken furniture. There’s a certain kind of streetwise swagger inherent in the approach of Herr Kentrol. The music is like a lens through which Otto views the world, always slightly askew and irrevocably warped.