Yotzeret Sheydim

Yotzeret Sheydim
Birth name	Desdemona Alyx Ill
Born	(1993-06-02) June 2, 1993
Origin	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Genres	Electronic harsh noise experimental power electronics
Years active	2021–present
Labels	Doughgirl Death by Dynamics Iatrophobia Perpetual Abjection Mechanical Presence Deathbed
Website	yotzeretsheydim.bandcamp.com

Yotzeret Sheydim (Hebrew: יוצרת שדים, "she creates demons") is the experimental/noise project of American musician Desdemona Alyx Ill (born June 2, 1993), based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since beginning the project in January 2021, Ill has put out nearly 50 releases, receiving particular attention for the album Avraham (2022). She has also recorded music under the name Wretched Crawler.

History

Musician Desdemona Alyx Ill, originally from Pittsburgh, began Yotzeret Sheydim in January 2021. She was inspired by friends in the noise music scene and her own rediscovery of Judaism after not practicing for many years. Ill was drawn to noise music because "there are no limits or bounds to what can be done with sound and [the] presentation of that sound....[Also] pushing preconceived boundaries is the crux of the genre itself."

One of the project's more popular releases is Avraham, released in April 2022 via Iatrophobia Records. Named for Ill's Hebrew deadname, the album is themed around her Jewish and transgender identities. Another album, Sefer Zohar (The Book of Radiance), received airplay from Tom Service on a 2023 episode of BBC Radio 3's New Music Show. The music website Passion of the Weiss included Avraham on their list of "The Best Electronic Music of 2022" and ranked her EP Evocation Experiment Aleph among the "Best Dance and Electronic Music" of March 2023.

Artistry and themes

The music of Yotzeret Sheydim ranges in genre from harsh noise to dungeon synth, power electronics, and broadly experimental music, utilizing instruments such as shofar, synths, pedals, and drum machines. Her album Sefer HaZohar (The Book of Radiance) uses "rhythmic noise, augmented chanted vocals, and a slew of pedals and synths", while Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Creation) features Hebrew chanting and elements of electronica, ambient, and glitch, with sounds of static, distorted shouting, and chalkboard scraping. Avraham, meanwhile, was noted as being less harsh than her other work, with clearer, more decipherable vocals and a piano featured heavily throughout. Sam Ribakoff of Passion of the Weiss described the latter album as "almost industrial-punk", as well as having elements of synth-punk, and her 2023 EP Evocation Experiment Aleph as "straight noise, but not ear piercing screams or walls of distortion, [rather] an album full of electrical sounds. Like the sound two live electrical wires make if they were like the size of a house. It’s my favorite ASMR record."

Ill often creates art, jewelry, and homemade instruments to go with her music, as well as sound sculptures consisting of limited-release cassettes, CDs, and lathes with elaborate ritualistic designs intended to name and bind shedim.

Ill summarizes the themes of Yotzeret Sheydim as "Judaism, demons, magic, making demons, converting objects to sound, converting sound to objects, and a bit about how building your own demons is really just about self-discovery over and over again," as well as aligning the project with her own anti-fascist, anti-Zionist, transhumanist, and anarchist beliefs. Her work often references demons, which she distinguishes from those in the Christian tradition and instead sees as "mischievous weird little monsters that are made each time anything is created. They are the anti-divine spark, opposite the spark of creation." The Book of Radiance and The Book of Creation are inspired by the Kabbalistic texts of the Zohar and the Sefer Yetzirah respectively, with the latter exploring Biblical accounts of Lilith and the Garden of Eden as a parallel to the Jewish diaspora. Avraham, named for Ill's Hebrew deadname, was inspired by her experiences as a Jewish trans woman; the opening and closing tracks are about the bar mitzvah tradition, while other songs address gender dysphoria, military violence, and Ill's journey to reclaiming her faith. Bandcamp Daily's Yoni Kroll likened her music to the Jewish traditions of nigunim and devekut, as well as the work of trombonist Dan Blacksberg, while Noah Berlatsky wrote for Splice Today that Ill "embraces Jewish music as cacophony".

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Label	Notes
2021	Teaching Myself To Swim Through Barbed Wire	Self-released
	Live From The Demon Dungeon 3/5/21
	61 Broken Things
	Sefer HaRazim (The Book of Secrets)	Doughgirl Tapes	Themed to the Sefer HaRazim.
	Mahalat	Self-released
2022	Seven Angels, Regretful, Weeping, Choking Down Their Own Names	Death to Dynamics
	We Love To Dance, We Love To Die	Self-released
	Avraham	Iatrophobia
	Ash'modai	Self-released
	Greater Demon: Sigdroxith	Perpetual Abjection
	Sefer HaZohar (The Book of Radiance)	Mechanical Presence	Themed to the Zohar
2023	Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Creation)	Deathbed Tapes	Themed to Sefer Yetzirah
	The Return (HaShiva)	Self-released
	Rikud HaMavet - Heathen
	Rikud HaMavet - Bishop

EPs and series

Year	Title	Label	Notes
2021	Don't get into a strangers car	Self-released	Collection of Desdemona Alyx Ill's first two noise tracks
	Lesser Demon Bound In Copper		A concept series of five eight cassette tapes, each one a recording of its copper j-card, themed around binding demons, being sculpted.
	Conjuration Experiments		Series of six recordings themed around conjuring demons, labeled Aleph through Vav.
	Necromancy Experiments
	Serpentomancy Experiments
	Chronomancy Experiment א EP
2022	The Window To The Skeleton
2022–2023	Minor Demon Bound In Copper (001-009)
2022	Greater Demon Bound In Copper (001-002)
	Returning Home, Machine Gun In Hand
2023	יד ש​מ​א​ל של ה​ק​ו​ֹ​ס​ֵ​ם ה​ש​ד (The Left Hand of The Sheyd Mage)
	Evocation Experiments	Doughgirl Tapes

Singles

• "Agrat" (2021)
• "Stepping Up to the Altar" (2022)

Music videos

• "Stepping Up to the Altar" (2022; dir. Yam Lynn)

Split recordings

Year	Title	Other artist(s)	Label
2021	Scaffolding of Truth	Submachine gun	Self-released
	Cyclone Tongue	Vor Pilatus
	Hex Noise Wall	Ballerina in Blood
2022	From The River To The Sea	Bazahadar	Mutual Aid Records
	To Draw Out and Dissect An Invisible Foe	Burnt-feathers	Self-released
	Map of the Garden	Dragon Maiden
	Geomancy Experiments	Dosis Letalis

Appears on

Year	Artist/Label	Album	Song
2021	Glitch Artists Collective; Attenuation Circuit	Blessed/Cursed	"The Final Room of the Temple
	Various; Doughgirl Tapes	24 Hours of Terror	"Greater Demon, Unbound, Sleeping"
	VoidDweller; Psneaky Records	Employee	"Room Temperature Challenge" (VoidDweller ft. Yotzeret Sheydim)
	Various; Self-released	Hello Noise Wall	"My Demons Surround Me and Form Armor", "A Shroud of Protection From a Cruel World"
2022	Shut Up Trinity; Self-released	The Psychoeconomic God Chasm Remixes	"Zipf" (Yotzeret Sheydim remix)
	Various; organized by Desdemona Alyx Ill	Monolithic Torment Forever	"Queen Harsh Noise Wall Forever", "Monolithic Torment Forever"

External links

• Yotzeret Sheydim on Bandcamp
• Yotzeret Sheydim discography at Discogs

This article "Yotzeret Sheydim" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Yotzeret Sheydim. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---