Metropolis Records

Listen & Buy

Isaac Glendening and Matthew Cargil formed Cesium_137 in 1998. Experimenting with various forms of dance music and making an effort to generate new tones within their compositions, the duo began performing at various underground nightspots in their native Philadelphia area. They were uninterested in becoming grouped into the emerging "rhythmic noise" scene, and sought inspiration in classical forms of song structure while maintaining their passion for original sounds. Finding a common interest in progressive electronic music, and pop song structures, Cesium_137 put together a cassette demo for Tom Shear of Assemblage23, and later recorded a demo Shear produced. This demo, The Art of Controlling and Composing, brought Cesium_137 much success. Their hit song, "Language Without Lies," played on underground radio stations and at night clubs all over the world.

Soon afterwards Vincent Guzzardo joined the duo as a live drummer, bringing a raw enthusiasm for synthpop and EBM, as well as an intimate knowledge of chord progression to their music. They began recording a full-length album with a self-release in mind at West Orange Laboratories and began working with Producer Daniel Kesserich. While recording the album, they caught the attention of Tonedeaf Records, who signed them to release the debut, Advanced/Decay. Their first single, "The Fall," became a dance floor hit. Comprised of remixes by several underground artists, this single took them back to Tom Shear with his remix of "Language without Lies." That song, and "The Fall (edit)" made Side-Line magazine dub their music "a revelation" in the field of EBM.

Advanced/Decay took various elements of the old school EBM and synthpop masters and fused it with projections of the future of electro pop. The disc was Cesium_137's first step into the professional arena and was incredibly popular in the underground Electro/Goth scene. Following that release and many compilation appearances, Tonedeaf Records released their second single, "Regrets." Unfortunately, following that single was the attack on September 11th which led Matt Cargil to join the U.S. Navy.

Following this loss, preparation began for the next album that not only embraced the band's enthusiasm for trance and synthpop but employed unique sound structures to create a more original sound. The band worked only with notable producers and engineers to ensure quality and to give the band access to a larger variety of tone generation source production options. While more than half of 2004's album Elemental was produced by Cesium_137, the remainder was produced in conjunction with Soundwave2000 Studios in Finland, Danse Macabre Studios Germany, and with their favorite new media Composer, Andreas Meyer (aka Forma Tadre). Cesium_137 also worked on a few mixes at the infamous Studio Crash! with dance music guru and friend Dave Falciani. Each member of the associated team has a background in classical music study, and contemporary electronic music production, bringing a true understanding of song structure in each fold of the production process. Simply put, Elemental was the dream Cesium_137 conjured into reality. It is a perfect synthesis of classic pop song structures, emotive vocals, and hard dance music grafted into one form. Several months later, the Luminous EP was released, featuring remixes by such bands as Imperative Reaction, Haujobb, Flesh Field, and Sweep, as well as four brand new tracks and a multi-media mini movie for the song "The Weakener."

The band began working on their next album, Intelligent Design, during the course of 2005. To tide fans over until it was completed, Cesium_137 released the digital only single, Hollow. Since their humble inception, Cesium_137 hasn’t been afraid to experiment with different ideas. With the release of their third album in 2006, Intelligent Design, this evolution had never been more apparent.

While still maintaining their electronic body music roots, Cesium_137 has continued to embrace other electronic dance music genres in order to forge a fresh sound and keep the dance-floors busy. For the duo’s 2007 album, Proof Of Life, they enlisted the talents of accomplished electronic musician/producer Paul J. Geissinger (aka Starkey) for the vocal production elements and drastically changed their mix studio to open up fresh and innovative (analog) avenues of aural manipulation. The evolution of this new sound focuses on Cesium_137’s classical music tendencies as well as their rampant technophilia. Proof Of Life gave thirteen reasons why Cesium_137 is one of the front runners in the trance-pop genre. Prior to the release of the album, the duo released a digital only single for Flight.

In February 2009, Metropolis Records released the out of print The Fall (Version 2) EP as a digital only release. Advanced/Decay (Version 2 Extended) was also released digitally on March 31, 2009. For October, the band is set to unleash their newest album, Identity. Never an act to stagnate musically, Identity finds the band once again pushing the boundaries of electronic music. Seamlessly combining EBM, pop, and trance has been Cesium_137’s modus operandi since its inception, and it quickly becomes evident that they have once again hit their mark. From the opening notes of “Embers,” Identity proves to be harder, darker, and more driving than any of C137’s previous works, while still delivering the melodies that have become their signature sound.