Following the resonating return of CUT.RATE.BOX with new music and renewed live activity, the retrospective collection “Maps of Stone” reignited interest in the project’s long-unavailable back catalogue. Rather than simply reissuing these recordings, G. Wygonik chose to revisit and remaster them, adding bonus material and rebuilding each release with brand-new conceptual artwork.
Released simultaneously, the four albums / EP’s forming the “redux” series reconnect past and present - restoring key moments of the CUT.RATE.BOX discography while preserving the raw emotion, tension, and experimental spirit that defined the project from the beginning.
Blending dark electro, industrial noise, atmospheric guitars, and melodic EBM influences, CUT.RATE.BOX evolved through the years from abrasive underground electronics inspired by acts like SKINNY PUPPY and MENTALLO & THE FIXER toward a more cinematic and melodic sound recalling HAUJOBB, COVENANT, ASSEMBLAGE 23 or VNV NATION - always driven by G. Wygonik’s emotional intensity and sharp lyrical perspective. Although originally released in 2017, the material on “Xenophobe” was written much earlier, during 2005–2006, and was initially intended to become the next full-length CUT.RATE.BOX album. Those plans changed dramatically after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, when G. Wygonik lost his home and nearly all of his possessions - with only his music studio surviving the disaster. The EP captures the emotional aftermath of that period. While “Slip Away” reworked unused lyrics originally written for G.’s collaboration with Alex Matheu from NEGATIVE FORMAT into a melancholic synth-driven song, the following instrumental pieces - “Breach”, “Loss”, “Letting Go” and “Gone” - were composed in the haze of displacement, grief, and forced reinvention after leaving New Orleans behind. Sparse, cinematic, and emotionally heavy, these tracks were conceived more as emotional snapshots than traditional songs. Fully remastered, “Xenophobe redux” restores these recordings with greater depth and clarity while preserving their fragile and deeply introspective atmosphere. This expanded edition also includes bonus tracks such as an unreleased version of “Aperture” and “Fearful,” originally created for a friend’s video-editing competition entry.
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