The Catastrophe was a solo project of John Milano who self-released several singles on cassette and CD-R, and was active between 2000 and 2002. Initially, the singles were released under Milano’s own name, until a few years later the ‘Catastrophe’ moniker would be used at the suggestion of a record label when releasing a collective of those singles in 2002. At the time, the label argued that the music would be more marketable than using his own name.

“To answer your question, it’s not important why I changed [the name to ‘The Catastrophe’] and why I chose it,” Milano told German music zine - CHANL - in 2005. “It was, though, a big moment where I realized I can hide in plain sight, behind a name - use it, love it, hate it, get rid of it - and I could come and go as I pleased.”

The legend goes that with the release date fast approaching, Milano had procrastinated on picking a moniker and needed to quickly pick a name and get it back to the label. Put on the spot, and without putting much thought into it at all, Milano looked around the room he was currently standing in - which was the room of a friend of his - and he found an old newspaper from the prior year in the corner of the room. Picking up the newspaper, he saw the headline “CATASTROPHE”, relating to the events of September 11th 2001. The compilation album would include most, but not all, of the self-released singles and was eventually entitled ‘Discography’ by the label and released in 2002 on Blasphemous Records, an up-and-coming New York hardcore music label.

The album was released to poor reviews, poor sales, and mostly indifference at the time; however, in the years since then this work has slowly developed a cult following within the outsider, experimental, and noise music community - many who themselves were legacy in the punk, hardcore, and post-hardcore scenes of the late 90s-early 2000s.

The Catastrophe’s deconstruction of pop music reinvented and re-integrated as experimental indie and avant-garde, together with often nihilistic lyrics could not find an audience when first released — its themes of dislocation and alienation seemed to stifle any appeal, while its pervasive feelings of isolation and depression were deemed oppressive. If Milano is this much of a downer, his audience seemed to say, we prefer the alternative.

The Catastrophe contained the beginnings of Milano's growing exploration with minimalism and his influence by the early works of Brian Eno — in particular, the concept of “generative music” (or, “ever-changing music that creates itself”). At the time, no computers were used in the making of the Catastrophe’s music, and he began experimenting with tape loops — an instruction and method he discovered when reading a lengthy interview with Brian Eno in 1999.

Milano would use a four-track and eight-track recorder, a CD-R burner, and boom-box stereo, among other things as a make-shift studio. He’d then record vocals or instruments on cassette (magnetic tape) using his eight-track home recorder, cut it to another tape which he would then cut and splice specific segments end-to-end, creating a ‘loop’ which can then be played continuously. This would be a pain-staking process, with Milano previously stating it would, at times, take him months to complete just one song. Milano has said he worked on somewhere between 30 to 40 songs during this two year time-frame (while also playing in several bands), while only 14 to 18 songs have ever surfaced -- in various formats and versions -- throughout the years.

As arduous a process it was, Milano was attracted: “The loop repeats every 3-to-10 seconds, and you have the second loop going every 4-to-6, and you have a third now going at 10-to-15, and they all repeat and are not likely to come back into sync again [. . .] those three or four main loops in that particular song technically never change but the actual song itself has changes, acts, stages [. . .]

"On a lot of the songs I would incorporate instruments and vocals from other songs that I had previously recorded, and then I'd integrate them into this frankenstein-work while trying to keep the conventional structure of a pop song with a ‘verse’ and a ‘chorus’. I think it’s probably most evident on the earlier songs like 'Breaking Down' or 'Late Night Calls', where the vocals are from a different song recorded months or even years prior, and one set of instruments are from another, and another set of guitars are from another different song.”

Despite not gaining much local recognition, Milano left for Europe on a tour playing shows as a one-man band or with a temporary and ever-changing back-up band throughout 2002 and some of 2003. During this make-shift tour, he would play both original or re-worked versions of the songs from “Discography”, as well as debuting new or unreleased songs that would find their way onto reissues and bootleg copies of “Discography”.

Right away there was a stark difference in reception to the material in Europe from that in New York, as the European audience seemed to be more open to the music. Growing interest in The Catastrophe in Europe’s underground scene continued with the success of the shows, which then lead to ‘Discography’ being reissued in limited runs on foreign labels Homesick Records in Europe, and Japanese label Flush Trax.

Interest in The Catastrophe spiked in the wake of the small-scale success enjoyed in 2003 by the band Sporco - a new experimental post-hardcore/indie project co-lead by Milano. With growing interest in Milano’s previous projects, “Discography” was reissued in 2003 on Savage Ballet Records - an experimental label co-founded by Milano. The 2003 reissue contained alternate versions and/or edits of songs, another slightly modified track-list, and new album cover art featuring a contemporary photo of Milano with cigarette in-hand. This version of the Catastrophe’s album and artwork became the most well-known and would later be referenced by some as one of the influential home-recorded outsider albums of the early 2000s.

Almost immediately after its release, and certainly throughout the years, the perception of The Catastophe’s music had begun to evolve — and continues to evolve — as its audience has broadened. In the beginning, those few fans who felt this music had hit an emotional or creative nerve had begun to emerge as artists in their own right in the years and decades to follow. While the Catastrophe isn’t a pivotal name-drop in the wider independent musical landscape as an Ariel Pink or R. Steevie Moore, the influence can be heard in many emerging outsider artists around the world, and many who are enjoying more mainstream success.

Renaissance Purr editors Robert Feiler and Tim Gould — to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude and credit for this rather long write-up — wrote back in 2010, which I leave here in its entirety, for it is perfectly written: “Some of [the songs on ‘Discography’] do not work and some really did, but in 2002 it nonetheless all seemed exceedingly incongruous and confusing. Basically, The Catastrophe can be viewed in retrospect as all that Milano had in mind and a little of what he wanted to eventually do, all jumbled up and fighting to find its way [. . .] even today, if you can find a copy of ‘Discography’ and pluck it from the shackles of obscurity, it is nothing short of a quintessential listening experience, especially the more you realize it was made by a 17 year-old in his bedroom, spending countless hours trying to create something without a clear sonic precedent. There is no proper category or description for the music in 'Discography' -- It's not one of indie, rock, pop, noise, sampling; yet it is all of those things -- and that was particularly unique for a self-recorded artist, as bedrooms musicians at that time had typically fit into the broader 'indie' category.”

“A combination of factors made the album difficult to understand in 2002, which is the reason why people are still learning from it. At times it feels more like a puzzle, or an experience, than music. It sounds crude, thin and pretentious at first, but it never stops getting better, clearer, and taking your senses elsewhere. Its reach wasn’t — and still isn’t — wide, particularly in the scenes most closely associated with it, but it did echo far as many who got their hands on the disc were inspired by it to start their own projects devoted to pop, noise, sampling, and minimalism. As different strains of self-recorded music has bubbled-up to the foreground of the New York, LA, and Berlin underground in the last few years — from the more placid ‘chillwave’ to the abstract — many of these artists are leaving a trace of The Catastrophe’s influence, and out of nowhere the ‘Discography’ album began looking way ahead of its time.”


This re-issue of "Discography" is a fully restored version of the album that John Milano had originally intended to release. It was completely re-mastered in 2014 and contains the original versions of songs and proper track-listing meant for its original release in 2002.

Mastered by Sam Mehran.

LP released on limited run of 250 - 150 on pro-printed full color gatefold sleeves and includes poster. Another 100 on pro-printed full color single sleeves.