David Gilden has been played on NTS in shows including Sounds Of The Dawn, featured first on 4 March 2017. Songs played include Ancestral Voices.

David Gilden (June 1, 1973 — April 6, 2008)

Early Years and Career Beginnings (1990-1991) Born on June 1, 1973.

Showed an interest in experimental music as a teenager. As recalled by Richard Ramirez, when they met, Gilden lived with his parents, and his mother would often answer the phone while David was in his room, deeply engrossed in recording.

His early creative process was marked by incredible productivity. He recorded prolifically, constantly experimenting with the same material: creating remixes, adding new layers, and crafting variations from a single recording session. This indicates a perfectionist and deeply immersive approach to his craft from the very start.

By 1991, he had material ready for split releases (e.g., the 'Split Cassette 1991').

Meeting Richard Ramirez and Creative Peak (1991-1992) A Fateful Meeting: In late 1991 or early 1992, Gilden attended a local experimental music show in Houston, where he stood next to Richard Ramirez. He struck up a conversation, guessing the performing band was inspired by Throbbing Gristle. This instantly resonated with Ramirez.

A Creative Partnership: They exchanged numbers and began intensive communication, discussing music and sharing their recordings. Ramirez invited Gilden to perform at a noise festival he was organizing in Houston in 1992.

Invitation to Black Leather Jesus: After seeing Gilden's solo performance, Ramirez, sensing a stylistic kinship, invited him to join his flagship project, Black Leather Jesus. This made Gilden a full member of one of the most radical and influential US noise projects at the very early stage of what would become Harsh Noise Wall aesthetics.

Active Period: Projects, Label, and Conflicts (1992-1997) This was a time of high creative output, collaboration, and growing internal strife.

Co-founding Animal Disguise: Together with Ramirez, Gilden co-founded the cult label Animal Disguise Records, the primary platform for distributing their early cassette works and building an underground network through mail trading.

Key Collaborative Projects with Ramirez:

Slave Labor / Lingula: Joint noise projects with Ramirez, where creative differences often surfaced. Gilden favored meticulously planned sessions, while Ramirez leaned towards improvisation. Some Slave Labor recordings also featured Macronympha.

The Siamese Model and Noise!Noise!Noise!: Other short-lived collaborative projects with Ramirez.

Solo and Other Projects:

Gilden was active under his own name, David Gilden, releasing solo cassettes.

He had other projects such as Sawgasm and likely participated in various ad-hoc collaborations within the noise tape-trading circuit.

Creative Traits and Personality: According to Ramirez, Gilden was a pronounced perfectionist whose "creative fuel" sometimes hindered the completion of work. He was very opinionated—having sharp and uncompromising judgments about others' work. During Black Leather Jesus shows, he could become so immersed in the performance that he would keep playing after the other members had stopped.

The Central Struggle: This period was marked by worsening substance abuse issues, which caused constant conflicts within Black Leather Jesus and made personal relationships highly volatile.

Departure from the Scene, Rehabilitation, and Legacy (1997-2008) The Break and Departure: After another stint in rehab in 1997, the paths of Gilden and Ramirez diverged for good. They never spoke again. Gilden effectively vanished from the active music scene.

Death: David Gilden passed away on April 6, 2008, at the age of 34.

Posthumous Recognition: As Richard Ramirez accurately noted, Gilden's talent remained largely underappreciated during his lifetime. He was an "amazing noise artist" whose contribution was overshadowed by the peripheral status of the scene itself and, likely, his personal struggles.

Legacy Restored: The monumental 18CD box set (1991-2000), released by Deadline Records with a personal foreword from Ramirez, served as an act of historical justice. This release, compiling his solo work, splits, and tracks from legendary compilations, cemented his place in the pantheon of key figures from the 1990s American noise underground.

Biography Summary David Gilden was a crucial creative partner to Richard Ramirez in the early 1990s, co-founding the Animal Disguise label and contributing significantly to Black Leather Jesus during a formative period. His own prolific solo work and collaborations, marked by a perfectionist ethos and a confrontational style, made him an integral yet underrated force in the harsh noise and power electronics underground. His complex personality, personal struggles, and posthumous recognition through archival releases paint a portrait of a quintessential, talented, and tragic figure of the 1990s cassette culture era.