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Rating:
Few bands can boast as many juicy anecdotes as Negativland. Just think of the bloody legal battle over plagiarism waged by U2 (which forced them to shell out 90,000 big bucks to the Sunday Jesus Christ, Bono Vox), or the fan who butchered relatives in the subliminal frenzy of "Christianity Is Stupid," singing all happily sha la la its ironic "Kill your parents and we'll take you on tour," and again, Steve Albini who used the Berkeley, California nerds' site as a vehicle for his essay "The Problem With Music."
Well, it becomes clear from the first notes that Negativland is not a common band. Their sound is a mix of Dadaism, madness, grotesque, and sound experimentation with a bloody-punk attitude that makes them immediately visible within the avant-garde zombie landscape that populates the world. Let's be honest; we can't stand electronic radical chic authors who grow like mushrooms, creators of those soporific messes that make La Monte Young's drones seem like a carnival parade in Rio with clinking topless ladies. Sometimes I wonder if there is something more dismal (excluding Dream Theater) than mere sound research for its own sake. Well, with Negativland!! forget it!! Orgies of trumpets and cartoon ragas, songs sung by children, lists of rock bands to emphasize the commodification of the musical product, bombs exploding in the midst of tribal punk, methods of torture, missed orgasms on the Playboy channel due to encephalic white noise, a sermon-snake on religion "Christianity is stupid, abandon it," spastic electronics standing over a noise woman and Japanese noise, deliriums on "escape from noise," a pop ballad with a Californian flavor.
Amidst this chaos, the influence of '70s German kraut rock is evident (the group's name is taken from the Neu! suite), of Stockhausen's sound explorations, of the cut and paste style of the Residents (present on the album along with Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead), and of Velvet Underground-style psychedelia. Pruning some dialogues and passages would have resulted in a five-star masterpiece, but even so, the record remains immense in its jumping like a flea or a TV channel from one shot to another in just the blink of an eye.
Bless your eardrums with this stray random like a Frank Zappa boarding the hardcore train in derailment longings.
^_^
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
10 Car Bomb (01:54)
3-2-1-0!
DIPSTICK, TRASH BAG, SHATTERPROOF GLASS,
TAILPIPE, TREADLIGHT, GREASE & CHROME,
???BUMPER, UNIVERSAL BEARING
AERIAL, BRAKE SHOE, SHOCK ABSORBER...
CAR BOMB!
3-2-1-0!
ASHTRAY, AIR ???, OILY RAG,
FAN BELT, FLYWHEEL, LEFT ARMREST,
CRANKSHAFT, TIRE JACK, REAR-VIEW MIRROR,
COIL SPRING, PISTON RING, RUBBER FOAM DICE...
CAR BOMB!
3-2-1-0!
LUG NUT, E????, DASHBOARD PADDING,
HUBCAP, ROAD FLARE, WINDSHIELD WIPER,
BIG AND LITTLE AND RADIO DIAL,
FRONT SEAT, BACK SEAT, AND
RECTANGULAR...
CAR BOMB!
3-2-1-0!
RUBBER HOSE, ROCKER BELT, DIGITAL SPEDOMETER,
SPARK PLUG, GAS CAP, CIGARETTE LIGHTER,
HEAD REST, RETREAD, REGISTRATION,
FLOOR MAT, FIREWALL, ACCELERATOR PEDAL...
CAR BOMB!
3-2-1-0!
OIL GRADE, R
ADIATOR, COLOR-CODED WIRE,
KLEENEX, CASSETTE DECK, TRANSAMATIC FLUID,
HEADLIGHT, SEATBELT, SIDE ROOF COVER,
AND A BUMPER STICKER THAT SAYS...
"NO OTHER POSSIBILITY."
Side Two
13 Backstage Pass (01:14)
F**k! Over here lies Frisco, ...
F**kin' my town for press....
That's what I heard, I swear ...
F**k Frisco, man! LA ain't like this shit ...
I tell you one thing, Frisco ain't like they said it was ...
I swear ...
That's what I heard ...
F**k Frisco, man! Over here lies Frisco ...
That's what I heard! That's what I heard!
Shit ...
I just turned into a f**king rock star ... goddamn guitarist.
You see him on MTV.... San Francisco's full of f**king fags, man ...
18 Endscape (03:19)
Mister Noisy gave up!
(SOME TIME LATER)
(munch munch munch munch munch munch......)
My house burned down this morning, and my friends they came around,
I saved the master recordings, but my girl was not to be found.
I ran inside the studios, to
save the tape machine,
But my girlfriend she was fast asleep, locked up inside some dream.
Now I'm leaving this suburban crowd and moving to LA,
To a big-time record company that will pay the AMA.
Success is just around the bend, you can hear it in m
y voice,
I wonder if this is the way to Escape From Noise.
jma 11/21-23/90
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