DEATH DISCO

NEVER MIND THE BULLOCKS,  HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS  (1977) may indeed be the iconic snarling punk masterpiece,  but what followed as Johnny Rotten morphed back to John Lydon may ultimately be where Johnny/John found his teeth. Public Image Ltd. found Lydon, bassist Jah Wobble, and guitarist Keith Levene,  especially on their second release METAL BOX (1979, aka SECOND EDITION on CD) functioning on all cylinders. This is where the music became as experimental and fluid as its underlying  menace. Bass became the main rhythmic component, and was joined by dub’s cavernous spaces and synthesizer noise. Sound and presentation were optimized by the album being released as four 12″ 45s, while its metal film canister packaging and design were beautiful, unique, and collectible. METAL BOX was followed by FLOWERS OF ROMANCE (1981), an even more extreme take on pop experimentation,  losing its bass anchor to a prevailing dissonance of drums,  vocals,  tape loops,  and sound processing. These are the two records that could reasonably termed “death disco”. 

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Alexander Pedals SYNTAX ERROR

Alexander Pedals’ SYNTAX ERROR is a handy little device that will add quite a bit of fuckery to the sounds one feeds into it. For such a small pedal SE packs quite the modulation wallop.  As Symbolist poet and all-round bad boy  Arthur Rimbaud (1854-91) would say,  the job of art and the artist is to derange the senses,  and this may indeed do the job. 

SCENES FROM A PAINTING: Number 3

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Hologram's INFINITE JETS & DREAM SEQUENCE

Hologram's INFINITE JETS and DREAM SEQUENCE form a steady foundation on which to creative new noises with a decidedly low-fi essence. While cleaner sounds are certainly possible,  the urge to invent forms that thrive on dirt seems the probable result of this electrical entanglement.. A single note fed in to the above can be sampled, sequenced,  and modulated with an eyes towards oblivion. In other words,  these pedals seem perfect for non-pitch oriented practitioners.

IS MODERNITY STILL AN ISSUE?

An essential ingredient of modernity is forgetting. That said, all narrative is to be avoided.

An essential ingredient of modernity is forgetting. That said,  all narrative is to be avoided.

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Death By Audio ROBOT

I recently decided that I'd create a modulation chain from my Critter & Guitari KALEIDOLOOP so I could morph audio samples (mostly word phrases) into incomprehensible gibberish or revelatory significance. Even brutalist noise would be a welcome outcome. To this end Death by Audio's ECHO DREAM 2 was joined to that manufacturer's ROBOT. The Robot is another lo-fi modulation pedal that transposes pitch and arpeggiates with no manners whatsoever. It turns voice samples into screaming noise, and that's certainly a good thing.

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Death by Audio ECHO DREAM TWO

Death By Audio’s ECHO DREAM 2 is a delay pedal whose secrets can take you from dreamy bliss to degraded lo-fi fuzz. Coupled with my Critter & Guitari KALEIDOLOOP,  language can be mangled into random revelations and stuttered stick-talk. Fun.