Wednesday, November 17, 2004  12:57 pm 

Four steps towards an empire

The Emperor Machine- The Emperor Machine

After releasing a string of 12′ which come close to perfection, a classy yet utterly alive (or undead?) collection of disco-dub informed by moroderian dynamics and replete of eerie electronic droning (think of The Carpenter), The Emperor machine (Andy Meecham of Chicken Lips) doesn’t disappoint with his formidable debut album, ‘Aimee Tallulah Is Hypnotised’, out now in DC Records, from which this song was taken.

‘Emperor Machine’ is the soundtrack to the landing of some aliens in the midst of those dark forests where Suspiria was filmed ((c) Goblins mention Thandie Neutron in Vice Magazine), for a fact I know that there are real witches leaving there man. You don’t believe me? Ah, I’m sure you’re one of those people who never saw a flower blinking her eye or a parking meter giving the time to good citizens who ask politely. Anyway, the aliens breed with the witches and you get this weird thing three quarters of which are analog electronica produced with 22nd Century Knowledge, the other third pure breed krautrock, motorik as fuck and all the rest (Motorik as fuck would be a great slogan for a t-shirt by the way). Ah, there is some stylistic overlap, hence the intersaction.

It sounds a bit like Death in Vegas would if, in their last album, they had shown some initiative of their own instead of being happy with taking us in a tour through their (admittedly amazing) record collection. Cutting edge but still deeply rooted in the best traditions, a bit like the i-pod (I don’t have one, by the way, but gee, you have to give it to those Apple folks)

(Short ‘n’ Sweet)

Trusting Calvin Johnson is a sensible thing to do, he was a member of the mighty Beat Happening, about whom we already talked here, plus the founder of the amazing K Recordings (‘Exploding the teenage underground into passionate revolt against the corporate ogre since 1982′). Well, K Records have just put out ‘Four Steps Towards a Cultural Revolution’, a compilation of tracks by The Beakers, an early 80s art punk ensemble who, in this song sound like the Gang of Four fronted by David Byrne or something..in a minute and a half, how good is that? A truly lost gem, more reasons to trust Calvin.

The Beakers- Four Steps Towards a Cultural Revolution

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