a study in semiotics.
i had just finished reading “the shock doctrine” by naomi klein. my city of residence was co-host to a football tournament, a european cup of sorts, national teams competing. below my balcony onto langstrasse, “supporters” of different teams would gather after matches to “celebrate”. flags were waved, colours and attitudes displayed. recorder on.
i had re-read philip k. dick’s ‘the man in the high castle’ earlier that year, a penguin classics edition with a striking cover. i sent penguin books an email asking about the cover artist, expecting nowt. within a day penguin had replied and forwarded my message, jamie p. keenan, the artist of said book cover, got in touch. i asked, he answered ‘yes sure’... i was so chuffed!.. but, ehm... *gulp*, could this be understood as anti-american? my concern shared with jamie, i asked ‘could you do a flipside with the same idea on the european flag?’ jamie kindly obliged (image included in the download). this generosity overwhelms me still today. thank you jamie.
then there’s john carpenter’s movie inspiring the album title. and there’s always more....
this is about symbols and identification patterns, flags, brands, colours, nations, teams, classes etc. what people do in their names, the powers involved, the subjugators and the subjugated, the power of myth... visualised by appropriated flags based on nation states, symbols of rule, power and whatnotelse. the horror unleashed in their names. another brilliant idea of “the wise humanoid”, homo sapiens, the ever triumphant and impressive species, the peak of evolution, the master species.
all audio by dp. recorded in zürich city's culture department dynamo studio and at D40 zürich 2006 - 2008. originally released on LP by RRR, poorly mastered by me. this version remastered by riccardo mazza 2020. this is how it should sound.
thank you thala, jamie, ron, riccardo.
jamie ->
www.keenandesign.com
released March 8, 2020