Mark Talks about the making of "Escape From Noise"! 133 Negativland "Escape from Noise" w/ Mark Hosler
Just let me bump this up to say.. The Mark interview is AWESOME! All these years, and I had no idea the 'drum-sample' from "Christianity Is Stupid" is from the opening of THIS, slowed down!:
note: I don't think I've EVER seen video, or even a photo of Don...smiling! So, at the very end of this video, a little wry smile while he shaking his head, is a rare treat!
Everybody! Stop what you're doing...... A NEW ALBUM IS ON THE WAY!!!!!! Negativland Behold!! In preparation for announcing the 2020 release date and advance sale of a new Negativland album (the sequel to last years TRUE FALSE), we've completely redone the Seeland Records Mail Order HQ with heavy duty new shelves and a new layout for easier order fulfillment. negativland.com
Another new Neg album would really help salvage a rough year. I wonder if this will be the Big 10-8 celebration that Mark has referenced. Anyway, thanks Vince!
Hi gang. Recently I discovered and enjoyed immensely True False, which was my introduction to Negativland. On the first listen, I found it quite humorous, creative, and accessible. After listening to it, I headed over to YouTube to sample other recordings of theirs, and to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. The first selections I listened to were recordings featuring samples by the band U2 and AT-40 commentator Casey Kasem. I laughed at the stupidity of these. It only went downhill as I sampled other Negativland recordings. Am I missing the point of this recording act? And I'm wondering why I enjoy True False as much as I do.
True False has a very old school sound to be honest. The source for stuff like Cadillac has been around since early days. 'No Business' is similar to True False sound-wise but focuses pretty heavily on the U2 debacle. Their magnum opus to this day is Big 10-8 Place, which I think they are in the process of re-releasing. One thing though - if you don't like the 'Stupid' aspect of Negativland, it might be a rough go. Stupid is integral. Very.
It may be a 'you-had-to-be-there' situation... Like Zappa, the 'silly' is/was just as important as any emotion you receive from listening to pieces that make you happy, wistful, & even uncomfortable. Back in the day, when the band were doing things considered illegal, the late, great Crosley Bendix made an aural essay, in which, he proclaims that even the silly can be interesting...... Sometimes making arbitrary samples and noises is just plain interesting... Of course, the world is different now, and I can see if this type of work is not most peoples 'cup of tea' I, for one, will follow them to the gates of hell! Take it away, Crosley!
Apparently, in celebration of the soon-to-be released new album, you can make ANY web-site on Goggle Chrome look like the "Disernment" video! CURRENT PROJECTS DUMB CONTACT GOOD HELLO, WORLD! Ever stared at your favorite news website and wondered how to even begin reverse engineering your way back to the reality in the stories under those headlines? If you're running out of that kind of strength, then your old jammer friends in Negativland have a new browser extension -- and even a new album of music -- to help you begin taking the first genuine vacation of your entire life. THE WORLD WILL DECIDE is the sequel album that concludes Negativland's interconnected two-part opus that began with TRUE FALSE in 2019. And what better way to promote it than with a downloadable work of media art that seizes your Chrome browser and turns any website you've trained it upon into a real time visual for our TRUE FALSE track, ‘DISCERNMENT’? GET DISCERNMENT.CRX FROM THE CHROME STORE The real fun begins when you load up your favorite trusted news source and watch recognizable fragments of today's news cycle mulched into something just as meaningful as the ads placed beside each of the facts. Download the extension yourself and play it anywhere - MSNBC, Breitbart, Snopes, CDC, Al Jazeera, South China Morning Post, Fox News, Apple, New York Times, Facebook, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Financial Times, Craigslist, Washington Post… try them all!
Great stuff Vince! Thanks for sharing. So we're going to get another whole album of new material? That would be peachy keen. In a way, I feel like everything Don and the boys have been warning us about since the 70's is coming home to roost in a big way, so these little Nega mind-bombs are more pertinent than ever. Negativland excels at confronting tough subjects in a humorous way, but still getting the message across. With all the politicization and obfuscation that the media wallows in, and the fact that they sensationalize with one hand and trivialize with the other, these little barrages are just the right antidote. Chaos = distance = potential deprogramming. Very stupid indeed.
This "Discernment" is the one that reminds me, musically, of THIS Elliot Sharp song! Do you not agree?
& SEELAND RECORDS CURRENT PROJECTS DUMB CONTACT Double LP FOR THIS WORLD…FROM THE LAST ONE: NEGATIVLAND’S NEW ALBUM IS THE WORLD WILL DECIDE Help us help you decide to hear Negativland’s new album The World Will Decide, the sequel to last year’s True False. Your purchase today of this double vinyl album (or single plastic CD) will help fund the printing and pressing costs of getting this thing made and into your hands by mid-November, 2020, and will come with special “advance-purchase-only” thank you goodies. Scroll down for more background details about the record and the goodies. NEGATIVLAND: THE WORLD WILL DECIDE 33.00 Quantity: BUY DOUBLE LP OR SINGLE CD Questions? Email us. What you’ll get with your pre-order All of these extras come only with advance purchases of the first 500 copies of either the vinyl or CD edition. The shipping date to you will be early November, with an official release date of November 13, 2020. A very deluxe 12” x 12” limited edition screen print by printmaker Matthew Hanson-Weller. It will be many colored, extremely varied, glow-in-the-dark, signed and numbered, and is based on The World Will Decide. The design is in progress, with images coming soon, or follow Matt on his Instagram page for frequent updates. A large 11.5” x 3” sticker for your car or laptop to help indicate your current state of mind. “No Brain,” an exclusive, full length, digital-only live album recorded during Negativland's fall 2019 European tour. A time sensitive download of the album audio/cover art/lyrics in pdf, mp3 and FLAC formats. * An email will be sent to you on the release date, November 13th, with download instructions. What is The World Will Decide? What’s even worth remembering about last year? Are you okay? Would you like to be arrested? What’s the exact number of cameras in your home? Is failure enjoyable? What is the problem, and will you need to understand the solution in order for it to work? Although entirely finished before disinfecting your groceries became a perfectly normal thing to do, The World Will Decide depicts a world where the technologies we use to live our lives have become difficult to tell apart from those things we recognize as being alive. Or, as one of the many sampled voices on this work will assure you: we can really feel like we’re here.
The mirror image sequel to last year’s True False, The World Will Decide turns the focus away from our very human inability to accurately define reality, and towards the technologies attempting to do a better job at it. But if sorting true from false seemed like a full time job back when all we had to keep track of was our own minds, life alongside the machines built to connect us only seems to multiply the uncertainties. On this album those uncertainties are made almost deliriously danceable: a netweb of densely sampled voices melting speech back down into music and back again, into what we can all agree are the real questions — Did that firefly really land on your finger? Is your food online? Does this app connect you to people, or replace them? Who owns your replica, and why are humans the ones now failing the Turing test? What’s entertaining about survival? David Wills aka The Weatherman, one of the living members of Negativland’s current lineup, returns as the lead vocalist on four more songs — including an extended argument with his own phone, as it repeatedly refuses to tell him whether or not it’s safe to go outside. Is it even possible to define electro-magnetic harassment? Am I a low risk person? Is it ok if I just attend this protest in VR? Is fear porn patriotic? Is this a real sequence of musical notes? How does this app use my thermal image to measure your honesty? Do people have to die? Questions like these rarely have one answer, but Negativland’s new album does have a title. And that title is: The World Will Decide. The second of two interconnected albums, with complete lyrics included. Guest artists on this record include: Prairie Prince (The Tubes, Byrne/Eno, XTC), Drew Daniel & M.C. Schmidt (Matmos), Ava Mendoza, Jem Doulton (Thurston Moore Group, Róisín Murphy), Nava Dunkelman, Steve Fisk (Pell Mell, Pigeonhed), Erich Hubner (Man or Astroman?, Cordero), Tom Dimuzio, Kyle Bruckmann, and Kristin Erickson (Blectum from Blechdum). Continuing Negativland's return to songwriting, with four tracks 'sung' by The Weatherman (aka founding member David Wills). Cover, label and booklet paintings by long time Negativland collaborator Dan Lynch. Containing found sound tapes from the earliest years of the band (including dozens of samples that will be familiar to regular listeners of Over The Edge and early Negativland albums). Composed, performed, produced, recorded, mixed and edited by Negativland. European and US Tours to promote the album…someday! The World Will Decide track listing: 1. Unlawful Assembly 2. Content 3. Before I Ask 4. Why Are We Waiting 5. Create The Visitor 6. We Can Really Feel Like We're Here 7. More Data 8. I Didn't Know I Was Dead 9. Failure 10. Don't Don't Get Freaked Out 11. Anything Else 12. Attractive Target 13. Open Your Mouth 14. Incomprehensible Solution 15. The World Will Decide
I got a little freaked out, when I saw my order number was over 1 thousand. So, I e-mailed them, to say I hoped I still get the 'goodies'.. They quickly wrote back saying, "Of course, you do!"
Have no fear... Negativland 20 hrs · Nearly half of the 550 fund raising pre-order copies of THE WORLD WILL DECIDE are gone. Thanks so much for directly supporting what we do! The World Will Decide Pre-order — NEGATIVLAND Help us help you decide to hear Negativland’s new album The World Will Decide, the sequel to last year’s True False. Comes with a unique screenprint, bumper sticker and exclusive downloads. NEGATIVLAND.COM The World Will Decide Pre-order — NEGATIVLAND Help us help you decide to hear Negativland’s new album The World Will Decide, the sequel to last year’s True False. Comes with a unique screenprint, bumper sticker and exclusive downloads.
Quickly ordered. I slacked on doing the pre-order for True False and regret it. I did realize something a couple of days ago. In a fit of nostalgia, I pulled out my Negativland vinyl and realized that my copy of the first album is #3210. That made me very happy. CAR BOMB!
Thanks Vince! I don't care so much about the doodads as the extra recordings. I'm an absolute whore for bonus material. Glad to see they are offering a download this time too. We never got one for True-False. Maybe I should bug poor Mark again, but it sounds like he might be a little busy. Seriously though, I still listen to True False all the time and consider it one of their best, so really looking forward to this.
In the interview, link at the top of Page 5, even Mark was surprised at how many copies of the first album sold, throughout the world! I've got both an album & CD of it!
