Rat Music for Rat People.
Whilist doing a search for dark, eerie jungle on TPB I came across this compilation, Rat Music for Rat People. You must excuse me but I was not familiar with such an album even though I dabbled in ska & punk myself as a young teenager, mind you I completely missed the boat on that one simply because of the year I was born. However, I became well accustomed to listening to The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Lunachicks, The Toasters, Bad Religion, Nirvana, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, etc. as early as 10 years old. I consider myself to be fairly well exposed to this particular genre(s) of music through my own experience as well as my friend's experiences with it. I've heard of this album spoken about in snippets from various conversations but I've never been truly exposed to it. Of course after seeing the awesomeness it beholds I snagged it. One of the things I love is that I appreciate music so well. I can go straight from dark jungle or dnb to punk/grunge and understand why the two relate, very well in fact. Is our taste in music evolutionary? We are continually refining our tastes in music by creating sub-genere's and revivals and thus by narrowing it down, we are expanding it. That whole process is very similar to the way wikki's work and it downright intrigues me. :)
This is another part of what made me stop and look at Rat Music for Rat People.
Control Through Time and Patterns
-We are controlled in time by patterns: Any
good prison can illustrate this, and any good
assassin or policeman knows that to make a
successful Hit, he must first study his victim's
patterns. Those who move in patterns can be
controlled... or terminated.
Music has become a control process. It can
function to make boring routine work bearable
(like muzak), to market products (things or
people), as a status ritual (opera), or as a safety
valve for the known percentage of rebels in a
given society (punk rock, reggae). To function,
this music depends upon predictable patterns...
which reinforce the control process...
It is necessary to escape any and all patterns.
The way out is through the imagination and
dreams -- To pay attention to them, to translate
them into actions. And as time runs out we want
more out of time: we crave experience that is
genuine. We want to feel a pounding of blood, a
rush of adrenalin through our veins that cor-
responds to our imaginative visions of a real
adventure. And somewhere along the way we
lost the right to a trance state without censor-
ship, among allies -- That trance state which
served to disrupt, and break up rigid patterns of
body and mind.
In a society without meaningful symbols, goals
or adventure, it is necessary to elude any and
all patterns. What was freedom yesterday is
control today. What you hear on this record is
an attempt to go out of control. These are
experimental escape routes, part of the continuing
battle for psychic freedom in a world without
dreams... A world whose territory and time is
being used up fast. It's time to go and stay out of
control...
-Vale
This is another part of what made me stop and look at Rat Music for Rat People.
Control Through Time and Patterns
-We are controlled in time by patterns: Any
good prison can illustrate this, and any good
assassin or policeman knows that to make a
successful Hit, he must first study his victim's
patterns. Those who move in patterns can be
controlled... or terminated.
Music has become a control process. It can
function to make boring routine work bearable
(like muzak), to market products (things or
people), as a status ritual (opera), or as a safety
valve for the known percentage of rebels in a
given society (punk rock, reggae). To function,
this music depends upon predictable patterns...
which reinforce the control process...
It is necessary to escape any and all patterns.
The way out is through the imagination and
dreams -- To pay attention to them, to translate
them into actions. And as time runs out we want
more out of time: we crave experience that is
genuine. We want to feel a pounding of blood, a
rush of adrenalin through our veins that cor-
responds to our imaginative visions of a real
adventure. And somewhere along the way we
lost the right to a trance state without censor-
ship, among allies -- That trance state which
served to disrupt, and break up rigid patterns of
body and mind.
In a society without meaningful symbols, goals
or adventure, it is necessary to elude any and
all patterns. What was freedom yesterday is
control today. What you hear on this record is
an attempt to go out of control. These are
experimental escape routes, part of the continuing
battle for psychic freedom in a world without
dreams... A world whose territory and time is
being used up fast. It's time to go and stay out of
control...
-Vale