This tape, housed in a hollowed out copy of "Songs Of Praise" , brings together nicely Mike Dando's favourite themes/maladies of Racist Hate and Religious Faith.
On the surface, Con-Dom may seem like a bigoted arsehole, but when you dive deeper into Mike's work you will find that the "racist" aesthetic is more of a social commentary that provides a criticism of both the left and the right. Once you look past the shocking imagery, you will find that Con-Dom makes some of the most uncompromising Power Electronics around; with a diverse scope in sound ranging from a harsh wall of scraping noise to atmospheric industrial; all with Mike's trademark demented vocals that sound like a whacked out priest giving the final sermon of their life as judgement day reigns upon the world.A sonic re-enactment of Jonestown or Waco, or of countless other religious atrocities that have blighted our beautiful planet since our ancestors crawled out of the primeval soup.
That said,I find this stuff far less frightening than some of the actual preachers I have seen on the Christian channels on television;in fact its pretty mild in comparison.
I doubt that Fundamental Christians would, or could, see past the ironic nature of this recording; as it says in the sleeve notes:
Acknowledgement is due:–
To the 'Nihilistic Moral Majority' &
To the many spuls eaten by fear."
Tracklist:
A1 Klan
A2 Surrender '88
A3 Sir Nigger
A4 Master Speaks
B1 All In Good Faith
B2 Smile
B3 Christian Voice
B4 The Road To Total Freedom
I remember a Con-Dom gig in Dundee in 1987, and all these punks trying to hassle Mike for his imagery of nazis amongst other things, and he was like "I'm a member of the Labour Party!" :-)
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Punks were,and still aren't, the sharpest tools in the box.
ReplyDeleteOnce I was with this girl and long story short got an infection which made one of my testicles swell up to the size of a baseball at the very least. It was hard to get around one can imagine. I went to the doctor took penicillin and I'm normal now. But I'll never know how Mike manages to move and get all the shit done he does with balls as big as his. The sardonic wit or inner schadenfreude must be the real buster here. Anyways massive respect and love for something that still exists after all these years of pushing heavy bodies and confused minds in so many to go ways taboo. You guys are all mad and it's always such fun! Thanks & spanks. -AT
ReplyDeletei think i used up all my sardonic and schadenfreude use tokens for now. Better go learn some new words as cool as those ones if in their out there. Okay then.
ReplyDeleteYeah ,pretty good words them.
ReplyDeletemocking, scorn,derisive, derisory, scoffing,scathing, caustic, trenchant, mordant,acerbic,remordacious, acidulous?
For Scahdenfreude....the best i can think of in english is Gloat....which is a good word i think.
As much as i have a sardonic nature/wit, i don't think i do much gloating. I will have to improve in that area.