As much as I like certain carbonated beverages, I'm not much of a fan of sodas, and especially not Coke or Pepsi. Negativland should be required listening for all you home-recordists out there as they've been recording brilliant music and sound-collage work (with plenty of social commentary) out of their homes since the late 70's. This CD examines soda marketing, celebrity endorsements, consumer loyalties, and the evils behind it all. I do have to say that by the end of this I really didn't want to even think of drinking a pop of any sort. On the recording side, there's an amazing amount of soundbites (which makes you wonder where they acquired them all from) which are manipulated along with noise and music beds and the occasional song (not my favorite part) to get all the points across. The skill with which they use all these elements and balance them out is outstanding, and reminds me that they once said they don't use samplers, instead using tape splicing and delay lines. It's hard to imagine they don't use a computer editing system, but then again they were doing this stuff years before that shit existed. And doing it well.
Negativmailorderland, 1920 Monument Blvd. MF-1, Concord, CA 94520
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