Negativland, “More Data” (Seeland)
American culture jammers Negativland—who put on one of the greatest shows in Bumbershoot’s history in 2014—are poised to release their True False album on October 25. According to the press release, “It’s your own inescapable subjectivity made catchy as we witness the entrenched political beliefs of left and right cleanly switching sides in under one generation.” You can hear the lead single from the LP, “Discernment,” here. Musically, it reminds me of the riveting live performance Negativland’s Mark Hosler did at Re-bar last year: lopsided, slightly disorienting funk riddled with looped snippets of numbing corporatespeak. But in typical Negativland fashion, they’re already hyping a track off the follow-up to True False, an as yet untitled, thematically linked sequel, which will come out in 2020 and be supported by a U.S. tour. Leave it to these guys to mess with standard industry procedures.
“More Data” tackles a subject that Negativland have been spoofing and embodying in their multimedia creations for decades, peaking on 1987’s Escape from Noise. Only now, the info overload has intensified to absurd dimensions and it’s harder to shock listeners who’ve evolved to the hyperreality of staring at screens for 12-plus hours a day. Negativland—Mark Hosler, David Wills, Peter Conheim, and Jon Leidecker (aka Wobbly)—give it a valiant shot anyway. The samples of tech savants and boosters earnestly hyping data technologies and methodologies in “More Data” seemingly gets mocked by the loopy electronic music percolating beneath the bland pronouncements. Screams of “help me!” and solipsistic “me”s slip between the calm chatter of the tech champions while grandiose synth swells infuse a wry melodramatic air over the maddening fiasco. There’s no escape from this glut of digital noise, Negativland imply. “When did our online lives become a non-stop Turing test?” the collective asks. “And when did humans become the ones who are failing it?” Ask your nervous system.
