The mechanics of Destruction

national | miscellaneous | news report

Wednesday September 18, 2002 16:34

by Senor Patatohead - Lions of Carrickmines

music made from the crap they give us using the crap they give us

DJ Matthew Herbert beats up McBurgers, rips up Gap T-shirts and attacks TVs with hammers(live).-Guardian.

“The ambition with this project is to try and find a place for electronic music in this world post September 11,"

This is The Mechanics Of Destruction - an anti-globalisation performance piece by the prolific, avant-garde DJ and producer that has already caused a sensation in Europe and Japan. The show sees Herbert creating live techno music out of the on-stage trashing of corporate products - a kind of live No Logo rave. It is, says its creator, about creating something good out of shit.

Music is largely political in two principal ways, either operating separately from the hegemony by offering either an escape or an alternative, or by offering a critique of it. I have come to realize that whilst alluding to my own political discontent in harmony and lyrical metaphor the time had come to present an overt critique of it. What I find most appealing about this process, is that it can be done without lyrics. Incidentally, the album was also completed without the use of computer plug-ins.

Since music is the organisation of noise, the selection and structuring of that noise becomes a metaphor for the organisation of a society. If, as I started out, you are merely sampling the noises from your kitchen appliances it is quite clear that you have nothing better to worry about. If you are sampling the noise of someone dropping cluster bombs on you, the selection is part of the message. Therefore as my imagination has caught up with my worldview, helped in no small way by writers such as John Cage and Jaques Attali, the music on 'The Mechanics of Destruction' has become my forum.
I also derived great pleasure from consuming these omnipotent products in ways that they weren't designed for. I didn't drink the Coke, watch the TV or eat the Big Mac. In part then, it's a chance to reclaim these products that have filled the world's landfill sites with non-biodegradable plastics and people's stomachs with less than healthy food. It's also a journey of rubbish, turning shit into music, the temporary into permanence, and the identical into the unique. Whether you actually like the music or not, is an entirely other matter...

To check out the music go to his site at-

http://www.themechanicsofdestruction.org
and an article about him

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4385636,00.html