I am old enough to remember about this Disneyland attraction, ‘Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln’,… you could see an audio animatronic robot of Lincoln delivering some discourse… I don’t remember what he was saying but it was the first attraction of the genre, and can you believe people were impressed by it in the early 80s?
Negativland, the band which pastiched U2 in the 90s, has an upcoming double album, and one of the tracks, entitled ‘Right Might’, is sampling un-edited recording sessions by actor Royal Dano, the voice of the Disney Lincoln robot! How did they get this? From an insider (and a Negativeland’s fan) at the Disney corporation who had access to the entire audio archives of Disneyland and Disney World. As anything Negativland does, it’s funny and irreverent, a ‘goofy riff on imperialism (and minimalism), war mongering, and intolerance.’
So not only Negativeland has dared to mock our most sacred band (Bono is close to be the pope these days) but they have no respect for our most sacred institution, Disneyland? But wait there’s more, much more, Negativland’s upcoming album is in fact entitled ‘It’s All in Your Head’ and it is asking the big question ‘why humans believe in God’. Ha! It is much bigger than the Bono question – although not too many U2 believers are left these days – but one thing is sure, the packaging of their CD is hilariously described as ‘an actual Holy Bible which has been appropriately repurposed into a “found” art object.’
As usual, Negativland mixes ‘found music, found sound, found dialogue, guest personalities and original electronic noises’, but this time their musical journey of live collage is making fun of all religions and beyond: ‘monotheism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, neuroscience, suicide bombers, 9/11, colas, war, shaved chimps, and the all-important role played by the human brain in our beliefs. Reading the attached Bible is optional.’
How can I not love these guys? Making fun of believes is actually one of my favorite subjects, and times have really changed if they can get away with such boldness without having the entire Christianity on their back soon… of course the Westboro Baptist church is going to crucify them, but looking at the track list below (‘We’re All Mohammads Now’) they are going to piss off many Muslims too… I forgot the double CD will also come inside a Qu’ran (how brave!) but this version is already sold out! Continue to push buttons Negativland, we love it!
‘It’s All in Your head’ arrives October 28th, just watch the hilarious preview of the album below and stream ‘Right Might’ on Soundcloud.
Track Listing:
ACTS I:
I. Sign-On (1:55)
II. In the Beginning (6:36)
III. Relatively Optimistic Notions (6:22)
IV: The Way We Know Things (9:50)
V: Jar the Ear (4:12)
VI: Alone With Just a Story (5:24)
VII: Viewpoint (2:02)
VIII: Time Can Do So Much (5:24)
IX: Wildlife Tonight (8:45)
ACTS II:
I. New Management (1:05)
II. We’re All Mohammads Now (10:14)
III. Holy War (3:39)
IV: This Thing Is Not Good (6:26)
V: Right Might (4:08) (STREAM | DOWNLOAD | MP3)
VI: Antinomian Phase (2:32)
VII: Push the Button (8:46)
VIII: I Gotta Be Me (3:01)
IX: The Smell of Onions (10:42)
X: Sign-Off (1:51)
Negativland – It’s All In Your Head (Album Trailer) from Negativland on Vimeo.
