Aārp
‘Propaganda’Album released 22nd May via InFiné
Watch new video “There Is No Alternative”
Classically trained experimentalist Aārp, has announced the release of his compositionally expansive and pointedly political debut album ‘Propaganda’, released via InFiné on May 22nd.
Aārp’s musical background begins with a fascination in classical and a childhood spent playing alto violin as part of an orchestra. Then later on, influenced by a love of Warp and Ninja Tune legends like Squarepusher, Amon Tobin and Oneothrix Point Never, he began his exploration into electronics.
The title ‘Propaganda’ is inspired in part by the death of a young man in Nantes who drowned following a police altercation at a festival. Despite the fact that he was only dancing and there was clear evidence of negligence, the media campaign that followed cleared all involved and disinformation spread, distorting the truth and allowing French authorities to evade any consequence. This blatant and very recent example of press propaganda lead Aārp to explore a multitude of moments in history, each one informing a single track from his new record.
Each song title is a direct quote taken from different examples of these moments, from George W. Bush to Margret Thatcher and French philosopher Gilles Deleuze to the infamous Oxycontin commercial by Purdue Pharma. With ‘Propaganda’ Aārp is asking his listeners to consider fact, open their minds and to think before spreading questionable news in an era rife with deception, when fabricated click-bait holds more currency than expertise.
The LPs production was a short one. Aārp buried himself in an analogue writing and recording process with extreme concentration. There was no use of external recordings, samples or pre-sets, with every note, beat and melody created by him, naturally and live.
Musically dense and littered with glistening electronics, ‘Propaganda’ tells a story as it weaves between epic ambient soundscapes to droning, beat-infused dance. A backbone of glitchy industrial sounds allows it to delve into some dark places while retaining its upbeat and accessible mood.
Highlighting some of the albums meatier subject matters, Aārp tells us that ‘An axis of Evil’ “is taken from “The Axis of Devil States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world”. That was the full line as it was told by G. Bush on January 29, 2002 and repeated over and over during his term of office, and was intended to get the American population to consent to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in which they had no interest, but which were of capital interest to the neoconservative camp of Republicans seeking to weaken the Middle East”.
On ‘There is no Alternative’, we’re told it’s what was “uttered by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and insinuated that liberalism is the best model of society and that there are no freedoms beyond it. This idea is largely motivated by the literature of G-F. Hayek and his Road to serfdom.” Track 9, ‘Green Growth’ is about “The common scam of a “green growth” idea, which is absolute nonsense because growth can only be allowed by fossil fuels that are not renewable. And, that capital appreciation only works through the emergence of new markets in other parts of the world. In doing so, moving goods from one place in the world to another requires more and more energy.”
Just a few examples of the ideas conveyed across an album bristling with ideas, heavy in concept and ambitious in execution. ‘Propaganda’ is an album that rewards repeat listens and inspires research, pushing listeners to look for the truth beyond the headlines.
Tracklisting:
- “Ca fuit de partout” [G. Deleuze]
- “Condamnez-vous les violences?” [Editocrates]
- “An axis of Evil” [G. Bush]
- “Less than 1% of patients become addicted” [Oxycontin Commercial from Purdue Pharma]
- “There is no alternative” [M. Thatcher]
- “Nada es gratis en este vida” [S. Piñera]
- “Roundup, the herbicide that gets to the root of the problem” [Monsanto Commercial]
- “I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government lacking liberalism” [F. Hayek]
- “Green Economy”
- “Delivering a smoke-free future” [P. Morris]
- “Les malheureux sont les puissances de la terre” [Saint-Just]
- Vinyl exclusive: “You can do it”
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