Antillectual

With a new album come new streams! On August 23 we will release our new album “Perspectives & Objectives”. Until that date we will stream new songs from the album every Monday.

The “axe effect”, what does that remind you of? Shredding your guitar, or making sure you don’t smell bad? I’m afraid the latter. The advertisement around us is successfully playing in on consumers’ insecurities about their appearance. Whether we look good enough, smell the right way and wear the right clothes. For some reason that reminds me of elementary school and its bullies. I hope you didn’t buy their shit back then and I hope you don’t fall for their shit right now.

Today’s guest writer is an artist named Bansky. Not that we asked him to contribute to this song, but after finishing “Bullies” we stumbled across one of his writings about modern day advertising. It is so in line with the theme of this song that we borrowed his words for liner notes and guest contribution. I’m sure he doesn’t mind:

“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and all the fun is happening somewhere else.They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are ‘The Advertisers’ and they are laughing at you.

You, however are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.”

– Banksy

Pre-order “Perspectives & Objectives”, or a package including it and receive a stream right after. After this, 2 more songs to go. Next week another song that might sound familiar, about our mom.

Bullies

“You stink, you are fat and you are ugly
What the hell are you wearing?”
Some examples from a bully’s menu
“Kids can be so cruel”

“You stink, you are fat and you are ugly
What the hell are you wearing?”
Random commercials on our TV
“You want to become cool?”

Everybody wants to be unique
But nobody wants to stand out
Sweaty, smelly, hairy, belly; not all dwarfs fit the fairy tale
Photoshop can save us all

Flash-forwards to a promising future
Give me flashbacks to a troubled past
Manipulated, objectified and brainwashed
Solutions to a problem we never addressed

Don’t believe them, the schoolyard bullies when you were young
Don’t believe them, the corporate bullies that tell you wrong
Don’t believe their fairy tales, “improving” who you are
Don’t buy what the bullies tell or sell you