Don't know what it is about the postal service between Finland and La Bas, but I just got my copy today.
Packaging is excellent. Not only because of the obvious amount of care and finances put in, but because of its simplicity, starkness and durability. Not sure what Dando's doing on the cover apart from me believing the photo was taken at a gig, but he does look a little worse for wear. The included material is diverse but also relies on a kind of minimalism. I've got a couple of Con-Dom flyers somewhere which are a bit more up front but no less clean in lines. Of interest to me was the book extract describing the deaths of Australian journalists at the hands of Indonesian soldiers in East Timor, when Indonesia invaded the little island after the Dutch packed up their flags and fucked off. That incident is something of a local legend, and it was poignant to me to see the few sentences that pointed out that the then Labor government, headed by the oft lauded Gough Whitlam (who died last year and was orated mightily), knew that the invasion was on and said and did fuck all except for recognising Indonesia's "right" to claim the place. I've got a slight personal stake in this issue - friends of mine were in East Timor when they voted to leave Indonesia's grip in 1999, and had to literally run for their lives from the drug-fucked militias, supplied with drugs and machetes by the Indonesian army, who came in the aftermath.
So - Con-Dom has made me think.
Soundwise, this is as diverse as Fearless Leader promised. Remember when "noise" and "power electronics" weren't in such distinctive camps? Dando is from that time, he created that time. There's material on here that let's you know that Industrial, Noise, Power Electronics were the umbrella under which a mighty camp of crack pots created serious disturbing sound. One of the things that's always defeated me about Con Dom is what his sound sources are. Apart from the obvious samples, and apart from his patented ultra-flanged vocal effect he uses sometimes. Synthesisers? Most definitely, but nothing so trade-mark and typical. Electronics? Clearly, but what? People closer to the source could tell, but I don't really want to. My first exposure to Con Dom was listening to Ulex Xane's late and lamented "Noise Kills" radio show, and having no idea what the fuck I was hearing, I wanted to keep it that way. To me, the Con Dom sound will always, I hope, remain a mystery.
But it's not just his sources, it's his production. If you (wisely) got any of the self released tapes, some of which are still available, you'll hear the ghastliest ruckus ever recorded onto a walkman or Scotch tape or whatever the hell he used. There's some evidence of that on this release, although pieces like "True Faith" sound a tad more pristine. A tad - this is all very relative. It's not that Dando doesn't care about how he records, it's that he does very much, and seems to realise that when something has been recorded in the sewers of Hell, then by Satan it had better sound that way even if it's digitised and put out on a double cd release years later!
Although the whole is divided into thematic sections ("Violence", "Philosophy", "Nihilism", "Faith" etc). the core theme throughout, to me, seems to be an ossifying between the perspectives of the ruler and the ruled. This is, of course, the central concept of Control Domination, Victor Victim, etc. A concept Dando has long said is limitless and can never be depleted. But the clarity on this release is between such pieces as "The Perfect Anarchist" (a rather clever little piece of spoken word) and "Leader", Dando's homage to the Il Jon dynasty and its glorious workers revolutionary glorious
onwards towards the final victory glory. There is none of the racial politics or serial killer/pervert issues previously explored in Con Dom's canon. This release, at least, is about the world around us at large.
But, even so, this is also about civilisation and its discontents, the individual versus every other individual and every institution millions of every other individual have built and maintain. "I don't have a message". And we all know that's the message. Or, if we don't know it, we feel it.
Destroy what destroys you.
(There's an easter egg in this post).
