Album Thu Jun 05 2008

Ground Control… We Have an Escape Plan

“Sometimes I feel like I’m on the wrong planet…”

Have you ever wondered what it would sound like if David Bowie and Slug (of Atmosphere) decided to join the space program? While on their first mission they might record a few tracks about their escape from Earth and all of the reasons for leaving. Unrehearsed, just pure improv rock and vocals mixed with hip-hop. The sounds from mission control and the odd space noise would occasional interfere with the recording, but it would all come together nicely. I may be dreaming, but that was the first image that popped into my head while listening to the latest shoegaze noise-rap album from Chicago’s Remote Control Frequencies.

Recorded at Stray Dog Recording Co., Tempus, finds old friends R-Rock (sampledelic songwriting and vocals) and L. Grant "LG" Meadows (drummer) back together again. With the help of friends, recording engineer David 'Player 1' Whitcomb (proprietor of Chicago's Stray Dog Recording Co), PJ Sumroc and Sharkula, this duo takes the listener on audio adventure through genres, time periods, space, sounds, and life. R-Rock (also the founder of The Secret Life of Sound, one of Chicago’s most eclectic labels) sing/raps over his own chopped up samples and LG’s raw beats. The album has almost a mysterious feel to it, aided by the lack of tracklisting and the use of alias, but also by the recording technique. R-Rock has this to say on the process, “sometimes we would record his drums at Stray Dog with me playing keys, and then I would take them home and chop them up and bring them back. Other songs on the record were completely improvised, recorded live in one take.” Another mystery is why the band has not updated their myspace page (since they do not have a website) since August 2007. That is explained with the plea to the all too famous Tom in the liner notes, but nonetheless it is not easy to obtain current information on these two. I think they like it that way.

For an escape from the earth's gravitational pull, check out Tempus from Remote Control Frequencies (TSLOS 017) released June 3rd. You can stream album here and purchase a copy here.

- Jason Behrends