BERNAYS PROPAGANDA – happiness
machines
(CD/digital, Moon Lee)
After flogging the new Gossip album
without having heard it, but regularly re-listening to “standing in the
way of control” I have something for all of you out there who – probably
like me – still want to like Gossip but can’t find a decent way to do it
inbetween the glam hype and lifestyle journalism glossy pr-machinery. That
doesn’t make anybody happy. We need happiness machinery. What you need is
Bernays Propaganda. It has the same soul / funk edge infused into its punk,
a great female singing voice and most of all it has all the attitude needed
to go along with doing that mix without sounding like a lame rehash. It is
the best kind of revolution, the booty-shaking kind.
Bernays Propaganda named
themselves after the “inventor” of public relations, that kind of
communications planning which influences people more and better than they
would ever care to admit. It’s tools and techniques are far from secret or
conspirational. Search for pr literature on amazon and you will find more
than you can read in a lifetime on how to work the public. There is even a
shelf filling more and more about how to use social media, internet, blogs
and even twitter to turn the public opinion your way. And, of course, the
band and the label are trying to do the same thing with the same set of
tools, options and possibilities. Political punkrock is a kind of pr for a
special cause with some own rules like DIY and honesty, but basically trying
to influence somebodies mind in a certain direction. That is the paradox of
mass communication and globalization – you cannot be against it, because
it just is what it is. But that shouldn’t stop you from pointing at the
consequences.
The four piece are political
activists, party-mongers, anarchists, funk divas, terrorists, dangerous
dancers, soulful atheists, fingerpointing entertainers, strict feminists
that dance to sexy beats, message-spreaders, groove infestors and mind
investors. They sing about the downfall of society, the evils and inequities
spread upon the many by the few, and all the while keep the party rolling.
The worst you can say about them is that it seems to me I have heard the
most of their sentiments before. Selling yourself to a well paid job or the
apathy and boredom of living a nine to five life or finally how everything
is falling apart. On the other hand, one more time is never a waste and here
it comes in a funky, energetic sound. Then again, the CD comes with a fat
booklet containing an essay by singer Kristina Gorovska on violence and
human society, which a decade back I definitely would have read, but these
days I don’t seem to find the time. Even if chapter titles like “where
does the retarded man belong?” or “The wolf with post traumatic stress
disorder” are enticing and interesting.
