Recording Under the Influence is a recurring self-titled feature where we ask artists to ignore their musical inspirations for a minute and share what really went into the making of a particular record. Here’s what Gary War “ingested” while making his murky, synth-chased Police Water EP, available now on Sacred Bones…
Bill Hicks
The last semi-mainstream voice of truth as the U.S. secured its totalitarian military/industrial dominance of the planet. He called out all the political and entertainment scum whose “fevered egos were tainting our collective unconscious and making us pay a higher psychic price than we imagined.” He was the most fearless, honest and greatest comedian. R.I.P.
Guy Debord, “Refutation Of All Judgements” (1975)
The most inspiring critical theorist. Uncompromisingly scathing, brilliant, and 100-percent right about everything. Always good to check in with him every month or so. R.I.P.
The Coming Insurrection, by The Invisible Committee
French Anarchist text that was used as evidence in an anti-terrorism case after nine individuals were arrested in 2008 on the grounds of sabotaging power lines on France’s national railways. Essential and extremely inspiring.
“It’s useless to wait; for a breakthrough, for the revolution, the nuclear apocalypse or a social movement. To go on waiting is madness. The catastrophe is not coming, it is here. We are already situated within the collapse of a civilization. It is within this reality that we must choose sides.”
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
So bleak. Check it!
Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents, by Stephen Thrower
A compendium of ’70s/’80s U.S. underground art/horror films. Great interviews, pictures and lists of hundreds of films. An incredibly thorough labor of love. Anyone have a copy of Troika they’re willing to trade for something?
