Tuesday, September 10, 2013

1000 homo djs - supernaut

Collector's Item

this is a strange little ep that brings together three disparate al jourgenson side projects. it could have only been released as a throw away to fans, and maybe to get some extra drug money. regardless, it has become a sort of a special little collector's item for fans of several different bands.

the first of these projects is a cover of black sabbath's supernaut (and if you have a good eye, you'll note the cover art parody), with trent reznor on vocals. maybe. see, there's a big story around this that i'll quickly summarize: reznor's label demanded that the vocals be removed and jourgenson responded by claiming he used an alternate take with his own vocals in the first place so there was nothing to remove. reliable sources claim jourgenson was trolling the label and the released product had reznor on vocals. so, there's been an open question ever since: did al actually redo the vocals? well, they did sound fairly similar back then, but i've listened to lots of trent and lots of al and it sounds like.....both. trent doesn't howl like al, that's a stylistic giveaway, and you can hear a bit of al's accent here and there, but at points it sounds exactly like trent, too. it's actually a duet, and was probably meant as one. an "original" version with reznor on vocals was released years later in a special box set, and nobody can hear the difference. as for the track? it doesn't stray much from the original.

the second track appears to be a lard outtake. it's an effective satire, and a good party trick, but isn't something much of anybody is going to want to listen to repeatedly. well, if you can find me somebody that wants to repeatedly listen to an asshole cop being an asshole for eight minutes...

the last two tracks, however, are a lot better. the name, '1000 homo djs', stems from a comment somebody made about early ministry that al thought was comical enough to appropriate. well, that's typical. al really likes to have some sardonic fun with the less intelligent members of our species. so, these last two tracks are what al thought that "1000 homo djs" would want to listen to. :). they're actually from the period right after twitch and consequently seem to capture him in a sort of pivot point, right where he's moving away from synth pop and into satirical electro-metal cyber-punk. it catches him in a sort of a middle point that seems strongly informed by the type of punk rock that was branching out into grunge at the time. it's bluntly catchy and rather different than anything else jourgenson would ever release.

lyrically, though, these are both little gems. it begins with a convincing call to reject bourgeois politics in favour of misanthropy, and to do so with the enticing flair of a homo dj, and it ends with a plea for something better than spending the nights buying rounds while they send our loved ones off to die for no reason...

what you really want is the apathy single, but you won't find that anywhere. i'm not even sure if you'll find this disc any more. i can't claim an ep should have been an ep, so i have to be honest: if you're not a collector, this is best downloaded for free.

those last two tracks are worth checking out, though.

stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcJaZ-Hrr3Q

http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/music/artists/1000HomoDJs/1990-Supernaut/index.html