Released March 22nd, 1999 on HARDBOILED

Cover art by Sluggo

HARDBOILED
2008 West Roscoe
Chicago, IL USA

Check out reviews of DragKing's Indie Authenticity Crisis !

Sluggo - guitar, vocals, bass, noise
Stilianos Valavanis - bass, guitar, vocals, floating head, lyra
Ted E. Gray - guitar, bass, samples, vocals, noise, 4track
A.P. Harris - sax, autoharp, vocals
A.P. Martin - drums, bottle, bass
Mark Wardo - drums, percussion
Craig White - drums

Indie Authenticity Crisis is the long awaited new full length project by DragKing. It was released on CD by the Chicago label HARDBOILED. This, the second full length project by DragKing, will take the listener to new directions in sound. The music on this project covers punk, funk, dub, ambient, noise, and jazz and blends then all together in a cohesive flow.

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Some commentary from Sluggo....

The working title for the new Dragking CD is "Indie Authenticity Crisis". The new CD comments on the current situation in the independent post-punk scene where monetary success (and/or critical acclaim) is both the implicit goal and the signifier of a surrender of legitimacy. The "crisis" is one where the respect of peers is dependent on the one hand on "staying true to the scene" and passing up lucrative opportunities, while on the other hand those who do "make it big" and hence are no longer so dependent on the respect of their peers(or perhaps they are simply adjusting to a new peer group?) often garner a more significant form of respect. As Indie Rock is co-opted by the big money vultures, the process of "selling out", becomes the process of buying in. As bands like the Royal Trux begin to appear in Calvin Klein commercials(see below) the line between the hipster drop-out and the celebrity model is smudged. The music of the Royal Trux was originally the antithesis of capitalist success(see "Spike Cyclone" or the Twin Infinities Lp). Now they churn out insipid blues rock, but they own their own land. Destroy All Music!

and now a word from A.P. Harris......

Sluggo, I like that you've done all this commentary. One thing you didn't mention about the "working title" is the fact that I formulated it in my deep belief that Indie Rock is in a state of Crisis in the sense that it has inherent contradictions. You do point this out, though, in your own way. For me the contradiction is between (a) Indie _Rockers_ are actually entertainers, therefore they want attention, air play, renumeration, and, basically, audience. As such they are subject to the insidious workings of the "Culture Industry" with it's manifold and well-documented evils. (b) On the other hand, _Indie_ Rockers proclaim independence from the Culture Industry. This is where authenticity comes in. For an Indie rocker, authenticity is (partly) measured by her or his autonomy from the culture industry.

If there's a didactic reason for the name, I'm try to point out to Indie rockers or fans that this crisis does exist, and that they will be stuck in a state of contradiction unless they take over the "means of production" of culture itself. Indie rock's attitude is to carve out a niche for itself and perch there happily forever. But this is contradictory, because the form of expression is fundamentally situated in the Culture Industry. Hence, Indie Rock is stuck as a sort of farm system for the Culture Industry. The biggest deniers of this situation are actually the indie labels more than the bands, I think.

By no means should I be taken as saying Indie Rock is bad, it has to change, or should go away. Not at all. Most creative music is not coming out of the big 3 labels, just like the fact that creative movies are not coming out of hollywood. Hell, look at the theater industry, where you have a slew of starved "indie" theaters, and then on the other hand, Broadway puts on a musical version of "Big". The same situation is happening everywhere.

The Tracks

Yellow Side
Are You A Woman?
Prison Torture
Rock The Vote
June 16th, 1996
King Richie I

Red Side
Skathole
Pan
Uglatto
Tampertina
A Personal Attack
Boroton
AutoStumber

Are You A Woman? features samples of Christine Jorganson. The first man to successfully undergo a sex change operation to become a woman. Christine's words of wisdom are amazingly relevant even in today's world. The music is sparse and skeletal. Providing a stark background for the spoken word samples.

Prison Torture is a strange combination of noise and free jazz with a hipster be-bop junkie spoken word piece read by A.P. Harris over it all. This song also features Craig White of Repulse Kava and Seam as a guest drummer. Headache music for all those "jazzy" hipsters out there.

Rock The Vote first appeared on the Destroy Amerikkka single. This is a slightly different mix. The song is a dubonic exercise in noise and politics. The background sample is from the late great Joe Gibbs off of one of the African Dub albums, while the spoken word samples are from Sherman Skalnik from Chicago's own Conspiracy Hotline. This is the song that MTV should be playing while Madonna is dressed in only a flag.

June 16th, 1996 is a fascinating ambient piece that captures the sounds of Chicago on what was a rather special night. Many things happened that night in Chicago. We'll leave it up to the listener to figure out what the heck is going on in the midst of what sounds like the apocolypse!

King Richie I as in Rasta Far I. King Richie I was the first of the Richie Daley's to be king of Chicago. As expected after a short delay after his father's death his son Prince Richie was appointed as the new king, Richie II, a few years ago. This song samples some of the now classic words of wisdom of the first Daley monarch. The music behind these samples is in a hip hop vein. Sampling and mixing together the unlikely source material of The Adverts "One Chord Wonders" and some vintage Carl Stalling Buggs Bunny cartoon music into a tasty musical blend!

Skathole starts off the second side of the album. This is the point where the album becomes almost a "concept" album about indie music. The song starts with an almost Slint like mellow mood, complete with softly spoken poetry over the music. Although unlike Slint these words are spoken in Greek courtesy of Stelios. Then the music takes a strange turn into the funk and just as quickly becomes a punk rock anthem by the end of the song. Another song that proves that with DragKing you never know what you're going to get!

Pan takes DragKing in a "world beat" direction by sampling both the music of the Pan pipes of Jajouka and an ethnic Polynesian fertility chant. The music over these samples is vaguely middle-eastern. Once again though the end of the song suddenly lurches into a punk rock ditty in the indie authenticity crisis mode.

Uglatto is actually a cover song by the band Devo. A rather obscure Devo song from their very early days as an Akron Ohio punk rock band. DragKing even went legal for once and obtained permission from Jerry Castale, the original songwriter, to include this on the LP.

Tampertina is an almost ambient mood piece. It starts with the quiet sounds of city street noises and flying geese. Then two slowly pulsing bass lines emerge and build up in intensity. Melodica comes in at one point to add an almost dub sound to the mix. Finally more noise is added to the fading music at the end. One of the newer "nice" DragKing songs that our Mother's like!

A Personal Attack could be the theme song for the album. It's what "indie authenticity crisis" is all about. A more straightforward punk rock song from the get go, this songs lyrics are straight forward and too the point. They may not make some people happy. You can read the lyrics in the lyrics section of this web page. The end of the song however is a sonic, almost psychedelic, swirling head fuck designed to further bring home the crisis.

Boroton is the "heavy" song on the album. Imagine Black Sabbath in 5/4 time if you can. This is the song that most sounds like the DragKing of old. Hard, heavy, and noisy. Rock on Chicago. Rock over London.

AutoStumbler first appeared on the Kitch 'n Synch compilation CD. This is a different version recorded with the ever steady Mark Wardo on drums and percussion. This is the song that completes the "indie authenticity crisis" concept with lyrics that once again may hit home with a few folks out there. Once again they're available in the lyrics section. The song is short and sweet with a rhythm that is both compelling and complex. The end of the song leaves you only wanting more.

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