“The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labour”. This quote by Thomas Donahue can be read on the inside of this album by Compactor, and I believe his first on Love Earth Music. The layout has a nice (post)industrial feel, which fits the music well. Fifty minutes in ten tracks, and everything released just before the Compactor Westcoast tour, which starts September 29th in Seattle and ends the 14th of October in Los Angeles. So you can get your copy of this album at one of the gigs there.
Compactor is the primary outlet for ‘The Worker, ‘ a mysterious anonymous figure who has represented all the workers since 2011. The system administrator for Compactor is Derek Rush, whose name we’ve seen before when it came to, for example, A Murder Of Angels, Dream Into Dust and Loretta’s Doll. However, Compactor is nothing close to those names. Tracks range from a 90’s post-industrial soundscape to full rhythmic, even danceable things to experimental / improv sound sculptures. It’s a bit of everything but always with an approach to shock or make you think. Because yes, no two tracks are the same, which is very hard to market, but also beautiful in that there is always something for everyone.
“Selling Your Body By The Minute” could have been taken from a Slaughter Tape sampler, “Resist Mandatory Coercion” starts a bit ritual but changes into a throbbing slow stomper, sort of P.A.L meets Skinny Puppy (in the old days) and “Army Of One” is a dronescape ending in a beautiful noise part. One final track I’ll lift out of this album is “They Had To Die Before The Powers Let Us Live” because, as with all the bands with solid feelings about workers, this even reminded me a bit of Test Department in the era of ‘The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom’. Go see him live if you can and get this pearl; otherwise, order this album where you usually get your L.E.M albums. Unite!
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