Since 2011, Compactor has been releasing music and performing live. Its goal? To unite and resist. Or to unite resistance. Or to simply make a point and get people to listen to the message, which is to join. And resist. And Compactor has done that in over 230 performances in 34 states and three countries. Live Shifts, as these performances are referred to, because The Worker does shifts. Each release or series of Live Shifts focuses on a subject, and for this one, The Worker sadly had to choose “Institutionalized Genocide” because, well, current affairs and the state of the world. The T-shirt, which features the artwork’s logo and the title of the last track on this release, states on its backside, ‘None of us are free until all of us are free.’ I’d proudly wear it!
So what does this release bring you musically and/or sound-wise? Twelve tracks of industrial rhythms, both old-school as well as new-school. All with enough noise surrounding the structure to make you feel you’re in a factory hall, and you want out. Moments that have less rhythm and more noise (“Real-Time Horrors”, “Ultimate Sacrifice”), moments with a more experimental approach (“Painful Adjustments”), things that reminded me of Test Department (“Martial Law”), and others reminded me of S.P.K (“Institutionalized Genocide”).
The SysAdmin, who is mentioned for tax purposes and plausible deniability, is Derek Rush. As written in October 2023, when I reviewed another Compactor release (the LEM one), he is known as a musician from projects such as A Murder of Angels, Dream Into Dust, and Loretta’s Doll. Someone should perhaps contact him to see if it’s possible to get The Worker to visit Europe and perform a series of shows on this side of the ocean. I mean, with how the world evolves and how right-wing tendencies slowly mess up this continent politically, we can sure use some innovative thinking here. Or perhaps the thinking is here, and we just need someone to articulate it for us. With us. Unite! Resist!
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