PRopaganda has been with me for some time.
I originally concieved of the project about two years ago, after a conversation with my father which challenged me to create a simple tool to get people interested in media manipulation. The subject matter has been of interest to me for a number of years, and I had been wanting to find a way to merge my politics with my music. I feel strongly that the propagandistic nature of our media system is the greatest barrier to necessary social change. People are simply not getting the information they need to make informed and intelligent decisions about the major crises facing our world. Most people don't even know about these crises. Worse yet, they don't KNOW that they don't know. The media is excellent at making people feel informed while providing us with virtually zero information and steering us clear of issues that might endanger the corporate profit of advertisers and media owners.
I felt intuitively that the album should have a strong hip-hop element to it. Unfortunately, hip-hop is not a style of music I am overly familiar with. Enter Kody, a.k.a. "Colourful Approach." He and I go way back. I grew up with his older brother, Craig from The Doctor Is In. Kody and I also played together for years in Ostara, an experimental rock band with no analogues. There he quickly earned my respect and admiration as a dedicated, talented, creative, and powerful bass master. Since that time, he's delved into more hip/hop-influenced stylings. Listening to his progressive and groovy tracks one day, I realized that Kody's music was exactly what PRopaganda needed. Fortunately for me, Kody agreed. Several months later, here we are.
This project was a unique long-distance collaboration. Kody and I live several thousand kilometres apart. There were many phone calls and countless emails. I was surprised how smoothly everything worked out, considering the barriers.
PRopaganda was a lot of work. Quite frankly, if I have to listen to another radio broadcast or watch another documentary about propaganda, I'm going to puke all over myself. I estimate that I compiled about 18 hours worth of 30-second clips, which were then organized and cut down to probably about 6 hours worth of material, which I then sent to Kody. Choosing what to use and what to discard was a brutal task. At times, it felt like I was choosing which of my children to sacrifice. The music is all Kody, with the exception of "Making Nonsense of Democracy" and "Arming One Side (Israel Vs Palestine)," which were written and recorded by me. Kody did all the mastering himself. He also did most of the work on this fantastic-looking myspace, including the artwork. I helped stupervise.
We made this entire project on zero budget. It cost us nothing to make, and we are not charging anything to give it to you. We believe that this information should be shared and disseminated as widely as possible. For us, the truth is not a product that can be packaged and sold.
If you like what we've done, please let us know. Comment on our blog, send us messages. If you have a pic or know of any cool independent media that we can promote through this space, feel free to contact us.
Peace,
Alex.
Reply
PRopaganda / Blog
A Unique Collaboration
PRopaganda has been with me for some time.
I originally concieved of the project about two years ago, after a conversation with my father which challenged me to create a simple tool to get people interested in media manipulation. The subject matter has been of interest to me for a number of years, and I had been wanting to find a way to merge my politics with my music. I feel strongly that the propagandistic nature of our media system is the greatest barrier to necessary social change. People are simply not getting the information they need to make informed and intelligent decisions about the major crises facing our world. Most people don't even know about these crises. Worse yet, they don't KNOW that they don't know. The media is excellent at making people feel informed while providing us with virtually zero information and steering us clear of issues that might endanger the corporate profit of advertisers and media owners.
I felt intuitively that the album should have a strong hip-hop element to it. Unfortunately, hip-hop is not a style of music I am overly familiar with. Enter Kody, a.k.a. "Colourful Approach." He and I go way back. I grew up with his older brother, Craig from The Doctor Is In. Kody and I also played together for years in Ostara, an experimental rock band with no analogues. There he quickly earned my respect and admiration as a dedicated, talented, creative, and powerful bass master. Since that time, he's delved into more hip/hop-influenced stylings. Listening to his progressive and groovy tracks one day, I realized that Kody's music was exactly what PRopaganda needed. Fortunately for me, Kody agreed. Several months later, here we are.
This project was a unique long-distance collaboration. Kody and I live several thousand kilometres apart. There were many phone calls and countless emails. I was surprised how smoothly everything worked out, considering the barriers.
PRopaganda was a lot of work. Quite frankly, if I have to listen to another radio broadcast or watch another documentary about propaganda, I'm going to puke all over myself. I estimate that I compiled about 18 hours worth of 30-second clips, which were then organized and cut down to probably about 6 hours worth of material, which I then sent to Kody. Choosing what to use and what to discard was a brutal task. At times, it felt like I was choosing which of my children to sacrifice. The music is all Kody, with the exception of "Making Nonsense of Democracy" and "Arming One Side (Israel Vs Palestine)," which were written and recorded by me. Kody did all the mastering himself. He also did most of the work on this fantastic-looking myspace, including the artwork. I helped stupervise.
We made this entire project on zero budget. It cost us nothing to make, and we are not charging anything to give it to you. We believe that this information should be shared and disseminated as widely as possible. For us, the truth is not a product that can be packaged and sold.
If you like what we've done, please let us know. Comment on our blog, send us messages. If you have a pic or know of any cool independent media that we can promote through this space, feel free to contact us.
Peace, Alex.
Reply
PRopaganda
Me and my good friend Alex Tigchelaar have finally finished our PRopaganda project that we have been working on for months now. We are just getting started and reaching out to people with our new genre of music. We hope you enjoy.
Reply