AUDIO-MYTHOLOGY

        -Hunt Haldeman, Gnomescroll, 2009

   The long-awaited new material of Resident Anti-Hero has finally made its way out from the bunkers of Anti-Hero Island and into the hands of the public.  Master Gunnery Sergeant Fenix and Regional Activities Manager Etheric Double have added another chapter to the ongoing dispatches and communiqués that continue to come from the newly emerged Anti-Hero Underground, an organization that claims to be a vast network of militant survivalists at war with “machine culture” and the provinces of “Mechanopolis.”

     The new EP, entitled Cut the Power, follows the band’s previous full-length release The Age of Dissent.  Though both records contain signature Anti-Hero traits of high-powered political diatribe, the new E.P. has presented the duo’s eclectic musical repertoire in a fresh and innovative fashion.  Sounds that are reminiscent of Glitch Hop, Dub, and more traditional electronic vibrations are riddled throughout the E.P.  This, along with what appears to be a full on creative dive into a new artistic ethos.  Gone are the days of Resident Anti-Hero’s psychedelic musings, scathing industry critiques, and explosive denunciations of the Bush Administration.  Now it appears, that the band and its devoted underground fan base have entered a new era of music versus the machines. 

     In all honestly, to the outside eye, it may appear that the members of Resident Anti-Hero have become deeply engaged in some ongoing state of creative psychosis.  From the content of their website, as well as the innards of this new E.P. one would not necessarily be surprised to see these gentlemen running through the streets of a major metropolis dressed in paramilitary garb, shooting wildly at random civilians who they claim to be government cyborgs.  But truly, if one looks back upon the previous record, it is not too difficult to discover the seed for what has become this new Anti-Mythology.  One need look no further than track nine of the formerly released Age of Dissent, entitled, Necropolis.  The message was simple:

“In this cold ass concrete don’t nothing survive, chemicals pollute, machines keep you alive.” –Resident Anti-Hero, Age of Dissent, Space Gnome Records, 2007.

     The astute Resident Anti-Hero listener might conclude that this message is now being expounded upon to the fullest extent.  The Cut the Power E.P. begins with the title track, an underground musical fable hailing the mantra of a warrior-like people who have chosen to flee a first world industrial civilization and return only to combat it.  The E.P. elaborates this folkloric saga as the album continues with musical snapshots of life in a neo-primitive apocalyptic world.  Anti-Heroes, (not to be confused with, however not excluding, Resident Anti-Hero) an anti-technological, anti-industrial, and anti-establishment tribe of outlaws, do battle with cybernetically enhanced humans who live within a mechanized biosphere known as Mechanopolis.  The band, claims to be the new artistic vanguard of this tribe, and the Cut the Power E.P. in fact concludes with a broadcast to the people of Mechanopolis, encouraging them to abandon the confines of the “mechanized biosphere” and join the Anti-Hero Underground.

   Okay, back to reality for a minute, or what little may be left of it in the minds of these two venerated musicians.  The world of genuine speculative fiction and music rarely mix.  As both listener, and critic it is quite incredible to come across a conglomeration of this sort.  When one studies the particular strengths of Resident Anti-Hero, it is evident that the duo has maximized their combined talent.  The thickly layered innovative musical dynamic of Etheric Double has melded with the literarily influenced lyricism of Fenix to craft an entire universe of extended metaphor; ripe with characters, conflict, and sub-culture that pokes relevance to our world.  It is quite an ambitious feat, which the group seems to be managing with confidence, and their own brand offbeat flare.

     Given that I am writing this article for the record company that promotes Resident Anti-Hero, I would be committing a form of career suicide were I to give the Cut the Power E.P. anything less than three stars.  However, I can write with dogged certainty that the work deserves a solid four-star rating, not only for its musical content, but also for the original and inventive project that has been birthed.  We may be receiving the first transmissions of not only The Anti-Hero Underground, but of the modern indie music scene’s first audio-mythologists.

-       Hunt Haldeman