“it was 20 years ago today, sgt. pepper taught a band to play…….”
Yup, it’s 20 odd years since Bong and Jem met and formed a musical partnership of sorts. And you know most marriages don’t even seem to last this long.
In commemoration of this unholy union of certainly disparate and twisted individuals, THE MANIFEST was born.
A vanity project apparently. Its words refer to their usual state of stupor since the day they decided to be the “next big thing” back in 1988. Well presently, they’re big alright…around the waistline that is! Whilst the music, sans its obvious homage to Dire Straits’ “money for nothing’ in the intro and as quoted in its lyrics, as well as its space/prog rock outro, (another homage to their beloved non-guilty pleasure Pink Floyd}…its actually the closest thing they ever did to their first band, THE BOTTLES.
Bong says: ”we know most folks haven’t heard of our old stuff, well now…here ‘tis, just like fuckin’ 1988, down to my disaffected lead vocal delivery, which is in contrast to my supposedly earnest backing vocals (which by the way were all culled from the original demo recordings, coz he said he likes it fuzzy that way, such a lazy sod indeed), not to mention the funked-up guitars and drums (which harkens back to The Clash circa Sandinista and Prince circa Lovesexy), plus the intricate arrangement with loads of chords, actually more than our punk-ass can handle (they’re always big fans of Stonehenge era prog-rock Genesis, King Crimson, and Jethro Tull!, but they can’t execute stuff like that so they settled with old skool punk and new wave instead)”. In hindsight though, their old band were more radio-ready and refined as compared to their output as fs&c (which can usually be a radio programmers nightmare), not that it’s a bad thing, its just astonishing that through the years (or decades), they’ve managed to elude the so-called mainstream radar (except back in 1997 when they got their mugs on MTV-Asia, but that was really a fluke to say the least). Jem says: ”it all boils down to proximity, I mean we could’ve been big contenders if we only brought our asses to Manila early on, and let ‘em big companies, managers, agents, etc., lather us up with KY Jelly and screw us ‘til we can no longer produce audible farts!” bong added: ”yeah, we’d rather be poor and have intensity 9 tsunami-building farts, than be filthy rich and have dolby-quiet yet stinky farts!”
‘Nuff said I suppose. But perhaps, the mainstream illuminati won’t be able to handle these divas (i.e. bitches with beards) anyway.
And as to quote the song’s intro/outro: “leave us alone, we like it here in space”, and knowing ‘em, they will still have a similar sentiment a coupla decades from now. Til then, this is simply one of their finest work to date, right up there with their classics “okay’, “cybersong’, “hack the culture” and “the pharmacy’ that they’ve come this close to “anti-pop heaven” (and I’m not even being paid to write this shit... cheap bastards!).
Liner notes by Green Girl from a Blue World
Sleeve art by Nickerman
Song Credits:
Jem: bass, bass, bass
Bong: vocals, over-all programming, samples, fx
Roland: lead guitar
Written, recorded, arranged and produced by foodshelter&clothing.
Additional lyrics quoted from Mark Knopfler, Prince, and Kate Bush.
P & C Hogtied Media Unltd. 2008
To DOWNLOAD the whole thang (4 tracks at 192kbps mp3)....click here!
http://www.4shared.com/file/60270991/c16946b9/the_manifest_maxi_single.html
STILL TO COME…
“MANIFESTATIONS:THE REMIXES”
Featuring: Blend:er, Light$le3per, DJ Smoka, Never Forget the Cause, Aljar3d, and Pusherman
AND…
“MANIFESTATIONS (THE NERVEGASM EDITION)”
Featuring 7 FLOOR FILLERS orchestrated by Nervegasm.
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