FORCEFIELD - ROGGABOGGAS (LOAD 038)

FORCEFIELD ARE BACK AND DESPITE A BUNCH OF OUTINGS THAT DID SOMETHING SOUTH OF VERY LITTLE FOR ME I AM GOING TO APPROACH THIS ONE WITH MY EARS AND HEART OPEN.

THE REASON THAT I AM GOING TO DO SO (RATHER THAN SAY LISTEN IN EXPECTATION OF DISAPPOINTMENT) IS THAT I FOUND THIS FROM BEN MCOSKER IN MARRIED LIFE QUARTERLY THAT WARMED MY HEART AND GAVE SOME FRAMEWORK TO WHAT I AM LISTENING TO:

A completely alien document of the Forcefield troop’s trip to the Whitney Biennial and back. Grabbing sounds from unsuccessful cultural transplantations, broken drum machines and knitwear, this release is not so much a document as a snapshot of a time and place. This is the end of the old Providence, Fort Thunder, etc. – and the beginning of the move to a more decentralized place. While for many Providence is going to be associated with masked bands, and much of the foppery that was to become a Williamsburg punch line to the art rock joke, this release is a very convincing and earnest attempt to put forth alternate reality as an attainable goal. 

Disagree if you will, but you likely missed out on the Lightning Bolt / Forcefield 1997 tour of the United States. Seeing lonely aliens bark foghorn sounds into empty parking garages was not the way of the walk then, and came across as something a little bit more of a middle finger.

SO FORCEFIELD AND THE FORT THUNDER / PROVIDENCE BOYS GOT THEIR NATIONAL ARTS SCENE RECOGNITION AND THIS RECORD ACCOMPANIES THAT MOMENT IN THE SUN. I LIKE THAT. I LIKE THAT THERE'S A SENSE OF REFLECTION AND OPTIMISM BEING DOCUMENTED. THIS IS A VERY COOL IDEA. WE MADE IT AGAINST THE ODDS.

HOWEVER THE THING IS, AND BEAR WITH ME: I AM NOT INTO RECORDS AS COMPANION PIECES OR EXTENSIONS OF UNDERSTANDING. I WAS NOT THERE. I MAYBE DID NOT SEE THE FILM. I WANT THIS RECORD THAT I AM LISTENING TO NOW TO BE THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE AND THAT IS IT. SO EVEN IF FORCEFIELD DROP A MEGATON BLAST OF A RECORD AND I DON'T FEEL LIKE THAT'S THE WHOLE WORLD I AM GOING TO BE, ON SOME LEVEL, DISAPPOINTED AND ANNOYED.

BUT IT'S NOT EVEN THAT GOOD. IT IS BETTER AND MORE MUSICAL THAN ANYTHING BEARING THE BRINKMAN OR FORCEFIELD NAME THUS FAR. THERE ARE SOME NEAT 'LISTENING TRICKS' SCATTERED THROUGHOUT AND THE MOOD IS MORE OF PLAY THAN OF OPPRESSION. BUT REALLY I DO NOT GET WHO IS LISTENING TO THIS. EVEN FANS OF AVANT-SYNTH OUTRE MUSIC FROM BEYOND MUST KNOW 100S OF BETTER ATTEMPTS AT THIS SORT OF AESTHETIC.

FROM HERE LOAD MOVES INTO BEING MORE OF A WORLDWIDE LABEL (IGNORE THE CAT NUMBERS, THEY'RE NOT CHRONOLOGICAL). FORCEFIELD BREAKS UP.