Photo: Cheyenne Crib
Some Exercise, a Toronto art-punk project led by multi-instrumentalist Sam Pichonsky (Parapet), announces the release of their new EBM-influenced single, “Protocol”.
The opening line of the song declares “Content, recession!” – wasting no time abolishing the metaphorical. The line “Sing a song, praising concrete” is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the genre’s infatuation with brutalist architecture, as well as the swelling online fandom of liminal imagery, something the band admittedly enjoys.
The track plods through dense sonic territory in those spooky “back rooms,” finding a unique groove somewhere between PC World, early Fad Gadget, Nitzer Ebb, James Chance, and The Serfs. Simultaneously rigid and loose, blistering drum machines propel the track through wiry synth lines, eerie commanding vocals, and jittery guitar stabs. It’s a little bit mutant disco, a little bit no-wave, a little early industrial.
“In our over-connected, over-entertained digital age, there’s no escaping commodification,” says the band’s principal songwriter, Sam Pichonsky. “Art is capital. Success is only defined by virality…Lyrically, Protocol is about trying to maintain self awareness in the increasingly bleak artistic landscape. With the internet, music has become disposable. It’s really easy to get caught up in the idea that every second of your song needs to have mass appeal otherwise the listener will lose interest. Protocol is an effort to embrace creative instinct in spite of all that.”
Listen to “Protocol” below:
“Protocol” was mixed and mastered by Yan Skene (Bleu Nuit, Coin Parallèles). In January 2021 Some Exercise dropped their debut EP, ‘Dolphin Debut’ on Contact Minimal Records and Urticaria Records.
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