by Elizabeth Powell - Land of Talk KXKBJZ3VJSFH
In
that Empire, the craft of Cartography attained such Perfection that
the
Map of a Single province covered the space of an entire City,
and the Map of
the Empire itself an entire Province. In the course
of Time, these
Extensive maps were found somehow wanting, and so
the College of
Cartographers evolved a Map of the Empire that was
of the same Scale as the
Empire and that coincided with it point
for point. Less attentive to the
Study of Cartography, succeeding
Generations came to judge a map of such
Magnitude cumbersome, and,
not without Irreverence, they abandoned it to the
Rigours of sun
and Rain. In the western Deserts, tattered Fragments of the
Map
are still to be found, Sheltering an occasional Beast or beggar; in
the
whole Nation, no other relic is left of the Discipline of
Geography. – Borges [i]
Today, I am the beast and the beggar, In On The Kill Taker is
the remnant covering me. Today is scary. Information, music,
politics, news and noise clamor and scrabble for attention – and
overwhelm. For me, this record is a pillar; a fully realized,
standalone entity, delivered to me whole; I learned from it whole. In
On The Kill Taker punched me in my thirteen year old chest. –
seventeen years later, it still has me winded. For me, In On The
Kill Taker is the relic remaining of the Discipline of Music, of
how I have always heard and understood music. It is a beautiful
fucking monster and still covers my entire musical territory.
The “when” is important. I first heard this record on a busted
cassette of my brother’s – just in my teens – unsullied yet by
the vices of adult life. Booze, drugs and romance were mysteries to
me – so I was good and free of the complications they bring. What I
did know were skate punk records –Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys – and all the shit they threw at the fan. The “where”
is equally important – Guelph, Ontario in its heyday as a bizarrely
creative, experimental place to grow up musically. For Fugazi
and June of ’44 to come into my life as I first opened my heart to
the noise, with Shotmaker and Minnow playing around the corner from
my house, was formative to say the least. I wanted to play bass,
period. Big tones, big emotion, big waves in my head. Cue a
shaved head and a pawn shop fretless bass, and I was on my way.
I became one of those boys I would follow around Guelph, In On The
Kill Taker soundtracking my confusion as to what the fuck
was going on.
I owe a life’s due to In On The Kill Taker. I will never
be sure why this record is so important to me personally, but I am
reverent, in my own private way. In the summer of 1993, I had
little access to any kind of subversive or underground information.
Fugazi helped shape my malleable little mind into a brain that would
question, question, question. It spoke to my angst, birthed my
activism, it got me arrested, it got me started. I still hold to a
political position that was directly informed by In On The
Kill Taker – “We draw lines and stand behind them, that’s
why flags are such ugly things.”[ii]
What is striking to me is how I got to grow into this record. Today, we open our eyes and ears and are instantly assaulted with information and directions. In On The Kill Taker existed for months before I heard it, and because of the protected space I got to first appreciate it within, I am still finding gold in the river. “Nightlight comes into my room / some shade of bruise colored blue / moves through my mind like a chemical / imbalance on schedule.”[iii] True at thirteen, true today. In this modern world, where the map is drawn ever more intricately and features places like “New Miley Cyrus” and “Gulf of Bieber,” I am forever grateful to a record from my adolescence that truly had something to say.
“Smallpox Champion,” my favorite song from In On The Kill Taker, is a shit disturber. Within it screams everything I love about this band and this record: chordal aggression, looming tonal threats, atomic lyrical weaponry, muscled dissonance, melodic infection. This song shook my world, while demonstrating how I should shake it myself. I am proud of this song in a way that reminds me of moments in my history I should be proud of. This song, along with “23 Beats Off” showed me, for the first time, a manner of approaching production that has stayed with me. In my own recordings, the visceral is paramount: the live-off-the-floor, big noise in a bigger room, catch-me-while-I-get-it-right, insistent domination of these Kill Taker songs is authentic, definitively so.
My affinity for Fugazi, and In On The Kill Taker in
particular, signposted my road in a musical life. From the technical
– alternate tunings, dissonance – to the social (their DIY ethos
greatly influenced my approach to packaging and live shows) I count
them as bold, brave and will forever admire this band who stood for
something bigger than themselves. The map is growing larger and
larger, covering us all, scaring us, overwhelming us. The sun and
rain will exact its toll, but a happy beggar, I will be, beastly
under my fragment, these songs in my ears.
“This is the pattern cut from the cloth / this is the pattern designed to take you right out / This is the frontier with winter’s so cold / Greed informs action where action makes bold…..What is good for the future / what was good for the past – won’t last”[iv]
Elizabeth Powell - June 2010
###
Elizabeth Powell lives and makes music in Montreal. Her band, Land of Talk, released their debut full-length album Some Are Lakes in the fall of 2008, opening for and performing with Broken Social Scene. The breathtaking video for their song "It's Okay" was nominated for this year's Juno Awards, and was selected for Sydney's 2010 Bienalle. Powell's voice appears on albums by Patrick Watson, Broken Social Scene, and Karkwa. Land of Talk has also been featured in Bruce McDonald films: "The Tracey Fragments" and "Trigger."
Land of Talk's new album "Cloak and Cipher" will be released Aug.23rd on Secret City Records (CAN) and Saddle Creek (USA). For tour dates and band info please go to: www.landoftalk.com
KXKBJZ3VJSFH
This record was a doozy for me too. I still have the cassette, and it still sounds amazing today.
Posted by: Craig D. | 07/08/2010 at 01:29 PM