I want AI to consume the world; I want people to bathe in it, to roll around in it. I want AI music, AI movies, and AI literature—I can't get enough of AI, I'm telling you! The more AI comes in and cleans up all of our poor grammar, production and mixing errors, slurs in speech, sloppy chords, etc., the better off we'll be, you'll see. Then you're going to remember all this and think to yourself, "My goodness, that old, stale fart El Maestro Castro was totally right about all of it!" I can't even wait until robots are cooking my food (hey, at least I know they won't farmer-blow in my cheesesteak if I give them a weird look!). I even want robots chauffeuring my ass around every week to the comic book and record stores! I want to be carted around to shows, especially the downtown ones that are a nightmare to park at! AI will be our best pals; it'll really "get me." I bet it won't look at me all cockeyed when I want it to high-five me either, unlike my stupid human friends.
See, I can't wait for the great AI takeover because there's always a flip side to every coin, a yin to every yang, two opposite edges to every power sword. The more perfected our "art" gets, the more polished our pop music becomes, and the more perfect the CG gets in movies, there are going to be some surly mother fuckers out there writhing in their seats, clenching their fists, and grinding their teeth. Getting so pissed off by all this model magnificence being shoveled down our gullets, that they'll start making the grimiest, dirtiest reactionary culture ever to be known by mankind, just to stick a knife in the neck of AI and watch it bleed out. And that is what's happening in rock 'n' roll right here, right now with bands like L.A.'s Xray Xeroxx.
Now, does Xray Xeroxx do anything different on their new LP, Brainwashing the Populace, that hasn't been done by bands of yesteryear like The Registrators, The No Talents, or The Phone Jerks? No, not really. However, they are keeping those tire fires burning, and I hope people are beginning to catch the fever. I hope they'll start to wake up, shake their groggy heads, and begin to see with some clarity. I believe people will start to understand where this form of lo-fi, punk savagery fitted in a straightjacket of sarcasm cynicism is coming from and what it's for. Before, what did those garage punk bands of the '90s stand in stark contrast to? Bands like U2 or Pearl Jam? Were these guys really as big a threat to rock 'n' roll as we thought back then? Hell no. But do I believe AI to be a threat to rock 'n' roll? Absolutely, in so many ways. Like a great and wise bodhisattva once said, "We're here to show them that the human spirit is still alive."
That's why unkind, unfriendly, and unpleasant rock 'n' roll like Brainwashing the Populace is more important now than ever. That's why bands like Xray Xeroxx still feel so refreshing with songs like "That's Why I Do Drugs," "Everything Is Terrible," and "Social Media Made Me Hate My Friends." It's imperfect music made by imperfect musicians for imperfect people. That is what rock 'n' roll is supposed to be, from the very beginning, and that's why I am still here consuming as much as I possibly can. The cleaner and more produced mainstream music gets, the more bands like Jacket Burner, The Protos, The Etters, Bart and the Brats, and Xray Xeroxx (just to name what's off the top of my head!) are going to be sprouting from the perfectly pruned musical landscape. And that's why I cheer the coming of the AI apocalypse. So that it can hurry up, press the reset button on humanity, and restore art back to its original, imperfect settings.
For now, this album is super limited and only available on cassette from Knuckles On Stun Records!