Jun 21 : "brOKen" - 185668232 (Philly)

New Sounds / Freshly Written & Recently Released

Philly Music!

I knew my friend, Iam, would not have the strongest turnout at his recent Lava Space show as soon as I heard the weather report. Rain! And not only rain but Wind! And not only rain and wind, but a Midweek night! That's a recipe for crowds staying home. But it's also a recipe for a more personalized show with more of a back and forth with the artists and other concert-goers.

This evening at Lava Space was a release party for 185668232's new album, "!​*​%​^​^​*​@​#@". In addition to Iam's performance doing his music and noise, there were two video artists projecting their work on screens to either side of him, while Iam's own video work was projected behind. All coordinated. Surround sound and surround video! This was a very unique event. It was easy to see a huge amount of work went into this.

Here is 185668232's own description of the night, pre-event on their page ::: : "185668232 has been working tirelessly on the 11th album !*%^^*@#@ for 3 years and will be officially releasing it on May 30th with the videos made specifically for the album with the help of some earthlings when it seemed impossible to accomplish DiY. (This album has been tested on many crowds and will be toured in June around the perimeter of the USA then in Europe in September as well as already sent out to university radio stations.) -//- This live performance will be part of the DVD/file.

Dynamic-Noise Music + Glitch Video Projections + Avant Activism (designed by 185668232).

We are creating 3 walls of motion images together!"

One of the tracks on the new album is titled "brOKen". And "brOKen" refers to the damage in people's individual lives as well as in society as a whole. The piece touches dynamics of personal relationships, saying that we should act like we're all in this together, as well as taking a broad-brush-stroke swipe at some of our country's larger problems, e.g., prisons and exorbitant tuition.

It projects an attitude of making the best of things now but has a more hesitant amount of hope for humanity's long-term existence. "There's no need to compete because we would have to collaborate to survive". "School is for everyone who is breathing". But the most jarring statement that occurs both towards the beginning and towards the end is "Trust others as best you can while preparing for the end of the world". Iam has great compassion. The spelling of the title reminds us that it's "OK" to be "brOKen".

This is the outfit's 11th album, and there is a lot more complexity and versatility when compared to some of the work just a few years back. In this piece alone, Iam shows off quite a range of talent in riffs from various genres. You should take a listen. Here is "brOKen", one of the tracks on 185668232's new album "!​*​%​^​^​*​@​#@".

185668232 is on a cross-country tour right now and who knows when he'll be back. Here is the click to more music on Bandcamp including the new release: 185668232 music on Bandcamp (CLICK HERE)

And here is the link to the interview we did a few years back. 185668232 The Interview (CLICK HERE).