The Eye has vision
Review by James Vassilopoulos
Politics Can Be Fun
Eye
Send $10 to PO Box 1327, Woden, ACT 2606
Visit <http://www.teknet.net.au/~eye/>
The Canberra paste-up scene has been dominated by posters for apolitical techno and DJ gigs — until now. It was refreshing to see a recent poster advertising a new CD called Politics Can Be Fun by Eye. The poster had a graphic of PM John Howard with billy goat horns and a Hitler-style moustache.
When the CD was sent to ABC radio's Triple J, the station deemed it too political" for airplay. Triple J explained that Eye's music was not "subtle" enough to be promoted by Australia's self-proclaimed youth station. It expressed concern about playing tracks like "Mandate" in "this political climate".
This contrasts with the positive reviews Eye has received from community radio and television stations, including Channel 31 in Melbourne, BMA magazine in Canberra and it was Brisbane's 4ZZZ album of the week last November.
Eye's industrial-techno music has a powerful beat and vicious synthesisers and keyboards. It is risky and experimental, many leaps ahead of the vapid mainstream music scene. The music fits well with the android-like vocals.
The lyrics are radical. Howard's sampled comments are far more profound and honest than his normal drivel: "Obviously, I'm deaf to the views of the voters ... Obviously, I'm in a state of delusion."
In the 1998 election, the Coalition won 39% of primary votes, 48.7% after preferences. As "Mandate" says, the only mandate Howard can claim is to "abuse my authority, to impose my will".
One track, "Foreign Ownership", is controversial. The information for the track was obtained from a group called Austand. Although Eye says that the CD does not endorse the views of Austand, it is a problem because the statistics are wrong. The track states foreign companies have taken over just about all of Australia's industries.
According to Austand, foreigners own 100% of the motor vehicle, 95% of the processed food, 86% of the banking and 100% of the pharmaceutical industries in Australia. No sources are quoted. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that foreigners, mainly British and US capitalists, own 28% of equity in Australia.
What Austand's figures imply is that the enemy is foreign and Australian capitalists are good and share the interests of all Australians. With that exception, Politics Can Be Fun is fantastic.