PRICE:
$23.50
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
ROK Spy
FORMAT
LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
DRAMA 001LP DRAMA 001LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
12/14/2018

High quality weirdo political pop from MB Jones (Jee Jee Band, EM Records/Feeding Tube): sparse, quirky and strange with English and Korean vocals. Recorded in Busan, Republic of Korea by former US special agent MB Jones, ROK Spy documents both his stay in a country on the verge of a nuclear conflict and his mission there (for obvious confidential reasons, the purpose of this mission is only to be referred to in an allusive way). While most of his personal belongings have disappeared (or more likely, been destroyed), Drama is very thankful for the safe receipt of a USB stick containing seven songs recorded in Autumn 2017, alongside a drawing and a few handwritten notes. Drama now shares these with you in the form of a new label. The circumstances under which it was born lead to it being called "Drama". This release is DRAMA1. The content of this LP is a seemingly disparate set of pop-not-pop tunes, flirting with dance music on songs like the apocalyptical disco "Nuclear War" or the bizarre and mind puzzling boogie "Pusan Perimeter". Though it is quite hard to put words on MB Jones's productions (one may accurately call it an "oddball" of a record), his musical testimony may sit somewhere in-between Holger Czukay's most narrative pieces and Arthur Russell's most cheerful moments, sharing with these two brilliant musicians a genuine feeling of intimacy emanating from each second of his songs. The only thing that may be said without a doubt is that these seven songs are the product of someone whose ear has been attentive and receptive to all sorts of contemporary musical genres (from trap to experimental electronic music and EDM). It's still not clear whether the cryptic lyrics evoke situations which already occurred, whether they are oracles, some insider's warnings or whether they are the product of a mind in a hallucinatory state. On "Poison Pill" -- the closing song -- he is particularly ambiguous: "the CIA bought me a trip/I put the tab under my lip/ They want to build a shopping mall/On the DMZ wall". The interpretation is up to you. Edition of 300.