KEN MODE isn’t here to sugar coat reality for you. They don’t want to remind you of all the little things you’ve started to appreciate over the last couple of years. Instead, they’re bringing a hardcore noise onslaught, an opus that is “mental collapse and despair made sonic.” Right now, I’m watching their new video for “Throw Your Phone in the River,” a track off their new album NULL coming out via Artoffact Records on September 23rd — pre-order it here. It’s making me think about how easy it is to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information that we have at the palm of our hands. This little device that’s part torturer, part nurturer. The way we’re wrapped in parochial algorithmic arms that keep us from upending the system that relies on our compliance and labor. KEN MODE has a point. After watching this video and checking out their upcoming tour dates below that, throw your phone in the river.
I feel trapped in my inability to get you through this. I can’t let everything fall apart and it hurts too much to do nothing. Can’t eat. Can’t sleep. Consciousness is destroying me. My eyes are heavy, with no relief just rusted anchors of frozen meat. Circling a locked groove drain, failing to drown in its filth. Just burn it all away. Remove me. I’m scared. Scarred.
“Throw Your Phone in the River”