A lot of people don’t put their money where their mouths are, but not sludgy noise rockers MODERN TECHNOLOGY. Today we’re stoked to be sharing their video for the single “Dead Air,” their death knell for a self-obsessed society, where we consume endlessly until we’re literally bursting at the seams and leaving behind nothing but drought, famine, and waste. It’s off their forthcoming record Conditions of Worth which comes out October 13th via Human Worth — pre-order it here. They aren’t just warning us, they’re also donating 10% of all album sales proceeds to Choose Love, helping to provide humanitarian aid, search, rescue, and legal advice to refugees and displaced people across the globe. As the global north continues its rape and pillage of the global south, eradicating rainforests in the name of fast food and poisoning waters in the name of progress, the very people whose lives are being made unlivable are the ones that this record aims to help. Every time I watch this video I feel more and more motivated to resist the unending consumerist compartmentalization and capitalist surveillance of my life. Today we’re stoked to be sharing the video for their album opener “Dead Air” here:
Our album opener “Dead Air” sets the stage for the backdrop of a post-everything world. A world so battered and gorged by mankind; where our greed and blind consumerism has finally surpassed all rational thought. The track frames the very urgent and real threat of climate catastrophe, with the title a reference to the silence around it; in-part framed by the rise of response scepticism and the inaction of the media. The video, directed by the magnificent Chris Purdie, sees us set inside a corrugated steel shelter. In stark isolation we play in urgence, and what appears, a final call to action – desperately in vain as we are slowly engulfed by toxins.
Modern Technology
I knew from the first time I heard Modern Technology that I wanted to work with them on a video like this. Visually I felt we shared similar aesthetics, so I pitched to them the idea of a RIFF.Underground-style performance video, minus the trappings of the live environment. When the band explained the meaning behind the song to me, it became clear that we were all on the same page so the visual design came together quickly. Having that extra freedom to explore meant we could really go to town with extreme camera angles, fog, and especially light placement.
Chris Purdie / RIFF.Underground
“Dead Air” Lyrics:
Let’s go outside
Where the air is thick
And the hours slip away
Down the kitchen sink
Let’s go outside
Where the sky is black
And we dream of yesterday
Dream of yesterday
Let’s go outside
Where the stench is ripe
And swollen buildings
Block out the light
Let’s go outside
Where the earth is scorched
And we pissed it all away
Pissed it all away
Is this how the world ends?
We stared death in the face
And death blinked first
The crushing vacuum
Of the universe
Let’s go outside
For the sake of you
MODERN TECHNOLOGY Live Dates (tickets here):
12th Oct – London – Moor Beer Vaults w/ Remote Viewing for Baba Yaga’s Hut
13th Oct – Oxford – Port Mahon w/ Holy Wounds + Prey for Divine Schism
14th Oct – Brighton – The Hope & Ruin w/ Beehoover + Human Leather for Yeah Go On Then (Just Torpor)
15th Oct – Bristol – The Lanes w/ The Malefic Grip for Gravy Train
10th Nov – Nottingham – The Chameleon Arts Cafe
11th Nov – Leeds – Wharf Chambers – HUMAN WORTH All-Dayer w/ Beige Palace, Grub Nap, The Eurosuite, Friend, A.L. Lacey + Belk
