Dirty Old Power [LP]

AJJ - Dirty Old Power [LP]

For more than two decades, AJJ has been writing albums that attempt to make sense of an increasingly confusing world. And the Arizona band has repeatedly succeeded, somehow managing to find the small traces of hope and beauty buried in the wreckage of a decaying planet. But on their ninth album, Dirty Old Power, they are coming to terms with the fact that they may no longer have the words to express it all. In fact, the proper words of communication may not even exist anymore. “A lot of Dirty Old Power is about how our language is failing us and how we need a new human mode of expression,” says frontman Sean Bonnette. “I see language as being sort of cheapened now that people have figured out how to mechanize it. Things like AI mean we’re not the only game in town as far as creatures that use verbal and written language go. Now we’ve got machines that do it. Humans need to find a new code.” Dirty Old Power takes stock of this surreal moment in American history where the post-World War II power structures of capitalism have given rise to full-on techno-fascism, and where humanity is being displaced by data centers, VR headsets, doomscrolling, and artificial versions of our loved ones. It’s also, as the title track suggests, an indictment of the greedy old sadists who are inflicting all this hell upon us. “We’re seeing that the middle class turned out to be an illusion. There’s wealth being concentrated in the hands of the very few, and now it seems they’re just actively trying to kill us,” Bonnette says. To capture this disparate array of unique styles that make up Dirty Old Power, AJJ returned to Animal Rites studio in Los Angeles to record with their pal, Grammy-winning producer John Congleton, who also produced 2014’s Christmas Island and 2016’s The Bible 2. And for the cover artwork, the band turned to Winston Smith, the legendary visual artist known most famously for his iconic designs and logo for Dead Kennedys. It has been said that to combat the imminent rise of artificial intelligence, humans need to make art that is weirder, darker, more flawed, and more personal. Dirty Old Power is AJJ’s attempt to rebalance the scales and score one for humanity. Beauty and Truth 2 Dirty Old Power Destiny Update Phlamethrower Hungry House Bitch Ass World Florid Language Window in Yr Mind Wasted on a Boeing No Home in This World Human Centipede