The Evolution Control Committee – Band of the Month April 2011
Chosen by Alex
“By listening to any portion of this musical album you accept and agree to be bound by this agreement and its terms and conditions. You must accept this agreement before you can listen to any portion of any song on this album. If you do not agree to the terms of this license, stop listening now. You should refer to the album liner notes for the full text of this agreement. But the most important part is this: You must not listen to this album. In no event will the band be liable to you for any incidental, direct, indirect, punitive, actual, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages including any perceived or claimed infringement of your copyrighted material.”
- Listener License Agreement, track one of All Rights Reserved by The Evolution Control Committee
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From: San Francisco
Label: Latest album released through Seeland Records.
Sounds like: Anything and everything illegally sampled and mashed all to hell.
History: TradeMark G founded The Evolution Control Committee (ECC for short) in 1987 and they have been pioneers in the world of bootleg mash-ups ever since. They are best known for their underground hit “Rocked By Rape” which sees CBS’s Dan Rather fused to Back In Black by AC/DC.
What struck me when I first heard these guys was the duel enjoyment of laughing out loud while also wondering how on earth they put this stuff together. But what makes ECC so different to the millions of remixers out there? Well, there are two things…
1 – Their intelligence.
The choice of source material is so varied and imaginative that it stands head and shoulders above the nearest rival. Some of their work such and What Would You Think If I Sang AutoTune, which features a detuned Ringo Starr on vocals, or The Christmas Wrong, in which Nat King Cole roasts Jack Frost on an open fire, are so subtle that some casual listeners would mistake them for the originals but close attention is rewarded with amusement.
2 – Their politics.
As well as pioneering and lampooning the art of remixing, they also pioneer and lampoon copyright itself. They describe themselves as “copyleft”, and their latest album All Rights Reserved opens with a spoken word legal announcement from TradeMark G explaining that the only way this material could be released is by the user agreeing to NOT listen to the album. Apparently this is the contract you enter into when purchasing or downloading it. He pops up again at the mid way point of the album to remind you not to listen. Behind this mockery lurks the real agenda of the Evolution Control Committee – a total and utter no holes barred disregard for copyright. Anyone and everyone is fair game.
Comments...
ECC rocks!
ECC forever!
great album
great band!