Plutocracy Planet and The Callous Daoboy’s Carson Pace “Commence Mutation” in New Single
What do you get when you take a topic like artificial intelligence and create a song based on the combination of a proggy, experiemental post-hardcore socio-political musical project with the batshit vocal stylings of The Callous Daoboys’ Carson Pace? You get more than the word salad in that last sentence — you get “Commence Mutation”, the latest single from Plutocracy Planet’s forthcoming self-titled effort.
If all of that above sounded confoundingly confusing, then you’re either the exact person that needs to hear the track below or you might not be ready for it yet. The only way to find out is to his play and let the sounds hit you in the face. With an at times distinctly electronic-inspired sound, “Commence Mutation” pretty much does what its namesake suggests by mutating over the course of its nearly four minute run-time.
Kicking off with Pace’s violently abrasive vocals and the track’s start and stop poly-rhythmic attack, it starts out sounding like your typical post-hardcore/mathcore madness. Yet after just a little over a minute in, the song evolves, cresting over itself into a more melodic movement, complete with clean vocals and saxophone — yet it never loses its bite. In the end, it all washes down the drain with a droning, almost unsettling final segment.
Plutocracy Planet mastermind and former Alarm Magazine editor Scott Morrow said both the track and the band as a whole is a take on the modern hysteria surrounding recent technological advances.
“It’s easy to get caught up in alarmism about artificial intelligence—we’ve all been raised on countless sci-fi movies and novels about humanity’s demise at the hands of its own tools. But it seems that more and more experts believe that some sort of technological singularity, whether an artificial superintelligence or human intelligence amplification from nanotechnologies, is not a matter of if but when.
“Personally, I find it fascinating to think about AI and AGI (advanced general intelligence) in the context of the universe and other advanced alien civilizations. Is AI a ‘Great Filter’ that nothing can survive? Is it why we haven’t made contact with anything else out there? Or is it possible not only to survive the development of AGI but actually thrive and become ‘post-human’? I tend to think that we’ll accidentally wipe ourselves out, but you never know!”
Set for release on July 12, Plutocracy Planet also features collaborative efforts from other big names like Liam Wilson (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Azusa), Jonathan Hischke (The Sound of Animals Fighting, Cigar), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Masonic Wave), Jason Schimmel (Estradasphere, Secret Chiefs 3, Red Fiction), and Anton Patzner (Emily Jane White, Judgement Day). Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the final release.