The central track of CONTRASTATE's brilliant new album "Life without Agriculture", CD out on Drone Records 02.2024 in the SYM series (SYM_05)

An album "re-imagining" some of the dadaist, futurist, and surrealist clubs of the 20th century, from Moscow 1918 over Tehran 1966 to Münster 1997; a wonderfully surprising and experimental work by the British post-industrial and ambient performance trio.
CONTRASTATE have created an amazing new work that is inspired by some historical, but also newer places (cafes, clubs, cabarets - including fantasised venues that could / should have existed), relating to the glorious times of the 'true' avantgarde.
"The arc that links them all is the experimentation, the exchange of ideas, and the platform to perform free from the “social norms” of the time." [Stephen Meixner of Contrastate]
The dreamy first half of the album establishes a very sombre and melancholic mood, but when the central pieces "London 1912" and "Zurich 1916" enter it leads to more collagenous and experimental areas, using guitar and bass harmonics, pulsing analogue electronics, spoken words, and all kinds of samples and weird processed sounds. The versatility especially of the second half allows for a fully immersive listening experience, with a vast array of details and twists.  "Imagination is subversive, because it puts the possible against the real. "That's why you should always use your wildest imagination. Imagination is the biggest gift humanity has received. Imagination makes people human, not work..." [Jan Švankmajer, "Decalogue", Touch Movements, 2017].
CONTRASTATE, formed in 1987, are a trio from London that have operated on the edge of experimental ambient, dark post-industrial, and performative art areas, often using spoken word lyrics with a strong political, anti-imperialistic approach/agitation. Their early 7" for Drone Records "English Embers" (DR-05) became one of the highlights in the series.

watch promo video trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACZmOWEB8Eo


Order : https://www.dronerecords.de/album.view.html?album=22013

CONTRASTATE - Zurich 1916

DRONE RECORDS is a label-project and mailorder-service for mainly atmospheric & experimental music, based in Bremen, Germany.

DRONE RECORDS as a (vinyl-only) LABEL started in 1993 with a very idealistic, uncommercial attitude & philosophy, influenced by the independent cassette-culture scene from the 80’s.

The 7"-label series was active from 1993 to 2010 with 100 released "drones" (7" EPs), presenting mainly newcomers from the international experimental "drone"-scene.

In the meantime, late 2005 a second series / sub-label has started, this time on 10"-vinyls, named SUBSTANTIA INNOMINATA. This series with a special concept embracing the "Unknown" could be seen as an interface between experimental music & cultural science, psychoanalysis and philosophy. See www.substantia-innominata.de for details.

Now, at the end of the year 2011, we have started a new LP-series called "DRONE-MIND//MIND-DRONE" - dedicated to the drones of the world - and the drones of our minds. Presenting 4 artists for each volume, this is a continuation of the drone 7" concept, the new era of drones ! 

