In just two short songs, the world of Raw/Unleashed is laid bare: they want change.
In Fence Jump, they see the vividly lush green pastures of the other side, they feel that sense of calm and tranquility wafted through its wood slates and empty knots, they desire its promise of peace, the safety of its softness; unsaid, but it stands to reason, they look around at their own yard, with its patches of brown grass piss puddles, mounds of quite possibly human feces, blood spatters from unknown persons caked into permanent black shadows on the cracked sidewalk. The difference between the two yards is markedly clear, and so they hop ship and bound over.
Similarly, on Urban Violence, they loudly proclaim: “Urban violence – something’s gotta fucking change!” Whereas Fence Jump was about personal autonomy for one’s ability to change their situation (for instance, by actively jumping to the other side), Urban Violence suggests that it is others – their neighbours, fellow city dwellers – that have to do the changing. In this sense, Raw/Unleashed is not the crime-doer, but has crime done unto them; therefore, it is the responsibility of others to modify their violent ways (lest we blame the victim).
• • •
To read the rest of this review — and more by Steve Schmolaris — visit his website Bad Gardening Advice.
• • •
Steve Schmolaris is the founder of the Schmolaris Prize, “the most prestigious prize in all of Manitoba,” which he first awarded in 1977. Each year, he awards the prize to the best album of the year. He does not have a profession but, having come from money (his father, “the Millionaire of East Schmelkirk,” left him his fortune when he died in 1977), Steve is a patron of the arts. Inspired by the exquisite detail of a holotype, the collective intelligence of slime mold, the natural world and the suffering inherent within it — and also music (fuck, he loves music!) — Steve has long been writing reviews of Winnipeg artists’ songs and albums at his website Bad Gardening Advice, leading to the publication of a book of the same name.
