black dog: neither/neither

We live in dangerous times. We are blinded by control vectors that separate us from reality. And British electronic group The Black Dog returns with a viral antidote: an album of deprogramming material that they've called Neither/Neither. It continues the work they started with Further Vexations (2009) and Radio Scarecrow (2008). Burroughs was right: we are now living in a world that is nothing short of a total information war. We are neither one thing nor another, endlessly on the fence in the face of an onslaught of disinformation. Non-linear hypermedia systems are openly used to control us, their operation totally exposed, mocking our impotence, yet complete in their power. We are all proles now; all are expected to maintain a mental state of neither/neither, of uncertainty and inaction. Even in a world where anyone can be an instant expert on any subject in a single click, we find that all our knowledge is a mere replay of someone else's script. We are surrounded and occupied by systems of platitude-generation that are empty and self-referential. All is surface and all is hollow. From the Tories' election propaganda to David Icke, they're all the same, all meaning filtered to nothing by a lack of substance, science, and humanity. Falsehood becomes reason, no matter how ridiculous the proposition. They stand for nothing so they can have no questions to answer. False prophets and the modern-day snake-oil-salesmen parade their viral vampirism, grasping for our time, money, and headspace. Even our ridicule becomes fuel for their trade as they turn ignorance and psychopathic exploitation into received wisdom and public opinion. Ask any sideshow psychic; repeat pure Barnum bunkum enough times and you can seize the psychology of the masses. Rumors become truth, then they become action and policy that in the cold light of the day make no sense at all. No one's sure where they heard it but they have. The spectral offer of change sustains the stasis of confusion. They spin us on the ball of confusion on which we live; it continues to turn and as long as they have us in a state of neither/neither they will always maintain control. Fight back! Neither/Neither shows the world The Black Dog is reflecting.