The music of Travis Egedy, known as Pictureplane has been a fixture in this blogger's life since around 2009, when his album 'Dark Rift' really began making waves in the Indie scene. Songs like Goth Star, True Ruin, and 5th Sun were the equivalent of the perfect aesthetic planets aligning... UFOs, neon lust, chaos magic, punk attitudes and NYC club kids. What must it have been like, at Rhinoceropolis in '06, the Denver DIY epicentre where Travis also lived for a time, refining his art performing for intimate crowds? Each city has its mainstays, but few are as special a place as that which also hosted his excellent peers HEALTH, Dan Deacon, and Lightning Bolt. What an experience it must have been on both sides of the stage! (continue reading after the jump)
Dark Rift and Thee Physical were both on the Lovepump United label, which was co-founded by the interesting and unique Philly based 'cybergrind' band Ghengis Tron. It's easy to see how Travis has a style that is liquid and adaptable, finding common ground with all the best misfits in music. Thee Physical shows us a catchier side of Pictureplane, and also one that was not afraid to incorporate gender-defying styles. It would be incredible if Pictureplane got on a bill with Psychic TV! (Whom Travis is a fan).
The next record, Technomancer, was released on the seminal underground rap label Anticon, which Pictureplane of course fit right into as well. Although in a particular light Travis' vocals are reminiscent of Shoegaze, Hip-Hop has always been a huge part of his identity. In 2014 Pictureplane's Alien Body Mixtape featured Doseone, and Sole, some of the founders of the label.
Technomancer takes listeners on a stylish and heady ride as awe inspiring as Koyaanisqatsi on acid! The title track's video was recorded at BBQ Films' 'vampire rave,' where Travis spun along with The Crystal Method before blood rained down on the crowd in a live recreation of the movie BLADE.
With the longer than intended introduction covered, Degenerate is the first release of Pictureplane's new self-run Alien Body Music imprint, a name that is shared with his street fashion and merch.
de·gen·er·ate
1. To fall below a normal or desirable state, especially functionally or morally."You want to see me as a threat, so you call me Degenerate..." declares Travis on the title track. We are the renegade street trash!
Degenerate speaks to what many of us feel is a refusal to fall in line and acquiesce to the masses. A lot has changed in the last 10 years, and the need for different, outspoken voices in music and in general could not be any more essential. We lost some very bright beacons of individualism, first and foremost David Bowie, as well as Travis' friend Lil Peep. Degenerate is dedicated to the victims of the tragic Ghost Ship venue fire, which occurred in 2016, the same year Rhinoceropolis and many other art spaces were shut down during the resulting media scare and increased gentrification.
'Pit Viper' is the opener, and it sets the tone immediately with a post-apocalyptic synthwave mid-tempo groove. This is living in the Anthropocene - where we are hurtling towards disaster in every conceivable way. "Abusive power comes as no surprise..." sings Travis as we are well into the 'new normal' of Trump's presidency. "Got venom running through my veins... it's so romantic...snake eyes right there ion your nightmare... its so angelic...Decide what you want to be..... you're on the inside of me..." This is the Dionysian anthem of the year - we are embracing ourselves and reveling in life despite the most dire adversity and looming hardships.
'Gang Stalker's' industrial metal and EBM vibes echo a similar sentiment, but on a more personal level - "It's something else with you... I can't tell but I think you're against me... disrupt my mind... It's tragic but I feel alive..." The anxiety brought the state of society trickles down into the most intimate parts of our psyches. "B.D.S.M." pleads for the subject to 'take my pain away... like I knew you would."
'Disasters of War (It's What You're Born For)' is like a modern neo-noir homage to Fransisco Goya's artwork, which the title shares its namesake. "We sit pretty with our empathy, black-painted shells, youth cast under a spell." -An accurate summation of our current state of affairs!
"Francisco Goya created “The Disasters of War” from 1810-1820. These 80 etchings and aquatints show scenes from the Spanish struggle against the French army under Napolean Bonaparte, who invaded Spain in 1808. When Napolean tried to install his brother Joseph Bonaparte, as King of Spain, the Spanish fought back, eventually aided by the British and the Portugese. Goya’s prints explore the horrifying consequences of this kind of guerilla warfare, and the famine that followed it. The French army is often shown by Goya as disorganized force, leaderless and cruel. However, the most surprizing innovation in his series is the emphasis Goya placed on war’s power to dehumanize everyone involved." (Credit)
Guest artists such as Smrt Death and Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, founder of Gothboiclique, fit right in and add to the overall vibe exceedingly well. These collaborations feel like efforts that have come full circle over the years since Pictureplane started his career. Similarly, the track "Intoxicate" seems to pull from the best sounds of Pictureplane's past, not so unlike the track 'Chaos Radical" from Technomancer. This is the evolution of Travis' style, and it's better than ever.
A favorite on the release is definitely 'Plague Technology,' which drives a dark message home with a hard 80's synth beat. On it Travis chants, "Our pockets full of posies.. the plague devastates while we burn at the stake... Witch on fire... but I burn for you..." We can see that dichotomy present here that is a motif of sorts throughout the LP: Dionysian pleasure through the pain. We get more of an earnest promise than an idle threat on 'Gatecrasher.' "Watch me bleed, 'cuz I'm gonna sharpen my blade... I'm gonna crash through this gate"
'White Flowers' closes the album as we blissfully slip away in introspection without any clear resolution. "Staring off at the sun, I can see all the light in your reflection, sending daggers in my direction..." Pictureplane's albums are almost too good to try an pin down to one meaning or allegory; instead, they come off well as soundscapes, like ubiquitous tech in cyberpunk movies. We'll ride off into neon lights towards whatever end.
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