1. the jerker (quieter version)
2. no spook in my family, get it?
3. psora2 (calamine mix)
4. beagle3
5. untitled
6. wat tyler (the lord mayor's remix) [c-391]
7. nachahmung/plagiat [c-391]
8. donald rumsfeld in hell
9. a song for the old europe
10. PMCs
11. guantanamera
12. al-khamees
13. al-joma'a
14. al-ahad (moz�rabe mix)
more speed, less haste
quantity, not quality
between january and june 2004 christöphilax released five compact discs of popular music. with the songs' remains, she takes stock of that initial frenzy of cultural production and assembles some of her personal favourites.
described by one perceptive critic as an "exercise in endurance," itch was a pioneering work in the genre of dermacore. here, christöphilax interferes with two of her proudest creations from her maiden cultural artefact, offering a thoughtful reappraisal of her notorious anthem "the jerker," as well as a remix of "psora2" -- a thoroughly invigorating subcutaneous intervention that proved immensely popular in the low countries.
within a month of itch, christöphilax as formative of the function of the I emerged. attentive critics noted a change in direction, hailing it as "almost danceable, nearly academic, and most certainly frightening," as well as "the soundtrack to your mental collapse." this release is represented by christöphilax's respectful homage to errol brown MBE, "no spook in my family, get it?"; "beagle3," a musical transposition of professor colin pillinger's sideburns; and "untitled," in which christöphilax drags listeners kicking and screaming back to the reagan era.
in february, christöphilax dispatched her carrier pigeons to the humber delta and the dadaist commune of the mysterious 391. from the resulting collaboration, calculus for goats, christöphilax offers the lord mayor's remix of "wat tyler" and a new version of her krautrock fantasy "nachahmung oder plagiat."
following a hiatus (during which christöphilax undertook an investigative trip to turkmenistan), april saw the release of the work of christöphilax in the age of mechanical reproduction. a cheery meditation on imperialism, militarism and the media, it paid homage to christöphilax's unhealthy obsessions with drones and late-'70s/early-'80s electronica. the present collection features "donald rumsfeld in hell," "a song for the old europe," "PMCs," and "guantanamera," tracks whose concerns require no further elaboration.
may occasioned a chance meeting between christöphilax and zaheer, a blind pakistani cricket aficionado. a friendly, non-competitive game of darts followed (which christöphilax won by a spectacular margin) and plans were hatched for a radical transcultural intervention. this scintillating cooperation between like-minded cultural workers spawned al-andalus, another startling change in direction that puts the itch back in glitch, while confronting monoculturalist distortions in the writing of the history of medieval spain. from this groundbreaking cultural artefact, christöphilax and zaheer give you "al-khamees," "al-joma'a," and an ultra-rare version of "al-ahad."
