Hakim Bey
"Temporary Autonomous Zone" CD (Axiom)
Some bands include manifestos in their liner notes. The liner notes to this album are a manifesto. Explaining T.A.Z. is difficult, but stating that Bey's spin on the spoken-word genre is wizard mindfuckery is a good start. Chaos, anarchy, subcultures - Bey advocates nearly everything, including creating free states for like-minded cabals and collectives. He recommends marginalized groups form secret societies and concludes with a lengthy piece on boycotting cop culture. Musique concrete cloaks his words in an eerily seductive melange of avant-garde noise and ambient music. But the sounds are almost immaterial. Bey's words are the primary focus of this disc. This album truly is punk as fuck, not in the ambient-styled music, but in the message it contains.