Inside Agitator by Illusion of Safety

Illusion of Safety Inside Agitator (Complacency)
The Chicago area's prime Noise-ician's new release is another in a never-ending series of uncompromising and exquisitely-crafted tonalities. Anyone familier with the previous releases from these reigning Kings of Pain will find this CD to be more thoughtful and conceptual than other offerings. The title refers to a favorite theme of founder/leader Dan Burke, namely, a ghastly glimpse into the aberrations of the human psyche. This collection of half-rhythmic beat/collages and half ambient-noise reflect the dichotomy within us all: the age-old struggle between the violent and the sublime, the Dark & the Light. The ambient passages represent the internal aspects of the subconcious mind, whereas the rhythmic/sound-bite passages refer to the outwardly negative manifestations of the conscious mind. Differing from most I.O.S. releases, this CD is more statement-orientated. Meant as sort of a follow-up to their earlier release. In 70 Countries (which is an audio analysis of state-sponsored torture around the world), Inside Agitator is a conceptual excursion into Burke's degree in Psychology. Though the level of difficulty in I.O.S.'s oeuvre keeps their local following relatively small, these seasoned experts have been in business for nearly 10 years and have released dozens of cassettes, LP's and CDs. They have toured the U.S. and Europe numerous times, recently playing to a national radio audience in Switzerland on their last Europ-tour. Exceptionally gifted within the genre they work, their unusual 'music' is an acquired taste and not for the faint-of-heart. Scott Marshall


bonnicon May 28, 2012
referencing Inside Agitator, CD, Album, CPCD01002
This is a strange album which seems to gather a myriad styles, melds them together into a fascinating audio travelogue, and calls the result it's own. This is by no means a criticism - quite the opposite - this is an ever-changing journey through sound which reminds me, in overall concept, of those early THIS HEAT albums, although the sound here is very different.
The album opens with "Instinct", which fades in on machine-like sounds, changing to more electronics, becomes dense like Japanese Pure Noise groups, gathers an ambient spatial soundscape like some railway station, busy late at night, then twists into the track itself. This is a tense, constant drum rhythm piece, sounding electronic & sequential, an ever-turning plate of sound which acts as the foundation for the samples, electronics & myriad sounds. This is trance music at its best, and you wish it could go on & on, but no, it gives way to "Faden Die" which begins with 'found' snippits of human voice before transforming into the main body of the track - not as dense as the previous piece, perhaps not hard enough to dance to, it again acts as a canvas upon which a myriad sounds are projected in bits and pieces while a female voice sample repeats the title over & over again. About four minutes in it speeds up, becoming a barriage of drums, bringing the listener to attention. "Wasteland" fades in from a great distance, rolling gently through your speakers. It grows like something from GILBERT & LEWIS - say the "3R4" EP, a huge, passive machine sound, warm and gentle. 'Small' metal sounds clink & clatter along in the distance, adding to the mood. It fades into "Katalavox", the intro to which is an American criticising America for being aggressive & war-mongering (what? America?). The mood music then rises into another more constructed piece, this one more complex than the opening two, combining 'dance' logic with machine logic - and the hybrid is perfect, indeed so perfect that they may have struck a new vein of creative sound. The introduction to "The Prisoner" has what sounds like a Brit saying 'the wonderful thing about making mistakes is that you can keep making them, the same ones, again and again'. After this we have a piece of quiet mood music which might dwell in the cellars below PROJEKT's sound. It hasn't the density, but does have the peaceful 'feel' to it. "Yo Fuera Asesino" follows the mood, having an interview with a murderer introducing a slow beat piece full of interesting sounds, none of which seem out of place, all of which add to the strange atmosphere. It swells around the strange drum pattern, as countless audio images float & fly past the perception. voices become instruments while keyboards seem to convey messages of disquieting image. "Tower Of Sleep" comes next, again floating in through the speakers out of the aether. It floats in almost silence, an ambient swell of sound. "Corruption" seems to follow in it's wake, growing into another fully-formed piece, again layering countless sounds over a, this time complex, drum rhythm. It churns along, plagiarising bits of other people's songs, throwing sound into the medium-paced maelstrom JACKSON POLLOCK-like & coming up with an H. R. GIGER / SALVADOR DALI cross. It has a similar 'electro-tribal' feel to first track. "Recognition", which clocks up over 22 minutes, is almost inaudible or the first minute, gentle swelling, minimalism pushed to the extreme. You can hear the sound of destruction, of things being torn down, of things being smashed, and somehow it forms a rhythm, as if random events were being coaxed into a controlled situation. Voices, even further off, are heard now & then, and over all, like a black cloud gravid with storm, synthetic isolation sounds slowly wash. About 14 minutes in the structure is altered, joined by car horns and abstract bass, which themselves fade, allowing metal sounds, distant & minimal, to draw the track to a close. "A Golden Circle" opens with a blast of sound & bleeps, with the warning 'there are now four minutes to self destruct'. A warm hollow tunnel of sound connects this with 'found' voice & ambient sound. A fully-constructed track bursts through the stagnant sound, and is probably the most 'commercial' piece on the entire album. Once again, the central core is complimented by countless added sounds, punctuating which is the spoken title. Horn sounds race alongside this medium-fast-paced piece like lithe dolphins at the prow of a fast schooner.

I can hear influences & make comparisons, but none of them really come close, as this is a fairly unique album which manages to combine several very different styles & make the contrast seem like a perfect fit. The album itself reminds me a little of the way THIS HEAT, THE POP GROUP, even THE HAFLER TRIO put albums together. The sound? Try SLEEP CHAMBER, COIL, SPRUNG AUS DEN WOLKEN even THROBBING GRISTLE for example. While these can hardly be regarded as 'close' to ILLUSION OF SAFETY's sound, they may give some idea of the 'feel' of this music. It's certainly a damn good album. perfect for those with a sense of adventure. And on any more inferior medium, they might have failed with the more minimal pieces, but CD allows you to crank things up a little. Play loud.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.

Since 1983, Burke and his many conspirators under the IOS banner have over the course of 40+ releases traversed most every facet of the avant sound plane, from early industrial pop deconstruction to blindingly minimal sound art to densely surreal found-sound collage, creating uneasy music that is dense and dystopian and yet also beautiful.

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