In their hard centers, far from the overlapping hinterlands, societies operate by their own ineffable sense of logic; maybe they have to, if they’re going to be societies at all, but you don’t have to look very far to see what happens when the border-walkers start to bring new ideas, logics, and norms back to the insulated middle—maybe this is a story you’ve heard before.
Negation: It’s a story that Donnie Moore knows well. You might guess as much from the name of his band, Absolutely Not, but you’d certainly pick up on it in the thrashing and rage of “Blood Money,” the latest single from AN’s Errors, which we’re pleased to be premiering this morning. Moore howls his vocals through thickets of distortion and feedback, while drummer Santiago Guerrero kicks the rhythm along. “Don’t lose your head,” Moore chides, “Stick to the Prime Directive.”
The Directive in question is taken from the Star Trek universe, and it’s the principle that informs the way intergalactic travelers interact with alien species and their cultures: namely, don’t touch, and don’t infect. Donnie and his sister Madison Moore are actively involved in the LGBTQ scene in Chicago (they run the excellently named Glitter Creeps event at the Empty Bottle every month), and it’s impossible not to hear the fuck-you sneer in Donnie’s voice as he grinds out the chorus. As the guitars thunder, Madison sends lasers of synth—the only clear sound in the mix—through the static like a ship through an asteroid field, and you get the sense that, despite the danger all around, staying the prescribed course isn’t really on the table for Absolutely Not.
You can check it out below, and pick up Errors via No Trend when it drops on July 28.
