In the realm of politicized rock ’n’ roll, IfIHadAHiFi has some big shoes to fill. Woodstock ended the Vietnam War. Live Aid eradicated hunger in Africa. Rage Against the Machine sprang Mumia from jail. And of course, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, and whole swaths of the Billboard Top 40 got John Kerry elected president. So the bar for this Milwaukee-based noise-rock post-punk quintet — led by Mr. Alarm (who plays bass) and Dr. Awkward (whose moniker seems to refer to his efforts to drum and sing simultaneously) — has been set, and set high. Undaunted, they barge onto the scene in a high-volume blast of self-righteous fury with their new track, “Imperial Walker.”
We had to read it a few times to suss out exactly what was going on--it initially seemed that while the dude obviously wasn't fond of our politics, that maybe he liked the music? After all, he said things like "grating guitars, scratchy vocal processing, and a sludgy sound that may or may not be the low E string of a bass," things we normally take as compliments. But after a couple readings, we figured out that, no, he's being sarcastic, and he may actually mean those things as put-downs?
Also, apparently we're a five-piece now, which is news. Where is this fifth member of our "quintet?" He or she has been skipping a lot of band practices.
Whatever, we're in the goddamn National Review! The most widely-read online conservative talking point database! If we've gotten their attention, we must be doing something right, even if they think they're being condescendingly clever. So, awesome.
By the way, we're right around the $400 mark on proceeds raised from the download. Have you donated yet? The song has like 600 "likes" on Facebook but only 100-some downloads, so get on it, cheese!
