PLUTOCRACY PLANET + RODY WALKER (Protest the Hero) Cover SYSTEM OF A DOWN’s “War?”
Post-Hardcore Super-Collective’s Debut LP Out Now!
Star-studded sociopolitical project drops first full-length, four years in the making, rooted in heaviness, electronics, and stylistic infidelity
Self-titled debut LP features members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, American Football, Protest the Hero, Braid, The Get-Up Kids, The Callous Daoboys, Far, Spitalfield, The Sound of Animals Fighting, Secret Chiefs 3, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Igorrr, Shining, Yakuza, and Solillaquists of Sound + Emily Jane White and Blueprint
WAR?” OFFICIAL VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEy2ANMrE5o
ORDER THE PLUTOCRACY PLANET LP:
https://merchcrush.com/collections/plutocracy-planet
PURCHASE ON BANDCAMP:
https://plutocracyplanet.bandcamp.com/album/plutocracy-planet
Born of the pandemic shutdown and mobilized by the world’s societal ills, Plutocracy Planet is an experimental sociopolitical super-collective led by former Alarm Magazine editor and musical vagrant Scott Morrow.
Fusing post-hardcore sensibilities with electronics, polyrhythms, atypical time signatures, and a far-reaching instrumental palette—including strings, saxophone, piano, harp, marimba, acoustic guitar, and more—the ambitious collaborative project utilizes the talents of more than two dozen venerable vocalists and instrumentalists across hardcore, hip hop, emo, avant-garde composition, pop, and more.
Greed, inequality, and the endless influence of money in politics serve as the project’s thematic focal points. But between a broad-minded approach and a coalition of lyrical voices, the collective’s forthcoming debut LP also touches on the cult of personality, fear-mongering media, police brutality, toxic masculinity, religious zealotry, factory farming, the billionaire space race, discourse in the internet era, and more.
Now, after singles that have traversed electronics-infused post-hardcore, Southwestern-esque acoustic rock, sax- and violin-tinged prog metal, and moody trip hop, Plutocracy Planet has premiered the final video off its debut album at New Noise. Featuring vocalist Rody Walker of prog-metal stalwarts Protest the Hero, Plutocracy Planet’s “War?” is a reimagined electro-metal cover from System of a Down’s acclaimed self-titled debut, complete with a harp, cello, and synthesizer breakdown, repudiating calls to war in the name of national security, liberation from authoritarianism, religious zealotry, and geopolitical dominance.
“This System of a Down song is an evergreen reminder that today’s war crimes set the stage for tomorrow’s,” Morrow says. “Ordinary people do not want war, and yet it is interwoven with the human condition. We’re tribalistic, but it often takes extravagant lies and manipulations, echoed by corporate or state-controlled media, to foment support for war.
“I worry that the rush among powerful nations to use AI for warfare will expedite the next global conflict. In the wrong hands, these new technologies could threaten freedom worldwide. Fascism is on the rise not only in the U.S. but in other democracies, and I hope that this democratic experiment—as flawed as it is—doesn’t become just a footnote in history.”
Out now on vinyl and streaming on all major platforms, Plutocracy Planet’s full-length debut (order here) is produced by singer-songwriter Mark Rose of Spitalfield and features:
Bob Nanna (Braid, Hey Mercedes, Lifted Bells)
Jonah Matranga (Far, Gratitude, onelinedrawing)
Matt Pryor (The Get-Up Kids, The New Amsterdams, Radar State)
Mike Kinsella (American Football, Owen, Lies, Cap’n Jazz)
Liam Wilson (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Azusa)
Rody Walker (Protest the Hero)
Carson Pace (The Callous Daoboys)
Emily Jane White
Mark Rose (Spitalfield)
Swamburger (Solillaquists of Sound)
Blueprint (Soul Position, Greenhouse)
Jørgen Munkeby (Shining)
Carla Kihlstedt (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Tin Hat Trio, Rabbit Rabbit Radio)
Nils Frykdahl (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Faun Fables, Idiot Flesh)
Aaron Spectre (Drumcorps)
Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Masonic Wave)
Angela Mullenhour (Sybris, Touched by Ghoul, Pink Frost)
Anton Patzner (Emily Jane White, Foxtails Brigade, Judgement Day)
Jonathan Hischke (The Sound of Animals Fighting, Le Butcherettes, Hella, Anywhere)
Jason Schimmel (Secret Chiefs 3, Estradasphere, Red Fiction)
Adam Stacey (Igorrr, Secret Chiefs 3, Estradasphere)
Jason Zdora (HeWhoCorrupts)
Leyla I. Royale (Chicago Street Strings)
Plutocracy Planet Tracklisting:
- Prologue
- This Very Severity (f. Bob Nanna)
- But You Said (f. onelinedrawing)
- A Simple Refrain (f. Matt Pryor & Swamburger)
- Commence Mutation (f. Carson Pace)
- Slaughterhouse Soliloquy (f. Swamburger & Drumcorps)
- War? (f. Rody Walker)
- True Crime (f. Angela Mullenhour)
- Hours and Hours (Work Harder, Not Smarter) (f. Mark Rose)
- Dance of the Downtrodden (f. Carla Kihlstedt, Nils Frykdahl & Jørgen Munkeby)
- Remain Silent (f. Emily Jane White, Blueprint & Bruce Lamont)
- Epilogue
About Plutocracy Planet:
Long an appreciator of stylistic diversity, Scott Morrow spent his years at Alarm Magazine championing fiercely creative and risk-taking independent artists of all stripes. When covid-19 shut down the planet, he found himself, like many others, wondering how to get the most out of “The Big Pause.” Rather than use his free time writing about other musicians, he opted to write music of his own—something he hadn’t done in over a decade. Between having many talented musician friends and connections from years of covering music, Morrow quickly amassed a small army of all-star contributors, patching together a network of like-minded experimentalists who resonated with the project’s theme.
But the shutdown wasn’t all productive for Morrow—far from it. In June of 2021, he was hit in the back by a stray bullet in his hometown of Chicago as he walked to meet a friend. Losing multiple organs during an emergency surgery, Morrow nearly died in the immediate aftermath as well as during the subsequent healing process due to an abscess of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The grueling eight-month recovery was yet another “big pause” in his life, but once he resumed life “as usual,” he was even more resolved to finish his project’s debut full-length album.
“The hell that I went through I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Morrow says. “But I’m unbelievably lucky and grateful to be here today. I could not have had a better and more wonderful support system, and enduring something like that makes you realize how very loved and fortunate you are. Plus, I couldn’t just go dying after all of these gracious, wonderfully talented folks contributed to this unknown pipe-dream project.”
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