Chris Korda: Apologize to the Future

“My mother claimed that my environmental awareness resulted from her reading Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ whilst she was pregnant with me. What I can say for sure is that growing up in New York City gave me above-average exposure to overpopulation and environmental degradation”

One year following the release of Akoko Ajeji on Perlon, Chris Korda returns to the label with 'Apologize to the Future'. Composed once again in complex polymeter but with a social commentary focusing on climate change, Chris advances the Church of Euthanasia pro-ecology pillars of suicide, abortion, cannibalism and sodomy. "We need to realize the truth of what we’ve done. In an eye-blink of geological time, we’ve exterminated our nonhuman fellow travellers and wrecked our life-support system. Admitting it intellectually isn’t good enough. We need to feel it. The album is supposed to hurt. We need to grieve for what we’ve destroyed, including our own future." Without remorse there can’t be restitution (the essence of the post-antihuman Church of Euthanasia).

1200 words - all in rhyme - that translate to a damning human outlook yet sparking our imagination and pushing us to reflect. There's an eccentric whack underscoring the album. It's refreshing, groovy, playful, edgy; emulating all those elements that you'd attribute to the Perlon sound (and for the most part it was written before Perlon had even agreed to release 'Akoko Ajeji').

When did you start to realise that you were different to the people around you?

From an early age, I thought critically and I spoke and wrote precisely thanks to both of my parents and a series of excellent teachers. My linguistic aptitude was obvious but it often made me unpopular with my classmates. I won the reading prize every year in grade school by reading at least one hundred books. Then in eighth grade my reading comprehension was tested and found to be in the 99th percentile. By then I was acutely aware of being different and the environmental realizations that became the Church of Euthanasia two decades later had already occurred to me.

So what made you decide to devote your art to politics and ideology.

I didn’t. Some of my art is ideological but much of it isn’t, for example my algorithmic psychedelic art, virtual 3D pottery, sound collage, ambient and generative neoclassical music, etc. As a teenager I was already a visual artist, musician and lyricist. It was during my thirties that The Church of Euthanasia evolved - it gave me so many opportunities to put my artistic abilities to good use but it’s a subset of my art. Yes I came of age in the 80s when ideological art was the norm, but the decisive factor was heightened awareness of overpopulation and the climate crisis.

Listening to the album, it's clear that you're extremely well-versed on the topic. 

The novels of Paolo Bacigalupi helped me visualize the human impacts of drastic climate change more clearly. Paul Theroux’s “O-Zone” provided useful caricatures of the super-rich. But I get most of my ammunition from conventional news sources. I also read a ton of climate science books, papers and try to follow trends in artificial intelligence.The album fuses rap with polymeter electro, techno, and breakbeat. When I heard Kate Tempest’s 'Europe Is Lost' in 2016, it opened a door for me. I realized that I could rap but in my own way, without imitating existing styles. I was already aware of rap’s connection to radical politics and poetry (as seen for example in The Last Poets) but there was a lot I didn’t know so I started researching it. I studied the classics but also more modern examples. It’s fascinating how much rap has changed over time. It’s become a lot more diverse and I’m honored to contribute to that diversity.

Via the album you're presenting human reality, equally asking us to face our reality. How long did it take you to write the 1200 words in rhyme?

The lyrics took me about a year. From the outset the central theme was facing reality. The album opens with Einstein’s memorable quip that “the moon is really out there.” Einstein’s point is that the moon is real whether you believe in it or not. As long as people remain convinced that reality is just whatever they happen to believe, we have no chance to survive. We need to realise the truth of what we’ve done. In an eye-blink of geological time, we’ve damaged our life-support system enough to make earth increasingly uninhabitable even for us, never mind for our nonhuman fellow travellers. Admitting it intellectually isn’t good enough. We need to feel it.We’ve engaged in monstrously self-defeating behaviour. From the point of view of future generations: we’re sociopathic villains who committed horrific crimes against the future. As long as we’re incapable of conceptualising our crimes, we can’t repent them. Without remorse there’s no restitution. If we don’t think we’re doing anything wrong, why should we change course. Why shouldn’t we just keep on partying until the bitter end.

The album comprises hardline statements throughout. What's your answer to those who find it overwhelming?

The album should overwhelm because its subject is the worst crisis humanity has ever faced. The problem is that we’re insufficiently alarmed. It’s as if we’re on the Titanic, it’s already half sunk and we’re still saying the captain will take care of it so let's have another drink. We should be responding to the crisis and we aren’t. We should’ve been responding to the crisis thirty years ago. It's by now far advanced and those of us lucky enough to be relatively insulated from its accelerating impacts are living in dreamland. We need to wake up before it’s too late.People will need to reduce their demands on ecosystems and learn to value long-term survival above all else, or the future won't include us. And that's an optimistic scenario because it assumes we’re sufficiently rational to change our aggregate behavior rapidly enough to make a difference. Until the Keeling curve reverses direction and atmospheric CO2 falls below 350 PPM, our rationality is an unproven conjecture. The album is harsh for the same reason an alarm clock is harsh. You may not like hearing your alarm clock but it’s performing a necessary function.

Perlon – PERLON126LP

Tracklist:

A1 - A Thin Layer Of Oily Rock

A2 - Changing Climate

A3 - Apologize To The Future

B1 - SingularityB2 - Overshoot

B3 - Exit Game.

“Apologize To The Future" is out now.