Wall of Noise, Web of Silence

Abstract

The Artist Formerly Known as David Pledger will release his first concept album WALL OF NOISE WEB OF SILENCE with LINER NOTES Using the moniker, dp, the artist takes his lead from all those brave artists who embraced the challenge of the concept album, from Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys through to Radiohead and Bjork. “The concept album best serves my ambition to create a kind of knowledge in which aesthetics and scholarship operate in a complementary and expansive mode, so that argument may be understood simultaneously through the processes of thinking and feeling.” dp is renowned for his exploratory and experimental artistic adventures that include The Austral/Asian Post-Cartoon: sports edition (1997), Blowback (2004), The Strangeland Triptych (2006-9), Ampersand et al (2010) and David Pledger Is Running For Office (2015). Side 1 is dp’s thesis on democracy in the age of neo-liberalism through the lens of the arts. Side 2 is its antithesis, an atmosphere of democracy in which artistic practice is the prevailing determinant. Noise and silence are the aesthetic frames. The arts, society and politics provide the windows. “On Side 1, you’ll play ‘concept’ tracks, a mini-EP and three 12-inch 45s backgrounded by the beautiful sounds and disturbing speeches of my artistic oeuvre. On Side 2, I take you on a journey that aspires to ‘listen’ a way towards a ‘solution’ to our deepest problem: what to do about democracy?” Two sides riffing off each other and a comprehensive clutch of Liner Notes that reflect on what it means for dp’s artistic practice. “For thirty years, my life as an artist has been a procession of master shots of Western culture from different vantage points: minor pop culture personality, writer, performer, director, producer, arts leader, cultural activist. These are the band members on my new album taking the lead on some tracks, playing back-up on others. The most ambitious and comprehensive explication of my practice to date, Wall of Noise, Web of Silence poses the perfect question: what next, dp, what next….