Love & War, by Outputmessage

Love & War

by Outputmessage

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1.	Feel the Love 10:10	buy track
2.	All You Need is Love 17:53	buy track
3.	I Deserve Love 12:07	buy track
4.	Love.Experiment.0004 31:23	buy track
5.	Love.Experiment.0005 16:24	buy track
6.	Love.Experiment.0003 27:08	buy track
7.	The Love Experiment 11:24	buy track
8.	Love & War (featuring Blinkhorn) 10:16 video	buy track
9.	Destroying Our Country 03:11	buy track
10.	Wake the Fuck Up! 03:19 video	buy track
11.	Tech Bros Playing Us Like Video Games 04:20	buy track
12.	Money 07:22	buy track
13.	War.Experiment.0000A 04:06 video	buy track
14.	War.Experiment.0001 24:41	buy track
15.	War (Part 1) 38:37	buy track
16.	War (Part 2) 42:51	buy track
17.	War (Part 3) 56:05	buy track
18.	War (Part 4) 52:30	buy track
19.	War (Part 5) 40:23	buy track
20.	Victory 55:05	buy track

about

In the midst of the Black Lives Matters protests of 2020, New York Times photographer Michael A. McCoy captured Bernard Farley, D.C. based experience artist who is also known as Outputmessage, sashaying with yellow flowers across a line of correctional police officers in riot gear, taunting them with his eyes as if to say, "I dare you to arrest this much love." Weeks later he led a march back to that very same location, now called Black Lives Matters Plaza, chanting over blaring techno beats created by the black musical pioneers who invented the genre, The Belleville Three. This gave birth to the techno protest anthem, "Wake the Fuck Up!", the first song that was recorded for what would become an 8 hour musical journey from love to war.

The mega album begins elegantly with the gentle percussion of "Feel the Love" on which Farley chants phrases like "You're beautiful" and "I love you" over a chorus of his own vocals which he adds slowly, layer after layer until it surrounds the listener in positive uplifting words. Nine songs and two and half hours later, he fiercely growls "He's destroying our country!" over chaotic industrial electro beats signaling the beginning of the war section of the journey. It's incredible that such vastly different sounding songs could be a part of the same musical experience, but that dichotomy is part of the central message of Love & War: is it possible to have one without the other?

Opposite extremes are also a sonic theme. The songs range in length from the four minutes of dystopian post-punk video game music in "Tech Bros Playing Us Like Video Games" to the sprawling four hour long "War" whose cavernous bass, eerie vocals, and abstract beats contrast sharply against the warm, bubbling synths and hypnotic rhythms of "Love.Experiment.0004" or the prideful chants of "I matter!" in the catchy electro track "I Deserve Love".

The vast scope of the record can be overwhelming, but it's not meant to be experienced all in one sitting. "I don't think of it as an album, more like a world to explore." At the end of this world is the hour long closing track "Victory". Recorded live at a warehouse that hosted queer underground techno parties before coronavirus changed the world, it evolves from tribal house to blistering minimal techno with a triumphant energy that suggests you can't get to victory without love & war.

credits

released October 29, 2020

Artwork, music and vocals by Bernard Farley. Synthesizer on "Love & War" by Patrick Blinkhorn. Tracks 1-19 recorded in The Basement. "Victory" recorded at a warehouse that shall not be named. All tracks recorded using the Roland TR-8S, MX-1, VT-4, System-1, the Boss RC-202 Loop Station, and the Shure Beta 58A. All tracks recorded live except tracks 9-11. Post-production on tracks 9-11 by Bernard Farley using Ableton Live 9.7.7. Mastered by Bernard Farley using iZotope Ozone 6.

Endless thanks to my husband Kris Pritchard for his support and love during this crazy year. This record would not be what it is without George Betancourt, Patrick Blinkhorn, Mark O'Brien. Miguel Lacsamana, Michael A. McCoy, Diyanna Monet, Nigel Lyons, and Morgan Tepper. Special thanks to all of you for being a part of the journey.

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about

Outputmessage Washington

Outputmessage is Bernard Farley, an experience artist based in Washington, D.C. Through, dancing, music, DJing, photography, and video, he creates familiar, yet subversive, multi-faceted experiences that explore themes of queer and black identity. His recent works include the explosive protest techno song and video “Wake the Fuck up!” and the bewildering Weapons of Mass Distraction. ... more

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