West Babylon by ako

https://www.facebook.com/akonewcastle/
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https://open.spotify.com/album/1xgKtdbmLdxoPrJes9hZcl

'West Babylon' features collaborations with Me Lost Me, Vigilance State and Kublai Shan and is ako's long awaited debut album. It is also available for cryptocurrency donation from:
https://www.linebreakrecords.com/ako-westbabylon

West Babylon
'I often use found phrases as titles, interesting snippets taken out of their often mundane context and imbued with new significance as the basis of musical tableau. West Babylon, a suburb in New York state, and namesake of Babylon, a wicked city of excesses and setting of cautionary parables, is used in this context as a comment on western capitalism, and as a reference to the trope of 'Babylon' often found in reggae, dub, punk and related genres. We are all living in a Western Babylon after all.'

Spirit Compass
'A compass using alcohol and water to suspend the needle. Apparently mundane today, but no doubt and invention that has had some profound impact on the world we live in. I can't honestly remember the last time I was physically lost, and yet so many of us are in need of existential and metaphysical guidance, in need of a spirit compass perhaps.'

Bonemill Interchange.
'Bonemill Interchange is a bus station in Washington, Sunderland, UK, and one of the bleakest things I've ever read on the front of a bus. The Bonemill is a representation of the endless churn of existence in a part of the world that lost its purpose with the collapse of British industry and mining and has been looking for a new hope ever since.'

RebellionTM
'A commentary on the notions of pre-packaged rebellion as profitable merchandising ideas. Prefabricated flatpacked revolution, champagne socialists in Che Guevara t-shirts etc.'

Liquid Zoo
'A playful celebration of meme culture and of whoever it was that described an aquarium as a 'liquid zoo'. An exploration of absurdist pleasure in the escapism of virtual spaces that are utterly pointless. The kind which are gradually drying up as the internet continues to be gentrified and commercialised. Yet memes can still transcend this and make subversive ideas transmutable in a way that transcends the algorithmic popularity cult of modern browsing.’

High Altitude Burial
'A song about mortality and those who die in search of immortality. Inspired by musings about those who die and lay forever un-decaying on the slopes of Mount Everest. It must be uncomfortably apparent that there is a fairly good chance of dying, yet they do it anyway in hopes to place themselves amongst a rarefied group or they will die trying, their bodies a deepfrozen testament to the human spirit, and in that way also immortal...'

Carrion Flower
'A carrion flower emits the odour of death to attract the living (insects) that it needs to complete its life cycle. New life in the shadow of death, rebirth steeped in the odour of decay. A strangely visually appealing flower in photographs, where the scent is not an issue...It's strange how decay can appeal to those that do not have to live the experience.'

NIGHTFOREST (again)
'The sensation of walking in the woods alone at night with only your thoughts for company, an exploration of the wilderness within by walking through the darkness without. A sensation of freedom in suspended reality.'

Asbestos Cutter
'A tool from a lost age, a comment on the wonder products that are in so many ways killing us all slowly'

Tracklist

1.	West Babylon	4:21

2.	Spirit Compass feat. Me Lost Me	4:35

3.	Bonemill Interchange	4:51

4.	RebellionTM feat. Kublai Shan	4:50

5.	Liquid Zoo	4:33

6.	High Altitude Burial (Album mix)	3:54

7.	Carrion Flower (Vigilance State Haxan Mix)	4:24

8.	Asbestos Cutter	4:40

9.	NIGHTFOREST (again) feat Badger	4:57

10.	Carrion Flower (Album Mix)	4:59

11.	Spirit Compass (Instrumental)	4:35

12.	RebellionTM	4:50

Credits

released September 12, 2020

written & produced by Simeon Soden

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