To any rational human being, to any person with an ounce of common sense and decency, the world that we’re currently living in, is a bit broken…let’s face it we’re regressing into a menagerie of opinionated, spiteful and downright backward human beings. In an evolved world, where acceptance and universal happiness should be second nature, we find ourselves in a socially political climate where minorities are still chastised for things as petty as belief or sexuality, even gender…or in recent times, a mixture of all three. In a world where political correctness and judgement seem to be at continual loggerheads, it’s often the minorities that suffer…just look at the government. The US for some unfathomable reason voted in Donald Trump as the new President…a misogynistic, brash, racist arsehole…the UK…under its current Conservative leadership has done more to damage the country than it has good, making the poor, the elderly and the disabled suffer through god awful ideological means; ruling through favoritism of social class…everything else? Well, everything else is quite frankly, a little bit shit. Take the issues with gender and sexuality for example…even typing this is weird, but we live in a world where people aren’t even allowed to be comfortable in their own skin…it doesn’t matter if you’re transgender, gay or however the hell you wish to identify yourself, you shouldn’t face scrutiny or prejudice from those who see only “normal” and “abnormal” traits in their narrow minded manner, and one artist tackling the issue is GAYWIRE. Hailing from Philadelphia and founded by Trans artist Jen Mastiffson (a self-appointed identity but through personal issues, not ready to 100% commit to being a woman) following the horrendous mass shooting at the Florida LGBT nightclub Pulse on June 12th 2016, the aggrotek-outfit are ready to spread awareness and promote acceptance simultaneously with the brand new EP “Cisters Of Mersa”…let’s check it out…
To begin with, Gaywire is essentially a play on the term hardwired, the notion that you’re born gay, it’s programmed, it’s not a phase, you don’t grow out of it, it’s part of who you are, part of your identity; it’s in your genes…secondly the EP title is equal parts a tribute to SISTERS OF MERCY, coupled with the term CIS (a term for basic birth assigned gender identification) and the super-bug MRSA, a dig at those who label the LGBT community a disease, looking upon them as ill or afflicted…while a clever play on words, it’s also very much tongue in cheek…and while that’s more than enough to take in, we haven’t even touched upon any music yet! The EP opens up with a track called “End Of Days” and Jen will tell you personally that it’s “aimed at the squares”…a long drawn intro loop of up-tempo techno and intense, repetitive percussion, before venomously the vocals rasp their way around more tongue in cheek concepts about a dystopian future where the gays have taken over the world; the sole intention being to offend, to make a bold statement…hate all you want, you won’t kill our community.
We follow up with the title track and the electronica here is initially very easy on the ears, more akin to a softer, dance-pop core sound…it does liven up sporadically but overall it’s less aggro, more tek…only the vocal delivery, again, raspy and course distinguishes this from your other EDM offerings…thematically it talks about the oppression and bullying the LGBT community face, highlighting the struggles they have to go through just to be acknowledged as equal or accepted. Lead single “Ave Satanas” also utilises the notion of trying to offend and sticks out like a sore dick…very controversial lyrically and visually too with the accompanying video…very much based around the idea of sin, conceptually using the coming of Satan as a metaphor for an LGBT uprising; a big middle finger up for gender equality, all contained within an industrial-inspired, almost darkwave based track. It’s incredibly bold and gets its point across well…
Elsewhere tracks such as the predominantly spoken-word “American Fear” while not necessarily an enjoyable ‘track’ per se, does successfully have a dig at typically blind, opinionated prejudices from certain folk in the American Bible belt, you know, those God fearing folk, culturally terrified sheep that take that mass produced work of fiction all too seriously and worryingly literally…their lack of acceptance and clichéd, negative, often derogatory views create more hate and their views are all too out-dated, before the EP finishes up on “Battle Hymn Of The Gay Agenda”…a tongue in cheek battle cry; waging war on oppression via the dance floor…the light synths and subtle atmospherics allowing for an aesthetically pleasing finale. Influenced by the likes of SKINNY PUPPY and VELVET ACID CHRIST….the idea was to use aggrotek as a means to release anger and frustration to convey a message, but really this is all musically quite accessible…good cause aside and while I’m not complaining, really I was expecting something far more aggressive and intense…Gaywire here had both the motivation and inspiration…and lyrically they’ve hit the nail on the head, but ideally there could have been a bit more sonic substance…go darker, go heavier, go harder and release the frustration…don’t hold back. Every flower in the gender garden deserves to blossom…don’t let that American fear keep you in the dark. [6]
To begin with, Gaywire is essentially a play on the term hardwired, the notion that you’re born gay, it’s programmed, it’s not a phase, you don’t grow out of it, it’s part of who you are, part of your identity; it’s in your genes…secondly the EP title is equal parts a tribute to SISTERS OF MERCY, coupled with the term CIS (a term for basic birth assigned gender identification) and the super-bug MRSA, a dig at those who label the LGBT community a disease, looking upon them as ill or afflicted…while a clever play on words, it’s also very much tongue in cheek…and while that’s more than enough to take in, we haven’t even touched upon any music yet! The EP opens up with a track called “End Of Days” and Jen will tell you personally that it’s “aimed at the squares”…a long drawn intro loop of up-tempo techno and intense, repetitive percussion, before venomously the vocals rasp their way around more tongue in cheek concepts about a dystopian future where the gays have taken over the world; the sole intention being to offend, to make a bold statement…hate all you want, you won’t kill our community.
We follow up with the title track and the electronica here is initially very easy on the ears, more akin to a softer, dance-pop core sound…it does liven up sporadically but overall it’s less aggro, more tek…only the vocal delivery, again, raspy and course distinguishes this from your other EDM offerings…thematically it talks about the oppression and bullying the LGBT community face, highlighting the struggles they have to go through just to be acknowledged as equal or accepted. Lead single “Ave Satanas” also utilises the notion of trying to offend and sticks out like a sore dick…very controversial lyrically and visually too with the accompanying video…very much based around the idea of sin, conceptually using the coming of Satan as a metaphor for an LGBT uprising; a big middle finger up for gender equality, all contained within an industrial-inspired, almost darkwave based track. It’s incredibly bold and gets its point across well…
Elsewhere tracks such as the predominantly spoken-word “American Fear” while not necessarily an enjoyable ‘track’ per se, does successfully have a dig at typically blind, opinionated prejudices from certain folk in the American Bible belt, you know, those God fearing folk, culturally terrified sheep that take that mass produced work of fiction all too seriously and worryingly literally…their lack of acceptance and clichéd, negative, often derogatory views create more hate and their views are all too out-dated, before the EP finishes up on “Battle Hymn Of The Gay Agenda”…a tongue in cheek battle cry; waging war on oppression via the dance floor…the light synths and subtle atmospherics allowing for an aesthetically pleasing finale. Influenced by the likes of SKINNY PUPPY and VELVET ACID CHRIST….the idea was to use aggrotek as a means to release anger and frustration to convey a message, but really this is all musically quite accessible…good cause aside and while I’m not complaining, really I was expecting something far more aggressive and intense…Gaywire here had both the motivation and inspiration…and lyrically they’ve hit the nail on the head, but ideally there could have been a bit more sonic substance…go darker, go heavier, go harder and release the frustration…don’t hold back. Every flower in the gender garden deserves to blossom…don’t let that American fear keep you in the dark. [6]
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