Review: Chris Korda – Not My Problem, I’ll be Dead EP [BBB]

By Trommel Staff – 9 October 2023

With each passing release from Yoyaku and Perlon mainstay Chris Korda, her manifesto is clear, and that is to educate all those that listen to her music on the current and future state of the world we call home. Offering blistering rhetoric on how we found ourselves in this sorry state, each track, as well as being excellent productions, always come with a large side of brutal parody. Chris Korda consistently lampoons her own generation as being the apathetic group of individuals that can be largely attributed to the downfall of the planet.

Readers of these pages will likely remember Chris’s Perlon bound long player “Apologise to the Future”, where this record spoke on behalf of current and future generations, “Not My Problem, I’ll Be Dead” is written as if a directly flippant response to the topics posed previously. Beginning with “Baby Batter Bingo” the harsh synths inject a distinct edge to the release, the vocoded musings tell the tale of the protagonist, born into money at the height of the Baby Boomer generation and the disdain for the future cannot be hidden. There is a bit of juxtaposition here with regards to the vocal content not matching with the mostly upbeat and sparkly audio content, but this is where Korda comes into her own.

Following is lead track “Not My Problem, I Will be Dead” and the verbal middle finger continues to be flicked in the direction of the coming ages. The track title tells you all you need to know about the intended message here, the track also goes a long way to tell this story also, with waning synths, bowing bass tones and jazzy percussion licks present an ominous picture. Having been inspired by her father, it is not clear whether he welcomes his daughter’s point of view or music, but we are sure the sentiment is not completely lost.

Side B is just as thought provoking and widely informed by Korda’s readings and influences from the likes of Woody Allen, Emily Dickinson, and Elon Musk. “Have A Good One” is a bittersweet commentary on a number of combined ideas with the optimistic bassline and shimmering vocals explaining that when it comes to this generation they took what they wanted because they could and now it’s up to you to pay the price tag. Completing another footnote in Chris Korda’s legacy is “Awesome On Mars” and the previously mentioned billionaire was the centerpoint for Korda reimagining Las Vegas, but transplanted to Mars. Written on the way to the airport, the skipping beats, flickering percussion, and bubbling synth lines offer a cosmic backdrop to the thoughts on Earth already being a defunct proposition.

While each track does have predominant time signatures, for those interested in the song structure and use of polymeter “Baby Batter Bingo” is in 4/4 and 3/4, “Not My Problem, I’ll Be Dead” in 17/4, “Have a Good One” in 5/4, and “Awesome on Mars” in 35/4.

You can buy Chris Korda’s “Not My Problem, I’ll be Dead” EP from Yoyaku now.

If this resonates with you and you are looking for more science from Chris, then we highly recommend checking out her recent “Primitive Man” EP, also available on Yoyaku.

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