Control K: Homepage

Originally issued as a limited edition release in 2003, 'The Front Line' has been reworked, remixed and mastered. It is now available as 'The Front Line (Redux)' from Cafepress.com (a press-on-demand website) for $12.99.

Sample clips of the tracks featured on 'The Front Line (Redux)' are available below. Each mp3 file comes in at about 1 minute long. To listen to an mp3 clip, click on the song title link . If you have a media player already installed, the track should either appear in your browser window and start playing or launch your player and begin playback. If you don't have a media player already installed, QuickTime or Winamp can be downloaded here. To download an mp3, right click on the file and 'Save Target As' if using a Windows platform, or Control + click if using a Mac.

Control K now has a new presence on the Internet at Myspace.com where 4 of the below tracks can be listened to online or downloaded in full. MySpace is an online community that lets you meet your friends' friends. Go to www.myspace.com/controlk and tell your friends about it to spread the word.

‘The Front Line (Redux)’ is the debut commercial CD release by Control K. Over four years in the making, work on the project began in 2001 in Brighton (UK) with the matching of a couple of beats that fitted together on a sequencing program. The music built up, mutated and settled down over the years that followed. The final remixes of the nine songs that comprise the track listing and the mastering of the collection were completed in Tokyo, Japan, in 2004.

Beginning with the dawn chorus of an English garden and ending with the lapping of the waves on a stony shore, the music in between is a varied collection of electronic protest sounds, love and hate songs, dubscapes and uptempo rump shakers. Field recordings taken from the February 15^th 2003 Anti-War March through London, the biggest street demonstration that Britain had ever seen, form the backbone of the disc. The sounds of a nation on the march for peace, the British people booing at the gates of Downing Street and extracts from the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s epochal address to the vast hordes and tribes gathered in Hyde Park are woven in amongst disco drones, dub flecks and samba-flavoured pulses from the carnival.

‘Rain Dance’ rises from the opening static and dances through the rain. ‘Milkwood’ is a springtime frolic through a place that doesn’t exist. ‘Eloise Twisk’ is a paean to a special senorita that rocks, grooves, rolls and caresses. ‘Frontline Dub (9 Love Mix)’ signals the turning point for the darkening of the collection, yet is balanced by a soft female voice intoning in Japanese from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. ‘Holidays In The Axis Of Evil’ provides a slight respite from the darkness that follows ‘Frontline Dub’, with its Arabic sunrise opening, Earth Summit commentary and Orb-esque ambient stylings. The disc closes with ‘1441’, a beat snaking through the largest crowd you’ll ever see and becoming a bomb.

In its initial form, ‘The Front Line’ was released with a limited run during the summer of 2003, to friends and family of the artist. It was longer, more sample heavy and riddled with copyright conundrums. The ‘Redux’ edition is leaner, sleeker, more focused and less liable for litigation.

The booklet for the first issue included archive works by the artist, such as paintings, drawings, montages and illustrations, from across the years. They have all been replaced in the booklet for the ‘Redux’ edition by photographs taken from the artist’s Asian travels. Pictures from Hiroshima, Okinawa and Beijing chime in with the album’s musical themes of peace and conflict.

Control K is...the sound of now, then and sometimes. Control K is...a mashed up mix of it all. Control K is...a thought on my mind. Control K is...a link to the rest of the world. Control K is...whatever you want it to be.

The Age of the European Empires, that had lasted for centuries and straddled the globe, came to an end as the nations of Europe battled each other on home ground between 1939 and 1945, during World War II.

Before this struggle began, Japan had already established a number of its own colonies. Once the Western powers were engaged with fighting each other, Japan attacked and invaded the Europeans' Far Eastern colonies, under the guise of liberating other Asian countries from the powers that occupied them and creating an 'Asia for Asians', whilst also then gaining control of the natural resources held in these areas.

The United States entered into the conflict when Japanese forces attacked their naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, removing the threat of the US Navy’s fleet and killing over 2,400 Americans. America’s entering into WWII ultimately resulted in the balance of power in the world tipping considerably in their favour.

Over two days of sustained firebombing in March 1945, great swathes of Tokyo were burnt down and 100,000 people were killed. During the same month, the Battle Of Okinawa (which was to be the final land battle of WWII) began. It lasted for three months, started with a huge bombardment that locals came to refer to as ‘the typhoon of steel’, and claimed 12,500 US lives and an estimated 250,000 Japanese ones.

At 8.15am on August 6th 1945, the first Atomic Bomb was dropped, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A kilometer wide radioactive fireball consumed the city in less than a second, with all that remained of some victims being their shadows seared onto the rubble. Although the final death toll is still unknown, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum puts it at approximately 140,000.

A second bomb was detonated over the city of Nagasaki on August 9th, claiming a further estimated 70,000 deaths. An American naval officer who visited the area a few weeks later described "the absolute essence of death...It's everywhere and nothing has escaped its touch."

Since WWII, the US has bombed 21 countries: China, Korea, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, Congo, Peru, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Grenada, Libya, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Bosnia, Sudan, Former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

To the millions who marched in London and across the world, for peace and against war, in 2003. To Maggie B. (& David) for the space and sanctuary that allowed this to be put together. AudioActive for the training, advice, guidance and samples. The people who have been Sounds Phenomenal over the years, for believing in it, helping out and carrying it on. Mudge and the others of Peace Not War, for their hard work in bringing back music with an edge and a message. The rest of the Brighton crews, for being themselves (etc). Tokyo, for the open arms after Brighton. The artists who inspired and led the way. And you, if you're listening to this and digging it!

All music written, composed, arranged and sequenced by Control K. Published by SPR Music. Mastering by Tomohisa Nakamura at Breeze Index, Tokyo. Harmonica on 'Frontline Dub (9 Love Mix)' by Control K. Japanese female vocal on 'Frontline Dub (9 Love Mix)' by Tomoko Sato, reading from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 1, 3, 4 5 & 6) and the Japanese Constitution (Article 9); 'Frontline Dub (9 Love Mix)' also contains a sample of a radio announcement featuring former US President Harry Truman, announcing the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima . 'Holidays In The Axis Of Evil' contains a sample from an interview with Tony Juniper of Friends Of The Earth from Radio Earth Summit. Field recordings on 'Rain Dance', 'Frontline Dub (9 Love Mix)' and '1441' of protest march and Jesse Jackson speech in Hyde Park recorded at the February 15th 2003 anti-war march in London.

All booklet and sleeve artwork by D1 Designs. 'Forbidden City Walls', 'A-Bomb Dome', 'Hakone People Sculpture' and 'Okinawan Sunset' photographs by Dominic Pates. Contact: d1designs [a] soundsphenomenal [dot] org


Organisation	Description
1441	The United Nations Security Council Resolution in full.
Adbusters	Global network for advancing the social activist movement of the information age.
Anti War Songs	Extensive collection of anti-war music links.
CND	Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Common Dreams	News and views for the progressive community.
Cost Of War	The cost of the Iraq War to the US, in dollars.
Earth Summit 2002	Resource site from the 2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit.
The Fire This Time	Audio project designed to deconstruct the first Gulf War.
The Guardian	Best daily newspaper on the web.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum	Official Hiroshima Atomic Bombing museum.
Indymedia	Independent Media Collective offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage.
Japanese Constitution	Includes Article 9, committing the country to pacifism.
The Memory Hole	Rescuing knowledge, freeing information.
George Monbiot	Website of British author and journalist, featuring many articles.
Musicians 4 Peace	Coalition of musicians calling for peace, civil liberties, human rights, and tolerance.
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum	Official Nagasaki Atomic Bombing museum.
New Internationalist	Magazine about the people, ideas and actions in the fight for global justice.
New Songs For Peace	UNESCO-endorsed project encouraging people to think about peace through music.
No Logo	Website of Canadian author and journalist Naomi Klein, featuring many articles.
Not In Our Name	A U.S. network for helping resistance to the U.S. government's course of war.
One World	News and views promoting human rights awareness and fighting poverty.
Peace Boat	Japanese NGO promoting peace, human rights, sustainable development and the environment.
Peace News	The International Antimilitarist Magazine.
Peace Not War	Creative responses to war, with Online Jukebox and Peace Group Search Engine.
Peace Pledge Union	Organisation working towards creating a just world free from war.
Peace Web - Hiroshima	Site for free bi-lingual Hiroshima-based magazine.
Protest.net	Global activist calendar.
Protest Records	Vast collection of free anti-war and protest music.
SchNEWS	Weekly direct action newsletter.
Stop The War Coalition (UK)	Coalition formed to oppose and fight the Iraq War.
Universal Declaration Of Human Rights	'All Human Rights For All' - adopted by the UN General Assembly, December 1948.

	Rain Dance	Analysis
	Milkwood	Eloise Twisk
	Frontline Dub	Darkness
	Bombs Care	Holidays In The Axis Of Evil
	1441

some of the artists and musical things that inspire - an ongoing links project
	808 State	Aphex Twin	Basement Jaxx
Boards Of Canada	LTJ Bukem	The Chemical Brothers	Daft Punk
Death In Vegas	Brian Eno	Future Sound Of London	David Holmes
The KLF	Kraftwerk	Leftfield	New Order
The Orb	Orbital	Ryukyu Underground	Roni Size
Squarepusher	Thievery Corporation	Underworld	Warp Records
	Beastie Boys	Coldcut	DJ Krush
DJ Shadow	Michael Franti & Spearhead	Gang Starr	Grandmaster Flash
Jungle Brothers	Jurassic 5	Kelis	KRS One
Massive Attack	NER*D	Ninja Tunes	The Pharcyde
Portishead	Public Enemy	Gil Scott Heron	The Streets
Roots Manuva	Timbaland	A Tribe Called Quest	Wu-Tang Clan
	Alpha & Omega	Horace Andy	Black Uhuru
Blood & Fire	Burning Spear	Jimmy Cliff	Dillinger
Dr. Dick's Dub Shack	King Tubby	Linton Kwesi Johnson	Mad Professor
Bob Marley (& The Wailers)	Junior Murvin	Misty In Roots	On-U Sound
Augustus Pablo	Lee 'Scratch' Perry	Scientist	Jah Shaka
Toots & The Maytals	Peter Tosh	Trojan Records	U-Roy
	Albert Ayler	Louis Armstrong	Ron Carter
Don Cherry	Ornette Coleman	John Coltrane	Miles Davis
Duke Ellington	Gil Evans	Ella Fitzgerald	Dizzy Gillespie
Herbie Hancock	Billie Holliday	Wynton Marsalis	Charles Mingus
Thelonious Monk	Charlie Parker	Maceo Parker	Sun Ra
Max Roach	Sonny Rollins	Horace Silver	Nina Simone