Within 25 minutes of pressing play everything in this space will bebleached, cleansed, and returned to its proper place. There is nothingout of place, no surface smudged, and no voices speaking aboveeachother; everything is closely, carefully, and painfully monitored.Cyclotimia's cold, cold presentation makes the setting of Orwell's 1984seem like a happy place filled with the vibrant activity of free andstrong people. The mechanical and soulless presentation makes sense,though: Trivial Pleasures comes with a booklet that outlinesNasdaq's personal mission statement and provides information on"Miniaturized, Implantable Identification Technology;" the implicationis clearly that of a Big Brother atmosphere. In addition, this albumwas apparently inspired by Wim Merten's For Amusement Only, acomposition written for pinball machines. The inspiration shows: manyof the sounds are repeated loops of chimey and high pitched ringsmodulating through various tones. The effect is dizzying and somewhatfrightening. The sounds of knives scratching together crash into achaos of tin and other metals crushing together while synthesizers moandeep beneath the surface of some icey landscape - this is not intendedfor pleasant afternoon listening. For all of its alien facts, Trivial Pleasuresis surprisingly fun to listen to. There's an element of cynicism thathas to be appreciated in songs like "Market Experts." Horrible machinesused to grind human bones to pulp churn underneath a repeated vocalloop... "analyzed by experts, analyzed by experts, analyzed byexperts." Everything is perfectly safe, trust me! All that happens hereis in the best interest of the people! Nothing here could be possiblybe of any harm, right? And with a laugh Cyclotimia grin and continue togrind out the choking sound of capitalist industry. Though this kind ofjumbled noise would normally turn me off, Trivial Pleasures manages to keep my interest. Granted, it's a short album, but that only works to its advantage.Read More
