The Evolution Control Committee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gunderson displays the Thimbletron.

An experimental music band from Columbus, Ohio founded by Mark Gunderson in 1986, The Evolution Control Committee (ECC) typically uses uncleared and illegal samples from various sources as a form of protest against copyright law. They are one of the pioneers of the Mash-Up, where two or more songs are mixed together into a new track. The ECC also produces numerous audio experiments, often involving the disfiguring of compact discs, and has produced a few video works as well, ranging from re-edited 50's corporate shorts to a Teddy Ruxpin reciting the works of William S. Burroughs. Other activities include culture jamming.

The ECC is probably best known for its song "Rocked by Rape", consisting of samples of Dan Rather's deadpan delivery describing various atrocities over looped riffs from AC/DC's "Back in Black". This work brought legal threats against the ECC by CBS, but by 2003, CBS appears to have let the issue go by. The song was even played at a roast for Rather, which was then broadcast on C-SPAN. Nearly as popular are the "Public Enemy/Whipped Cream Mixes", with Public Enemy's inflammatory raps over classic Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

The ECC Logo.

Since 2000, Gunderson has performed his works on stage through an electronic instrument of his own invention: "The Thimbletron." It is made of a pair of gloves with ten thimbles attached at the ends of the fingers, which are then wired to a laptop computer. As the thimbles are touched together, the laptop in turn plays a different sound sample. Gunderson claims that the device uses "thimbletronium energy" and warns that "thimbletronic radiation can leak unexpected due to a mishap during a live performance. The audience is advised to attend Thimbletron performances at their own risk." Gunderson has also modified a bread toaster in a similar fashion, with each depression of a lever playing a sample.

[edit] Discography

Packaged in a 5.5 inch floppy disc, Double the Phat and Still Tasteless is typical of the ECC's experimental packaging.

The album Gunderphonic, packaged in an 8-track cassette.

The Whipped Cream Mixes was a college radio hit in the mid-1990's. (The image on the cover is one of Gunderson's two pet cats, It'll or Hadn't.)

Jesu Boy of Man's Desiring (Self Release)

Audio cassette featuring early cut-ups.

Buddha Bleach (Self Release)

Audio cassette featuring early cut-ups.

The Last Mall (Self Release)

Audio cassette featuring loops and crank phone calls. Packaged in a "Lazarusears" shopping bag.

Big Wyoming (Self Release)

Audio cassette featuring travelogue of a Gunderson family ski vacation accompanied by Casio. Packaged in postcards.

Gunderphonic (Self Release)

Audio cassette featuring cut-ups, including the well known Whipped Cream mixes and two "corrected" speeches by George H. W. Bush. The audio cassette is packaged inside of an old 8-track cassette.

Double the Phat and Still Tasteless (Released on Eerie Materials)

CD featuring cut-ups and electronica, as well as absurdist humor skits and guest performances. A 5.5 inch floppy disc is slit along one side and the CD is slipped inside.

Plagiarhythm Nation(Released on Seeland Records)

CD featuring cut-ups and electronica.

The Whipped Cream Mixes (Released on Eerie Materials/Pickled Egg)

Vinyl 45. Side A - Rebel Without A Pause. Side B - By The Time I Get to Arizona.

Unreleased Ambient Works (Self Released)

CD featuring dark atmospheric/illbient works.

Rocked by Rape (Released on Eerie Materials)

Vinyl 45.

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized (Self Released)

VHS video cassette.

Compact Discstructions (Self Released)

A manual packaged with a random CD. The manual describes various ways to make a CD play incorrectly, and is intended ultimately to destroy the CD.

Subliminal (Self Released)

Cassette featuring many layered subliminal self-help recordings. The website claims that side one "will increase your creativity, improve your employment, develop your ESP, help you stop smoking, and so on." While side two, being a reverse recording of the same, "will help you gain weight, get demoted, become stupid, etc." link