Despite the goofy stage antics White Ambassador has it going on. They have an awesome tape demo that could be classified as 80s hardcore revival, a 'snotty' poison idea so to speak, but fall more in line with contemporary acts like 'Youth Attack' bands and the now defunct Cold Sweat. They also have intense live energy. The one thing that holds them back for me is the "image" conveyed by the band, but that is beside the music, which is the subject of my reviewing. I love the Distract kids no matter what they do really, they always end up creating something hilarious and awesome. If you like work boots, hard-hats, and smoking cigarettes you will love White Ambassador.
A funny side note is the Dostoevsky quote in the tape. Dostoevsky was one of my favorite authors when I was younger. Since I was 17 I have been reading a lot of Existential philosophy pulling from favorites like Sartre, Dostoevsky, Kirkegaard, Heidegger, and Nietzsche among others. When you're young and can't quite figure out why you're so pissed (aside from the obvious things like abusive pasts, drug abuse, not fitting social roles, etc.) you delve heavily into the role the individual plays in society (the way the world is shaped now has a srious focus on the individual consumer apart from society). The logical consequence is that you become a recluse, so to speak, and end up not caring how your actions affect others because, 'everyone else is so fucked up'. This leads to blaming abstract social institutions for your problems. This led to my reading of a lot of Thoreau particularly Walden/Civil Disobedience and Walking. Figuring out your problems in isolation and finding a way to transcend your role in society to become a positive influence on others, and to take a corny peace-punk reference, "strive to survive causing the least harm possible". This pushed me into studying rationalist and empiricist philosophers in depth and finding a serious passion for the work. I'm currently working on a lot in language-based philosophy. So true White Ambassador boys, a search for reason for human actions/nature is entirely useless, there is no basis for abstract concepts like reason, purpose, justice, morality, etc. and a quest for these things (in your own validation) leads to harm to others. It's not until you can transcend your role in 'society' and the 'human political world' that you will see the way you behave and the way you think is shaped by these things. Long story short, you get pissed off and want to smash things/cause harm to distinguish yourself from others, to rebel, to simply live, exist, have fun, but the only reason you feel this desire is because you're still a pawn. In the realm of society you can apply reason: get violent to fight oppression, burglarize and steal from corporations, smash private property, validate your existence in a way that is constructive. But here comes the dialectic: no matter what, people will still choose to act out arbitrarily, so although 'everyone' (loosely) may not agree on ethos and all have arguments that can be logically validated, we can reach for transcendence. Enjoy this band. Shit gets too serious sometimes, let's let our true kantian light show haha. I contacted them for lyrics and got this response:
"yes i do, and here they are:
I AM MAD ABOUT GIRLS AND LIFE AND SUCH, I AM ALSO DRUNK."
I should probably clarify that I have no beef with this band or the members, I am just giving my commentary.
Download
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDude are you joking? White Ambassador is actually the real deal. There's no image or whatever your talking about. Clearly you missed the point of this band. I don't even see a revival movement at all dude, they do this for themselves and their friends because practically everything going on in Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia straight sucks! Other way around my friend, its the nwhardcore kids who are image obsessed & bite style like none other
ReplyDelete