Chris Korda’s latest EP “Primitive Man” interrogates the myth of human superiority and the barbarism that flows from it. Despite our current obsession with social justice, gross inequality persists between humans and non-humans. Our species supremacy echoes Biblical edicts to subdue the earth and have dominion over all its creatures. Many animals experience emotions identical to ours, including pleasure, pain, comfort, fear, curiosity and boredom, but that hasn’t stopped us from oppressing and murdering animals on an inconceivable scale.
The title track ironically contrasts primitive and civilized ways of life with sharp lines such as “No more swinging from trees, you’re done with that / Sit down, watch TV, drink beer and get fat.” “Lunch Break” is a thunderous breakbeat reworking of Korda’s pro-vegan anthem “Fleshdance.” The remaining tracks are instrumentals subtly influenced by traditional Turkish music. Korda pioneered complex polymeter—the use of multiple time signatures simultaneously—in electronic dance music, and “Primitive Man” continues that tradition, but in a stripped-down, minimal way.
