General Labor just released their second album, The Airtight Garage. Thomas Corbin says the album was recorded in 2023, when General Labor was still a four-piece band. It’s available on a double cassette with the techno punk band’s first album Galaxy Motors from Memphis cassette label Machine Duplication Recordings.
“From petty beef and LSD-fueled baseball to presidential elections and the end of the world, this album spans the emotional gamut,” says Corbin. “The opening track ‘Calculator’ seems the most innocuous, but it actually serves as a sort of surrealist mission statement for the band. The simple chorus, “I don’t trust your calculator,” aggressively screamed over stabbing synths and squealing, affected guitars is a pretty direct encapsulation of the band’s love/hate relationship with technology, using complicated gear to express our technophobia.”
The band’s split personality finds expression in the “Calculator” music video. “When Nia Rincon revealed that she had been working on a fully AI music video for ‘Calculator’ that exemplified our tech-paranoia, we were super excited to see what her artistic vision would be. The uncomfortable, uncanny valley horror that comes with AI generated video proved really effective in getting our point across, and adds to the contradictory nature of the band by using the most current software available to express our trepidation for that very type of technological advancement.”
Here is the world premiere of “Calculator”!
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.