Postkiwi

Can you imagine George Bush singing John Lennon’s song, “Imagine”? With a little imagination, George’s speeches can be mixed, morphed and poured into the song.

Tom Compagnoni, an independent recording artist based in Sydney, Australia, set up Wax Audio to capture, transfigure and promulgate mass-media mixed with recycled beats, original samples and a wealth of material taken from the digitized multi-track tapes of previously recorded works. In addition to sourcing, editing and arranging the audio data for each piece, he plays guitar and percussion on many tracks. He has released two EPs in the last couple of years - WMD …and other distractions and Mediacracy.

Mediacracy presents appropriated media sound bytes that deliberately set out to demonstrate the way information is manipulated to present any particular point of view. Playing the media like an instrument, Wax Audio juxtaposes found sounds in a way that forces the listener to confront the bias, contradiction and sensationalism inherent in their daily intake of media information. By filtering everything else out, bombarding them only with selected keywords and phrases, alternating the context and never pausing for breath, Mediacracy paints a stark picture of the Media’s role in our technology driven world.

The John W Bush version of “Imagine” has found its way into the ether and appeared on a number of sites.

Imagine there’s no heaven,
It’s easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace…
Imagine no possesions, I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer, but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you’ll join us, And the world will live as one.