The WhimWham

I’ve  been a DEVO fan for a long time. While they’re known primarily as a novelty one-hit wonder, they actually put out a lot of quality music between 1977 and 1990, including eight studio albums. They’re like Mad Magazine meets The Church of the SubGenius, with a dose of Mystery Science Theater 3000 for good measure. It’s comical performance art, and the joke’s on all of us, including DEVO themselves.

And now they’re back. Something For Everybody was released last month, and it’s their best album since… 1982? 1981? 1980? 1978? It’s hard to say. It’s that good.

This time around, they’re satirising the process of selling-out itself. The album is “88% focus group approved” and even the colour of their hats was (supposedly) chosen by mass consensus. The absurdity of the whole exercise is simply sublime.

Here’s their new song, “Fresh”:

Allow me a moment of geekiness. (I have a lot of those, however…)

I grew up with Tron. I’ve been mesmerised by that film ever since I saw the trailer in 1982, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that, in no small part, it’s one of the reasons I’m in the computer science field now, 28 years later.

The original Tron was strange, otherworldly, spiritual, quirky, funny, scary, surreal and futuristic; like Star Wars before it, it was a joyously goofy adventure film at times, yet it wasn’t afraid to play it totally straight. It was a myth for the Information Age. And now it’s back in the form of (what appears to be) a very faithful sequel, and I can’t be happier.

Here’s the latest trailer:

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