Above Black

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My, but Andrew Lagowski has become one paranoid fellow. He's grown from a wistful weekend astronomer, admiring the "Geometry of Night" (incoming! 1996), into a full-blown conspiracy thumper - intent on peeling back the tissue of lies with which the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence has been shrouded. The delicious conceit of his latest album - issued, fittingly enough, from the supposedly "dead" office of Touch's deceased Ash International label - previous purveyors of intelligence leaks, black-box broadcastings and sundry illicit wiretappings - is that not only is there extraterrestrial intelligence, but that the brainy ET's walk freely among us, conducting their horrifying experiments in mind control and radionuclear freeze-drying with the willing assistance of shadowy government agencies. Old hat to any observant X-phile or MIB, of course, but this aint Hollywood, and agents Mulder, Scully, J and K are nowhere in sight. Normal everyday concerned global citizen Lagowski is threatening to blow the whole stinkin' cover-up wide open, the consequences be damned. Do you really know who your friends and neighbors are? Doesn't the unchecked proliferation of microwave ovens, satellite receivers, cable modems and disposable razors seem just a mite suspicious? What's in non-dairy creamer? Was that really a mailbox? How does milk know when to turn sour? Are you buttering your bagels, or are your bagels buttering you?! The truth is out there, and it may be hiding its horrible visage behind the skin-deep cover of the unthinkably mundane. All of which returns us to the matter at hand, Lagowski's findings about the Black Projects and the busyness occurring beyond the ignorant eyes of those entrusted with "top secret" access codes. His data, gathered from god-knows-where and submitted for our approval in subversive CD format (under the non-suspect guise of "recorded music"), draws the curtains on the audible evidence of ET activity. He leaves the ultimate interpretation of Above Black to us. Incontrovertible proof of alien operations, encoded within telemetric Alpha wave drones, slanted and garbled radio transmissions and frequencies which lie just on the safe side of human detectability? The delusions of a parascientist? Believe what you will. Just don't say that Lagowski didn't try to warn you when you wake one day to find your humble existence darkened by the fixed shadow of doubt and your coffee clouded with suspicion. Think about it... Wasn't that potted ficus a few more inches away from the wall last night? Did you imagine that metallic glint in your teabag this morning? And didn't the water taste funny?