Radio Pyongyang: Commie Funk & Agit Pop

Various Artists
Sublime Frequencies
World | Sep 2005

Reviews

Fo
Reviewed 2006-03-14
[coll]: RADIO PYONGYANG
Sublime Frequencies, 2005

NORTH KOREA – Here’s yet another entry in Sublime Frequencies’ series of travel pastiches, blending live recordings, radio and TV snippets, and hard-to-find music releases into a mind-numbing audio collage. But this time it’s from North Korea, which means lots and lots of over-the-top heroic propaganda in praise of dictator Kim Jong Il! You don’t have to speak the language to know these singers are trying to manipulate/brainwash/browbeat you, but taken out of context it’s just like a big ball of fun.

The tracks are all pretty much the same, so just start any old place. Expect to hear plenty of cheesy synths, peppy melodies, large choruses alternating with high-pitched warbly lead voices, and bits of radio speeches.

2 sounds like a toothpaste commercial; 4 is more militaristic; 5 features little kids; 6 has a great English-language speech at the end.

[Fo] - 3/14/06

Recent airplay

Pride Of The Nation
PlumbotectonicsFeb 03, 2015
Pride Of The Nation
PlumbotectonicsJan 20, 2015
Numbers Game
PlumbotectonicsJan 13, 2015
New Model Army
Numbers Game, New Model Army, Motherland Megamix
Pride Of The Nation
Emphysema For EmphasisApr 10, 2009

Charting

2006-03-19 — 2006-05-21 Reggae/World
Week EndingAirplays
May 14 1
Apr 30 1
Apr 16 1
Apr 9 2
Apr 2 1

Track listing

1. Motherland Megamix
2. New Model Army
3. Numbers Game
4. Pride Of The Nation
5. Start 'em Young
6. Arirang
7. Commie Funk?
8. Motherland Redux