I remember the first time I heard Nitzer Ebb. It was 1987, and “Join in the Chant” from That Total Age was a six-minute revolution against the status quo. Its single-word sloganeering lyrics and industrial beat felt countercultural to what my music consumption had been up to that point.
There’s likely a 13-year-old kid out there right now that’s going to hear Odonis Odonis’s “Check My Profile” and are going to get their brains blown open. Its machine-precision rhythm will cut through this kid’s preconceived notions of social media interactions and open their mind to the critical analysis of media and its messaging. It will encourage them to ponder the isolating nature of technology and its implications for future generations.
Either that, or they’ll dance themselves into a sweaty lather, take selfies and snaps, and post them with links to the track, saying “This song freakin’ rocks!” in their status updates. Possibly both.
