1. Lights Out
2. The Fall
3. We Could If We Wanted To
4. All Fucked Up
5. Get Ready To Run
6. The Idea & The Reality
7. Home Alone Again
8. Lazy Monday Mornings
9. Messin' With Dynamite
10. One For The Underclass

This was the Rude Corps debut album, featuring the first track I ever wrote in Renoise ("We Could If We Wanted To") and it's a very rough and ready record. It actually seems almost minimalist in places compared to how dense my sound would become. In some respects it also sounds more like a throwback to some of my later OctaMED albums, particularly in regards to the arrangements and simple melody lines. It seems maybe more cohesive in terms of the sound palette though, and I think that's because all of the samples used were just the stock ones that came with Renoise, plus a MIDI piano sound off my crappy Soundblaster soundcard. Digging into my old files I'm slightly surprised at how quickly this was all written, with there being two different days in which I wrote three songs on each day. Mental. Maybe that's a reflection of the explosive relief I felt to be back working in a tracker.

Overall, I've got a bit of a soft spot for this record. It sounds raw and a lot grimier than anything I've done since (though the version I'm making available is actually a re-mix from May 2007). It's got a distinctive sound and some of the production touches are actually pretty sweet (I still love the filtered breaks on the closing track). The only bit I feel at all embarrassed by are the CD liner notes, reproduced in full below. Guess who'd just discovered Alexander Berkman's ABC's Of Anarchist Communism. :-p

Life In The Shadows CD Liner Notes

It doesn't take much to find yourself living in the shadows these days; in fact, society seems to drive people out there, to the edge; label them as 'undesirable' and shove them out into the dark. The reasons are apparently infinite: maybe its something you say or the way you dress, or maybe its because you've got no money or your skin is a different colour. Whatever the specifics, the fundamental reason is this: that you're unwilling or unable to live according to someone else's expectations.

The definition of these expectations is the privilege of the amoral majority, the "decent, hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying" herd. Those who don't conform to their narrow vision are made to suffer in countless ways: they are ignored, mocked, beaten, imprisoned, and even murdered.

Everywhere I look it's the same: some self-appointed authority laying down the law as to what's acceptable, what's cool, what's relevant, what's right, and then the fucking herd follow and enforce these arbitrary rules out of fear and stupidity. Not even the so-called "countercultures" are immune to this disease.

There is an alternative to that shit: anarchy - no authorities, no arbitrary laws, no compulsion, just freedom and equality, toleration and respect. Of course, a world based on the principles of anarchism - liberty, equality and solidarity - has yet to appear. For it to come about, we need nothing less than an all out revolution - social, political, economic, personal. It's a lot, but it is possible.

Until then: FUCK AUTHORITY.

This album is dedicated to all the dreamers and misfits out there - our time in the sun will come...

All tracks written, recorded, mixed, produced by Neil O'Brien. Art work by Mistah Bud.