With Violence, Joy, and Discipline, Symptoms has created three “album applications” that display images while music is playing. It’s an interesting multimedia technique, but I prefer just the music, so I deleted the applications and kept the MP3 files. Each album is a single, 32- to 45-minute track of wandering musical friction. The unnamed artist behind the “Symptoms” mask is as familiar with Nine Inch Nails as with Morton Subotnick as with the Akira soundtrack, and it shows in the music. Violence reminds of an electronic noise version of Godspeed! You Black Emperor. Joy begins peacefully, becomes pounding and energetic, then moves to sections that defy description. Discipline segues between quiet but restless interludes and noisy, building climaxes. The unease never lets up. Some the finest indie avant-garde I’m likely to link to on this blog, and if you like the mixed-media presentation… bonus!

To see a short film that works on a similar concept (avant-garde music accompanying a progression of images), watch _grau (yes, that’s how the title is written), a freely downloadable masterpiece of modern abstract cinema. Trust me. Do it.

The Symptoms download page offers each album for Windows or Mac in a zipped package of the 192kbps MP3 and the multimedia program. The Windows files are linked below.

Download
Symptoms - Violence
Symptoms - Joy
Symptoms - Discipline