Self-Checkout Renaissance – Neoliberalism and the Damage Done

Artist: Self-Checkout Renaissance

Title: Neoliberalism and the Damage Done

Release: CD / Digital

Year: 2023

Label: Self-Released

Experimental post-punk band Self-Checkout Renaissance’s latest album, Neoliberalism and the Damage Done, released on March 3, 2023, is just as creative, catchy, and socially relevant as their 2021 debut, Fair Trade Blood Diamonds, but even more musically diverse, with more tempo changes, as well as a very prevalent synthesizer and occasional growling vocals. The band seems to be exquisitely striving to create an even more eclectic sound.

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Brian Domingue and Connor Guiberteau, the sonic atmosphere of the songs and their deep conceptuality are fully developed to a high level of professionalism that rarely exists today. The sound is clear and very compact, excellently complementing the band’s difficult and sometimes chaotic musical ideas. The catchy post-punk bass lines are especially well done in the mix—loud, but perfectly balanced with the other instruments and the odd and specific vocals with such a wide and dynamic range—sometimes angry, sometimes satirical, but always creative and catchy.

The sound of the album bears a striking resemblance to other art-punk/post-punk releases, such as the work of Nation of Ulysses and Flux of Pink Indians. The band members also admit that the bass parts were inspired by new wave singer-songwriter Elvis Costello. And the dissonant guitar parts—by post-hardcore legends Fugazi and Black Eyes. Fans of the aforementioned bands will surely hear the striking similarities, and will be pleased to hear an influenced band that takes from the classics and makes their own, complementing them with an experimental approach to songwriting.

The name of the record was inspired by Neil Young’s iconic song “The Needle and the Damage Done,” which deals with drug addiction—a disease similar in nature to neoliberal consumerism, fueled by an obsession with perpetual growth and accumulation of resources.

The band’s lyrics are clearly influenced by anarchist writings, post-structuralist theory, and post-left literature. They touch heavily on issues such as the nature of oppression and hegemony in the postmodern era through media manipulation, White and Christian supremacy, class inequality, and various problems within the Left itself as well as subcultural movements. Despite its dark subject matter, Neoliberalism and the Damage Done never fails to maintain its satirical and bitingly sarcastic tone, fully embracing absurdism—with an excellent and interesting cover featuring model Christopher Clark standing next to a traffic light under the ominous gaze of a large building behind him, encapsulating the dark atmospheric spirit and conceptuality of this record.

The song “The Medical Gaze,” released as a single in January 2023, references Michel Foucault’s book “The Birth of the Clinic,” which connects the rise of capitalism and its obsession with productivity to medical and psychiatric violence and coercion designed to turn the subject into a docile, productive body. “Machiavellian Marxist” critiques the scheming, ruthless, and frankly psychopathic disposition of many communists; “You Are Nothing Without the Indie Cred”—the swarms of pretentious, self-important posers in the alternative scene. “Landlord Elimination Matrix” is arguably the most militant and aggressive song on the album, as the title suggests.

Considering how much Self-Checkout Renaissance has grown musically in just two years, we’re very sad to see the band go on indefinite hiatus in January 2024. You can still support them by purchasing a digital version of Neoliberalism and the Damage Done on their Bandcamp page.