Aaron Lee Tasjan’s Cyborg Manifesto : Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!
Donna Haraway’s 1985 essay, “The Cyborg Manifesto,” written for The Socialist Review, urges progressive thinkers to move past the colonialist, socially limiting paradigms used to define identity, instead to form coalitions based on affinity, celebrating that very “otherness” that oppressive ideological apparatuses have worked to denigrate. Haraway challenges the desire to classify and fit neatly into categories imposed upon beings by patriarchal institutions; warning that perpetuating these taxonomies is what has historically created subjugation of those outside the upper echelon.
By thinking outside of these linguistic structures, one therefore thwarts and subverts the dominant regimes. As humans and technology evolve, they’ll become “cyborgs” that throw off traditional identities and embrace partiality and fluidity.
Consciously or not, Aaron Lee Tasjan’s Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! takes note, defying neat categorization and further astonishing the listener by melding glam rock, Americana, and psychedelia, bending genre and gender in an exploration of the Self, an embrace and celebration of that difference which once may have been used to make someone like him feel like an outcast.
So many influences and concepts are at play throughout Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!, from songs like “Feminine Walk,” and “Up All Night” addressing gender and sexuality, and “Not That Bad” and “Another Lonely Day” highlighting the pervasive and universal themes that connect humanity. “Sunday Women” is the song Tubeway Army wishes they’d writte. Aaron’s singing is breathy and Elliott Smith-like at one moment, in others Waylon-esque in delivery. “Cartoon Music” is a rebuke of artificial, AI-generated sounds that increasingly clog up Spotify-made playlists to bloat the company’s own pockets, and “Computer of Love” reflects on the dangers of social media. Despite these reservations regarding technology, this album uses more electro effects than any of Tasjan’s previous work.
A Tom Petty for the digital age, Tasjan’s fourth album, Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! propels us towards Aaron’s futuristic vision of a borderless world where genres, gender, sexuality, and music all resist classification and limitation; leaving the listener badly wanting to join the Tasjan coalition focusing on betterment for all humanity.
ALT himself was kind enough to respond to a few questions in this vein via email. His responses in bold.
There seems to be a lot of emphasis in all industries but especially in music to pinpoint one’s identity- whether it’s in terms of defining oneself as an Americana vs. ambient artist; an artist for this or that type of audience; etc. How do you manage to continue defying genres and appealing to so many?
I believe the audience must come to the artist and not the other way around. If the artist’s work is interesting, it will cultivate an audience of some kind. Defying the pitfalls of marketing classifications has meant that some have perceived me as an artist whose work is “searching for an identity?” Alternatively, others seem to view my work as evidence that attempts to label and define with a single stroke are not applicable to all. I think my work is interesting because I am passionately interested in it. To me, the most interesting people are the most interested people
This is the first time you’ve really directly addressed sexuality in your music. Was there fear of being pigeonholed by doing so? Why now?
Not a fear of it, no. That will happen to some degree no matter what. To me, it feels reductive to both queerness and music to do this. Use your imagination to describe music and musicians. I’m so bored of “gay country singer” or “queer punk band.” I’m ready for “opulent sartorial chanteuse wields instrument of death.”
This album also deals head-on with anxiety and depression, offering a lot of relief and catharsis. Has writing and releasing a record in the midst of a global pandemic helped you continue to keep those things at bay? How else are you dealing?
Releasing a record during this time has been so many things: life-affirming, heartbreaking, isolating, hilarious. I’ve continued to be profoundly aware of how many musicians and people I love are suffering because of systemic racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and the additional horrendous complications of the virus. I’ve spent a lot of time reading and educating myself on so much history. I love music history and I’m hopeful for a time where we can acknowledge our actual American history and stand in the truth of what all of it means. We haven’t done a good job of teaching American history so most people don’t really know it. That creates many problems for so many people who don’t deserve it.
You’ve seemed to have gotten the hang of live-streaming at this point, I heard things weren’t off to such a great start?
Hahaha well yeah…I don’t know if I’ve “gotten the hang of it,” but I haven’t thrown any guitars into any trashcans since April.
Not a question but want to say, this is really a wonderful record, especially for anyone who’s feeling, or has ever felt, a little lost and alone. Thank you for sharing it with the world!
Thank you so much! It’s been an incredible gift in my life to write songs and make albums. I do not take it for granted and I honor it every day by writing at least one thing.
Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! is out February 5th on CD and Digital. Vinyl release is set for March 13th. Order the album here.
Produced by Aaron Lee Tasjan and Gregory Lattimer
Recorded by Gregory Lattimer (Nashville, TN)
Mixed by Jon Congelton (Los Angeles, CA)
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, NYC
