We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A Few Pieces Of Furniture

from Slow Car Crash by Mat Ward

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

lyrics

"For millions of people, 'wealth' amounts to little more than a few weeks’ wages in a checking account or low-interest savings account, a car, and a few pieces of furniture."

This is a quote from Thomas Piketty's book Capitalism In The 21st Century, whose many graphs illustrating inequality reminded me of the crumpled metal of a car crash. Capitalism and its ever-increasing concentration of wealth seems like one gigantic slow motion pile-up, hence the title of the album. (Any free market fundamentalist will tell you it's running fine, but like any car, it just needs a little maintenance now and again.) All the quotes on the album are voiced by text-to-speech robots to mimic the detached nature of financial markets. They are a reminder that capitalism is synthetic. What is missing from this quote is that even to own a car and a few sticks of furniture makes you wealthier than much of the world. Research by Credit Suisse in 2015 showed that to be in the world's richest 1%, you needed only $700,000. That would put much of the West's middle class in the 1%.

credits

from Slow Car Crash, released January 19, 2017

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Mat Ward image

Mat Ward Australia

Mat Ward blends future bass, drum and bass, punk and politics to come up with a different sound. He has released albums about financial markets, Apple, Elon Musk, surveillance, the media, Mars, protest chants and the climate. He also writes books and a music column that has been shared by the likes of Ru Paul, Chuck D, Tom Morello and Al Jourgensen. ... more

contact / help

Contact Mat Ward

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Mat Ward, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now