MARKING & PLATING - Zéro Vague (SM048)
Marking & Plating is a Lo-Fi French No Wave project created by two library workers trapped in Texas. The band consists of Austin scene veteran Harold Whit Williams (Cotton Mather, Daily Worker) and poet/translator Michael Perret. On this debut Marking & Plating showcase a variety of styles taking inspo from bands like Sparks, DNA, House music, and classic French pop songs.
Created within the drab confines of cubicle land (and named after an old-fashioned end-processing cataloging unit), MARKING & PLATING started as a joke between library workers Harold Whit Williams and Michael Perret. The recording project took shape quickly under the lo-fi production of Daily Worker at his Austin, TX home studio The Kibosh. Taping their tirades and tilting at tech bro windmills, MARKING & PLATING presents Zéro Vague, snarky punk/no wave ethos informing some seriously catchy electro-pop.
“What started as offbeat offhanded convo at the office about us becoming a Texas/French No Wave band quickly became a pretty fucking cool-sounding thing. There are certainly elements of pop/rock here (and hooks!), but the true spirit is indeed experimental. All tracking music was performed or filtered thru an old Boss drum machine straight onto 4-track cassette tape. French spoken word vocals were cut and pasted. No animals were harmed during production (unless you include us and our damaged eardrums).”
– Harold Whit Williams
All proceeds from the sale of this album through Strange Mono is being donated to The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF). A non-profit legal and educational organization affiliated with the American Library Association. FTRF protects and defends the First Amendment to the Constitution and supports the right of libraries to collect - and individuals to access - information.