Brooklyn’s BODEGA free associate the concepts of convenience, transactional relationships and culture on “ATM.” The animated video is playful enough in what looks like an older art style like something from an early 2000s web cartoon which fits the almost tribal rhythms of the song. The overall effect is like Killing Joke or Gang of Four indulging in a bit of pop punk whimsy. But the lyrics are incisive in sussing out how in all transactional relationships and the way capitalism has been baked into how we interface with much of the world and the culture and thus into at least some aspect of our psyches reducing organic and not-digital associations to those more monetizable and to think in that way. It’s insidious and BODEGA pokes fun at this aspect of our lives because you have to point out the absurdity of it all at least once in awhile or you end up, and pardon the expression, buying into the conceit that all things are economic acts in the classical “liberal” mode. In mocking how a-human it is, and with clever wordplay including juxtaposing the phrase “at the moment” (often reduced to “atm” in text speak) with the familiar cash dispensing machine, BODEGA shows us yet another way to hold onto our humanity and dignity because in many ways it’s all we’ve got. Watch the video for “ATM” on YouTube and follow BODEGA at the links below. The group’s recently released album Our Brand Could Be Yr Life is out now on streaming, digital download and vinyl.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
You must be logged in to post a comment.