The Sound Weapon
Is all sound also music? I'll leave that argument to the John Cage enthusiasts, but it sure would be interesting to hear a composition that makes use of the LRAD. The Long-Range Acoustic Device is a non-lethal weapon developed in the wake of the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. The device aims an excruciating blast of sound and has been designed, rather insidiously, with the idea of attempted crowd control in mind, but it's most high-profile use has been in combating nautical piracy in the seas around Somalia.
Speaking of the high-decibel high seas, check out Brooklyn foursome and sometime Tom Waits collaborators The Book of Knots. The band's self-titled album from 2004 was--as I've said before--"the most compelling, nautically obsessed ... since Primus's Sailing the Seas of Cheese."
Another unsolicited but related recommendation: Somalia-born, Canada-based rapper K'Naan. The Juno Award-winning hip-hopper just announced the follow-up to his matchless debut album, The Dusty Foot Philospher. Look for Troubador to drop in early '09. (And for those in the know about this guy, you can pre-order it now and get a refund if the price drops before street date!)
Ahoy for now!
--Jason Kirk
Jason Kirk on December 17, 2008 at 07:38 PM
Sure I do, but I also regard crowd control of almost any variety as distasteful at best. I realize that occasionally, most notably at European and Latin American football games, non-politcally motivated crowds get out of hand, but I'd bet my subwoofer that the LRAD, when it is applied as a method of crowd control, isn't aimed at unruly sports fans. In the topical research I put into this post, I couldn't find instance of its use on crowds other than by politically motivated states and in politically tense situations. Sure beats a bullet, but my preferred method for crowd control is social justice.
FredTownWard on December 11, 2008 at 05:10 AM
What on Earth do you mean by "...has been designed, rather insidiously, with the idea of attempted crowd control in mind,..."?
You DO realize that this is quite an improvement over the more traditional and less Politically Correct method of crowd control:
heavy automatic weapons fire,...
don't you?