System Exclusive is a very straight-forward band name, yet upon further listening to this duo comprised of Ari Blaisdell (Lower Self, The Beat Offs) and Matt Jones (Male Gaze, Castle Face Records) we get a fully-in tune machine that rekindles Faith era The Cure and the mysterious rhythmic adventures of Turn on the Bright Lights Interpol.
Glide is premiering the video for System Exclusive’s “Game of the Fool” (below) a track full of throbbing and almost abusive goth synth-rock that keeps it coming in a bizarre cycle of hypnotic bliss.
Speaking on the single and the music video, Blaisdell shares:
“Definitely one of my favorite songs on the album despite it being about the cycle of abuse, and how hard it is to watch when someone you love has fallen into that cycle. A pretty sad song lyrically but with a dancy fun overtone, because life is like that; multiple opposing things at once. During lockdown, I was eager to make a video for this song but we couldn’t go anywhere so I thought about ways I could integrate public domain footage into it. I’ve always been fascinated by the atomic era and atomic bomb propaganda footage just fit the current mood so well. It’s compiled of footage from ‘Survival Under Atomic Attack,’ ‘A is for Atom,’ ‘Atomic Alert,’ ‘Duck and Cover,’ and of course footage from our last show at Permanent Records Roadhouse, one of our favorite venues in LA. Filmed by our pal Enrique Pena Pedilla after we were finally allowed to play live again.”
