Album Notes

Consolidated is a mirror that reflects a decade of being human. Being fathers, sons, caretakers, friends, activists, socialists, capitalists, neighbors, frat pigs, rock stars, pariahs, winners, losers, speakers, listeners, and human.

On the heels of Consolidated's "Dropped" (1998), an album that dealt with these reflections in a somewhat cheerless manner, "Tikkun" is an album that sees the world as a place filled with the potential for transformation and redemption.

Consolidated recorded "Tikkun" during the Winter of 1999 in Portland, OR and added additional tracks and mixed the album in San Francisco, CA in the Spring. Tikkun was produced by Adam Sherburne and engineered by Mark Pistel, two founding members of Consolidated, an activist recording and performing project.

As with all Consolidated albums, this album reflects the myriad of musical directions that Consolidated has incorporated since its 1989 inception; industrial, hip-hop, jazz, techno, Detroit funk, noise, blues, drum and bass, dub, and Jimi Hendrix and Curtis Mayfield inspired rock.

"Tikkun" and "Dropped" are based on the John Stoltenberg screenplay, "Cocklash." John Stoltenberg's writings and work with the Men's Rape Prevention Project have helped guide Consolidated for the past several years. Both albums explore the connectedness of different forms of gender oppression and the challenges and realities that face both men and women after the ravages of circumstance, abuse, and life choices. "Dropped" dealt primarily with the pathological consequences of manhood and violent male rites of passage, homophobia, domestic violence, prostitution and pornography.

"Tikkun" examines life at the end of the tunnel of violence and explores the culpability of men at the end of damaged relationships. Through this process of self-examination and accepting accountability the soul is renewed, the spirit is made stronger.