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Atari Teenage Riot's iPhone App May Cause Actual Riots

by Matthew Zuras on May 7, 2010 at 03:40 PM

atari teenage riot appThe electro-punks among you will fondly recall Atari Teenage Riot and their hyper-distorted blend of political techno noise. The recently regrouped band has developed an iPhone app (sellouts!) to promote their reunion single "Reactivate," but the app is causing as much ruckus as the German punks did back in the '90s.

ATR devotees will also recall a May Day protest at the Berlin Wall back in 1999 that got the band arrested for inciting a riot, and they did so with the help of some specifically aggravating frequencies. Their new iPhone app has been delayed by the German iTunes Store because it contains those same noises in a feature called "Riotsounds Produce Riots" which includes "very low sub basses, square waves, noise sounds which trigger hysteria and panic within the audience."

And just to be clear, ATR's not joking around with the "Riotsounds" title: their press release encourages app downloaders to hook the noise up to large speakers and get everyone frenzied. Apple is investigating the legality of releasing just such an app, and the potential backlash it might receive. While sonic weaponry certainly exists, we're not too worried about noise-terror emanating from an iPhone. Sure, Apple could face some legal problems if it releases an app that encourages crime, but we figure that this is nothing more than ATR's standard, attention-grabbing MO. (The real crime is frontman Alec Empire's post-ATR solo albums. Talk about ear-shattering!)

Empire told Pitchfork that the app is expected to be released within the next ten days, but he's not sure if "Riotsounds" will be included now, or as a future update. The rest of the app, featuring the band's entire music and video oeuvre, will be worth it even without bonus terror-noise. But, then again, what some people call "noise," others may call "mellifluous music." Welcome back, ATR. [From: Pitchfork]

Tags: alec empire, AlecEmpire, apple, Atari Teenage Riot, AtariTeenageRiot, Berlin, berlin wall, BerlinWall, iphone, iphone app, IphoneApp, music, noise, top

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