EKG (2021) is a plunderphonics and inter-genre sampling album exploring alienation through my stage persona, Xeno. Inspired by masked artists like MF Doom, Daft Punk, and Ramellzee, as well as Mexican luchadores. The album artwork is a protest against lookism, where appearance dictates worth. Drawing from an Ugly Duckling narrative, it takes a stand against the underrepresentation of Asians in mainstream media while confronting racism, xenophobia, and systemic cultural violence.
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In-store live @Vinyl Index
Photographer Katherine Taylor, a Boston- and New York-based documentarian whose work centers on human rights, and I crossed paths during her Masks of Boston exhibition at Bow Market in Somerville, where the AR Art Gallery was also on view. That encounter became the catalyst for what would become the mask of Xeno. Sometimes life has a way of giving form to an idea. Amid the COVID-19 mask mandates, the metaphorical mask found its physical form.
