Existentialism

A new and expanded version of the limited-edition book of art and writing that came with the first pressing of the Mekons' Existentialism album. Contributors include Mekons past and present, but also artist pals such as Jock McFadyen, Jo Claewaert, Martin Billheimer, and Helen Tsatsos, and writer friends including Megan Abbott, Johnny Dowd, Emma Bolland, Wendy Frith, Jeffrey St. Clair, and John Williams. In July 2015, the Mekons recorded an album of new songs at the Jalopy Theater in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in front of a live audience who doubled as backing vocalists. Rather than release the album with the usual packaging, the band put together a book of writing and art that responded to each of the 12 tracks; the first 1,000 copies of the CD included this book but sold out very quickly. Since then, the CD has been available in the usual format, but the book has been unavailable. This new edition of the book does NOT include the CD, but it does contain an additional 16 pages of material, including the lyrics to all 12 songs in handwritten and/or annotated form.