MK Ultra & the Assassins Of Light

Sydney musicians John Prendergast and Phillip White made a serires of solo and collaborative home based recordings between 1984 and 1988 under the name MK Ultra & the Assassins Of Light. Paul Von Deering (Severed Heads) and Scot McPhee (Now Zero) also contributed to a couple of tracks. John and Phillip were members of early 1980’s Sydney experimental performance groups Cannibals of Style and the Institute of Applied Uselessness, which were notable for their largely unstructured performances using tape loops, analog synths, random noise and visual elements.

Most tracks were composed, played and recorded with at the time state of the art technology. Earlier tracks often used digital delays as samplers and drum machines as sequencers. By the end of the decade, computer sequencing and digital samplers had made an appearance.

Stylistically, their music is a bit of a dogs breakfast. Weird synthesizer pop blended with random noise and electronic sounds co-exist alongside experimental electronic and music concrète tracks.

A compilation VHS video cassette called Psywar was also made. It and безбожный are the only media released under the name of MK Ultra & the Assassins of Light.