''Potemkin City Limits'' is the fourth studio album by the Canadian

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

Propagandhi Propagandhi is a Canadian punk rock and metal band formed in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1986 by guitarist Chris Hannah and drummer Jord Samolesky. The band is currently located in Winnipeg, Manitoba and completed by bassist Todd Kowalski ...

, released on October 18, 2005 through

G7 Welcoming Committee Records G7 Welcoming Committee Records was a Canadian independent record label based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The label mostly released material by artists and speakers with a radical left-wing point of view. History G7 Welcoming Committee Records was f ...

in Canada, and

Fat Wreck Chords Fat Wreck Chords (pronounced "Fat Records") is an independent record label based in San Francisco focused on punk rock. It was started by NOFX lead singer Michael Burkett (better known as Fat Mike) and his wife at the time, Erin Burkett in 1990. ...

elsewhere. It is the second Propagandhi release on their own label and the last on

. The title of the album is an allusion to ''

Potemkin village In politics and economics, a Potemkin village (Russian: ) is a construction (literal or figurative) whose purpose is to provide an external façade to a situation, to make people believe that the situation is better than it actually is. The term ...

'', a political term referring to a false construct intended to hide an undesirable situation. The opening track, "A Speculative Fiction", won the first annual ECHO Songwriting Prize from the

Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...

(SOCAN). The band pledged to use the $5,000 prize to make donations to the Haiti Action Network and The Welcome Place, an organization in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

(which they'd previously done volunteer work for) which helps refugees start new lives in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Release

On August 30, 2005, ''Potemkin City Limits'' was announced for release in two months' time; alongside this, its artwork and track listing was posted online. Three days later, "America's Army™ (Die Jugend Marschiert)" was made available for download through AmaericasArm.ca, which was made as a parody of the

America's Army ''America's Army'' is a series of first-person shooter video games developed and published by the U.S. Army, intended to inform, educate, and recruit prospective soldiers. Launched in 2002, the game was branded as a strategic communication devic ...

video game series. ''Potemkin City Limits'' was released on October 18, 2005 through the

in Canada, and

in the US. The artwork, a girl playing jump rope on a chalk-drawings covered street, is a piece of art called ''Children's Games'' from the anarchist artist

Eric Drooker Eric Drooker is an American painter, graphic novelist, and frequent cover artist for ''The New Yorker''. He conceived and designed the animation for the film ''Howl'' (2010). Biography Drooker grew up in Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town, adjacent t ...

. In November and December 2005, they went on a cross-country US tour, dubbed the Crimean Tour; they were joined on all dates by the Greg MacPherson Band, while

Toys That Kill Toys That Kill is a San Pedro-based punk rock band, formed from a previous incarnation known as F.Y.P. (1989–1999). Just after the release of the last F.Y.P. album, also titled ''Toys That Kill'', Todd Congelliere and Sean Cole (vocalists/ ...

and fellow Fat Wreck Chords act

Western Addiction Western Addiction is an American punk band based in San Francisco, California, United States. The band was formed by four veterans of the punk scene. Some of the members previously worked for Fat Wreck Chords. They have toured internationally i ...

appeared on select shows. In April 2006, the album was released on vinyl. In October 2006, they embarked on a tour of Canada with

I Hate Sally I Hate Sally was a heavy metal/post-hardcore band from Ontario, Canada. It was formed in 2000 in Kingston, Ontario by Marc Garniss, Ben Thomas and Kelly Payne. Biography After numerous line-up changes the band finally had a consistent and solid ...

, Hiretsukan,

GFK GfK (originally ) is the largest German market research company. It provides data and intelligence to the consumer goods industry and is headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany. The company is a subsidiary of NIQ. History GfK was founded as GfK-N ...

, and DeadPoets appearing on various shows. In December 2006, the band toured the UK with Hiretsukan and GFK. After returning to Canada, they went on a short Western tour with GFK.

Track listing

# "A Speculative Fiction" – 4:14 # "Fixed Frequencies" – 3:58 # "Fedallah's Hearse" – 4:00 # "Cut into the Earth" – 3:41 # "Bringer of Greater Things" – 2:45 # "America's Army™ (Die Jugend Marschiert)" – 4:42 # "Rock for Sustainable Capitalism" – 4:12 # "Impending Halfhead" – 1:14 # "Life at Disconnect" – 3:23 # "Name and Address Withheld" – 3:21 # "Superbowl Patriot XXXVI (Enter the Mendicant)" – 0:36 # "Iteration" – 5:19

Personnel

*Chris Hannah – guitar, vocals *Jord Samolesky – drums * Todd Kowalski – bass, vocals

References

External links

Official Lyrics

album information at G7 Welcoming Committee Records

"americasarmy.ca"
homepage for the song "America's Army (Die Jugend Marschiert)"

cover by

2005 albums Propagandhi albums Fat Wreck Chords albums G7 Welcoming Committee Records albums {{2000s-punk-album-stub