The group's debut album Deltron 3030, released on May 23, 2000, is a concept album set in the year 3030 that tells of the dualistic conflict of fatalism that takes place between the moral concepts of "righteousness" and "malevolence." The story tells a prophetic tale of a warrior's thirst for battle as Del's alter ego, who goes by the name "Deltron-Zero," along with his comrade who happens to be a time-traveling cyborg wizard named "the Automator," face-off against megalithic corporations that megalomaniacally rule over our thermodynamic universe. The lyrics were written in less than two weeks and are characterized by extravagant allusions to futuristic outer-space themes in the tradition of Afrofuturist works by Sun Ra and George Clinton. Many samples originated with the contemporary French classical composer William Sheller.
Deltron 3030's second album, titled Event 2, was released in September, 2013.
Production began as far back as 2004, and in November 2006 Del told IGN that four songs were already written and that "the album's lyrical theme has been basically mapped out." Dan the Automator stated that the recording of the new album would probably be completed by December 2006, and that it would be released in 2007. Due to a series of delays, group members issued a number of statements predicting imminent completion in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012.
On June 11, 2012, Deltron 3030 performed at the Luminato festival in Toronto, Ontario, a show that Kid Koala dubbed the Deltron Event 2 World Premiere. The group played with a full horn, strings, and rhythm section conducted by Dan the Automator, premiered ten songs from Event 2, and revealed the visual style of the new album. In accordance with Del's statement that "3030 actually was one event, but these events can span centuries." The first single from the album was "City Rising From the Ashes," a song influenced by the story of Osiris. On September 23, 2013, Event 2 was put on Pitchfork's Advance Streaming service in its entirety, one week before its official release.
In October 2016, an expanded edition of Event 2 was released, featuring instrumentals from the album. Alongside this new addition, a live album featuring the Deltron 3030, many of their collaborators from the Event 2 album, and the 3030 Orchestra, simply entitled Live, was released.
On an episode of Red Bull Radio Peak Time in 2018, Dan The Automator confirmed he was working on a new Deltron 3030 album, stating "there's a couple songs that exist." He also hinted that Dr. Octagon would have a cameo on the album.
The Assman 640 Speaks
Deltron 3030 Lyrics
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And here at The Corporate Institutional Bank of Time, we find ourselves reflecting...
Finding out, that in fact, we came back... We were always coming back.
The Assman 640 Speaks is a track from Deltron 3030's self-titled debut album, which presents a futuristic world set in the year 3030. The lyrics of this song are spoken by the Assman 640, who is an artificial intelligence unit that was sent back in time to investigate the reasons behind the decline of humanity's civilization. The song represents a reflection by the Assman 640 about the cyclical nature of history and how, in the year 3030, people have reached a level of technological sophistication that allows them to manipulate time and space.
The lyrics of the song suggest that despite humankind's technological advancements, they always seem to repeat the same mistakes and end up going back to the same point in history. The Assman 640's statement "we were always coming back" is a commentary on the tendency of humanity to keep repeating the same patterns of behavior and the inevitability of history repeating itself. Moreover, the reference to The Corporate Institutional Bank of Time indicates that history and time are viewed as commodities that can be bought and sold instead of being an immutable force that cannot be controlled.
Line by Line Meaning
It's the year 3030...
We have entered a time far into the future, specifically the year 3030.
And here at The Corporate Institutional Bank of Time, we find ourselves reflecting...
We are currently at The Corporate Institutional Bank of Time and we are taking a moment to reflect on our past actions.
Finding out, that in fact, we came back...
We have discovered that we have returned to this moment, suggesting that we have been here before.
We were always coming back.
It seems inevitable that we would find ourselves back in this moment, implying that history is repeating itself.
Contributed by Evelyn K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.