Argyle Park was born in 1994 appearing out of nowhere with a creative remix of Steve Taylor's "Drive, He Said" on the tribute album I Predict a Clone. The liner notes listed the unkown members of this new project as Buka and Dread, with special guests Klank, Phantom, and Scott Albert of Circle of Dust fame. The hard, sample-driven techno incited excitement among fans of hard electronic music and unfounded controversy among judgementalists. The next appearance from Argyle Park came on another R.E.X. Records compilation named Demo-lition II. This time Argyle Park brought more heavy guitar and techno rhythms with an original track entitled "Misanthrope 5:33". This track was supposedly inspired by a man that opened up random gunfire on his fellow subway passengers in New York. The liner notes for Demo-lition II once again left listeners with only the questions of, "Who are Buka and Dread?" and "When will we hear more from them?"... ...The year 1995 finally brought some answers. A press release from R.E.X. records revealed the story of Buka, son of missionary parents who travelled the world being influenced by various world music such as German techno and tribal rhythms; and picked up the name Buka from an African tribal chant. The press release also mentioned Dred and a third member, Deathwish, who both grew up in the streets of New York City listening to punk, hardcore, and techno. With this ecclectic mixture of influences, the members of Argyle Park had come together to create a full-length album of aggressive computer generated music. In March of 1995, the full-length concept album Misguided was released on R.E.X. Records. Musically, Misguided was and is an epic album with diverse, computer-generated tracks that melted various musical genres and broke creative ground in the electronic music scene. Hard techno beats, tribal rhythms, severe metal guitar, ragtime piano, improvisational horns, distorted vocals, dark spoken word, heavy sampling, and mysterious electronic ambience are just a few of the musical elements injected into Misguided's unique sound. A wide variety of talented arists, from Jim Thirwell to Christy Sweet, collaborated to add diverse and creative vision to the project. In an interview with HM magazine at the time of the release, Buka said, "The whole concept behind Argyle is to make something that has never been heard before...We want to take all the styles we like and mix them into an album with a computer-driven music sound...I sure hope we're not going to be compared to someone." Thematically, Misguided was shrouded in controversy even before its release. R.E.X. felt that some of the lyrics were too disturbing, so many of the lyrics were left out of the booklet insert. They also felt that a spoken word reprise for the song DOOMsayer was inappropriate and refused to allow it on the album. The creative forces behind Argyle Park snuck the reprise into the master on the end of the album without the record company finding out until it was too late. The album is a concept album that vents alot of rage and deals with some very dark reactions and emotions. Here are a few of Buka's words regarding Misguided: "The album was against a person that we looked up to and trusted immensely. He betrayed our trust and led us down a path that brought us much pain and confusion. The sins that were commited against us and those close to us were grieveous and severe. Some of the people that were involved have still not recovered. We know that many of you feel that there is a lack of hope and forgiveness in the album, but the album was intended as a warning and a tool to teach people to be aware. We know all to well the meaning of ' wolf in sheeps clothing'..We said what needed to be said on Misguided and you can take it or leave it. We know that the album wasn't meant for everyone, but those of you who walked away with something more, well the album was meant and made for you." In an interview with the Garlic Press, Buka also stated that "the album is about man putting too much faith in other men and men will always let you down. People just totally lead you in the wrong direction and it just shows you that if you put all your trust in this one thing that it's going to mess you up. And that's kind of what happened and that's what the album is about." The concept of mistrust and deception extended even beyond the music, as it was later revealed that the stories in the Argyle Park press release were untrue, and that Deathwish and Dred were both just pseudonyms for Klay Scott of Circle of Dust. According to Buka, "Everything with Argyle we wanted to exaggerate and just make so unbelievable to see if people would believe it." The whole project was a warning to all to watch who you trust and what you believe. Rumors were heard of a vynil version of Misguided, including a bonus track unavailable on any other release, but this never came to fruition. Mid-summer of 1995, Argyle Park made their only live performance at the Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, IL. In this show, Buka played a bonus song that some have claimed to be the lost vynil bonus track. If you were at the show, feel free to e-mail me with any information, reviews, pictures, etc...especially if you have a recording of it. Argyle Park appeared with a new track in early 1996 on Sweet Family Music: A Tribute to Stryper. The song "Lonely" was reconstructed in their trademark creative electronic style, with a simple statement from the Park in the liner notes, "Stryper is our life...." This cover song would turn out to be the final creative offering from Argyle Park, as the Park was officially closed in 1996. Rumors and even legitimate plans to re-open the Park abounded in the years to follow, but ultimately the decision was made to kill the project. However, all hope was not lost for fans of Argyle Park, as a new musical endeavor entitled AP2 was spawned by Buka and electronic composer Level. Argyle Park is dead, but the influence and impact of the music will forever remain...