Reality TV

This searing indictment of today's consumerist society was one of three tracks on Hara Kiri penned by Tankian on his iPad. He explained to Spinner: "I took tracks from my previous records, made loops out of them, and used these loops as construction material to design new songs. It was musical recycling if you will. The iPad is such a great musical tool. I was just messing around and came up with sketches for three of the songs."

Spinner asked Tankian if he saw the irony in using such a beloved device of our consumerist society as a production tool? He replied: "If you're looking for irony, you can find it anywhere [laughs]. Utilizing an iPad to write a song is no different from using acoustic guitar or piano. As a songwriter, you always want to change and progress, and while I'm not endorsing the Apple corporation in any way, it is a useful tool. Consumerism is part of our life; there's blind consumerism, and then there's consumer awareness. They are very different things."