neuromantic

If I've been a little distant or mute (ok, more distant and mute than usual) over the past week, let me apologize: it's not you, it's me. I've been living in cyberspace.

I don't know why it took me so long to give in to the all-consuming powers of science fiction, but after reading William Gibson's seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer I have been gloriously converted. But first let me tell you: this book is not for everyone. It's a serious mindfuck, but a mindfuck that makes you work to feel the buzz, that requires you to sacrifice much of your energy, your mental stability, and your personal (and, you'll soon find out, deeply flawed) conception of reality in order to benefit from its mind-bending narcotics. 

It's really difficult to give the novel a proper summary, because even though I've dedicated several sleepless nights towards an attempt at analysis, the storyline remains as layered and mysterious as when I had first read it - it truly takes on a life of its own, and trying to make logical sense of it is a rather fruitless activity. And this is probably the worst sales pitch for a book ever made in history by anyone ever.

But here are the basics: written by mad genius William Gibson in 1984 (Blade Runner territory), Neuromancer tells the story of Henry Case, a depressed, drug-addicted, prematurely-retired computer hacker living in a dystopian Japanese underworld called Chiba City. Once a talented and dangerous hacker, Case's central nervous system has been severely damaged by his former employer as punishment for theft, leaving him unable to access CYBERSPACE. [I capitalized cyberspace because this book marks the first appearance ever of the word "cyberspace." Yeah, William Gibson created that shit.]   

The book follows Case as he's summoned by a mysterious employer to pull off a dangerous and complicated hack, with the help of a fierce street-samurai chick with Wolverine-style retractable nails called Molly Millions - an apocalyptically fantastical predecessor of Lisbeth Salander - in return for a cure. 

If you are an obsessive like me, digesting a book as intense and affecting as Neuromancer can render other aspects of your reality as arcane and fictive as the diegetic story-world. Hence, the soundtrack to my life over the past week has been a little hectic, and more than a little paranoid, and I would like to share it with you because in my mind we're all living inside the matrix and this is probably what you're hearing anyway. Here's a small sample (trust me: a small sample is all you really need).

Brainiac - "Vincent Come On Down"

Raging vocal deluge + bone-shaking bassline + frenzied industrial guitar chops = cyberpunk made audible.

Add N To X - "Revenge of the Black Regent"

My discovery of this British electroclash band could not have come at a more apt time, as this is exactly how I imagine our cyber-dystopian apocalypse will sound. An exquisite slick of sound: fuzzy and precisely subdued, yet perfectly frightening in its phantasmagoric mania.

A Frames - "Black Forest II"

Teutonic paranoia in all its angular glory. Not so much a song as an ordered succession - a curation, maybe - of teeth-chattering, brain-piercing riffs and a militaristic spate of drumbeats, overlayed with that Manifesto-style vocal jeer.