deekaygee

mixtape: blue singularity: a cyberpunk movie soundtrack

download (separate tracks) (72:01, 93mb zip)
download (single mp3 mix) (71:37, 98mb zip)

front cover (large)
back cover (large)

i haven’t read a cyberpunk novel in ages, but one night i got to thinking about how i’d really like to see a new cyberpunk movie on the big screen and how it’d be so kickass if it actually kicked ass as a big summer blockbuster. this got my wheels turning, and i eventually came up with making a (make believe) movie soundtrack for a (fake) movie based on a (non-existent) book. i thought i would start off with trying to incorporate some of the most cyberpunky (to my mind) songs i could think of, and marry them with some other music that really fit the story idea in my head. none of the songs on the album ended up being terribly current, but somehow i like that.

01 prologue: an artifact found
[corner stone cues - petra] amazon | itunes
the title sequence to the film takes place in the mid-20th century - about 200 years before the events in the movie. pretty much just a macguffin device, the “artifact” triggers a great leap forward by the thinkers of the day who then lay the groundwork for the coming technological advancements. i think the corner stone cues orchestral score goes well with the title credits slowly panning over the “artifact”.

02 chapter 1: technological singularity
[tettix - the computer takeover] download | itunes
we jump forward to about 50 years before the movie’s present day. the technological singularity refers to the point at which man’s tinkering leads to artificial intelligence becoming self-aware and, in secret, the now globally-linked AI developing its own goals. one of the more chiptune-oriented bits of tettix’s catalog just had to be included, and so what if the title is squarely on the nose?

03 chapter 2: a blinding white light
[lemon jelly - ‘88 aka come down on me] amazon | itunes
when the global AI made its existence known to mankind, it did it with a bang - literally. triggering a handful of explosive devices around the globe, the AI collective knew that man would only listen when threatened with violence. a truce was enacted, and man has learned to live alongside the just-this-side-of-oppressive silicon-based lifeforms. this song, along with the preceding, is heard during the movie’s prologue - which i envision as being told through some sort of animated sequence.

04 chapter 3: after the bomb/uneasy coexistence
[grand national - peanut dreams] amazon | itunes
here’s where we get our first look at the movie proper - establishing shots of ruined and rebuilt metropolises, hover vehicles: all manner of modern tech developed almost completely by AI. we move from the macro to the micro, resolving on a little shithole dive in an area of town where even the robots are down on their luck. grand national’s peanut dreams gives me visions of people, and androids, going about their daily business on a particularly crappy and rainy night.

05 chapter 4: in the VIP room at club chromium
[george michael - freeek!] amazon | itunes
handel (played by thomas jane), a retired ‘netjockey and current food counselor (some of our vat-grown fruits & vegetables are sentient in the future and develop anxieties about being eaten - not a prestigious job), is trying to weasel his way into the VIP room at the club for some reason or another, but only manages to get turned down and buy more & more drinks for himself. he’s a schlub now, but once upon a time he was somebody, which is why he’s dragged into the story’s plot. george michael’s freeek!, actually inspired by cyberpunk, seemed a fitting song to be blaring annoyingly in the dark club while handel does his thing.

06 chapter 5: just gotta get home, sober up
[back to basic - slay your dragons] download
handel begins to sense, thanks to the proper bio-enhancement implants, like he’s being watched, followed, tracked. he’s been out of the game for quite a while, and kept his nose (relatively) clean, but maybe it’s time to head back home to regroup just in case. the accompanying song plays over his winding trek back from the club to his apartment.

07 chapter 6: flashbackwards and flashforwards
[eli kazah - the search is over] amazon | itunes
handel makes it back to his place, only to be ambushed by some henchmen and drugged into submission. strapped into a sensory-interference device handel is greeted by the richest man in all the colonies, xavier tevin (philip baker hall), who somehow has now got handel under his thumb and tasks handel with bringing down the AI collective once and for all. we get glimpses of handel’s past ‘net achievements during the exchange, which is where we hear this track.

08 chapter 7: “almost forgot-there’s a bounty on your head”
[a perfect circle - counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (edit)] amazon | itunes
tevin’s parting advice is to get a move on, and to provide some incentive he’s retained the services of a bounty hunter (josh lucas) as motivation. the sadistic bounty hunter enjoys his job and, while cautioned against completely elimating the mark, he gets handel in motion by first beating on him and then blowing his apartment the hell up. a perfect circle’s driving beats play over the thorough beating handel gets as soon as the sensory-interference device cuts out.

09 chapter 8: backstage passes/followed through the crowd
[billy idol - shock to the system] amazon | itunes
the bounty hunter’s next move is to go after android cassie (alison lohman), perpetually young prodigy and handel’s former partner in ‘net excursions, who handel hasn’t seen in years and is now coordinating the global touring schedule of a mildly famous musician who just happens to be in town. handel needs cassie for the job, and now needs to get her out of harm’s way as well. billy idol’s ode to cyberpunk is the sort of quasi-cool/quasi-lame sounds the musician in the movie is playing while handel and cassie weave through the crowd, coolly pursued by the bounty hunter.

10 chapter 9: time to get cassie off the street
[kita khyber - the crossroads (edit)] download
rapidly running out of public places to hide in plain sight, handel and cassie decide to try to shake their tail. slowly at first and then with more urgency, the music mirrors the increasing tension which comes to a head in the next chapter.

11 chapter 10: the underground chase
[crystal fighters - i love london] myspace
desperate to lose the bounty hunter, handel and cassie go underground into the ruins of the old city and are pursued in an action-packed and explosive chase sequence (in and out of vehicles) in which the two finally lose the bounty hunter. i love how bombastic the crystal fighters track becomes when it gets going, and i see a lot of claustrophobic tight shots set to the beat of the song.

12 chapter 11: safe in your arms
[apparat - not a number] amazon | itunes
exhausted and in need of a gameplan, handel and cassie finally get to catch their breath as well as catch up on the last few years they spent apart. what’s this, though? some kind of romance possibly blooming? but he’s gotten so much older while she’s still so young looking! (guys, this is probably when you want to get up and go to the bathroom because it gets a little sappy.)

13 chapter 12: getting off-planet/the orbiting city
[justice - one minute to midnight] amazon | itunes
after a little rest, the two form a gameplan that may or may not in fact bring down both the ruling AI collective as well as xavier tevin’s empire. both strikes could potentially be accomplished from within the AI collective’s orbiting platform, but in order to get inside they’ll need the help of a legendary ‘netjockey who’s gone into seclusion somewhere in earth’s largest off-planet city. justice’s one minute to midnight has always sounded to me like what it’d be like to cruise around a self-sufficient arcology orbiting the earth.

14 chapter 13: recruiting burnout’s help
[king crimson - ladies of the road] amazon
handel and cassie locate burnout (michael c. hall), and eventually convince him to help. king crimson’s suitably retro track helps to explain just why burnout has the name he does and how eccentric he’s gotten, holed up all by himself for so long.

15 chapter 14: conducting the implant surgery
[amon tobin - the killer’s vanilla] amazon | itunes
when handel hung up his ‘netjockeying gear, he had most of the relevant implants removed from his body but guess what? - now he needs ‘em back. burnout is barely qualified to perform the necessary implantation surgery but with the help of cassie’s steady robotic hands is able to put handel under and jack into his spinal column.

16 chapter 15: sneaking aboard the polyphemus
[jamiroquai - deeper underground (edit)] amazon | itunes
outfitted with the latest in ‘net implants as well as some pretty damn cool blackmarket weapons, handel now needs to gain access to the AI collective’s base of operations, nicknamed the polyphemus. with cassie running interference from cyberspace and burnout as the link between the physical and virtual world, handel and burnout eventually infiltrate the polyphemus…quickly followed by the bounty hunter, who’s still in pursuit. jamiroquai’s deeper underground sounds like something that might be playing while our antihero goes all stealth-like.

17 chapter 16: inside the ship & inside the chip
[unkle - restless] amazon | itunes
once inside the platform, handel and burnout make their way to the core where the real work can begin. aided in-person by burnout and via uplink by cassie, handel breaks into the AI collective core intelligence successfully but is quickly discovered in cyberspace by patrolling security protocols while attacked in meatspace by the bounty hunter.

18 chapter 17: alert, then all-out assault
[the prodigy - no man army] amazon
all hell breaks loose. forced into conflict and still jacked in to the ‘net, handel has to physically battle the bounty hunter while simultaneously battling the AI’s assault in the virtual world. i’m not gonna tell you how it ends, but let’s just say that the AI collective’s hold on mankind is lost and tevin’s monopolistic empire crumbles as well, though not in the way you think. the prodigy’s track has a beat that mirrors the core’s alarm sounds perfectly, so sue me if it’s too on the nose again.

19 epilogue: a relic buried
[m83 - farewell, goodbye] amazon | itunes
after the fall of both ruling forces, a new age of man and machine is brought about, as demonstrated by handel and cassie who possibly realize their feelings for each other after being reunited (embracing in slo-mo zero gee, natch). we slowly pan out from the earth to reveal the return of the “artifact”, now a relic as a distant primitive colony discovers and begins to worship it. roll credits.

or something like that.

in which there is some lamentation, but also some gratitude

as i come closer to the so-called middle age, turning 33 in a little under a month, there are certain aspects of my personality that i’ve come to accept as having very little chance of changing. among them, i am by nature shy and an introvert.

from my earliest memories to everything older family members have told me, it seems like it’s always just been this way. at family gatherings as a youth, i’d always want to go to a quiet place and draw, and just be with my imagination. to this day, i’d much rather be by myself or with a select few than mingling at a party or a bar among strangers. it’s probably why i have so much trouble meeting new people. it’s also why i do prefer email and instant messenger. in person i can be inadvertently awkward, but in the written word i know i can be articulate.

the reason i bring this up is that sometime in the future i’m planning to move to a different city & state, and that actually kind of energizes me. for whatever reason, i’ve never quite been able to thrive in my hometown. quick example story: about 8 years ago i spent time travelling abroad by myself in australia & new zealand, and lived for about 3 months in sydney. the place i ended up living in was a house full of other travellers (all complete strangers), about 12 of us in total. the day i moved in i had gotten my tongue pierced and it was almost impossible to talk. coupled with the fact that i am shy & introverted, i should have pretty much been a loner in the house for all my days there. but to my surprise it was quite the opposite: i was liked, gregarious, and had a blast meeting new people. i’m still in contact with friends i met then.

on my own, i guess i’m forced to put myself out there. but back “home” amongst family and old friends with whom i have a long history with, i suppose i don’t feel i need to really flex my social muscles much. perhaps i just need to meet strangers in my home town. i love my family and friends, but i’ve come to realize the truth that maybe only on my own i “dance like no one’s watching”.

it’s hard being shy and introverted in a world where aggression is rewarded and extroversion is the rule of the day. but most times i’m glad i am who i am, content to be left for hours on end by myself or with just a couple of people i know well.

to tell you the truth, i’m glad i can find the silliness in physically cringing when extroverts do their thing so loudly (to my eyes & ears) and broadcast their need for attention.

in which i henceforth wear only tuxes to work.

fashion scale: here’s a classic 3 button single-breasted striped suit accented with a striped bow tie, and here’s ed hardy. any questions?

lately i’ve been doing a metric butt-ton of research on men’s fashion on account of needing to buy a suit for the semi-formal wedding of one of my oldest friends. in truth, up until this very weekend i didn’t even have one at all. i worked all through high school and college as a banquets waiter and bartender, so i’m no stranger to wearing “formal” clothing and have been asked for fashion advice more than a few times by friends in my past due to that fact. i’ve rocked a cummerbund with the best of ‘em.

however, as i’ve been out of the food service biz for nearly 10 years now and settled comfortably into my casual web design world of t-shirts and flip flops, i’ve had little reason to wear what i’d consider grown-up clothing: men’s suits. i just don’t have much need for it in my day-to-day life really, and when i did i’ve managed to squeak by this long in my life by scavenging pieces here and there, or by simply lucking out (of the last 6 or so weddings i’ve gone to, i was in the wedding party the majority of the time and only needed to rent a tuxedo).

so what’s my point? well, now that i’ve managed to finally learn the difference between a single- and double-breasted suit, a notched lapel versus a peaked lapel, and what herringbone and hound’s tooth really looks like, i sorta lament not having a reason to express my newfound knowledge.

in the course of my research, i found the ins and outs endlessly fascinating; the rules and guidelines governing the “proper” wearing of everything from head to toe that no modern man seems to have much knowledge of (or use for). if we were in the 1940s or 50s, by this time in my life no doubt i’d have a closet full of suits: brown, black, navy, velvet, 2 piece, 3 piece, what have you. but the reality is that we live in an age where it’s possible for a man approaching middle-age to own not a single suit (hey, that’s me!). more than that, it seems like the art of men’s fashion is virtually non-existent. most young males today have very little need to put much thought into their wardrobes (myself included), and beyond that, rely on the fashion sense of their wives or girlfriends.

it’s almost enough to make me consider becoming some sort of company man or move to the hamptons, just so i could be able to explore the wonders of grownup wear. almost. as much as i like being dapper dave, i do still love being able to go into work in camo shorts, chuck taylors, and a woot shirt.

we’ll start with one nice suit in the closet.

About deekaygee

Interests

art, music, design, internet/technology, philosophy, photography, camping, hiking, backpacking, good food and drink.

Music

can’t live without it. i love all music really, except contemporary country. really into mashups lately. guilty of having guilty pleasures: i’ve been known to enjoy catchy pop. into classical: bach, beethoven, mozart, schubert, vivaldi, wagner; you gotta know your roots. aesop rock, air, bad religion, basement jaxx, beastie boys, the beatles, the bird and the bee, bitter:sweet, bob marley, bonde do role, cake, chemical brothers, ccr, daft punk, DatA, david bowie, deltron 3030, desmond dekker, dj qbert, faith no more, fela kuti, fischerspooner, goldfrapp, gorillaz, iron maiden, jamiroquai, johnny cash, jurassic5, justice, hank williams, hard-fi, harry connick jr, kaki king, king crimson, ladytron, led zeppelin, mc chris, mf doom, m.ward, mars volta, megadeth, metallica, ministry, nofx, ozomatli, portishead, primus, the prodigy, queen, radiohead, red hot chili peppers, rilo kiley, the roots, royksopp, rush, scissor sisters, sia, sigur ros, serena ryder, spacehog, the streets, soul coughing, sublime, system of a down, tegan and sara, tettix, they might be giants, 311, tom petty, toots & the maytals, ween, weezer, yes, zero7…and on and on. always on the lookout for new music.

Movies

aladdin, americano, american psycho, babe, back to the future, the beach, the big lebowski, boogie nights, braveheart, the cell, children of men, contact, donnie darko, dragon, escape from new york, e.t., event horizon, ferris bueller’s day off, fight club, the fountain, the goonies, indiana jones, l’auberge espagnole, legends of the fall, the life aquatic with steve zissou, the lion king, lotr, magnolia, matrix, notting hill, office space, ravenous, requiem for a dream, a river runs through it, romeo+juliet, serenity, seven, the shawshank redemption, star wars, sunshine, swingers, the thin red line…

Television

battlestar galactica, dexter, the l word, entourage, how i met your mother, six feet under, firefly, the mighty boosh, flight of the conchords, the it crowd, rescue me, it’s always sunny in philly, weeds, lost, pushing daisies, life, mad men, burn notice, spaced, psych, arrested development, the simpsons, family guy, sealab 2021, the venture brothers, saul of the mole men, tim and eric awesome show, athf, harvey birdman, metalocalypse!

Books

stephen king, stephen hawking, desmond morris, bill bryson, william gibson, douglas adams, tolkien, asimov, carl sagan, bret easton ellis, john scalzi, dan simmons, and more trades & graphic novels than i can shake a stick at: fables, y the last man, preacher, astro city, the boys, invincible, scott pilgrim, supreme power, transmetropolitan, the walking dead, batman/superman, any and all green lantern.