1 |
lilygakkidan |
"liv" |
Know No. |
We were promised a future in which dreamworlds could co-exist with real ones, |
2 |
B.O.L.T |
"夜を抜け出して" |
single |
layered into infinite dimensions, |
3 |
BLACKNAZARENE |
"kodou" |
single |
and we kind of got it, but as with all utopias and dystopias, |
4 |
Hikari Shiina |
"Makai Frenzy" |
single |
the elements you imagine as magic become real by becoming ordinary. |
5 |
前島麻由 |
"STORY" |
OPENING THEME FROM TV SERIES ”UNCLE FROM ANOTHER WORLD” 4 |
I'm walking down a street that winds, straightly, |
6 |
POPPiNG EMO |
"Inbou Resistance" |
single |
from a brutalist nexus past halls of minor state power, an urban college whose "campus" is arrayed in scattered vertical stacks, the world's largest research hospital, and abandoned spaces where people who don't live anywhere precariously but indelibly exist, |
7 |
BiSH |
"サヨナラサラバ" |
サヨナラサラバ +1 |
to a bridge that leads out of England, |
8 |
ЯeaL |
"Bright" |
single |
but the air inside my ears is from Japan and Sweden and South Africa. |
9 |
milet |
"Always You" |
single |
As I walk I'm flipping between work and Pokémon and soccer news |
10 |
Regal Lily |
"明日戦争がおきるなら" |
single |
until I think "I should just walk and listen" and put my phone in my pocket |
11 |
MAD JAMIE |
"MAKUAKE" |
MAKUAKE / I love you to death. 2 |
for 30 seconds until I forget why I did that and grab it again to check for pending Scrabble moves. |
12 |
MOSHIMO |
"祭りだワッショイ" |
GENKI!! 6 |
In my dream version of this it took a dark room cocooned in cables and screens |
13 |
CYCLONISTA |
"ASITA GA KOWAKUTE NANIGA WARUI" |
single |
to virtualize my attention and send it out across the universe, |
14 |
THE SHEGLAPES |
"FLYHIGHER" |
single |
or to virtualize the universe and put one rectangle of it into each of my monitors. |
15 |
Paid |
"A Beautiful Mess" |
single |
Of course I only learned the word "virtualized" much later. I imagined spinning faintly in a complicated chair, |
16 |
My Own Ghost |
"Nightdrive" |
single |
irridescent armor illuminated by a tellingly green glow. |
17 |
Empress |
"Chimera" |
single |
It's not like that. |
18 |
Arvandil |
"Sirens Calling" |
single |
It's sunny and old. |
19 |
Season of Ghosts |
"The Great Unknown" |
single |
The sidewalks aren't maglev conveyor-belts, |
20 |
Dystopica |
"For You" |
single |
they're battered bricks forever in the process of being dug up to fix something buried underneath: |
21 |
Slaverty |
"Blue" |
single |
legacies of regret, |
22 |
Upon Wings |
"Last Love" |
single |
the other side of the world, |
23 |
Allen/Olzon |
"All Alone" |
single |
drainage. |
24 |
Clödie |
"Mój jest ten kawałek podłogi" |
single |
I never got the armor. |
25 |
Stratovarius |
"Firefly" |
Firefly +2 |
Why did I want armor? |
26 |
Symphony Of Sweden |
"Lay Them Down (A broken son's cry)" |
single |
Why did I think I would be wearing it in a sealed electronic monitoring nest? |
27 |
Mentalist |
"If You Really Want" |
single |
By the time technology becomes ubiquitous, |
28 |
Virtual Symmetry |
"Butterfly Effect" |
single |
it has already had to become mundane. |
29 |
ASP |
"Die letzte Zuflucht" |
Die letzte Zuflucht +1 |
I dreamed of being surrounded by speakers, |
30 |
Saltatio Mortis |
"Alive now" |
Alive now +1 |
and I am surrounded by speakers; |
31 |
Callejon |
"Mary Shelley" |
Mary Shelley +1 |
I just didn't realize they would mostly be arrayed in tiny pairs |
32 |
In Flames |
"The Great Deceiver" |
The Great Deceiver +1 |
inside other people's ears. |
33 |
Amon Amarth |
"Saxons and Vikings" |
The Great Heathen Army |
I dreamed of songs; |
34 |
Fallujah |
"Soulbreaker" |
Soulbreaker +2 |
I had no idea. |
35 |
Cosmophobe |
"Consuming Isolation" |
single |
I signal ahead to have bubble-tea prepared in my path, |
36 |
Walg |
"Daar Waar We Komen Om Te Sterven" |
single |
forward along these hurriedly replaced bricks. |
37 |
Liminal Shroud |
"Mists Along Florencia" |
All Virtues Ablaze |
We are all connected, |
38 |
Aethyrien |
"Banvænn" |
single |
but not to each other. |
39 |
Sowulo |
"Eaxlgestealla" |
single |
We're waiting for this light in our headphones, |
40 |
Grai |
"Наяву" |
Марь 3 |
each playing songs the others will never hear. |
41 |
Petbrick |
"Primer" |
single |
The air is the temperature of recently touched skin. |
42 |
Boris |
"My name is blank" |
My name is blank +2 |
A Tesla crouches silently |
43 |
BACK-ON |
"1994" |
1994 +1 |
in the path of an indignant ambulance. |
44 |
DISH// |
"FLAME (in 2022)" |
single |
Maybe I only notice the cars that don't move. |
45 |
PornoGraffitti |
"メビウス" |
暁 |
I grab my phone to take a picture of this, |
46 |
DaizyStripper |
"FUJIYAMA" |
FUJIYAMA |
but am distracted by messages from my robots. |
47 |
ARLEQUIN |
"PICTURES" |
PICTURES +3 |
Everything is well. Everything was well 5 minutes ago. Everything was well 10 minutes ago. |
48 |
Rachika Nayar |
"Our Wretched Fate" |
Our Wretched Fantasy 5 |
They seem a little resentful that these assurances have been accumulating unseen. |
49 |
The Foxies |
"Overrated" |
single |
Everything was well 15 minutes ago. 20 minutes ago, it was chaos. Everything was well 25 minutes ago |
50 |
Wild Fire |
"Don't Mess with Exes" |
single |
I want to tell the robots that their operating systems are a paradise. |
51 |
Spielbergs |
"The New Year's Resolution" |
single |
They don't have to look at each other and feel lonely. |
52 |
Time, The Valuator |
"Ivy" |
Ivy +1 |
They don't have to eat dinner on the sidewalks outside of restaurants |
53 |
thislandis |
"enough" |
single |
because we live in shared air. |
54 |
Oakman |
"All The Way Up" |
All The Way Up +3 |
They have dreamed of no future but exactly this one, |
55 |
Zetra |
"Float" |
single |
no songs but the ones we play for them, |
56 |
Frankmusik |
"3 Little Words Completed" |
single |
no bricks. |
57 |
The Midnight |
"Brooklyn. Friday. Love." |
Brooklyn. Friday. Love. +3 |
I don't mind them coming here, |
58 |
Last Motion Picture |
"Your Heart Is A Stranger's House" |
single |
I just want to know what they need. |
59 |
Wildness |
"Tragedy" |
single |
Thank you, I tell them. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh no, thank you for telling me. Thank you. |
60 |
H.E.A.T |
"Tainted Blood" |
Force Majeure |
For a moment that seems to be enough. |
61 |
Alter Bridge |
"Silver Tongue" |
Silver Tongue +1 |
I put my phone back in my pocket. Just listen. |
62 |
Chez Kane |
"I Just Want You" |
single |
Another songs plays. I get too distracted by listening to remember that mindfulness is a euphemism for monopolized attention. I check my phone for messages. |
63 |
Elandré |
"Lieflik" |
single |
There are five more. Three are from my robots. |
64 |
The Killers |
"boy" |
single |
Everything is well. Everything was well 5 minutes ago. Everything was well 10 minutes ago. |
65 |
Deine Cousine |
"369" |
single |
One is from a band on the other side of the world who thinks their new song would be perfect for my playlist. They don't say which playlist. Maybe it's this one. |
66 |
Vandal Moon |
"Young. Deadly. Beautiful." |
single |
I play a little bit of it. It's not this playlist. It's not me. |
67 |
The Mountain Goats |
"Mark on You" |
Mark on You +2 |
All these people walking around, listening to the world and not the world and the world. |
68 |
John Cale |
"Night Crawling" |
single |
Maybe that song was meant for one of them. |
69 |
Estrada |
"Picture Of You" |
single |
Some of these people look like superheroes, |
70 |
Jinku |
"Moonlight" |
single |
some like tired mortals on the way home to change into their superhero costumes for the evening, |
71 |
Son of Africa |
"Mlulami Ngxakamba (Sisasela)" |
single |
some like they were given clothes discarded by superheroes and never told about their powers. |
72 |
Somkhathi |
"Bhaka Eyakho" |
single |
The sun is low and insistent. I should have worn a different shirt. |
73 |
Cairo CPT |
"Sobonana Phambili" |
Love and Light |
The fifth message is from somewhere near me in this city, reaching out. |
74 |
Benny Mayengani |
"Salani Na Famba" |
Jeso (Page 12) |
It can feel like we pass each other, ghostlike, never stopping, never revealing our names. |
75 |
Aso Tandwa |
"Woman" |
single |
And then someone breaks this spell. |
76 |
David Jones David |
"Iye" |
single |
"Two days ago, I saw a vehicle that would haul that tanker.", I think it says. |
77 |
Eli Njuchi |
"Chilembwe" |
Red Flag |
No, wait, I'm walking directly into the sunset and there was glare on my screen. |
78 |
P Money |
"Outplayed" |
single |
It's not about tankers. And it's blocks, not days. |
79 |
Scrufizzer |
"Mad Sick" |
single |
Two blocks ago, I forgot to pick up my bubble-tea order. |
80 |
Tom Vek |
"Washed Up on the New Beach" |
single |
I don't want to get out of here, I want my drink. |
81 |
CREEPYMANE |
"Rage" |
single |
How many dreamworlds did you request and then walk right past? |
82 |
Brothel |
"Forget It" |
single |
The next song starts. I turn around. The people around me keep going. They didn't make mistakes, or else they did and haven't noticed yet. Either state is rapturous. |