YOU

Now, a lot of people like to talk about “industrial musicK” like they know what they’re talking about. They only talk of machine drums, sequencers set on 16th-note patterns, barre cords, tedious vocal distortion and sound bites sampled from A Scanner Darkly. But if we peel back the layers of formulaic noise and cliched sentiments of alienation at the hands of a mechanical, dystopian society, we remember that in origin industrial musicK was as act of sorcery! “An alchemical musicKal laboratory.” The idea that one could alter his or her Consciousness and literally enter another dimension of reality by invoking certain frequencies of sound was a cornerstone in the foundation of what would become “Industrial musicK.”

No coincidence, then, one finds reoccurring occult/religious themes and symbolism in the efforts of genre’s enduring heavy hitters. And if it’s not overt occultism, then certainly the general notion of transcendence, transformation & transmutation is present. Then of course there’s the element of paranoia, the idea of being “watched” or “monitored,” but what else could this sensation indicate than the beginning of the loss of ego and the realization that there is no distinction between individuals; that ultimately, we are all one Consciousness experiencing itself. Certainly this feeling would be disconcerting if you were taught to believe that you only exist as a physical entity inherently separate from the other physical entities.

So what’s the Industrial egregore up to now? Well, like any good conspiracy it is planning to finish what was started — to tear down the imaginary limits of reality and push us through the other side. But you say this is ‘nonsense,’ a waste of time or even DANGEROUS to talk of these things in terms of objectiveness — metaphysical beliefs only distract people from the truth of reality — and Truth is the only thing that matters. Possibly. But if life is just the product of random chance and life ends when you die (as the materialists and rationalists demand), then what is the point of recognizing, or even caring about, the distinction between “fact” & “fiction”? If ‘everything must perish’ then nothing ultimately matters, including our life and speculations.

Ok, so you don’t buy that, you say life does have meaning. Then the goal of humanity must be to create peace between ourselves, right? Even still, why must there be consensus? BEHAVIOR is far more important than BELIEFS when it comes to creating PEACE. Don’t believe me? Are you going to punch me in the face over it? Yes or no, you’ve proved my point — it’s the PHYSICAL act of violence that is the problem. Nothing more, nothing less. The one exception to this rule is the belief everyone has to believe the same thing. It’s the general belief in conformity that causes people to ACT OUT in anti-social ways — either on on-line forums or in the real world. So you can believe in God, you can even believe your God is the one, true God, but only when you start calling people a bunch of mean, nasty names in the name of your infallible belief system are you the problem. Conversely, you can be an atheist, you can even believe your belief is the one, true belief, but only when you start calling people a bunch of mean, nasty names in the name of your infallible belief system are you the problem. Obviously, pointing this out won’t change the minds of fanatics who feel all must bow to their infallible belief system. Even worse are the “non-conformists” whose obnoxious cynicism derides any sincere attempt at promoting peace, love & liberty.

So to be clear, “conformity” in of itself is not the problem. No, conformity that arises organically; like a group of people who, by their nature, resonate with a particular æsthetic and create a framework to cultivate it — that is a positive aspect of conformity; its organizational aspect. But any organization can be corrupted by those who want to conform to it, who want to be led, because these ‘followers’ also desire to become ‘leaders’ who will then attempt to impose “their” organization over others, which inevitably leads to chaos (the undesirable kind). The domesticated primate knows there must be organization (”conformity”) for social cohesion — but they get correlation & causality confused — rather than allowing organization (which is the de facto nature of biological systems, i.e. us) to flow spontaneously — they attempt to artificially impose THEIR ORDER over others, thereby causing us (and them) disaster. But we can forgive them because they CLEARLY ‘know not what they do.’ But don’t kid yourself … there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. Keep reading.

Now with ‘industrial people,’ we know ‘industrial’ is not just a “style,” but a STATE OF MIND that is inexorably drawn foreword through the temporal dimension — BEYOND the event horizon — BEYOND the singularity — BEYOND the spaces in-between the spaces — BEYOND GOD. (Hint: SubGeniuses call it “Bulldada” — the way they describe it’s origin, ‘bursting from the chest of Dada’s corpse’, is the perfect analogy for the Industrial state of mind; “DEIFIED DADA.”) For the true adepts of Industrial we know there is an authentic prophecy encoded in its ‘ultra heavy beat’ — we know it by the symbols it leaves behind: The MACHINE, MONITOR, reptiles, sexual energy, tEEth; accompanied with themes of MEAT & Digestion all leading to, EVOLUTION, DNA; crystalized frequencies of electro-magnetic light spectra and electro-tonal sound patterns, PURE KOSMIC KONSCIOUSNESS. It is clear we were being prepared for an ‘Industrial Messiah,’ a “headhunter” who would make us all “rich & famous” who would lead the way and show us how to ‘live through ones own dementia.’ And now, at the beginning of this new decade (or new century, actually new millennium), where are we seeing the industrial state of mind being utilized to overwhelming critical and commercial success? Where else but with this new wave of pop-darlings? Lady Gaga (our first Industrial Princess), for example, makes ample use of experimental electronic aggro-beats and Her style can be accurately described as ‘cross-dressing occult degenerate weirdo’ (sound familiar?!) Naturally, this assertion will seem like heresy to myopic ‘purists’ (after all, they said the same thing about Nine Inch Nails at first), but the fact modern Industrial owes just as much to Pink Floyd as it does to Throbbing Gristle is the surest sign of the media organism’s flexibility. In fact, Industrial’s vitality is chiefly due to its ability to ‘blend the strengths.’

So I’m not saying there’s only ONE ‘messiah,’ quite the contrary, the industrial mutation is an intergenusnet affecting MULTIPLE carriers at “once” — like a drop of water, we, Industrial Adepts, all contain the same “seed,” but by ourselves we are not ‘in context’ thus we seem INANE, BUT! when enough drops of water accrue and are ‘housed’ in their proper “vessel” i.e. FAME, we suddenly become relevant. And that is the true prophecy — ‘the becoming’ of the Industrial state of mind; ‘my new Consciousness.’ To be sure ‘we are not romantics,’ we are here to serve you. Indeed, our Bible is called “How To Serve Man.” $HA!

And so before I leave you to contemplate all I have said, I offer one more suggestion. To celebrate the dawn of our reckoning we change the label of the Industrial genre to something more fitting to the challenges and promise our time represents: CyberpunK. From the oldest Skinny Puppy to the most recent Front Line Assembly, I find “CyberpunK” to be FAR more descriptive of the genre than “Industrial,” which invokes feelings of antiquity & obsoleteness. “CyberpunK” not only embraces the feelings we get from “Industrial” [that we like], but also propels them forward — which is exactly where Industrial intended to take us. Consider also the enormous amount of cross-pollination of themes between Cyberpunk, the literary genre, and Industrial. Finally, as we learn more about the nature of reality — that matter is made of energy — and energy is made of information — we must contemplate the possibility that by merely knowing this we are no longer human — we are machines (for the lack of a better term.) machine |məˈ sh ēn| noun. Any device that transfers or converts energy from one form to another.

In the case of the miraculous packet just mentioned, the engine allows us to consider a large number of alternate universes that might result as a consequence of the packet’s delivery, and to build insight into the specific mutations that its arrival induced. The operation of the difference engine involves The challenge of replaying network traffic dealing with non-determinism, both intentional and inherent. Greater the Chaos becometh; the major centre with all the seven circulating spheres rock with the echos of disintegration. The fumes of utter blackness mount upwards in dissipation. The noise discordant of the warring elements greets the oncoming rEvolution, and deters IT not. The strife and cries of the fourth great Hierarchy, blending with the softer note of the Builders of the fifth and sixth, meet ITs approach. Yet IT passeth on ITs way, sweeping the circle of the spheres on the face of the waters, and waging the WAR. The virus has reached critical mass. The lines are converging to the point of no return. The Process has a focal point. It can provide a form about which the function of the self can be wrapped; Love, self-expression and discipline. Intentional nondeterminism is caused through modifications (i.e. through reordering or otherwise altering the log of external events) to the replayed system in an attempt to guide the replaying instance to an alternate state. Inherent non-determinism results from within the system itself. Examples include both explicit calls to sources of entropy. Calling the Hamburger Lady: a mechanist woman living in information, fed on human emotion, Her “psychic metabolism” maintained by entangled, multiple personalities each projected through various cybernetic organisms, only vaguely aware of their interconnectivity. She watched through her telephone, her telephone. Their images synthesized by computer and fed into her brain through a nerve-crystal junction at the base of her skull. Her ears were the ultra heavy beat of radar, listening, listening, pounding. Music down your throat — music … nonstop.  At the end of the album, YOÜ & I appear to have become glamourous piles of glitzy garbage at the mercy of a postpop-hyperpunk Princess. In fact, the call was coming from inside the HOUSE — your entire life as you have known it was only an illusion. Now don’t you feel a whole lot better? So go ahead and sing the song, it goes like this: 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … now i know — what this is all about. and now i know — exactly what i am. [x infinity].

In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth “spreads resistant messages despite powerful mechanisms of top-down control,” which is ultimately a more empowering message than what you get from searching “cyberpunk” on Google Images. (”Note, if you will, how many topless, pantsless, or pigtailed schoolgirls you see here.”) But even Gibson himself once argued the cutting-edge of cyberpunk is too unfamiliar to be defined.

The track listing was very intriguing — I was excited by the prospect of entering a new world of ‘cyberpunk” soundscapes augmented by an erotic delirium of industrial proportions … something about sorcery enhanced by cybernetic implants for cross-dressing degenerates. But then I actually listened to it … and the magic was gone. I eventually ‘unchecked’ all the tracks of the album and deemed it a lost cause and failure.

Oh, the irony. Cut to a few days ago when looking to free up some space on my HD I set my sights on iTunes. I inevitably sought out the unchecked tracks — that’s when PULSE was put back on my radar. However, my sentimentality for F242 demanded I give the album another try before I forever ‘banished’ PULSE from my hard drive.

Incredibly, everything that bothered me about the album before was conspicuously absent. I’ve gone from thinking PULSE was F242’s only bad album to thinking it their best, most relevant album to date.

After much deliberation, consideration and mind-blowing sex I’ve outlined 3 things I think I did wrong in my initial attempt to ‘assimilate’ this masterstroke of mellifluousness.

1.) There is a definite and absolute continuity to the album. This is indicated by the track titles themselves. In my youthful exuberance I became ‘impatient’ with the media organism and attempted to ’short-cut’ the spectacle. This is folly. Listening to the songs out of context puts the listener in a state of agitated confusion – the participant engaging the media organism becomes ‘lost’ and blames the host itself rather than his own ignorance. This isn’t one of Dr. Luke’s Top 40 Pop-darlings where the sequence of songs is equally valid in any permutation. Nay! (And that’s not a slam against Dr. Luke – I think he’s a wonderfully gifted producer and judge of talent.) There is a story with a plot as dense as a black hole being told in PULSE – the aforementioned transgender cyborg sorcerers. There is a progression being made nanosecond by nanosecond; front by front; man by …  wo-man (?)

2.) The mood in which you ‘dose’ yourself with the media organism is equally important. As I said before, I was in an ‘excited,’ ‘rushed’ state – too eager — I was not in the correct state of mind to properly comprehend the magnitude of what was being laid out before me. However, perhaps even paradoxically, faced with the sobering task of deciding it’s fate on my hard drive put me in a more relaxed state. I was more open to its possibilities than when I was merely seeking to be entertained. The organism’s very life was in my hands! These are not moments you take lightly.

3.) Volume. You actually have to hear what it is telling you, telling us. THIS IS NOT BACKGROUND MUSIC. It’s not even “music” in the mundane sense of the word. It is an sonic archetype signaling the evolution of time — dare I say, Consciousness itself? The collapse of fixed perspective. It is a life-form born outside the imaginary limits of <reality>. Burrowing itself in the electro-tonal sound patterns of our DNA. The frequency crystalizes in our blood, shoots straight up to the pineal gland, opens the Third Eye and makes you want to dance until you orgasm … It calls us: calling all brains to the activation station. It tells us in no uncertain terms that we’re glitter in hyperspace. Glitter-space-space-space-space-space. It is a headhunter taking aim. Oh yes, The MACHINE prevails. THE GAME never looses.

A final notice before disconnect:

If not properly prepared for when the “album” “ends,” you may find yourself not unlike a junkie  — dissociative, stressed and seeking your next fix which will only leave you with an increasingly diminished return. To remedy this, I prescribe Ani DiFranco’s intoxicating song “Pulse” as an alternate ‘ending.’ Simply play her song following “Pan Mihk.” The sprawling acoustic melodies and soothing female voice provides the necessary counterbalance to the alien, posthuman perspective that the PULSE album advocates. Equilibrium is thus achieved. When the event subsides you will feel refreshed, calm, content — yet you will posses the edge of an unstoppable machine. “A warlock rockstar from Mars,” to quote the delightful Charlie Sheen.

And if this is your first time hearing of Front 242 and you’re intrigued by this endorsement — heed these words  — do NOT rush off and simply buy PULSE and think you will understand all I have written here. As mentioned before, F242 has an extensive back catalogue of albums. Acquire them all. Absorb them all completely. In chronological order. As an act of sorcery, comprehending F242 will take time, patience and dedicated effort. But stick with it and you will find those answers you seek. I guarantee it. At that time, go into the void, beyond the immediate vista, into the Æon — the spaciousness beyond your meannesses, beyond your borrowed precepts, dogmas and beliefs – until you vibrate in spacious unity with the media organism.

— Amen … Awo-men (?)

Cyberpunk is a 60-minute documentary from 1990 that serves as a charming bookend to the William Gibson documentary No Maps for These Territories. While Gibson is featured prominently in this doc, it also expands out to illuminate an entire slice of the late ’80s/early ’90s culture that used to be featured in the late, great Mondo 2000 magazine.

Cyberpunk Review offers these insights:

Cyberpunk is a documentary that looks back at the 80s cyberpunk movement, and more specifically, how this has led to a trend in the “real” world where people were starting to refer to themselves as “cyberpunk.” The documentary sees “cyberpunks” as being synonymous with hackers. A number of writers, artists, musicians and scientists are interviewed to provide context to this movement. The guiding meme, as told by Gibson, is that information “wants” to be free. 60s counter-culture drug philosopher, Timothy Leary, provides a prediction that cyberpunks will “decentralize knowledge,” which will serve to remove power from those “in power” and bring it back to the masses. Many different potential technologies are discussed, including “smart drugs,” sentient machines, advanced prosthetics — all of which serve to give context to the idea of post-humanity and its imminent arrival on the world stage.

As an added bonus, visit the Insomnia page for a contemporary interview with Mr. Gibson in which he discusses the current state of Cyberspace!

Making sense of it all and putting the show in perspective twenty years later is Annalee Newitz on io9.com:

For those who don’t know the premise of the 1987—88 series, where every episode begins with the tagline “twenty minutes into the future,” here’s a quick recap. Investigative reporter Edison Carter works for Network 23 in an undefined cyberpunk future, where all media is ad-supported and ratings rule all. Reporters carry “rifle cameras,” gun-shaped video cameras, which are wirelessly linked back to a “controller” in the newsroom. Edison’s controller is Theora, who accesses information online — everything from apartment layouts to secret security footage — to help him with investigations.

They’re aided in their investigations by a sarcastic AI named Max Headroom, built by geek character Bryce and based on Edison’s memories. Sometimes producer Murray (Jeffrey Tambor) helps out, as does Reg, a pirate TV broadcaster known as a “blank” because he’s erased his identity from corporate databases.

In the world of Max Headroom, it’s illegal for televisions to have an off switch. Terrorists are reality TV stars. And super-fast subliminal advertisements called blipverts have started to blow people up by overstimulating the nervous systems of people who are sedentary and eat too much fat…

Read More of Annalee Newitz’s essay on io9.com

You say now use the Internet for less than 3 hours a week and do not own a TV, phone, or stove. What brought you to the point that you decided you had to unplug like that?

I lived in Guyana for 4 years. You can have days when you have no power, and I survived. I feel that people think that the Internet will always be there. I feel it will not and the day is coming soon. I have seen the Internet change over the years – it has changed alot. The day is coming, I feel, that the can not remain a free utility.

Life really is not hard without technology if you learn to live without it. But if you’re addicted – what then?

When did you decide to cut back your use of technology?

When I realized it was taking up so much of my time – 2007 – I started closing down websites that I was using. I cut back to Myspace and YouTube – there were so many. And I cut my surfing – I use RSS now, I do not surf. By 2008 I did not have a landline or cell or Internet at home.

They used sculptures to simulate virtual reality – and artist Brody Condon promised to combine “Gibson’s 1980s dystopian techno-fetishism with early twentieth-century abstraction.”