CyberPunk Essentials - April 2020

Hello Cyberpunk Essentials readers. As you might know, I moved to California. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to give a wider heads up to the listeners of the pod. Maybe I shouldn’t be, but it felt a little rude. If you’re listening to Neoscum is anything like the way I listen to the pods I dig, something sudden like that can be a jarring sign of an end in sight. I gotta emphasize: this is not the case here.

My fiancé and I had this plan for almost a year ahead of time, but had to stay hush hush about it so I could score the equity for the company I worked for. (if you’re from my former place of business reading this - sorry, nothin personal). This plan upset with the outbreak of COVID-19, which started really escalating in the states about a week before we were due to head out. We were worried travel restrictions might be imposed. Panic felt very high: what the heck are you supposed to do when you quit your job and have a cross country move planned in the face of a pandemic? Our answer was cancelling our plans that week and renting an SUV. 

The whole move took about a week - two days to pack up as much as we could fit into a rented SUV and 4 days to drive from Chicago through a southern route of strategically placed to San Jose, California, two yowling cats in tow. 

Like everything echoing around us now, it was nerve-wracking. I was hyper aware of every sneeze, cough, and scratch in my throat. On top of that, having everything we owned smashed together almost overflowing out of the SUV was stressful. Even if it was unlikely, the idea that all this junk could be lost and leave us destitute was a heavy thought. Frankly, I’m still having moving stress dreams situated here in CA three weeks later.

But, what’s a road trip without some crankin’ tunes? Here’s what I was pumping on the trip: 

Playing Cinder Well’s The Unconscious Echo through the rugged scenery of the Ozark mountains. 

Shortly after putting this album on, the sun set turning everything into a dead black. The music is this totally crushing Appalachian droning folk. Probably the heaviest music to be listening to in that circumstances - It sounded like if the early bluegrass musicians invented black metal. Hell, maybe they did! We thought we were dying. We even got lost for a second driving deeper and deeper into the mountains on a lone stretch of Un-U-turn-able highway. It was brutal - we had to turn it off. It rocked.

Listening to Astronoid’s Astronoid driving out of Amarillo. 

If I recall correctly we were driving through Texas flatland for this portion of the trip. I was really stoked to put this one on for my turn behind the wheel. This band brings ascendent riffs over drumming that manages to be emotionally propulsive and technically thrilling. they manage to fill out a 5 minute song like it was 2:30 - masterfully proportioned jams. Plus the vocals manage to be really lovely without messing with the balance of colossal riffing jams. All perfect tunes for gunning a flat road over massive skies. 

My fiancé didn’t like it and said it was scaring the cats. She later acquiesced, saying that it wasn’t scaring the cats, but politely asked that we not listen to metal for the rest of the trip. I respect my fiancé and agreed to her terms! IT was a powerful example of good ass communication. 

Anyway, if you dig this album you should check out their previous release Air. IT’s been my #1 album on rotation since arriving in California. Also shout out to cousin Gio for this most righteous rec. 

Leaving a small Texas town playing Boldy James’ & The Alchemist’s The Price of Tea in China. 

We had just eaten really crummy enchiladas in our car outside of a restaurant that was full of people. Saw a grandpa looking guy giving his grandson a big hug. Felt bleak. 

The sun was setting and we still had three hours to go. Felt good putting this album on - it’s primo cool guy music. I put this on and had the very badass fantasy imagining myself having a cigarette hanging languid from the side of my mouth. I know, that’s an incredibly cool fantasy to have: me doing exactly what I was already doing, but smoking a cigarette ideal music. Boldy has a great lyrical pitter pat that’s beautifully complimented by The Alchemist’s production. Probably my favorite rap release this year. Rips.