WILT_2023-07

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 12 Feb 2023 to 18 Feb 2023.

1. This fffire – Franz Ferdinand
2. And The Lake Was… – Jacana People, Neil Cowley
3. Ingenue – Atoms For Peace
4. Night City Aliens – The Armed, Homeschool Dropouts
5. Selva Pulsátil – Deafkids, Tainted Overlord
6. On the Edge – Automatic

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2023-07

Notes

WILT_2023-07

A rather short one this week. 

I’ve pretty much been wrapped up in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe. It started with the anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, produced by Studio Trigger and CD Projekt, distributed by Netflix, and based off the universe created by Mike Pondsmith. 

This fffire by Franz Ferdinand is the opening song from the anime.

I finally gave the anime a chance and I’m glad I did because it really is a trip. There’s not really a thing that they do exceptionally well, but they do it with a lot of heart and style. That’s actually quite enough when you just want quick doses of dopamine.

From there, I just explored around the realm of music, but nothing really stuck apart from the beats of And The Lake Was… as well as the synth line from Ingenue. At first I thought Ingenue was new solo work by Thom Yorke, but I’m also not surprised to learn that it’s from 2013’s AMOK by Atoms for Peace.

Then, I decided to download the Cyberpunk 2077 game, the one that Edgerunnersis based on. (Edgerunners is a prequel, set in 2076. The original Cyberpunk tabletop game by Mike Pondsmith was set between 2013–2046.) I decided to check the game out after two years because apparently all the launch bugs have since been ironed out, and the game is now not just playable, but also enjoyable. The final update for the game came out about four months ago, and includes references from the Edgerunners anime series. 

Night City Aliens by The Armed immediately struck me for its no-holds-barred punk energy, and ‌Selva Pulsátil by Deaf Kids, was super interesting with its dark dub rock energy, although it does sound like it takes too long to get to where it wants to go. But it’s also dub, so… maybe it’s about the journey and not how long it takes. By the way, those tracks are from the Cyberpunk 2077 original soundtracks, and the songs appear in the in-game radio. 

Pure coincidence, but the final song on the list is titled On the Edge by Automatic. It’s got nothing to do with Cyberpunk, but the recommended album art and artist name caught my attention and I gave it a whirl. I do enjoy the simplicity and effectiveness of the melody and groove, and nonchalance is interesting for a few rounds.