our lens is xanex. our subject is now.
Alprazolam is a benzodiazepine (ben-zoe-dye-AZE-eh-peen). It affects chemicals in the brain that may be unbalanced in people with anxiety.Alprazolam is used to treat anxiety disorders, panic disorders, and anxiety caused by depression.
anxiety:
restlessness
a sense of dread
feeling constantly "on edge"
difficulty concentrating
irritability
dizziness
tiredness
a noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
muscle aches and tension
trembling or shaking
dry mouth
excessive sweating
shortness of breath
stomach ache
feeling sick
headache
pins and needles
difficulty falling or staying asleep
panic:
a racing heartbeat
feeling faint
sweating
nausea
chest pain
shortness of breath
trembling
hot flushes
chills
shaky limbs
a choking sensation
dizziness
numbness or pins and needles
dry mouth
a need to go to the toilet
ringing in your ears
a feeling of dread or a fear of dying
a churning stomach
a tingling in your fingers
feeling like you're not connected to your body
so why are we medicating our collective consciousness against these things? why now?
The people who bully me wear nice clean trainers so I will wear clunky boots.
I've never been happy with this.
I think the unnerved response is the most pertinent one incidentally. It's one of the key properties of this phase of cultural output. Where are we going and is it too late to stop it.
Lol was just about to write 'that's why people become goths' in response to that last post on the previous page and then I saw this. It's gotta be a tale as old as time. Just different ways of expressing it
There's a real flatness about this kind of music that reminds of HMGs theory about anti depressants cutting off the human soul from its highs and low and leaving it with a steady pulse in the middle regions
Kind of unnerving hollowness to it too
Do you mean in the sound of it? The digital inhuman glaze?
The sound and Stuff. Inhuman. Inorganic. Flat. Uncanny valley. Undead.
You know how some drugs seem to lock you into a inhuman frequency? So you're not flesh and blood anymore?
This kind of music is like watching adverts for the post human future and realising you're not going to be allowed to make the transition. Surplus to requirements. Cancelled stock.
I definitely think Barty is right in identifying this kind of music, the xanax zone, as the future that's here now, what he calls an inadvertent future in that it doesn't rely on sci fi trappings.
This is why it has the power to make people, me, genuinely uncomfortable in a way resident advisor endorsed landfill electronica never will.
Another way in which this future is disturbing, and this is crucial, is that it is about convergence and not resistance.
Look back at the beginning of the dematerialisation thread and you'll see how uncomfortable this makes people. This future is capitalist. It's not counter cultural. It's not an underground resistance. It's convergence. It's a folding in.
The thing with these xanex rappers is that they’re freaks. The way they appropriate the conforming qualities of xanex and the like.
imagine if xanex was some greek god or goddess and it's effects were all the things they held dominion over. xanex the goddess of sedateness and apathy. we're playing around with that framework. trying to mythologise our age and our culture.