18 - 1.outside

https://youtu.be/7mhSoUZO0os

I'm mildly trepidatious about 1. Outside. It's supposedly his return to rock, his return to making this crap up on the fly in the studio. Buuuut, Eno's back with his uno cards, and we're in David Lynchian, Lost Highway, insane asylum territory again (3 years ahead of schedule, if anybody's keeping track). The song "I'm Deranged" was my first experience with the great music/floating hologram of David Bowie 3rd quarter. I didn't like it then, i didn't like where it came from, and the casting couch is full of uncomfortably familiar faces. Maybe i'm wrong, and i'll "get it" this time around?

Oh, ok, it's an actual story, a fake diary to not be a boring real life diary of a touring musician, the product of actually visiting an asylum. He's back to being interested in the fringe, not the center of it all (that's long range foreshadowing, wink). There's definitely an industrial undercurrent i didn't know he explored (again, didn't know this album existed). Why didn't i know about it? Probably because it's very Thrill Kill Kult analogous and i was clearly interested in the same underground happenings as Bowie, not actually Bowie.

Yeah, i totally get that detached feeling in this context. It's not Vegas crooner in this context. Remember that weird out of nowhere Derrida post from last week? Yep, i didn't know why i needed to post that, but turns out now is why. Stupid fake psychic subconscious guiding me along. It's a new take on alien. It really is a standing beside yourself, institutional kind of horrifying.

I really like this. It's the right balance of sleazy and horrifying, making it extremely horrifying. Yeah this is straight up industrial rock, if you don't believe me jump straight to track 6, "Hallo Spaceboy." This is my home turf, no wonder the mainstream didn't care, and us weirdos never bothered to look into it. Why would the goth kids care about Bowie? I wish i had, for this one at least. Definitely check this one out if you've never heard it. It's dark and beautiful and terrifying, and i'll definitely be listening to it again and again.

 19 - Earthling

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