Sometimes I stop and wonder what I would do if not for the internet and computers. I’ve been connected for so long now that it is second nature, I barely think about it; almost like breathing, but damn I spend most of my waking hours on a computer, and lose many potential sleeping hours to the computer. My job, as for many of my generation, is almost entirely on a computer, with close to no social interaction involved, especially these days that I am working from home and all my meetings are virtual. And sometimes this truth hits me quite hard, making me a bit depressed. I sometimes feel like in quarantimez, the short-film my mate Boyan produced last year in the first months of the pandemic, namely like some kind of holographic representation of myself in a fully digital world devoid of most senses but hearing and seeing.

Quarantimez from Boyan Mihaylov on Vimeo.

An anxious over-philosophizer and an enthusiastic go-getter reflect on the surreal situation in the early weeks of their lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While in this surreal philosophical essay I tend to take the side of Zonke more than Bonke, as I am convinced of a higher meaning of the sacrifice of our social life, hitting the one year mark has taken a toll on me, as it did on most of us I suppose. With little to no visibility on the cultural scene opening up again in the EU, with no visibility on when I will get a vaccine myself, with horror stories of new strains which evolved to maime even the younger generations with permanent brain damage or lung tissue scarring, with the continued social distancing making it hard to visit close family, this start of the year has been hard to apprehend.

That’s why sometimes I get bored of being on my computer, but I know nothing better but to be on my computer, so is the paradox. I am afraid this is an incredibly sorrowful introduction to my pick of the day, from a group that probably deserved a much better, or at least more uplifting, preface: Newcleus.

Newcleus - Computer Age (1984)

Newcleus is probably my favorite early electro act (with Egpytian Lover as close second). Both albums, Jam on Revenge and Space is the Place, are masterpieces absolutely riddled with electro bangers. Computer Age hits particularly on target with the topic of today, with quite prophetic lyrics for a track released in 1984:

Computer age is now
Everyone must have a machine
They say it's gonna make life easier,
Well, I can't stand it…

They say we should put them in control
Well, maybe next we'll give them a soul
I guess we must now think that we're gods,
While we're less men than ever

I know the Lord cannot be too glad
In fact, I'm sure he must be quite mad
To see us take His role from our lives
And give it to computers

For here we sit in our easy chairs
As our machines decide how we'll fare
Who will suffer, who will survive?
It's up to the computers

Hope you enjoy this track and that life is treating you well. Peace out.

PS: want more surreal videos in the style of quarantimez, one of Boyan’s inspiration for this video is the amazing channel called surreal entertainment, a personal favorite of mine us Shrek interrogates Mark Zuckerberg.