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The Reality of the Virtual

by NTSC

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dylanlaw79
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dylanlaw79 Hidden gem if you're a fan of Synthwave with some really cool guitar work and vocals thrown in. Came across these guys completely by accident and so glad I did. The tracks are memorable and have been on my playlist since purchase. Cannot wait to hear more from them. Favorite track: Symmetric Sleep (Album Mix).
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1.
The Reality of the Virtual 01:30
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2.
Retrovision (Album Mix) 02:53
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Over and over and over again These rosy-colored shades let me see with such imprecision Thinking is harder than saying amen The present looks the same as the past through my retrovision We'd rather our reality be virtual than virtuous Vintage vivisection makes the worst seem reversed to us Filtered through a screen What was blue became green And humanity's a word pronounced dead at the scene Some assembly required No more preaching to the choir This dissembling's more unsettling than may be desired But believe me, I'm not joking This is meant to be provoking You to action, not abstraction Putrefaction of the mind's obscene Doing alright Doing alright We're doing alright (over and over) Over and over and over again These rosy-colored shades let me see with such imprecision Thinking is harder than saying amen The present looks the same as the past through my retrovision (We cannot clearly distinguish real reality and virtual reality. We should absolutely be aware that the way we see reality is not a neutral, innocent reality. It's always augmented reality, and this is crucial.)
3.
Say It Again 04:16
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There isn't some contract that we signed But you were once so favorably inclined It's your turn to answer Can this be happening? I wish you would respond to me in kind Say it again Just like the first time Don't let another moment pass There's just too much at stake Say it again Tell me one more time Don't let another moment pass by The past is now poisoning my mind I'm haunted by the things you left behind Your silence is cancer My life is unraveling I wish we could just stop this and rewind Say it again I know it's the last time My heart feels like it's made of glass How much more can it take Say it again Tell me one more time Don't let another moment pass by
4.
Alt-Wrong 04:00
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Your ruse to come off as hip is too see-through It won't win anyone's sympathy Tainting art forms with hate isn't brand-new It's the MO of tyranny There's nothing Christian in what you pursue Through blatant lies and hypocrisy Facts and figures cannot be post-true Whatever happened to decency? Drown in your nostalgia Stay where you belong This will be our anthem: The alt-right is wrong You claim that all that you want is to subdue And cure the ills in society Instead of all the real good that you could do You'd rather go on a killing spree Drown in your nostalgia Stay where you belong This will be our anthem: The alt-right is wrong There's so much ignorance in your worldview Because you simply don't want to see The very leaders you claim will free you Keep you living in poverty Drown in your nostalgia Stay where you belong This will be our anthem: The alt-right is wrong
5.
Powder 02:41
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6.
Partners in Crime 04:18
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I watch my shadow flicker in a cave Don't know which one of us I would rather save From slings and arrows cast each time we misbehave For now I'll tread the straight and narrow Touch Taste Feel Our prison, our pastime Lies Made Real We're partners in this crime While I dance endlessly, the other me complains Such joy ahead of me, I hardly feel the chains My hedonistic fantasies are making ever-greater gains And now I'm learning to bend backwards Touch Taste Feel Our prison, our pastime Lies Made Real We're partners in this crime The world we awaited So new, so outdated A future belated And so antiquated The willing sedated Our thoughts fabricated Our minds desecrated We smile, captivated
7.
Symmetric Sleep (Album Mix) 05:00
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Winner takes all Lawlessly abide Well into morning Seventh eightball Abstinence denied To you Midnight Genetic insight Magnetic moonlight Symmetric sleep Starlight Aesthetic knifefight Electric eyesight Symmetric sleep Because I thought that I had crossed Weightless, lost, into a dream We can't anticipate the cost I'll find you again downstream Senses in thrall No place left to hide Ignored the warning Mind in freefall Bracing to collide With you Midnight Genetic insight Magnetic moonlight Symmetric sleep Starlight Aesthetic knifefight Electric eyesight Symmetric sleep
8.
Burst City 04:17
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Smokestacks Kickbacks for the traitor good The rest of us unseen, unheard It's a wonder we're alive Given all the hurdles standing in the way The problems we neglect today It isn't a choice We have to accept That the whole system we exist in Can't support us any longer The sky is falling Burst city Burst city We can't afford to love you Burst city Burst city There's no way out but through Come on I'm really sick of this regime I have no mouth and I must scream So I write in parables It's bearable - just Letting off some steam Everything is so perverse Getting worse So come and get me Good and ready Firebrand to firestarter Martyr me Burst city Burst city We can't afford to love you Burst city Burst city There's no way out but through Burst city Burst city We can't afford to love you Burst city Burst city There's no way out but through Come on Burst city Burst city

about

The Reality of the Virtual, the debut album from NTSC, draws its title and chief inspiration from Slavoj Zizek's likewise titled 2004 video lecture. Zizek affirms that we are constantly bombarded by ideology, be it through politics, advertising or even popular culture at large. Ideology is virtual, but it makes itself real by manipulating our perception and programming our behavior.

NTSC take Zizek's ideas and apply them to the ideological feedback loop that western culture has become, enthralled as it currently is by its feshitization of 1980s pop culture. The 80s are everywhere; not just in the endless stream of Hollywood remakes and rehashed TV shows, but in the return of aggressive capitalist values and political models that many of us assumed were dead and gone.

NTSC have used the ongoing collapse of history as an opportunity to pay critical homage to the sounds and styles of the Me-First Decade, creating an amalgam of new wave, hip-hop, punk and glam rock infused with a vaporwave-esque sensibility. It is chiefly this which sets NTSC apart from other synthwave acts - instead of reveling in nostalgia for an imagined past, most of the songs on the album have a sociopolitical urgency to them that is competely at odds with the genre. By juxtaposing backward-looking pop with a forward-thinking mentality, NTSC hope to jolt their listeners into a greater awareness of our present predicament.

credits

released October 17, 2019

All tracks written, produced and performed by NTSC. Recorded at Syrinx Studio by Roman Seliverstov. Vocals on Symmetric Sleep recorded at EMT Media. Mixed by Daniil Sukhochev. Album art by Eva Grenman.

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NTSC Saint Petersburg, Russia

Sequenced subversion for troubled times

Ricardo Marin-Vidal (vocals, bass, theremin)
Svyatoslav Maximov (guitar)
Rodolfo Neri (drums)
Sergei Rykov (keys, production)

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