Focus: Retro-Futurism
A Fashion, but more than that; A Sound whose time has (finally) comeKaliburg, Ananto District
May 24, 4414A new trend has caught a segment of Kalistan's Youth. The trend, which is mostly associated with a particular type of music that has been developing over the last few years dubbed "Retro-Futurist", or RF for short, has also inspired websites, fashion, and clubs. In Kaliburg alone, there are no less than 10 "retro-futurist clubs" which are associated with the movement, and which are responsible for the spread of retro-futurist culture, art and fashion.
What is Retro-Futurism? John "Zap" Rogers, 32, of Kaliburg, who has a specialty show at Kalistan National University that features Retro-Futurism, describes it this way: "Retro-Futurism is like, if you remember the past, and how they thought the present was going to be today, they had all these weird ideas about how we were going to be all robots and having jetpacks and flying cars and all the music was going to be this weird syntho-ambience that had this really thumping bassline, but had all this weird synthesizer stuff playing around it, so you could still dance to it, but it wasn't hard, and... its basically what the past thought the future would be. We're basically representing the Present of an alternative timeline. A Modernity that never happened. Can you dig it?"
The song "Can't Get you Off of my Mind" by Pop/EDM Artist Kelly Minelli, widely hailed as the first true, and greatest RF tune of all time, turns 17 years old this year.
Both the style and the sound are archetypal for the modern Retro-Futurist Movement.RF band Syn-Biosis currently tops the Dance, Electronic, and Urban charts in Kalistan, making them one of the most accomplished RF bands in historyRF fashion aesthetic features many facets. "Some people like to dress up as robots," said Rogers. "I don't know. You gotta be pretty deep into it to do that. The women, especially among the fans, but not so much the artists, really over-emphasize their sexuality with a lot of spandex and sheer clothes that you can basically see through in bright lights, and the men try to wear just outlandish, bizarre clothing with over the top shoulder pads, lightning bolts and sequins. I'm into it for the music, but the culture around RF shows is definitely an acquired taste. It's definitely all about sex and drugs. Most of these people are dusted to the eyeballs. But the musicians tend to be a lot more chill. They know they are providing the soundtrack for a million Kalistanis to trip and/or f--k to."
Female RF Style focuses primarily on sexuality, though female RF Artists often de-emphasize the style aspects Men in the RF scene nearly always emphasize electricity and technology in their outfitsRF Bands have already made their mark on Kalistan's music scene. The country has had some type of retro-futurism in popular music in years past. Most of the bands who have played "L Night" at the Ganjam could easily be described as proto-retro-futurist. Using weird costumes, heavy synthesizers, and dance beats these "L Night" bands have contributed heavily to the sound and the aesthetic of their 45th Century descendants. "Oh yeah, this band, you probably never heard of them, Louisie Sue and Dave," said Rogers, "
they played at the Ganjam like three hundred years ago, but they were basically doing this stuff too... They were on a LOT of drugs though, so I'm not sure how much of it was intentional. But yeah it was really ahead of its time."
Louisie Sue and Dave, a huge band among acid eaters in the 42nd Century, are revived as "Proto-Retro-Futurist Legends"True RF music is not directly descended to experimental electronica of bands like Louisie Sue and Dave. "I suppose you could put RF in the EDM category," said "Tierama" Sue Daniels, a member of the Retro-Futurist band "12 Second Toaster." "We have played EDM concerts before. But, you know, we've been doing this for 10 years, and over that time, the sound, well, the whole scene has changed. People show up now in these weird robot costumes. They're way far ahead of the music with some of these clothes. They have these tricked out MOCO cars that are made of stainless steel, and have all these lasers on them when they show up to our concerts nowadays. It's strange how far some people are taking it: We're just trying to jam."
A RF trio getting freaky at a 12-Second Toasters concertA RF car, modified from a MOCO C-3, and made with stainless steel; The Modifications alone cost more than the original carDaniels continued: "You could say our music is now less EDM, and more like ambient-dubhop. As you can tell, my voice is very smooth. There can't be any sharp sonic edges. Even the bass, which is produced on the sequencer there, has to sound like its playing next door. Our band has a drummer, who does the percussion and the sequencing, a keyboardist who presents something like an uninterrupted modulating tone behind the music, another keyboardist, whose job it is to use the moog modulator to make these crazy zips and zaps and whirls and such that you hear in the background, and a third keyboardist, who is in charge, mostly of synthesizing the melody and the instrumentation. We have a guitarist, who lays down a nice rhythm, and we have a horn section. If you listen to our music, not only do we have the elements of EDM, but also emo, reggae, and hiphop all rolled into one. And I sing both in Luthori and Egelion in all of our songs, and we bring in this cute little girl who whispers Canrilaise on our tracks. The whole thing is suppose to be real sexy, you know. Music to get your groove on. You know, music to really give it to your girlfriend and/or boyfriend and/or wife to..."
"Tierama" Sue Daniels, of the RF band "12-Second Toasters" at last year's GanjamRF albums are almost all concept records, meant to be listened from start to finish. "Yeah, there's not a lot of singles on the records," said Rogers. "The artists are often opposed to gaps, so a Retro-futurist record doesn't usually lend itself to playing piecemeal on the Radio. Which is the benefit, I suppose of specialty shows like my own. I play full records from start to finish. The good thing is: These bands are almost all electronic and digital, but they are musical perfectionists and record on analog. They use a lot of meth and a lot of MDMA. It's amazing that they make such awesome music."
Former EDM artists Devon and Waterfall made the move to RF two years ago, to great critical and fan acclaimRF Artists Das Crack headlined L Night at the 4412 Annual GanjamRF bands have really made their mark on Kalistan's music scene in recent years. The RF invasion of popular music began in earnest about 5 years ago. Since then, Ganjam has featured RF bands for 8 of the last 20 nights over the last five years. A RF band has yet to close out the concert yet as a head-liner, but it is expected that if retro-futurism continues its dominance in Kalistani Pop, that opportunity for any one of the 40 major Retro-Futurist bands currently on the charts will not be long off.