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November 18, 2020
Jordan A. Rothacker's Playlist for His Novel "The Death of the Cyborg Oracle"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Jordan A. Rothacker's brilliant The Death of the Cyborg Oracle is a post-dystopian noir that speaks to the present as much as to the future.
John Reed wrote of the book:
"A solar noir intrigue, complete with climate apocalypse, capitalism abandoned, and the murder of the Oracle at Delphi. Rothacker's bold intelligence and fleet styling will elevate and mesmerize you. Simultaneously a thrilling page turner, and a brilliant critical inquiry as to our time and our future. Smart, creative, prescient."
In his words, here is Jordan A. Rothacker's Book Notes music playlist for his novel The Death of the Cyborg Oracle:
This novel, The Death of the Cyborg Oracle, is a future-noir set in a domed Atlanta in 2220. Climate catastrophe has made most of the world uninhabitable and our role in that catastrophe has turned humanity off of capitalism hopefully for good. In this solar-powered, socialist, domed-world there is no want, but after billions of deaths it is a somber utopia. With capitalism gone, that abstraction is now filled through a re-enchantment with every possible deity humans have ever worshiped. Everyone has their own goddess or god and monotheism is seriously frowned upon. All crime is divided into Sacred and Profane, and against this setting Assistant Sacred Detective Edwina Casaubon has just been transferred from Profane to work with the legendary Sacred Detective Rabbi Jakob “Thinkowitz” Rabbinowitz. Their first case together is to figure out who killed the Oracle of Delphi.
There were several inspirations when I conceived this book (Anna Kavan, Sophocles, Rudolf Fisher, etc.) and one of the biggest was David Bowie (and his music). Bowie and his legacy factors into this future. Every chapter title is a couple of words from somewhere in Bowie’s body of work.
Diamond Dogs, the Berlin Trilogy (Low, “Heroes”, and Lodger), 1.Outside, and Blackstar were the most important albums to my writing and conceptualizing this book. Since I can’t just make a playlist out of multiple whole albums, I’ll limit myself to one song from each and then proceed with other non-Bowie songs on the playlist.
1. “We Are the Dead,” Diamond Dogs
This whole album is a warning against fascism and filled with references to Orwell’s 1984 and William S. Burroughs’ work (namely Wild Boys). In a book where most of humanity has passed, the survivors feel like they are living on borrowed time. Their new world is built in memory and solidarity with the lost. They can somberly declare, “because of all we’ve seen, because of all we’ve said/we are the dead.”
2. “Warszawa” Low
For my writing process, the second (“abstract”) side of Low was instrumental for mood and tone. This song stands out the most with its “made-up” tonal “lyrics.” Bowie was a myth-maker, and in this mostly instrumental composition he is also a linguistic innovator. A pair of twin brothers in the book who are musicians and worshipers of the god Pan—named Max and Jack Panic—perform this song for our protagonists.
3. “Sons of the Silent Age,” “Heroes”
This song captures some of the feel of early 20th century modernism* and its futurism for me. (*See the Stravinsky entry below).
4. “Yassassin,” Lodger
It’s not all somber all the time. This wonderfully wacky “Turkish” reggae number, like much of this strangely brilliant album, fits well in the world of a domed Atlanta in 2220 where without capitalism (and therefore no racism) cultures can be truly appreciated and shared on a level of parity and openness. Without greed or want there is no appropriation and in that somber utopia human creativity is cherished. Carlos Alomar is my favorite of the guitar players who’ve worked with Bowie and his range is skill is quite prominent on Lodger.
5. “Outside,” 1.Outside
This ’90s techno-and-industrial-influenced album perfectly accompanies science fiction, and Bowie even wrote a dark, futuristic detective story to narratively support the album. I only discovered that narrative aspect while I was already deep into writing this book. I would often start writing days with this album and as this was the first song it leant a vibe of irony since the end of the song refrains, “the music is outside/it’s happening outside/outside/outside/outside,” and of course for my future dome-dwellers there is no life outside.
6. “Blackstar,” Blackstar
This song begins with the repeated line, “In the villa of Ormen.” There is a village in Norway by the name of Ørmen, and the word means “serpent” in Norwegian. There doesn’t seem much else Norwegian or serpentine about the song. This is a melancholy song about death, unto death, and with bursts of braggadocio. That opening line refrains and every time it sounds like he’s singing, “the revealer of all men.” Death is the revealer of all humans. This is a beautiful song from Bowie to leave us with and it reminds me a bit of Montaigne’s essay “On Dying.”
7. “Bachelorette” by Björk
“I’m a fountain of blood in the shape of a girl” is an epigraph to Steve Erickson’s novel, The Sea Came in at Midnight—along with “I have seen the terrifying face to face. I do not flee in horror. But though I approach with courage, I know very well it is not the courage of faith” by Søren Kierkegaard. That book got me into Erickson and it’s still a favorite. His book that incorporates the “Bowie in Berlin” myth, These Dreams of You, was a great influence on my thinking and contributed to my hope of Bowie’s role in history. Moreover, the music of Björk accompanies me during most writing. Homogenic is a perfect album for the future feel I was trying for in this book too.
8. “Another Green World” by Brian Eno
The influence of this album on Bowie and his Berlin albums is undeniable, and of course Eno produced those albums. Another Green World is a favorite album of my best friend and while I like it, I find it a little uneven (albeit that amazing guitar tone runs through the whole thing). This title track is the perfect little melancholy composition to capture an afternoon in 2220 Atlanta, watching the sun laze by beyond our protective dome. (The next song, “Sombre Reptiles,” is my favorite on the album).
9. “Sacre du Printemps/Rites of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky
Some might want to fight over terms, but I see The Death of the Cyborg Oracle as a modernist work. The world in the text is experiencing a positive relationship with technology and progress. They are saved and now safe through their dome, held up by towers and pylons. Within that modernity people are devoted to ancient deities and revived indigenous practices. To help keep me in this mood, early 20th composers who looked back to folk traditions while reaching forward in their avant garde experimentations were the perfect fit. There was some Bela Bartok too.
10. “Legend” by Sun Ra and His Solar-Myth Arkestra
Jazz of the future, jazz of the past; a modernist art form born of suffering and transculturation. Myths of the future, myths of the past; culture orbits around this sun god, Raaaaaaa! “Legend” is the heart of this album—The Solar-Myth Approach (vol. 1)—and sounds like a transmission direct from the heart of the sun (or maybe a robot sun). Chaplin hangs on the wall in a photograph on the album cover, an inspirational figured referenced in the novel and someone from the same part of London as Bowie.
11. “Demolition Man” by Grace Jones
As there is a subtle reference to the science-fiction “classic” Demolition Man (1993) in the novel, I sometimes had this wonderfully groovy song stuck in my head while writing. Apparently Sting wrote it, but I’m not familiar with the Police version. This Jones version is from her very hot album, Nightclubbing, named for her cover of the Iggy Pop song which she included, a song co-written by Bowie.
12. “Head Like A Hole” by Nine Inch Nails
This song off Pretty Hate Machine is a wonderfully angry critique of capitalism that equates that failed economic system with a god, a la Walter Benjamin’s essay “Capitalism As Religion.” A lot of this album is also about a break-up so that also works well with a book about breaking-up with capitalism. I have always deeply regretted not seeing Bowie touring with NIN in the 90s.
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