In response to the City Council Committee on Technology and Information Services' recent hearing (and post-hearing panel sponsored by Media Mobilizing Project) that served no other purpose than to grind Wireless Philadelphia* for its complete and utter failures, I turn to ARPANET. For those of you unfamiliar with the origins of the Internet - and I'm not speaking of Al Gore here - ARPANET was the Internet. I'll spare you the boring details - suffice it to say that - early work on packet switching networks was developed at MIT and UC Berkley, and later found its home at the US Department of Defense. Fortunately for us, ARPANET was also a side project by Detroit electro pioneers Dopplereffekt.
This track sends my mind spiraling through digital fiber-optics back to a time when AOL 2.0 forced me to sit, patiently, anxiously awaiting connectivity. Modem Music - as we should be inclined to refer to it - plays a special role in my childhood. Quite frankly, I listen to this record with equal amounts of anxiety as I had while logging on then. Maybe it's just me, but there is something to be said about the bleeps and electronic syncopations that approximate dial-up tones, and there is likewise something to be said about a driving, momentous drum machine that counteracts its presence: they collectivey work to increase my heart-rate to 56k. Total nerdery, I know.
Following ARPANET you will discover two versions of the same track by Dopplereffekt (essentially the same outfit). This track should come with a disclaimer - keep in mind, I'm rather Semitic. I wanted to say something about the digital divide in relation to these MP3s next to one another. Something about these MP3s in relation to the failures of Wireless Philadelphia and the absence of digital inclusion in this city. About how, in some imagined world where only rich people have access to the Internet, actual sterilization of low income families takes place if they aren't granted equal opportunities to log on. But that's just crazy - I'll keep it to myself!
And finally, two über rare tracks by Le car for good measure, both ripped from my über rare promotional 12". I heard the CD is impossible to find, nah mean?
* Click here for a full report entitled 'The Philadelphia Story: Learning from a Municipal Wireless Pioneer' by the New American Foundation
Arpanet-Ntt Docomo
Doppelereffekt - Sterilization Version 1
Doppelereffekt - Sterilization Version 2
Le Car - Aluminum Rectangles
Le Car - Warm Humans
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