The monotonous thrum of bass pedal and bass guitar, in sync and in some iteration, formed the core of many a industrial tracks from the 80’s, into the 90’s (think: work from Joy Division, New Order, and The Cure). Similar thrums replicated themselves in much of the past 20 years. Today, the progeny of the bass drum-and-bass guitar-drone resemble the human gene: numerous, pervasive, and when conjoined with outside elements, say, guitars and synthesizers, form cells of sheer, unpredictable delight. More could be said about how the thrum propagated itself in Hip-Hop, Chillwave, Pop and now something called deathwave (explaining how these genres are distinguished from others, and named, is a good question). But that’s somebody else’s interview.
Vestron Vulture, whose music apparently bore sufficient affinity with others in the deathwave genre, released VCR Romance in 2021. I heard the song thumbing through algorithmically chosen videos. I was looking for nothing in particular, and being lead to nowhere specific by AI and antecedent scrolling behaviors. The visual to which the sang played second fiddle is forever lost; the song, of course, was located (helpfully imbedded at the clip’s bottom) and posted here, for your enjoyment.
Here’s to excellent background music and to the outstretched tendrils of the thrum.