In the first post on the music of Slow Boil Rising, I started sharing the sort of music I used to invoke the mood or setting I needed to fully get into the writing groove. For the scenes that happened out in the Great Not-East, music from Spaghetti Westerns fit the bill. That last post barely scratched the surface of the cowboy music in my collection, and I definitely need to revisit the topic someday.
But not all of Slow Boil Rising happens in the Great-Not-East. A huge chunk happens at Fort Freeperson and the Designated Habitation Zones, or DHZs. And these places have a very different feel from the campfires, the smoked fish, the clicking of lever action rifles, and the clacking of hooves endemic to the Not-East.
The DHZs
The DHZs have an arid, antiseptic, feel to them. Much of the music I used to get in the headspace for an ultramodern urban dystopia was the ultra-modern, ultra-clean music, of Thievery Corporation, a band I really started to get into in the early aught-aughts. They have an impressive catalog of albums you can view here.
An interesting facet of their music is every Thievery Corporation album has a very specific vibe or theme, often completely different from other TC albums. Many albums sound almost like reggae or dancehall music. For the purposes of getting into the senses and feelings of DHZs in the year 0039, I gravitated to their albums of a more electronic, international sound. Specifically these four TC albums: Mirror Conspiracy, The Cosmic Game, The Richest Man in Babylon, and Outernational Sound.
For example, back in 02, when I was writing what would become the chapter called “A WELL-ORGANIZED PROTEST: 23 JANUARY 0039,” (available on the sample page) I vividly remember blasting the Mirror Conspiracy album. To this day, when I re-read the passages of the Honorable Horus T. Anderchild and his immaculate protest formation, I often hear these tracks playing in my head.
Lebanese Blonde:
Indra:
Danbill Sulla
When it came time to write the passages following Danbill Sulla, I drew from another epoch in Thievery Corporation history. Now, I realize most of you have not met Mr. Sulla yet based on the fact he does not show up until the second half of the book.
But rest assured, Sulla is one character you will not forget: An alcoholic, fairly psychopathic, randomphobic, Department of Internal Security Agent who specializes in purges, distilling whiskey, bootlegging, and taking investigations into forbidden questions very seriously.
When it came to writing his passages and describing his native environs in the D.C. DHZ, I pulled heavily from the Outernational Sound, a compilation album that TC put together with a variety of artists. Here are a few tracks that helped inspire the antiseptic haze of Danbill Sulla’s existence:
The Bobby Hughes Experience – My French Brother:
Thunderball – Vai Vai:
Thievery Corporation and the Gimmicks – Ya Ma Le:
There’s quite a few other musical sources of inspiration that I’ve tapped into over the years, and I look forward to continuing this series of posts and sharing more artists and tracks with you.
In the meantime, please check out the Slow Boil Rising sample page here to get a flavor of the dystopian vibe Thievery Corp helped me create.