I've Lost My Edge (2025)
LCD Soundsystem Rework
Yeah, I’ve lost my edge.
I’ve lost my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind —
with burner phones and Drain Gang face tattoos.
I’ve lost my edge
to the ones mixing hard drum with Gregorian chant
in Dalston basements on three tabs of Oblivion.
I’ve lost my edge
to the hyperpop doomers
and TikTok Marxists
with Byung-Chul Han quotes in their bios.
They only wear Corteiz cargos and say things like
"Time isn’t real unless it loops."
But I was there.
I was there when SOPHIE played that secret warehouse.
I was there when the Veunue MOT Unit 18 burnt down.
and Skin On Skin kept spinning through the fire alarm.
I was there
when Shygirl dropped True Religion
and everyone wept ironically.
I’ve lost my edge
to the crypto-leftists who curate postdigital VR galleries
in post-capitalist shopping malls
while streaming billy woods over field recordings of burnt Amazon warehouses.
I’ve lost my edge
to the clowncore kids
eating microplastics on livestreams
wearing Moschino ruffles and scuffed Sambas.
But I was there.
I was there on Discord
when the JPEGs were still ironic.
I was there when “corecore” was just sad edits of Robocop and sunsets.
I was there in the zine forums
before everyone had a substack called “Hauntological Cuts.”
I’ve lost my edge.
I heard you’re making AI breakcore under a fake Eastern Bloc moniker.
I heard your band’s just an algorithm trained on Black Midi and anime intros.
I heard you live in a co-op in Peckham
where you project The Society of the Spectacle onto the dishes.
I heard you replaced all your furniture
with milk crates and Fisher quotes.
But have you seen my playlists?
Object Blue, Fire-Toolz, Backxwash, Carmen Villain,
Grouper’s lost tape project,
Yves Tumor’s early noise phase,
The Caretaker slowed down to 14 bpm,
that 9-hour ambient loop recorded in a dead Tesco,
Pere Ubu live in a lift shaft,
Dean Blunt’s unreleased diss track for himself.
Bladee but only remixed by 15-year-olds in Cardiff.
But I’ve lost my edge.
Because you’ve got a zine printed on seaweed paper
and a synth you built from e-waste and pain.
Because you believe in nothing
and everything including late-stage vibes and community gardening.
I’ve lost my edge.
You’ve got theory memes with Herzog voiceovers.
You’ve got an Etsy shop selling digital relics.
You’ve got access to a Telegram channel where Žižek livestreams Fortnite.
You’ve got an AI that makes ambient albums
using real-time readings of your cortisol levels.
But I was there.
I was there when The Velvet Sundown dropped
and nobody knew they were AI.
I was there at the anti-music night
where they played nothing for seven hours
and everyone, clad in vintage Balenciaga died inside.
I was there.
But now I’ve lost my edge.
I’m outdated.
I’m deplatformed.
I’m over-archived and under-listened.
I’m lo-fi, hi-concept,
buried under 12 layers of post-irony and debt.
We all know what you really want (love) ∞
…