Grafton sat down with What Sleeps Beneath to discuss the intersections of nostalgia and horror, as well as his forthcoming book The Circle of the Snake: Nostalgia and Utopia in the Age of Big Tech, out December 11th.
Superpuppet released their debut album, Under a Birdless Sky, on October 2nd. Take a listen here and on all streaming platforms.
Grafton writes about The Twilight Zone, aviation, and the politics of disappearance for We Are The Mutants. Check it out here.
Grafton’s music project, Superpuppet, released its first single of 2020, “O Sun.” Some very kind words were written about it in Secret Meeting and Flagpole. Listen below.
Grafton reflects on nostalgia, neoliberalism, and The Andy Griffith Show in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Read the essay here.
The Circle of the Snake: Nostalgia and Utopia in the Age of Big Tech is out via Zer0 Books on December 11, 2020.
Shocked by 9/11, the Great Recession, digital anxiety, and ecological collapse, the West suffers from nostalgia. People everywhere yearn for a utopian version of the past that never existed. Desperate for relief, many long to escape from the present. Some will stop at nothing to achieve it.
In his essential new book, Grafton Tanner, author of Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts, argues that our nostalgia today is partly a consequence of the attention economy. At a time when historical literacy is crucial, and old prejudices are percolating into the present, Big Tech’s predictive algorithms are locking us into nostalgic feedback loops. The result is a precarious society with its gaze fixed on the good old days.
Spanning from the ancient Sophists to Black Mirror, The Circle of the Snake is at once a reckoning with the myth of digital utopia and an incisive analysis of nostalgia as a weapon to spread fascism.
“A much-needed vision of democratic alternatives to surveillance capitalism.” – Vincent Mosco, author of The Smart City in a Digital World
“By understanding nostalgia, Tanner lays bare our ideologies and confronts not only the historical development of capitalism but the particular condition of today’s digital corporate world.” – Alfie Bown, author of The PlayStation Dreamworld
Grafton delves into the big business of math competitions and the military contractors like Raytheon and Boeing who sponsor them. Read the piece at The Nation.
*Here are my favorite 50 albums from the last decade. Enjoy.*
-G.T.
50. Attack on Memory – Cloud Nothings
49. As High as the Highest Heavens… – True Widow
48. Instrumentals – Clams Casino
47. Chuck Person’s Eccojams Vol. 1 – Chuck Person
46. Bookburners – Nicole Lizée
45. Random Access Memories – Daft Punk
44. Tunes 2011-2019 – Burial
43. 22, A Million – Bon Iver
42. Before Today – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
41. Watch the Throne – Kanye West and Jay-Z
40. House of Balloons – The Weeknd
39. Plastic Beach – Gorillaz
38. LiveLoveA$AP – A$AP Rocky
37. From A Room: Volume 1 – Chris Stapleton
36. Midnight Television – Midnight Television
35. Days Are Gone – Haim
34. In Colour – Jamie xx
33. Lullaby and…the Ceaseless Roar – Robert Plant
32. Telenights – Ghosting
31. Kids See Ghosts – Kids See Ghosts
30. Hopelessness – Anohni
29. Piano & a Microphone 1983 – Prince
28. Guilty of Everything – Nothing
27. Impersonator – Majical Cloudz
26. The King of Limbs – Radiohead
25. Replica – Oneohtrix Point Never
24. 4 – Beyoncé
23. Black Up – Shabazz Palaces
22. The Life of Pablo – Kanye West
21. Gramahawk – Modern Skirts
20. Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones) – Jai Paul
19. Safe in the Hands of Love – Yves Tumor
18. Garden of Delete – Oneohtrix Point Never
17. An Empty Bliss Beyond This World – The Caretaker
16. Beyondless – Iceage
15. Beyoncé – Beyoncé
14. We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves – John Maus
13. Transportation EP – Grass Giraffes
12. Anti – Rihanna
11. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships – the 1975
10. Blackstar – David Bowie
9. Floral Shoppe – Macintosh Plus
8. A Moon Shaped Pool – Radiohead
7. Strange Mercy – St. Vincent
6. The Money Store – Death Grips
5. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
4. Golden Hour – Kacey Musgraves
3. Yeezus – Kanye West
2. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West
1. Black Messiah – D’Angelo and the Vanguard
20. Wiseman – Frank Ocean
19. Cruel – St. Vincent
18. I Miss You – Beyoncé
17. Myth – Beach House
16. Chamakay – Blood Orange
15. Kiss It Better – Rihanna
14. Generation – Liturgy
13. Snowed In At Wheeler Street – Kate Bush
12. Fourfiveseconds – Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney
11. CMYK – James Blake
10. Lost In The World/Who Will Survive In America? – Kanye West
9. Oh, What A World – Kacey Musgraves
8. Sue (or In A Season Of Crime) – David Bowie
7. Beth/Rest – Bon Iver
6. Daydreaming – Radiohead
5. 1000 Deaths – D’Angelo and the Vanguard
4. 4 Degrees – Anohni
3. Love It If We Made It – The 1975
2. Sandra’s Smile – Blood Orange
1. Hacker – Death Grips
Grafton met up with 12th Street to discuss Big Tech, nostalgia, and the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of 2019. Check it out here.
