Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from United Kingdom and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Jandek to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Dark Day. All the underground hits.
All Heaven 17 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arcadia record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warsaw record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moss Icon,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Khruangbin,
Marshall Jefferson,
Drexciya,
Infiniti,
Boz Scaggs,
Electric Prunes,
Angry Samoans,
U.S. Maple,
Eric Dolphy,
The Index,
Second Layer,
Visage,
Pantytec,
Quantec,
FM Einheit,
The Invisible,
Adolescents,
Don Cherry,
Matthew Halsall,
John Cale,
Minor Threat,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sugar Minott,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Fuzztones,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Dave Clark Five,
Juan Atkins,
The Smiths,
In Retrospect,
Drive Like Jehu,
Rekid,
Sonic Youth,
La Düsseldorf,
Tears for Fears,
Brass Construction,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jeru the Damaja,
T.S.O.L.,
John Holt,
Ossler,
Barry Ungar,
Peter & Gordon,
Black Bananas,
Tomorrow,
Wasted Youth,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Normal,
Derrick Morgan,
Spoonie Gee,
Popol Vuh,
The Monks,
Johnny Clarke,
The Shadows of Knight,
Max Romeo,
The Doobie Brothers,
John Foxx,
Unrelated Segments,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.