ARCADE KID (8)
By:
November 23, 2023
We are pleased to present ARCADE KID, a ’90s “drivethru” written, illustrated, and soundtracked by HILOBROW friend Nikhil Singh. Our readers are urged to check out Nikhil’s dystopian psychedelic-noir novel Club Ded (Luna Press, 2020).
Certain music was banned in South Africa. So, part of any international trip involved buying forbidden cassettes. Pivotal voices like the Geto Boys, Silver Bullet or NWA. These would be pirated and distributed free at boarding school. Spreading the culture of resistance was a national and family pastime. It was the reason my family kept returning to London. Half of my Dad’s side was in exile for political agitation against the apartheid regime. Political dissidents were regularly trafficked through his nightclub. Passing as touring back-up brass for jazz combos. Ferried to clandestine border crossings. Surveillance culture. In Europe, a collector was free to unravel in the slipstream. Inspect global trends outside the machinations of political oppression. In 1992, International culture was taking an interesting, European-dominated turn. Luke Haines, ‘accidentally inventing’ Britpop. British crime cinema. The impact of Handmade films. Nik Powell and Steven Wooley productions. Dark stars like Bruce Robinson, directing Withnail and I, writing films like Shadowmakers (shamelessly plundered, by pretenders to the throne like Chris Nolan, who enacted similar piracies with the anime Paprika — recreated, sometimes almost shot for shot, in Inception.). Shadowmakers featuring the star of Max Headroom as an anarchic Oppenheimer. Neil Jordan’s subversion of fairy lore. Something in line with CJ Koch’s unique brand of Tasmanian magical realism — his incredible novel The Double Man, for example, about psychedelic folk music cults in 60s Melbourne. But corporate danger was already lurking in the West. The band Nymphs, fronted by the Inger Lorre, rose out of the steaming cesspit of 80s Los Angeles. Only to die in their own vomit, on their very first tour. Slated as Geffen’s first major ‘grunge’ band, before the term was even coined. After the break-up, some of the members trailed off to join the Stooges. But the signature sound and look had been sealed — trash couture, post-seventies grime, psychopathic vocals, dirty driving riffage. Making a short appearance in Curtis Hanson’s doppelganger movie ‘Bad Influence’, wailing about Richard Ramirez, Inger just missed the brass ring. The Geffen machine switched to Nirvana. But, in some alternate dimension, she went on to become the face of the 90s — instead of Kurt.
More NIKHIL SINGH at HILOBROW: DREAMING MEDIA (Q&A) | JOURNEY TO IXTLAN | HASHTAG FASHION POLICE PROBLEMS | ILLUMINATE OR DISSIPATE? | HATE ISLAND. ALSO: HADRON AGE SF (2004–2023) | ORIGINAL FICTION at HILOBROW.