SLOW IS THE NEW FAST by Shinjuku Zulu
HEAR it: on SPOTIFY
SONG STORY:
In Japan, there is a certain subculture who sci-fi their motorbikes and they ride them very loud and very, very fast. They are called the Bosozoku, which roughly translates into The Speed Tribes. But we in the west are the true speed tribes. In our tricked-out gogo gadget lives, not only is faster better, faster is the only option. Too much is not enough, and even faster is still too slow. (Ever felt impatient waiting less than half-a-second for a web page to load?)
The other day I watched an elderly woman with a cane walk down a short hallway. It was like watching a special-effect sequence in a movie; everyone around her was a blur of movement, too fast to capture-focus; she stood out because she was so slow. It took her a few minutes to walk maybe 20 feet. She was smiling the whole way, lost in her thoughts, clearly enjoying herself. Watching her was calming, like watching a zen garden; I began to feel a different sense of time. (Well, for a little while anyway. I didn't have the patience to watch her get the end of the hallway. Maybe she's still walking it.)
This woman was probably in her eighties, and didn't have too many years left. And even if she lived another ten years, perceptually it would probably fly by as if it were months. (Say a one-year-old lives another year-- he's lived he’s doubled how long he’s lived by the time he's two. But that eighty-year old who lives another year has only lived about another 1% of her life -- perceptually, the equivalent experience or feeling of a year to a one-year-old would have to be another eighty years to an eighty-year-old. The more years you live, the more that each year you experience seems to pass by more quickly. (Remember those endless summers when you were eight?) So if the average life- span is seventy- two, you really only experience a year accurately-- perceptually, anyway-- as a full year around the age of thirty- six...
So anyway my shout-out for slow is this song: "Slow Is the New Fast" from the "Various Chimeras" release by Shinjuku Zulu. Continuing on my themes of cross-genre/multi-era music, it's an acid-jazzy-bluesy-trip-hoppy-1920sy kinda track. The sung- vocal is by Sydney White (who also appears on "My Man, Amen" from the same disc, and "Sleep" and "Scatter" by K.I.A. from "Sonorous Susurrus". ) The rap vocal is by Shankhini, who also appears on "Coal Coal Black" and "Shanghai Masai" from Various Chimeras.
The video for the song (see below) extends on the idea of the movement of time. Pause or slow down the video to see the subtitles about time…
FINAL THOUGHT: I generally don’t like funny lyrics or humourous songs but some of the lyrics in "Slow Is the New Fast" are meant to be funny; why else would you rhyme "rastafarian" with "librarian"? And there's also a remix of the track-- faster, of course, and more on the 4/4-- called "Slow Is the New Faster", with the rap taken out, also on VC.
NFT:
Music/visual, and lyric/t NFT Here
ON ALBUMS:
- Boomhitech Alittlebitwreck
- Various Chimeras
CREDITS:
Lyrics: Kirby Ian Andersen
Music: Kirby Ian Andersen
Performed by: Shinjuku Zulu
HEAR IT ON:
Apple
Spotify
Amazon
Tidal
LYRICS:
Come swing with me,
let’s make it last
Slow…is the new fast
RAP:
Come do this thing with me, yo, go with the flow
You gotta know (that) fast’s the old slow
you make me sigh and I’ll make you sing
come on let’s sway, come on let’s swing
ain’t it a kick the way time does it’s tricks,
so don’t you dare jazz me too quick
a minute’s a moment, and just like that
the future slips too soon to the past
Come do this thing with me, let’s make it last (yeah)
You gotta know that slow is the new fast
You take me tonight, I’ll bring you to the day
Sing it or say it, let’s swing it and sway
SINGING:
Ain’t it a trip, don’t jazz me too quick
RAP:
ain’t it a kick the way time does it’s tricks,
so don’t you dare jazz me too quick
a minute’s a moment, and just like that
the future slips too soon to the past
Come do this thing with me, let’s make it last
you can move me slow, but hold me fast
Swing me any way, but sway me just so
I’ll let you come, but I won’t let you go
ain’t it a kick the way time does it’s tricks,
so don’t you dare jazz me too quick
a minute’s a moment, and just like that
the future slips too soon to the past
RAP:
no shots, just a gin and tonic
less like the meth and more like the chronic
don’t get off, before you get on it,
more like the flesh and less on the bionic
a little bit of ding but a lot of dong it
if it lasts long enough yo we can bronze it
come do that thing with me, yeah
hey! love is the new pain
modesty is the new vain!
clarity is the new misunderstand
woman is the new man!
spiritual the new material
reality the new ethereal!
modesty the new bling
gentle the new sting!
right is the new wrong
naked the new thong!
diminuitive the new big
no big is the new big!
rastafarian the new librarian
lil kim is the new maid marion!
me the new you
and new the new new!
All master and synchronization rights to K.I.A. and Shinjuku Zulu songs are 100% owned by Kirby Andersen. To license K.I.A. or Shinjuku Zulu songs for film, tv or commercial productions, contact info[at]nu4ya[dot]com, with “song licensing” in the subject field.