10. The Word Becomes Flesh

[Widmerpool]

Life is violence, life is pain.

[drvaughan]

Im sorry I haven't made an effort to skim through the topic yet, but have you also had a feeling there's a second voice whispering in the left channel along with the lady and the robot?

Haha, now I'm getting back into the old BoC psychosis again...am I now hearing this because you said it, or is it really there...?

[turquoise70]

I wonder what kind of machinery was sampled for the beat. It kinda sounds like an old printer to me but I guess it could be anything. Maybe Inferno could have a theme of brainwashing/religion/propaganda/socially accepted common sense as a way of artificially creating a specific kind of life, or maybe some link between technology and the aforementioned, and I wonder whether that ties into AI anxiety. The more I listen to Inferno, the more I think it feels very "biomechanical" in that Akira/Beyond the Black Rainbow kind of way, and bringing the kind of social discourse that needs some sort of mind control into it sounds like an interesting premise to me. But I could be way off!

Interesting re: Akira and Beyond the Black Rainbow. I loved that movie and its score was a big part of it. And I'll go with you on the bio-, neuro-, psycho-engineering ideas, which I also think are present in this track, starting with the title.

There's the obvious Biblical reference and its place in the overall themes and narrative of the album, but it's the technological sounds that give John 1:14 a new dimension for me here. I feel that previously, wherever M&M have mixed in or referenced religion or religious samples/material, the music has been more "organic" sounding; grainier, blurrier. But this is different; everything about it feels "high tech" to me, mechanical, hyperefficient, and endless. Then you've got the printer sounds and robotic TTS stuff. And then the mixing and production and mastering are in on it: it feels big and pumping and overwhelming.

For me, "Words" here are exactly that: words. Books, laws, prompts, lines of code. But then these ideas become "flesh": our world, the reality we share and negotiate. As an example, we can say that "race is a social construct," that is, it doesn't really exist, but it absolutely plays a role in everyday social and private life, so it kinda does exist. "Doing the work" to undo these types of discriminations in our society is obviously proving difficult for something that "doesn't really but kinda does" exist.

Imagine how difficult it will be once those discriminations can be written into our genetic code. This article on the Guardian came out the day after the album did. Creepy stuff, in my opinion, and creepier still for the inevitability presented by the "biotech" entrepreneur Cathy Tie, highlighted in the article. https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... ify-babies

Now, or soon, we can edit the DNA of germline cells and create generational changes in humans. I don't think I'm being too creative when I suggest that if/when this technology, science, and logic enters our culture, it will be used to reinforce abstract concepts and reify them as actual, scientific discriminations.

"Designer babies, super-smart or super good-looking, are inevitable." - He Jiankui, lovingly referred to as "China's Dr. Frankenstein" in the article mentioned above.

Will these babies simply be "designer" products, luxuries for the rich and bored, or will they be used to reinforce abstract concepts (words) into reality (flesh)?

Taking a look at John 1:14 again, the first sentence suggests God taking some form in Jesus (I'll leave the Christians among us to articulate the finer points of that), but it's the second sentence that really intrigues me:

"We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

We are engaged in a project that will eventually leave us as the inferior at the end of it. We create and will marvel at what we've created even as it renders us superfluous.

Baudrillard: "The current revolution is different than previous historical revolutions—it is a truly anthropological revolution: a revolution in the automatic perfection of technical devices and in the definitive disqualification of human beings, of whom they are not even aware."

Leaving only the robotic voice at the end of the track.

I haven't been able to get this out of my head since I read your post and the linked article. So effing fascinating and creepy and ...awesome? Like, potentially terrible, but in a sense that I just can't look away.

[akirako]

I wonder what kind of machinery was sampled for the beat. It kinda sounds like an old printer to me but I guess it could be anything. Maybe Inferno could have a theme of brainwashing/religion/propaganda/socially accepted common sense as a way of artificially creating a specific kind of life, or maybe some link between technology and the aforementioned, and I wonder whether that ties into AI anxiety. The more I listen to Inferno, the more I think it feels very "biomechanical" in that Akira/Beyond the Black Rainbow kind of way, and bringing the kind of social discourse that needs some sort of mind control into it sounds like an interesting premise to me. But I could be way off!

Interesting re: Akira and Beyond the Black Rainbow. I loved that movie and its score was a big part of it. And I'll go with you on the bio-, neuro-, psycho-engineering ideas, which I also think are present in this track, starting with the title.

There's the obvious Biblical reference and its place in the overall themes and narrative of the album, but it's the technological sounds that give John 1:14 a new dimension for me here. I feel that previously, wherever M&M have mixed in or referenced religion or religious samples/material, the music has been more "organic" sounding; grainier, blurrier. But this is different; everything about it feels "high tech" to me, mechanical, hyperefficient, and endless. Then you've got the printer sounds and robotic TTS stuff. And then the mixing and production and mastering are in on it: it feels big and pumping and overwhelming.

For me, "Words" here are exactly that: words. Books, laws, prompts, lines of code. But then these ideas become "flesh": our world, the reality we share and negotiate. As an example, we can say that "race is a social construct," that is, it doesn't really exist, but it absolutely plays a role in everyday social and private life, so it kinda does exist. "Doing the work" to undo these types of discriminations in our society is obviously proving difficult for something that "doesn't really but kinda does" exist.

Imagine how difficult it will be once those discriminations can be written into our genetic code. This article on the Guardian came out the day after the album did. Creepy stuff, in my opinion, and creepier still for the inevitability presented by the "biotech" entrepreneur Cathy Tie, highlighted in the article. https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... ify-babies

Now, or soon, we can edit the DNA of germline cells and create generational changes in humans. I don't think I'm being too creative when I suggest that if/when this technology, science, and logic enters our culture, it will be used to reinforce abstract concepts and reify them as actual, scientific discriminations.

"Designer babies, super-smart or super good-looking, are inevitable." - He Jiankui, lovingly referred to as "China's Dr. Frankenstein" in the article mentioned above.

Will these babies simply be "designer" products, luxuries for the rich and bored, or will they be used to reinforce abstract concepts (words) into reality (flesh)?

Taking a look at John 1:14 again, the first sentence suggests God taking some form in Jesus (I'll leave the Christians among us to articulate the finer points of that), but it's the second sentence that really intrigues me:

"We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

We are engaged in a project that will eventually leave us as the inferior at the end of it. We create and will marvel at what we've created even as it renders us superfluous.

Baudrillard: "The current revolution is different than previous historical revolutions—it is a truly anthropological revolution: a revolution in the automatic perfection of technical devices and in the definitive disqualification of human beings, of whom they are not even aware."

Leaving only the robotic voice at the end of the track.

I haven't been able to get this out of my head since I read your post and the linked article. So effing fascinating and creepy and ...awesome? Like, potentially terrible, but in a sense that I just can't look away.

Same here, I don't have a lot to say but I'm kind of fascinated and creeped out and mesmerised. Thank you Dr Vaughan and Turquoise70!!!

[drvaughan]

Thanks! I'm convinced there's still more in this song. It's almost like the chopped vocals are so fucking well done that it's distracting from some other, sinister stuff. Someone asked above if the process is in the wrong order. That's a freaky and interesting idea! It also makes me think about "The Process" and the note that whatever the voice is saying in that piece is complete nonsense.

We've all read about AI hallucinations; maybe some of us have experienced them ourselves. I wonder if the chops on "Word" might have the double effect of disintegrating into hallucinatory nonsense as well. There are some repeated phrases there, particularly that reference to the chalazae, that seem to slightly change. There's also a point at 4:11-4:12 where the synthetic voice overlaps with the woman's and says something different (sounds like something to do with "cells").

I also find it very interesting and more than a little sinister that the last phrase is "a long thickened area called the primitive streak," like it's suggesting not a part of an embryo, but a time period in which...all reason departs?

But the voice says all this with total confidence, even if the steps or process or whatever is out of order, or divorced from its original connotation (a biological process now free associating with a societal schism or break). So even as things degrade into a primitive streak, the process, now overtaken, continues with total confidence. When's the last time you heard a robot say "Um..."?

I just really love that there's so much to dig into with these tracks, and that we have a cool place to do it. My wife can only take so much more.

[Decorah]

Just circling back to say this track sounds so ridiculously good on a pair of good headphones, wow!

[steeldancer-x]

They were working with translations so I respect them for trying (they got close at a few places), but this is the “Mom” song. All Reasons Depart and The Word Becomes Flesh are a lot like mates

[Glen_Glog]

albumen shout out to popper and pete s

[lumpenprol]

I also find it very interesting and more than a little sinister that the last phrase is "a long thickened area called the primitive streak," like it's suggesting not a part of an embryo, but a time period in which...all reason departs?

Can you give timestamp for that quote? My guess is "primitive streak" is misheard. All the lyrics seem to be straight from the source (whatever it is). Purely medical.

[drvaughan]

I also find it very interesting and more than a little sinister that the last phrase is "a long thickened area called the primitive streak," like it's suggesting not a part of an embryo, but a time period in which...all reason departs?

Can you give timestamp for that quote? My guess is "primitive streak" is misheard. All the lyrics seem to be straight from the source (whatever it is). Purely medical.

It first occurs at 4:00, and again as the last spoken lines at 5:03/5:04. I also got the words from BoCPages. And according to the wiki entry, the "primitive streak" is "The primitive streak is a structure that forms in the early embryo in amniotes."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primitive_streak

[luminousdusk]

Is it me or are the stages of birth in reverse?

Reverse engineering

[GeoDose]

You guys should see the influx of TikTok uploads & comments heaping praise on 'Word Becomes Flesh' in the Backrooms end credits! I've also seen quite a few comments from people saying they looked up who the artist was, and are now fans.



https://www.tiktok.com/@ettieinthedarkn ... 2482221403

[astral deeps]

I’ve said this in another thread, but I find that the credits for “Audio Evocations” in the liner notes to be a wink-wink reference to a bunch of songs (especially from the first half), but also to their idea of “Easter eggs” within tracks. In general an evocation refers to:

1: the act or fact of evoking : SUMMONING: such as
a: the summoning of a spirit
b: imaginative recreation
an evocation of the past

but in biology:
e·vo·ca·tion (ev'ō-kā'shŭn, ē-vō-kā'shŭn),
Induction of a particular tissue produced by the action of an evocator during embryogenesis.
[L. evoco, pp. evocatus, to call forth, evoke]

I am pretty sure this definition specifically is in reference to chicken or lizard embryos. For sure when I first heard this track, I felt like the whole biology lesson of it all was kind of out of place, or on the nose in a way, but now I see it a little differently. It relates to the rest of the album very directly.

Also, as steeldancer-x said above, I see a ton of sonic resemblance to All Reason Departs, those sequenced synths are really similar, and even the subtle airy pads that come in at the latter half of All Reason Departs, sound realllly similar to the soft string pads in Word Becomes Flesh.

[steeldancer-x]

Life is violence, life is pain.

Violence is not the answer
But life is not a question

[gestell]

'Backrooms' Extended Version Coming to Theaters this Friday. (...) The exhibitor describes it as having a “theatrically exclusive post-credit”.

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/back ... 236798460/

This means hundreds of thousands - maybe millions - of viewers worldwide are going to sit through the end credits and listen to The Word Becomes Flesh.

[Rikkiebags]

My 15 year old daughter the other day asked me why I was playing the music from Backrooms.

I think her tongue was ever so slightly in her cheek, but it made me a proud dad.

[midnight-gizmo]

If everything exists within infinity

Even if it stays behind the eyes
Not manifesting

It's still a citizen.

[Cupz]

[midnight-gizmo]

https://c.tenor.com/OGwGniuvzFUAAAAd/tenor.gif

[midnight-gizmo]

https://freeimage.host/i/CG05moQ