Gloria González Fuster

A subjective selection of songs published in 2018 somehow related to privacy and surveillance, to sing along, discuss, or meditate.

1. Cardi B ‘Thru your phone‘ (Invasion of privacy, Atlantic) [YouTube]
2. The 1975 ‘The man who married a robot / Love theme‘ (A brief inquiry into online relationships, Polydor) [YouTube]
3. Lonnie Holley ‘I’m a suspect’ (MITH, Jagjaguwar) [YouTube]
4. Tune-Yards ‘Private life‘ (I can feel you creep into my private life, 4AD) [YouTube album trailer]
5. Courtney Barnett ‘Nameless, faceless‘ (Tell me how you really feel, Milk! Records) [YouTube]
6. Arctic Monkeys ‘The world’s first ever monster truck front flip’ (Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, Domino) [YouTube]
7. Stella Donnelly ‘Mechanical bull’ (Thrush Metal, Secretly Canadian) [YouTube]
8. Holly Herndon & Jlin (feat. Spawn) ‘Godmother‘ [YouTube]
9. Interpol ‘Surveillance’ (Marauder, Matador) [Official]
10. Screaming Females ‘Glass house‘ (All at once, Don Giovanni Records) [YouTube]
11. John Maus ‘Privacy’ (Ariel Pink cover) (Addendum, Ribbon Music) [YouTube]
12. Syd Strahan ‘Panopticon‘ [SoundCloud]
13. Saba feat. Chance the Rapper ‘Logout‘ (Care for me) [YouTube]
14. Sam Kidel ‘Live @ Google Data Center’ (Silicon Ear) [Bandcamp]
15. Fucked Up ‘Mechanical bull’ (Dose your dreams, Merge Records) [Bandcamp]
16. Slaves ‘Artificial intelligence’ (Acts of Fear and Love, Virgin EMI) [YouTube]
17. American Nudism ‘Video surveillance‘ (Negative space EP, Perennial) [Bandcamp]
18. Farao ‘Gabriel’ (Pure-O, Western Vinyl) [YouTube]
19. SHfR ‘Please switch off your pacemaker when are near the mobile phone‘ (I forgot the details, but I composed “9 songs”) [Archive.org]
20. Alex Somers & Sigur Rós ‘End’ (Black Mirror: Hang the DJ, Music from the Netflix original series, Invada)
21. Cairo Braga ‘Revision of the future’ (Elegant Elephant) [Bandcamp]
22. Scanner ‎’Mass observation (expanded)‘ (Mass observation (expanded), Room40) [YouTube]
23. Ezra Furman ‘No place’ (Transangelic Exodus, Bella Union) [YouTube]
24. Angèle ‘Victime des réseaux’ (Brol, Angèle VL Records) [YouTube]
25. Kara Square and Piero Peluche ‘Age of AI’ [Bandcamp]
26. Lucrecia Dalt ‘Errors of skin’ (Anticlines, Rvng. Intl) [Bandcamp]
27. Childish Gambino ‘Algorythm’ [leaked demo: DBR] [live unofficial: YouTube]
28. Grimes (feat. HANA) ‘We appreciate power‘ (4AD) [YouTube]
29. Thy Saviors ‘Govt. protection‘ (Robot crisis) [Bandcamp]
30. DONN ‘Watching me’ (The return of DONN) [Bandcamp]
31. The Skull Eclipses (feat. Open Mike Eagle) ‘Gone’ (The Skull Eclipses) [Bandcamp]
32. Nordra “Control” (PYLON II) [Bandcamp]
33. Σrrant Monks ‘BKM (Thamus SW Misunderstanding)‘ [YouTube]
34. Chronic ‘Sous surveillance‘ (Le neuvième cercle, L’anomalie) [YouTube]
35. Veronica Maximova ‘Who cares’ (Computerlove, Voitax) [Bandcamp]
36. Viper Unit ‘Datastream protector‘ (Datastream protector) [Bandcamp]
37. George Ogilvie ‘Surveillance‘ (Nowhere EP) [YouTube]
38. Muse ‘Algorithm’ (Simulation theory, Warner Bros.) [YouTube]
39. Witch Prophet ‘Reprogram’ (The Golden Octave) [Bandcamp]
40. Simon Crab ‘Nothing to hide’ (Demand full automation) [Bandcamp]
41. Factory Floor ‘Heart of data’ (Heart of data) [YouTube]
42. Steady Holiday ‘Mothers’ (Nobody’s watching, Barsuk] [YouTube]
43. Haider Raja ‘Privacy policy’ [SoundCloud]
44. Playground ‘Watching’ (Santa is real and is living inside all of us watching) [Bandcamp]
45. Extra Arms ‘Under surveillance’ (Headacher) [Bandcamp]
46. Jerremiah Jae ‘Streetwatchers’ (DAFFI, Hit and Run) [Bandcamp]
47. Marle Slave ‘Surveillance’ (Surveillance) [Bandcamp] [YouTube]
48. Hibou ‘Junipero love’ (Something familiar, Barsuk) [YouTube]
49. Russian Computer Club ‘Watching you’ (Computer Aided Music / Watching you) [Bandcamp]
50. Our Privacy Policy has Changed ‘Please Review Our Terms of Service As Our Privacy Policy Has Changed‘ [SoundCloud]
51. Don Manolo ‘Big Data meets Big Brother’ (Prisioneros del capitalismo) [Bandcamp]
52. Pär Grindvik ‘The right to be forgotten’ [Bandcamp]
53. NG4 ‘Watching’ (Spooky Scary Spectres of Capitalism) [… is Rockwell watching them? Unclear] [Bandcamp]
54. Dylan Gardner ‘Privacy‘ (Bingo Masters Records) [YouTube]

Indirectly connected, dancing robots popped up in many places such as The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Free yourself‘, or Justin Timberlake’s ‘Filthy’, smart environments were like anywhere (i. e., Moose Blood’s ‘Have I told you enough‘), and there was occasionally even a nice technology-inspired scenario (see Jeff Rosenstock’s ‘9/10‘). And, yes, 2018 was also the year of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which directly affected many people like here, here, here, here, here, or here.

Selection compiled by Gloria González Fuster, with the kind help of @SarahEskens, @sebasquez, and anonymous privacy experts. The list is permanent flux (I add new songs when I find them).