Under Control V0122a By Slusiom
The irony of the title is delicious. You expect something rigidly quantized, perhaps a sterile tech-funk beat. Instead, slusiom gives us controlled chaos. The kick drum hits with the consistency of a metronome, offering that anchor of “control,” but everything else—the glitched-out vocal chops, the skipping hi-hats, and the warped synth pads—fights gently against the cage.
The “v0122a” in the name suggests evolution. You can hear the ghost of previous versions in the arrangement. There are moments of static where you feel a different drum pattern used to live, now erased but leaving a faint scar on the tape. under control v0122a by slusiom
Slusiom favors concrete images that gesture toward abstraction: mechanical metaphors, household routines, and mapped movements become stand-ins for internal regulation. Language is precise—often clinical—yet the accumulation of small, tangible details produces an emotional undercurrent. This interplay of the concrete and the conceptual invites readers to infer deeper significance rather than being told outright. The irony of the title is delicious
At its heart, "Under Control v0122a" examines the mechanisms people and institutions use to manage instability. Control here is not simply domination; it is an architecture of responses—habits, protocols, language, and silence—that shape behavior and preserve coherence. Slusiom probes both the necessity and the cost of these mechanisms: control brings order, but it can also calcify, obscure, or distort lived experience. The kick drum hits with the consistency of
1. The Illusion of Stability The use of "v0122a" is the story's most powerful metaphor. It implies that the current peace is merely an iteration. Just as software has bugs, the control exerted over the populace (or the protagonist) has flaws. The tension lies in the waiting—waiting for the crash, the glitch, or the update to v0122b.
2. Surveillance and Self-Policing The piece explores the panopticon effect. The protagonist doesn't need to see the guards to feel their presence. The control has been internalized; the character monitors their own thoughts, filtering out "errors" before they can be spoken. It is a haunting depiction of how authority reshapes the human soul.
3. The Cost of Order "Under Control" suggests that for the machinery of society to run smoothly, the human element must be subdued. There is a tragic undertone in the writing—a mourning for the chaos, passion, and unpredictability that has been sacrificed for the sake of the system.