A Beasthood · The Lights
Beat Street
To be from here is to hear a building before you see it.
Their gift: The Note. Music played right moves the Hum, at home, for a night. The cost: Players hear nothing but the Hum for days; the Edge would need the whole song, and only forty-seven seconds survive.
About 500 Beasts call Beat Street home.
The place
Sound is the architecture: curved walls, alley amphitheatres, cables looped roof to roof. The best hours are two to five in the morning, when whoever can't sleep plays with whoever's still up.
Their gift, and what it costs
The Note. Music played right moves the Hum, at home, for a night. Steadying the Edge would take the old note, played on the old road, and the whole song, which stops at forty-seven seconds for everyone who tries. The cost: chase the Hum too long and you come back hearing nothing but the Hum for days.
What they want, and what they fear
Want: the Signal's whole song. Fear: silence, a room where nothing hums back.
People you might meet
- Tess Ambrose (Beagle, Melody Crews). Wants a hook the whole Beastside hums. Can't hold a note, so hands each one to whoever's nearest: "You sing it. I'll point."
- Moss Okafor (Raccoon, Bass Heads). Last week turned the Frequency's sub up until the puddles stood in rings, and called it "a bit of warmth."
- Dot Fairweather (Beagle, Press Hall). Wants it fair, which this week means counting hums. Keeps a waiting list for the waiting list.
- Thad Dlamini (Original, one of the three). Plays the sixteen bars on one doorstep every dawn and stops still in the same place, head tilted, waiting for the next bar. Hand Thad a pencil and it goes behind an ear.
- Rook Amari (Original, busker). Ramone Alley shouts "too polished" at every show but Rook's. Rook plays the worst corners, lately the dark stretches: "Worst corner, best echo."
Neighbours and old business
- MoBA: twins. Beat Street scores every opening, but refused the Blank Exhibition's.
- Ramone Alley shouts "too polished" at every show, then goes home to practise.
- The Odeon: if it goes quiet, Beat Street carries its names, and promises not to sing them.
Books from Beat Street
A Beast's Book is written from their holder's choices.
No Book from Beat Street is open yet. A holder of a Beast from here can begin theirs in the game.
More about Beat Street
Their scarOn the Long Night, Beat Street played under the Beastside's names until a note steadied the Hum.
On the Long Night, Beat Street played under the Beastside's names until a note steadied the Hum. The players who were there each hum that note differently.
The Signal (six months ago): every speaker on the street played one tone for forty-seven seconds. To everyone who heard them, those seconds sounded like being sung to sleep. That night three players in three studios wrote the same sixteen bars, and stopped in the same place.
What they argue aboutBass Heads vs Melody Crews: does a track live in the low end, or in the hook you hum home?
Bass Heads vs Melody Crews: does a track live in the low end, or in the hook you hum home?
This seasonOn Friday Press Hall cuts the master of Dot Fairweather's recording of the Signal, and a master is cut once.
On Friday Press Hall cuts the master of Dot Fairweather's recording of the Signal, and a master is cut once. Bass Heads remember the Signal in their ribs and want it cut deep; Melody Crews remember the tune and want it cut clean. Both heard it right. The street votes Thursday at the Frequency, one hum each. Thad, one of the three, says neither cut is the song.
A customGround Night.
Ground Night. On their first night, a newcomer lies with an ear to the Frequency's pavement while the street plays over them. Whatever they hum when they stand up is their note, hummed back whenever they walk in. Tess Ambrose's note was a sneeze. Every room still sneezes when Tess arrives, and Tess bows.
PlacesThe Frequency: where the Signal hit hardest.
- The Frequency: where the Signal hit hardest.
- Press Hall: the Beastside's only vinyl plant.
What they think is going on"The Hum is a song we forgot."
"The Hum is a song we forgot."