Humans are such easy prey.
These bodies are so weak
But so soft and assuring
So brazen when they speak
But I feel something stirring
— Lyrics from Sentient
Perturbator (born James Kent in Paris in 1993) is a synthwave musician and producer, best known, much like the very similar French Synthwave musician Carpenter Brut, for his contributions to the Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2 soundtracks.
Kent was guitarist in several black metal bands. He attributes his interest in music to his parents, who are rock music critics and former tech trance musicians themselves, leading also to a lifelong love of synthesisers. With that in mind, it's unsurprising that from` 2012 onwards, he moved to producing Synthwave under the Stage Name Perturbator, as well as the side project L'Enfant De La Forêt. Reflecting his black metal roots, his music has strong Satanic and horror roots; his music mixed with darkwave starting with New Model, before adding a heavy dose of industrial and Goth Rock with Lustful Sacraments.
He has his own label, 'Music of the Void'.
Studio Discography:
- Terror 404 (May 2012 album, self-released; remaster released in March 2015 by Blood Music)
- Night Driving Avenger (March 2012 EP, self-released; remaster released in October 2015 by Blood Music)
- Nocturne City (August 2012 EP, Aphasia Records)
- The 80s Slasher (October 2012 EP, Collaboration with Protector 101, Aphasia Records)
- I Am the Night (December 2012 album, self-released; remaster released in March 2015 by Blood Music)
- LA Cop Duo / Selections (March 2013 EP, Collaboration with Protector 101, Revolving Door Records)
- Sexualizer (June 2013 EP, Aphasia Records)
- Dangerous Days (June 2014 album, Blood Music / Telefuture Records)
- The Uncanny Valley (May 2016 album, Blood Music)
- The Uncanny Valley – Bonus (May 2016 EP, Blood Music)
- New Model (September 2017 EP, Blood Music / Music of the Void)
- B-sides and Remixes, Vol. I (November 2018 compilation album, Blood Music)
- B-sides and Remixes, Vol. II (November 2018 compilation album, Blood Music)
- Excess EP (2021 EP, Blood Music)
- Lustful Sacraments (May 2021 album, Blood Music)
Perturbator provides examples of
- Activation Sequence: The villain of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video takes a long time to power up his laser beam to kill the protagonist. It costs him.
- After the End: The apparent setting of the music video for She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: At the end of the Sentient music video, after being Mind Raped and cut apart by the Benevolent Church, the female protagonist has transformed into an impassive robot with white Glowing Eyes. It's suggested the other disturbing android members of the church were likely converted that way too.
- Androids Are People, Too: The Sentient music video opens with the following faux police warning against robot slavery:
CAUTION: The holding and selling of Androids is strictly forbidden. Any violation is punishable by a term of imprisonment of between three and six years..
- Animated Music Video: The music video for his songs Sentient and She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next.
- Arc Symbol: The Benevolent Church is represented by a pink Cross of Lorraine
. - Atrocious Arthropods: The villain of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video is a gigantic robot bug.
- However, clearly not everyone in the setting holds these views, as noted below...
- Back from the Dead: The protagonist of She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next is Resurrected for a Job by a mysterious panther in order to kill the antagonist.
Nocturne City Police Department
- Badass Biker: One of the two protagonists of the Sentient music video.
- Black Magic: What the panther uses to bring her back.
- Bondage Is Bad: The masochistic lyrics of Sentient don't portray the temptation to let yourself be hurt sexually in a very good light, especially when paired with the music video.
- Boobs-and-Butt Pose: The girl on the front cover of the Dangerous Days album.
- Boomerang Bigot: The anti-AI Benevolent Church in the Sentient music video turns out to consist of a large number of creepy, faceless androids, lead by a skeletal nun robot.
- Brainwashing: The Benevolent Church use this in the Sentient music video, quickly turning the female protagonist from an apparently vengeful gun-toter to a willing convert. This goes along with the lyrics.
- Brown Note Being: When the protagonist of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video takes off her sunglasses, her face transforms into a skull; seeing this is enough to completely and instantly obliterate the antagonist.
- Chiptune: On the Uncanny Valley Bonus EP, Perturbator released a chiptune cover of his earlier song Future Club.
- City Noir: Nocturne City.
- Color Wash: The Sentient video is heavily neon-pink tinted; even fire is pink.
- Cool Shades: The mirrored wraparound sunglasses worn by the protagonist of She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next
- Also worn by the non-biker protagonist of the Sentient music video; hers are a pair of round mirror shades, evoking Molly Millions.
- Cool Car: The pink DeLorean driven by the protagonist of She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next.
- Cool Sword: The katana wielded by the protagonist of ''She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next''.
- Cool vs. Awesome: The ridiculously over the top music video for She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next.Geek Remix, commenting on the youtube video: This is the most amazing music video I have ever seen in my life.
- Creepy Crosses: Overused to the point of self-parody.
- Cyborg: When the apparently human protagonist of Sentient is cut open with a scalpel by a priest of the Benevolent Church, the bloody wound reveals electronics underneath. She is also shown to have a human heart, and later shown with exposed wires coming out of her body during her Mind Rape.
- Cyberpunk: Comes with the territory, really.
- Cyberpunk with a Chance of Rain: In the Sentient music video.
- Dimensional Cutter: The katana in the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video.
- Dramatic Drop: The protagonist of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video drops and smashes her glasses to unveil her final attack.
- Driving Up a Wall: The protagonist of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video ascends the villain's tower this way.
- Evil Gloating: The title of Humans Are Such Easy Prey evokes this.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: The antagonist of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video lives at the top of a scifi skyscraper one of these.
- Fan Disservice: The Sentient music video has completely uncensored onscreen sex. By way of brainwashing by an evil church.
- Forbidden Fruit: The lyrics of Sentient:I feel it now
Feel it now
This seductive pain
I know it's wrong
And the warning keeps flashing bright
I don't know which pain to listen to
Is it feeling or being right? - Flaying Alive: And if that doesn't make it unsexy enough, it's followed by them ripping off her skin to expose her robotic innards.
- Glowing Eyes: The villain of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video as it powers up its attack.
- Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: The Nun in the Sentient music video.
- Gorn:
- A rotting rat, its innards being consumed by maggots, gets a long, loving shot in the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next video.
- In the video for Sentient, a Sinister Minister of the Benevolent Church cuts open the protagonist's stomach with a scalpel and begins to tear off her skin in graphic, bloody detail.
- Worth pointing out that the pixel art style and Color Wash make these significantly less graphic than they might otherwise be; likely a deliberate homage to clever use of censorship in older movies.
- Hover Bike: The protagonist of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video uses one of these to get the top of said tower; it emerges from her exploding car.
- In the Hood: The habit of the Nun leading the Benevolent Church in the Sentient music video is designed to evoke this; underneath, she has a skull for a face, suggesting The Grim Reaper.
- Just a Machine: The music video for Sentient revolves around a society where robots are heavily oppressed. As noted above, there has to be a specific law against the enslavement of androids, ads saying 'DON'T TRUST A ROBOT' are seen flashing on TVs, and robots are seen being the victims of hate crimes: two apparent robot sex workers are seen stood at a police tape corden, presumably observing the murder scene of one of their colleagues, and a member of the Benevolent Church is seen burning android corpses on a bonfire.
- Katanas Are Just Better: The weapon wielded by the protagonist in the music video for She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next, used to open a portal to another dimension.
- Magical Star Symbols: Pentagrams are all over his work; unsurprising given his Black Metal roots.
- Mecha-Mooks: The implied Evil Overlord in the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video is a robot bug with zombified cyborg henchmen.
- Mind-Control Device: A shop clerk in the Sentient music video is seen wearing a VR visor that blares Benevolent Church propaganda directly into his eyes.
- Mind Rape: What the Benevolent Church does to the protagonist of the Sentient music video
- Night of the Living Mooks: The apparent henchmen of the villain of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video seen swarming around its tower are skeletal robot punk zombies.
- Nuns Are Spooky: The leader of the Benevolent Church in the Sentient music video is an apparently robotic nun who has the face of a skull underneath her habit.
- Ominous Visual Glitch: Used in the Sentient music video.
- Panthera Awesome: A mysterious black panther who is apparently also a cyborg warlock reanimates the long-dead protagonist of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next and sends her to kill the protagonist, opening her portal by tearing open his face.
- Playing with Syringes: The Benevolent Church graphically dissects the female protagonist of the Sentient music video.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Benevolent Church has a gang orgy with the female protagonist in the Sentient music video; given the circumstances, it can't really be called consensual.
- Religion of Evil: The 'Benevolent Church'.
- Retraux: The music videos for She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next and Sentient are both done in
beautiful pixel art. - Rule of Cool: Are his music videos ridiculous? Yes. Are they also awesome? Also yes.
- Sampling: 'Humans Are Such Easy Prey' opens with a spoken word sample from The Terminator:Kyle Reese: It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!
- 'Technoir' also samples the same movie, and in fact takes its name from it:
Sarah Connor: Ginger, this is Sarah. Pick up if you're there. I'm at this place on Pico Boulevard called Tech Noir. - Sand Worm: One of these can be seen lying dead in the harbour in the background of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next video.
- Save the Princess: The core plot of the Sentient music video is the attempt by the biker protagonist to rescue the female protagonist from the Benevolent Church. They fail.
- Scenery Gorn: We get an lengthy, detailed look at the post-apocalyptic landscape of the setting of the She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video.
- Scifi Bob Haircut: The female protagonists of the Sentient and She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music videos both have these.
- Sexy Packaging: The album cover of Dangerous Days has a beautiful naked woman on it in a Boobs-and-Butt Pose.
- Sigil Spam: The symbol of the Benevolent Church is everywhere in the Sentient music video.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The She is Young, She is Beautiful, She is Next music video features a hot pink car that explodes to reveal a hover bike.
- Uncanny Valley: Provides the title of his fourth album.
- Villainous Face Hold: The Nun does this to the female protagonist in the Sentient music video.
- You Are Too Late: The biker arrives too late in the Sentient music video to stop the protagonist of Sentient from being converted.
