Album Summary
This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
News at 11 is the fourteenth studio album by Cat System Corp., the alias of Dutch electronic musician Jornt Elzinga. Released on September 11, 2016, it samples smooth jazz songs and excerpts from TV talk shows and commercials as a tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks. Inspired by a vaporwave mix featuring a picture of the burning Twin Towers, Elzinga produced News at 11 as a portrayal of "a parallel universe where it never happened." Initially intended to be a Weather Channel-themed release, the album was produced over the course of nine months, and drew comparisons to the themes of author Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018).
Although the first 9 tracks sample both TV recordings and songs, the latter 11 draw primarily from the Weather Channel transmissions. News at 11 reflects September 11 as a normal day, in a timeline where the towers "proudly stand still." Several elements are named in reference to 9/11, such as the track "8:46 AM" being named after the time when Flight 11 hit the North Tower, and the artwork cover showing the American flag as seen through a plane window. In February 2020, Elzinga released the album on vinyl featuring two bonus tracks, and in September 2021, partnered with filmmaker Indy Advant to create the visual album Liberty Edition.
The record received positive critical and public reviews upon release. Some fans found the album to accurately represent vaporwave's "last breaths" before the fall of the Twin Towers, while critics commented on its reflection of a lost vision of the future as remarkable. News at 11 is the all-time best-selling mallsoft release on Bandcamp, and is often listed as one of Elzinga's most important releases. Its cassette issue also became one of the most demanded releases of the website.
