#and that synthesizer sound is so nice

[astralfuchs]

2 New Synthv Vbs next week!

[subbykittyboythoughts]

hm. usually when im horny im horny for like a specific kink/group of kinks but right now idk. i also just might not be. my torso is warm

[jamiepaige]

Constant Companions Closeup #1: DYAD

(also on spotify!)

Hello everyone!! It's been a couple weeks and change since Constant Companions, my newest album, was released unto the world, and I've been genuinely blown away by the response. Genuinely, thank you to everyone who's been streaming, commenting, making mashups, changing their pfps and usernames - it means the world to me!

I wanted to give some of that love back with something people have been asking me a lot about - and, admittedly, something I love doing. Song explanations! Deep dives! Dropping the lore! Welcome... to the Constant Companions Closeups...

For the next eleven days, I'll be going into each track one by one and babbling about the process, inspiration, details, feelings, and thoughts behind each one! We're getting sappy. We're bearing our hearts. We're telling unfunny jokes. And we're starting with track one - DYAD (featuring unit.0)!

---

Naturally, since this is the first track, it also serves as a great point to talk about my intention with this album as a whole!

I'll elaborate more on this with future tracks, but to me, there are really two main things that define the sonic progression of this album versus my previous work - guitars and vocal synths. Obviously, these things have been present in my work since I first started calling myself Jamie Paige, but Constant Companions is intended to be my overwrought, sappy confession of love to these two things that time and time again have made me simply want to make music. I love rock and I love Hatsune Miku dammit!!!

I had originally written this song in February of 2023 for a game-jam-esque online festival hosted by my friend Loni called HAPPY PARTY TRI, and at that time, I had found myself at a major crossroads. I had put out People Posture Play Pretend and :women_wrestling: the previous year, and while the response was nice, I was feeling listless and lost.

I love singing. I like my voice well enough. I certainly love writing music with lyrics!! But... there was something uniquely electrifying about using vocal synths. Amidst a lot of insecurity and emotional turmoil surrounding the process of making art and putting myself out into the world, it was one of the few things that just made everything feel right. Suddenly, I was making the same kind of music that had touched my heart so many times over.

Would it alienate people, though? Would I lose longtime listeners? Yes, that weighed on my mind more than I'd like to admit, but even more than that... I was worried I'd lose some part of myself, as silly as it sounds. Maybe what I thought was a bridge would become a barrier, and the messages I wanted to send across the gap would never find their way.

Ultimately, I felt that Dyad was the only kind of opener I could've possibly given this album, and a perfect fit for the album's motif. A dialogue between myself, stricken with loneliness and a lack of inertia running in circles, and that synthesized voice (ANRI Arcane my darling), grabbing the outstretched hand and asking a question I already know the answer to -

"Baby, do you know what you wanna hear?"

Yes, it's a love song, but it's not just for a person - it's a love song for the creative impulse, and for the places I wanted it to take me.

im resisting the urge to be jokingly dismissive of myself to diffuse tension but i still need to signal that the emotionally bare part of this is over so pretend im doing a funny little dance Anyways let's talk more technical stuff

---

Like many of my songs, Dyad came together from a patchwork of different snippets and ideas I had laying around. The back half of the chorus - "dream together, we can dream together" - originally came from this idea I had jotted down something like 9 months prior, but ended up being a perfect fit for Dyad in basically every way. The verse snippet that I'd written to go with it got reused for a later song on Constant Companions as well! (I say without naming it, as if it isn't literally lifted wholesale from this demo and thus incredibly obvious)

I wasn't originally planning on brazenly quoting the bridge of a Tally Hall song when I set out to write this song, but while toying around with a bridge idea involving a shortened version of the pre-chorus melody, I realized I had inadvertently copied it anyways. I was going to scrap it... but at the request of my dear friend and certified Tally Hall lover Marcy Nabors, I made it an explicit reference. Which I'm fine with, personally! The first CD I ever owned was a copy of Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum my sister bought me all the way back in 2006 - You can pry that sentimental attachment from my cold, dead hands, TikTok kiddies.

Lastly - not really behind the scenes so much as just a shoutout - thank you to unit.0 for the lovely lead guitar work on this song!! He's been a beloved collaborator of mine for many, many years now, and one of the people who ultimately convinced me this direction was the right one to go in, so it means a lot to share this song with him. Go listen to his music!!! Now!!!!!!

That's about it for this song! Not to sound like a fucking YouTuber, but genuinely, if there are any details you'd like to hear more about, let me know and I might made a bonus post at the end of all this. Otherwise, thank you for listening! Tomorrow: Not Quite There, featuring telebasher!

❤️💚

[the-wandering-mage]

Gotham Bats ruin and save Spiderman's Operation Nest

This is like a story concept written out for a Spider-Man Batfam crossover fic I don't have the time to write fully. This is more developed than a prompt but, still is thought I'd share and maybe you guys will enjoy it and/or somebody will pick it up and develop it into a fully fledged fic. So here it goes-

A more spidery Spider-Man is dropped into a DC universe right into Gotham. It's the beginning of fall in Gotham which is a problem for a Spider seeing as he is stranded in another universe with nothing but his Spidey suit and his AI companion. He has no access to the synthesized hormone cocktail he's been taking in the winter to keep him from going into hibernation. Now Peter could get together the stuff to synthesize the medication but, he need a stable place to set up a running lab to make it as he'd need it fresh and take it on the regular. That is a lot of work and resources he'd have to come up with and maintain. Also he is a depressed boi and a long nap actually sound really good. So instead of trying to set up a lab he starts Operation Nest. He is going to find a small enclosed space and prepare it for his long winters nest.

Peter also decides pretty quickly with all the crazy dangers of Gotham and all the warnings of what Karen was able to find after connecting to this world's version of the Internet to keep the suit on and just be Spider-Man full time. The suit would keep him safe from chemical attacks and the overall pollution of Gotham as well as keep him anonymous in the very likey event he has to use his powers to defend himself. Which will let him keep a nice civilian identity that Karen crafted come spring if he chooses to.

Peter's first two objectives in Operation Nest are to get money and find a location. The first Karen helps him with easily setting up a company, then filing and selling some benign patents, since this world is really behind in tech. She also helps him get more immediate cash without crossing into stealing just by doing online commissions for simple tech support type things while the patent money is still pending. Peter gets a laptop that he uses to help with some of the tech work even though Karen can literally do five jobs at once under several fake IDs she made herself.

Most of the day for Peter however is spent looking for real estate. Which is harder in Gotham than one might think considering the rival gangs, rival super villains constantly blowing up things, and all the homeless fighting over whatever is left of the abandoned buildings. The only good thing about all this is a giant spider nest will go relatively unnoticed amongst all the other craziness. Peter's adventures running all over Gotham trying to find a place to hunker down for a couple of months cause him to run into all sorts of characters.

Peter is in a weirdly apathetic state towards himself with all his trauma so he saves people obviously, and is still empathic, maybe more so with trying to get the villians to be better people and just talking with them like real people but, he is really basley about his own safety. He has already lost everyone he cares about and he's faced down Thanos, so none of the villians at this point faze him. He doesn't see them as a threat to himself. He ends up making a bunch of friends with villains by continuing what May believed in, what Ben believed in, and helps the villains out so they can hopefully make a change.

The bats hear about him and decide to investigate but all of them get terrible first impressions and they assume he's a villain or going to be one if they don't find him. Peter is OP and scary. He's not given up his friendly neighborhood spider-man but he has stopped trying as hard to look human type of friendly. He just has slow given into being a spider and is creepy. He also leaves spider webs everywhere, since his natural ones don't dissolve like the artificial ones that he uses sparingly. This also freaks them out and there is debate on whether what they are hunting is a meta human or an intelligent spider creature. Also at least one bat at the beginning runs into one of the webs and at least one gets temporarily stuck to a criminal they are trying to free from a cocoon

By the time the bats find Spider-Man they are all convinced that he's a villain plotting something big but really they've just been stalking Peter as he completes his to do list for Operation Nest. All the dangerous equipment and suspicious purchases from villains were really to get his nest set up. Peter knew his friends had some of the stuff he needed like a cytogenetic freezer to keep some of his food from spoiling over the course of a few months since he doesn't want anyone making deliveries to his house while he's hibernating. His friends were happy to help although he still paid them despite their insistence not to.

Karen thinks it's hilarious. Although they acknowledge itd be better to just explain the situation to the bats before Peter is in active hibernation and let them find them. They totally ruin their bust by opening the doors of a small dilapidated old tailors shop in the fashion district, where Peter had set up his nest in the basement. Peter isn't happy with them feeling very territorial. He wants them not to touch anything as he shows them into his nest. He warns them and they are a bit freaked out when he hisses at them when they inevitably ignore he's instructions out of curiosity but then settle a bit when they notice how tired he is. Cass probably gets them to back off. He explains things enough so they leave him to his hibernation with the promise of hanging out in the spring.

Or alternatively. Karen is too busy setting things up she doesn't notice with her smaller processing power disconnected from Stark Tech as she is to notice the Bats noticing them. Then she is being wired into the Nest when they start getting close so, she doesn't know they are closing in. Then she is doing system checks to make sure she is able to monitor Peter when he's hibernating and can use the machines and mechanical arms to help Peter for the parts of his hibernation he will be awake or partially awake to handle his bodily needs before cocooning back into his Nest made of his natural webs and blankets.

Karen doesn't know they are there until they break her perimeter alarms and she is forced to use her defensive measures since Peter has just gone into hibernation like a day ago. The bats having more resources than Karen at their disposal and coming at her from all angles breach her defenses and get into The Nest. Karen does her best to rouse Peter with alarms blaring but she is only able to get him into a semi state of consciousness. Not enough to move him without drugging him which would be dangerous for his health and with so many coming for her charge she does her best to throw her mechanically arms in front of him to guard him where he is.

The bats once they see a sleepy confused Peter with a strange woman's voice begging them to leave him alone they feel bad realizing they judged him wrong. Especially after seeing him adorably yawn with his fangs popping out.

[b1asho]

Guess who got excited and wrote a lot:

Much like on earth, regional language barriers still exist, only now it’s both within one species and between the different sophonts (you may know the Prectikar equivalent to English, but do you know their Greek? Etc) they all brought a lot of different languages and cultures with them before the crash and they’re still clashing and mixing to this day.

because of the physical difficulties in speaking each others languages the way they’re meant to be spoken (some don’t have lips) there are a few bridge languages purposefully designed to be easy to speak between sophonts. Most of them are sign (which still has its own problems because not everyone has the same number of fingers that can be moved in the same ways), but there’s also vocal bridges that are made of a mishmash of compatible sounds (the most common of which is called prime, taught in DRSS schools alongside whatever the dominant language in that state is.) Many people don’t learn other languages beyond what is necessary because of time and effort, and also the low likelihood of meeting a xeno who doesn’t already speak a bridge of some kind/ the expectation that a xeno you meet will *have* to know prime or something (kind of like Americans with English )

There’s also cybernetic translators/voice makers that can help, but based on price they can be rudimentary and usually limited to one or two languages because of the time it takes to sample and synthesize a whole alien language. These are most common among humans and Cerest !

Here’s some more individualized info based on the image:

Humans are by far the most likely to trip on a xenos cultural nuances because we literally just met these guys whereas they have been aware of each other/each other’s culture norms for much longer. Fortunately, humans are also a global superpower and so anyone in the DRSS and beyond kind of has to get with the program and act a bit more human if they want to be in our good graces. So for every human out there who’ll take the time to learn another xenos language and norms and try to meet in the middle, there’s three more who’ll just walk up, smiling, and put a phone in your face with a text-to-speech app open and a butchered version of a language you don’t even speak coming out the speaker. We also have the problem of treating all of them as if they’re the same when it comes to different xeno cultures

, since most info on them we know comes from sometimes not even the majority of their population but whatever group the Cerest interacted with first/the most.

Despite having the technological might, Rossetians put their culture and values in learning first. Thus, reliance on ai translators and the like is frowned upon (if they’re going to be communicating in a xeno language raw, then it’s going to be with sign, a manual noise maker or keyboard rather than an implant or phone). Thanks to their public politeness and avoidance of making a scene, they aren’t likely to vocally rebuke any slights in public, but may still show disdain and you *will* be added to a list of undesirables later. Most of their cultures follow their westerners lead in terms of clothing and social norms, so meeting a Rossetian who’s more aligned to say the East and treating them like a westerner can cause problems (ex. The west is fine with the human handshake, which is an analog for their own on version of a hand/tongue touch as greeting. The East doesn’t do this, and bringing your appendage that close to the hand of someone you just met is like proposing to a stranger since they associate hands/arms with marriage bonds. Just go with the tail touch oh wait you don’t have a tail). They’re also likely to see you as an alien first, person second, and are thus prone to weird probing questions and pushing of boundaries.

Kixeli can be overwhelming if you aren’t ready. They have the stereotype of being air-headed, super nice/friendly, positive and upbeat, and almost childlike, something that’s not helped by their high voices, permanent ‘smile’ on their face, or the way their cues just aren’t easy to read to the other xenos/the way they exaggerate their tone or movement to be more readable (most of their natural facial expressions are with the fin and tongue, something most other species have no precedent for how to interpret), Culturally they have a focus on community and the strong bonds within it, and though they are quick to anthropomorphize and see others as Kixeli ‘comrade’ , making a deeper connection with them takes more than most people realize. They can still be insular in their own way, and even if they’re being “overly” talkative, touchy, and friendly to a stranger in our eyes, they can definitely still see you as a stranger.

Thanks to historic exploitation and dehumanization (deprectikarization?) by other xenos, Prectikar have developed a culture around avoiding other cultures to protect their own. Tribe politics is an unknown landscape to most xenos, and often places will accidentally hire people from groups that hate each other and not even know until they start brawling outside the building. This can even be true between other Prectikar who, conversely, don’t have that strong of ties to a tribe/thier own culture because of xeno influence and therefore have difficulty interacting with their own kind (this is present in all xenos but most prevalent and obvious with them) Physically, they can have some trouble pronouncing words thanks to having no teeth or tongue in their main vocal cavity (the sounds produced by their throat’s air sac are usually inaudible and very limited) which feeds into the idea that they’re the big dumb guys, while their universally deep voices, minimal/ easy to misinterpret facial expressions, and size/strength make it easy for other xenos to see them as older than their years, unfeeling, and “perfectly fit” for prolonged hard labor. Humans tend to see them as the big scary ones and avoid them in turn, and usually associate them with heavy laborers or military if they think about them at all. Cerest and Rossetians have a history of dismissing or bastardizing their culture because they’re a ‘lower’ species alongside the Kixeli. Kixeli view them as hard to reach but not impossible to befriend, something that Prectikar also mirror towards them, thanks to their shared position as the lowest class of xeno in the old and new Empire (but they can still hold those stereotypes about each other)

Cerest, unsurprisingly, are the hardest to socialize with. Humans have a lot of poor associations with them thanks to the war and also a lot of misinformation is spread about them and taken as fact (example, a lot of humans actually think that Cerest can speak almost telepathically and have a hive mind, because bugs, where they actually just communicate in non-vocal ways most of the time and have a pseudo eusocial structure. Fun fact, the ‘telepathic speech’ ability actually belongs to muttreazik, who use their worm brain to emit high frequency waves and beam them directly into each others head as ‘words’. ) Everything we know for sure about them that is uncomfortable to us is blown out of proportion, such as their child rearing standards. Yeah they have less taboo around culling their eggs and higher infant aggression than any other species, but this doesn’t mean that separating Cerest children from their unit isn’t traumatic and it doesn’t mean that they hate their own (like the government would like you to believe so that their internment camp-I mean enclave practices don’t look as bad). The only reason Cerest can make noises is a side effect of them developing lungs. It helped them communicate longer distances and emit distress calls, but is largely hard to control for them and not used that much in any of their languages. Without extensive voice training or a translator, they sound like they’re buzzing at you, which can make talking to them difficult if you only know a vocal bridge. Cerest are such a minority in the DRSS, with most units living in designated and monitored Enclaves, that no one really has the best idea of how to interact with them. When they do, you’re usually hit over the head with how cold, disdainful, and lofty they can be thanks to their cultural conditioning to see other xenos as non-people. You’re pushing them away simply by being another species. But, even if the Cerest you’re speaking to doesn’t share those ideas, literally everyone characterizes them as unfeeling robotic hateful and callous , pretty much dehumanizing them right back (deceresting???????) and pushing them away from your side. It’s a lose lose situation all the time for everyone involved.

Just now realizing that I didn’t include muttreazik. Uhhhh. Based on their resemblance to their host they either follow these rules/have the same problems or get extra problems from looking so different.

The end :)

[subliminalbo]

HYPNOSAPIEN

The sound moved through Mel. That was the only way she could describe it.

She had come to River City following a mysterious flier about this new group, HYPNOSAPIEN. They claimed that their music could "take you to a place you've never been before." Mel had never been much into the club scene, but Piper insisted—after everything that had happened with the Alphas, it was nice to let loose a little.

To call it a club was a stretch. HYPNOSAPIEN was as DIY as they come, performing in secret venues around Romero. Tonight it was the abandoned warehouse on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Third Street.

The girls in the band were charismatic, led by Iris Blalock on lead vocals and Kayla Castillo on keyboard, but their music didn't impress Mel at first. It was the usual club trash with over-reliance on heavy bass and synthesizer that drowned out the live vocals.

Mel's biggest complaint though? All their music sounded the same! That droning, wall-to-wall buzz mixed to Iris' simple, repetitive lyrics: "Sink, sink, sink, sink, drop, drop, drop, drop."

But Mel wasn't listening close enough.

That droning hum that accompanied all of HYPNOSAPIEN's songs wasn't just a hum. It was a second set of vocals layered beneath the track, hidden deep in the mix. Mel tried to decipher the words when she noticed the mysterious voice. The crowd grew restless around her. She felt Piper brush against her body, breaking her concentration.

"Dance with me!" Piper shouted over the music. She draped her arms around Mel's neck, swaying like a severed marionette to the beat.

"Sink, sink, sink, sink, drop, drop, drop, drop."

"You're drunk!" Mel shouted back.

"I'm so drunk," Piper laughed.

"Sink, sink, sink, sink, drop, drop, drop, drop."

Piper was right. Clubs might not have been Mel's scene, but it was nice to let go a bit. Mel was a difficult person to know before the Alphas, but now she anticipated danger around every corner. Enemies came as friends with bright smiles and empty eyes. For just a second, Mel found herself sinking into Iris' lyrics intoxicating lyrics, her body moving along with Piper's, her walls dropping down, her fear fading away.

"Sink, sink, sink, sink, drop, drop, drop, drop."

And then the sound moved through her. The feeling was so sudden that jolted Mel from her trance. She turned to Piper to see if her friend had felt it too, but Piper had already dropped to her knees, empty eyes locked on the duo on stage.

"Piper!" Mel gasped.

Piper released a load moan as she tore at her shirt, her hands kneading, pinching, pulling at her small breasts, begging the music to take her deeper.

"Sink, sink, sink, sink, drop, drop, drop, drop."

"Oh, fuck..." Mel moaned. One-by-one members of the audience fell to their knees in uninhibited ecstasy, their cries of pleasure mixing into the music.

Mel, too, dropped. Her fingers sank between the folds of her wet pussy as her knees hit the cold cement.

Oh Christ, it was happening again. She was losing her mind just like she had in that basement, but this was something more than a virtual reality light show. It was a total transformation, an awakening to a new state of being.

Mel joined Piper in chanting the hidden lyrics in the music just as the first orgasm took her mind: "I am the Birth of a new species! I will Prepare my body and my mind for the Great Arrival!"

But it wasn't enough just to feel herself. She forced Piper down to the grimy floor, pressing her lips her nipples, her hand traveling down to Piper's pussy. Piper uttered a satisfied moan but continued the chant unbroken, "I will Fill whatever need is expected! I will Preach, I will Build, I will Breed!"

The show spiraled from there as the hypnotized audience fucked each other senseless. Clothes shredding, bodies upon bodies. They paired off in twos and threes and fours, ignoring superficial details like sexual orientation or who came with who. They clawed, and sucked, and licked, and fucked, and sweated, and came. Cocks filled holes, pussies pressed to lips. There was no one left in the room who didn't feel the sound move through them, no one who wasn't chanting the lyrics now.

Even the two members of HYPNOSAPIEN were overtaken by the music. Iris grabbed Kayla by the hair and pressed her face to her pussy. The recorded music droned on in time with the orgy.

The audience fucked late into the night, The Message's programming sinking so deep into their minds that it became a permanent fixture of their existence, taking everyone to a place they'd never been before. A place they never wanted to return from.

This is a companion to Classified Information #2: The Sound Shout out to @shotgungt for the band name HYPNOSAPIEN

[doublelp]

ayo why do you like dropdead so much?

A few reasons.

I think they really pushed powerviolence in a great new direction. A lot of stuff at the time was mostly guys doing thrashcore stuff while experimenting with sludgy parts, which is great, don't get me wrong. I like Eric Wood's stuff like Crossed Out and Neanderthal, but with Man is the Bastard i kinda got the vibe he was mostly fucking around trying different things to see what would stick. Plus when you have a genre that's primarily a single scene (stuff out of the Bay Area like 625 Thrashcore and Slap-a-Ham), you tend to get a lot of bands that sounds similar. Meanwhile, Dropdead was on the east coast doing their own thing and making powerviolence with a crusty edge. Bob Otis was into bands like Crass and Swans too so he ended up picking up the best parts of his influences and incorporating them into Dropdead's incredible, unyielding aggression. It's so raw but honed at the same time, and I'm a sucker for good thrashcore anyway so it really resonated with me.

There's also the production on the 1993 and 1998 LPs. Those albums sound so fucking crisp, literally the ideal tone for every instrument. Bass is just muddy enough, drums pack an incredible punch, and the guitar cuts through nicely while synthesizing with the rest of the band. Meanwhile Bob Otis, in my genuine opinion, has the best vocals out of any hardcore band I've heard. It's a shame he can't quite shout like he used to because otherwise I would totally fuck with their 2020 album. If you listen to his vocals on Chosen Path, he's really giving it 110% and it makes all the difference imo. His passion comes through and it resonates with me, even though I'm not vegan lol.

On a different note, I try to get push Dropdead at every chance I can in the punk sharing community because there's an unfortunate trend where a lot of people are eager to claim punk subculture without substantially engaging with it. I think the issue is two-pronged, though I'd reckon they're connected: 1. Most of the people in the community like the aesthetics and political values of punk subculture (which are flimsy imo but that's another issue) without liking a lot of the noise, so they end up either listening to more "pleasant" punk music (pop punk, folk punk, riot grrrl) or simply don't listen to the music at all. This creates a weird trend where a lot of people who post their crust pants don't have any band patches on them (let alone crust punk bands). So, you know, listen to Dropdead. At least say someone put you on to them and that you tried it. 2. These people are not engaging with their local scenes, which is likely because they don't like the music to begin with. Some people have an excuse because they live in buttfuck nowhere and there is no scene in their town, but I would encourage people to expand their search to the nearest city and do some research about what punk or hardcore bands are playing shows there. If you're really About this shit then you'll put in the legwork to seek out local punk bands. Y'know, that's the thing that the subculture revolves around. The scene is so important man you get to meet cool people and be a part of something fun, but it's not on your computer screen or in the way you dress, it's at dive bars and church basements or wherever they could book an all-ages show.

So listen to Dropdead, figure out what's going on near you, and go to a show for once.

[monstersinthecosmos]

Vamptember Day 19 - Metamorphosis

{the american dollar - anything you synthesize}

Daniel asks to take the long way back as they come home from hunting.

It’s the footpath that meanders through the woods, instead of the narrow dirt road that leads into their driveway. Marius doesn’t think they’ve come this way since Daniel was still unwell, when he’d wander out into the trees, and Marius would have to go collect him before sunrise.

The pang of apprehension surprises him. He tries to hide it, before Daniel has time to feel bad. Doesn’t want him to take it the wrong way, or to get offended. Doesn’t want to ruin the pleasant afterglow of the hunt.

And the question was rhetorical, really. Marius doesn’t answer, because Daniel doesn’t need his permission. It was more of an invitation, and he just offers a small smile as Daniel takes the lead. He stays a few steps behind, watching the shape of him beneath the moonlight, searching for clues that it might be like before.

This whole time, since Daniel has lived here, that hasn’t worried Marius. He lifts a hand to hold a branch out of the way, ducks his head to avoid a spiderweb, listens to the crunch of autumn leaves beneath their feet—and realizes he’s taken Daniel for granted.

It had been a bonus, hadn’t it, that he’d come out of his stupor? Marius would have cared for him anyway. But it’s been nice. Having someone to hunt with. To talk to. 

Like he hadn’t had anything to lose before. Hadn’t known how comfortable they would grow around each other.

Daniel stops just ahead of the little footbridge. A small clearing, where a tree had fallen last winter. He tilts his head towards the sky, so that the moonlight glows on his skin. Marius listens for him, over the sound of the creek, almost dreading signs of regression, but there’s nothing.

Not that he’s hiding his thoughts, or withdrawn into himself again. Just… easeful. Enjoying the peace for a moment. The smell of the forest around them.

It rained during the day. The earth still damp, and the smell of it thick around them. Marius knows that it would smell the same from he driveway—even from their porch—but being surrounded by it out here always puts him on edge. Even in the fresh air, and open night, the trees all around only inspire claustrophobia.

He wants to move them along. Wants to get home, to the warmth and the electric light, wants Daniel to pick a DVD for them to watch together on the couch. He wants Daniel in his arms while the stolen blood is still so hot under his skin. 

But Daniel just stands there. Staring up at nothing. Marius presses his knuckles to his mouth as he watches, unsure if he should say something. 

Daniel doesn’t enjoy being babied. Gets defensive when Marius checks in too much, or when he’s too obvious in offering help. So he hangs back. He waits. Stuffs his hands in his pockets and listens to Daniel’s steady heartbeat beneath the ambiance of the forest. He studies the shape of Daniel’s shoulders, the lines of his profile, beautiful angle of his jaw.

“Look,” Daniel finally says. He points one hand towards the sky, and reaches the other to Marius. When Marius doesn’t meet him halfway he looks over and rolls his eyes. “Hold my hand, jerk.”

Marius chuckles. 

He obeys.

Warm hand, like a human. Young enough for that. Soft.

He steps in closer, breathes the smell of Daniel’s cologne. It’s Marius’s own cologne, actually, but he doesn’t mind. It’s like a light in the dark, grounding him in this century, so he doesn’t drown in the scent of the forest.

“Look,” Daniel says again. He touches Marius’s face with his free hand, guiding him to look.

Marius’s eyes sweep across the sky through the hole in the treetops. Scans for constellations, wondering which one Daniel wants to talk about. 

“Not the stars,” Daniel corrects. “The leaves.”

His eyes adjust, aching for a moment as the color pulses in. So much moonlight tonight. Enough to really see all the color. 

Daniel’s mind shuffles through a handful of memories. Long drives around the edge of the Sound when the trees were changing, and pumpkin picking with his cousin, and kicking through piles of leaves on his walks home from school. How it made the wind louder, but it felt cozier inside. Smoking pot in the backyard at Thanksgiving as a teenager, and his mom helping him into his Halloween costume as a child.

Fond memories. Not like the ones Marius has. Daniel smiles up towards the sky.

“We should paint the model trees,” he says. 

Marius’s mouth opens, but he isn’t sure what to say. He clicks shut a moment later, and draws his hand away. Places it between Daniel’s shoulder blades, easing him to continue. Over the footbridge. Up the little fork that leads to their backyard. 

“Don’t freak out,” Daniel says. “It’s not like that.”

“Like what, Daniel?”

“Like whatever you’re thinking. It’s not like the craft room is some deathtrap. It won’t be like before.”

Daniel slows, over the bridge. Drags his fingertips across the damp wood. The sound of the creek envelops them.

“You haven’t painted in forever, either,” he points out. He slips his hand into Marius’s back pocket. “You should help me. It’ll be nice. You know. To change it.”

Another memory drifts through. Fall festival in the town where Daniel grew up. His dad helping him cut the top of a pumpkin, and its cold wet guts as Daniel scooped it out for the next hour. How he’d gotten tired of it, and his mom had to finish cutting the mouth for him. And how he’d sat down on the walkway in front of their house later, until she yelled at him to come inside, because he wanted to watch how the candle burned inside it.

Marius’s heart flutters. He pulls Daniel closer, savors his warmth.

“We have the same birthday, as it were,” he says quietly.

Daniel tilts his head. His thoughts lock up tight as he studies Marius’s face, and a look like pity comes over him. He leans in to kiss Marius on the cheek.

“Yeah, I know.”

[dimalink]

Tv in constellation

Tele universe - it is true space. Especially, when you moving with using of TV translation with channel or with usage of VHS cassette in a new world. In a far-far galaxy. Or in world of Star Gate. Start Trek. Star Wars. Action movie. Action. All of these - it is so entertaining, and so pulling into. And it drags you in! World of television – universe in a box. High technology.

And space. Unlimited space with millions of stars at the sky. Around stars, planets are rotating. And, there are, even, more of them, than stars. More than stars. Nebulas. And galaxies. All of these are unlimited.

Such a feeling of freedom and flight. Television – universe. Magical. Even mystical theme. Modern theme of a modern man. To watch tv. Especially, if it goes there interesting movie or a tv series.

Tv set can be big or not big. Mainly, medium format is rather enough. And, of course, all of these, about a retro theme. TV level of 90s. Or 2000s. Crt tv. Those tv, that you can use to play with cable with three colors in Nes or Sega. And, maybe, even, in first PlayStation.

Whole world – inside television. Mystery. Mystery, which you can look at and, maybe, even, to take a part in format of videogame.

Music theme – it, also, sounds like something mysterious and dragging in. Into the space. Into the tv watching period. Theme is more like stylish and cool 90s or 2000s. When you sit before Tv in the evening. And, try to find something interesting. And, maybe, you can play a console. Music is electronic. Synthesizers. Retrowave. Synthwave.

Retro nostalgia moment. Dedicated to tv. Age of 90s and 2000s. Time, when you spent before tv. While watching some channels and game consoles to play. It is so interesting to turn on television and watch for yourself - does it have for today something interesting! So, this way, one day, I see for the first time Star Gate! They were going by Tv! Or, tv series, or sci fi. Or X-files.

Such an intro. Visual theme. About tv in space. It flies in space. With a random way. And, this is a small program. Program intro. Just, start and watch. At the visual side. With the music. Music is synthesized. Tv is flying in space. Mystery of 20 century. Tv mystery. And space. Tv space. Also, you can see a popular musician by tv. To see cool music clip. Why not – it is a virtual universe. Universe inside universe. Such recursion.  As, nesting doll. One inside another one.

Visual fantasy about this theme. A little of mystical. Stars and space. With television, which, simply, is moving there, flying. A little moving, twitching. Stars, stars. To watch a space image – it is, also, standalone thing. And, what is it there amongst the stars? There, it is a tv is flying! So this is a joke answer. It is, simply, intro.  It is written with programming language Qb64. In terms of practice and search for a new themes. For point of interest. It is, always, interesting to do something, to try something.  Especially, if it goes good. If It turns out. Such idea for simple little programs intros. As intro for some cinema company before movies itself. But, with a form of a small program. With Basic.

It is so nice, in the little evening, to launch little program and to watch, simply, sit and watch! Relax, such modern meditation! Before your eyes – Tv in constellation! In its own constellation. Tele universe. Real one universe. TV moment!

Dima Link is making retro videogames, apps, a little of music, write stories, and some retro more.

WEBSITE: http://www.dimalink.tv-games.ru/home_eng.html ITCHIO: https://dimalink.itch.io/

TUMBLR: https://dimalink.tumblr.com/ BLOGGER: https://dimalinkeng.blogspot.com/ MASTODON: https://mastodon.social/@DimaLink

[spontaneousglitterbees]

Video description under the cut!

Hey there! If this is your first encounter with Synthesizer V (SynthV), welcome to the world of vocal synthesis. These guys ('voicebanks') are ethically-sourced with full knowledge and consent by their voice providers. I'll spare you the full details, but they are much more akin to cousins of Hatsune Miku and Vocaloid than AI music. Voicebanks take human effort to input and tune, just like an instrument. The purpose of these voices is not to replace humans, but instead to enable creativity by letting artists for whom it would be impractical to hire a vocalist still create vocal music. I made this cover not to substitute or replace the original, but for the same reasons you might want to play the song on any other instrument- it's fun!

Also some of them have fun anime representations. Kevin, our Very Normal Man Paul Matthews, does not (officially, at least). He is represented by a letter 'K', in contrast to almost everyone else in this cover.

Speaking of, if you are on the other side of this equation and are here for my vocalsynth stuff but haven't seen this musical before: Welcome to the weird world of Hatchetfield, a small island town in Michigan where things go spectacularly wrong with alarming frequency. This song is my favorite from the first musical in a trilogy, "The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals". It's about Paul Matthews, the titular Guy, as he finds himself at the mercy of an instrument of the end of the world. The proshot is free on YouTube, and well worth the watch, even if only for the context here.

… Also, many (including me) headcanon Paul is autistic and the musical can be read as about his experience as an autistic adult. If that sweetens the pot for anyone.

Credits, and that sweet SVP link:

Footage from The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals- https://youtu.be/IrxKX44qBJ0 Music and Lyrics by Jeff Blim SVP by Glitterbees- tinyurl.com/4ns3v3e8

If you enjoyed, please support the original release!

Starring, in order of appearance: Mr. Davidson - JUN Nora (Emma's Boss) - Eleanor Forte Prof. Hidgens - ASTERIAN Greenpeace Girl - SOLARIA Bill (Chorus) - Mo Chen Hatchetfield Bee (Chorus) - Stardust Infinity Paul Matthews - Kevin

I can't believe this is the first time I've used Stardust on the channel,, I did just get her, though. Plus, I didn't know who to make Ted. It's more balanced this way.

(Psst, if you're a vsynth newbie and interested in song-based storytelling, might I interest you in the Evillious Chronicles? I have a big playlist on my channel, and can give some recs on where else to start if you leave a comment)

What's in your soul? Is your heart so damp and bleak that you won’t give us a peek of your soul?

Just let it out! There's a voice inside of you on the edge of coming through. What's it about?

And I know it's a singular voice, Paul. You've just got to give up your choice!

Just let it out, let it out, let it out! Let it out, let it out, let it out! Just let it out, let it out, let it out! Let it out, let it out—

Never!

What was that?

You let it out….

Was that a note, or just a sound? Am I finally coming 'round to rhyming scheme? Oh god! Just stop it! I’m split in two! Is this me, or is this you? Am I dead? I’m coming apart at the seams! La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la. No! No-no-no-no-no-no-no!

Just let it out, let it out, let it out! Let it out, let it out, let it out! Just let it out, let it out, let it out! Let it out, let it out, let it—

I’ve never been happy. Wouldn’t that be nice? Is this the secret? Singing and dancing through life? Is my integrity worth anything at all? … But happiness can’t come before its fall.

Am I crazy? Maybe I’ve always been. Become what I’ve hated? Or maybe I never did…. It’s awful freeing now, to share the hate I've felt. But what will I let in if I let it out?

Let it out, let it out.

Am I crazy? I don't think so.

Let it out, let it out, let it out!

Maybe I've always been…

Just let it out, let it out, let it out!

God help me out!

Let it out, let it out—

If I let it out!

We will not be resisted!

I don't like musicals!

[rhapsodynew]

#Music and Musicians

The greatest

rock keyboardists (Part 1)

The 100 Greatest Rock Keyboardists and Pianists according to the Digital Dream Door edition

Criteria: These keyboardists were chosen for their skill, creativity, influence, expressiveness, musical depth and enduring popularity in rock music. (Keyboards include organ, synthesizer, mellotron, electric and acoustic piano).

A post about the top 25 musicians in the ranking. At the end there will be a list of those who took places after 25..

Keith Emerson

(Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Nice)

Keith Emerson is just a wizard of synthesizers, Hammond organ and piano! He shocked listeners first in his band The Nice, and then in the supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Emerson is the most unusual keyboard player in rock music. His sound is often different from other musicians, and he goes beyond the usual standards.

Keith Emerson succeeded in everything: a rock adaptation of classics from Mussorgsky, and a reinterpretation of the works of Aaron Copland. And even your own compositions. The most important thing is that he always added something of his own, special, so that each of his songs becomes unique. If you listen to "Pictures at an Exhibition" or "Tarkus", you'll realize that it's all thanks to Keith Emerson.

Rick Wakeman (Yes)

Wakeman is a true creator from the keyboard world, a genius who came up with his own approach to playing the synthesizer and thus paved his musical path. Rick's undeniable technicality combined with his innovation in combining electronic keyboards and orchestra and eventually resulted in an unforgettable musical extravaganza.

Rick Wakeman started out playing keyboards on early David Bowie songs, then for the first time vividly demonstrated his talent in the band Yes, recording three albums with it, not counting a couple of others after his return (one, "Fragile", not from the very beginning, and the other two - the gigantic and monstrous "Close to the Edge"and "Tales From Topographical Oceans" - from beginning to end). However, Rick stayed in Yes for a short time, as he did not get along with the rest of the characters, preferring to eat chicken more on stage during their long concert losses. Around the same time, Wakeman even managed to record a couple of synthesizer parts for the Black Sabbath album "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". However, he revealed himself most fully further during the period of his solo work, each time never ceasing to surprise with more and more new discoveries.

Jon Lord (Deep Purple)

It is simply impossible to imagine Deep Purple music without John Lord's keyboards. Together with Richie Blackmore, they seemed to represent two independent musical principles, which were closely intertwined in almost every song and competed in the performance of their parts. But if Richie pressed with the pressure of riffs or the ferocity of solos, then John struck with the sophistication and ornateness of his Hammond organ playing.

The sound of his keyboards is definitely the benchmark for the sound of an electric organ in hard rock. Throughout his career (most of all, of course, during the time of the first Deep Purple line-up), Lord masterfully interweaved classical elements into his music, but also worked on his own unique style. And he did it more than successfully. It is unrealistic to listen to a song that Jon Lord took part in recording and not recognize his characteristic keyboards, even for those who are superficially familiar with music.

Ray Manzarek (The Doors)

Jim Morrison once said in an interview about his friend Ray Manzarek: if you want to see the main character in this band, then this is this guy; he is the real musical brain of The Doors. Indeed, if Morrison was the face of the band, its main poet, then Ray Manzarek was definitely the musical engine.

All the band's music was based on his keyboards. Not on guitar (with all due respect to Robbie Krieger), not on drums, but on keyboards. With his playing, Manzarek riveted from the very first seconds, and in terms of electric organ sound, he was probably the brightest figure of the 60s. His parts cannot be confused with anything else, moreover, there was no such unique keyboard player either before or after. His diverse playing could include both acid-psychedelic organ passages, about an eternity long, and light airy piano losses.

Ray's virtuosity is evidenced by the fact that at concerts, in the absence of a permanent bass player in the band, in addition to his main parts on the electric organ, he also led the bass part on the electric piano with his other hand. And this fact does not fit into my head.

Manzarek's long solos are generally a separate conversation. With their beauty, melodiousness and a certain hypnotic appeal, they have forever entered the golden fund of rock music heritage.

Later, the great improviser Ray Manzarek also played the Hammond C-3 organ.

Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)

The famous Pink Floyd keyboardist himself said to himself that he was self-taught and played the piano incorrectly, as it is "impossible" to play in professional circles. But what you definitely can't deny him is his own unique style. Probably, it was the lack of templates and frameworks that determined the formation of the sound characteristic of Rick Wright.

After all, who's to say that his musical contribution to Pink Floyd's work is bad? Yes, maybe Wright somehow interpreted the rules of keyboard playing in his own way. But his exquisite piano parts and beautiful synthesizer ripples are truly stunning! Not to mention that they have become an integral part of Pink Floyd's music.

Tony Banks (Genesis)

Genesis founder and keyboardist Tony Banks was behind many of its hits, playing in various genres such as progressive rock, pop and even classical music. Banks is known for using instruments such as Hammond organs, mellotrons, synthesizers, and pianos, each with their own distinctive sound, when Banks wanted to apply a different technique in his recordings and performances.

Starting with the first albums in 1969, he began using Hammond organs L-122 and T-102.

Billy Preston

Billy Preston is deservedly considered one of the greatest session keyboardists of the 1960s. American keyboardist, member of many solo and session projects with the most famous pop and rock artists since the 60s (with Ray Charles, Little Richard, Everly Brothers, The Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, The Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Elton John. Billy also took part in the recording of the legendary Beatles album "Get Back". Billy Preston was one of the first to use the Hammond B-3 organ, playing soul, funk, rock, rhythm and blues and gospel styles. He has released 23 solo albums since 1963.

Rod Argent (Zombies, Argent)

Rod Argent founded the English rock band The Zombies in 1962, and after its breakup five years later founded his own band Argent. He was one of the creative collaborators of "Zombies", playing an important role in the lyrics of their songs. Argent is known for his preferences in choosing instruments, including the mellotron, harpsichord and organ.

Prefers to use the Hammond B-3 organ. Rod Argent's Hammond playing in the 1972 composition "Hold Your Head up" was rated by Rick Wakeman as the greatest organ solo in history.

Steve Winwood (Traffic)

To be continued....

[chevvy-ryder]

RYDER'S THEME SONGS

––––

Blade Runner

It is no such wonder I chose a Blade Runner (end) title for Ryder as main theme, because when I look at him I always say to myself "You're my one true Cyberpunk (2077) character" — Now, Blade Runner basically is the foundation of this amazing yet dystopian future noir genre after all (I'm fan ever since I first watched it as a kid). Always found the music in the original movie tremendously moving and mysterious in a way I've never experienced before. And so is Ryder to me: mysterious and evocative. A book I had and still have to read, to find out who he is. If you do not know him, you can only speculate who and what he is. He's that dark anti hero character. His look is frightening and bleak. He stares at you until you look away. You may want to, but you can't stop looking at his drawing presence. Yet it is a mask he wears or rather is also forced to wear, because behind all this mystery is his true character safely kept for VIP only. The drums in this song represent he might be the dangerous sinister type whilst the synthesizer gives this overall beautiful and mysterious tune surrounding him, that feels somehow more chilling than dangerous. Yet there's still a hint of threat in that song because of its continuous fast paced cadence. If you could see the world through Ryder's eyes, it looks exactly like in Blade Runner, a city full of neon lights but in a mere monotone way — darker, less saturated, even at day because skyscrapers block the sunlight down in the streets. Buildings built onto buildings, (acid) rain pours down daily. Ryder knows how this world, he was born into, works. It is reigned by corrupt rich Corpos wanting nothing but power absorbing every small independent corporation, reign over people, don't tell what goes on behind the curtains (cloning/human meat theory, soul killer and cynosure programs, black wall to name a few) — the rich don't care what happens to the normal folk. They are only interested in their money and consumption behaviors. At the same time Ryder knows what's going on down in the streets because he walks amongst them voluntarily. He sees the misery that is going on, people are poor, barely can make a living if they don't devote their whole lives to working for the corps. Humans become more and more synthetic, so much that the rise of cyberpsychosis reaches it's peak, becoming more problematic than ever as they can not control it anymore while rogue AI's reign the net, controlling an entire population (including himself) in a subtextual way. I don't want to compare Ryder exactly with Blade Runner. His job is not to hunt down bioengineered humanoids. He's a merc who hunts down those bad for Night City and the entire world to make it a better place. He knows that the original vision of it was something entirely different and he's got hope that it can still be put on the right track. He devotes himself to this, as a merc, fighting that what he once was supposed to be too, but never felt like he belonged into: power-hungry Corpos like his father. Ryder's weapons are blades and he runs them into the flesh of his enemies — therefore: Blade Runner.

––––

Mesa

Another Blade Runner (2049) song. It is calm, yet still mysterious right from the start, lingering, single piano tunes make it sound threatening but also interesting that you want to listen further. Then it gets bright, and nice, warm even, turning into a beautiful melody. Ryder’s personality is exactly like that melody. He doesn't trust anyone right from the start. But when he feels he can do that and decides to let someone in, he opens up towards you. He's not the mean guy, it is quite the contrary: he's got a heartwarming personality, a lower voice with a certain softness in itself that makes you wish he would read you a good night story. But this takes time, and you should let him decide when that time is. Because yet that song bears a threatening moment towards the end: suddenly it gets awfully loud and sounds even alerting — Ryder's mood suddenly snaps. He gets mean even to a point where anger turns up from zero to hundred — it only takes a stupid commentary at the wrong time. Beware when it happens and choose your further proceeding carefully — because there is something lingering inside him that likes to have him angry.

––––

Delusion of Choice

A song representing a certain voice in his mind Ryder started calling 'Bad Enduring (&) Aggressing Sinister Termination' (program) or in short: 'B.E.A.S.T.'¹ at a certain point in his life because it is what it forces him to do: do evil (bad) — as he finds himself in a lot of situations he does not wish to act the way he does. It is constantly (enduring) haunting him. It happens in a very assaulting (aggressing) way. And it is scaring (sinister) him as well. It only ends with death (termination) for his opponent while he is lucky to have survived each time. He doesn't know how it looks (basically a distorted shadow with sharp teeth) and where it came from, but it is a daily and constant knock-knock that says: "Destroy their hopes. Perish their dreams. Rage. Revenge! Fetch me their souls. Hey! — Let me out! They harmed you. Kill them. Let me help you. Let me kill them all!" That song exactly does that: having a constant knocking-like beat. It never stops except for a few seconds accompanied by various other threatening dark and strange alien sounds that can only be found in cyber hell making you slowly go crazy. Ryder is dealing with this almost daily. It never lets him alone, since it first showed up in 2070 and took a part of control when he had his first outburst. He noticed that his anger grew as soon as he moved to Night City and it's gotten worse over time. First he thought it was because of the constant disdain he received from his family, but he is sure this plays only a minor part now, since he cut ties with his Corpo life about seven years ago. He assumes the source must be something else or the only explanation left could be he walks the edge to cyberpsychosis. The phrases 'I don't know what I am.', 'Something that makes no decisions has no choices.' stand for that Ryder can't really make his own 100% choice about what he wants to do and what not. B.E.A.S.T. always interferes and in the worst case takes over his body and causes death and destruction while Ryder is doomed to watch. Aware of that he chose to fight it even more. There are times he is able to completely ignore it, and finds only peace when he is listening to his favorite music, passes out or is sleeping. He got used to living with it through the years, but lately (2078) it seems to have received a very strong update and it frightens him more than ever. It bears one of his greatest fears: hurting those around him he loves because he can’t remain in control. Ryder knows he's like a ticking bomb, a burden to his team. But Vijay insists that Ry stays part of it and promised to find a cure no matter what!

¹ I want to underline again that the rogue AI named B.E.A.S.T. is not my idea. It is part of VoidJester's story, we happened to work at together and I looked for way to include my boys best possible to it. Ryder is the AI's name giver as mentioned above because he describes it to others as that but doesn't know it is an AI controlling him. A fun fact: he could just frigging leave Night City and be free from it because it is only tied to it. Hilarious.

––––

Throwback Berlin & Eternal Rain

These songs (and many others) stand for a passion Ryder discovered in Berlin: Techno(ise). Starting out first with softer melodic, more trance-like retro tunes (Throwback Berlin), nowadays he's more into the darker hard Techno(ise) (Eternal Rain), as these ear deafening beats give him the best thrill with the ability to stimulate his senses so that he falls into a trance only concentrating on moving along to the given beat and raves until his stamina completely fails of exhaustion. He does it for hours upon hours on raves longer than 24 hours. There's nothing better than those throbbing beats for him. Not only can he vent his anger through it, it lets him forget this mad world for a while, gives him freedom for the time being — it's just him moving along with the beat, It lets him be past, presence and future in one.¹ There's another important reason why his heart beats for those hard tunes: BEAT BEATS B.E.A.S.T. ! You can also say in a way he trained to hear the B.E.A.S.T. as some constant techno(ise) song. As a result of having a sort of Techno(ise) on your mind almost 24/7 he's constantly fidgety.

¹ For those interested: I will post a one shot one day where Ryder explains in detail why he's so passionate about techno more specifically. This here is just a scratch on the surface in order to not get it too long.

––––

Exterminate & 2094

They represent Ryder's battle/fight theme, so it can be seen as when Ryder is fighting yet still remains in control, slicing his Mantis blades through the flesh of his enemies while his Berserk operating system is active. It boosts him up with an immense strength and resilience, increases his melee damage and receiving hits only make him stronger and more powerful. The song is fast paced and goes straight forward making him eventually get into a kill streak. Since his blades are standard with no effect they only deal physical damage with a high possibility for bleeding and dismembering. Ryder doesn't make short work and sees he ends their suffering fast by exterminating with one hit if possible. He's got no Sandevistan but he's fast and versatile when it comes to running and parcouring and even dodging. His reaction reflex is trained constantly for years and he keeps his body agile. Depending on how strong the enemy is, how long the fighting takes and how annoying they are to him, the chance to go literally berserk becomes critically high: he will slowly lose control with B.E.A.S.T. now taking over. It literally consumes Ryder for the time being and all he sees is red with shadowy distorted figures that are enemies and friends all together, while he feels himself falling into some abyss unable to do anything at all. That is when the song '2094' takes over: While Ryder's body turns into his total unstoppable berserk mode, his sanity is trapped, pushed away, doomed to watch everything from afar with no clear vision. He feels sick, often in panic and screams but B.E.A.S.T. ignores him until it got what it wants: rip every poor soul apart. The alien sounds in this song stand for all this happening until it lets go again (or Ryder gets hacked). It's almost you can hear B.E.A.S.T. now breathing, feel its digital breath in the net, too (about 4:30min in).

––––

Mörder

This song describes how Ryder sees himself concerning his out of control being: that he's a monster and a murderer. The lyrics are in German (I placed English underneath every line):

Dann steh ich vor einem Plakat und lese, Then I stand in front of a poster and read, Was ich getan habe, What I have done, Und lese und lese: das habe ich getan? And read and read: I have done that? Aber ich weiß doch von gar nichts! But I don't know anything about it! Aber wer glaubt mir denn, wer weiß denn, But who believes me, who knows, Wie's in mir aussieht, wie es schreit What it looks like inside me, how it screams Und brüllt da drinnen, And roars inside, Wie ich es tun muss... will nicht How I have to do it... don't want to Muss... will nicht... muss! Must... don't want to... must! Aber ich, kann ich denn, kann ich denn anders? But I, can I, can I do it differently? Hab' ich denn nicht dieses Verfluchte in mir, Don't I have this cursed thing inside me, Das Feuer, die Stimme, die Qual? The fire, the voice, the torment? Ich will davon, vor mir selber davonlaufen! I want to run away from it, run away from myself! Aber ich kann nicht, kann mir nicht entkommen, But I can't, can't escape myself, Muss, muss den Weg gehen, den es mich jagt. Must, must go the way it chases me. Muss rennnen, rennen endlose Straßen... Must run, run down endless streets... Ich will weg, ich will weg... I want to get away, I want to get away... Und mit mir rennen die Gespenster von Müttern und Kindern. And the ghosts of mothers and children run with me. Sie gehen nie mehr weg, sie sind immer da, They never go away, they are always there, Immer, immer, immer! Always, always, always! Nur nicht wenn ich's tue Just not when I do it

The lyrics do fit not 100% correctly as Ryder doesn't see his doing on news but more in how the voice of the speaker/singer sounds with all those emotions and nearly screming the lyrics. Ryder isn't proud to always leave a mess of pool of blood, organs and dead literally shredded bodies behind. Especially in the beginning it scared him a lot as soon as he is came back to his senses again. He doesn't remember what he's done, all he sees is the mess that's left around him. He got used to it with the years passing by as he learned to live with it, but still it does frighten him. He judges himself heavily thinking he's not better than those out there doing bad to harmless people even though he eliminates only the bad ones. Ryder deeply wishes to be more like Vijay (you shall not kill; leave them for the NCPD). It's Ryder's greatest wish that B.E.A.S.T. vanishes one day the same way it showed up, so that he is able to use his blades with a sane mind instead of tearing everyone apart like a monster. He does not enjoy this kind of killing but he's got no choice, being unable to withstand the hunger to kill that the AI lusts after. Even V an't really help him, just make it stop to prevent the worst but not go away forever. When Ry's Berserk OS is hacked, he will pass out for an undetermined amount of time and be vulnerable to his enemies. So it can only be activated when Ryder's safety is assured and another team member can jump in fast to his side because Vijay is often too far away for him (Ryder's personal wish).

––––

Memories of Green

A calm song – another Blade Runner score as well. It tells one of those rare moments when everything seems calm for a while, presented by the piano. Yet there's still sounds wanting to distract. It stands for, that Ryder really wishes to concentrate fully on the piano, to take in its soothing melody, but has a bit of a hard time to blend out everything else around him. Some of these noises could also be done by B.E.A.S.T. to gain attention. The piano stands for Thyjs as well, since the soldier was taught to play piano. Ryder loves to listen to him playing. It lets him forget almost everything, balms his never resting soul. He never thought he would enjoy classical music either — only with Thyjs he discovers it for the first time. So these are moments he tries to enjoy as much and as long as he can. Thyjs is going to mean the world to him. He has a natural gift to calm Ryder down similar to Vijay before but in a different way. He is more than thankful that Thyjs values him all the way he is, not caring he's butchered so many in the most cruel and agitating ways. Thyjs can relate to that since he was turned into a killing machine trough Militech. Thyjs is the calm center of the storm capable to handle the hot-headed angry man Ryder is, seeking peace he will find one day for sure.

––––

BONUS:

1998 – Kay Cee 1999 Radio Mix

Is a song I somehow started associating with Tommy Reiter (Ryder's first boyfriend) one night while I was unable to sleep but very sleep deprived. So, listening to this rather uptrance song via headphones hit me differently. Why? Because I see pictures of Tommy flaring up. It's like it catapults me back to Ryder's past. Seeing him as teen (17yo) together with Tommy in various situations that are actually good ones! They dance to their favorite music, spend time in the fields, eat ice cream in the city on a hot Berlin Summer day, Tommy lends Ryder clothes so he can put off this stupid corpo suit after school. It truly feels like when you think about good memories of your own teens: Spending time together, laying on the bed on a lazy hot afternoon with your first boyfriend or best friend talking, listening to your favorite music, hanging out whatever you do. I think you get what I mean. But seeing those pictures suddenly can just hit me so hard it makes me cry bc I know it was me who made Tommy gone. I feel very guilty that I decided Tommy had to leave. I've never killed off a self-created character and I can feel the lump forming already in my throat while writing this down. If I had Tommy alive, Ryder might have run away with him one day, would have had a good life, never be infected with B.E.A.S.T. either. And after so many years Ryder still thinks about him and never stopped loving him. He took Tommy's last name as his now real name (Reiter = Rider). Tommy was the most important person who supported and guided Ry when he was in his finding phase. So I get VERY emotional now every time I have this song playing. Tommy for me was a 'Herzens Raver' – he loved technoise, tunes that sounded exactly like this song — uplifting your mood and with Tommy around Ryder had the best time, smiling, laughing and loving.Sometimes I sit, look at Ry's pics I've taken since September 2022 and think: "Ah, Tommy — if you could only know or see what your lil' shy Gilbert has turned into." Really wonder what Tommy would say about the now Ryder because he's entirely different from what he used to be – more like couldn't be. I've got no answers to that and will never have them. Tommy didn't know him with tattoos or any cyberware, nor the aggressive character Ryder got now. Also not with the name Ryder since Ry only started calling himself like this when Tommy was already gone.

––––

Kettendynastie

This song, whenever I hear it, I picture how Ryder discovered the Techno(ise) scene for himself.

Mama, ich hab mich verliebt mom(my) I fell in love In die Nacht, in das Schwarz, with the night, with blackin die Kettendynastie with the chains dynasty In der Sucht viel zu tief into addiction far too deep Und Papa, ich will tanzen, and dad(dy) I wanna dancedas Schönste, was es gibt the most beautiful there is Haut an Haut skin to skin im Dunst der Nacht in the haze of the night Lust in der Luft, lust in the air vergiss den Tag forget the day Schau sie an look at them All die freien Menschen all the free people Tanzen — Das Schönste, was es gibt dancing — the most beautiful there is

It's literally Ryder's thoughts. His thoughts after his first rave when he was a teen back in Berlin, met and was with Tommy. Not only did he fall in love with that guy, he fell for the night, for black, for chains, for dancing — on the dance floor he felt free. And ever since he's addicted to it to this date. The chains are not holding him back there — on the contrary: they are his accessory (therefore I have him wearing curb chain necklaces added to literally every outfit when it doesn't clip).

The sad thing about it: Unlike the speaker in the lyrics he couldn't tell his parents about it. Not tell them about falling in love for the first time because unlike a rich Corpo girl from his school it was some underclass guy — unroyal, dirty, not worthy. And the music? disgusting. cheap. At home he was literally bound in chains instead, not allowed to do anything but obey. But: He was tough and rowdy enough to have fun anyway, lying to them and sneaking out so he could be free for a while. He always went to Tommy's place and lent his stuff so he could be free like him, dancing together skin on skin in the haze of the night feeling the first experiences of lust in the air surrounded by people who were able to walk freely that made him feel free too for a time being.

The song just nails it. I'll make it young Ryder's favorite. All the memories he gets when this song plays again later. He is into far darker and harder stuff now but this fits so well to his younger self.

[dailyharuka]

DAY 323

Long time no see, gang. It's mod 💫 again. Here's EVERY Haruka cover you can buy in the shop and my opinions on every single one of them.

Just take note that I've found a video that has full versions of a lot of her covers?? I'll put the video link at the very bottom, and the channel has a lot of other full character archives that are almost always being updated it seems.

Happy Synthesizer

(feat. Minori)

This is one of the earliest recorded songs for More More Jump! in general, so the voices aren't the greatest. Haruka sounds like she's sort of using a more... "Regular speech" kind of tone? Her VA was probably still looking for how she was supposed to sound when doing this. However, I still quite like it!! Her and Minori's voices mix really nicely here.

Rating: 7/10

Nostalogic

(Lone vocal)

... So sorry mod 💧 for what may become of our notifications potentially, but I'm gonna be so for real right now, I'm not a huge fan of this. Granted, I can acknowledge that the vocals are decent (they still kind of have the same issue as Happy Synthesizer, but she's closer to finding how Haruka is supposed to sound). My issue is probably just that I'm not a huge fan of the song in general,, It's alright and I can get behind why it's popular, but I just don't feel the same way about it as some others may.

Rating: 5/10

Near

(Lone vocal, but I'm certain the background has some vocals from Minori in there)

I LOVE NEAR!! I LOVE NEAR!!! JUST IN GENERAL!!!! HIGHLY BASED SONG!!!! Her VA has almost certainly found her voice by now, so she also sounds great. The lower tone she sings with in the song sounds wonderful, and the choruses sound amazing. My only criticism is that she kind of sounds like she's struggling to hit the higher notes at the very last chorus? You never really notice it in the original song (probably because Minori's either the only one singing or is overpowering her so you can't hear it, it's been a while since I've listened to the original cover), but here it's kind of glaring. Otherwise!! It's beautiful!!! I love Near gang I love it

Rating: 8.5/10

Color of Drops

(Lone vocal)

This song is slightly in the same boat as Nostalogic? It never really stood out to me and I never really found it all that special. However, I cannot deny that she sounds great here. She sounds like she's hitting the higher notes much better here, though... And she sounded pretty powerful in the buildup to the last chorus!! Nothing absolutely astounding, but great nonetheless.

Rating: 7/10

Dreamin Chuchu

(Lone vocal)

Fun fact this was the first ever cover I bought for her. Like deadass while I was still playing this was the first cover I got for her. And from what I remember, most people didn't really like MMJ!'s cover of the song? I found it nice to listen to personally. Once again, the vocals are really nice!! Her voice is so smooth and... Dreamy, if you would lmao. There's no real other notes I can add honestly.

Rating: 7.5/10

Chikyuu Saigo no Kokuhaku (w?)o [The Earth's Final Confession]

(Lone vocal)

This is kind of another song like Nostalogic and Color of Drops for me,,, However right out the gates she's definitely doing well with the higher notes, and she never seems to falter. Nothing too special, though.

(This is where the songs go from full length to game-size, btw)

Rating: 7/10

Happy Halloween

(Lone vocal)

Oh she sounds so playful in the very beginning. This song's always a treat to listen to, and I think it might've been my introduction to Vocaloid for real, all the way in like 2018 or something. And Haruka didn't disappoint, she sounded really cute. The higher notes weren't much of an issue, either.

Rating: 8/10

Karakuri Pierrot

(feat. Minori)

I ALSO LOVE KARAKURI PIERROT!! ANOTHER BASED ASF SONG!!! The way that the instrumental is changed for the cover is so wonderful honestly, and it really helps accentuate the voices. However, I do have a slight gripe: The choruses sound... Kinda empty? The first one, anyways. It's usually better in the full version rather than the alt, as there's never a lone voice in the choruses from what I remember. However, Haruka did decently well, and yet again her and Minori sounded great together.

Rating: 8/10

Shoujo Rei

(Lone vocal)

This is one of my favorite songs she's covered, honestly. She sounds so good here. Her voice has a slight bit of power behind it during the last chorus, and she just sounds great in general. Her voice goes really well with this and her cover is easily my favorite of the covers this song has in-game. Better than the original imho

Rating: 9/10

Kokoroyohou [Heart Forecast]

(feat. Minori)

ANOTHER BANGER SONG!!! HEART FORECAST!!!! HARUKA SOUNDS SO GOOD!! IT'S SO SILLY!!! I LOVE THIS DEARLY HONESTLY SHE HITS ALL THE NOTES WONDERFULLY I LOVE HARUKA KIRITANI GUYS I LOVE HER COVER OF HEART FORECAST I LOVE HEART FORECAST AAAAA!!!

Rating: 10/10

IF

(Lone vocal)

It's IF. Of course it's utterly banger. All her com songs are bangers and endlessly great. And of course her voice goes amazing well with it... Augh guys the way her voice sounds from here on out is amazing. This song is most definitely in a lower sort of octave than other MMJ songs to mesh well with her voice I'm dying this song does everything right. EVEN IF THIS WORLD IS MEANINGLESS IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND I WANNA KEEP LIVING AAAAAAA

Rating: 10/10

Torinokocity

(Lone vocal)

Shoutout to the Haruai song. Anyways, she sounds so smooth here. So pretty. Her vocals are always so silly honestly I love how she sounds in so many songs, including this one. Things really only get better with time huh

Rating: 8.5/10

Float Planner

(Lone vocal)

Float float planna, nanana planna. All day in my head no end in sight and honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. As I've said before and will continue to say: Haruka coms just hit different. They hit better. Once again I'm half certain this is in a somewhat lower octave than the average MMJ! song to really mesh with her voice. Her vocals almost never miss in the more recent songs augh... Not to mention this one's in full and not just game size I'm dying gang

Rating: 10/10

Booo!

(Lone vocal)

This is my first ever time listening to this, and from the wiki that I'm pulling these images from (sekaipedia), this is about looking forward to eating a pudding someone else ate. Which is objectively funny LMAOOOO one of the characters with a huge sweet tooth singing about mourning a pudding and being upset with the culprit is hysterical. She had that WAITING for her cheat day!!! Onto more serious discussion of this though, she sounds great. All the little interjections and adlibs sounded wonderful and her vocals once again hit beautifully. She definitely got across the somewhat ridiculous nature of the song very well lmao

Rating: 8.5/10

Shinkai Shoujo

(Lone vocal)

this was also my first time listening to this song, and it's pretty good!!! No real notes other than that she hit all the high notes really nicely.

Rating: 9/10

Kyu-kurarin

(Lone vocal)

She actually takes this an octave lower than normal, which I'm unsure if the rest of the group does, but it's a really nice change of pace from other covers I've heard. It recontextualizes the song's meaning as a sort of more chill, back-of-the-mind anxiety than up-front and constant. I actually really, really like that!! Once again Haruka shows us how it's truly done 💯

Rating: 9/10

Shiroi Yuki no Princess wa [The Snow White Princess is...]

(Lone vocal)

Once again this is the first time I'm listening to this song, and she sounds great with the guitars actually. This type of song is super nice and she works really well with it... Her cover is really satisfying to listen to!! Granted something in me has a hunch that the background music was altered like in Karakuri Pierrot but it still sounded amazing.

Rating: 10/10

... And that's everything! If I missed anything, please let me know... She's got a ton of covers now and I think it's great. If only she had more alt covers with Airi and Shizuku, though... It's unlikely it'll happen though, from what I've seen. ALSO!!! COLOPAL!!! GIVE US HARUKA ALT AI NO MATERIAL AND MY LIFE!!! IS!!! YOUR'S!!! COME ON!!!

Also here's the video as promised:

-💫

[thedaythatwas]

ok so setting aside the fact that post-canon nagito should probably not be drinking alcohol on account of his two terminal illnesses and associated treatment plans, I do think he’d really, really enjoy a nice cosmo. don’t ask me why I think about this, but I do. often actually lol.

I had no idea how long this would get. page break!

not only are they delicious (vodka, cranberry juice, lime juice, cointreau), they’re also aesthetically a very pretty pink drink which (as unserious as it sounds) nagito would appreciate! also. they knock you tf out (it’s the cointreau… easy to forget you’re drinking something super liquor forward), and (as bad for nagito as that might be) that’s also a quality I think he’d seek out in a beverage! I mean, consider: blue ram. anti-energy drink. let my man chill.

like. I like the thought of nagito 1/4 of the way through one fruity little drink and already being heavily tipsy and practically hanging off hajime. this is after he’s let his hyper-vigilance down a little, enough to feel safe even if he’s not 100% at the top of his game. he trusts hajime will negate his luck, or at least mitigate the fallout if something bad were to happen because of it.

meanwhile, hajime is sipping almost straight vodka with a teeny tiny dash of soda and ending up only *barely* buzzed, which is sort of upsetting to him, but not totally surprising (he didn’t opt for his personally synthesized rubbing alcohol and that’s really the only thing that can get him tipsy in his post-canon body). he wants to be able to kiss nagito, which he can’t do if he’s drinking for realsies (the liquor on his lips straight up one-shots his lightweight boyfriend, which they found out the hard way).

this is also happening long enough after canon events that hajime has let himself chill out a tiny bit. he’s starting to believe it when everyone tells him he needs a break, *deserves* a break, and - importantly - the rest of the islanders will survive if he takes a night off!

idk idk I just want the remnants to chill out by the pool they renovated and have a good time. even if the world is over and everything is bad they’re carving out a future for themselves. nagito deserves a pink drink and a boyfriend to affectionately comb a hand through his hair when he’s inadvisably wasted, and hajime deserves a night off and a clingy partner he’ll need to help back to their cabin when the party is over.

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

The solos from Ausländer, Deutschland and Zeit are from Paul. If I remember the info is from the studio!

Well, then he did a great job 🥰

And isn't it wonderful that for Deutschland (which was Richard's initial idea, as Flake mentions in his text in the Deutschland photobook "I'm thinking if the day we sat around at Richard's and heard the theme for the first time") it is Paul who writes that lovely part of it that Richard plays so well, talk about symbiotic guitarists..

But unless you have a link and post it non-anon, it still is an 'unconfirmed fact' i'm afraid, sorry anon.

-

But talking about Deutschland, i'm taking a bit of Flake's text in the official Deutschland photobook. I'm not going to copy the whole text, but i'll take a few paragraphs that seem on topic:

"When people want me to say something about Deutschland I usually talk about the months, actually years, we spent sitting down as a band having heated discussions. Every one of us expressed his opinion in detail. All of us talked about our experiences and feelings with respect to Deutschland. Some of us even told stories about themselves that I had never heard before. Sometimes all it takes is a theme like that to set us off and we end up getting to know one another even more closely. When we now publish a song as Rammstein, all of us have to be in agreement that this is what the text is saying because every single band member embodies this song. People can only believe in us and trust us if we stand by our songs, through and through. It was during these discussions that the six of us discovered, once again, how varied our views were of the world and of Deutschland. We talked and talked. Every word in the text was turned over and examined again and again, until there were almost no words left that truly all of us could agree upon. At the end almost all we had left were associations and allusions. We aren't history teachers and we don't want to spoon-feed anyone. People should think for themselves.

Once we'd pretty much agreed on a certain text, we would then think that the music was no longer a good enough fit, and so we turned everything over again like a compost pile. Full chords or arpeggios for the guitars? In e-minor, d-minor or c-minor? You can't go any lower with this song or the bass strings will start rattling and the low sounds will lose their force.. Do we use an underlying keyboard pattern? String instruments or synthesizers? There are so many ways to design a song and you really have to try out all the variants before you can tell what works and what doesn't.

As I remember it, our days typically started with us playing 'Deutschland' in the rehearsal room. We sat in the kitchen having a nice breakfast, but kept helping ourselves to another bread roll because we were scared. Scared of the moment we'd switch on the computer and listen to the latest version of 'Deutschland'. What on earth were we thinking last night when we did this? After sleeping on it, the next morning it all somehow sounded totally different. The day before it had sounded great! And now we just wanted to switch off the computer after playing it halfway through because it sounded so stilted. So we had to work on it some more. But then, at some point, we finally had a version if the song that we liked. Deustchland would definitely be on this album."

--

This is how Rammstein make songs 🌺

[sgiandubh]

Sunday sounds: First Advent Sunday -Hope

Starting today and until Christmas' Eve, this page is observing the Four Sundays of Advent. Even if you are not Catholic like me, you are all more than welcome to join in this Celebration of Light.

Three purple and one pink (more on this, on the Third Week) wreath candles are lit, one by one, on each Advent Sunday. And each have a particular meaning, preparing us to welcome Him in our houses and in our hearts, as we would welcome a Guest. You don't have to go the whole nine yards and 'meditate' or whatnot. You just have to try and give at least an honest thought to what the message of each candle personally means to you. That would be really nice and you will get Brownie points for it. Pinky promise.

This week we light the Prophet Candle. If this makes you think about Hanukkah or the Shabbat candles, well - it's only fair and normal. All the things once told in prophecy by people like Isaiah were true, and this Sunday is all about renewed, enduring Hope:

 'For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.' (King James' Bible - Isaiah, 9:6).

I have chosen this particular interpretation of Haendel's Messiah (Jesus, always in a hurry and have to edit all the time!) for its irresistible energy. These Ghanaian people have no budget for a proper orchestra, so they had to be creative and use synthesizers and some percussions, instead. It does not matter, because nothing else matters when talent meets grace.

All the music I have chosen for this particular moment in time is choral. Because as the Frenchmen say, 'chanter, c'est prier deux fois' - 'singing is praying twice'.