#neon led electronic art

[dangeroustragedybouquetus-blog]

Nostalgia Overload: Creating a Perfect Y2K Room

The early 2000s, commonly referred to as the Y2K era, evoke memories of a unique blend of futuristic and nostalgic styles. Creating a perfect Y2K room involves merging these elements into a cohesive, vibrant space. This guide will walk you through the steps to achieve a room that perfectly captures the essence of the Y2K era.

Understanding the Y2K Aesthetic

The Y2K aesthetic is a blend of futuristic and nostalgic elements. It reflects the optimism and excitement of a new millennium, characterized by bright colors, metallic finishes, and digital influences. Key elements include:

Bold Colors and Patterns: Think vibrant hues like neon pink, electric blue, and lime green. Patterns such as checkerboards, animal prints, and geometric shapes were popular.

Tech-Inspired Decor: The era was marked by rapid technological advancements, which influenced home decor. Items like translucent electronics, CD racks, and neon lighting were staples.

Mixed Media: Combining different textures and materials, such as plastic, metal, and glass, adds to the eclectic feel of the Y2K aesthetic.

Choosing the Right Colors

To create an authentic Y2K room, start with the color palette. The early 2000s favored bright, bold colors. Here are some suggestions:

Neon and Fluorescents: Neon pinks, greens, and blues can make your room pop. These colors can be used on accent walls, furniture, or decorative items.

Metallics: Silver, chrome, and other metallic finishes were prevalent. Use these for furniture, fixtures, and decorative pieces to add a futuristic touch.

Black and White: A monochrome base can help balance the bold colors and patterns. Consider black and white checkerboard patterns for flooring or decor.

Furniture Selection

Furniture in a Y2K room should reflect the era’s innovative spirit and playful nature. Here are some tips:

Futuristic Designs: Look for furniture with sleek, modern lines and unique shapes. Pieces like bean bag chairs, inflatable furniture, and curvy, plastic chairs are ideal.

Multifunctional Pieces: Technology influenced the design of furniture, leading to multifunctional items. Consider desks with built-in shelving or beds with storage compartments.

Translucent and Metallic Finishes: Clear plastic chairs, glass tables, and metallic shelving units add to the tech-inspired vibe.

Decorative Elements

The right decor can transform your room into a perfect Y2K haven. Focus on these elements:

Neon Lighting: Neon signs and LED strips can add a vibrant glow. Place them around mirrors, under shelves, or behind furniture.

Tech Gadgets: Old-school gadgets like boom boxes, CD players, and vintage computers can serve as nostalgic decor pieces.

Posters and Wall Art: Display posters of Y2K pop culture icons, abstract art, and graphic designs. Look for prints that feature bold colors and geometric patterns.

Textiles and Bedding

Textiles play a crucial role in achieving the Y2K look. Here’s how to incorporate them:

Bold Patterns: Choose bedding, rugs, and curtains with bold patterns such as animal prints, checkerboards, and geometric shapes.

Vibrant Colors: Ensure that your textiles complement the room’s color palette. Neon and metallic fabrics can add a lively touch.

Mix and Match: Don’t be afraid to mix different textures and patterns. Combining shiny fabrics with soft, plush materials can create a dynamic, layered look.

Accessorizing Your Y2K Room

Accessories are the finishing touch that brings the Y2K room together. Here are some must-have items:

Lava Lamps: A classic symbol of the era, lava lamps add a retro-futuristic element to your room.

Digital Clocks: LED digital clocks or projection clocks can serve as functional decor.

CD Collections: Display your CDs in a rack or mount them on the wall as a unique art piece.

Creating a Tech-Friendly Space

Incorporate modern technology in a way that complements the Y2K aesthetic. Here’s how:

Gaming Consoles: Vintage gaming consoles like the PlayStation 2 or GameCube can be both functional and decorative.

Sound Systems: Set up a retro-inspired sound system with large speakers and a CD player.

Smart Lighting: Use smart bulbs that can change colors to match the vibrant Y2K palette.

Maintaining the Y2K Vibe

To keep your Y2K room looking fresh and nostalgic, follow these maintenance tips:

Regular Updates: Refresh the decor periodically with new items that fit the Y2K theme.

Clean and Organized: Keep the space tidy and free from clutter. Use storage solutions that blend with the room’s aesthetic.

Stay Inspired: Follow Y2K-themed social media accounts and blogs for continuous inspiration and new ideas.

Conclusion

Creating a perfect Y2K room is a fun and nostalgic journey that blends the futuristic optimism of the early 2000s with bold, vibrant decor. By following these tips and incorporating key elements of the Y2K aesthetic, you can transform any space into a retro-futuristic haven that captures the essence of the era. Embrace the bold colors, tech-inspired decor, and playful accessories to create a room that is both nostalgic and ahead of its time.

[adtronics]

Illuminating The Future: The Brilliance Of Electronic Led Signs

In the bustling streets of modern cities and towns, a silent revolution is taking place, one that's as vibrant as it is dynamic. Electronic LED signs have become the shimmering stars of urban landscapes, transforming ordinary storefronts, billboards, and public spaces into captivating displays of light and information. In this blog post, we delve into the world of electronic LED signs, exploring their impact, versatility, and the magic they bring to our everyday lives.

A Symphony of Light

Imagine strolling down a busy downtown street at dusk, surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colors emanating from electronic LED signs. These luminous displays dance before your eyes, showcasing advertisements, promotions, and announcements in a mesmerizing spectacle. Unlike traditional static signage, LED signs have the remarkable ability to capture attention with their dynamic content, drawing in passersby like moths to a flame.

Versatility Redefined

One of the most remarkable features of electronic LED signs is their versatility. From small-scale retail displays to massive outdoor billboards, LED technology can be tailored to suit virtually any application. Need to update your menu board with daily specials? LED signs make it effortless with their programmable flexibility. Hosting an outdoor event and want to grab the attention of attendees? LED screens offer high visibility even in broad daylight, ensuring your message shines through amidst the hustle and bustle.

Energy-Efficient Brilliance

In an era where sustainability is paramount, electronic LED signs stand out as beacons of energy efficiency. Unlike traditional neon or incandescent lighting, LEDs consume significantly less power while delivering brighter, more vibrant displays. This not only reduces operating costs for businesses but also minimizes environmental impact, making LED signage a win-win solution for both commerce and conservation.

The Art of Engagement

Beyond their practical utility, electronic LED signs possess a unique ability to engage and captivate audiences in ways previously unimaginable. Whether it's a scrolling marquee announcing upcoming events or a dazzling multimedia display showcasing the latest product offerings, LED signs have the power to evoke emotion, spark curiosity, and foster connection with consumers. In an age where attention spans are fleeting and competition for consumer attention is fierce, the immersive allure of LED signage can make all the difference in standing out from the crowd.

Looking Toward the Future

As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the future of electronic LED signs promises even greater innovation and possibility. From advancements in resolution and clarity to the integration of interactive features and augmented reality, the next generation of LED signage holds boundless potential to redefine the way we communicate, advertise, and experience the world around us.

In conclusion, electronic LED signs are more than just luminous displays—they're symbols of progress, ingenuity, and the endless potential of human creativity. Whether illuminating city streets, guiding travelers at airports, or enhancing brand visibility for businesses large and small, LED signage has become an indispensable part of our modern landscape. So the next time you find yourself enchanted by the glow of a dazzling LED display, take a moment to appreciate the magic of innovation at work, illuminating the path forward toward a brighter, more vibrant future.

[xasha777]

In the neon-lit metropolis of New Edo, where towering skyscrapers pierced the night sky and holographic advertisements flickered with hypnotic allure, a lone figure stood at the crossroads of past and future. Her name was Rei, a cybernetic ronin whose sleek design and augmented abilities made her a legend in the underground circles of New Edo.

Rei adjusted her green-tinted aviators, the luminous glow of the massive moon reflecting off their surface. The city buzzed with life around her—hover cars zipped through the air, drones patrolled the skies, and the hum of electronic beats filled the streets. She touched the edge of her wireless headset, tuning into encrypted frequencies, always on the lookout for her next job or threat.

Her latest mission had led her to the heart of New Edo's Old District, a place where remnants of the Tokugawa Shogunate era blended seamlessly with advanced technology. Here, ancient temples stood alongside cyber cafes, and traditional tea houses served as fronts for high-tech espionage. The Old District was a place where the past was never truly forgotten, and the future was constantly being rewritten.

Rei's target was a powerful artifact known as the Yūrei Mirror, an ancient relic said to contain the spirit of a long-dead shogun. The mirror had been lost for centuries, but recent intel suggested it had resurfaced in the possession of a ruthless gang known as the Kuro Kitsune. Led by a mysterious figure known only as The Fox, the Kuro Kitsune controlled the Old District with an iron grip, blending ancient martial arts with cutting-edge weaponry.

As Rei navigated the narrow alleyways, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. Her augmented senses picked up the faintest of whispers and the softest of footsteps. She knew the Kuro Kitsune had eyes everywhere, and stealth was her only ally.

The neon signs above cast a green glow on the ancient cobblestone streets as Rei approached her destination—a centuries-old temple now used as a Kuro Kitsune stronghold. She took a deep breath, feeling the weight of history pressing down on her. The Tokugawa Shogunate had fallen centuries ago, but its legacy lived on in the shadows of New Edo.

Rei activated her cloaking device, blending seamlessly into the darkness. Her cybernetic enhancements made her movements silent and swift as she infiltrated the temple. Inside, the air was thick with incense and the faint hum of hidden machinery. She made her way to the inner sanctum, where The Fox was rumored to keep the Yūrei Mirror.

The room was dimly lit, with flickering torches casting eerie shadows on the walls. At the center stood a pedestal, and upon it, the Yūrei Mirror. Its surface was smooth and dark, like a portal to another world. As Rei approached, she heard a voice echo in her mind—a voice that spoke of honor, duty, and revenge.

"The spirit of the shogun," she whispered, reaching out to touch the mirror.

Suddenly, the room was flooded with light as The Fox and his elite guards surrounded her. Clad in traditional samurai armor augmented with cybernetic enhancements, they were a formidable force. The Fox stepped forward, his mask hiding his features but not the menace in his eyes.

"You've come far, Rei," The Fox said, his voice a cold whisper. "But this is where your journey ends."

Rei smirked, her hand still hovering over the mirror. "The journey's just begun, Fox. The spirit of the shogun won't rest until justice is served."

With a swift motion, she grabbed the mirror, feeling its power surge through her. Her vision blurred, and she was transported to a different time—a time of samurai, shoguns, and epic battles. The spirit of the shogun merged with her consciousness, guiding her movements as she fought off The Fox and his guards with newfound strength and skill.

The battle was fierce, but Rei's determination and the spirit's ancient wisdom proved too powerful. One by one, the guards fell until only The Fox remained. With a final, decisive strike, Rei disarmed him and held the mirror up to his face.

"Your reign of terror ends now," she declared, the spirit of the shogun echoing her words.

The Fox's mask cracked, revealing a look of shock and fear. The mirror glowed brightly, and with a flash, The Fox was gone—banished to the realm of spirits.

Rei stood alone in the temple, the Yūrei Mirror now a dormant artifact once more. She took a deep breath, feeling the weight of her victory and the spirit's presence within her. The city of New Edo was safe, for now, but she knew her journey was far from over.

As she stepped back into the neon-lit streets, Rei felt a renewed sense of purpose. The legacy of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the spirit of the shogun would guide her as she continued to navigate the treacherous world of New Edo, a ronin in a city where the past and future were forever entwined.

[becoration]

How to achieve a futuristic design in your home.

Post has been published on becoration

How to achieve a futuristic design in your home.

You may have wondered what it would be like to live in the future… although of course, science fiction movies can give us some ideas, they don’t always reflect reality. If you like the idea of having a futuristic touch in your home design, then you will like what we are going to explain below. Pay attention to give your house a touch of the future.

Smart Lighting

Currently, we have enough technology to make our homes look like they come from the future, but we need to know how to make the most of it. Lighting is key to achieving a futuristic atmosphere in your home. LED technology allows you to create custom lighting effects, from soft and warm lights to vibrant colors that fit your mood.

Furthermore, you can control these lights with your voice or your phone, adding a touch of futuristic sophistication. Integrate pendant lamps with geometric and futuristic designs to give an even more avant-garde look to your space.

Minimalism

Minimalism is key to futuristic design. It is ideal to choose furniture with clean lines and neutral colors. Less decoration is more, so choose pieces with elegant and functional design. Smooth surfaces and modern materials, such as glass and metal, fit perfectly in this style. Eliminate clutter and keep only the essentials to create a futuristic and uncluttered environment.

Integration of Technology

Technology is at the core of futuristic living. Incorporate home automation systems that allow you to control temperature, lighting, and electronic devices with a single touch or voice command.

Think of smart thermostats, electronic locks, and high-end entertainment systems. A flat-screen TV that seamlessly integrates into the wall when not in use is an excellent choice.

Colors of the Future

Choose a color palette that evokes the future. Tones like white, black, gray, and silver are excellent choices. Combine these colors with metallic accents like stainless steel or chrome for an additional touch of modernity. If you prefer a warmer ambiance, you can add touches of vibrant and neon colors in accessories and details.

Futuristic Furniture

Futuristic furniture is comfortable and elegant at the same time. Sofas and chairs with geometric shapes and clean lines are ideal. Look for materials like synthetic leather or microfiber to achieve a futuristic look. Modular furniture is also an excellent option, as it adapts to your changing needs.

Art and Decoration

Add touches of futuristic art and decoration to personalize your space. You can opt for abstract artwork with geometric shapes or cutting-edge sculptures. Mirrors can also be an element of futuristic design, especially if they have unusual shapes. Don’t be afraid to experiment with unique pieces that reflect your vision of the future.

Futuristic Plants

Although futuristic design tends to be more minimalist, you can still incorporate natural elements into your home. Indoor plants in modern and elegant pots can soften the aesthetic and add a touch of freshness. Opt for air plants or succulents that require little maintenance and fit well with the overall look.

Innovative Textures

Don’t forget about textures in your futuristic design. You can experiment with materials like textured glass, transparent plastic, and reflective surfaces. Plush or geometric design rugs can add a touch of warmth and comfort to the space. Subtle fabric curtains or motorized blinds can also be an elegant addition.

Personalize Your Space: Add Your Personal Touch

Remember that your home is an expression of your personality and lifestyle. Don’t be afraid to personalize your futuristic design to fit your preferences. Add elements that make you feel comfortable and happy in your space. You can incorporate travel memories, collectibles, or art pieces that have a special meaning to you.

Source: MiMub in Spanish

[nybs-the-android]

Title: Rise of The Disco Samurai

Genre: Action/Comedy

Plot Summary:

In a neon-lit city where disco music reigns supreme, an unlikely hero emerges. Meet Jack "The Disco Samurai" Johnson, a former master samurai who traded his sword for a glittering disco ball. Jack leads a mundane life as a dance instructor by day, teaching the latest disco moves to eager students, but his nights are about to get a whole lot more exciting.

One evening, a sinister criminal organization known as The Black Groove rises to power, threatening to wipe out disco culture and replace it with their soulless electronic beats. Led by the enigmatic Mr. Groove, the organization seeks to control the city's nightlife, spreading their reign of monotony.

When Jack's favorite disco club, Studio Funkadelic, becomes a target of The Black Groove, he realizes he can no longer sit on the sidelines. Inspired by the spirit of disco and his samurai training, Jack dons his sequined samurai armor, adorned with disco balls and glitter, and becomes The Disco Samurai.

With his trusty disco ball katana in hand, Jack sets out on a quest to protect disco culture and restore the city's vibrant dance scene. Along the way, he assembles a motley crew of disco enthusiasts, including a tech-savvy DJ, a fearless breakdancer, and a fashionista with an uncanny ability to accessorize.

As The Disco Samurai and his crew battle The Black Groove's minions, epic dance-offs and martial arts fights ensue. The streets become a battleground, as Jack's moves fuse disco dance with ancient samurai techniques, leaving his opponents dazzled and defeated.

But as Jack's reputation grows, so does the danger. The Black Groove unleashes their ultimate weapon, a robotic DJ with the power to control minds through mind-numbing beats. It's a race against time as Jack and his crew must infiltrate The Black Groove's headquarters, defeat the robotic DJ, and save the city's disco soul.

In a climactic showdown, Jack confronts Mr. Groove himself, a formidable adversary who shares a dark secret from Jack's past. The fate of disco culture hangs in the balance as The Disco Samurai battles to preserve the music, the moves, and the spirit that defined a generation.

"Rise of The Disco Samurai" is a high-energy action-comedy that pays homage to the funky disco era while delivering exhilarating dance sequences and over-the-top fight scenes. It combines disco fever, samurai skills, and a healthy dose of 70s nostalgia to create a unique and entertaining adventure that will make you want to dance your way through the night.

[artcontests]

3 Square Art - COLOR 2023 | 6th Annual International Exhibition

Get ready for our most vibrant exhibit of the year! Pure and raw. Splashes of color, lines of colors, dabs of color, colored fabric, colored hair, color color color! Throw yourself full force into the world of color and unleash your creativity! This exhibit is going to highlight color in every way. The 6th Annual COLOR Exhibit is here this 2023! Color theory is taught in art foundation training. Remember the color wheel, primary colors, and secondary colors? And how they can play off each other. An entire generation of artists influenced by abstract expressionism created a movement called Color Field painting. This isn't the 50s and 60s when great artists like Mark Rothko, Joan Miro, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Clyfford Stil roamed the streets of New York made their mark. However, we now have electronics, neon, LEDs, Post-It notes, computers, videos, markers, and an endless new array of other materials and tools to use. Experience what Artists can imagine when they get colorful! $700 in cash awards. 

DEADLINE: April 17, 2023

For more information: https://www.theartlist.com/3-square-art-color-2023-6th-annual-international-exhibition

[vishesh-pires]

Unedited LED Macro shot using the OnePlus 7t - available on RedBubble

[Instagram] [RedBubble] [Twitter] [DeviantArt]

[tanyadnk]

I like Firefighters🔥 I make DENKI💡🔌🔥 #neon #light #LED #graffiti #arts #artgalleries #nyc #lowereastside #hiphop #rnb #reggae #electro #music #DJ #dance #movie #party #Bar #cute #pop #80s #retro #force #game #electrical #electronic #nintendo #ps4 #etsy #tanyadnk

[psychedelicpixels]

Take me to your Spacemom.

[burlveneer-music]

Aging ~ Land Trance - Embassy Nocturnes

Embassy Nocturnes is the debut collaboration between Manchester-based Aging and Liverpool-based duo Land Trance. Aging, led by seasoned multi-instrumentalist and Tombed Visions label owner David McLean, utilises the traditional jazz quintet to evoke the iconography of film noir and hard-boiled detective fiction, creating a proudly specific genre music for night-time consumption. Specialising in spacious, nocturnal improvisation and ballad heavy melodies present on releases such as 'Suitable for Night', 'Troubles? I got a bartender' and 2020's beautifully arranged LP 'Sentenced To Love', the band continue to conjure a deeply cinematic trip through the shadowy metropolises and rain soaked streets of classic 20th century crime stories. Land Trance is the duo of Benjamin D. Duvall and Andrew PM Hunt, both active practitioners in the UK experimental music scene since the mid-2000s. The former as founder and creative director of prepared guitar ensemble Ex-Easter Island Head, the latter as leader of art pop group Outfit and more recently as a prolific composer and solo performer under his Dialect alias, with 2021's 'Under ~ Between' on RVNG Intl garnering significant critical acclaim for its idiosyncratic blending of electronic and acoustic textures. As Land Trance, the duo make an ecstatic, ecclesiastical form of psychedelic music rich in improvisation, instrumental colour and found sounds to create an elusive sense of place and memory. Their debut First Séance was voted 14th in The Quietus' best albums of 2020, with a vinyl reissue by Rocket recordings released in June 2021. Embassy Nocturnes was recorded in the expansive basement of Liverpool's former Brazilian embassy. The nine evocatively titled pieces that make up the album act as their own distinct scenes, suggesting the labyrinthine atmosphere of the empty ballroom, the secret compartment and the damaged-beyond-repair reel of 8mm film marked “1968” discovered therein. Throughout, synthesisers glow and arc like approaching lights in the driveway; piano chords hang like cut-glass chandeliers. Echoes of quartet recitals for long gone dignitaries permeate the brass and bowed strings, electric guitar and tenor saxophone wreathed in red velvet and cigar smoke. Elsewhere, pulsing machine rhythms and oscillating electronics evoke a passengers eye view of some neon expanse at cruising speed, with Joel C. Murray's agile and propulsive drum-work fluttering and hissing around the arrangements like steam valves opening and closing. Pealing, mournful trumpet bookends the album like a ghostly echo from the lower floors whilst other elements – dictaphone, bamboo marimba, plucked zither – weave through the pieces as enigmatic objects in an unknown narrative. Embassy Nocturnes is a bold first meeting of musical voices, united through their commitment to creating a distinctive sense of place within their work. With group improvisation being sculpted into adventurous forms through extensive post-production and instrumental arrangement, the music blurs the edges of each artists’ distinctive musical vocabularies to create a vivid, mysterious collection of instrumentals rendered with cinematic richness.

Andrew Hunt – Piano, Synthesisers, Electronics, Tenor Saxophone, Drum machine Benjamin D. Duvall – Sampler, Shahi baaja, Bamboo Marimba, Zither, Dictaphone, Drum machine David McLean – Tenor Saxophone, Guitar, Piano Joel Murray – Drums & Percussion With Nick Hunt - Trumpet Chris Hutchinson - Double Bass Ben Fair – Piano, Synthesiser

[noobsomeexagerjunk]

vibe ideas that i wish i could see more of (because i can’t pull it off myself)

glitching as an expression of supernatural phenomena

timeless entities presenting themselves in anachronistic fusions of various fashion styles

the seamless clashing of rustic, smoky paints with sleek, metallic gadgets

whatever the visual representation of electro swing rap is supposed to look like

ancient spirits trapped in your electronics

religious relics made more holy in neon LEDs

artisanal fast food plated on centuries-old fine china

ballgowns and tuxes with glow-in-the-dark prints

animated oil paintings on the most minimalistic monitors imaginable

the unholy combination of various imagery into an aesthically-pleasing but culturally-insulting piece of art

cyborg-mermaid fantasy romance stories

seductive, relatively byronic time-travelling entities having affairs with cultural icons throughout the passage of time

forests where a significant amount of trees aren’t green but other colors of the rainbow instead

still life paintings but they’re not still

rosaries with beads the colors of various pride flags

salads with fruit dressing paired with chips that come in ice cream dips

whatever goes with music box songs set to trap beats

hardbound books whose papers glow depending on the page

mixing 2010s slang with late 19th century vernacular structure to explain the simple yet amazing phenomena that occurs right now

clay pots doused in colorful metal coatings

[fuse2dx]

August ‘20

Ruiner

Ruiner frames its action at an isometric tilt. There’s a lot of red; in the game’s interface, as the prominent colour of the neon lighting that adorns its stages, and in the blood that is frequently spilled. Its cyberpunk setting isn’t anything particularly new, but as a unifying aesthetic, the glitchy effects, and out-there personalities doing their best to cope in a dystopia do well to build a convincing and intriguing world. Stages are action packed and throb with electronic noise and big loud industrial bass hits, with the play being akin to an arena shooter; enemies surging at you in bite size, minute-at-a-time waves, with each of these closing out with a grading screen serving as the pat on the back to keep that dopamine rhythm pulsing. It’s a pretty hypnotic cocktail.

These stages evolve out of a singular hub city, and while it’s not particularly big, there’s just the right level of hubbub, and it has a lovely Hirusawa Susumu track acting as an excellent, melancholic mood-setter. Based on the size of its world and the the quick-fire action being split between a very small number of stages, it’s not surprising to say it’s fairly brief - I mean, how could it get so big? But what is important is that it’s plenty of fun and and has style by the bucketload. I got a good kick out of it.

Carrion

On one hand, a horror game where you play the horror is just the kind of flip on a genre that’s needed to freshen things up a bit. On the other, it’s one straight out of the spoof ‘Peter Molydeux’ playbook. What a carri-on.

... I’m sorry. After your initial escape from a lab, Carrion centres around a hub world, with individual stages then breaking off to allow for more specific themed stages. What you’re trying to do within these is to spread your big, goopy self around, where certain spots will act as save points but also count toward unlocking an alternative path back to the hub and opening up new routes in the process. What’s unique to this particular metroidvania take is that while there are new skills that open up new routes, your movement in general is uniquely freeform - point in a direction and off you go, free of any worries about platforming and the gravity that’d otherwise bind you. While it may not be the most precise movement given the size to which you grow - and boy does this become a point during some forms of combat - it does remain responsive, and quite fun to simply shamble about like a giant congealed blob of bloody, multi-toothed sinew-y mess. Everything scales up nicely on both sides of the fighting, with distraught pistol-equipped humans turning to shielded folks with flamethrowers, all the way up to drones and mechs that are just as mobile and / or deadly as yourself, even in spite of your own upgrades that allow for more ranged, varied, and sharper extremities. It’s not especially long, and is never so taxing as to demand too much expertise of you, but it is fun and importantly, quite unlike anything else out there.

Yoku’s Island Express

Pinball continues to feel like a lost art form to me, with the nuance of skilled play being more like a foreign language than another type of game you can easily pick up. Yoku, newly-appointed postmaster, is but a tiny little bug, and as such is indebted to these skills in his efforts to travel and clamber about an environment much larger than he. Flippers are casually littered about to shoot you from one area to the next, but there’s also plenty of sections you’re led to by the story that are small yet just detailed enough to play like a neatly sectioned off area of a complete table - complete with requirements for precise shots to move forward, and those inevitable moments where you have to sit back and watch as your ball falls with miserable, exacting precision between the flippers. Failure typically sets you back a few pickups, but given these are just as quickly re-earned, you’re never punished too hard - there’s certainly no three strikes and out mentality here. It’s a very friendly interpretation of pinball’s mechanics, and there’s a decent enough story layered on top, with its characters and art demonstrating enough pleasant charm that you can definitely see this being a great way to introduce pinball to a younger audience. That’s not to say it’s not enjoyable from an older player’s point of view - just that you know what’s being presented is a wisely palatable version of a classic hobby, rather than the arse-kicking ordeal you may be used to. 

Rime

I am certain that Rime would love me to compare it to a certain Fumito Ueda PS2 game. There’s the ultra-minimal scene that’s set as a boy washes up on an island; a sparse, beautiful, somewhat Mediterranean set of landscapes, and with very few ways to interact with it all that don’t involve clambering over things or shouting out in wordless desperation. But as you’ll have noted, I haven’t found it in myself to justify using that game’s name here. 

As much as I wanted to give this a chance, it often felt directionless, uninspired, and at worst, slow and tedious. The puzzles are derivative of any number of games I’ve played before, and the biggest danger is that you might assume as to their difficulty and over-engineer your approach, rather than not be able to tackle them. The platforming is simplistic and regularly drawn out with ledges, ledges, and more ledges to climb across and dangle from; even if you were to find a way to fall to your doom, as is tempting, it is unlikely to take you back much further than a few seconds. Crucially, there’s really very little to sink your teeth into on any front, and even when the game does finally start to weave some plot threads into the game’s canvas, it’s well into the latter half - long after I’d already racked my brains for any hint of an allegory that’d fit, and given up on expecting one. Sadly, to the point that the actual story felt like a cheap afterthought when it did finally start to unravel. This bounced off me much harder than I’d expected - I came away wishing it had forged a bit more of an identity and a purpose rather than just an aesthetic strung together with some weak elements of play. 

If Found

As far as interactive elements in visual novel-type games go, If Found has a different approach to most. The story’s primarily told by means of a diary - one that’s full of witty observations, personal reflections and enigmatic sketches - that you actively erase as a means to push events along. The diary belongs to Kasio, a trans girl returning to their small Irish hometown after a stint away at university in the city; a return that’s not met in the warmest or most understanding fashion. As a mechanic, the erasure of this diary is loaded with meaning; peeling back layers of a scene often matches a more poignant set of observations, and the scrubbing of such personal details away offers a painful reflection on an identity being chipped away at. It’s very much a story about finding one’s self, about coming of age, and as it rides these highs and lows it does an excellent job in making you ride along these alongside the characters, and it does one hell of a job to make you think about the compassion that you both see and offer in the world outside. I’ll put my hands up and say that there are some elements of the story running in parallel to this main one that didn’t gel with me quite so well, but this is a minor footnote to an otherwise highly enjoyable play through. In a short space of time, Annapurna have done a great job in winning me over with their publishing choices - particularly in holding up the kinds of voices and ideas that fit these smaller titles so perfectly. 

Double Kick Heroes

It’s a rhythm game. I like rhythm games! It’s about a zombie apocalypse. Oh no. It’s... a heavy metal rhythm game? Ok, maybe we can work with this.

After a trailer name dropping a bunch of familiar artists - Jinjer, Carpenter Brut, Gojira - what surprised me straight off was that none of these licensed artists featured in the game’s story mode. They’re all sectioned off in a separate menu, and while on the bright side they’ve each given a unique stage with a visual theming in keeping with the bands in question, it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Instead, all tracks throughout the story were composed by just one person, and with only a small handful of featured musicians being included to diversify things. It starts with more (arguably) palatable hard rock numbers, but goes up to and includes grindcore, death metal, black metal and the like, meaning that not only is it going to put a lot of folks off right away, but that it’s asking a heck of a lot for one composer to cover all of these sub-genres with the appropriate care. While it was refreshing to hear some types of music I’d normally not expect to hear in a game, some tracks inevitably grated, and while I enjoyed some others, I wasn’t ever bowled over too strongly either.

The story itself is fairly by the numbers. It sees an on-tour band fighting back against a zombie uprising, and has unsubtle references to any number of heavy artists, albums and songs shoe-horned in at every opportunity. It also bears the hallmarks of its dialogue being written by someone that has a very particular sense of humour which personally all fell very flat. While the team undoubtably do love music, the over-enthusiastic style rubbed me in a similarly uncomfortable fashion as Jack Black does regularly, with his half-comedian, half-musician schtick. The gameplay itself is based around the drum parts of its songs also corresponding to different weaponry on your car that holds the hordes back, and while this on its own can prove tricky, higher difficulties also mounts other expectations - like steering your vehicle, or alternating pedals to shoot different parts of the screen. Some of my frustration with all of this is likely my own fault for having chosen to play on the ‘Hard’ difficulty, but traditional wisdom feels a little bit lost when you can still get damaged when your combo meter is racked up well into triple digits.

In all, Double Kick Heroes presented some pretty unique gaming scenarios; like having to work out the best controller configuration to play blast beats with, or asking out loud “did I just hear the words ‘we are Genital Absolution’ coming from a Nintendo console?”, and it’s clearly a small team working on something they really care about. I respect that. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I was hoping, but I hope they’re proud of what they’ve created.

Manifold Garden

A puzzle game taking significant inspiration from the works of M.C. Escher is a pretty good starting point in my eyes. It being presented in a wonderful manner certainly doesn’t harm either; from the UI all the way into the game, it’s beautifully clean and defined, opting for delicate shading rather than messy textures, and with its intricate, recursive geometric patterns, you’ll likely find cause to stop and take stock on a regular basis.

One button looks after your basic interactions with the world (pushing, picking up, and so on), with your other crucial way of interacting with the world being the ability to approach a surface and then assign it as ‘the new down’ - spinning everything about an axis, planting your feet to it, and changing your perspective on everything. There’s a nice steady introduction of puzzle pieces as you ease your way in, but they all stem gracefully from these simple mechanics. That I - not the world’s greatest puzzle gamer - was able to enjoy this without every getting too stuck may hint at it perhaps not being as complex as some puzzle fiends might desire, however this amounted to me coming out the other side with great waves of satisfaction, and nought but positives to say. I would go so far as to say that it’s the most fun I’ve had playing a puzzle game in a long, long time, and to boot it’s also perhaps the game where I’ve used the screenshot button the most copiously. Wonderful stuff.

[fire-toolz]

Infinity and “I”: An interview with Fire-Toolz

Sometimes you encounter music that opens your ears to new possibilities in such a way that your subconscious burns the moment of impact into your memory. For me, the most potent of these include an early adolescent exposure to the cyclic, minimalist bliss of Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way as in-between-set music at a neighborhood basement show, doubling over laughing with my sister on our drive to school at the vocal-sourced percussion of Björk’s “Where is the Line?”, and having my 19-year-old shit permanently rocked amid my (still) daily breakfast of eggs and oatmeal by the opening few tracks of Fire-Toolz’ Drip Mental.

At least to my ears at that time, the breakneck transitions between Mego-style avant-pop glitches, digitized metal skree, snapshots of vapor memories and scream-led dance pop offered up a vision of shape-shifting music that felt wholly new, almost sacred in its profane blend of styles and sound. “To me, that constantly shifting atmosphere and mood is the ebb and flow you perceive,” says Angel Marcloid, the face behind the Fire-Toolz moniker. “Lots of waves and conditions to pass through, but they all make sense to me … Ideas flow out of me with absolutely no effort made, my body records as many of them as it can and the song gets built in little bits at a time.” The idea of musical “sense” might seem at-odds with the free-wheeling, genre-agnostic sounds of a Fire-Toolz album, but sustained exposure breeds familiarity: By the time I rolled around to my third or fourth listen through Drip Mental, the chaos began to cohere into a logical world of its own.

If my ears grown more accustomed to the utter uniqueness of Marcloid’s art, so too does it seem that “Fire-Toolz” is becoming a musical language of its own. Every new release brings the euphoria of Marcloid’s music toward higher and more mind-bending plans, and nowhere is this more true than on Rainbow Bridge, Marcloid’s new album for Hausu Mountain. The music is distinctly Marcloid, taking the same hallmarks I found on Drip Mental and refining them into sharp gems. A monophonic hymn drives “⌈Mego⌉ ≜ Maitrī,” making for one of the most patient and profound Fire-Toolz composition to date. At the other end, “Rainbow ∞ Bridge” hurls in with synthesized black metal fervor before it combusts into a grooving, tuneful section of electronics. A soaring electronic guitar solo dominates the middle third, and the track eventually loops around on itself into the ear-splitting pulses and crashes of the opening. “It’s less stitching sounds together, and more like inventing gigantic puzzles made of both large and tiny pieces dancing around and overlapping each other, interacting with each other,” Marcloid says of this segmented composition process.

A standout sonic quality of Fire-Toolz’ music—on Rainbow Bridge and all its older siblings—is its embrace of the sounds, chord structures of new age, jazz fusion, prog and a host of other styles based around extreme musicianship, and exacting production. Born in 1984, Marcloid finds that many of these sounds are inseparable from the nostalgia of her childhood. “I wasn’t raised on jazz or electro-pop or adult contemporary or electronic music, but in the distance, there it all was—in waiting rooms, in the background of movies, at the mall, in TV shows, in educational films, in video games, in my friends’ parents’ vans,” she says. These musical encounters all share a sense of accidents. From muzak to soundtracks to chance encounters, Marcloid never supposed to take this stuff in.


Though that’s precisely the path she took, and Fire-Toolz takes a magnifying glass to these background sounds and exposes their inherent beauty and strangeness. “Because of the internet, and having the privilege of being able to access those sounds and use them creatively, I am living out my second childhood in a heartfelt, authentic way,” she says. This “second childhood” is an apt analogy for the giddiness that Fire-Toolz music exudes. These sounds and harmonies are familiar—some would argue overused and tired—but Marcloid approaches them with a renewed sense of optimism. At their core, these styles hunt for religious ecstasy and otherworldly piece, cosmic qualities that Marcloid’s art exudes with boundless glee.

These ideals of grandiosity that run rampant through Marcloid’s music also appear in the conceptual and philisophical framework surrounding the Fire-Toolz project. The track titles alone convey this sense of out-of-body msyticism. Through a combination of between cheeky, internet-based puns, dense transcendental philosophy and creative linguistic construction through the use of atypical spellings, punctuation and word structuring, Marcloid constructs a verbal world inside which her singular music lives. “Infinity and wholeness is a constant theme, but it is by default. It is a framework from which I operate,” she says. “I’m on a journey; steadily growing every day, until my body no longer works. I’m not even saying I’m getting better and better, but I’m always changing. I’m constantly falling, and there is no ground.”

Stand out examples of these constructions from the past include the warm, nostalgic hum of Skinless X-1‘s “In The Computer Room @ Dusk ☕” or the scattered sonic metamorphosis of “Fluids Come Together & The ‘I Am’ Appears.” On Rainbow Bridge, one of the most stunning realizations comes on “dEcRePiT φ PhOeNiX,” a track which Marcloid says  “is a direct reference to myself and evolution. A decrepit phoenix is kind of how I see my body-mind and personality. Always escaping from the ashes, sore and tired … But, a phoenix nonetheless.” With its wobbling chromatic synthesizer melodies and arena-ready drum slaps, the music presents a colorful foundation atop which Marcloid’s screamed vocals delve head first into this beautiful crisis of change: “Melted and melded and molding crashes / Illusion of self reduced to ashes,” she sings, highlighting the twin agents of destruction and rebirth that accompany any process of change.

While these ideas might traverse the breadth of Fire-Toolz’ discography, the new album places the themes in a more specific context. “For Rainbow Bridge, I felt like I had an enormous amount I needed to say and express; so many questions to ask, and expressions of energy I needed to release. I just make music with that in mind,” says Marcloid. Specifically, “the title references the pathway that our pets take when they leave us. My cat Breakfast, who passed away in December of 2018, is the talking point of the album. A lot of it is about her, or speaking to her.” Breakfast also appears on the album (as she has on a number of previous Fire-Toolz releases), creating a sort of living/lasting artistic tribute to the lost friend. In this light, the epic constructions feel even more special, as if the explosions of colorful sounds on Rainbow Bridge are paeans to Breakfast. The songs build towers that stretch toward the bridge in search of communication.


“Fire-Toolz has always been sincere,” Marcloid says. “Melodramatically sincere.” It’s this sincerity that’s kept me coming back time and time again after that fateful February morning encounter. Especially at its most bombastic and indulgent (see: the sing-along chorus of Rainbow Bridge‘s “It’s Now Safe to Turn Off Your Computer,” the neon, fusion-drenched guitar outro “Clear Light” off 2019’s Field Whispers (Into the Crystal Palace)), Marcloid’s music teethes with a sense of purpose and meaning. What might illicit chuckles of disbelief upon first encounter transforms into a beautiful sonic odyssey that offers more intruige and magic over time.

Like each and every Fire-Toolz album, Rainbow Bridge is a mind-bending excursion that blows up music into a cosmic, surreal land, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg: In the last year or so alone, Marcloid has put out equally incredible music through her Mindspring Memories, Angelwings Marmalade, Nonlocal Forecast and Path to Lobster Believers projects, as well as a number of mastering jobs (some personal favorites include The Car? and w i n t e r q u i l t 愛が止ま). A number of these projects (including Fire-Toolz) have future releases already in progress, and there’s a high chance I’ve even left of a name or two in this list. If this seems like this stretches the limits of what one entity can perform and produce, Marcloid suggests that there’s other energy at play: “Something tells me it’s not me doing it. ‘Me’ in the individuated sense,” she says. “It feels more like something I am a part of is doing it through me.” What form this ancillary force might take is unbeknownst to anyone save Marcloid, but let’s hope their fruitful collaborations continue for years into the future. We’ll always need more rapturous shock; we’ll always need more Fire-Toolz, ad infinitum.

-Audrey Lockie/Slug Mag

https://www.slugmag.com/music/interviews/music-interviews/infinity-and-i-an-interview-with-fire-toolz/

[npk-photography]

mul•ti•ply

[queenbeez-blog]

ghost neon

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Posted by maureenart2013 on 2015-12-13 14:40:05

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The post ghost neon appeared first on Good Info.

[ifuckinglovestvincent]

Switching Lanes With St. Vincent

By Molly Young

January 22, 2019

Jacket (men’s), $4,900, pants (men’s), $2,300, by Dior / Men shoes, by Christian Louboutin / Rings (throughout) by Cartier

On a cold recent night in Brooklyn, St. Vincent appeared onstage in a Saint Laurent smoking jacket to much clapping and hooting, gave the crowd a deadpan look, and said, “Without being reductive, I'd like to say that we haven't actually done anything yet.” Pause. “So let's do something.”

She launched into a cover of Lou Reed's “Perfect Day”: an arty torch-song version that made you really wonder whom she was thinking about when she sang it. This was the elusive chanteuse version of St. Vincent, at least 80 percent leg, with slicked-back hair and pale, pale skin. She belted, sipped from a tumbler of tequila (“Oh, Christ on a cracker, that's strong”), executed little feints and pounces, flung the mic cord away from herself like a filthy sock, and spat on the stage a bunch of times. Nine parts Judy Garland, one part GG Allin.

If the Garland-Allin combination suggests that St. Vincent is an acquired taste, she's one that has been acquired by a wide range of fans. The crowd in Brooklyn included young women with Haircuts in pastel fur and guys with beards of widely varying intentionality. There was a woman of at least 90 years and a Hasidic guy in a tall hat, which was too bad for whoever sat behind him. There were models, full nuclear families, and even a solitary frat bro. St. Vincent brings people together.

If you chart the career of Annie Clark, which is St. Vincent's civilian name, you will see what start-up founders and venture capitalists call “hockey-stick growth.” That is, a line that moves steadily in a northeast direction until it hits an “inflection point” and shoots steeply upward. It's called hockey-stick growth because…it looks like a hockey stick.

Dress, by Balmain

The toe of the stick starts with Marry Me, Clark's debut solo album, which came out a decade ago and established a few things that would become essential St. Vincent traits: her ability to play a zillion instruments (she's credited on the album with everything from dulcimer to vibraphone), her highbrow streak (Shakespeare citations), her goofy streak (“Marry me!” is an Arrested Development bit), and her oceanic library of musical references (Kate Bush, Steve Reich, uh…D'Angelo!). The blade of the stick is her next four albums, one of them a collaboration with David Byrne, all of them confirming her presence as an enigma of indie pop and a guitar genius. The stick of the stick took a non-musical detour in 2016, when Clark was photographed canoodling with (now ex-) girlfriend Cara Delevingne at Taylor Swift's mansion, followed a few months later by pictures of Clark holding hands with Kristen Stewart. That brought her to the realm of mainstream paparazzi-pictures-in-the-Daily-Mail celebrity. Finally, the top of the stick is Masseduction, the 2017 album she co-produced with Jack Antonoff, which revealed St. Vincent to be not only experimental and beguiling but capable of turning out incorrigible bangers.

Masseduction made the case that Clark could be as much a pop star as someone like Sia or Nicki Minaj—a performer whose idiosyncrasies didn't have to be tamped down for mainstream success but could actually be amplified. The artist Bruce Nauman once said he made work that was like “going up the stairs in the dark and either having an extra stair that you didn't expect or not having one that you thought was going to be there.” The idea applies to Masseduction: Into the familiar form of a pop song Clark introduces surprising missteps, unexpected additions and subtractions. The album reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200. The David Bowie comparisons got louder.

This past fall, she released MassEducation (not quite the same title; note the addition of the letter a), which turned a dozen of the tracks into stripped-down piano songs. Although technically off duty after being on tour for nearly all of 2018, Clark has been performing the reduced songs here and there in small venues with her collaborator, the composer and pianist Thomas Bartlett. Whereas the Masseduction tour involved a lot of latex, neon, choreographed sex-robot dance moves, and LED screens, these recent shows have been comparatively austere. When she performed in Brooklyn, the stage was empty, aside from a piano and a side table. There were blue lights, a little piped-in fog for atmosphere, and that was it. It looked like an early-'90s magazine ad for premium liquor: art-directed, yes, but not to the degree that it Pinterested itself.

Coat, (men’s) $8,475, by Versace / Shoes, by Christian Louboutin / Tights, by Wolford

The performance was similarly informal. Midway through one song, Clark forgot the lyrics and halted. “It takes a different energy to be performing [than] to sit in your sweatpants watching Babylon Berlin,” she said. “Wherever I am, I completely forget the past, and I'm like. ‘This is now.’ And sometimes this means forgetting song lyrics. So, if you will…tell me what the second fucking verse is.”

Clark has only a decade in the public eye behind her, but she's accomplished a good amount of shape-shifting. An openness to the full range of human expression, in fact, is kind of a requirement for being a St. Vincent fan. This is a person who has appeared in the front row at Chanel and also a person who played a gig dressed as a toilet, a person profiled in Vogue and on the cover of Guitar World.

The day before her Brooklyn show, I sat with Clark to find out what it's like to be utterly unstructured, time-wise, after a long stretch of knowing a year in advance that she had to be in, like, Denmark on July 4 and couldn't make plans with friends.

“I've been off tour now for three weeks,” she said. “When I say ‘off,’ I mean I didn't have to travel.”

This doesn't mean she hasn't traveled—she went to L.A. to get in the studio with Sleater-Kinney and also hopped down to Texas, where she grew up—just that she hasn't been contractually obligated to travel. What else did she do on her mini-vacation?

“I had the best weekend last weekend. I woke up and did hot Pilates, and then I got a bunch of new modular synths, and I set 'em up, and I spent ten hours with modular synths. Plugging things in. What happens when I do this? I'm unburdened by a full understanding of what's going on, so I'm very willing to experiment.”

Coat, by Boss

Jacket, and coat, by Boss / Necklace, by Cartier

Like a child?

“Exactly. Did you ever get those electronics kits as a kid for like 20 bucks from RadioShack? Where you connect this wire to that one and a light bulb turns on? It's very much like that.”

There's an element of chaos, she said, that makes synth noodling a neat way to stumble on melodies that she might not have consciously assembled. She played with the synths by herself all day. “I don't stop, necessarily,” she said, reflecting on what the idea of “vacation” means to someone for whom “job” and “things I love to do” happen to overlap more or less exactly. “I just get to do other things that are really fun. I'm in control of my time.” She had plans to see a show at the New Museum, read books, play music and see movies alone, always sitting on the aisle so she could make a quick escape if necessary. But she will probably keep working. St. Vincent doesn't have hobbies.

When it manifests in a person, this synergy between life and work is an almost physically perceptible quality, like having brown eyes or one leg or being beautiful. Like beauty, it's a result of luck, and a quality that can invoke total despair in people who aren't themselves allotted it. This isn't to say that Clark's career is a stroke of unearned fortune but that her skills and character and era and influences have collided into a perfect storm of realized talent. And to have talent and realize that talent and then be beloved by thousands for exactly the thing that is most special about you: Is there anything a person could possibly want more? Is this why Annie Clark glows? Or is it because she's super pale? Or was it because there was a sound coming through the window where we sat that sounded thrillingly familiar?

“Is Amy Sedaris running by?” Clark asked, her spine straightening. A man with a boom mic was visible on the sidewalk outside. Another guy in a baseball cap issued instructions to someone beyond the window. Someone said “Action!” and a figure in vampire makeup and a clown wig streaked across the sidewalk. Someone said “Cut!” and Clark zipped over for a look. It was, in fact, Amy Sedaris, her clown wig bobbing in the 44-degree breeze. The mic operator was gagging with laughter. It seemed like a good omen, this sighting, like the New York City version of Groundhog Day: If an Amy Sedaris streaks across your sight line in vampire makeup, spring will arrive early.

Blazer (men’s) $1,125, by Paul Smith

Another thing Clark does when off tour is absorb all the input that she misses when she's locked into performance mode. On a Monday afternoon, she met artist Lisa Yuskavage at an exhibition of her paintings at the David Zwirner gallery in Chelsea. Yuskavage was part of a mini-boom of figurative painting in the '90s, turning out portraits of Penthouse centerfolds and giant-jugged babes with Rembrandt-esque skill. It made sense that Clark wanted to meet her: Both women make art about the inner lives of female figures, both are sorcerers of technique, both are theatrical but introspective, both have incendiary style. The gallery was a white cube, skylit, with paintings around the perimeter. Yuskavage and Clark wandered through at a pace exclusive to walking tours of cultural spaces, which is to say a few steps every 10 to 15 seconds with pauses between for the proper amount of motionless appreciation.

The paintings were small, all about the size of a human head, and featured a lot of nipples, tufted pudenda, tan lines, majestic asses, and protruding tongues. “I like the idea of possessing something by painting it,” Yuskavage said. “That's the way I understand the world. Like a dog licking something.”

Clark looked at the works with the expression people make when they're meditating. She was wearing elfin boots, black pants, and a shirt with a print that I can only describe as “funky”—“funky” being an adjective that looks good on very few people, St. Vincent being one of them—and sipped from a cup of espresso furnished by a gallery minion. After she finished the drink, there was a moment when she looked blankly at the saucer, unsure what to do with it, and then stuck it in the breast pocket of her funky shirt for the rest of the tour.

A painting called Sweetpuss featured a bubble-butted blonde in beaded panties with nipples so upwardly erect they actually resembled little boners. Yuskavage based the underwear on a pair of real underwear that she'd constructed herself from colored balls and string. “I've got the beaded panties if you ever need 'em,” she said to Clark. “They might fit you. They're tiny.”

Earrings, by Erickson Beamon

“I'm picturing you going to the Garment District,” Clark said.

“There was a lot of going to the Garment District.”

As they completed their lap around the white cube, Clark interjected with questions—what year was this? were you considering getting into film? how long did these sittings take? what does “mise-en-scène” mean?—but mainly listened. And she is a good listener: an inquisitive head tilter, an encouraging nodder, a non-fidgeter, a maker of eye contact. She found analogues between painting and music. When Yuskavage mourned the death of lead white paint (due to its poisonous qualities, although, as the artist pointed out, “It's not that big a deal to not get lead poisoning; just don't eat the paint”), Clark compared it to recording's transition from tape to digital.

“Back in the day, if you wanted to hear something really reverberant”—she clapped; it reverberated—“you'd have to be in a room like this and record it, or make a reverb chamber,” Clark said. “Now we have digital plug-ins where you can say, ‘Oh, I want the acoustic resonance of the Sistine Chapel.’ Great. Somebody's gone and sampled that and created an algorithm that sounds like you're in the Sistine Chapel.”

Lately, she said, she's been way more into devices that betray their imperfections. That are slightly out of tune, or capable of messing up, or less forgiving of human intervention. “Air moving through a room,” Clark said. “That's what's interesting to me.”

They kept pacing. The paintings on the wall evolved. Conversation turned to what happens when you grow as an artist and people respond by flipping out.

“I always find it interesting when someone wants you to go back to ‘when you were good,’ ” Yuskavage said. “This is why we liked you.”

“I can't think of anybody where I go, ‘What's great about that artist is their consistency, ” Clark said. “Anything that stays the same for too long dies. It fails to capture people's imagination.”

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They were identifying a problem with fans, of course, not with themselves. It was an implicit identification, because performers aren't permitted to critique their audiences, and it was definitely the artistic equivalent of a First World problem—an issue that arises only when you're so resplendent with talent that you not only nail something enough to attract adoration but nail it hard enough to get personally bored and move on—but it was still valid. They were talking about the kind of fan who clings to a specific tree when he or she could be roaming through a whole forest. In St. Vincent's case, a forest of prog-rock thickets and jazzy roots and orchestral brambles and mournful-ballad underlayers, all of it sprouting and molting under a prodigious pop canopy. They were talking about the strange phenomenon of people getting mad at you for surprising them. Even if the surprise is great.

Molly Young is a writer living in New York City. She wrote about Donatella Versace in the April 2018 issue of GQ.

A version of this story originally appeared in the February 2019 issue with the title "Switching Lanes With St. Vincent."