#oxbow realities

[indagold-orchid]

Some things I wish I knew when first getting a rat:

You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a cage. Rat owners get so pissy over getting name brand fancy cages that can survive 12 world wars when you can actually just stack some cheap larger rabbit/guinea pig/ferret cages. I put a $60 dollar cage on top of my fancy ass $200 ferret one and my rats love it. No injuries or spontaneous exploding into smithereens like rat owners think will happen. I line the sides with cloth and it helps a lot.

If you're American, Oxbow is your friend. I used them with my rabbits years ago when I had them and they're great.

DIY decorations are fun but it gets exhausting after a while. If you want to play it safe, just using hides, hammocks and chew toys work!

All natural cages are cool if it's like an aesthetic thing but in reality they rot, get stinky and gross very fast. Very nasty and smelly.

Rats DO NOT like chew toys for cats or dogs. They love paper, wood, cloth, sticks, pumice, etc.

A rat injuring another rat is not by default always aggression. Only time I've seen it happen is either 1) They're sick/in pain, super grumpy and you need to get them to the vet or 2) You're still bonding them and someone got angry because they're still strangers. Best to rule it out both before neutering or seeking other options for aggression.

[solarianradiance]

“Cmon!” Bubblegum said as she stretched the hose. “Come... ON!” The hose snapped as she stretched it too far, wrecking the rest of it. She held the broken item in her hand, her hopes of fixing it gone, dashed to the winds.

She threw it away in a fit of anger. “Grob, DAMMIT!!!” She then thrusted the butt of her flamer into the ground, stabbing the Earth over and over again in a tantrum.

“MOTHER MOTHER MOTHER MOTHER MOTHER MOTHER MOOOTHERRR!!!” She then paused upon her last strike. Some tears began to slowly trickle out of her eyes. She was holding them back, but the thought she couldn’t fix a simple hose had gotten under skin.

She then leaned back into the tree she sat under with her palms in her eyes. She sighed deeply, trying not to sob over this mess. She wiped away her tears and got herself mostly under control as she looked around the forest, she was in.

It was an oxbow lake she was on specifically, a sort of moated island the river naturally made then mostly left.

There were flowers basking in the sun, bees and butterflies tending to them. It was beautiful, which gave her some comfort. The place was peaceful, something she craved. She looked around more scanning the area to admire the wonders of nature, working together in harmony, shifting her head from one way to the other.

She knew their popular names, Giant Honeybees, Starwing Butterflies, Sugar flowers. But she also knew their scientific names, ones given to them in the Ancient languages of the Latins and Greeks, those pioneers of Science & Culture that she admired and whose traditions she continued in a way to honor them.

The Magna Apis. Stella Cornu Gloria. Ursa Mino- wait what?

“Hi!” Said the Bear Boy with a cheerful smile.

“AAAAAAAA!” Screamed the Princess as if she was some sort of victim in a horror movie.

“AAAAAAAA!” Shrieked the boy like a girl.

The two screamed and they harmonized, killing much of the tension in the air. Then their harmonized screaming slowly pittered out, the two staring at eachother for several moments, as if time had stopped just so they could do so, only the sound of running water keeping them company.

The two gazed upon one another, they saw each other as strangers, yet they both felt like they have somehow met before.

A butterfly landed on the bear boys head, which snapped the Princess back to reality.

“You snuck on me there! Hehehe.” She chuckled with a mild blush, realizing it was rude to stare, thinking about how silly it was.

“Yeah, uh, s-sorry about that! Sneakin ain’t my usual style.” Said Finn as he kept a respectful distance.

“How long were you there for? WERE YOU SPYING ON ME?!” She demanded.

“Wah?! NO! NO NO NO! Well, not on purpose! See I was walkin through the woods and I kinda spotted you sittin under this tree and you started fiddlin with that thing-a-ma-jig-thingy and you sorta... started crying and stuff, so I came outta hiding to see if you needed some consolin and junk.”

“That’s what spying is ya dingus!!!” She said in anger. “That’s twisted creepy! ACHOO!”

“Bless you.” Said Finn.

“Danke.” Said Bonnie.

“Well, I wasn’t doin it on purpose and... um... I’m sorry.” Finn said with sincerity. “Do you... need help?”

Bonniebel’s anger subsided slowly, she remembered it was a public space, one that she technically owned, but he had a right to be out here like anyone else. She had no right to be angry with him spying on her.

“...Y-you... got a hose or something on ya?” She asked, trying to be polite, not expecting him to have anything on him she could use.

“Uh...” He flipped his backpack open, emptying out its contents. It was mostly junk, food, drinks, a pencil, a toy slingshot.

“Hey, lemme see that slingshot!” She said. The boy passing the item to her. Then she noticed it was a rubber band and not a tube. “Ugh, no, that won’t work. I need a tube hose.” She then tossed it back to the kid. “Thanks anyways.”

“Hmmm... why not, make a tube from something, like clay or dough?” Finn offered the pink lady.

Bubblegum felt a tinge of anger from the suggestion, she brushed her hair out of her face, ready to give the kid a piece of ehr mind. “A tube from claydough? Really? That s...” Then she paused and realized she was made of gum, which was like claydough. “Actually... gimme that pencil, will ya!”

Finn gave her the writing utensil. She took it and then ripped off a piece of her hair, with which she began to roll into a ball, then wrapped it onto the pencil, and kept rolling it until it was an even shape.

She spent a minute working it until it was satisfactory. She then pulled the pencil out, giving it back to the kid and then attached the new tube to her flamer, taking another moment to shape it just right.

Then she stood up, lifted the flamer, lit the flame, and gently squeezed the trigger. Out poured a great blast of fire into the air. “OOO-HO-HO-HO YEEE-HEHEHESSSS!” Said the Princess like she was a giddy pyrophiliac. Which she was not, mostly, that was Flame Princess, probably.

“SHAMAZOZOW!!! THAT IS AWESOME!!!” Finn cheered with his fist up in the air. “You invented a flamethrower?! That is so cool!”

Bubblegum felt a tinge of pride within her, which she tempered with humble honesty. “Heh, well, invented in a strong and inaccurate term. All I did was just build off of the concept and replicated previous designs for my purposes. But I did design this one myself. I actually have better ones back at my place, including a handheld one I use for cookin!”

“A handheld flamethrower?!” Finn asked rhetorically. “That is so cool! Or hot! Spicy hot! Spice!”

“Heh! Spice!” She said back to him, liking the term.

“Spicy spice flamethrowers are so spice!” Said Finn with enthusiasm.

“Yes! So. Very. Spice!” Bubblegum said with emphasis, followed by a cascade of cathartic laughter, something in which Finn joined along with her as if she told a profoundly deep joke.

Bubblegum then kept on laughing for a while longer, slowing down as fell on her butt, relaxing a bit. Whatever tension was between the two, it was gone, almost like it was never there and she was in the company of an old friend.

“So, feelin better?” Finn asked the lady.

“Yeah, actually, I do feel better! In fact... I can’t say when I last laughed like that! Thanks kid!”

“No problemo! If you need any help, I’m your Man!” He said with a gentle seriousness.

“Heh, I’ll keep that in mind, I actually need some help from time to time. So, what brings you out to the taffy forest?”

“Oh, I’m on my way to the Candy Kingdom for the first time, as a birthday present for myself! I just turned 12! I’m gonna go see the Princess!”

“PFFT! Hahaha!” The Princess laughed, almost like he was being absurd. “You wanna see the Princess?! What for?” She asked, wondering if the kid had something particularly important to ask her. Probably for a toy or cake or something.

“Well, I heard a lot of stuff about her havin probs, like big probs! Big problems she can’t solve and how they’re makin her grumpy n stuff over it all, cuz she can’t get any time to herself! So I thought I would come and help so she can do stuff she wants to do and live her! Cuz Princesses got rights to have fun and junk too!” He explained in a rather quick and long winded, almost deadpan manner.

Bubblegum stared at him waiting if the child had anything else to say. “Th-thats why you wanna see the Princess?” She asked, almost not believing him. “Just so you can ask to help her? And that’s your birthday wish?”

“Well I wanted to check out some other stuff. Never been to the Candy Kingdom, or any city for that matter. My brother Jake is easin me into things about life and all that song & dance.”

He sounded childish, as the bear boy should, he was 12, but he also sounded completely sincere as opposed to not really meaning what he says or understanding what he means.

“So you... just... wanna help the Princess with her problems to take the time off for herself in exchange for... what?” She wanted to know what he wanted in return, or if he actually thought any of it through.

“Nothin! Just wanna have fun doin quests for her so she can have a good time and stop bein a grumpy butt or whatever! Not to mention I get to help all kinds of other peeps while doin it!”

“Huh...” She huffed in surprise, a bit of her cynicism subsiding. “Why help m-... her specifically and not somebody else like somebody out in the town?”

“Why? Why not! I mean... u-um...” Finn pondered the question, trying to think of it longer term reasons besides just doing it. “Well, shes the Princess, so shes got the job of lookin after everybody. So, if I help her, I can help lots of folks all at once!!!”

“And... you just trust her to know what she's doing and stuff? You would just do it for her?”

“Heck yeah I would!” He threw his hands up into the air. “Cuz that’s what guys like me do! She’s the Princess so she probably knows what to do when it needs doin!”

Bubblegum stared at him, he had such a light and energy that sort of made her own sour dour fade, like a shadow by the sun. She liked his enthusiasm and wished more people had it.

“...What are you anyways?” She asked.

He gasped. “I...” He stood up onto his feet and in front of her and pulled out a golden sword from his backpack, raising it up into the air. “-am an Adventurer! And I wanna be a Hero!!! Just like Billy!”

“Like Billy?” She asked, giving a soft giggle. He was a kid with a petty dream, probably playing more than actually meaning it. “Well, you got a long way to go. I mean you aren’t exactly hero shaped right now. More life... friend shaped!”

“Well, yeah, I guess I am.” Finn agreed, looking upon himself. “Gotta start somehow, yknow?!”

“Yeah, I like your attitude.” She agreed as she stood up, towering above the boy. “You’ll grow tall.”

The two starred at one another, gentle soft smiles were on their faces, a gentle breeze blowing as the sun casts its warming rays upon them. It was almost as if time had stopped for a while.

“But don’t forget to enjoy your childhood.” She warned, breaking the silence, snapping back to reality. “You only get to have one for so long. Some people don’t even get to really have one.”

“YEAH! Cuz bein a kid, is... well it’s... Blabbabloopy!!!” He declared.

Bubblegum felt a sting of reality, a longing for something she saw everywhere, every day, something right in front of her right there and now but could never have for herself. Her duty to the burden of leadership and sacrificing for the good of others demanded that she could never even try to have a childhood of her own. Far too many people were relying on her.

People like the boy in front of her. She had to protect them all. This sweet innocence of the boy, who did not know her name, yet was eager to be her friend and help her however he could. As if they were never strangers to begin with.

One day the boy who thirsts for adventure would be gone, replaced by an adult, maybe like herself. But for now, she needed to protect him from anythig that would hurt him, even his own foolishness.

She smiled at him, one that came easily. “Well, maybe when you grow taller you’ll appreciate it even more! Heh... blabbabloopy! Hehehe... What’s your name anyways, kid?” She asked.

“My name? I didn’t tell you?!” He asked in confusion.

“Nope!” She answered, sucking on her cheek. “Guess ya forgot!”

“Oh, sorry, It’s Finn! Nice to meet ya!” He said with a toothy smile.

“Finn? Finn... Finn Finn Finn!” She said. “I like that name! It has an elegance to it!”

“Whelp, it’s been a blast lady! Be seein ya!” Finn waved as he turned to wander.

“Wait, where are you going?!” She said in shock, having not given her name yet, she was actually a bit offended. He must have forgotten his manners, or that she didn’t give him her name yet.

“The Candy Kingdom!” He said. “I’m off to see Princess Bubblegum, like I said! See ya later!”

She gave the boy a glare. “What makes you think you haven’t already met her, Finn?” Said Bonniebel with a tinge of anger, honied with a tone of teasing.

“Huh?” Finn looked back at the girl. “What do you mean?”

“Kinda obvi, ain’t it?” She asked. Was this kid actually dense or did he not know how to spot a Princess when he saw one? Especially one as famous as she was.

“...Um... ar-... are you her!?” Finn guessed, unsure if that was what she meant.

“Yup!” She confirmed, planting her hand on her hips, striking a pose of triumph. “I am Princess Bonniebel Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom! It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!” She then gave a formal curtsy.

“No way!” Finn said.

“Yes way! I am happy to fulfill your birthday wish.” She began with a happiness in her voice, like it was coming out of her chest. “As I am su-”

“Nah-nah, I mean, no way!” Finn interrupted. “You can’t be the Princess!”

Bonnie stared at the kid and gaffed at him with a huff. “Uh... yeah, I am! I am obviously the Princess!” She retorted, thinking the Bear Boy creature really was dense. Maybe he needed his ears cleaned?

“Nah, you can’t be, why would a Princess be out here in the middle of the woods. Plus you don’t have a crown! Princesses need crowns to let everybody know they’re Princesses! It’s the rules and stuff!” He threw his hands up into the air as he approached the girl.

“Uh, first of all, I can be out here if I want, these are my woods!” She said with a hint of righteous arrogance, like a teacher lecturing a student. “Second of none, I DO have a crown! It’s on my head, as you can clearly see! I mean, it’s more like a Tiara, but it totes counts!” She pointed to her head, bowing a little to show it off.

Finn stared at Bonnie’s head for a moment, scanning it. “...I don’t see nothin.” He shrugged.

“Are you blind?!” She asked in frustration. “Or color blind and it’s blending in or something?!” She then placed he hand upon her head. “It’s right... there...”

The Princess then waved her hand around her head, then rubbed her hands directly upon it, only to discover the shocking horror. “Oh FFFFFUUUUUUU-” She began, only remembering just now that a child was present. “-uuuu-dge. Fudge.” She censored. “Fudge, FUDGE! FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE ME ALL THE WAY TO CHURCH!!!”

“I like fudge!” Finn commented, partly trying to diffuse her anger by being silly, but also stating a fact.

“I LOST MY CROWN!!!” She yelled, almost panicking as she searched around the area. “OH GLOB! I-I need to retrace my steps! Oh Grob it better not fallen intot he river!”

“Whoa calm down, Princess! It’s just a piece of jewelry!” Finn said, trying to calm her down. “Nothin you can’t replace!”

“MY CROWN IS A SYMBOL OF MY AUTHORITY! One that you clearly demonstrated that I needed!” She spat. “Besides, the crown itself isn’t all that important, the Gem is! I NEED that Gem! More than anything else! It’s crucial to the lands safety.”

“Oh zip! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to downplay it!” Finn said with remorse, feeling an icy chill of regret. “What does it look like!? I’ll help find it!”

She huffed and then sighed. She did need his help right now in finding it and this was her fault for losing it to begin with. No need to take out her anger on him for something he didn’t mean to do.

“Okay, thanks kid, I appreciate it! Now it looks... like... what’s he’s wearing right now.” Her face grew into one of fear as she pointed behind Finn.

“Wuh?” Finn looked behind himself and saw a pink guy on the top of the waterfall wearing a red gown, a fashionably cute Tiara meant for girls, sporting a most mighty and righteous beard.

“Hey good lookin!” Said the Ice King with a grin most crazy wicked. “Watchya got cookin?”

Adventure Time Presents: The Good, The Fair & The Beautiful. - Chapter 7 - Zalloj - Adventure Time (Cartoon 2010) [Archive of Our Own]

[sinceileftyoublog]

Oxbow Interview: Falsely Simple

Photo by Phil Sharp

BY JORDAN MAINZER

I get the sense that after all these years, the artistic collaboration among members of Oxbow is all but intuitive. The San Francisco experimental rock band, started as an offshoot from Palo Alto hardcore band Whipping Boy, has been making genre-averse noise music since 1989. Starting with the abrasive and bleak Fuckfest and culminating with the comparatively subdued and soulful Love's Holiday (Ipecac) released earlier this year, the Eugene Robinson-fronted band have developed an artistic voice over eight records that's cohesive in spirit and approach even if not always in sound. Whether they're working with no wave poets like Lydia Lunch, legendary vocalists like Marianne Faithfull, or full-on orchestras, Oxbow toys with space and raw emotion, focusing on the oft-uncomfortable relationship between silence and screams. All the while, Robinson sings about life, love, addiction, death, suicide, and violence, inspired by moments in his life but left ambiguous enough for listener interpretation.

Yet, it's that second in the list--love--that upon a surface listen, you might not hear on many Oxbow records. Sure, you can't really understand what Robinson is saying at all on early albums, let alone singing about. The band's longtime label Hydra Head did not, in their early pre-Internet days, send lyrics books along with the records themselves. But according to Robinson, love's always been a key component of Oxbow. What's new on Love's Holiday is the sonic and thematic clarity with which Robinson and the band dive in. "It's falsely simple sounding stuff," bassist Dan Adams told me over the phone earlier this year, "especially for people expecting Oxbow to be dirty and grimy and noisy." At the time of our conversation, before the album was released, Adams was unsure how fans and critics would receive it. It's gotten rave reviews from both per usual, and it seems like it could even be a gateway record for people not used to Oxbow or abrasive music in general.

The band put together and recorded the basic tracks for Love's Holiday just before the pandemic; they wouldn't see each other for a year and a half before returning to the record. During the pandemic, guitarist Niko Wenner suffered an injury, joblessness, and the death of multiple family members, including his father. He also had his second child. While Love's Holiday is by no means about these events or even directly inspired by them, you can hear the confused interplay between grief and joy throughout, as manifested by the instrumentation. Robinson's quintessentially pained bellows, Wenner's slurred blues guitars, and Greg Davis' pummeling drums rub elbows with elements with traditionally lighter timbres, like orchestral instrumentation and choral vocals. Kristin Hayter (fka Lingua Ignota) lends her voice to "Lovely Murk", embedding itself among Davis' deliberations, Adams' wiry bass, and shimmering synthesizers. A 15-person choir features on piano ballad "All Gone" and "Gunwale", the perfect juxtaposition to Robinson's baritone and Wenner's distortion, respectively. Don't get me wrong: Love's Holiday is an Oxbow album through and through, with a song like "The Second Talk" and its choppy rhythms and back-and-forth vocalizations reminiscent of back catalog highlights. But it feels like by being forthright, Robinson and company have become the truest versions of themselves.

Oxbow are in the middle of a West Coast tour celebrating Love's Holiday, playing San Francisco's Great American Music Hall tonight and finishing Sunday at Mohawk in Austin. When I spoke to Adams earlier this year, the band was rehearsing, figuring out how they'd adopt the songs to the stage. Their approach wasn't much different this time around: "Practice them a bunch, get on stage, and play them," Adams quipped. In reality, the challenge is stripping down the songs, "taking advantage of the space and sparsity," according to Adams. "It really is a fairly stripped down record in terms of what's going on," Adams said. In essence, they're doing to the studio recordings what Love's Holiday built on from previous Oxbow records: emphasizing the subtleties and the depth of Robinson's voice.

Below, read my conversation with Adams, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: How do you think Love's Holiday is unique as compared to your previous albums, and how do think it's a continuation of them?

Dan Adams: We were freer to give in to the sparsity and simplicity more than we have ever in the past. Yesterday, I listened to a couple of more recent records, and these are cleaner, simpler songs. One thing I really enjoy about that is they put the voice so far up front in terms of the quality of voice and the timbre and emotional content. It's much more exposed than the records have been in the past. I think that's a great thing.

It's very consistent with what we've done in terms of being a fairly transparent expression of emotional material. It's intense. It's complex, I guess, but...in ways that are much more subtle. It's a sensible trajectory from The Narcotic Story and Thin Black Duke. I don't think any of us in the band feel like our trajectories are a one-way pass. [laughs] I think we've always enjoyed doing what feels right at the time we made the music and following our whims and where we are in life, and so on. It's the music we were making at the time, as Niko was writing songs and we were hashing them out in the practice room. It's impossible to predict what the next round of material will be like, although in this particular session, we recorded a whole bunch more music at the same time, so we probably have another record using the material from the same process, which will also be pretty fun. Some of those songs are kind of similar, and some are very different even though they come from the same genesis.

SILY: Does the voice being more upfront on Love's Holiday place a greater emphasis on the lyrics?

DA: That's an interesting question. I think the lyrical content has always been extremely important and a driving factor. I also know Eugene has said quite a bit that he's intentionally written much less, much sparser lyrics for this record. In a way, you could say that's emphasizing what is there. On the other hand, I think it comes down to how the lyrics are delivered, and how well you can hear them. How clearly they're delivered by Eugene [and] how much space the band leaves for those lyrics. I think it's really up to the listener how much work they want to do to find out what the lyrics are about. In some of the older records, it was hard to figure out. In some cases, there were records that came out years before our lyrics books were published where people couldn't figure out what the lyrics were. In this case, they're both available and easier to hear.

SILY: In the lead up to the release of Love's Holiday, Eugene has talked about how the band has always written "love songs," so these themes shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody. But in the context of what you just said, that the lyrics in the past were less physically accessible, it might seem like a newfound theme to a lot of folks.

DA: Yes. I think that's right. Eugene's described it as trying to lay it out there and make it obvious after so many years of people not getting it. My interpretation is that because the music has at times been pretty strong, noisy, loud, big, and dissonant, things we've enjoyed and continue to enjoy folding into it, it's almost like typecasting. People hear that and assume that's the element being conveyed in the lyrics. There's complexity and subtlety. These are not simple topics, and Eugene [was frustrated] that people weren't doing the work to understand and find it. So this is a time to make it a little bit more obvious and tell people in advance what we're doing. That's what Thin Black Duke was about as well: short-circuiting people's assumptions about what our record was going to be like and explaining to people what we're doing rather than having people use the old simplistic interpretations of what we're about.

SILY: During the making of Love's Holiday, Niko had a child but also suffered the loss of multiple family members. Can you recall a time when something familial that has happened in a band member's life has contextualized a record as much as his life changes did for this one?

DA: I think so. We've been at this a long time. Everybody's had major things happening in their lives that have directly affected records. First marriages for several people before the seconds, kids at various stages showing up, parents dying, and so on. What's probably more important is how as everybody's gone through this and gotten older, we've interpreted [life events] as they come. Similar [events] might mean different things to you at different phases of your life. It's a continuum.

Certainly, if you hear Eugene talk about the first record, that was very much about very intense things going on in his life. That was part of the whole reason for the existence of the band. It shows where our heads are at the time: If we're in a different place, we're going to make different music.

SILY: You've talked about how working with Joe Chiccarelli for the third record in a row has provided a consistency to allow you to be freer. Do you have specific examples of where the continuity allows for that freedom?

DA: We've felt the freedom to trust Joe more to make decisions and follow his lead. On the first record with him, there was a lot more tension. We weren't as comfortable relinquishing control of certain things. We've always had a pretty heavy hand on everything we make. It's been a great thing to allow what we make to be shaped more by his reaction to it, to allow him to be contributing ideas and getting the hell out of the control room and letting him do his thing. [laughs] He's learned a lot more about what we're about. For some reason, he's been very interested in what we do and very respectful of it. He's internalized it more and been able to take it and run with it. That doesn't mean he's written half the songs and done a whole bunch of stuff like a lot of producers do. If you listen to our rehearsal recordings as we've figured stuff out, it's fairly similar. But some of his little ideas about what sounds [good] here and what sounds [good] there, where to change the mix or drop a beat or cut a section out, he's got great sensibilities. We were very happy to follow his lead in a lot of cases.

SILY: At what point during the process did you decide to hone in on what I hear as one of the main sonic trends in the record, the choral singing?

DA: Our drummer Greg suggested we use voices instead of the orchestration we had been using on some of the earlier records. It was after a show we played at Supersonic Festival in Birmingham in 2017, where the promoters had talked with Niko and had the idea. They've always liked Oxbow doing special things for that festival. Niko had been thinking about choir stuff, and they asked us to put one together and perform with a choir. It was very difficult but very fun: a really great experience and interesting show. I think it made it clear that would be something very fun to explore. It wasn't a huge leap to decide to put choir back in the songs. It had been brewing for the past 4-5 years.

SILY: How did you come to work with Kristin Hayter on "Lovely Murk"?

DA: That's a good question. I don't know who got in touch with her or don't remember. Either Niko or Eugene, I think. [Maybe] Joe suggested it.

SILY: Were you aware of her before working with her?

DA: I was not. I find myself disappointingly out of touch with a lot of great music happening right now. I need new avenues to find this stuff. I don't search for music a lot on the Internet. When I explore, I usually listen to a couple really good local radio stations, but it's up to what they play and what I hear.

SILY: The band includes many instruments on "Dead Ahead" that contain interpersonal context or tributes to people that have since passed: instruments from loved ones who have passed, guitars Niko uses to play for his kids, even a toy piano you gave to Niko's kids. Were these inclusions a conscious starting point for that song, or was it something you decided on after the fact?

DA: I don't think there was any conscious thought. I'm guessing [Niko] was just playing around with it and happened to be using it at the time and went back to it. It's very consistent with how we've approached sounds we make: immediate inspiration, not too deeply thought out, grab something that's there because it seems like the right thing. If I had to guess--I'm interpreting how Niko works, since we haven't talked exclusively about this stuff ever--he envisions a lot of sounds in his head, sound qualities, timbre. He might be consciously aware there's a certain instrument he has in mind he wants to use, or it might be a subconscious thing to pick up the same instrument. He has a couple guitars he's had for years he still uses when playing in his house and working on new ideas. Nothing new there, I think.

SILY: Can you talk about the visual identity of the record?

DA: It's been a great process. The last record was the first for which we made any videos, because it seemed like they were getting more important for how people consume and find music. In that case, we contacted a few people and basically said, "We'll buy you a plane ticket to come over, we don't have much other money to support it, but pitch us an idea, and if we like it, we'll make a video." That worked with the videos with Chris Purdie. This time around, Eugene or Niko--I can't remember--felt it would be important to make videos for everything. We needed to figure out how to do it without bankrupting ourselves more than we usually do. We sent enquiries out to a bunch of people and asked them to propose what they might do for songs, and if we thought there was a chance it would turn out well, we said, "You're on." We paid people what we could, which wasn't a lot, but we let the directors drive [the entirety of] the content. They're very different. As all of them come out, it will be apparent how different they are. It was a great experience to see people give us finished products that were really surprising. It's been a really wonderful added creative process to participate in, to get that kind of feedback from others to see their visions.

SILY: What about the cover art? Did you give Aaron Turner the same leeway?

DA: Yes. He's worked with us enough where he understands our process and is willing to keep us in the process. In this case, he developed quite a few proposals, and there was too much back and forth as we tried to settle on what we wanted to use. He was extremely patient. Sometimes, our process is convoluted, inefficient, and painful. But he hung in there and developed a bunch of ideas till there was something we all thought was cool. All of his ideas are great. He's a very broad thinker as a visual artist and comes up with great artwork. In this case, the variety in ways made it harder to choose, so it took us a long time to settle on one piece of art.

SILY: What's next for the band?

DA: Trying to stay alive and keep doing what we do. We're always working in the now even if the now is a span of five years. We're focusing on what's on our plates. There's no grand elaborate scheme for where it's all going to go. Time changes all of our lives enough between records that it's probably good that way. Following, rather than leading, I guess, is a good way to put that. Circumstances drive what we do rather than setting a path.

[thebeginnersguide-mkg]

"I've... told most of you about my dreams. I... they're... they're terrible. They're filled with fire... death... twisted wreckage... and malice. S-so much malice..." "And... and yeah. I always.... feel like I'm less... me... and more... someone else... but... but..." "Please… I don't want to die… No. Not yet… Not yet… Please, please." It's time to learn everything that happened! The Nightmare Before Christmas

Twas many nights after motive, as all through the dorms, Everybody was sleeping, with their dreams coming in swarms. But one person wasn't home, they were off in the tavern. Allison slept in the side booth, set dark like a cavern.

And old Santa Claus sensed her sleeping was poor. So he searched for her late, with comfy bed roll in store.

His roommate Milo noticed old Nick had rose from his space, And seeing Allison gone too, he went to find her new place.

Jinhai noticed the shuffling, but the saint was long gone. Santa checked all where he could, even Tyche looking on.

Near 1 AM finally, he found Allison asleep down there in her corner, Pills set for sleeping at her side, and some tea once much warmer.

Santa touches her shoulder, to wake her from her sleep, As she strikes up at his face, a new blow thrown like a leap.

His glasses fall free as his chin bares a new bruise, As the pills and tea are knocked ajar, no fault, and no ruse.

Her fist back to her side, Santa crushing a pill From his surprised stumbling step, from a punch like a drill.

A milk bottle was wielded by the friend of the elves, Splashing Allison with its water, defending himself.

His attempt to wake the sleeping foe had no such success, dropping the bottle to flee, Knife, cloth, broomstick and rope knitted meanwhile to a weapon, from our killer to be.

A shimmering aura blazed 'round Allison's fresh form, As she made her pursuit, looking now much more warm.

Kringle's path was well followed, the Panopticon his next stop, Allison striking from behind, bringing him down with a hop.

A bruise to his brow, a strike with his spear oh so keen, Her target is hit without fair, as she pierces his spleen.

He's dumped in his bag, the man stuffed in his sack, As in Allison's dream, she sees a thief finally pushed back,

His hat fallen alone, the killer from her pocket a journal. As her place once more heats up, like flames so eternal.

Half the pages are burned, the remains tossed in the hat. Then tossed itself to the bag, leftover pages still that.

From her point of view, a nightmare is so fought, In her dreams she's defended, but reality's more fraught.

The large burlap on her shoulder, Allison goes for the ship. Zach knew Hellfire was out on patrol, and noticed the trip.

Our killer finds the vessel depths, incinerator nearby. Spear and bag now tossed in, but no power to fry.

She flees from his space, more evidence to destroy, The bedroll gathered from the tavern, to be tossed in a ploy.

As she arrives to the trash, flames cover her spot, Reducing her journal to ashes, ones that weren't oh too hot.

The bedroll is tossed, the rest of the junk kicked in a heap, Our killer dusts off her hands, still soundly asleep,

A wicked dream she had, but not one she would remember, Her power fading away like a fire's dying ember.

With her foe defeated, and evidence disposed, She would once again return to her place of repose.

There she would lie, dreamless without motion, Until the body was found, her friends in commotion. Splash by Star! Exe by Knightly! Trial Circle by Oxbow!

[whereaboutsunknxwn]

starter for: @knox---rhodes location: Buddie's Dispensary/The Oxbow Trading Post

Billie opened the door and stepped outside -- watching his breath hang on the cool air and the heat visibly dissipate from the cup of coffee in his hand. It'd be getting warmer soon. Not that the mornings had been notified of that fact, yet. The hours between 3 AM and 7 AM still clung onto the idea of snow, even if the stuff wasn't on the ground anymore. Billie could live with the idea of snow. It was better than the reality of snow.

He walked around the side of the building, fumbling at the keys stuffed in his pocket. Fumbling for the keys was a part of the morning routine, as much as fumbling for keys could be. Stopping to look up at the Oxbow Trading Post sign in front of the building was also routine. He'd stop, sip for his coffee, hold the keys in his fist and think about how he really ought to get the sign changed. Or something. The Oxbow Trading Post was technically still open and operating. People came, filled up their tanks, and went about their business. Maybe they bought snacks.

He sold more snacks, candy, and sodas to the clients of the dispensary than anyone stopping by to top off their gas tank. That was part of what made the dispensary the primary business since it had really gotten off the ground and going.

Why he should probably change the sign. Buddie's Dispensary - If We Don't Have It You Don't Need It. Fucking mouthful. His mother would smack him upside the head through the phone.

Billie shook his head at himself and moved on to unlock the door. The bell chimed as he let himself in. Another old remnant, but one he couldn't bring himself to actually update. He'd looked into all sorts of modern options for notifying him that a customer had walked through the door. Every one of them seemed cold in comparison to the little bell his mother had hung up when they'd first opened the shop. Sometimes, it was better to keep the old things around. It made you appreciate the new things more. Or some shit.

He set his coffee cup down on the front counter and started in on all the little chores that opening the store involved. He started the coffee. Restocked some prepackaged muffins. Smacked the soda fountain hard enough to get it to stop making the grinding sound it made every morning -- and to come away from it shaking his hand out. He kicked the rug out that he'd rolled up the previous night to mop, and turned on the OPEN sign.

Billie stood in the middle of the store for a moment, just taking it in. It had been really easy to take all the little chores for granted when it had been the three of them doing them, but now that it was just him… well. It didn't help that he was running two businesses. He really needed to hire some help. But that meant going through the process of actually hiring some help.

That was something to think about later. Just like the sign.

He rounded the counter and settled into the rolling chair positioned behind it. He connected his phone to the Bluetooth speaker underneath the counter and thumbed through his podcasts.

Nearly half an hour passed before someone pulled up to the place and parked. Billie didn't even bother looking up when people came and went at the pumps. That was self service. They could mind themselves. But when he heard a car pull up, he stood up from his chair so he could look at least 10% more helpful than he did while seated.

Standing allowed him to see who had parked outside and he puffed a breath through his nose. It was Knox. The man was a good customer. Billie saw him at least twice a month. When the little bell above the door chimed, Billie started in. He spoke in a somber tone, entirely straight faced.

"Bad news, Knox. Last month's inventory burned up -- poof. Just like that."

Billie gestured in front of himself, as if waving away smoke. He was a tall man, his lean frame making him look even taller than he was. He wore his hair in two braids that trailed down his chest. That morning, he was wearing a bright purple shirt with a My Little Pony on it with a feather in her blue mane and a red hand print as her cutie mark. The text on it read 'My Little War Pony'. He still had a cigarette tucked behind his ear.

[lawunabiding]

" you don't need anyone or anything, " she noted with a smile. " do you, walker? " the coffee in her hand was cooling as they spoke and, for its excessive price, she wasn't about to let it go to waste. she sipped it and wondered if he would make fun of her order as well. he took his coffee black and his whiskey neat - she preferred more sweetness in her drinks. " that's a good one! i can't believe the stuff that goes on in those reunions. imagine an oxbow reality show, " she suggested with a slight cringe. it would surely rake in the viewers. " there's a ton of new ones out there. we'll - " have to watch them together. maeve was constantly having to remind herself that she was not sixteen anymore when olivia and logan were near. " - i'll give you some recommendations, " she finished instead. " i've heard some rumors, but are you back for good? "

"Well, I don't go to DC or the big cities. Except Austin, and Vegas barely counts, which is a shit show enough. I also lived outta a camper so I had my own Community coffee." He raised his eyebrows as if to prove the point that was already being proven and agreed to. In all honesty, it was jarring for him when he came back. So much changed, but then, nothing did. How could things be so much the same and then not at all? "I know you're fixin'ta ask me. I haven't seen any new reality shows since 2020, when I was laid up for about a week due to injury. Had a lady then who made me watch something with people on an island who got in trouble for kissing, and that's all i remember about it." He gave a single nod. Some of his favorite memories involve being on the couch with women who liked to make him watch reality tv.

[seveneyesoup]

#oo what if the season ends by thirteen creating the event that caused the timeless child to fall through#i’m a simple man the doctor causes the circumstances of their own past to happen and i go nuts

OH BIG BRAIN IM HERE FOR THIS!!

for whatever reason i got the impression that the swarm was talking about having known the doctor pre-gallifrey, idk if that was right but it is interesting. to have their memory wiped and sent out into another dimension.. hm.

[doctornolonger]

With the War being fought on several fronts simultaneously, discrepancies in continuity are inevitable. ‘Oxbow realities' can be a useful side effect of these discontinuities. With so much rewriting of events, it was found that sequences could, at times, become detached from the main body of causality. The beauty of these Oxbow realities is that inhabitants are unaware of their separation. The changes happen on such an incremental scale, that it becomes almost impossible to detect. There has been some success in deliberately isolating small strands of events. Individual experiences are particularly susceptible, the effect corresponding in direct relation to the subject's level of narcissism. It has been suggested that the War could even be 'won' by isolating every individual participant in their own Oxbow reality. This would of course be incredibly difficult to achieve on such a scale. It might be better to isolate only the most narcissistic participants. There are schools of thought (admittedly optimistic ones) that suggest the War may even resolve itself spontaneously with only a few key figures ‘quarantined’ within their own, personal heroic victory.

Godfather Morlock providing Blair Bidmead’s explanation for NuWho via an entry on Oxbow Realities from The Book of the Truce, included in Weapons Grade Snake Oil

[forestgreenlesbian]

The Road to the Oxbow, Peter Croteau

The Road to the Oxbow is a series of photographs that explores the mundane, roadside spaces on the way to the view of Thomas Cole's painting of The Oxbow. It is not the direct route, but instead a metaphorical journey through layers of time with power lines acting as a guiding force through a landscape of sprawl. I construct each photograph using the tropes of the Hudson River School painters, paying attention to powerful lighting, skies and the creation of vast space. Upon arriving to the top of Mount Holyoke, I turn away from the view. Instead I photograph the parking lot on top of the mountain show how painterly representation does not match reality and the prevalence of spaces of dross in the American landscape.

[seveneyesoup]

can’t remember who said it, but i saw a theory somewhere saying that The Enemy was an abstract thing that the time lords chose to make manifest with the daleks? turning something abstract and powerful into something concrete and therefore less dangerous. what are your thoughts on that theory?

I dare you to make one whole post about Time War without mentioning your unconditional love for EAD and without using the word "Doctor" (or referring directly towards him)

Hehehe I woke up and chose mean behavior towards my favorite page *hit the button* hehe

i'll use this opportunity to talk about "the enemy."

"the enemy" is one of the unsolved mysteries of the time war that will always linger in the back of my mind. first mentioned in Alien Bodies, they go on to be mentioned elsewhere, mostly in the Faction Paradox books and The Ancestor Cell. their form and nature is very unpredictable, usually in flux. a lot of the accounts of them come from visions and premonitions, rather than first-hand experience. they were supposed to cause Ths Event, aka the destruction of Gallifrey, but the war began on Dro(r)nid instead.

they were basically the first draft of what many nuwho fans think of as the Time War! most people think that the TW was just between the Time Lords and the Daleks, with maybe a few other groups having a major impact, but it started with "the enemy." not many people seem to know about this.

[natequarter]

obsessed with the idea of creating universes... like, the universe is functionally infinite (at least from our perspective), but tardises are supposed to be infinite in a similar sense so are tardises universes stuffed in a bottle? oxbow realities are a similar idea - a universe that can only be as complex as the thing they're based around. now, if you put something BIG like faction paradox or the doctor in an oxbow reality, what would you get? a whole new massive universe. and if you're putting a time lord in a bottle... how is that not just creating a tardis? the time lords created the tardises but the tardises created the time lords. it's an ouroboros of time eating itself

[liria10]

Do you think that the Time War and the War in Heaven are the same conflict or two separate ones? I have no idea myself since the two have a great many overlapping elements. Also, what do you think of The Enemy?

I like to think they’re either different conflicts, or echoes of one another. like, the Time War isn’t the War in Heaven, but more like, has been influenced by it, maybe from an oxbow reality where the War itself isn’t quite a thing, or got rewritten to fit the reality, and the Time War is what remains of that.

Or maybe they have no direct links and it’s just the universe trying very hard to get rid of the Time Lords and getting more and more frustrated, switching from the more subtle conceptual War to the very abrupt & direct threat of the Daleks (can’t get less subtle than a pepperpot lbr)

Or maybe, like @doctornolonger theorized, the Time War is what happened once the Moment settled on the Daleks as the enemy, choosing the least dangerous options (after all, shooty robots going pew pew remains a rather physical threat, and less of an existential menace to the entire structure of the Spiral Politics)

As for the enemy? Well, I don’t have a specific headcanon as to who they might be, but I also tend to think their identities isn’t actually that important, but rather, the idea of them is what matters.

I love the take that they only exist because the Great House started to think that they could one day be taken down. The idea of an enemy creating the enemy itself, and heralding doom from the moment it was conceptualized (very memetic threat come to think of it)

My favorite version of them in the Book of the Enemy (outside of Dracula & the T. Memeticus, which are both great take from stories I love) is that they’re the holes in history, the places where the Houses Spiral Politics is weaker, kinda the “Here There be Dragons” of the map of history.

Frankly I have a lot of ideas about the enemy, and I think the best thing about Book of the Enemy is how little it answered, just as it should be!

[cool-cillian-murphy]

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[oxbowperformancehorses-blog]

~You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore~

You are selling your horses?!

As many of you know, I sell a few horses a year. Some horses I actively advertise, some sales are spontaneous because clients are looking for what is just sitting on the back burner. I’ve been blessed to have some wonderful and talented horses. I credit that to knowing exactly what we want and seeing the horse’s potential, which is sometimes a diamond in the rough. My parents have a great eye to see that special horse that just needs a bit of polishing.

Horse selling isn’t always easy. You get all kinds of people that you meet such as: the tire kickers, out-of-the-budget-but-gonna-try-anyways, the must be dead broke but only want to spend $800 for their kid, search for the perfect horse with insane expectations, but I can’t forget about all the good buyers! I love when I can be a steppingstone in that horse’s career.

I don’t know about you but my last two rides on the sale horse before it goes to the new home, are THE WORST for me. That’s because I have the best last rides and then I have horrible seller’s remorse. That horse suddenly became everything that I wanted, granted I’m the one that usually started and finished it so theoretically it should be everything. My dad always told me, “You can’t keep them all”. That rings true on so many levels. I can’t keep them all because I can’t ride them all. I have no business keeping a bunch of talented performance horses in my pasture, just to look at them. Believe it or not, those horses want a job too. They want to be employed to the best of their abilities. Don’t get me wrong, all horses need a break but if you really study them, they will show you they want to get back to doing what they are good at.

Finding good homes is the best. I enjoy getting videos of horse and rider spending time with each other and winning checks. But sometimes, I cry as the trailer rolls out of the dusty driveway with my old horse headed to their new home. I think of how talented that horse is and how many hours I’ve spent in the saddle making that horse exactly what I need. I’m a realist though. I realize that a specific horse may not take me to the pay window, or I just don’t have the time he needs, or we just don’t click. There are just some horse and rider combinations that aren’t meant to be. SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!

We need to be humble and stop trying to make something work that obviously won’t. There are certain types of horses that I don’t like to ride in big pens, and guess what? They don’t come with in the trailer that day. Ain’t no shame in that game. I know what I like.

Anyways, back to the point I was trying to make from the beginning. I will be selling Sea Tales and Doyadance during my time in Kentucky. I was torn about this decision. We are putting so much time and energy into these horses for this amazing journey that I would love for them to come home with me. Maybe they will and maybe they won’t. If they don’t find a good home by the end of the competition, then I have no problem loading them up in my trailer and feeding them until they do find their forever home. The reality is, I know how awesome these horses are and I know there is a place for them in this universe. Maybe it’s with me? We will find out. But if you think you would be a good jockey for them, please inquire.

So, the takeaway? Life is too short. Buy the damn horse.

-T

Next time on Keeping Up with The Oxbow’s: She got bucked off!!

[rassilon-imprimatur]

I haven’t read Weapons-Grade Snake Oil yet, but Blair Bidmead’s NuWho explanation has got to be the single most eloquent, quantum-laced "Fuck you and the canon you came in on" theory that I have ever read. 

[seveneyesoup]

oxbow theory on the one hand. the doctor sealed off and the center throughline of their own little universe, swirling around them. the emperor victorious on the other hand, with the single survivor filling the power void of an entire race.