limneticvillains

[limneticvillains]

The Delusional Dreamer

In around August of 2021 I blocked a mad egotistical self obsessed man who posted silly stuff like 'I am possibly the most prolific musician on Earth', I just rolled my eyes and blocked him, simple as. Someone asked why, I said because the guy has a huge ego. I thought that was the end of it. It should have been. Skip a few months on, at the start of 2022 while I was raising money for cancer research, on two Bandcamp Fridays in a row I was falsely mass reported to Twitter, from these I received two suspensions on the days that music promotion for a good cause worked best. I then got a bunch of messages and screenshots from various other artists on indie music twitter that the man I blocked had directed people to block and report me for bullying him, and screenshots of him telling another bands manager that I was pals with that he had nothing to do with my suspensions. Nobody had implicated him, at all -at that point. I was annoyed, and the second suspension lasted 3 months.

I was raising roughly 70-100 euro a month for cancer research on those Bandcamp Fridays, it was quite horrible to do something for a good cause and seemingly be framed as a bully by some total weirdo. As a little fuck you, I made some comedy joke songs in half an hour in the guys style and put them onto Soundcloud. They were there for 4 days. The guy went insane. He said he was going to the police about me? Ok… Didn't realise parodies were illegal, but anyway. I sent him an email, I asked him to say sorry and said I would remove the music anyway, but that he should move on. He was ranting and raving at this point about me, despite knowing nothing about me, only that I thought he was a tit. He denied he had done anything and asked if I wanted to collab with him, said it was middlemen, meddling, winding us both up, despite me having loads of screenshots of him telling people to report me for no reason and denying he did this. So far so childish. I looked into the guy, he was a teacher, I couldn't really believe this sad self obsessed man was incharge of children, in a follow up email I said I might inform his school of how he conducts himself online because I didn't think a man like this should be looking after kids. I thought perhaps it would shut him up and this would be the end of it. I said he was crap and to leave me alone, more or less.

The Soundcloud parody was removed by me, again I thought, hey maybe it's over. My Twitter suspensions had been looked at and they were overturned, I had my account back, minus a bunch of his pals who had - weirdly in this time- decided I was multiple accounts. (This gets weird). Some people had started accusing the guy of being me, others had decided I was not one musician but a collective of musicians all pretending to be one person. I don't quite know what happened here. The guy and one of his friends started saying I was stealing the money I was raising from charity, which was a vile thing to make up about someone, I have screenshots of all that too. They also said they had my full name and address. I was getting worried at this point, so I looked into the both of them and found phone numbers and addresses for them, they were and are in the public domain, it wasn't hard to find them and I thought I'd cover myself. I never put them anywhere or shared them out, I got them, simply to say, 'I have yours too'. This really pissed the guy off, he started saying I was threatening his elderly parents. This childishness continues, people send me screenshots of his insane rants, how hes going to the police despite me not doing anything at all to him, he says I'm bullying him… I get death threats from his followers (screenshots of those too), one of his pals puts out a shit death metal album under my band name, which is still as of 2024 on streaming services. He tells people he's going to get me committed to a mental institution, and yeah, this has been going on since the start of 2022. Sometimes I'll write something like, 'fuck these sad lame shithead musicians' and he'll see it and go on mad rants.

That's pretty much the entire story of how I blocked Kiffie The Dreamer and how he became my number 1 fan obsessive, that projects his obsessions on me, calls me a bully and a narcissist, etc etc. I tried to smooth things over a number of times, it didn't work. I have ignored him for months, but then I'll get a message that he's saying shit again, I'll say some shit and it goes in circles. He went quiet after I got the death threats from his followers for a while. That did irk me a bit, getting threats and being accused of bullshit, like being other random accounts and people. Recently I decided I'd do another parody, with social media involved as a one last fuck you, fuck off, leave me the fuck alone, here's a mirror, this is you. The music of this can be found here: https://tanelispif.bandcamp.com/track/kitties

I have zero interest in lame online dramas with sad sack idotic men who make shit music, collaborate with anybody under the sun- including nutcase right wing weirdos and science deniers, and claim to be in some way deserving of praise. Fuck off. I have been suspended from Twitter a total of 4 times on Bandcamp Fridays, and I attribute this directly to Kiffie and his pals. It is, utterly ridiculous for a grown man past middle age to be acting like this.

I think all the idiots around him that encourage his bullshit need to think a bit more. Also it's rather hysterical that this man who claims to be all about peace and love collaborates with Alex Jones loving sexist nutters like EMCDouble. I won't bring their art into it, but by god is it a big streak of utter piss.

#indie music #limnetic villains #kiffie the dreamer #kiffie #twitter #stalker #egotistical #drama #online drama #sad #musician

[limneticvillains]

Social Media and Shit Artists Who Require Constant Validation

I find it amusing when invented hypocrisies are pointed out by obvious hypocrites. It's also amusing but sad when delusional people suggest others are delusional. The twists and turns of broken minds.

There are insignificant ego driven kack fools who pretend to be part of various music communities on social media, when really they're mostly shit groups of back scratching attention seeking pile ons of sad blokes who all crave validation and make shoddy art.

Many of these people find similarly sad dims online, and they gather and congeal into bloated masses of total putrid fucks, left unchecked by reality, while they all pretend they're brilliant artists, bloggers and people of note. They're not. Pointing this out causes panic.

They must then resort to both attacking anyone foolish enough to question their self proclaimed glory and also then - defending themselves by way of constant self affirmation. 'I am so good in this way, I do not do x y and z, unlike some, I am a real artist, not like them'...

While the sad bubble can hold, once reality infects the mind of a shit self obsessed narcissistic pompous kack artist, there's no telling what strange outbursts and booze induced bile they may spew in reaction to the fact they are not universally loved. They may freak out.

Depending on their level of self obsession they may resort to the online stalking and harassment of anybody they deem a threat to their delusional ego driven false reality, and may project their own issues outwardly onto others. It's often very grim, and sometimes amusing.

The cycle of self affirmation, pretending they are important, lashing out at any perceived threat, denying reality, making grand claims, projecting their own insecurity outwards repeats and continues for many of these sad shit artists.

They need consistent drama, they need to be victims or superior beings, or alternating between these states. Tortured minds, lying to themselves. Seeking validation and attention, constantly.

There are all sorts of weirdos online, all kinds of attention seeking vapid fucks who think themselves deserving of praise and attention and demand it, and need to scream 'look at me'.

Many of the kack artists will point towards various kinds of numbers to validate themselves, or various terribly written articles by other gimplings in their shitshow bubble. Some of these bubbles intersect with better bubbles, worse ones, weird ones.

There's also good artists, but they won't get angry reading this. Fuck you shit artists.

#music #social media #bubbles #social bubble #indie music #twitter #music blog #psychology #indie #narcissist #narcissistic #narcissistic personality disorder #narcissism #vapid #attention seeking #fame hungry #self obsessed #ego #egotists #rant

[limneticvillains]

Hyper Megazillion

Well loyal readers, I know there's many thousands of you hanging on my every word, pissing your pants until the next time I delve into writing about music. Well you can finally clean yourself up, a post! I've been a fan of Megazillion for a couple of years now, a hell of an experimental outfit from Baltimore, home of The Wire, and seemingly sheeeeeeeeeet, now the birth place of 'Triple Phoenix', a wonderful album, via way of being mastered in the hallowed Abby Road studios.

Megazillion is the namesake of the main composer and he is joined by his very talented son on drums. Live, the band has an additional 3 members making them a 5 piece, I can only imagine them as being a hell of an experience to witness in the flesh. Makes me wish I was in Baltimore. The 7 songs on Triple Phoenix clock in at just under a respectable 38 minutes. The opening track, 'What These Times Command', is a warm punky rock stomper, a self proclaimed celebration and an enthusiastic opener, it welcomes you to what will come with some memorable lines,

'music so great you'll cry you won't even even need drugs to get high' A happy introduction to the album that also nods to an appreciation of what came before it. It's a mostly uncomplicated affair compared to the rest of the album but it's done masterfully, lovely guitar stop starts and jangles, and some swells that sound almost like an amped up overdriven theremin in places, with a few hints of what the rest of the album holds, little sprinklings of synths and choice samples of cheers and whistles, just a touch of the psychedelic. A solid rock opener, but a little deceptive as this album swells with experimental weirdness the more it progresses, and while a touch of it is on show here, you've no idea what's coming, yet. I think that is perhaps one of the stand out things about Triple Phoenix, how it builds and how it bends various genres and rock styles into one cohesive work of art, but I'm getting ahead of myself. (You can tell I dig it). 'Sheep of Doom' is next which reminds me very slightly of Interpol in tone at the start. An ode to trying to get asleep, it has wonderful builds and a really great guitar refrain. There's elements of early Flaming Lips here and eels as the track builds and gets more chaotic, throughout much of the rest of the album I'm reminded of these two bands in particular.

'Good Guys' comes next, a pulsing almost Alabama 3 meets DEVO track with a beautiful distorted synth opening. Electronic cowboy disco time. I really like this track, the thumping electronic loop is added to with delicate synth warps that keep building in sections and a wonderful drum groove. I dare you not to bob your head to this. The track is a triumphant anthemic slice of a bop. 'Middle Of May' is next up, a shoegaze 'ooo oooo' delic track full of nostalgia for childhood, the vocals here are somewhat buried in the music, MBV style (in a way I like), it's a kind of happy lament at least to my ears, with some seriously impressive guitar towards the latter half of the song. The feeling of an endless summer? There's a pure joy here in the grungy shoegaze.

The next track is 'Hoo Hoo Hoo' which might be my favourite on the album (it's the linked track at the very top of this post). I think it's perhaps the most immediately catchy, again harks of DEVO are impossible for me to ignore, there's a disco funk rock driving guitar/ bass/drum thing going on, and then towards the end a really beautiful almost Devine Comedy guitar kicks in, with some melodic vocals mirroring the melody, top notch stuff.

The real killer on the album however arrives in the form of 'We All Wanna Belong', a 12 minute psychedlic driving trip which touches off a kind of 60's new age psych meets Black Rebel Motorcycle dirty garage rock, and Zeppelin in places when it really kicks in. The cowboy-esque Devine Comedy- guitar is back and it only grows more epic western as the song gets more Zeppelin. There's a kind of carnival Mighty Boosh moment with what sounds like an evil cartoon clown preacher, the track is a trip and a half, seriously check it out.

The title track 'Triple Phoenix' finishes off the album, very slight twangs of REM meets Mercury Rev, but very slight, as if the Flaming Lips Yoshmi era had a lost track, which you've just discovered, but no, it's Megazillion! A beautiful way to finish the experience. 'I've been broken I've been destroyed I got back up I got back up but I'm not sure why' ...Obviously to make a kick ass album. Triple Phoenix by Megazillion is priced at 10 American dollar cashes and I highly recommend it! It has the Limnetic stamp of approval. Dig it a lot, get it here: https://megazillion.bandcamp.com/album/triple-phoenix Until next time, -Limnetic Villains

#Megazillion #Bandcamp #Rock #Indie #New #2022 #album release #album #psychedelic #music blog #music #alternative music #alternative rock

[limneticvillains]

Rick Bain/Quiet Commotion/Sky Diving Penguins

Hello again humans of Earth, or if you're reading this far into the distant future, hello to you space people, glad you escaped that horrid rock and I hope your hypersleep chambers never fail you. Today I saw a random image of a taxi company that almost had the same name as Rick Bain, since I'm dyslexic I read it as such and had to put on Rick Bain's classic track I Want To Die from the album Crooked Autumn Sun which came out about 22 years ago in the year 2000. I never knew too much about Rick Bain and The Genius Position, I was perhaps 16 or 17 when I first heard their music, and I Want To Die stuck with me, I was at the time a massive fan of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and perhaps to Anton's dismay The Dandy Warhols, both of which bands I still adore. Bain's music tinges and ebbs with style in a similar psychedelic landscape to these two bands, however I found his lyrics a nice contrast of both darker and weirdly more hopeful and deep than anything the Dandy's ever put out. So anyway, we're in the arena of the modern retro psychedelic garage revival, and man Crooked Autumn Sun is just simply stunning. I could go through track by track and pick it apart and dissect everything, but just put the bloody thing on and listen to it in all it's glory, reissued in 2020 for a 20th anniversary edition, and on Bandcamp at $10 digitally, or $32 for the mere 7 remaining Vinyl copies as of writing, I would highly recommend this album, 17 tracks of wonderful indie psychedelic rock. It's really really great, while I recommend you listen to the entire album, and while I Want To Die is my stand out favourite from it, the second track, Lovin' Yummy is so good it deserves it's own link for easy playing. I love it.

And so Earth humanoids and other beings reading this, now allow me please a chance to wax lyrical about Quiet Commotion, a musical project by a ridiculously young and stupidly talented 14 year old from Sweden. I had no idea of the age of this musician when I heard their first release Hallå, Kära Flod! last year, I was blown away by the music which is so easily compared to the work of the late great Elliot Smith, when I found out the age of the musician almost a year later I was floored. And it should be shocking quite frankly, as the maturity of the music and the lyrics are well beyond anything I've heard from anyone his age. When I listen back to the music I made when I was 17 in my own little teenage band I just cringe now, not that it was totally awful, but compared to Quiet Commotion, it's utterly awful. Remove the surprise of age from things and the music itself should be praised and appreciated for what it is, fantastic, well crafted indie rock.

The album is name your own price, and at that price, how could you refuse? Although I'd recommend sending the kid some cold hard cash, because his work is stunning and wouldn't you like to be able to say you supported him in his very very early musical career? I had to buy all his releases, of which he's got a double single, a single and a second LP titled All Others Strange (from which the singles are from), which is also a great record. Hallå, Kära Flod! however is my favourite, (I think his older stuff is better - ha). I reached out to Quiet Commotion straight after hearing his music to make a video for my favourite track off Hallå, Kära Flod!, Boxer's Dementia (Waterworks). I look forward to seeing what he produces in the future, because frankly even if he goes downhill and his music gets 10% worse with each future release, we're looking at about 5 or 6 stunning albums before he just starts making really good ones. Check it out!

Lastly today I'd like to write about Sky Diving Penguins, a band I've been a big fan of for the last year, who are compared to The Beatles anytime they're mentioned, but I won't do that here.

I'll let them do it themselves. Check em out^ Cor blimey, the alternative dimension Beatles with some grunge moments! I lied, how could you not make that connection? It's impossible to ignore, and why would you? Quite the opposite, it's leaned into in a great way. Sky Diving Penguins is the work of musician Gia Iashvili and some of his highly talented friends, the production, the musicianship, the vocals, all top notch. There's also a few Polyphonic Spree moments, on Hating Waiting especially with some wonderful brass. Run Boy is my favourite little ditty on the 10 track album. There's a lot of talent on show, the album is vibrant and vivid, and quite cheerful, while it's certainly a nod to the past it will also make a wonderful addition to your future music collection. The Digital album is a mere £4 British coinage, and there's CD's on sale for ten of the crowns coins.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do, until next time! -Limnetic Villains

#Rick Bain #Quiet Commotion #Sky Diving Penguins #Elliot Smith #The Beatles #Music Blog #Bandcamp #2022 #Indie #indie music #music #music recommendation #alternative music #indie rock #Youtube

[limneticvillains]

Well well well, what's all this then?

I have edited this post to remove an artist who's music I liked but I've recently discovered they support utterly vile people who share total filth online so I hope they re-evaluate who they choose to spend time with online. I doubt they will. I want nothing to do with them and I won't be supporting them or their music any longer.

Next up are two compilation albums and I suppose an entire label I have to recommend. The ONNO Collective based in Kolkata in India have so far released two really fantastic and quite dark electronic compilation albums, they have also released an album I have yet to check out from an artist called Porygon. The two compilation albums, Rough Cuts and Deep Cuts are well worth checking out, some really cool interesting electronic strangeness you're unlikely to hear anywhere else. I won't bother giving you a run down of tracks, Rough Cuts is my favourite of the two compilations but you should flick through them both and judge for yourself. Both compilations are priced at $7 but the entire discography is currently priced at $10.50, including the album from Porygon.

Last up we have a single track from a band that's well worth checking out. Means Of Production self describe as an Electro-video duo, I don't know much about them, we briefly spoke on Twitter but then I was rudely interrupted by the previously mentioned egotist. Still, I liked what I heard so much I almost immediately had to buy it. Parts Soulwax and a little Hot-chip, I believe they hail from Oxford in the UK. This track is a real head groover and I love all 5 minutes of it. It's priced at a single quid, and their other music is well worth exploring, but this is my favourite out of their discography.

That's all for now, but I have a feeling I'll be posting a lot more soon. In a recent poll over 80% of my Twitter followers want me to write some bad reviews, and there's some people I really don't like who make some utterly shit music, so I'm very tempted...

Have a great week!

- Limnetic Villains

#Limnetic Villains #Music Blog #Reviews #Bandcamp #electronica #experimental #Means Of Production #Oxford #Washington #Onno collective #Kolkata #Record Label

[limneticvillains]

Free Music Promotion Advice

2021 was quite a year for me, I released 3 albums and managed to actually gain a decent audience for my own music project, Limnetic Villains, whilst also raising money for cancer research selling my music via Bandcamp. I thought I'd interrupt my usual music posts to give away some free tips that have worked for me, maybe they might be useful for someone who's starting out or thinking about getting their music out there. I can't claim to be an expert, but a lot of people will try to waste your time and steal your money for things that simply don't work, and if I can help save any musician from being conned, or give you some actual tips that I've found to work, good. This won't be a comprehensive guide, but it might give you some avenues and methods for getting heard and actually having a chance in a frankly over populated arena of constant releases and daunting social media hype. I'm aiming this at new musicians or folk who are early into producing and releasing, as such I've done it with budget in mind, if it's free and it's useful, or if it's cheap and the best you can get for the least you can spend- good. First things first- make sure you've got some decent recordings, that's all on you, production, mixing, mastering, whatever you have to do if you're serious about it, you'll be learning new techniques your whole life about that side of things, you might as well start early and learn to do it all yourself, but that's just what I think. It really doesn't matter what DAW you use, I use Logic, I have friends that use Ableton, Fruityloops, Reaper. Find one you like, try some demos out, learn as much as you can about it, there's thousands of tutorials if you need them and just keep making stuff. Get some decent monitors and headphones (I recommend the Pre Sonus Eris series of studio monitors and some of the cheaper open back Sennheiser headphones or AKGs, many could argue there's better and more expensive options, but if you don't have much cash these are the best investments you can make on a budget, your music will improve an impressive amount the better you can hear it). Learn about LUFs, try listen to your mix on your crappy phone speaker too, if it sounds good on that next to some music in a similar style you like, well done. Once it sounds good and you're ready to release, and you've got your artwork done... Set up a Bandcamp and put something on it. A hell of a lot of musicians and bands go straight for Soundcloud/Youtube (Which have their place) or pay money for music distribution services (More on those later), a lot of people then focus on a numbers game, how many streams can you get, like it's a strange battle. Forget the numbers, half of them on Soundcloud are fake from bots, as people pay dodgy folk on Fiverr to boost their streams, to make themselves seem important or good. Ignore it. Don't feel bad about your numbers, if your work is good and you can get ears on it, things will happen. Streams aren't very important when you're just starting off, and they're almost impossible to build up at the start, what you need to focus on is becoming part of a social media community. (I hate some of these words as I write them). I'm cringing at the next sentence. Get a social media presence. Carve out a niche and don't just spam your music links when you have your stuff up online. Actually talk to people, have fun, engage in conversation and listen to other people's art, make friends, ask questions, seek advice. The Twitter music community is huge, and there's some weirdness on there, you've got egotistical weirdos, pure promotion accounts that are almost worth nothing to you, bots and folk who can't take jokes or people that take things out of context and decide you're an evil demon. This might happen, perhaps you are an evil demon. Just try and be nice and talk to people. My own version of this is pretty lax, I often tell people where to go or do silly jokes for the hell of it, but at the end of the day I really care about some of the freaks I've met on music Twitter and I really love some of their music. Reddit

can be useful, set up an account and find the music pages, post and talk to folk, the structure of the site can be a bit annoying though. Submithub and other such sites can be problematic, be weary of spending money to get music blog reviews nobody has eyes on, or in the hopes you get thrown on a playlist. Some of these sites have free options, but it might be more of a waste of time and an exercise in harsh feedback from jaded musicians, Submithub have a Hot or Not section you can put your tracks into for free, and vote and give feedback to earn credits to submit your song to actual music bloggers/radio folk. While this might work for some people, I know a lot of people that have wasted weeks getting nowhere with it, and others who have lost money paying to submit their music only to be told it doesn't fit over and over again, while the bloggers pocket some easy cash and do whatever they want, getting fed music from promoters and labels. Pay for play is generally never good. Your work has value. It could be terrible, maybe, but it could be a masterpiece, it's all subjective, but Submithub and sites like it have brought the quality of music blogs down a hell of a lot over the last few years, and their audiences are a lot lower than you'd think. Trust me on that. Do the usual, Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, follow other similar level artists, follow a few larger accounts, look at whos following who you're following, follow some of them, follow a few radio DJs and journalists, interact, be charming. Re-post interesting things, but don't go over the top and annoy everyone with constant updates on your cheese sandwiches, a few posts a day, maybe one about your music slipped in sometimes, and lose the ego, it's a bad look. You should also check out Twitch music streams, there's folk that want you to send them music, and they want to play it and talk about it, this is still pretty new, check out Courtroom Media for a nice place to start on Twitch. Music distribution (Don't go with Horus music, my experience with them was disgraceful). I opted for Distrokid, and they have been perfect, easy to use, slick, they actually pay out royalites, I'm happy, and they aren't too expensive. Distributors are how you get your music onto streaming platforms, and it's worth researching your options. You'll be looking to pay between utterly nothing with some loss of royalties or between 20 - 50 a year to have more control. You'll also need to look into the different kinds of royalties and the organisations that can collect these for you, there's a few tax things involved, it's pretty dry and annoying, but you should look into that side of things. There's Songtrust, MLC. Your music distributor might collect on some things and not on others, you can find YouTube guides about this, something to spend a few days on. Don't pay for radio play, don't pay for views or listens, you're conning yourself and you're trying to con others into listening to you because of numbers. It won't work. Don't pay for fake followers on social media, you'll end up with a dead account and it's obvious to any actual users on these platforms you don't get any real interactions. Real musicians and music fans can see this stuff a mile off. There are some music blog gigs on Fiverr that aren't too expensive, but apart from having something nice to show your friends, they will probably not get you actual listeners. Don't pay for the social media advert gurus, and be weary of boosting posts with ads, these are often wastes of cash. The guru's will string you along with a 10 minute free video telling you almost everything I've mentioned above, they might tell you to plan a release calendar with things like 'sort out artwork', 'post preview link on Friday before release', this is all mostly common sense stuff, and anyone who's paid to go further will tell you, you'll only get more common sense stuff, buzzwords and lists of websites that might be useful- that you can just find yourself using a search engine. There's no giant secret at the end of these routes, it's

putting time and energy in, and being smart and nice about how you talk to other people that will get ears on your work, that's the truth. Oh and if you're on Twitter, most of the posts asking for 'NEW MUSIC' are mostly from moronic bot accounts looking to boost their numbers before they start selling vacuum cleaners or turn far right and try ruin the political process of a country or something, avoid. Good luck. - Limnetic Villains

#Bandcamp

[limneticvillains]

More Than We Could Ever Loot by Glumvillain

My love affair with Hip Hop started late. Being a kid in an Irish family growing up in London in the 90s, I had my mothers 80's rock pop music, Adam Ant and The Smiths going into my ears. I'd obviously heard rap as a kid, but it wasn't a staple, although I can still probably force myself to recall every word of The Bart Rap, thanks to a shitty Simpsons music CD. Eventually due to a cool uncle I was introduced to Public Enemy and the RZA's work as Bobby Digital, while at the same time being amused at Eminem, but getting my mother to return The Eminem Show because the song Drips was frankly disgusting to my 12 year old self. It's still pretty disgusting now. My rap education was helped along with Tony Hawks games and Need For Speed, Project Gotham Racing and a whole host of Xbox titles, giving me names to look up and explore. I absorbed Deltron 3030, The Pharcyde, Jurassic 5, Anti-pop Consortium, everything PE everything Wu Tang, Tribe, Camp-lo. I pretty much ignored the heavy rotation popular stuff, 50 cent and his clowns didn't do it for me, all the fake fights, all the baggy gimmicks and 'look how cool my car is, I've got a big gun, I've got money and I've got 35 girlfriends'. Yeah ok 50 cent, you look like a goofy bastard that got knocked out too many times, I'll stick with the underground rap that says things thanks, you go sell some shoes. Skip ahead about 20 years, which is a shock as I write it, 20 bloody years, jesus. I'm pretty educated in underground hip hop and old school rap, I know where my tastes lay, I know what I like and what I don't, from certain UK Grime to 80's original bops. I can tell you Kanye's first album was really good and state with certainty that the collapse of his mind and expansion of his ego has been a weird thing to behold in real-time. I can name a bunch of amazing tracks that played in The Wire that I had to track down, tell you about how when I went to New York at 18 I saw The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble play live, and was the only person to stop and watch, I had to buy their CD, stunning stuff (they were better as an instrumental band though). I can recall digging through crates, looking for 'People Under The Stairs - The Dig'. I'm no expert but I know my way around enough to appreciate good stuff when I hear it. So now I've stroked my ego and told you how qualified I am to have an opinion, let's get to Glumvillain. Glum states that the album was inspired by the quote "They've stolen more than we could ever loot", looking this up - I can't find the original quote, I see it in protest graffiti though, and considering the turmoil and insane events in America over the last few years, the rightful protests against racism and police brutality (in addition to the backdrop of the global pandemic), the dark nature of the album makes sense within this dystopian frame. This album is highly socially conscious and witty. It uses choice samples in all the right places, it slams, it's inventive, it's smooth, lyrically rich and constructed beautifully. Glum's flows are impressive, his metaphors are smart, his words never fall flat or sound forced, everything has conviction and sits really well. Downbeat, often serious in subject matter, with a dark sense of humour and a sharp wit, Glum spews out truth after truth, a reflection of the state of the modern world, and North America in particular. There's a running feeling of isolation, futility and fear that ebb throughout the darkness, but the music shines through the bleakness, the album doesn't feel taxing to spend time with, even if the subject matter is pretty depressive in nature, this is real music about the state of things, and the state of things are reflected here. In my previous reviews, I've gone track by track and said what I think of each, but I feel like to do that here would perhaps do the album a disservice, it's a fantastic album and should be listened to all in one go. There's a whole bunch of electronic elements and really interesting intricate production that pops in and out of the album. A great selection of samples and cuts,

stops, beautifully dark quote snippets, and one of the best sword sounds I've ever heard. The album is superb. There's also a few very slight Primal Scream elements on show too, the very last track on the album goes very Evil Heat, a surprising slice of gothic Electro goodness at the end of a brilliant hip hop album.

Go get it. The album is $7 US, but at the moment, Glumvillain's entire discography can be bought for just over double that.

https://glumvillain.bandcamp.com/album/more-than-we-could-ever-loot

#glumvillain #bandcamp #2022 #review #music #rap #hip hop #music news #indie #artist #limnetic villains #Bandcamp

[limneticvillains]

TOYS by Karl Roy

Sometime around 2009 I was part of a small now long since defunct record label called Rack N' Ruin records. They put out all sorts of weird little records, a few of my early (now vanished from the internet) releases were on there. They hosted some of the strangest little oddball electronic and alty-lofi indie rock music. TOYS by Karl Roy instantly reminds me of some of my favourite releases from the label. TOYS is a strange little lofi-indie rock EP, it opens with a quirky odd little track titled 'Dressrosa', driven by a simple and happy circular staccato piano riff and understated bass guitar which is eventually built upon with a sparkly 3 note distorted E-piano sounding synth and an almost tropical sounding guitar riff, with a simple drum beat under everything. 'Never going to get a day like this, it's a beautiful day for an apocalypse' Karl sings. It's upbeat and chirpy, for a slow song about the end of the world. Add a few oooohh lala's in, and you've got a very strange almost 2 minute intro to a very cool release. 'California Bliss' Follows, a shoegazy dreamy mellow on the edge of psychedelia indie number, bringing to mind some parts Sparklehorse and just a touch of Elliot Smith, Karl's vocals are almost completely lost behind reverb for most of the track, until some distortion hits and he's singing about the toys in his room coming alive. So far so good. This is followed by 'Corduroy Cupid', which again begs for mild Elliot Smith comparisons, the track sounds like an earnest lament to a lost time, however I wish the vocals were a little more upfront here. Sometimes lost vocals are a stylistic element, sometimes they aren't meant to be heard, sometimes it doesn't matter, I think I would have liked them just a little brighter in the mix on this one though. Habits (Interlude) follows and the alt indie EP takes a little turn, touching off lofi electronica and hiphop, just a little, with a very relaxed boom bap type drum beat and a repeated guitar riff, with some nice wizzing electronics layered ontop combined with an indecipherable downpitched and slowed vocal, of which I can only maybe make a couple of words out. It's a nice relaxed break which leads us into my highlight and the reason I had to buy the release, 'Panic Overdrive'. 'Panic Overdrive', while perhaps lacking a little production polish during the verses smashes the hell out of your speakers with a hell of 60's garage sounding catchy guitar riff which turns into an upbeat mildly-grunge-esque shoegaze showcase, brilliant sounding drums and a really beautiful melodic chorus. The guitar reverb almost sounds like a crowd cheering the song on, and I love it. Sometimes you need a hell of a guitar riff and pounding drums, and this track has a hell of a hell of a guitar riff, and lovely pounding drums. I can't just listen to it once, I have to put it on repeat a few times. It's a real ear worm. The EP finishes with a track I don't care about. I'm too busy putting 'Panic Overdrive' back on repeat. Ok fine, it's a more classic alty rock number titled 'Sixteen', the drums are nice, and the guitar is nice but the vocals, I'm unsure about on this one, it does have a habit of sticking in your head though. Overall I'm really impressed with this strange little EP, it has style and heart, the production isn't perfectly clean and that only adds a bit of extra life into it. Sometimes there's added mystery with vocals hiding behind corners of reverb and under lovely sounding guitars, this doesn't bother me so much, I just think it adds another layer of intrigue. I really like how it sounds, it's an enjoyable record at just under 15 minutes long, and I've gone back to it quite a few times since buying it. The EP is pay whatever you like, and I recommend it. IT'S PAY WHATEVER YOU LIKE, so go get it, what's wrong with you? Seriously, are you ok? Throw Karl Roy some coins, Panic Overdrive is worth a dip in your pockets all by itself. - Limnetic Villains https://karlroy.bandcamp.com/album/toys

#TOYS #Karl Roy #Bandcamp #Indie #Lofi #alternative rock #music blog #music #2021 #Limnetic Villains #Review

[limneticvillains]

Friday Night by Cholly

https://cholly.bandcamp.com/album/friday-night There was a point in time I can't quite pinpoint, somewhere between the dying days of my teens when my musical horizons were expanding beyond loving every mid 00's indie rock band, and hearing Crystal Castles. I was dead against pop music, 'yuck, screw that', with the clean production and catchy bubblegum lyrics. But then I started listening to more Goldfrapp and Hot Chip, and my brain was heavily infiltrated by Electro and Triphop mainly via Chris Corner's projects. While I was never into much chart music, my appreciation for more poppy and dance-centric music coming from more alty artists continued to expand. Skip a decade and a couple of years ahead and I find myself in this weird future at the end of 2021, listening to weird future music, in a global pandemic dystopia. Before I go any further there's a quote that haunts all music journalism, 'Talking/writing about music is like dancing about architecture'. This quote is attributed to many, I first heard Angelina Jolie's character in the film Playing By Heart say it, and I've searched it up a few times, it's origins are a maze of forgotten half memories and scraps suggesting perhaps someone said it in some long lost article. I put it here to say that you should click the link above in a new tab and listen to the damn album, because my words, as lovely as they might be, will never do the actual album any justice and all opinions are subjective when it comes to art. Cholly's album Friday Night is an unusual and highly impressive mix of electro pop, synthwave and triphop, unsual off-kilter beautiful melodies, pulsing arps and killer basslines, delicate and pretty vocals, and interesting intricate catchy arrangements, full of layers and glitches. The entire album was made on friday nights, Chloe (aka Cholly) writes that it was made all through lockdowns, and there's certainly a kind of innate longing captured in these tracks which might be explained by the circumstances under which the entire civilisation of humanity currently finds itself. 'Favourite Colour' kicks the album off with a short and charming upbeat yet slightly melancholic feeling number, the melancholy here comes from Cholly's haunting vocals, which are strikingly delicate and sweet throughout the album. To say Cholly can sing is an understatement. 'Procrastinate' follows next, with another charming track (They are all charming), glitchy echoed synth riffs, perhaps sounding like a buffer edit gone wonderfully wrong, and a really catchy wobbly main riff, when the bass hits, it's a pure pleasure. The track seems to simply be about wasting time, making a cup of tea and such a seemingly mundane subject has perhaps never sounded so good. 'I See 2D You' comes next, in just under 2 minutes length, it's one of the stand out tracks on the album for me, catchy, with a fantastic bunch of unusual synth textures and a solid bassline that warps into a crunchy pleasing wompwomp (That's the best way I can describe it), this is sprinkled with really pretty synth chops and vocal cuts. 'Refresh Impress' stands out as a chaotic oddity on the album for me, vocals on the edge of in-tune and some very unusual stuff happening, it's good, and catchy, but it's my least favourite here, I mention this only to say that the rest of the album shines so bright, even a solid track such as 'Refresh Impress' is outshone by what surrounds it. The last 4 tracks of Fright Night are all superb, 'Stepping' is probably my favourite track on the album, hypnotic, dark, the vocal arrangements are wonderful, the arps and space. I am reminded very much of Olga Bell's early work and the band Poliça in this latter half of the record. '3 Day Weekend' finishes off the album, with a spectacular minimalist poppy little number with vocals layered and pitched over one another, and an almost dub groove, 'The coffee's gone cold in the French press, though it's probably for the best to avoid the stress'. As someone who is easily messed up by caffeine, I relate to this, a lot.

The electronic, twisty glitchy and very very catchy, (Did I mention that it's catchy?) catchy, catchy 8 track album is a really well produced trip into strange head bopping electro pop you should really check out. The digital album costs a mere 5 of your sterling pounds, and there's a CD version for only 6 quid! https://cholly.bandcamp.com/album/friday-night I think it's safe to say I'm a fan! -Limnetic Villains

#Cholly #Friday Nights #music blog #Limnetic Villains #Auditory Ossicles #music #review #2021 #bandcamp