kryoymir

[kryoymir]

Thursday night I made some announcements on social media, the first bring that VOID NXLL is coming to an end. This was something I had been mulling over for several weeks, considering the project has been largely silent since it's inception. I wanted to offer some more insight into the thought process behind that, and discuss my second announcement: my new album, Re:BIRTH.

VN was a project I established in 2020. Let me set the stage: I had recently finished high school, was stuck jobhopping, and was unsure I ever wanted to move forward with KryoYmir. Add in COVID, and it was very unsurprising I had been writing darker, heavier music. At the time, I couldn't fathom mixing genres; KryoYmir was synthpop, and had been firmly in that camp for a couple years. The concept of releasing the industrial-leaning EBM I had been making felt patently wrong, so I founded a new project to publish it under. This went somewhat fine; a few singles, an EP. But writing a full-length is really where this came apart, and I realized I'm not good at writing this kind of music! The project went silent for several years. Finally, last year, I started making small amounts of progress towards what I intended to be the first VN LP, 1,794 Days. However, this hit a wall again, and I started considering the idea of giving up. But that still left the question of what to do with the existing music.

Release it as another EP? Bury it forever?

I worked on some other stuff in the meantime; covers, remixes, the occasional KY track. It wasn't until teardrop solidified that I finally realized what the best step forward was; a joint album comprising the existing VN music and the KY music I had in the chamber.

Currently, the album sits at about twelve potential tracks; four finished VN songs, two KY songs, and about six unfinished tracks between the two. Some of these songs are re-recorded versions of existing songs, a couple of them are new. I plan to sit down over the next couple weeks to try to hammer out a potential tracklist. Currently I'm not limiting myself in any regard; I'm going to make as much music as I can and pull it all together into a cohesive direction later.

I'll post updates here when I have them, but until then feel free to hit that inbox with any questions you have; I plan to post a Q&A when the album is closer to release.

[kryoymir]

Hello, one and all. I announced today the first batch of KryoYmir CDs. Here, I'll go over some info on them, and show them off.

Each of the four CDs are housed in a standard jewel case with a two-sided insert. All of them are the standard editions, save Slipstream which has a bonus track. These are manufactured on-demand, so each one might be a tiny bit different. I can also introduce the official numbering system, although I don't know what we're calling them yet. The releases are as follows:

I - Act I

II - Act II

III - Act III

IV - Kryo2020

V - Soulfire

VI - Slipstream of Consciousness

Each of these are designated on the spine. Now, moving on to the pictures.

A pack of wild CDs!

Looks at the spines, back covers, and discs. I think Act III's is the best. I will not be revealing the inner covers. Sorry, you'll just have to buy them!

I will be selling signed bundles once Act I and II are up. Hopefully you'll consider it!

[kryoymir]

Hey, everyone. It's been a while since I gave an update on music and I wanted to talk to you about that today.

As you probably know if you follow me to any extent, I took a break for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, a game I've been eagerly awaiting for a few years now. The plan was originally to take the two/three weeks off to roll credits and then hop back to it, but it's been almost a week since I finished the game and I have yet to do that.

Ultimately, there's not a specific reason for this. I just need more time and I'm sorry. A combination of personal factors and burnout have just kept me from sitting down and getting back to the grind. I know I do this pretty frequently but yeah. I just need a break, y'know? Nothing is cancelled, everything is just on hold for a bit.

[kryoymir]

ACT I DE PROD. LOG 001

For quick reference on this chart, W = writing, Mx = mixing and Ms = mastering.

How's it goin, everyone? Kryo here, your favorite unreliable artist that forgets to update you.

ACT I DE is definitely... Acting. One-ly.

Since announcing it I haven't broken a lot of ground. I would say Lost is about 50-60% done, Turmoil is maybe 30-40, Darkening Skies is about 85 and Neon is about 10 if I don't scrap it entirely. Shadow is fully completed and is in the mixing phase. It's a little different from the version already released, but only in the sense that I tweaked some sounds.

Darkening Skies is the most radically different so far. I didn't want to keep the very fake-sounding acoustic guitar and don't feel like digging my real one out to try to play it (my wrists are begging me to go back to physical therapy just thinking about it), so it's now played on a very synthy pluck. It's got a different everything, mostly to give it some variety, but I worked hard to incorporate the original elements where possible to honor the OG.

Turmoil is proving very challenging, mostly because I have no idea what the hell is going on in that song to begin with because it's just a bunch of shit thrown together. I'm trying a new arrangement that only retains the melody but we'll see how that goes.

Lost is plodding along, the big hurdle right now is the verses. I might just be keeping one of the samples for the bridge because why not?

Neon is barely started, largely because I want to keep the basic sound and style without ruining it but I'm not sure how.

So that's it, mostly. I'm working on some other stuff on the side but everything is taking a backseat to Final Fantasy later this week so we'll see how much I get done.

[kryoymir]

KRYOYMIR NEWSLETTER 202401

NEW DISCORD SERVER!!

Welcome to the new year! I've decided to revive the weekly newsletter from the Slipstream production cycle to share news on upcoming stuff. First up, my cover of Seven Seconds Till The End launches on YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer and Tidal January 19th! I hope you'll come check it out!

My next cover is another Final Fantasy VII cover, this time releasing alongside Final Fantasy VII REBIRTH, February 29th. Which reminds me, it's an election year in the US. Gross.

As far as further 2024 plans, I would like to chip away at a VOID NXLL LP, although unlike Slipstream I'm not exactly hitting the ground running. There's maybe three songs done for it and four more that are literally just a melody or chord progression or drum pattern. I would love to pull this together for a cohesive release by the end of the year, but I'm not really trying to rush it out either. It will take it's time, and it will release when it's ready.

Some other things in production are mostly cover stuff, including a Chrono Trigger album and maybe the completion of the Zelda album, for it's 38th(!!) year of existence. I also had the idea for a small EP of reworked tracks, although I'm not sure how likely that is to appear this year.

In all, I've got plenty of ideas, and not enough time for them.

Outside of music, my wife and I are currently looking for a new home, which is going about as well as you can probably imagine given the shit state of the housing market. Wish us luck.

Aside from that, life mostly just chugs along. I need to set a doctor's appointment because I'm fairly certain I've inherited chronic migraines from my parents (yes, both of them). Work is alright, pretty sure they've tapped into my thoughts because last time I thought about looking for a new job they gave me a raise.

Finally, I cannot stress this enough, if you are in the US and are of age or will be by November, please vote. Our country is a shit show and apathy is how we fall. I don't care who you vote for, please just make your voice heard.

Thank you, and I'll see you again next week.

[kryoymir]

Seven Seconds Till the End from FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE, out on January 19th. As usual, available on YouTube, SoundCloud, and Spotify, but for the first time ever, also on Deezer and Tidal! Below I talk about the process for this one, and some fun facts.

Soooo where to start... I guess I'll talk about why this song, specifically.

This song plays at the climax of Remake, during a cutscene between Cloud and Sephiroth. It's an arrangement of one of my favorite songs from the original FF7, You Can Hear The Cry of the Planet. This track is driven by a cool-sounding synth and some ominous bells.

SSTTE completely removed these, which I was mildly upset at. So I decided to cover it. This cover was started in 2022. Yeah, it's 2024 now.

Initially, I had just wanted to redo the song with the synth line, but as I worked on it, I realized that big, explosive climax was something I wouldn't be able to pull off 1:1. So I did what any normal person would do. I changed it! I don't want to spoil it, but it's considerably different in both sound and arrangement, and I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised with some of the sounds in this.

The cover art is a little different than the usual fare. For most of my FF covers, including ones not yet announced, I just use the Final Fantasy font on a plain or minimal background, but because this song is tied to such an iconic moment in the game I actually did some digging and found a copy of the games JP script, and copied Sephiroth's dialogue exactly for inclusion on the cover art.

You can check it out on YouTube, where I might be present for the premiere but make no promises because I tend to get drunk on Thursday nights.

[kryoymir]

[kryoymir]

A couple year-end updates:

Merch.is, the company I used to manufacture my CDs, has finally communicated the delay in getting new releases approved. They're owned by 8merch, a very large manufacturing company, and 8merch decided to fold it back in on itself. They will still be operating, simply under a different name. I'm pretty sure they're still taking and shipping orders in the meantime, and the rep that contacted me promised to look into the releases that have been held up, so hopefully those will be available soon. I'm currently working on setting up a Shopify to connect to Spotify so I can sell them to more people that want them.

Next, I have two (2!) Final Fantasy VII covers in the works. One will release in January and the other will be timed to the release of Rebirth (assuming it isn't delayed between now and February 29th), so I hope you will enjoy them.

[kryoymir]

For the end of what has been one of my more active years, I asked fans to submit some questions. Here, I've answered them to the best of my ability.

Also, you can find a remix of Already Over by Mike Shinoda on my YouTube and SoundCloud now!

Hi Kryo, is VOID NXLL still a thing or you're not sure?

So, I don't want to say anything concrete on this because when I do that it usually doesn't work out, but I hope you'll keep an eye on the VN social medias next year.

Which track from Slipstream of Conscoiusness is your favorite and why?

I thought this might be a hard one to answer but, surprisingly, the answer came pretty quickly once I started thinking about it. Kick It! is by far my favorite piece in this body of work I'm already incredibly proud of. I just love the energy and style to it, it feels incredibly refreshing in a way I can't quite put into words.

What is your top music of 2023?

Slipstream of Consciousness!

No no, seriously. So, in no particular order, my top albums of the year are The Algorithm by Filter, EndEx by 3TEETH, and Under Glass by Kanga. There's also been some good stuff from Foo Fighters, SiM, King 810, and Spiritbox, and Linkin Park put out an excellent box set. As of writing this, HEALTH has a new album slated for digital release in December, and I suspect based on the singles I'll enjoy that quite a bit. If you like scores and soundtracks, the full OST for Chainsaw Man released this January, and FFXVI had a pretty killer one.

What's your GOTY (game of the year)?

This is a hard question to answer because a lot of the games I was looking forward to this year were disappointing in one way or another. Tears of the Kingdom was pretty weak as far as lore and storytelling, FFXVI didn't keep the gameplay engaging enough for the 80 hours I played it and the level design was lackluster in some places, Spider-Man 2 dropped the ball with the third arc. Overall very hard to pick one.

Is there a possibility of an extended version of Seventeenth Angel? Very charming track, wish it would be longer.

It's not an impossibility. I don't currently have any plans to work on one but that's not to say it'll never happen! I will keep this in mind in the future though and if the opportunity presents itself, I'll try my hardest to make it happen.

[kryoymir]

Now accepting questions that will be answered in a year-end post. Submit them using the ask feature and I will have them all tallied and answered.

[kryoymir]

Hello, everyone. How are you? It's been... two weeks since Slipstream released? Crazy.

Anyway, today I wanted to talk about the album a bit, some of the deluxe stuff, and the future.

First of all, I want to address the immediate future.

I am planning to release a remix I have been given the okay to release (which I was actually given a while ago and I'm just stupid, sorry!) before the end of the year, although I haven't nailed down the exact release date. This will likely be my last release on Bandcamp.

There's a lot of reasons I could give; the Epic purchase and then sale, the gutting of the staff, whatever. But in reality, it just doesn't make me any money, and it's an extra hassle to do it. It has separate standards for basically everything, which means having to do everything twice for no money. I will, of course, keep the existing music up, so anyone that's purchased it can keep it. But remember, nothing is set in stone.

On that note, let's talk about the future beyond this year. I've been experimenting with some new kinds of music, but I don't see original material surfacing next year. Instead, I aim to work on two things very dear to my heart: my cover songs, and some remixes. I won't spoil anything by talking about it, because usually when I voice things I want to do they don't happen, but I hope you'll enjoy it if and when it releases.

Now, on to the music.

PROMINENCE

The first of several tracks recorded for another project. This one has a very poppy feel and is built largely in Surge, a free VST I picked up towards the end of Kryo2020's recording process. This one undertook minor tweaks for release, namely a new synth towards the climax. The intro sample was just my mic running on my desk. At the time we had fish. The title is an allusion to one of the Great Legions in Accel World, but a prominence is also a kind of solar flare. Or something like that.

SUBSONIC PLAGUE

This was my first time experimenting with music like this. It's an incredibly simple build/drop structure, but I had a lot of fun experimenting with effects and stuff to keep it interesting. The sample at the end is a holdover from the EP it was originally released on, when it transitioned into Prominence. Aside from a new master it is identical to the original version.

STALAGBYTE

If I ever get the chance to score a video game, this is what the cave theme would sound like. That lead synth just makes me think of a big cave system with ice and monsters. But it's pretty upbeat, like the ice areas in Mario games. I tweaked some effects and added a new bass towards the end I don't think anyone is actually gonna notice.

ADVENT

This song existed on my hard drive for years. The only one on this album that can claim to have existed longer is Aerial. For the album version I redid it from the ground up. Something about the sounds in this one are just... Awesome. The lead is Surge but most everything has been replaced with other synths for the album cut. The bridge is one of my favorites. The title and logo were selected because I originally wanted to release it in July closer to my birthday, but that changed when I solidified the release schedule for the album. And I was too lazy to redo it.

KICK IT!

This was another song from the original project. It actually isn't changed at all from the original version because I lost the vocals until recently! They are my own voice heavily effected.

SEVENTEENTH ANGEL

This is a nice little lo-fi styled track. It originally existed in a much more bombastic form, which you can find in the deluxe edition. Ultimately, I settled on this version mostly because I haven't done anything like it before. It's named after a certain character in Neon Genesis Evangelion who I won't name because it's kind of a massive spoiler.

AERIALV23

This song started life way back in 2019! After Act III wrapped I started working on this one, but couldn't do anything with it so eventually I shared the files in a discord server which lead to the version with SuperN0va. I decided to completely redo it for this album as a way to challenge myself, but also to prove to myself I have actually grown as an artist in the four years since.

ADMINA

This is a very sad song because I can't help myself. It's a rerecording of a track you can find on the Noise LP. The effects went through a lot of revisions. The title is a reference to both Sword Art Online and a song off Kryo2020, The Star King Rises. Admina is a celestial body named by the Star King.

BLACK LOTUS

I've talked about this song enough, honestly.

CHROMOSPHERE (PROMINENECE REPRISE)

The grand finale!

Is what I would like to say but this song is actually a very mellow piece. Taking the main melody and chord progression and running through them on some atmospheric keys, this song is probably the most important to me from an emotional standpoint. It was used as the album teaser for a reason. If you've listened to the song in full (and I have access to numbers that show at least a few people have) you'll find a neat little bonus on the end- a new, atmospheric version of The Return. I recorded this as a nod to my longtime fans that made it my first song to break 1000 on Spotify as well as a declaration of intent: I am returning to original music and will continue making it for the foreseeable future.

Now, on to the deluxe edition tracks. You can listen to all of these for free on Bandcamp without having to buy the album.

THE RETURN V23

Just like it says on the tin, this is a rerecording of The Return in a more dedicated format to the original. I didn't include the percussion pattern because honestly it was stupid to filter it and pan it all the way to one side.

KICK IT! DEMO VERSION

This is also exactly what it says on the tin. It's a file I found on a flash drive when I was digging for the vocals. It's an instrumental, probably because I either exported it without vocals for a reason or simply had yet to add them. It's noticeably faster.

CITRUS DREAMS [17TH ANGEL ALT VERSION]

This is the original version of Seventeenth Angel, with big pounding cinematic drums (yes they're the same ones from Kick It! leave me alone), a quicker pace, and some pretty cool sounds. Pretty sure I named it this because I made it almost entirely in Sytrus.

WHEN I LOOK IN HIS EYES

This is about as undoubtedly upbeat as I ever get. I don't really know what the origin of the title is, I think it just sounded nice. As you can probably tell, this is an unfinished outtake. I couldn't really figure out how to keep it going, and eventually grew a little displeased with it, so it was relegated to bonus track status.

THGRFN [BLACK LOTUS DEMO]

This is the 2020 demo complete with insane dubsteppy breakdown. This is a bonus track on the Bandcamp edition of Soulfire but I added it in so you could see the origins of the song in case you don't feel like buying Soulfire.

BLACK LOTUS [2023 DEMO]

This is probably the midway point between ThGrFn and Black Lotus's final edition. I changed up the verses and made some other various tweaks to this version to turn it into the one you hear today.

CHROMOSPHERE [ALBUM TEASER MIX]

This is a straight export of the version I used for the album teaser video. It's got a hihat count-in and some slightly different effects but otherwise is just a shortened version of the song.

CONCEPT 11120

Man I'm gonna be honest, I don't know what this is! I found the WAV on a flashdrive and it had no title other than Outtake so I decided to just put it on. It's definitely from the original SoC but past that I can't remember anything on it.

BLACK LOTUS [BREAKCORE REMIX DEMO]

There isn't much to say about this song. I had some breakbeat samples. I decided to try a new version of Black Lotus. Maybe I'll finish it someday.

Now, to some of the rejects.

I had originally wanted to include some remakes of some older tracks as a treat for fans, but they fell through for various reasons.

LOST

I actually got pretty far with this one. Ultimately it's been left unfinished because I'm just not sure how to improve on it without stripping the track of it's identity. I mean, it's six and a half years old at this point, it's a little hard to mess with it in my mind.

NIGHTLIFE

I've barely done shit with this one. I don't like it.

BRUISED

This is one I had high hopes for. Thanks to the advent of some pretty cool technology, faking electric guitars has come pretty far. The idea was to make it sound as close to a real rock song as possible, but the issue is that the main riff is off-key, and any attempts to make it in-key result in it sounding off. Also I dunno how to do the drums.

STRATOSPHERE

This has long been one of my favorite songs, and while I do plan to rerecord it at some point, now isn't the time.

Anyway, what do y'all think? Let me know

[kryoymir]

Alright you know the deal y'all. Slipstream is up for pre-order. Please check it out.

[kryoymir]

What's up y'all?

First thing is first, Slipstream has been approved for distribution. Aside from putting together the video for YouTube and some other promo stuff, I'm officially done with this album after almost three years. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me on this journey.

On an even more fun note, my birthday was on Saturday. I had a nice dinner with family.

On another note, I have reopened my Ko-Fi as well as made my Amazon wishlist public. The piss-poor pay from music isn't really something I'm keeping a secret anymore, so if you ever wanna show some extra appreciation I won't object. It also helps for the covers and remixes, which I have no way to profit from. This isn't, of course, to say that I don't appreciate you guys - the support you show blows my mind. It just kinda sucks I get paid pennies on the dollar(s) these companies make in profits.

On a last note, I wanted to discuss the album artwork with you guys.

The initial Slipstream of Consciousness artwork, which was created ages ago, was a combination of textures and pieces I made myself combined with AI outputs- y'know, before AI turned into a serious threat to artists livelihoods and was just a thing for fun. The result is a very colorful, somewhat hectic piece. I felt this was very indicative of the album itself. The bar on the right was also modeled after obi strips - a piece of paper on Japanese media that wraps around the side and usually has some information or maybe flavor text. If you've ever seen a Japanese CD, movie, or book you'll know what I'm talking about. This turned into the unifying theme across the singles, too, and also the biggest source of contention from my distributor.

For the singles, they all use the same image, except mirrored, colored, and rotated in different ways. This was to further create a sense of unity among them while giving them unique identities. Further, they each have little logos on them that were also used in their videos.

Black Lotus features dark purple artwork with a lotus flower, both allusions to the Accel World character the song is named after.

Advent was named such because it was originally intended for a July release, which is my birth month. Therefore, the artwork is red with my astrological sign.

Aerial has a cute little cloud and blue artwork with white to conjure images of a blue summer sky.

Anyway, that's all I have to share for now. I will see you soon, because Aerial launches this month!

[kryoymir]

Lol. Lmao, even. Rofl, if you're so inclined

[kryoymir]

6/19/2023

The song board is now... A to-do list!! With the actual writing done, I decided to change it to keep myself on top of things leading up to release.

The social media message does not apply to Tumblr.

[kryoymir]

Aerialv23 releases August 11th. Although this is early to be announcing this, I wanted to get it out of the way so I have room for some more and bigger announcements in the near future.

Advent and Black Lotus are performing about how I expected them to, so thank you to everyone that has checked them out.

The album is, most likely, finished. For a while I wanted it longer, but I've been obsessively pouring over both my stats and just the general state of the music industry and started to reconsider. The truth is, I've been clinging to the old way of music, a way that people simply don't consume music anymore; especially not the demographic that is consuming my music the most. So, the decision has been made to shorten the album, and future releases will likely not be albums at all, but rather EPs. And, on another note, I would like to tell you all- this album might disappoint you. This album is a lot of things I'm not really historically known for, and while I am incredibly proud of it, it marks a serious shift in style and tone that hasn't been fully conveyed by the singles. However, I hope everyone gives it a chance.

[kryoymir]

How about some fun facts about Kryo2020? I started writing this on Saturday and forgot about it. Been having a lot of stuff going on in my personal life.

The whole synthwave visual aesthetic was decided on before any considerable amount of work was done on the actual music

Despite the synthwave aesthetic, there's actually no retro-sounding music on the album. I tried, with Spaced In, but ultimately decided it wasn't going to be something I could produce at a level I was happy with

On the subject of Spaced In, I accidentally made a typo on the cover art for it and called it "Spaced Out" in one spot

Light It Up! was a last-minute addition that I whipped up in just a couple days. Despite this, it's still my favorite song on the album.

The Star King Rises is a reference to the end of the Alicization arc of Sword Art Online, where Kirito and Asuna are revealed to have become the Star King and Star Queen during their time in the Underworld. There's no deeper reason behind this title, I just thought it was a cool nod to one of my favorite series.

Dividend, one of the bonus tracks, was written as a sort of boss theme style piece. I thought it might work well in a more upbeat game.

Garden of Eden, one of the bonus tracks, is actually not a reference to the biblical location, but a girl I was close with at the time of recording it. I wanted to write something more mellow for her, but still give it a bit of my own personal flair. It's not a good song tbh, and I never showed it to her.

I'm not 100% on this but the melody in Encore sounds like a reversed version of Apathy's. I don't actually distinctly remember writing that one.

The 'clean' version of Foreword (the one without the audio of my car stereo) is actually an older version that was exported earlier in the recording process. I changed the snare samples towards the end of the recording cycle (which is good because it sucks)

Candychrome is one of my least favorite songs ever. I thought it was cool for the longest time but the more I listen to it the more I hate it! The outro is funny though, especially when it's my only explicit song ever.

The album both starting and ending with audio in my car was partially inspired by Breakin Benjamin's third album, Phobia, which is also my third favorite BB album behind Ember and We Are Not Alone.

Aforementioned car was a 2007 Ford Focus hatchback that was straight-piped. I loved that car and spent many an hour just driving it around for the hell of it. Eventually I traded it in for a Subaru Impreza but I intend to get a manual Focus in the future when I can afford a second car.

Recording this album made me realize I wanted to go back to darker music, and was partially the genesis for VOID NXLL's birth.

And now, for the update

I forgot to write on the board. My bad. But I didn't actually write anything new, I just listened to the current mix of the album and decided I don't think it's long enough.