#hp cycle

[mywifeleftme]

198: "Various Artists" // Box

Box Boots / C.C. / Snake & Remus 2006, HP Cycle

For more than 25 years the gloomy weirdo unknown folk artist who created Box has released his music from behind a veil of secrecy, changing his alias and “record label” with each recording. In 2002, Rojvi (credited to Terry) and Music Performed by the High Mass (credited to Jim Collins) trickled out into the market, distributed without fanfare on the mail order lists of record collectors Paul Major (of Endless Boogie) and Stan Denski; in 2017, a dozen lathe-cut 7” and 12” records appeared in a thrift store, all credited to different artists, each possibly the only one of its kind in existence. His music has tended to be unearthed rather than released, with the exception of 2006’s Box, which collects three LPs originally discovered separately in 2004: Boots (Boots), No Tape Outside (Snake & Remus), and Live at the Rainbows End (C.C.). Box was distributed in an edition of a few hundred by HP Cycle, a Canadian label that, while miniscule, has endured longer than the cicada’s flight enjoyed by each of the artist’s own enterprises. In this sense, it is the closest thing the artist has provided to an intentional entry point to his work—the black peak marking a dark berg beneath the waves.

Mysteries naturally draw adventurers, and I’m indebted to the Discogs user known as envious for the information above, which I’ve drawn from his blog Rabbit Run Down the Hole of a Skull (which also hosts a near-complete digital archive of the artist’s known music). I think it’s helpful to parrot his research here not only because the story is in itself interesting, but because when I post this it will create another node for other seekers to access the next layer beneath the surface. According to envious, the first of the artist’s known pseudonyms Robyn Nice, and this name has become the catchall his small following uses to refer to him. (envious also occasionally refers to Nice as the Crystal Spider, which yes, instantly made me cum.) It’s thought that in his youth Nice spent time living on an acid-drenched Louisiana artist’s community called the Compound. The Compound was led by Damien Youth, himself a somewhat enigmatic folk musician, until harassment from suspicious local police forced its dissolution. Much of Nice’s work seems to call back to the image of an idyllic community, though its frequently bitter, despairing tone suggests the posture of an Adam mourning in exile—or a Manson in the making. envious’s blog digs much more deeply into the Nice mythos than I can here—one of my dream projects after I finish this year of record reviewing is to listen through Nice’s 15-hour catalogue in its entirety.

Moving on to Box itself, we find three 12” records in plain white sleeves, each hand stamped with a title and alias. All three records have a similar structure: free form, acoustic outsider folk songs on the A sides, lengthy jams or field recordings on the flip.

The individual records are packaged in plain sleeves with labels in blue print, like the original 2004 releases.

On the self-titled Boots record, Nice’s voice hits somewhere between early Peter Gabriel and Dylan, but the lyrics are wacked out ravings. On one track he snarls about “shitcaked corpses” and raped children before proclaiming “I’m a farm” and imitating a braying donkey. On another he bellows at what sounds like the top of his lungs about “compromised smells.” His deft progressive folk-inclined guitar playing tends to follow the emotional arc of his vocals, reserved at the outset, ragged and battered by the end. The B-side (“New Earth”) is roughly five minutes of faux-tribal New Age followed by 13 of minimal synth.

On No Tape Outside by Snake & Remus, the artist sounds somewhat older, which may indicate the albums collected in Box don’t all come from the same period. At any rate, Nice is in a more pensive mood, the trancelike songs expansive and beautifully played on guitar with various minimal piano/synth/percussion accompaniments (suggesting Snake & Remus could be a duo project). In place of Boots’s misanthropic rage, No Tape Outside is shrouded in despair at failing relationships, a fallen world. The B-side is fully instrumental, sharing the autumnal feeling of the vocal tracks but skewing more psychedelic, building through passages of rippling echo to a climax like a dozen clocks having a quiet disagreement over the exact time. Unlike the other records in the set, this record has no track names stamped on the disc’s label, leaving you with few moorings. I recall certain passages of inspired playing, snatches of strange poetry (“voice from across the sea / drips red into me / says my mother was wine”), a general sensation by record’s end of doomed peace.

The outlier here is C.C’s Live at the Rainbows End, which clearly features a different (considerably more technically proficient) vocalist. Good news, it’s also weird, though it sounds less like it was recorded by the guy on the cover of Aqualung than the others. envious speculates C.C. may be another Compound personality who used the alias Chris Cologne and recorded a CD called Horn for Blackberry, Nice’s early stab at a conventional indie label. C.C. is either a Brit or affecting an accent (I think the latter), and has a gentle, sighing way with his phrasing that suits these hushed ballads in a Nick Drake-ish mode. There is some downright gorgeous fingerstyle acoustic playing on this one and more conventional musical structures, even a few refrains (though no choruses). The guitar could plausibly be played by Nice, though the technique is cleaner and less shamanic than what we hear elsewhere on Box, but even if it isn’t Live at the Rainbows End shares a certain paranoid energy that somehow marks it as a product of the same artistic camp. The B-side offers one more short romantic tune followed by “Paul’s Jennifer is Dead,” a fifteen-minute field recording of a bonfire and distant, indistinct conversation. envious once again offers an astute guess here, suggesting this may reference the nighttime bonfires where members of Youth’s Compound once communed at the end of each day.

Overall, your mileage with Box will vary depending on your yen for the wilfully obscure. My interest in a savage, disoriented record like Boots is ultimately curious (maybe even prurient), in the same way I like to collect strange postings on street poles around my city. No Tape Outside on the other hand is a genuinely entrancing avant-folk record, while Live at the Rainbows End houses a delicate collection of misty-eyed tunes forked by morbid suspicion and trembling yearning. I think both are superb in their own ways. I am haunted by my questions about Box’s provenance, but also by its contents—both of which make for a strong endorsement to new listeners attuned to similar currents in the musical underworld.

198/365

[katelfiredemon]

List of some movies that I enjoy and the books they’re based on which often have different vibes than the movie but both are equally good in different ways

Howl’s Moving Castle: The book is titled the same but has very different vibes (movie is more whimsical fantasy while book feels more like realistic fantasy if that makes sense) and also has two companion books in which Howl and Sophie make appearances! Book by Dianna Wynne Jones

Kiki’s Delivery Service: The book is titled the same but again very different vibes (Movie Kiki deals with depression and losing your passion and Book Kiki is cute little witch dealing with people’s problems in cute little witch ways) Book by Eiko Kadono

Stardust: Book titled the same but different vibes (movie is intense and life threatening adventures, book is more fun travel adventures and much slower paced) Book by Neil Gaiman

The Secret of Moonacre: The book is titled The Little White Horse (similar to Stardust the book is a lot slower paced and less life threatening adventures but just as fun and interesting as well as a lot of characters have more depth to them than in the movie) Book by Elizabeth Goudge

The Last Unicorn: Book has same name (from what I remember the book is almost word for word exactly like the movie) Book by Peter S Beagle

Ella Enchanted: Book has the same name (ok this one is a little more controversial. In my opinion the book has a lot more depth and is a lot more interesting in the world building and characters, and the movie is a horrible adaptation. But if you look at the movie as a completely separate thing it is still enjoyable and has fun songs and is a classic from my childhood) Book by Gail Carson Levine

Mary and the Witch’s Flower: The book is titled The Little Broomstick (I have yet to read it but I have just checked it out so I will make sure to update this once I’ve read it! I expect the book will probably have better world building as the movie was fun but didn’t have time to go into depth and the mechanics of the witch’s world) Book by Mary Stewart

Earwig and the Witch: Book titled the same (I also have yet to read this book but have just checked it out and will update later. I think it’ll probably be similar to what I expect with the Little Broomstick where it will probably show a more developed world) Book by Dianna Wynne Jones

Ronja the Robber’s Daughter: Technically not a movie but a tv series. Book has the same name (I also haven’t read it but have just checked it out and will update but I think the show was very well done story wise though the animation wasn’t my favorite and I expect that it probably followed the book fairly closely) Book by Astrid Lindgren

Avalon High: Book has same name and similar plot but characters are switched around (this is actually one where I like the movie a lot better. I feel like the book is extremely predictable and does exactly what you expect to happen while the movie switches it up in a fun way that I feel like also makes sense and isn’t just doing it for the shock factor) Book by Meg Cabot

Tales From Earthsea: One book from the Earthsea Cycle has the same name (I’ve only read the first two books and so technically haven’t gotten to the book that the movie has been adapted from but it’s on my list and I will update once I eventually get to it. So essentially I’ve read the prequels that lead up to the events in the movie and I’ve heard the movie is vaguely different but has similar themes and plot points to the book) Books by Ursula K Le Guin

That’s all I can think of for now but if you have any suggestions to add let me know and I’ll see if I’ve watched the movie and read the books and if so I’ll make an addition to this post!

[nightmare-creatures-art]

[maryfromwork]

None of these have anything to do with each other but uh..

[gangseyboi]

If i had a nickel for every-time a series i loved ended with a character who definitely shouldn’t want to a cop/fed/agent of the government becoming a cop/fed/agent of the government i’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but its weird it happened twice

[strawberryscorp]

scorpius malfoy my little tote bag carrier

[rewritingcanon]

me re-reading my own fic that has over 100 kudos: erm… ok… that was something!! (i hate it so fucking much why do people like that i need to delete everything i have written)

me re-reading my own fic that has … like… 5 kudos: this.. is. a MASTERPIECE. (im genuinely an underrated genius trusttt meee)

[royalthorned]

let us all never forget that barty over explaining the imperious curse inadvertently helped harry resist it

[seaskate]

Adam and Ronan are the Remus and Sirius of the Raven Cylce, only Maggie wasnt a coward about then like JK Rowling was.

[andrewminyardslawyer]

I am seeing WAY to many H*rry P*tter cross overs/mentions in the AFTG and Raven Cycle fandoms lately. Y'all are testing my patience

[minas-linkverse]

When designing/writing characters that have certain traits/characteristics which in our current society may be a hot button topic (like being trans), how do you tackle making sure it’s not a Big Deal (ie that character’s dominate trait or only reason for being in the story) but also not brushing it under the rug (like what JK Rowling did with Dumbledore being gay)?

This topic is a little too complex for me to sufficently cover it in a tumblr ask+reply, and even if I could I would feel like it wasn't my place to speak for everyone.

I will attempt to give some advice, but consider this more of a starting off point than anything.

The main two things are research and improving yourself, I think. These two things go hand in hand to form a cycle that if you continue going through you will become someone who wont pull garbage bigotry on minorities.

What I mean is, that you have to research whatever group youre hoping to represent. Not just wikipedia or other articles, but find their own opinions. Things said by them. During that research you might get uncomfortable, confused, overwhelmed and maybe even angry.

That's because we are all subconciously bigoted one way or another. That's where improving yourself comes in. You will never be able to represent a group youre not a part of if you do not process the feelings that come up and deal with them. Subconcious bigtory is incredibly visible in writing. The reason someone like J.K ended up writing Dumbledore's sexuality the way she did, is because she never went through the cycle and learnt to be humble in the face of critique.

That gets me to another point, which is that you are allowed to and will make mistakes. Many weirdos online like to say you cant and will be cancelled forever, but if you are genuinely remorseful and show that and show youre listening... You can mess up. Its okay. People who want rep often also want to help.

Uhm... This is getting long, but to make clear what I mean, is that its very difficult to start, and there arent shortcuts... But you become someone better by the end of it. Be humble, find ways of learning that work for you, be kind and curious, and you might end up with so much more joy than just good writing. Life is better with more kinds of people, cultures and stories in it. I reccomend it.

[ibrithir-was-here]

Silly little personal headcanons for Sandmanverse I thought I'd throw out here for any other lovers of early 20th century Weird Fiction.

Clark Ashton Smith totally got fairy-godfathered by Dream as a baby, and totally wandered around the Dreaming proper as a kid, and that's why he's got so many fantastic poems about the Land of Dreams and its ruler, and also why his health and creativity took a steep dive around the time Dream was captured.

His creative drive starts to come back when he makes friends with Lovecraft, who also managed to get into the Dreaming proper as a kid (inspiring his Dream Cycle)

[californiannostalgia]

the raven cycle series and marauders fics have a weirdly similar throughline

the bad boy falls in love with the traumatized magician

the bespectacled leader has a prophesied doomed romance with a girl who's very aware of the class divide

the fourth guy is barely there until he very much is (or, depending on interpretation, very much isn't)

[didtransitionsavethem]

RANDOLPH CARTER from THE DREAM CYCLE AND CTHULHU MYTHOS BY H.P. LOVECRAFT

REASONING:

@aiden-nevada says: "I think he could either be transmasculine or an amab demiguy. They don't seem to get along with humans well and they mostly live in the Dreamlands, where they could have their "ideal body". So he could at least transition in the Dreamlands. And they could find a family of choice among ghouls and cats if the humans weren't supportive. Also, I love headcanoning him as trans and I use he/they pronouns for him."

Submission form here!

Did you do your daily click?

[maryfromwork]

Me trying not to be nerdish and weird to the public eye and failing

[bluesargentwannabe]

remus in atyd is so ronan lynch coded