Shooting Stars
Apr. 2nd, 2026 01:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
utilitymonstergirlI talked about Stardust last November, and its cohort of weird queers has put out a couple projects since then that have caught my eye:
At first I was disappointed that underscores' U didn't resent its audience more; I was expecting the I O U sample to build into a theme of "what do I owe you, you parasocial fucks?" And while there's nothing as harsh as JRJRJR or CLOUT STRIFE, a track that acidic would ruin the blend of tart and sweet. Instead, every song has its own angle on frustration and ambivalence, whether it's Hollywood Forever being named after a cemetery or the prickly defensiveness of Do It. And surrounding it all is airtight pop production that quotes Timbaland and Imogen Heap and many others; though U lacks the lore and stylistic swings of Wallsocket, I always like it when an artist makes pristine pop to show that all the times they decline to do so are by choice.1
I mentioned Jane Remover's ♡ in my year-end roundup, and it continues to be a lovely set of melancholy jams. But I've also been greatly enjoying their hour-long DJ sets for NTS Radio, especially this one. It's a great display of the same omnivorous taste as Dariacore et al, albeit less frenetically shitposty, and I gotta admire the flex of slipping in your own songs alongside all-time classics. It's full of delightful pairings and transitions, but there are two distinct three-hit combos that stick with me: opening with New Orleans bounce into SOPHIE into Bad Bunny, and climaxing with Silver Screen (Shower Scene) into Phantom Pt. II into Do It. Sublime. Much like with Girl Talk's work, I already know that I'll spend years hearing songs and going "ohh, so that's what that sample was."
Femtanyl has released their first album, MAN BITES DOG, which is a little longer than CHASER and REACTOR put together. I don't really have the technical or genre vocabulary to discuss its fine details, but here's what stands out to me: there's a bit less distortion and pitch-shifting on the vocals, letting them have more of a distinct tgirl register. BODY THE PISTOL seems to be quoting a riff from Weapon of Choice and VIDEO NASTY's cadence reminds me a bit of GRAVITY WEAPON (and I imagine Ada Rook would collab well with these girls). Overall, there's a lot of great and small innovation in production and composition, and I'm excited to see how these go over with a crowd when I see them later this month.2
ISSBROKIE has joined forces with fellow underground weirdo BLCKK to make CRASHDUMMIEZ, which is... a bit of a mess. An overlong intro skit leads into four straight bangers, but then my interest falls off and never returns. Double-act albums need tight chemistry to truly work, and Brokie's crass dipshit energy can go great with the right straight man or partner in crime, but the dynamic isn't consistently here, and I don't click with the swerves in production or tone. Still, GRAPHICS! and DATBOI!3 offer tantalizing glimpses of a gen-Z Get Ya Mind Correct;4 this album would be so good if it was good.
Also, some albums I'm looking forward to from people who weren't on Stardust but are pretty socially close by:
Ada Rook is returning to concept albums with C𝖀m Songs, about, well... let me quote from the Patreon blurbs:
Unreal Tournament is about a girl named Unreal Tournament. she accidentally witnesses two demons performing a ritual and becomes obsessed, trying via futile copycat efforts to drag her life into something resembling the heights of emotion she felt from that glimpse of something she shouldn't have seen.
this song is named after one of the album's three central characters, Risk Repeater. they're a demon who fled their home along with their twin, Rue Repeater, in order to live in our world away from their parents. in their homeworld they're immortal, but here, they need to rely on elaborate rituals involving demon cum and human tears in order to survive. time also moves very slowly for a demon living in the human world, which can make life unbearably boring. Risk responds to this by recklessly acting out and constantly seeking stimulation while Rue is more passive. this song is basically a little gimpse into Risk's interior world, their secret insecurities, and their relationship with their twin.
Fuck yeah. The tracks are being released weekly on Patreon with a public launch in June, and what I've heard so far is promising but I can't wait to hear the full run of the album and discuss it with others.
Jam2go, the creator of Kitten Burst, is taking a break from developing GANGSTALK to make Crash Test, a moody indie rock/electronica album about turn-of-the-millennium malaise featuring Kasane Teto.5 The lore and aesthetics are immaculate, and the overall vibe is "the synth from Fitter Happier transitioned and started her own band to sing about the other existential problems hanging over her."
Vylet Pony is working on the mixtape Gonarch's Lair, with an elaborate backstory inspired by Half-Life6 and a stable7 of collaborators; I was slightly surprised to not see Danny Brown on here, but I'm psyched to see what comes out of her work with zombAe. And after Love & Ponystep's sharp pastiches of recession-era pop-rap, I'm excited to see her work with more modern styles, especially with her proclamation of doubling down on pony themes and imagery. Let the music never stop (no).
1. Also, it's just very funny to go "Hey, pop fans, while I have you here, can I interest you in a concept album about the profound spiritual rot of the Detroit suburbs?"
2. In recent months they've also been working with acts like Astrid, Machine Girl, and takihasdied; these tracks don't all grab me but it's very cool to see them making moves like that regardless.
3. Goodness, this piece has a lot of all-caps proper nouns, doesn't it
4. "Could it be that me comparing this to an album that's probably older than both these artists illustrates some sort of generational disconnect?" "No, it's the children who are wrong"
5. As wildly transgender as that premise is, I will assume until further notice that Mr. 2go is simply a rock-solid Grungler.
6. the primary villain is "The Living Ice, which devours the alien life of Xen", which could be a metaphor for anything.
7. get it
At first I was disappointed that underscores' U didn't resent its audience more; I was expecting the I O U sample to build into a theme of "what do I owe you, you parasocial fucks?" And while there's nothing as harsh as JRJRJR or CLOUT STRIFE, a track that acidic would ruin the blend of tart and sweet. Instead, every song has its own angle on frustration and ambivalence, whether it's Hollywood Forever being named after a cemetery or the prickly defensiveness of Do It. And surrounding it all is airtight pop production that quotes Timbaland and Imogen Heap and many others; though U lacks the lore and stylistic swings of Wallsocket, I always like it when an artist makes pristine pop to show that all the times they decline to do so are by choice.1
I mentioned Jane Remover's ♡ in my year-end roundup, and it continues to be a lovely set of melancholy jams. But I've also been greatly enjoying their hour-long DJ sets for NTS Radio, especially this one. It's a great display of the same omnivorous taste as Dariacore et al, albeit less frenetically shitposty, and I gotta admire the flex of slipping in your own songs alongside all-time classics. It's full of delightful pairings and transitions, but there are two distinct three-hit combos that stick with me: opening with New Orleans bounce into SOPHIE into Bad Bunny, and climaxing with Silver Screen (Shower Scene) into Phantom Pt. II into Do It. Sublime. Much like with Girl Talk's work, I already know that I'll spend years hearing songs and going "ohh, so that's what that sample was."
Femtanyl has released their first album, MAN BITES DOG, which is a little longer than CHASER and REACTOR put together. I don't really have the technical or genre vocabulary to discuss its fine details, but here's what stands out to me: there's a bit less distortion and pitch-shifting on the vocals, letting them have more of a distinct tgirl register. BODY THE PISTOL seems to be quoting a riff from Weapon of Choice and VIDEO NASTY's cadence reminds me a bit of GRAVITY WEAPON (and I imagine Ada Rook would collab well with these girls). Overall, there's a lot of great and small innovation in production and composition, and I'm excited to see how these go over with a crowd when I see them later this month.2
ISSBROKIE has joined forces with fellow underground weirdo BLCKK to make CRASHDUMMIEZ, which is... a bit of a mess. An overlong intro skit leads into four straight bangers, but then my interest falls off and never returns. Double-act albums need tight chemistry to truly work, and Brokie's crass dipshit energy can go great with the right straight man or partner in crime, but the dynamic isn't consistently here, and I don't click with the swerves in production or tone. Still, GRAPHICS! and DATBOI!3 offer tantalizing glimpses of a gen-Z Get Ya Mind Correct;4 this album would be so good if it was good.
Also, some albums I'm looking forward to from people who weren't on Stardust but are pretty socially close by:
Ada Rook is returning to concept albums with C𝖀m Songs, about, well... let me quote from the Patreon blurbs:
Unreal Tournament is about a girl named Unreal Tournament. she accidentally witnesses two demons performing a ritual and becomes obsessed, trying via futile copycat efforts to drag her life into something resembling the heights of emotion she felt from that glimpse of something she shouldn't have seen.
this song is named after one of the album's three central characters, Risk Repeater. they're a demon who fled their home along with their twin, Rue Repeater, in order to live in our world away from their parents. in their homeworld they're immortal, but here, they need to rely on elaborate rituals involving demon cum and human tears in order to survive. time also moves very slowly for a demon living in the human world, which can make life unbearably boring. Risk responds to this by recklessly acting out and constantly seeking stimulation while Rue is more passive. this song is basically a little gimpse into Risk's interior world, their secret insecurities, and their relationship with their twin.
Fuck yeah. The tracks are being released weekly on Patreon with a public launch in June, and what I've heard so far is promising but I can't wait to hear the full run of the album and discuss it with others.
Jam2go, the creator of Kitten Burst, is taking a break from developing GANGSTALK to make Crash Test, a moody indie rock/electronica album about turn-of-the-millennium malaise featuring Kasane Teto.5 The lore and aesthetics are immaculate, and the overall vibe is "the synth from Fitter Happier transitioned and started her own band to sing about the other existential problems hanging over her."
Vylet Pony is working on the mixtape Gonarch's Lair, with an elaborate backstory inspired by Half-Life6 and a stable7 of collaborators; I was slightly surprised to not see Danny Brown on here, but I'm psyched to see what comes out of her work with zombAe. And after Love & Ponystep's sharp pastiches of recession-era pop-rap, I'm excited to see her work with more modern styles, especially with her proclamation of doubling down on pony themes and imagery. Let the music never stop (no).
1. Also, it's just very funny to go "Hey, pop fans, while I have you here, can I interest you in a concept album about the profound spiritual rot of the Detroit suburbs?"
2. In recent months they've also been working with acts like Astrid, Machine Girl, and takihasdied; these tracks don't all grab me but it's very cool to see them making moves like that regardless.
3. Goodness, this piece has a lot of all-caps proper nouns, doesn't it
4. "Could it be that me comparing this to an album that's probably older than both these artists illustrates some sort of generational disconnect?" "No, it's the children who are wrong"
5. As wildly transgender as that premise is, I will assume until further notice that Mr. 2go is simply a rock-solid Grungler.
6. the primary villain is "The Living Ice, which devours the alien life of Xen", which could be a metaphor for anything.
7. get it
