Hivemind Times Issue #81

Welcome To The Hivemind Times!

Hello there family. Graydon here reporting from the hellscape that is the United States. Alas we still power on and continue our very best to try and give you folks some levity in these trying times. 

This week we hit you with some gd quality videos and if you think we are just gonna get up and retire because of some reason you are dead wrong. Some really classic stuff is on the way. 

Hope everyone got in some good game night activities with our card game over the past week and continue to do so, please post some testimonials I would love to hear about the experience. 

Enjoy this week's edition and have a great and safe weekend slime.

- Graydon

ON DANCE MUSIC

Hey it’s Andy again. No idea why they’re letting write another one of these, but I’m guessing one of the other guys was drafted or something. Anyways, I had a long, exhausting DJ career in Chicago in my late 20s, so I’m about to tell you guys about dance music and why there’s a place for everyone in it.

I’m gonna take a different approach here. If you’re reading this and you genuinely don’t like house, techno, EDM, or any of that kinda stuff, I get it. It can feel repetitive, annoying, and even mindless. The first thing you need to understand is the concept of dance music is just an attempt at a label, and the world of dance music is broader than you probably realize.

We all have danced at one point in our lives, and this is just music designed with this action in mind first and foremost. It’s not about dancing in a club, a crowded room, or even dancing at all. It’s just about enjoying the sound you’re listening to. So I’m going to call out a few things that people generally don’t like about dance music, and provide a few counterexamples that you still might actually enjoy listening to.

REASON 1: NO REAL SOUNDS

It’s the oldest one in the book. “I LIKE REAL INSTRUMENTS” you say. And I get it. In an age of shitty AI, nobody wants to consume more soulless, synthetic content. But here’s the thing - a lot of this music actually DOES use real instruments, in more ways than you’d realize. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Disco House. This niche is basically synonymous with funk guitar riffs, crispy piano, and lush string sections.

Here’s a playlist of some of the best disco house I currently know of:

REASON 2: NOT INTENSE ENOUGH

Are you angry all the time? Do you feel like you’d rather punch a mall cop than listen to some soulless, commercial-sounding house music? I get it, and honestly I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit. Surprisingly, there’s plenty of dance music that has more of an edge to it. There’s a lot of stuff out there that would be impossible to replicate without the same raw, intense energy that metal or alt rap brings to the table.

Here’s a playlist of some of this kind of stuff:

REASON 3: THERE ARE NO LYRICS

This might actually be the one I’ve heard the most. And it’s totally fair. A ton of people really just don’t want to listen to instrumentals all day. Or maybe you really love a specific genre, like rap or indie or something. Here’s the thing most people don’t realize: you can listen to your favorite songs in a totally different way, and it can even make them feel fresh and new again.

Some of the best remixes aren’t really allowed on Spotify or other major streaming platforms for copyright reasons. Lucky for you, there are a ton of artists that are constantly putting out brilliant remixes and mashups of rap/indie/pop songs on SoundCloud (of all places lol).

Here are some of the best tracks that have come out of this community in the last few years:

So how are we feeling about all this? Did any of these songs change your mind? Hopefully you see what I’m trying to do here. There’s a few dance tracks out there for EVERYONE.

If you hated them all and you still feel think dance music sucks, that’s fine, but I’m done trying to help you. I failed you, or maybe you failed yourself. But if you did find a few tracks you liked, it would absolutely make my day and I’m very happy to hear that.

Anyways, I’m gonna go to the bar. It’s noon and I’m thirsty. See you guys next time, but probably not since I’m on thin ice after stealing Graydon’s chain again. Peace out fuckers.

- Andy

VIDEO GAMES

I am buying Crimson Desert please stay posted, once I get 20 hours in or so I will have a take.

- Graydon

MARCH MADNESS IS UPON US

QUINN’S CHEMISTRY CLASS

Top 10 from my likes on my old SoundCloud account from 10 years ago

I was going through the likes on my SoundCloud account I used to release electronic music on like 10 years ago and I thought I would share some of my favorite ones with y’all. It’s all experimental electronic music, mostly on the bassier/trappier side, but some of this stuff was so ahead of its time it still blows my mind.

Luminate - dream logic

I absolutely love everything about this song, the sound design places you inside an atmosphere of swelling 808s and melodic pieces of vocals and environmental sounds with breaks and switch-ups to build tension and disorient you before pulling you back in to something familiar.

octbr - u know what i need

This guy has to be one of the best hidden producers on the entire internet, idk what happened to him but in the early 2010s he went on a crazy run of releases that I still go back to. He uses almost ASMR level environmental sounds, field recordings, and textures throughout the entire song to tell a story, it’s like Josh Pan almost but with a consistent main song structure, drum patterns, and melodies to latch on to.

dabow + QUIX - Like That

Really aggressive and abrasive lead with a really interesting rhythm. Some shit that would be played at an edm festival.

sober rob - Moonlight

Dark and gritty drums and bassline with a HUGE flowing lead that almost lags behind the drums but it makes you want to bob your head.

brothel - timmy

Literally just a witch house flip of the Timmy Turner freestyle by Desiigner but it rules.

SwuM - finesse

Flips the vocals from Be Real by Kid Ink into an almost phonky trap beat with a cow bell lead, gliding bass line and funky shimmering melodic components.

Dr. Derg - depression

Derg was one of the first people to popularize that gritty freeform bass music that Tsuruda and like G Jones and Eprom make. Sadly, he took his own life a year after releasing this but his influence in bass music sound design will always be there.  

Untitld + sktchy ppl - Diamonds

Untitld is one of my favorite bass/dubstep producers, his sound design and mixing has always been on the more experimental side and this one in particular showcases multiple takes on the same evolving lead throughout with a vocoded and distorted rap vocal to hold together the rhythm of the track.

zotti - R.E.M.

One of the coldest sound designers ever. Very experimental bass/trap music with constantly evolving, but broken, rhythmic and melodic motifs supported by lush and bright melodies and chords.

Tibe - Fluvial

BONUS: sadworldbeats - puzzle

This is literally Gibby from iCarly’s music and its genuinely awesome.

- Quinn

SPORTS

The almighty have deemed once again that Detroit may have nothing nice and collapsed the lung of young ethical warrior Cade Cunningham. At this moment please respect those fans who have endured through such great pain and any prayers that can be spared will be much appreciated. 

Personally I think we will all now bear witness to the ascension of the man known as Bball Paul (Reed) and or Danis Jenkins going psycho mode. 

My sister had a collapsed lung when she was young and it’s no joke. I hope we can see this man back on the court next year in some capacity.

- Graydon

RILEY’S TWITTER DRAFTS

TRAVEL

Graydon and Tony are off to Cancun next week incoming hot pictures.

POEM OF THE WEEK

Arthur Rimbaud (goat)(1854-1891)

Evil (Le Mal)

While the red-stained mouths
of machine guns ring
Across the infinite expanse of day;
While red or green,
before their posturing King,
The massed battalions break and melt away;
And while a monstrous frenzy runs a course
That makes of a thousand men a smoking pile
— Poor fools! — dead, in summer, in the grass,
On Nature's breast, who meant these men to smile;
There is a God, who smiles upon us through
The gleam of gold, the incense-laden air,
Who drowses in a cloud of murmured prayer,
And only wakes when weeping mothers bow
Themselves in anguish, wrapped in old black shawls —
And their last small coin into his coffer falls.

MERCH