Aidel by Casey Smith

AIDELZINE

Vol 1

Created By Aidel Pedro

Preface Aidelzine is about whatever I want. Current trains of thoughts, new music I find, and neat media are some things to expect. I hope you find some things you like in here!

Anime

Evangelion On the surface, Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime about teenagers fighting in giant robots against monsters sent from heaven. But the show has a lot more to offer incorporating elements of Judeo-Christian beliefs, the human condition and psychology. Plus the mechs look super cool! If you like creating theories about shows or listening to explanations about

complicated stories, I recommend watching it because it has a massive fanbase still discussing this 25 year old show. Plus there is a new movie on the way.

Serial Experiments Lain Remember what I said about Eva having a complex story? Serial Experiments Lain is possibly the most confusing series out there. SE: Lain is a cyberpunk show that discusses the internet, reality and metaphysics. It’s about a girl who is introduced to the internet, called “The Wired”, and it quickly consumes her

(or rather, she consumes the internet). By the way, this was created in ‘98 so it was way ahead of its time and is more relevant now than ever. It’s only 13 episodes but it packs a load of information and will have you perplexed the whole time. I highly recommend watching this one if you find yourself spending more time than most on online message boards.

FLCL

Fooly Cooly or FLCL is an absurd and surreal 3-hour OVA that is extremely fun to watch. It’s not as deep as Eva or Lain but has the most awesome animated scenes ever. It’s about a boy living in the suburbs that meets a mysterious woman that becomes a part of his life. It really captures the feeling of being a clueless kid having crazy life experiences just wiz by and not completely understanding them. Even though at the end you’d walk away not knowing what you just watched, you’ll still know that you really enjoyed it anyway.

titles such as Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach and Digimon. Even if you don’t like anime, I think you should watch it for the stellar animation, characters and performances. It truly is a masterpiece of a film.

Akira

This anime is a 2 hour long wild ride of a movie.While watching this you are not only met with stunning animation but a bleak decaying atmosphere and gut wrenching violence. Akira is about a secret military project that turns a biker gangster into a murderous psychic reeking havoc across Neo Tokyo. It was the first anime to pick up a major following in the west and its success led to the distribution label, Manga Entertain, which was the first major distributor of anime in the west with

Outsider Music

The premise of Outsider Music is very similar to the idea of Outsider Art. It’s music produced by people who are self taught, appear naive and have childlike qualities. They often suffer from mental illness or disabilities. Now, I want to start this off with a disclaimer: I am not showing these artists to bully them because they’re weird. I am showing them to highlight how unique, odd and creative these individuals are. Outsider music isn’t music made intentionally weird, as a joke or just plain badly. It’s produced organically by strange people. Many of these artists were the first to create lo-fi music in their bedroom before it really became a big thing with the internet. Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll share some artists that fall into this genre and give a synopsis on what they’re about.

The Shaggs

This band of 3 sisters were a one album wonder producing the record “Philosophy of the World”. Their father was told by a fortune teller that his daughters would become rockstars so he sold many valuable possessions, pulled his daughters from school and had them practice their instruments to form a band even though they had no interest in producing music. He bought studio time and had them produce an album before they had learned their instruments and they produced the most jarring, strange album ever. The guitars sound cheap and the drummer is

always off beat. It cannot be reproduced. What’s interesting about this album is that it’s a unique case of music being made by children with complete creative freedom and little interference or influence. “My Pal Foot Foot” is a song about a lost dog called foot foot and may be the best example to get a feel for what it was like. The Shaggs somehow received a lot of attention and are recognized by Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain.

Tiny Tim

You’ve likely heard of one of Tiny Tim’s songs before. He is known for playing the ukulele, singing in an incredibly high pitch, having a tall frame and sort of ghoulish appearance. His song “TipToe Through the

Picture of Daniel Johnston

Tulips” was in the movie Insidious used to set a creepy vibe. His song “Living in the Sunlight” (I’m so Happy) was in Spongebob and gave a whimsical feeling. Tiny Tim gained some fame in the 60s when he appeared in talk shows and movies. He was even nominated for a Grammy for his children’s album “For All My Little

Friends” in ‘69.

Daniel Johnston If you hate music with SOUL and purity, skip this paragraph. Daniel Johnston is the “poster child” of outsider music in a way. He created a large quantity of tracks, lo-fi self taped recordings, recognition from famous artists and

unfortunately suffered manic depression. His songs are very intimate, direct and personal. His lyrics usually discuss depression, love, relationships, and social interaction. Some must-listen songs by Johnston are: True Love Will FInd You In The End, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Life in Vain. A song I love dearly and find super underrated is “Etiquette”.

Daniel Johnston’s Hi How Are You album art

Other Outsider Musicians and Songs Wesley Willis - Retard Bus BJ Snowden - In Canada Luie Luie - El Touchy Eilert Pilarm - Jailhouse Rock Shooby Taylor - Speedo Gary Wilson - Music for Drums

BJ Snowden Proud Canadian and Former Band Teacher

Wesley Willis Schizophrenic Musician

Gary Wilson Experimental Musician and Performance Artist

Luie Luie Multi-Instrumentalist Musician, Screenwriter and Painter

Eilert Pilarm Elvis Impersonator (Sounds nothing like Elvis)

Shooby Taylor Vocally Imitates Brass Instruments

R Stevie Moore The King of Home Recording

Conclusion I wanted to share these stories because I want the idea of authenticity and being absolutely yourself to resonate with people. Today, everyone is hiding themselves in the figurative armor of sarcasm and irony to protect their ego so that parts of their true self they aren’t comfortable don’t shine through.Those parts that we hide are what make us individuals and unique. In art, originality is highly valued so why would you want to be like everyone else? Sure, some people will make fun of you but none of that should matter if you respect yourself and everything that comes with your personality. Of course, you shouldn’t use this as an excuse to not better yourself if you do have real issues. But as long as you are honest with yourself, you can change your behavior.

Music I like EveryNoise.com

This is a really cool site that lets you find new music easily by allowing you to listen to every musical subgenre in existence. When you click “scan” it will randomly select a genre from a list of thousands and play a snippet of a song from that genre. After about 10 seconds it switches to a different genre.When you click one of the genres and go to its page, you are met with dozens of artists within that genre and can shuffle snippets in the same way as the genres. You can also find related subgenres. If you have some time to kill or in the mood to listen to something new, you should give this site a try. I discovered a genre called “Broken Beat” that I really dig.

Math Rock The name “Math Rock” sounds very strange. But don’t worry, it doesn’t involve lyrics about calculus. It’s a genre of music characterized by odd time signatures. Most music is played in 4/4 timing but in math rock, bands play in time signatures such as 7/8, 5/4, 13/8, etc. This results in very unorthodox rhythms. The joke being that having a band

play at these time signatures would require a lot of math. Bands within this genre tend to be purely instrumental. The melodies tend to feel very angular which when paired with weird rhythms, compound to create an off kilter feeling as a first impression. The thing about complicated music is that the more you listen to it, the less alien it sounds. The album “Hold Your Horse Is” by Hella sounded like an unlistenable cacophony of guitar and drums on my first try. But something about it had me come back to it and now it’s one of my favorite albums.

Slint’s “Spiderland” Album Art

Hella, Live in Japan

Favorite Songs

Clever Girl - Teleblister Hella - Been a Long Time Cousin Slint - Good Morning Captain Elephant Gym - Finger Giraffes? Giraffes! - When Catholic Girls Go Camping, The Nicotine Vampires Rule Supreme. Piglet - Pangea Reunion Tera Melos - Melody 4 Yvette Young of the Floral - Cars band CoVet performing Covet - Shibuya Don Caballero - A Lot of People Tell me I have a Fake British Accent

Here is a flow chart made by madcowsplaystangs on the Math Rock board on Reddit

This is the thumbnail to a YouTube video with 4M+ views called “Oldskool Jungle Drum n Bass Mix 9297” that is a good starting point. In the beginning, the DJ includes some facts about the genre.

Jungle / Drum ‘n’ Bass Jungle Music is a genre of Electronic Music known for having fast, sampled, and chopped up breakbeats with heavy bass lines. It originated in the UK around ‘92. Jungle and DnB are sometimes used synonymously but there are some differences. Jungle Music is usually influenced by Reggae, Ragga and Hip Hop. The term Drum and Bass appeared later and tends to have basslines that are more integrated with the percussion. I’m not familiar with DnB as I am with Math Rock but it is a style I appreciate. My personal favorite artist is Sewerslvt. Here are a few good songs to come out of DnB & Jungle. • • • • • •

Adam F - Circles Sewerslvt - Mr. Kill Myself Lemon D - I Can’t Stop Bittertooth - Bahamut Sewerslvt - Pretty Cvnt Tom & Jerry - Maximum Style (Remix)

Sewerslvt’s “Draining Love Story” Album Art

Aphex Twin

There are very few artists I look up to creatively in the same way I do to Aphex Twin (Alejandro Jodorowski comes to mind but that would be way too long of a tangent). Put simply, Richard D James also known as Aphex Twin, AFX, and Polygon Window, is a musician that produces electronic music in a wide variety of styles. He combines styles of music such as techno, breakbeat, drum and bass, classical and ambient music to create his own idiosyncratic style. He has a very unique approach to music. Most of it is atonal, meaning it is not played in a key. He pays little to no regard to any music theory

but still produces phenomenal music. He’s the kind of guy that programs and takes things apart to see what’s underneath. He produces his own sounds electronically and physically and programs software to create music with algorithms. Something interesting about Aphex Twin is that he created a lot of mystery around who he really is. He made up ridiculous stories about owning a tank, buying and living in a defunct bank, owning a submarine, and never sleeping. Some of the stories he has told in interviews sound somewhat plausible yet a little far fetched. In a few, he said that he creates music in lucid dreams and tries to recreate them in real life. He has also said he has hundreds of unreleased tracks and he lets his friends pick out what should be released. What also adds to his enigmatic nature is his reluctant attitude towards self promotion and interviews. He is very open on this stance in the

few interviews he has been in and has denied many invitations. This attitude is reflected in his discography. He pays very little regard to how his music is released. He doesn’t put effort into creating titles for songs, sometimes producing records under another alias or without any track names. He makes it very clear that he doesn’t want to justify what he does. All he cares about is being able to make music which is a characteristic I admire. Hopefully, you are curious to hear what this guy’s music actually sounds like. Luckily for you I have collected a few of my favorites to share in this list. • • • • • •

Flim 4 Alberto Balsalm Avril 14 Ventolin Windowlicker (Has Iconic Music Video) • T69 Collapse

“Drukqs” Album Art > > >

Aphex Twin’s “...I Care Because You Do” Album Art

Aphex Twin’s “Richard D James” Album Art

Album Art Collage

This is a collage I made using Topster 2 displaying some of my favorite albums. It includes genres and artists I have not mentioned before. I don’t expect anyone to listen to all of this stuff but I think these collages look really cool. Go to neverendingchartrendering.org to make your own personal collage!

Sewerslvt - Draining Love Story

The Fall of Troy Manipulator

MF DOOM - MM.. Food

Kawai Sprite - Friday Night Funkin’, Vol. 1 (Original Game Giraffes? Giraffes! - More Soundtrack) Skin With Milk-Mouth Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso In The CoVet - effloresce Deep Time Forever

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

Tyler, the Creator - Flower Boy

toe - the book about my idle plot on a vague anxiety

Madvillain - Madvillainy

Aphex Twin - Drukqs

pilotredsun Achievement This Town Needs Guns - Animals

Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns

Hella - Hold Your Horse Is

Slint - Spiderland

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya - Bootie Noir

Elephant Gym - Angle My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade Echochamber - i’m real, i’m here

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 Machine Girl - WLFGRL Tame Impala - Currents

J Dilla - Donuts

Myself as an Artist

I don’t have a very clear idea of what exactly I like to draw. Ever since I started this semester, I haven’t had a lot of time to doodle and make my own art. When I was most active in drawing, I filled a few sketchbooks with drawings of nude figures, undeveloped characters, animals, cars, portraits and uncanny creatures with some human characteristics. Most of these drawings are done from observation, apart from the characters

and creatures. I tried drawing from imagination recently and had a hard time getting what I wanted.The few drawings that are original are few and far between, but the more I force myself to come up with ideas and develop them; I get a better idea of what I want to do with my art. Career-wise, I have a good idea of where I want to go. I want to work in the animation industry, whether it be in pre-production doing the writing, storyboarding or

design, or in the production of the animation itself. I have made some animations before on YouTube under the name “blokmotion” that usually involve audio taken from a meme or stand up comedy bit and animating it. I just don’t know what my message is. Why am I making animations? Why am I creating art? Why art of all things I could be doing? The answer could be anything that resonates and can stick for a lifetime and is oftentimes politi-

cal.This is a question all artists should ask themselves to get an idea of what they want in life. There is a great Ted Talk on this topic called “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek. Give it a watch if you are an artist and I gave you an artistic existential crisis. I’ll use this remaining pages to show some more art I have created for the past few years from my sketchbooks, school assignments and computer. Thanks for reading! :^]

I can be found on the following platforms with the tag, “blokmotion”

Youtube Twitter Instagram Newgrounds

Deviant Art Soundcloud Discord (#2533) Steam