Sleepless Night Blog, Vol. 1: Just going on a nostalgia trip here, don't mind me.

 So, I have pretty bad insomnia. It's developed over the past year or so and it's caused by a lot of different reasons. I've picked up a few habits that have (for the most part) helped me out. I have a lot on my mind, so tonight I'm gonna try getting a lot of things out of my system. A big that helps me is journaling and just kinda word-vomiting.

A big thing that's been keeping me going lately is the new Vanity Contest album. It's looking likely that we're stopping all projects for the remainder of this year, putting them on the back burner, and focusing on shows and this new record. It's really something else. We've been a little quiet on working on it other than saying that "we're working on it." It's really coming together on the instrumental end. Picking apart tracks, polishing up the agonizing little details. You probably wouldn't notice but I know it's there, so I have to fix it. We're gonna try doing vocals over the next two weeks, or at least I'll do 'em on my own time if I can't get Elijah to hop on board. I have all the lyrics and vocal melodies save for one song done but I'm hoping that getting the rest of the record down will help give this track a nudge. It's been a total pain in the ass to get anything out of, story-wise, but it's too good as far as the music goes to drop the track behind. The goal is to finish the album by the end of this year, which it looks like we'll have it very much done before then. It's just a matter of getting artwork started/finished, planning out how we want to roll it out, and getting money pulled together to make it happen.

Anyhoo, moving on from that, before I just start spilling all the surprises. I've been listening to lots of music lately. Mainly records when I'm home and around the house. I've been really meaning to get a CD stereo for my room but haven't yet. So vinyl's been the big move lately. Lots of records I haven't put on in a long time or haven't put on with a vinyl copy I bought yet. I finally picked up Ghosts I-IV by Nine Inch Nails, which is a massive influence on me and easily tied with The Fragile for me. Yeah, I know it's sacrilege in that community considering it's ranked lower usually, but I don't care. I absolutely adore the project. I gush more about the record in a video I put up on the channel the other day.

It's just SO satisfying to have finally filled a pretty big gap in the collection. I'm still waiting for Year Zero and The Slip to be reissued (get on it, Trent it's been four fuckin years!). The middle era of NIN from With Teeth to Ghosts is one of my favorite eras of the band, and despite me not being a NIN fan when these were being released I have weird nostalgia for that early internet reaching-out-to-the-audience vibe that those records all have. I think it really broke down a wall between the band and the community of fans that support 'em, especially with how much the band was doing during this period. To me this record is easily the perfect representation of that, it shattered the "rockstar" image that I had of the band and really personalized the experience of listening to it. This album being my initial, "I sought this out myself" introduction to the band, I've just always come back to it because of how impactful it was for me. Totally changed my perception of what music could be.

So that's one album that changed music for me. Let's talk about another!

Kid A by Radiohead has been on my mind a lot lately. The reissue with Amnesiac was finally announced, and you're goddamn right I bought it! I said I would. I said I would to Henry, so of course I did. I love that album. I remember very vividly getting it, I was with May and our two-time tradition that wasn't really a tradition at the end of each school year (for only two years) was walking all the way to Reckless Records. The first time was my getting Kid A and In Rainbows on CD. I used to have a picture somewhere of me holding the CDs that exact day but I can't seem to find it. It's not super important though, so 🤷‍♂️

Anyways, getting the CDs weren't nearly as important to me as listening to them. Kid A was an album I was convinced to listen to through Taylor Avella's breakdown of their discography, plus further convincing from my aunt Chandra. You probably get the gist from here, one record absolutely changed my life and the other was In Rainbows. I'm ecstatic to be getting it and Amnesiac on vinyl together. My brother actually has an OG press of Kid A but not Amnesiac, so it's nice to finally be adding some Radiohead that's actually mine to the vinyl. Weirdly enough my brother always bought their vinyl and I just wasn't worried about buying one until we (maybe) have to split up the collection. We'll get to that bridge when we get to it though, ha! Thinking about Kid A a lot lately and listening to it again has been weird. It helped me through a lot of dark things, feelings, and anxiety that just... understood what was happening. The artwork of the cold, icy landscapes and digital hellholes always stuck out to me, and the extra booklet freaked me OUT when I realized I had one under my copy's tray. Such an impactful collection of music. I'd say more so than Ghosts, but even typing that pained me a bit. It's tough competition.

Side note, I didn't find that picture of me holding the CDs the day I got them but I DID find a picture of my old collection, circa 2018?. Crazy to look at back then, when I was still using the shoeboxes I improvised into shelves with reinforced, taped-up cardboard. Also hilarious to me, is that there are like, maybe 10 artists in there max. It's almost ALL Nine Inch Nails. They gave me something to collect and seek out though! This gave me some weird nostalgia, I remember picking out CDs to bring all the time to school with my Discman. Yes, I got laughed at because it was 2018 and I had a Discman but I didn't care. I know this wasn't THAT long ago but this was what I was rocking for the better part of about two years before that for my CDs, which was when I really got serious about collecting (and when I got my Discman!).

That's kind of all that's been on my mind lately. A lot of thinking about music. Whether it's working on it, appreciating other people's music, whatever. I'm gonna embed the video from the other day below.