Tuesday Tunes

It was the early days of the internet. Youtube wasn’t a thing. Facebook hadn’t even begun to secret away peoples data. Someone had to tell me that Google was a great new search engine.

It was the before time, in the long long ago.

I had to wait for thirty minutes on a dial up connection for a flash video of about three minutes to load. It was painful, but incredibly worth it. My favourite haunt was albinoblacksheep.com, a website that is responsible for a lot of my formative humour. I watched Animutation become a thing, Fanimutation be deemed it’s lesser brother, a fight break out among the supporters of each, only to be settled when Colin Mochrie fought Jesus H. Christ. And I’m not making any of this up.

These two songs come from the heyday of internet animation.

The Song(s)
Song/s: ‘I’ve Got Some Falling To Do’ / ‘Geeks in Love’
Artist: Lemon Demon
Album/s: Hip to the Javabean / Damn Skippy - 2004 / 2005 - self published (I think)
Method of discovery: www.albinoblacksheep.com

Research:
Lemon Demon is Neil Cicierega’s most prolific musical outing, spanning nine albums released from 2003 to 2016 … so far. Not only that, but that Animutation stuff I mentioned at the top, he’s credited with popularising the art style. Oh, and hey, have you ever seen Potter Puppet Pals? Yeah, that’s him too. If you’ve ever heard or seen the “Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny”, Neil again. He’s a maniac. he’s been a staple of The FuMP (The Funny Music Project) for the last nine years (2019 still has some months left).

The other half of my nostalgia in these particular songs is the Animator, New Zealand grown Andrew Kepple, of “Too Much Spare Time” Animation. You know how I mentioned that battle of Mochrie vs Jesus, Kepple was the one to animate that whole saga. He also animated both of the songs here, links below. So the guy who animated these songs for the guy who sung them was the same guy who settled an internet argument started around an emerging internet artform the other guy popularized. Dizzy yet?

The songs themselves are crazier than either guy. ‘…Falling…’ centre’s it’s verses around vi-V-I-ii, substituting the minor ii for the more typical IV. Then the Key Modulates down a minor third. In the new Key Centre we start with a IV, transition through a Major III into a iv, a V, and finally land on the I. But before we get used to home, bIII, IV, bVII7, I, bIII, IV. Neil then whisks us around VI,I+,I,b-v-dim,IV,#V and I. I need a better way to notate this, Neil.

Geeks is .. simpler? vi, #Vaug, #IVdim7, IV, ii, III. Nope. Never mind. At least the chorus launches from the I-vi-#V-iv-V-I. It’s a little more normal. Then we go I-VII-bIII-V for fun.

Personal thoughts:
First and foremost, I fell in love with the strange lyrics of these songs. “…Falling…” embraces the mistake of falling out of an airplane to such a degree that you hang up your cellphone on Death. Sorry bro, I’d love to chill with you, but I’m going to continue falling. This is my life now. “Geeks” though, is among my favourites because of the shameless references in the Animation, and the underlying message of a couple strong enough to not need the approval of people who might put them down. Locking arms and skipping away into geekdom together.

Give it a go: If your life is not yet random enough, or if you could stand to be geekier.

Give it a miss: If you prefer songs that takes themselves seriously.

[links]
Wikipedia: Neil Cicierega, Animutation
Websites: Lemon Demon, AlbinoBlackSheep, KnowYourMeme/Animutation, The FuMP, BandCamp
Spotify: Lemon Demon, I’ve Got Some Falling To Do
Animations: Ultimate Showdown, Andrew Kepple, Geeks in Love, I’ve Got Some Falling To Do, Colin vs Jesus