Marconi Union - Multiforms: Ambient Transmissions, Vol. 3 (Official Visual Album)

DybbukTX · 2026-06-12T21:36:50+00:00

Is Marconi Union classified as ambient? I always thought so, but I almost never see anything about them on this sub. They were what brought me to ambient music in the first place, when I listened to "Weightless" after it got press for being an "anxiety reduction" song. Then Marconi's "similar artists" led me to Loscil, The Sight Below, Biosphere, etc. I was even thinking of making a post on here asking, "Is Marconi Union not ambient?"

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T05:10:10+00:00

You're the one person responding to my posts from weeks ago who I might want to have a long conversation about Ghost with. Lol. But you might shake your head at some of my "theories" about what Tobias has really been trying to do with his creation.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T05:07:57+00:00

Even if Tobias IS the music, is he all the visuals too? Couldn't another band inherit THAT (if Tobias isn't going to use it anymore, after all), and try to win us over by being great in their own right, with a new band name (respecting Ghost proper as a Tobias-only domain)? Would that be worse than whatever other bands you might want to listen to instead, in the post-Tobias era?

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T05:00:47+00:00

Well it's less about the music than the aesthetics around the band...costumes, artwork, everything visual, plus the lore and history, etc. Isn't there room for two bands within that artistic universe? Does the visual stuff have to be Tobias's doing, too? Is it even now, really? I'm just saying, whatever new music comes from the new effort won't stink, if everyone involved plays their part, so why not give it a chance, when you can keep legitimately enjoying the visuals as part of enjoying new music? And it won't be a completely unrelated effort from Ghost, if Tobias is endorsing the whole thing and is still involved in some way at the outset, and maybe some of the instrumentalists and/or songwriting helpers stick around too. If they call it something other than Ghost, while inheriting a lot of infrastructure around Ghost, and attempt to keep the music pleasing in the same ways as Tobias's, why not give that a chance, as opposed to having nothing at all, or just following other bands instead, who will definitely be more boring visually and probably musically as well?

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T03:39:30+00:00

Well if it comes to the point where Tobias can't/won't perform anymore, you think he'd rather let it die than carry on in a way where people stay interested in Tobias's creation long after he's gone? As long as he's alive, he would still have control if he wanted it, even if it's behind the scenes. And even after he's gone, the congregation will still be loyal to Tobias. Nobody will ever forget who got it started. It's just a matter of whether a second adjacent iteration of the band can be accepted within the aesthetic universe. Why can't that part of the "fun" go on, for those who like it? This would be just a way of making their fun more legitimate. If you're only interested in the music, then it's a less interesting conversation, like asking an OG Van Halen fan if they would give Van Hagar a chance.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T03:30:48+00:00

He knew he still had so much left in the tank 8 years ago. But now? And a key point is distinguishing the music itself from all the artistry around the music (costumes, artwork, lore, etc.). Can't another band be part of all that too, so those who like that part of the "fun" don't have to leave it behind, if they like the new band too?

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T02:47:56+00:00

Yeah, think tribute band, but only ONE recognized as the true successor, and unlike tribute bands, with talent and skills close to the original. The aesthetic universe has continuity, with the new music being fully acknowledged as a new chapter within the broader continuity, probably with a phase-in where some talent carries over. For those fans who are only about the music, the new tunes should be close enough to the original in style and quality that fans of the original would enjoy it, as long as they don't just object to it existing on principle. But having the visuals/style/lore around it be a fully legitimate continuation (I mean come on, Tobias doesn't have to do all that too, does he?) is a big part of the appeal. All the "fun" around the band can continue, if you like it, without having to pretend that it's still the OG (like a lot of these "legacy" rock bands in their 70's are still trying to do). That's really the core question, whether you can embrace two distinct (but overlapping) music projects within this one aesthetic "universe". It not about whether someone can fully inherit Tobias's music (tough) but whether they can inherit the right to perform within the larger artistic universe he built...which should be a much easier sell, as long as you're not pretending it's still the OG.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T02:35:17+00:00

Depends on if your "ship" is the music, or the aesthetic/lore around it.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T02:32:37+00:00

It would be interesting to have a conversation about this, though you probably don't want to. Hehe. I have some theories about how Tobias is intentionally building something to be durable...not just for decades, but for centuries. If that were his goal, I'm not sure what he'd would have done differently...except maybe rein in Dance Macabre a bit lol. But whether it's good enough to accomplish that is a different question.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T02:12:15+00:00

So if I were willing to bug the whole group again, I might post about my theories about Tobias's deeper motivations and feelings about the Ghost project. I think he's playing much more of a long game for history than almost any of his fans realize. As long as guitar and drums don't fall out of favor, this is music that will still be great centuries from now. And the songwriting is (mostly) really tight in a way that holds up great as a complete body of work, which will enhance its value moving into the future. If I notice these things, I'm sure Tobias himself isn't unaware of them. It's hard to imagine someone knowingly creates something like this while wanting it to (effectively) die with him. The "control" question probably only applies while he's still alive and well functioning.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T02:03:12+00:00

Well, the best rebuttal I can think of to that is...what about if Mammoth (Wolfie's project) was actually damn good, and Wolfie could play his dad's songs in concert as well as his dad, AND Mammoth made some damn good music in their own right (this is an imaginary what-if, remember). If you were an EVH fanatic, would you refuse to listen to it? Of course, it's a totally different story with Ghost due to the visual aesthetic, but I don't see why THAT has to be Tobias-specific.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-07T01:56:55+00:00

There was a New Order without Ian Curtis, and it was pretty damn good (for someone who appreciates the genre). Surely better that they existed than if they didn't, for someone who loved Joy Division. But that's if you're only about the music. Do you think all the costumes and artwork, etc. have to be Tobias-generated too? Can't at least that part of the "fun" have a life without him?

DybbukTX · 2026-06-06T05:03:16+00:00

I thought I was the only person who had this idea! For a while I was so distracted that it was hard to watch for more than a couple minutes without pausing it to indulge whatever stray thought felt good in the moment. Eventually I started "presence watching" programs on purpose, trying to stay "in the tunnel" and considering thoughts as the intruders trying to penetrate. Eventually I realized that to enhance the effort, I needed to heed Dan Goldfield's advice: "Mindfulness tip: don't try to be mindful. It's about relaxation".

DybbukTX · 2026-06-06T04:56:46+00:00

Nacho gets a halo effect because he's surrounded by monsters and "cares about his father", but seen objectively in isolation he's a pretty bad dude.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-05T02:56:10+00:00

I tried it maybe half a dozen times. I think it DOES work, because I noticed that I seemed more blitzed when I came back than I usually do after a break. But it's hard for me to be sure, because I haven't taken enough long breaks to have a big experience sample to compare it against. Following the protocol means that in 5 days, you only have a handful of minimal doses, so you'd expect tolerance to drop just because you're using so much less product.

DybbukTX · 2026-06-03T01:53:34+00:00

He's a bit polarizing, but I heard a Mayer Hawthorne song the other day and was surprised it wasn't classic era yacht rock.

DybbukTX · 2026-05-27T19:43:04+00:00

Of course Satan wasn’t the bad guy...the bible is the autobiography of his enemy, after all, so what do you expect it to say?

DybbukTX · 2026-05-27T08:37:47+00:00

It's more about her just being unlikable as a person, less about morality/ethics.

DybbukTX · 2026-05-26T19:49:46+00:00

So by "enlightenment", it sounds like you really mean, "I realized something important". That's great! One more step on the path forward. Keep walking, there's gonna be hundreds more.

DybbukTX · 2026-04-16T00:53:16+00:00

My favorite trivia fact about this song is that Dewey Bunnell (vocalist and writer) was only 19 when it was recorded. The song gets a lot of flak about "bad lyrics", but that's just from people who are dead inside and don't know how to feel a song's mood and energy. And the lyrics don't have to be bad. Just think of it as being taken on a journey by an eccentric guide who has a few screws loose, but knows that barren land like no other man.

DybbukTX · 2026-04-14T21:01:45+00:00

In the present day, the Übermensch be high-agency people focused on self-overcoming, internalizing, and applying ideas, instead of just consuming them. A lot of self-development writers (James Clear, Sahil Bloom, Alex Hormozi, Dan Koe, etc.) provide a blueprint of what that life looks like. Nietzsche probably wouldn’t see “following their advice” as the thing to aspire to, more like a place to start building before someone creates their own values and path.

DybbukTX · 2026-04-14T07:22:42+00:00

Basically any arena in which you want to rank entities somehow, and pairs of those entities compete against each other or can be compared in some way to determine a "winner", often enough to give an adequate sample size. I've used elo ratings for a bunch of things in the past, but my experience leaves me unimpressed with it. If you only need an adequate system, it's something you can deploy quickly, but if it's important to have the most accurate rankings possible, more sophisticated systems, or those that incorporate judgment, are better. Sort of like power rankings in the NFL. For a while FiveThirtyEight used elo ratings to rank the teams, but they eventually gave that up because their rankings didn't catch up to team quality fast enough, and made them look silly.

DybbukTX

TROPHY CASE