#OH an addendum: the albums DO need to be listened to in order | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

words-writ-in-starlight · 3 years

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What is The Mechanisms ?

The Mechanisms are...a band, technically. In practice, they’re somewhere between a band, an audio drama, and incredibly high-commitment performance art, but they are TECHNICALLY a band.

The more helpful answer is that the Mechanisms are sort of a story within a story, and I’m just going to explain all of it on in-universe terms and you’ll just have to bear with me.

The Mechanisms are a crew of immortals who kill time by kicking around the universe in a sentient spaceship wreaking general havoc and getting up to their eyeballs in various wars. They picked up their immortality courtesy of a woman named Doctor Carmilla, who gave them the eponymous Mechanisms--mechanical organs, limbs, even whole bodies, which keep them from dying--and who has since been thrown out an airlock. The Mechs keep track of all this time (and all these people) they’ve killed by writing songs about it, which you can find on Spotify.

There are two collections of assorted songs (backstories, single incidents, etc) called Tales To Be Told (Vol I and Vol II), as well as four albums! The albums are:

Once Upon A Time (In Space): fairy tales, but fairy tales as an interstellar war between Old King Cole and Snow White, set mostly to folk rock

Ulysses Dies At Dawn: the Odyssey, but the Odyssey on a planet-wide dystopian City powered by the dead and ruled by the immortal rich, set mostly to blues rock

High Noon Over Camelot: classic Arthuriana, but Arthuriana on a long-lost space station full of warring factions, set mostly to...I don’t know if “western rock” is a genre but HNOC sounds like a cowboy movie so I’m going with it

The Bifrost Incident: Norse mythology, specifically Ragnarok, if Ragnarok was about wormholes, Lovecraftian nightmares, and trains, set to prog rock

I know all of these sound COMPLETELY BONKERS but you should actually trust me and give it a whirl. If a whole album sounds like a lot to start with, I recommend Gunpowder Tim vs The Moon Kaiser (a ten minute backstory about their gunner) or One-Eyed Jack’s (a short song about the origins of their First Mate, Jonny D’Ville).

Also I have like 60% of a OUATIS AU of the Kencyrath written if that’s motivating to anyone.

#the mechanisms #'what are the mechanisms' LISTEN...IT'S A LONG STORY #there's a lot of Lore that i kind of elided here so that this post was a reasonably manageable length #but i think you may wish to decide what your investment level is before i drop the intricate interpersonal dynamics on you #the bifrost incident is my favorite PURELY because it will reliably pluck my heart out of my ribs and eat it like an apple #ouatis is my next favorite because pump shanty is a banger #other reasons also but like #that is a whole album that can be BELTED by an amateur and i like that in my music #OH an addendum: the albums DO need to be listened to in order #shuffle tales to be told if that brings you joy but the albums alternate spoken narrative and music and the order DOES matter #i'm also writing a kencyrath au where jame is jonny and tori is drumbot brian but AS EVER the kencyrath fandom is like nine folks so #IF ANY OF YOU NINE FOLKS WANT SOME WEIRD AUS COME GET Y'ALL JUICE I'M WORKING ON SOME STUFF #a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #Anonymous #asked and answered

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