Bogdan Raczynski - You're Only Young Once But You Can Be Stupid Forever

[thumbass]

Out October 18th.

Following the release of the well received Rave ‘Till You Cry compilation of unreleased versions from the vaults in 2019, Disciples follow it up (a mere 5 years later!) with a new album from Rephlex alumni Bogdan Raczynski, complete with another manifesto style title: You’re Only Young Once But You Can Be Stupid Forever.

A collection of warmly melodic electronic sketches, with tracks alternately drifting beatless on the breeze or underpinned by lo-fi drums, sometimes barely held together with a delicate construction of odd synth patches and ping-pong percussion. Each piece is short and to the point, a record of perfect miniatures. Whilst this description may sound utopian, the album is conceived around themes of late stage capitalist brutality, hyper consumerism, online doom and alogorhithmic apocalypse. Beauty in the face of planetary collapse and 24/7 livestreamed genocide. The theme summed up by the front cover which just features a giant (readable) QR code, that most ubiquitous of modern symbols. We’ve asked Bogdan on several occasions for more background information on the creation of these tracks, but received a different answer each time. One of the below statements might be true, though it’s equally possible that none of them are, just like the real news.

1) All these tracks are a result of Bogdan asking AI to make an EDM album.

2) These tracks originated in a desperate bid by Bogdan to crack the lucrative mood / chill / coffee / gym algorithmic playlist market.

3) All of these tracks were commissioned for a Tesla infomercial but rejected when Elon Musk heard them.

4) The music on this album is over ten years old.

5) The music on this album was made in a furious weekend of creative inspiration in early 2024.

The QR code on the cover takes listeners to an ever-evolving page on Bogdan’s website which may delve into some of these theories in more detail, or ignore them completely.

We leave you with Bogdan’s text in the booklet that accompanied Rave ‘Till You Cry as the closest we may ever get to some kind of logical reasoning:

“Burn the damned art labels. Ambiguity is wonder. Information is an affront to expression, a death knell to spontaneity. For if an explanation is required, then a connection has failed to be made. Art should be like an overtone, resonating invisibly with your history to form an ethereal experience. Either it hits you or it’s wrong time, wrong place. To hell with the dawdling interviews and vanity shots. One turns to music precisely because it least resembles what’s in the mirror. Put away the arrogance and pride, and boast and bias. With each word uttered, your mystery wanes. Your shimmer dims. In my nostalgia, your light show is drowned out by the ricochet of soundwaves. Art is best when all else is drowned out. Black as though the moon forgot to come out. Let the night cover my flailing humanity like a veil. Gangly arms tangled, feet aflutter, yet all but silent against the din. This is not an escape. This is me screaming, happily, inside, out through my fingertips. This is my beck and call. Carefully assembled to drw forth some other form of you. May we partake in this moment together, for just a little longer.”

 

[Crazing]

just as good as'capitalism'?

[Rubin Farr]

 

[thumbass]

Such a pretentious blurb, it's been really turning me off from his music. Just put out bangers bogdan

Edited August 28 by thumbass

[Ivan Ooze]

same vibes

 

Jk btw like the tune

[Crazing]

59 minutes ago, thumbass said:

Such a pretentious blurb, it's been really turning me off from his music. Just put out bangers bogdan

Its weird cause he's one of the least pretentious dudes

[ignatius]

teaser track is a gem. digging it. didn't read the blurb but blurbs happen sometimes. people go through things and it comes out weird or whatever. i mean.. remember the squarepusher manifesto? you don't have to read it. 

[Crazing]

9 minutes ago, ignatius said:

teaser track is a gem. digging it. didn't read the blurb but blurbs happen sometimes. people go through things and it comes out weird or whatever. i mean.. remember the squarepusher manifesto? you don't have to read it. 

was thinking the same - he has a certain out there vibe and always has - thats what made his tunes so sick - and you know HE wrote it rather than some pr people so its genuine and from the heart

[DavieAddison]

17 minutes ago, ignatius said:

remember the squarepusher manifesto?

No but now I'm curious

Edited August 28 by DavieAddison

[thumbass]

Of course i dont know the guy and he is really good at what he does. The track is v cool. Curious to what the rest'll sound like

[cern]

51 minutes ago, DavieAddison said:

No but now I'm curious

http://xltronic.com/mb/19792/squarepusher-manifesto

[ignatius]

1 hour ago, Crazing said:

was thinking the same - he has a certain out there vibe and always has - thats what made his tunes so sick - and you know HE wrote it rather than some pr people so its genuine and from the heart

yeah.. i mean, his instagram is full of heartfelt stuff and sarcastic stuff and good snark.. it's sometimes stream of consciousness type things plus news about genocide. so, he, like a lot of people, is making art and trying to cope w/the world as it is. 

i think it can be a struggle sometimes for smart sensitive and creative people to express all the things while living in the modern world.  i think his recent output is full of good stuff.. some lovely tunes here and there. i always check out what he is up to and always find something i like.  i do enjoy sarcasm and satire in the face of all the things... so, it seems pretty normal to me when someone walks that line but also spills out emotions in different ways because they simply have to. 

the world is full of cringe, snark, hip irony and sometimes it's daring to be vulnerable and sincere since it's so often rejected and called out for virtue signaling or being fake for the clicks or just performative or something.. not saying this in reference to bogdan but to art/music/literature in general since the 90s maybe... 

[Key]

As much as I loved the hyper frenetic ADHD crack pipe vibes of his first incarnation, I have to say I'm also really enjoying Bogdan v.2, he's managed to sustain the childlike glee but instead funnel it into a more softer, cozier and more sedate place. Truly one of the few IDM survivors.

Addle was great, the bandcamp shennanigans are amusing and this is an instabuy. I can't say I find the blurb pretentious, i found it more amusing and thoughtful, but then again I'm a heavily pretentious guy myself and probably have some blind spots.

[thief]

reminder Alright is one of the best albums ever written

[thumbass]

 

 

[bluepenguins]

I bought the album preorder and i'm not sure how i feel about it yet, totals to 35 minutes (and this is an album?) but the songs sort of remind me of a more refined addle. newdiv is decent but feels super empty and melodically missing a lot of things tbh but as a seemingly full modular album what can you expect yk? i'm hoping that i'm wrong and there's some gems but i have a feeling it's going to be mediocre.

I hate to be that guy but I wish bogdan would just go back to tracker music and give us another 'alright!' or maybe a more refined samurai math beats esc project like 'rave til you cry' (tried and honestly failed at, considering they were outtakes or whatever)

[DavieAddison]

26 minutes ago, bluepenguins said:

I bought the album preorder and i'm not sure how i feel about it yet, totals to 35 minutes (and this is an album?) but the songs sort of remind me of a more refined addle. newdiv is decent but feels super empty and melodically missing a lot of things tbh but as a seemingly full modular album what can you expect yk? i'm hoping that i'm wrong and there's some gems but i have a feeling it's going to be mediocre.

I hate to be that guy but I wish bogdan would just go back to tracker music and give us another 'alright!' or maybe a more refined samurai math beats esc project like 'rave til you cry' (tried and honestly failed at, considering they were outtakes or whatever)

I think he does use a Polyend Tracker. Just seems like he chilled out a bit as he got older. Though myloveilove is quite chill and one of my favorites.

[bluepenguins]

23 hours ago, DavieAddison said:

I think he does use a Polyend Tracker. Just seems like he chilled out a bit as he got older. Though myloveilove is quite chill and one of my favorites.

i think this new album like addle is entirely modular but maybe something like the polyend is being used, i will admit that bogdan isn't the best at the sort of melodic stuff he's trying to (either intentionally or not) "copy"

i thought his chiptune esc melodies were great, not sure why he wants to do this modern sort of style but thats just my opinion ^^