"The Story So Far..."

"The Story So Far..." (January 2013 blog post)

For those of you just joining us, here's a recap of the Criminally Shy story so far...

First there was the demo tape, "Dream Incubation" released under the one-time moniker Schizophonic, but we'll skip that because it was a demo tape and not officially CS.

The story really begins with the release of "The Shadow Of Insanity" on Nana's Records (via Archive.Org). This release was mostly IDM influenced. You have to start somewhere right? The only tracks I still like from it are "Lauren" and "Symptoms in Schizophrenia".

The second album was "When Does A Dream Become A Nightmare?". Still IDM influenced, it shows growth and evolution into more of a standard electronica style. Favorites include "Girl With A Guitar", "Long Island 1998" and "Brat". My main issue is that I was still under the impression that all analog drum machine sounds were "cool".

In between the second and third album were a bunch of e.p.s and singles. We have the "Auburn" e.p. which spawned the "I Am A Wonderful Person" single (which is still my all-time personal favorite CS track). That was followed by "Broken Utopias" which is honestly forgettable but a stepping stone to the next e.p. "Generically Enriched". This is where full-on electronica takes hold. The e.p. is made up entirely of remixes of four previously released tracks ("Broken Utopias", "Long Island 1998", "Girl With A Guitar", "I Am A Wonderful Person"). This was the gateway release for me. The REAL breakthrough came with the "User Guide, CH 1" e.p. which featured early versions of "Mind Washed", "The Meaning Of Life", and "Life On The Moon". It also featured "Ritalin + In + In". "Mind Wash" was released as a single with 3 exclusive remixes. This release was complete electronica and without it the 3rd album would not exist. "Prypiat" was an in between single.

Now, we're at the present. "Dual Form Madness" was electronica in all it's guises. My favorite all around release. That's not to say it doesn't have it's flaws (it does sound kind of dated, but I was going for 1990's electronica feel) but I'm really proud of this release.

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