Swagged out kawaii aesthetics
Listening to Skin2skin (feat. Ashes. & Rezlaine) put me in mind of a kind of Dank Meme Era Renaissance. If we’re due for come back in any particular memetic aesthetic then I think I speak for a generation of people when I say bring back what the internet imaginary felt like around 2010. I think your music captures a feeling of tainted optimism of that time, when the culture felt imbued with a sense of organic potentiality but, on the lowkey, people knew it was going to be short lived. As such, I think it’s interesting that the Dead Internet Theory starts somewhere around the late 2010s. I mention all this because the timeline ties nicely with the development of what we now call Hyperpop, which is the genre of music that $KIRMISH is likely associated. In relation to your own music, then, I wondered what you thought of the emergent conventions of the hyperpop genre and why it speaks to so many people today.
$kirmish: I think when it comes to the Hyperpop genre and many other genres that have their origins deeply rooted in the influence of internet culture. It shows how important of a tool the internet has been for people to spread their creativity and different interests. Whether it’s through music, digital art, video, or countless other things. Hyperpop for sure owes its rapid emergence to the aesthetic influences created by the first huge boom of internet culture. The 2010s was a breeding ground for loads of sub-cultures and communities on the internet on a huge scale. This is obviously still the case, but the effects of that era will be felt for generations even as the web changes. Also, growing up as a 00s kid a lot of these memes and aesthetics from years ago are attached to certain key points or memories in my childhood, brimming with nostalgia. I think a lot of people get this nostalgic comfort from Hyperpop due to its aesthetic and sound. As it’s become bigger also, the range of Hyperpop as a genre and the artists within has expanded in diversity and this had led on to some really cool takes on the genre and an abundance of creative talent is being shown off!
Your latest tracks like the aforementioned Skin2skin and friendz (fucked up) (feat. Clover!) not only sound great but seem like your most accomplished music to date. The friendz track is particularly fire imo. Both these tracks have been released in close proximity to one another and I wondered if you were working towards a new album, maybe? As an aside to that, I wondered if it was fair to say that you’ve sort of experimented with different sounds/influences and landed somewhere you feel comfortable?
$kirmish: Thank you for that, I’m glad you like the tracks. But yes, they’re some examples of my best work to date. I took a big break from music for a while to work on myself sonically as well as get my head in the right place to be at my best creatively. There are lots of aspects of my life that I had to change to get to this point, but I finally feel comfortable creating as a musician again. I would definitely like to release a project this year to cement 2024 as my official “return” to music, so to speak, but I would like it to happen naturally. I have been working on multiple tracks at the same time constantly but none of them feel like they could work as one single project so we will have to wait and see for now! Experimenting with different sounds and genres has been a key thing for me as an artist, going from Emo Rap & Trap Metal to Hyperpop & Rock, to Rage & Drill, and now finally settling at Hyperpop, Dance and alternative takes on Trap music. It feels like I’ve really come full circle and explored all my creative interests in order to find where I lie at best.
The accompanying artwork for monSTAR high captures the Y2K/cybergyaru aesthetic. The lyrics to that track also mention the PlayStation Portable (PSP), which was a chronically underrated handheld games console — a technological artefact par excellence that captures the spirit of 2004–2014. Even though people said the PSP lacked soul at the time, (which was itself an ironic assessment of the culture), I wondered if you ever owned a PSP - or knew someone who did? I’d be really interested to know what games you played on it because I played a lot of Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition and Monster Hunter Freedom, which were experiences that today inform a lot of what I‘m interested in philosophically. I suppose this question also ties into the Y2K/cybergyaru stuff, and I’d be particularly interested in asking why you think those aesthetics compliment your music in particular?
$kirmish: Yes, I did own a PSP as a kid! I loved that console so much, I used to play Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank and so many more classics on there growing up. Even though it is now remembered so fondly, I think your comment about how people stated at the time that the PSP was “soulless” really shows that sometimes we don’t appreciate a golden era until it really is gone. Videogames and TV from that era really influenced me a lot growing up even on a moral level, a character in a game or show could make me want to adopt certain traits or beliefs as I was figuring out the person I wanted to be throughout the years. In terms of the Y2K aesthetics, much like we were talking about when it comes to Hyperpop; I think those aesthetics are reminiscent of what was cool and popular to people of a similar age to me growing up. 90s and 00s kids will remember seeing lots of the same imagery plastered all over the net when they were younger. I don’t think the obsession of Y2K aesthetics is down to a fog of nostalgia, mainly because the younger generation are also taking a big interest in the influence of this era. But I think it shows that this truly was a golden time for culture on the internet and people really want that influence and control over social platforms like we used to have back in the day, the freedom back then was endless, for better or worse. I think this Y2K-esque aesthetic compliments my music well as I dress in a mix of streetwear combined with Emo/Scene clothing with some slight J-Fashion influence. It just feels right haha!
I have a bit of a hyperfixation with AMVs so I wanted to ask you about Modern Money which is a little bit older than tracks like Skin2skin and friendz but nevertheless just as sonically accomplished. I think I read that the video was made by ashbooc, but I wondered if you had any input in what went into making that visual piece? I’d also like to mention the visualiser for SO PRETTY! which is not only one of my favourite tracks by you but has my favourite visual accompaniment. That track is a huge embodiment of your current direction and feels so absolutely of this time, full of post-irony and cutesy motifs. I wondered what you were trying to convey (if anything) with the SO PRETTY! visualiser?
$kirmish: With the AMV for Modern Money, I was just looking for people who made AMVs on YouTube when I came across ashbooc’s profile and decided to ask them to make it for me. The only real input I had were the anime’s used which were One Piece (in my opinion the greatest work of fiction ever!) and Fūfu Ijō, Koibito Miman which is one of my favourite romance mangas adapted into an anime. There wasn’t much thought put behind these choices apart from the fact I enjoy them. I was still on my music break at the time and was just enjoying life, but I had worked on this song in the meantime and thought I might as well get it posted. All the awesomeness in that AMV is down to the anime’s and ashbooc’s incredible talent. I’m glad so pretty! had that effect on you. It really was supposed to drive home the direction I was going to start going with my sound. When creating this track, I wanted to achieve something not too distant from your stereotypical trap sound, but I wanted it to be sonically different enough to convey the swagged out kawaii aesthetic I was going for with an almost sarcastic and cocky undertone to it. When it came to the visualiser, I just slapped a bunch of free cute clipart and some memes together to just create an amalgamation of things on the screen. I felt like this was more fitting of the track than having a high-quality visual to match it. I have songs and visuals of a much higher production quality to come later down the road, I’m really excited for people to see it!
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