Shame.
Shame drives us to do a lot of stupid things, really. It makes us hide ourselves away, reject true feelings, ignore better paths. I couldn’t possibly do that, think of what other people would say! I think shame is stupid, and so does Patricia Taxxon, I think. I first heard of her after watching her video "Art, Furries, God," Which went into detail about different aspects of what makes furry art pleasing, defining it as the sensory, the symbolic, and the ever-so-slightly autistic. It’s an image or song you can feel the texture of. It’s a feeling of being freed of shame, unbound by what other people think of your thoughts or actions. They aren’t in your head, or with you in your private moments. In those moments, and in your own mind, you are free.
I heard Bicycle when it first came out, at like 3 in the morning in very early 2024. It was 2 weeks before my next semester in college started, but I was heading to my apartment early to get some peace and quiet and maybe see some snow. At 3 In the morning, my phone nestled in between blankets as I stared at the album art for the entire runtime, I was entranced. I then did 3 hours of driving with my father before being alone for weeks with nothing but this music and my thoughts. I had enjoyed albums by Taxxon before this, particularly Agnes and Hilda and Visiting Narcissa, but this one hit different. I can almost feel the music, the electronic sounds and melodies.
It’s hard to recommend this music to someone else because of how outside of the norm it is. Even friends I know who are into electronic and noise (though with how melodic this is I wouldn’t call it noise at all) who may not get this. I’ve recommended it to people before, the silence after is.. a lot. Did they not like it? Would they prefer another album? Am I weird for enjoying this thing? The shame starts to set in, shame for being an outlier, for not just listening to Taylor swift an nirvana and wearing graphic t-shirts and drinking Starbucks and-
The other person is probably using the bathroom or something, Marcie, calm down. Don’t feel ashamed for liking things and having a personality and being an individual, you aren’t gonna get any trophies for being just like everyone else. You know what, shame is for cowards! If you wanna like something, go out there and like it! Don’t let anyone or any group tell you it’s not right (unless it is something genuinely morally irreprehensible, obviously) Have fun, live life! Even if you believe in life after death or reincarnation, you only get one go on earth in this body so make it a good one! Living in shame the whole time is like wasting your one shot at earth.
And another thing, if you’re the kind of jerk that gets off on making fun of other people, or being mean to them behind your back, please reevaluate your life decisions! Not only are you hurting them, you’re hurting yourself. Come on, don’t be a jerk. You can listen to Bicycle on YouTube, or download the album on BandCamp. And don’t hold me to this, but a review of all of TECHDOG may not be out of the cards…
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