IT’S ON SOUNDCLOUD

The Mechanisms - Other Projects

The Mechanisms are dead, long live The Mechanisms! Curious about our solo projects?

Jonny “D’Ville” Sims writes the unsettling and award winning horror fiction anthology podcast “The Magnus Archives”, and also plays the narrator “Jonathan Sims” (sounds familiar…) You can find it here if you need more of more of his terrifying imagination and storytelling. Follow him on twitter @jonnywaistcoat for all his exploits.

The Toy Soldier as Jessica Law has an impressive discography which can be found here on bandcamp and all your favourite streaming services. Follow her on twitter, facebook, or sign up to her mailing list to keep up to date with her latest madcap schemes. Her newest project is musical storytelling concept album based on the bizarre Italian epic poem Orlando Furioso - get a taste here. 

Kofi Young still has stories to tell, beginning with a final farewell to Marius. Keep an eye out for Kofi’s upcoming album, working title “The Death of Byron von Raum.” It’s a potentially dangerous blend of Folk rock and Mecha anime. Until then, check out his song “Shrove Tuesday” on Bandcamp

“Gunpowder” Tim Ledsam makes music with the most musical software company Softwire along with our very own Drumbot - find them on Spotify or Bandcamp. The duo also have an album in the pipeline tentatively titled “Wizards, Wizards, Wizards”, and have an as-yet unnamed band in the works with some non-crew members.

The ever prolific Drumbot Ben Below has written a song a week without without missing a beat since 2016. Listen to them on Bandcamp and you might hear some other Mechanisms pop up too. And not limiting himself to just one timespan, he also wrote an album in a month as part of a similar, but entirely different, songwriting challenge - which can be found on streaming services. And if you were ever curious about the Drumbot’s infamous morality switch then more will be revealed in his upcoming album, working title “The Wanderings of Drumbot Brian”

Raphaella La Cognizi and the Drumbot have teamed up to release an album in the genre of “sad robot” which can be found on their bandcamp. R L Cognizi/Hughes also has more sci-fi concept music to share with her album “Lolina: Origins” with all your favourite Mechanisms collaborators. If you follow her facebook some news is rumoured to arrive shortly of a new album that is shockingly not set in space. And if you’re interested in her day job supporting the next generation of LGBTIQA+ young musicians in Oxford, the birthplace of The Mechanisms, find out more here: https://www.facebook.com/mynormaloxford/ and throw some money to the noble cause if you like here: http://www.ark-t.org/welcome-to-the-ark-t-centre/support-us/supporting-the-ark-t/

is there any better genre of music than gay space shanty, really

here

wait lets use that spotify stats page i want to know what everyone’s long term most listened to artist and track are! mine are the cure + “the river the woods” by astronautalis

is there even a better genre of music than gay space shanty, really

hey op, you got a playlist? 

unfortunately i’ve only got the one, so ​if you have more, then PLEASE share

Thank!! I didn’t have this one. And yeah, I’ve got more, ill pull a list together tomorrow and tag you!

(I realized I’m dumb and can just add them here, I’ll still tag though, jic @lesbianomens​)

A disclaimer: As far as I know, the one you have above is the only explicitly gay filk song with recordings available online. I am 100% sure others exist!! But, I’ve not found them (if anyone has links to more, PLEASE send them my way!) SO, the songs here are ones I’ve got tagged as queer/gay/lgbt in my library, sometimes for textual reasons (Archetype Cafe, It Suits You), sometimes for thematic (noted below), and sometimes just because the #vibes are undeniable.

If there’s an ** next to a song, it’s filk more broadly, not necessarily a space shanty, but the pickins are slim and they’re all good songs. This fall mostly into the sea/space songs sub-genre of shanty (in that they would be sung when the crew is at leisure, not while they’re doing work. hence the lack of a pulling/pushing rhythm for most).

In the true sea shanty genre there are some obvious gay™ choices that could be easily rerecorded as space shanties (The Handsome Cabin Boy (warning for possible gender dysphoria issues, not sure how to tag/warn past that?), Leave Her Johnny Leave Her (technically the ‘her’ is a ship, but uh, I’ve never heard this sung as if that were the case), and Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmate, to name a few). So, if anyone out there is less tone deaf than me, do us a favor huh? There are even more if we step outside f shanties into traditional folk (which was sung on ships as well) but this post is already long enough.

A minor correction: while that recording of Seas of Space is sung by Mark Heiman, it was originally written by Suzette Haden Elgin.

The only other Gay Space Shanty I can think of is Make it So by Annwn. While the lyrics aren’t *explicitly* set in space, it’s not so subtle Picard/Riker slash.

But yeah, thank you for pointing out that there are tragically few songs in this genre, I now have a document open titled “the gay space shanty project” and am brainstorming trad shanties I can adapt to fix that…

- the brain mod

A delightful commenter on our Wordpress left this addition: Captain Jack and His Crew by Bob Kanefsky. (Not set in space, but very definitely a gay sea shanty).

While not explicitly gay, Ballad To A Spaceman has… um… some serious undertones.

is there even a better genre of music than gay space shanty, really

hey op, you got a playlist? 

unfortunately i’ve only got the one, so ​if you have more, then PLEASE share

Thank!! I didn’t have this one. And yeah, I’ve got more, ill pull a list together tomorrow and tag you!

(I realized I’m dumb and can just add them here, I’ll still tag though, jic @lesbianomens​)

A disclaimer: As far as I know, the one you have above is the only explicitly gay filk song with recordings available online. I am 100% sure others exist!! But, I’ve not found them (if anyone has links to more, PLEASE send them my way!) SO, the songs here are ones I’ve got tagged as queer/gay/lgbt in my library, sometimes for textual reasons (Archetype Cafe, It Suits You), sometimes for thematic (noted below), and sometimes just because the #vibes are undeniable.

If there’s an ** next to a song, it’s filk more broadly, not necessarily a space shanty, but the pickins are slim and they’re all good songs. This fall mostly into the sea/space songs sub-genre of shanty (in that they would be sung when the crew is at leisure, not while they’re doing work. hence the lack of a pulling/pushing rhythm for most).

In the true sea shanty genre there are some obvious gay™ choices that could be easily rerecorded as space shanties (The Handsome Cabin Boy (warning for possible gender dysphoria issues, not sure how to tag/warn past that?), Leave Her Johnny Leave Her (technically the ‘her’ is a ship, but uh, I’ve never heard this sung as if that were the case), and Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmate, to name a few). So, if anyone out there is less tone deaf than me, do us a favor huh? There are even more if we step outside f shanties into traditional folk (which was sung on ships as well) but this post is already long enough.

A minor correction: while that recording of Seas of Space is sung by Mark Heiman, it was originally written by Suzette Haden Elgin.

The only other Gay Space Shanty I can think of is Make it So by Annwn. While the lyrics aren’t *explicitly* set in space, it’s not so subtle Picard/Riker slash.

But yeah, thank you for pointing out that there are tragically few songs in this genre, I now have a document open titled “the gay space shanty project” and am brainstorming trad shanties I can adapt to fix that…

- the brain mod

fantastic! i wish you the best of luck in this because i'd definitely love to listen one day

is there even a better genre of music than gay space shanty, really

hey op, you got a playlist? 

unfortunately i’ve only got the one, so ​if you have more, then PLEASE share

Thank!! I didn't have this one. And yeah, I've got more, ill pull a list together tomorrow and tag you!

(I realized I’m dumb and can just add them here, I’ll still tag though, jic @lesbianomens​)

A disclaimer: As far as I know, the one you have above is the only explicitly gay filk song with recordings available online. I am 100% sure others exist!! But, I’ve not found them (if anyone has links to more, PLEASE send them my way!) SO, the songs here are ones I’ve got tagged as queer/gay/lgbt in my library, sometimes for textual reasons (Archetype Cafe, It Suits You), sometimes for thematic (noted below), and sometimes just because the #vibes are undeniable.

If there’s an ** next to a song, it’s filk more broadly, not necessarily a space shanty, but the pickins are slim and they’re all good songs. This fall mostly into the sea/space songs sub-genre of shanty (in that they would be sung when the crew is at leisure, not while they’re doing work. hence the lack of a pulling/pushing rhythm for most).

In the true sea shanty genre there are some obvious gay(tm) choices that could be easily rerecorded as space shanties (The Handsome Cabin Boy (warning for possible gender dysphoria issues, not sure how to tag/warn past that?), Leave Her Johnny Leave Her (technically the ‘her’ is a ship, but uh, I’ve never heard this sung as if that were the case), and Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmate, to name a few). So, if anyone out there is less tone deaf than me, do us a favor huh? There are even more if we step outside f shanties into traditional folk (which was sung on ships as well) but this post is already long enough.

thank you! i'll definitely give these a listen!

is there even a better genre of music than gay space shanty, really

hey op, you got a playlist? 

unfortunately i’ve only got the one, so ​if you have more, then PLEASE share

it really is incredible how exactly gay steampunk space pirate folk music (in space!) is my thing, so hey, another shout out to the mechanisms for being a thing

so the mechanisms are a band that go around in character as a bunch of immortal murderous space pirates telling stories (and occasionally dropping into those stories). they’re folk music with some narration. each of their main albums tells a story, based on mythology. but in space! and gay! and trans!

spotify, bandcamp, their website. bandcamp has all of their songs, and spotify has most but is missing an album. their website has character profiles and extra stories and fun stuff like that. each individual album should be listened to in order, since they all have plots

Once Upon a Time (In Space): fairy tale inspired but in space! with wars! vaguely star wars-y. but there are lesbians!

Ulysses Dies at Dawn: greek mythology but if mount olympus was a cyberpunk city

High Noon Over Camelot: camelot but wild west. and also in space! 

The Bifrost Incident: norse mythology meets eldritch horror wrapped in a space train mystery

then there are Tales to be Told One and Two and Frankenstein which are more standalone stories in individual songs, with some character backstories and some set in the worlds of the other albums

because i know no one actually likes clicking on links, a few of my faves

The extended version of Call of the Sky from ep. 26, because I don’t know about the rest of you but I need to hear it about 10000 more times.

i don’t “follow” my favorite bands. i just get pleasantly surprised when i find out that they released an album 2 months ago.

Star Wars Piano Lullaby // arranged by onefine-morning, themes by John Williams

Force Theme • Across the Stars • Rey’s Theme • Imperial March • Duel of the Fates • Han Solo and the Princess • Main Title