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A Small Guide to Munimún's Discography: Part four and final, Pretty Dolly

Shaken by harsh reactions over the Fishface album, I wanted to make a follow-up that would be a sort of "how you like me now" comeback... a record that was actually awesome and oozing snark and misanthropy like I wanted Fishface to be in the first place. I wrote down lyrics that were generally misanthropic in nature, taking pages from groups like Ministry and guys like Mike Patton and William Bennett (of Whitehouse).

Around this time, I was also investing myself into the general history of popular music, trying to take notes of everything. Yes, I was becoming a "music nerd." I wanted my infatuation with the Residents to mean something. On an unrelated note, during the year of 2018 I also developed crippling anxiety and paranoia which has rendered me dependent on medication possibly for the rest of my life. On another unrelated note, I felt progressively more useless and confused about my sexuality and gender. All of this fueled my ideas for "Fishface II". I wanted the album to be tough and scary like some industrial music I was getting into at the time.

On sending demos over to Selena, she told me what I was doing was far too personal to simply call it another Fishface record. And in truth, I didn't want to make a Fishface record - I just wanted to make angry music because that's how I felt all the time. So that prompted me to call the project something else, and maybe develop an alter ego to justify the sudden change in sound and attitude. Enter Pretty Dolly with the screamy and sample-heavy Erotoleptic.

EROTOLEPTIC – July 2019

Highlights: "The Trout Mask Replica of Jacking Off", "Punching Bag", "Money", "Love Song", "Indie Darling"

Reception for this one was fairly surprising. I'm pretty sure at least 50 people have heard it. Some even paid for it!

Of course, I wasn't angry all the time. My less aggressive musical outings were collected into a cute little Gunstar Cum (a joke only I get), along with some attempts at keyboard improvisation. I got a MIDI controller for my birthday which was used quite a bit here. People didn't really care about this one although it was clear I was getting better at this "making music" thing.

GUNSTAR CUM – October 2019

Highlights: "Ah That's Fine", "I Mentioned You", "Carz to Work", "My Ace Your Fass", "Tiny Song"

also: ALL THIS KIND – Halloween 2019 30-minute acoustic guitar session, some of it was used in Teu silêncio ensurdece and other places.

I am sure I don't have to explain what the year of 2020 did to me, but it was made worse by the presence of a certain woman in my life. The suicidal thoughts that have plagued me for a long time were also taking their toll on me. I am not capable of love was not recorded as a follow-up to Erotoleptic, but simply as a necessity to get more things out of my chest. What those things were, I don't think anyone can figure out.

I AM NOT CAPABLE OF LOVE – June 2020

Highlights: "TIRED OF ME", "Skin Fetish", "Pitchfork Darling", "SON OF A GUN" (Vaselines cover), "Ugly Dolly", "This is not your place"

I like to think of it as successful because at least one friend asked if I was okay after they listened to it.

Things only got marginally better for a while, finishing a full cover of the Residents' Commercial Album, before falling to an absolute low point at the end of the year. I'll spare you of the details but the woman I mentioned wasn't in my life anymore. Well... she still was, but as a ghost in my head, not as a friend. And to make it all worse, the year was STILL 2020.

At a mild mood in December, I got in touch with Selena again and cooked up one more Fishface song which lived up to my initial expectations of the project. Christian children's Christmas trees were decorated with the Fishface Christmas Single, a song about finding out Santa Claus was never real. There's a meaning somewhere. I need to tell you that because otherwise you won't look for it.

Pretty Dolly as an entity was becoming a tired idea for me. I didn't want to be predictable and simply make another album of angry music. I never liked doing essentially the same project twice. But I had things on my mind still, as you can imagine. It seemed interesting to collaborate with myself – as in, mingling Munimún [with] Pretty Dolly. I figured it would be a way to avoid being one-note. I'm pretty happy with the resulting album. I was getting a little more comfortable with my vocals and lyrics.

MUNIMÚN & PRETTY DOLLY – April 2021

Highlights: "Pity Song", "Leg" (Hardy Fox cover), "The Post Punk Community is Dying", "Burn in Hell", "Men are Pigs / Women are Cunts"

Another friend worried that this album was too angry and hateful. So again, I must be doing something right.

Pretty Dolly has retired for the time being. Not only is she unwilling to fall into a pattern of making angry albums every couple of months, she's happy with the idea of a trilogy. The song "Burn in Hell" closes out her feelings on life and people in a way that would be hard to repeat.

As for Munimún, I had it in me to compose one last piece in honor of my year in Hell. Of course, it didn't feel like Hell at first. It can take a while for one to realize that they're being boiled alive. I think Elvis sang a song about that.

And with that we find ourselves in the present without a specific goal in mind. I'm currently trying to piece together ideas for an album of Residents covers - not my first attempt at that, but my first attempt at mingling their music with my style. Other than that, no plans for original music are currently being worked on. I wouldn't say I'm in a slump, I'm just not sure what to do next.

But enough about that. We're done talking about my music for now. Next couple of posts I'll do some catching up with my art.

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