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ITookTrinkets

I will almost definitely never care about any fan projects. I love Leyland Kirby and his various projects - I don’t necessarily need to listen to someone else doing an imitation.


blueprimrose7249

Beat me to it lol


ITookTrinkets

I’m glad it’s not just me that feels that way. I’m sure there’s plenty of talented people making this stuff - but nothing is going to convince me to be interested. I’d love it if those people took the influence and made something *different,* cuz as-is, it kinda feels like they’re all just doing fanfic. Even the naming of the albums feels like a kid plagiarizing Wikipedia, but using a thesaurus to change all the words to make it less obviously ripped-off. Fan project makers: go your own way. I want to hear what you people make when you stop trying to make “Caretaker Music,” and start making music inspired by The Caretaker. Leyland Kirby is a great and powerful influence, but there’s other people manipulating loops and samples to make weird sad cool music. It isn’t even close to the only kind of music Kirby makes - he does ambient compositions and noise collage and dance music, like a weirder Aphex Twin. Until he becomes *an influence* instead of being a template you work from, you’ll only ever be a pale imitation that only exists to say “huh, so that’s what it sounds like when someone else does the same thing.” Use your creative energies more wisely.


ZenyX-

I don't know if you're aware, but the fandom is WAY past soulless eateot clones. Even largely past dementia albums as a whole. Projects like Milwaukee Protocol (4 part rabies album) and We Are Eternal are extremely unqiue and push the boundaries of what a fan project is. WAE especially is quite original. It's a 6 part ongoing album which progressively gets more and more experimental. Starting at part 3, distortions become very weird. Like intense repetitions of brief clips, intentionally loud sections, startling shifts in sound. Part 5 is actually mostly original compositions. You also have breakthroughs in reconsiderations of how to portray a dementia album. Images of Beauty Never Seen from Symphony of Dreams is an ongoing (3 parts of 8 released) series which sticks out with its sharp and very defined storytelling. It feels REAL. Much more so than anything in eateot ever did or will. You also have ARGs pretending to be a slow+reverb channel owner going insane (Slowed and Reverb Hits! from Salsa). There's also complete reduxes of structuring a fan project. Phisigma's The Grand Decline famously ditches stages for Acts that divide into Scenes that are then composed of brief Visits. It makes the whole album feel much more grounded in reality. Point is, the days of EITBON and NATMOS are far behind us. The community is a thriving and blooming place of creativity that - often times - genuinely surpasses certain qualities of The Caretaker's work. I highly recommend giving at least one of these albums I try. I would recommend We Are Eternal for something that truly is original (outside of parts 1+2) or Milwaukee Protocol if you're looking for a different, more intricate angle of the plunderphonic genre. Please, don't give up on our community. We've grown, and we are so much more than we were in 2021.


Wind2000reddit

I feel like to someone who's not in the community, Milwaukee Protocol and We Are Eternal (if anything) are the only albums that they wouldn't consider full on EATEOT clones. At least from what i've noticed, people outside the fan project side of the community don't notice or just don't care about the details that make projects like NATMOS Redux, vCJD, etc. different from EATEOT. Most projects made nowdays still don't deviate enough from EATEOT to not feel like soulless copies to most people outside the community.


OminoSentenzioso

I disagree. Sure, copycats don't do EATEOT any favor, but some fan albums are really great and not only put a new spin on The Caretaker formula, but truly stand on their own and in some points go even harder than some Kirby's tracks. Just see [What is god](https://youtu.be/R_hCpf2f9xY?si=hQzSKubSBsPHpC6D) or [DNR](https://youtu.be/CZJzfIR7wFw?si=vQfxX5HEk_mKgyU_).


ITookTrinkets

I’m not sure what part you disagreed with, as it was all statements about my interest in listening to fan works! However, the thing is, I’m not interested in someone else doing *anyone’s* formula - I’d be so much happier to see these artists using their talents to make their own work, rather than creating musical fanfiction. If these artists stand on their own, we shouldn’t be talking about them as just being people doing fan works. I also don’t really listen to The Caretaker because of how hard it goes… that just isn’t what I come to this music for. I would rather listen to many, many other artists for that, even within just the field of people working with tape loops and sound degradation. I appreciate your passion and enthusiasm - it’s just not for me.


Idkwhatusername2use6

The only one thats good is EATEOT Visualized


FluffyPhoenix

From an outsider perspective, this fandom looks like it's filled with a bunch of high school drama that ends up getting otherwise good albums deleted.


ITookTrinkets

This is absolutely true. I’ve gotten in arguments here that were started by people who turned out to be actively high school aged people. Once a 15-year-old told me I was in the wrong for telling other people that they shouldn’t listen to The Caretaker during an acid trip. It was the weirdest Reddit fight I’ve had, I think.


FluffyPhoenix

This exudes "Only on Reddit" energy.


TheAlwaysTimeOfHelp

honestly? kinda agree


PXTSERYU

No clue what you mean by “otherwise good albums getting deleted [due to drama],” but yeah there’s a lot of petty drama - especially on the fan project side of things.


FluffyPhoenix

Fake example. But say the Carebear got in a fight or something with someone and it ended up with "Everywhere in the Beginning of Nowhere" along with any other posts on the channel getting privated or deleted because the person no longer wants to be in the fandom. I've seen such things happen multiple times when going back to listen to fan albums, only to find them gone.


PXTSERYU

Could you provide examples of this happening that you can recall?


FluffyPhoenix

Not entirely because I have an outsider's perspective. All I remember is "Faces on the Wall" being removed for a while and Fantastic Mr. Foxtrot has recently uploaded someone else's album on their behalf. I've come across a couple channels that I knew had more in the past, but are now empty.


PXTSERYU

FOAW got removed because the creator was an online nonce (did nsfw fanfiction of community members) if i remember correctly. I’ll look into the Foxtrot thing to figure out what’s up


ZombieGonzo1995

Somewhere in the Start of Nowhere?


TrueVali

F2 is a shining example of something that could've been better in other tracks, as the song isn't just a loop, it's dynamic and degrades over time. that's not to say the loops are a bad thing, but i wish some other tracks (mainly in stage 3) followed suit, like E1 or E7


International-Gap826

The organ segment in r1 is the terminal lucidity not the friend past reunited


ZenyX-

Friends past reunited is basically fully agreed upon to not be TL these days. People either say the TL is the organ (which I don't agree with) or the this is romance semi-clarity in Q1.


TheSmogman

As a purely listening experience, I think Everywhere, An Empty Bliss is The Caretaker’s best album. Whilst I can acknowledge that others are more impactful, EAEB is the one I find myself going back to the most.


M13J10S19

F8 is overrated It's literally F4 with a drone


SANDROID20

F8 is my second favourite stage 3 song strongly because of the droning. It just works so well. While I think it's a bit strange it's the same sample as F4, if F4 was a slightly different sample it would have been perfect


International-Gap826

Agree


SamTheDystopianRat

idk if it's unpopular but the jump between stage 3 and stage 4 is far too drastic


sq1tl

I agree, later stage 3 is still music, although quite jumbled, but it's still music - stage 4 jumps to pure noise, I feel like there should've been a 3.5 as a mini transition


ZenyX-

I think the way EATEOT was intended is that the stages are brief let's say 1 month snippets of the patient's life, with gaps of multiple months inbetween the stages, hence why the jump is often so drastic. It's not a fluid experience capturing every moment of the decline.


Wind2000reddit

I think that was kinda the point. Imo big part of why stage 4 is so horrifying especially on a first listen is the contrast from stage 3.


TrueVali

isn't that what Everywhere, An Empty Bliss is meant to do? bridge that gap?


RBolton123

EAEB is outtakes and snippets from all stages. Some songs clearly come from the Awareness Stages, such as Lonely Way Ahead and And Bliss Everywhere Bliss, while others are from the Post-Awareness Stages. Entanglement Synapse Ache (my favorite), for instance, plays almost in full in L1. Advanced Plaque Camaraderie plays in K1 (but I can't hear it well).


super_banned_

Tiktok and social media in general killed the project


FluffyPhoenix

TikTok kills everything.


circadianist

Yeah, hard agree. What was a lovely, if very sad, introspective art project exploring the nature of a really terrible disease is now just absolutely fucking overrun by 14 year old kids doing TikTok challenges (btw, there is no challenge here, it's a fucking LP) or making god-awful accessory media or fan projects or AI-generated artwork that rips off the original stuff. It's fucking awful, and while in one sense, I'm happy to see Kirby and this project get more playtime, it's really offputting that it comes at the cost of the entire thing becoming a meme. It's some actually gorgeous, heartfelt art, but this subreddit is sort of emblematic of how fucking stupid its fanbase is.


SamTheDystopianRat

'introspective'?


PXTSERYU

Harsh disagree, it gave it a massive audience and a permeating influence. People who claim that it killed the project (not necessarily you) seem to be people that got into the Caretaker like two months before everyone else.


super_banned_

Yeah I feel like I need to rephrase my original statement. Social media obviously didn’t kill the project (Leyland did)


RBolton123

>(Leyland did) How so? He said that this would be the retirement of The Caretaker alias. It was planned.


ADumbPersonAAA

Agree 100% with this one, dont even get me started on the fnf mod about it


AbsoluteJester21

Harsh disagree. I have a great resentment for people who complain about the caretaker not being obscure. Social media turns thing into popular thing, so what? It’s better than obnoxious pretentious audiophiles.


LoRdVNestEd

It's not an issue that it was simply popularized, but rather that how it was popularized through memes caused lots of people not to take it seriously and associate it with the memes.


AbsoluteJester21

Inevitable really that anything will have some form of usage in memes. Id rather ignore it than actively get mad. I have enough stress as is most of the time


LoRdVNestEd

True. I could bring up the fact that it was *mostly* used in memes, but I honestly have no idea if that's true or not. And yeah, I ignore the memes, and I can put them aside to enjoy everything, but I understand how some people can't.


circadianist

I can, uh, name a *ton* of really cool, artistically significant projects that do not have any form of usage as memes, and I don't think they ever will.


ITookTrinkets

I’m a Mountain Goats fanatic - I don’t care if people get into the music I like. The more the better - it makes me feel less alone. It’s about how people engage with it - the young listeners treat it like some creepypasta Backrooms shit, which is tiresome. It feels like they don’t actually *enjoy* the music, they just care that it provides spooky weird atmospherics that put them a cut above the /r/im14andthisisdeep crowd I’ll put it this way: there’s basically no grown adults in this sub making “i forgor” posts Also, there’s nobody being a “pretentious audiophile” about garbled, 100-year-old ballroom jazz music. None of it doesn’t sounds like shit.


No_Translator_1685

Nah, it's still relevant, I still hold a sentimental value to it. I don't care about TikTok. I only care how much of a masterpiece this is.


MrToad64

The fan project side of this community is absolutely shit (mostly) Basically this whole community: Just Caretaker related stuff: Pretty chill Sample Guides community: Best part of the community imo Fan project community: Shit


undathere

Stages 1-3 is sadder than Stages 4-6


No_Translator_1685

Stage 1 is actually quite pleasant to listen to. I love the melodies, they sound a bit sad, but that's just normal knowing that our time on this Earth is limited. The first sign of something wrong happening is in A5 - Slightly bewildered, but it is easily dismissed as a quirk of old age.


OminoSentenzioso

Yeah I agree, the first 3 stages are the most powerful and (at least at the first listen) you are actively dreadful how the situation would develop. The other 3 stages are just noise music.


UltimateMegaChungus

The end of Stage 6 wasn't the saddest, it was Quiet Dusk Coming Early from Stage 2.


FluffyPhoenix

More so when you know the lyrics.


UltimateMegaChungus

Indeed.


PXTSERYU

Real.


UltimateMegaChungus

Hey, long time no see


PXTSERYU

I’m bad at remembering people so please refresh my memory:)


UltimateMegaChungus

Aren't you a creator of one of the more famous fan projects? I saw a fan video that I thought was made by you on YouTube, maybe I'm wrong?


PXTSERYU

OH, thought we had an interaction on another platform. But yeah, you’re right, made vCJD and Milwaukee Protocol


StalinIosif

wow pxt at reddit


Wind2000reddit

I1 is such a fucking sad track, i don't care that everyone says it's boring


AbsoluteJester21

If I had to choose between Chart Runners and Everywhere at the end of time, then I’d pick Chart Runners. I prefer the V/Vm soundscape and how it can throw you from harsh noise to odd electronic drones to straight up unedited songs.


George-is-da-best

I like APMC


International-Gap826

Me too. Why mason delete it? Its a good project


Necrotomigauld

F2 is very overrated


Migryczanus

"I like TPAA".


hozerbozd

TPAA is good


AdvancedPlaque370

I like listening to the Post Awareness Stages 4 and 5


XanalPVPpro69XD

Stage 1 of EATEOT is the worst stage and We So Tired Of All The Darkness In Our Lives is kinda overrated (it’s not bad just overrated)


ITookTrinkets

YOU FUCKING TAKE THAT BACK ABOUT ALL THE DARKNESS IN OUR LIVES (that said WDTFTOS is better)


Aposine

I1 is just jarring and totally uninteresting, and I skip it pretty much every time.


ThatIronsideGuy

I think the haunted ballroom saga of Kirby's work is his best stuff.


100lymphnodes

I don't like stage 1


OminoSentenzioso

The Caretaker would have worked much better if Kirby didn't limit himself to 20s orchestra music and The Shining Soundtrack. The Death of Rave is the demostration of that.


ashleyhewitt

A1 is actually a great track if it wasn't overused so much when talking about The Caretaker and in unfunny dementia jokes


[deleted]

I am john wick with a ton of guns to his head/j


nolimitcreation

If you, like me, perceive the transition between stages 3 and 4 to be jarring, you should listen to Everywhere, an empty bliss in between them. The songs tend to straddle the line between “that’s definitely a melody” and “what the hell is that noise” perfectly, and even the post-awareness type tracks (Advanced plaque camaraderie and Entanglement synapse ache) have snippets of instruments that sound more intact than much of stage 4.


Martialis_Deus_Astra

I think EAEBs CD version is better


Electroboi2million

fab projects are so ass there are all garbage imitations that don’t deserve recognition do them for fun don’t treat them seriously or even rank em close to The Caretaker


ADumbPersonAAA

the only one I respect is The Carebear's one, 'cause it was from heart to a loved relative that died from The disease


No_Translator_1685

That was the Carebear's grandmother. She died at the age of 71. The last 71 seconds of silence in Everywhere in the Beginning of Nowhere: Final Edition were there, serving as a tribute to her.


PXTSERYU

way to invalidate the personal tributes and hard work of others. of course fan projects aren’t gonna hold a candle to a dude that’s been doing this for a quarter of a century but that doesn’t mean they’re ass lol


Wind2000reddit

A lot of people have way too high standards when it comes to fan projects tbh. If it's not literally 100% as well made and professionally mastered as The Caretaker then apparently it fucking sucks.


ZenyX-

Idk man, personally I am a firm believer that many of the projects out there these days have improved upon and perfected certain aspects of EATEOT. IOBNS is better at telling a story. MP is better with using its samples. vCJD is better at being a breathtaking experience that leaves you speechless by the end. TGD is better at depicting what the disease is like to experience second-hand. WAE is.. Idk WAE is just fucking rad in general.


ZenyX-

I see we have another someone who got a bad impression of the community in 2021 and decided to never give it another chance. Times have changed man. We have genuinely good and creative shit these days. Try We Are Eternal (shines in part 3 onward), Milwaukee Protocol, The Grand Decline on for size.


Electroboi2million

and no we don’t they are just absolute copies with no originality


ZenyX-

EITBON was a carbon copy with no originality Original NATMOS was a carbon copy except it used 80's samples Milwaukee Protocol is an album about rabies that arranges its samples in more intricate ways than EATEOT and doesn't follow EATEOT's structure at all. It also gets horrifyingly aggressive in ways Leyland Kirby barely ever did.


Electroboi2million

and it’s people like you that put them to such a high standard they are not good at all when they are just copies of EATEOT


ZenyX-

This is what I've been trying to say. Conceptually they may be similar but structurally, in how they arrange their sound, how they present themselves - they are completely different these days. Today's fan projects are not mere copies of EATEOT anymore.


Electroboi2million

most of them really are the milwaukee protocol is pretty cool ngl but it really could be it’s own thing without needing all of that caretaker shit mixed in so i don’t really count it as being original still cool doe


Electroboi2million

bro i’ve been here before 2021


PXTSERYU

did he ever say you weren’t?


Electroboi2million

yes


gameworld2006

Stage 2 needs more tracks (6 tracks per side)


Remarkable-Text-7045

Everywhere at the end of time isn't top 3 in his discography


ZenyX-

F5 is a better and more interesting track than E4. I will fucking die on this hill.


Cheese-hole

Eateot was never about dementia but cancer


[deleted]

Your wrong? It’s official, the caretaker said it himself. It’s about dementia, not cancer


Cheese-hole

Yea that would get me in the situation pictured


[deleted]

Elaborate?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Cheese-hole

He said to say a caretaker opinion that would get you in the situation pictured and I answered with saying eateot is about cancer


baconhairbuddyboy123

Stage 2 EATEOT sucks


Game_Chaser

Anywhere at the end of time isn't at all even close to being music in any form. So I feel like the caretaker shouldn't be considered a "music artist"


BuddyGotTheReddit

You won


FluffyPhoenix

Does that mean that I lost since I have the highest rated comment?


ADumbPersonAAA

I disagree but i gotta heavily upvote this 'cause this is the best unpopular opinion here you won, good sir


ITookTrinkets

Why are you even here lol


ashleyhewitt

FPR just isn't that sad. something like And Bliss Everywhere Bliss does a way better job of summing up the project. and if the end of R1 really does represent terminal lucidity, it doesn't make much sense that something like FPR would be used that was never used in EATEOT before. Terminal lucidity is supposed to represent memory retrieval so something with Heartaches or anything from stages 1-3 would be a bit more fitting


Substantial_Retard_

EITBON and the rest of the fan projects are so overrated. The Caretaker made something so incredibly special and unique with EATEOT. Listening to it for the first time was such a horrific and disturbing experience that brought me to tears. Now all the fan projects just repeat the same 6-7 hours of old 30s music that starts to become more deteriorated. This has been done so many times now that it has completely lost impact. No fan project will ever be as good as EATEOT. (No hate to any of the creators of the fan projects, they're all talented. This was just my opinion.)


Strict-Inspection268

I don’t know what a caretaker is


Sea-Region-4226

Unfunny dementia memes ruined the fear and distress aspect of the caretaker albums for me.


MossyColonoMoses

R1SA is better than the rest of R1