Short answer, yes.

Where are my manners?! Hello again, everyone who stops by or even happens to follow me. If you're confused, let me explain. This is Robin Centauri, a persona/project that previously was a part of my main online presence (AzureAmalgam3301), and before that, a standalone project called Dreams Of Incarnadine. If any of those names mean anything to you, then yes, there's a decent chance it's me you're thinking of.

Why create a new divide?

To be honest, trying to keep all that I am under one brand was causing a lot of clutter. But I felt that reviving Dreams Of Incarnadine would've been a regression and not the step forward that I wanted. So I thought of a good stage name to adopt, and the rest is history.

Also, for as much as I can get away with AzureAmalgam3301 for gaming and personal activities, it's a nightmare for anything artistic.

What's the story behind Robin Centauri?

After having a hard time coming up with a band-like name, I realised that I don't need to project the image of somebody who knows what they're doing. It's better for everybody if I'm myself - a solo artist making amateur jams in a bedroom.

A stage name let me be more creative and unique, and it also meant I wouldn't need to concede my actual name (a forename is the most I'm willing to give). I picked a normal-ish first name from a list, and of course, that first name was Robin. It just works. Centauri was chosen as the second element because it was unique enough that "Robin Centauri" did not run the risk of any naming conflicts, and I want something reminiscent of outer space.

Does this mean new music is on the way?

You bet it does! Things are going slowly, of course, as this is the first time in nearly a year that I've made any serious attempt at sonic art (all I've done beforehand was a couple of half-baked MIDI loops in LMMS for a tech review). It's going to be a little different to what came before; rock in a way that is new for me, and electronica at a level and competency I have never achieved up to now, but it is still my sound, and I'm confident that if you stick around, there'll be at least one thing for you to enjoy.

Well, it's getting late, and I want to play some Overwatch 2 before I get too tired for anything (Freja main, if you're curious). I'll be seeing you soon.

Poll Link and Explanation

I am currently organizing a poll regarding what happens to Dreams Of Incarnadine material. It is my belief that the decisions I make affect my audience as much as they affect myself, so now's your time to have a say.

Visit https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/fhfvgQrkXA to dictate what happens next. Please submit your vote before 12:30 BST on June 20th as the poll will close by then.

Rationale and Backstory

Two and a half years ago, I made Dreams Of Incarnadine to express my musical creativity. At the time, I believed that a clean slate was best for my sonic art, but in October of last year, I finally said goodbye to the pseudonym and started publishing as myself.

The question, then, is whether or not my extant profiles need to be collapsed, or if there is still merit in retaining Dreams Of Incarnadine for legacy purposes.

I've had time to think about what I want to do and I've managed to escape the stress that arose when making Forbidden Airwaves, and I'm going to periodically work on things. It won't be a full-scale return, and it's going to be a lot more non-commital than what I did before, but you might hear works sooner than you think. Don't get your hopes up too much.

Hello again!

It's about time that I actually sat down and authored a newsletter for my page. In short, I'm going to be discussing a few things about the recent release, future plans, and me in general. I wish I had a better tl;dr, but I am horrible at condensing written ideas.

Before I go into anything, let me preface my words with an expression for gratitude for any and all support shown towards me and my works. No matter the size of this support, I am grateful to receive any of it, and I'm just happy that I appealed to at least one person, especially considering that my promotional skills are poor and I am comparatively amatuer.

With that said, let's just head straight into our first section.

Post-Album Analysis

If you've been listening to my discography, you might have seen my debut album, Forbidden Airwaves. Released in four segmented installations, this is work that I considered significant enough to form a true album - and my first dive into albums, no less. There are things that I think I did well, and there are areas that can be improved upon. Before I dissect the good or the bad, let's go over the plain facts.

Released in four parts from May 17 to July 10 of this year, Forbidden Airwaves was a thirteen-track album primarily centred on the genre of electronic rock. The decision to break this project into pieces was made so that I could circumvent my own inhibitions, doubts, and pressures (albeit self-inflicted) in regards to the release of another mass collective of audio. The artwork was chosen out of a series of old photographs I took at a park, and the name was derived from the artwork as a little joke.

The Good

• My approach allowed me to finally publish my work instead of telling myself I'm in over my head.
• I managed to achieve a high threshold of originality with the album and minimise the reliance on samples or redoing my own established works.
• I finally stepped out of my comfort zone properly and attempted electronic genres properly, instead of just making my usual dnb/metal mixes and omitting the guitars.

The Bad

• I rushed into announcement and publication of the album's contents, not giving myself time to prepare promotional materials or teasers, and forcing my own hand with regards to what saw the light of day.
• There was less consultation with testers before the music was publicated. While independence is definitely valuable, it meant that I had no clue what would stick the landing until after I hit publish.
• I neglected to establish a rigid schedule of naming, teasing, and publishing installments, meaning that the doubts and inhibitions regarding the project were allowed to re-establish themselves, and the project was sporadically publicised (it almost ended on 10-1, believe it or not, that's how chaotic we're talking).
• Even though it was the most planned part of my musical presence online, it was still very improvisational, and this meant that even with my growth with other genres, the album was largely guitar-centric and not as diverse as intended.

Lessons To Be Learned

If there are takeaways that I can derive from this, it's that I should get into the rhythm of scheduling things, manage and mitigate impulsive decisions in regards to my musical endeavours, evaluate and scrutinise project materials in greater depth, and do some research in regards to what people who already listen to me actually come here for.

Hiatus

I like music. Make no mistake about that. Music is a deep passion of mine, and I'd never want to turn my back on it for good. But it does me no favours to bury myself in soundscapes and songwriting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Of course, respite is crucial to avoid burnouts and to mitigate the risk of developing a loathing for my craft. Henceforth, I am temporarily stepping back from music altogether, and reducing general activity under the Dreams Of Incarnadine moniker.

This is not a permanent resignation from music, nor does it mean that I will disappear completely, but it means that things will be taken at a slower, easier pace from up to one year after writing this post, and the activity I harbour under this persona will be more laid back and unrelated to music.

Rest assured that this decision does have an end, and I will one day make a comeback as a musician. I just need time to do things other than music.

My Life In General

So, given that this is not my main means of expression and existence online (gasp! the hyperfocused persona that talks exclusively about one thing is a detached alter ego!), I am aware that my existence under this moniker is very impersonal, detached, and locked in on musical pursuits. I want to be more open and personal, and to present things about myself that aren't just sound compositions.

It'll be infrequent, and like all new things, it'll start off rocky, but on my YouTube page and across my microblogging accounts, I'll begin to share things about myself like life in general, hobbies, and things that pique my interest. If I get comfortable enough with the idea, I might even do what a lot of people are seemingly doing nowadays and open a Q&A line for people to ask questions.

In short, I'm going to be more of a person from this point forward. I hope this change isn't too jarring, and I also hope that anyone who shows up for this more human side of my presence enjoys what they find. Regardless, I once again thank you for any and all support, and I shall see you in the future.

Until next time :)

Good news! I can now confidently say that the aforementioned project is nearing completion. All that's left is the mixing and naming of some tracks and sorting the metadata and it will be done.

I will also use this opportunity to announce the name of the project: Impurities. It just seems to fit considering the nature of the content.

That will be all. See you very soon.

If anyone recalls the vote I launched a few days ago, then I can now announce that we indeed have a winning option. The choice of both remixes and electronic songs has won.

Turnout was low, as is to be expected (I am just beginning my presence online), but I thank everyone who participated. Hope you all enjoy the upcoming material.

So, I'm thinking of taking a break from guitar for a bit, but I still want to create new material. My problem is, I can't decide what to do. I have two ideas but can't settle on one to proceed with, so I'm putting this forward to you. The below text explores my options.

Remixes

I could rearrange some of my existing works and alter the mixes to create variations of my own existing material. This would allow me to explore some avenues and ideas that I hadn't applied to those previous works, which could yield interesting results and allow me to branch out to styles beyond just metal. However, it is at least partially limited by the source material.

Programmed Material

As an alternative to altering my own existing material, I could create new material sans-guitar. This would be entirely programmed. I could create something as gentle or as harsh as I wanted, I can make any change to it whenever needed or desired, and I could probably learn some new tricks in dealing with different tools. The limitations are that I don't know much about non-metal songwriting, so projects on this path are likely to be trial and error.

The Choice is Yours

So, now I've laid my options out, you guys get a say. Would you want to hear synthetic songs or would you like me to cut up some of my older works to make something new? You can vote here, or if you don't fancy going off site, simply comment what you feel like. Accepting responses until 1PM GMT on Friday 02/02/2024.

Hello again. Now that I've got the redistribution of my original publications out, it's time I shift my focus to something new. If you were on my YouTube page last night, you may already know, but I have recently managed to recover some project files from my old computer. I also have a few tracks that I am - in all honesty - a bit too proud of to just keep around until a later date, so I aim to release these materials before the end of February.

The majority of the songs should be the same quality as the material I've already published, but there will be outliers. Some of this is salvaged, after all.

Stay tuned for more.

Edit 27/01/2024: I got that done faster than I thought I would

Hello again, everyone who is or isn't reading this. I have some news for you.

If you've come here from any other platforms that I currently inhabit, you may notice a surprising lack of projects on this page. Well I think it's about time that everyone here on Newgrounds gets a chance to listen to these works without having to go offsite. Hence why I am announcing that the process of posting all 14 (Frostbite not included) tracks from my debut collection, The Bedroom Mixes.

Naturally, with 14 tracks to handle, this isn't going to happen overnight, but it will happen. In fact, two of these tracks, these being King Of The Hill and Frostbite, will have already been made accessible to you guys by the time this news post goes live.

Hope you like what you see (or hear, rather). Ciao.

Edit 24/01/2024: The full redistribution process has been completed and all tracks from The Bedroom Mixes are now available here.