A few weeks ago I had a look into the noise inspired world of Mifella and his music influences.
This week, I am looking at a couple of the music references in the Drifella and Drifella 2 collections, by @bis__cut ↓🧵
First off, we see a familiar face here in Drifella 1, with the Merzbow ‘Pulsedemon’ trait from Mifella being used to shape the body of the Drifella, as opposed to it’s use as a full overlay.
This remixing and hyper-citational practice is part of what glues together the collections from the scene, especially as Drifella is a direct response to the Mifella collection.
Drifella 1 does a lot of work towards world building the character and universe in which Mif and Drif exist, with the lengthy collection description revealing their lore and origins: ‘Dratini, your faithful companion and friend, has tragically passed away… Desperate to bring your beloved Dratini back to life, you strike a deal… to inject the soul of Mifella, a local figure of great power and mystery, into your fallen friend's body… And thus, the legend of DriFella is born - a being of great ugliness and raw power, forged from the remnants of a fallen Dratini and the essence
There is another album cover used as a face trait in Drifella that I believe to be an extremely important influence within Biscuit’s oeuvre.
Icedancer is a mixtape by Swedish musician Bladee, a key member of Drain Gang, a collective of musicians working experimentally within the rap/hip-hop genres.
It includes what is possibly his most famous song, ‘Be Nice 2 Me’, and marked a shift towards more up-beat music that contrasted against his earlier, darker style.
The cover art itself literally looks like a traitmaxxed PFP, and was designed by Bladee himself. You can see this style across his albums, with the four covers here looking as if they were pieces taken directly from the VVV homepage.
Bladee’s music and art appears to be influenced by a ‘terminally online’ culture, resulting in a ‘pseudo-esoteric, spiritual, drug-induced’ aesthetic. To me, Drifella is speaking a very similar visual language to Bladees album art works, with it’s references to pop-culture and a 90s childhood mashed into a trait-maxxed set of pieces. Where Bladee’s works are more abstract in their execution, Biscuit’s are visually clear when broken down, but because of the large amount of information being transferred through the single image, they are forced into abstraction.
[the albums shown are Icedancer; Working on Dying; Exeter; Cold Visions].
I’d also be remiss to not mention Bladee’s physical painting practice. I was lucky enough to go to a show of paintings by him a few years ago at The Residence Gallery. The paintings continue a similar conversation that is present in his album artworks, one swamped in religious imagery, esoteric symbolism, bright neons counteracted by soft pastels. Small faces and characters hide behind the intensity, blending in to the palette as if ghosts. There is a language here that only Bladee himself can speak, but he’s trying to let us in to understand.
Drain Gang imagery appears throughout Biscuit collections; with two of my favourite examples being in MILADY AURA2 AFTER DEATH.
There’s also more references to him in Drifella 2, such as the I <3 Bladee shirt, and the background trait of Spiky DJ standing with Bladee titled ‘Spiky Yung Lean Bladee’.
The aesthetics of Drain Gang seems to be an influence across many collections in the scene – SolfusSisters0 features a few DG traits, with many of the pieces resembling the Icedancer album cover in it’s visual intensity and maximalism. This is taken to it’s extreme with a 1/1 Dido made that uses the album art of Bladee’s early project ‘Gluee’ as it’s background.
It manifests itself in smaller ways such as this ‘Drainer’ trait in Planet Peppa, showing a cat wearing the same fit as Bladee did in an old video of himself, as well as this 333 shirt trait from his album of the same name in Mifella 2.
Bosch also named one of the chess pieces in his Super Metal Mons boardgame a ‘Drainer’.
Another band that is used as a face trait in Drifella 2 is Warzone, an influential NYHC (New York Hardcore) band formed in 1982. They were known for their anti-racist, anti-drug stance, as well as their solidarity with the working class.
"Don't Forget the Struggle, Don't Forget the Streets" was not only the title of their first album, but also a mantra for the band. It encapsulated their philosophy of staying true to your roots and remembering where you came from.
Unlike some hardcore bands that focused purely on anger or nihilism, Warzone brought a sense of working-class solidarity and pride to their music. They addressed issues like economic inequality, the challenges of urban life, and the importance of community support among working people. This was all in spite of their seemingly aggressive (fast-paced & powerful) music.
🎬 Video — View on X
Footer: As always, thank you to @exchgART & @bonk_inu Art Masters for their support in helping me to publish this writing.
Links: Drifella 1: https://opensea.io/collection/drifella… Drifella 2: https://tensor.trade/trade/drifella_2… Mifella: https://tensor.trade/trade/m_i_f Mifella 2: https://tensor.trade/trade/mifella_2 Benjamin Reichwald (Bladee) at The Residence Gallery: https://theresidencegallery.com/benjamin-reichwald… MILADY AURA2 AFTER DEATH: https://opensea.io/collection/milady-aura2-after-death… SolfusSisters0:https://tensor.trade/trade/solfussisters0… SolfusSistersGluee: https://exchange.art/single/BrgZQhTu8i947nB5bkLRshZGPetXnGWvd5tCwMA1sA8W… Planet Peppa: https://vvv.so/planet-peppa Warzone live at CBGB: https://youtu.be/3PPANEgny8A
