I've just got a couple more recordings to finish, and to record with the orchestra. This week I'll be meeting with one of the orchestra people to go over the score and discuss any revisions they might need to do. That aside, I've primarily been working so I can pay the rest of their fee. I need to make a little under $3000 before August 19th (between my car payment, insurance, and the actual fee, which is $2653), record with them on the 26th, finalize and upload the album by the 29th, and then prepare the music videos for release after the album comes out.

Driving as much as I have been is rather taxing - I'm quite exhausted and have been for a while now. I'm certain I'll make it to the finish line at this rate, but if you'd like to help me out, even if it's a little bit, your Ko-Fi donations make this a bit easier on me. Anyone who donates more than $20 or has donated so far will receive a digital download of the album on Bandcamp and will be eligible to claim a double vinyl copy of the album when it becomes available, access to the private supporter channels in my Discord, and their own personal song commission for every $500 donated ~ https://ko-fi.com/baumarius

This album is truly something special. I can't wait to show y'all what I've spent the last two years creating.

https://baumarius.bandcamp.com/

Streaming some Valheim on Twitch tonight! Indigo's not here this time so I have diplomatic immunity >:3

https://www.twitch.tv/baumarius

Streaming for a few hours with Indigo tonight :3

https://twitch.tv/baumarius

Starlight Telepath, my 15th album, is now available for pre-order on Bandcamp! It will be released on September 19, 2024 and will feature 21 tracks that will transport you to otherworldly realms. The music speaks of the adventures my friends and I will go on, the nature of conscious existence, and reflections on my life as a therian.

Proceeds from the pre-order and my Ko-Fi campaign (which is now at 80%!) will go towards the last few recordings I need to get done with the orchestra before release. Sometime after release I will get the album produced as a double vinyl record and then offer that as an option for purchase through Bandcamp.

Pre-order: https://baumarius.bandcamp.com/albu.....light-telepath
Listen early by supporting me on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/baumarius

Streaming some Civ 6 until Indigo gets here, then switching to Valheim for more shenanigans :3

https://twitch.tv/baumarius

My new single "Blue Impulse" is out now on Bandcamp. Blue Impulse will appear on all other streaming services in the next few days. This video shows the making of the cover art, by SheilaGrace: https://youtu.be/ZwSQzTaNyKU

https://baumarius.bandcamp.com/trac.....blue-impulse-2

This track will appear on Starlight Telepath, which I'm now aiming to release on September 19th, 2024. Starlight Telepath has 21 tracks with a fresh blend of orchestral and electronic music in a style I like to call "film electronica," with nearly every track featuring live musicians and orchestra for the first time in my music.

Gonna be streaming Valheim with Indigo today - we'll be playing through to the Ashlands, from scratch~ https://www.twitch.tv/baumarius

There will be a sneak peak for Starlight Telepath at the end - short of the orchestra bits, all tracks are now complete except for Into The Expanse.

ETA: Soon

birth

1. The Wolf That Fell From Baumar - Complete
2. The Long Night - Complete
3. Into The Expanse - Needs violin, electric guitar, and acoustic guitar recordings.
4. Strangled Basin - Complete
5. Therian - Complete
6. Beyond The Lucid - Complete
7. Awake - Complete
8. Facing The Time Eater - Complete
9. The Promise - Complete
10. The Enchanted Forest - Complete
11. Fading Light - Needs cello and clarinet recordings.
12. Entanglement - Complete
13. Empress of Karugis - Complete
14. Superhighways - Complete
15. Riverwolf - Needs cello, violin, and acoustic guitar recordings.
16. Sheila - Needs erhu recording.
17. Liminal Incarnate - Complete
18. Starlight Telepath - Awaiting final electric guitar recording.
19. Before Our Sun Sets Its Last - Complete
20. Farewell - Complete

While I would love to prepare some of these tracks with the orchestra, right now I think I need to be a bit more careful about how I spend my money, and I've grown a bit tired of working on the same project for over a year. I'm also gonna be behind on my taxes, which means I'll need to finance them with the IRS...which will be $3500. The orchestra would be another $3000 on top of that. These songs still sound really great either way and I'm sure y'all will enjoy them as they are. I've done my best to make them sound as realistic as possible; you probably won't be able to tell.

With that out of the way, I have 5 songs left to get recordings for (this will cost about $200-600), plus one last mastering pass for the whole album to ensure it is balanced and coherent.

Gonna stream some Redout 2 for a bit until my back feels better. Feel free to stop by and chat! https://www.twitch.tv/baumarius

If I'm feeling alright I may work on a new single cover for Entanglement later.

Unfortunately, my upcoming album Starlight Telepath will have to be delayed by 4-5 months. After calculating my finances, if nothing unexpected happens I will be $2650 short of the production costs alone (to pay the orchestra and all the musicians) by the original release date I had planned and $3-4000 short of a PR campaign.

The full release will have to wait until late August or September. In the meantime, you can hear the full album it in it's current state by supporting me on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/baumarius

I've also released 3 singles from the album already - Empress of Karugis, Therian, and Superhighways. Empress of Karugis will be redone with the orchestra. You can find those here: https://linktr.ee/baumarius

A lot of people seem to think my name is pronounced "bo" when it is in fact "bao" XD

I have regained proper sight of my path forward. Everything in my existence is falling into place.

Merry Christmas!

*exhales in Uber*

Patreon recently made a slew of poor decisions that ended with the unwarranted banning of hundreds of creators. None of them were in violation of Patreon's TOS. One of my close friends was pulling in over $1000 a month and needed that income to survive, but they haven't even been given the option to appeal the decision. They've really outdone themselves this time.

Seeing as my account could easily get yeeted without warning and the public sentiment towards Patreon has soured, I will be switching to Ko-fi and closing down my Patreon campaign so no one else will be charged through it. And because of the way my art and music is and the fact that I get less than one commission a year at this point, I'm reducing the campaign to a single tier. $1/month or more = full access to all of my WIPs and such, including the near-final version of my upcoming album, Starlight Telepath. But you're welcome to donate however much you want and/or continue like you were before.

I also set a temporary goal for the campaign that will last until March - $3500 for the live instrumentation & orchestra costs for Starlight Telepath. Whatever isn't met by then, I will be doing my best to cover myself. I've added up this year's Patreon support to the goal to reflect what my supporters have already donated - currently it's at 14%, which is no small number. As always, I appreciate whatever y'all feel like chipping in. Thanks!

https://ko-fi.com/baumarius

I recently posted a journal in which I mentioned my upcoming release and said that I wouldn’t put it out until I reached certain social goals. After receiving feedback from the community about my plans, I am rescinding that stipulation and will be releasing the album anyway. It was hasty, unkind, and unnecessary of me to place that kind of burden on you. While I would certainly like it if you were passionate about my music enough to share it with your friends, I understand that many of you are probably introverts like myself - and even if you’re not, my music is so niche that it’s not easily spreadable in the first place, and I do not need to achieve such goals to succeed. I’m deeply sorry for subjecting you to this and hope that you’ll forgive me.

-Bau

There's something special I want to tell you. Something beautiful. Something...intimate. So intimate I've crafted 17 wonderful tracks for your listening pleasure. They speak of the adventures we'll go on, the things I've seen, the finite nature of our existence, and my life of pain as a therian with species dysphoria.

At least three of those tracks will be recorded with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, including my previously released single "Empress of Karugis."

But I'm not giving it away for free this time. No, not when my voice has been consistently silenced throughout my life by people seeking to save their own necks by perpetuating academic, governmental, spiritual, and corporate agendas. Such people don't deserve to see the real me.

The SDA pre-Q-anon doomsday cult I was raised in wanted me to be an evangelist. So they beat me bloody, kicked me out of church and forced me into a cage. I lost nearly everything, even my own identity, and fought with dissociative amnesia for 6 years. I escaped on a plane only to be assaulted by a franchisee at Dunkin a year later, injured and mocked for it at my next job, then given long-covid at the next. I wrenched myself back but not without going through terror that would kill a man.

I feel like I'm dying every day. Maybe I am. I now struggle with persistent fluid in my lungs that won't go away because Trump cultists and anti-vaxxers would rather deny that covid exists. My ribs feel like they're going to break sometimes and my sternum is on fire. And no, I'm not asking for your home-grown homeopathic "remedies." My family gave me enough of those.

All the while, I've been creating music that's become stunningly beautiful, using the spiritual meaning I found out in the wild as inspiration. But I have to ask myself: Does this human community deserve to hear it?

To which I say: Yes...if you give me my voice back - if you lift me up so that I might howl my pain and joy from the mountaintops until humanity develops some goddamn empathy. Otherwise it will remain a secret shared only amongst my closest friends until it is lost forever.

I will not release my fifteenth and best album, my magnum opus Starlight Telepath, until I have at least 1,000 followers between Spotify and other music platforms. If I reach 10,000 next year, I will donate 50% of the proceeds to animal sanctuaries around the world.

Starlight Telepath is an hour of the best music you've never heard. I will be putting out a few singles over the coming months, but the full release will be dependent on this.

Labels and promoters don't want to touch it. My music isn't like the commercial pop garbage they wanna stuff down your throat. It's too real for them.

So follow me. Boost this. Give me a voice. Join my Discord server and talk to me. I want to know you as much as I want you to know me.

Until it's released (if it's released), you can hear the album in its entirety by supporting my Patreon campaign for just $5. You can check that out and pre-save my upcoming single "Superhighways" here: https://linktr.ee/baumarius

If my heart and lung issues claim my life before release but the other goals are met, I will leave it up to one of my closest friends to release the album for me.

I'm tired of shouting into the void and hearing nothing back. I want to release this in April next year, but if it's been 6 months and you find yourself asking "Why isn't Starlight Telepath out yet?" TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

In one month, on January 4th, I'll be releasing the second single from my upcoming album "Starlight Telepath." It's groovy as hell. Pre-save & preview it here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/b...../superhighways

It depicts a telepathic dream sequence. It's also really fun to drive to.

I have my own set of ideals that don't require religion, and they were formed in relation to my analysis of belief systems, "shamanism", and cults - having been raised in a cult myself. Teaching them in a way that would help others might be easier said than done, but I would argue that I am much more resilient and free than any religion or single philosophy can provide. That's not to say that they won't provide, but they have glaring weaknesses. Stoicism and Taoism come close in many regards, but such a thing can only truly be understood on one's own. If I could offer any advice, it would be to be guard against magical thinking and to hold fast to an effort to understand everything - to never stop asking why. Not just about your social and mental habits but also in your exploration of such philosophies and religions.
In this way, I suppose you could say that what I have is a methodology, in the form of empiricism, but with everything... And if you run everything you know through the filter of empiricism, you end up with solipsism.

Ah yes. That is what it is: methodological solipsism - the idea that your mind is the only thing that can verifiably exist. But, I will say that solipsism is not an endpoint - it's a building block, a process. For me solipsism is a window into how I see the world. It is not lonely as I once thought. The fact is that taking anything else for granted or anyone else's word - for literally anything - requires belief, and I don't need to believe in myself. I am. Whether I want it or not, whether the world wants me or not. You could tell me that you believe that this isn't true, but who am I to take your word for it? I'm the one steering this meatmech. And yet, that is not a claim that I exist - if I made that claim you'd have to take my word for it too (though ultimately I'd prefer if you believed that). Internally I feel I know that I am, but does that make me "right" in that belief? Who knows? This quandary won't change whether or not or in which way I will live, and from there I can choose to believe (albeit cautiously) whatever I desire.

I see abstract concepts within other religions and moralities (e.g. "the grace of God," "Wu Wei," or "evil") as labels for intricate ideals and psychosocial mechanisms that can only be known personally. They were known clearly by the person who wrote about those things thousands of years ago; they gave them a label, perhaps so that they could talk about it with greater ease and help others relate. I might say, that's a very romantic usage of language, but inevitably incomprehensible to most of the people who use those terms willy nilly after their true meaning was long lost in translation to time.

Belief without understanding is arrogance. And it is destroying this world. That's the bottom line. Once you truly understand this, your anxiety and depression are destined for extinction and you'll be able to live freely, even if it is death you face. And then maybe you'll better pay attention to what's happening. This is how humanity as a species will escape 1984 and their unfortunately near extinction. Fear extinction is your friend.
You owe this to yourself. Be humble, but... be inevitable. For all of us. And once you're free, spread this.

I may be a "spiritual" person but I don't often like it when other people talk to me about spirituality anymore, since most spiritual folks tend to make assertions about this or that... As if they're 100% sure that "energy work" or Reiki or what have you actually works. These assertions are dangerous - such assertion is how cults are created. And once ensnared by them, people don't want to leave and face the fear that awaits them. The fear of the truth that we can't even verify that the past exists. The fear that there is no meaning outside their bubble. We can infer what the external world is telling us, but inference is not concrete proof. The only thing you can truly know is that "you" are happening, whatever that even means, and you are witnessing something wild and untouchable. There is no past or future, only an ever-present moment in which every atom in existence is constantly descending from a state of quantum superposition into a classical one in .00000000003 seconds or something... and you're experiencing it 80ms late. Tradition and belief be damned - dogma is the root of all "evil."

That's right, good and evil are made up too. Religion is not valid - relativism is. And meaning can still be found in it, even if it's scary as hell to contemplate. It's supposed to be. On the other side of that fear is freedom and great power, you just have to let it pass through you. It may be easier and necessary to believe certain things, but until you conquer that fear, don't talk to me about the stars.

If you'd like early listening access to my new album (there are 15 songs!), your Patreon support would be appreciated! Now you can even join for free. I also have a Discord server you can be a part of if you want to keep close tabs on my progress and be a part of my community! I'll be recording my new album Starlight Telepath with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra next year and then diving right into Tenera - a metroidvania I'm developing that will feature a dedicated "synesthesia engine" through which you can navigate the world and solve puzzles, as well as a rich post-apocalyptic story that is as brutal as it is ethereal.

https://www.patreon.com/syamori
https://discord.gg/NQX9fCnB9f

There are new tax rules from the IRS that will be in effect this year. If you've received money through Venmo, Cashapp, or Paypal not marked as friends/family totaling $600 or more (as a total of all transactions, not just a single one), it will be counted as taxable income and will need to be reported via Form 1099-K. They lowered the threshold from $20k. Even if you're not an artist, this may affect you, and if you use TurboTax, they will charge you to file it. Just a heads up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBaF_m-_2pY

My new album, Starlight Telepath, is starting to come together! It had 7 tracks a month ago - now it has 14. I'm mostly just waiting on recordings and the album cover now. Late this year or early next year (when I can comfortably spend $3000+) I will be recording a few of these tracks with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. I can't wait to show y'all. Aiming to release it on my birthday next year (4/20).

Here's a WIP of the cover, by Ornamentarium on Twitter: https://blogimg.ngfiles.com/1069000.....3_5124660.webp

And here's a sneak peek of the first track: https://on.soundcloud.com/sh4oy

If anyone is interested in playing for a track or two, I'm still in need of solo cello, violin, viola, electric guitar, clarinet, erhu, Appalachian dulcimer, harp, and acoustic guitar recordings. I will pay you. Send me demos of your work.

If you want to listen to the whole thing early in its current state, you can get access to that by supporting me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/syamori

Decided to work on some music today - I'm in the process of refining the rougher parts of my album. Feel free to stop by and chat or listen: https://www.twitch.tv/baumarius

Broke up with my gf the other day and now she wants to go back to Maine in September. Her car is what enabled me to do Uber and even live in this apartment, so I will have to aim for at least $1k a week until then so I can try to finance or buy a car before she leaves.

If I can get my own car, I should be able to handle everything okay if I keep working like that. Otherwise, I'll need to find another roommate, which I may want to do anyway.

Rent here is $1200/mo ($600 split two ways) for a 1-bedroom apartment. Lease ends at the end of next May. They'd get the room; I have my own private nook that's partitioned off from everything. It's actually quite nice. I live in North Oakland / Pittsburgh, PA. Lots of opportunities here, and if you're over 25 I can help you get started doing Uber if you've got nothing else - I personally get anywhere from $20-100/hr depending on the day ($25-34/hr average). You just need a car newer than 2010 and to have been licensed for a year. It's a pretty chill gig. I also have an e-bike they could use for Doordash and stuff, which pays well too.

If you know anyone who might be interested, please send them my way and/or share this. Thanks!

This is the best position I've been in, ever, and it still sucks somehow lol