dextromethorphan-addicted best friends relishing in their brains' chopping and screwing of data

five starcle men were two teenage boys in the 90s living in a desolate area of california, drinking cough syrup like water. five starcle men's music consists of many tape-loops, noise rock-influenced heavily distorted bass, rough guitar, scratchy vocals due to low-quality recording equipment, and spacey delayed sounds created with random objects. they sample and create electronic beats at times, overlaying them with gurgling noises and melodic polyphonic singing, producing a sound unlike any i've ever heard--a sound reminiscent of the japanese playstation game, 'lsd: dream emulator', being stuck in a computer, being trapped in a middle school dance in the late 90s forever, being the only person with a conscience in a crowd, being in a basement in front of a computer using windows 95, dissociated. certain tracks, such as 'teen texas concert,' even invoke similar feelings and imagery that proto-vaporwave tends to do, but being entirely genuine without any pretense. this is the sound post-modern, cliche vaporwave artists dream of capturing. yet, the sound and vibe occurs in an entirely organic manner. it is in no way similar to vaporwave conceptually, but their core elements of production are quite similar. the chop and screw technique is executed flawlessly, sounding like strings of data flowing out of a mouth. the primarily noise rock tracks typically include electronic components, tape loops, and vocal distortion as well, but are have a focus on guitar and conventional rhythms. these teenagers relished in their new reality and managed to share shards of it via producing hypnagogic and somehow nostalgia-inducing repetitive thought loops on aliens, suburbs, dxm, robots, pizza hut, death, space, religion, and glitches. listening to gomba reject ward japan is the closest thing to being in their bubbles. it feels like the 90s, melting into arcade game screens in a haze, staying up for days on end in a locked room with garbage bags taped over the windows, living on cheetos, creating an echochamber consisting of two people. often-deadpan, ironic lyricism coupled with jangly, dissonant guitar sets up an almost comical aura to some of five starcle men's work, adding to the cheeky nature. boys will be boys, boys will stay up all night drinking delsym and using guitar feedback as an instrument. one of the boys killed himself in 1998, the other allegedly eventually studying philosophy, science, and history at a university. they performed small-scale shows, often getting kicked out of establishments due to their music being disliked. their efforts towards attempting to convey a very specific mindset, an entire world, were not in vain. five starcle men managed to create an entire gateway to their minds through music.