| Name | Alternate Timeline: Without Neil Cicierega |
| Outcomes | The distinctive 'Mouth Moods' album and 'Jorkin' song do not exist • Cicierega's pioneering influence on internet-driven experimental music is nonexistent • The meta-referential style he developed remains unexplored |
| Description | In this timeline, the experimental musician Neil Cicierega and his influential Lemon Demon project do not exist, resulting in the absence of his groundbreaking meta-referential musical style and its impact on internet culture and experimental music. |
| Divergence Point | Absence of Neil Cicierega |
"Jorkin" is a song by American musician and internet personality Neil Cicierega, released in 2016 as part of his album "Mouth Moods" under the stage name Lemon Demon. Known for his avant-garde, genre-blending musical style and postmodern, meme-influenced songwriting, Cicierega created "Jorkin" as a centerpiece of his highly experimental "Mouth Moods" project.
Neil Cicierega, born in 1982, is a multi-talented artist known for his eclectic music, videos, and internet-based creative works. Under the moniker "Lemon Demon," Cicierega has released several albums blending elements of rock music, electronic music, novelty music, and experimental music.
Cicierega's distinctive style, which drew heavily from Internet culture, memes, and absurdist humor, has won him a dedicated cult following among fans of unconventional and boundary-pushing music. His 2016 album "Mouth Moods" is considered his magnum opus, featuring heavily processed and assembled songs like "Jorkin" that push the boundaries of traditional musical structure and composition.
"Jorkin" is an 8-minute track on "Mouth Moods" that exemplifies Cicierega's genre-bending, meta-referential approach. The song begins with layers of sampled and mangled vocal loops, gradually building in complexity with glitchy electronic textures, distorted guitar riffs, and dissonant musical elements.
Lyrically, "Jorkin" is full of cryptic, nonsensical lyrics that make oblique references to internet memes, video game characters, and other cultural touchstones. The song's title itself is a made-up word that has no clear meaning, reflecting Cicierega's penchant for linguistic absurdity.
As the track progresses, it shifts between sections of frantic, chaotic noise and more melodic, song-like structures, constantly subverting the listener's expectations. The climactic final minutes feature a barrage of heavily processed vocal samples, grinding guitars, and odd time signatures, creating a disorienting, almost frightening listening experience.
However, in this alternate timeline, Neil Cicierega and his Lemon Demon project do not exist. Without Cicierega's pioneering work in blending internet-influenced musical styles and postmodern, surreal sensibilities, the highly unique and challenging song "Jorkin" is never created.
This absence likely means the development of experimental and internet-based music subcultures would have taken a very different trajectory, without Cicierega's influential and idiosyncratic contributions. The broad impact his work has had on internet culture, meme sharing, and the blurring of highbrow and lowbrow aesthetics would also be nonexistent in this timeline.
While it's impossible to say exactly how the musical and cultural landscape might have evolved, the lack of Neil Cicierega's singular creative vision almost certainly resulted in a markedly different - and perhaps less iconoclastic - creative landscape in this alternate reality.
