The theme of this song and really, the whole EP it’s off of, is the tragedy of living in an age where everything around you is falling apart. Those that have been following me know that last year I spent a lot of time putting together and releasing a benefit compilation to raise money for victims of ICE in my community. Through that fundraiser, I bought a ton of flowers from vendors. I hung up the flowers to dry over several weeks in my garage, knowing they were going to come in handy. Those flowers were one of the initial pieces I had when coming up with the concept.

I knew when I put out a music video for this album, I wanted to pick a decayed location like the abandoned missile site in Heat Death.

On my partner’s bday last year, we went on a hunt to find them new shoes. I remembered a mall from my childhood that used to have really interesting shoe stores: Puente HIlls Mall. It was so weird walking into the mall and seeing that the place was at least 75% abandoned and in massive structural disarray. I knew right then I wanted to preserve the location as a moment in time in my art.

We scouted the location in 1 day and filmed over 2. We got into a little bit of trouble almost as soon as we started filming. A janitor caught us while we were shooting the tea party scene location and called security on us. That scene was supposed to have way more flowers, with flower petals leading up to the tea party. However, we had to rush as fast as possible to avoid getting kicked out. Because this happened early in our shoot, the rest of the day we had to be cautious to avoid that janitor finding me jumping on and behind abandoned food counters.

We filmed our second date 2 months after the first. When we filmed at the mall in November, there were promises and signs that lead me to believe they were going to try to vamp up the place after the holidays. So imagine my surprise when we showed up to the food court booths destroyed and the area covered in caution tape! It was pretty cool honestly. It kinda worked out that we had such a giant gap in filming and got to show a timelapse of what transpired.

As we edited our video, Puente Hills Mall became the center of a major news story in East LA County. I mention it in the description of the video, but the City of Industry is looking to demolish the mall in June and turn it into a data center. It is something so tragic and somehow so fitting for the song itself (though I really wish that wasn’t the case). I don’t want the community a couple cities over to get poisoned by this shit so if you want to learn more about the situation: https://www.nodatacenterssgvcoalition.org/

I’m happy with how everything came together and how it ended up representing a moment in time, living in my community, fitting of the theme of the song and album.

The last fact I’ll point out that I didn’t learn til working on the video: Puente Hills Mall was the Twin Pines mall in Back to the Future!

10/11/24 – Dead End Vintage – San Francisco, Ca

Every time I perform in San Francisco, I end up in a wildly different venue than the last. March 2024, I played DNA Lounge, the biggest stage I’ve ever performed, as a part of the GDC after party POW 12. A few months later in July, I played something with the exact opposite vibe: a teeny house show. The show I played this time was held in a vintage store. I enjoyed the space itself, but the vibe of this show was a weird one. This was the first moment on tour where I felt like I didn’t fit in.

I’ll give a little more backstory as to why I felt off that night. Back in the day, like 2017-2021, my sets were a lot more experimental electronic ambient. During that era it made sense for me to mostly book noise shows. While these days I still play with noise acts regularly, I’m usually also booked with other acts who make avant garde pop music. My show at Dead End Vintage was booked with only noise and experimental electronic acts. This is probably why most of the audience that attended wasn’t into my stuff at all. My sets are very interactive, so when the audience is not responding or taking a smoke break til the next act, I tend to struggle. What added to the challenge was that I also felt like I had a hard time personally connecting with the other artists on the bill.

It has been an ongoing learning experience figuring out what kind of shows I should say yes to, what kinds of acts I should book with, and what I should ask for when planning. It’s been clear for a while that I need to stop booking myself on noise only bills. This particular gig was a reminder that I should be more upfront about the kind of shows I’d like to help put together.

I still plan to play and release experimental stuff in the future, that’s never going to change. However, I don’t know when I’ll ever play another pure experimental set.

10/12/24 – Cafe Colonial – Sacramento, Ca

The show at Cafe Colonial the next day gave the complete opposite vibe. Sacramento is always a cool place to play because of its history with niche music: KDVS nearby, Norcal Noisefest, Audio Waffle. Every show I play always has a great turnout. Andy and I also got to pick some of our faves for the lineup. We were definitely set up for success. This ended up being one of my favorite tour dates and I got to perform one song the way TV-MA was meant to be performed: with another musician.

When mars kumari joined our bill, I knew I wanted to make a performance of our collaboration song “Newly Strangers” happen. Performing a song about found family on stage with another transgender person of color was a transformative experience. In the future, if I can somehow make everything work out, I would like to make every TV-MA performance a multi-musician act.

Overall, both shows were cool and I got to bond with a lot of people. Even tho I had my gripes about the SF show, I still got a lot out of it. The next day we said bye to California and made our way towards the Pacific Northwest.

10/4/24 – Coaxial Arts – Los Angeles, Ca

My first tour date was on album release day. I played a venue I consider home, surrounded by friends, and on a bill I curated with some of my favorite electronic artists in LA. It was also my first time booking drag and a vendor at a show, something I hope to do a lot more in the future. Grace Kraft had her shop set up outside and it was really cool to show her off as my album artist (for those curious, https://linktr.ee/graceekraft). Every act on the bill showed off something crude, beautiful, weird, theatrical, or something in between. I wanted to make this show resonate with my values as an artist and I feel like the lineup and my set accomplished this.

Overall it was great start to the tour, but I do regret having the release show on release date. It was a mad scramble and I unfortunately didn’t have all my props and table giveaways in order until the following week. Next time I want to make sure my release show is a week before the album is done because I don’t think I can make that kind of rush a regular part of my process.

10/5/24 – Bandcamp Listening Party (Online)

This technically wasn’t a tour date, but it was cool nonetheless. It did feel kinda crazy holding one of these in between 3 dates during the weekend, but I would do it again. It was nice to experience the album with other people for the first time, reading comments in real time. I didn’t know many of the people in the chat, so it was interesting hearing feedback from people who hadn’t been in a room with me gushing about my own work over the last two years.

10/5/24 – Mrs. Olsen’s – Oxnard, Ca

This year I started getting more familiar with the queer music scene in Oxnard. It’s a small community of friends and acquaintances that’s really supportive of one another. I knew my friends at Princess Pillz would help me put on a good show, and they managed to help us book a black light themed venue. It was the smallest audience of the weekend, but there were a lot of familiar (queer) faces and enthusiasm for everyone that hit the stage.

That weekend I experimented a lot with what did and didn’t work for audiences on stage. It was this show where I started giving out flowers during some of my numbers. It turns out everyone loves getting flowers! I really want people to get used to associating me with flowers as much as they associate me with electronic music. The theme of nature vs tech is integral to my work. I often daydream about living in a cabin in the woods (as many do) but I cannot deny my love of technology, the unnatural, and the outright fake. Flowers & petals will hopefully be a big part of my stage presence for the foreseeable future.

10/5/24 – Til-Two – San Diego, Ca

This was the SoCal show I was the most nervous about. The only act on the bill I knew was Memory Theater who I had performed with earlier in the year at Che Cafe in San Diego. I had never met the artist Vaginals in person before, but she helped us book the venue, the DJ, and the closing act. After being full of nerves, this show ended up having the biggest turnout and the most energy of the weekend. It is the one that set the tone for the rest of the west coast tour. Andrew Wayne and I started to hit our stride and we got a taste of what it was like to play in a place where we either of us didn’t know very many people.

I have a hard time explaining what kind of music I make. Am I a pop act? Am I an experimental act? An electronic act? I make dark music right? I have always identified as goth so while I don’t make darkwave or post punk, I feel like my sound can be best described as “dark pop.” This show was a goth show. Andrew Wayne and I, nervous about going in, left the show feeling like we fit right in. The loud enthusiasm of the crowd was extremely validating. The reception made me feel like I must be doing something right.

The Light at the End of Decay
Out 10/4/24

Pre-order Digital & Physical on Bandcamp:
https://tvma.bandcamp.com

Music Streaming Services:
https://tvmanoise.com/streaming

The track above is the secret ending song I made for the game. This project was really special to me and I hope you’ll take the time to listen and play <3

Play CybeRRRevolution:
https://brujeriaatwerk.itch.io/cyberrrevolution

Listen to the Soundtrack:
https://tvma.bandcamp.com/album/cyberrrevolution-soundtrack
https://www.tvmanoise.com/streaming/

Find it on all music platforms and on bandcamp at https://2mellomakes.bandcamp.com/album/seek-your-sound

Available on Nintendo Switch, PS5, & Steam. Music composed by Eli Rainsberry.

I’m a transmasculine, chicanx, electroacoustic producer that specializes in dark and quirky music. Flute, omnichord, ukulele, synth and generative processes can frequently be found in my work.

Contact therisse.amunatigui@gmail.com for more info on how to commission me!

Video edited by Roan Everly