THE
X
LIVES
OF
PAUL

Published in Portland, Oregon, United States by Girly Girl Musik

Compilation curation
Gabriel George Martins
Album mastering
Fae Moonbeam
Seffi Starshine
Diagramming
Gabriel George Martins
Revision
Gabriel George Martins
Isabella Carrion

Girly Girl Musik
E-mail: girlygirlmusik@airmail.cc
Bandcamp: https://girlygirlmusik.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GirlyGirlMusik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girlygirlmusik/

THE X LIVES OF PAUL
is a multigenre compilation curated by
VAN JACK
and released by
GIRLY GIRL MUSIK
on November 21st, 2019

ALBUM ARTWORK BYSEGAOCTOPUS
ASVMR
THICKLY PAINTED WALLSHOUDINI MANSIONSVAN JACKCONTENTS

Introduction
The artwork
A preface to the writings
The writings
Last transmission
Once a week
Dear PaulThis dudeSnapshotSounds like John, but it’s PaulBlurb
A Paul is harmed
Paul was unhappy
The haste land from B. S. Elloit
Hello, Paul
Stretching PaulA vaporpoem named Paul
Paul: the last dude
The Paul that could have been

Review of Paul (2011)
Music credits
Acknowledgements

7
11
13
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
30
31

33
37
45

THE X LIVES OF PAUL

INTRODUCTION
by Gabriel George Martins, a.k.a. Van JackThe X Lives of Paul was born without a name, but it always had a house.
The idea for the compilation came to me on September 4th, 2019. I was walking
down a street towards a bus stop and thinking about some of my favorite music genresand how they were produced. Moments before, I saw a tweet by someone, though I can’t
remember who, talking about ambient music and I was just wondering how many times I
used the Paulstretch function to help me create drones—drones were an essential part ofmy production, and they continue to be. It’s still amazingly helpful from time to time.
If I use it the right way—“right” being anything I feel it’s good or fit, without
much reasoning beyond what I can hear and feel—, I get some blissful, spacy, often darksounds to be part of a more layered track, or to use just like they were: drones. It is as
magical as the download page make it seem to be: “It can transform any sound/music toa texture”.
So, I began wondering how many people used Paulstretch’s Audacity plugin or
standalone software in their music—how many people owe Paulstretch at least a tiny
portion of their output. I couldn’t say for sure back when I pondered this, but I had theimpression that a lot of us, producers from the underground, had a comforting, cozy story
involving the tool.
Considering that, I felt like the algorithm deserved some praise—which issomething odd to say in a world seemingly dominated by algorithms. The fact is,
Paulstretch isn’t just essential for experimental music, chiefly drone and ambient, but it’salso a catalyst of human sensations of all kinds, either for listeners diving in a sea oflengthy perceptions or artists patiently spending hours in front of a computer, trying toachieve something they, more often than not, don’t even know what it is.
That praise, of course, didn’t struck me at once as a dedicated compilation, but
I’m not gonna say the jump from a forgettable tweet to a massive conception wasn’t very
fast either. In fact, it was so fast that the forgettable tweet didn’t even came to see thelight of the day (or the shadow of night, as it was past 10 PM in Brazil) and remained in
my drafts. I nurtured the new idea for a bit, and the tweet that came instead was this one:7

INTRODUCTION

what if I curated a comp?
I had an idea for one literally like 5 min ago. I already have the concept (anhomage to Paulstretch), a vague notion of the title (Paul's Songs, or Songs for
Paul, or Songs about Paul, idk) and a label (it has to be @GirlyGirlMusik)should I?

As can be seen, it all happened quickly, in a stream of thoughts. Most of what took
place afterwards followed the same pattern: once I received the blessings and excitementsof several supporters, I started to make the arrangements. A deadline (November 1st) wasestablished, and I asked people to send tracks within a 10 minutes limit. Another thing I
made sure was that the compilation would be multigenre; as much as the algorithm wassome sort of soulmate for ambient and drone, I tried to see how far we could go using it,
exploring the tool and experimenting. “Experimentation” should always be an attractive
word for anyone involved in arts, and as such, it was more than desirable to invest andencourage it.
In order to do that, I tried to enforce the multigenre characteristic on tweets andopen calls in a variety of subreddits. The result is a very open-minded, inviting reunionof several styles. There’s the obvious and obligatory amount of drone and ambient, but
we also have a fair share of vaporwave and vaporwave-adjacent producers, incursions indreampop and synthpop, and a great portion of noise and industrial sounds, with at least
one aggressive harsh noise contribution—a quite powerful one. In short, and praying to
not repeat myself, it can be said the music side was conceived as a showcase for different
styles, combining and talking to each other by their similarities and united by the usageof Paulstretch in some fashion.
The visual side of the record was thought in an analogous vein. The initiative
intended to reflect the community-built aspect found in the tracklist and its oftencontemplative tone, looking to life and death with the same admiration. A commission
composed by nice and talented people was created to handle the artwork for thecompilation. Each of these people contributed with an aspect of the final cover art, andtheir original ideas, detached from the final product, can be found with a download of thealbum.
Yet another piece of collective contribution for the compilation was the name it
received. Since the title for the project had to be defined—my original tweet talked about

8THE X LIVES OF PAUL

options like Songs about Paul and Songs for Paul—, this was left to popular choice via apoorly drafted poll on Twitter. “Poorly”, because I forgot to set a longer time for voting,resulting in only 24 hours and a day too busy for me to promote the poll every hour. But,in retrospect, I’m glad for this “mistake”, as it concluded with the best title possible. “TheX Lives of Paul” was an option very different from the sameness of the “songs”
alternatives and, at first, I thought it wouldn’t be embraced by people, having thisLife of Pi nature. To my surprise, it was. Maybe people saw something conceptual I cameto realize later, a possibility of not only humanizing even more this anonymous,
personified Paul, but also turning him into many, many iterations, interactions andinterpolations of Paul. If the “X” originally stood for the number of tracks the compilation
would have, it eventually became just that, an X, designating an unknown number of lives
a certain Paul could have in musical format, visual shape, textual existence and beyond.
Which brings us to this, a much later thought of part of this already huge project:
the booklet you’re reading now. It came to solve a problem—the credits for the enormous
list of artists participating were too big for a Bandcamp description—but it was mainly
conceived as a vehicle for the display of individual writings. I remember, back in my highschool years, that our students’ guild promoted open calls for people’s manuscripts
without restriction of genre; the texts received were later shown on a table at the court soeveryone could read, touch, comment. This memory purposed, along with this “natural”
humanization of Paul, a call for texts in a diversity of genres: fictional prose, poem,
review, chronicle, biography… It was up to the writer to choose how they should write.
The only requirement—since even the one paragraph guideline could be bent if theresulting creation were short enough—was to revolve the writing around a Paul, any Paul.
Fake, real and somewhere between the two at the same time. As a result, Paul is now aghost figure, a musician and a simple, seemingly meaningless word. Paul is Paulstretch
itself and Paul is the subject of “the Lives Of Paul thingy”. Paul is an astronaut. Paul isan alien—one I discuss in my longer review of the 2011 eponymous film, presented apartof the writing’s section to stretch possibilities of readings—, but even an alien can be
human. In conclusion, Paul is too much: music, drawing, digital art, text.
As such, Paul is also an undeniable part of Girly Girl Musik. As the first sentenceof this introduction stated, the project was born without a title, without many of its
features, without the artists who contributed to it and without any sense of its final
success. In the beginning, there was only Paul… and Girly Girl. From the start, this was

9INTRODUCTION

the label in which the compilation should come out. The X Lives of Paul exists because
Girly Girl exists, being such an avenue for new and experienced producers, for different
genres and tastes—for difference itself. Because this congregation of various scenes,
environments, backgrounds, levels of knowledge in music production, genres, writing
styles, visions, stories and histories are no less than an indicative of the power ofdifference, and how it is important to keep it, support it, promote it. Girly Girl Musik
represents difference, and so does Paul, and so should we. Difference is existence.

10

THE X LIVES OF PAUL

THE ARTWORKThe cover art for The X Lives of Paul was made by a commission of designers. A
public call was made on Twitter asking for volunteers interested in proposing ideas forthe visual aspect of the compilation. The final artwork would be an assembling of thoseideas in a single, collective creation, reflecting the communal ideal of the music album.
The “smoking hipster” figure was designed by segaoctopus. It envisions ananonymous Paul, living his anonymous life wanting to get something more out of it. He
looks to the distance, posing to our eyes as if he was in a film by Philippe Garrel, pureaesthetic. Is he looking to his anonymous future—anonymous even for himself? What
does he expect from life? What do we expect from his life to be?
ASVMR came up with a superstreched figure of Paul McCartney. The app Photo
Warp was used to produce this concept, further brightened by thickly painted walls, who
also produced a series of digital variations using the original designs provided by theothers—stretching them, if we can say so. These variations employ simple repetitions ofimages, sometimes to the point of being impossible to identify the source without some
exercise of imagination.
The “two men and a gun” portion is a contribution by Houdini Mansions, who
saw the curious quality of the big stretched weapon. However, according to him, “Thefellows with the gun isn’t stretched in any way. That was the joke. I’m the class clown
here, I suppose”. HM’s joke, nonetheless, played an important role in the grander schemeof the final cover, opposing the hipster’s gaze by pointing both men’s sight and the barrelof the gun to nowhere in the other direction, while tpw’s remix of ASVMR’s warped Paul
looks more or less to the front.
A montage of individual creations was first suggested by Gareth A. Hopkins, adesigner who didn’t end up contributing with a sketch or a visual in the commission;
despite that, our next steps proved Gareth’s plan would be adopted as the most viable andgood-looking.
A primary rough attempt of blending the designs created so far was made by Van
Jack, who rendered a quick monochromatic overlay of segaoctopus’ and HM’s images
onto an ASVMR’s/tpw’s warped Paul background. Fed by this initiative, HM assembled

11

THE ARTWORK

all these concepts together in another single image, essentially making the skeleton of thecover art. He dubbed it “Pauls World”.
About making the assemblage, he noted:

While choosing a monochromatic color scheme has its advantages, blending
will not be one of them. The reason is that at that point you are dealing withvalue alone and the gradations of value are hard to balance. […] It's always achallenge not to get too cluttered.

In response to that, ASVMR came up with two cluttered proposals for a cover,serving more as experiments with the theme of bringing together the many different
projects made by the artists. The color palette present in them influenced the choice forpink and orange in the main and alternative final covers, respectively.
Returning to HM’s design, one of tpw’s variations were added to the upper left
corner, making room for the project title, displayed in the Aharoni font which would be
used in this booklet as well. A duotone filter—previously tested on the original
concepts—was applied to the image, along with adjustments on edges and posterization.
The final main and alternative covers resulted from that.

12THE X LIVES OF PAUL

A PREFACE TO THE WRITINGS
A second pinned tweet was fixed in Twitter on October 18th, asking for text
submissions for a written segment of the compilation. No fixed deadline was given (thedate of November 15th was later given as a limit), and the theme was simple: the namePaul.
People were asked to write whatever they wanted, in the genre they wanted, only
having to feature the name “Paul” in some fashion. The requirement, thus, established theexistence of many Pauls, always differing from each other in a way. We’re now
celebrating these differences and, in contrast, looking for unlikely similarities between
them.
Some people took the orientation for “keeping the text within one paragraph” quite
literally, providing short, concise creations to rival the longform nature of most timestretched tracks in the music album. Other authors chose to defy the norm and bend theguidelines for their own sake, which was expected and desired. This resulted in weird
forms, like the one presented by V ▲ P Y D: a real-life direct message interaction
becomes a self-referential piece in a dialogue between artist and curator, proving art issometimes a case of agreement between parts. There’s also Yzin Blaze in his account of
an equally strange dream: are we reading verses or paragraphs? Are we in front of anocturnal poem or a feverishly organized prose?
Influenced by (neo)concretism and futurism, Leftist Legume came up with an
extraordinary example of vaporpoetry, full of the slowdowns and pitch shifts found in themusic genre, dabbling in the relatively unexplored field of vaporwave literature. But he’s
not the only member of that community to appear here with an oddball display ofexperimentalism: Lugia909 seemingly employs steampunk imagery to conceive a
psychedelic new world, ready to confuse and amaze the reader.
After the steam, cyberpunk material appears in a singular mixing of references,from Blade Runner to Terminator, in Steve Mueske’s paragraph; the public may also feela similarity with Michael Bay’s The Island in this one. On the other hand, s h e e p, brings
us to a space setting, recycling the idea of stretching in a work akin to 1960’s sci-fi
productions.

13A PREFACE TO THE WRITINGS

Like her, KN also uses the concept of stretching as the driving force of theirmanuscript, subtly diving into horror territory, with a fair share of irony infused.
SEODAH does the same, although in a much smaller production, almost an oral anecdote,
but in written form; Filipe Chamy shares this condensed quality, in a witty short tale ofdark atmosphere and maybe some humor buried in it.
MASHŪ XCVI and Gabriel George Martins opt to use everyday storytellingdevices to talk about the adventures and misadventures of two Pauls, with the former
recurring to the founding landscape of Judeo-Christian religions, while the latter ponders
on the extinction of a culture.
Glenn Sogge writes something that feels like a memorandum, a brief note on thejoy of creation: the length of his piece reflects the attitude with which his Paul exists inthe world, living quietly, inspired. vylter, in a way, also deals with inspiration, returning
to her memories of an idol of her youth in a piece of sincere non-fiction, contemplating
again an era way before streaming, essential for her formation as a musician.
Music experiences move the observations by Alan Morse Davies, who employs asimilar flashback to tell us about his first contacts with Paulstretch; with him, we go from
one time to another, in an even broader trip. But he’s not the only one to take theopportunity to talk about Paulstretch itself in this part of the project, as Eis-T seizes it towrite a letter both melancholic and sardonic—clearly ironic, almost a joke, but having aserious earnest attitude sometimes, showing it’s possible to be several things at the same
time.

14

THE WRITINGS

THE WRITINGSLast transmission
by s h e e p

I didn’t ever think this experiment would succeed but here we are, we made awormhole. We’re going through it and I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. My
name is Paul Joyner. I’m a guinea pig in a tin can in outer space – and I’m scared. We’reabout to make the hop and I don’t know what’s on the other side. O̲̟ h god͎̕ – here it comes!
͍̯̩Aré you͔̣͖ ͔̣͖re̜͉ ad͔̣͖i͔̣͖ ng ̱t̷̘̻͕ he̲̟̜͉ se st̰̙ a̴͍̞̗ ts̮̳ ?̴̛͍̞̗̗̪͔̣͖ ͖̺̜̦
Co̴͍̞̗ nń͖̺̜̦ers? Con̜͉ners!̰̙!
̱I҉͖͔̠͔̣͖’m...̴͍̞̗ str͍̯̩ etc͍̯̩ hi͔̣͖ ng̲̟....͔̣͖
Is this the … convergence point…?

16

THE X LIVES OF PAUL

Once a week
by Yzin Blaze (Nickolas Cornwall)

It seems I have this dream every week,
Why?
A mysterious figure dressed in black.
The figure wears a black cloak with a hood that covers their face,
The only distinguishable feature from this figure I can remember is that they haveone of those stupid“Hi, my name is” stickers with the name
P A U L wrote in the blank part.
The figure doesn’t seem to be evil but carries a mysterious aura.
The figure has been trying to communicate with me.
Their voice comes out distorted and warped
Often stretched.
Why
It seems I have this dream every week,
Why?

17

THE WRITINGS

Dear Paulby Eis-T

Dear Paul,I vividly remember when we first met. It was at your place, Hypermammut’s I
believe, and I was with Magix Music Maker generation 6 at the time. Your grey outfit,
mysterious interface and technical jargon initially impressed me and yes, I regret nothingof what we did. Between us, your stretching was far superior to what Magix ever offered.
Our experiments weren’t all fantastic, but they all were at least interesting. Yet we didn’t
stay together for long, did we? There’s something I haven’t told you, but I think you
should hear, and maybe you have realized it yourself by now. I’ve come to the realizationthat you’re haunted. Don’t get me wrong Paul, you’re more often than not hauntingly
beautiful and brighten the world with your algorithmic wonders, but sometimes you scareme and the people around you. We both know you can go on and on for hours if I don’t
formulate properly, we both know that there’s something dark boiling beneath yourhyperstretched surface. I’ve heard that voice trapped inside of you and I think it wants to
get out. And after all these years since we first met you haven’t changed a bit. Still
wearing that same worn-out suit since your XP glory days and I’ve heard friends say
you’ve grown incompatible with them. I know you’re proud of your wide array of options
but you gotta see that years of processing under extreme settings with uncleaned samples
is going to have a price on your mental health. I’m saying this as a friend, but I thinkyou’ll need to consider getting professional help to cope with your pain and trauma. You
tend to process things really well, so I’m confident that, with the right help, things willturn out better and brighter for you.

With love,
Eis-T

18

THE X LIVES OF PAUL

This dudeby MASHŪ XCVI

So, this dude, Paul, used to be called Saul. He had a hard-on for killing Godfearing folks, which prompted the God that was feared to get his attention in a pretty
drastic way. He sent his Son (again, because Saul was being such a douche) to blind him,learn him to depend on and love the God-fearing folks, change the first letter of his name,and then write scriptures that became a part of the backbone of the religion of the folks
he was killing. Crazy stuff.

19

THE WRITINGS

Snapshotby Glenn Sogge

What Paul wrote wasn’t important. Nor was what he thought. But snagging anidea or three from the air, mulling them over, and adding to them to mull again was useful.
It gave him the clay with which to sculpt the words, sand them into submission, burnish
them with the tip of a ball-point pen. And let them back into the world for somebody elseto trip over and snag. That he did was the thing.

20

THE X LIVES OF PAUL

Sounds like John, but it’s Paulby vylter

My first trip to Washington state was held together largely by a Paul Westerberg
in-store at Easy Street Records in the Queen Anne district. Having been a fan since theSingles soundtrack was released, I was very eager to see what he was like after a six-year
hiatus from playing and recording. The releases of Mono and Stereo occurred in a waveof strong storytelling-oriented music in April 2002, and while I was not financiallysolvent enough to purchase the album at the in-store (much to Paul’s chagrin), I did longfor a copy after he performed most of the songs from those two albums. Once he waspositioned to sign albums and take pictures, I brought with me the J-cards from mycassette copies of 14 Songs and Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (by his first
band, The Replacements) and he did sign them, though he scoffed at the 14 Songs j-card
and then offered this unforgettable tidbit: “Those motherfuckers owe me money!”.
Warner Brothers never treat their artists well, a sadly known quantity in the advent of
Prince’s mysterious death in 2016. That Easy Street location has since closed, and a bankstands in its stead. Paul has gone on to release many albums and even featured as thefocus of a documentary that I am also featured in, as I submitted digital photos to the fangroup online that pushed for the film to get made. I am now back in Washington state,living my dream as well.

21

THE WRITINGS

Blurb
by Alan Morse Davies

I’ve loved slowing things down for a long time. As a kid, I stole two reel-to-reeltape recorders from a German class in 1980 (they were heavy; I later got expelled). That
got me down through bouncing to 1/16th of the original speed.
It was originally to hear birds talking and sort of translate into human terms.
I wondered what it would sound like if I was able to preserve pitch, so in the early
90s I bought a pitch shifting box, but it sounded awful.
Fast-forward: my cSound routines weren’t cutting it. Then I stumbled acrossPaulstretch.
Stop the clocks! Part the clouds!
First thing was The Last Summer, in 2008, three 78 records just slowed.
There is infinite beauty in detail.
Thank you, Paul!

22

THE X LIVES OF PAULA Paul is harmed
by Filipe Chamy

Paul was not sure he was feeling quite so bad at all, as much he would probably
claim not to be, although the impression of being uneasy did not leave his spirits up untillate at night, when he could very reassuringly realize he was not really Paul.

23

THE WRITINGSPaul was unhappy
by SEODAHPaul was unhappy. On Monday he put glue in his neighbour’s lock, on Tuesday
he kicked a cyclist off his bike, on Wednesday he poisoned a dog, on Thursday he stabbed
his brother and on Friday he hung himself. Paul wasn’t unhappy anymore.

24

THE X LIVES OF PAULThe haste land from B. S. Elloit
by Lugia909

Paul awoke to find himself in the dinosaur-infested jungles of darkest Kansas. All
about him, the sounds of the lurking lizardcows could be heard in the underbrush, lurking,because that’s what lizardcows do in Kansas because there’s not much else TO do in
Kansas.
Slowly, he became aware of the strange rhythms, clearly emitted by the world’s
slowest locomotive, that began to permeate the dank (ha! I said “dank!”) foliage. Paulmade his way toward the mechanistic noise, making his way up an embankment to thetracks… only to find that the hellish machine was being driven by the ghost of disgraced
former Secretary of Agriculture Wilbur Mills!
“What would famous TV pitchman Billy Mays do in this situation?”, Paulwondered… but by the time he’d conducted a seance to summon Billy Mays’ soul toanswer the question, the locomotive was far down the line, its metal sounds clattering
distantly from the stygian darkness of the humid Kansas night, punctuated by the cries ofthe parrots and air-fryers…

25

THE WRITINGS

Hello, Paulby Steve Mueske

Paul specializes in hunting down escaped clones. Everything in his life is neat,orderly: his uniform, crisp and pressed; his hair; the formal syntax of his language.
Whether or not clones are actually human is not his business. He has a job to do. Under
the language of the law, clones are property. They can be bought, sold, used as sexual
slaves, rented, or fitted with neural sensors and sent into battle as surrogates for those richenough to afford the VR network. It’s always the same. When one escapes, he is sent totrack it down. He is very good at his job. Efficient. Emotionless. Methodic. A man at theedge of humanity himself, DNA resequenced to remove all trace of empathy.

26

THE X LIVES OF PAUL

Stretching Paul
by KN

Paul is this pseudo-sensationalist journalist on the Dutch television. After he did
his nonsensical bit on camera, he walked off, brushed off his shirt, wiggled his blondwoozy hair to be greeted by what he thought was a fan. This fan was me, who wasn’t a
fan at all. But Paul was unaware that I needed him for my Paul Stretch project… To breakthe ice, I asked Paul if he could sign his autograph in my notebook and acted real friendly.
I joked a bit about his name, about how many Pauls I knew in my life and flattered him
by saying how special he was. Somehow Paul bought my skit, signed my little black book(of death) and then I dropped the ball: I asked him – Paul, would you be interested incoming afterwards to my house? My family are all such big fans of yours, it would meanso much to my husband, and all my beloved children would be over the moon if you
would turn up in our house. I’ll make you vegan dinner and pay you in natura for any
inconvenience! Paul must have been flattered, or perhaps his journalistic curiosity musthave blinded his sensible thinking process, as unbelievably he said “Yes”. I gave him myaddress and told him to be there at seven. At seven Paul arrived; he rang the doorbell once
and when he arrived in the dimly hallway, I already greeted him with a fancy drink. He
must have been thirsty or flattered as he gulped it down and asked enthusiastically if myhusband and children had been informed about his arrival. I quietly closed and locked thedoor behind him and told him with a smirk that I had no husband and neither any kids.
Paul looked a bit worried as he fell down to the floor. When he opened up his eyes, Paul
found himself tied to a medieval stretching device. I could hear him making muffledscreams as I turned the wheels to make him stretch each time an inch out of his alreadylengthy body proportions. I told him not to worry, as I heard his bones crack, making sureto fill up his mouth with homemade vegan food.

27

THE WRITINGS

A vaporpoem named Paulby Leftist Legume

Paul aul aul aul aul aul au
P - aulP - aulP - awl

P - awl

awl
awl
awl
awl
awl
awl
awl
awl
awl
awlawlawlawlawl awl awl
awl
Pawl
Paul
aul. aul. aul. aul. aul. aUl. aUl.
P - ptpt. ptpt. ptpt
P - tuh. ptpt. ptpt.
P - tuh ptptptptptpt
P - tuh ptptptptptptaulaulaul Aul Aul Aul aUl aUl Aul Aul
Au - P - ptpt

28

THE X LIVES OF PAUL

ptptptaul. aul. aul. aul.
aulaulaulaulaUlaUlaULaULaULAULAULAUL
Paul

29

THE WRITINGS

Paul: the last dudeby Gabriel George MartinsI once heard Paul saying he wanted to be the last dude doing what he does. And
he didn’t say that lightly, just to exaggerate how much he liked to do that. He meant it.
I could feel. His flesh wouldn’t perish until he was the last; his soul wouldn’t leave his
body until he was old enough for an entire era to die with him. It was difficult for me tosee him as the last bastion of a lifestyle, but how does one know who or what is supposed
to be the last anyway? No, he meant it. And by the sheer power of his speech, I soon
started to believe him wholeheartedly.
I remember feeling and I still feel this way. Paul is very much alive today, but I
like to imagine him in the future, being this last dude. Everyone, by force of years, has
moved on, either due to life or because of death. And then there’s him, getting interviewed
by morning shows, appearing as the fancy old man of his community, doing what he does
best until the day he dies too. And then a culture dies with him. When Paul is no longer
here, the world will finally be another.

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THE X LIVES OF PAUL

The Paul that could have been
by V ▲ P Y D

hey sorry, I tried writing something for the Lives Of Paul thingy, but I just couldn’t findany angle on thatthat means it’s time to steal this very message you sent and repurpose itafter all, it’s a text and it’s all about Paul…
You have my consent

31

THE X LIVES OF PAUL

REVIEW OF PAUL (2011)
directed by Greg Mottola
United Kingdom
by Gabriel George Martins

If my memory and capacity of perceiving trends is correct, there was a widespreadembracement of geek culture around late 2000’s and early 2010’s. Here in Brazil at least,a modest but important number of blogs and websites created in the mid-2000’s (likeJudão, Jovem Nerd and Omelete) experienced their peak in popularity, with their lexicon
being wholeheartedly adopted by its audience, myself included. As they worshipped
established geek bastions, such as—obviously—Star Wars (the whole series; UnitedStates, 1977-), they also talked about contemporary pop culture in an uncommitted
manner, informing, laughing and having fun with each new game or awesome flick
popping up in theaters. That was the era of movies like The Dark Knight (Christopher
Nolan, United States, 2008), Iron Man (Jon Favreau, United States, 2008) and Scott
Pilgrim vs. The World (Edgar Wright, United States, 2010), all of them helping to build
this growing imaginary. The world saw the rise in popularity of YouTube as well, andcontent creators frequently disseminated the idea that being nerd was not only okay, butcool. In fact, to call oneself a “nerd” was just starting to become sort of a new normal,
and sure there were products like Chuck Lorre’s The Big Bang Theory (United States,
2007-2019) to capitalize on and feedback the standardization of the title.
Paul seems to stem from this sentiment too. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, theleading pair and writers of the movie, were already known and lauded for their partnershipin two other pictures by Edgar Wright, Shaun of the Dead (United Kingdom, 2004) and
Hot Fuzz (United Kingdom, 2007), making the three sort of demigods for the new geekculture and their names a recurrent presence in nerd discussions in, say, Judão. One could
imagine, then, that there was some talking and a mild anticipation for a film adopting two
self-declared nerds/geeks as protagonists and constantly making use of geek/nerd
references and imagery.

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REVIEW OF PAUL (2011)

These references, though, often constitute some of the silliest moments of the film,with many of them being gratuitous or just a nod of approval for this public. Fan services,
we might say, although fan services for a number of franchises and names; for instance,
the mere presence of Sigourney Weaver in an significant role, revealed at theend, emphasizes her importance for the geek culture, having starred in the Alien series(1979-) and the Ghostbusters series (1984-). Steven Spielberg also represents a driving
force for the picture, either by mention, voice cameo or homage. Aided by names like
this, it’s hard not to see an entire cultural background backing and validating the film—
endorsing its geekiness.
The events of the plot reaffirm this endorsement and promote the fun of being partof this culture. Those two dorks, Graeme and Clive, growing up as aficionados for all
sorts of geek stuff and UFOs in particular, were the perfect individuals to go through thisadventure with an alien. Being a geek means being ready for experiences like this, either
by actually living them or pretending to, reading a science fiction novel—such as the one
Clive and Graeme create at the end, titled Paul—or cosplaying in a Comic-Con—like
Ruth does afterwards, abandoning the lifeless nature of her Christian growing andimmersing herself in the culture as a result of her troubled journey.
Self-discovery with a pinch of misdeeds is not something strange for Mottola:
Superbad (United States, 2007) has McLovin entering a spiral of transgression, stealing
the show from protagonists Seth and Even at times; he peaks his coming-of-age bybreaking rules and infringing laws (much because of law agents’ agreement with it),setting a police car on fire and shooting it with a gun at the end. In Paul, Ruth, Graeme
and Clive all must break the law several times in order to save Paul, although it’s Ruth
who experiences the largest transformation throughout the story, and the one who does
the craziest things in relation to her initial status—she starts as a close-mindedfundamentalist and ends up as a sexually curious nerd. There’s a process of acceptanceand embracement occurring in her path at the same time she violates the law: minor traits
viewed by her (and by many people, even today) as morally wrong are shown to beharmless, commonplace. The trip and the misdemeanors brought with it tend to symbolize
her personal late growth, just like McLovin’s “crimes” are a fundamental part of his
development. In both cases, the joy of literal transgressions also brings the fun of(individual) moral transgression with it. In Paul, they prove her there’s nothing wrong inwanting to kiss, or to have sex, or to curse. Or to be a nerd.

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THE X LIVES OF PAUL

Nonetheless, there’s still a few instances of nerds being mocked or threatened forwhom they are in the film. Those merely seem like one of a series of conflicts in display,with a normativity trying to impose itself over a group, sometimes by force: “normal”
people vs. nerds, straight people vs. homosexuals (everyone, including Paul, believes
Graeme and Clive are a gay couple and often react with malice), Americans vs. British
people (in America, Graeme and Clive are seen as peculiar, prompting the absurd
interrogation of the police officer, who is incredulous that in UK people don’t usually
have guns, to the point of asking how cops shoot people there), Christians vs. nonChristians (Ruth’s dad is a rude man, eager to retrieve his daughter from the devil hebelieves Paul is, and Ruth’s shirt have Jesus shooting Charles Darwin, which could also
be a commentary on American values) and, of course, humans vs. aliens (explicit in thechase for Paul but also underlined by the recurring, very lazy and poor fainting gag).
The aftermath of these conflicts is the promotion of these “outcast” groups to astate of glory and acceptance. The movie achieves that by the victory of Paul and his
friends, by the active mocking of cultural standards and agents of normality (America
might be “great”, but their tea is awful; two thugs are brought to tears after Paul
threatening to shove a probe in their asses), by Graeme and Clive’s newfound success andby changes in character that undermine previous taboos (Ruth feels tempted to accept aninvitation for lesbian sex, a sharp contrast to her past Christian self and the—veiled or
not—homophobia of society).

35

MUSIC CREDITSMUSIC CREDITS

Bowsamic
Bandcamp: https://bowsamic.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bowsamic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bowsamic
Stevia Sphere
Bandcamp: https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/steviasphere
Dysphonic Virtual
Cyparissus
Bandcamp: https://cyparissus.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/at_inkmink
Whettman Chelmets
Bandcamp: https://whettmanchelmets.bandcamp.com/music
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wc_helmets
skull earrings
Bandcamp: https://skullearrings.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skullearrings
Scandelicious
Bandcamp: https://scandelicious.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/mikescandle
MALE TEARS
Bandcamp: https://maletears.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamesOfMenifee

38

THE X LIVES OF PAULblank videotapes
Bandcamp: https://mynameisblueskye.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud (#1): https://soundcloud.com/mynameisblueskye
SoundCloud (#2): https://soundcloud.com/blank-vidsΛᄂӨYƧIЦƧ ƧᄃЯIMƧΉΛЩBandcamp: https://aloyscrimshaw.bandcamp.com/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/aloyscrimshaw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeadScrimshaw
YZIN BLAZE
Bandcamp: https://yzinblaze.bandcamp.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/YZINBLAZE
Facebook: https://facebook.com/YZINBLAZE
Instagram: https://instagram.com/yzinblaze
Drohnwerks
Bandcamp: https://drohnwerks.bandcamp.com/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/drohnwerks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jasmine_Elm
Eis-T
Bandcamp: https://eis-t.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/eis-t
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EisT10544204
Lunar Home Decor

39

MUSIC CREDITS

sandroBandcamp: http://sandro.bandcamp.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alchimicus_
Instagram: http://instagram.com/sandrochimi/
Ash Stretchum
Bandcamp: https://casualcorp.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/televangelion
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alanfilms
Instagram: https://instagram.com/alan_g_
Vague Reference
Bandcamp: https://vaguereference.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://soundcloud.com/vaguest-reference
Car Sofa
Bandcamp: https://carsofa.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/larsht_
ＩｓａａｃＡｓｃｉｉ
Bandcamp: https://isaacascii.bandcamp.com/
internet dating club
Bandcamp: https://internetdatingclub.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/pessoasgrupo
Jack Alberson
Bandcamp: https://migrainerobotsounds.bandcamp.com/

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THE X LIVES OF PAUL

MorgendischBandcamp (Petridisch): https://petridisch.bandcamp.com
Bandcamp (Fish Prints): https://fishprintsinc.bandcamp.com
Bandcamp (Monika Enterprise): https://monikaenterprise.bandcamp.com
Website (Barbara Morgenstern): https://barbaramorgenstern.deSoundCloud (Petridisch): https://soundcloud.com/petridischTwitter (Barbara Morgenstern): https://twitter.com/barbmorgenstern
Twitter (Petridisch): https://twitter.com/petridischforever years old in a day | Plastochron
Bandcamp: https://vanjack.bandcamp.com/
Blog: https://shortrandomreviews.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsvanjack
slevin and slevin is | vylter
Bandcamp: https://vylter.bandcamp.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vylter
Hermann Holsgr
Bandcamp: https://hermannholsgr.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/holsgr
Twitter: https://twitter.com/holsgr
Suffering Profusion
Bandcamp: https://sufferingprofusion.bandcamp.com/
Sound Effects Of Death & Horror
Bandcamp: https://soundeffectsofdeathandhorror.bandcamp.com/releases
Website: https://soundeffectsofdeathandhorror.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SEODAH

41

MUSIC CREDITS

Operculum Toothwort
Bandcamp: https://operculumtoothwort.bandcamp.com/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/operculumtoothwort/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpercToothf i l t h_CLOAK
Bandcamp: https://filthcloak.bandcamp.com/
Unorthodox Digital
Bandcamp: https://unorthodoxdigital.bandcamp.com/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/unorthodoxdigital
Twitter: https://twitter.com/unordigital
Cynocephalic Saints
Bandcamp: https://cynocephalic.bandcamp.com
Website: http://www.meanderinghermit.life/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CynoSaints
Tumblr: https://cynocephalicsaints.tumblr.com/
doktorb
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/doktorb-1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/doktorbing
Greg Nieuwsma
Bandcamp (Sawak): https://sawak.bandcamp.com/
Bandcamp (Resonating Wood Recordings):
https://resonatingwoodrecordings.bandcamp.com/
Twitter (Sawak): https://twitter.com/SawakMusic

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THE X LIVES OF PAUL

Ninth Sign
Bandcamp: https://ninthsign.bandcamp.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Undyinglightofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ninthsignmusic
EtxeraBandcamp: https://etxera.bandcamp.com/releases
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/etxera
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/etxeramusic
Hagioscope
Bandcamp: https://hagioscope.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hagioscope
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI4bmZf9_JeLHrQSCAPeobg
Glenn Sogge
Bandcamp: https://rkaicmoderne.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/glenn-sogge
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ComposerSogge
Facebook: https://facebook.com/ComposerSogge
Slutpuppy
Bit Dream
Bandcamp: https://utopiusmusic.bandcamp.com/
ᴘₒʟʏɢʟᵒᴛBandcamp: http://polyglotwave.bandcamp.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/polyglotwave

43

MUSIC CREDITS

ツルネCrane
Bandcamp: https://tsurunecrane.bandcamp.com/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tsurunecraneTwitter: https://twitter.com/TsuruneCrane
Fae & Seffi
Bandcamp (Girly Girl Musik): https://girlygirlmusik.bandcamp.com/
Bandcamp (Seffi Starshine): https://shazzaiya.bandcamp.com/
Twitter (Fae Moonbeam): https://twitter.com/fae_moonbeam
Twitter (Seffi Starshine): https://twitter.com/Shazzaiya
キラヨシ
Bandcamp: https://kirayoshi.bandcamp.com/
SoundCloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/djproject
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/djproject
Facebook: https://facebook.com/derek.j.power
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/djproject
Alan Morse Davies
Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/atseamusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMDGOAT
Covolux
Bandcamp: https://girlygirlmusik.bandcamp.com/album/ghost
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/2063538-Covolux
Twitter: https://twitter.com/YeahIKnowItSuck

44

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All of this wouldn’t exist in the first place if Paul Nasca, the creator of Paulstretch,hadn’t developed a tool so lovely, useful and charming. Thank you, Paul; we owe you…
and may you be one of these many lives we talk about here, as precious as the others.
This project also wouldn’t happen if weren’t for the aid of each person who
submitted a piece of music, text and graphic work. You all are directly responsible for the
existence and success of this compilation.
Furthermore, the girls from Girly Girl Musik are to be thanked too for embracing
the idea, hosting the album and providing support for its release to the world, being
understanding and helpful with technical aspects.
I personally want to thank my girlfriend, Isabella, for helping me to revise thisbooklet, and my Twitter followers for bearing with me in these months of constantpromotion for this.
Finally, thank you for appreciating our work and dedication.

THE X LIVES OF PAUL
is not the end…