Panel: Thursday, OCT 17. 3:30 PM
Javits Center Room 408
What happens when a musician traverses the mediums of comics, music, and games? Come join Le Destroy (Producer/Musician Cyberpunk 2077), Lordess Foudre (Grammy Nominated Comic Artist), and President of Lakeshore Records Brian McNelis (Cyberpunk 2077, Fallout, Stranger Things) for a lively discussion as they do a deep dive into the unique transformation of Le Destroy’s Trashumanism the album into “Trashumanism,” the silent graphic novel.
Set in a future where democracy has quickly become an ancient concept and human DNA is the ultimate commodity, a groundswell rebellion led by a group of female protagonists emerges to fight the system. Moderated by Erica Campbell (PAPER Magazine), learn how the perspectives of Le Destroy shaped the pillars of this multimedia work and its narrative, unearth how the impacts of real world events subliminally and seamlessly flow throughout the album and the comic, and explore how writing songs for Cyberpunk 2077 influenced the project and engaged a community.
Discover how Lordess integrated the art with the music, shaping the approach to the comic, and the techniques she used to provide emotional queues directing the storyline. Learn from Brian’s experience in Film, TV, and Video Games and find out how diversification impacts artists and fan engagement. Limited edition Trashumanism album cassettes for all attendees. A surprise announcement will be made during the panel and one lucky person will receive an exclusive NYCC bundle - including Trashumanism the graphic novel, and a limited edition Trashumanism Art Print.
Meet the Moderator + Panelists
MODERATOR
Erica Campbell
Music Editor at PAPER Magazine
Erica Campbell is an entertainment journalist, host and the Music Editor at PAPER. She’s the former Features Editor (US) of NME, previous Music Editor of Consequence, and her stories have been featured in Spin, Glamour, Architectural Digest, W Magazine and more. She’s hosted on-camera interviews with Grammy and Academy award-winning artists, moderated industry panels for Spotify, shared her post-punk pundit skills with NPR, USA Today and SiriusXM, and has a collection of star-ornamented boots that would make David Bowie proud.
PANELIST
Le Destroy
Artist + Music Producer
CYBERPUNK 2077 (CDPR) , Barbie (Mattel)
Le Destroy is a multimedia project from Austin-based music producer Kristina Olson encompassing a breadth of futuristic-leaning music and visuals that play off society’s transgressions. Her work was commissioned by AAA Video Game Cyberpunk 2077 for their Radio Volume soundtracks - her contributions include Pain, Kill Kill and Violence. To help sculpt the different limbs of her project, Le Destroy collaborates with heavy hitters from various mediums. Her recent debut album, TRASHUMANISM, included a studded line-up including Producer Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails), featured drums by Josh Freese (Foo Fighters), and was mastered by Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Garbage, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). To amplify this story and complement the music, Le Destroy has created “Trashumanism”, the silent graphic novel, in collaboration with Grammy Nominated Comic Artist Lordess Foudre.
PANELIST
Lordess Foudre
Grammy Nominated Visual Artist,
Writer
Lordess Foudre is a Grammy-nominated visual artist and writer from the US. Her work is world renowned and has been featured in galleries, art shows, and live music performances around the globe. Known for her stylized illustrations, Lordess brings colorful retro futures and sci-fi worlds to life. She’s currently working on several projects, graphic novels and mixed media, to be published later this year.
View more of her comic work at 404ever.Substack.com
PANELIST
Brian McNelis
President of Lakeshore Records,
FALLOUT (Amazon), STRANGER THINGS (Netflix), WEDNESDAY (MGM/Amazon/Netflix), CYBERPUNK 2077 (CDPR)
Brian McNelis is a Grammy Award Nominated Soundtrack Album Producer, Guild Of Music Supervisors Award Nominee, President of Lakeshore Records and Executive in charge of music for Village Roadshow Entertainment. His notable music supervision credits include the AAA console video game CYBERPUNK 2077, the genre defining film DRIVE and the UNDERWORLD movie franchise. His notable releases include the soundtracks and scores to FALLOUT (Amazon), WEDNESDAY (MGM/Amazon/Netflix), STRANGER THINGS (Netflix) THE WALKING DEAD (AMC), STAR TREK: PICARD (CBS/Paramount+), SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF (NBC/Netflix), and SPONGEBOB : SAVING BIKINI BOTTOM A SANDY BEACHES MOVIES (Nickelodeon/Netflix). An active advocate for artist rights in the digital age, Brian's influence extends beyond his professional achievements, fostering a supportive and equitable environment for artists.
LE DESTROY + LORDESS FOUDRE PRESENT:
TRASHUMANISM
- THE GRAPHIC NOVEL -
Le Destroy + Lordess Foudre Present: TRASHUMANISM, a narrative art book set in a future world where human DNA is a commodity, and a select few reign supreme. Developed to parallel its namesake, “Trashumanism” - the album by Le Destroy, this silent graphic novel-meets-classic art book offers a glimpse into the world built around the pillars and ideas presented on the album.
Synopsis
In Capital City, a new metropolis is emerging — and so is a groundswell rebellion rising up against it. Democracy has quickly become an ancient concept and the new world order is one ruled by mega corporations like GENACOR. Its divisions include ECTOGEN and HELIX, both dabbling in varying degrees genetic engineering and biopharmaceuticals. GENACOR’s CEO is ruthless, her propensity for the misuse of power unmatched, and she will stop at nothing to remain in power.
GENACOR lives in Capital City’s booming Tech District, and heavily influences the controversial principles of the United World Government. Their main goal? Privatizing health care and using mandatory genetic material “donations” from residents to fuel innovation under the ECTOGEN and HELIX umbrellas.
Newly launched, the World Hospital Corporation is now the only sanctioned healthcare system in the world. Its main tenet is that no healthcare, doctor visits or medications will be offered unless residents provide a sample of their genetic material and give up complete rights to their genome. All non-sanctioned “gene collection-free” clinics are strictly prohibited and punishable under the strictest extent of the law as decreed by the United World Government. Not the least of which is brutal sentences at the Capital City Med Prison where all human rights are stripped and prisoners are subject to involuntary experimentations.
GenFree clinics still exist on the black market, through a hush-hush network driven by word of mouth. They thrive as the antithesis of the World Hospital Corporation, treating all residents, rich or poor. If a resident’s lucky enough to receive care, it’ll most likely be at a clinic hidden away in some corner of the Trades District, disguised as some other common service provided by merchants and tradespeople in the District’s bustling marketplace.
Capital City’s genome collective is quickly becoming the fodder of the mega corps to play God, with free range to create genetic variants and engineer a new breed of humans. Buyers are able to pick from the ECTOGEN catalog chock full of desirable traits in order to create their perfect specimen, from specialized combat units for Cap City PD, to consumer grade companion units for the lonely Cloud District entrepreneur.
This doesn’t sit well with everyone in Capital City, and soon, a group of female-led protagonists emerge to fight the system. Among them are: the Artist (the heart, brains and architect of the opposition whose parents were once scientists at ECTOGEN); Rebel (the wildly resilient civil soldier who’d risk her life for the cause); and Robot (originally made as a companion model, she’s alone in the ‘human experience’ and in search of connection).
This is the world of TRASHUMANISM – are you in or are you out?