Melissa Ivanco-Murray

I hate generative AI with every fiber of my being, so let’s get that out of the way right now. Does my hatred make this analysis biased? Probably. Does it matter in the long run? Probably not, because the objective evils of gen-AI are pretty overwhelmingly obvious to anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together. Before we go further, a TW: Violence, self-harm. If either concerns you, skip the next paragraph. Environmental impacts from massive data centers aside—a

Alas, we used to practice in Bob's Basement Confession time: I haven’t guitared in forever. Ever since I started working on The Night Chemist (working title), I have had a hard time motivating myself to focus on my music. At first, it was because I just I was so excited about my new project; the novelty kept me hooked. Then, I started to stagnate. I found myself playing the same songs over and over, mindlessly, rather than trying to actually improve or learn/write anything n

My band released two songs this past year (first was actually in 2025, but it was less than a year ago, so I stand by my statement), and I never got around to making any kind of big announcement over here about it, considering I never made any real announcements about anything over here. But hey, better late than never, right? So I thought I’d include links to where you can listen to both our tracks and where you can read the lyrics! So enjoy these nifty embedded players I

If you haven’t noticed from the website background, I’m a musician. Specifically, I’m a guitarist and a vocalist. Music is a huge part of my life and always has been. I’ve played the guitar since I was ten, and I’ve been singing since I first learned to speak. One of my earliest memories is of playing in the kiddie pool in my backyard, circa age three or four, making up a song about trees. All that to say, I like music. A lot. I’m not one of those writers (or readers) who l

Alright. So. I know it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written on here—like, a scorching hot minute—and there are a multitude of reasons for that. Chiefly among them, I’ve been exceedingly busy. Turns out, raising a toddler is a full-time gig in and of itself...and on top of that, I’ve been protesting, writing, guitaring, making art, and in general being a societal nuisance to the best of my ability because these are some dark times, and we need some good trouble. At the end o