This aesthetic is of its time but is really import - I went to the share@open air parties in ~2003 or so, continuing to visit periodically through their run at Santo's Party House. I didn't know anything at the time, and the overwhelming obscurantism was part of the appeal.

I have a lot of feelings about this movement, and I'm happy that I was a part of it. It's driven my feelings about music and art in general, and I've spent a ton of my time since then trying to figure out how to make things that put music first while still containing the cold stochasticity of this time.

I found a great set of pictures on Flickr from ~2007-2008: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oblaat/with/3062581867