#I was listening to Halloween music the entire time I was drawing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lil-tachyon · 8 months

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For the last couple weeks I've been drawing logos / designs for local-ish (mostly NJ, some PA and NY) bands as warmups in the morning. Here's what I've come up with! Massive post below the break explaining each logo + where to find each band and listen to their music.

Teenage Halloween- a staple of New Jersey basements for probably about a decade now and finally getting wider recognition in the last couple years. Pop punk / power pop with a killer horn section. First time I saw them was in New Brunswick playing with Walter Etc. and Blowout. They played a killer cover "Build Me Up Buttercup" and my wife got a black eye in the pit. Recommended tracks: "Brain Song," "666," "Clarity." Their first EP is on a separate bandcamp page btw, check it out here it's great.

Sweet Pill - They will call themselves a Philly band but in my heart they'll always be from Glassboro. Definitely one of the more recognizable names on this list. Emo revival - early stuff is more twinkly, more recent stuff is heavier. All of it's great. Recommended tracks "Nephew," "High Hopes."

Shark Club - Central Jersey's finest. I'm very biased because I actually know these dudes and they did the music for my wedding. Some of the best pop punk you'll hear and the nicest people you'll meet. Recommended tracks: "Game Theory," "Bill Murray," "Heavens to Betsy."

Rest Ashore - My favorite band for the last (oh God I'm old now) eight years. From gut-wrenching emo ballads to virtuoso math-rock instrumentals they do it all. One time I got to sing vocals on "Lucy's Theme" at a house show- thank you Erica! Recommended tracks: "Hjarta," "Chinese Opera," "Devotion," "Soyuz Sweetheart." Too many bangers to name honestly, just deep dive their discography.

Morus Alba - First band I ever went to see at a house show and still one of my absolute favorites. Their music feels like the bridge between the best pitchfork, /mu/ alt rock bands and high energy basement emo. I mean that as a compliment and I hope it comes off as one lol. I should note that since 2019 Morus Alba has morphed from a band into an experimental hip-hop project so later releases sound radically different and basically disconnected from the earlier stuff. Also my favorite release from them, Live at Isabelle's, has been scrubbed from the internet but if you'd like the files just email me. Recommended tracks: "Skyscraper," "Human Resources," "The Goodnight Waltz."

Have a Good Season - another Jersey mainstay that's still going strong. Emo revival in their earlier releases, now with more 70s power pop influences in their newer stuff. See them live, they put on a fantastic show and usually play some great covers in addition to their original music. HaGS guys if you're reading this, please put your version of "Since You've Been Gone" online, I'm begging you. Recommended tracks: "Joseph / Shel Silverstein," (you have to listen to them together for the drop, so good) , "Gum, "Gleaux / Scab." Also, frontman Nic Palermo interviewed me once.

Elephant Jake - If you see any of these bands live make it EJ, they put on such a damn good show. Electrifying indie punk from the Empire State. Recommended tracks: "F.D.C." "Sarah Moyer," "Goodness to Honest," and of course you gotta learn "Sebastien Bauer" for the singalongs.

Blind Lion - Sadly one of the greats that we lost along the way. Defunct since about 2017. I only got to see them once but it was a great performance. Alongside their own stuff they played some killer covers of "Bad Moon Rising" and "Moonage Daydream." I had trouble doing a logo design for them because I actually really like the composition, if not the "Ed Hardy-ness," of their existing logo so what you see here are two separate attempts, neither of which feels entirely satisfying to me. Frontperson Larry Flately currently plays in Nematode and also handled production of Bradley Gardens joke hiphop group The Breakfast Boiz under the moniker "DJ Ova EZ." Recommended tracks: "Brumous," "Dinner."

Fighting Seasons - A band that I sadly found out about too late (via a sticker under the bridge in my town which has since been painted over). 2010s pop punk that packs a helluva punch, especially considering that I'm pretty sure the members were high schoolers for most of the band's existence. I think some members may have gone on to form Sawce (FFO Chon, Polyphia, that type of music) but I can't remember where I read/heard that so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Recommended tracks: "Fighting Seasons," "Oil on Canvas"

Milkmen- Another fallen giant, officially disbanded in 2019. Like Morus Alba, they played the very first house show I attended and their few releases remain on constant rotation in my home. Used to put on a great show and were one of the bands I always thought would make it big until suddenly they weren't around anymore. Frontman Ben Thieberger contributed guitar and vocals to Covid quarantine project Kin if you're looking for a bit of an extra fix but beyond that I don't know what these guys are up to these days, sadly. Recommended tracks: "Ramus," "Johnny Dangerously," "how sieves catch breeze," "K.O.T.H."

Stand and Wave - New York (now Philly) pop punkers delivering instant dopamine hits with every track. Another great live act, see them with EJ if you can! They often play shows together. Recommended tracks: "Convos," "Mrs. Dash," "Splashton Kutcher," "Michael Collins."

My Chemical Romance - You know who they are. While I was drawing all these other logos I ran a poll on Patreon to decide which famous New Jersey band should also be graced with a drawing from me. MCR won the poll by a hefty margin so unfortunately you won't get to see me do an illegible black metal take on Hoboken's Yo La Tengo. I ended up doing two versions: the one with the halo is the first, the one with the bats was the second. I tried to do something kind of thin and elegant with the first one and I don't think it's terrible but I also wasn't quite satisfied with it. For the 2nd attempt I tried to lean into the kind of pulpy, almost horror punk aesthetic of early MCR and I think that one looks better even if it's less original.

Anyway if you took the time to read through all this, thank you very much! And please support these bands! Also If any of the links aren't working please let me know.

-Logan

#emo #pop punk #new jersey #band logo #logo design #punk #my chemical romance #mcr #emo revival

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connorsnothereeither · 6 months

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This is 100% inspired by @heyhay13’s post about Jason, but I had so much fun playing in the 90’s Halloween one-shot Rolling Ghosts this weekend on twitch, run by our amazing DM Strawberripine!! The session was an absolute blast!! If you missed it live but would still like to watch, it’s still up on Strawberripine’s twitch, and I believe Heyhay is working on an edit for YouTube too!!

The art above was done by an amazing friend of mine thebeetlebard on Instagram who was super kind to take the commission for me to draw him fairly last moment!!

I just really wanted to talk some more about my boy Charlie!!

Charlie’s full name is Charles Hobbs! He’s very timid, anxious and reserved, and he’s sort of the art kid of the group, having drawn Jason’s character art of Syreen for him, and having also drawn his own character art for his paladin, Romulus! He spent a good couple of days outside of school working on making his cardboard armour for his Halloween costume, and he also helped Morgan with the armour pieces for her costume too!

Charlie is an only child, and lives with his two parents. His relationship with them isn’t necessarily bad, but they both work full time jobs, leaving him to do his own thing most of the time (more often then not that “own thing” involves hanging out with either Jason or Morgan, since he’s not exactly comfortable being alone for too long, as we saw…)

Speaking of them, within the party they’re definitely the two people Charlie knows the best. Morgan has been his next door neighbour since as long as he can remember and the two are very close and supportive of each other. As much as Morgan is the weird friend she’s his weird friend dammit. Jason and Charlie met when they were pretty young too; he’s one of the few people Charlie genuinely feels close to and comfortable around, and is the one who dragged him into joining the D&D party in the first place to try and help him open up a little, which is where he met Gabe and Xander (who scares him just a little). The fact that his two best friends have been fixtures in his life for so long definitely also feeds into his fear of being abandoned: the thought of the people he’s always cared about and always had around suddenly leaving him hits very much to his core.

I also have a character playlist for Charlie, which is entirely made up of early 90’s and late 80’s songs so it is very much also just the kind of music he would listen to!

I had so much fun making and playing this awkward lad, and the session was so amazingly put together and fun to be a part of! Getting to see him come into his own as a character arc even within a one-shot was really fun! :))

#rolling ghosts #dnd #one shot #Spotify

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iridescentmarzz · 1 year

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Assorted tkam headcanons

Atticus-

Libra; born September 30th 1885

Full name is Atticus James Finch

Autistic (i could make an entire post about this)

bisexual

gives great hugs

Writes calligraphy! all of the kids birthday cards and other cards are handwritten from him

Has attempted to cook, but almost burnt the house down so Cal doesn't allow him in the kitchen anymore. for being as smart as he is, he is awful in the kitchen

Is very in control of his emotions, but when he does get emotional, his emotions are very big

he copes with negative emotions by reading or listening to the radio

He usually only listens to the news on the radio, but sometimes he enjoys listening to music

really likes swing music

Cracks his knuckles a lot

Not very religious, goes to church every sunday but as he got older began to question religion more. When he was younger he was very religious because his family was religious

Always had plans to get a dog with his wife, but because of having two kids and then Miss Grahams death, it never happened. He still thinks about getting a dog after both of the kids are out of the house

Wakes up at 5 am everyday without fail, then spends the first few hours of his morning reading before he gets ready for the day

Scout-

Aries; born April 12th 1927

Autistic

If she knew what being trans was, would identify as transmasc

but considering she lives in Alabama in the 1930s, she likely has never and will never hear the term transgender or know its meaning

Accident prone- often comes to Cal with little cuts and scrapes. Cal always tells her to be more careful but takes care of her injuries no matter what

Keeps a journal, though she didn't take it very seriously until she was a teen and then would make sure she journals daily

Hates Halloween after the incident. the year after the incident she stays inside for the entire evening of Halloween and snuggles with Atticus

Very artsy. Loves writing and drawing and fills her journal with little doodles relating to her day

Jem-

Taurus; born May 14th, 1923

Almost always angry about something

Just an angry little guy

Needs glasses but doesn't get them until he's around 18

Absolutely adores Scout, more than he will ever admit, but he'd do anything for her (usually. they still bicker a lot)

After Halloween, the first thing he said when he woke up in the morning was "is Scout okay?"

Jem used to love Halloween, but is cautious of it after the incident. it takes him a few years to enjoy the holiday again

Takes after Atticus in his love for reading. as he gets older, Atticus lets him barrow books with increasingly mature themes and they'd bond by discussing them

Ends up playing football in highschool but gets injured. he plays all throughout highschool despite his injury, but once he's in college he stops playing and decides he prefers watching the sport instead

Keeps the things him and Scout found in the knothole for his entire life

Maudie-

Gemini; June 19th, 1891

Lesbian

No one knows except for Atticus and her late husband

Her husband was a gay man and they married mainly for protection

despite not loving each other romantically, they were incredibly close friends and Maudie mourned the loss of him for a long time

She sees Scout and Jem and even Dill as children

She was friends with Nathan Radley when they were younger, but once Nathan moved to Pensacola they lost contact, and even when he returned they just never reconnected

Boo/Arthur-

Virgo; September 12th, 1897

Autistic

Always stimming in some way, most common stim in scrunching up his face or full body twitches

Scrapbooks and uses his scrapbook as a journal of sorts

Not very close with Nathan and often avoids him as well as he can, considering they're both in the house pretty often

Funny enough, Boo was a nickname arthur was given as a teen by his friends

He was never really a bad kid. He was just an autistic kid who struggled to make connections and when he met his friend group, they'd goad him into stupid things and he'd do them because he'd never had friends like that before

The incident where he stabbed his father did happen, but he did it not out of nowhere, but because Mr Radley was drunk and acting aggressive and it scared and frustrated Arthur so he stabbed him

#to kill a mockingbird #tkam headcanons #tkam #atticus finch #scout finch #jem finch #maudie atkinson #boo radley #headcanons #will probably edit this as more little things come to me

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castletown-cafe · 5 months

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Life Updates, AuDHD, and A Mental Trainwreck

Content Warnings: Mental illness, current events, betrayal trauma, abuse, & family death.

It's time I talked about how things have been for me lately. I'm tired of hyping up all these things/projects I can't commit to, it feels like I'm making promises I can't fulfill. I get too ambitious, I get too many ideas, and even the ones I manage to see through, I just do not enjoy the writing portion.

About a year ago, my focus drifted away from Castletown Cafe. Many of you here may know what that's like to lose interest/hyperfixation on one thing and get fixated on something else, that's natural for us with autism and ADHD. We get an intense hyperfocus on a topic or project for a while only to shift to the next topic, losing interest or forgetting about the previous. I got really fixated on Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, Splatoon 3, and ACNH this past year, as well as making my own unrelated cooking projects revolving around seasonal ingredients. This fall, I got crazy ambitious for an entire fall-themed cookbook and even a Halloween one, things that obviously will take years of practice and experimentation (and need year-round work).

On top of that, however, I have not been feeling as well mentally this year. I've had less motivation to draw, and felt a stronger dislike of writing. If you have ADHD you know how hard it is to get yourself to do something you don't want to do. It's like pulling teeth. I've always had issues with executive dysfunction, and I wonder how much of it I've succumbed to this year. And while I've never been diagnosed with clinical depression, I'm wondering/concerned if I am showing signs of it like I might have been this year with my lack of motivation, my focus and drive getting worse, loss of enjoyment of things I ordinarily enjoy doing, such as drawing, feeling sad more often, and either sleeping too much or too little.

Granted the events of this fall haven't helped. We all know what's going on in the world right now. It's horrifying, it's depressing, and it's easy to feel helpless, but we all have the power to protest, to boycott, and to use social media to amplify voices of the marginalized. I have been very active on Twitter with this, but it has also been hard to enjoy my favorite times of year, the fall and Halloween, when tens of thousands are being massacred. It's no wonder I have been so depressed this fall, knowing the country we live in is siding with the colonizers and is actively funding genocide. Our tax dollars are being used to fund this and many, if not most, American brands and companies are also in favor of it.

Then, in November, I discover that an 80s band I liked is guilty of VERY inappropriate behavior toward women. One I had been listening to for the past few years. Fronted by a guy whose music I had enjoyed since childhood. I shouldn't have been so surprised, but it still broke me anyway. Another betrayal was a YouTuber who turned out to be an imposter with no thoughts or opinions of his own, only stolen from others. Yet another was a confirmation of suspicions I had toward a certain animator having NPD and being abusive, (who, to be honest, I never actually liked, just her art style and cartoons).

Oh, but that's not all! Here's where it gets really personal, but I think I really need to disclose this. On top of everything going on, I had two deaths in the family recently. One was a parent whom I didn't get along with very well, the other was my old pup Oscar. My old doggo has been easier to grieve, because he was a sweet, good boy....and honestly....he deserved a better end to his life than what he got. He was living with my father, keeping him company. My father was the parent I had a bad relationship with, and is the reason I advocate strongly for responsible and careful drinking. Because he failed to do that. He always used alcohol for self-medication, something you should NEVER do. His substance abuse got worse and worse over the years, driving him meaner and more abusive. He was never really kind to me, even if he tried to be. I never had a good relationship with my father, and honestly I know a lot of people can relate to that with one or both of their parents. A lot of us have betrayal trauma from growing up, maybe you have parents who don't love you unconditionally, or parents who never wanted to be parents, emotionally or physically abusive parents, you get the idea. Mine just so happened to be a man born and raised in a time where there was no diagnosis for his neurodivergence. He had tons of internalized ableism that he pushed onto me, and modelled horrible, angry behavior. He also had depression, but never sought help, and I believe that's due to toxic masculinity.

He can't hurt me anymore, though. I moved out of his house almost 5 years ago, and I wish it had been sooner. I'm not sure how to feel about his passing, because of how he treated me when he was alive. One thing I have been feeling though, is stress. He has left behind a house that is a disaster because he neglected to take care of it, tons of debt because he had failed to pay his bills, and no will whatsoever so inheritance is also going to be a mess to untangle. My family and I have been going back to that house to clean it, get it repaired, and figure out what to do with everything left behind. Right in the middle of a holiday season. What fun /sarcasm.

On the topic of Oscar, it's safe to say how he passed/what happened. My father went first, and so Oscar just curled up next to him.....and stayed there until he also died. And honestly....that's just heartbreaking.....I wish Oscar could've howled for help, that someone could have heard him and come to his rescue and taken care of him....but he didn't....I just wish i could have been by Oscar's side in his final moments. I know he was an old dog, he lived to be 15 and a half...but he's with my grandma now and I hope she's taking good care of him, wherever they are.

Meanwhile, Penny has been a new family member since July. She has been by my side to give hugs and cuddles, and I've needed them a lot these past few weeks. Since Oscar stayed behind to keep my father company when I moved out a few years ago, I missed my puppy, and having a little doggo around. And so, enter Penny. She's even registered as an emotional support animal, or ESA, and she goes all kinds of places with me. I love the attention she gets from other people when we go shopping together. Her cuteness lightens up a room and makes the day of many people.

My little fluffy girl has been a big help getting me through everything this season.

Back to Castletown Cafe, it may take a while, but I hope one day to return to it. I have all kinds of ideas and things I want to make and practice, and I also hope to create more content in 2024, even doing more live gaming on Twitch. I got a new computer for streaming, but I still need a monitor for it. I wanna have a streaming schedule and everything.

I really appreciate all of you who are still here even though I haven't been able to make many new things or deliver upon hyped ideas. I feel bad about my lack of content this year, though with recent life events I think it's really understandable as to why I haven't been able to churn out much in that regard.

One more thing: I do want to disclose that my ADHD is unmedicated. I can't get medication for it (not with this hell-thcare system) and I don't know what I should take for executive dysfunction. For those of you who made it this far with ADHD, what do you recommend?

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this, especially if you made it all the way to the end here. I know it was a lot, and some of this is REALLY heavy stuff. These are things that we all do go through, however.

Thank you.

~ Mari 🧡

#long post #cw: death #cw: abuse #cw: addiction #cw: grief #mari speaks

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eldritchmochi · 8 months

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yeah I am pretty young lmao, I'll spare you from another playlist by just naming some artists that gave me inspiration for god knows at some point

first off you mentioned Hozier, which I kinda only mention because he released a new album recently. Arctic Monkeys and Father John Misty are kinda in the same boat as him. More like the same lake.

The Amazing Devil and The Oh Hellos never fail to give me some sort of D&D/character inspiration. Ghost does?? something??? as well with characters, but specific ones. Same with Steam Powered Giraffe.

other than that, Library Magic by The Head And The Heart is very Wizard, along with The Magician by Andy Shauf. and because I just can't go without mentioning it, Queen is my favorite band. :)

that's all! with any luck it'll end up being useful somehow lol

hozier is one of those artists who i dont listen to on purpose like ever i dont thinki could name a single song of his with confidence BUT i know his voice starkly as one i really lusted after pre-t. i saw he just dropped a new album and i HAVE to give it a listen to especially the video of sssomething or other (full album mv??? pLEASE) because it stars domnall gleeson and i am still horny for that man even after all these years (he's the actor for hux for context lmao)

queen is also one of my long time favs, though definitely a band i dont know in and out the way i do with a lot of more modern punk bands lmao. freddie has and always will be Gender (god the video for i want to break free was IT for me in like 8th grade right around when i came out)

ive seen spg live before!! they are *great* experience even if you're not deep into the lore (i had friends who were big lore fans). i have heard precisely One And A Half Ghost Songs and im keeping it that way on purpose because its just sooooooo funny that im not into them because aesthetically they are way up my alley (and one of my sibs, a number of irl buddies, and MANY artists i follow are all nuts for them)

ive some passing familiarity with the artic monkeys, enough that i can pick out a number of their more popular songs on the radio even if i cant name them (i am garbage at song titles tho so)

i'll have to check out the rest, especially good Wizards Songs 👀

in response!! further things to check out:

FUNKY.FM - playlist by alexmoukala who is one of my FAVOURITE video game composers. i know him primarily through twitter where he posts snippets of remixed or reimagined video game music... but FUNKY (this one is particularly relevant to u based of ur playlist shared w me)

ye old spooky club 1995 - playlist by unnerving governess who i am 90% sure is gothic charmschool. i know i got the link thru her but i thiiink she also made it (another playlist that may vibe w u based off your playlist)

creature feature, especially the album "the greatest show unearthed" (ookey spooky rock with a lot of vincent price era horror camp and a lot of really impressive technical skill. i want it to be halloween damnit)

the mind electric by the miracle musical (behold, the essence of the inside of my brain but in tangible form. it is. incredibly ominous. do recommend headphones for max goosebumps (includes a lot of records played backwards type sounds and other distortions))

dance monkey by tones and i (one of my big essek songs since i get a lot of that vibe where he's beholden to his station for *so much* that its a disservice to his growth as a person)

bottom is a rock by mother mother (my m9 as a whole song. the chorus has a line for each of them i stg and if i could reliably draw i would do an old school lyricstuck to it)

my verdict on ur playlist btw is that it is very solid and cohesive a+, but *just* to the left of my tastes, largely because a lot of it skews 70s/80s which just by nature of the beast lacks the bass i like (because it was mixed entirely different compared to modern music, which is better suited for sounding big when played digitally through smaller speakers. ive heard some of these bands on big sound systems and theyre MUCH more in line with my tastes then lmao)

#mochi rambles #mochi music #dragonknuckles #public reply since no links and also these recs are great imma make people look at em lmao #i have definitely pilfered a couple songs tho

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emeritus-fuckers · 10 months

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Hello there! I would like to take part in the match-up event and I'd like to be matched with a Papa ♡

I'm a bisexual genderfluid person (my preferred pronouns are she/they, but I'm fine with anything really), I'm [in Terzo's voice] a little bit-uh... short (I'm 5'2 / 1.58 m) and I have an average body shape, I guess. I have shoulder lenght wavy dark brown hair with bangs, light blue/greyish eyes and really pale skin. I'm the youngest of three siblings and I'm in my early 20s. I'm currently in my first year of university and I'm studying to get a bachelor's degree in Studies in Cultural Heritage.

Personality wise, I could be described as a social chameleon: I can adapt to almost any kind of social context and I manage to get along with many different types of people, but I struggle with forming real connections, because it takes a long time for me to trust someone enough to open up to them and be emotionally vulnerable. To most people I may seem like a pretty chill, friendly, outgoing person, but I'm actually an introverted socially awkward mess, I'm just really good at hiding it, usually by coping with humor and sarcasm. Speaking of humor, I have a pretty dirty and sometimes dark sense of humor, but I also enjoy silly puns and dad jokes!

My main hobbies are drawing, reading, listening to music and podcasts, binge-watching films and tv series, collecting random stuff (crystals, stones, pebbles, sticks, feathers, bones... anything really) and travelling. I also enjoy witchcraft and all things esoteric. I'm interested in art, literature, history, philosophy, psychology, religions and mythology, as well as astronomy and anything related to space.

Other random facts you should know about me: I'm a cat person, my favourite colour is purple, my favourite season is autumn (because of Halloween), my favourite kind of weather is rainy/stormy, I'm a picky eater (mainly because I can't stand the texture of most foods) and I'm a night owl.

I guess that's all (apologies if it's too long)!

Your match is…Terzo

“So err, I hear your favourite colour is purple uh?” When you say yes he is so happy, it's his colour!

He makes you a purple bracelet to wear, so you can be reminded of how much he loves you.

When you sit down to study he'll appear next to you, and start distracting you.

He'll flirt with you, kiss you, touch you, anything to get your attention back.

The best thing you can do is let him help. Either get him to test you on things or give him something to read and make notes on.

He'll proudly tell people how he's supporting his love to get their Bachelors degree.

He knows you are introverted undernearth it all. So he's supportive in any social sitation. He's always there for you. You can both get on with anyone, but like you he's not as confident as he comes accross.

You both have a dirty, dark sense of humour.

The pair of you get very carried away on halloween. Especially Terzo, he'll decorate your entire rooms and dress up.

Terzo also happens to be a night owl. So you often stay up late listening to music or podcasts.

Or you will stay up and bingewatch films and TV series. If you are doing that he will buy popcorn, and have a duvet on the sofa for you to snuggle under.

He is very happy to support your witchcraft. He'll find rare long forgotten books for you in the ministry. He's so proud that you are into such things.

This post is a part of Match-up Event. The Event ends on July 15th.

Written by Nyx

#anon #ghost band #ghost bc #ghost band x reader #ghost bc x reader #papa emeritus iii #terzo x reader #terzo #papa emeritus iii x reader #match up event #match up

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bstroobery · 3 months

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Our Singletsona!!

Picrew

Name: [Redacted for our privacy because it’s the same as the body’s :/]

Gender: Nonbinary (specifically Demi-girl) and uses literally any pronouns (mostly found people use she/they tho)

Sexuality: Demisexual and demiromantic (listen, we as a system need to all agree for our partner if we ever have one outside the system mkay?)

Likes: Snakes, cute stuff, creepy stuff, walking (only liked physical activity), drawing, writing, cats, bunnies, Halloween, coffee, sushi, sweets, fall, winter, cold temperatures, swimming, music (literally cannot travel without music. It is a MUST HAVE)

Hates: Birds, spiders, physical activity, pizza, chocolate covered potato chips (do not ask), painting, summer, hot temperatures, Christianity (the overall religion, but those who practice it are ok as individuals we promi)

Hobbies: drawing, writing, reading, watching YouTube, cooking, baking

Personality: shy around new people but confident around people they know, worried about money and finances often, teacher, loves working with kids and wants to help them succeed, wants to promote autonomy in kids but understands that some kids don’t want autonomy yet, pagan (yes our entire system is pagan too. No judging), practices witchcraft, switches between cute clothes and a t-shirt and jeans depending on the day and what’s available to wear, packs a lunch daily to work and school because of strict dietary restrictions (gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, and diabetes make it impossible to safely eat school or restaurant foods), but also isn’t a picky eater, has anxiety and depression, absolutely insane /pos, talks to herself OFTEN, very imaginative and creative, so fucking socially awkward it’s not even funny, nicest person you’ll ever meet (if I had a nickel for every time our friends told us we were too kind for this world I swear. It’s all from Blue, but still)

We just made this because we’re proud of have made our singletsona as if they were an OC :3

-🔦

#🔦#singletsona #sysblr #system posting #picrew #literally so proud of this #we made them into a fucking OC that we all gotta act like while fronting

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siberian-xanadu · 9 months

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Okay, now that I'm not on my essay account, I have some Cringey Middle School shenanigans to admit to you guys. The majority of these have to do with Rush, but there are a fair few that don't:

Remember the 2112 All Star parody that was submitted to prog-rock-confessions? That was me, I'm sorry. I also did an All Star parody about the periodic table for my science class. The opening lyrics were "My science teacher told me / the world is made of atoms".

I drew Shrek x Hamilton nsfw fanart to piss off my friends that were into Hamilton at the time. I also did this IN MY ART CLASS.

I used my art class in general to draw Rush fanart. I would find a way to bend the rules of almost every assignment to let me do that, like I did a comic strip of Cygnus X-1 that was really cool. I have no idea where it is now.

I wrote a 3 1/2 page essay to my 7th grade English teacher convincing her to let me use a class period to make my English class listen to 2112 and connect it to the book we were reading. Looking back, it was doubly cringey and also incredibly insensitive because that book was Malala Yousafzai's autobiography, I Am Malala. I made the incredible observation that the Taliban were just like the Priests of Syrinx because they banned music. I was a fucking moron. My teacher actually agreed to let me present, and I ended up roping my friend into it, and we spend the entire class period listening to and going over 2112. I had a whole presentation. This was completely unprompted, by the way.

I went as Freddie Mercury to my school's Halloween dance in 7th grade. The next year, I roped my gf at the time and my best friend into a group costume... and to no one's surprise, we went as Rush. I gave my bestie a pair of these gimmick pencil drumsticks, and we taped on a mustache, and my gf had an inflatable guitar... and yours truly carried her actual bass around with a pair of fake glasses and a wig from Party City. I look back at least once a week in horror.

Wrote a South Park fan script that was meant to be a trilogy. If that wasn't cringey enough, it involved traveling back in time and Queen. I also showed this to my friends at School of Rock when I went there.

When my school did an event called Teach the Teacher, which excused kids from their classes for a couple periods in order to give seminars on usually their talents or stuff... I used this to give a seminar on the history of progressive rock. Of course. If I remember anything else from my cringey middle school experience, I will make sure to write it down because I am just scratching the surface of all the weird shit I did. If you want me to elaborate on anything, I will too.

#story time with violet #middle school adventures!

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risingmccns · 10 months

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💘🎄 🍝🧶🎧💯

💘 — what and/or who do you consider near and dear to you?

First I wanna say my family. I love my parents so much. I also wanna say my friends because GOD my friends both internet and irl have helped me, supported me, and gotten me through some hard times. And along with my family and friends…honestly…my stuffed animals. I’ve had a lot of them for years (so long that some are old enough to be considered legal adults), and they help a lot with my anxiety. They’ve even inspired some of my ocs. Also I’ve learned if you stick something in my arms long enough, I will bond with it and that’s how the massive stuffie collection started.

🎄 — favorite holiday(s)?

I gotta go with Halloween. I love the spooky season. 🎃👻🧛🏻‍♀️🧟‍♀️🧙‍♀️

🍝 — favorite food(s)?

Oh boy…uh…the first thing that comes to mind is soup! I love matzo ball soup and chicken noodle soup. Tomato soup and lobster bisque too! And pho! Another fav of mine is kugel (specifically potato, broccoli, or spinach). It’s my weakness. I can and will eat an entire kugel if not stopped.

🧶 — any non-writing hobbies/interests?

I like to draw, read, watch tv, do live reads, and when my computer and software decide to cooperate edit videos!

🎧 — do you write while listening to music/podcasts/videos/etc, or do you need total silence?

I actually got this question a while ago! I’m sad to report, my answer hasn’t really changed.

💯 — share three random facts about yourself that your mutuals may not know about you.

1.) I’m ambidextrous. 2.) I’m acrophobic but one of my dream roles involves being in the air. 3.) I once met The Count from Sesame Street!

#{out of cinnamon rolls || ooc}#{about the mun}#thank you for the questions Kels <3

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sweetarethediscords · 10 months

Text

“Fool Me Once” - Part 4

Pairing: Kacchako, Bakugou Katsuki/Uraraka Ochako

CW: Cheating, Underage Drinking

<- Previous Part | From the Beginning

~~~~~~~

To throw an all out rager on campus was an absolute no go.

To throw a ranger at one of the many nearby houses a certain rich kid third year’s parents owned however…

It was perhaps one of the few times being a landlord was a good thing.

Momo had decorated the hell out of it.

Cotton spiderwebs, paper bats, dry ice fog, and low, Halloween colored lighting. By the time Katsuki had made his way over to the house the party was well underway.

Mineta already had his head in a trash can. Hitoshi and Neito were playing tug-o-tongue with Denki.

The smell of booze threatened to strip his nostrils of every hair inside them. A bunch of gasps and wolf whistles greeted him as he entered, his costume drawing nearly every eye.

Most of these were underclassmen though, his real target was downstairs.

Shoji had been updating him all night. Apparently with out Deku’s attention, Melissa had take up flip cup, beer pong, whatever game would keep her distracted and drunk. Ei even made sure to take over the beer pong table from her to have a “couples match” against Deku and Ochako.

Now she’d been leaning up against the wall for a while, bobbing her head to the music, pretending to listen to Mei ramble on as she obviously watched Deku from a far.

“Bakubro!” Hanta howled, starting off an avalanche of cheers, hoots, hollers, drawing every eye towards him.

Katsuki caught Melissa’s eye briefly, adjusted his glasses with a smirk, then continued on to meet Hanta by the keg and grab a beer.

“Looking hot dude!” he said.

“Nice Vincent costume,” Shoto added. “I don’t remember him wearing a bedsheet in the game though.”

“Vincent?”

“From Silent Hill 3.” Shoto pointed to his glasses. “He wears glasses like that.”

Katsuki sneered. “I ain’t no Vincent, Icyhot, I’m—”

“Milo Thatch,” Melissa slurred flirty, running a hand across the blue swirls of body paint highlighting the bulge of his biceps.

Katsuki’s sneer turned into a smirk. “In the flesh.” He let his eyes roam across the old school librarian costume she was sporting, feigning interest when really he seeing all of the booze and sweat stains on her blouse.

“Evie from The Mummy!” she shouted over the music.

“We’re Bert and Ernie,” Shoto added unnecessarily. He must have had a few shots himself too. “He’s Ernie, I’m Bert.”

Melissa smiled at him and used her other hand to rub his bicep. “This sweater is sooo soft.”

“It’s very warm,” he replied.

“Speaking of warm,” Hanta lifted her hand off of Shoto and placed a cup of beer in it. “Why don’t you two go warm up the dance floor a bit? There’s some good looking couples out there, but no one nearly as hot as you two.”

“Oooo yes!” Melissa cooed and tugged Katsuki’s arm.

“You sure?” Katsuki teased. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to handle my moves.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Like I don’t have moves of my own.”

He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “Alright. You asked for it.”

He threaded his arm out of her grip and made his way to the dance floor.

Whether she followed him or not was unimportant. This was all about the tease. The bait.

Later she was sure to bite.

Kyoka had set up her DJ booth, a brilliant set up that could knock a house down at 11

Katsuki locked eyes with her and gave her a subtle nod to switch the music to one of the songs he’d texted her about.

With insane skill she mixed the current bright bouncy pop song into a dirty, grinding dance song that switched the entire vibe of the dance floor.

Katsuki knew how to move, that was no secret. With how he fought with his quirk he had to be as agile and precise as possible.

As a kid, hip hop lessons were a way for him to let out his access energy. As an adult they kept him sharp, giving him an edge against villains.

And now, well…

They had a drunken blonde in a librarian costume practically drooling as she watched him gyrate.

After a bit of peacocking, Katsuki wound up pulling her into the dance with him, hooking an arm around the small of her waist and holding her close.

He guided her hips with his own, keeping them flush together and in time with the music. He let his nose brush against hers every now and again but wouldn’t let himself linger.

Instead he would subtly shift his gaze away, keeping an eye out for tuft of green hair.

Which he found pretty quickly, tucked under some sort of brown leather fedora, glancing their way every now and again as he pretended to pay attention to the pretty pink power ranger chatting excitedly beside him.

Katsuki spun Melissa around making sure her ass was against him.

He draped his arms around her hips and dipped his head down to have his chin rest against the curve of her neck. Holding her like he possessed her.

Izuku’s glance became a full on stare at that. Ochako’s gaze was pulled along with it, finding Katsuki just as the song ended.

Katsuki pretended not to see her grab Izuku’s arm and start to drag him over.

“Oh my god! Look at you!” Ochako squealed in greeting.

Katsuki untangled himself from Melissa as they approached. “Sup, Cheeks. See you can’t shake the spandex, huh?”

“Really?” She smirked and looked down at his chest. “See you found Atlantis but lost your shirt along the way.”

Katsuki smiled genuinely at that before turning smug as he looked Deku’s way. “Guess you found a power ranger in the Temple of Doom there, huh, Izuku?”

Izuku laughed tightly as he smiled. “Guess so. I didn’t know you and Melissa were so close, Kacchan.”

“Yeah. I’ve been helping Specs out with her apprenticeship project,” he said, nudging Melissa slightly. “She really likes what I can do with my hands.”

“The sweat,” Melissa blurted out suddenly. “I’m trying to see how my universal quirk enhancer would work with physically manifested emitter quirks.”

“Sure,” Ochako teased. “Just don’t play with his hands too much. You’ll wind up with a heart condition.”

She winked at Katsuki.

“Speaking of sweat,” Ochako continued. “You two vs. us two. Ultimate beer pong championship. With you two in the mix one of us are sure to beat Kiri and Mina.”

“In a bit, Cheeks,” he said. “I gotta go piss first.” He patted Melissa on the head and looked at Izuku.

“Keep an eye on her for me, will ya?”

Izuku nodded curtly with a tight smile. “You got it.”

Katsuki headed upstairs, catching Eijirou calling, “Midoriya! Uraraka! Rematch?”

Just as planned.

Katsuki didn’t head to the bathroom. Instead he made his way to the roof, took out his phone, and started scrolling through his phone. Enjoying the peace, quiet, and night sky as he killed time waiting to hear—

“He have you seen Bakugou?” Melissa asked Hanta on the patio below him, prompting him to rise and make his way back into the house.

Katsuki made his way back down to the first floor, conveniently waiting to round the right corner.

“There you are!” Melissa said, hurrying over towards him. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Is something wrong?” he asked, playing dumb.

Melissa grabbed his hand.

“I really want to dance with you some more,” she said. Her eyes kept glancing towards his lips, lingering over his body. “Please?”

Katsuki smiled. Knowing for certain what would happen next. “Lead the way.”

She all but tore his arm out of his socket as she led him downstairs.

She wasted no time pulling him onto the dance floor and grinding against him, touching every inch of bare skin on him, leading his hands to grab her waist, her ass.

Keeping her face barely an inch away from his.

“You look sooo good tonight,” Melissa panted lightly.

“You look pretty good too,” he said. “I like that shade of lipstick.”

“Do you?” she cooed.

“Mhmm.” He brushed his nose against hers. “Does it taste good?”

Melissa threaded her fingers in his hair. “Let’s find out.”

She kissed him. Hard, clumsy, needy.

It was more teeth than lips. More cheap beer than cherry.

Honestly it was one of the worst kisses he ever had, but he stuck with it. Deepening it, making her fumbled mess loom good as applause erupted around them. The music even switched to something celebratory and gloating.

They parted to find the entire basement crowd watching them, applauding…

…save for one person, in an Indiana Jones costume, watching on from just a few feet in front of them. Katsuki kept Melissa’s attention away from Deku, pulling her to dance and jump along with the crowd until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey dude. Sorry to interrupt,” Eijirou said. “But I need your help with Tetsu, man. He ain’t doing well.”

“Fucking hell, Shitty Hair.” He turned to Melissa. “Sorry. I gotta take care of this.”

“It’s fine,” she slurred a bit, lost in the kiss still.

Perfect.

Katsuki followed Eijirou back upstairs and into “the recovery room”— the master bedroom of the house that had been deemed a safe zone for those who partied too much because of its huge bed and easy bathroom access.

Tetsu was waiting, completely sober.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

“It went off without a hitch,” Katsuki replied. “Now we just wait.”

“That kiss was pretty fucking epic though. With the music and the cheering?!” Ei recalled excitedly.

“Yeah and she chewed my lips like they were a fucking roast beef the entire time.”

“Not so cool.” Tetsu said. “Wanna play Kings while we wait? I brought a deck of cards and the Mineta finally stopped puking.”

“Yeah sure. Why the fuck not? It ain’t like—”

Their phones all pinged.

S: Midoriya left.

They all shared a wide-eyed stare of disbelief.

Before they could say another word their phones pinged again.

S: Melissa’s leaving now too. Mei’s helping her get her stuff.

Footsteps thundered down the hall and past their room.

“I can’t believe I did that to him!” Melissa sobbed. “I just— I couldn’t—”

“Shhhh. It’s okay. You’ll get him, you just have to put a coat on okay? I can’t let you freeze out there—”

“He’s so mad at me and I— He was the one with—”

Melissa's blubbering faded as they walked away, leaving the room all too silent.

“Holy shit,” Tetsu said. “You did it.”

Ei’s phone began to ring. “Shit it’s Mina. I gotta fucking go. Tetsu?”

He stood. “Right, acting shitfaced.” He grabbed a half finished bottle of liquor some poor soul left behind and gargled it around his mouth, “Let’s go, bro.”

Tetsu slung his arm over Ei’s shoulders and hung his head as Ei answered his phone with a stained grunt and left the room.

Katsuki sat in the quiet. In disbelief.

He could hear the chaos unfold just outside the door. Chaos he caused. Because his plan worked.

The fucker and fuckette were dealing with the consequences of their actions and he…

…heard sniffling outside of the window.

He got up off the bed and looked outside of it, but found no one.

He opened it, screen and all, and leaned his head out to make sure he wasn’t hearing things.

He wasn’t, but the crying was up, not just out. A queasy knot twisted in his stomach.

He snuck through the halls as quickly as possible and made his way up to the second story towards the little patch of roof he often snuck out onto when the parties got too much.

The sniffling grew louder as he walked closer, turning into a soft cry.

He opened the window quietly, curious dread getting the better of him and leaned out to find the last thing he wanted to find.

A crying pink power ranger.

“Cheeks?” he asked softly, knowing better to announce himself than surprise her.

Big brown eyes turned towards him, teary.

“Bakugou,” Ochako whined quietly, voice breaking as a fresh stream of tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” Katsuki climbed through the window and sat down beside her. “Why are you sorry?”

“Because you finally got to kiss her and now she— she— she—”

Katsuki pulled her into a hug, catching her before she could collapse into herself.

“I know, Cheeks. I know.” He held her tight, his own heart feeling like it was breaking in the process. His own anger building.

“Y-you said it too. You said you thought she wanted someone else but Deku? Why didn’t he just tell me he didn’t l-l-like me? I would have understood!”she sobbed. “I’m not as pretty as her or as smart as her or as talented—”

“Uraraka stop it ain’t about that.”

“ I thought she— Why would she have kissed you if he was there?”

Katsuki’s stomach sank. “What?”

“Was she just using you this entire time to make him jealous? Was this all just some game to them?” She looked up at him, eyes swollen and searching for answers he had but couldn’t give. “Make it make sense. It doesn’t make sense.”

She fell into an incoherent mess in his lap, each heaving sob and broken-hearted utterance twisting a dagger of guilt into his gut.

He had to tell her.

How could he tell her?

Tell her that he had known Deku would leave her for Melissa and didn’t warn her?

Tell her he cared more about getting even, about winning, because for some reason he thought it better to be her white knight than warn her.

To try and prevent the class from taking side when he could already tell from the broken murmurs below them that people already were?

He had to tell her.

He had to confess.

Ochako reached for his hand and held it, her soft finger pads clinging on him desperately for comfort.

Just not tonight.

~~~~~~~

Next Part ->

#kacchako #kacchako fic #angst #cheating #romance #friends to lovers #bakugou katsuki #bakugou #uraraka ochako #uraraka #bnha #third years #aged up characters #fool me once

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hecateisalesbian · 10 months

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UNO REVERSE. GIMME ALL 50 OF 'EM.

For the wild card... what was your least favorite question out of all of these to answer?

Do you have freckles? i think? Yeah? Only like a few tho

Do you drink tea or coffee? How do you take it? hohoooo your gonna regret asking me this question >:3 For Tea I have a very specific tea brand I always buy and it’s the Arizona Green Tea Diet and then yknow occasional Peace Tea and on some occasions tea leaves. For Coffee when it’s at Starbucks I get one Grande size Vanilla Iced (Gay) Latte with 2 Splendas and almond milk! At home though I just brew up some coffee and put creamer and vanilla unsweetened almond milk with a 1:3 ratioish and a spoonful of Splenda.

What was the last song you listened to? The entire Nimona album lol

Do you sleep on your back, stomach or side? Back or Side because I rotate but never directly on the stomach

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Yes. The amount changes tho. But rn I have a stuffed animal called Rat Cat and then my dog 🐶

Do you prefer drawing or writing? they equally suck

What’s your ideal number of blankets to sleep with? i always always always have to sleep with a very specific blanket for my anxiety and that’s really all I need

What’s your favorite band/artist? errrrr Lovejoy or Lemon Demon or Mother Mother?

When is your birthday? Not sharing that but my fake one is March 7th

How tall are you? Like 5’2”

What color are your eyes? Very dark brown (boring Ik)

Who are five (or more) people you want to hug right now? My Irl friends and my sister

Fears? Bugs, Spiders, T h e D a r k

What’s your favorite color? Purple obvs 💜

What’s your favorite season? Fall, because depending on where you are it’s so wonderful and the weather is perfect and everything is so pretty and also it’s SPOOKY SEASON 🎃

Want any tattoos? What of? Many. Idk how many but my basics are a sibling tattoo with my sister, a matching tattoo with my mom that I’ve already designed, a star, sun, and moon tattoo with my sister and my mom, a snake or two somewhere, some flowers maybe, a semicolon, etc

Want any piercings? Where? YES. Lots of places! I want to deck out my ears, probably get some nose piercings, lip piercings, eyebrow piercings, and then idk from there

Who is the last person you texted? My friend

Do you have a best friend? How long have you been friends? I used to but not anymore

What/who do you miss? My sister

How was your day today? Well I woke up like 2 minutes ago

How much sleep did you get last night? Idk man I just pass out whenever

Do you believe in aliens? Idk theirs probably smth else besides us on this dingy space rock

When was the last time you cried? Why? When I sneezed 6 times in a row a minute ago

What’s your favorite decade? Hmmmmm. Idk. Early 2000’s maybe, 60’s-80’s seem cool

What are some seemingly childish things you like? Stuffed animals, ‘kids’ shows, wanting to play on swing sets

What’s your favorite book? Or just one you’ve read a few times? Uhhh Idk if this is my favorite but I really really like the book series called Strange The Dreamer!

How are you, really? Idk

Does it take you a long time to make decisions? I’m extremely indecisive

What are you looking forward to in the near future? Doing some musicals/plays, Halloween, seeing my sister again, going to a con

What are you looking forward to in the distant future? Moving lol, hopefully finding a partner

If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go? My home state Colorado

Do you sleep with your door open or closed? Who- who sleeps with it open? Ew. Closed.

What’s your favorite flower? I don’t have one 🤷🏼‍♀️

Do you currently have a squish? 😎 🤏🤨🕶️🤏 a what. Okay after a quick google search this looks like a QPR. I used to but not rn

Do you like your middle name? I love it! It holds a lot of meaning to it and it’s actually the name I choose after realizing I’m trans (and also I generally hated my first name)

Do you prefer dogs or cats? Im allergic to cats so I have to say dogs but I love cats. But snakes are number one 🐍

Do you have any phobias? Arachnophobia

Do you stay up late? Well let’s just say im daggers friend from two days ago

Do you like the beach? Do you prefer it sunny or cloudy? Hate the beach. Clouds all the way. Mountains are THE BEST

What’s your favorite cartoon? The Owl House 🦉

Tag 5 of your favorite blogs @bloodied-dagger @el-fandom-birb @haystarlight@imhumanguysiswear@stars-and-birds@threegoblinart@childlikegoblinqueen@artkittycatty@tardismama@fandomsandflyingstingrays@rosy-tickles@ALL OF MY MUTUALS

Do you have siblings? How many? Uh I have two blood related sisters, two step brothers, and one brother in law

Who was the last person you said “I love you” to? My dog probably. Other than that my mom

Is there anyone you would die for? My sister, my dog, my friends, my parents

What do you need when you’re sad? Happiness lol. Naw in all seriousness my dog

Have you memorized your phone number? If you haven’t I hope you like dying

Who’s someone you can trust with your life? My sister

What does your last text say? “Oh”

My least favorite question was all of them because I woke up 6 minutes ago why am I doing this

#asks

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miramizar · 5 months

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Hello! Your Secret Santa Again ❄️ Many apologies for the long silence I hope you're doing well!

Thank you for the Exo vid recommendations in your last answer! I haven't seen that many of the concert stages yet and both the ones you named were amazing!! that acoustic medley though!! But since you asked, right now my favorite stages are... maybe the 2019 Smtown in Japan Gravity and the KBS awards For Life?

You also picked the sweetest Suho moments, very fun to revisit. <3 Our leader really puts his heart into everything he does. I haven't started his drama yet either although it looked exciting! I have been watching Xiumin's ceo-dol mart, I just have the last couple episodes left. What have you been watching lately?

My favorite bbh moments... are many lol. I love the late night car ride lives he was doing for a while just singing and driving.

Favorite Kyunsoo songs... all of Empathy? I also really like Wonder off the new album.

I don't know that I have a SHINee bias, I feel like it changes every day but I adore them all. For WayV either Ten or Kun (speaking of lovable dorky leaders).

I like SuJu as well (so many good songs!!) I haven't heard any VIXX- what's your song rec? For Pentagon now is probably a rough time to get into them haha but I would recommend looking up Shine and Naughty Boy those are my favorites, or maybe Daisy or Dr. Bebe if you like a more intense concept.

I am not really a true horror fan but I really like the sort of offbeat gothic creepiness (think Addams Family or SHINee Married to the Music energy) and I like having a season to play that up. I don't have any halloween plans, but I decorated! What about you? Do you celebrate Halloween?

Re: your present, I wanted to ask if there was anything specific you might want? I mostly do digital art, but I can also do traditional drawing, moodboards, edits...I already have some ideas, but lmk if there's anything you had in mind!

Talk soon! <3

Hi!! ❣️ Oh it's definitely okay! And please accept my apologies as well - it's been rather hectic lately and I didn't have wi-fi for a bit and I caught a small cold etc. so I took way longer to answer you than I intended to... I hope that this doesn't make you feel too stressed about my gift? I'd love to receive anything really - I did pick fanart on the sign-up sheet, but I like all the options you mentioned so please feel free to do whatever you feel inspired to do! ✨

How have you been since our last talk? Hearing about you decorating during Halloween made me smile (>v<)🧡 I don't celebrate it myself, (I've been getting ready to celebrate Advent instead hahah) but I do like the aesthetic of it somewhat? And I get what you mean about the Shinee/Addams vibe! There's some humour to the creepiness, which is really nice! ✨ Still, I have to admit that I like watching/listening to darker horror movies/tales in every once in a while, especially if the stories are good (>v<;)

Oh, don't mention it! I'm just happy to hear that you liked those stages as well 💗 and you picked some great ones too! I tend to forget to look for SMTown videos and rewatch the music show stages for some reason, but now I have the perfect opportunity to do so 💫

Aahfbdf your kind words has me smiling really wide over here (>///<)💖 He really does, and I love and admire him so much for it 💕 I'd love to talk to you about Myeon's drama when we get to watch it! And I'd also love to hear what you thought about Xiu's drama - I've seen some gifsets from it and it looks fun! ✨ Sadly I haven't been able to watch anything lately, but I really want to get back into it! (>^<) I've been playing some Ni no Kuni though, maybe that counts ahah

That's a lovely answer! I also love his spontaneous lives where he's just being himself, it's so genuine somehow 💖 You also picked some great songs of Soo's, I can't help but agree with you on loving the entire "Empathy" album! 💚 I have to ask you a hard question now - what is your favourite Baek album? And favourite songs sung by him?

I understand that! They're a bunch of lovable dorks, who's not to adore? (the same goes for pretty much all the groups hahah)💕 I think it's the same with me regarding WayV though, I also gravitate towards Ten and Kun whenever I stop to think about my bias (>w<;)

ooh you're also an elf? I have to ask about the songs you think are good then ahdfbf 🎵Thank you for the Pentagon recommendations! I actually heard Shine and Dr Bebe before, I just forgot? I do like both though! And Naughty boy is so cute, while Daisy really is more intense - but definitely my style! 💗 For Vixx, I got into them thanks to Fantasy, and I still think of it as a favourite along with Shangri-La and Hyde - I like their dark concept, but at the same time some of their gentler songs are the sweetest I've ever heard, like Love letter and The rain! 💌

Thank you for answering all my questions so far, and I'm sorry again for taking so long to reply - I really enjoy reading your messages and I look forward to talking to you again soon ❣️ Take care!!

#exolsecretsanta2023 #my answers #secret santa anon

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voidstation · 9 months

Text

farewell, adolescence (tidying my room)

"it's time to let it die."

my sister says, while removing the manga panels from our bedroom walls. she's talking about the phase that started years ago, inspired by that TikTok trend (neither of us ever downloaded the app, by the way) where people would cover entire walls with them. we decided to re–decorate our room, and she insisted that we clean it up first. i didn't protest, despite being too bored to do it. my desk isn't visible anymore, under everything that i have put on there; i have too many things i don't need, most of them garbage; but it's too hard to let them go, for some reason. my sister calls me a hoarder, and she's absolutely right.

i put on music and start cleaning my drawers, trying to decide what's staying and what's going in the trash. i stumble upon old birthday cards, some photos from my high school graduation, blank papers that i had put in there, in hopes that they would be useful someday; my old phone, old drawings, reminders of my past self. i take a breath, wondering why i'm still holding onto those things. it's time to let them die. it's time to let go of the drawings 14yr old me had on those same walls, time to throw away the phone i had at 16; why am i keeping all these birthday cards? it's not like i'll ever read them again. i put them back in the drawer. this task is done.

moving on to the box under my bed: the dolls i stopped playing with when i was 13 (along with their accessories), old school supplies, the sticker collection i had in 1st grade, more garbage, the vintage camera my grandparents gifted me when i turned 17, made in the USSR. i refuse to put anything in the trash. how could i? my tween self would look at me in disappointment; the dolls are still Important. i can't let her die yet. the stickers are older than most TikTok users, and most collectors would pay a hefty sum for that camera. this task is done as well.

the wardrobe is updated, just needs some tidy-up; the cupboards are filled with supplies for arts and crafts, a passion that started when i was still a child and i needed more furniture for my dolls, and that never went away; the shelves are empty already, since my sister decided to take down that fake plant i had bought at 11 and the Halloween decorations. we both agreed that the plushies are staying, though. perhaps she's not ready to let go completely, either.

one thing i'm ready to let die is the Harry Potter phase; the books are leaving. i don't feel sad about it. as i take them down, here come more memories; listening to nightcore while reading Wolfstar fanfiction at 14, discussing the entire FNAF lore with my cousins, religiously watching Minecraft animations, staying up until late to watch TMNT with my sister, using Adobe Flash to open Friv, logging in to Stardoll from my old computer (laptops were still rare back then).

if i were still 17, you wouldn't be able to get that information out of me. i used to cringe so hard with my tween self 2 years ago; i was my no.1 harshest critic. i was the one saying: it's time to let it die. but i'm glad i didn't. looking back, i realize that i was indeed Cringe; and it was the best thing that i ever allowed to happen to me. if i didn't do that, i would force myself to grow up before my time. and i would be miserable now.

my sister is turning 17 in January; i'm turning 20 a month later. we're still joking about our past selves, calling ourselves Cringe and Silly, upgrading our room and throwing away some things. i'm letting my adolescence go. but i refuse to bury it. i'm proud of my tween self. she is the reason i'm able to navigate this world with an open mind, and embrace existence with both hands.

to anyone that might have come this far: please don't go too hard on your past self. learn what you can from them, forgive them if you're able to, let them go. but do not let them die. as a wise tumblr user once said: who you were is fuel. eat them alive.

farewell.

#alright this is way longer than i intended it to #but eh. have some thoughts. i just finished cleaning my room and i'm feeling nostalgic again #inside the black hole

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d-criss-news · 3 years

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Nine Songs: Darren Criss

When Disney, Phantom Planet and Mr Hudson collide: Glee star, Emmy and Golden Globe winner and musician Darren Criss talks Andrew Wright through the pivotal songs in his life and the unexpected ways they found him.

“When we are younger, our gateway drugs to a lot of popular things don’t come from the sexiest of places. It’s up to you how proactive you want to be with your curiosity from there, and how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, if you go down at all.”

Choosing the songs that define you is a tricky business to say the least, especially when the power of song has provided an ongoing soundtrack to your life. “When you’re as avid a music consumer as musical artists are, trying to pin down Nine Songs is difficult,” Darren Criss laughs. So much so, his final choices only really crystallise as our conversation draws to its close. “It’s hard for me not to see the value and joy in literally everything,” he explains. “The curse of the creative person is that your ideas and your interests always move way faster than your body can execute.”

Criss is a creative par excellence. As well as his Emmy and Golden Globe winning performance in The Assassination of Gianni Versace, where he played serial killer Andrew Cunanan, to his upcoming role in Muppets Haunted Mansion Halloween special as The Caretaker, he’s also a prolific musician. Criss enjoyed a decadent musical consumption since childhood, so “this was a bit of an archaeological dig,” he admits. As such, everything from jazz standards, to 808s, punk rock, ‘90s teen pop, and musical numbers are excavated in the course of our extemporaneous journey through the music he loves.

Equally on his mind is how to go about approaching the task of creating his Nine Songs, full stop. “The interesting social experiment is: Are my answers going to be songs that actually shaped my life and were formative to me as an artist? Are they songs that were formative to me as a human being? Or am I picking songs that I think represent who I am to people that do not know me? All three of those things aren’t necessarily the same thing.”

He reaches a conclusion of sorts. “For the purposes of making some kind of decision, I’m gonna lean less into trying to look cool to your very cool readership, and more into the literal, ‘What made me think about music in a different way? And hit me in a very emotional way?’ I think that’s probably the healthiest route.”

Embracing the accessibility that characterises Criss’ picks - or at times the initial touchpoints that led him to them - are something he vacillates over during our chat. “I’ve seen a lot of other people’s Nine Songs and they’re super cool. It’s like Leonard Cohen B-sides and old opera records and stuff. I’m gonna be pretty honest with the pop culture zeitgeist of how I grew up but explain why there is so much value in those moments.” His contemplation continues into the next day, Criss’s publicist passes on his regrets at being tentative to admit how he encountered one of his song choices via the Shrek soundtrack.

A yearning to reinterpret accessibility and the value attached to it drives Criss, however. He tells me that a festival performance that applied the anarchic verve of punk rock to a more refined Great American Songbook number remoulded his perception of music entirely. His love of the fusion of these two genres in particular symbolises the salient musical backdrops of his childhood - the guitar bands he played in with friends, and his musical theatre endeavours that led him to Broadway and multiple Ryan Murphy juggernauts, including his breakthrough playing Blaine Anderson in Glee.

Criss employs these contrasting musical lexicons, and other areas in between, on Masquerade, his new EP. Comprising five stand-alone “character-driven” singles, it sees Criss donning different musical personas. “I’m leaning into people that might know me as an actor,” he explains. “Because if actors can do Shakespeare, romantic comedy, and then do a horror movie and wear a prosthetic nose and a wig, I didn’t understand why I couldn’t just do that with music.” The song “walk of shame” draws on jazz-standard chords interlaced with hip-hop production, “i can’t dance” looks to new-wave, and “for a night like this” is the product of Criss’ goal to create the ultimate end-of-the-night crowd-pleaser for a new-year bash, wedding or bar mitzvah. “This is all of the parts of me as a lifelong fan of these genres, trying my hand at servicing the pieces of them that I love.”

“I really love all styles of music and understanding what makes them unique and special and what makes them really pop. There are so many things that really make things sing - for lack of a better verb - and I like acknowledging those things and celebrating those things.”

“So, let’s begin. I have runners up and shit, and I have artists, I don’t just have the songs, so we might have to pick them as we go.”

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“Part of Your World” by Jodi Benson

“When people read this, they’ll go ‘That’s cute, he likes Disney songs’, but it’s more profound than that. Some of the most formative pieces of music to hit me at a very early age would have been any of the songs that were coming from ‘The Disney renaissance.’ The early-mid ‘90s explosion of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and The Beast.

"One of the through lines between the three of those musicals was Howard Ashman, who is one of my all-time heroes. Dramaturg, songwriter - he really was the voice behind what made those songs great. I have always loved Howard’s lyrical sensibility and also Alan Menken, his partner who wrote these songs with him. There was a musical structure to a lot of the songs which I would unconsciously pick up in my own songwriting, not just musically, but the idea that not only did somebody make these songs, but they wrote them for a story.

“There’s a clip of Howard Ashman vocal directing Jodi Benson, who was the original voice of Ariel. It’s a wonderful example of his genius, where not only was he songwriting but he was storytelling in the way he would tell her how to perform it, and you can really see the song coming to life in that clip. That’s when you cross the street from ‘It’s a song’ to ‘This is an experience.’

"There are certain ingredients that are required to elevate music that goes beyond just a nice melody, a beautiful orchestration and a good voice. There are things that are required to really give a performance a characterisation, context and a vulnerability, that he architects in real-time with Jodi Benson. You see that what he’s doing is what makes the record so special, and that’s something that’s always been inspiring to me.”

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“MMMBop” by Hanson

“I think my love of Hanson was because some people didn’t like it, so I was like ‘Fuck you, I like this, how do you feel about it?’ But this is difficult for me, because you know, I’m speaking to The Line of Best Fit and we’re trying to be cool! Although, do you know what’s cool? Being accessible! Writing a pop hit when you are 10 years old. Being in a band with your brothers and you’re all below the age of 15, you have a record contract where you are writing, producing and performing songs that are doing well.

“I was 10 years old when their first album Middle of Nowhere came out, and I remember reading somewhere that there were these kids that had a record. At the time, I was playing guitar and I was writing songs, but in my mind I was a kid, and that was it. I couldn’t be on the radio; you had to be a grown up to do this.

"This was the first time where I realised ‘Holy shit, kids can do stuff!’ It’s the value of seeing yourself in the media - that’s a whole other conversation to talk about - but there’s an immense value in feeling like there’s a piece of you out in the zeitgeist and doing well because it’s encouraging. You go, ‘Holy shit, maybe I can do this as well.'

“When you see children doing things, you’re ‘Wow, this is so cute and fabulous’, but then when you actually look at it you go, ‘This is miles above what most people in this age group are capable of,’ and that’s all I saw, because I was in the same age group and I was so inspired by that. This whole album was really a turning point for me, where I was like, ‘I can do this, I can do music too, because these guys can.'

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“Ooh La La” by Faces

“This song really blew my mind. It became my own theme. It’s that ‘Make your heart sing’, nostalgic moment when you’re a teenager, driving in the car listening to it, playing guitar with your friends and you’re singing “I wish that I knew what I know now / When I was younger.” You’re like, ‘because I’m an adult now, I’m 15-years-old. If I only knew what I know now.’

“I was doing theatre from a young age and I was part of a young conservatory called A.C.T. in San Francisco. By way of somebody who knew somebody, I had an audition for a movie. As a kid not being near New York or Los Angeles it was really exciting, and this audition was for a film called ‘Max Fischer’, which would become the movie Rushmore, which would become one of my favourite movies of all time by the now very distinguished Wes Anderson.

“Separate from my own objective love of Wes Anderson, when this movie came out I was just around the age of getting into my own sort of identity with music, but also movies - indie movies - and trying to assert who I was. So, I see this movie Rushmore and I love it. I love the soundtrack, I love it so much, it’s one of my favourite albums ever. This song is the end sequence, and the way it made me feel - the vocals on it, I could play it on guitar and it was part of a cool movie - it really represented a lot in my life.

“And because of the acting thing, and Rushmore being great - it’s about this kid in high-school who's misunderstood but has his own agenda - everything about it was just so fucking cool to me. To this day, I cite that song as one of my favourite records of all time.”

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“Recently Distressed” by Phantom Planet

“A guy that really formed the way I would sing and write songs is Alex Greenwald, the frontman of Phantom Planet. I went to see Phantom Planet because I loved Rushmore and I found out that Jason Schwartzman [who had been cast as Max Fischer] was also the drummer for a band called Phantom Planet.

"So, when I saw their name on the bill I went, but I didn't know their music. I was barely 14, but their set blew my mind. It was Rock and Roll, but I loved Alex Greenwald’s voice. I loved everything, and I would follow their career from there. I always tell people that my voice is a combination of me trying to be Alex Greenwald, Paul McCartney and Rufus Wainwright, but failing. Alex was incredibly formative for me.

“One of their biggest records was a little while after I first saw them, which was the song for The O.C., "California." That was more of an Elvis Costello thing, and they employed a lot of stuff that sounded to me like The Beatles and a lot of ‘60s mod/pop-rock. But later they would employ things from Fugazi, Radiohead and harder shit, and that eclecticism, again, only accelerated my love for Phantom Planet.

“Recently Distressed” is from their 1998 album Phantom Planet Is Missing. This was a cool rock song that employed these George [Harrison] and Paul [McCartney] background vocals and included all of the things that I loved. It was harder but melodic and employed minor 4th chords and more complicated chords than I was used to. I had grown up with power chords - which are very Gregorian - on a lot of alt. punk rock, like Green Day or Nirvana, and if Kurt Cobain was using power chords then that’s how I was playing guitar. Hearing this music was like ‘Oh, I’m using full chords, not sevenths, minor 4th chords, diminished chords’, shit that I would learn to use more and more.

“When you haven’t experienced much, anything that gives a hint towards possibility, even though it’s probably always been there, you’re like, ‘I like this, I’ve always kind of liked this, but it’s very encouraging to hear somebody else do it and it’s gonna make me reconsider my possibilities.’ That was literally the moment that my power chords turned into full barre chords.”

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“Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” by Rufus Wainwright

“I forgot the other day how I got into Rufus Wainwright, because all of this stuff I was getting into quite young. It’s like when I talk to 11-13 year olds, it’s funny to think that this was when I was really starting to build my musical identity. But then I remembered, and I didn’t want to say because I didn’t want to sound uncool, because he is such a revered artist who exists in a much cooler place than what I’m about to say.

“I loved soundtracks and I would always buy soundtracks for movies that had cool playlists. I had the Shrek soundtrack, and there’s a cover of Leonard Cohen’s seminal “Hallelujah” that Rufus does and he smashes it, and I’m like, ‘Who the fuck is Rufus Wainwright? What a beautiful voice.’ Then I saw that he was going to be at the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco one week, so I go and he’s there promoting his new album Poses. I remember I didn’t have enough money to buy the album that day, so I had him sign my sneaker and I saved that shoe.

“The first song on Poses was “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk”, which is a very dark and reflective song about his own battles with addiction, but he’s singing it over this really beautiful, whimsical song that has a lot of really great wordplay. I always love when artists, especially lyricists, can encapsulate an idea with not exactly what they’re talking about. The song’s called “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk”, it’s not called “Addiction”. Its talking about things that he craved and how that’s representative of other things that he’s gone through. There was a sophistication and elegance to that that I really gravitated towards, that I didn’t possess but wanted to shoot for. So when I saw him, that was a big one for me and he would also continue to influence me later in my life.

“I’ve become friends with Rufus since. I’ve performed with him and we’ve made records together, which is crazy. His songwriting was very complex and punk-rock, but he had this classic cabaret voice, the kind of voice that I don’t have. I was fascinated that there was somebody that could write this really dark material but have such elegance on top of it. He was virtuosic on the piano, which I thought was very cool because musicianship is always the thing that gets me going the most about artists.

“You know what? People say, ‘Don’t meet your heroes.' I completely disagree. Chase the living fuck out of your heroes. I’ve spent a lifetime doing so, it’s made me a better artist, and I’ve sometimes got to meet them and work with them. I’ve worked on music with Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet. I’ve performed with Hanson. I’ve performed those Disney songs with Alan Menken at The Hollywood Bowl.

"This is all because there are people that I love who I have put on my vision board, and the things that they have done are the things that are bringing me to them. So it is nuts, but at the same time you’re like, ‘Well, what else did you think would happen?’ They did stuff that some part of me connected with, so obviously there’s a magnetic pull towards that person.

“Rufus Wainwright is one of my absolute favourite artists of all time and like I said, me trying to sing like him and failing is a big part of my own journey as an artist.”

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“3x5” by John Mayer

“John Mayer’s another guy that came around when I was 15. I heard a song of his on a middle-of-the-night, singer/songwriter college radio show. This is where I used to get music. You would listen to these carefully curated playlists that you wouldn’t be able to hear anywhere else, and the host played “No Such Thing”, a new song by this young kid who had just dropped out of Berklee College of Music - John Mayer.

“I’m listening to this song and I’m like, ‘Not only is this guitar playing really interesting, but the lyrical value and everything that is going on here ticks all the boxes.' It was jazz, but it was pop. And he did something that all these other guys and girls I’ve mentioned did. They made something very unique and very accessible.

“I immediately went out to buy this album, Room For Squares, and I listened to it over and over again. It was an album that was really formative for me. "3x5” is a really beautiful song that employs a lot of chord structures and melodies that blew my fucking mind at the time, and it made me wish that I could write songs like that.

“That album was a huge turning point in the way I played the guitar, because it was the first time in my life where I would look up tabs. Up until this point in my life, if I heard a song I could play it instantly. It was like a party trick, I would get how it worked if I heard it, because most of the songs I would hear on the radio - especially those that involved a guitar - were [centred around] power chords. And now I’m hearing all of these ninth chords and thirteenths, and I’m like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ So I’d have to look up tabs.

“I think any young artist can attest to this - when you try and learn other people’s shit, it’s the best tool for educating yourself. Playing other people’s music really helps you lock in what your own style is. Trying to learn these songs - and sometimes pulling it off and sometimes not - really changed the way that my hands moved around the guitar and considered chords and voicings that I’d never really thought of.

“There’s another tie to musical theatre here, where I remember seeing Audra McDonald, who is a very venerated theatre actor, and she did a cabaret. If you’re familiar with cabaret culture, it’s more about performing the story of the songs – ‘Life is a cabaret’. She did a John Mayer song because she thought it was from a musical theatre show, and I was so tickled by this, because I was like ‘Yeah, if you really think about it, I don’t think he knows this and I don’t think his fan base even thinks about this, but there’s a number of his songs that feel very theatrical in the way that the lyrics play with each other and the way the chords move’.

"When I saw this I thought, ‘That is why I like John Mayer’, because yes, he’s an amazing guitar player, but he’s also a really strong songwriter.”

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“Cabaret” by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

“Also, around this time growing up in San Francisco, as a guitar player playing music with your buddies, the number one thing that you play is punk rock. There are different parts of the spectrum of punk rock, there's the NOFX, Swingin’ Utters, like real punk, punk. And then there’s the pop-punk thing that was happening at the same time, which was also equally influential - blink-182 and Green Day.

“Fat Mike was the frontman of NOFX. I loved NOFX, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes were a supergroup of different members from different punk bands, of which Fat Mike was one of the main architects. They would cover songs and turn them into punk rock songs. They have an album of hits from the ‘60s, and they also have an album called Me First and the Gimme Gimmes: Are a Drag, and that record is just a tonne of musical theatre covers that are done through punk rock.

“That was completely in line with everything I loved at this time of my life but didn’t really know how to articulate. I loved punk rock but I also really loved musical theatre. Not only the performative element of it, but there was a real musicality to musical theatre that wasn’t as present in some of the other shit that was popular at the time, just harmonically, or where chords would go. There was a sophistication I loved that seemed to not exist in punk rock.

“Then hearing Fat Mike at The Warped Tour going ‘Alright, which one of you Motherfuckers loves Julie Andrews?’ and hearing a mixed bag of reactions, because people were ‘What? I was not expecting that from you, sir?’ And then they start playing “My Favourite Things”, a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein song which is very accessible, but sophisticated nonetheless. And I am just living. I’m like, ‘This has got the attitude and simplicity of punk rock, but the sophistication of a beautiful song.’

“That was the first time in my life where I went, ‘It’s just all music. All these categories and boxes are completely arbitrary.’ So I thought, ‘I can do that.' I was playing power chords in punk bands but I realised that you can take chords and make them into other rhythms and voicings and have the same song. I could take a punk song and make it jazz. I could take a jazz song and make it country. So, quite providentially, I would end up on Glee, where they took popular songs and would sometimes do their own versions.

“By that point, I had been doing this my whole life. The first time this ever became a possibility for me was seeing Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and that way of thinking about music and genre. I’ve put that into Masquerade, and it’s all born from that moment of ‘Oh my God, nothing has to be one thing. It’s just about how you look at it.'

“Cabaret” is from a pretty famous musical that I would’ve probably heard about later in life, but I first heard that song as a punk song and then I went back and heard the original. It doesn’t matter how these things happen, the inspiration happens and then you can go from there. But Me First and The Gimme Gimmes were a huge gateway drug and I play “Cabaret” now every year at my festival. That’s why the festival is called Elsie Fest, because it covers the song.”

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“Modern Nature” by Sondre Lerche

“One of the great joys of being a younger brother is that you get to inherit the music of your elders. My brother and I were both really proactive consumers of music, so we would share stuff with each other all the time. But then he would come home from college, which is like coming home from a music festival essentially, right? He was in a new time zone with new people, so he’d bring home these mix CDs that he’d made from people that he’d heard about, and he brings home this guy named Sondre Lerche.

“Hearing this guy blew my mind, because he also was using jazz chords and drawing on musical theatre. Musical theatre’s a massive category, so I can’t just say that musical theatre sounds like one thing, but when I say this, I’m referring to The American Songbook, the jazz standard songbook. “Modern Nature” was a duet that I would go on to play many times with one of my oldest musical collaborators, Charlene Kaye. When we got to college and we both found out that we loved this guy.

“There was a much more whimsical way to how he wrote these songs. And what’s crazy is that loving this guy meant that we also loved Rufus Wainwright, that we also loved these other artists. But Sondre was the first time I considered that I loved that type of music, but I didn’t know that you could be a singer/songwriter and put out music that sounded like it.

“I don’t know if ‘twee’ is the right word to use, but with “Modern Nature” there was a playfulness about it, and again, a musicality that I really gravitated towards. There is a through line - there was a sophistication that was accessible, and me trying to learn those songs did make me rethink the way that I was writing music. The structures were weird and different and I liked that.

“To this day, I find myself writing songs that I think might be difficult for people to ingest, because they’re a little too left of centre, and I realise that I’m trying to write like Sondre Lerche, or I’m unconsciously just copying him.”

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“Everything Happens to Me” by Mr Hudson & The Library

“I was in an H&M in Stockholm when I was 21, and I heard this really cool groove and the lyric was “Why must I always play the clown?” It was sung with a really thick British accent, had an 808 feel on it, and lyrically it had an attitude. Who would say something that sounds so like you’re in a Gilbert & Sullivan musical, but it feels hard? It was cool.

“I went home and looked this up and it was off the record A Tale of Two Cities by Mr Hudson and the Library, which would really, really fuck me up. I bought the album immediately because I loved this song. I had to order it on the internet because I couldn’t find it. It was doing well in England and he was on the festival circuit in the early-mid 2000s, but the first song on the album was a musical theatre cover with 808s.

“It was a pared-down, sort of a hip-hop version of “On The Street Where You Live” from My Fair Lady, and I’m like ‘No fucking way, this guy gets where my head is.’ I’d thought about punk rock musical theatre, but I never thought about 808s and 909s scoring these beautiful songs. I go down the track list and he has “Everything Happens to Me”, which is another very famous standard, and he had this really cool, what we would now call chill-hop, ‘study beats’ version of this song. I was like, ‘This is it. This guy gets that good music is good music and you can reinterpret it to offer it as a new song.’

“I would later become great friends with Mr Hudson. I got to meet him years later when I was with Columbia Records, and they said to me ‘Who do you want to meet?’ He was at the top of my list. I went to London and we’ve been friends ever since and have created all kinds of music together.

“He told me a story where Tyler the Creator went up to him once at Coachella and said, ‘Oh man, “Everything Happens To Me”, that’s like my song.’ We both wondered if Tyler the Creator knew that it was a Chet Baker cover. And we were thinking how cool it is that you can offer these songs to a new audience through a different lens. Tyler’s a smart guy, he’s very cultured, and I’m sure he did know. But it’s more the idea that if someone experienced this song and didn’t know that it was a cover, and this is like the first time they ever get to experience it.

“Mr Hudson would go on to do his own thing with Kanye and was on 808s & Heartbreak and has had his own career. I think “Supernova” was a hit in the UK, it didn’t really cross over here to The States, but before that moment for him, that Mr Hudson and The Library album changed my life. People use that phrase willy-nilly, but this literally was a turning point in my life. It all had to do with the same thing that happened with these other songs, where I saw someone do what I always wanted to do but didn’t really know how to pull off. Where he had this fusing of old songs delivered through a contemporary lens, but also laced it with his own original material that also employed the things that made that old songwriting interesting.

“It’s like changing the font of a great essay but finding the font and figuring out that that font is its own art form. He really displayed that marvellously on this.”

The Masquerade EP is out now

#darren criss #the line of best fit #press #sept 2021

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