#a throwback banger this song is so fucking good

[ranposgirlboss]

~late night car drives with bsd charas~

this is an idea i got while listening to depressing vocaliod songs, SO HERE WE ARE!!! these are just some hc i have about how it would go, some charas are COMPLETELY platonic!! (this is mostly platonic in the 1st place tbh) this is my first time writing on this app, and i haven't written anything online in a few years, so if the formatting is weird, PLEASE TELL ME IDK WHAT IM DOIMNHG

chara list: dazai, chuuya, poe, ranpo, and yosano

GENRE: fluff fluff fluff and sillies

enjoy!!

-----------------------------

DAZAI

-HESSS DEEEEEFFF THE TYPE TO BRING YOU ON LATE-NIGHT DRIVES!!!!!

-he would probably be going to some weird ass convenience store with you at ungodly hours in the morning 💀

-HE EITHER SINGS THE MOST DEPRESSING SONGS OR THE MOST UPBEAT SILLY SONGS THERE IS LITERALLY NO IN BETWEEN

-i feel like he would mess with you and fucking drift the car when yall turn

-lets just say you get close to dying more then once 😁

-one time when yall tried to sneak out, kunikida caught yalls asses (your ears still hurt to this day from the mouthing off you got from kunikida)

-all in all, VERY FUN TO GO OUT WITH!!! WOULD RECOMMEND IF YOU WANT CHAOS!!!! OR IF YOU LIKE ALMOST DYING 10 TIMES IN 30 MINS <3333

CHUUYA

-ok so i know i said late night CAR rides BUT CMON WHO DOESNT WANNA RIDE A COOL ASS MOTORCYCLE WITH CHUUYA!??!?!?/1

-mf has HORRIBLE ROAD RAGE!!!

-i hc that when chuuya gets really pissed and the person is super rude to him, he fucking makes their car float...LIKE FULL ON 😭

-AND THEN HELL MAKE THEM SAY SORRY

-but other then his road rage, its honestly pretty chill

-i know that he has a BANGER playlist, I JUST KNOW IT

-i fell like he'd also play around on the motorcycle a bit, BUT AT LEAST HE WOULDNT NEARLY KILL YOU UNLIKE DAZAI (눈‸눈)

-id say its pretty nice and balanced, with enough calmness to make it enjoyable for the most part, but enough thrill to keep asking him to take you out <33

RANPO

-just gonna let you know right off the bat, his ass is NOT driving 😂

-there is a high chance that he JUST woke up and started banging on your door because he had cravings and well, he ran out of his snacks...so OBVIOUSLY he had to bang on your door, its important!!!

-and even if he was completely awake...he would get yall lost so fast

-so you were driving him

-honestly? its kinda funny to see groggy ranpo walk around and try to grab what snack he wants at the convenience store when he's barely awake

-bro literally drops the bag like 5 times (you picked it up all 5 bc you kinda pitied him rn 😭)

-he basically ends up sleep walking his ass outta there

-the ride is mostly quiet, mainly because ranpo falls asleep on the way back

-imagine if you played heavy metal and woke him up

POE

-HE WOULD DRIVE WITH YOU FREQUENTLY, DUE TO HIM BEING A NIGHT OWL

-these car rides would be so peaceful

-ngl he would probably sometimes take you out just to drive with you (its not like gas is a problem for him anyways 😭)

-HE HAS SUCH A GOOD PLAYLIST OF SONGS TO JUST SIT THERE AND DAYDREAM TO

-doesnt seem like a talker tbh, he might ask you if you want to go anywhere specific, but you guys mostly just listen to music together (he saves the story telling for another time <3)

-I FEEL LIKE HE WOULD MAKE A PLAYLIST THAT LIKE KIND OF HAS A STORY LINE SO IT WOULD BE SO FUN TO DAYDREAM TO THE SONGS CUZ YOU COULD CREATE YOUR OWN STORY TO THEM

-you hold karl in your lap and pet him like you're an evil villain (cannon)

-very calming and relaxing drive <33

YOSANO

-UGH IM SO GAY FOR HER

-ngl she kinda gives dazai vibes, in terms of playlist

-there has been more than one occasion when she just drunk-drove you

-LUCKILY YALL DONT DIE??!?!?!??! HOLY FUCK

-shes a small talker, OR A GOSSIPER WHILE YALL DRIVE

-yall just have so much fun talking about the ada and everything that's going on there <333

-would scream the lyrics to any 2010's throwback song, while having a (hopefully) safe dance party

-very fun to be around, and even though she drunk drives, shes def safer then dazai

-----------------------

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS!!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

PLEASE SEND ME REQS I BEG OF YOU

#bsd #dazai x reader #ranpo x reader #poe x reader bsd #poe x reader #yosano x reader #chuuya x reader #fluff #wholesome #ugh i want them to be real #justiceforjared

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: #15

15. AUSTRIA Kaleen - "We will rave" 25th place

Decade Ranking: 50/153 [Above Systur, below Lesley Roy]

WHEN THE DARKNESS HITS AND WE CAN'T BE SAVED

WIRAM WI DAM DAM DA WE WILL RAVE

Fucking AMAZING chorus. At this stage of the ranking, I don't really give too many shits about the flaws in the product. And that's for the best because Holy Hell Kaleen that was NOOOOOOOT GOOOOOOOD (objectively). Fortunately it was still very entertaining (also objectively?), so.

Also at this point, you may expect some real emotional investment from my part and Kaleen is clear example of that too. SHE, more than anyone else, was the uncrowned queen of Millennial Monroehood this year. Not only did she provide a fucking BANGER from the time I was a middleschooler, she also SERVED:

LOOKS

PERSONALITY

POISE

JE NE SAIS QUOI

ATTITUDE

and also NONE OF THE VOCALS. 😍 😍 😍

And this comes on top of her song being leaked two months in advance off Marvin Dietmann's laptop, and becoming a viral hit among millennial eurotwitter BEFORE its full release ♥ (and I fully buy into the conspiracy theory that the leak was intentional to build hype.)

But yeah, this performance was heavily flawed, I won't deny that. "We will rave" is a great song and it's only 15th on my ranking, that's how far south that went.

It is equal parts comical and tragic that Marvin Dietmann arranged for his PARTNER (I assumed "business partner" at first, but apparently also partner in a domestic sense? Yeah I'm as surprised as you are that he likes the clam.) to be cast for Eurovision and then failed to provide staging for her that capitalized on her strengths.

Kaleen is a professional dancer and dance instructor.

She runs Marvin's Dance School FOR HIM, FOR A LIVING.

The leak showed a vibrant dance choreography that allowed her to (barely) provide passable vocals.

She's a natural born performer of the ~rhythmic arts~

So what does Marvin do?

HE REDUCES HER DANCE ROUTINE TO THE TYPE OF TARD DANCE ANYONE CAN EXECUTE.

HAS HER WALK AROUND THE STAGE. NOT DANCE. WALK.

AND HAD HER DANCERS SHIMMY HER AROUND IN LIEU OF A DANCE BREAK.

ALL SO THAT SHE CAN DELIVER THE BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE... WHICH IS... WORSE THAN IN THE DEMO BECAUSE UM HELLO EARTH-TO-MARVIN:

YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS A DANCER, AND NOT A SINGER.

And all of that, I mean I'm sorry, is fucking hilarious, foremost. I know the live was "bad" but god it was really good at being bad. Casting your girlfriend and then FAILING to take her skillset (anything involving movement) into account is so uproariously funny to me. The staging was not bad on paper (it tried to increase momentum via the lasers and looks good if you mute), but it featured a slow, aenemic choreography that couldn't keep up with the music's light speed pace. That same dichotomy killed Halo, killed Edgar and almost killed "We Will Rave" too. This is the choreo you'd give to someone who cannot dance either due to being a block of wood (Dons) or old (Meri Bas.).

Even Firefighter, which is a fucking abortive attempt at a "dance song", had more tempo and life and let Nutsa (who is NOT a dancer) perform a break by herself. Christ Marvin.

(Granted it may be the outfit that forced Kaleen to perform a pantomime rather than a dance, but if that's the case... change the outfit? If those boots restrict your mobility, then don't wear them AT ALL, you know?)

However, as much as my appreciation for the live is based on irony and schadenfreude, I also just really love the song that much. "We will rave" is the best written girlbanger of this year - catchy, infectuous, smoking hot, and a wonderful throwback to the good Flemish techno of the early aughts. It's such a fucking banger in the style of Milk Inc, Lasgo, X Session, Touch of Joy, 2Fabiola, etc.

The prechorus and lyrics are delectable, and Kaleen is, despite her vocal inaccuracies, a charming hostess and style icon. Her personality is the saving grace of this live performance and the reason why I still embrace it in the face of its many mistakes. As disrespectful as Marvin's choreography was, she was flawless in its execution. SHE is what turns "We Will Rave" into a ride. The choreo and the results both did her dirty, but eh. Someone had to finish near the bottom. This year, that was Austria.

Now SAVOUR this last ever instance of them being fun in Eurovision because they'll only send salvaduncans from hereonout. If Eurovision isn't cancelled first, of course.

THE RANKING

#eurovision #borisbubbles #esc #Eurovision 2024 #ESC 2024 #Malmö 2024 #Austria #Kaleen #We Will Rave #Youtube

[lilliths-httyd-blog]

So I just watched Princess and the Popstar as part of my mega Barbie movie watch/rewatch. For reference, here's where it sits on my current personal tier list (I've seen more of them I promise, just not in a very long time). I feel that it's placement on my tier list is justified considering I feel the same way about it as I do Island Princess: two very good movies with just a few aspects which make me apprehensive about watching it twice (Tika. If Tika wasn't in Island Princess it would've been in yellow tier at least). I also didn't enjoy it as much as Diamond Castle or Three Musketeers, which are both films that came out in a similar timeframe to Princess and the Popstar. So, cyan-soon-to-be-green-tier-why-the-fuck-is-it-not-green-hold-on seems fitting.

I think y'all can tell that I like the Barbie movies.

Princess and the Popstar started off a banger (despite Princesses Wanna Have Fun being the bad kind of earworm - I hadn't watched the film in well over five years until today but that song was still getting stuck in my head every other week up until as of literally a few days ago probably). A nice little homage to Princess and the Pauper without totally ripping it off. Nice throwback to To Be a Princess there too, as a kid I hadn't seen Princess and the Pauper so I had no idea where the song came from or anything (literally I used to forget that the song was even in the movie) but as of today the original is literally my favourite Barbie movie ever so when I heard the opening lyrics I got... way too excited over this Barbie movie than I really should've. But yeah no the music in this damn movie is fantastic aside from the one song.

Tori and Keira were absolutely fantastic characters. They were VERY flawed but like can you blame them??? They're not even eighteen yet, they've both grown up in heavily restrictive environments (Keira having been performing since she was six and Tori acting out all the time as a result of the way she was brought up), have had such limited social interaction and have been taught to "never act your age" (act older than you really are) so it's totally reasonable that these girls are gonna fuck up and make mistakes and do stupid things (and hey they might be faking their identities but at least they're not committing identity theft pfffft). They don't have the wisdom of an average 17 year old yet but they're treated by everyone around them like they're so much older ESPECIALLY KEIRA (and yet she's the least impulsive one out of the two). Overall, I support womens wrongs. Genuinely listen to this movie's version of To Be a Princess, you'll absolutely get what I mean.

I still think that Serafina is superior to Vanessa but... Vanessa my beloved <3 Riff was not as fun but I love his name referring to a guitar riff while also being. Ya know. Dog.

My biggest complained about this movie is Crider's whole thing with the Diamond Gardenia like. If that whole plot hadn't been in the movie then it would've been so much better. Keep the whole drought thing for Tori's character development and whatnot, and make Amelia's whole thing about keeping Tori in line be about Amelia's Material Girl lifestyle and her not wanting Tori to find out about what kinda state the kingdom is in because "Vanessa, I'm a Material Girl" (make her an homage to best Barbie villain the Original Material Girl Preminger). Like girl does not want to give up her riches in order to help the populace. Do that instead of having an unrealistic magical diamond-growing plant and Basically Uncle Ian from Alvin and the Chipmunks having an unhealthy obsession with it... (the way he broke into the castle too like- those guards DESERVED to have their heads bonked with vases if that's how shit they are at their job).

To sum my thoughts up, I reckon this movie started off really strong but as soon as the Gardenia and Crider became a thing it began to very slowly fall off. A few changes could've made it so much better. Anyway it's nice to see that it wasn't as shit as I thought it would be, considering it was my childhood favourite :D

Also I stan Prince Liam. Dude was barely present, asked next to no questions and rolled with whatever out-of-left-field shenanigans were thrown at him and I support that. Also no forced romance or hinted feelings or anything, as far as I'm concerned he and Keira were just bros causing chaos together. Good for them.

#barbie #barbie movies #barbie princess and the popstar #barbie princess and the pauper #barbie review

[felixsslutwife]

lixies song of the day #6

oh this fucking BANGER.

like yk its gonna be good when u hear that 8-bit sounding intro n then u hear that "I.O.I AND JYP FINALLY YALL READY"

like this is such a throwback song but it NEVER. gets old

i was listening to sbs popasia this morning n they were like "let's play a throwback song" n then this song played n i IMMEDIATELY recognised what song was playing n i was just so fucking happy like oh this fucking banger is playing WHOO

#NAL NEOMU NEOMU NEOMU #NEOMUNEOMUNEOMUNEOMUNEOMUNEOMU #NEOMU NEOMU NEOMU NEOMU NEOMU NEOMU #JOHAHAMYEON GEUTTAE MALHAEJWO #NAEGA JAKKU JAKKU JAKKU #JAKKUJAKKUJAKKUJAKKUJAKKUJAKKU #JAKKUJAKKUJAKKUJAKKUJAKKUJAKKUJAKKU #TTEOOREUMYEON GEUTTAE BULLEOJWO #lixies girlblog !! #kpop #kpop girls #kpop gg #ioi #i.o.i #very very very #very very very ioi #very very very i.o.i #i.o.i very very very #ioi very very very #old kpop #2nd gen kpop #2010s kpop #2010 kpop #produce 101 #2010s nostalgia #decade: 2010s #kpop girlgroup #kpop songs #kpop song recs #song of the day

[stopitmeg]

charli xcx projects ranked by meg!!

8. charli

oh boy i get anxious as hell whenever i share this opinion over the internet because it’s so controversial considering it’s lowkey her best selling album, but charli is my least favourite. i don’t think it’s bad or anything, but only a few songs really stand out to me and i find the rest to be a bit boring. also it should’ve been NEXT LEVEL charli… missed opportunity. my favourite song is “shake it” and least favourite is “i don’t wanna know”

7. crash

i love crash, it pains me to have it pretty low on my list but i suppose that’s how it is. so far it’s totally my favourite album of 2022 and it’s all i would listen to at work for a brief period. she really fucking gave us 80’s vibes mixed with 2010 club music throwbacks and i couldn’t be happier. my favourite song is “beg for you” and least favourite is probably “twice” if we’re not gonna count the deluxe version

6. pop 2

i didn’t really get the hype when i first listened to pop 2, but after revisiting it a few times… i changed my mind. it’s a really sick mixtape and all the collaborations are neat, really has a wholesome vibe to it when you realize you’re basically listening to a group of friends having a fun time while making memories together. i’d personally scrap a few song verses that i’m not a fan of, but it’s not too bad. my favourite song is “delicious” and least favourite is “porsche” if i had to choose

5. vroom vroom

could you imagine if vroom vroom was an album with more songs… like it’s already perfect but… could you imagine? we’re really just starting to get to the ones on the list where i don’t have any complaints, just overall really great music and as short as this ep is, doesn’t change the fact that it’s banger after banger. my favourite song is “trophy” and least favourite is “paradise” unfortunately since i need to pick

4. sucker

yeah, you’re seeing this correctly. i believe in sucker supremacy, and i will not tolerate any slander. i can understand why this album is pretty much everyone’s least favourite from what i’ve seen, but to go out of your way to say it isn’t even good? come on. every song is a bop, vocals are addicting, it’s just such a fun time. i grew up listening to a lot of rock music, so i absolutely adore what she did here based on my personal preferences. joan jett and stevie nicks would be proud. my favourite song is “sucker” and least favourite is “die tonight”

3. number 1 angel

this mixtape is what made me really appreciate charli xcx as an artist and why i kept coming back to her music. i instantly enjoyed every song and remember how hard i fell in love when i heard emotional and ily2 for the first time. there’s something about her vocals too that really did it for me, like when it got occasionally either scratchy or squeaky, it’s like a guilty pleasure. i’d even say this masterpiece is underrated. my favourite song is “emotional” which btw is my favourite charli song ever, and least favourite would have to be “3am (pull up)”

2. true romance

it’s really funny because i considered this album to be my second least favourite around a year ago, and now it’s actually my second favourite for multiple reasons, and it’s quite personal. i just love when artists write about love, especially if their words speak directly to my soul and i can understand where they’re coming from and what they’re trying to say. experiencing heartbreak or any kind of disappointment in the love department can really do something to you, and true romance has really helped me deal with some of my issues in the best way possible. being able to relate to lyrics and draw your own meaning behind them is a really special thing. my favourite song is “set me free (feel my pain)” and least favourite is “so far away”

1. how i’m feeling now

objectively her best album and you cannot tell me otherwise. not only is it another personal thing with me because of the love theme and how much i adore and relate to the lyrics, but the process and journey that this album went through to become what it is today… is just absolutely amazing and very impressive. you can tell how much charli loves her fans, and that makes me love her in return. you can just feel how much passion and energy she put into this record and it represents how we all felt during lockdown very accurately. i can’t believe i missed my opportunity to help write anthems with her back in the day, it’s too bad that i’m a late fan, but definitely better late than never. how i’m feeling now is officially in my top 10 favourite albums of all time. my favourite song is “claws” and least favourite is “7 years”

#charli xcx #charlotte aitchison #true romance #sucker #vroom vroom #number 1 angel #pop 2 #charli #how i’m feeling now #crash

[gerogerigaogaigar]

B-52's - s/t

Is there anything more sincere, unfettered by societal norms, and relentlessly fun that the B-52's debut album? So much of the lyricism is extremely esoteric, almost certainly in jokes between the band members. The album makes no effort to explain and it's better to just lose yourself in the nonsense. Like what the fuck is Planet Claire about? Who cares? There's a moon in the sky and it's called the moon! Analyze that! Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson have the most iconic vocals of all time. Pierson has like a million octave range and Schneider's uh wikipedia calls it sprechgesang which is very funny to me, but his delivery is so beloved that I don't think anyone can resist giving it a go from time to time. The album is a manic daze the music bounces around stuck between hyper modern (for the time) new wave and deeply anachronistic 50s and 60s throwbacks like the surf rock on the monster hit Rock Lobster. Unfettered, unhinged, this album is pure and perfect camp.

The Beatles - Meet The Beatles

Why on earth would you choose the US version instead of the obviously superior UK release? Listen I'll compromise by listening to the three songs from Meet that aren't on With but then I'm just going to listen to With The Beatles because fuck you I like their covers. Their version of Please Mister Postman is great and so is their Money (That's What I Want). With The Beatles is basically just a slightly more polished and more consistent take on the sound of their first album. I think they fell off a bit with A Hard Days Night too so the inclusion of more covers and more rock and roll style shit is exactly what I want. Basically fuck the haters early Beatles is camp I like it.

Robyn - Body Talk

A lot of people really vibe with this kind of glossy candy-coated pop but all I hear is a lot of thumping with little meaningful artistic direction. The least interesting parts of Ke$ha and Lady Gaga distilled into a slurry of commercially viable pop music whose sole redeeming feature is a handful of good beats.

Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Already an established poet by the time he decided to pick up the guitar it could be argued that Leonard Cohen was a little too literate to be a successful musician. His debut definitely gives that impression, although his evocative language and simple but effective guitar work definitely won over listeners in the end. Suzanne, the first track from his first album was his largest hit until hallelujah in the 80s and I think that's largely because it has a melody that you can hum. To me the best of it is when Cohen is allowed to just sing and play guitar with little to no embellishment. The lyricism is the main draw after all. The songs of isolation, of lovers having to say goodbye, of people lost in a large world. Cohen is a masterful songwriter but certainly a perpetual downer and might scan as pretentious to some. This is one of those albums that fantastic within it's niche but might not be for everyone.

Michael Jackson - Bad

Man I know Thriller is gonna be like super high on this list but Bad is absolutely my favorite Michael Jackson record. It's just banger after banger. The hits alone are bonkers Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Man In The Mirror, Smooth Criminal. But oh man the deep cuts are great too, in fact Speed Demon might be my favorite just for that goofy little synth bass run. The album is just bubblier and sillier than his previous work. It's extremely 80s with synths everywhere never trying to hide from what it is. There is simply no way to avoided bopping along to the whole album, it's just so goddamn enjoyable.

#500 album gauntlet #B-52's #the beatles #robyn #leonard cohen #michael jackson

[keppie]

it's the final countdown! here we are at the final installment of what was a very laborious mini-series. welcome to 20 of sojvng's favorite kpop songs of all time, for the ladies this time, part 2 of 2.

just like the previous post, you can read why i chose each song below the cut!

song 1: "so what" by loona. this was another one of those songs that i loved before i even started following the group! i remember hearing this song and thinking i really hadn't heard anything like this done by a girl group before, and i loved it. this song feels so anthemic to me because it's noisy! it's loud! there's brassy sounds! it's booming! there's gang vocals! there's yelling! this song makes me feel like i can take over the entire world. also jinsoul's rapping is top tier in this song. it really feels like a "fuck you" song and i love that for them and for me. song 2: "girls" by nature. again i ask where are they?!?!?!? this music video in particular is relatively well-known for being a horror video, which i absolutely love. the song itself does have a bit of darkness to it tone-wise, but it's energetic and loud, and to my great surprise, has no rap parts. i love this song, and i hope they're given a comeback soon! song 3: "i just" by red velvet. perfect velvet is one of my favorite albums of all time, so really anything from that album could be on this list, but i find that i'm in the mood to listen to "i just" the most! this is another song with very little musical accompaniment in the verses, which i always love, as it puts the focus back on the artists! i especially like that such a large part of the accompanying music is just an altered playback of them singing together, and the backing track is really awesome in this song as well. also, more gang vocals? i love to hear it. song 4: "ring ring" by rocket punch. this song is so fun and has that 80s throwback sound that we all know i love by now. i'm pretty sure it is physically, psychologically, and ethically impossible to dislike this song. it's catchy, it has a great build up to a pretty explosive chorus, i really can't get enough of it. song 5: "zgzg" by saay. i'm obsessed with saay. she's an incredible performer, and she has such a powerful, full voice. this is another song that's just fun! it's got an incredible beat, there's a snare drum break towards the end??? (there should be more songs in kpop with snare drums.) it's got this brass band feel to it, and it's just so... jazzy and cool. this is Cool Girl Music for sure. song 6: "like this" by stayc. stayc has been consistently amazing me since debut, and i still can't believe that this song came off of their very first album in existence. the stayc girls are some of the most talented young women active today, i think that's a fact that at this point is universally agreed upon, and this song really showcases each member as well as how strong they are as a group. j is of course my star here, i'll always be excited to hear a female rapper who is allowed to sit in a lower register. song 7: "pporappippam" by sunmi. sunmi is my favorite female soloist of all time, and this was the song that introduced me to her, so it will always have a dear place in my heart! it was also the song that got me to start really listening to female soloists and groups in general, which is so good and also embarrassing because i should have been listening to them all along. do you ever hear a song and feel like... if it were a color, it would be the color of your soul? does that make sense? basically i feel spiritually bound to this song and i can't imagine my life without it. this song is my soulmate. song 8: "get loud" by twice. this is an absolute party banger and i am so obsessed with it. the build-up to the chorus in this song is one of my absolute favorites with that SNARE DRUM SOUND AGAIN? i'm less confident in the source of the sound here, but you know what i'm talking about. they also have that brassy "WONK" sound in the chorus, which always makes my brain shoot out of my head. this is one of the songs i listen to when i want to feel powerful, sort of like "so what." this is the song that made me realize how much i actually love twice, and i'll always love her for that~ song 9: "moya moya" by weki meki. this song is fun and cute and just an absolute joy to listen to. it's not sexy, it's not dark, it's not especially loud, it's not a party song, but it's got a fun beat, CLAPPING, and a real punchy chorus. it's impossible to not be in a better mood after listening to this song than you were before listening to it. i love this song so much and will be a moya moya supremacist always. song 10: "hola" by wjsn. i'll be honest, this was the first song i thought of when i thought of my top 20 gg songs of all time. wjsn is one of my ult groups, and exy is like... a Big Ult so of course my girls had to be on this list! i listen to this song every day. it gives me goosebumps literally every time i listen to it, i love it so much. it has so many elements that make it a Sarah Song: loud. big lead-up to a loud-ass chorus with absolutely insane vocal performances. crazy-good raps by queen exy herself, gang vocals, a big powerful thumping beat... this is one of my favorite songs of all time, whether we're talking kpop or not. it's perfect.

#loona #nature kpop #red velvet #rocket punch #saay #stayc #sunmi #twice #weki meki #wjsn #aleksbestie #useraweks #hijaehyukkies #useroro #usersoppa #useranusia #marekwan #97choi #sarah.gif #gfx: favorite tracks

[bisexualhobi]

aespa savage quick review, track by track

aenergy: perfect intro. it sets the tone for the entire album and it's a really good hype song. would never work as the title track tho (as I've seen people say). it's short and sweet and definitely packs a punch. favorite part: the put your hands in the air! bit

savage: whoever came up with oh my gosh don't you know I'm a savage for the intro is a genius. very anaconda. gonna see it in a lot more kpop songs now. people are saying it's sticker all over again. it is not. this is actually good for starters. savage is what any other group couldn't make work if their lives depended on it but for aespa it feels natural and effortless. noise music for ggs done right is a rare sight but I wouldn't even fit this in the noise category. it's just a good mix of trap and hyperpop elements. pussy part of the song: ningning's high note and giselle's second verse.

I'll make you cry: amazing vocals. ningning and winter didn't come to play. you can tell they graduated from the yoo young jin school of vocals WITH HONORS. probably the weakest song in the album structure wise. it's a bop but the instrumental feels lacking in some parts. love the little 80s synth throwback tho. overall it's still good but something about the melody isn't clicking yet for me

YEPPI YEPPI: I'm screaming, any company would KILL to get this as a title track for their groups and here is sm throwing it in the middle of the album as a b-side 😭 they said rip to all ggs but aespa is different. you can tell they had the most fun recording this and I love how you can feel the girls' personalities shine through in this (which is something they've been criticized a lot for cause apparently they're not very relatable). this is a banger and they absolutely devoured but nothing outstanding or innovative. just good old classic gg music

iconic: this is so fucking good, yg samples included. definitely similar in style to your classic bp song but it provides a punch that only aespa can work. really sets them apart from other ggs and it's all thanks to giselle who single handedly beat the SM has no female rappers allegations. we love to see it. it's the perfect badass girl song and I think they're definitely gonna perform this in music shows

lucid dream: the crown jewel of the album. red velvet, snsd and f(x) are looking down from the heavens proud as shit. one thing SM singers are gonna do is take an r&b song and MAKE IT THEIRS. this is my favorite song off the entire album and I would actually love if it had another beat layered for added depth, cause it really gets me where it wants to but it leaves me wanting even more. also, ningning is gonna be the first aespa girlie to have her solo. calling it right now

this is a 10/10 for me. aespa are monster rookies and you should talk to them VERY nicely

#aespa #savage #karina #ningning #winter #giselle #.txt

[eurotastic]

Eurovision reviews: Semi 2

These reviews are based on my personal opinions about the songs, and not their potential in the actual competition. Qualification predictions are coming up in a separate post.

San Marino: Senhit ft Flo Rida - Adrenalina

After a decade of giving us nothing but memes, San Marino have finally decided to get competitive for real, giving us possibly the biggest Eurovision meme of all time by featuring some rapper called Florida Man in their song. Let's be honest, Flo Rida isn't nearly as big as he was a decade ago, but he's still the most relevant global celebrity to show up to Eurovision for a really long time. I know fans are upset that an American is showing up to Eurovision with a song that he very obviously doesn't care about, but I disagree! San Marino has what, 50 inhabitants? A country that small has every right to recruit some help from abroad. This is a banger and a huge meme, what else could you possibly want?

9/10

Estonia: Uku Suviste - The Lucky One

Between this song and the song from last year, I'm starting to think that this Uku Suviste guy might be the most boring man on the planet.

2/10

Czech Republic: Benny Cristo - Omaga

Listen, I think this song is criminally underrated by the fandom, but from what I've seen so far the live vocals are rough. I'm obsessed with the official music video where Benny recreates Leonardo Dicaprio's iconic car door moment from The Wolf of Wall street, but I don't think the live performance will be anywhere near as great as the video.

7/10

Greece: Stefania - Last Dance

I think this song is trying way too hard. It's too fast and there's too many high notes, I'm getting exhausted just listening to it. The staging is looking stupid as fuck, which is fun. Whoever decided that Stefania should be surrounded by dismembered dancing gym shorts should win the Nobel peace prize.

6/10

Austria: Vincent Bueno - Amen

This is even more boring than the last song called Amen, which is remarkable.

2/10

Poland: RAFAŁ - The Ride

There's definitely a good song hiding in here somewhere, but honestly, it needed another singer. This geriatric boybander unironically wearing sunglasses indoors isn't doing it for me.

4/10

Moldova: Natalia Gordienko - SUGAR

The fact that we're not getting any cake-related murder on stage is a real letdown. I was expecting a fun mess on stage, but it looks like we're just getting a boring mess.

3/10

Iceland: Daði og Gagnamagnið - 10 Years

This band has the worst luck in the world. I think this song is great, but it's obviously weaker than Think about things, which was the kind of perfection that can't ever be recreated. The staging is looking fantastic, but I'm just so sad that they can't perform it live.

If Dadi should return for a third attempt at Eurovision, I fully expect a volcano eruption to prevent him from attending the contest.

8/10

Serbia: Hurricane - Loco Loco

I honestly find this song really forgettable, but at least these girls have a really great stage presence. I feel like I should have something interesting to say here but I can't come up with anything at all. It's probably a fan favorite for a reason but I'm just not having any feelings about this at all, positive or negative.

6/10

Georgia: Tornike Kipiani - You

After watching thousands of Eurovision rankings and recaps on youtube, I still can't remember a single note of this song. I really wish he would bring back the weird screaming about random nationalities from last year, because at least that was fun.

2/10

Albania: Anxhela Peristeri - Karma

I really feel like we have gotten this exact song from Albania 500 times in the last 10 years.

3/10

Portugal: The Black Mamba - Love Is On My Side

I'm conflicted because on one hand I really enjoy this genre of music, but on the other hand this just feels like an album track.

4/10

Bulgaria: VICTORIA - Growing Up Is Getting Old

Victoria is basically just a Billie Eilish impersonator, but like a really expensive impersonator. This song might have the best staging of the year, and the song sounds fantastic, even if it's obviously very derivative.

8/10

Finland: Blind Channel - Dark Side

The year is 2008, I'm in 8th grade, me and my gang of nerds and emos are in recess listening to this song off someone's crappy flip phone. This is retro as fuck and I'm weirdly fascinated by the fact that the guys singing this are the same age as me and making this middle school throwback kind of music. Saatana perkele \m/

10/10

Latvia: Samanta Tīna - The Moon Is Rising

I mean, she's trying really, really hard to make something, but I have no idea what it is that she's trying to make. The whole "blood moon is rising" lyric really makes me think it's some kind of feminist statement about periods.

4/10

Switzerland: Gjon's Tears - Tout l'Univers

Super unpopular opinion but I absolutely love the staging where Gjon dances like a pretentious art school weirdo. I am reminded of Loic Nottet, and that's pretty music the highest compliment I could give any eurovision contestant.

9/10

Denmark: Fyr Og Flamme - Øve Os På Hinanden

I can't decide if this is endearing or repulsive. It's exactly like a Swedish, or I guess Danish dansband song from circa 1983 and I cannot for the life of me understand how this song ended up here. The danish language is the funniest shit in the world so it gets huge bonus points for making Europe endure 3 full minutes of guttural caveman noises.

7?/10

#eurovision #esc 2021 #eurovision 2021

[lovejustforaday]

Album Review - The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monáe

THE ARCHANDROID - JANELLE MONÁE

Main Genres: Art Pop, Progressive Pop, Contemporary R&B

A decent sampling of: Psychedelic Pop, Jazz Pop, Neo-Soul, Rock N Roll, Synth Pop, Swing, Baroque Pop, Conscious Rap, Alternative R&B

It’s hard to think of an artist who arrived onto the scene with a more fully-formed vision than Janelle Monáe.

Creative minds of her caliber are few and far between. I bet a lot of artists wish that they could say that their debut LP was as bold, ambitious, and left as lasting an impression as The ArchAndroid.

The ArchAndroid is the most cinematic experience an album has ever given me by itself. Artists like Gorillaz and Beyoncé have dropped “album movies” where every song (or just about every song) gets a music video, and I admire those kinds of projects for all the effort that goes into them. But The ArchAndroid never needed a music video for every song - each song is already so vivid, so full of colour and life, that I can already picture clearly what the music and the story looks like inside my head. Of course, it helps that Janelle Monae did everything in her power to make the story behind this concept album as real and tangible as possible, between little details like the written lore in the liner notes to the real life persona she adopted at the time of its release. But what exactly is The ArchAndroid all about? Well, it’s a little complicated. Monáe refers to her debut EP Metropolis and her first two LPs as “suites”, with Metropolis representing suite 1, The Archandroid suites 2 and 3, and The Electric Lady suites 4 and 5. These suites tell the story of Cindi Mayweather, a prophetic, afrofuturistic android protagonist who was cloned from Janelle Monáe’s DNA, who falls in love with a human named Sir Anthony Greendown, and lives in a dystopian future where time travelling villains known as ‘The Great Divide’ are oppressing androids.

Essentially, the story of Cindi Mayweather serves as allegory for issues surrounding blackness, queerness, oppression, and interacial love in our own times. Furthermore, Cindi Mayweather’s character represents love itself as an opposing force to hatred. The ArchAndroid in particular very strongly represent’s Janelle Monae’s socio-political manifesto of love, protest, and peaceful rebellion in the face of societal injustices like racism. The whole thing is basically just really nerdy pop music meets sci-fi social justice, and I absolutely fell in love with the concept from the very first time I heard The ArchAndroid. Anyways, let’s talk about the music. Monáe’s pop fusion sound takes inspiration from all sorts of directions here - from good old rock and roll, classic psychedelia, and 60s girl groups, to modern hip hop and neo-soul. What really stands out however is a particular fondness for the classy sound of 1920s jazz, swing, and big band music, and the accompanying visual aesthetics for the album draw heavily from this influence. The production on this album is BIG. Part of what makes this album so cinematic is the crisp, clean mastering and the large orchestral arrangements that feature prominently throughout. Everything sounds meticulously placed and she clearly worked with a really great team on this project. I’d also say that this is the kind of album you definitely have to hear on vinyl to get the fullest experience possible. Monáe’s talents as a vocalist are also a key element. She’s got a fire in her soul and a very real stage presence, and her range is impeccable. She can rap on tracks like “Dance or Die” and “Tightrope”, she can serenade the listener so sweetly on tracks like “Say You’ll Go” and “Sir Greendown”, or she can belt out a song with sorrow in her chest on tracks like “Oh, Maker” and “Cold War”. At almost 70 minutes, it’s a very long album by pop standards so it’d be pretty difficult to pinpoint what all of my favourite tracks are on The ArchAndroid and why, but here’s a few highlights anyway. “Dance Or Die”, “Faster”, and “Locked Inside” start off the album with a three part musical chase scene where Cindi is fleeing her oppressors. I see a heavy rainy night, dark alleyways, flashing city lights, and futuristic floating cop cars when “Dance Or Die” kicks in with its incredibly infectious beat that gets my heart pumping every time I hear it. “Sir Greendown” is a wonderful little love song with mysterious undertones, and a warm throwback to the era of brill building. This song establishes one of the main conflicts of the ArchAndroid portion of Cindi’s story in particular; that is, choosing between her destiny to stay and fight for her people as the Archandroid, or escaping to the safe haven land of mushrooms and roses to live a life of peace with her lover. “Tightrope” is just a total banger from start to finish. This jazzy, swingy r&b rap track features Big Boi of Outkast, one of her clearest musical inspirations and it’s really cool to see both of them absolutely kill it alongside eachother. The breakdown with the record scratching is one of the very best musical moments on this LP and it really gives me the vibe of an android glitching on the dance floor from partying too hard. “Wondaland” is absolutely utopian, a lofty, mythical synth pop song that sounds like it came right out of a pixar movie with all kinds of weird little android voices in the background. “Say You’ll Go” is my personal favourite. This classy tune is mostly an exhibit for Monáe’s artistic tastes and her soothing vocals, but it’s done so incredibly well that I can’t help but wonder if this is what elevator music in the tallest skyscraper of an advanced society might sound like. The ending with its interpolation of “Clair de Lune” and a soulful choir in the background is a really nice touch. “BaBopByeYa” is a fantastic eight minute closing piece of soul jazz that represents the peak of the album’s cinematic qualities, with a progressive song structure that tells an entire story on its own. The fact that this wasn’t the biggest album of its decade is honestly sort of a crime. I can only think of one other album from the 2010s that I love just a little bit more than The ArchAndroid, but if we’re to assume that some element of music critique is objective (which is a whole other can of worms), then I have to point out just how put together this whole LP is, how much love and hard work clearly went into it, and how incredibly impressive this sounds even to this day. Speaking as ““““objectively”””” as I think I can, this is the most impressive thing I’ve heard that’s come out in the past 11 years. This could have come out yesterday and it still would have sounded so incredibly beyond what I thought was possible at the time. What’s more, the political issues tackled by The ArchAndroid are sadly just as relevant today as they were the day that it dropped. Speaking as a dumb privileged white guy who obviously isn’t an expert on the subject, I really did want to put out a review for Black History Month that would honour a great black artist, and Janelle Monáe is the first one that comes to mind. Monáe is obviously a very proud black woman, and her art definitely needs to be celebrated.

That being said, The ArchAndroid is really the kind of album that just about anybody should be able to enjoy regardless of their background. Either you love sci-fi, hate injustices, or just like listening to really fucking good music.

10/10

highlights: “Say You’ll Go”, “Wondaland”, “Tightrope”, “Dance Or Die”, “BaBopByeYa”, “Sir Greendown”, “Oh, Maker”, “Locked Inside”, “57821″, “Cold War”, “Mushrooms & Roses”, “Suite III Overture”, “Suite II Overture”, “Faster”, “Make the Bus”

#janelle monae #cindi mayweather #the archandroid #r&b #art pop #progressive pop #soul #best music #favourite music #album review #music review #2010

[forever-somewhere]

Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

UPTOWN FUNK!

An automatic instant classic. I don't have much to say that the track doesn't say itself. It's a banger, a bop, a jam, whatever word you use to call a good song GOOD, Uptown Funk surely is. I didn't listen to much Bruno Mars before this absolute meteor, and sadly to say I haven't much after because I truly feel like this is peak. It's a proper tragedy to hear your favorite song by a musician so soon, I could've spent a long time loving him had I known it would culminate to this.

But I mean it's too good, too damn good y'know? This song'll be on the throwback station in the future. It'll be on party playlists and Top 10 lists for the decade. This song will play at my wedding. It's so fucking good. Good enough I needed a physical copy to always have with me. It's a time capsule song, one I want people ages from now to know.

#bruno mars #uptown funk! #music #records #vinyl

[grimelords]

My November playlist is complete from Aretha Franklin to Blood Incatation, and I guarantee there’s at least something in here you’ll love. Thanks for listening!

If you’d like to get these playlists emailed to you instead of having them appear randomly on your dash, please sign up to my tinyletter.

listen here

Don't Start Now - Dua Lipa: Dua Lipa said disco lives. I absolutely love this song, it’s rock solid disco without being throwback or ironic about it. The way this song starts with the first line of the chorus and then launches into the verse and only gives you the full chorus later feels like that thing movie trailers do now where they give you a little trailer before the trailer for some reason. It’s also something I’ve never heard before, and it gives the song a very fun structure in the intro where it has two different levels of elevation it can drop down to before the bass properly drops in. I think Dua Lipa understands something fundamental about being a pop singer: literally the only thing you have to do is make bangers. She has basically zero personality and was criticised massively around New Rules for having zero stage presence (which she's definitely gotten better at since) but I kind of like it like that - she's just an unknowable blank canvas that's not particularly interested in any kind of narrative, she just makes bangers.

Mirage (Don't Stop) - Jessie Ware: Jessie Ware has been putting out some extremely good singles since her last album and this song is another. It’s the kind of smooth neo-soul that Jungle is pioneering but the way this song is structured is really beautiful; it gives the ‘don’t stop moving’ part a lot of space early on before it really gets to take hold and take over the second half of the song - it gives the whole song this feeling of disco evolution and the song going on and on and changing rather than static pop.

What A Fool Believes - Aretha Franklin: I can’t believe I’ve never heard Aretha’s version of What A Fool Believes before. It’s amazing. It’s the best kind of cover where you just basically do the song exactly the same but better in every single way. Push the tempo slightly, put big brass in it, make the bass hot as hell, sing the hell out of it, add a sax solo obviously. She takes such liberty with the rhythm of the vocals and it gives this whole song this great swooping and diving energy that just uplifts in such a beautiful way.

Walking Into Sunshine (Larry Levan 12” Mix) - Central Line: Something I love about this song is the crowd noise that breaks in with a ‘woo’ near the beginning. It’s such a strange little detail that instantly injects so much life and love into the track. It positions it at a party rather than a studio from the outset and somehow that mindset carries through the whole rest of the song even though the crowd noise only lasts a couple of seconds until they reconvene right at the very end.

Freedom - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: There was a time in the history of rap music where some kind of government mandate demanded that every song go for at least 7 minutes, so you ended up with great songs like this where they spend a good couple minutes in the middle killing time by going through everyone’s star sign and then asking the crowd their star sign too. Also they appear to have recorded their own kazoos on the track over the kazoos in the sample, which is a lesson in good production everyone take.

Freedom Funk It Up Freedom - Freedom: I was looking up where the sample on that Grandmaster Flash song Freedom was from and it turns out it’s from this band called Freedom. Easy enough. This isn’t the song Freedom samples though, this is Freedom’s other song Freedom Funk It Up Freedom. It’s fucking hot and contains maybe the livest crowd I’ve ever heard, they are just going absolutely nuts the whole time and it only helps the energy of the song which is already off the charts.

Set Guitars To Kill (Live) - And So I Watch You From Afar: For the 10th anniversary of their debut album, And So I Watch You From Afar just played the whole thing front ot back and put it out as a live album, and it’s amazing. They’re an instrumental band that’s always emphasised the rock part of post-rock, in the same space as bands like 65daysofstatic and Russian Circles but not so self-serious about it, just big honking rock and roll tunes with a surprising depth and complexity to them that never get bogged down in ambient buildups or the other space-making trappings of post-rock. Their debut album has always been my favourite of theirs because it felt the most ‘live’ and wasn’t as cleanly produced as their subsequent releases (which are still very good), and so this live version feels sort of like a definitive version for me, like this is how it was always meant to sound but they didn’t have enough fans to do the ‘woo!’ part properly yet, which is one of the most purely joyful moments in music.

Bullet The Blue Sky (Live) - U2: I saw U2 this week for the second time in my life and guess what: they’re still great. Even though they’re old as fuck and Bono is getting stranger and stranger they’ve still got it. They have a very good bit of stage design going with this current tour where for a big chunk of it they’re out on a little platform in the middle of everyone with no screens or fancy lights and it’s one of the most effective ways I’ve seen of making an arena show feel like an actual intimate experience. I was a million miles away and Bono looked like an ant more than usual but the energy still came across. Then, when they do the Joshua Tree Start To Finish part of the show they have big visuals for every song but it’s still pretty light on actual cameras on the band, which I think works really well - a sort of best of both worlds where you get the arena show but the actual band performance. This song was a highlight for me, and they’ve somehow managed to make it even more ferocious now than ever before. It got extremely noisy, far noisier than you’d ever expect from U2 at least and really amped up the swirling energy that I’ve always loved about this song. People accuse U2's politics of being too wide ranging, and it's well founded they're the prototypical 'heal the world' rock stars - even in this song and the way they've repurposed its messages to fit various political causes over the years they've tried to dilute it, but this feels to me like a song that you can't wash the meaning out of no matter how hard you try. It's one of the best and most direct criticisms of American evil put to song, and it's an arena song that doesn't particularly have an arena melody to it. Especially in the Joshua Tree/Rattle And Hum era, U2 have always been captivated by the American mythos but have never been able to completely ingratiate themselves as an American Rock Band because they're not and I think that point of difference in identity has them uniquely positioned to criticise the American mythos as well. They can have it both ways because they can't fully have it, so in this song the circle of American violence is complete in the women and children who run from the American fighter planes into the arms of America as refugees. Bono's actually mad, which is a nice change of pace from love healing the world.

Gingerly - Enemies: I love this Enemies album so much. A sweet spot between post-rock and midwest emo math guitar, and listening to it now this song really stood out in a way it hasn’t before. It turns up at a good spot in the album just as you might be getting tired of the twinkly clean guitars that characterise the rest of it and burns a hole in the speaker with that distorted bass and siren guitar sound.

You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure) - WXAXRXP Session - Mount Kimbie: I think every band should get the chance to re-record their album a year or two after they’ve put it out, once they’ve had a chance to really sit with the songs for a while and figure out exactly how they work because this version is just so much better than the album version (which was already great!). The guitar sound is so much bigger, properly leaning into the post-punk idea they were only exploring on the album, and the vocals are so much stronger and more up front which makes it feel so much more like a full song than an experiment. This whole Warp Session EP is fantastic and I’ve been listening to it on repeat, it’s so great that they’ve morphed from this insular electronic duo into a proper band over the years and I'm excited to see where they'll take it next.

Peace To All Freaks - of Montreal: The new of Montreal single is great. Embracing an 80s dance vibe and immediately turning his back on it in the opening lines and not going out because he needs to educate himself instead. I love this song, an unironic and non-cheesy rallying against negativity which is a lot harder to do with earnesty than they make it sound here.

Taipei - Social Climbers: Thankyou to my friend and yours agrifuture for this recommendation. Social Climbers played an odd and paranoid version of art rock in the early 80s that on this song at least sounds more like modern opera trying to fit itself to a rock band than anything else. I can also say with confidence this is the only song I’ve ever heard where someone sends a quiche back in the middle of it.

Mad Eyed Screamer - The Creatures: I’ve never gotten much into Siouxie And The Bashees, they're probably somewhere on my list of bands to have a deep three week long obsession with somewhere in the future, but for now my biggest exposure to them is the time The Weeknd sampled them. I am, however, deeply interested in this drums and vocals only side project that Siouxie Sioux formed with her then-partner Budgie. I’m a big fan of any kind of restricted composition like this and I love this song. It’s so busy and the amount of reverb and extra percussion going on makes for this extremely chaotic, noisy vision of what is essentially a folk song in its lyric and melody.

Black Magic - Jarvis Cocker: I found out that the main guitar part in this song is sampled from Crimson & Clover by Tommy James and The Shondells. Which is something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before, a rock song like this built around a sample. Not exactly sampling in order to recontextualise across genres or approaches but sampling to recontextualise in a lateral, parallel approach. I love this song because his delivery is so feverish and impassioned it really does feel like he’s seen beyond the veil and come back without the language or capacity to explain what he saw, only the passion.

Year In Pictures - Dick Diver: Every year since this album came out it's shown up somewhere in my Spotify most listened list at the end of the year. It's surprising because I don't think of it as one of my all time favourites when it definitely is, it's such an easy listen that it just comes and goes pleasantly. This song is kind of about that feeling I guess, of things just happening and time just passing pleasantly enough year on year, everthing in its own time while the past disappears and doesn't matter anymore. "Whatever happens, I think everything will"

Heart - Bertie Blackman: I love the percussion in this song, the same propulsive clapping-centred beat that makes Single Ladies so good with the dark grinding bass underneath it that just pulses malevolently until the gearshift of the chorus where it morphs immediately into this 60s soul version of itself, with the ooh la la backing vocals and everthing, and that disonnance between the two styles drives the song for me. Where the verse lays out the evil plainly and the music matches, the chorus accentuates it in wide eyed irony "I know there's something sick with what I've been sold" sung with a smile and showgirl backing vocals.

Love Lockdown - Kanye West: Something I think we’re all learning as Kanye loses his mind completely on the world stage is that Kanye has always been insane. He has always had an unnervingly powerful self-belief and unwavering vision that has up until recently been what made him such a unique and era-defining artist. After the radical directions of MBDTF and Yeezus it’s sort of hard to remember just how radical 808s And Heartbreaks was at the time because unlike the self aware harshness and strangeness of the other two it was also so pop adjacent, because of its 80s synthpop influence but also because of the way it (and T-Pain) impacted all other pop music of the time. The instrumentation on this song is still so staggering, even just the pitched kick at the centre I could listen to on loop forever I think.

It Might Be Time - Tame Impala: Absolutely cannot wait for the new Tame Impala if this and Patience are any indication. The absolutely huge blown out drums on this are so good and remind me of something I’ve been trying to place for weeks and can’t. Maybe a Chemical Brothers song or some kind of big beat era thing. I think of Kevin Parker and Adam Granduciel from The War On Drugs as the same kind of guys, absolute craftsmen studio nerds that are completely obsessed with sound but unlike most other guys of that genre are actually great songwriters as well. Long haired studio hermits that emerge every few years to bless us all.

Never Again - Kelly Clarkson: I’ve been trying to decide whether this or Since U Been Gone is a better song and I’ve settled on this having the superior verses and Since U Been Gone the better chorus. The absolute venom in the lyrics is incredible. “I hope the ring you gave to her turns her finger green.  I hope when you’re in bed with her you think of me” is like.. the most metal opening I’ve ever heard. She literally sings “You’ll die together, but alone” in the second verse, jesus christ.

Giant Swan - The Blood Brothers: I found out recently from reading the wiki article on screamo (which like almost all wiki articles about music genres is about 60% artists claiming that genres are fake and critics coining new genre names half in jest) that The Blood Brothers were apparently part of a screamo subgenre called Sass, which is a term I have never heard before in my life and certainly never heard in the heyday of the style. You learn something every day I suppose. “It originated as an opposing style of hardcore punk to the machismo in heavy hardcore scenes. It takes influence from genres such as post-punk, new wave, disco, electronic, dance-punk, emoviolence, grindcore, metalcore and heavy hardcore. The genre is characterized by often incorporating overtly flamboyant mannerisms, erotic lyrics featuring sexual tension, and a lisping vocal style. The genre is also noted for its "spastic edge", blast beats, chaotic guitars, danceable beats and the use of synthesizers.” My understanding is that when emo went mainstream and the split between ‘emo’ as a music and ‘scene’ as a fashion occurred, this is the music that emerged from the middle ground. Turning against the masculinity of their screamo forebears and toward the queer aesthetics of scene, the resulting style was still furious and violent but furious with a light cabaret (but like, if cabaret was good and not just a guy in a top hat emoting, a different style of emo that Panic! At The Disco famously pioneered) and violent in a psychedelic, surreal way that set it apart from the depressed and black aesthetics of the rest of emo. I love The Blood Brothers and have never found another band like them in terms of lyrical inventiveness and sheer vocal insanity, the characteristic shrill falsetto that sporadically turns to screams is an amazing choice that’s incredible it works at all. This song especially stands out as unique even amongst the chaos of their discography. The loping lounge feel in the first half, coupled with the properly surreal description of the giant swan in the lyrics establishes such an strange and dark cabaret mood that makes this song so oddly singular to me.

The Ripper - The Used: I really appreciate the production on this whole album, it is so overdone and hyperactive that it creates this irrepressible momentum because something is always happening. The songs themselves are incredibly compressed in structure and extremely hook heavy, and it feels like to counteract and complement that approach they‘ve been gone over bar by bar finding every possible spot to add interest. Dynamics shifting, drums filtering and then revealing themselves, choirs appearing from this air for two lines. Guitar squeals fly in and out in the background and the bass suddenly becomes extremely chunky in parts. The whole mix gets sucked down a black hole and then a little glockenspiel outlines the vocal melody in the background for a second leading back into a huge chorus. Everything happen in this short song. It’s an interesting approach that can be overwhelming, but it has undeniable results.

Ilana - Mdou Moctar: Mdou Moctar rocks because he takes a big power chord riff like the one at the start of this song that could just as easily start a Thin Lizzy song and then immediately discards it and twists a melting solo that crosses time and space for the rest of the song instead.

Ancestral Recall (feat. Saul Williams) - Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah: The press release for this album says: “In its inception, Ancestral Recall was built as a map to de-colonialize sound; to challenge previously held misconceptions about some cultures of music; to codify a new folkloric tradition and begin the work of creating a national set of rhythms; rhythms rooted in the synergy between West African, First Nation, African Diaspora/Caribbean rhythms and their marriage to rhythmic templates found in trap music, alt-rock, and other modern forms. It is time we created a sound that dispels singular narratives of entire peoples and looks to finally represent the wealth of narratives found throughout the American experience. One that shows that all forms of expression in sound are valid, as all people are." All that and a bit of spoken word at the start that sounds like Hannibal Buress’ Morpheus Walruses rap and I’m sold. I’m such a fan of jazz like this that purposefully opens itself up to the influence of the modern world and modern tradition, and the percussion work across this album in particular is so unique and really does what he set out to do in my opinion, bringing the rhythms of tradition into a modern context seamlessly.

Spider Hole - Billy Woods & Kenny Segal: I only found out about Billy Woods this month and I’m surprised I’ve never heard of him before because he feels like the middle of the venn diagram between Earl Sweatshirt, Aesop Rock and Death Grips. This flat out sounds like a Death Grips song played at half speed. The justified paranoia and anger that runs through this whole album is palpable and jumbled, centring around a feeling of lashing out in a moment of hopelessness because you don’t know what else you can do. "4 million USD hovering over some mud huts, it's nuts, it's not the heat it's the dust" is one of the most evocative lines of the year for me.

El Toro Combo Meal (feat. Mavi) - Earl Sweatshirt: When this new earl EP came out I listened to it 4 times in a row because it is just so compulsively brilliant. He’s refining his style more and more with every release and he’s honed it to this fine point now where every song is so super dense in its lyrical content and production that a full length release would almost be too much. There’s just so much to absorb here. Mavi’s verse is incredible too. I’ve never heard of him before but I’m a big supporter now. The beats too, through this whole EP are the kind that sound like a radio stuck between stations - looping snatches of vocals and drums drowned out in tape hiss where the beat is only a suggestion that Mavi and Earl both glide over on some sort of metric modulation and only land every now and then just to take off again.

Drug Dealer - Slowthai: Slowthai is so full of fire on this song it's scary. Facing a dead end future down and screaming that something's gotta change, and that he's the one to do it.

Lighthouse (feat. Rico Nasty, Slowthai and ICECOLDBISHOP) - Take A Daytrip: I have never heard of Take A Daytrip before this song but doing some research it turns out I have heard them, because they produced Panini by Lil Nas X. I have also never heard of ICECOLDBISHOP before but the way he brings an absolutely deranged verse on this song has made me an instant fan. I love this trio of features: three out there, huge personality voices at the outer limits of mainstream rap that in their oddness complement each other perfectly.

Rich Girl - Michie One & Louchie Lou: Something I learned this month was that Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani isn't a direct rip of If I Were A Rich Man from Fiddler On The Roof, it actually samples this song which acts as a sort of bridge between the two, and I think there's something interesting in the transfer of intention between the three songs, lyrically and musically. In the original his conception of a rich man is someone who can afford to have lots of ducks and geese, eat well and have enough time to pray because he doesn't have to work, then in the Michie One & Louchie Lou version rich is being able to feed your family and start a school (as well as play the horses and never lose), and in the Gwen Stefani version rich is having a house in Hollywood and London, clearing out designer stores, and buying four Harajuku girls and naming them Love, Angel, Music and Baby. It spirals up mercilessly from geese to, I guess, human trafficking. Musically there's a transformation as well, where the jewishness of the 'daidle daidle deedle daidle dumb' in the orginal is changed to a 'na na na na na' in this version and only a part of the original melodic lilt remains, a part that is completely ironed out in the Gwen Stefani version's 'na na na na na's. The downsides of wealth morph too, in the original it's simply not a part of God's plan, in this version it can't buy love, is the root of all evil (is a  worldwide thing / rich is getting richer while the poor are getting stink) and only leads to more trouble (you reap but you never did sow / rich today you could be poor tomorrow / mind your back and watch your enemies grow) but in the Gwen Stefani version being rich is amazing on its own and the only thing that can top it is your love.

Santa Teresa - EOB: Tricked into enjoying ambient side projects once again. Ed O'Brien from Radiohead's new side project came up on my Discover Weekly without me realising it was him and I absolutely loved it. It’s expansive and cinematic and nice in a way that feels rare in ambient experimental stuff like this, to not be morose or depressing and gloomy for its own sake. It’s sharp and angular, or as sharp and angular as a song as slow moving as this can be and reminds me in part of HEALTH’s Max Payne 3 soundtrack, and Emma Ruth Rundle’s Electric Guitar One which are both masterpieces on their own.

Rough Sleeper - Burial: Reading Mark Fisher’s Ghosts Of My Life I was pleasantly surprised to see his Burial interview in there that I remember reading years and years ago before I knew who Mark Fisher was. I’ve thought of parts of that article here and there ever since and finally placing it in the wider context of Mark’s work was very satisfying, it’s funny how people come back to you in different forms over your lifetime. I don’t listen to Burial much now, or at least not as much as I used to at the height of my depression a few years ago where he was on near constant repeat and as a result his music became completely waterlogged with the feeling of that time and I couldn’t listen to him at all for a while without the memories completely marring any appreciation. But time passes as it does and it’s a nice feeling to finally be able to listen to Untrue again and not have it be so permanently soaked with memories of the worst time of my life, and now with a different mindset and viewpoint I can really see different sides of his music. Where before all I could hear was the bleak and empty future haunted by the ghosts of the past, now new colours appear - a warmth of hazy, pleasant memory and imagination. Reds and oranges creep into the black and grey and this song can feel like staying under covers while it storms outside instead of standing in the rain.

Night MXCMPV1 P74 - Venetian Snares & Daniel Lanois: I really don’t think I’ll ever hear another album like this in my life. The push and pull of the humanity of Lanois’ pedal steel and the digital nightmare of Venetian Snares percussion is just so engaging, and the moments where they overlap and move together in harmony contrast so beautifully with the times they feel like they’re playing two different songs altogether. Then they overlap, the effects overpower the steel guitar and it moves into a leaping angular digital realm and the percussion coalesces into an altogether human rush, or as human as Venetian Snares can be.

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord - Marisa Anderson: I can't find the quote but somewhere when she was doing interviews about this album Traditional And Public Domain songs, Marisa Anderson said part of the reason she likes traditional songs so much is because when she was coming up and playing in cafes around town she mistakenly thought she'd have to pay royalties if she did covers of popular songs, so she only did public domain songs instead.

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord - Johnny Cash: Another side of Were You There When They Crucified My Lord, one that expands magically into an amazing many-layered harmony led by June’s high and lonesome howl.

See That My Grave's Kept Clean - Blind Lemon Jefferson: Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery in 1929. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favour I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.

The Giza Power Plant - Blood Incantation: What I find so appealing about Blood Incantation is how dedicated they are. Zealots to the cult of being long haired death metal guys who wholeheartedly and sincerely believe in interdimensional aliens and the pyramids being the remnants of an ancient advanced technology. The dedication extends to them being maybe some of the best players in the genre I’ve ever heard, and them recording this whole album analog live in studio is such a feat of performance that adds another layer of intensity to this already extremely intense music.

listen here

#playlists

[wherethesunsails]

ok now im rlly curious what are all ur spotify playlists?

....... I have So Many Spotify playlists and I just updated them all with covers too so the covers of my spotify playlists all have a similar vibe! ok so alphabetically

........... - just a bunch of kind of shouty angry sort of songs good for angsting

3.17.19 - this is a date playlist, the only one of its kind, I hung out with an old friend a while ago and this playlist is just a bunch of songs we listened to that night it was a good time :)

<3 autumn mixtape - this is that autumn mixtape i made for you forever ago great fall vibes

a six song study playlist - what’s on the tin i have a million study playlists

ajr - it’s just. all ajr songs

bonfire vibes - these are just all songs that give me bonfire vibes yanno

bops - this started out as just harry styles ajr and jon bellion but it’s got more variety in it now it’s got a lot of bangers

chill bops ‘19 - a bunch of just hanging out music from like the end of 2018/beginning of 2019

chill bops ‘20 - same as before just with a more refined music taste

chill driving ‘19 - it is not fun to describe these playlists because i designed the titles to be self explanatory

christmas - there’s a lot of michael buble in here

classic bonfire tunes - bonfire vibes but with a vintage vibe

classics - ummm it’s like sixties and seventies stuff?

coffee shop ‘19 - like if you were sitting in a coffee shop this would be playing

coffee shop ‘18 - same as before but more dedicated to the vibes less dedicated to the music taste

colton - so. this one is self explanatory (if it’s a name playlist it’s songs that remind me of people)

concerning hobbits - lord of the rings vibes

consider this... - i made this playlist to make tinder boys think i was interested in love

cross-country roadtrip - these are all songs by netherfriends that are named after cities and states

crushes - a specific song that reminds me of a specific crush (feat. you, clark, my ex, .... base unit josh?, uhhhh ethan?, emma, hannah, and colton)(lmao why isn’t david in there oh he might be the ymca not josh. unsure)

disney - again... what it says on the tin. I miss that ao3 tag where did it go

driving masterlist - if a playlist has driving or roadtrip in the title its songs go here

driving with dad - my dad has a weird ass taste in music idk what to say here

elliot - uh so this one is songs that remind me of you lmao

falling in love - just like. falling in love vibes yanno

falseheteros+ - this is the highlights of falsettos, legally blonde, beetlejuice, and book of mormon

feeling some sort of way - uh like. yearning vibes?

get back into pop punk - this was previously titled ‘why are you getting back into pop punk you freak’ and i think that was really funny but i made it public so

ghost songs - this is just like. the ghost duet and the ghost choir

girl in red - it’s girl in red songs.

halloween - spoopy vibes

hannah - again. name playlist

highlights of my music taste - this was also created to impress people from tinder i havent utilized either of them yet

hozier - . it’s hozier songs.

hype - this is a new playlist it’s kind of rap and various tiktok songs all of ppcocaine’s songs are on here

jon bellion - love this man’s music

jon bellion, rex orange county+ - rex orange county and jon bellion both have respectable bangers so. yanno

keiynan lonsdale - i love this guy incredible music

kendall - it’s. kendall songs.

kentucky soundtrack - this is my christian music masterlist for when i go on a missions trip

khalid - he has bangers what can i say

leon bridges - this guy’s vibes are immaculate

lily james - yeah so i’m incredible gay for this woman

lofi - there’s not a lot here but these are bangers

love story soundtrack - i think i made this to get me in the mood for writing/reading romance

mamma mia - i love this musical so much i have no explanation you don’t need one

mandy patinkin highlights - this is just the songs i like from evita

meme songs - i’m pretty sure if you listen to this playlist you’ll be rickrolled

mr pence’s summer camp - lmao these are queer songs/artists

mutuals roadtrip - oh yeah i made this collaborative i’ll link it so y’all can like. add to it

new stuff - songs i’ve discovered and i’m trying to learn

panic! at the disco - just bangers from mr brendan urie

paper due soon - uh so this is a playlist based on the theory that if you’re writing a last minute paper and you put on boss music from a video game you’ll write faster so this is undertale boss music lmaO

post-basketball aux - parent approved tunes for long drives home

preshow hype - :’-/ this playlist isn’t gonnna get used anymore probably because it was music to get us hyped before plays and i’m not in those at school anymore rip

queen - i love freddie mercury end of discussion

rat pack vibes - this is like. sinatra and bing crosby and the like

rex orange county bops - i love that guy he makes good music

ritters after close - this is all. terrible music. very naughty. meant to be played when there aren’t customers to offend

roadtrip ‘20 - the goal is to feel like you’re looking moodily out the car window in a coming of age movie

roadtrip soundtrack ‘18 - same hat

S- sexy - uh this just has drunk in love by beyonce on it because i think it’s a sexy song

sam - this one goes out to my friend who i kind of had a crush on and then he started dating one of my best friends from school and then i wasn’t allowed to be friends with him anymore and she hates me :)

savanna - i miss sav she was a blast. it’s a lot of mlp

seventies - decade playlist

she dates boys - uh. it’s a sdb vibes playlist

sixites - decade playlist

soft boy epidemic - if i remember right this is just ben platt

soul - wh- what it says on the tin

studying - self explanatory

summer ‘18 - summer vibes

summer of ‘19 - this one is songs that make me think of last summer i miss last summer so fucking much

summer roadtrip ‘18 - uh this is just all of the summer ‘18 and roadtrip ‘18 playlists combined

theatre - musical songs, a lot of abba on here, the entire soundtrack of hamilton

theatre 2.0 - more songs to belt on here than the last one

theatre kids during quarantine be like - i’m sick of this playlist now but it slapped at the beginning of quarantine

throwback - this is like. ‘00s-’10s bangers

tiktok bops - only the elite songs lmao

to nobody - uh this is another playlist i made for you lmao

upbeat driving ‘19 - bangers

veggietales - i needed a veggietales playlist, very useful for church functions and for being seen as a child

weird mix but okay - uh yeah this is like jon bellion and classic rock lmao

wuhluhwuh - i didn’t wanna put wlw in case some family found this playlist and knew what it meant lmao

yearning - just gay shit dude. that’s it

made you a mixtape (it has heart emojis around it) - yeah this is a playlist i made for you too

and there you have it that’s all of them! if you wanna listen to the playlists or even just check out the sick cover images i used my spotify is here!

[1000dactyls]

a song analysis: why kamado tanjiro no uta is a banger

you can listen to the full song by go shiina and nami nakagawa here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-uhgIzHYYo

I close my eyes and remember That time which has passed by I can't turn back, I can't return home There's a deep, yawning darkness

I can't turn back, I can't return home There's a deep, yawning darkness A tender sound that makes you want to cry No matter the pain Go forward (go forward), go forward (go forward), keep going ahead (keep going ahead) Cut away the despair Even with all I've lost, even with all I've lost I have no choice but to keep living Even if I am beaten down There are things to protect

Even with all I've lost, even with all I've lost I have no choice but to keep living Even if I am beaten down There are things to protect

If there is nothing but this fate for me, I will be prepared for it Even if I struggle and claw through the mud There's a thin thread that can't be seen And a tender sound that makes you want to cry No matter the frustration Go forward, go forward, keep facing ahead Cut away the despair Even with all the pain, even with all the pain I have no choice but to stand up again There are things to protect There are things to protect

-- the english translation, as provided by the kny wiki

the analysis will be under the cut, because jesus good GOD is it long. tl;dr because it's a lot: kamado tanjiro no uta is just a really good fucking song guys

starting with the opening notes of the song, it begins on a high note on the piano. it plays when tanjiro remembers his family--here, only the melody is played as he remembers him and nezuko dancing for their dad. there's a few interesting things here, starting with the fact that it opens with only the melody; it invokes a sense of nostalgia and longing for something more simple. the fact that it opens up playing the melody is also something worth considering: the scene opens up on tanjiro remembering his family, or what we could consider the core reason as to why he's fighting.

then you get to the beginning of the vocals (which are seriously gorgeous, like GOD, okay, flex on us nami nakagawa please?). these play over the clip of tanjiro's dad dancing--the lyrics during this part are below:

I close my eyes and remember That time which has passed by I can't turn back, I can't return home There's a deep, yawning darkness

obviously, it's describing tanjiro's reflection on his past and his family. however, the last lyric is interesting: there's a deep, yawning darkness can be talking about his past and how he can no longer go back to the happy days with his family he once had, but it also describes the situation on hand as well. the fact that they choose to contrast this with the fire dance scene, in which the night is illuminated by the hinokami kagura, could be counted as foreshadowing! in this scene, tanjiro also talks with his mom about the strength his dad has (implied that it's so because of the dance).

then we get the high flute before transitioning to the motif being played on a lower octave. here, we begin to get more--depth, i'd say? but the deeper tone provides more of a stronger 'backbone' that could be compared to the opening: while the high notes resonate something of a simple desire, the pitch here gives more depth, which makes sense because tanjiro is talking to his dad about the dance as they look at their family. in episode 19, the screen goes black before tanjuro states the line, "that's what i promised." the high note on the piano that plays before the lyrics come back in could potentially be a reminder of what tanjiro's reason is for all of this, as to why he's fighting to begin with: for his family, for nezuko.

finally, the bass comes in, reflecting the strength that tanjiro gains (realizes what was in him all along? maybe???) in his convictions (and in turn, his fighting power). the vocals begin to play again, being almost a reprise of the first verse:

I can't turn back, I can't return home There's a deep, yawning darkness

you could interpret this as tanjiro having remembered his reason for fighting. this is also really interesting for the fact that this is where the brass and other instruments come in, representing how he now has more reasons and beliefs to aid his main goal (like how the brass, etc. enhance the melody). and like earlier above, you could also say that these lyrics (aka tanjiro's reasons) are what make him stronger.

the next lyrics are as follows, played over a clip of tanjiro approaching rui with all he's got. the brass doesn't play in this section, instead being the piano and strings (i swear, there's a harp in there somewhere):

A tender sound that makes you want to cry No matter the pain Go forward (go forward), go forward (go forward), keep going ahead (keep going ahead) Cut away the despair

the lyrics here could also be interpreted as tanjiro gaining more reasons to keep on fighting: some have pointed out that the lines a tender sound that makes you want to cry refers to zenitsu, and that cut away the despair could be a throwback to sabito. the music in this section is on a higher pitch, again reflecting that more simple desire/reason. then, as the lyrics begin to urge tanjiro to get up and fight, the music begins to build up, which could be about how tanjiro isn't alone in his struggle anymore: he isn't by himself, because he has nezuko, zenitsu, inosuke, sabito... etc.

once again, the brass joins in, this time with the strings and piano. paired with the clip of tanjiro's broken sword cutting down rui's strings, this could represent tanjiro's determination triumphing any obstacle in his way:

Even with all I've lost, even with all I've lost I have no choice but to keep living Even if I am beaten down There are things to protect

the lyrics here reaffirm that; even if he's being losing, he has to protect the people and things he cares about. the end of this verse coincides with when tanjiro is about to cut rui's neck off, but at the cost of his own life, and that's when the vocals stop for a period of time for nezuko.

here, there's no brass or vocals: when the scene focuses on nezuko and kie urging her to save her brother, it's noticeably more quiet. however, the flute plays here, playing the main motif. not only does it reflect how nezuko is tanjiro's main reason for fighting, but it can also apply to nezuko: her reason for fighting is tanjiro.

the fact that there's no lyrics sung during this is also really interesting: you could say that it was just because it was an appropriate time for no lyrics, which is fair, but there could be no lyrics because of nezuko's silence. at this point in time, she's still unable to speak. however, midway through, it begins to gain more strength, representing how nezuko gains more reasons to wake up and protect everyone. finally, it goes into the next verse:

Even with all I've lost, even with all I've lost I have no choice but to keep living Even if I am beaten down There are things to protect

this plays over nezuko waking up, pushing beyond her limits and using her blood demon art to save tanjiro (who then proceeds to cut rui's head off). yeah, these lyrics totally apply to tanjiro, but when you think about it, this also goes for nezuko as well. she's lost everything: her family, her ability to communicate, her humanity--and yet, she still keeps on going on, all for the sake of protecting her brother. even if we still don't know much about what she wants in the anime, this really speaks volumes.

and when you think about it, the fact that there's a verse that can apply to nezuko really makes sense. the song is called kamado tanjiro no uta, for sure, but it is because of nezuko that tanjiro is the way he is--and vice versa.

the 'violin rush' plays into this lyric, which is If there is nothing but this fate for me, I will be prepared for it. what's really interesting here is that you could take the choppiness for tanjiro's start into his journey: it's rough and he's unprepared for everything he faces, and he's thrown headfirst into this world of demons and slayers. and despite that, he perseveres and takes the measures to prepare for it, which leads into the 'smoother' section that plays next.

Even if I struggle and claw through the mud There's a thin thread that can't be seen

the violins play here, and honestly, the only thing i can say is just this made me cry a lot and how it's interesting that the violins are smoother here as the lyrics describe tanjiro's struggle. however, tanjiro adapts and tries his best, eventually being so that he can see the line of interval (the string).

next, we have more references to the new reasons tanjiro has to fight for:

And a tender sound that makes you want to cry No matter the frustration

here, the piano plays almost entirely on it's own. it plays a gentle melody as it reflects on tanjiro's past (his blood family), but it also references the bonds he's forged in blood like zenitsu and his friendship (his found family).

Go forward, go forward, keep facing ahead Cut away the despair

the build up in music begins as the lyrics urge tanjiro to get up and fight, also referencing sabito once more. you could take this as how tanjiro, built up by the support of the people who love him, gets stronger and stronger. finally, the brass, strings, piano, drum, and vocals all come together in a spectacular climax. the lyrics do repeat, but here they are again:

Even with all the pain, even with all the pain I have no choice but to stand up again

in the credits of episode 19, the last picture to be shown is one of tanjiro and nezuko turned a demon holding onto each other despite everything. a lone instrument plays before the drums join in, before the entire ensemble for one final, dramatic climax of it all. of course, the lyrics are There are things to protect, There are things to protect. it's a final reaffirmation of everything tanjiro stands for, for what was tried and tested in the fight against rui, and the entire ensemble coming in as the second there are things to protect is the force, conviction, everything that tanjiro has bled for in a climax.

and it is gorgeous.

#mochis mumbles #Kimetsu no Yaiba #demon slayer #tanjirou kamado #nezuko kamado #kamado tanjirou #kamado nezuko #the song of tanjiro kamado #kamado tanjiro no uta #go shiina #nami nakagawa #demon slayer episode 19 #song analysis #this is so long i #i'd say i'm sorry but am i really #only for my sleeping schedule #this song is everything #you can see i have very strong feelings #a FAT F for the kny discord server though #queue #almost forgot about that yikes #also for the record #im not a music major #i'm just an asshole with a computer and time to blow

[tedbecca]

tagged by @gild-and-fire (who also added an “include a memory” rule which seems fun so i’m gonna do that)

rules: hit shuffle on your media player and write down the first 20 songs, then tag 10 people. no skipping!

omfg this one was a fun trip. so many throwbacks. so it’s going under a cut

Like Whoa by Aly & AJ — oh we are immediately taking it back to middle school huh. i could play this perfectly on band hero back then

I’m Gonna Getcha Good! by Shania Twain — another throwback! vivid memories of popping this into my walkman and jamming out in my room

Secondhand Smoke by Kelsea Ballerini — ooof filed under songs i relate too closely to and often have to skip 

Bigger Wow by Avril Lavigne — okay not my favourite song off this album but i got such a serotonin rush when she released this album

Look At Her Now by Selena Gomez — i don’t have a specific memory but according to spotify she ranks pretty high on my all time listened to artists?? which i didn’t realize until recently

That Could Still Be Us by Keith Urban — i had totalllyyy forgotten about this song. fun fact: keith urban is one of my favourite artists??? even his shitty stuff??? i have no explanation for it. i’ve listened to all of his stuff and i can’t say that about any other male artist LOL

Circus by Britney Spears — A FOREVER BANGER has always will always make me shake my ass (forever mortified by the fact that i’m SURE my middle school teachers saw me shake my ass to this at various middle school dances)

Don’t Blame Me by Taylor Swift — experiencing this LIVE was an EXPERIENCE. watch the reputation tour on netflix. you’re welcome

Single Ladies by Beyoncé — another banger from middle school! another one that will always make me shake my ass. god so much great music came out when i was in middle school what the fuck!

Father by Demi Lovato — OOOP and we are skipping this one as it ranks #1 on the songs that i relate too much to

Fergalicious by Fergie — another throwback! and another that makes me shake my ass!!! vivid memories of popping this into my walkman and listening to it on repeat until i had perfected the lyrics (which are now locked in my subconscious until i die). definitely didn’t fully comprehend how sexual this song was when i was like 10 (11?) 

Just Thought You Should Know by Betty Who — she sang this on the bold type and it made me listen to the album! so good!!!!

My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne — godddd this was one of my favourite avril lavigne songs. and this was one of the first albums i ever owned. avril was one of my first big music obsessions and for GOOD REASON y’all hearing this shit !!!!!!!

Julianna Calm Down by The Chicks — THE CHICKS COMEBACK !!! ONE OF THE FEW GOOD THINGS TO COME OUT OF 2020 (along with folklore)

Love Story by Taylor Swift — TOOO MANY MEMORIES ICONIC ICONIC ICONIC NOBODY TALK TO ME UNLESS YOU BOW DOWN TO THE QUEEN

Good Love by Aly & AJ — saw them live with hannah in june 2018 (take me back) and they played this song before it was released and dedicated it to a couple who just got engaged ON STAGE. also have their concert t-shirt that says good love in rainbow font <3

Back In My Body by Maggie Rogers — this song is like a warm blanket and i play it whenever i am feeling a little too Depressed

My Best Friend’s Wedding by The Chicks — god they just really went off with this album... SO GOOOOD!!! forever obsessed with the pre-chorus of this song

Mess Her Up by Amy Shark — used to listen to this on my commute all the time. i’ve LOVED everything i’ve heard of hers. i really need to dive further into her discography!!!

St. Patrick (Empty Room Sessions) by PVRIS — there was a really good holtzbert (ghostbusters 2016) fanvid to this version of the song that has since been deleted from youtube RIP a devastating blow

#sdkf;sdfsdf SO MANY middle school bangers #this was so much fun #i really need to listen to my spotify on shuffle more often #tag meme

[taste-in-music]

Music Monday (7-22-19)

New Releases

Champion by Bishop Briggs: A new Bishop Briggs single! It’s her signature brand of badass alternative pop, with fiery vocals and empowering lyrics. While it’s pretty good, it’s also slightly generic. It doesn’t have the lyrical specificity that let last year’s “Baby” shine, or the fascinating instrumentation on “River” that did such a good job of setting Briggs apart from her peers. Despite that, it’s still keeping my interest going for whatever project she’s planning on releasing next, and the music video implies some kind of continuous story in her visuals, which is really exciting. (The video is badass, BTW.)

Gone by Charli XCX ft. Christine and the Queens: I’m so unbelievably hyped for Charli I can’t even put it into words. This song is catchy as fuck, the production is studded with dark synths and snappy percussion, and Charli XCX and Christine and the Queens have great vocal chemistry. I’m not the biggest fan of the electronic vocal-fragment breakdown at the end, I feel like it kind of slows the momentum of the song rather than building to a climax like I think it’s trying to, but that doesn’t detract from how great the rest of it is. 

I Wish by Hayley Kiyoko: Hayley Kiyoko’s sound is getting darker, and I’m here for it. This new cut from her almost reminds me of Zolita due to it’s more sarcastic leaning lyrics and witchy accompanying visuals. The production on Kiyoko’s vocals in the chorus is an interesting choice, giving them this glassy, hazy feel, which fits the heartbroken, almost bitter tone of the lyrics. I’m so excited so see what she drops next, and if she’ll keep going in this direction, because I think that it could result in some really interesting tunes. 

Looking at Me by Sabrina Carpenter: Singular Act II dropped this past Friday! While I don’t think it’s quite as good as Act I, there are still some pop bangers to be found, and this song is an example of that, it really is a stunner of a closer to the album. The Latin influence in the beat and prominent horns make the song really danceable, and Sabrina’s self-assured performance delivers the confident lyrics with panache. 

Why Do You Love Me by Charlotte Lawrence: “Seventeen” was one of my favorite songs that I listened to last Summer, so I’ve been eagerly awaiting Charlotte Lawrence’s next release to see if it would be another Summer-defining bop. In short, this song sounds like what would happen if you melded “bury a friend” by Billie Eilish and “Happy Together” by The Turtles together. It’s got a nice, jaunty beat and tense atmosphere, thought it could use something more, whether that be darker bass or some more experimental production. If Charlotte Lawrence decides to go for this sound in the future, I hope that she plunges even deeper into the dark. 

Saddest Generation by IDER: The new IDER album Emotional Education is here and it’s really good! Their sound is so hypnotizing, studded with stunning vocal harmonies that blow me away with each listen. This track is one of the more down-tempo cuts off the album. The lyrical themes of a downtrodden youth give me Pure Heroine throwbacks, but the instrumental is more layered and warm, including a nice guitar solo near the end. 

i’ll die anyway. by girl in red: I consider this the unofficial follow up to another girl in red song, “summer depression” off of last year’s chapter 1 EP. This is drenched in girl in red’s classic sound, with the washed-out vocal production and a dusky layer of low-fi over a solid, grounded indie-rock instrumental. With all of these new singles, perhaps there’s an album on the way? One can hope. 

Palm Springs by Ariel Beesley: It’s finally on Spotify! I don’t have to flip flop back and forth from SoundCloud anymore! I am so in love with Ariel Beesley’s retro sound and rich vocals. The chrous on this song is accentuated with shimmering synths, electric guitars, and a swoom-worthy vocal melody that’ll get stuck in your head. 

Other Favorites

Drive by Oh Wonder: God is this song charming. Not only is is super chill, it’s also super sweet. The triumphant strings, hushing vocals, and pensive lyrics instantly put me at peace. 

Love Me Tender by No Frills Twins: The title calls back to Elvis? The opening bass line reminds me so much of Tame Impala? And yet this song is drenched in bubblegum bass EDM, it sounds like a track MARINA would’ve made in a forgotten era between The Family Jewels and Electra Heart. I fucking love it, this song is a banger and a half. MARINA, Allie X, and Charli XCX fans should give this track a listen for sure. No Frills Twins haven’t released anything since 2017, but I pray that they drop new music eventually, because they have some amazing songs. 

Check out last week’s Music Monday and also be sure to look at my personal Spotify playlist and Summer 2019 playlist for more new releases and other great songs.

#new music #music recommendation #bishop briggs #charli xcx #christine and the queens #hayley kiyoko #sabrina carpenter #charlotte lawrence #IDER #girl in red #oh wonder #no frills twins #taste in music #taste in music monday