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sourwolfandlilred · 3 years

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Out in west texas, it hardly ever rains

(but when it does, it’s amazing grace)

Stiles Stilinski flipped off the radio, tired of the breathless play-by-play of the Friday night football game. Golden boy quarterback Derek Hale had already scored four touchdowns guaranteeing the “douba-yah”--as it was called around these parts--anyway.

His jeep bounced along the rutted road as storm clouds gathered in the distance. Heat lightning flashed in the distance, but it would likely burn off before it got to Marfa.

The church stood sentry on the edge of town, parched dust-cracked earth stretching for miles and miles behind it. Stiles parked the Jeep and headed inside.

To the piano.

It was an old model, the C key so worn the ivory dipped where a finger tip would rest. But it played just as pretty as the best grand out there. Stiles didn’t bother with lights, just sat on the bench, and played.

The thunder accompanied him, a deep bass line that Stiles felt in his chest. By the time he finished the song, his cheeks were damp and the storm had passed.

***

“You weren’t at the game.”

Stiles slammed his locker and rolled his eyes, side stepping Derek Hale in all his snapback, wanna-be frat boy glory. “While I’m oh-so-flattered that you noticed my absence, me thinks you should get an MRI to check for brain damage if you thought I would show in the first place.”

Derek wasn’t deterred by Stiles’s acid tongue. Instead, he fell in step beside him, despite the fact that Stiles--for reasons he wouldn’t admit to--knew that Derek’s first class was on the opposite side of the school.

“Would you come if I asked you?”

Stiles stopped abruptly enough to earn himself a curse from the freshmen behind him who hadn’t been expecting. He met Derek’s eyes. “Why would you ask me to?”

The corner of Derek’s mouth ticked up, but it was almost self-conscious rather than smug. “Does it matter?”

***

Stiles went to the fucking game.

***

Lydia Martin hosted a party every friday night to fete the celebrities of their podunk town. Stiles had never been to one, though all sixty-three of their classmates were always invited. The place was too small for bullying tactics and popularity contests.

Someone shoved a red solo cup into Stiles’s hands, and he downed half the contents in one swallow. His fingers itched for smooth ivory and he tried to ignore the jittery sensation of looking for someone in particular.

“Brooooo, you came,” Scott McCall slurred in Stiles’s ear while slinging an arm around his neck. Stiles took the weight of his drunk, pliant body, turning the tackle into a hug. They rocked like that as Stiles laughed. Scott loved everyone and everyone loved Scott, but Scott loved Stiles best.

“Hey where’s your QB?” Stiles asked as casually as possible, and Scott beamed at him. Apparently he hadn’t been subtle.

“Gazebo,” Scott waved, flashing all his white teeth so that his eyes squinted into tiny bits of happiness.

Stiles maneuvered him toward Kira and then wove his way through gyrating bodies and couples who had too little sense of what level of PDA was appropriate.

When Stiles stepped outside, his skin tingled with the electricity in the air. Something was coming.

Derek was alone, surprisingly. It seemed like he was forever surrounded by fawning groupies, or at the very least his phalanx of ride-or-die friends. Stiles didn’t bother saying hi as he sat on the bench next to him.

“Did you have fun?” Derek asked as he took a hit on his joint. Golden-boy wasn’t always so golden.

Stiles let his legs fall apart until their knees touched. “No.”

“But you came.” Derek said, said without looking at him.

“But I came,” Stiles agreed, plucking the joint out of his loose fingers. Had they been doing this dance for years now? Stiles couldn’t tell. Derek was a part of the landscape as much as the snow-topped mountains in the distance.

They’d never really been friends. Stiles’s father was the Sheriff, Derek’s mother the lawyer. They had enough crime that it caused friction between the two families. But they weren’t exactly Romeo and Juliet, either. They were just two dudes trying to make it out of this god-forsaken town anyway they could.

For Derek that was football. From the Smurf League when they’d been kindergartners it had been obvious exactly where Derek was headed in life. First draft pick for the NFL.

For Stiles it was the long-shot Juliard--a dream his mother had passed onto him the day she’d died.

He and Derek were as different as could be, and yet still...

Maybe it was the way Derek’s eyes lingered on Stiles’s mouth when he took a hit. Maybe it was the Stiles let his hand drop to Derek’s thigh after he handed back the joint.

Something in the back of Stiles’s brain itched, though. Him and Derek? It wasn’t just two queer kids finding each other in bumble-fuck Texas. He just didn’t know what it was.

“Do you want to play?” Stiles asked, his eyes on the lights from the house. “Professionally I mean.”

“Nah,” Derek shook his head, earning a sharp glance from Stiles. “It’s what I’m good at but... no.” He laughed softly. “I like my brain intact.”

Stiles huffed out a breath. “Same.”

Derek glanced over. It wasn’t often that Stiles complimented him. Then he lifted one shoulder. They were close enough that it brushed Stiles’s arm. “I’ll use it to pay for college. But I want to be...”

He took a hit instead of continuing, and then handed it over to Stiles. Stiles bumped his knee against Derek’s. “Yeah?”

A blush crawled along Derek’s perfect cheekbones, and Stiles had to look away lest he do something utterly mortifying.

“I like gardening,” Derek mumbled. “I thought maybe landscape architecture.”

Maybe some version of Stiles would have laughed at the admission. The idea of snap-back wearing, pick-up truck driving, all-American stereotype in the flesh planting daisies should have been funny.

It wasn’t.

Stiles took a hit. Held the smoke in. Then in one swift move shifted so that he was in Derek’s lap, his knees on either side of Derek’s hips. Derek’s fingers came up, gripped the skin just above the waistband of Stiles’s jeans.

The moment seemed frozen in time, syrupy and unreal. Stiles leaned in and Derek’s lips parted. Smoke slipped out between them, but in the next moment, Stiles was pressing it into Derek’s mouth.

Derek breathed it in. Breathed Stiles in, really.

When they drew apart, Derek’s eyes were wide, almost vulnerable, and Stiles ached with every part of his being. He wanted this to be real.

So he ran.

***

The church was as quiet as it always was when Stiles came to practice at the old piano. He made sure of it.

But for the first time in a long time he didn’t want to play.

The keys had always offered him an escape, a dreamworld where his mother wasn’t dead, his father wasn’t an alcoholic, and he wasn’t a weird kid who talked too much and dreamed too big for this small Texas town.

For once, he didn’t want to escape.

He pressed a thumb to his lower lip, as if he could capture the warmth of Derek there. The way the tip of his tongue had darted out in what had turned into a goodbye.

“Play for me?”

Stiles didn’t startle. He’d almost expected Derek to show, though he couldn’t say why.

But you came. But I came.

Without acknowledging the request, Stiles dropped his fingers onto the keys. Amazing Grace was so easy, he didn’t have to think about it. By the time he finished, Derek was on the bench beside him. “Beautiful.”

Stiles chewed on the inside of his mouth. “My mother taught me how to play.”

A beat. And then, “Do you play because she wanted you to, or do you play because you want to.”

The question struck, like lightning, in the very center of Stiles’s chest. “Does it matter?”

It was a deliberate echo and Derek huffed. “No.”

Maybe it had seemed like walls going up when that wasn’t the case at all. So Stiles took a breath. “Aren’t all of our lives made up of a combination of that? Expectations and hopes and desires and rational thought and irrational emotions? Her wanting me to play doesn’t mean it’s any less important if it had come from nowhere. It just makes it all the more meaningful that I am doing it, doesn’t it?”

“But what about your life?” Derek asked, and in that moment Stiles realized how much Derek’s trajectory had been guided by other people.

“It’s not an either or,” Stiles said as carefully as possible. “For me.”

Derek nodded, his eyes on the piano. In the smallest voice Stiles had ever heard him use, he said, “I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

Stiles nearly laughed at that. But instead he nudged Derek’s shoulder. “No matter what you do, I’m pretty sure it would be impossible for you to disappoint anyone.” He searched for the right words, the ones that wouldn’t dismiss the fear, the ones that wouldn’t add more weight to Derek’s shoulders. “I would be proud of you no matter what you do.”

That blush again, the one that would drive Stiles to distraction. “Play it again for me?”

“Anytime,” Stiles promised and surprised himself by meaning it.

Outside the clouds opened up and the rain beat against the windows.

Inside, Derek hooked his ankle around Stiles’s, and the music played.

#sterek #sterek drabble #high school au #football au #stiles #derek hale deserves nice things #sterek fluff #sterek fic

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natromanxoff · 4 years

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Freddie Mercury and the Wade Deacon/Halewood Connection (by Mike Royden)

...Freddie lived for music, and in August 1969 he seized upon the opportunity he’d been waiting for – to sing in a band. Too impatient to form one of his own, he did the next best thing and found himself a ready-made outfit. His quarry was Ibex, a Merseyside-base trio comprising Mike Bersin (guitar and vocals.) and John ‘Tupp’ Taylor (bass and vocals) and a drummer by the name of Mike ‘Miffer’ Smith.

...“We met the members of Smile at a pub called the Kensington,” recalls ‘Tupp’ Taylor. “We saw them play a couple of times and they were really good. They had a great vocal-harmony thing going. Tim Staffell, their bass player, was a really good singer, and Freddie was a mate of theirs. We’d all sit around and have amazing vocal sessions singing Bee Gees, Beach Boys and Beatles songs. We could do great harmonies because there was three of them in Smile, myself, Mike Bersin, who’d chip in, and Freddie, of course.”

At this point, it was common knowledge among the Smile crowd that Freddie was desperate to get into Brian and Roger’s band. Perhaps joining Ibex might be a way in.

“Freddie hadn’t quite persuaded Smile to take him on as a vocalist,” confirms Mike Bersin. “They thought they were doing OK as they were. So, he said, “You know what you guys need, and that’s a vocalist.’ He was right, too, as John Taylor recalls: “I wasn’t the world’s greatest singer by any stretch of the imagination.” And as Ken Testi reveals “Mike had never been confident about his singing, but had been pushed into it.”

Freddie first met Ibex on 13th August 1969. Such was his enthusiasm, that just ten days later, he’d learned the bands’ set, brought in a few new songs, and had travelled up to Bolton, Lancashire, for a gig with them – his debut public performance. The date was 23rd August, and the occasion was one of Bolton’s regular afternoon ‘Bluesology’ sessions, held at the town’s Octagon theatre. For Ibex and friends, it was the event of the summer. No fewer than 15 bodies, including Freddie, Ken Testi, and the band’s other roadie Geoff Higgins, Paul Humberstone, assorted friends and girlfriends, plus Ibex’s instruments were squeezed into a transit van borrowed from Richard Thompson, a mate of Freddie’s who’d previously drummed in ‘1984’ with Brian May and Tim Staffell.

...The following day, Ibex appeared in the first ‘Bluesology pop-in’, an open-air event on the bandstand in Bolton’s Queen’s Park. On the bill were local band Back, another called Birth, Spyrogyra, Gum Boot Smith, The White Myth, Stuart Butterworth, Phil Renwick and, of course, Ibex. In a report published the day before the Bolton Evening News wrote ‘The last -named act make a journey from London especially for the concert. The climax of the whole affair will be a supergroup, in which all the performers will play together. If the weather is fine the noise should be terrific”.

Remarkably, for such a relatively inauspicious event, Freddie’s first-ever public performance was extremely well documented. There were at least three photographers present, and the proceedings were covered in Bolton’s Evening News for the second time on 25th August. This even featured an uncredited photograph of Freddie, with the caption: ‘One of the performers gets into his stride’ If Freddie wanted to be a star, he was going about it the right way.”

“Freddie really loved going up to Bolton to play with Ibex,” remembers Paul Humberstone. “He was really on form. The band was very basic, but good. They did very reasonable cover versions, and were very loud. That was his very first outing with the band, but Fred struck his pose. Remember him doing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’? He was like that only without the eye makeup.”

“Freddie was shy offstage,” recalls Ken Testi, “but he knew how to front a show. It was his way of expressing that side of his personality. Everything on stage later in Queen, he was doing with Ibex at his first gig: marching from one end of the stage to another, from left to right and back again. Stomping about. He brought dynamics, freshness and presentation to the band that had been completely lacking previously.”

Mike Bersin agrees: “As a three piece, we’d thought it was sufficient to play fairly basic music and not worry too much about stage craft. Freddie was much better at putting on a show and entertaining people. That was pretty radical for us. I thought that’s what the light show was for, you know, we make the music and the audience can watch the pretty coloured bubbles behind us, but Freddie was different. He was so wonderfully camp in that beautifully English foppish way. With hindsight, I recognise the determination to succeed that he had in spades. He demanded to be treated as a star before he was one. His talent and ambition made people react in very different ways, but it wasn't an unpleasant thing.

As the rest of us would wear jeans and trench coats, he was the fur-and-satin man and all the moves and poses he had with Queen, were already there with Ibex, he never imitated anybody, Freddie was Freddie from day one, he was entirely his own creation and a culture shock. He worked extremely hard to be something worth to look at and to listen to. He only had one pair of boots, one t-shirt, one pair of trousers, one belt and one jacket. Still he remained immaculate. We had some gigs in Bolton which were very significant to the band. While we were getting ready, Freddie had been backcombing his long hair to make it stand out more and twitching himself in the mirror for ages. I eventually yelled at him: 'For God's sake, stop messing with your hair, Freddie!', to which he responded: 'But I'm a star, dear boy!'. There is not a lot you can say to that. In many ways, you felt Freddie almost wasn't real.”

“I don’t think Freddie developed,” reckons John ‘Tupp’ Taylor. “The first day he stood in front of that crowd, he had it all going. It seemed as if he’d been practicing for years to be ready. We’d only ever sang together as mates before that. We’d never done anything by way of trying it out. He was going to be in the band and everyone was happy with that. Once Freddie was in, we changed in loads of different directions. We began to play ‘Jailhouse Rock’, for a start! I think that was the first thing we did with him on stage.”

Back in London, a revitalised Ibex began to make plans. “Freddie and the band very quickly became inseparable,” remembers Ken Testi. “They were spending large parts of their time together, working out a new set which included different covers and some original stuff.”

Mike Bersin: “Freddie was the most musical of all of us. He was trained on the piano, and he could write on the black notes. He said ‘We’re never going to get anywhere playing all this three-chord blues crap, we’ll have to write some songs.’ A couple of things came out of it, but they’ve all vanished now. I can’t imagine they would be very satisfactory anyway – largely because he was working with me, and my understanding of music was incredibly rudimentary. We used to argue about whether we should put in key changes. I’d say ‘What do you want a key change for?’ And he’d say that it made a song more interesting, it gave it a lift. I’d think ‘Why has he got this thing about gratuitous key changes?’ The idea of changing the key of a song just because it made it more interesting to listen to was really alien to me.That said, Geoff Higgins remembers at least one decent Bulsara-Bersin tune: “ They did a great song called ‘Lover; the lyrics used to go, ‘Lover, you never believe me’ and Fred later turned it into ‘Liar, you never believe me’ It was almost the same tune, but not quite. In fact, it was similar to ‘Communication Breakdown’, they used to rip off Led Zeppelin a lot.”

That said, Geoff Higgins remembers at least one decent Bulsara-Bersin tune: “ They did a great song called ‘Lover; the lyrics used to go, ‘Lover, you never believe me’ and Fred later turned it into ‘Liar, you never believe me’ It was almost the same tune, but not quite. In fact, it was similar to ‘Communication Breakdown’, they used to rip off Led Zeppelin a lot.”

Before they knew it, however, the summer was over and it was September. Mike Bersin returned to Liverpool to begin his pre-diploma years at the local art college, at what is now John Moores University. With nothing better to celebrate than the new term, the pre-dip freshers threw a party, and who better to provide the entertainment than Mike’s band, Ibex? Subsequently Ibex’s third and final gig took place on 9th September 1969 at the Sink Club in Liverpool, a former soul-blue hang out in the basement of the Rumbling Tum – a place Ken Testi remembers as a “pretty dodgy, post beatnik café”.

...Geoff has a further revelation, which called to mind Paul McCartney’s presence in the audience at the first-ever recording of John Lennon with the Quarry Men back in 1957. “Smile were in Liverpool that night… playing another club, possibly the Green Door. And because we were at the Sink, they came down to see us.” The rest of the story is almost too good to be true. Brimming with encouragement for their flamboyant friend Brian May and Roger Taylor wasted no time in joining Freddie on stage (or as near as they could get.) They probably bashed out a few Smile numbers and this occasion marked the first time the three of them played together in front of an audience. “We virtually had Queen in there,” remarks Ken Testi, “although of course we didn’t know it then.” However, here’s the sting: although Geoff Higgins’ tape recorder was still only yards away at the time, the tape ran out before the three musicians had the chance to play a note together.

Wreckage

Sometime between 9th September and the end of October 1969, probably while Freddie was staying with Geoff Higgins in Liverpool, [flat above Dovedale Towers, Penny Lane], Ibex underwent a mini upheaval – at Freddie’s instigation. “I recall him canvassing the idea of calling the band Wreckage, but nobody was enthusiastic,” reveals Mike Bersin. “Then he phoned me one night and said, ‘the others don’t mind. How do you feel?’ I said. ‘If they agree then fine’. So, we went along to the next rehearsal and all the gear had been sprayed ‘Wreckage’. When I spoke to the others about it, Freddie had phoned them all up and had the same conversation”.

The name-change went hand-in-hand with the departure of drummer Mike ‘Miffer’ Smith as Freddie documented in a letter to Celine Daley. Dated 26th October the letter bears the address 40, Ferry Road, Barnes SW13 – another flat rented that summer by members of Ibex, Smile and various associates.

‘Miffer’ is not with us anymore,” wrote Freddie, “cause the bastard just got up and left one morning saying he was going to be a milkman back in Widnes. (he meant it too).” He goes on to boast that Roger and he go ‘poncing and ultrablagging just about everywhere,” which led to the pair “being termed as a couple of queens.” Interestingly, this word doesn’t seem to imply any of its more modern connotations. There was another term for that, as Ibex’s former drummer was well aware. “Miffer, the sod,” wrote Freddie, “went and told everyone down here that I had seriously turned into a fully-fledged queer.”

“You can see he was exploring the concept there, can’t you?” interjects Mike Bersin, “to see how many people felt about it and how comfortable he was with it. He was always very camp, but when I knew him, he was living with Mary Austin, and I certainly knew at least one other girlfriend he knew at the time. So, he was kind of straight then, but if he hadn’t come out of the closet, he was certainly looking through the keyhole.”

Crucially, as far as Queen’s pre-history is concerned, Freddie pinpoints the date when Ibex became Wreckage: “Our first booking as Wreckage is on Friday, 31st October at Ealing College,” he wrote. He also names Richard Thompson, the former drummer in Brian May’s 1984, as Miffer’s replacement.

“I’d known Freddie for years,” Richard recalls. “I first met him in 1966. I used to go round his house to listen to Beatles records. Then we’d go and watch Smile play, before he joined Ibex. I knew all of Ibex’s songs, as I’d watch them perform, so there was no point auditioning anyone else.”

With Wreckage’s first (and Freddie’s forth) concert appearance just five days away, the band set about rehearsing a new set. “Mike came down today,” wrote Freddie to Celine, “for a five-hour live marathon practise. Richard collapsed halfway through and I’ve really gone and lost my voice (no kidding). It hurts just to breathe. Hope I’m OK for this Friday, ‘cause I’m going to out-ponce everybody in sight. (it shall be easy.)” Freddie ended the letter with this hitherto unpublished information: “We’ve written a few new numbers: 1) ‘Green’; 2) ‘Without You’, 3) ‘Blag-a-blues’, 4) ‘Cancer on My Mind’ (originally called ‘Priestess’.)

“Freddie always had very unusual titles at that stage.” Recalls Mike Bersin. “I can’t remember what ‘Green’ was about. It might be the one with the intro which went, E, A, D, G, D, A, E, A, D, G, D, A in guitar chords”. As neither Ibex nor Wreckage went within striking distance of a recording studio, none of these songs was ever recorded officially. Miraculously, however one of them has survived – and it’s the one that stuck in Mike Bersin’s mind, ‘Green’.

...“We also played somewhere in Richmond, at a rugby club,” recalls John Taylor. “A friend of Brian May’s arranged it, and Brian came along. He thought our image was ‘savage’. He thought we were really good. ‘Oh Savage’ he said.”

#ibex #ibex band #wreckage #wreckage band #freddie mercury #smile #smile band #roger taylor #brian may

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scandeniall · 4 years

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mirrors for friends ch //4

pairing: TBD x reader

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wc: 2338

during songs: reader is normal text, atsumu is italicized and bold denotes them singing together

Ch 4 New Tattoos and Dates

The bell above the door rang signaling a visitor to the tattoo shop. Iwaizumi didn’t pay it much attention as he continued setting up his station, one earbud in. If it were some walk in, he had no doubt that one of the other artists would take it and he didn’t have any scheduled appointments. It was an average Wednesday afternoon. Very few walk-ins during the middle of a workday, and he had 2 appointments which had been done earlier, and a consultation in the early evening. The call of his name by the shop's receptionist, caused him to halt. Looking at the cause of his disturbance he was met with the familiar face of his friend and lead singer of his band. After a quick thanks and greeting, Iwaizumi led the girl towards the back of the shop, to his station.

“So what’s up (Y/N).” Iwaizumi had, texted you earlier in the day, to confirm whether or not you two were still in for a quick session. He’d also checked if you were interested in color so that he could be as close to set up as possible for when you arrived. He knew it wouldn’t be too long, or else you wouldn’t have made the trip during your lunch break.

“Well obviously I want a tattoo,” you murmured, shuffling through your tote bag for something. You heard Iwaizumi restate obviously, before he went to get a new box of gloves from the back room. By the time he had come back you found what you were looking for and handed him a sheet of paper that had been folded at least 10 times. “I want this.”

You watched as your friend traced his fingers over the lines of the worn paper. “It’s pretty. Did-“

“Yeah. He did,” you cut your friend off confirming his suspicion on who drew the design. “He did it a few months ago. And the way things are now, I just wanted to finally get it on me. So I could quit walking around with the paper, y’know.” Iwaizumi nodded in response, before pulling you into a hug. “How’s he doing,” he whispered, pulling away just enough to look at you. “Same as usual.” The sad smile on your face caused an uncomfortable pain in his own chest. “But hey, at least things aren’t getting worse. Now stop going all soft on me, I’m tryna get tatted.” Your voice didn’t have its usual lilt present when teasin, but nonetheless Iwaizumi pulled away after placing a light kiss on your temple. “You know we’re here for you,” Iwaizumi felt the need to remind you and with that you slightly returned to normal. “Yes dad I know. Now c’mon I only have an hour.” Unbuttoning your shirt, you relaxed on the cushioned table.

The needle buzzing was like music to your ears. You’d laid quietly on your side, scrolling through your phone as your friend bent over you, bringing the picture to life. The stinging on your side wasn’t too bad. You'd been able to do that until he got to the part of your tattoo that came on your inner rib cage. Your flinching hadn’t gone unnoticed by your friend. “How you holding up. This area hurts like a bitch.” You hummed in response before telling him to distract you.

“Well I’m going on a date this weekend after practice,” Iwaizumi said pausing to dip more ink.

“The Iwaizumi Hajime is going on a date. Dude how long has it been.”

“You’re annoying. It hasn’t been that long you know.”

“It’s been like 3 years dude. But you’re better than the rest of us I suppose. Our band is literally full of failures in love.” You laugh before wincing. Iwaizumi offers a quick apology before agreeing with you. He was the member that went on the least number of dates, mostly due to not wanting to deal with the games and drama that came with dating in your 20s. Iwaizumi had always held some sentiment of not wanting to waste his time, but that seemed to only grow stronger the older he got.

The man remembers his only serious and long term relationship years ago. He met her at 17, the two dating for 4 whole years. Years that turned out to be a waste of his time. He’d ended up getting sent pictures of his girlfriend cheating on him. Her and the guy were cuddled up kissing and seeming very much in love right in the middle of a park. The guy was completely opposite of him. Once he confronted the girl about it she told him that he was too rigid for her. Too made of steel and rough around the edges. He was more outgoing and extroverted and everything Iwaizumi wasn’t. He wore the type of clothes Iwaizumi would cringe at but wore anyway to make the girl happy. The new guy didn’t have any tattoos or any ear piercings and apparently the two of them just clicked. At the time of the breakup the artist had been in the early stages of his friendships with you and Kuroo around that time, and the two of you helped him deal with his heartbreak through writing.

The three of you crafted one of the songs that the band still played often. If You Can’t Hang. It was written before you had even met Atsumu, let alone became a band. It was the first time Iwaizumi had gotten into song writing, and that first song is still being played by you all.

“She came in for a tattoo a few weeks ago. We’ve been texting since.” You hum in acknowledgement, as he put the finishing touches. The minute you felt the fmailr coolness of foam hit your skin, you locked your phone. “All done, come take a look.” You took your friends hand as he walked you towards his mirror. Maneuvering the button up blouse, you looked at the art, a gasp escaping your mouth. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” While you were usually better with words, your friend knew that this time was different. He carefully examined your posture, to make sure you were really ok, before you turned to face him.

The sincerity in your eyes whenever you allowed Iwaizumi to tattoo you never failed to put a smile on his face. While this wasn't the first tattoo he’d given you (you insisted on never going to another artist since you and Kuroo met him all those years ago), this one is now your most personal one to date. He knew it, and you trusted him. “Anytime kid,” he replied, now covering the new art with plastic. “You're only a year older, Iwa.” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes as you buttoned up your shirt. “Yet, I’ve become a dad to three brats. I know you have to go, so let's get you all checked out.”

You paid and then started your trek back to work, pulling up the band group chat:

‘Just got tatted ;)’ Attached was a photo of your new tattoo. Three wildflowers whose stems overlapped to resemble a bouquet. A budding rose, a peony and a gardenia, whose stems had small buds coming out of them. You laughed at the reactions from your friends. Atsumu uses a sickening amount of emojis to hype you.

‘Damn (Y/N).’

A minute later you opened up your individual texts with Kuroo to see his response to the new ink.

‘Just let me know when, and I’m there.’

----

You eyed the time on your phone before glancing back towards your drummer who had been typing away at his phone. When you caught his eye you gave a knowing nod. His date was tonight, and he hadn’t mentioned it to any of the other two boys chatting away. It was nearing 8pm, around the time you guys usually stopped for the night. You all had time to practice 1 more song.

“Hey how do you guys feel about running Agree to Disagree again. I wanna try the guitar backing for Kuroo again. Then let's call it a night?” The rounds of approval caused you to go pick up your own guitar. “Yo (Y/N) we doing version 1 or 2,” Atsumu asked excitedly. Considering this song was largely written by him, it was one of his favorites. You had to admit, it was a fun song as well. If Kuroo was your meaningful genius, and Iwaizumi the heartbreak specialist, Atsumu’s songs were fun.

Agree to Disagree absolutely screamed Atsumu. It was smooth, and cocky just like him. His bass in the song was also insane. It was him in a song, and that showed whenever you guys played that song. You remember when you first heard the lyrics in the first verse about him not having time for anyone other than himself. You’d teased him about the fact that at least he was self aware. This song was also one of the only where you, Atsumu, and Kuroo all did some vocal work. Kuroo being on the bridge had been due to the fact that he helped Atsumu write the song and that the two of them didn’t know what else to do for the end.

The differences in the song versions were whether you backed Atsumu more or if he backed you more. The two of you also went back and forth more creating for what felt like a more energetic and dynamic version of the song on 2. After thinking about your attempt at guitar in this song, which you didn’t do too often, you felt confident in your choice. “Fuck it, lets do version 2. All in boys” You high fived your bassist as you heard Iwaizumi count you all down and Kuroo strums the first chords.

Maybe I should care a little more about what everybody thinks But I just don't have the time for nobody but me The mood I'm in keeps changing like the weather So you can keep the sun 'cause I like the night time better You think you're better than me? You don't like what you see? I think it's best we agree to disagree

You’d picked up the guitar backing easily this time around, and felt comfortable enough to start engaging with your bandmates. The second half of the chorus you’d made your way over to Atsumu, leaning so that you were sharing his microphone.

I'm doing fine by myself I never asked for your help I think it's best we agree to disagree

I wear my heart on my sleeve like a worn-out sweater But with a needle and some thread, I've been keeping it together Life's too short to be worried 'bout whatever So you keep shining in the sun, but I like the night time better

The ending of the song was met with high fives all around. “You did good (Y/N). Think we’re ready to take that version live.” Kuroo complimented you, taking the guitar you handed him before running your arm across your sweaty forehead. “Thanks dude. Maybe. That felt good. What’d you think Tsumu?” You were meant with a sweaty body throwing himself at you, to which you cringed.

“Hell yeah. Stop pushing me away, I’m tryna love ya.”

“Iwa, get him off of me.” You managed to push the younger boy off, but not before the oldest member told you that you were out of luck. The 4 of you cleaned up, 3 of you grabbing your instruments and their cases, as you all made your way to Iwaizumi’s front door. “Samu’s going out tonight any of ya wanna join?” Iwaizumi made some excuse about wanting to clean up, causing you to laugh at the lie. You looked at Kuroo who shook his head. “Can’t man. Got an early meeting tomorrow for this project. I need my beauty sleep.”

“Too bad your beauty sleep doesn’t do shit for your hair.”

“Says the old man, turning down a night out to clean up.” Kuroo yawns, being the first one to head outside the rest of you following. He reaches for your guitar case, now holding them both before nodding towards your car. “I took the motorcycle tonight.” He spoke, forcing your attention to the bike, his mother had gifted him once he graduated college. “I just had Iwa stop by my place earlier and pick it up. Anyways, I’ll see you guys tomorrow. We’re filming a youtube video right?” At your confirmation, Kuroo nodded before placing both instruments in your back seat. He gave the three of you a last wave, before riding off.

“I’m down to go out. Just let me head home first to shower. I miss Samu anyways.”

The bassist nods, typing a message, presumably to Osamu. “I can pick you up, just text me when you're ready.” You groan, causing him to shoot you an annoyed glance. “Dude, that means I’m gonna have to sit in your backseat while you take your hookup home.”

“That hasn’t happened in years. Besides, I’m too tired to pick up someone tonight. Just tryna get a drink or two and hang out.” Your reluctant agreeing, causes the bassist to head off, He bids Iwaizumi a goodbye, and promises to see you in a few.

“Has it really been years, since he pulled that?” Iwaizumi’s question causes you to laugh. He knew the three of you well enough to know that saying years was probably a stretch. “It's been maybe a year. But this time, I won’t have you or Kuroo to call.”

“You’ll be fine. Text me what bar you guys go to so I go anywhere but there. Be safe tonight, and tell Osamu I said hello.” You give the man a nod and a thumbs up before walking to your own car. You notice he watches as you get in the vehicle and roll your window down to yell out. “Good luck on the date. Go get us a real band mom!”

a/n: whew yes i am finally on plot track now. Also remember because i dont know which guy this is gonna be (only because i love my ideas for them all) for I take any and all suggestions. Anyways, the link is the exact tattoo and placement bc its cute to me. I’ve honestly had this written for at least 2 days now but i dont want to seem like im posting too much? BUT Let the plot commence now!

taglist: @o51oc

#haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #iwaizumi x reader #atsumu x reader #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu imagine #kuroo x reader #mirrors for friends

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jjungkooksthighs · 3 years

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1st: I enjoyed the album. Top 3 are Stay, Dis-ease and Telepathy 💃🏽I'll be honest, I liked the MV for Life Goes On but there was something going on with the bass 🧐 plays fine on spotify tho. I know there's people out there that are really struggling during these times and the songs hit harder personally for them while other people weren't expecting the style Life Goes On brings. Its an album for the fans and not my 1st choice if I was trying recruit new people lol Hope I made sense XD💜

You made sense! I totally feel this. I am a dedicated and very loyal fan myself as someone that has been following them since their debut in 2013, so I have supported them for a very long time and will continue to do so for the many years yet to come.

However, if I had someone I was trying to introduce BTS to, I think I would show them the previous work of BTS like Love Yourself: Tear or Wings, for example. Maybe after that, I would bring this album to their attention, but I would definitely recommend BE for those who are struggling. It is a good source of comfort, for sure, if you are going through a rough time and I can understand how others would love this album as I have already seen. I think the boys put in work for this one and it definitely shows! I’m especially proud of Kook for his directing skills in the MV. It was very well done and I am so glad he seemed to have had a good time doing that as he stated in the Global Press Conference yesterday!

BE is a very interesting album in terms of the styles of the songs with three of the eight being retro-themed (Dynamite, Telepathy and Dis-ease) with the other three being slower and more melancholy (Life Goes On, Blue and Grey and Fly To My Room). Personally, I liked 7 better than this one, but that is just my opinion! I have seen lots of other people on Tumblr commenting their favorite songs off BE amongst other loving praises that I’ve come across and I think that is wonderful.

For me, though, I will say that Life Goes On definitely caught me off guard as I wasn’t expecting that style of song at all. Despite that, the fact that my bias directed this MV was something very unique that I really enjoyed seeing. If words would embody this song, I would choose succor’s solace as the epitome of this track. It is relief rolled into audio and it is such a gift to have a song like this in the hard times that we have been attacked with. This is certainly a song that you’d listen to on the way home from work after a long day or while you’re in the midst of studying, doing schoolwork or even at home working on assignments or tasks for your job. It is also something you’d listen to when you feel like the problems and struggles you face are just too much and need to be reminded that, per the song’s title, life continues on and that we must push forward to enjoy the little things and the big. I liked this track the most, I think. I myself am facing some things in my life right now and the core message of this song resonated deeply with me. To that end, this track is every bit the comfort song they intended it to be and this song, along with Spring Day, sit at the same table for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Fly To My Room’s mellow beat is something that I think would be a great listen at night after the trials and woes of the day and it was interesting to see sope/vmin in the same track and how those two subunits meshed together to create something entirely new and unseen before.

Blue and Grey... this one sounded familiar to me and it took me all but two seconds to realize where I had heard it before. This is the same song that Taehyung teased in Bon Voyage when he was sitting in the canoe out on the lake. The song sounded so very different in this rendition and I was very surprised to see this song in the album when I had originally thought it would be in Tae’s mixtape! This is definitely a song you listen to in the rain and when the sun has been masked by the clouds in the sky. It is also a song you’d listen to once the sun has set and you walk outside just to have some fresh air and reminisce either about the past or to think on the stresses of your present. I think this track has the power to ease both and that is a powerful thing, indeed.

Telepathy I really liked! I think the upbeat form of this one definitely was a nice break from the slow beat of the first three songs on the album and, because this one is BTS’s love letter to ARMY, I think that is a very special thing that we as their fans should cherish in their thought towards us during the times that have befallen us and taken from us (and them) their ability to see us beyond a screen. I think the flow of the song is perfect and the flux of the voices of the members works very well for the positive energy they are trying to instill in it. From beginning of this song, when I heard it, I knew I was going to like it. It had a starry, celestial vibe to it and for some reason, when I hear it, I think of shooting stars that fly through the night sky. True to that image, this is a song you’d listen to when you’re with friends to recall the bonds you make with those closest to you (and those farthest from you) no matter where in the world they are. This is a song you’d also listen to to PARTY PARTY, YEAH! (I’m sorry, but ever since I heard that from Kook, it has been living in my mind rent free) In any case, this is a nice song to uplift you and would also be good to put on after a bad day so that you can look back on all the good things life despite the bad. That message is a very strong one, indeed, so that definitely makes this song a favorited one for me.

As an English major at my university, the title of Dis-ease was interesting as someone that often studies semantics and semiotics in language and literature. It was intriguing to see that they chose to deconstruct the word of disease and split it into its alternative form to convey an entirely new meaning from what one might assume the word means at first glance. While they could have chosen to name the song DISEASE, which is a word associated with sickness, illness or an ailing, afflicted health condition that most link with weakness and feebleness, BTS decided to utilize a play on words and use an older version of the word that now has two different meanings linked with it, I found it fascinating that they named the song what they did, for dis-ease was often used in the past to denote a lack of ease or absence of relief in an individual. It was only later that the word was changed once individuals started tagging health related conditions with actual infections or maladies when viruses and mental illnesses began to gain a name for themselves in the colonizing world. Ironically enough, the word dis-ease is now used by medical practitioners in healing environments for individuals that are on the road to eudemonia or betterment of themselves and the word is purposefully used to endow awareness of compromised health on a singular cause or root.

I don’t think I need to explain why that is significant in the scheme of the situation that our world has come to, but I shall say it anyway: this is meaningful in that BTS decides to fight back and combat the negativity that would threaten to swallow them (and those who listen and internalize the lyrics of the song for themselves and thusly feel the message they are trying to give to us) to instead grapple and wrestle with it by loudly bringing attention to it rather than allowing it to silently consume and germinate within them. This, for me, was very empowering to hear and is one of the many reasons why I appreciate this song in particular amongst the lyrics that target and attack the “diseases” that would try to take from us our wellbeing. The track is a battle cry to keep fighting and that, in it of itself, is a very powerful thing that strikes very deep within me. The bridge at the end with Kook and Jimin, by the way… literal EARGASM, MA’AM. Anyway, this is a song that you’d listen to in the morning to get yourself hype for the day. It is something you’d put on in the desire to boost your spirits if they are low and honestly could be listened to in any situation.

Lastly, we have Stay. This subunit of NamKookJin was certainly a pleasant surprise to me! Kook’s involvement in this track doesn’t go unnoticed in the emotion that is present in his voice (amongst Joon and Jin, of course), but there’s also something about this song that goes straight for the heartstrings in the pledge of continued loyalty that is subliminal in its subtlety. I adored this song and this track’s EDM style was a wonderful finale of the album in its summation that there are low points in life (as the first few tracks suggest) and that there are high points and life. I think that through this song, the three boys who sang in it were wonderful in their energy that was so vibrant. It was wonderful to hear the three of them meld together in a unit that also was unlike what we have heard before. I know the song must have meant a lot to the three of them because Joon is Kook’s role model as he has stated many times and to sing with one’s idol would certainly be a powerful thing, indeed. The fact that Jin was in it too much have had so much meaning for Kook since Jin is like a brother to him and took care of him (and honestly, he still does, let’s be real) when he was younger.

The song’s lyrics themselves reach out to the ARMY that Jungkook said the song was meant for in his, Joon’s and Jin’s efforts to remind us that, as their fans, they hope that we will always remain with them and that they know the times are going to change for the better. I enjoyed this song very much and it would definitely be a song you’d listen to be reminded of the love that BTS has for you and that despite everything, you will always have a place with them even if you feel lost in the world around you. I think a situation you’d put this on would be when you are need just that extra bit of confidence to get you through an anxiety inducing time whether it be a test for school or even a meeting for work.

With all of this in mind, my favorite songs are as follows: Dis-ease, Telepathy, Stay and Life Goes On. It is hard to pick a favorite among those four, but those were my most liked tracks for sure!

Overall, I think the album definitely is one meant to soothe the soul and the boys have succeeded in that without fail. It is clear that the boys worked hard on this and their efforts were not vain! This is an album that I think we all needed to close out a tough year and it took me some to get all my thoughts together, but now that I have listened to the whole album once again, I’m liking it more with each time I hear it. It is always amazing to me how BTS continues to do what no one else does: letting their genuine feelings shine through their music that inspires light in so many. I am proud of each and every one of them and they deserve some hard earned rest after their efforts!

#jungkook #bts #be review #this turned long #really long #im sorry

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grimelords · 4 years

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October Playlist

My October playlist is finished and it’s complete from Rico Nasty to Rachmaninoff. I absolutely guarantee there’s something you’ll love in this 3 and a half hours of music, and probably something you’ll hate too! Something for everyone!

If you’d like to have these playlists delivered to your inbox instead of having them randomly appear on your dash, please subscribe to my tinyletter here.

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Santeria - Pusha T: In anticipation of Jesus Is King I relistened to the entire Wyoming Sessions project a few times, and a year removed from all the hype and controversy here's the thing: it's fucking great. The individual albums ranged pretty widely in quality and felt slightly unfinished for how short they were sometimes, but taking the project as a whole 5-album 120 minute playlist it turns out it's a masterpiece. My personal tracklist goes Ye/Daytona/Nasir/KTSE/Kids See Ghosts, which isn't release order but I think makes it flow the best - both Kanye albums bookending it and the less impactful Nas and Teyana Taylor albums buried a bit further in where you can appreciate them now that you're deep in the mindset of the whole thing rather than alone on their own.

Puppets (Succession Remix) - Pusha T & Nicholas Brittel: This remix is such a perfect match: Pusha T’s corporate villainy finally given a context and prestige it deserves. It’s also short enough that it could feasible be the actual theme song next season, which would be a marked improvement imo.

Use This Gospel - Kanye West, Clipse & Kenny G: I am and remain a Kanye stan, even after everything. It’s nice to see him going back to the extremely uneven mastering of MBDTF era, it’s a sound that is uniquely his and it’s fun to see him revisit it. The thick vocoder harmony is so soupy you get lost in it, and the way it opens up to include the full choir in the No Malice verse is beautiful. Kanye reunited Clipse through Christ and we have Him to thank for that at least. The Kenny G break is great, and the grain and dirt on the whole track when the beat kicks in is so gritty you can feel it.

Man Of The Year - Schoolboy Q: I didn't love the Chromatics album they surprise released but it did thankfully remind me of the time Schoolboy Q sampled Cherry for Man Of The Year. Taken exclusively on lyrics, Man Of The Year is a triumph: he's the man of the year and it's all worked out but the sample and the beat underscores the dead eyed melancholy that runs through the whole of Oxymoron of never winning even when you've won.

Cold - Rico Nasty: This song fucking tears your face off. Imagine STARTING your album at this level of intensity. She just goes straight to 100 and burns the house down. Outside of Lil John so few rappers can get away with just straight up screaming in the adlibs but the way she just lung tearingly screams GOOOO through this is fucking sick.

Fake ID - Riton & Kah-Lo: TikTok songs are becoming their own genre, but it’s a very nebulous sort of a mood encompassing everything from aughts pop punk hooks to skipping rope raps like this. It’s a strange new way for songs to blow up that everyone seems compelled to write articles about but my take on it is it’s exactly the same as ads were in the old days. Remember how many songs did absolute numbers because someone put it in a Motorola ad? Same thing except you’re not being sold a phone this time, so in some ways it’s better. Anyway, this song bangs. The spirit of 212 era Azealia Banks lives on even if she’s doing her best ever since then to kill it.

Doctor Pressure - MYLO & Miami Sound Machine: There was a very good era in the mid-2000s where you could just put mashups out as singles and they’d chart, it was sick. My only two examples are this and Destination Calabria but I’m sure there’s more. Drop The Pressure is a masterpiece but as an alternate version this mashup is equally masterful.

If You’re Tarzan, I’m Jane - Martika: Martika is unfortunately best known for the 1989 one hit wonder Toy Soldiers, a sort of boring overdramatic ballad which is best known for being sampled by Eminem in 2004 in his quite bad super duper serious song Like Toy Soldiers. I say unfortunately because every other song on her first album is great, it’s all hypercolour 80s synthpop and I love this song especially because it is so completely stuffed with activity it becomes dizzying. It gets so lost in itself that they completely abandon the dramatic pause before “I’m Jane” for some reason toward the end and instead just layer three different tracks of vocal adlibs. Every part of this song is great, the weird ‘o we o we o’ chant before the second verse? The neighing horse guitar before the bridge? The musical tour of the world IN the bridge? The part where she says ‘I want to swing on your vine?’. This song has everything.

You Got Me Into This - Martika: Every part of the instrumentation in this is amazing. The bass sound, the main synth, the extremely athletic brass, the wonderful echoing 80s snare that’s as big as a house. I just love it. She also does some really intriguing slurs on the word ‘love’ all the way through, just moving it around absolutely anywhere.

Space Time Motion - Jennifer Vanilla: I love when someone has such a clearly defined aesthetic and mission from the very beginning. Jennifer Vanilla is the alter ego of Becca Kaufmann from Ava Luna who I've had in this playlist before but never competely investigated. Jennifer Vanilla feels like an episode of Sex And The City where Samantha gets really into Laurie Anderson and she is incredible. This video is the best mission statement I’ve ever seen and is currently criminally underviewed so please do your part and support the Jennifer cause by watching these two videos.

So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings - Caroline Polachek: Caroline Polachek said watch me write a Haim song and did it. Apparently the very early versions of this album started when she was in writing sessions for Katy Perry, but then it started to turn into something else and she took it for herself, and I think you can hear that. With more normal production and a little faster this is a hundred percent a Katy Perry song, but instead it’s completely uniquely Caroline Polachek and it’s all the better for it. And also Katy Perry must be furious because her new songs are simply not good at all.

Electric Blue - Arcade Fire: I just love the obsession of this song in the outro, chanting over and over and over “Cover my eyes electric blue, every single night I dream about you”

Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado and Timbaland: I got a youtube ad for one of those Masterclass videos the other day and it was Timbaland teaching production. This ad went for five minutes for some reason and I watched the whole thing and it made me admire Timbaland even more. He’s demonstrating his compositional technique which is basically to just beatbox, and then loop it, and then add some extra percussion layers with more beatboxing and hand percussion, then loop that and add a little melody by singing or humming. ‘It’s that simple’ he says. Then later he goes back in and puts in actual drums or synths or whatever. I was stunned because suddenly a lot of his music makes sense. Without the barrier of instrument or timbre to get hung up on it allows him to write from this instantly head-nodding place of just making up a little beat you can sing and dance to immediately. Listening to a lot of his music now you can hear the bones underneath everything so clearly, all his beats are supremely beatboxable and all his melodies are very hummable, they’ve never overcomplicated by instrumental skill or habits, they just exist to serve the song.

Serpent - TNGHT: TNGHT are back baby and this song is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It feels like afrofuturist footwork from another dimension, the mbira sounding lead against the oil drum percussion in this cacophony of yelps and screams that just builds to an irrepressible energy without a bassline in sight.

Ghosts Of My Life - Rufige Kru: I'm reading Mark Fisher's Ghosts Of My Life right now and some good person has put together a spotify playlist of all the songs he mentions. He has a whole essay about why this song is sick so I’m not going to go into it here but it’s interesting to hear about someone growing up with jungle when it’s a genre that has always felt very niche to me. I guess partly as a result of it never really making it mainstream as a genre here, and also me being a little too young for it.

Renegade Snares - Omni Trio: My biggest introduction to drum and bass comes from the game Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition and this really great song from the soundtrack that is finally on spotify after a very long absence. At almost the exact same time as I discovered this song with its spacious piano and repitched snares, I discovered Venetian Snares and breakcore in general. Having no particular frame of reference for breakcore as an offshoot of drum and bass only amplified its appeal to me as a completely alien genre that sounded like nothing else I’d ever heard, and so my personal history with drum and bass is a story of walking backwards into it after the fact which is interesting if not helpful.

Punching In A Dream - The Naked And Famous: The Mark Fisher book also mentions the Tricky song which I’ve never heard from which The Naked And Famous got their name and I thought ‘man remember The Naked And Famous, they were sick?’. The sort of harder edged Passion Pit instrumentation mixed with pop punk, a winning combination.

Vegas - Polica: My favourite part of this song is the unexpected blastbeats after the chorus, using their two drummers to their full advantage and just shaking the song by its foundations every now and then lest you get too comfortable.

Right Words - Cults: I’m beginning to suspect I may be the last surviving Cults stan but if this be my lot I’ll gladly do it

Running From The Sun - Chromatics: The new Chromatics album got me to relisten to their definitive document Kill For Love, and something new I appreciated this time about an album I love a lot is its length. Kill For Love is almost 80 minutes long and it luxuriates in that length. It’s sequenced perfectly so it never feels like it’s long for no reason, but large chunks just completely space out and go out of focus in the soft neon light and the second half of this song is a good example. The whole thing just evaporates into smoke and it feels perfect. If this were a shorter and more concise song that had a proper ending it wouldn’t feel right, this whole album has no straight edges at all and it’s all the better for it.

Chance - Angel Olsen: I cannot belive this song. This feels like she wrote her own version of My Way looking forward instead of back. Instead of the ruefully triumphant "I've lived a life that's full / I've traveled each and every highway" it's “I don't want it all / I've had enough / I don't want it all / I've had a love." before the turn from the future to the present at the end, where she gives up on a forever love in exchange for right now. I love how raw this vocal take feels. It's not her best voice but it feels very very honest as a result. She's just singing her heart out in this huge showstopping closer. In an interview she said "I didn’t love the recording of it very much, and now I just feel in love with it as a closing statement, because it’s a way of saying, ‘Look, I have hope for the next thing in my life.’ I’m not going to anticipate negativity or hate or an end. But instead of us looking towards forever, why don’t we just work on right now?"

Something To Believe - Weyes Blood: This album just keeps paying dividends. I’m systematically going through long obsessive periods with every single song on it and now it’s Something To Believe’s turn.

Don’t Shut Me Up (Politely) - Brigid Mae Power: Without meaning to, Brigid Mae Power seems to have created some incredible fusion of folk music and stoner metal. The way this song absolutely sits unmoving on one deep and resonant chord for so long is amazing. When it does change chords it feels like a full body effort to get up and shift. She has a similar feeling to Emma Ruth Rundle, who more explicitly wears her metal influences, but Brigid Mae Powers' strength is in how much it resembles the traditional folk side of the spectrum. Her voice is also amazing, with the huge effortless runs she goes on about halfway through just coming unmoored from the song completely and floating off into space.

Sweetheart I Ain’t Your Christ - Josh T. Pearson: I had a real problem with Josh T. Pearson for a long time because of how he presents as so authentic on this album, and as I’ve previously discussed in these playlists the concept of authenticity in country music is a source of neverending anguish for me. But his newest album The Straight Hits! has largely cured that for me because it’s not good at all, is extremely contrived (all the song titles have the word ‘hit’ in them) and he’s shaved his beard and replaced it with one of the worst irony moustaches I’ve ever seen. So now I’m free to enjoy The Last Of The Country Gentlemen as a character construction, which allows me a far deeper and truer engagement than the idea of a man actually living and thinking like this which is frankly a little embarrassing.

Codeine Dream - Colter Wall: I love this song, it has that feeling that great folk songs do of feeling like you’ve always known it. The strongest moments on this Colter Wall album to me are in songs like this that chase this particular feeling of morose isolation, and where he leans away from storytelling like his biggest hit Kate McCannon - a kind of cliche country murder ballad. This song is fantastic because of the way it wallows in this black depression not as a low point, but as a reprieve from the lower previous point. Things are as bad as they get now, and they’re always going to be like this, but at least I don’t dream of you anymore.

Motorcycle - Colter Wall: I only just found out about Colter Wall this month and have been listening to this album over and over. When I first heard him I though it was strange I'd never heard of him before because he's obviously some old country veteran based off his voice, but it turns out he's 24 and this is his first album he just sings like he ate a cigar. I love this song especially because it's so straighforward. It's a simple and supremely relatable mood: what if I bought a motorbike and fucking died.

Who By Fire - Leonard Cohen: I watched American Animals a couple of weeks ago and it’s a great movie, highly recommended. This song plays near the end and I waited for the credits to find out what this great song was, and like a rube found out it’s only one of the most celebrated songwriters of all time. I’ve never had much of a Leonard Cohen phase, somehow. In my mind I always get him mixed up with Lou Reed, which I’m learning is actually way off. I love the harmony vocals in this, and the way they move around into the shadows in the ‘who shall I say is calling’ parts.

Words From The Executioner To Alexander Pearce - The Drones: Alexander Pearce was a convict who escaped Sarah Island’s penal settlement in Tasmania with seven other convicts in 1822. He was recaptured two months later alone. In 1823 he re-escaped with a fellow convict, Thomas Cox and again was returned alone.He was executed by hanging later having eaten six men during his escape attempts.

It Ain’t All Flowers - Sturgill Simpson: I found this album going through the Pichfork 200 albums of the decade list and I feel like a fool for not having heard it sooner because now I am completely obsessed. Sturgill Simpson is doing the very best work in country music right now because he's looking backwards with one eye and forwards with the other and this song is a great illustration: a perfect Hank Williams Jr type country song with big voiced hollers that morphs into a surprise psych freakout for the whole second half.

Desolation Row (Take 1, Alternate Take) - Bob Dylan: I’ve always liked Desolation Row a lot as a song but the acoustic guitar on the album version is simply not good, it's just kind of mindlessly playing this long directionless solo the whole time and over the course of a song this long it really adds up to just being annoying. Luckily because it’s a Bob Dylan song there’s a whole universe of alternate takes and mixes and this is a great pared down version I found without it. The best kind of Bob Dylan songs are the ones where he just makes an endless stream of allusions and bizzare imagery, and this and Bob Dylan's 115th Dream are my favourite examples of it.

Living On Credit Blues - El Ten Eleven: This is a groove I get stuck in my head a lot, and this is also a song I think would work well as a theme for a tv show. I've been meaning to do a 30 second edit of it just for my own amusement, maybe I'll do that soon. El Ten Eleven are a duo where one guy plays drums and one guys plays a double necked guitar/bass and looping pedals and somehow against all the odds of that description they manage to make emotional, driving instrumental music of very deep feeling, like this song which is one of my all time favourites.

Dusty Flourescent/Wooden Shelves - Talkdemonic: This is sort of a companion Living On Credit Blues, and Talkdemonic are similarly an instrumental duo with good drums. This entire album from 2005 is highly recommended, it's a sort of halfway between the post rock of the time and a kind of acoustic hiphop instrumentals that ends up sounding very rustic and homemade, like a soudtrack for a winter cabin.

Turnstile Blues - Autolux: This is a perfect song, built around a perfect beat. Every part just fits perfectly.

Fort Greene Park - Battles: The new Battles album is finally out and I absolutely love it. I cannot think of another band that has shed members in the same way as Battles; originally a quartet on their first album, then a trio for their second and third and now down to a duo for their fourth album - and somehow still performing material from their first album live. The paring down has seemingly only servers to focus them and the new album sounds fresh but still distinctively Battles, with no sense of anything lost or missing. This song is my standout so far, and the guitar line in particular is so good and interesting to me because I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ian Williams play something so distinctly guitar-y in his whole career. This is a straight up pentatonic riff with bends and everything. Filtered through his usual chopped and looped oddness it feels like he’s almost gone all the back around the guitar continuum and is this close to just doing power chords next album. And I’ll support him!

Diane Young - Vampire Weekend: I've listened to this song a lot in my life and I only looked up the lyrics the other day to find out that the opening line is 'you torched a SAAB like a pile of leaves' which I somehow never noticed. What a power phrase. There's also this very good quote from Ezra about it: "I had this feeling that the world doesn’t want a song called ‘Dying Young’,“ says Koenig, "it just sounded so heavy and self-serious, whereas ‘Diane Young’ sounded like a nice person’s name.”" and he was right to do it. This song is 100 times better because he’s saying Diane Young than it would be if he was saying ‘Dying Young’. That’s a songwriting tip for you.

Monster Mash - Bootsy Collins & Buckethead: Hey did you hear Bootsy Collins and Buckethead did a cover of the monster mash? Thank god for freaks.

The Dark Sentencer - Coheed And Cambria: There's not that many bands that I absolutely loved as a teenager that I've completely abandoned. I've moved on from a lot but I'll still keep up with them if they have a new album or something. Coheed And Cambria are one that I've almost completely turned my back on. They've had 3 apparently pretty patchy albums since I stopped listening after Year Of The Black Rainbow, which was extremely bad and really taught me what people mean when they say an album is 'overproduced'. On a whim I decided to see what they're up to now and listened to their album from last year and guess what: it rocks. It's got everything you'd expect from them: big riffs, bad and confusing lyrics, his weird high voice, overwrought and overlong songwriting, cheesy muscleman solos. Everything about this band is sort of cheesy and embarrassing and takes itself way too seriously, but I'm discovering slowly that that's what's so good about it. The weird pulp sci-fi story and mindset that underpins this whole band is ridiculous and overwrought and as a result it gives the music a reason to exist the way it does. It’s so big and dumb because the story it serves is so big and dumb. It feels exactly like reading Perry Rhodan or some increidibly long and dense but not especially good series like that, it’s pulp music and that’s what I love about it.

Romance In A (6 Hands) - Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano works for 4 hands (where two guys sit next to each other on the same piano) have always seemed to tend towards the realm of the gimmick or party trick, and works for 6 hands (where three guys do it) even more so - but this Rachmaninoff piece is just beautiful and I can’t believe I haven’t heard of it before this month. It doesn’t overload everyone with a million things to do, it just builds this very wide harmonic bed for the simple melody to swim in - then the way the melody transfers over to the middle register is just magical before the tension of the final section takes over and builds.

Love's Theme - The Love Unlimited Orchestra: I’m so glad I got to learn about the Love Unlimited Orchestra this month. Aside from having one of the best names in music, they were Barry White’s backing band and had their own solo instrumental records too. Here’s a fun aside: Kenny G was a member when he was 17 and still in high school. This is a genre of music that has seemed to totally disappear into the realm of parody and farce only which is sort of a shame because it is unironically very beautiful and dense in its own way.

Dancing In The Moonlight - Liza Minelli: Can you believe I thought Dancing In The Moonlight by Toploader was an original until the other day when my girlfriend played this Liza Minelli version that predates it by several decades? This also isn’t the original! It was written by a band named King Harvest in 1972, with this version AND a version by Young Generation both coming out in 73 and a whole bunch of others in between (including a Baha Men version in 94) before Toploader finally had a proper hit with it in 2000. Truly the world works in mysterious ways. This version is the finest I think, it just goes and goes, frenetically unwinding at a breakneck pace before opening up into a flute solo of all things and then winding up again even and finishing in a kick line breakdown. Absolutely no limits.

Girls - Royal Headache: The sheer amount of power and melody that this song manages to pack into a minute and a half is incredible, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more instantly relatable opening lyric than “Girl! Think they’re to fine for me! Oh girls! And I’m inclined to agree!”

Pov Piti - Matana Roberts: In anticipation of Matana Roberts new volume of her Coin Coin album series that just came out I relistened through the three previous albums and they are even more powerful than I remembered. This song serves as a pretty good mission statement for the whole project, and the heartrending tortured screams that open it set the tone for the rest of it. Matana Roberts sings the injustices of slavery into being, and her sing-song delivery highlights the trauma - her indifferent delivery mirroring the indifference of the world at large. The way she rattles off this story like she’s gone over it a million times and grown numb to the facts only accentuates the pain in the telling, a pain that rises to the surface in the screams of her instrument and herself.

Kingdoms (G) - Sunn 0))): This new Sun 0))) album is one of my favourites they’ve ever done because it’s so straightforward and back to basics. Every song is just ten minutes of straight up no-nonsense, big, rich, drone. They even put the notes in the track names so you can drone along if you like.

listen here

#playlists

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hippoarchive · 5 years

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Interview with Hippo Campus @ Black Cat

NOVEMBER 15, 2015

On November 11th the members of Hippo Campus scooted into a back room of the Black Cat for an interview before their show. They are a new indie-rock band out of St. Paul Minnesota, in the midst of their South EP Tour. With black X’s on their hands, the band is composed of Jake Luppen, lead vocalist and guitarist, Nathan Stocker on lead guitar, Zach Sutton on bass, and Whistler Allen on drums. The band members attended a Performing Arts High School in the twin cities, where they found their love of music and founded their up and coming band. Since then, they’ve released two EPs: The first -“Bashful Creatures”- came out in February of this year, and the second, called “South”, followed in October. After the sound check, a few brief introductions and a side conversation about scooters and glasses frames the conversation got going.

Michael: Was there a point where you guys knew that you were done with the album or was it just like “we’re going to work on this forever if we don’t put it out”?

Jake: Um… we had three days to record this last one

Whistler: (whispers) 4

Jake: Right, we had four days to do it so we didn’t really have the luxury of spending any time on it besides those four days. So really it wasn’t stressful, I mean it was stressful in those four days and then after that we didn’t fret too much about it… and we’ve had it since like March or February?

Whistler: We’ve had it since January and it was supposed to be released before South… but then it didn’t…. too bad…

Pasha: Just getting started, you guys are like our age so what did you do? What did you do differently that got you here because there are so many people who are trying to figure this out and you’re playing these sold out shows and that is something that so many people only dream of doing. We saw you open for Realestate, which is crazy for a band so new to do so, what did you do?

Jake: We uhhh.. We pray to Satan. Every evening.

Zach: We fit as many seances as we can into a day

Jake: “Satanances”

Whistler: Some people say you can’t pray to Satan at Church, but we do.

Nathan: I couldn’t tell ya…

Zach: We went to a Performing Arts High School, so that’s probably the first thing that’s different

Jake: We’re good friends, which is a good thing as well. We just love hanging out with each other all the time and the other part of the time we’re just not hanging out with anybody.

Whistler: I think a big thing was that we didn’t plan on this being what it is, from my knowledge. We started at the ending of high school and then our first show was about a month after we gradated high school and it was just kinda like “let’s have a big hurrah before everything kinda falls apart after high school” and I think, and i’m not trying to toot our own horn, but having that kind of mentality about it allowed us to not worry and just write whatever we want to write and allowed us to not have any pressure of “we have write something good otherwise we’re not going to be a successful band, Lets just write whatever we feel is best”

Michael: So could you guys tell us a little bit about your name? Was it always the same? How did you come up with it?

Zach: Originally for about a day or two or maybe an hour. The first incarnation was “Tarzan Reject.” It was super sick. (Laughter) and then Hippo Campus. Both have very shallow backstories. There’s really no reason to them. We were walking around one day and someone called Nathan a “tarzan reject” and we said that’s a good band name. And then he was reading a psychology book.

Nathan: So I was in psychology class one day and I was reading about the brain and was like “yo, that’s a cool word” and split it up into two words and that’s a band name.

Pasha: If could play alongside any other band, who would you pick? Dead or Alive?

Jake: If the Beatles opened for us

Pasha: Opened for you!

Nathan: Rupert Holmes… ahh… we could co-headline a tour

Whistler: If we convinced Michael Bolton and Celine Dion to do shows together and then they open for us, that’d be pretty fun

Jake: Guns and Roses

Zach: Yeah, they could be first of three

Whistler: Them, Michael Bolton and Celine Dion, and then us

Jake: Bill Clinton, play some sax (makes saxophone sounds)

Sophia: So you guys have put out some really cool music videos lately. What was your inspiration for them? I know your Violet video doesn’t feature violet once, is there a backstory on that?

Whistler: Color-wise you mean?

Sophia: Yeah

Whistler: Oh, I don’t even think that was our choice. We just showed up and they said “these are the colors we’ve got.” For “Little Grace” and “Souls,” those, well.. “Little Grace” was like our first music video and one of Zach’s friends at his school was doing this project where he did one free music video a day throughout the entire month, and so we went and shot a music video with him. It wasn’t any real super intense thought process.

Jake: Well I mean there was some thought as to the fact that we wanted to create a series of images, I guess. And we wanted to continue to write and do all that stuff and we didn’t want to create a basic music video.

Whistler: And then we made another video for “Souls” and that was definitely more thought out a little more tied to the meaning of the song than “Little Grace” was and the other music videos we’ve made. “Suicide Saturday” was the next one we did and that was not really uh… That one was more of a creative process on the outside for us. It wasn’t as much of our creative minds on it as much as it was the director who shot it.

Zach: We actually had a full treatment that we came up with for it, and then we showed it to our people and they were like “no, let’s not do that.” And then we went to the UK and they had a guy who worked with us to figure out how we could through balloons full of paint at each other. It turned out pretty fun. A long day, and a decent video. And “Violet” was after that.

Whistler: Violet was like the same situation kind of where we didn’t really… I don’t know, we were kind of in a strange mood about doing music videos after doing “Suicide” because it was a situation where we were asked to come up with an idea and then we did and then it wasn’t allowed because “it’s going to take to long to shoot, it’s a music video.” Anyway, we did the “Violet” one and it was definitely a huge step up in terms of production and quality and everything, which was nice. That was probably the nicest thing about it. You can tell there’s a difference.

Sophia: There’s definitely a professionalism.

Whistler: Yeah. The only thing about that video that kinda rubs us the wrong was is the fact that we’re playing our instruments in it, which we were for a while, at least up until that video and still adamant about, but it’s just something that we’re not comfortable with doing and it wasn’t something that we wanted to do, but again… That’s what coming to a live show is for, coming to see us play our instruments then. If you’re just going to watch a video of us playing our instruments then … I don’t know, to us it just feels very cliche and so many music videos have that and we always wanted to stray from that. So it was a weird balance of a cool production, and we aren’t doing what we’d like in the video. Then finally with “South” we were able to get it the way we liked it. Someone that we like a lot came out with a great treatment and really nailed the little idea that we had, the feeling that we had and the vibe. They made it look like a high production than it was, with a drone camera and everything. It was geared less towards the meaning of the song and more of creating a series of images that fit the vibe of the song instead of dealing with the words and the meaning.

Jake: I feel like the best music videos are art pieces within themselves that accompany the song as opposed to being directly informed by the song’s meaning. Videos are a way of collaboration, so you should let the person who you’re collaborating with have a meaning as well as the audience will have their own version of what the song means. I think it works out best when both people are really creatively doing their own thing and trying to make it look as beautiful as possible. I feel like “South” and the first two videos we accomplished best. The others I feel like we accomplished decently, there’s meaning in Violet. “Suicide” I mean sometimes you win sometimes you don’t. We’re learning. We’re a young band, we have a lot to figure out.

Sophia: Where do you see yourselves going as band? It seems like this has all happened very quickly for you, what have been some of the successes and challenge of that?

Jake: I think everything in an of itself is a challenge. I mean the fact that we’re touring and playing these sold out shows is a success, but a challenge is that it negatively impacts your health and your mental state. I mean you’re literally killing yourself some times, but you know, all for the love of what you’re doing. But that goes for just about everything. I mean it’s cool that you get to make videos, but it sucks sometimes that you don’t get to make the videos you want to make. Everything has its ups and its downs, but we’re really fortunate to be doing what we’re doing and as far as the distant future goes, we just try and take it one step at a time, day by day.

Sophia: I saw your video from KEXP with Kevin Cole. I’m an avid fan of the station as it’s from my hometown. What was your experience like with that? How do you think that influenced your audience? It reaches a lot of people, so how do you think that’s affected things?

Zach: Well, that’s a legendary radio station. We were super stoked to do it. Once you get in the room its a lot smaller than it looks.

Whitney: It’s probably the size of this little room.

Zach: A lot the bands we love have done sessions in there so it was pretty humbling to be in the same room. So it was pretty sick. It went well, I think for what we were expecting, they’re getting a new room so

Sophia: Ya! There will be a glass wall so if you guys play there again people can come and see you play. It’ll be way more open to the public.

Jake: That’s awesome.

Michael: In the same vain, we were at the pier show. How was that?

Jake: Yeah, actually pretty crazy story in terms of that. I mean the show was awesome, but this part was really incredible. Do you guys watch the YouTube channel “Good Neighbors” at all? You know Kyle? Well, we’re all monster good neighbor fans. I mean our sense of humor is almost directly informed by those kinds of videos. So hanging out backstage after the show and everything was done and we look over and see Kyle. We’re all freaking out and so Zach and I go over and talk and say like “hey man can we get a picture?” We talk to him and stuff and he was completely different than his character, which completely shocked us. We were just expecting him to flip into Kyle mode, but I guess not. That was my favorite part. The show was great and the view was beautiful, but meeting Kyle was something else.

Pasha: What’s the worst thing that has happened on tour?

Jake: Oh! One time we were in a parking garage and a disclosed person of the band, tore the side of the van off. That was pretty bad.

Whistler: It was the foot step on the side.

Jake: It was a total mistake. It could have happened to any of us.

Zach: That person has apologized and feels no regret.

Whistler: Maybe that one time we got stuck in the McDonalds’s drive through with the van. That was the worst idea.

Zach: I think we’ve had it relatively easy.

Pasha: So imagine you meet your soul mate. The person is perfect for you in every single way and there’s an issue. A person comes up to you and says either someone is going to come to them every year, totally randomly and break their collarbones with a wrench. You can stop this by taking a pill that will make any music you listen to sound like it’s being played by Alice in Chains.

Jake: Well I like that one Alice in Chains song…

Pasha: So do you like take the pill or let everything sound like Alice and Chain?

Whistler: I’d let their collarbones be broken. and I’d probably not see them.

Nathan: That’s really hard, I don’t want that to happen to the person that I love the most in this worth. THAT’S AWFUL! oh man….

Whistler: I couldn’t give up music for that.

Jake: (plays a song by Alice in Chains on his phone and sings along)

Jake: I’d do it anyways man. Alice in Chains all the way.

Nathan: That’s selfish…

Jake: Headline – ‘Hippo Campus is selfish’

Sophia: Who are you’re favorite all time artists, actors, performers?

Whistler: Brad Pitt is my favorite singer. Johnny Depp is my favorite dancer. What about you guys?

Nathan: Favorite singer? Gregory Alan Isakov. He’s just…

Jake: Alanis Morissette is my favorite singer. I like her album “Havoc and Bright Lights.” My favorite actor is Ricky Gervais… What else?

Sophia: Who are you inspired by? That’s really the root of the question.

Jake: I’m inspired by my three best friends. This guy, this guy and this special guy.

Zach: well… I was going to say that too…. Yeah, I’m inspired by the friends. Not really you guys because you’re all so disappointing

Whistler: What other friends are you taking about then?

Zach: Gabe, Rick, Taylor, Johny Depp is great. Angelina Jolie. I don’t know….

Sophia: Are you guys planning on or looking into doing any shows this summer shows or festivals?

Nathan: Hopefully. We’re hoping to. Our team of awesome people are helping us out with those things.

(source: WRGW District Radio)

#Hippo Campus #Jake Luppen #Nathan Stocker #Zach Sutton #Whistler Allen #written interview #interview

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bandsanitizer · 6 years

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Youngblood: Every Track

Except for the Target Exclusive tracks because I haven’t heard them yet.

I personally found this album great because instead of connecting through the music with personal experience, it feels more like diving into and empathizing with the emotions 5sos are giving in the songs. Also, please note the following “analysis/review/babble” is purely from my own inference and opinion. It’s not fact, and I don’t claim it to be, so be kind please. I’m not asking to fight or meaning to hate, I’d love to discuss the album, though.

————————————————————

1. Youngblood

Prior to the album, I didn’t care for the song. I mean, it’s good, but I preferred the live version and just wasn’t the biggest fan. After listening to it with the whole album, though, I now see why it’s the title track and better understand Michael saying it really sets up the whole album.

Sonically, the song offers the mix of pop and rock, old and new, that the entire album has. Of course, it’s more pop, just like the album.

Lyrically, it captures a back-and-forth feeling of a relationship and summarizes the feeling of the album. The whole album feels like a relationship, mostly a break-up. What we’re experiencing emotionally and hear in the lyrics, all ties into a relationship and most obviously, can connect to some of the band’s struggles over the past three years.

Specifically, the falling out of relationships, which I presume, is part of why Luke and Ashton have more writing credits than Calum and Michael. Again, that’s speculative. Still, nothing wrong with being influenced by their love life.

Youngblood, is a song that captures all of the good and bad of a relationship, but through the view of post-break-up. It’s about coming back for something that isn’t good for you and hanging onto a love that isn’t all that loving. It truly makes the album whole, and it’s a jam.

The chorus (THE DRUMS) are so amazing.

2. Want You Back

I’m not going to lie, the first two songs released weren’t my favorites at first. They just didn’t feel the best. Still, I’ve come to like Want You Back the more I listened to it.

I think this song really marked a changed in 5sos’ sound and while it didn’t do well on the charts, I think it was a nice way of introducing fans to a new era of 5sos. Both sonically and lyrically, it’s quite modern pop and captures that “stuck” feeling. It’s like being unable to move forward, but incapable of going back.

It’s a great second track to follow Youngblood, because it really expands upon the relationship described in the title track. It takes you to that place inbetween the leaving and coming back, the push and pull, that’s present in the first song. I’m growing to love it more and more.

Also, Luke saying “fucking” is amazing. And the falsettos kill.

3. Lie To Me

Why is it so short? I need more than 2.5 minutes of this song.

Their HARMONIES. Like, we all know that when 5sos sing together the world is a brighter place, but this song is the ultimate. Their vocals are perfection in this and I’m living for the contrast in the beat/bass with the melodic lyrics and guitar. Fucking love this song.

Confirmation Luke has a lying kink? Yeah.

It’s a softer song and kind of just feels like wishing you didn’t have to move on? It’s like watching someone move past something that still hurts you and you can’t quite grasp why. One of my favorite from the live shows and I’m still waiting for the video.

4. Valentine

The opening is just so beautiful. I like the vocals that accompany the bass at the start. It’s has the vibe of like an chill, kind of lowkey club. It’s not big or bold, very intimate.

THE SINGING OVERALL JUST KILLS ME. Michael’s solo? Calum’s solo? It’s like my soul leaves my body every time I hear the song. Ashton’s backing vocals? KILLER.

The message is really sweet. It’s this idea of Valentine’s Day being special, but also the importance of this love extending past the commercialized February 14th. It’s soft and tender. Truly loving. I didn’t know I needed a Valentine’s Day song until now. It’s also got the feel and sound of a song to have sex to. It’s just some lyrics are quite sexual and it has the same feel of a candle-lit bedroom and yknow all that stuff.

It’s a bop.

5. Talk Fast

I have little to no clue what Luke sings in the beginning. Outside of that, this song makes me want to dance. It’s really weird cos it’s not a super dance-y song, but it’s just a song that makes me feel hyped-up.

I don’t really know what it is, but the “woah oh oh” in the chorus is just perfect to me. The whole rhythm that plays through the verses is catchy. This song is really weird to me as it’s the least like my tastes and it just... I really like it but I don’t know why. It’s like I want to drown in the vibe and rhythm of the song.

This is a song about a love set to fail, but still diving head-first into the relationship anyways. It’s not about serious feelings or commitment, it’s more about the current moment and the mood of just living on the fast and hyped feelings.

6. Moving Along

Okay, so like I have an ENTIRE idea for a music video for a song. It’s sort of like how Big Time Rush would have episodes that just lead into the performance of one of their song. This has such a beach-y vibe and I want to see 5sos do a music video for this song in Aloha shirts and shades at a beach or resort. I have SO MANY IDEAS.

I just love how this song feels. It’s like lyrically, the song is sad, but the musical aspect is so so upbeat. It’s something very All Time Low-ish, but not as pop-punk/rock. ONE OF THE BEST ON THE ALBUM. Also, the drum fills are amazing. I love them.

It’s a song that kind of explains those days when you’re bitter? It’s not being full-on angry, but it’s not sad and it’s not happy. It capture the idea of how people deal with loss in different ways and at different rates. Not everyone will move on at the same time, and if you’re someone moving on later, it can suck sometimes.

After a break-up, it’s hard to think how someone could move on from love so fast, so sometimes we hold onto the idea that it could be just as hard for them to move forward. This song feels like that. It’s watching someone wonder about someone’s who’s gone and not really be sure how they feel about this whole “moving forward” thing.

Again, absolutely love this track.

7. If Walls Could Talk

All songs prior to this, we had already heard, so this was like the “NEW MUSIC!!!!” point. I started tearing up solely because it meant officially going into the new era. I love this song so much. It’s another song that I have a music video concept for.

I really like the contrast between the verses and the chorus, with the addition of the acoustic guitar. It’s a real mix of a singer-songwriter pop and the typical feel of something more Halsey? If that makes any sense.

HOLY SHIT. ASHTON’S VOCALS. He sings the falsetto part of the chorus and it’s fucking beautiful. I want to drown in the sound. This song complements his voice so well.

I swear to god 5sos better perform this song live. The lighting concept could be so so cool with this track. If they let this song die, I will personally fight them. I’ve never met them, but this is a track that isn’t the perfect live song, but it would also be soooooo fucking cool to just see them play this song live.

I love the idea of a secret love that kind of love that’s going on. It’s this idea of all these secrets and definitely something sexual. It’s basically about getting naughty, but also could be deeper and about a relationship that isn’t good to begin. It’s kind of like we shouldn’t but do.

It’s such a good song. AND THE BRIDGE and following chorus... HOLY FUCK.

8. Better Man

This song was the complete opposite of what I expected. I was thinking of something more like “You found someone better” not “You make me better”.

It’s clear this is about finding someone who seems to change you for the better. It’s about being at a low but then someone just comes into your life and spins it around. It’s a love song, really. I love the sound, but I would love for an acoustic version, too.

Luke’s vocals. I don’t know what it is but I want to have the chorus played 24/7. His voice just sounds soooooo amazing in the song. He sings “Better” and I just cannot. I WANT TO BOTH CRY AND DANCE WITH AN S.O. WHEN I HEAR THIS SONG.

By far, it’s gotta be one of my favorite Luke songs out there.

9. More

The opening of this song feels like it came from a car commercial. Lol

But wow. I love the sound to this song. THE DRUMS MAKE ME WANT TO DIE. WOW.

And what the fuck is that prechorus? I LOVE when 5sos slows down in the middle of an upbeat song and idk... This song does it so well. MOSTLY I JUST LOVE THE DRUMS AND FALSETTOS.

Calum’s solo is quite nice and tHE GUITAR? FUCK ME UP.

I want to light myself on fire when I hear this song. It’s not really a song I need them to do live, but I can definitely see it making the set.

It emotionally is confusing and a bit disconnected, but it’s kind of what the song is about? It’s that search of what used to be as a relationship seems to fizzle out. It’s like it’s so close but unreachable.

Lyrically, I’m in love with this song. All the lyrics in this song just... I strive for the way it makes you picture something, but it’s not a specific something. It’s like an image of a feeling.

10. Why Won’t You Love Me

This is the first song I actually started crying for. It makes me so fucking sad. It’s like, of all the songs, it’s the one that truly makes you feel what 5sos is feeling, as opposed to necessarily connecting to it in a personal experience?

The opening verse breaks my heart. It captures the idea of touring and flying and just being so far away and how distance prevents a relationship from working out. The second verse is a bit less specific, but captures this idea of being in a love that is reciprocated, but at not really? It’s there but not. It’s about a difficult situation of distance and time and circumstances that don’t feel right and prevent the love from being as good as it could be.

Really, the whole song makes me so emotional. It’s such a sad and painful song of wanting something that you’re so close to having but just can’t? It’s not even an unrequited love as much as it’s getting tired of the feeling of lonely that comes with the distance. It’s not really about not loving, but more about loving so much that every second waiting feels like centuries and its so constant that you just can’t really hold on. It’s from one person who’s constantly traveling and physically distant and it’s kind of hard for them to let go and accept that the person they love can’t keep doing the long-distance thing.

I just feel so emotional with this song.

11. Woke Up In Japan

This song is so swanky. I don’t know that just the word I think of. It’s a sweet kind of song and I like the tone that plays leading into the chorus that’s like that opening sound to SLSP. This song is really lovely and a morning-after kind of story. It’s having had so much before and then finding the bed empty and just being like, “Oh” and you can’t complain because the night was great but it’s still lonely and disorienting when you wake up.

I’m in love with the sound of the song. It’s a head-phones on slow head-bob type of track.

I like the way their voices are, it’s cool how it sounds like morning voices cos it matches the concept of the song.

12. Empty Wallets

The opening is so misleading and it makes me angry because the song gives me Bridgit Mendler vibes? Y’know her older music like “Hurricane” and such? The verses have that kind of vibes and I HATE HOW MUCH I LOVE IT. And then the chorus, musically, gives me more of Twenty-One Pilots type of feel. Could just be me... I’m not the best at this association thing.

I just love how there’s three different feels through the whole song.

It’s about a love that doesn’t ask for the material things. It’s more about the feelings and riding the roller coaster of life together. It feels like having happy dates without leaving the house and just finding a relationship that can be a free (in both senses of the word).

I’m not sure what to make of the bridge, but it kind of makes me think of a love that comes and goes but always kind of feels the same.

I’m really into their vocals, specifically the falsettos (the chorus) and Michael’s solo in the bridge. And the music is just really good. A nice vibe to it and I REALLY WANT THEM TO DO THIS SONG LIVE.

13. Ghost of You

There’s only a few songs that are guaranteed to make me cry every time I listen to it. Those songs include Lea Michele singing, “Make You Feel My Love” on Glee, Taylor Swift’s “Ronan”, and Simple Plan’s “Welcome To My Life”. Yeah... They’re all different and mean different things, but they’re so important to me and I hold them very dearly to my heart and they make me so emotional.

Ghost of You is now a song to add to that list.

It’s a mix of the guitar from “For the First Time” by The Script, the general vocal feel of Coldplay music, and a little bit of the melody from like “Firelies” by Owl City.

It’s a lyrical masterpiece. Michael and Ashton said it’s be a fan favorite and it sure as hell feels like it. There’s something so sad and raw and lonely about the lyrics. While it’s a post break-up song, it just generally has that feeling of losing someone but not knowing how to let go.

My favorite part of the song is at the end when Luke sings “That my feet don’t dance like they did with you”. It’s a heartbreaking lyric of realizing that you aren’t the same person you were before they left. It’s searching for happiness alone, when you thought you’d always have someone there.

But what hurts most is that I knew that this song was going to be sad. First off, the title. You can’t have a song named “Ghost of You” and it be anything but sad. Secondly, they wrote it with Mitchy Collins. I have only heard “Broken” from his band, but just that song secures the idea that he can write a sad song. Third, 5sos hyping the song meant it was going to be pretty sad because the songs that do best overall with the fans are the sad songs.

Thus, I expected a sad song, but FUCKING HELL 5SOS. I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS.

Everything about the music and the lyrics and they way they sing the song is just so heart-wrenching. It makes me want to curl up and sob because I can feel their pain in their singing and I can relate my own feelings and experience to it.

I swear, 5sos better not let this song die. I dont care if we never hear any other dead song ever, I just so badly want this song to make the set list for the tour. I want this to be a song that 5sos holds onto because it’s so heart-breaking and beautiful.

They know how to write sad song and this is like Amensia-level sad. It’s like we were all talking about Lie To Me but HELL THEY DROP THIS? The song shows how much they’ve matured and grown and just how much they’ve experienced. In the same way Jet Black Heart solidifies the lyrical genius of Michael and Calum, Ghost of You really showcases the skills Luke and Ashton have as songwriters.

This is definitely one of my favorite songs off of the album, if not my favorite.

14. Monster Among Men

Personally, I consider this song to be a sequel to Jet Black Heart. Conceptually, it carries the same idea of being poisoned or broken and afraid of how that hurts the person you love. It’s a sequel, though, because it talks about not calling it off again and just captures the idea of working past those issues to truly be able to say that you’re not going to leave, you’re not going to be the demons that haunt you or the darkness you can feel consumed by. It’s an empowering song

Plus, MICHAEL GORDON CLIFFORD. FUCKING SHIT HE KILLED THIS SONG. His vocals are just so good. He’s grown so much as a singer and the amount of control and emotion he has with his voice always blows my mind. Then the chorus is so cute? I love the keys and the music being upbeat and Calum’s lower vocals in the background. The chorus vocals in general are just top notch. And THE GUITAR SOLO??? MICHAEL G. CLIFFORD IS KILLING THE GAME. (Also loving Luke singing “Asshole” and both of them counting)

I love this song so much, it’s currently tied with Ghost of You.

15. Meet You There

I’m head-over-heels in love with the bass in this song. It’s so beautiful and catchy and I want to dance. This song also feels a lot like fire? Like it’s a perfect song for them to do on tour so it bETTER MAKE THE SETLIST.

I love the music and lyrics. It’s quite summer-y and, as I said, it’s a song I just really want to dance to for some reason. I don’t know who’s vocals I love the most, but the bridge where Michael sings is fucking perfect.

The concept of the song is like the idea of “If you love something let it go, and if it’s meant to be it’ll be.” It’s this idea of being able to spilt and grow as individuals and then possibly come back together. Honestly? It’s basically what the four of them experienced with the hiatus, in growing on their own and coming back together and meeting on common ground with the album.

I very much like this song.

16. Babylon

This is the new Calum song. Don’t get me wrong, I love “Invisible” and will always die when his solo in IYDK plays. But holy shit, this takes the cake. It basically fulfills the need for Calum to do Bad Dreams.

Calum Thomas Hood is so talented, and this song perfectly shows that. His voice and the bass in this song is killer. The lyrics are phenomenal and the concept is so beautiful. It’s a very very smart song, as Babylon was a city that was HUGE. It grew and expanded, until after wars and conquests, eventually was taken under different control and collapsed. Additionally, one of the possible reasons for the absence of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon include war and erosion. Easily, the idea of Babylon is something growing big and eventually falling apart. This is carried with the concept of the song. It’s about a love that grows and builds and goes so hard but then burns itself out. I love the whole idea. I just love this song so much with all that it means, how it sounds and the feel it gives.

I think it was a great choice of song to close the album with because unlike the rest of the album, it’s very final. There’s no sense of longing or wanting the past back. It’s not about second chances or going back-and-forth. It’s just a tragedy. There’s a beginning middle and end, and the end isn’t happy, but it’s a clear and set closure. It completes the album very well and is one of my favorite 5sos songs. It’s reminiscent of the band’s older sound, but also capture their ventures and changes well.

————————————————————

Overall, this album is relationship-centric. I know it doesn’t tackle huge issues like SGFG did, but this album is clearly for 5sos more than it’s for the fans. It’s not as much about songs with messages for the fans to find safety in, but rather songs that allow 5sos to express everything they’ve been dealing with for a while. And I truly find it to be beautiful.

The album is a great step forward and truly gives them a lot of room for whatever sound they want. Additionally, it captures how talented they are as artists, in singing, writing, and playing. It’s a masterpiece and I am so proud of them. While do have favorites, it’s the only album I can 100% say I love every song on. It’s an album I want to play and listen to 24/7. The whole thing is just so cohesive and I love with all my heart. I am just so so so so proud of 5 Seconds of Summer.

No matter where this new chapter takes the band, I hope it does them well and gets them the respect they deserve. I truly see this as their best album yet and I can’t wait for what’s to come. I’m so proud and it makes me happy that they are, too. It’s an album worth listening to and deserves so much recognition because it’s truly inventive in it’s mix of genres and sounds, creating something that feels so familiar, but also unique, fresh, and new. 5sos created something beautiful and I’m just so happy that they shared it with us.

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baddly-well-done-translations · 3 years

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Garbage: Shirley’s year |Interview by Yves Bongarcon (Rock Sound Magazine N°11, year 1998)

Saying that Garbage’s new album had created expectation is a true euphemism. Four million of their first album sold with a discorcenting easyness, a star status in many countries and an irritant custom of releasing almost perfect singles; had contributed on putting the group of Shirley Manson and Butch Vig in this year’s viewpoint.

With “Version 2.0” and their first single, “Push It”, the chalenge of the post “Stupid Girl” stage has been archived with success, establishing themselves, even in Spain, as a golden album group. Before their next concerts the days 10 and 11 of February, in Barcelona and Madrid is an hour for making balance. And what better way than starting the year next to the redhead Shirley Manson?

When meeting you, one has the sensation that you have a big humility. Almost as if you were musicians that didn’t take themselves seriously. What do you think?

“No. Sincerely, I believe we consider ourselves real musicians, or in other case, people that are music passionate. But the difference could lie in the fact that we aren’t arrogant musicians. We limit ourselves to be musicians, no other ostentation in the middle. But it could be you think that way because in the new album we play with classical musicians, a string trio, and that we have said everywhere... that we had played with “true” musicians! (Laughs) The truth is that we had to work hard with people like them, who dominate an instrument perfectly… Next to them, in some sense, we’re simple afficionates that play a bit of everything… But we don’t do the same work they do, that’s clear”.

USA 1 - Europe 1

We were afraid that with “Version 2.0”, Garbage settled in its proposal and got turned into an american rock band, which would be a pity, right?

“All of us are, in certain ways, influenced by European music, especially british ones. And it has nothing to do with nationality, well yes, but only a part. We can’t forget that the three Americans of the group grew up listening to The Beatles and seventies European music (laughs)”.

Before it came out, a very techno orientated album was announced. Anyways, apart of tracks as “Dumb” or “Hammering in my Head”, which are machine bassed, the rest of the album is still “Garbage pop”.

“Our first worry is, after all, writing pop songs, let’s not forget it. We’ve always considered ourselves a rock group, We’ve never pretended being a techno or electronic music one. However, we have open minds and not a single scruple in borrowing some jungle or drum n bass elements that look interesting for use in a song.

With this new album, a lot of people thought we were going to do what Madonna did, an ambient techno album. Something that wouldn’t look sincere to us from the group’s viewpoint. In truth, Garbage is a melting pot which, over a rock identity, integrates and recicles diverse styles and genres. From jungle to blues, from pop to metal, this is the group's reason of being. Seeing it that way, “Version 2.0” was, in some way, the result of the multiplicity of its composition’s textures”.

Internal pressure

Were the gestation and birth of “Version 2.0” painful processes?

“No, not for me. “Version 2.0” was a lot less painful for me than the first one. I believe I was more secure of myself, I had more confidence in my own possibilities. With the first album, saying that I wasn’t very comfortable would be very little (smiles)”.

What’s the true key of Garbage, what makes you function so well together?

“Humor sense and some kind of irony. We’ve lived many things individually so we could watch ourselves from the outside. We’re the actors and public of Garbage at the same time. I could use the words “microns” and “participants” (smiles). Our secret, if we even have one, resides in our capacity of mixing passion and distantment, surrender and withdrawal in the interior of our own reality. That's the motor of our growing”.

“Version 2.0”, that title which remembers us of an informatic program… Is it maybe the direct application of your peculiar sense of humor?

“No (laughs). Yes, of course! It represented the album, for which the computer that governs any recording studio nowadays has been omnipresent; and it allows us to take a funny and without pretension perspective of our work”

The Shirley mention

In “version 2.0” there are constant references to the Beach Boys. It is even said that you acredited your “Don’t Worry Baby” to Brian Wilson so he autorizated you to use that tense in the album. Why this seventies obsesion?

“I believe it’s a pretty old obsession for any of us but also some kind of reaction to what is heard nowadays: ‘Rock is dead’, ‘pop is dead’, etc. especially since techno’s emergence. It was our way of saying that things follow a continuity, there aren’t ruptures and it’s totally possible mixing music from different ages without having to denigrate any of them. It’s very easy taking some old fashioned elements and actualizing them”.

Shirley, from where does the confidence that you’ve acquired at voice level came?

“That came scentialy from the work I’ve effectuated but also the fact that I’ve finally found my register and tonality. Before, I used to adapt to the music, now the music adapts to me. It’s infinitely confier this way”.

Now that you’ve experienced it for a second time, do you know what success is?

“Money, glory or fame are nothing more than some of the resulting possibilities of a functionable creative process. After all, our goal is making music, not money, let’s not forget this. But above all, I believe that the true success is simply being happy. And that is not such a hard thing to achieve. I think that, even when I was younger, I never conceived success as an instrument of power or a simple accumulation of properties. Around us there are a lot of people which have everything: money, fame, and however they’re extremely unhappy. What sense does success have in these conditions? What sense does it have if you aren’t happy?”

Could you imagine your life without this thing called Garbage?

“We aren’t teenagers who believe a band can go all their lives. Personally, I know Garbage will end. Maybe one day I’ll have a family and kids, that will make me see things another way. I suppose in that moment, recording and touring won’t be my priority. However, nowadays I live in the present and taste the today”.

As in the first album, the universe that involves around “Version 2.0” looks very conceptual. Is that really the group’s desire?

“First, everything is decided inside of the group. But after that we see ourselves forced to ask for specific things to determinated specialists. For the videos, we always try to work with people who we believe, correspond to our views. It’s something extremely important. You have to think that nowadays people will see your video before listening to your music on the radio. Therefore you have to act consequently. More than wisdom, it’s an absolute necessity, a priority. For “Push It”, the first single, we decided to work with Andrea Giaccobi, an Italian who’s a true image artist. He’s at the same time, photograph and cineast, so he embellished the video a lot. He achieved giving a lot of style to his movie while respecting our music and then we noticed he proceeded with image the same way we do with music: working simultaneously over different materials, using and mixing the old and new things, etc. It was an authentic collaboration”.

Reality house

According to you, is Garbage’s music connected with reality?

“A song, because of its own nature, rarely can be based in reality. Music is, in essence, a method for escaping this world and it’s reality. How is it even possible to express any reality in four minutes fifty seconds? You can express a feeling: fury, love, angst, quietness. Not reality. As an example “Only Happy When it Rains” ironiced over the feeling of self-pityness of a lot of people in my generation, but didn’t pretend being a complete photo”.

Of what are you prouder in which it refers to Garbage?

“Of the almost perfect chemistry we’ve achieved in the group. This complicity is very rare. Sometimes, if you’re very lucky, you can archive it with a family or lover. But in a group, there’s a one million possibility of it working this way. It’s still difficult to believe it. After all, that could be what’s special in Garbage”.

#garbage #shirley #fuck this woman's difficult way of talking #oh so fucking nostalgic #old magazines #spanish #interview #translation #give credits #fucker

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felicityb-reviews · 6 years

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Review Roundup - Week 2 January 2018

Hello loves!! My name is Jace (aka Felicity B), and this is your Review Roundup for the second week of January 2018!! I can't really tell if I liked this week in music better than I did last week. There's a better variety songs, at least.

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Beware (Stray Kids)

I really wanna like these kids, because it's obvious af that JYP does not.

But.

Nothing they've released has really been up my alley. Beware (I realize that the actual name of the song is GRRR Total Law of Madness, but sis...) sounds like a better produced version of Wolf, and you'd think that was a good thing because Wolf was a poorly produced mess. But this song takes itself so fucking seriously. It's not terrible, but it's not something I really want to listen to again.

I don't get JYP's angle with this group. First, there was the survival show that wasn't really a survival show (which I'm glad, because I fucking hate actual survival shows). And before that was Hellevator, another overly serious song that makes me roll my eyes. And now this. I really don't wanna be a dick because this is their second release and they're teenagers, but I'm not a fan of being growled at by a bunch of high schoolers and then having my ears assaulted by nasal singing (because, of course, their vocalists sound like they're trained by the same people who trained JB). It's not a fun experience.

Do betta, JYP.

Rating - 1/5

Going Going (Jang Wooyoung)

Oh look, it's another JYP act with a bad song!!

Okay, the song isn't that bad, but there's not enough positives for me to overlook the negatives. Of which there are many.

Firstly, this an uptempo that drags; I literally could not wait for the new section to begin, because I was ready for the last one to end. And this is New Jack Swing, baby. My black ass fucking loves New Jack Swing (yes, even The Boys). But I could give you an entire playlist of K-Pop songs in the style of NJS that are W A Y better than this.

Secondly, Wooyoung doesn't sound particularly good singing on top of it. The rap bits were the best parts of the song, for me. Which is about 90% not his fault, because whoever was on vocal production duties was slacking. His voice sounds like dude dropped them on the beat, adjusted the levels a lil bit, added some reverb to sound like he actually did his job, and went tf home.

Tragique.

Thirdly, the arrangement of this song is weird af. What do I mean by that?!?! There are two choruses. Yes honey, you read that correctly - two choruses. The song starts out with a section you'd assume is the chorus, but when you get to the second chorus, it's something completely different. In fact, you don't hear this first "chorus" till the end of the song again (which, in hindsight, I'm glad you only hear it twice, because the lyrics make me roll my eyes so hard and the vocal melody has the weirdest rhythm pattern). I guess that's not too weird when I write it out, but it majorly throws you off when you hear it play out in the song. For me, anyway. Which is surprising, because Red Light and I Got A Boy are All Time Faves™ of mine (with Oh! being a runner up). But I guess I just don't like it here.

#PickyBitch

And since we're on the subject of the arrangement... WHY ARE THESE TRANSITIONS SO FUCKING LONG?!?!?!!?! SIS, THE TRANSITIONS BETWEEN SECTIONS DON'T NEED TO BE 10 FUCKING SECONDS LONG!!! THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!!

Once again - Do betta, JYP.

Rating - 2/5

Don't Leaves (Block B)

And here come the ballads!! We're not mad at it, tho.

We all knew what kind of ballad Don't Leave Me was gonna be. More of a midtempo than an actual ballad, Don't Leave Me sounds a bit like a B1A4 or Seventeen song, but with Block B's track record as of late, we're not gonna dock points for that. Don't Leave Me starts out with a filtered percussion section that they unfilter for about 2.75 seconds before getting into the verse, almost as if they're reassuring us that they haven't gonna completely left of center with this ballad. Which is nice, because it creates a nice transition (not the word I'm working for, but you get what I mean) into the verse. And from there, they layer in more elements to create a nice backdrop for Block B's vocalists to actually show us what they can do.

Because God knows Shall We Dance was literally Zico and the boys. It was fucking ridiculous.

From the teasers, I thought I was gonna hate this (or be extremely apathetic to it ) but I should've known better. These B1A4 style/YG template ballads always get me, sooner or later (*WINN4R cackling as Fool plays in the background*). This isn't something I'm gonna put into Heavy Rotation (because God only knows my hyperempathetic ass doesn't need another reason to randomly be thrust into a depressive episode), but I wouldn't relegate this to Shuffle Bait.

Especially with Zico and P.O sounding as good as they do here. Granted, Zico sings half his verse and P.O doesn't rap at all, but you gotta take those small victories where you can find them. And they have really nice singing voices, too.

Rating - 4/5

The girl from back then (LONG:D)

This, however, is a ballad that's going right into Shuffle Bait. If I even download it, at all.

Where is the LONG:D that gave me All Night, sis?!?!?! The intro literally sounds like the Sad Piano Music™ that Youtubers download en masse from those royalty free music sites. Like, I was literally tempted to skip this release all together, but I rather like the way LONG:D's vocalist sounds (if Baekhyun was a properly trained and a baritone who actually needed all that chestiness in his mix, with a dash of Kang Seung Yoon's rasp).

The girl from back then sounds like a more generic version of Seventeen's Campfire. It's not what I'd consider a classical ballad (has too much going on), but it's just as boring as one. On repeat listens, the Gospel influences (however faint they are) did grow on me, but I can't even see myself wanting to listen to this when I'm in the mood for downtempo ballads. LONG:D's voice puts this into Shuffle Bait, but just barely.

It's too anybody of a ballad, sis.

Rating - 2.5/5

Tell Me (INFINITE)

Dongwoo's demonic ass starting this song with a whispered "Anywhere, Anytime" should have prepared me for how catchy this fucking song was gonna be.

Tell Me, like Wooyoung's Going Going, starts off with the chorus. But instead of giving us two different choruses when no one needed that in their life, it makes a very typical pop song sound a lot more interesting than it actually is.

Now... What Tell Me's composers/producers did isn't original by any stretch of the imagination. I know it seems a little counterproductive to mention this before I explain what they did (and why it's so cool), but I just know someone is going to try me on this.

So.

Tell Me (after Dongwoo terrorizes us with the raspiness in his voice) starts with the chorus, but a very stripped back and simplistic version of it. If you're not paying attention (which I might not have been the first time I listened), you could easily mistake it for the verse. That surprised me, because composers/producers don't usually start out their songs with the chorus being sung, if they have the chorus first; they usually play the chorus melody using some kind of instrument that sounds important (like Orange Caremel's Magic Girl, for example). Tthey'll also usually have it going at full intensity, so when it switches to the verse it's very obvious that what you just experienced was the chorus (since that's usually the most important aspect of the song in pop music).

So yeah, nothing too left field, just an interesting twist on an oft used formula.

Outside of that, this song is a very typical INFINITE title track. Very intensity, much dramas. Which I don't hate, because they're one of three groups in K-Pop who can do a song like this, and not bore me to death.

Rating - 4.5/5

Secret Garden (Oh My Girl)

Secret Garden is Orchestral Pop. It's not just typical, it's cliche af. Even IU, circa 2010, wouldn't have touched this with a 10ft pole.

But God save us all, I really like this song. And it's not even that I'm OMG trash (their anti-South Asian foolery during Windy Day era, combined with my general disinterest with anything they've done since then, stopped that right in it's track), but that chorus melody, sis. It's just so G O O D!! That, combined with the sweet, almost milk chocolatey texture of the instrumentation makes me feel like I'm floating. And you know what, 2018 is all about me livin my best Gife™ (Gay Life), but it's also about me being self-indulgant and liking what I like, no guilt attached.

I will say that I wish that this song had more live instrumentation in it. Those strings are definitely synth generated, and it's kind of distractingly obvious. The percussion is also too heavy for this type of song. It feels like I'm listening to a demo that OMG's company decided to send to a mastering house and release, cause they couldn't be fucked to work on the song anymore. It doesn't ruin it for me, but I can't help but notice these things.

Rating - 3/5

Glow (Choi Jaemin featuring EZ KIM)

Glow is a Sad™ song for Sad Days™. This is a song that throws down a blanket of it's angst and just revels in it. And while that isn't something I'm trying to listen to On The Daily™, I can save this for for those really bad days I just need to cry out those ugly emotions.

Contrary to what I said about Secret Garden, Glow is a song I felt like could have been beefed up by some electronic elements. The bass could have been thickened up in post, because it feels too limp for a song like this. Hell, they could added a low af ass sine bass to sumplement the bassist, and I wouldn't have minded. Overall, the production of this song is very loose. And I get that super tight production in an emotive song like this would have bleached out all the emotion, but more could have been done to tighten up how the elements don't really blend together. Especially the vocalists. They don't really fit together like they should, and I guess that kind of enhances the experience since this song feels like one long ass disonant chord, but still.

Teenage me would have played this song to death. Which makes me glad that I'm not that person anymore.

Rating - 3/5

Lonely (Jo Kwon)

See... I wanted to be petty, and just post his dance videos with Lia Kim, but we're trying to be a better person in 2018.

This is a really nice ballad. Not something I'd put on Heavy Rotation (i feel like a fucking broken record), but if he H A D to do a classical ballad, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I'd have preferred a ballad like his duet with Gain, Q&A, but it was nice of Mr Kwon to remind us plebians that while he is a Dancing Diva™, he did get his start as a ballad singer.

I'm gonna need him to throw it back to his Animal days for the next release, tho. This was nice and all, but I need to see him featuring in Hyuna's next comeback with those shiny red boots and a trope of male dancers.

Also in red heels.

Rating - 3/5

Candy Pop! (TWICE)

Firstly, can I just say that TWICE's Japanese team are R E AL L Y giving these girls the push to be huge, because this video is ridiculously high budget. That is the best animation I've seen in a J-Pop music video. And I used to be a huge J-Pop stan before I got into K-Pop.

Secondly, whoever put that pink monstrosity on my girl, Sana, needs to be fired. I just can't, sis.

Do betta, JYP.

Lots of people are not a fan of Candy Pop, and I can't lie - that's partially why I like it so much. I will admit that I'm a sucker for cutesy pop tracks like these, but I'm also a petty bitch who's no stranger to loudly stanning TWICE because people want to talk shit out the side of their mouths about their supposed lack of talent.

News flash Marleigh/Zeno - the concept of talent in K-Pop literally doesn't fucking matter, because your level of talent does not dictate the kind of music you produce. Groups like SPICA and Mamawhomst Mamamoo have songs that vary wildly in quality, because some of the people they've worked with get lazy af when they work with vocal groups.

Anyway, Candy Pop will do just fine in Japan, because TWICE already have a sizable following there and it fits within the sonic landscape. It also has some pretty cool musical twists, like a halftime break for a post-chorus refrain. I definitely like One More Time better (Candy Pop can get aurally tiring pretty quickly because of that chorus, which is why that post-chorus breakdown is appreciated), but Candy Pop is pretty great, too.

Rating - 4/5

Spotlight (MONSTA X)

Monsta X may have revisited their debut sound, but I don't want to stab them all for it. It's a Christmas miracle!!

Spotlight is Monsta X doin' what Monsta X does best - intense trapstep uptempos with choreography to match. The difference between something like this and Trespass (*shudder*) is that they're taking themselves W A Y less seriously. They look like they're having fun ruining our lives with how hot they are, and even though Spotlight isn't something I'd describe as ~fun~, that still translates to the music.

Spotlight was quite the surprise for me when Universal Japan dropped the video on us. Mostly because it was a Japanese release with a full MV on Youtube (don't look at me like that, Japanese companies are allergic to digital releases actually making sense), but also because I had no idea MX was in Japan.

Spotlight is a banger. It brings me joy to see MX showing their sons how to make music like this and not be absolutely boring or pretentious af. This song is definitely going on Heavy Rotation.

Rating - 4.5/5

Stagger (Cheetah)

This song makes me extremely uncomfortable.

And I get that that was the point, with the video featuring Cheetah in various states of intoxication, but... God, I just feel so fucking unsettled anytime I listen to this song. It feels Wrong™. I get the concept (it's actually pretty cool), but you can't just be outchea makin' songs that no one wants to listen to more than once. That makes no sense, sis.

How does one even describe this song?!?!?! First, there's that horn (I think) sample that has been manipulated to all fuck. There's no way in hell they just copy n pasted that from somewhere with it sounding like that. That's like the base of the song. And then you've got that stilted drum machine patterns, combined with parts of the song playing in reverse. Cheetah almost doesn't fit in this song with how sharp her rapping is, but it works (I guess), because it adds to the disonant atmosphere of the track.

I'm here for artistry and experimentation in popular music circles, but can we make songs that people can actually, you know... LISTEN TO?!?!?!?!?!?

I will say that I'm here for the preview she showed at the end of the video, tho. Ma'am outchea givin us High Fashion Butch™ with a tropical beat, and my wig was instantly in tatters.

Rating - 1/5

20th Century (V.E.I.L)

Idk who V.E.I.L is, but I love this song.

The quickest way to get me into your band is to give me New Wave. Or NuDisco. Or Deep House. Or Lo Fi Electronica (like 20th Century). To be honest, you could give me any number of throwbacks to the '80s or '90s, and I'd fucking love you.

But that's neither here nor there.

20th Century is a fun af song, and I wonder when this became such an oddity in K-Pop. Companies these days (as well as stans) are obsessed with perfection in their groups, at the cost of personality. And granted, it's always kind of been this way, but it's at an all time high these days. Every group performs like a well oiled machine. Which is great. But they look like robots. And with the music these agencies give their groups, it's not a pleasant experience. Very rarely is a terrible one, but at least when it's bad, it registers a reaction.

Anyway, 20th Century sounds like something I'd expect from the Polysics (now that's a throwback to my weeb days, if I've ever seen one), but more on the electronic side. It's got that same Lo Fi/'90s feel to it, but it's dressed up in '80s synthpop. Which is never a bad thing. A part of me almost wonders what this song would be like if an idol group promoted it, but she quickly hushes up when my logical side reminds her an idol group would never promote anything with production this Lo Fi.

I mean, there's TAHITI's Tonight, but sis... Let's not kick 9muses 2.0 while they're down.

Rating - 4/5

Butterfly (Weki Meki)

Fascinating how Weki Meki had to have their comeback delayed because of trouble with a shareholder, but they were able to push out this song for the Winter Olympics.

But I'm sleep, tho.

Weki Meki's Butterfly is a cover of the 2009 OST for the film Take Off, originally by Loveholics. Weki Meki's cover was released in honour of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Um... I like Weki Meki's cover more than the original.

Weki Meki's cover is in the style of synthpop, and that fits the chord progressions and song structure a lot more than the pop/rock arrangement of the original. It also brings out the nostalgic vibes of the song, because these types of chord progressions were used very heavily in the '80s/'90s. After listening to Weki Meki's cover, the original just sounds flat and poorly produced. Which I mean, K-Pop didn't really have good production till about 2013/2014.

So.

The video linked above doesn't feature the full song, so here's a lyrics video that does.

Rating - 4/5

Electric Kiss (EXO)

Yes, I do realize this song has been floating around the EXOnet since around November, but I haven't seen an official release featuring the full song till this dance practice. And I've been wanting to cover this forever.

You guys, tell me why I thought EXO was really about to throw some 5th Harmony/BO$$ type shit down with that intro?!!?! I really thought I was about to get EXO outchea, flexin' on these heauxs, but maybe we aren't ready for alladat. Lordt knows the way EXO L reacted to Lotto shows it.

But that's neither here nor there, sis. What matters is how amazing Electric Kiss is. She starts out strong with heavy brass stabs and an even heavier drum beat, and only builds from there. Miss Kiss is not playin' games with us, ladies. She might not have been the BO$$ style flex that I thought she was gonna be, but that doesn't mean she's a slouch, neither.

When teasers for a Japanese EXO album turned up on SM's YT channel (which makes no fucking sense, but okay, girl), I was iffy. With singles out like Love Me Right ~romantic universe~ (as if adding a subtitle would make that song any better) and Coming Home, I was not hopeful. But Electric Kiss bangs harder than anything EXO has released since Call Me Baby. I never would have expected a Japanese EXO campaign to net me music this good with how bad their Japanese singles have are, but I really should've known better. EXO has always thrown down when it comes to the music, and Electric Kiss is a certified B A N G E R!!

I was tempted to put this in the Fabulous Five, but the songs there deserve to be, so...

Rating - 4.5/5

Refresh (TSUN featuring YUMADA)

So I see y'all just gon' hit me with the a sexier version of Blah!??!?!?! We really doin' that, sis?!?!?!

Alright, sis... Don't be mad when you see these rough ass body rolls.

Refresh, like I mentioned above, is a sexier version of Planetarium's Blah. It's the same kind Tropic/RnB hybrid arrangement, but the instrumentation is more Tropical than RnB. Miss TSUN's singing definitely gives Refresh an RnB vibe, tho. The production here is a little loose, but it's not too glaring obvious.

Rating - 3.5/5

The Fabulous Five

5. Timeless (Jaehyun, Doyoung, and Taeil of NCT U)

youtube

Firstly, I need someone to tell me what song this sounds like, because it's been bothering me since release. These chords sound vaguely familar to me, I just can't tell what song Timeless shares them with.

Moving on.

When SM annouced that the NCT U Trio were making a comeback with a ballad for SM Station, I was not pleased. Station ballads are notorious for being lackluster af, and I was annoyed that SM really wanted this to be the song that followed Lower.

This is me eating my words.

I'm a little blown away at how amazing this turned out. NCT is a "group" (if you can even call them that) that has always come as more machine than man, so a ballad release (especially a Station ballad release) is the opposite of what I wanted from them. But they sound so raw and vulnerable here, it's a little heartbreaking.

Doyoung, Taeil, and Jaehyun are all very nice vocalists, but it is clear that Taeil is the main vocal of this unit, sis. Like... A bitch really started tearing up during his parts!! Doyoung and Jaehyun have the technical skill, but Taeil was really outchea singin' for his life!! And his belts are so nice?!?!? Fuck... He's really giving Taeyong a run for his money as my NCT bias, and I don't need this.

I can see why they wanted to do a live video here - K-Pop producers have a tendency to overdo the vocal production when doing studio recordings. And while that results in perfect vocals, it comes at the cost of any emotion or integrity in the vocal performance. And for an artform like K-Pop where the ability to emote isn't high up on the list of requirements for idols, that's a big fucking deal. Especially when ballads are usually used as more of a way to show off vocal ability than what they're supposed to. Which is kind of ironic, considering most main/lead vocalists have shit technique, and are usually picked for their ability to belt really powerfully (read - holler real loud).

I definitely would not have liked this if it was studio recorded. Yes, they're recording this *in* a studio (them vocals is too clean, sis), but... Y'all know what the fuck I mean!!

Rating - 5/5

4. Full Moon (Dreamcatcher)

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Dreamcatcher said in a recent interview that they do enjoy their sound, and most of the members (literally everyone except one; and even then, she just wanted to branch out a lil) would like if they could go darker. So I guess this is their agency honoring that.

Full Moon is a very typical Dreamcatcher song (which makes sense, since this is their anniversary release) with symphonic elements mixed within a heavy rock backdrop, which gives off the vibe of heavier J-rock and VISUAL KEI songs. And you wouldn't think that would make for a very pop friendly song, but their composers/producers use very pop-friendly chord progressions and song arrangements. Add in the members of Dreamcatcher (who have voices that are very suited to pop music), and you have a formula that shouldn't work. But it does.

It works, oh so well.

The video linked above doesn't feature the full song (I'm guessing they're gonna release the full video with their March comeback, because the song is already out in full), so here's their performance at their fan meeting that does.

youtube

Rating - 5/5

3. I'm all ears (Kim Taeyeon)

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I'm all ears is a song from Taeyeon's Christmas album (which I might have downloaded, but never listened to). I'm guessing the video release is a gift to the fans type dealio, because she's not promoting it.

I find it interesting that I'm all ears was included on a Christmas themed album, because it feels springy. In fact, this song almost feels like Taeyeon heard Jessica's Because It's Spring, and decided that she wanted to make her own version. Which I'm cool with, because I like I'm all ears better. I like when Taeyeon gives us light and airy. Beltyeon is annoying, because her belts sound pinched and nasal. And Taeyeon relies on them far too much to cover up the fact that she can't emote very well with her voice.

But this is good.

I'm definitely putting this song on Heavy Rotation. I know, #Shocking. But if anyone peeped how I was fawned over Twenty Something from last week's list, it really shouldn't be that surprising.

Rating - 5/5

2. Love You (Eom Ji Hee)

youtube

Now this is a real throwback to my youth days (don't ask, I'm not about to become That Kind™ of blog).

There's something so... Nice™ about hearing something this raw and unmastered, especially since we're so used to hearing such high production values in K-Pop. And I know I've clocked other songs on these lists for having loose production, but the difference is that this is SUPPOSED to be low production; this is literally a girl singing with her backing band with a camera on. I could point out all the things "wrong" here, but they don't really take away from the performance. The songs I've clocked for being low production, however, were studio recorded affairs that missed the mark. And granted, not everyone can afford to send their shit to a professional mastering house, but it's not hard to get harmonies to sit nicely in the mix.

Anyway, this is another song that sounds real familiar (I'm pretty sure this is a cover, because even the vocal melody sounded familar, and that's a big fuckin no no), but it sounded real nice. This is musics I'm trynna listen to on good days when I can't sleep. The video is even perfect for it, with it's starry projection on the band!!

Rating - 5/5

1. Diamond Girl (MxM BRANDNEWBOYS)

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Remember how I said you could give me any kind of throwback to the '80s and/or '90s, and I'd be happy?!?!?!

Diamond Girl is exactly what I'm talking about.

Diamond Girl is a funky n (most importantly) fun throwback to the '90s (with a little bit of '80s synth work thrown on top for good measure). The bass work is a highlight for me, and that damn "my diamond girl" hook won't leave me the fuck alone. That, and the "treat you like a gentlemen, like a gentlemen" (which is literally the same rhythmic pattern and interval as Chuu's "you attack my heart, you attack my heart" in Heart Attack) refrain are certified ear worms. Even the biggest pop haters couldn't resist those lines getting stuck in their head.

Like... I really don't know how to describe what I like about this song. Sure, I picked some stuff out, but that's just the tip of the iceburg. This song is balls to the walls A M A Z I N G!!!

2018 is the year of groups with lackluster debuts making amazing comebacks, I guess.

Rating - 5/5

Alright, babies, that's it for this week!! Don't forget to tune in on Friday for the next installment in my Jonghyun tribute with the first SHINee Feature Spotlight at 6pm EST, and next week at 6pm EST for this week's Review Roundup. Love you, guys!!

#Dreamcatcher #NCT U #Taeyeon #MxM #Eom Ji Hee #Doyoung #Taeil #Jaehyun #SNSD #Felicity B #Review Roundup #Review

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angeltriestoblog · 4 years

Text

I Miss 5 Seconds of Summer???

A few days after 5 Seconds of Summer held their concert in the Philippines last 2016, I wrote a blog post with this exact same title then went on to elaborate that I missed the version of them that I fell in love with. I’ve unarchived it so anyone who bothers to read this has a salient starting point, but be warned: I seriously can’t make it through the entire thing without suffering from a chronic cringe attack—who ever told 16-year-old me that she could write?!

—

I have listened to 5SOS’ entire discography almost exclusively today. But my Spotify followers wouldn’t know. In an expert attempt to evade their judgment, I go on Private Mode so I can cry to their music in peace. I’ve also been watching a couple of their videos too. My favorite is this live performance of Ghost of You where Calum Hood does some immaculate vocal blending at the 1:26 mark. I have my watch history paused though so I don’t get bombarded with more recommendations and end up spiraling further down the hole.

It’s funny how I think that removing every trace of related activity on my corner of the Internet could also erase it from my own memory, render it as a mere figment of my imagination instead of a clear manifestation that I’m starting to like them again. And it might seem even funnier that I am convinced that people care! But then again, I did unstan them pretty publicly a few years back following a misogynistic interview they did for an issue of Rolling Stone, which also featured all four of them almost fully nude on the cover.

To this day, I continue to dissect the piece with one part of me thinking that I might have overreacted, having seen and read it for the first time when I was 14 and much more of a prude, and the other knowing that I did not. In one paragraph, Luke Hemmings admits that during the early years of the band, they took advantage of the amount of female attention they were at the center of. “They were wildest on their early tours, when they’d go to bars to mingle with fans after shows,” it read.

In another, Hood talks quite nonchalantly about his infamous dick pic that made its rounds on the Internet the year before, and how it surprisingly gave the band a lot of publicity. “Now I’m just working on the sex tape,” he jokes. “I’ll call Pamela up, like, ‘Hey, it’s been a while. We really need to hype this band up!’”

Having risen to fame as the opening act of the clean-cut British-Irish group One Direction, 5SOS was immediately touted as a boyband—next in line to 1D’s throne, or competing with them for the crown, depends on which magazine you read. Though this exposure granted them a huge teenage fanbase (myself included), they hated the label that came with it. They constantly asserted that they played their own instruments and wrote their own songs, and behaved in a way that well-curated, expertly marketed groups would not: carefree, loud, playfully and forgivably naughty. No one would believe them though. People would say it’s the curse of being conventionally attractive in the music industry. You were almost always expected to be a popstar, a commodity that catered to the masses. But they tried anyway: maybe a lip ring and a couple of tattoos would do the trick, sprinkle some curse words here and there in interviews, get caught smoking or drinking.

That interview was their final act: their big-time effort to break away and hopefully land a spot amongst the rock bands they looked up to and wanted so desperately to impress. Even if it meant objectifying, mocking, and taking advantage of the girls who propelled them to stardom in the first place. Simply put, that interview was them desperately trying to get rid of fans like me. And so, I obliged.

—

Now that I’ve been staying at home for almost three months straight, I have revisited a lot of old favorites: poorly written fan fiction I used to eat up in my early teenage years, full seasons of Nickelodeon TV shows (only the good ones) downloaded off sketchy places on the Internet, my childhood journals filled with my loopy handwriting and family of stick figures. I know I’m not alone in this pursuit: it seems like we’re all holding on to remnants of our past to remind us that we have experienced better days, and they will surely come again soon.

I felt like it was inevitable I’d return to 5SOS because they had released their fourth full-length album during the first few weeks of the quarantine. Everywhere on social media, I was reminded that one single was out, and then another, and then another and I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. After all, I did give Youngblood, their third record, a spin when it first came out as well. I thought their attempts at experimentation bordered on pretentiousness, and figured that if this was the musical direction they wanted to take, I’d surely hate every succeeding record as well.

But the problem was I really liked it. Although it wasn’t a no-skip album, each track was different from the rest, all showing a level of inventiveness and mastery of musical technique not present in previous releases. After playing the entire thing again and again, even the songs I didn’t vibe with at first started to grow on me. Turns out the beauty of Easier and Teeth is in the details: the thrumming bass at the beginning, the unconventional vocal inflections, best appreciated in an enclosed area with the volume on high. My amazement at how their musical style had progressed over the years led to me listening to all of their albums in chronological order, then rewatching some of their funniest interviews which were alarmingly easy to retrieve from memory.

During these times, I’ve wondered why I still remain curious about what they’re doing, why I still give their music a shot when I see it on my Release Radar. They never apologized for the article and I assume that they talk about things of that sort even more now that they’re older.

And I guess the answer is simple. Besides the fact that the music is honest to God amazing, they kind of made me who I am. Having found them during the height of my teen angst phase, I reveled in having idols who were open about rebelling against the system and forging our own paths despite being looked down on by those older than us. It was through them that I was introduced to bands that further diversified my taste in music, that I started experimenting with a more introspective type of writing that led to the style I employ to this day. I made so many good friends because of them, some of which are still in my life today. Looking back, I wouldn’t consider it the best version of myself but she was different. More importantly, she was really happy.

—

I am well-versed in the discourse surrounding problematic faves, and I know that if I ever find myself in such a situation, I have two options: either go down the productive, politically correct road and steer clear from them, or continue to consume their work but with the knowledge that what they did was inexcusable. I teeter between boycotting their music altogether—because even Spotify streams can be translated into revenue and there’s nothing that powers oppressors like financial stability and fame—and choosing to separate the art from the artist so I can appreciate good work without the reputation of its creator clouding my judgment.

I guess at this point, I probably am looking at them with rose-tinted glasses. I heard that some victims of even the most abusive and toxic relationships look back at their time with their former significant others with fondness. Though what I had with Calum, Ashton, Luke, and Michael was nowhere near romantic, and their transgressions far from a personal attack, maybe it applies to my situation too. I look at 5SOS now through the lens of the 14-year-old who embedded watching Keeks into her daily routine, or fell asleep listening to Heartbreak Girl on repeat and rejoiced when it hit 1,000 plays on her iTunes. They are no longer that band, and I am no longer that girl. And while it doesn’t hurt to remember the times when we were those people, I must remind myself that things can never go back to the way they were.

Maybe this doesn’t have to be as dramatic as I’m making it. But that’s the good thing about keeping this blog despite getting published on other corners of the Internet—I can make it as dramatic as I want to be.

#quarantingz #personal #angeltriestoblog #5 seconds of summer #yas we back with the personal essays babey!!!#kasalanan to ng ghost of you #this blog aint dying

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chaos-and-recover · 6 years

Note

ALL OF THE ASKS 🖤

EVERY TIME.

Alright let’s do this.

1: Favorite band?

AFI and/or July Talk

2: Favorite song?

Of all time? I think I realized recently that it is in fact Falling Slowly. The fact that I have like 7 different versions in my music library was a solid clue that I fucking love it.

3: What’s a band/artist you loved as a child but can barely listen to now?

My brother and I loved Kris Kross when we were little. That’s some cheeseball rap right there. Also when I was 12 I was super into Prodigy. But then, Firestarter is still a good fucking song.

4: Did you ever see a band/artist live?

Yes? A lot? Many times?

5: Are you going to any gigs soon?

I was supposed to go to Chicago next weekend to see my boys the Plain White T’s but they cancelled the show and I’m bummed.

I’m seeing Jimmy Eat World on December 5th and I’m stoked about it.

I’m also seeing July Talk three nights in a row on the 20th, 21st and 22nd because I have no self control and I love them.

6: Ever been to a festival?

Yes, several. I used to love them and now I’m too old for that shit and there’s too many of them and the bands are spread too thin and no one festival has enough bands I like to justify it lol.

8: A song with a number in the title?

Green Day - 21 Guns

9: A song that gets you through shit?

AFI - Narrative of Soul Against Soul

10: A good song for long bus rides?

Anberlin - Autobahn

11: A song you’d have sex to?

Take That - Pretty Things (I mean it’s kinda weird but uh I’m into it)

12: A song to shut everything out?

36 Crazyfists - Slit Wrist Theory (like 90% sure this song almost got me sent to therapy given how many times my 17 year old self blasted it)

13: A song for when you’re lonely?

The entire “Cities” album by Anberlin is my security blanket. I’ll saw The Unwinding Cable Car though.

14: A song that’s become a joke between you and your friends?

Jack’s Mannequin - Dark Blue ( @sinceubeenjon knows why)

15: A song to jam out to at 4AM?

The Used - The Taste Of Ink. Because it literally references 4:00 in the morning lol

16: An album you could listen to for days on end?

I’m pretty sure I did listen to Decemberunderground by AFI for days on end in 2006. And like… constantly ever since.

17: A song that punches you in the gut every single time?

Anberlin - Atonement. Fuuuuuuuck me :)

18: A song for when you’re crazy angry?

I wanna saw Slit Wrist Theory again but I’m also trying not to repeat songs so uhhhh The Used - Box Full Of Sharp Objects. I have a lot of angst apparently.

19: If you had to pick one song to represent what you’re feeling right now, what would it be?

It’s not actually Christmas but it is a holiday in the US and I have a cold so “It’s Christmas And I’m Sick” by MxPx. Honestly, I have nothing else. I have no feelings right now lol.

20: A song that calms you down?

The Used - Bllue & Yellow

21: A song that makes you feel alive?

Anberlin - Dismantle.Repair

22: A band with an insane fandom?

Are Twenty One Pilots fans still bonkers? That’s one. Or a certain segment of 1D fandom. You know the one (the Larries. Jesus christ people.)

23: What are some lyrics you love to pieces?

There are so many. Here are some of my favourites:

“It’s not about the money we makeIt’s about the passions that we ache forWhat makes your heart beat fasterTell me now what does your body long after?”-Time & Confusion by Anberlin

“And as the days go onThe love, the lust, the buzz that wasReduced to dust, could be becauseIt never was something moreThan just a void filling feeling”-FL,GA by The Rocket Summer

“I saw you every time I closed my eyesIn the Hughes film I had scored, produced and starred in in my mindI could recite you, well I’d written every lineBut you strayed far from the flawless script on which I’d spent a lifetime”-Veronica Sawyer Smokes by AFI

“I tried, but it rang and rang, I called all nightFrom a payphone, remember those? From another lifeIf everything I meant to youYou can’t lick and seal then fold in twoThen I’ve been so blind.”-Dizzy by Jimmy Eat World

“Let it out, let me in, take a hold of my handThere’s nothing like another soul that’s been cut up the sameAnd did you wanna drive without a word in between?I can understand, you need a minute to breatheAnd to sew up the seams after all this defeat.”-Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem

I’m gonna stop there.

24: Would you ever get any song lyrics tattooed? If so which ones?

I have some! I have “Just point to the light that casts out the dark” from White Fireworks by The Rocket Summer in Bryce Avary’s handwriting and I’m pretty damn pleased with it. I’d probably get more. He also wrote “Be reckless, be bright” for me from The Rescuing Type that I wanna get done.

25: What’s a band/artist you’d addict your children to from an early age?

Kids? Gross. I’m gonna try to get my niece into some good shit. When is an appropriate age to get her into AFI?

26: A vocalist you love?

I’m perfectly neutral and rational about Davey Havok, tbh, I’ve never been extra about him a day in my life.

I also love me some Adam Lambert and have very strong opinions about him fronting Queen (they are all variations of “he’s great at it fight me.)

27: Has a band/artist ever inspired you to do something?

Yes, usually dumb shit, like travel across a country/continent/ocean to see them.

28: A band/artist you love but no longer exists?

MOTHERFUCKING ANBERLIN.

29: What was your favorite band/artist when you were 12?

The Backstreet Boys, lol.

30: A band/artist you can’t stand?

Twenty One goddamn Pilots. Also ask me how I feel about Metric some time. (I FUCKIN HATE METRIC.)

31: What’s your favorite genre?

I honestly don’t have one. The music I like is all over the goddamn map.

32: Can you play any instruments?

I played percussion for 6 years in school and was self-taught on bass, though I haven’t pulled mine out in literal years. (One day I’m gonna get it out again and learn Pink Eyes by AFI. It’s gonna happen.)

33: Do you sing?

Hahahahahahhahahaa not so anyone can hear me.

34: If you could be a member of any band for one show, who would it be?

I would Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory because I still maintain that he only has to sing like half of every song and the crowd does the rest.

35: Do you have a favorite piece of merch?

My current favourite merch item in the world is my 36 Crazyfists hoodie. It’s so soft, so warm, so comfy. My Anberlin carabiner has served me very well over the years too.

36: What’s the first album you ever bought with your own money?

I always tell people it was the first BSB album but it was actually a Raptors promo CD released ahead of their first season in the NBA. BSB just sounds more like it’s a real thing that existed.

37: Do you prefer buying physical copies of albums or do you download them on the internet?

Physical. Digital versions just… I don’t connect with them as well? I don’t know, I don’t feel like I really own them if I can’t touch ‘em.

38: CDs or vinyls?

Vinyl. Also, not to be a pedant, but the plural of vinyl is vinyl.

39: Do you play your music out loud or with headphones?

Headphones. Used to be out loud all the time back in the days of desktop computers when I’d be alone in a room on the computer and could do that without annoying everyone lol.

40: A band/artist a friend showed you?

I guess I can blame Raven for how much I love Eric Church, does that count?

41: A song that gives you the chills?

Anberlin - The Unwinding Cable Car, but like, a very specific recording of it. This one, in fact, starting at 3:08 when Stephen is singing the bridge and the crowd comes in with “this is the correlation between salvation and love” part completely unprompted and it builds up until he’s holding “heart” and we’re holding “dark” and it’s fucking magical and you know what’s not captured on the audio recording? The look on Christian’s goddamn face when that happened. That was a hell of a show.

42: A song to play at your funeral?

I mean, you could go ahead and play that version of Cable Car linked in the last answer because it’s probably what killed me anyway, but if you wanna be more cliche just bust out Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World.

43: A band/artist with amazing an instrumental but really bad lyrics?

I listened to BedLIGHT for BlueEYES for the first time in a few years the other day so um. Them. The lyrics have not held up super well but my GOD they’re catchy. (Although “But I guess I shouldn’t hat you you, in fact I oughtta thank you for helping me write this song / If this album tops the Billboard I think I’ll save the quarter to call you and let you know” from Too Late still fucking kills though.)

44: A love song?

Any love song? 200,000 by my sweet baby boy The Rocket Summer, it’s the cutest fucking song in the world.

45: A song you love to sing to yourself?

I don’t sing to myself, that’s embarrassing (it’s probably like, Raise Your Glass by Pink or something, though)

46: What do you listen to when you go for a run?

When I did run more often it was to movie soundtracks. 127 Hours had some really good running tunes. Also there’s a song on the Inception soundtrack that was perfect for a good sprint.

47: A song that represents a deserted city at night?

The Taste of Ink by The Used kinda gives me that feeling, I guess.

48: A wild song?

Wild? How about Wild by AFI, is that good enough lol.

49: An upbeat song with grim lyrics?

Motion City Soundtrack - Everything Is Alright.

50: What are some song titles you love?

Okay so I can’t really think of any but it took me until entirely too recently to realize that “Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off” and “But It’s Better If You Do” by Panic! At The Disco fucking… they go together. They’re supposed to be read together. Years that took me. That album was my second most-played in iTunes and I didn’t… figure that out. I’m dumb as hell.

51: If your life ended today, what song would you chose to represent it?

One song, to represent my entire life? Hell if I know. Probably like, Tonight by NKOTB though, let’s be honest.

52: Can you give me a 5 song playlist on ___?

ON WHAT I NEED A TOPIC.

53: Do you listen to instrumental music?

Sometimes, sure.

54: Weirdest band/artist you know of?

Foxy Shazam were weird as hell. We put their album on at work years ago because the sticker… I can’t remember what the sticker compared them to now but it was a mix of bands that made us say “that can’t POSSIBLY be right” and then it was? (one of them was Queen, I remember that). They were fucking weirdos and I miss them TERRIBLY.

55: A song about drugs?

You know who I haven’t mentioned in this yet? Lucky Boys Confusion. They have a lot of songs about drugs. 40/80 comes to mind. What a jam. What a band.

56: A heart-wrenching song?

This might seem like an odd choice but 11.24.11 by 36 Crazyfists. It goes hard as hell but then “don’t plan to live forever but I wanted her to,” and it’s about his mother, it just fucking wrecks me.

57: A band/artist you’re proud of?

July Talk. They deserve to be bigger but they’re doing so well and I’m so proud of them and if they were any bigger I would absolutely be insufferable about it.

58: A band/artist who’s music could bring you back from the dead?

If I had been dead for like five years but you told me Lucky Boys Confusion were going on tour I would be up and at every single show in a snap, I want to see them again SO BADLY.

59: A band/artist with a sick aesthetic?

Listen, I fucking love July Talk’s black/white, light/dark, sweet/rough contrasting aesthetic. It is everything. It is so well-executed. Talk to me about the first album and how well they played into it. I love them. I love everything they choose to be. I FUCKING LOVE JULY TALK.

60: A song that has a lot of meaning to you?

Plain White T’s - Radios In Heaven is a bit of a thing for me.

#nikkihorrorxx #ALL THE ASKS #who's gonna read this nikki #this is so long #long post

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vnshkk · 7 years

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SUKEKIYO [2017.06.27 - Kyo and YUCHI interview part 2]

Explosive force , an inquisitive spirit and everything thereafter.

Part 2 of Kyo and YUCHI’s interview for spice.

“If its something I depend on, I wanna cling to it and have everything and anything I do be forgiven.” - Kyo

“But even saying that, in reality you’re the one that everyone clings to.” (haha) - YUCHI

SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. Remind me to finish translating things BEFORE going to see Dir in future.

If it’s something I depend on, I wanna cling to it and have everything and anything I do be forgiven - Kyo

But even saying that, in reality you’re the one that everyone clings to (haha) - YUCHI

So, what was the intention behind titling the album with the latin word for ‘adoration’?

Kyo: Whilst I was writing lyrics, I thought, “Would it be easier if I had something to cling to?”

Simply by looking at that ‘something’, that object, simply but believing in that alone, I wondered would I even need anything else? I found it kinda curious.

A story coiled with love, or rather those sentiments towards a person, the concept of “dependence” almost seems to naturally become a kind of running motif. Although, it is rather interesting to see something like that come from Kyo san, who gives the impression he doesn’t depend on anything.

Kyo: O..oh...I wonder if that's the case? Actually, if it's something that I depend on I want to cling to it. (haha)

YUCHI: Oh really?

Kyo: Yep! If it's something I depend on I want cling to it and live comfortably. I want everything and anything I do to be forgiven.

YUCHI: But even saying that, in reality you're the one that everyone clings to. (haha)

So in a sense it's possible to say that because you are unable to cling to yourself, you instead write about a kind of longing for people to cling to. By the way, in -Giji Necromancer- the word ‘admirer’ comes up doesn't it? Does this also have some correlation to the title ADORATIO?

Kyo: Yes. There was a discussion about having it as the first track and all the members agreed to it. Due to the dystocia of this song it ended up being the very last one we finished didn’t it?

YUCHI: That’s right. The original bass of the song was something Takumi san made years ago and after I had a mess around with it, I personally thought “I want this to be the first track”. But, during the time where the song wouldn't really become the shape we wanted, there was this other terrifically maniacal song that was a potential candidate for recording, so Kyo san suggested what if we were to combine the two tracks?

When we forcibly gave it a go and put the two together there was an excellent chemical reaction and I realised that actually, after all, the scent of sukekiyo really is the same no matter what the genre.

Kyo: The speed it seemed to go at until completion was amazing wasn't it? Pretty much as soon as Dir en grey's tour ended it was like “let’s just have a go at recording one song” and once we’d recorded it that was just stuck.

This beginning was something I thought we would hear through the songs as an end result, but contrary to my expectations, there has been a sudden almost chaotic evolution into this magnificent symphonic yet aggressive progressive rock.

Kyo: I guess it's kinda…hard to know what the genre is, isn’t it?

YUCHI: Even though this was the simpler version. (haha) This kind of song can very easily become scattered and disordered, so we shaved down more and more and made it easier to understand, in parts a synthetic bass was also used. Actually, in -Kubitsuri yuugu- and -Shiryou no ariana- we pretty much only used synthetic bass didn’t we?

So by adding and taking away digital components, the rhythm section becomes essential doesn’t it.

YUCHI: That’s correct. Once people listen to it whether or not it gives the feel of “digital music” really is something that depends on the size of the rhythm section and in a sense, personally myself, doing this gave me a feeling of being refreshed in a way. The shape of it is almost as if I’ve being allowed to go back to my roots; there was a sense of being released. Mika san too did a vast amount of recording using electronic drums; he would play them as is, without any editing and then the tone was step programmed. There are songs where in even if it sounds like regular drums they were actually step programmed.

Also, on disc 2 you achieved collaborations with many notorious artists however, as with previous collaborations, this time round too did Kyo san choose the artists?

Kyo. Yes. I was pushy about it and went ahead with asking my favourite artists if they would be so kind as to collaborate, so it was all for my own gain!

YUCHI: KONTA san (ex. BARBEE BOYS) was shock wasn’t it?

Kyo: It was a shock wasn’t it. I wondered to myself if it would be better to gather a group of different generations to whatever extent I could and just have them listen to the album. And so this time around, whilst trying to keep it as organised as possible, from that selection of listeners the one that was the most fun was STRAWBERRY FIELDS

Fukui san (STRAWBERRY FIELDS vo. Fukui yoshihito) Actually, the first concert I ever went to see was STRAWBERRY FIELDS. I explained all of that in a long letter and I very kindly received an offer from Fukui san saying, “I’ll give it a shot.” But be that as it may, Fukai san doesn't sing anymore and whilst wondering if there would be some kind of gap, I listened to the song he kindly did for me and it was to the level where I was like “Is he even in retirement?!” But I expected that from him to be honest. Which is why I’m sure Fukui san’s fans will be happy too. I think it’s interesting because I left the song choice up to the people doing the songs. So it was like “Oh! Fukui san is doing madara ningen!” or like “KONTA san is doing mimizozo?!”

It certainly would be like that! However within this line up the biggest age gap must have been Gara san, he surely must have felt some pressures.

Kyo: It was a case of me doing some straight faced salesmanship and arm twisting of his feelings with me being like, “Do you understand what an honor it is for you to be in this line up?” (haha) But...meh..he’s sang countless times with sukekiyo at live shows anyway.

YUCHI: The fact I got to collaborate with the people whose CDs I would normally buy and listen to is something I am incredibly grateful for. It's such an amazingly weird feeling knowing we got to collaborate with overseas artists. I had to do a double take like “What?? Bauhaus?!”

Kyo: Yep! I was like “I want Bauhaus’ Daniel Ash to do a remix more than anything!”

But there are still artists who I wanted to collaborate with but they didn’t grant my wish….like female artists and that. Which is why this collaboration series will continue next time as well.

Considering you sing from a female’s perspective you would most certainly want to try a collaboration with female artists wouldn’t you! And so, moving on to talk about your visuals on the album, included is the performance in June and December of last year at a rare venue as well as the event with MERRY in March of this year that we talked about earlier. As well as the two music videos; -En- with its almost nostalgic scent and -Hidauta- where Kyo san’s eccentric dance leaves a lasting impression of extreme chaos, yet again a juxtaposition of song choices.

Kyo: I was torn between choosing -En- or -Hakudaku- but in the end I went with -en-. And then, I wanted something that was the complete opposite in vibe so I went with -Hidauta- . The video shooting was pretty tough.

YUCHI: The director (mika) barely sat down did he? He pretty much only sat down when he was playing the drums. (haha)

Kyo: Yep. He’d record, set up, play the drums, go back again, and check. He proper didn’t sit down at all!

Wow. You really have to tip your hat to mika for being so multi-talented, playing the drums whilst directing.

So you guys brought this album to the June shows at Tokyo and Kyoto -Rakka suru getsumen- and performed it at at the halls but where did this tour title come from?

Kyo: Whilst working on the album, there was this overwhelming surge and this kind of image came forwards of what if it were as if a crater were drawing near? An idea that something beautiful were to slowly became more and more terrifying…..I thought like if it were almost like a kind of skin wouldn't that be creepy? And with that in mind we came up with the title. The tour titles up until this point have always been pretty long but this time we aimed to make it short and to the point.

A case of if something beautiful draws close, the reality can be terrifying, a singular truth and yet it gives the impression that it flows with the world view that Kyo san paints.

Kyo: Ohh, that's possibly true. Simply, by having a pre-release sale at the actual venue, those three lives became like a kind of warm up exercise, there was that sort of feeling. Calisthenics so to speak (haha). There aren’t really many instances where you go to the live before you’ve even heard the album, and so personally I want people to first see the live without having heard the album and that way be able to enjoy and focus intently on the next live they go to.

YUCHI: Personally I think Sukekiyo’s “mode” so to speak, is something you can really understand when you see a live. Even if we do past songs, even if we put out the same sound, the atmosphere is always completely different and that's what is most interesting.

In that respect, if these 3 performances are warm up exercises for a long jump, surely there'll be a sudden dash in the form of a live will there not?

YUCHI: I’d love to do a nationwide Japan tour. Up until now, our longest tour has been abroad.

Kyo: Yeah that's right. Going to different districts means the venue will be different too, and although there may many parts that are unclear, in February we had a go at going to different live houses and that worked out pretty well. I don’t know what shape it’s going to take, but I do know that I’d like to work on more things.

#Sukekiyo #kyo #yuchi #spice #interview #translation #thanks to merrilymemory for proof reading my shit english

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papersandkeyboards · 7 years

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4/11-17: The Spring Break Series; Part 3: Repentance in Sin City (aka ‘Taubatan Nasuha di Kota Dosa’)

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, APR 13-14, 2016.

We were on a schedule. We had to arrive in Las Vegas, exactly in this hotel Treasure Island, before 7 because Eric and Karen had booked three tickets to the most famous and the largest theatrical production in the world: Cirque du Soleil.

Cirque du Soleil is a theatrical production based in Quebec, Canada. The word ‘Cirque du Soleil’ itself means ‘Circus of the Sun’ in French. It is, well, I guess you can say a circus—a contemporary circus—but boy, it is much MUCH more than just a circus.

It’s the mega-ultimate shit of all circuses.

I, for one, had heard about Cirque du Soleil somewhere in an episode of America’s Next Top Model, and now knowing that I will be watching it live thrilled me. For another, I have no hatred for circus—in fact, I think I do like circus, but can’t say a lot about it because I’ve only watched a live circus show once back in elementary.

This particular show I was watching was called ‘Mystère’, which in French means mystery. I guess Cirque du Soleil have this odd, short, unfathomable titles to most of its shows.

The show, as many circuses are, was incredibly strange. Except that this one from Cirque du Soleil was probably fifty times more strange than a regular circus. In an awesome, amazing, out-of-this-world way.

The plot and perhaps the real meaning behind the whole show itself was a mystery indeed, at least to me. Before the real stage show started, there was this man in an odd Willy Wonka-ish costume (from which we all assumed he was part of the show) just mingled and grabbed buckets of popcorn from places, talked to the audience and dumped them with a bucket full of popcorn, got pushed away by ‘security’ but came back eventually, and basically causing laughs before the stage performers took over (he did come around once in a while on the stage during the show, being an important character, I guess).

I’m not gonna spoil you the whole plot, but I can assure you with all my heart that the entire show was a mix-up of men and women in loud-colored spandex (and some in fancy dresses), different kinds of gravity-defying stunts, uniquely arranged music, and a giant baby.

Overall, the extremely strange sequence had taken breaths and pleased the eyes. Bravo.

Aside from me being an amateur circus critic for the first part of this entry, we enjoyed the performance, then enjoyed a buffet dinner, classic all-you-can-eat Las Vegas style. I shit you not, just about everything was there. Meat, vegetarian food, pasta, Japanese, soups, dessert—the buffet really lived up the name of ‘all-you-can-eat’ to more than just a budget reference.

We stayed for two nights in this Sin City, in a hotel downtown (which was not solely the center of attraction and tourists). Though the hotel was much simpler than those humongous fancy hotels along The Strip, I assume just about every hotel in Las Vegas has a casino in it. I got into my room and was surprised to found a pair of earplugs on the bedside table. Suddenly I was much more conscious of the noise outside: faint yet blaring sound of rock music and faint crowd cheering once in a while. Judging from the earplugs, the noise ain’t gonna come down anytime soon.

As what tourists do in the city of Las Vegas, the next morning we hit the blackjack table took a tour of the city—no, cross that—we took a tour of the Strip, specifically.

Las Vegas Strip, is a—well—strip, a long street of hotels and casinos and malls and all sorts of big extravagant places, most of which you should’ve seen somewhere on TV. The big hotel with the huge fountain in front of it? That’s Bellagio. The one that partly looks like an old-school Cinderella castle? That’s Excalibur. The one that looks like a big black pyramid and a Sphinx? That’s called Luxor (the Vegas version of Luxor, by the way). The one that looks like the Lady Liberty? I swear you better not believe that the real Lady Liberty is in Las Vegas.

(I wonder what might trigger this particular rule)

The Strip was absolutely crazy. Crazier even than Times Square, with all the crowd and commute and everything. The Strip was this huge area of pure extravagance and glitter sitting right smack in the middle of The Desert, the District of Nowhere, State of Nevada. Meanwhile, downtown Las Vegas was only a little bit less crazy. Las Vegas is the only city where small neon-signed chapels are spread all over the place like sprinkles, through which you can drag a stranger you meet in some hotel or casino and marry them right away.

You see, some people prefer to have their whole wedding ceremony planned for years to make everything perfect with the right place, right time, right flowers, right music, right loved ones, and of course, the right spouse; and there are people who get married in a chapel in Las Vegas that claimed Elvis Presley got married there. (feat. yer favorite liqueur)

Anyway, we hopped in one of these hop-on-hop-off double-decker tour buses that takes you around the city, not just the Strip. We had a good overview of the Strip, seeing those big malls, a humongous ferris wheel, a mini Venice, and a large statue of an M&M, among others.

After the tour, we were dropped off by the hotel and casino Circus Circus, so we walked some distance to one of the malls to get lunch.

(ps: walking almost a mile on a hot dry desert weather wasn’t so fun. but then again, Karen and Eric were so used to walking long distance I seemed like a grandma)

Then we headed to a place called The Grand Canal Shoppes, which is just another big luxurious mall in the Strip, no biggie. I remembered of this banner I saw on this very mall that resembled Venice with all its fake blue water and huge fake Roman statues, and a story from my friend, Lili, whom I met in the New York Trip.

I was telling her how excited I was to go to Georgetown Cupcake store firsthand, and there was also this bakery I saw somewhere from the bus in New York, called Carlo’s Bakery, which, if you haven’t known, also has its own reality TV show.

So she told me she went to Las Vegas for her spring break and saw this same Carlo’s Bakery somewhere there. And so, when I told her I was gonna go to LV for my spring break, she told me to go there.

And damn right I did. I dragged Karen and Eric through the mall and put us in line with many people who are also there for the same purpose, while watching a baker making sugar fondant through the bakery window.

The delicacies they offer are of course different from that of Georgetown Cupcake. I ended up buying only one pastry, hahaha. It was great.

We originally walked to the Grand Canal Shoppes with intention to go to another place, though, that went by the name of Madame Tussauds.

Let me just say that I haven’t been to such an interactive wax museum... or maybe wax museum in general.

(gpp bermimpi itu boleh y)

We continued walking forward, specifically to New York-New York. I suppose it still was a hotel and casino, essentially, but it was packed with restaurants, stores, and games around the first floor, outdoor and indoor.

(now that I think about it, if you imagine the indoor Paris area of Museum Angkut Batu, Malang, then you pretty much get the idea of what I was seeing here) (either that, or this really cool family entertainment center called KidZania that lets kids play grown-up jobs and basically living like adults)

I spiritually dragged my host parents here because I saw a structure of roller coaster snaking around the fake statue of Lady Liberty, and I did tell them at some point that I missed riding roller coaster. Eric was on board right away, but Karen hadn’t experienced a roller coaster ride before, but she decided to join in anyway.

Needless to say, it was the first and last roller coaster ride Karen had ever taken. At least her aftermath reaction said so. As for me, I enjoyed it. Hehe. Hehehe. Maaf buk. Maap.

It was getting late, and my legs were about to be more muscular than my whole muscleless body, so we took a bus back to the hotel.

Just next to our hotel was another big attraction of Las Vegas, the second biggest street in the city: Fremont Street. Fremont St. was no less than another crazy part of the city in which multiple famous casinos and numbers of gift shops lined up under a high canopy along the street itself. It was almost like an enclosed place by itself—with the canopy effect—and high up to the ceiling was a series of ziplines.

In the day, the street looked almost like a regular premium outlet. But at night, the buildings had come as alive as the humans, as diverse as the costumes worn every night, and as bright as everyone’s spirit. The ceiling lit up its millions of LEDs, making its own attraction above the activities on the ground, and the people flying down the ziplines, making the street itself a whole different set of Las Vegas night life.

Aside from the blaring sound of bass and people singing from one end of the street, and bunches of highly creative street attraction, and some almost-naked people here and there, I went there to find what I desired the most, my passion and ambition for this whole spring break trip: cheap souvenirs.

It’s arguable that the standards of ‘cheap souvenirs’ stand differently here than in Indonesia, but I still managed to buy some cheap keychains that fit above the ‘tacky’ line but under the ‘fancy’ line with a pretty reasonable price. In a way, Fremont Street resembled the legendary street of Malioboro in the city of Yogyakarta, but with a lot more bling and a lot less horse carts.

Around the same area of the Fremont Street was another section of entertainment district called Fremont East, which was a regular street lined up with big neon signs of different shapes. It also had a whole yard of neon signs, and a big neon sculpture of a grasshopper that occasionally breathed fire.

And, oh, I guess I forgot to tell you that before we hit the street, we had dinner in this pizza place across the street from the hotel, and the place has TV screens that plays old music videos, kind of like Hard Rock Cafe, and at one point the whole cafe got Rickrolled.

-continues

[a/n]

Having the fact that I own this blog to myself, without any association to any institutions that might affect my writing one way or another, I can’t help but pitch in a few personal comments on the Sin City, as the city has left quite a distinct impression to me. However, if you wish not to meddle into my rant through the following paragraphs, feel free not to scroll down and read.

Look, I’ve been growing up in a small town. My small town is quite bland, as I’m used to it, nothing new happening and to explore each day, unlike Seattle. Needless to say, I don’t have an experience on doing things that are out of this world, but I can vouch for the fact that Las Vegas is definitely the craziest place I’ve been in.

“I thought you like big cities!” Karen or Eric might say (and they did).

Sure, I like big cities, with tall towers and busy crowd crossing the street every now and then, I like the neatness of it and various things people might sell or do to support a living or simply have fun, but sorry for all who might want to say otherwise, but I don’t like the Las Vegas way of big city.

I woke up in the morning and went down to the lobby with Eric, trying to find a place to have breakfast, which means I had to automatically go through the hotel casino which devoured pretty much the entire lobby. I surely am the type of person who would love to wake up in the morning and enjoy my free morning leisurely with a cup of milk tea or something, but instead, the view I got was the bright flickering lights and various dings and dongs from dozens of slot machines. Some had people in front of them, fixing their eyes on the numbers displayed in bright colors and tempting value. People who were there, I assume, either woke up early to dig up the slot machines or had been there all night, doing the exact same thing. And I think that’s kind of depressing.

Even in the airports. Casinos and slot machines in Las Vegas are like the equivalent of Indonesian street food vendors: where there are empty space, they will be there. McCarran International Airport LV might be quiet in the middle of the night, where there are almost no people and all the stores are closed, but the occasional ding and the everlasting bright flickering neons and rolling number display will always be there. If you scout the whole airport, I doubt you will find less than one person sitting in front of one of the machines, any day, any time.

Las Vegas was, well, loud. New York might be as loud and bright, but NYC had a different vibe to it. Las Vegas was just not the place that I would want to spend my free time in. I don’t gamble, I don’t drink, I don’t strip, I don’t have the ability to flex my body in such a way that would make me hired for Cirque du Soleil. Las Vegas was hot and deserted, not much great view besides the distinct buildings. But even those are too much it seemed overwhelming.

But then again, it’s nice to have variations of big cities in this country, isn’t it? You have New York where people go to with hopeful hearts, which is a giant melting pot like no other cities can compare to. You have San Fransicso where most people are oriented to have fun with friends or family in a nice, joyous but also calming way. You have Seattle where most people eat organic food (haha), where people can hustle and bustle in the main mall shopping area and, at the same time, having family-ish kind of fun down below in the waterfront or up north in the calming and unique neighborhoods with their dozens of funny statues and farmers’ markets. Or probably Orlando, where you can have as much fun as an adult as you are a little kid. And of course, when your interests don’t coincide with what those cities offer you, you can always go to Las Vegas. Patung Liberty dan Menara Eiffel KW super.

What I’m trying to say is, each person have a different idea of having fun and spending their free time, and this country has offered a wide range of options to do so.

But seriously, guys, Seattle is like the best city you can have. My bias stands strong on this one.

#spring break #las vegas #langkahanakbangsa

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raitchparker · 7 years

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February 12, 2017

Normalizing Illness in the Age of Not-Normalizing T****

During these early days of President 45 (I won’t write his name), it’s very hard to remember that there is anything else do to, to write, to discuss. It’s only been three weeks. It’s been my privilege as a white person to live most of my life in relative comfort. I’ve known, of course, that people of color, especially queer people (I’m from the 90s and I still like that word) and women, live in a different universe and always have.

We are all now, as a country, the patient who wakes up in the burn unit, scarred, in unthinkable pain, wondering where her beauty went. We are all huddled together, listening to the doctors who are telling us that the beauty, the very skin-deep kind we knew was relative anyway, may never come back the way it was before. We know we are going to be scarred. We just don’t know where or how badly. We don’t know which scars are bound for permanence.

Yet, we are disfigured. We are all on the same foot now. The words of James Baldwin, James Brown, and Angela Davis have come flooding back into the now, slamming into the faces of white people everywhere, reminding us all that they’ve been telling us who we are for years. The most accepting of us, those of us who have been living even the most open of lives for years, who have held the hands of people of color as lovers and friends, supported our gay, lesbian, and transgender brothers and sisters step into the light into safe spaces, we are left feeling like nothing we’ve done ever amounted to enough.

So, I stopped writing creatively mostly during this time. A rhino horn pierced what was left of my broken heart. I’ve probably written somewhere on this very site about the dangers of being frozen with grief. It is no way to live. Since Herbert became ill and since our money troubles started in L.A., I’ve been alternately frozen or thawing myself out. This, I realize, is what it means to normalize illness.

There is a huge, empty, dismembered cardboard carton sitting in our entry hallway, engulfing it, really, that held within it a treadmill that Herbert now uses every day in lieu of onsite therapy at the hospital. Were we in a different phase of our lives, Herbert would have already broken it down and taken it to the trash. We would have already carefully separated recyclable from trash. It would be gone.

Instead, it sits like an abstract effigy of both of us. It took our friend helping us get the massive thing into the house. He stayed through the afternoon and helped us unpack the treadmill and set it up. I would have been helpless to do that alone, and Herbert is at least from a physical standpoint, utterly helpless in general. That same week, my sweet Cassidy and charming baby Dot took me to IKEA where I finally invested some $200 in shelving to replace the metal shelves the movers lost. Those now sit, unassembled, in the living room because, if anyone knows IKEA furniture, it’s not something that anyone should attempt solo. There are just some things in life that, for me, are two-person jobs and putting together IKEA bookshelves is surely one of them.

So, I’ve got all these piles around the house that are reminders of what we can and can’t do in a timely way right now. I can do the following with some regularity (thankfully thankfully thankfully):

Buy all our food

Write mind-numbingly boring content about office products in exchange for a meager amount of money

Write not-nearly as mind-numbing blogs for somewhat more money

Cook everything we eat except Herbert’s breakfast turkey patties which he makes himself

Make all the key financial decisions for our household because that’s not Herbert’s thing and, even if it was, he gets tired when he takes a shower now, so...

Go to at least one political action per week (last week: visiting Claire McCaskill’s office in the City and pleading with her staffer)

Ponder why I still haven’t taken the dog to get his nails trimmed

Read. Read more. So much reading. We have so much reading to do every day now

Keep the house clean

Do all the laundry

Listen to my husband cough, watch him struggle, and remind myself that we’ve come to the spot in the road where I can’t drop everything and cry all the time anymore.

Normalizing illness isn’t any more normal than this president is. They are both equally challenging in completely different ways. I question my ability to handle them simultaneously. Herbert’s disease and our nation’s woes are both unstoppable freight trains of shitty. Both are completely indifferent to my pain, and yet they are both destroying things that I, without hesitation, love more than anything.

I am normalizing the illness because I have no choice. I do, of course, still have moments of terrible grief. However, because Herbert doesn’t melt into self-pity and sadness at every turn, I can’t either. It’s his body failing him, after all. If he can hold it down, the least I can do is the same.

Here’s an example: treadmill day was busy. Our friend, Herbert’s able-bodied friend from North Carolina who happens to live in Wildwood (a blessing of a wild coincidence in a terrifying year) also helped us schlep what was left of our steel bookshelves to a scrap metal yard (so, yes, at least we disposed of them responsibly, dammit). It was the only cold day we’ve had in weeks (it snowed a bit) and we were expecting our treadmill to arrive at a FedEx center near us so we went to lunch. After we ate, Herbert’s friend single-handedly loaded the human-sized cargo into his truck, unloaded it for us, helped me take it out of the carton, and kept Herbert company while I slogged through the horribly-written instructions to get the thing ready for use.

After he left, Herbert was exhausted. He did very little doing that flurry of coming and going, packing and unpacking, but whatever he did, it was too much. He sat at the edge of our bed using the oxygen concentrator (which provides a straight stream of air, unlike the portable tanks which spit tiny bursts of air at regular intervals), his eyes downcast, his body sagging.

He was exhausted. In weeks past, I would have immediately excused myself to collapse in a corner somewhere. Normalizing illness asks you to do that, too, to crumple and weep, usually uncontrollably, for months until the grief becomes, as it always does, into something else. That day, though, I just sat next to him.

“You overdo it?” I asked. Because it’s always too hard for him to talk when he’s that exhausted, he nodded.

“Should I sit here and rub your back?” I asked. He smiled a warm smile of relief. I needed that smile. Sometimes, a lot in fact, illness forms a great shadow over the sick person and you forget who they are. Herbert always finds a way to break through. His smile exploded the shadow. I’m noticing that it’s his light that’s getting us through this far more than mine.

I sat next to him and let my hand wander softly across his still very broad shoulders. The yogi in me suddenly started driving the bus. I can’t tell you what it feels like when the yogi arrives. Maybe it’s something you already understand. Some people call that feeling God. I call it my reward for years of patience and practice of a very specific discipline. But there she was. She took over my body and reminded me to take in the moment, this perfect moment where, even though the breath was a struggle, it was still there.

I wonder how many women there are in the world who would give everything--literally every single possession--to hear their husband’s breathe again. There I was, nestled next to mine, squeezing him around the shoulders while his hand rested on my thigh. There have to be millions of women who would sacrifice anything namable, save their own children, for the luxury of comforting their now dead husbands. For now, the yogi reminded me, he’s here. He’s breathing. He knows you and knows your love.

I don’t know how to have an afternoon like that during the era of T**** (I will not write his name) and then be the same person who breaks down the gigantic pile of cardboard that’s drowning her front hallway. We’re a man down in this house, and we’ve lost our more functional one. Herbert was our dish doer, our trash remover. He’s done it all so well for so long, I kind of suck at that now. Also, with the title of “I do all the things now,” I’m just tired.

That night, I was downstairs doing some deep, pot-tinged yoga and mat work, and Herbert was playing bass in his future man cave of a bedroom. The door was open and hearing the familiar thumping of his guitar made the whole place come alive. Suddenly, I remembered in a flash that we were still very much in a place of transition. We’ve been through so much and all at once: the move, Herbert’s diagnosis, the motherfucker of all elections, selling the house, buying a new house, another move...the yogi whispered to me then.

“Everything,” she said, “is fine. Anyone would find it hard to take out a pile of trash right now. You’re normal. Please start loving yourself right now, this instant.”

I popped up and went into Herbert’s room and I said some version of that: that I knew in another life, this place would be looking much more settled. I said it like I’d just uncracked a great code. i said it like my name belonged in a published research paper for coming to this conclusion.

He laughed like he’d known this all along. Herbert, for all his shyness, is far wiser than I am. He didn’t even look up at me from his bass.

“We have a functioning kitchen. If I weren’t sick, I’d have my record player up I’d be pressing you about getting Lacey’s old T.V. Now? I could live like this for another year and I wouldn’t even give a shit.”

Of course he knew already what I’d just caught onto: we are in a good place. We are still in a better place than we were before. If nothing else, we’re settled in a way. We’ve arrived into something better than L.A. We are the lucky ones.

So, I’ve normalized Herbert’s failing lungs, or at least I’m working to normalize my acceptance of them. I will not, however, in any way, normalize The Republican Administration. To do so is a veritable act of insanity. I will not normalize them, but I do, as do we all, have to normalize our resistance to them. We’re all accepting right now that protests are the new brunch (a friend said on his Facebook feed the other day). I’m going to a postcard writing party this afternoon, for example.

There is an important balance to staying vigilant without losing your shit. I’m looking to the experts, like Jeremy Scahill and Shaun King, for help. I was on Glenn Greenwald’s Facebook feed the other day and even he posts videos of taking his dogs to the dog beach. If Glenn Greenwald can go to the beach, I can keep living, too.

Regarding living:

I went to Cass’s Superbowl party last weekend and met her friends who live merely a mile from me. The husband is one of Drew’s oldest friends; he played guitar in Cass’s wedding. He is lovely and she is a firecracker. They just had a sweet baby and they seemed like died in the wool city kids like me. She had a “Galentine’s Day” party and invited me and I went on Thursday night.

Not surprisingly, all the girls there were lovely. Creative, bright, warm, funny. It felt like the kind of scene I’d go to in L.A. only no one cared what I did for a living. I got there about a half an hour before Cass. When she came in, wearing an adorable hot pink beanie, she saw me sitting on her friend’s couch with a glass of wine.

“Is it weird to see me at your friend’s house?” I asked.

She laughed right away, her big bright-eyed laugh she’s had since she was a baby. “No,” she said. “It feels normal now and THAT feels weird.”

I some lovely women and they were all smart. I felt right at home. The house is maybe a mile away (probably a little less) and it made me feel like moving into this neighborhood is maybe the smartest thing I’ve ever done.

Cass and I walked out together, after we’d had one of those generational conversations where I told her all about the original Mad Max series which she’s never seen. My sisters and I have gradually getting better at saying goodbye. When we first got to town, I think all three of us experienced the most shock not when we showed up somewhere together, but when we parted. For 30 years, those goodbyes have been usually pretty awful.

I could feel all of us tugging in those early days of reunion to make immediate plans. It’s taken six months for that to change for all three of us. Normalizing our togetherness is more complex than it sounds since it’s never, ever happened before. Not like this.

Cass mentioned something to that effect as we walked to our cars. Something like: “And we don’t have to say goodbye!”

“Isn’t it great?” I responded.

“It is great.”

“You’re great,” I said plainly.

“You’re great. I love you, Rachel.”

“I love you, too. I like your friends.”

“They’re awesome, aren’t they?”

“They are. See you later.”

Cass barked a “See ya!” over her shoulder.

The comings and goings with my sisters is the kind of normal that is making the other not lovely but also normal things survivable. I’ve never known what it’s like to live with supportive family around me. It’s the very kind of normal that I can get used to.

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deadcactuswalking · 6 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 8th July 2018

All right, I really don’t want to talk about Drake. Let me elaborate: Drake has made a lot of music I love ever since he started rapping, but honestly, after a few years, he just got too popular and lost my interest because, like anyone at their peak, kind of got the mindset of “I can do whatever the hell I want and still get money” – which is, in fact, true. His laziest, mediocre, most boring and cheap songs seem to be his most successful, and that kind of aggravates me, when he’s capable of much better and puts it out, only for it to pale popularity-wise in comparison to the trash that he can spit out. Hence, I am glad UK chart regulations have shortened my Drake-load to only three songs, while America has 27 Drake songs in the Hot 100. Let’s stop rambling and get on into the top 10.

Top 10

Surprisingly, Drake just couldn’t knock George Ezra’s “Shotgun” off of its top spot, now at its second week there. That would be Drake’s third number-one debut this week if not for this track’s somewhat odd amount of strength as a hit. Huh.

Oh, yeah, speaking of Drake, we have “Don’t Matter to Me” from his latest album Scorpion, featuring posthumous vocals from Michael Jackson and uncredited vocals from Paul Anka, debuting at the runner-up spot.

“Solo” by Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato is down one spot to number-three, somehow still toppling two Drake songs.

The highest of those two being “Nonstop”, debuting at number-four.

Drake also takes up the number-five spot with “Emotionless”, and just like that, he takes up three spots in the top five of both the US and UK charts. Delightful, it’s like the charts are his house that he rents every Summer.

Due to Drake, we have some decent fallers in the top 10, including number-six, “2002” by Anne-Marie, down three spots to number-six.

Also down by three positions is “I’ll be There” by Jess Glynne, now at number-seven.

“I Like It” by Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin stays at number-eight from last week.

“If You’re Over Me” by Years & Years is also down three spaces to number-nine, but that will definitely rebound with their new album and all next week.

Finally, “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B creeps into the top ten at #10 due to a three-spot increase.

Climbers

Yeah, not much increased this week at all. Mostly debuts from last week had smaller gains, but those aren’t really notable. There are seven-space jumps for “Taste” by Tyga featuring Offset up to #27 and “Nevermind” by Dennis Lloyd up to #32, but other than those and “Oh My” by Dappy featuring Ay Em going up five spots to #26, there’s nothing to go and talk to home about here.

Fallers

There are a LOT of small fallers this week, especially for trap-rap and hip-hop since Drake took over that demographic, so I’ll only mention the bigger ones for pop and go rapid-fire for hip-hop. “One Kiss” by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa is down six to #16, as is “Familiar” by Liam Payne and J Balvin down to #20, as well as “no tears left to cry” by Ariana Grande now at #29. “Flames” by David Guetta and Sia took an eight-spot hit to #34, and “Girls” by Rita Ora featuring Cardi B, Bebe Rexha and Charli XCX didn’t fare well either, down eleven spots to #38, joining Cheat Codes and Little Mix at the bottom of the top 40 as their track “Only You” is down eight spaces to #40 after its debut last week.

Now, for hip-hop: XXXTENTACION – for obvious reasons – didn’t have a good week, with “SAD!” down nine to #14, “Moonlight” down 14 to #31, and “changes” down 15 to #37. Post Malone’s “Better Now” is also down eight to #15, taking an identical drop to “German” by EO, now at #23. And rapid-fire for the lesser falls: “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)” by A$AP Rocky and Skepta hit #21, alongside “Butterflies” by AJ Tracey and Not3s at #22. Women in hip-hop suffered too, as “Man Down” by Shakka and AlunaGeorge hit #30 and “Bed” by Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande had a five-spot injury down to #35.

Dropouts

Drake dropped out the charts. Somehow, “Nice for What” featuring uncredited vocals from Big Freedia and 5thward Weebie is out of the charts from #25, despite the album release and it hitting #1 in the US. That’s really odd, actually.

Other than that, “Love Lies” by Khalid and Normani is out from #33, “Answerphone” by Banx & Ranx and Ella Eyre featuring Yxng Bane is out from #37 and “Family Tree” by Ramz is out from #38, with most of the songs being pretty much at the end of their run, although “Answerphone” is fading away much quicker than I expected it to.

Returning Entries

There is one returning entry this week due to the World Cup and it’s an interesting case. Let’s talk about it.

#24 – “Three Lions” – Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds

“Three Lions” is a Britpop song written by rock band Lightning Seeds, as well as comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, known for hosting the show Fantasy Football League together. It originally hit #1 in 1996 because it was made to celebrate England hosting the European championships, however it has since been recontextualised for World Cup events. In 1998, it was re-recorded and hit #1 once again, but that version never really stuck. Instead, every four years (and sometimes in between due to the European Championships), the original 1996 track kept on returning to the top 40 or top 100, peaking differently each time – in 2002 it was #16, while it was #9 in 2006, #10 in 2010 (alongside a second re-recording that peaked at #21, released with Robbie Williams and Russell Brand under the name THE SQUAD), #77 in 2012, #27 in 2014, #84 in 2016, and finally, #24 in 2018. It has a strong legacy and will go down as an official anthem for English sport, but is it actually any good?

Well, I’ve never been too much of a fan of music that’s too rowdy or ladsy (for lack of a better word), including a lot of Britpop, but this is too safe for even that. The hook is so weakly delivered with not really much of a passion at all, and I’m not sure if any of these guys can actually sing – don’t get me wrong, it’s catchy and I appreciate all the references to other notable English football moments, as well as some being sampled in an instrumental break that includes a nice guitar/synth refrain that slowly grows in intensity but then it all drops off at that anti-climactic, weaksauce chorus! Skinner’s vocoded, for God’s sake. Put some passion into the main vocals as much as you do with all the backing and left-ear-exclusive vocalising. Yeah, I’m not too much of a fan, but hey, I’ll chip in and have some hope for my own country. Come on, England! It’s coming home!

Wait, sorry, no, it’s not, we just lost against Croatia. God, it’s going to be depressingly ironic when this hits #1 next week – and it probably will.

DRAKE (new arrivals)

#5 – “Emotionless” – Drake featuring Mariah Carey

This is technically a solo Drake song that samples Mariah Carey, but I want to credit her as a feature here because I find it odd (and kind of awesome) how she’s done nothing of note this year and yet she’s still had two top 10 hits in the US since December simply by convenience, the first being “All I Want for Christmas is You”, the second being this new track from Scorpion, and, yeah, you know this is a No I.D. beat as soon as you hear Mariah Carey’s powerful vocals over the simple piano chords and a choir being pummelled by this bass and the skittering hi-hats, very similarly to “The Story of O.J.” by JAY-Z, which he produced last year, especially with how the sampled vocals are chopped-up at times, setting the stage for Drake to body this track with his rhymes about... condemning females using social media and modern technology to enjoy their time in foreign places, specifically Rome, and how he wasn’t hiding his kid from the world, he was hiding the world from his kid (that basically means the exact same thing, Drake, you can’t switch that!). He takes some shots at Kanye and mentions how the wise man once said nothing at all, which apparently, Drake cannot do throughout this year as he’s dissing Pusha T and Kanye throughout the album subtly, and then there’s an awkward fade-out to a nice funky, jazzy piano section that just seems kind of out of place and unnecessary? It doesn’t even lead up to the next song on the album (that’s “God’s Plan”), it’s just kind of there. Okay, but the beat is fantastic, so check this out anyway.

#4 – “Nonstop” – Drake

This nearly debuted at #1 in the US. I’m sorry, but what does anyone see in this?! This is boring. This is trash. This is Drake and his producers just not trying. Drake half-mumbles his verses for the most-part, with some pretty cringeworthy lines about how he’s light-skinned but still a dark man mentally, and how he’s a wig-splitter or whatever the hell. This beat is literally just a bass and some cheap trap percussion I could probably download from Loopmasters right now. This hook is literally just a sample from a Mack Daddy Ju song repeating with static effects and distortion, to the point where it’s unrecognisable and a massive waste of sample clearance money. I can’t believe Wheelchair Jimmy could make a Lil Xan song, but here we are: a sleep-inducing, probably drug-addled sleepwalk through Drake’s mind with more ad-libs than bars, which is probably how I’d describe his album – just replace ad-libs with pointless samples, for which “In My Feelings” is probably the worst case. I’m glad that one didn’t debut. Oh, yeah, and there’s the opening part, which is supposed to be cool and all but all he says is he flipped a switch and has some dumb “flip, flip” ad-lib afterwards, like, what are you trying to do, Drake? No matter what you’re trying to do, you’re failing immensely.

#2 – “Don’t Matter to Me” – Drake featuring Michael Jackson and Paul Anka

So, combining his enthusiasm for both lazy sampling and grave-robbery, Drake decided to buy some unreleased material from Michael Jackson that he wrote with Paul Anka, who provides additional vocals on the song, in 1983, recorded in the same session that lead to “Love Never Felt So Good”, another posthumous single Jackson released with Justin Timberlake in 2014. Surprisingly, Drake sloppily rap-singing over deceased R&B singers has proven to be a working formula, as he does the same stunt with Static Major on the best song on the album, “After Dark”. It’s vaguely tropical in its production, with some nice, warm synths and handclaps as well as some accentuated 808s that set the stage once again for Drake, who has a charm in his badly-sung verses. Michael Jackson’s pre-chorus is okay, and the King of Pop’s chorus is somewhat lowkey, which is a shockingly calm, subtle vocal hook for MJ but possibly an overly dramatic performance for self-certified wig-splitter Drake. Also, I know the audio was from the 1980s, but this could really have been mixed better, especially in the kind of excruciating pre-chorus and bridge (which is just all over the place with unnecessary reverb and echo). Come on, Drake, the mixing throughout this album is way too amateur for someone of your status. JAY-Z’s verse on “Talk Up” might as well have not been there before you made it louder when you pulled a Kanye and changed your own album, cluttering “In My Feelings” even more in the process and not changing this track and “March 14”, which need better mixing, or “Final Fantasy”, which really should have had the unnecessary bridge that samples the Maury skit cut, or “Emotionless”, which could do with you leaving the profanities intact on the explicit version of the album (how do you mess that up, honestly?), or even “Blue Tint”, by giving Future the verse he rightly deserves, instead of just sticking him onto the chorus as an uncredited hook-singer. Maybe you could have put songs on the right side of the album? Side A was darker hip-hop and trap, why is “God’s Plan” on there? Side B was smoother, funkier alternative R&B, why are “Blue Tint” and “Nice for What” on there? Thankfully, this will probably and hopefully be the last time I review a Drake song until my end-of-year lists – in which knowing Drake, he’ll probably make both worst AND best – so I can say I’ve slain this dragon for now (if Pusha T hadn’t done it already).

Conclusion

I mean, what do you think? I can’t give anything to the returning entries, so I have to give Drake something or other. “Nonstop” easily takes Worst of the Week – that is a dreadfully boring song – while I think I’ll give Best of the Week to “Emotionless”, and Honourable Mention to “Don’t Matter to Me” with Michael Jackson and Paul Anka for at least... trying. See you next week.

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