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kmgkmg · 1 year

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EVERYTHING - LEE HEESEUNG

word count: 2.8k…

pairing: heeseung x gn!reader

synopsis: you are a freshly moved in tenant to a cheaply priced apartment, but is it too good to be true?

genre/s: fluff, non-idol!au, strangers-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers more of a miscommunication trope, college student!reader, neighbor!heeseung

warnings: none!

rating: pg

a/n: for @dearhee!! hi, i was matched with you for the @kflixnet's exchange event! i'm a bit shy so i didn't message you, but i've enjoyed seeing your posts on my dash ^^ i hope you enjoy this short oneshot piece! the title is based off of everything by kehlani. i had a hard time choosing between her song and butterfly dream by khalil fong, also i did kinda get carried away and made you a fic playlist! and an older outdated playlist i made for heeseung a while back if you'd like to listen to it! sorry this author's note is so long omg.

Brown moving boxes cluttered your new living room. Sure, it looked a bit barren and depressing from the boxes and bubble-wrapped items lying around, but those would be dealt with right after you finished your coursework. Sitting down at the kitchen table you and Jungwon assembled just hours ago, your mouse hovered over the pause button of your laptop.

You were attempting to finish the recorded lecture your professor posted yesterday. Latin American Politics seemed like a fascinating topics course to take, and to top it off, the professor had stellar reviews from classmates. Who would’ve known that you were getting yourself into the most intensive courses you’ve taken to date? The readings were interesting and you never had a problem completing them, but what drove you insane was the exams. Your professor would always include questions that would leave a lot up for interpretation, yet he would grade it seemingly randomly based on his mood. The other half of the questions would require you to know a decent amount of outside information since he would ask questions that were never discussed in class or case studies, but would be relating to relevant precedents.

Something that was quickly driving you insane was your next door neighbor. You hadn’t had the chance to introduce yourself yet, but for almost the entire time you tried to watch the lecture, music could be heard through your shared wall. You thought the noise would subside if you waited long enough, but your patience finally met its limit when they turned up their music enough for you to feel the bass.

This isn't how you imagined introducing yourself to your neighbors. You weren’t hoping to be best friends with them or anything, but you definitely didn’t think you’d be storming over to their doorstep at 11pm to complain. Still, it’s a weekday. How could they not have the common sense to be courteous of those who needed to wake up early in the morning?

Opening your door, you walked over and knocked three times on the door. A man with grayish blonde hair opened the door with a quizzical smile flashed towards you.

And maybe, no, definitely, his looks would’ve been more noticed by you on any other day. But you had an oral exam to finish polishing to present in front of your professor and classmates.

“Can you lower your music please? I’m trying to study and it’s distracting,” You request, without paying much attention to your neighbor’s confusion gradually showing on his face.

“I wasn’t playing any music though?” He innocently replies.

“For the past forty minutes I’ve listened to music from your side of the wall, don’t act innocent,” You groan.

He smirked at you, “Sure, I can ‘turn it down’,” emphasizing the last part by using air quotes with his hands.

“What do you mean with the air quotations?” You frown, imitating the air quotes he made moments ago.

“Don’t you think you owe me a favor for turning down my music? I mean it is my apartment, I should be able to act how I want. Not my fault that the building’s walls are thin,” He shrugs.

Of course, your neighbor is entitled. Just great.

“You won’t turn it down? Okay, there’s an easy solution. What was the landlord’s number again? I think filing a noise complaint would make my problem solved real quick,” You answered, unlocking your phone screen and showing the dial pad screen to him.

His smirk fades, “Alright, alright, I’ll stop playing my music and singing,” taking your phone and typing a number onto it, “here’s my number.” He extended his hand to you with your phone placed on his palm.

You snatched your phone back, narrowing your eyes at him. “Why give me your number? So you can bother me through texts and phone calls instead?” You scoff, already heading back to your apartment next door.

“You can message me instead of our landlord when I make noise again,” He waves, before slamming his door behind you.

Asshole.

One thing you absolutely hated was hot weather. Without the A/C on in the middle of today, a day that was record-breakingly hot, you felt certain you would melt any minute now. Your landlord sent out an email to all of the tenants in the morning explaining that the A/C broke and would probably be repaired by tonight. You didn’t need her email to wake you up though. You were already awake, sweating profusely. The comforter had long been thrown to the floor. You stumbled sleepily to your thermostat which read as 100°F/38°C. Outside it was a bit cooler, but being outside only exposed you to the blazing sun. It was truly choosing the lesser of two evils.

What made the day even worse is that you ran into your annoying neighbor, whose name you learned is Heeseung, as you went outside to make a quick run to buy some cold snacks. It did make it slightly better when he was covered in as much, if not more sweat than you. You couldn’t revel in his misfortune for too long though. He miraculously managed to trip over his doormat, falling onto you. Both of you scowled at each other while childishly wiping each other’s germs off yourselves.

He hadn’t played his music anymore since the day you confronted him, but he did sing nearly everyday. If you weren’t studying, you couldn’t help admiring how talented he was. His vocals sounded like they came straight from a CD. But your appreciation for his talent never lasted long, since he always had an intuitive sense to bother you.

Y/N, I sound good, don’t I?

How would you feel if I serenaded you sometime?

Don’t you think a guy who can sing is sooooooo hot?

Have any song requests Y/N?

His texts immediately removed any hint of charisma his music might’ve given him. Heeseung knew that his texts drove you insane, and if you were just an ounce less nice than you were, he would’ve been blocked a long time ago. Still, he had texted you about a week ago informing you he’d be redoing the foam sound panels he installed a couple years back in order to hopefully be more soundproof for your sake. While you felt relieved that you would finally have some peace and quiet after weeks of living with his incessant noise, it was bittersweet. You had grown used to his singing, occasionally singing along to the songs you knew. Although, it didn’t change the fact that he was still arrogant as ever whenever he interacted with you.

Snapping out of your thoughts about Heeseung, the elevator doors opened on your floor. You looked down into the plastic bag of goods you got from the convenience store and sighed disappointedly at the distorted shape of the ice cream you bought.

“Sorry if the phone was cut out, I was in the elevator. But Jake, I’m going to die in this heat!” You whined through the phone, searching your pockets with your free hand for your keys.

“Why don’t you just come over to my place then?” He offers generously.

“That would give me the perfect excuse to see Layla…” You trail off, tempted by your friend’s invitation.

“See, Y/N just come over and we can eat some ice cream to cool down,” Jake persuades you further.

“You know, I actually got ice cream and other stuff and I’m pretty sure it melted on impact the moment I stepped into this damn complex,” You reveal, lightening up at the sound of Jake’s laughter.

You finally found your keys and unlocked your door, noticing the fan by your door. There was a Post-It note attached to it: You seemed to need it more than me - Seung. He was definitely sweating more than you earlier, so why would he give his fan to you?

“Jake, my annoying neighbor just left me a really nice fan to use?” You tell him, still glancing over the note. All of a sudden? For no reason? Your suspicions grew as they usually did, sure that he must have an ulterior motive. Nevertheless, you carried the fan and your melted snacks into your apartment.

“You mean the neighbor with the angelic singing voice?” Jake asks to confirm he was thinking about the same neighbor.

You open your fridge, placing each item in their designated spot, “You heard him one time, Jake.”

“One time was enough, Y/N. Dude’s got the voice of an angel for real,” Jake stands his ground.

Rolling your eyes, you take out the semi-frozen pineapple juice you put in the freezer hours ago. The original plan was to drink it for yourself, but it couldn’t stop bothering you that Heeseung had seemingly been nice for no reason. The fan he gave you blew cold air and if you wanted it to be even colder you could add cold water or ice to a compartment. It was expensive, you could tell from the look of it alone. Also, you did happen to browse for fans while you were waiting in line at the convenience store. Was the fan in front of you the one you considered buying? That’s not important right now…

“Y/N?” Jake’s voice snaps you away from your thoughts.

“Sorry, give me a sec,” You grabbed the plastic bag on the counter and added the frozen pineapple juice and gummies to it. It’s not equivalent to his fan, but at least it’s something.

You reopened your door, preparing to hang the bag on his door handle and go back to your conversation. What you didn’t expect was Heeseung to be walking in the hallway, humming a song while twirling his keys with one hand and carrying takeout in the other. He caught you in the middle of what was supposed to be a discrete delivery, raising his eyebrow in amusement.

“And what do I owe the pleasure, Y/N L/N?” He moseyed over to you, flashing one of his infamous smiles at you.

“I just left some things in the bag since you gave me that fan. I appreciate it, but um, if you don’t want the snacks since you just got food, I can grab it later,” You mumbled, trying to scurry back into your apartment since Jake was definitely going to tease you about any interaction you had with Heeseung.

“Wait, is that the angelic neighbor, Y/N?” Jake’s voice practically booms from your phone. You must’ve accidentally pressed the speaker button. Heeseung��s smile only grows wider as he looks at your phone, with you being completely mortified and hanging up on your best friend.

“Angelic neighbor, huh?”

“Don’t let it get to your head, Heeseung. That’s just my friend’s nickname for you,” You attempt to crush anything he was imagining, matching his cheeky energy.

“Aw, so you talk about me that much? I’m flattered, really,” He places a hand on his heart, closing his eyes in a feigned earnest expression.

“He heard you singing one time, Heeseung. Then, I mean I might’ve told him you were always singing with that flawless voice of yours, but that was it really,” You rambled, not thinking much about the words that were coming out of your mouth.

“Flawless voice…” He repeats, turning shy at the surprise compliment you gave.

You were completely unaware of what you said, still trying to make your way back to your apartment.

“Anyways, if you don’t have anything else to say I’m going to head back into my place…” You point with your thumb to your door, confused as to why he suddenly turned so quiet.

“Thank you.”

Now it was your turn to be surprised, “For what?”

“I’ve been going to all these auditions but keep getting rejected. Each place I go nitpicks my technique, but you called my voice flawless. I guess I really needed to hear that right now,” Heeseung explains, now fidgeting with his keys.

The puzzle pieces started falling into place, “So that’s why you’re always singing?”

He nodded in response, “The first day you came over to my door, I was practicing for a callback the following morning. I knew that we were expecting a new tenant and sure, I heard you moving things in, but moving in took me like three days. The last time someone new moved in was me, which was two years ago. So, I just assumed that you would still be moving in. It didn’t occur to me that you could’ve moved all your stuff in one day. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I was making that much noise that night, I didn’t know you were all moved in yet.”

His sincere apology surprised you for the second time, “I’m sorry, too. I’m a law school student and I was prepping for an exam that determined a huge part of my grade. I can get a bit sensitive to sounds when I’m studying for exams,” You apologized back.

Heeseung’s fingers stopped fidgeting with his keys as his expression softened, “Thank you for the snacks, I’ll enjoy them, Y/N.”

The warmth in his voice as he said your name made you flustered, used to him only saying your name in a teasing tone, “Y-Yeah, no problem. Thanks for the fan, I’ll use it well.”

“Oh, before I forget, I was going to drop off one of these sandwiches by the fan if you weren’t home yet,” He reaches into his takeout bag and hands you a sandwich.

Today must be the day he decided to endlessly surprise you since he handed you your regular order from the local deli, “How’d you know my order…?”

“About a week ago, you made an UberEats and the delivery person knocked on my door first,” He nonchalantly explained.

“Ah, I see. But why are you being so nice to me? I mean it’s a complete 180 from this morning,” You question him, still suspicious of his kindness.

“I just woke up when I tripped into you earlier. Also, I absolutely hate hot weather so I would’ve made that face if I bumped into anyone,” Heeseung answers, “I hope that we can get along from now on.”

You nod in agreement and thank him for the fan and sandwich once again before parting.

Finally back in your apartment, you FaceTimed Jake only to be met with the faces of both him and Jungwon.

“Tell us everything!”

Months had passed since Heeseung and you finally cleared up your misunderstandings. Your once sour relationship with him had turned into a strong friendship, spending most of each other’s free time with each other.

His love as a friend was anything but conventional. He knew all of your details, from the first time you officially hung out and watched the newest John Wick movie to the time when you went to a dog cafe together, he was always attentive to you and your interests. You were equally attentive to him, recommending songs that would suit his voice, or sending videos about fishing since it was his hobby. Jake had grown closer to Heeseung as well, reporting back to Jungwon each time you and Heeseung would gush about each other.

It was obvious to everyone that you loved each other. Well, obvious to everyone but the two of you. That was, until one fateful summer night spent on the apartment’s rooftop with each other. You were watching a fireworks show in the distance, enamored with the various colors filling the dark night sky.

“Isn’t it stunning, Seung?” You exclaimed happily, not breaking your attention from the fireworks in front of you.

He wasn’t looking at the fireworks though. His eyes were fixed on you beside him, taking in everything you are, “Yeah, absolutely stunning.”

You turned towards him, only to be met with his unwavering gaze, “Heeseung?”

He softly led you to the table and chairs on the rooftop, hinting that he wanted to sit down next to you. You followed him, picking up when he wanted to say something.

After a deep breath in Heeseung began, “Y/N, I love the way you teach me about things I never would have thought to learn about. I love the way you listen to my concerns and nonsensical excited rants about my favorite shows or album releases. I love your extrovertedness and willingness to help those around you. I love your laugh. I love you.”

“Heeseung, I love you too,” You reply, unable to properly formulate all the reasons why you loved him. If you started listing the reasons why you loved him, you feared you would never stop.

But your confession back was enough for him to shine brighter than any of the fireworks you watched before, “Really?”

You smile at him, causing him to envelop you in a hug.

Who would’ve thought that your noisy neighbor all those months ago would end up being the person you loved?

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criticalcurve · 9 months

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I thought it'd be cute if she drew fanart for Bubble Bass' Nostalgia Critic rip off review show!

#Darla Dinkler #Bubble Bass #Spongebob Squarepants #my art

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gkt-tummyaches · 7 months

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hobbie hcs

i cant remember what ive already said and what i havent, but there might be a few repeats; just hobbie hcs dump cus i need a break from concept designing </333

blossom

periodic table bucket list. she's slowly trying to get her hands on most elements on the periodic table, just to have bragging rights. yes she is going to find a way to safely store poisonous and radioactive elements, thank you.

pottery ! she hates it. she's awful at it. she's determined to get really good at it and attends the classes only because she hates them.

fencing. maybe the only hobby she actually enjoys.

buttercup

kickboxing as an anger management sport. keeps it solo, doesn't do it competitively.

cooking. likes experimenting with bigger and bolder projects, and likes indirectly caring for people through it.

origami. started as a patience practice + now mindlessly makes figures when she's bored.

bubbles

acting, technically ? she likes to audition for roles in up-coming productions in high school, and then out in townsville's local theater club. isn't sure she actually likes it, but she's successful.

coloring books. really liked it as a kid but lacks the inspiration as she gets older, coloring books are a nice and therapeutic without the pressure.

fashion design. she is awful at it. like god awful. high fashion experimentation meets whatever garbage she pulled out of the dumpster. but she likes doing it, so…

boomer

BEETLE FIGHTING. enough said.

gimmicks. juggling, yo-yo tricks, little card tricks and 'magic', etc. goofy little things to use as an ice breaker.

learning fictional languages. started with impersonations; his damnation was a wookie impression, that led into a downward spiral. so far he's got down simlish (the sims) and dovahzul (skyrim).

brick

none. he's boring as hell.

(soap making business.)

(candle-making, also.)

butch

taking the piss out of b-rated horror movies with friends. genuinely writes up reviews about them and posts them anonymously.

writes in a diary, secretly. all kinds of stuff in it; ranges from actual accounts of his month, or snippets of poetry or plot ideas. doesn't do it everyday.

bass guitar, one of the few instruments he still regularly plays.

brute

body disposal idk

debt collecting

knife collection. also knife commission. makes her own knives.

brat

streaming/blogging, etc. part of her side-job but also just something to enjoy doing; started up small and as a joke with friends, and eventually amassed a following.

robot fighting rings. has yet to lose a round, loves the challenge it gives her to work on her building skills. robotics is still a newer interest.

drawing ! makes a lot of her own schematics and concept designs, got into it for her own merch and online personas too. refuses to go directly into making commissions, however.

berserk

skateboarding, roller-skating, etc. she fucking SUCKS at it. no improvement in sight. tries to impress people/give them tips, only for them to end up picking it up better than she does. has broken both her ankles and skateboards many times.

scrapbooking ! in an absolutely not creepy obsessive way whatsoever. it's not like she ,,, collects locks of hair, or anything.

furby collection. likes upcycling them into those weird long snakes.

#hcs #headcanons #ppg #rrb #ppnkg #wow... everyones so creative !! /s

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sirfrogsworth · 2 years

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I said I would be posting more now that I have a laptop upstairs, and I will. I haven't posted much yet because I was still getting used to the keyboard and trying to get to a more comfortable typing speed that didn't frustrate me.

I actually bought a MacBook Air. I borrowed some money from my dad that I will be paying back over time. It's my first Apple product if you don't count the iPhone I got for my parents. It's a wonderful computer. The M1 chip is super zippy. Battery life is amazing. My former 12 year old laptop lasted about 2 hours per charge. This thing lasts me basically all day. The construction is very impressive. The aluminum body feels very sturdy. The screen is beautiful and gets way brighter than I need. And while they don't have any bass, I can't believe how good these tiny laptop speakers sound. My old laptop sounded like a super quiet AM radio. This thing hasn't gotten even mildly warm yet (though I am not rendering video or anything). It is very light. I feel comfortable taking it with me around the house if I need to. The old laptop was about 12 pounds and I think this is 2.75 or so.

Apple just makes good laptops. They always have, though they weren't always a great value. But I think the M1/M2 models are actually competitively priced as long as you don't get too many upgrades. The upgrade prices are still bonkers.

The OS has taken some getting used to. But for basic functions it's fine. I haven't had any trouble navigating. And the search function is much better than Windows. As is the aesthetics.

I don't really get into those technology pissing contests. I considered a Windows laptop, but there were just so many PC laptop choices and I was overwhelmed with the research required to find a good one. Not only can quality vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but it can also vary from model to model. There are shitty Dells and fantastic Dells. I just didn't have the energy to figure out which was which. But I knew the new M1 Macs were all well reviewed and would serve my needs. So, that's what I got.

One bonus is that all of my friends are on iPhones and so now I can use iMessage and not turn into a dreaded green bubble. I still think Apple should make texting with android not crappy, but I'm happy to have a less frustrating way to communicate with my friends until that happens. If it ever does. (C'mon Europe, force Apple to fix that!)

Choosing tech these days is just about your needs and preferences. Brand loyalty is bullshit. All of the companies basically suck as far as business practices. Google might even be eviler these days. Microsoft has always been shit. And Dell has some of the worst customer service around. In this particular instance, Apple was the least evil choice for my needs and preferences. And anytime I need to do something only a PC can handle, I can just pop downstairs and use my desktop machine.

My only complaint so far is that I don't like how the scroll wheel functions with my bluetooth mouse. I like to scroll 3 lines at a time and Apple has this weird scroll acceleration feature that scrolls really slow at first and then crazy fast the more you scroll. I think there is a workaround but I haven't had the time to figure it out yet.

I'm excited to test out Photoshop, as I've heard the M1 version is about 50% faster. I just haven't had the energy to edit any photos recently.

So, that's my Apple experience so far. It's a good computer that I hope will last for many years. I also like that they maintain decent resale value if I need something different down the line.

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gerogerigaogaigar · 8 months

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This is it! My last batch of reviews. This time my boyfriend supplied six albums. He is more of a singles and eps kinda guy so the album choices are kinda...

The Front Bottoms - Going Grey

The Front Bottoms have existed in my periphery for a little while now. I'll hear a song now and then but I've never sat down and listened to an album. Going Grey exists somewhere in between 10s indie folk and 00s pop punk/emo. The lyrics are solidly unsophisticated without being stupid. A love letter to immaturity. It is clearly the work of someone looking back on their younger self and fondly roasting them. The music really supports this by primarily utilizing the tendencies of immature 00s pop punk and pretentious 10s indie folk. The contrast makes the tongue in cheek nature of the music clear without ever having to signal too overtly to the listener.

Blink-182 - California

So I actually kinda like Blink-182. I think their music from the 90s is a pure and raw expression of suburban alienation. Plus Travis Barker is an unbelievably good drummer. Unfortunately this album is from 2016. Ok it's not all bad actually. Tom DeLonge has been replaced by Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba and he lends a bit of that emo sound to the album which isn't really much of a jump. Barker is still capable of breakneck drum fills. And a lot of the songs have the energy of their 90s output. There is a lingering feeling though that these men are in their 40s and still singing about being teenagers. Please stop. But between big misses like Kings Of The Weekend and Teenage Satellites are songs that remind me why I liked this band in the first place. The Only Thing That Matters is a major standout track for having the rawness and speed that made me love them back in their Dude Ranch Days. California is a mixed bag, but it's honestly a lot better than you'd expect out of a 2016 Blink-182 album.

Fall Out Boy - Mania

What the fuck happened to this band? From Under The Cork Tree is one of the best albums of the 00s full of witty lyricism and catchy music. Mania is an Imagine Dragons album. Fall Out Boy have become soulless trend chasers who don't even really care about the music they make. It's generically "epic" with vapid lyrics that don't communicate anything. Someone needs to euthanize these idiots before they go making more music.

Rezz - A Certain Kind Of Magic

Rezz is a lesser known DJ and electronic music producer that more people need to listen to. She has an incredibly chaotic style that mixes dubstep, brostep, electro house, and hip hop. And if that sounds a lot like Skrillex to you don't worry. While Rezz has a lot in common with her obnoxious brostep predecessor she is also capable of composing music that isn't just nonstop sensory overload. The peaks and valleys are what make her music so engaging, a very energetic segment can easily turn right into a lower bass driven dubstep sequence. The bass is crunchy with smoother mids and high ends and there are a good number of samples. A Certain Kind Of Magic also inexplicably ends on basically an emo song which catches me off guard every time, but goes to show how a wide range of influences makes for interesting music.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise - RKS

I don't hate this. I'll admit that the whole indie white boy blues aesthetic never clicked with me, and I can point to a number of bands doing this sort of thing that I like better, but I can point to innumerable bands that I like much, much less. RKS is deeply inoffensive music that isn't gonna hold my attention too hard, but it does have a few moments that are truly enjoyable. Particularly when they let down that bombastic sound and let those bubbly clean guitar lines shine.

Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway

I've been given special instructions for this one. I have to sit in the back of a car on my way home from my friend's house while it's raining and then I have to listen to this album and feel bad. I don't have any way to do that.

What is Kelly Clarkson? Being the first American Idol winner puts her in a position where she's primed to be a golden goose for a bunch of executives. As such her options for artistic integrity are severely limited to the commercially profitable. On Breakaway Clarkson split from the Idol management to craft an album that dated to explore outside the mainstream pop landscape. The results are embarrassing.

Obviously she was never going to make good music. I would be an idiot to try and give an American Idol contestant the benefit of the doubt in regards to their artistic sincerity. Her voice is a hollow void of emotion. The lyrics are paint by number. The music shows the outline of an emotion. Kelly Clarkson is the shadow on the wall of Plato's cave. Her fans incapable of comprehending that this is just a pale imitation of real music.

So I ask again. What is Kelly Clarkson? The answer seems obvious now. Kelly Clarkson is a name that once belonged to a human being and now is the property of record companies. The name is attached to records and the records are expected to sell based on the name. The human being that once shared the name Kelly Clarkson is a shadow. Kelly Clarkson is a music career. Kelly Clarkson is the avatar of the American Idol social experiment. Kelly Clarkson is a cipher. There is no such thing as Kelly Clarkson, there is only the music. But the music is also a shadow. There is nothing here. A shadow cast by a shadow. You cannot find the artistic merit in this music any more than you can get blood from a stone.

#the front bottoms #blink-182 #fall out boy #rezz #rainbow kitten surprise #kelly clarkson #500 album gaiden

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fantastickkay · 2 months

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Album Review of the Week: Dream - It Was All A Dream (2001)

2001 is my all-time favorite year for music, movies, anything pop culture. It all kicks off with It Was All A Dream, hitting store shelves on January 23, 2001. There is a lot of Y2K pop energy, as well as some heavy R&B influences throughout. Their harmonies are sublime!

After a mysterious intro, we blast into the lead single He Loves U Not. The melody on this one is so great, the verses flow up down and around while the chorus' vocals pack a punch along with the instrumental. I will admit that the track becomes repetitive, however it is a great intro to the project.

In My Dreams has this sloppy robotic synth at the intro that is a very unique sound which makes this track interesting from the jump. Then, we get into their heavenly harmonies on full display. Verses have a laid-back talk/sing vocal which adds to this unique sound. The bridge sounds beautiful as well and builds to a climax to make the last act even better than the first. This is a very well-structured track with a lot of compelling sounds happening, separating them from the standard bubblegum pop act.

This Is Me is a total classic. This is one of the Hit Clips that I had on heavy rotation! The instrumental is like little digital bubbles popping all over the place, then sprinkles of high notes get peppered in for the pre-chorus. Not to mention the chorus is very fun to sing with a flowing melody.

I Don't Like Anyone has always been one of my favorites! Something about the harmonies right away in the beginning that just grab you by the collar and the sassy vocals on the verse. Then we explode into big beats, delicate yet assertive vocals in the chorus. Euphoric!

Pain is another classic, I had it on some TRL compilation as well so that's what I always think about when this song comes on. The hook "all you do is bring the pain, boy you crazy, eh eh" injects a lot of fun. The first verse has really impressive vocals in particular and I love the little rapping part talking about how the guy will regret it once they are famous. A lot of fun elements!

I absolutely love When I Get There. This is one that I sing to myself pretty often. It has a dreamy instrumental and melody. Another great track that highlights their harmonies, and the fast bit of the chorus is so much fun to sing!

What We Gonna Do About Us starts with this crazy keyboard (?) then bass intro. This is probably the most R&B infused track thus far. It has a funky, thumpy instrumental and the vocals are a bit different than we have heard.

As with a lot of albums from the time, we get this long interlude of phone messages from each of the gals sent to the same guy (!) which is pretty fun, leading into the New Edition cover Mr. Telephone Man. I adore this cover, the instrumental is groovy and their vocals are probably the best of the entire album. This whole sound is very nostalgic, I must have listened to it a lot back in the day.

Angel Inside is almost hip hop, a definite pivot from where we have been in the soundscape. The sound is a little dated, sounds more like it belongs two years earlier in 1999 but it is still a bumpin' track with some great vocals!

Do You Wanna Dance continues the R&B trend we have been for the past few tracks. This and the last track almost feel like filler. They are still good, but for such a long album I feel like we could do without these. They are a bit generic in comparison to what we have heard so far. With that being said though, the bridge is fantastic.

Miss You is a ballad with some gorgeous harmonies and instrumentation although the verses are a little bland and familiar.

How Long is a nice ballad that gets stuck in my head a lot too. Again, it feels a little generic but they do manage to breathe some life into this with their beautiful harmonies.

Overall, this has always been one of my all-time favorite albums, even though there are some clear fillers here and there. Listening to it again with analytical ears made me notice that they have some incredibly unique elements to their music and most of the songs are very well structured with interesting things happening throughout which sets them apart from most acts of the time. It is a shame that their record label went bankrupt and they didn't end up having the means to flourish further!

They did reunite for a tour in 2016, man am I sad I missed that!

#album review #hall of fame #dream #it was all a dream #2001 #2000s #y2k #early 2000s #cd collection

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meerawrites · 4 months

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Hi darling, I have a few selections from the 'iwtv ask game' - 1, 7, 13, and 21, please :)

from here.

Q: When did you fall in love with the show? A: surprisingly not on the first watch, I had to sit on it awhile, and it is not because of product quality, or the cast, I love the cast, and it is well-made. I just had to dive deeper into a historical context to get it in a meaningful way finally, so... second rewatch.

Q: If you read the book, what are your favourite changes from page to screen? A: it does not make du Lac the same character/person by a long shot (which isn't necessarily bad) but, the race changes thus far, they don't feel forced and aren't ahistorical, and it emphasizes Loustat's gothic typical power imbalance even moreso. Also, just nailing it on the head how very bi Lestat is out of the gate, I love both, but Antoinette was a good adaptation choice as is the race change to adapting themes of the 1976 book to the now. (media does not exist in a bubble)

Q: What was your favourite piece of music from the first season’s OST? A: "Come to Me", "opening titles" and all the Jelly Roll Morton they included in the show, I love a good historical fiction, can you tell?

Q: What was your favourite monologue of season one? A: clearly it is due for a rewatch (again), but probably Bailey Bass Claudia's 'to beat Lestat' monologue, and I say this as a Lestat girlie (gender neutral).

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cogbreath · 4 months

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spongebob episodes with bubble bass im excited to watch:

pickles (classic!!), bulletin board, squid noir, moving bubble bass, swamp mates, spongebobs big birthday blowout, bubble bass's tab, a place for pets, the big bad bubble bass, sea-man sponge haters club, patrick the mailman, hot crossed nuts, bassward

patrick star show episodes:

lost in couch, bubble bass reviews (RLLY excited), terror at 20.000 leagues

this isnt all the episodes hes in but these sre the ones im most excited to watch due to him having an intereresting or major role in the episodes

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thisworldisablackhole · 4 months

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Top 25 Albums of 2023

These are not reviews, simply blurbs of my thoughts on each release. Some have more effort put into them than others. So without further ado...

25. Cursetheknife - There’s A Place I Can Rest

SOUNDS LIKE: HEAVY SOFT ALT ROCK FOR STARGAZING ENTHUSIASTS / LISTEN

Oklahoma rock group cursetheknife caught me by surprise with this release. This was one of those unplanned listens that I checked on a whim because I was intrigued by their 2000s emo "no spaces allowed" type band name paired with a black and white still life painting of an urn and some... cubes? I like it. This record is really great at being loud and quiet. Acoustic guitars and hushed, tired vocals are interrupted by a massive wall of crunchy guitars coloured by pretty harmonics and sustained tremolo bends. Reminds me of both the earth shattering gaze of Hum and the moody depressive folk of Pygmy Lush. A combo I never expected to hear but one that won me over without hesitation.

24. Militarie Gun - Life Under the Gun

SOUNDS LIKE: MELODIC POST-HARDCORE FOR GROOVERS / LISTEN

I wasn't a huge fan of the mix on Militarie Gun's earlier EP's. I liked what they were trying to do musically, but it sounded dry and flat, and vocalist Ian Shelton's strained pleas for love hardly changed their inflection enough to keep me waiting on stand by. My first impressions of this band were completely turned on their head and booted into outer space when I saw them live. Everything made sense. The mix from stage was loud and dynamic, with just enough room verb to slick up their sound. The songs were tight, catchy, and had enough punch to shake you to your core. Their performance that night left me awed, and I’m happy to say that version of the band I saw on the big stage is much better portrayed on this LP. What we get is 12 songs of 90s influenced, groove laden post hardcore that would make any fan of Fugazi, Lungfish or Self Defence Family happy.

23. PinkPantheress - Heaven Knows

SOUNDS LIKE: DRUM & BASS WITH SOUR KEY POP HOOKS / LISTEN

Where are you feat. WILLOW was the first song to draw me into the downtempo bubble gum world of PinkPantheress. Downtempo and bubble gum might sound like distant, thrice removed descriptions, but melancholic piano leads, ambient backing vocals and breakbeat drum samples are combined with PinkPantheress’ signature high pitched, sweet vocal delivery and highschool journal-esque lyrics in a way that hasn’t been done before. Things are generally more upbeat on this album, and it’s good that way. I actually think her style works better when the energy is high and the drums are quick. This album is almost flawless with the exception songs like Bury me, Internet baby and Feelings where the bass lines slow down into a warp, the drums become more sparse, and the lyrics become more repetitive. It’s these moments where the energy and charm are lacking and the result is just meh. Trim the fat, take out a few of these songs, and the album would be a 5/5.

22. Year of the Knife - No Love Lost

SOUNDS LIKE: HEAVY HARDCORE WITH LONG HAIR SENSIBILITIES / LISTEN

Woof, not only does this band have the grit and claws to survive and face real life tragedy, but their tough as nails resolve as individuals is fully apparent through the music they create as well. This album is punishing, frantically violent, but measured and controlled. This band absolutely smokes through powerviolence blast beats and nasty death metal riffage with a cool head, creating a record that teeters on the edge of deathcore at times without ever giving in to the cornball theatrics (which I love btw).

21. END - The Sin of Human Frailty

SOUNDS LIKE: CHAOS, PANIC, CAUSTIC BURNS, METALCORE / LISTEN

Face melting, pummeling madness, blah blah name your adjective, this band has it. Dissonant and chaotic metalcore that will make you feel like you’re being buried alive - face down in the dirt fighting for your life. The production on this thing is DENSE and begs to be played loudly. The layers of noise are packed together in a tight weave that really adds to the oppressive, suffocating nature of their music. Yet it all begins to break apart and show it’s intricate colours the more volume you pump into the speakers. If you’re not a fan by the time Hollow Urn hits you with that cinematic, theatre rumbling bass drop that sounds like a war horn from hell, then I don’t know what to tell you.

20. Panopticon - The Rime of Memory

SOUNDS LIKE: UR LAST MOMENTS BEFORE YOU DIE IN THE WOODS ALONE LOL, ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METAL / LISTEN

This is it, this is gonna be the album that finally reignites my love for black metal. Beautiful, atmospheric, sad. The opening two tracks are full of gothic folk passages packed with orchestral strings, acoustic guitars and even a softly blown flute. By the time the blasting drums, guitars and tortured howls kick in 8 minutes into Winter’s Ghost, it feels like you just got snapped thru a speed run flash back of someone’s personal grief simulation. Your heart will sink through the fucking floor, but from that pain will rise immense beauty and the courage to trudge thru the brutal, frozen wasteland soundscapes of The Rime of Memory.

19. Silent Planet - SUPERBLOOM

SOUNDS LIKE: THE SOFTWARE CHIP IN YOUR BRAIN IS MALFUNCTIONING, METALCORE / LISTEN

I’ve been watching Silent Planet from the sidelines for a couple years now, first being introduced to them through their 2021 effort Iridescent, and then dabbling in some of their older catalog which oddly made me think of an alternate timeline where La Dispute was a metalcore band. I wasn’t a huge fan of hearing melodramatic slam poetry before my breakdowns, but they had a knack for songwriting which made them hard to discredit. Their earlier work just seemed like something I would have had to be there for on release to fully appreciate. Now was my chance. When singles started dropping for SUPERBLOOM, I was excited to finally be on board the hype train for one of their records. This record ended up showcasing a heavier, more modern and electronic influenced side of the band than we’ve seen before. Anecdotally, when this was released I was in the midst of a Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough, and found it to be a very fitting soundtrack to the game. Colourful and archaic. There are a lot of fun and creative ideas on this LP, some of which aren’t given ample room to breathe, but are nonetheless present. I found some of the tracks a little unmemorable at first but it honestly sounds better the more time I give it between listens. Only time will tell how it continues to age.

18. Polaris - Fatalism

SOUNDS LIKE: THE BOUNCY CASTLE AT UR PARTY IS DEFLATING, METALCORE / LISTEN

Polaris are good at what they do. Maybe too good. They are at the pinnacle of modern progressive metalcore alongside bands like Erra and Northlane, but whereas Erra excels in technical proficiency, and Northlane excels in synth pop metal integration, Polaris just brings down the emotional hammer. This band excels in the art of mixing heavy progressive riffs with soaring, passionate, radio ready choruses that just tug at your heart strings. I think Fatalism is overall heavier than their 2020 album The Death of Me, but they have doubled down on all the parts of their formula which make their songwriting so effective at simultaneously jerking tears and making your fists swing in a rage.

17. Night Verses - Every Sound Has A Color in the Valley of Night…

SOUNDS LIKE: SWIRLING, INTOXICATING INSTRUMENTAL PROG METAL / LISTEN

I was pretty adamantly opposed to instrumental music outside of electronic and ambient for a long time until I recently started reading books again. I wanted to see if I could get two birds stoned at once and listen to some tunes that I would usually avoid while I absorb words. I ended up enjoying this release so much that I started listening to it even when I wasn't reading books, but it does make every page you read play out like an intense action scene, so I'm inclined to continue listening in that fashion. Night Verses are an instrumental metal band, but don't go into this expecting full gas technical wankery. Night Verses are pro's at utilizing restraint and softer textures to weave a narrative with their instruments. Never have I encountered a band so skilled at telling a story without words.

16. Termina - Soul Elegy

SOUNDS LIKE: EMO ROBOTS FROM NEPTUNE DISCOVER TECHY DEATHCORE / LISTEN

I was first introduced to this outfit through their single Parasocial and was immediately sold. Sharp, twisting angular guitar leads over over deathcore inspired instruments and vocals. At one point the instruments drop out into an evil bass heavy hip hop beat with pitch shifted demon vocals before launching straight back into full auditory assault. It was just straight up one of the coolest switch ups I've heard in a metal song before and I was really hyped to hear what else they had in store. Ultimately I didn't enjoy the other singles on first listen as much as Parasocial, but the rest of the album really delivered upon release. There are points during this record where I feel like it was written by an AI; algorithmically engineered to release the right amounts of dopamine in my brain at specific intervals to keep me engaged. I don't mean that as an insult, as the result is a highly addicting LP that hits all the hallmarks of modern metal while still feeling innovative and fun.

15. Dying Wish - Symptoms of Survival

SOUNDS LIKE: THAT SHIT UR 40 YEAR OLD METALHEAD HOMIE PUTS ON THE AUX, TURN OF THE CENTURY MELODIC METALCORE / LISTEN

I was exposed to this band when they were on tour with Counterparts. The bill that night was supposed to be Counterparts, Dying Wish, Foreign Hands and SeeYouSpaceCowboy, but unfortunately Foreign Hands had their vehicle broken into in Washington and couldn't cross the border. I was still treated to a ménage à trois of metalcore excellence that night, but was especially blown away by Dying Wish as they were the only band on the bill I wasn't familiar with. My expectations were low and they spin kicked me in the teeth with their oldschool melodeath inspired riffs. From that moment on I was eagerly awaiting this album. The singles they drip fed us showed a marked improvement in their songwriting and especially in Emma's performance as a vocalist. The full album proved to be a worthy contender, bringing back a solid nostalgic sound to an arena packed to the brim of tiresome modernity. I still can't get the sound of those crash laden breakdowns out of my head.

14. fromjoy - fromjoy

SOUNDS LIKE: CHAOTIC GRINDIN MATHCORE MADE BY DEPRESSED ZOOMERS WHO PROBS GREW UP ON 4CHAN / LISTEN

This is a very recent addition to this list, but one that has swiftly earned it's place. There have been plenty of bands this year that have done this kind of chaotic, math influenced metalcore, but none that have blended the sound with electronic breakbeats and haunting choruses the same way fromjoy has. I can get kind of tired of albums that are just 100% speed and brutality front to back, but fromjoy have injected enough elements of other genres here to offer moments of respite from their brain melting, hellish soundscapes. Songs like of the shapes of hearts and humans, or the saxophone vaporwave of Helios, are much like a bench atop a canyon vista. A moment to regroup and recover before you continue pushing that boulder up hill.

13. Invent Animate - Heavener

SOUNDS LIKE: U JUST PISSED OFF SOME ANGELS BRUH, METALCORE / LISTEN

Invent Animate are a progressive, atmospheric metalcore band. Sounds pretty fuckin cool to me, but I have a strange relationship with this album. It's an album that I've always liked, but have really struggled to connect with on an individual track basis. It took months of casual listening before I could really differentiate one track from another. It all sort of blurred together, which is on one hand a testament to the atmosphere they have created with this record, but on the other hand it created a challenge to find specific moments to draw me back in. Despite that I still really enjoyed the general sound of what I was hearing; heavy polyrhythmic riffs backed by icy reverberated synthesizers which melted into breakdown ASMR in my headphones. It wasn't really a hard decision to continue giving it a chance to grow on me, and I'm glad I did.

12. TesseracT - War of Being

SOUNDS LIKE: IF DREAM THEATER WAS GOOD LOL, PROGRESSIVE METAL / LISTEN

I was a huge fan of TesseracT's album One back in the early 2010's. I decided to revisit that album earlier this year just out of curiosity to see if I would still enjoy that kind of music, and I was pleased to find that the album still sounded just as good to my 28 year old brain as it did to my 16 year old brain. It's always a nice feeling to realize that your younger self didn't have terrible taste in music. During this time of re-listening to One I had no idea that they were on the verge of releasing a new album. When the single War of Being dropped in July I was absolutely floored to find out that not only did their old material still hold up, but their newest material was absolutely on par with it. The groove, the heaviness, the atmosphere, Daniel Tompkins sultry sweet vocals and crushing screams. It was clear to me that TesseracT hadn't missed a single step in their newest endeavor. It was a full package that made the 16 year old in me gleam from ear to ear.

11. Mental Cruelty - Zwielicht

SOUNDS LIKE: LEGOLAS FUCKED UP AND TOSSED GIMLI STRAIGHT INTO THE ORCS, SYMPHONIC DEATHCORE / LISTEN

I didn't even really know what deathcore was until I saw Lorna Shore's Pain Remains plastered all over the front page of sputnikmusic and the users top albums of 2022 lists. I decided to give it a try out of morbid curiosity and discovered that I actually really loved the combination of heavy as fuck instrumentation, twisted pig squeal vocals and symphonic, fantasy soundtrack-esque passages. It was like nothing I had ever heard before and I loved the total absurdity of it. Discovering Mental Cruelty just cemented my newfound love for this genre. Zwielicht is epic, grandoise, brutal, disgusting and beautiful all at the same time. The symphonic breakdown on Pest makes me feel like I'm listening to a metal record while witnessing firsthand the battle of Helm's Deep in Peter Jackson's adaptation of Tolkein's The Two Towers. Dark and dramatic, this album perfectly conjoins my love for both extreme metal and fantasy.

10. The Republic of Wolves - Why Would Anyone Want To Live This Long?

SOUNDS LIKE: YOU JUST GAVE THE INDIE KID A NOOGIE, LOUD ALT ROCK / LISTEN

The Republic of Wolves completely blindsided us with a surprise EP in December, just two weeks before Christmas. I had listened to this band very briefly back in 2011 when they released The Cartographer, but it wouldn't be until discovering Shrine a couple years ago that I really fell head over heels for them. Their moody, dim lit and introspective brand of post hardcore tinged indie rock felt like it was tailor made for my tastes. To put it simply, this new EP is fantastic, but it comes with a caveat; the mix. It is raw and unpolished. Maybe a little thin and tinny sounding when compared to Shrine. This release is kind of like a haphazard demo tape thrown together just to remind the world that they still have the chops, and boy do they ever. Hidden below the rough edges of this recording is some of their most adventurous and rewarding song writing. Beautiful moments reveal themselves like treasure chests on the high seas, and the closer you get the more they glisten.

9. Koyo - Would You Miss It?

SOUNDS LIKE: I DONT HAVE ANYTHING FUNNY FOR THIS ONE, SAD POP PUNK IS ALREADY A JOKE / LISTEN

Pop punk! A genre that I always thought was kinda corny and lame until I started listening to The Story So Far and realized that it can actually be incredibly potent, emotionally charged and energetic form of catharsis. Koyo really fit the bill when I was searching for more bands that would satisfy my TSSF cravings. Although I'm not a huge fan of "gruff bearded IPA guy" vocals in punk music, Koyo's songs were so catchy and impactful that even the singer eventually won me over, and this record found itself in constant rotation.

8. Maruja - Knocknarea

SOUNDS LIKE: HARDCORE KIDS STARTED LISTENING TO JAZZ AND NICK CAVE, POST PUNK / LISTEN

My friend randomly sent me a song from this, saying that it auto played for him on spotify and he thought I would like it. I was enthralled by it immediately and it ended up being the best thing he has ever recommended to me. I am a huuge sucker for saxophone and firmly stand behind the opinion that horns can improve almost any genre of music, especially when that genre is moody post punk blasting straight out of the smoky stairwell exit of an underground english club. Maruja's use of the saxophone is much more than just a garnish though, it is woven into the structure of each song the same way a guitar would be. When paired with the anguished croons of vocalist Harry Wilkinson, the result is an atmosphere almost oppressive with it's heavy yet deeply moving temperament. This will undoubtedly be a band to pay close close attention to in the coming years.

7. Johnny Booth - Moments Elsewhere

SOUNDS LIKE: BOTCH TAPE IS IN THE STEREO AND UR BRAKES JUST STOPPED WORKING, METALCORE / LISTEN

I had never heard of this band before this album dropped, and I only checked it out because their name sounded weird as hell to me. I thought we left name-names like Billy Talent in the dust years ago. What I wasn't prepared for was the scourge of angry-fun math infused metalcore behind it's surreal cover art. One thing that made this album stand out to me was the pure variety of sounds and influences available. Everything from Botch worship, dreamy alt rock reminiscent of the softer cuts on Loathe's 2020 mammoth ILIIAITE, and Blood Brothers inspired "four on the floor" dance punk. This album portrays itself like a psych-ward colouring book, and the result is an album that never feels boring or out of touch.

6. Spiritbox - The Fear of Fear

SOUNDS LIKE: NEW AGE, EASY LISTENING, ALTERNATIVE METALCORE / LISTEN

Spiritbox have been a controversial band in the metal community, mainly criticized for their streamlined, "sterile" (not my words) take on pop infused metalcore. I for one love the fact that they are creating heavy music that is still accessible, smooth, and packs enough heart to caress the unwrinkled surface of my brain. This EP is extremely succinct, all killer no filler, and just a really great example of all the strong suits this band has to offer. Songs like Cellar Door and Angel Eyes are just heavy and intense, purely utilizing harsh vocals to convey the feeling of anxiety that comes with grappling your sense of self. Nothing has resonated with me this year more than Courtney screaming "I can't live in this world while I breathe in another one" right before the heaviest fucking breakdown. Too Close / Too Late, The Void, and Ultraviolet are all shimmering and beautiful alt-metal tracks with no harsh vocals present at all. Jaded sits firmly in between, open arms firmly grasping from all corners of Spiritbox's repertoire to create a perfect balance of screaming, frost bitten metallic riffs and a chorus so catchy it could rival some of the biggest pop R&B artists on the radio today.

5. Nothing,nowhere. - Void Eternal

SOUNDS LIKE: THE PICTURES IN YOUR HIGHSCHOOL LOCKER, NU METAL, METALCORE / LISTEN

Given the fact that this album features Pete Wentz, Shane Told, Buddy Nielsen, Underoath vocalists Spencer and Aaron, as well as some more contemporary artists such as Will Ramos, Connie Sgarbossa and Olli Appleyard, it confuses me to see how little it is talked about. I don't know if this album completely flew under the radar of post hardcore and metalcore fans, or if it was just written off as over produced studio nostalgia bait. Naysayers be damned as there are some seriously catchy, well written songs here. Even when the album ventures into Linkin Park nu-metal rap territory, Joe Mulherin is just such a talented vocalist and song writer that he always brings the songs back to earth with a bangin chorus or death defying breakdown.

4. Wednesday - Rat Saw God

SOUNDS LIKE: IF MBV WAS A COUNTRY BAND, TWANGY ALT ROCK / LISTEN

Kind of the oddball addition to this list, but god damn I love this album so much. Even though I come off as a metalcore fan first, a lot of my favourite artists are actually 90s indie rock bands of the slacker variety, and adjacent americana influenced singer songwriters. Wedneday checks all the boxes that I love about 90s alternative music. Rough around the edges but infectious with it's melody. Reminiscent of both the untuned honesty of David Berman and the super charged, off kilter charm of Swirlies.

3. Hail The Sun - Divine Inner Tension

SOUNDS LIKE: AN EDGIER, COOLER MARS VOLTA, PROGRESSIVE POST-HARDCORE / LISTEN

This was my most anticipated album of the year, and one that I made the unfortunate mistake of burning myself the fuck out on it's singles. I listened to Maladapted, Under the Floor, Chunker, and Mind Reader so many times in a row that when the full album was released, it just sounded WEIRD to me. Obviously I didn't let that get in the way of my enjoyment, but my brain had been wired to expect certain songs to be preceded by and followed by certain songs. Ya know what I mean. It threw me through a loop and it took a long time for the other songs to really click into place. Divine Inner Tension is one of Hail the Sun's strongest and most fun albums to date. These tracks are smart and witty, dazzling with it's technicality and playfulness. Math rock guitar harmonies, funky bass lines and spastic drum fills phase in and out of battle stances before breaking free into powerful choruses and descending back down their stairwell of madness. Vocalist Donovan Melero can be a bit of an acquired taste, but fans of The Mars Volta will feel right at home listening to the dramatic flair in the ceiling shattering range of his voice. Despite the fact that he can sometimes hold me back from recommending this band to people in my inner circle, I couldn't imagine a more perfect vocalist for the band. He knows how to command a room, and sometimes (if you close your eyes) the instruments feel like an extension of his voice, spreading from his open mouth like tendrils to do his bidding. Admittedly I still feel a stronger emotional connection to New Age Filth and Wake, but this band doesn't miss and I'm sure my emotional attachment to Divine Inner Tension will grow the more it marinates and the singles that I burnt myself on begin to simmer down into a stew on low boil.

2. Aviations - Luminara

SOUNDS LIKE: BEING EMBRACED BY THE SWEET WARMTH OF THE COSMOS, PROGRESSIVE ROCK, METAL / LISTEN

Beautiful melodies, progressive signatures, intricate harmonies, bright pianos and sweet, soaring vocals. This album engulfed me in it's gorgeous fiery glow and there was no looking back. Despite technically being a metal band, pure heaviness is merely a fork in the road on Aviations journey, a stormy mountain passage per se. In fact, I think one of the most impressive aspects of this band is their ability to utilize downtuned guitars and hard hitting polyrhythms in the softest way possible. Screams are sprinkled here and there on different tracks for emotional emphasis, but fourth track Legend is the only song on the album where the band goes all in on the heavy. They offer us a brief, deafening glimpse into their realm of madness before switching gears with La Jolla back into a band that sounds suspiciously like a modern church worship group, almost as if Legend was just an accidental slip of the mask that you were definitely not supposed to see. Watch your back. It doesn't matter which mask this band wears though, as everything they do is just beautiful and unique in it's ability to sound like a sunrise in motion. Adam Benjamin's vocals are just icing on top of an already sickingly sweet cake. His ability to dance between delicate falsetto and smooth, passionate wails makes me believe he has cherry blossoms and bleeding hearts in place of vocal chords. Luminara is a testament to what can be achieved when six technically proficient musicians come together with a central vision to create a a metal album that moves mountains with it's tenderness. The artistically explorative and emotionally impactful music they have laid down here make it an easy pick for second place.

1. Currents - The Death We Seek

SOUNDS LIKE: JUMPING IN THE BATH WITH A TOASTER OVEN, STICKING A FORK IN AN OUTLET, METALCORE / LISTEN

See below or click here for my full thoughts on the undisputed AOTY of 2023.

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ausetkmt · 5 months

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Funk. It’s not just the notes and it’s not just the rhythm. It’s the feeling. When you’re listening to a band or a song, you shouldn’t have to do too much thinking to tell if it’s got the funk. You’ll feel it. And if it’s got the funk, ipso facto, it is funky.

Funk bands and funky music have recently, I’m pleased to report, experienced a bit of a resurgence – that is if one is to believe the august New York Times, who on November 3rd ran a lengthy article in it’s Sunday Review section entitled, “The Glorious Return Of Funk.” Oddly, at least on the surface, the article’s author, professor and musicologist Nate Sloan, cited as his first example the song ‘Sucker,’ a current Top 40 hit by the decidedly un-funky Wyckoff, NJ trio (and all-time favorite of my daughter, Mary), the Jonas Brothers. But sure enough, precisely 1:55 into the tune and for the succeeding 14 seconds, comes the moment Sloan described as a “stupefyingly funky drum break.” I’ll be damned if I didn’t feel it. With reflections of academia, Sloan went on to explain funk’s elusive heart is in its syncopation. “(It’s) The art of placing rhythmic accents in unexpected places,” he expounds. “The cognitive dissonance created every time a drummer, a guitarist or a group of horns strikes a note on the offbeat has a way of generating a propulsive power that can’t be denied.”

Current renaissance notwithstanding, what can similarly not be denied is that such funky syncopated power was at its peak in the groovy era of the 1970’s. Earth, Wind & Fire, The Isley Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone, Kool & The Gang, The Gap Band, The Brothers Johnson, The Commodores, The Meters (later The Funky Meters), and certainly Parliament-Funkadelic, were just some of the roster of gigantic ‘70’s bands delivering the almighty funk.

Invoking the unlikely pairing of Descartes and the aforementioned Parliament, professor Sloan further attempted to ascribe scholarly meaning to the subject with the moving, sensory description, “The olfactory nature of the name ‘funk’ suggests the music was all about sweat and sociality. And it is. But it’s also something greater. Funk insisted that physical release begets mental salvation and vice versa, a collapsing of Cartesian mind-body duality summed up succinctly in the title of a 1970 Funkadelic album: “Free Your Mind … and Your Ass Will Follow.””

That’s heady stuff (and, I suppose, booty stuff). More directly, James Jamerson, acknowledged recently as the “most influential bass player ever” by Bass Player magazine, was known to have said, “The funk is in the funk.”

Personally, I just know it when I hear (and feel) it. And probably no band (outside of James Brown and The Famous Flames) put that feeling across quite like The Ohio Players. Originally formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1959, The Ohio Players reached their zenith in the ‘70’s with gloriously funkified hits such as ‘Love Rollercoaster,’ ‘Skin Tight,’ ‘Funky Worm,’ ‘Jive Turkey,’ and, undoubtedly their greatest ever, our featured song, ‘Fire.’ The video clip, taken from a 1975 live performance on the beloved late-night musical variety series, The Midnight Special, is over nine minutes long, but well worth the time.

Right from the marvelously incongruous introduction by funk-less ‘I Am Woman’ Aussie, Helen Reddy, the Ohio Players launch into an elongated funk-fest that would almost seem to be parody – or an outtake from the Will Farrell flick, “Semi-Pro” – if not for the fact that it’s so damn awesome. There’s a lot to follow here: smoke, bubbles, sirens, afros, denim ‘n diamond-bedazzled outfits, flame-licking graphics, runway strutting, O-H-I-O chanting, the sudden appearance (then re-appearance) by a crew of pop-and-lock dancers, all happening while the band keeps churning away at its mighty funky business. But I do especially hope you’ll stick around until the end when (beginning at 8:24) double-neck guitarist Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner – that’s right, “Sugarfoot” – does a mind-blowing, pretty much indescribable scat/guitar finale that in retrospect seems like the only possible way to bring the entire eccentric exercise to a conclusion.

Of its madcap mayhem, a YouTube commenter astutely wrote, “Caution: this is straight funk, please warm up with lesser funk before watching. Side effects may include uncontrollable urge to get down, get it on, or get on wit’ yo bad self, randomly begin shouting and whooping, and possibly, in severe cases, set fire to your house in honor of the funk.” To that, stretching back from the Ohio Players on up to the Jonas Brothers, all I can think to say is “Funk yeah.”

#Ohio Players #Ohio Players “Fire” (1974)#funk #funk bands

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ultravioletfuture · 9 months

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ULTRAVIOLET VISIONS: Perfect Dawn, Bandcamp Friday, and New Releases

Happy Bandcamp Friday UVF!!! I hope you've all been well and are ready for the start of the upcoming cycle of new UVF releases! We''ve got a ton of things to talk about in this week's blog, starting off with the long awaited announcement of the upcoming debut album from TRUMAN! and portal.rwb's (aka me!) new alias Lunar Data Garden!

"Perfect Dawn" by Lunar Data Garden

The announcement was posted on the Lunar Data Garden's Bluesky page in tandem with the Blue Moon and the beginning of the next lunar cycle. The first single from the record "Back To You Pt. 1" will drop on the night of the New Moon, September 15th, and the full album "Perfect Dawn" will release on the night of the next full moon, September 29th. Lunar Data Garden (aka LDG) is a data safe haven, where any and all past data signals can be decoded and given a new life. The Garden is overseen by the two moons: Natura being the Lunar body of the natural world, and Digitura being the physical manifestation of the digital world. When the orbit of the two moons come together in parallel, we achieve an event of transcendental harmony, a Perfect Dawn. Lunar Data Garden has been a project that Truman and I have had in the works since December last year. After working with Truman on the "hello gravity! 떨어지는 (Deluxe Edition)" release on UVF, and after finishing "ULTRAVIOLET CATHARSIS", we have been working on and off on what we have titled "Perfect Dawn". The album is a beautiful blend of both Truman and I's respective styles, and embraces a very Y2K aesthetic. We started off by back and forth sending each other sample ideas and aesthetic images until we started to finalize what our sounds or visuals would be. The first glimpse of LDG could be found at the end of my Skylive 2023 live set, where I played the track "Secret Place" off Perfect Dawn, as well as officially announcing the collab between Truman and I. Over the 9 months, we have been dying to share what we think is a fresh new take on the Vaporwave genre and we can't wait for you all to hear! "Perfect Dawn" is scheduled to release on Friday, September 29th with CDs and Minidiscs available on ULTRAVIOLET-FUTURE.

NEW ALBUM RELEASES

This week's blog post happens to line up on Bandcamp Friday, so I thought I'd review and recommend some albums on Bandcamp you should all check out and support today <3.

"Peacock Tail of Rainbow Magic" is the latest installment in the Afterdeath Television discography. This album opens up with this beautiful, kaleidoscopic intro "Kill Your Ego Before You Enter" that is just filled with atmosphere and just feels like the audio equivalent to a breath of fresh air. The album is very much in this sorta "Prog Vapor" lane similar to a lot of newer releases from death's dynamic shroud. "Is It Love" is this epic blend of vocal samples from so many different sources that some how all stay together as a cohesive idea. I love the track "Compass Play (Sky Seams)" with its super groovy bass and infectious vocal samples. The track centers around this Demi Lovato sample until the song finally explodes around the halfway point into this dramatic break-beat filled climax. Overall, I love how effortlessly Afterdeath Television is able to blend so many different samples together and form something new in the end. Favorite Tracks: Compass Play (Sky Seams), Crystal Moon

"Dense Object Forest" by out://0f//bounds is the brand new release to come out of the side alias of fellow UVF artist, Two Circles. Dense Object Forest is 10 tracks of Ambient-Electronic VGM styled Vaporwave. The opener "Trailhead (花柄)" welcomes us into this new world with its bubbly arpeggio sample that ping pongs in between your brain. The 2-part self titled tracks feel like the background music to some kind of RPG where you're just standing idly by in some kind of forest village. I love the deep soothing chords in the track "Refracting Crystal Cavern" that are accompanied by this drum loop that just drives the whole thing forward and puts you in a trance throughout the whole experience. The track "Lamp Light Off" is such a beautiful way to close off this album and say goodbye to the little world that was created before it. It's main melody is like a lullaby putting you to sleep and having you reflect on your time spent travelling through this Dense Object Forest. I am always stoked to new music come from both out://0f//bounds and Two Circles. If you haven't checked out any of their work, I highly recommend you start here! Favorite Tracks: Trailhead (花柄), Refracting Crystal Cavern, Lamp Light Off

Other Bandcamp Friday Recommendations

"Species of Crystalline Genesis" by Life Silence Genesis is easily one of the craziest vapor-related releases I've discovered recently. Dropping back in April 13, 2020, this album features production from Claud Sheffner, Métropolita, and Palmer in this insane fusion of Plunderphonics, EDM, and Glitch Pop. I found this album just digging around through the Vaporwave/Plunderphonics tab on Bandcamp and was instantly hooked upon hearing the first track "I Know It". This track boots up with this EDM style riser and these Miley Cyrus vocal chops that glitch and distort while building up to this huge climax, where these high pitched vocals squeal as if at the top of a mountain. Many tracks through out the album feature samples that sound vaguely familiar until they become warped and contorted. The track "Minus Blossom" is another highlight track with its simple sample loop until we gradually stretch the sample into unfamiliarity in this grand glitchy Vapor-trap epic. I'm absolutely in love with how this album maintains balance through the chaos and how it's able to blur the lines between cohesion and incohesion. I highly recommend people check out this album as well as the rest of the music from this artist, seeing that they seem relatively unheard of. Favorite Tracks: I Know It, Deep Haze, Minus Blossom, Slow Decay, Sideways In Time

"Connections" is the most recent project to drop from fellow UVF artist, scarecrow_back in April this year. Easily being my Album of the Year so far, Connections shows scarecrow_ combining everything about their music into one jam packed, eclectic Vapor/Electronic odyssey. The production on this album is scarecrow_ at their best while continuing to come up with so many new and fresh song ideas. "Full Of Color" is exactly as described with its grand drums and bursts of glitchy vocals panning through your ears. "Conciliation Programme" feels like a celebratory opening after this world Full Of Color has been opened. I love how "...and Never Will Be" is a call back to their older release "Never The Same" with the use of the same samples as the insane track "Reality Breaker". "Combined" has this beautiful synth progression following this main Ariana Grande sample until the track breaks down at the midway point and shifts unexpectedly in classic scarecrow_ fashion with this break-beat section that closes the track off perfectly. "Relentless" has been a favorite of mine since it was showcased back with the teaser of the album. The beginning is so melodic and beautiful as this lullaby-like melody starts to build and fade away when the mid section comes in. The track slams through with these abrupt sample chops and transitions into this groovy dance beat. The track flip flops back and forth until these growling Dubstep-like synths come in that somehow still blend together with the earlier elements of the track. Honestly, I can't possible encapsulate any of scarecrow_'s music perfectly in a blog post so I highly recommend you all to check this release out for I'm sure you are going to be blown away. Favorite Tracks: Full Of Color, Conciliation Programme, Combined, Relentless

ULTRAVIOLET-FUTURE & portal.rwb

Thank you all for checking out this week's UVF blog! I've been on vacation from work these past two weeks, while simultaneously planning out the upcoming months for UVF releases, finishing up Perfect Dawn, and getting things ready to print the 1st Edition UVF Magazine, so it's been a super busy time for me. The only thing I ask this Bandcamp Friday is to support the label in any way and check out my solo music as portal.rwb/flx. I've been trying to balance running the label as well as continuing to make more music as an artist, so any support means a ton to me <3. Any purchases made today go 100% to UVF and get split 50/50 with the artists, without the cut from Bandcamp, or you can even tip any amount here on our Tumblr page! Make sure to also join us over at our discord to keep up with the community and to be in the know for any future releases on the label. Thank you all again, please support your favorite artists, and I hope to see you all in next weeks blog <3! -portal from UVF

#vaporwave #music blog #electronic music #plunderphonics #art #bandcamp #indie music

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krispyweiss · 27 days

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youtube

Song Review: Jerry Garcia Band - “The Harder They Come” (Live, Feb. 13, 1976)

“The Harder They Come;” Feb. 13, 1976; on which the Jerry Garcia Band stretches Jimmy Cliff’s tune to one-third of an hour without resorting to aimless musical wanderings.

Out to announce the full-show - save for the lost “How Sweet it Is (To be Loved by You)” opener - release as GarciaLive Volume 21, this version is loose-fitting and slow-to-unfold, leaving plenty of room for John Kahn’s riffing on bass and Garcia’s similarly low-end solos to bubble to the surface. Keith Godchaux, meanwhile, opts for high piano sparkling on the sonic water.

After choruses from Garcia with Donna Jean Godchaux on harmony, the song moves into a long instrumental section before drummer Ron Tutt wills a climax around the 12-minute mark. More vocals follow before Tutt and the band spend the final 90 seconds doing it again.

The sound quality is pristine and with the music so subtle, it’s fun to hear an out-of-his-head fan yelling, whoooo! over and over.

Out June 14, GarciaLive Volume 21 will include “How Sweet it Is” and the first-known performance of “My Sisters and Brothers” as recorded Feb. 15, 1976, to round out the LP.

Grade card: Jerry Garcia Band - “The Harder They Come” (Live, Feb. 13, 1976) - A

4/24/24

#Youtube #the jerry garcia band #jimmy cliff #the harder they come #garcialive volume 21 #jerry garcia #keith godchaux #donna jean godchaux #grateful dead #john kahn #ron tutt #elvis presley

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zapsoda · 6 months

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giggling like bubble bass from spongebob installing the game with mixed reviews on steam

#it will not run on my laptop i know this. it took me 2 hours to download a pdf today because of the state my laptop is in #but who knows maybe it will enhance the experience

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gerogerigaogaigar · 9 months

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Ok so I did my selection of albums and that post blew up as much as any of my posts do so now everyone I live with wants me to review their favorite albums. Since I'm a benevolent overlord I have acquiesced and so here are ten albums that my husband Felix wants you all to listen to as reviewed by me.

Fire On Fire - The Orchard

I was polite with my choices, but my dear husband decided to open his list with a one off side project by members of Cerberus Shoal. If you don't know the sorta post rock-y sorta folk band Cerberus Shoal then understand that this album is obscure even by the standards of that band's fans. Gone are the post rock tendencies of the parent band and instead the focus is solely on new weird Americana. New weird america is a musical movement that takes American primitivist and psychedelic folk music and mashes it up into something that is inevitably either pretentious garbage or revelatory beauty. This album is the latter. The music plods along with the grace of a broken machine. The music sounds like it is rusting as it moves and the nasally vocals grind along with the hulking monstrosities that are the songs of The Orchard. The music I'm describing may not sound pleasant, but the cacophony comes together in a harmonic cohesion that does for folk music what Charles Ives did for the symphony. There are many more artists that have a similar sound to Fire On Fire, but this album has a uniquely lumbering quality that is not recreated nearly as well by most other artists in the scene.

Sweet Trip - You Will Never Know Why

You Will Never Know Why is a major departure from Sweet Trips usual sound. The glitch elements have been dialed back, although electronic sounds still populate the album, and it is basically a straightforward shoegaze album. It pulls ahead of competitors partly for the incorporation of electronic music but also for excellent vocals that capture a sterile whispiness. Plus the bass which is so bubbly and tends to rise to the top of mixes to add counterpoint melody on top of the dual vocals. As usual for the genre layering is the key to the beautiful sound. The songs will lily along as bright shimmering sounds plink into the mix and fade out only to be replaced by some other noise.

Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

While I'm still a fan of the first two Iron & Wine albums Shepherds Dog is clearly where he comes into his own as a performer. The instrumentation is punched up a bit with the occasional touch of horn or honky tonk piano to give the album a more dynamic feel. And the style has incorporated a little bit more rock edge as well. Songs like White Tooth Man help balance the album so that slower number like Resurrection Fern can really shine. Lyrically I can't tell you exactly what is going on in any given song. Sam Beam writes in little snapshots of ideas and paint an impression of a feeling rather than tell a story. I get the idea that he is rather scared of Americana though. And there is something about dog metaphors that really makes this man's brain go brrrrr. Overall I think The Shepherd's Dog is the most balanced of all the Iron & Wine albums I've heard. Successfully towing the line between folk rock and art rock.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

A legend among pretentious sadboys but always skirting the mainstream is Sufjan Stevens. Although he started out making indie folk his style quickly evolved and on Illinois (or Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel The Illinoise as the album cover says) he hit the first major stride of his career. Illinois features insanely elaborate arrangements that show a wide range of influences from minimalist composers to 70s singer songriters to show tunes. The songs all seem to be exercises in elaborate time signature and rhyme scheme or clever wordplay and in depth metaphor.

Now to address the obvious. This album is ostensibly about the state of Illinois. This is true in the same way that I said Beat The Champ was about wrestling. Some songs reflect heavily on things about the state. John Wayne Gacy Jr. Is a biography of the Illinois born serial killer, They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh! is about the abundance of ghost town in the state. Other songs make reference to the state but are a little more vague. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!, Casimir Pulaski Day, and The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! are really just personal stories that Sufjan Stevens has decided to set in Illinois. And the stories vary from very grand high concept things to very intimate and personal. Sometimes so personal that I am dubious of how much he stretches the truth to make these songs. But whether I buy it or not the arrangements are equally grand and intimate so the mood is always well designed.

Röyksopp - Melody A.M.

Some downtempo music is meant to get you up and dancing, some downtempo is trying to evoke complex feeling in the listener. Melody A.M. is aiming for something in between. It lays down tight grooves with bubbly bass lines and drops a variety of melodic sounds overtop with elements of downtempo, trip-hop, house, disco, and ambient music all present. It hits all the points for being a driving at night all contemplative style album, but it pulls back on the moodyness and leaves you with a gentle friendly sound instead. Lullabye melodies floating over house beats. The result is just an immensely pleasant listen. Melody A.M. is effective because it does more than just play on the current trends from when it was released, it pulls bit of electronic music from decades past from Tangerine Dream to Giorgio Moroder to Vangelis there is a lot of the past buried in this record. And the resulting love of slightly corny music makes the album feel so sincere without having to be deeply intellectual.

The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas

During the recording of The Coroner's Gambit John Darnielle's trusty Panasonic RX-FT500 boombox shit the bed and he started working with newer technology. All Hail West Texas is the album he recorded after that busted Panasonic miraculously came back to life one day.

To listeners who got into The Mountain Goats through Tallahassee and later the lo fi production might be a little hard to take, but you will learn to love the tape hiss that is a staple of early Mountain Goats recordings. Truly it becomes it's own instrument being the only sound on the album outside of Darnielle's voice and guitar.

But this is Mountain Goats you are here for lyricism. John Darnielle has said that he writes songs of love and redemption for people that would never listen to his music. All Hail West Texas starts right off with one of the best examples of this. The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton is so simple and so beautiful, and maybe the most emotionally affecting songs to feature the refrain of "hail Satan!" The album is about outcasts, toxic couples, traumatized kids. According to the cover it is "fourteen songs about seven people, two houses, a motorcycle, and a locked treatment facility for adolescent boys." The cryptic interconnectedness will drive you insane if you try to hard to figure it out so I'm sorry Felix I will not be analyzing the characters and storylines that are supposedly here. That's your job.

DJ Yoda - How To Cut And Paste Country Western Edition

You press play this album. The first thing you hear is backing beat from Fix Up, Look Sharp and then Thank God I'm A Country Boy by John Denver starts playing and then Dolly Parton's Nine To Five and then it transitions into a country version of Rapper's Delight. You are in the unhinged world of DJ Yoda who is trying to prove a point here. The point is that you can make a DJ mix out of anything if you are creative enough.

DJ Yoda is known for his use of humor and this mix is one of the more obvious instances considering that the whole concept is a bit of a joke. He puts a beat over I'll Fly Away and that is funny. He uses a sample of Johnny Cash on sesame Street. He uses a country cover of Gin And Juice. It's weird, but because Yoda is a master DJ he manages to never lose the flow, often transitioning songs by losing the beat and just playing the country music straight before dropping a beat in. He also frequently transitions between different versions of a song like Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire seamlessly turning into a reggae cover by This Kid Named Miles.

The beauty of DJ mixes is already the way they can recontextualize songs in a way that is interesting. I think it goes without saying that you will have a lot of songs recontextualized for you if you listen to this mix.

Mariya Takeuchi - Variety

There was a time when the internet became really obsessed with the song Plastic Love. This was based partially in the fact that the song is a banger but also that people were sharing the picture sleeve for her Sweetest Music single as a lesbian thirst trap. So the Tumblr City Pop era was short lived but I never forgot.

The first thing you might notice about Variety is that it's very retro. The production is a mix of Phil Spector and Motown Styles. And musically it often follows suit. But the old school rock ballad style is also met with bits of 70s adult contemporary and disco. The result is songs that sound like Ronettes tracks with a Donna Summer bass line as the backbone. Songs that sound like James Taylor started using synths. Takeuchi has a voice that perfectly melds these styles into something cohesive so that the dance music style of Plastic Love can flow into the 60s girl group sound of Honki De Only You (Let's Get Married) without missing a beat.

City Pop may have been a niche phase for westerners with an internet addiction but it was one of the most dominant musical styles of the 70s and 80 in Japan. I had strongly considered this album as a 'should have been on the list' pick. If you listen to this album because of my review and like it do seek out more city pop, the genre is a goldmine that the West has barely scraped the surface of. Hell if you like this album DM me and I will rec you more Japanese pop from the 70s and 80s.

Murder By Death - Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them?

With a name like Who Will Survive And What Will Be Left Of Them? by Murder By Death you would probably expect this to be death metal, but nope it's a gothic country rock album. Who Will Survive tells the story of a small Mexican border town that is cursed by the devil. The meat of the album is made up of songs that describe the ways that the townsfolk respond to the curse and their inevitable demise. The theme that runs through the album is mainly how people respond to mortality. Some people try to escape the town like in Pillar Of Salt which tells a sorta Orpheus and Eurydice adjacent tale. Some people think their tough like the narrator of The Desert Is One Fire who scoffs at the people sleeping in the shelters. Others give in to despair like the suicidal narrator of Three Men Hanging.

Along with the individual stories the narrative trickles out details about the nature of the curse. We quickly learn that the dead are rising from their graves as zombies, crops start to fail, the earth becomes unworkable, at least one person either physically or mentally decays as they approach the town border. The horror themed lyricism is backed by country rock music that creates the ominous atmosphere needed with the help of an ever present cello that takes a lot of melodic duty. It's a solidly spooky album that demands multiple listens just to parse out more of the story.

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome

Danger Mouse is an interesting figure. Producer and musician interchangeably he can be found both as a featured performer, solo artist or as a producer credit nearly anywhere you look and he runs the gamut from extremely mainstream projects to the highly personal and artsy. Rome is most certainly the latter. On it Danger Mouse works with Italian composer Daniele Luppi to create a pop album inspired by the soundtracks to spaghetti westerns. In addition to Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi additional vocals and songwriting are added by Jack White and Norah Jones. White and Jones are natural fits for the slightly polished slightly lo fi sound of the album which is accomplished by recording on vintage equipment and working with musicians who had actually recorded on spaghetti westerns, notably The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

While it has a lot of musicians and equipment used to record these classic soundtrack the music itself is a little more in the vein of traditional pop veering in the direction of spaghetti western on the instrumental tracks. This keeps the album from feeling strictly like an imitation and let's it be it's own thing.

#500 album gaiden #fire on fire #sweet trip #iron & wine #sufjan stevens #röyksopp #the mountain goats #DJ yoda #mariya takeuchi #murder by death #danger mouse #daniele luppi

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freakingoutthesquares · 1 year

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Sci-Fi Grotto

Russell Senior on stage whilst a lady blows bubbles... a very young Mark Webber filming (or projecting or something) in the first photo.

Pulp at The Limit Club, 3 March 1987

At The Limit club in March 1987, I got together a sci-fi grotto with silver foil, bubbles, orange globes and projections and gave the oft repeated pep talk before we went on stage – ‘That we had to walk the tightrope of absurdity and risk making complete fools of ourselves.’

We'd not played Sheffield for a while and Jarvis made an announcement along the lines of ‘This is the new Pulp, tonight will be an experimental evening.’ We introduced the more up-tempo disco songs to our already eclectic set, to the puzzlement of reviewers and the admiration of the audience. The album Freaks wasn't released, but we'd grown tired of it. Of the 11 songs we played, only a couple were from that album. Mercifully relieved of singing duties, I now played half the songs on violin. There had always been a slightly dark underbelly to Jarvis's lyrics, but now it was the main course. Pulp were no longer a performance art event, a freak show to observe. We were a band, one you could dance to.

[Freak Out the Squares, Russell Senior, 2015]

Reviews

'This first song's about dying.' Not really what we expected, but then again nothing was. The stage covered with silver foil and other strange coloured bits and pieces took on a sci-fi grotto like appearance. All we needed now were the spacemen.

What did arrive was a bloke who seemed to have landed in the wrong year and he wore a jumper. This was not any jumper, indeed no, this was a magnificent piece of clothing, yellowy orange with immaculate black trim and three huge resplendent stars... hideous. Welcome to Planet Pulp.

The band haven't played their native Sheffield for some time but have been trying to extend themselves away from home. Following good reviews from the music press (and in Blitz) of their London escapades they arrived back with a bag full of new material, and announced that tonight would be an experimental evening. It was not as 'poppy' as some previous stuff but refreshingly different. Pulp have redefined conventional structures, and songs are choppy, lots of little pieces put together in much the same way as The Specials did in 'Ghost Town'.

Pulp are original, varied and in no way limited or tied down. Jarvis Cocker, the singer, was deep-voiced but flexible and constantly intense. When Russell Senior, the guitarist, swapped for a violin the combination with keyboards produced a distinctive exotic, oriental flavour. The bass gelled the framework together, Steve [Havenhand] sitting the whole gig not so much in a cultural pose but courtesy of a broken ankle. While sometimes too plodding and slow, the jumper's frenetic and rakish movements gave yet another dimension to Pulp's maze of musical tangents.

The last couple of songs were more immediate and rocky and while it was a good note to finish on it didn't really do them justice. The beauty of Pulp is their differences, without a mishmash of style and speed they became just another band, any band. Pulp will not appeal to everyone, but go and see them for a welcome and interesting alternative to the standard dross kicking around at the minute.

Rob and Darren

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Jarvis Cocker peers out of a jungle of perspex and foil. He looks nervous. "This is the new Pulp," he mumbles. The Pulp structure may have been reshuffled but the flat, dead-pan irony of their delivery has lost none of it's weight, the consciously bland flavour of their melody none of its soft punches. Creeping in however is a gradual sense of retreat. Cocker, Senior and co. seem to be withdrawing in to themselves, tossing aside vestiges of compromise on the way. Their humour is darkening and becoming more incisive - take songs such as 'They suffocate At Night' or 'Dogs Are Everywhere' - and their newer material totters dangerously on the edge of total self-parody.

As usual, the notorious Limit P.A., which could make Chopin himself sound like Mrs Mills, did a fine job of putting the sound through a mangle of pips and distortion. Nevertheless Pulp soldiered on, perhaps on the way to creating a whole new genre of intelligent pop or (though I sincerely hope not) down a cul-de-sac of self indulgence.

Claire Morgan Jones

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PULP, WHO like to change every now and then, like Doctor Who, are playing tonight with a new sound from a new line up, but they still look and sound like no-one else in the world.

This is not just because they use strange instruments like a violin and electric organ - it's because their way of making music is theirs and theirs alone, owing allegiance to no-one.

But they have changed. They sound positive now and demand attention, whereas their recent L.P. Freaks, recorded a year ago, sounds much more introspective. This is, I suppose appropriate for "Ten stories about power, claustrophobia, suffocation and holding hands." They only played two songs from Freaks tonight, but the new material still has the same tone: "That song was about dying", says Jarvis Cocker. "Actually, this next one's about dying as well."

Its folly to compare Pulp on stage to Pulp on record, however, because they do like to put on a show. Tonight we had bubbles, yards of tin foil, glowing orange globes, a slide projector and cine film of motor racing, as well as Jarvis' repartee and dancing. All this in a night club like an underground car park.

Pulp used to be interesting. Now they're wicked.

David Bocking

Photos: Acrylic Afternoons

Reviews: PulpWiki

#russell senior #pulp #80s #photos #reviews

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