#while still maintaining your own signature artistic vibe | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

happymetalgirl · 5 years

Text

Tool - Fear Inoculum

I didn’t actually intend to review the long-awaited fifth Tool album so long after its release, time and life got in the way of things, but I’m kind of glad in a way that I’m talking about it now after all the inevitable and ridiculous hysteria surrounding it has mellowed out, which is (spoiler) kind of a sign of the album’s relative quality next to the band’s other four records in and of itself. And, while now I get to talk about it without the confounding noise of the loud clamoring on about it, I don’t really think my words would have really been too different a month and a half ago than they are now.

Tool are a band, of course, who need no introduction; their cerebral brand of progressive alternative metal has become signature and iconic, and their four albums from 1993 to 2006 that preceded this one have served as an influence, if not a lofty aspiration, for thousands of artists since then. Like any self-respecting Tool fan, I consider Lateralus and Ænima to be roughly neck and neck at the top for my favorite spot in the band’s discography (the joint “Parabol” and “Parabola” together being my personal favorite Tool song). Those two albums show the quick crystallization of the band’s progressive metal psychedelia from their rougher, grungier beginnings earlier in the 1990′s. Though I do hold a lot of respect for how accomplished of a debut statement Undertow was, and how much ground it laid for the two albums to come. And even Opiate served as a strong prequel EP to that album. The band’s fourth album, 10,000 Days, however, took a perplexing turn from the heady, yet still metallic prog hallucinations the band had worked up to, and into more drawn-out, spacey experimentation, which I’d say haven’t really aged into anything and sound about as unnecessarily dilute and jam-band-ish as the day the album released in 2006. The album had its high points like the thundering bass of “Vicarious” and “Jambi” and the alternative metal oddity of “The Pot”, but it’s a largely tiresome and less rewarding listen than its predecessors. And that was the last we heard of Tool for thirteen years.

The tremendous wait for the album of course drummed up a lot of speculation of what it would sound like in relation to their previous works. Would it be a return to the beloved progressive metal of Ænima and Lateralus? Would it be a culmination of all their sounds in retrospect into one gargantuan crowd-pleaser? Or would it be something totally new for the band. Not to toot my own horn, (and not like I can prove this anyway), but I had this hunch that this album would probably be just a delayed continuation of what the band were doing on 10,000 Days, and, while there is the occasional reinvigoration of their sound with some stylistic callbacks to their middle two records prior, lo and behold, as much as I wish I didn’t, for the most part I guessed right.

Coinciding with the band’s acceptance of the times and the advent of streaming with their release of their catalog onto digital platforms, Fear Inoculum was released as a single-disc CD and as a longer, digital version, with three extra instrumental interludes sprinkled throughout the track listing stretching it past the limits of the CD format to nearly eighty-seven minutes, and it sure feels like the hour-and-a-half-long listen that it is, and not in a flattering way. Like I said, the album is largely a continuation of the atmosphere-focused prog of 10,000 Days, which is only somewhat updated from the band’s 2006 effort. The main songs are all over ten minutes long, and the similarly low energy across the marathon track list doesn’t really make a great case for this direction in contrast to what the band have shown themselves to be great at, namely vibrant, untethered prog adventurousness.

The opening title track layers together plenty of diverse tom percussion and the band’s recognizable guitar reverb into a slowly growing and whirlpool (kind of like the album cover) of Tool’s 10,000 Days sonic pallet that gradually cascades into a thicker, distortion-fuzz-driven finish. The abstract, cryptic lyricism about shedding the influence of manipulative fear mongering is more cryptic than poetic, but I can see the vagueness of the subject being a good way to make it widely and appropriately applicable in its commentary and play into the paranoia of refusing to acknowledge exactly what this deceiver is. As a tension-builder, it’s a great way to start the album off, but it doesn’t really seal the pay-off as the heavy bass line tries to usher in a climax while the other instrumentalists mostly just coast on forward to the end of the song like a tired distance runner giving a bit of a burst to finish the last stretch. And that’s one of the shorter tracks, with over an hour left to go.

The second song, “Pneuma”, is structurally not too dissimilar, with a synthy bridge this time connecting the meditative tom-drum/reverb-guitar build-up to a relatively hum-drum metallic non-finale. It really only marginally feels like it’s that kind of progressively building song, clearly being more focused on its meditative ambiance than its intentional trajectory. In which case, I would have honestly probably preferred the band taking that approach more holistically, rather than trying to fit it into a prog metal formula. Lyrically, the song centers around a lot of transcendentalism that Tool have written about before, not really adding much new beyond perhaps a slightly different angle to meditate on it from. The song is followed by the first of the instrumental interlude tracks, “Litanie contre la peur”, which plays around with a melodically manipulated vocal inflection over some humming ambiance for about two minutes.

The third big piece on the album, “Invincible”, which finally plays a little more to the band’s progressive strengths. The guitar groove is actually allowed to drive the song and shine in a more energetic manner as Danny Carey gets to get a lot more bombastic behind the kit, as do the rest of the band during the instrumental sections throughout the song. It’s not only a more metallically groove-driven song whose heavier elements are actually used to cultivate a sense of meditation from a much more signature angle, but also a more interestingly progressive song that does more than just slowly swell up to a mild crescendo for ten minutes. The worries of the song’s warrior speaker are pretty transparently transposeable to the worry and struggles any aging artist (especially a long-absent artist like... Tool, maybe) to maintain their importance and the meaningfulness of their work.

The ominous bass hum of the second interlude track, “Legion Inoculant”, leads into the fourth of the album’s main epic songs, which keep getting longer and longer with the thirteen-and-a-half-minute environmental apocalypse warning “Descending”, which pleas for an end to the apathy that exacerbates the compounding climate crisis. Musically, the song plays into the somber melancholy of the lyrics, while taking a more balanced approach between the spaciness of the band’s last album and the heavier elements of Ænima in particular, perhaps intended given the similarity of that album’s title track’s subject matter. While some of the later sections feel a bit over-indulgent, this song deserves its length as it cascades through emotive defeatism via progressive metal ebbs and flows into this impending metallic crescendo that actually fits nicely with the melancholic rock build-up and the lyrical implications; it sounds like its tracking the collapse of , much like the title track of Ænima., starting and finishing with the sound of waves upon the shore that will continue to crash, just as they did before our takeover of the land, after our demise.

While the lyrical concept revolving around self-doubt and of “Culling Voices”, is fascinating and all too tangible, the music falls more on the mild side again, with the band’s softer, more meditative atmosphere crashing just twice into explosive, but unimpressive climaxes of muscular, but not too creative, guitar riffing. The longest of the interludes, the wind-chime-laden and effects-doused electronic pulsing of “Chocolate Chip Trip”, features a tasty little drum solo to kind of make up for the lack of spotlight Carey gets on this album as he does so much of the rhythmic legwork, which I certainly appeciate and welcome.

The closing epic, “7empest” was the song fans were fawning over the most as a monstrous riff-fest after the album was finally released, and the riffing across the song’s almost sixteen minutes, as well as the repeating of the lyrical mantra, do capture some Ænima vibes, which makes sense knowing it was pieced together with motifs written during that era. The song’s lyrics once again call back to that breakthrough album with the repetition of the mantra “A tempest must be just that” in reference to the convenient muddying of the waters of responsibility for disasters caused by said chaos once it arises. It’s a song about those in power managing to use the chaos they create through their mismanagement to hide their guilt and just divert the blame on the chaos itself. The song is proggy in Tool fans’ favorite way and indeed dense with churning effects-laden riffage and a faster, much more aggressive vocal performance from Maynard James Keenan. While it is the longest, heaviest, and most vintage-Tool of the tracks here, I’d say it only stands a bit above the rest of the track list, and honestly maybe not surpassing the magnificent “Descending”.

The digital version wraps up with the odd, but disposable coda of the two-minute chirping sample manipulation of “Mockingbeat”, a strange note to end this version of the album on, but ultimately nothing destructive.

I had talked about Rammstein’s self-titled album and Slipknot’s We Are Not Your Kind as being among the year’s biggest of the biggest metal releases, but the long-awaited arrival of Fear Inoculum tops them both. Yet for all the drama building up around this album, all the hype that was inevitably going to hoist hopes and expectations to astronomical and similarly inevitably unrealistic levels, Fear Inoculum sits average at best, if not rather low in the band’s small catalog, and the rather quick hushing of this hype from fans and the metal sphere in general shows that I’m not alone in my relative underwhelmedness after the thirteen-year wait. While that sounds harsh, it is just because this album had such incredibly high expectations to live up to that it was most likely never going to meet. Fear Inoculum isn’t a terrible album by any means, but it does suffer from being drawn out the most by its weakest elements, its least creative ideas stretching it out in hopes of finding purpose for doing so, but coming back empty-handed. A little while after the album came out, Maynard made some kind of comment about this album being great eight years ago, which suggested that it had been in the works for a long time but perhaps held up by frivolous reasons, but also that it was composed largely near the time of 10,000 Days, as I thought it might have been, and it just kind of bugged me that this album probably didn’t need to be the huge prodigal event it was, maybe just an acceptable transitional moment for Tool to figure out what they wanted to do with their expanding sound arsenal. Instead we got arrested development dressed up as a comeback at a time when we might otherwise have one or two more albums from this band (by their releasing pace), possibly more accomplished. I had mentioned in my review of Opeth’s newest album that they deserved the patience with their prog rock transition, and that album showed it. It took four albums to get a record that could stand tall alongside their progressive death metal classics, but it came, and the journey did come with some good highlights along the way too. The journey to this album was a test of patience with clumsy publicity for several years more than anything else, not quite as rewarding, no music to offer along the way (aside from side projects), and still a sense of a band just picking up where they left off years ago without really assessing their direction. I’m glad Fear Inoculum is finally here, but I think others will share this sentiment with me even if they haven’t said it to themselves out loud. Yes, we got a few strong highlights out of this record, but I’m more relieved that the fiasco surrounding the wait is over than I am excited to have this batch of new songs (the latter of which I wish outweighed the former).

6/10

#Tool #Fear Inoculum #progressive metal #psychedelic rock #psychedelic metal #progressive rock #experimental metal #experimental rock #new music #new album #metal #heavy metal #album review

3 notes · View notes

soft-slow-blue · 5 years

Text

Thoughts on BtoB’s Special Album ‘Hour Moment’

Initial Thoughts

From first listen, this album sounds different from BtoB’s previous works. At first, I was a little worried that I wasn’t going to like this album because of that. Of course it was never going to sound exactly the same - BtoB’s exceptional vocal line is now short one member. Eunkwang’s voice has a very bright, distinct color that often lent richness and variation to BtoB’s songs; when he was absent for some of BtoB’s earlier stages, leaving Hyunsik or Changsub (both very talented vocalists in their own rights, so no shade) to cover his parts, it just didn’t sound quite as good.

Nevertheless, I think it would be unfair to say that this album is lacking just because Eunkwang is not a part of it past the first track. It took me a couple listens, but I’ve come to really appreciate the album and how Bto6 shifts their style to cover for Eunkwang’s absence, while still maintaining the signature BtoB sound that we’ve all come to know and love.

The remaining three members of vocal line have branched out past their usual roles - we’ve especially gotten to hear more of Hyunsik’s rich lower vocals (”Swimming,” anybody?) and Sungjae’s vocal accuracy. Changsub’s voice is probably my favorite out of all of vocal line, so I’m happy to hear him utilizing his full range as well, soaring in a way that is fully distinct from Eunkwang’s.

But it is rap line that really shines through. Without Eunkwang’s high-toned voice to flesh out vocal line, there was a possibility that BtoB’s songs would sound less full and rich. Rather than forcing the other three members to try and sing like Eunkwang, though, these new songs rely on rap line’s low tones, particularly Minhyuk and Ilhoon’s vocal abilities, to round out their sound. BtoB’s rap line, situated as it is in a prolific ballad group, has always benefited from the fact that their rappers can also perform as vocalists, keeping the switch from vocal to rap verses from feeling disjointed and allowing the rappers’ voices to blend really well with the vocalists’. As Ilhoon and Minhyuk blur the lines between their sung raps and their spoken raps, we also get to hear just how much Peniel has grown as an artist throughout BtoB’s career. He demonstrates such remarkable agility and versatility throughout the entire album, and best of all, he really sounds like he’s having a good time rapping. I. Am. So. Proud.

On to the individual tracks!

1. Friend

EUNKWANG WE MISS YOU T_T

Okay now that that’s out of the way...I found this to be the least interesting song on the album. Not because it’s a bad song! I love the fact that Eunkwang recorded it for us before he enlisted - it was such a wonderful gift for Melodies - and the song is upbeat and fun and I can already imagine BtoB and Melodies singing it together at future BtoB Time concerts. But the actual song itself contains no real surprises in terms of the composition. It’s a sweet little song and it’s distinct from all the other songs on this album, but I really don’t have much to say about it, other than that I wish Ilhoon would enunciate a little bit more because I keep hearing him say F-R-I-N-D lol.

2. Like It

When I first heard the audio preview for “Like It,” I thought it would probably be my least favorite track of the album, for the simple reason that I tend not to enjoy choruses that repeat the same phrase over and over.

Well, I was very wrong. Ilhoon, I will never doubt you again.

With its soft opening instrumentation - just a piano, playing a few gentle notes - “Like It” starts out sounding like it might be another ballad. The first verse is definitely balladic, taking full advantage of Hyunsik’s VERY LOVELY lower tone. Even as Changsub takes over from Hyunsik, the beat sort of sneaks in, staying minimal underneath a swimming instrumentation and dreamy vocals.

But then Ilhoon’s verse starts, the instrumentation drops out, and that minimal beat drives forward, fueled by the combination of Ilhoon’s rap-singing and Hyunsik’s higher vocals. By the time the pre-chorus hits, we know that we’re no longer in ballad territory - we’re in for some FUN.

I really like this song a lot. In many ways it reminds me of “Call Me” from their last album, but whereas “Call Me” was definitely a song for bright, sweltering summer days, “Like It” has solidly fall vibes. It makes me imagine going to a casual outdoor party on an autumn evening, when it’s not too cold but is cool enough to still drink hot cocoa and spiced cider. As it gets darker, the hosts turn on little fairy lights that are strung all over, illuminating everyone’s happy, laughing faces in a soft yellow glow. Man, do I just have an overactive imagination, or is Ilhoon really THAT GOOD at making a mood with his music?

Also can I just say I am LOVING how many parts Sungjae has now, and his vocalization during the pre-chorus is one of my favorite things on the whole album. Can you believe he started out as a sub-sub-vocal in the group...our baby grew up so fast. *sheds tear*

3. 나비 (Butterfly)

After two upbeat songs, it’s time to chill out. “Butterfly” sounds like “Nanana”’s more romantic cousin. Ilhoon’s skill at creating vivid atmospheres through his music shines through really well in this song - with the gentle acoustic guitar and vocal line’s floating vocals (Changsub you are making me fall in love!), you can really imagine sitting under a tree on a clear autumn day, watching the orange and red leaves wave gently in a cool breeze.

The minimal instrumentation on this song is such a change from the rest of the songs on this album, which generally have much richer instrumentation and more driving beats. It’s a chance for vocal line to display just how they skilled they are. We already know that all four of them can hit some pretty powerful high notes, but “Butterfly” requires control rather than power, and Changsub, Hyunsik, and Sungjae perform admirably. It results in such a lovely and intimate song, more like something you’d hear in a cozy cafe than something sung onstage by idols. My guess is that if BtoB perform this in future concerts, it’ll probably be with all of the members seated on stools, as a much-needed break in between more rigorous dance numbers lol.

This song also made me realize that we don’t often hear the rappers one after another on verses - usually they alternate with the vocalists - but here they are, performing three rap verses in a row. And they manage to sound so completely distinct and yet in sync with the vocalists that their raps don’t feel out of place in such a soft acoustic song. First, Minhyuk essentially whispers into our ears (someone please explain to me how someone who has such a low rap tone can also make such high-pitched squealing noises). When Peniel takes over, he’s also rapping lower than usual, but not in a way that makes him sound like he’s trying to imitate Minhyuk. It’s sweet and almost conversational, perfectly aligned with the rest of the song.

Then Ilhoon pretty much straight sings his verse. When is he going to convert to vocal line lol

4. 제발 (Please)

Minhyuk has always composed some really solid tracks for BtoB (Open, About Time, Guitar, Blue Moon), but I think the reason that he is less recognized by the general public as one of BtoB’s composers, in comparison to Hyunsik and Ilhoon, is that his style tends to lean more alternative and R&B. It makes for some surprising and beautiful B-sides within the albums, but doesn’t necessarily fit the more mainstream pop sound that’s necessary for a commercially successful title track.

“Please” is the most mainstream-sounding of all Minhyuk’s songs, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. This is definitely a power ballad, and I feel like if it hadn’t been for “Friend,” this would have been a very strong contender for the pre-release track, if not for the title. Minhyuk managed to compose something titled “Please” that actually sounds like it’s pleading throughout the whole song - unfortunately it’s been years since I last took music theory so I can’t 100% articulate how he managed it, but I suspect it has something to do with how the chord progressions in the chorus resolve.

Vocal line totally KILL it throughout this track. After the relative atmospheric quiet of “Butterfly,” they bring back the power in full, tempering it with genuine longing that conveys the sadness of the song, even if you don’t understand the lyrics. The way that “please” just lingers after each iteration of the chorus...you can feel the desperation of reaching out one last time to someone you love more than anything, driving you forward to plead for one last moment together even when you know it’s already over. The key change in the final chorus just underscores that despair, winding the emotional tension even higher (along with that rad electric guitar solo lol), until Hyunsik’s final resonant “please” resolves into Changsub’s voice, reprising his verse from the beginning.

Even after all of that heartfelt begging, feeling like you’re cutting your chest open and showing the person you love the hole that they’ll leave in your heart when they’re gone, knowing that they’re the only one for you, in this lifetime and every one that follows...the time to say goodbye has come after all.

Goddamn. This song really affected me a lot. I was actually going to write more about rap line and how good they sound in this (especially Ilhoon), but I was swept up in the raw emotionality of this song. This one’s going into the top five for sure.

5. 아름답고도 아프구나 (Beautiful Pain)

Our title track! I was actually pretty surprised when I heard this one on the audio snippet - I thought it sounded really sad for a title track. Of course, we know that Hyunsik-composed songs are rarely without some melancholy element, but this one is really quite dark, both in terms of lyrical content and sound.

When I tried to think of similar songs, my mind went first, funnily enough, to “I’ll Be Your Man.” Though the songs don’t necessarily sound too much alike - “Beautiful Pain” is another power ballad, while “I’ll Be Your Man” is certainly not - they both have a dark and dramatic tone that BtoB doesn’t cover quite as often.

It took me several listens to fully appreciate the song and how good it is. The more layered instrumentation lends the song a fullness that helps to distinguish it despite Eunkwang’s absence, particularly in the choruses. It’s a subtler, darker richness, which fits well with the dramatic subject of the song. There are so many things I picked out that I love. Ilhoon’s rap singing, for example (again, when is he going to become the fifth member of vocal line?). The little cracks in Changsub’s voice (intentional for once lol) that sound like sobs as he sings. The way that Minhyuk’s rap builds as if about to explode, then lingers on the wistful final line. Hyunsik showing off his magnificent lower range, soft and whispery with pain and resignation, as he sings the chorus one octave lower than the rest.

In the second pre-chorus, the harmony between Hyunsik and Sungjae...omg. I don’t know that the two of them often harmonize together in OT7 songs - usually it’s Changsub or Eunkwang singing the higher harmony - but they should really do it more often. Their voices have rather similar timbres, especially in the lower, more resonant ranges, so they blend together so nicely. I could honestly listen to that part over and over again lol.

Overall, this may not be my favorite track on the album, but it is a very solid song and definitely a good one to listen to on a cold autumn night, when you wrap yourself up in a blanket and stare out the window at the rain, turning memories of a lost loved one over and over in your mind even though it hurts to do so. I’d like to think that Hyunsik would agree with me on that one.

Final Thoughts

I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it! Of course I don’t think I’m ever going to truly dislike a BtoB album, but I’m just so impressed with how versatile our boys are and how good they sound on this album. We feel Eunkwang’s absence but not as a detractor from the really excellent music - the other members step up so brilliantly. Our leader would be (and probably is, because he’s the best) so proud.

What I realized throughout the course of listening to this album over and over and writing this post (thank you if you’ve read to the end lol) is that the whole album is the story of a relationship. The closeness of a beloved friend; the joy of realizing that you’re falling in love with the other person and the giddiness of imagining the future; the tenderness of a budding relationship; the desperation of trying to hold onto someone who is slipping through your fingertips; and the final bittersweet feeling of knowing that it’s over but that you would never give up those memories, even though it hurts to remember. It’s such a good balance of songs and reminds everyone that BtoB is a top-notch group, no matter how many members they have.

All I have left to say is: when is Minhyuk going to get his title track????

#btob #hour moment #my writing #tl;dr: the album is good go stream it #me: 1000 words for a grad school statement? it's too hard someone save me #also me: oh look I started writing and somehow pooped out 2000 words about this album lol someone save me

40 notes · View notes

brokehorrorfan · 6 years

Text

New Release Review: Halloween (2018)

Viewers can criticize the Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises for being redundant (in the case of the former) or becoming overly campy (in the case of the latter), but at least they each managed to maintain a single, albeit messy, continuity before receiving the inevitable remake treatment. The Halloween series, on the other hand, plays out more like a choose-your-own-adventure story. The new, confusingly-titled Halloween marks the fourth distinct timeline over the course of nine movies - and that doesn’t even include Rob Zombie's remake and its sequel.

Halloween serves as a direct follow-up to John Carpenter's seminal classic of the same name, ignoring all previous sequels and picking up 40 years after the night Michael Myers came home. The silent slasher, now 61, has been locked away at the Smith's Grove Rehabilitation Facility since being apprehended following his killing spree on Halloween 1978. After escaping during a transfer that just so happens to take place on October 30, Michael Myers recovers his trusty mask and heads back to Haddonfield, Illinois to finish what he started four decades prior.

This time, however, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her first film role) is ready for him. No longer a hapless babysitter, barely surviving the 1978 attack has turned Laurie into a paranoid recluse. Her neurotic behavior has strained her relationship with her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer, Jurassic World), but she has a strong bond with her teenage granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak). Differences aside, Laurie will stop at nothing to protect her family and stop Michael Myers once and for all.

Director David Gordon Green tends to have a "one for them, one for me" mentality when it comes to filmmaking, balancing his time between higher-profile movies with wide appeal (Pineapple Express, Your Highness) and more personal, independent projects (Joe, Prince Avalanche). Although Halloween is certainly a commercial property poised to make huge money at the box office, it still feels like a passion project, as Green's reverence for the material and respect for the fanbase is present in every frame.

Halloween features respectful nods to the original film, as well as brief homages to Halloween II and Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Mostly visual, the references serve as knowing winks to fans without diverting the attention of viewers who are unfamiliar with the source material. A couple of the callbacks, subtle as they may be, are marginally distracting, as they occur deep in the third act when tension is high.

Despite this being Green's first foray into the genre, he successfully pulls off several clever and original horror set pieces. It's a healthy mix of classic suspense and modern scares, the latter of which never come off as cheap. Only the middle act of the film rests on slasher tropes, many of which were established in the first Halloween. This portion of the 106-minute runtime favors slashing over stalking, building a high body count out of peripheral characters destined to die.

The kills are often brutal, which may be incongruous when viewed back-to-back with Carpenter's relatively bloodless film, but the violence is never as gratuitous as it was in Rob Zombie's Halloween. Academy Award-winning make-up artist Christopher Allen Nelson (Kill Bill, Suicide Squad) crafts some gory special effects. His Myers mask is one of the best looking in the series, with an aged look similar to Rob Zombie's take without losing the blank, expressionless visage of the original.

The visual style fits right at home in the Halloween universe, but Green doesn't try to imitate the anamorphic cinematography established by Carpenter and director of photography Dean Cundey. Green and his cinematographer, Michael Simmonds (Nerve, Paranormal Activity 2), capture the small, Midwestern town vibe of the fictitious Haddonfield and its autumnal atmosphere with a richer color palette. They also pull off a brilliant, one-take Steadicam shot that rivals the opening of the original Halloween.

Green co-wrote the script with frequent collaborators Danny McBride (better known as an actor from Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals, and Alien: Covenant) and Jeff Fradley (Vice Principals). Although they have roots in comedy, their script doesn't overdo the jokes. Levity is ample - largely stemming from Toby Huss (Carnivàle) as Laurie's son-in-law and Jibrail Nantambu as a wise-cracking boy being babysat - but Green and company know to pull back when the plot picks up.

More than a mere doomsday prepper, Laurie is a complex and nuanced character. In many ways, she fills the void left by Michael's late psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis, as she is the only one who knows the true evil that possesses The Boogeyman. (Loomis' importance to the legacy is acknowledged in the film.) Fearless and resourceful, the character channels great female action heroines like Terminator 2's Sarah Connor and Alien's Ellen Ripley - and Curtis matches their intensity. The isolation in which she has existed for the majority of her life and its resultant obsession mirrors that of Michael Myers.

Although there were several known actresses vying for the role of Allyson, Green smartly cast an unknown - much like Curtis in the first Halloween - in Matichak (who receives an “Introducing” credit). Despite her inexperience, she comes off as genuine, with her character echoing the innocent yet determined Laurie Strode of 1978. James Jude Courtney is perfectly cast as Michael Myers (with original The Shape actor Nick Castle donning the mask for select shots). A natural extension of the first film, he provides an imposing presence without being a big, hulking monster.

In addition to serving as creative consultant and executive producer, Halloween director/co-writer/composer John Carpenter composed the new soundtrack. It marks his first film score since 2001's Ghost of Mars, but this time around he worked with his band members from his three recent solo albums: his son, Cody Carpenter, a talented synth musician in his own right; and his godson, Daniel Davies, the son of The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies who clearly inherited his father's chops.

The soundtrack incorporates the unmistakable Halloween theme in its unnerving 5/4 time signature, along with a couple of other recognizable cues, but the majority of the score is brand new and highly effective. The inclusion of Davies' guitar occasionally brings to mind Carpenter's collaborations with metal musicians on the Ghosts of Mars score, but its integration sounds far more natural. In line with Carpenter's classic music from Halloween, Escape from New York, and The Fog, the eerie, pulsing soundscape elevates the film to the next level.

Adopting a similar approach to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Halloween reinvigorates the dormant franchise by giving fans everything they love in a familiar way while passing the torch to a modern generation. The ultimate showdown between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode is a satisfying one, perhaps even more so than their now-retconned face-off in Halloween H20, as Laurie's dire emotional state heighten the stakes. Most importantly, David Gordon Green's Halloween makes Michael Myers scary again.

#halloween #michael myers #john carpenter #jamie lee curtis #halloween 2018 #laurie strode #andi matichak #judy greer #james jude courtney #nick castle #david gordon green #danny mcbride #john carpenter's halloween #review #article

51 notes · View notes

freshdotdaily · 5 years

Photo

I wrote this blog post in 2012 but tumblr deleted it. It was called sumn like, “My main critique w/ Talib Kweli” I wasn't allowed to listen to rap or any secular music growing up. My mom did me a grave disservice in that regard. So appropriately when I came into age I began sneaking all the music I could. I liked hip-hop and wanted as much of it as possible. The first record that I got that informally changed everything for me was Arrested Development's "Arrested Development 3 years 5 months 2 days". Probably because A) It was non-violent hip-hop I could RELATE to & B) After being raised by a Puerto Rican mother I had little to no real Knowledge of Cultural self.The next albums that followed after I devoured that album were Fugees "The Score" and Busta Rhymes "When Disaster Strikes" it'd be a little while before I was able to get my hands on any new cd after those two, so I had those 3 albums for a good year or two in heavy rotation along w/ Future Flavors on Hot 97 to keep me current. I was writing my raps pretty regularly around this time and I'd graduated from performing gospel raps at my churches Youth Night to nervously performing at little local open mic spoken word poetry nights w/ my friend Jason.The next album I got my hands on was "Mos Def & Talib Kweli are BlackStar".

That album changed EVERYTHING for me. As far as I was concerned I never needed another rap album. This was the penultimate affirmation of all the things I'd come to feel were true about myself and hip-hop and my culture. Mos was the Charismatic emcee who was forever on beat and in pocket w/ his flow and Talib was the well-read, technical lyricist. I immediate began trying to become an amalgam of them both in one emcee since I felt they so aptly represented what I felt. Reflection Eternal's "Train of Thought" album dropped and blew my head clean off my shoulders. The beats, man. Kweli was at his apex w/ that album. Raps + beats + Brooklyn being well represented. Oh, and let us not forget the Ecko advertisements. I wore Ecko exclusively for about a year and change. I mean footwear to underwear at one point. Talk about artists being brands and marketing alignment & etc. I bought Triple 5 Soul because that's apparently what Mos Def wore, right? I bought & read Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" because Kweli made a reference to it. I read Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" because Kweli made a reference to it. I mean, this is what hip-hop, good hip-hop anyway is supposed to do, right? Spark discussion, open minds, create thought and growth, etc. I felt like I was a part of that MOVEMENT. Rawkus. The Okayplayer board. The Spitkicker site. SoulQuarians. I had all the albums from everybody. Probably TMI, but I lost my virginity in 1999, while Pharoahe Monche's "The Light" was playing in the background for some reason. smh. For crying out loud, Black Star's "Respiration" is the top song in my top five favorite songs of all time.

It gets deep, nigga. (c) Kendrick Lamar

As my writing progressed and evolved and I found my own voice eventually through trial and error, Mos Def's "Black on Both Sides" dropped. While "Train of Thought" was still my favorite of the two albums, Mos's charisma eclipsed Kweli and he became my favorite of the two emcees. I judge rappers work against their own previous work instead of their peers, because that's fair to do artistically. So I'd never pit Mos & Kwelis work against each other because that's like arguing about which is more delicious of a fruit, apples or oranges? Two different fruits altogether, bruh. Also, at this point, I'd moved out my moms house, put out my 1st album, discovered early Eminem and Canibus and had a blossoming cd collection. Not to mention my attention was being held by a burgeoning Kanye.When Kweli's solo project "Quality" dropped, it hit me kinda like "meh". Gone was the signature Hi-Tek sound. I mean, Tek had joints on there but it wasn't the same. Dj Quick? Dj Quick is a mothafuckin' legend, sure. But his relevance at the time? Nah. Especially to a n00b EAST COAST hip-hopper as myself, it was baffling. The general consensus was Kweli used his first truly solo debut to attempt a move toward a more mainstream sound. It received some mainstream attention thanks to the West-produced single "Get By" which peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100. That was Kweli's lifesaver. That album would've drowned otherwise. I did like the Kweli/Kanye connection that seemed mutually beneficial for both of them. It seemed to be going well even got him a Hov shout out on "The Black Album", in which Jay-Z rapped: "If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli". Then the Strugglesome "The Beautiful Struggle" album dropped and I wanted to like it, but it too, hit me like "meh". The Neptunes, Just Blaze and Kanye couldn't save that album. The album failed to cross over into the mainstream and suffered a critical backlash. For example, Britt Robson of The Washington Post said: "Struggle" was a "frequently awkward, too-obvious bid to exploit the commercial buzz Jay-Z created." Mos was trying his hand at rock music w/ Black Jack Johnson and dropped "The New Danger" to my disappointment. By this point I'd bought Common's "Like Water For Chocolate" and it made him instantly my new favorite emcee. I went and bought "Resurrection" and "One day it'll all make sense" in the same day and consumed those albums daily.In listening, I noticed Kweli's aging. His attempts to remain relevant by looking around him and seeing what was popular and trying to compete. I was willing to overlook his stuffing a thousand syllables into a bar and over usage of the word "like" in every rap song w/ semi-obscure literary references (that I dug, actually). I was willing to overlook the preachy tone his raps somewhat took. I was still BUYING Kweli's music. Brooklyn. over. everything, my nigga. I downloaded '"Liberation" and wasn't mad at that at all. Kweli and Madlib? Dope. I stopped there. There was too much disappointment for me to continue. I wished he'd maintained his aesthetic. Emcees like Kweli and Fat Joe will always look around and try to emulate to maintain relevance. I'm sure there's more money and more opportunity in it, but you lose that core fanbase for the possibility of a bigger, newer fanbase who's not familiar with your older work and doesn't love you the same as a fan. Whereas an artist like Ghostface or DOOM will continue to do what they do in their lane and gain cult followings. Mos learned this the hard way. It wasn't until "The Ecstatic" (and stepping the live show up by giving people what they came to see) that heads began fucking w/ him again.Eardrum? Nope. Finally, a new Reflection Eternal album? With post G-Unit Hi-Tek? It was a little too late. I bought it & reluctantly handed my money over. I'd lost my will to be be a Kweli fan. Gutter Rainbows? Nope. Idle Warship? Hell no.

Did Kweli become wack? nah, he's still nice. I feel like it's the same problem Nas had with putting out 2 great albums out the gate and then trying to maintain relevance in a changing musical environment where the consumers are getting younger and the music is warping to accommodate. It took Nas about 10 albums to figure out how to get BACK to his original formula.I ask myself often if my critiques on Kweli came about because I rap and hold him in my influences. You know how you get older and realize your parents weren't the geniuses you thought them to be as a child? Once I figured out my stride and perfected how I wanted to rap and write, I think I began flaw finding. Flaw finding is both my nature as a virgo and my right as a consumer & fan. The power to critique constructively is also my right as a fellow artist. The biggest iniquities were the syllable cramming at the expense of flowing on-beat to get a point out as well as beat choices. But overall, I wanted that vibe back. I wanted that hi-Tek, Geology and Shawn J. Period vibe back from when I found myself as a young man and emcee. In 2013 Kweli is dropping "Prisoner of Conscious" a title derived from Talib's constant labeling as a "conscious rapper" and based on Nigerian reggae artist Majek Fashek's album "Prisoner of Conscience." I plan on purchasing it via an experiment. I'm gonna download all the albums of his I missed and see if there's been any hints or glimmers of what I've been missing that could lead up to this being his "Life is Good" album. Based on that, hopefully I can "experience dedication" and "move something", before it's "too late" for him to "get by".-F.Daily

It’s 2019 and I think Kweli is super important to raps annals and history. Albeit his hubris and righteous stances especially on social media mixed w/ distasteful personal stories I’ve heard + how he handled ReS’s music issues have rubbed me all the wrong way. I still think there’s really some slivers of relevancy for Kweli in the current hip-hop climate. I think he’s in tune with the culture and good for hip-hop and an important voice in socio-political justice for the advancement of people of color. Ionno how good the music is for me personally anymore, but I’ll always have Reflection Eternal.

content sourced from Talib Kweli's wiki page

2 notes · View notes

recommendedlisten · 5 years

Text

There were hardly any blockbuster albums in 2018, but there definitely was no shortage of great albums either. For that reason, the year in music was better off for it. Similar to how this year's 30 Best Songs came from an open field where newer artists breaking through the underground could take a seat at the same table as innovative veterans and modern pop royalty alike, the 30 Best Albums of 2018 tells a similar story of a past not showing any signs of being beyond its prime, and a very promising future as to what its rookie artists might create one day when they're no longer the buzzworthy genre outsiders, punks, dance makers, and indie rockers the scene's radar. And speaking of the latter, it looks like many of this decade's earliest risers have proven themselves as worthy of the hype through greater substance and hitting their own strides. Less obvious, however, was that 2018 was a banister year for a new wave of hardcore band that continue to challenge the status quo beyond every circle of sound imaginable. If you've been waiting for the real thing, this year's top honors delivered it to you. 2019 has a lot to live up, because if it's half as interesting as the 30 Best Albums of 2018, we'll still be very lucky as listeners.

30. Hovvdy - Cranberry [Double Double Whammy]

With their graduation to Double Double Whammy for its sophomore effort Cranberry, Hovvdy have removed much of the digital tape deck hiss from their debut to make memories even more vivid when being stored inside their songs. And yet, Cranberry is still as soft a listen in a lovely way as its predecessor was despite its sharper clarity, which leads one to believe that the duo of Will Taylor and Charlie Martin are more focused on the way the listening experience captures a feeling rather than seeks out a way to recreate it. The songs’ tempos oft slowly trot through crisp strums and repetitive drum steps, occasionally fluttered in the warm hum of Casiotones (courtesy of fellow Austin DIY scene peer Hannah Read of Lomelda), but in defining their shapes in bolder lines with proper pop construction, Taylor’s plainspoken singing have a bigger space on the canvas to paint broad-stroked stories onto and allow the details – as muted as they are – to sink in full.

29. House of Feelings - New Lows [Joyful Noise Recordings]

What started as a radio show and dance night spinning some of the most esoteric sounds in dance and electronic vibes is now a living, breathing music collective of creatives from all corners of the underground built on an unbreakable foundation known as House of Feelings. On the NYC troupe’s debut full-length New Lows, multi-faceted songwriter Matty Fasano, YVETTE drummer and producer Dale Eisinger, songwriter Joe Fassler, and a cast of HoF collaborators familiar and new including Perfect Pussy’s Meredith Graves, Shamir, Denitia, and EULA’s Alyse Lamb, the group steps back into the darkest time line of our present reality after tripping out in an ambient post-apocalyptic freak out with last year’s club banger Last Chance EP. The pathways through which they travel are still treacherous as ever, but with blood-soaked shoes, sweaty bass lines, brass spirits, and synthetic doppelgangers for human emotion, they’re able to create a chic antidote for corrupt modern connections.

28. Oneohtrix Point Never - Age Of [Warp Records]

Oneohtrix Point Never breaks free of self-imposed insularity through collaboration and his own version of mass pop deconstruction to create “nightmare ballads” on Age Of. It is – along with the performance art installation that accompanies it – simultaneously Daniel Lopatin’s most ambitiously detailed, yet cohesively-defined auditory experiences since breaking through in 2010 with the melodic MIDI warping of Returnal, as it reconvenes into a pattern of brain teasing pleasure that had until now, been marked for deletion in his virtual garden. Dismantling pop cliches into a morbid art form has always been Oneohtrix Point Never’s M.O., but never has Lopatin challenged them so heavily as he has on Age Of by putting what’s obvious in front of listeners, then ripping off its outer layers of gloss to reveal what makes them work. Whenever these songs feel as though they are encroaching upon a natural climax, OPNs pulls the hook away from our ears, as if to tantalize our reward ever so softly while testing the natural habits of our cerebral mechanics no doubt shaped by larger machines in the process. Now, that’s a scary thought...

27. Ava Luna - Moon 2 [Western Vinyl]

Moon 2 is the perfect title for where Ava Luna are today as artists. It’s their new phase – One in which the NYC art pop band shed the skin of the term “collective,“ and instead join tentacles to become a fully collaborative species as varied as their backgrounds are. That LP 5 is their most streamlined effort to date may come as an even bigger surprise given the latter detail, as each member of the five-piece has spent the interim since 2015′s Infinite House expressing themselves mostly on their own. It could be, however, that in learning to stand on their own feet and flexing these creative muscles that Ava Luna has become stronger as a unit, as stylistic cohesion is threaded through the album from the moment it creaks into infinite space. Gravity-free vocals and ambient waves glide through Felicia Douglass’ hushed breaths and silk-covered runs, Becca Kaufmann bumps energy into the alien disco, while guitarist Carlos Hernandez’ and the band’s rhythm of Julian Fader and Ethan Bassford maintain its physically kinetic geometry. In this phase, there’s no one who can do it all with the fashion and finesse like they do.

26. Gouge Away - Burnt Sugar [Deathwish Inc.]

Maybe more exciting than the arrival of their breakout Burnt Sugar is that Gouge Away are really only getting started. At its core level is vocalist Christina Michelle who lives and breathes her every word, be it gnarling in daily anxiety and frustrations with hope, or controlling the chaos with a sung seance. Since their debut ,Dies, she and her bandmates have evolved into a more intentional force with in their use of emotional intensity as Mick Ford’s guitars remain razor-sharp when need be, but conceal themselves in a softer casing that rolls down your spine before tearing into your skin. Burnt Sugar also gets some of its charred flavoring by pillaging the grime and grunge of ‘90s post-hardcore and noise influence, as Tyler Forsythe’s bass lines dent and wobbly through tension without resistance as Tommy Cantwell’s drums find a gnarled groove between the dark crevices they leave in their quake. Its brimming with so much possibility as to where they can go tomorrow, but for now, leaves a lasting bittersweet taste in your mouth.

25. Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog [Saddle Creek]

Bark Your Head Off, Dog finds Hop Along mastering the art of embellishing rock with finer detail. While it may require additional lengths to let it sink in, it’s definitively the Philly band’s most ambitious effort to succeed on all fronts.Their latest sonic evolution continues to bristle with rawness, yet hooks are deeply entwined in intricate chord progressions while Frances Quinlan’s storytelling has become a thing on the scale of an American classic in literature as she continues to observe the mundane of everyday living with deep existential analysis. The quartet’s overall sound reflects that need to uphold that imagery with compositions just as tangled in the ornate, and demanding greater patience on the part of the listener to hear exactly where knotted guitars untie themselves and fray into choruses, or where elastic, funky footwork begins to effortless flow with ease into melody. Bark Your Head Off, Dog is not just something to behold because of its creative maturation, but a fun practice in dissecting and digesting music (and subsequently, the world around us) that rewards the experience with resonating tunefulness hidden in between.

24. Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love [ANTI-]

Deafheaven’s fourth studio effort Ordinary Corrupt Human Love shares many of the same organs and bone structures as its ancestors, but it’s a different animal altogether. It’s Deafheaven putting every one of the eccentricities they have nourished in their sound out there from the start into the wilderness, free to roam and form an album that embodies the humanity within their metal machine. Piano interludes, dreamy soundscapes indebted to slocore and indie rock traditionalism alongside guest vocal apparitions both weave even further layers to an an already ornate tapestry of scorched earth black metal and post rock, if maybe adding a touch of fragility to Clarke’s core existentialism. He ruminates plaintive thoughts on nature, aging, and empathy with a poetic grandeur that makes no apologies for being transparently earnest. That earnestness in all facets is what differentiates Ordinary Corrupt Human Love from any other Deafheaven album, or any other album that seers together a heavy heart and inner peace for that matter.

23. Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer [Epic Music / Sony Records / Wonderland Arts Society]

Dirty Computer bares the familiar signatures of Janelle Monáe’s past work – a rollout full bonkers visuals overlaying forward-thinking production that sets synthetic futurisms on an asteroid collision with the funky torchbearing of the Purple One’s legacy – yet it doubles down on radio-equipped hooks and choruses grounded like no other effort she’s set forth. There’s a full reveal of the political being personal in that aspect, as the album celebrates Monáe’s “PYNK”-themed coming out party as a pansexual woman of color, redefining the “Crazy, Classic, Life” of the modern American dream in the process. Her freedom roar, be it sung with sex and smoothness as she exudes in album bangers ”Make Me Feel” and “Screwed” or rapped with sharpened poise on ”Django Jane” is limitless is strength. Monáe’s star power dwarfs even the legends of tomorrow accompanying her journey back to Earth, be it Brian Wilson’s cosmic harmonies on its title track, or the electric empower-ade made with Pharrell Williams on “I Got the Juice”. Now that she’s graced us within arm’s length, it’s time we start recognizing a world where everything revolves around Janelle Monáe’s universal message to be just as you are.

22. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships [Dirty Hit / Interscope Records]

On their third LP A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, it’s here where millennial melody makers the 1975 come into their own with their most actualized commentary on modern connection and pop music. Frontperson Matty Healy’s guides the dialogue through astute observations as a voyeur as well as his own ugly overshares for public consumption The album especially glorifies the latter in its arrangement. Like the dopamine rushes and exhaustion of life’s sudden highs and unexpected lows, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships is pieced together in an unpredictable path of emotions in mind as it plays out. The listen combs through a post-Burial static plane, Auto-tuned trap pop, power ballad bombast, and even pulling off some oddity moments of loungey jazz. There’s a lot to not like about how our world is revolving, with the only optimism echoed here is the acknowledgement that we’re suffering through the darkest timeline together. For a generation whose attention’s spans are at peak deficit, hashtaggable plugs and genre-hopping get that message across through production-perfect content baiting reach.

21. Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth [Young Turks]

The year’s biggest adventure through the sonic cosmos comes by way of Kamasi Washington who takes you further out than you expected with Heaven and Earth, his latest grandeur display of avant jazz adventures composed with the special powers of the video game superheroes he invokes when aligning big brass purists and less discriminatory crossover crowd on the same universal plane. The double LP featuring 16 tracks average in 10 minutes in length each may as well be a quadruple one by today’s standards, though it also finds the Los Angeles saxophonist and his band in top form with cohesively connecting the dots in his experimentally sound genre reconstructions that encompasses free wheeling eruptions and percussive winks into the realms of rock, soul, and R&B. Heaven and Earth mediates his world of the weird and technically proficient with out current pop climate changes, and there’s more than enough sonic sight seeing in this journey to keep your senses in awe.

20. Iceage - Beyondless [Matador Records]

What began as an exorcise in violence, nihilism, and anxiety personified in the least suspecting of scenes within Denmark’s desolate DIY basements has evolved into a meticulous exercise in punk polyglot experimentation on Beyondless. Here, Iceage weaponize gothic purveyance to subdue their louder abrasions, but not necessarily their ability to confront the dark with any softer hesitation for a grander stage. The Danish quartet’s fourth studio effort is a new peak culmination in their insatiable desire to further themselves well beyond the limits previously drawn in their musical sculpture. The way they brandish danger and bleak existentialism in tandem with their bootsy grit is sexed up for pomp and glam through its incorporation of strong brass winds and cantankerous jazzy fits. Elias Rønnenfelt has written himself a charismatic stage persona to match – Consumed by the theatrics of a rock god and the Devil himself at once. Their unholy ritual has been completed and satisfies all heathens.

19. Tomberlin - At Weddings [Saddle Creek]

Sarah Beth Tomberlin was born to a strict Baptist household where her father was a minister, and she honed her craft as a songwriter through praise hymnals sung at Sunday sermons. She wasn’t allowed to discover a musical world outside of that sphere until she began secretly sneaking Bright Eyes CDs into her possession during her formative years. At Weddings, her debut full-length, is her way of forging her own path in a post-theist world that gives her – as she puts it on its opener “Any Other Way” – a sudden feeling that she doesn’t “have a place.” There’s more to her story than just existential queries hollowed out in a negative space where her voice, rendered in a delicate, yet devastatingly beautiful coat of reverb, echoes out as vast as the Midwestern fields she was raised. While At Weddings doesn’t conclude with her finding that place in the world she can finally rest comfort in, the ellipses it leaves listeners with is awe-striking in the way it makes you wonder right alongside Tomberlin where her path will lead her in the end.

18. Speedy Ortiz - Twerp Verse [Carpark Records]

Ever since they arrived on the scene as fresh-faced college grads of the school of indie rock with their 2013 debut full-length Major Arcana, the combination of singer Sadie Dupuis’ particular prose and she and her Speedy Ortiz bandmates’ higher level learning of idiosyncratic songwriting has been the thing that has made them stand out in a pack in the scene’s new wave of artists heavily influenced by the thinking person’s underground. With 2015′s Foil Deer, they proved that they had not only studied up on every book inside the indie rock laureates' libraries, and knew how to put that knowledge to proper use in writing their own chapters within it for today’s impressionable minds, but their latest effort Twerp Verse is a selfless endeavor devoid of needing to prove anything to anyone. Instead, it’s the quartet’s most outspoken commentary on modern day righteousness made all the more digestible with some new tricks from Dupuis’ second degree in spooky pop experimentation gained during a semester abroad under her sad13 guise. Speedy cram a lot to chew on here about common decency, but rest assured, these are choruses that will stick to your brain as much as the corrective lessons for a better society do, too.

17. Daughters - You Won’t Get What You Want [Ipecac Recordings]

Before going on indefinite hiatus in 2010, Daughters helped carve out a particular sound that stylized post- and grindcore scenes in the mid-2000s. Elastic guitars, intense drumming fits, and a frontperson in Alexis S.F. Marshall who sounded like an unhinged cog thrown in the machine whose job was to cause malfunctions at every turn was their modus operandi. Through sealed rifts, Daughters have since reunited with its most recent incarnation of Marshall, founding drummer Jon Syverson, rhythm guitarist Nicholas Andrew Sadler and Samuel M. Walker on bass, yet they're not the same band we heard on their return effort You Won’t Get What You Want. The Providence quartet’s fourth studio effort makes a concentrated effort in reshaping the outlines of their hardened history in an industrial fusion of human parts and robot arms melding into one alongside sea-sawing droning, smoldering blues, and gothic epics. Just as Daughters’ past indefinite hiatus status made no promises, You Won’t Get What You Want feels like they’ve entering a new phase where the unease in uncertainty fuels the thrill ride to defy any expectation/

16. Wild Pink - Yolk In the Fur [Tiny Engines]

Despite having cut their teeth in the Brooklyn indie scene these last several years, Wild Pink don’t sound so much like your standard guitar-chugging city dwellers on their breakout sophomore effort Yolk In the Fur. The trio of John Ross, TC Brownell and Dan Keegan have grown beyond the concrete jungle and ventured into an equally captivating impression here of ‘80s synth-bleeding, Americana-influenced rock that has made storytelling sentiment glimmer like a borealis in the way it has for the album’s kindred spirit Tom Petty and more recently, the modern day journeys of the War On Drugs. Yolk In the Fur has its own handwriting to share, however, with Ross emoting existential philosophies while gazing through the monotony of the every day and millennial melancholia. It’s there where Wild Pink transcend beyond subways and human-saturated streets and into the vast fields, rivers and star-lit skies -- Their own version of escapism becoming contagious.

15. Camp Cope - How to Socialise & Make Friends [Run for Cover Records]

Speaking to Camp Cope’s How to Socialise & Make Friends is a daunting task, especially from this end seeing that any cisgender straight male isn’t the most qualified to do the kind of heavy lifting these Melbourne indie rockers’ do here on their sophomore effort. The listen protests and shouts just as much as it lets out heavy sighs as singer Georgia Maq airs her grievances, be it via acid tongue or a higher road empathy. Her targets include gendered double-standards and an exhaustion with cultured misogyny in every facet of her daily life. She sings from both the unjust experiences as the frontperson of an all-women band within a male-dominated punk scene and as a humanist, with dudes behaving badly toward both in and out of those circles. The sound Camp Cope wage war with words with burns with an anti-authoritarian DIY spirit and emotive frustration equivocally, as Maq’s unfurling guitars over Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich and Sarah Thompson’s steady rhythm clear a path for her to break the patriarchy, if even by throwing just a single stone into every glass ceiling at a time.

14. Snail Mail - Lush [Matador Records]

Lindsey Jordan knows the roller coaster emotions of being young better than most indie rock songwriters out there right now, perhaps because she’s still figuring out a way to deal with them. With her debut album Lush, the 19-year-old’s creative outlet Snail Mail invites the entire world into the thick of her Tiny Little Corner of Anywhere where the doldrums of suburban living collide with teenage romance and its ensuing anguish in a manner where even a minor happening in heartache is enough substance to soundtrack a turning point in the coming-of-age experience. How she does so is through a stronghold in sharp earnestness wise beyond her years with lyrical specificity wrapped up in slowburning melancholic hooks that might otherwise suggest what ‘90s indie rock might have sounded like had it been put to her eloquent pen in the present. Yet, Lush is through and through about living in the moment, growing pains and all, and Snail Mail is in no hurry to shake the ride.

13. Vince Staples - FM! [Def Jam]

FM! -- an 11 track, 23-minute-long project from Vince Staples -- extends the Long Beach M.C.’s streak of success through an endless summer party meant for momentary escapism. The listen is no different than tuning into the long-running Los Angeles hip-hop station 92.3 and its show, Big Boy’s Neighborhood, that serves to bind together Staples’ latest duality of disenfranchised disparity against fame and prosperity over a series of intros, skits, interludes and, to greater effect, a group of Cali-minded guest features that would fit in effortlessly next to the radio fodder Staples’ cult rap skills usually sit on the outside of. It’s a current snapshot of the Vince Staples of today without forgetting where he came from, and he gets a few hits in that way by dropping ugly realities into an otherwise mostly white Coachella crowd-pleasing playlist where tough-as-nails honesty and ear-softening commercial pleasure find a middle ground. FM!’s fun from the outside looking in, yet a complex commentary when you stick your head in closer, and nothing less than we’ve come to expect from rap’s best thinkers.

12. Vein - errorzone [Closed Casket Activities)

The Greater Boston legacy of heavy has long been a place where hardcore and metal collide with an awesome vigor, and that lineage continues to expand beyond the Baystate today with Vein, a group of Merrimack Valley thrashers who are amplifying the intensity of the scene’s groundbreakers in the likes of Cave In, Converge and American Nightmare, and bare down the void with their own young nihilistic bulldozing. Their debut full-length errorzone uses the framework laid before them and fuses its pieces into a sound of apocalyptic proportions where human adrenaline and natural forces smolder into the quintet’s firestorm to form a death-wielding vehicle. The end result tears shit apart in every which way. Lead screamer Anthony DiDio is a wrecking ball on his own two feet, but backed by Vein’s seismic riffs and stone pummeling rhythmic core, errorzone is unapologetically harsh in seeing that everything burns to the ground. Taking into account the current state of the world, that might just be what this place needs.

11. Beach House - 7 [Sub Pop]

With 7, Beach House’s singular sound has settled on a narrative that has no concrete objective in sight, but rather, an unharnessed exploration into the unknown of what possibilities may manifest. That it’s their most curiously daring listen in a career that’s already been defined by surprises is a fete most veteran indie rock acts these days should be envious to achieve themselves, and for that, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally can thank their lucky intuition for guiding their spirit in a directionless path. 7′s specific magical power is their ability to transform that darkness into an unsuspecting beauty, as the album oft confronts such instances fit for these tumultuous times by embracing the ability for empathy and love to grow out of that trauma, capturing the free-fall from resistance into giving in with a lightness. Explorations with psychedelic hues and cosmic lights in their smoldering, vapory dream-pop soothe even the bleakest questions that float through the timeline of an otherwise frightening reality. Beach House, in their present formless existence, endure in its brave embrace of it.

10. Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs [Tan Cressida / Columbia Records]

Aside from being a grade A wordsmith, Earl Sweatshirt stands out among other rappers from the younger era thanks to his ability to connect with audiences by talking to real life context in ways that never look like fashion statements or image crafting. It’s neither a Drake-ism or an emo rap algorithm ploy -- It’s honest, ugly reality checks that have gone toe to toe with anxiety, depression and death talk without glamorizing any of them as a welcome lifestyle. Last we’d heard from him were the incisive cuts levied through weed clouds and paranoia on 2015′s I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, yet, like many of his Odd Future alumni, Earl has grown out of his tumultuous teens, and with Some Rap Songs, the 24-year-old cult hero is beginning to piece together life’s puzzles clearly -- at least through prose. Throughout the listen, his rap style transcends any comparison to what his peers are creating as he delves into an abstract collage of background noise made of layered beats, samples of voices from the outside, and a control over his own as a hookless wonder. With the smoke clearing from the room, it turns out that the avant direction fits Earl Sweatshirt perfectly.

9. Robyn - Honey [Konichiwa Records]

In the 8 year absence releasing her ultimate legacy-cementing effort Body Talk, Robyn’s footprint on the pop universe has become permanently entangled in the DNA of its modern current. Now that she’s made her return on her sixth full-length effort Honey, however, we’re not just given everything we could hope for in a Robyn album – But something from a different creative pop genius than the one we last danced our worries away with. Experiences with grief and loss have changed the shape of the way she breaks our hearts and teaches us how to put them back together this time around, as Honey brings different facets of light into her singular sound to separate itself from similar flavors. Bright, shimmering whirls of synths and soft caresses sweep up a familiar warmth as any other Robyn endorphin rush, but glamorous house parties, funked up bass lines and breezy lite R&B turn the corner toward a different perspective in the healing process. Though we never truly know what pains life may bring our way, Robyn reminds us that there’s always a way back to the sweet stuff with Honey.

8. Pusha-T - DAYTONA [Def Jam / G.O.O.D. Music]

Stretches of ominous silence in between releases have worked to Pusha-T’s advantage in massaging his work into a hard craft. Ever since his 2013 debut My Name Is My Name and 2015′s followup King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude, the pursuit of perfection has equated to him needing to waste less time to get people talking about what he’s saying. His X-acto knife precision consistently coupled with an ultra modern beat design never ceases to cut right where it needs to, and with his latest album DAYTONA, we get 7 tracks in just a little over 20 minutes where the Delaware son savors his words for deep impact. What’s left in its wake is a proper torching of the entire hip-hop landscape with his long shadow and knife-like flow that gave 2018 one of the year’s most talked about rap beefs. Darker moments surrounding loss of friends and the double-edged sword of fame swallow the soul whole into itself as well, and in aligning himself with Kanye West’s post-Pablo production (basically, the only good thing ‘Ye gave music this year...), the reign of King Push remains unrivaled.

7. Soccer Mommy - Clean [Fat Possum Records]

The opening moments from Soccer Mommy breakout Clean don’t idealize romantic expectations, so don’t get your hopes up that the rest of the album is going to find its way to some kind of happy ending either. Clean is the result of an ongoing bedroom-born lullaby inward that had been slowly forming the outlines of Sophie Allison’s persona over the years, with her debut full-length transforming early broad brush strokes into more detailed ones through a rickety walk of structurally-sound acoustic strums, hints of twinklecore in her alternative slow burn, and a healthy measure of studio trickery that puts a stamp with Allison’s name all over her confessionals. There’s an intense relatability to her storytelling as well as her underdog status of being on the losing end of relationships that makes her work resonate deep within the every-person, and they’re all necessary, too. Unlike all of the girls who she isn’t we meet here on Clean, owning up to her differences is what makes Allison sound realer than the rest.

6. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy [Atlantic Records]

Social media-assisted personal brands may seemingly grow overnight these days, but one thing that won’t ever change is how they’re only a piece of the puzzle – if at all – in guaranteeing a successful rap career. If you were expecting Cardi B’s debut album Invasion of Privacy to change any rules of the game, it doesn’t over-promise in that regard, but it’s still an assured first step that includes Cardi delivering on her end of the it with a solid performance of real life character work backed by a roundtable of reliable modern production crafted by the likes of Boi-1da, Murda Beatz and Benny Blanco. It’s an early indication that proves she knows herself better than most others have in this position when it came to making money moves with natural instinct, and it’s perhaps the biggest reason why Cardi B managed to parlay her hustle from behind a smart phone into a #1 dream come true while her detractors keep bloating streaming algorithms in hopes of guaranteeing themselves a cheap hit.

5. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour [Mercury Nashville]

With Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves continues to be just as brave enough to color outside the lines of country with her honesty as she does in the palette she paints with as well. Disco-inflicted pop crossovers, cosmic countrypolitan, psychedelic steel pedaling, a refracted spectrum of ‘70s style classic rock piano balladry worthy of Elton’s rhinestoned co-sign, and in between everything, Golden Hour shining with that simple purity of fully lucid designs Musgraves has always brought to the table in dripping honey-combed acoustics into melancholia and pop that bring even a basic approach to songwriting into widescreen view. The album amounts to something akin to an actual rainbow for that matter – All colors vivid and unique in their own way, but when they collect together, they suggest something much more, be it in its wonders of life, love, and enjoying every second of it in the present with your senses filled with them.

4. American Pleasure Club - A Whole Fucking Lifetime of This [Run for Cover Records]

At the end of 2017, Sam Ray ditched the Teen Suicide moniker in favor of something more empathetic and conscious by redubbing his punk band American Pleasure Club. After years of making music inspired by depressive fits, substance abuse, and an aggressively nihilistic world view, he’s realigned his sound as well thanks to sobriety and finding domestic bliss with fellow musician Kitty Ray. With that, the band’s third proper album A Whole Fucking Lifetime of This is where Sam Ray has adulted beyond the bitter teenage malaise of his past while giving his loyalty of listeners every reason to continue working toward defining happiness in their own messy lives. That’s mirrored in a juxtaposition of vibes throughout the listen, varied in mood and style as vast as bedroom pop melancholia, pop-punk jitters, wallowing alternative waves, and hazy R&B that circle back to a big picture of coherency. Its a soundscape Ray has tinkered with tirelessly since the project’s inception, and has now found a fulfilling sweet spot in American Pleasure Club’s sound thanks to acknowledgement the reality of a love in a world that will never truly be a personal heaven nor hell.

3. Mitski - Be the Cowboy [Dead Oceans]

Mitski’s fifth album Be the Cowboy is brimming with ideas in brevity, yet it never falls short of articulating them with considered judgement that proves Mitski Miyawaki is in full control of her directive wheel. To give of herself even the slightest glimpse into the 27-year-old songwriter’s psyche through song is her gift to the Earth, with her pen blurring a universal connection between the personal and creation by mining its many striations of disconnect. Her other half on the surface level is often framed like a lover, though she’s hinted that sometimes the relationships that break her heart the most are those not reciprocated in her commitment to her work. Be the Cowboy finds her acting out every role in the story inseparably through the bombast of indie rockisms,an incorporation of songwriting worlds both traditional and modern that render new benchmarks of perfection for her timeless prose and even disco-pop, making it all the more difficult to decipher, yet that’s the point: They’re all designed as self-reflections given equal moments to be honored in her dark and light.

2. Low - Double Negative [Sub Pop]

Slowcore innovators Low have evolved far beyond the patient wonder of their music in several different styles over their storied 25-year career as a band, but nothing in their catalog is anything like their latest studio effort, Double Negative. The listen answers the question of what may exist of the Duluth trio if you were to destroy in their sound all the natural beauty that has endured gracefully these last three decades, and attempts to reconstruct it by fragment, particle by particle. That’s done intentionally, as the band holds a shattered mirror up to the world and reflects it onto themselves, as LP 12 embraces their most abrasive traits fearlessly through deconstructed and corruptly digitized instrumentation sucked into the vacuous production of. B.J. Burton, go-to producer at Bon Iver’s April Base home studio. The uncertainty in Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker vocals, while remaining tender all the way through, surface anxieties felt by many humans amid the disarray. We don’t know what tomorrow brings, though Double Negative captures the present in all its brokenness flawlessly.

1. Turnstile - Time & Space [Roadrunner Records]

Pull the 25-minute-long sprint that is Turnstile’s major label debut Time & Space apart by its guts, and you’ll hear that it’s so many other things than just a record that is guaranteed to insight a lot of free-falling bodies flying off stages wherever they take this record live. Even as a screamer, Brendan Yates is rather Svengali in his anti-et. al resistance, feeding his existential crisis into grungy despair and plunging down that rabbit hole lined in hybridized metal. Guitarists Brady Ebert and Pat McCrory alongside bassist Franz Lyon and drummer Daniel Fang are integral to controlling the listen between a slam dance and a hardcore meditation, meeting every signature call to the pit with a far out reverberation such as “Moon”, a lush, hazy pop-punker of a track. If there’s a single takeaway from Turnstile’s proper introduction beyond the DIY spaces they came through, it’s that the Baltimore quintet are prepared to take risks to reshape hardcore as something more than just punk’s harder edge of sound. It’s one continuous nonstop feeling, and one that’s bringing the whole scene into an entirely different level of being.

1 note · View note

beauticate · 6 years

Text

Violette, Makeup Artist

With her dreamy French accent and enviable style, it’s easy to see why beauty lovers the world over are a little infatuated with makeup artist Violette Serrat right now. Violette’s makeup tutorials inspire her devoted followers to channel their inner Parisienne on the daily and school them on interpreting trends for everyday wear (with a healthy dose of Gallic chic thrown in); think metallic blue lips, poppy-hued eyes, holographic lids and smudgy liner. And as Global Beauty Director of Estée Lauder, her relaxed, effortlessly cool attitude to beauty is now reaching a wider audience. Violette shared her unconventional beginnings in the beauty industry with us, as well as the secret to her perfectly imperfect hair, and why wine and cheese will always play a key role in her diet.

“Before becoming a makeup artist, I was studying art and fashion design.

I felt passionate about both - I didn't know which one to choose. One night, I came home and my friend was getting ready to go to a costume party. She was dressing up as this French character who wears a glitter mask on her eyes. So my friend asks me, "Can you do the glitter mask on my eyes?". I tell her I've never done makeup before, and she says, "C'mon. You're a painter, it'll be fine." So I did and, indeed, I felt like it was the link between art and fashion design.

My first instinct was to move to New York to get out of my comfort zone, and to find myself as a makeup artist without doing the typical training.

I thought, if I have to assist and go to makeup school, then it's not going to be a job that interests me - I want to do makeup the way I discover it. So that's why I left for New York. And I just knocked on the doors of all the modeling agencies and said, “Hey, I'm a free makeup artist” with my very French accent. And they gave me girls to do makeup on with new photographers for their books. With that, I started to build my book and work a lot. That night with my friend created a new path for me. I was thinking, "Wow, it's like dressing up a face and painting a face. Maybe that could be my job." And I started like this - like a weird hybrid artist.

I always have Re/Done jeans, and right now I’m really obsessed with Frances de Lourdes’ cashmere t-shirts.

I have always some lingerie that you can see - I always wear it in black so it’s visible when I wear a white t-shirt. It's from Fleur du Mal, which I love. As for shoes - it depends. It could be heels (either Sergio Rossi or Gianvito Rossi) or otherwise I have my Converse. And bags - I have so many brands I couldn't even tell you.

I love when beauty serves you and how you feel. It’s here to empower you, to soothe you. I don’t like when makeup is used to change who you are or how you look. I am all about acceptance of who we are and loving ourselves.

I am a makeup minimalist. My signature look is bare skin and intense red lips, or messy hair with glitter eyes - balance is key to me. I use concealer, always - I go for the Estée Lauder Double Wear Waterproof Concealer, because I don’t have to touch it up at all during the day. Then I apply black mascara (I love Pure Color Envy Mascara). And I like to use my lipstick as my blush as well, so it's the same kind of colour - the colour I choose depends on the day. Lastly, a little bit of highlighter - and that's my go-to look. My favourite makeup tricks? Doing makeup with my fingers and using blush as an eyeshadow.

I feel my most beautiful when I see myself through my boyfriend’s eyes.

It could be in a moment where I’m not prepared, but I can see in his eyes that he thinks I’m beautiful. Sometimes you get used to it, but there can be a moment that will strike and you realise it again.

My skincare routine is long and rigorous - I am certainly not a skincare minimalist.

I am loyal when I find a product I love. I have this very soft cleanser that I use (it's like a milk), and then I spritz my face with water. I then use Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Intense Recovery Ampoules. I'm obsessed with anything “recovery” and it preps my skin really well. I then have this light cream that I put on top, and that's it.

Since joining Esteé Lauder, I have discovered incredible products that are now my essentials, and I think I will stick with them for a very long time: the Advanced Night Repair PowerFoil Mask and Serum, Revitalizing Supreme+ Balm and the Double Wear Eye Pencil in Burgundy Suede. And the Pure Color Envy LipColor in Poppy Sauvage from my collection, of course.

For a night out, I'll put heels on and change my bag, but I keep the jeans and the t-shirt.

Then I like to grab a very strong or dark colour, I colour my eyes and smudge it with my finger. And then always freshen up with a little bit of my Estée Lauder concealer.

When I wash my hair, I blow dry it a little to make it shinier.

And then I just put it up in a bun while I do my makeup. And I also do something a bit funny: I have this spray from Bumble and Bumble called Thickening Dry Spun Finish, which helps keep the shape you give to your hair. I put it on the roots of my hair and I pinch it up a lot - I even have a little clip that I put on my bangs to lift them more in the centre, because it gives them more of a ‘70s vibe. I don't like when my bangs are flat and round, which looks more ‘80s. And while it's setting like this, I'll do my makeup. And then I remove my bun and little clip, and the hair has a natural, messy wave.

My beauty look is a mix of boyish and feminine.

That's why, for me, the right balance is very important. For example, for hair, I like when the texture is really beautiful, clean and shiny, but it's a bit messy. Skin needs to be super healthy and fresh, but then imperfect, or else it looks fake. Nails are always done, but then paired with messed up jeans. It's always a balance of something you didn't look after, while the other thing is perfectly done. Honestly, I think that I'm very lucky to be a woman, and when I work on other women, I'm trying to celebrate them, so it's always about the same idea of balance. It's not about being someone else, not about trying too hard - it's always about being effortless.

My biggest beauty influence is women. All women.

I don’t have one icon. I love walking in the street - New York is an incredible source of inspiration because there is so much diversity and the women here dare to try. I love to look at them and imagine a little story of how they decided to wear a particular look. It’s like every woman is showing you a little part of herself.

To relax, I do transcendental meditation.

I don’t attend yoga classes as I am not ready yet. But every morning I do five to 10 minutes of yoga stretching that my very good friend, a skincare guru and yoga teacher, forces me to do. I do Pilates almost everyday - I just bought a reformer machine for my house, since I have such a crazy schedule, so now I can do it at home - no excuses. I used to paint, but that’s pretty rare now. But I garden - this is my current passion and it totally relaxes and grounds me.

I've recently started to understand how difficult ageing must be.

Before I used to think, “Wrinkles are so beautiful. What’s the problem with ageing? Why all this surgery?” I actually still feel the same way about wrinkles - I think it’s life and it’s beautiful. But I've started to see changes in my metabolism and if I drink too much, the next day is harder than before. I now have to work out more to maintain, and all these changes are so stressful, so I understand better now why people are resistant to ageing.

I see my friends who are around 45 years old - which is still young! - and between the ones who take care of themselves and the ones who smoke and eat unhealthy foods, I can see a big difference. So it makes me feel like ageing can be beautiful, but it depends on you and how you treat yourself. It’s very inspiring.

When I was a teenager, I wore red lipstick all the time, because I was in France.

I thought that as a woman, you wear a lipstick. I think I was 14. And red nails - I wore very deep red at maybe 12 or something. A perfect manicure was very important to me as a teenager. And I started to have fun with glitter pretty early. 18 was the big glitter phase in my life, but only on myself - I was 19 when I started to experiment on people as a makeup artist. But in school I wouldn’t wear any makeup - maybe just mascara. At that stage, beauty was not an obsession. Fashion was a bigger deal to me then.

I have these boots that help with lymphatic drainage, since I am always on my feet. I love them.

I also do facials at Rescue Spa every 6 weeks. At home, I do my own facials once a week. And after winter, I do a bit of cryotherapy to help my body recover from all the heavy food I’ve eaten. In New York, I go to Hortūs Nailworks for manicures - I will only go there. I also love Soho Sanctuary for massages and Shibui Spa.

I am now following a keto diet, and it has changed my life.

I don’t eat carbs or sugar - or even fruit, with the exception of berries - but I eat lots of good fats. I am so happy - I feel great and my body is in much better shape, and I am just much healthier overall. For breakfast, I’ll have a muffin with almond flour that I make myself, and some cheese or eggs with avocado. For lunch and dinner I’ll have some protein with veggies, and I make sure I have enough fat, as that is what gives me energy. I eat all organic and clean, nothing fried. It’s very close to what my diet was like back in Europe, so it’s not that big of a change. I also make my own coconut yogurt that I can eat as a snack with berries in the afternoon. I am never hungry, as I eat good quantities, and I am always full of energy.

I must admit, my stretches in the morning help me a lot. I pour cold water on my legs every morning and night to help with circulation, and I also use a dry brush everyday before my stretching to get rid of toxins. After having moved to New York City, where the food and elements are very different from France, I have to take a bit more care than I used to. But I actually enjoy doing all of these things, as it makes me feel so good.

I love apple cider vinegar in the morning to cleanse.

I do coconut oil-pulling first thing each day - it gets rid of all the toxins your liver clears out during the night. Sometimes I’ll do a week of aloe vera juice before each meal to help my digestive system, and I love a good turmeric and black pepper supplement to help me with any irritation or inflammation. And of course omega-3 for good skin. I still drink wine, as it is keto - which is good, because I need my dose of cheese and wine - I am French after all!”

Story by Tess Schlink. Images from Estée Lauder and Violette’s Instagram.

#violette

5 notes · View notes

spinstrackingsystem · 3 years

Text

Edgy Pop Artist Maya Ghose Finds Her Own Voice with Debut Album

While currently charting on the Billboard Activator and Hot AC charts with her release I Don’t Want This, edgy pop artist Maya Ghose releases fresh debut album titled Where There Is. This album, which includes her singles How He Looks at Her and I Don’t Want This, is currently available on all digital platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, and more. This album is centered around finding your own voice and a place to be heard. It is filled with songs she has written about life experiences, while revealing and showcasing how both her and her music has grown and developed over the last few years. “This album is filled with relatable topics, stories, and has a little something for everyone,” explained Maya. “It feels like my entire self is in these songs and after a year of working on it. I cannot wait for people to hear it!” Produced by her brother Brayden Ghose, this album offers a variety of different styles and feels, but still maintains Maya’s signature sultry voice. This self-reflective album fuses pop and rock, with hints of indie and alternative vibes setting the tone for her bohemian presence featuring earworm melodies, blended layered harmonies, and sultry vocals that range from powerhouse belts to a sweet falsetto. After watching Cinema Paradiso, Maya wrote a song with a unique style of writing she had never explored before. Wallflower, which starts out stripped down but continues to build as the song passionately grows. Read the full article

0 notes

onestowatch · 3 years

Text

Petticoat’s ‘Hedon’ Is a Vulnerable Piece of Pop-Futurism

Photo: Kate Biel

It’s no secret that 2021 has been sorely lacking in forward-thinking pop releases, but luckily things seem to be turning around. This week sees Petticoat returns to fans with his newest project Hedon, a five-track EP comprised mainly of singles released over the past year.

If this is your first time hearing about the 24-year-old LA-via-Bay Area artist, then consider this an early look into one of pop’s most promising up-and-comers. Having caught the attention of budding pop icons like Slayyyter while amassing a small (but devoted) fanbase, Petticoat pulls no punches on his newest project.

Synthesizing futurism-focused pop with genres like new wave and experimental club music, Hedon is Petticoat’s bold self-introduction to the modern pop sphere. From the project’s earliest moments of glittering synths to the thundering bass signals dominating its finale, Hedon showcases masterfully polished pop production to an almost enviable extent.

Tracks like “Stretch” sound like NSYNC* and Charli XCX hopped into the studio together while “The Middle” features a Kraftwerk-esque bassline with some serious Pet Shop Boys vibes, but each track still maintains Petticoat’s signature sound. Petticoat’s affinity for clever songwriting mixed with his natural talent for crafting forward-thinking yet nostalgic pop bangers is one of the things that has kept me returning to this project long after writing this article.

Hedon is not just a bells-and-whistles project full of perfectly polished mixes, however, as underneath Petticoat’s delicately mastered vocals lies a treasure trove of vulnerability and earnestness. “Where Will I Go?” explores the tension behind the listless disillusionment of age combined with an impassioned cry for direction during an uncertain time. The tracks that decorate Hedon and its tracklist delve into love, cultural hegemony, and the euphoric optimism of youthlike exuberance.

It is rare that artists like Petticoat are able to seamlessly craft witty lyrics and advanced musical styles so early into their career, but to our own fortune, “Hedon” is just that. Whether or not you find yourself partial to pop from the ’80s, the 2000’s, electro-pop, or dance music, “Hedon” has a little something for everybody.

Listen to Hedon below:

#petticoat #hedon #album reviews #pop

0 notes

dippedanddripped · 4 years

Link

Keary Kase is a Portland legend best known for his hit “Oowee.” HIs sound turned into a cash cow which includes big-time deals with iconic brands like Harley Davidson and Adidas. Setting himself up for longevity, Keary Kase established a legacy from a place of obscurity with creativity, street-smarts and ingenuity. Now, Kase is mentoring the next generation of artists, preparing them for their dream jobs and how to negotiate big business with original creations. In the interview below, Keary Kase tells all about trade secrets and more. For any artists curious about landing the bigger, better deal, this interview is just for you.

SOURCE: Knowing then what you know now about your career, would you have done anything different with your sound?

KK: I can’t say there is anything I would do differently with my sound. As a vocalist, my sound has evolved over my career in music because I have allowed it to. I don’t get hung up on a style or a sound. In the beginning of my career, all I did was spit off the top. When I recorded freestyles, I would discover new cadences and tones to play with. I would pick the sticky ones and write using the same cadence.

It’s really about commitment. Your sound today might not be the sound of tomorrow but if you commit to it, it will provide a snapshot of what you were feeling and expressing at the time you dropped it. Maybe even a glimpse into what was happening at that time in the world. If you go all-in with it, people will feel that energy for a very long time. At one point I had a band. They were an all-black rock band called Prawn. That was powerful! BIG FACTS. It felt like I was on the stage with an AR15. Live instruments make the people move. I will definitely do that again at some point.

You solidified yourself on the West Coast coming from an unknown part but full of talent. In your opinion, why does Oregon never receive the respect it deserves?

I don’t believe respect is something to be passively received. It’s something you either fight for or finesse. Portland’s struggle is not about getting respect outside of Oregon, it’s the lack of support within Oregon that slows the process. We have to grow our own. Portland fans may not understand that buying merchandise, subscribing to and following social media platforms, attending shows, streaming songs and publicly acknowledging artists that they vibe with is what propels them. Follow me on IG @e1eve1even

A legend yourself, who would you consider gave you the best advice about the music business?

I’ve never had a mentor in music, so the majority of what I have learned has been through the experience. I would find music-related jobs on CL, not always hip hop gigs, but anything that I thought might propel me or put me in a better position. Occasionally, somebody might open a back door for me and let me see what goes on inside. I would play it cool but always be asking questions and taking notes.

Rudy Ray Moore, who was a friend of mine before he passed, said “Keary, when you get to the next level, I don’t need to tell you not to get discouraged, but don’t get disgusted with these mutha fuckas out here.” He also told me to make sure everybody gets paid so they know that you respect them as a professional. Even if it’s just travel expenses. Multi-platinum producer and mixer, Skip Saylor, who is also an Oregonian told me to forget about following music trends and focus on making classics.

I’ve been blessed with gems from miscellaneous sources. Most often from the last person, you might be expecting to have some insight. No matter who is sharing good information, I pay attention.

After radio success and branding, did you ever find yourself chasing the charts?

Definitely. I have big dreams. I see myself in a certain position and start to obsess over it. I imagine what it will look like, how it will feel, and how I will be received at that level. I realized that getting played on the radio is not the same as having a bullet. Chasing a hit, lol, will expose you to all types of experiences. There is no set formula but there is an art to it. Some people say mainstream music is watered down and having a hit record doesn’t take much talent. Anytime I hear this theory, I challenge that artist to make one. I did an experimental project that was focused on creating radio-friendly records intended to chart. Listening to it today, it feels timestamped and super uncomfortable. That’s because I was so focused on what was hot at the time that I wasn’t being entirely true to myself. I was smart enough to use a different name when I put it out.

As an advisor, tell us about some of the newer artists making noise in Oregon?

There is no paucity of talent in Portland but I don’t really F with everybody out here. There was a dude who lit it up a few years back but I don’t think he reps the town like that anymore. As of now, I am the incumbent in Portland and I intend to keep it that way for a while.

How do you remain creative after all these years?

I like to figure out how things work. It keeps me up at night. After I do a full day of physical activity and an evening of technology-based work, I start to analyze how things went and why. I think about how to make improvements in whatever I’m producing at the time. This leads me to do research which then leads to new discoveries and elevation. I regard to being musically creative, I think I have a disorder. I hear rhythms, melodies, and cadences everywhere. I just apply them to my perspectives and experiences. Lyrically, I like to provide something for the vibrationally sensitive listener as well as the cerebral listener.

How did your brand partnership with Nike come together?

The Nike deal was a relationship developed over time. I started to wear testing basketball shoes for Nike in high school. At the time I was more into skateboarding than football and basketball. I would skip practice and go skate in NW Portland, I was A few years later, my skate shop sponsor, Rebel Skates, made a deal with Nike to have us do skate demos at their corporate events wearing original Jordans as skate shoes. We would do jump ramp and rail tie tricks for the suits. They would give us free shoes in exchange.

When the advertising campaign happened, I was in the middle of the US National Championships followed by US National Team Trials in Olympic Style Sparring. My agency had a relationship with Marcus Swanson, a Portland photographer who has worked with Nike forever. Marcus has a son who participated in the same sport. He invited me over for a martial arts shoot, where I bumped into one of the guys from Nike who later booked me for the job. I attribute landing good opportunities to being prepared and easy to work with.

Your hit “Oowee” has stood the test of time, is it true that once an artist makes one hit song they can make another and no such thing as a one-hit-wonder?

I believe that anyone who dedicates themself to something and stays down with it is going to eventually be successful on some level. However, in the music industry, that can be easier said than done. It’s like seeing a tail dangling from a tree then pulling on it to see what it’s attached to, only to find that you are now on the opposing side of a tiger fight. Most people will look into the tiger’s eyes and run like a gazelle. Others will fight with the tiger and die or escape with severe wounds and a story to tell. Very few will tango with the tiger and leave with a trophy head. At that point, some go looking for a lion.

It’s really a matter of perseverance and the amount of attention you can handle. Just because you have a hit record does not mean everybody is going to be nice to you.

Landing partnerships with iconic brands like Harley Davidson, Adidas and Diamond Supply. What are some inside incentives you would advise today’s artists to suggest in deals?

I look for long term opportunities in deals. Getting free products and a check from a brand is not my concern. I’m more into deals that include me developing and marketing my own products utilizing their resources and relationships. For example, if a knitwear brand was to approach me with an endorsement deal that awarded me all the cashmere socks, sweaters and beanies, I would counter-propose a signature line of my own cashmere products that awarded me a percentage of the profits for that particular line. At that point, it would make sense for me to be dropping the brand name in songs and such.

How lucrative is the CBD market right now?

I’m remaining optimistic about CBD. In the last year, there was this sudden rush of CBD products. Some are not the CBD that we all assume they are. CBD can be derived from many sources. The good CBD is hemp-derived. Right now, I’m offering samples of my CBD Pain Cream. For samples, contact me on IG: @e1eve1even.

You’ve been in the music for several decades, with the music business currently suffering from a pandemic, how would you advise artists to maintain a revenue stream during hiatus?

Business is business. Don’t be afraid to explore. It’s all work. If you figured out how to eat in the music industry, do the same thing on a different platform. There are some industries that are directly or indirectly connected to the music business. Diversify. I’ve transcended the idea of being defined by one aspect of myself. That’s why I can leave music alone when I don’t feel like I have something of substance to offer it and still have something left in the jab to set up the next combo.

If I was a one pony trick, trying to apply the same formula next season because it went big last year, I would most definitely be confronted by a competitor who has analyzed my game and figured out a way to divert my stream. Kinda like disruptive innovation. I remember being in the meeting with Sony, discussing my first record deal. When asked what my next move was, I said “I can do whatever you want me to do.” NEVER say that! Know what you want to do and get to it. Don’t wait for anybody to help you because by the time you find someone who wants to partner with you, if the ball is not already in play it looks like a losing investment.

Musical artists have to be creative thinkers in addition to being a talent. We also have to be able to see an opportunity when it presents itself. If you are focused, you will always get what you ordered but it may show up in the wrong package. Open the box and see what’s in there before you send it back.

How has the current social climate (cases of police brutality) inspired your new music?

Anybody who knows me well will tell you that my superpower is the element of surprise. I see myself as a KRS when he dropped Criminal Minded in 1987 then, over time, revealed his true mind was more political than criminal. Or an NWA, who told hood stories then realized they could use their voice to chastise politicians and police. Or like Public Enemy. Any artist who slipped into the public view and then started firing with aim at the heads of the broken establishment is like me right now. Stay tuned.

Rappers are the most influential individuals in the world, in a time of need, how would you suggest we as a people move forward in the efforts of change?

Black people, have to be hyper-vigilant right now. And that’s not a condition that can be sustained for a long period of time, but right now we need to be watching for the twist. We can’t protest 6 peanuts in the morning and 3 at night then rejoice over being awarded 8 peanuts in the morning and 1 at night, as if something has changed. That sounds ridiculous, right? But that’s the type of game we have been going for. We have to get over our self-generated fear and unwarranted hate of each other and bring it in.

How have you been contributing to the BLM cause?

I inform people who are supporting the BLM movement with social media posts, memes, posters, picket signs, hashtags, t-shirts, lawn stakes, and badges that those forms of support are great gestures but not enough to make the dramatic changes that need to happen today.

I live in the whitest state in America. I attended a BLM gathering at City Hall with a group of black, and brown men. The people who were supposed to be there in support of us were uncomfortable and tense as we moved through the crowd. Most of them still won’t look me in the eye. Maybe it’s me… No, actually, it’s not. What we don’t need is people showing up to protests for lack of anything better to do while they are in between jobs. We know about the white people who are with the business until it’s time for sentencing. But I don’t mind the faces of BLM here being our lighter-skinned brothers. They need to talk to each other anyway. But let’s not overlook the way protests become more widely digestible when there are less dark faces involved.

We can’t allow the focus of racial inequality and white privilege to be blurred. For example, the LBGTQ community deserves to be heard, but not by using the BLM movement as a platform. Doing this dilutes both agendas.

What’s next for Keary Kase?

We’re still pushing my single, Craze right now. It’s available everywhere for anyone who hasn’t heard it. We partnered with the New Zealand tattoo model, Lilli Grace to be the face of the Craze promotional campaign. Put your snorkeling gear on and go check her out on IG @lilligraceofficial. We did a video for it but I’m not releasing it until we see what’s happening with our people. There is some hype about a Craze remix and video featuring a well known-platinum selling artist but nothing solid yet. I’m dropping a mixtape in July, produced by J Doe and Sixtine, featuring Amelia Cole, Mic Crenshaw, and Uneekint.

I’m also partnering with a visual effects artist and animator named Hock Wong, on a mini-series for Netflix. It’s all about timing right now. We need to give the issue of systemic racism our full attention. After we see how THEY are going to respond, if I don’t have to load up and get on the frontline, you will see me. They would love to throw us a basketball and let things get back to the way they were, but there is no going back. Death before dishonor.

#keary kase #pdx hiphop #pdx artist #portland oregon #music blog

0 notes

bestdjkit · 4 years

Text

Shallou Talks Debut Album Release and Spreading Hope Through Music in Times of Crisis [Interview]

Shallou opens up about his debut Island Records album release "Magical Thinking," life in 2020, and his creative process.

Music has the potential to inspire hope even in the darkest of days. Since first emerging into the electronic landscape in 2015, talented producer Shallou has garnered more than 350 million streams, making him one of the scene's fastest-rising stars. Performing at Outside Lands and Coachella and collaborating withBob Moses in 2019, Shallou recently dropped his highly anticipated debut full-length album titled Magical Thinking, out now on Island Records. With the record, Shallou takes us on a mystical journey replete with euphoria and wonder.

Carrying an ambient and otherworldly vibe, Magical Thinking powerfully reveals the range and beauty of Shallou's production while powerfully maintaining his signature ambient, emotive, and atmospheric sound. Featuring Shallou's own vocals as well as superb top-lines from established artists such as renowned duo The Knocks and female vocalists Daya and Ashe, the 12-track album tells a powerful and eclectic narrative sure to withstand the test of time.

EDM.com recently had the chance to catch up with Shallou to chat about Magical Thinking and his musical direction. Despite the many twists and turns of 2020, Shallou continues to shine bright with his powerful words of wisdom far beyond his years and his inspirational messages that overflow with love, passion, and strength.

Photography by Anthony Pham

EDM.com: Why is your name Shallou?

I started the project in my college dorm room. I was making beats under the name Low Tide. I was influenced by the aquatic, wavy style and visual. We found that the name Low Tide was taken so we were trying to come up with similar oceanic inspired stuff. We were initially gonna go with Shallow like in shallow water but think there was a band named Shallow so we dropped the "w" and made it a "u" just so it has this unique little sound to it. It has a little enigmatic feel to it and fit the music I was making very well.

Shallou: Why did you decide to name your new album Magical Thinking?

I was learning about the concept "magical thinking" in Psychology, which is kind of the idea that your thoughts or your actions can influence the world around you. Itâs like this causal effect of people thinking they can control events with their own mind. It kind of came into like a practical use for expressing my own emotion through the book The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didian, which is about her grieving process with the loss of her husband. I was going through some sad stuff with my family and with my girlfriendâs family. I wanted to really express more emotions in my music and tell more of my own story and a story of with deeper concepts. Thatâs where I went with this album with expressing some deeper emotions while still having a few love songs in there. I love music like that. It lifts people up. And love is like the greatest thing in the world so how could you not write a love song?

And how would you say this album differs from your earlier music production?

Well I definitely brought in a lot of more collaborators like The Knocks, Ashe, and Daya, so I ended up making some stuff that was kind of like me but was sort of like in a new zone. It brought me out of my comfort zone a lot to working around what other people were suggesting and just making it more of a collaborative effort. From there I was using string arrangements, my voice more, and gospel vocalists to give everything a deeper dimension.

What has your experience been like working with Island Records?

I think itâs been extremely positive. When a lot of people hear the term major label they think theyâre going to change your sound or things about you that your fans love or you love or try to influence you in ways that kind of destroy your brand. The way we approached the deal in the first place was we just wanted Island to be a partner and support whatever my creative vision is. Theyâve been really supportive of the vision and the content Iâm trying to make. Itâs been really positive and Iâm really excited to work with them on the next one.

What has it been like releasing your debut album at this challenging time in history?

Itâs crazy because weâve been working on rolling out the album for several months. I released my first single in September and Iâve been releasing a single like each month since then. Everything with smooth sailing until Mid-March. We started talking about having to postpone shows and when those will be in the future. My mindset was there was the option to push back the album but the way I was looking at it was people need music. People thrive off of music to get through difficult situations.

As an artist who makes money from streaming, I still have some passive income, so I could make a little sacrifice when it comes to doing these kinds of things. I wanted to give people the product I told them I would and not pull the rug out from under them because everything else was getting pulled out from under them. I didnât think that was good for morale in general.

youtube

Whatâs currently keeping you inspired and motivated?

A lot of it has to do with that I donât really have a choice. I donât that many to things to occupy my mind and that has made me reorient how I want to spend my time, and most of the time thatâs making music. That has been inspiring in a way that it has made you strip away the nonsense and made you figure out what youâre about and what you want to spend your time doing when you have no distractions really.

That has been the big thing and then Iâve been watching a lot of streaming like that show âDevsâ that has incredible production design. There are all of these great shows and content and movies you may not have had the time to watch before but now youâre like you have time to add that to your list because your list is never ending. Iâm doing things I wouldnât normally do and watching things I wouldnât normally watch. Thatâs giving me a new perspective.

Whatâs your creative process like?

I think it changes from song to song. It starts with me and the laptop in the box with an idea and me slowly building pieces around that and then when you get that excited or aha moment when youâre like this could be something. Then I get to the point where I could be coming up with vocal melodies or coming up with how I can build the song structurally and itâs a snow ball effect. Itâs free flowing.

Some songs will take hours to get to that aha moment and some songs will take months to get there and youâll just have to take a break away because you feel like thereâs something there but you donât want to ruin it or take it in the wrong direction of where you initially wanted it to be. It takes a lot of time trying things, playing with sounds. I think also for myself Iâve had a lot of luck taking songs from other songs I thought were cool and building that library in my DAW or building that synth catalog or drum sound catalog. I know what works for me and I love employing that. Having a library of Shallou sounds is helpful with creating.

You had the opportunity to work with Bob Moses. What was that like?

It was cool. We got connected when we were both playing Coachella last year. My publisher Ultra was setting up sessions. Anyway, they reached out and connected us. Weâd never met or talked online before. We met up in the Ultra Studio.

It just started like building a normal house beat with this dark tinge that they do so well. I wanted to dip my toes into that world and see what came out. We started a demo we thought was really cool, and then we met up again, they were like "we think you should sing this." I was singing a lot in that session, and I was trying to showcase more. Tom has such an incredible voice, thatâs the singer, and I was like, "no man, youâre the best. You should do it." I tried it anyways, and I was really excited, and they fell in love with it and thatâs kind of like how the song came about. So itâs definitely like a step forward into the vocal world. Theyâre awesome guys.

What is your biggest achievement of your career to date?

Itâs relative but I think the bigger thing for me was playing headline shows for the first time and having people know the words in the audience. I know itâs a little stereotypical but thereâs just like this incredible feeling with people you donât know connecting with you on that level. It means more than any stat or label signing.

What word would you use to describe 2020?

My positive word for 2020 is connection. Connection because even though weâre isolated, weâre more connected than ever. Weâre calling people and talking to people we havenât talked to in years. Weâre starved for that connection. I think people are exploring that way more than they would otherwise.

Is there anything else youâd like to share with your fans?

Keep doing things that make you feel level-headed, reach out to your loved ones, and stay connected.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

FOLLOW SHALLOU:

Facebook: facebook.com/shalloumusic Twitter: twitter.com/shalloumusic Instagram: instagram.com/shalloumusic SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/shallou

from Best DJ Kit https://edm.com/interviews/shallou-talks-debut-album-spreading-hope-through-music-interview

0 notes

shorthaircutsmodels · 4 years

Link

Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles - 30+ - https://shorthaircutsmodels.com/taylor-swifts-short-haircuts-and-hairstyles/ - Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, She remained in the news for countless hits. As well as her ever-changing hairstyles. Taylor Swift's haircut has undergone a sea change. From the early stage of her career. Taylor Swift is a talented girl who puts heartbreaks. Into words for millions of women to listen to. She's been rocking short hair with side bangs recently proving this cut is never out of fashion. Whether you see her at awards shows, music videos and even special appearances, Swift always has a different do for her short and perky hair. Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts, She had long hair with curls and bangs which she used to style in various ways. As the years progressed, just like his music, his hairstyles became sharper and more funkier. He chose short bob and then lob. Both hairstyles gave her enough freedom to try and pinch a bit to make a visible change to the entire look. Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts Taylor Swift's Short Hairstyles, He also gives a few ideas for the blast because you will never see him without the blast, which has almost become his signature style. He's actually done it many times, and that's a trait that only real artists have. Today, we thought we'd take a look at Taylor Swift's hair transformation. The singer has given us a plethora of fun looks over the years. Taylor Swift's Short Hairstyles Taylor Swift's Hairstyles, Taylor had many great hairstyles, from her iconic curly hair to her sleek short bob at the start of her career (which inspired us to say goodbye to our long locks). Love him or hate him, Taylor certainly knows how to change his appearance while staying true to himself. and a short bob haircut certainly made us believe Taylor wasn't the kind of person to go around. Taylor Swift's Hairstyles Taylor Swift's Haircuts, While she still managed to give us unsuspecting popstar vibes, she looks super sophisticated and has a hint of a 'tough girl' edge. Another Taylor Swift short hair with bangs that can inspire you is short textured hair with curled side bangs. To get the look, you need to use a small round brush and a blow dryer to curl the ends of the blast to create a seamless connection between the blast and the hair. Taylor Swift's Haircuts Taylor Swift's Short Hair, This hairstyle flattens and illuminates her face. Attracting other people's attention. Taylor won the 2021 Grammy Award for. Best Pop Vocal Album and best music video. She looked so beautiful and glamorous with a new short straight bob with a blunt bang. As you can see, the new haircut helped show off her perfect facial features and gave her the feeling that her already chipped cheekbones looked more sculpted. Taylor Swift's Short Hair Taylor Swift's Hair, What do you think of the singer's nap? Does it inspire any of you to rock such an impressive Taylor Swift short hairstyle? We saw Taylor Swift's new bob haircut on Instagram two weeks ago, and the problem with that is we know how a perfectly posed selfie can make everything look cuter than in real life. Taylor Swift's Hair But now the cut has been photographed in the wild and I'm happy to report that this is better than we thought. His girlfriend has to have some serious round brush shaping skills, because it's a violent blast wave and these front sections are spinning in all the right directions. I wonder if bob's gonna wear his curls. Taylor Swift Haircuts - 30 Taylor Swift's Signature Hairstyles I miss seeing your curls. Have you had a few weeks to get used to Taylor Swift's new bob haircut now? You expect him to keep his hair shorter for a while? Do you anticipate it will be shorter than that (A La Rita Ora and everyone else in Hollywood. Taylor Swift hairstyles with bangs Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, We saw Taylor Swift's new bob haircut on Instagram two weeks ago, and the problem. Taylor Swift Hairstyles - Celebrity Taylor's Hairstyles Pictures It is one of the sweet but sexy hairstyles tried by the singer. Long eaves hide her high forehead, and wavy layers bring sexiness to her appearance. Taylor Swift had as many hairstyles as her best friends. Go ahead, look at our favourites. Taylor Swift tends to change her signature style when she drops an album. Taylor Swift's Best Curly, Straight + Short Hairstyles From Red's blunt outbursts to 1989's lob, Swift's hair has undergone a dramatic change exactly five times in the past decade. Here, witness Taylor Swift's super-scientific assessment of hair evolution. Taylor Swift Hairstyles, Hair Cuts and Colors Taylor Swift has already basically won Grammy night and barely started. He is the proud recipient of two new Grammys Best Pop Vocal Album and best music video. More important than tonight's package, however, is that she launches her new hair on the red carpet. Folks, T-Swift is now a real Bob's mover. Like short hair and short bangs. What kind of haircut does Taylor Swift have? Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, It's pretty hard not to notice that Taylor Swift knows how to show that her hair is a dynamic character. Despite her endless love for these outbursts, which she actually personalizes, the singer is never afraid of style changes. And most importantly, whatever he goes for, it always turns out to be an enviable achievement. Taylor Swift with medium length bob Since hairstyles are nothing more than a role model for modern women, we've rounded up the most distinctive hair looks of everyone's favourite celebrities. Check them out and get inspired for your own style transformation. In this hairstyle, Taylor has done a great job of modernising the typical fringe to make her look wow with her stunning lob. How do I style my hair like Taylor Swift? And don't even get started on the number of stunning updo styles she sports on the red carpet. Here, we take a look at the singer's best hair ever and make-up looks over the years. Taylor Swift haircut with bangs Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, The "Bad Blood" singer smiled for photos on the red carpet with her long locks missing. February February Monday night, the singer cut a few inches before (Feb. 15) event, wearing her dirty blonde hair in a new bob with bangs. Best Taylor Swift short hair images The Fab inner circle includes current crushes such as Lorde, Cara Delevingne and. Ellie Goulding (no biggie), both of whom are equally envious of their bombshell hairstyles. I Mean, T. while we're waiting for swift to. Enter one of our big events to play gal pals (Re: make SF, Tay.), we'll just swoon over his hair. Perfect, perfect blonde hair. Taylor Swift's new short hairstyle Posing for paps on the red carpet or simply strolling through NYC, earbuds and all its streets, Taylor's curly looks, straight styles + glamorous updos are always perfect. Taylor Swift Hair & Make Up Ideas Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Preppy + pulled back: even the ponytail looks stunning in the most basic Taylor. He pulls his pony with the slightest twist and effortlessly bursts the cheek. She plays coy with cryptic lyrics and coded videos. Taylor Swift hairstyle tutorial But Swift isn't shy about expressing herself through hair and makeup. The Country singer-pop star traded soft curls and rosy cheeks for sharper hairstyles and dramatic winged eyeliner. What shade of blonde is Taylor Swift's hair? Her glossy Garnet lips are currently in heavy rotation. The main idea for this hairstyle is to look relaxed and cool. Her dark blonde locks cut back from the sides in layers over her shoulders and fall revealing. The blasts are corrected to frame the top half of the face, completing the look. But now the cut has been photographed in the wild and I'm happy to report that this is better than we thought. What did Taylor Swift do to her hair? His girlfriend has to have some serious round brush shaping skills, because it's a violent blast wave and these front sections are spinning in all the right directions. I wonder if bob's gonna wear his curls. I miss seeing your curls. Have you had a few weeks to get used to Taylor Swift's new bob haircut now. Taylor Swift hair curly You expect him to keep his hair shorter for a while? Do you anticipate it will be shorter than that (A La Rita Ora and everyone else in Hollywood)? Simple easy everyday hairstyles for women Taylor Swift shows off her latest new long blonde chic hairstyle at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Taylor Swift hairstyles 2020 - 2021 Her long tresses in plain signature style featuring smooth wispy bangs. Go for this hairstyle when you want to make a fashion statement. This is a super short bob that perfectly shows off his long neck and beautiful collarbones. As this was a blunt bob, the look was softened by adding blasts covering his entire forehead. It is certainly one of his edgy looks but it is not a very brave thing to give a chance. When did Taylor cut her hair? It's really easy to maintain and you'll love it. A lot of girls like this style, especially the hair color and cute bangs. Tired of long wavy/curly hair styles, why not try long chic hair this season, with the help of a straight hair iron you can make nice long chic hair at home. You can find very straight hair iron at a cheap price on Amazon. Taylor Swift haircuts 2020 - 2021 If you've followed any of Taylor Swift's life over the past decade, you already know how many transformations there have been that have made the transition from a fresh-faced, country-singing newb to a chart-topping, feuding pop star.several (dozen) hair changes along the way. And to remind you how much Taylor Swift has changed since 2021 (yes, you're old; we're all old), we rounded out the best, most memorable hair moments of the past decade, from curling iron curls to platinum yellow lobes. Taylor Swift hair color formula Taylor Swift has been testing shorter hairstyles for some time and eventually decided to make the cut. Tuesday Through February. 11), Swift uploaded a video to Instagram taken during her latest haircut in London. In the clip, he is surrounded by a large group of people cheering. "How many people are watching me get a haircut right now," he says. “That's how many people. We're not doing anything without an audience, are we?"Swift cut her hair, so it fell over her shoulders. Taylor Swift hair extensions The 24-year-old star looks shorter, having been pinned many times before, most recently playing with a delicate bob for the Golden Globe Awards. She debuted her haircut while posing for a photo with singer Ellie Goulding, writing “ " in London, never thanks enough. See you next time. PS: short hair, I don't care. "Of the sexiest girls in the world, the sexiest is Taylor Swift, a legal singer and successful songwriter. What color are Taylor Swift's eyes? Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, He was born in 1989 in Pennsylvania. The youngest U.S. countries have a title at the top of the list. In 2020, he was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy prices. It has a strong reputation around the world. He's a big star. Taylor Swift is always being at the centre of attraction because of her style as a musical talent. After these photos of Taylor Swift, short of her next on our list, chic bob grew a bit. Taylor Swift hair color 2020 - 2021 Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, As you can tell, the pop star decided to let his outbursts grow, too. He swept them side by side with straight or curly hair. Haircuts in particular are beloved by many authorities. Recently she has been seen getting a revolutionary new haircut for her, her fans, and fashion writers in the US and around the world. What is Taylor Swift's hair color Taylor Swift's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Let's check out Taylor Swift's new hairstyle. Taylor Swift's new hairstyle is truly revolutionary for her bearer, fans and fashion writers. First of all, it looks like short hair. New haircut short and curly; The new colour of Taylor Swift's new haircut is platinum. The new color doesn't fit your face, skin and eyes, according to some officials, but the new color fits your face, according to some officials. Taylor Swift natural hair color There is a debate in all magazines about Taylor Swift. Rocking a super short bob, the singer also decided to try platinum hair. While the look hasn't been parted for very long, we must admit we absolutely love it Taylor Swift looks incredibly fierce with platinum hair. Taylor Swift had long, black hair for a long time. Taylor Swift hair 2020 - 2021 Whether you love her, hate her, or fall somewhere in the middle depending on the album in question, we can all agree that Taylor Swift has evolved not only in the genre of music with her boyfriend of-the-moment, but also in her wardrobe, her makeup, and the way she wears her hair. From Angel Tears To My Guitar ringlets that define the country of the early'00s to the badass explosion she debuted for Red, a few striking. Taylor Swift haircut shake it off T. Swift has hair. 30 of the star. in honor of her birthday, we get back, reliving the best Taylor Swift hair moments ever. It could inspire the next fluffy bun, the colour of platinum, or, at the very least, prove that some people in Swift prime among them are simply better at having bangs than others. But she decided to get short hair. Taylor Swift hairstyles love story In 2021, Taylor changed her look impressively when deciding to cut her hair. Her Lob hairstyle made many fans regret her beautiful long hair. However, the country music Princess also received plenty of praise for her new youthful and stylish look. Taylor Swift new haircut Examine our Photo Gallery of his new haircut. Taylor Swift is one of the celebrities who continues to surprise us by changing. Her music and style-she's gone from a beautiful country star to the artist. Who has sold the most singles in the past decade. Taylor Swift natural hair The new ' do singer makes you look a little more mature, and very sassier. Swift's outfit got everyone talking, too. She sported a fluorescent pink skirt with a large slit which she paired with an orange bandeau crop top. Taylor Swift hair dos She wore a simple necklace around her neck for a touch of grace. Swift didn't walk the carpet and posed for photos with her boyfriend, DJ Calvin Harris. Instead, she stood next to her BFF, pop star Selena Gomez.There were two sets of two looking fierce. Taylor Swift hair The new pop singer received the award for best music video for" Bad Blood " and Best Pop Vocal Album for his latest album 1989. New hair, I don't care. Recently single Taylor Swift debuted a funky new haircut on the weekend and we're totally on board. Taylor Swift short hair His piece y petting with Bang looks trendy and Fresh, also cementing the. 70s-inspired style as the hottest cut for autumn. Swift's shoulder-length hair has been updated by hairdresser Gareth Bromell, who shared her look on his instagram account. Taylor Swift hair natural He awarded colorist Tracy Cunningham with color gold. It's undeniable that Taylor Swift is one of the hottest topics right now. Stories about his movement, lifestyle and more are constantly broadcast on the airwaves. Taylor Swift hair stylist She certainly takes the entertainment scene by storm as she goes on the road for tour shows, performs to sold-out audiences at concerts, and continues to churn out Award-winning hits. With his equally talented stables, including Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding and Sam Smith, he seems to have found the right rope in 2020. Taylor Swift haircut short Besides their great success, they also command the music scene, especially among younger generations. Recent hot topics include Taylor Swift's decision to rock her nails, tattoos and short hair (yes, she no longer breaks her long branded hair when she receives an award). By now, you probably consider yourself a Taylor Swift expert. Taylor Swift hairstyles short He has a borderline unhealthy obsession with Beyoncé."It's normal for everyone to love Beyoncé. I love him more than this amount. More than the usual amount. I'm trying so hard not to let it get creepy. I channeled it into a joyful admiration and appreciation. Taylor Swift new hairstyle Taylor Swift has transformed from a young superstar into a sophisticated adult pop singer before our eyes. Teen pop singer Taylor Swift has gained popularity with her incredible heartbreak songs and emotional voice. Taylor Swift haircut bob Credit goes to her hairdresser Lorrie Turk, who gave the singer perfect hair to compliment her extraordinary look. Let's take a look at Taylor Swift's hair evolution over the years. Bang will also look good with another hairstyle. Taylor Swift black hair She made soft waves all over her hair but this hairstyle would also look great with straight hair. Ask your hair stylist to make a long fringe that sits just below the eyebrows and angles at the edges near the cheekbones. Diamond is the perfect hairstyle for square, rectangular and oval faces. Taylor Swift hair lover Now, with her latest album Lover, her new beauty look is her most colourful yet. See Taylor Swift's beauty and hair through the years. Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee at age 14 to pursue a career in country music. Taylor Swift haircut now Taylor Swift has changed her hairstyles quite often over the years. View yourself with Taylor Swift hairstyles. We also provide easy "how to style" by reporting tips on which hair can match face shape, hair texture and hair density. Taylor Swift hair short This new Taylor Swift era is full of surprises. In the beauty department, she swapped her classic red lipstick for bright fuchsia, worn temporary bufferfly back tattoos, and even tried out different hair colours for the first time. While Swifties have been digging. Taylor Swift brown hair Out the singer's hot pink and pastel blue dip Dye Hair, Taylor couldn't stay away from one of her favourite hairstyles for too long. Today, Vogue shows that Swift is the cover star for the publication's September issue, with the cover photo striking in a revival of her signature shag haircut. Taylor Swift hair color It won't be long before the obligatory pre-and post-photos take over your Instagram post, as they tend to do every spring. So, what about the hair trend in 2020? Woodstock waves or maybe a Miley Cyrus-inspired mullet. Taylor Swift long hair No, this is going to be a short haircut year with Bang. If you're looking for some inspiration for your annual spring transformation, look no further than Taylor Swift's side-sweeping bursts or yara Shahidi's jaw-grazing bob with voluminous curly fringes. Taylor Swift hair updo I accept that this is what we really think it is. So, just let Taylor be our great model and we'll learn from her amazing hair. Taylor Swift is a well-known American country music singer and popular actor. Taylor Swift new hair In this text, you will introduce some of his signature hair, to which you may have some inspiration. Taylor Swift hairstyles: every Taylor Swift hair look with a medium haircut with short bangs gets a million accolades. Taylor Swift red hair Check out his most popular cuts and styles, which are certainly worth copying today. Taylor's hair seems to have its own fan base. Well, not for nothing: the rocks always look flawless, regardless of length or color. Taylor Swift hair bob How about stealing one of your styles to look great? Look at the hot hair. Taylor Swift pairs her long glossy straight hairstyle with charming striking wispy bangs. The harmonious beautiful lines of her long textured hairstyle are super classy. Taylor Swift hair flip Taylor Swift is undoubtedly one of our ultimate beauty muses. Whether she's rocking a vampire lip or peroxide blonde hair, she always looks effortlessly together. Taylor is also an absolute kween on the fringes, with blunt full-cut side-sweeping styles.

0 notes

supastareden · 5 years

Text

Bringing Hip Hop Back to K-pop: A Retrospective on B.A.P's Career

March 3, 2019 Qing

Following leader Bang Yongguk and youngest member Zelo, who announced their departure from TS Entertainment last year, the remaining four members of B.A.P have recently confirmed the non-renewal of their contracts as well, wrapping up B.A.P’s 7-year run as a group. The news comes as no surprise, given TS Entertainment’s poor track record of managing and retaining artists, as well as the exploitative circumstances prompting the lawsuit the members filed back in 2014.

What is perhaps more surprising, and less known, are the lyrical and musical influences they re-introduced to the K-pop scene, the effects of which we continue to see in their hugely popular contemporaries, including BTS and Got7, and in rising groups like Monsta X and Stray Kids. From the moment they debuted, B.A.P carved out a sonic niche, boosted by clever marketing tactics and lyrics that boldly veered away from familiar themes of romantic love.

For sure, B.A.P’s music may not sound all that revolutionary today. But to fully understand what was unique about their sound, it is necessary for us to go back in time for a moment to consider what the K-pop scene was like in 2011, the year leading up to B.A.P’s debut in 2012. Electro-pop and synth-pop were the go-to genres for male groups—think TVXQ‘s “Keep Your Head Down”, Big Bang‘s “Tonight”, and Super Junior‘s “Mr. Simple”. Theatrical dance pop with an emphasis on symphonic flourishes and melodic choruses were also in trend, epitomised by hits like Beast‘s “Fiction” and Infinite‘s “Be Mine”. Rapping was a standard feature, but rarely the centrepiece of title tracks. Predictably, most releases at the time spoke of attraction or heartbreak.

youtube

This was the scene that B.A.P broke onto, quite literally—at the beginning of the “Warrior” MV, a figure dressed as Matoki (the group’s mascot) smashes the viewer’s screens as the group launches into their song, a gesture symbolic of the boundaries their music would transcend. With its blazing synths, shrill whistles, Bang Yongguk’s deep, growling voice, Zelo’s rapid-fire rapping, and Daehyun‘s soaring vocals, B.A.P’s musical take on hip hop was decidedly militant. “Warrior” was a deliberate shock to the senses, and whether it was your cup of tea, it was clear that it hit one of the marks of a good debut: it was anything but forgettable.

Yet there was more to the novelty of B.A.P’s debut: they brought back to the K-pop scene not just the sound of hip hop, but its socially conscious spirit. They were by no means the first group to engage with this aspect of hip hop; hip hop and K-pop go a long way back. The very beginnings of K-pop can be traced to Seo Taiji and Boys, whose idiosyncratic take on hip hop in the 1990s proved wildly popularwith youths, and Deux, a duo also influenced by hip hop. Their success spawned the creation of first-generation idol groups like H.O.T., Sechskies, S.E.S., and Fin.K.L.. Social critiques pervaded the promotional tracks of the hip hop-influenced groups, with songs like Seo Taiji and Boys’ “Classroom Idea” levelling charges at the Korean education system and H.O.T.’s “Warrior’s Descendant” lashing out at bullying.

While hip hop maintained a presence in the early 2000s through artists like Epik High and Leessang, mainstream idol groups tended to favour other genres, especially ballads and dance pop. Socially conscious lyrics resurfaced briefly through TVXQ’s “‘O’-Jung.Ban.Hap” and Super Junior’s “Don’t Don”, and Big Bang’s experimental music fused the sounds of hip hop with pop and R&B. 2PM debuted with a hip hop sound with “10 Out of 10”, but like Big Bang, they were not as interested in the socio-political roots of the genre, and shifted to R&B and dance pop for subsequent releases. So for the most part, the combination of the sound and content of hip hop receded into the background as other trends took over in the latter half of the decade.

youtube

It was in this context that B.A.P geared up for their debut, preparing to re-introduce hip hop and its social consciousness to the K-pop world. Bang Yongguk and Zelo’s pre-debut release, “Never Give Up”, gave a sampling of the lyrical content to come:

Taking thousand-dollar private lessons This system that emphasizes grades over friendships This pressure called exams This burden called college The stress that is building up Would my parents know?

The lyrics, penned by Bang Yongguk, also held a more personal element:

My dream is to hold a mic and rap But again, I grab a pen and write down math formulas today Yeah, things that we learn at school Are losing dreams and always giving up

As a group, B.A.P’s lyrics are phrased more broadly, with less targeted critiques, but a similar galvanising tone — “Warrior” is a promise to “fight for the souls in this street” against “hidden system[s]”, while “Power”gestures towards a world with no justice that “surrenders to money” and urges, “Don’t yield in front of them / Don’t do that, lift your head up / We got the power / Stand up against them and fight”. The move to bring back the spirit of hip hop that their seniors in the industry once embodied is a fact the group were conscious of—the title of “Warrior” and its opening line, “Warrior is back”, are likely nods to H.O.T’s “Warrior’s Descendant”. (B.A.P also covered the song twice, for an MCountdown episode in 2012 and the 2016 KBS Song Festival.)

Lyrics aside, B.A.P also reworked hip hop to create their own signature sound; common features included a stomping beat, whistles, an aggressive rap style, and powerful, operatic vocals. These were often interwoven with elements taken from broader dance ballad trends, such as orchestral flourishes, best seen in their dramatic 2013 masterpiece, “One Shot”. Even in “1004 (Angel)”, which is as close to a conventional K-pop dance ballad as the group ever ventured, unexpected touches like blues guitar chords, and the effective pairing of silences with vocal refrains that gain momentum and soar, lent the track the sense of power that characterises many of B.A.P’s title tracks.

youtube

The road to realising their musical niche was not, however, without its potholes. After putting out a string of sonically coherent, distinctive releases—”Warrior”, “Power”, and “No Mercy”—the group suffered from conceptual whiplash with “Crash” and “Stop It”, seeing them abruptly shed their aggressive, anti-establishment image and transforming into boys swooning in love. Another worrying sign that our writers back then had picked up on was just how over-promoted and overworked the group was.

Still, the news of B.A.P’s lawsuit against TS Entertainment in 2014 came as a shock. In a cruel twist of irony, they found themselves living out the struggle their lyrics depicted, fighting against exploitative circumstances, including but not limited to being severely underpaid and forced to work in poor health conditions. From the time of their last proper comeback with “1004 (Angel)” and First Sensibility till they reached a settlement with the company and returned in November 2015, 1 year and 7 months had elapsed—a hiatus long enough to weaken the standing of even A-list K-pop groups. For B.A.P, who had only just begun to see the fruits of their labour—”1004 (Angel)” brought them their first music show win—such a prolonged absence was, needless to say, a severe setback for their career.

BTS, who had debuted a year after B.A.P and were also pursuing the sounds and socially conscious lyrics of hip hop, had been steadily gaining traction in the meantime. It was during B.A.P’s absence that BTS achieved a breakthrough with The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Part 1, securing a leading spot in the ranks of hip hop idol groups. Given this and the sheer length of their hiatus, it was understandably difficult for B.A.P to return fully to this niche and have the same degree of commercial success. Their first comeback after the lawsuit, “Young, Wild, & Free”, pushed a message with underdog vibes similar to “No Mercy”, but musically, it lacked the same punch, despite containing some distinctively B.A.P elements and a noticeably more controlled, mature delivery.

youtube

Despite the disadvantageous circumstances surrounding their return to the scene, the group persisted in their musical growth. They ventured into more uptempo, pop territory with “Feel So Good” and “That’s My Jam”; though neither were especially experimental, both were solidly produced and infectiously energetic. They soon followed up with Noir, the best album of their career, returning to a theatrical sound with its title track “Skydive”. Longtime followers of the group would doubtless have been heartened by “Wake Me Up”, a subtle return to their socially conscious beginnings, but with a more refined sound incorporating electronic beats, beautiful hooks, and falsetto vocalisations for a stirring, dramatic track.

Although B.A.P’s final title tracks, “Honeymoon” and “Hands Up”, didn’t quite meet the standard of their earlier releases, an overview of their discography from debut to date reveals that they’ve already left their mark on the industry. Their lawsuit and long hiatus may have held them back from achieving a level of commercial success on par with their potential, but their music rarely succumbed to trends. Their earlier tracks, especially, drew attention to the possibilities and value of a hard-hitting, anthemic, rap-forward, yet strongly melodic sound.

While it’s hard to assert that B.A.P had a direct influence on later groups, their debut clearly signalled the revival of K-pop’s interest in hip hop, and the beginning of experimentations with a heavier, more aggressive soundscape. BTS would take the renewed interest in the social consciousness of hip hop in a more culturally specific direction, pursuing a cleaner sound initially before weaving in rock influences; Got7 drew heavily from hip hop street styling and beats in their early releases, but pursued a more playful, pop-laced sound. Monsta X’s discography recalls B.A.P’s blend of aggressive rapping with soaring melodies, working in contemporary trends in EDM to produce their own signature sound.

youtube

Even as B.A.P’s future as a group remains up in the air with their contract non-renewals and Bang Yongguk and Himchan‘s impending enlistment, the end of this chapter of their career is also a sign of new beginnings. Bang Yongguk, in particular, is already a step ahead with the gutting pre-release, “Hikkomori”, and his first full album, BANGYONGGUK, due out on March 15. If the other members can find a similar artistic freedom—one that TS Entertainment never fully granted them—while still holding tight to their previous drive to find their own sound and voices, the possibilities that await them will be, indeed, as powerful as their music.

(YouTube. TheBiasList. Lyrics via Popgasa. Images via TS Entertainment.)

#Bringing Hip Hop Back to K-pop: A Retrospective on B.A.P's Career #seoulbeats #B.A.P #bang yongguk #daehyun #youngjae #himchan #jongup #zelo #kpop #khiphop

0 notes