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castle-dominion · 1 year ago

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castle 7x7 Once Upon a Time in the West

the western episode liveblog

Lucky me I spent like 2.5 hours working on a supper that says it should take 35 mins bc I needed to make more for my uncle & I decided to take it slow instead of speeding thru at kitchen pace & also my finger has a hole slashed on it & honestly supper is still cooking in some ways.

Anyway liveblog time

All this medical jargon. At least we get the witnesses name right away.

Diamondback? *Immediately has a seizure*

Why clink glass when everyone is already there?

Brevity is the soul of wit (clipping) We got married! Their faces so good. The slow fall of javi's into a sneer/frown, lanie's fall into sad & slightly more open rather than just a smile, kevin's look between the two & blink JE: You guys suck. KR: What – why did you do that? LP: Hold – hold up. No, no, no, no, no.

they all just *turn* to look at martha Right drink ok

LP: Hold this (hold my beer) LP: I am your maid of honor. I haven’t had a carb in months, just in case I had to put that damn dress back on. KB: And you look great. LP: Save the flattery. Kate, you owe me dinner. I’m picking the restaurant and we’re ordering all the desserts. KB: (meekly) Okay. (I like how she's mad, says her piece, gets her apology dinner agreed to, & then forgives her & hugs her.)

*Lanie punches rick just a little bit* Guys! *dark strings that go just a little lower in anger* (clipping)

WE didn't get that call. Once again, not invited. & hey when I was a kid I made a skit on the Nativity of Christ by myself & when Mary & Joseph got married I didn't think of "I do" as the marriage, I didn't think of rings, I didn't think of vows, I thought of dancing. My stuffed animal that was Joseph & I (playing Mary) spun in circles together while I sang. To me, a wedding is about dancing. What I mean by this is: the reception is more important than actually getting married so don't worry u didn't miss a thing

RC: Could have been worse KB: It still might be. I mean, who knows what they’re doing to our place right now.

RC: Our place. Our. We’re married. We’re married. (he grabs her arm and links it with his) We did it, Mrs. Castle. KB: We certainly did, Mr. Beckett. RC: WAIT UNLESS THAT ADDS ANOTHER NAME TO HIS NAMES. Richard Alexander Edgar Rodgers Castle Beckett.

Why an island getaway if he's afraid of the ocean?

She looks good btw, nice hair. HOLY CRAP THAT HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE WEARING A JACKET OVER HER SCRUBS, i THOUGHT WAS A DOCTOR COVERED IN BLOOD & SHE WAS JUST CHATTING CASUALLY OUTSIDE AN OPERATING ROOM.

aT LEAST HE'S TRYING TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT MURDERS NOT MAI TAIS. whoops i didnt' realize caps lock was on. Also it is hard to type when I have a possible tendon injury in my finger

KB: And she believed she was a victim of foul play? Yay murder victim helping ppl know that they ARE a murder victim before they die! Dr: Yes, and so do I. Heart medicine? cardiac arrest? wait WHY is it lethal when unrefined? It is the same drug, just has other stuff near it like... fibre & calories & water from the plant... Unless the drug is actually altered on a chemical level... idrk. But yeah foxglove is medicinal & toxic. Why would the doctor want the detectives to do that? idk. Doesn't matter. All good.

Dagmar. (love-- I forget what I was writing, it's been a week or several. Oh wait maybe I was saying that I love people who sponsor disadvantaged children.)

Her mom only passed this recently? Oh & ew internship.

utter, whittle, such good diction *looks at him* Castle would be really smart abt this tho, he would give two smart answers, & then he'd say "third while you thought I was playing on my phone I found out it was a ranch in arizona"

but what's a "dude" ranch? XD esposito & castle XD they're still mad legit just tosses them his wallet XD

Sus (short, last minute, only 3 days) Beckett just does the time zone math in her head!? & according to sito the snake key is her bunkhouse key... "cowboy activities" so gay sex /j but also lol define cowboy activities, shovelling poop & breaking down your cattle into quarters for sale? she left her stuff OR she didn't bring it back with her bc she was in such a hurry

lol big boy & it hits him in the forehead

Video calls, ah yes. It's about the economy of the town, keeping people employed. Or yeah no it's personal. Love the set design too btw

Gates is pretty Sito shup. GATES OMG "I’m sure it was Mr. Castle’s fault." GATES OMG

RC: Well, look at this place. I mean, it’s got beautiful skies, wide open spaces, the thrill of the old west? (she’s still confused) What better place for an impromptu honeymoon? (her jaw drops) For the investigation, of course. We could jump on a plane and be there in a few hours. *right in front of gates* KB: No, Castle. We are not having a honeymoon at a dude ranch! ("a" honeymoon) Arguing so good RC: Well – it could be our cover story. We’re a newlywed couple with a hankering for the wild frontier, right? And look, Beckett. I know you want to see justice brought to this young woman’s killer. And … this … this is the only way. VG: I hate to say this, but your husband may be right. KB: *turns to look at her bc 1- why r u defending him, & 2- why are YOU defending HIM?* rysposito shared communication (Yeehaw) fricking love it. So excited for this ep.

(btw, I must have started this liveblog on the 27th; it is now oct 10, so you can see how busy my life is) clipping the fun intro but that horse whinney is the typical stock audio

Wow pretty people

Castle already looks kinda normal.

RC: Best honeymoon ever.

*Right out of the stagecoach KB steps into a pile of horse poop. She cringes.*

Love his outfit!!

James Grady. That's like James Jim Brady who disappeared mysteriously with Absolom Abbie Halkett. Love the language they use 'round here btw. Red bandannas is a good marker for the hands I think.

Aww upgraded them! Oh wait she was emailing about the fact that she was in room 14, the snake key wasn't relevant

JG: That’s my missus. Like yours, she runs the show here.

Castle speaking reminds me of firefly.

She's soo pretty

RC: Whoa. This is like, three fantasies coming true all at one. Only thing missing is … Gentlemen James, where do we get the replica guns? (he gestures shooting) Like yours. JG: Replica? Son, this is Arizona. It’s open carry.

Colt 45 babes

RC: (awed) I want to be him when I grow up. KB: (shrugs) Well yeah, if you grow up. JG: It’s all about practice, which you can do with one of our firearms, available for purchase at our gift shop. They just sell guns at gift shops in arizona? what!?!?

you mean ESPOSITO was wrong abt it being her bunk key.

RC: Are you looking for disinfectant? KB: Clues. Remember? Whitney was staying here. except she was NOT... this was not her room key.

whether we like it or not (big bro said aww)

He opens a door that turns out to be to the bathroom. But the bathroom isn’t empty. Tobias: Howdy, partner. RC shuts the door and turns back to KB. RC: I don’t know if it comes with the room, but there’s a naked cowboy shaving in our bathroom. This scene killed me. Just closes the door back on him. Tobias: Well, I guess when they found out that me and her both enjoyed chasing cowboys they figured what the heck. VERY authentic Tobias: I like my coffee like I like my men: strong, black, and bitter.

Tea (scandalbroth) (big bro loves this, he says "I love this faggot")

Of course they have a gay gossip at the cowboy honeymoon retreat. KB: So we procrastinate and make stuff up?

Well because you're more physically capable of hogtying beckett, you're the angry cop with training, he's the physically big writer who fences. But he gave you gunslinging!

they're allowed their phones?

Looove the outfits btw but I'm not taking a pic rn I have no time & don't have em standing beside each other.

KB: Hey Ryan, how’s it going? KR: Oh, wonderful. In fact, we were just discussing your nuptials. JE: Not the actual event, since neither of us were there. KB: Guys, is this really why you’re calling? KR: Partly, yes. JE: And we have news. Here’s the good: MTA cameras show that Whitney’s bags were left on the subway. KR: Here’s the bad news: they were stolen by a homeless man. But we put out a BOLO. Hopefully somebody will recognize him.

Wax covered cardboard? I thought that was like a broccoli case

She can tie up castle like how the bear tying class unus annus did tied up mark

Look at her nice & red dress

RC: I’ll take a coffin varnish. Bartender (who looks kinda cool ig): Some what? RC: You know, a gut warmer. Face burner. Nose paint? Cowboy cocktail? (the BARTENDER looks at him blankly) What do you all call whiskey here? Bartender: Whiskey RC: *flails his hand*

my man has an eyepatch wait XD keep an eye out! Castle!

Ollie: This isn’t a ring. It’s a noose.

Oh the bells are the signal for the ace up the sleeve thing & time for the gunfight.

Whitney did! *doesn't talk to whitney bc she dead* Ollie! Up high! Good on Castle for faking it with Ollie & Ollie for playing along so they can have their fight in private. Great dynamic. But the interruption made them both chill out a bit more.

Ranch key! *lock breaks*

Nice blowtorch but where the heck is it?

Dynamite IS covered in waxed paper but I thought of broccoli lol

Oh no we are going to receive some good old fashioned racism. My fnmi ass sitting over here waiting tensely 1876 babey!

CLIPPING RYAN ESPOSITO XD XD castle could have totally greased a palm for a truck.

15 miles on horseback? 4mph, that's 3 & a half hours or so bought himself a gun lol. I mean hey I'm anti gun but I love a sixshot. wait his& hers wedding gift guns? lmao that's great! But how will they get them back home?

love the fire there. If they're at a canter the entire way they could get there in 1h but thet ain't happening.

Yavapai dude: Seriously? You’re rolling up to the reservation dressed like extras from a Gene Autry movie? That’s some real cultural insensitivity. KB: Sorry. Sir, we didn’t mean any offense. We’re – we’re vacationing at Diamondback. YD: Yeah, I figured that. I was just messing with you folks. Relax.

Loooove languages. I watch murdoch mysteries & a lot of the languages are algonquian which means that since I know a bit of cree I can sometimes parse what they mean but these are words farther south. I don't know em.

KB: Yeah. I mean, the historical society, the Yavapai word, the dynamite. How does all of that add up to someone poisoning Whitney? It just doesn’t make sense.

He DID learn smth at the harmonica class!!! Cruising down the river? Let me call you sweetheart I'm in love with you? Magical, drinking champagne out of tin cups. Which one of them knew how to start a fire. *stripping* *there's a snake* *beckett fucking shoots it!?!?* *ryan & esposito run*

ryan & esposito look good now but esposito was different yesterday

the peacock boys?

first name Javi Castle stuttering

right, always the barkeep even if there was no mistranslation it would still happen just from english to english

the dam!

RC: Of course I want to go after the gold! It’s gold! he's done treasure hunts with her before uwu

Slim's a girl! Clyde is whitney's father!

Mm music! fake eagle (red tailed hawk) sound effect them thar hills

He told her to go first but he's first in... RC: Because it’s still here. For over a century, fifty ingots of pure gold have been trapped in this cold, dark tomb, waiting patiently to be rescued. (he kneels by the trunk) You hear that, Beckett? You hear them calling?

That's not gold!

That's blunt force trauma!

Pd? phillip dagmar? I thought it was Police Department typical cops "it DOES make u look guilty"

Bro said "it's them" bc the sheffir didn't want beckett to investigate in the first place but now daisy mae & the sherrif are taking beckett one way & james grady is taking castle alone the other way...

& I suddenly remember the rest of the episode, big bro is not far off.

Clyde "just fell" (& you cradled him as he died which is why YOUR shirt was bloody) Who was your other partner? Cut to: big bro's prediction

The slight pushzoom there...

*got his gun* it would be fun if the barkeep just shoots him (-big bro) But his gun ould have the safety on, but possibly a bullet in the chamber.

oh the barkeep IS there! *just ducks down a bit*

"residance in the bone ortchard" or castle you COULD sit down & have another drink & pretend you didn't hear the call from ryan & let jimmy get away (& then go after him later)

of cour'se it's a deus ex machina

RC: good thing I married the fastest gun from the east

Ooh beckett's corset tho it's a bit tight but still nice.

they like to bitch ig but it is not even GOOD bitching sometimes. kind of annoying. & "we're the reason they fell in love in the first place" where's your justification there? When you were complaining TO THEM it was FUN! now it is not in the fun way it's just bitchy & salty.

JE: Nah, nah. You know what really gets me? Is that they only invited immediate family. What, we’re not family? KR: More like poor relations. VG hangs back and listens to them talk. KR: And we’re probably the reason they fell in love in the first place. JE: Right? VG: You know, I’ve been listening to your bellyaching for the last few days. And I have to ask, *calm voice* VG, still calm voice: what the hell’s wrong with you two? (the way she says it is so good but she's also right) JE: Come on, sir. It doesn’t bother you? VG: You really want to know what I think, Detectives? *Ryan goes to say something. Maybe. He moves his mouth.* VG: I think that the two of you should stop whining like two little schoolgirls who weren’t invited to the dance and be happy that your friends, you very dear friends, have found a way to make it work. Especially after all the hell those two have been through. Now, that’s what I think. She gives them a pointed look. They’re chastised. KR: Well, when you put it that way … JE: Yeah, I mean, I guess in some opinions we have been kind of jerks about it, so … KR: Right. VG: Yeah. You have. But, if you’re interested there might be something you can do to make it up to them. She smiles. They’re skeptical. *Looks to esposito for a sec*

"you didn't invite us to your wedding" "Yeah well I named horses after you"

she lassooed him with her hog tying skills!

supposed to be a wedding dress; is a stripper dress *walking to her tied up* two vacation days is not a lot but four is a lot.

They get two honeymoons!

Well now, that was fun! & I did spend a bit over an hour & a half... esp when you consider I already watched some earlier but shush I had fun & this is a rare occurrance these days with how demanding school has been. Man trade school is a lot of work.

#castle 7x7 #the western episode #castle 7x7 spoilers #castle 7x7 quote

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goodbysunball · 2 years ago

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Stay on top of pork chops

Were there any glut or downturn in the quality of music resonating in the sub-underground these days (there's not), these four releases roundly refute that notion. Something for everyone here; come closer so I can use the same adjectives to feebly describe everything. Rare that this much resonates as once, even rarer that I have the faculties to mention it. Let's enjoy this moment in a world off axis.

Darksmith, Imposter CD (Throne Heap)

I don't think CDs ever went away, but they've remained a staple of noise acts. For most, it's a question of economics; for Darksmith, it appears to be a matter of fidelity, because Imposter gets the most out of his grinding, murky brand of noise he's been perfecting for 15 years. I think he's only gotten better with every release, so I favor his recent tapes on No Rent and Regional Bears, or the Hatred of Sound LP on Second Sleep, but Imposter is on a different level. If you're unfamiliar, Tom Darksmith utilizes field recordings, tape loops and radio to create these thick, viscous recordings that writhe and, owing to the field recordings I guess, seem to attempt to communicate with the listener in an uncomfortable but completely arresting way. The two tracks on the CD each have two amazing titles, suggesting that these are all ideas developed separately but sewn together as naturally as possible. On "Looking For Idiots / Problem With Everyone," slow tape loops run into John Wiese-ish bouts of errant scraping and pig noises, only to be submerged under loops of white noise and gentle bells for the last half of the track. The second track, "Personal and Embarrassing / Hold Everything," is a rumbling HVAC assembly gradually increasing in intensity, gradually shorting out and sparking the low, slow burn of melting plastic and metal. My words hardly do the album justice, but these 30 minutes feel like they deliver on the promise of noise/tape music without utilizing any of its extremes. Perfect car soundtrack while you're out running errands and pretending that everything's not on fire. Best $10 I've spent this year.

Tim Goss, Afterfly LP (Penultimate Press)

Gotta agree with Nic at Repressed Records: Tim Goss' post-Shadow Ring project Call Back the Giants "stirred up my most uniquely strange and transcendent listening experiences of the last decade." Now he steps out under his own name, and though Afterfly feels more accessible than anything he's ever done, there's a definite fever dream-quality to the proceedings that places this squarely in line with his work in CBTG. (So much so that I've recently re-bought a previously sold copy of The Marianne, a thankfully rare occurrence.) There's a little less overt fantasy at play here, at least lyrically, than with CBTG, though there is a pretty wild story included with the LP, meant to be read along with hallucinatory album centerpiece "Fly IV." The album opens with something I'd expect to hear on a modern compilation of independently produced and released '80s synth, but the speed is slow enough to trip the listener headfirst into the brittle metallic "Fly II," complete with the enervating taunt "You have the face of an old man, catch me if you can." While there are several straightforward moments - notably "Fly VI"'s gorgeous layered stairway note assembly - for the most part familiar effects and chords are stretched and pulled and littered casually, not in an act of sabotage but in an attempt to uncover feelings not easily accessible any other way. Or, it could just be a low & slow build-up to the lush and patiently driven closing track; who knows? Whatever the case, it's hard to deny that Afterfly takes me elsewhere for its duration, the kind of psychedelic that is complimentary without losing its grip on, or outright denying, reality. Lessens the burden for a bit, and in a smart package to boot. Brilliant record, highest recommendation. Penultimate Press is on a roll.

Hissing, Hypervirulence Architecture LP (Profound Lore)

It took about five seconds for someone on Bandcamp to call Hissing the States' answer to Portal, the mysterious and dizzyingly complex death metal band from Australia. It's a characterization I reject - their black/death hybrid runs closer to Ulcerate's - though for a few brief moments, you can see a resemblance: the drumming is absurdly precise, the vocals are often gruffly intoned reverberations, and both bands can tie the fretboard into a knot. Aside from the obvious differences in costuming, Hissing, from Seattle, WA, is a three piece primarily interested in the horrors of the everyday. Their last album was titled Permanent Destitution, a title that would work even better in today's ever-widening wealth gap, and their latest record tackles the slow kudzu-like growth and interference of technology worming into every aspect of all lives. While the more outlandish aspects of metal make it an undeniably entertaining genre, the grime and smog Hissing bring to the table cut close to the bone. The added noise and reverberations give a fog machine-type effect to the record, but the sound is surprisingly clean overall; parts of the record, like the closing minutes of "Meltdown," sound like Primitive Man stripped of a few layers of caustic noise. For me, the last few listens to Hypervirulence Architecture brought to mind the Jesus Lizard more than any death metal band, due to the booming and clear bass guitar amidst the onslaught. You can hear the influence of Sims and Denison in the closing minute of "Cells of Nonbeing," sheets of guitar (and bass clarinet!) anchored by the bass and hammered down by the drums; taken to a logical extreme at points on "Operant Extinction"; and channeled throughout most of "Intrusion," where the album's heaviest moment is teased out into an unruly finale. These parts, where Hissing pulls back and lays bare their ferocity, lend added heft and depth to match the ambitions of their lyrical content. While most bands operating on the same technical level often offer little to no concessions to the listener, Hissing allows enough of a peek behind to curtain to keep the listener engaged throughout. Yeah, I will concede that the ten minute "Operant Extinction" sags in the middle and doesn't quite claw its way back to the ferocity of the first few minutes, but that's about the only gripe I could level at Hypervirulence Architecture. Amidst the revival of boneheaded campy death metal (no hate), Hissing feels like a revelation, splitting the difference between the technical and the visceral in a way that's sure to disappoint fans firmly in both camps. Metal's slow to change but it doesn't mean you have to be the same; strap in and let Hypervirulence Architecture crush, rip and devour like the well-oiled machine it was built to be. Challenging, to be sure, but also best metal record of the year so far.

RRR Band, s/t CS (Petty Bunco)

Emily Robb's instrumental monster How to Moonwalk remains a steady presence in this household, but it's really great to hear her back behind the mic on this RRR Band tape. RRR = a spontaneous meet-up between Richie Charles, Ryan Davis and Emily Robb, thankfully recorded and professionally duplicated by Richie's Petty Bunco label. Two 12-minute tracks, the first given backbone by the drums and descending guitar line and swirled into grey pulp by the synthesizer meanderings reminiscent of Takehisa Kosugi by way of John Bender. Emily Robb tops it off with snarling-yet-unshakably-cool vocals, and the song slowly snakes forward, daring you to cross the line. If you thought that was good, stay tuned for "9th Street Suite," where the drum machine and synth lock horns with the guitar, and Emily Robb's submerged vocals push the whole tangled mess into the ravine halfway through. From there the track takes a more delirious tone, the synths creating a swell of feedback while the whole assembly bakes alive. Whew doggie, yer a crispy critter. While I can't deny that I'm usually inclined to view most of what Richie/Petty Bunco releases favorably, it's pretty remarkable that something this improvisatory translates this well. Top marks all around; here's hoping another meet-up between these three is imminent. (Buy it with that new Holt Bodish tape while you're at it.)

#Tim Goss #Penultimate Press #Darksmith #Hissing #Profound Lore Records #RRR Band #Petty Bunco

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alittlesliceofcucumber · 4 years ago

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My thoughts on Let’s Get Dangerous (SPOILERS!)

I AM STILL STRUGGLING TO GET MYSELF TOGETHER SO THESE WILL NOT BE IN THE RIGHT ORDER AND PROBABLY NOT EVEN COHERENT BUT LET’S GOOO (or, as the kids say, let’s get dangerous)

SPOILERS BELOW!

LAUNCHPAD AND DEWEY IN THE BEGINNING

Dewey is totally a huge Darkwing Duck fan he’s just in denial

Ah, the neverending tale of Scrooge vs Technology

THERE WERE A BUNCH OF REFERENCES TO THE DARKWING THEME SONG AND I CAN’T REMEMBER ALL OF THEM BUT I SCREAMED EACH TIME

Owlson, rethinking her life choices: “when there’s trouble you call DW”

My fav is definitely when DW and LP just spontaneously burst out into song

they are, to quote gosalyn, nerds

i love them sm

James Monroe Iglehart as Taurus Bulba is everything

oH YEAH that one moment where dw and gosalyn were doing something and launchpad freakin tackled bulba in the background

launchpad’s usually so big and to see him be tiny in comparison was cool

launchpad taking on bulba to save gos!

and that scene where bulba was giving his evil speech with launchpad just casually hanging off his horn

i was like lp sweetie you can let go now you’ll get hurt

GOSALYN!!! I LOVE HER!!!

she’s strong and independent and super cool

she made her crossbow herself! she’s so smart i LOVE her!

her va did such a good job

I loved the sub-plot of the boys and Bradford and the whole FOWL thing

Bradford being Old™

boomer bradford

huey being smart and figuring it all out

louie being sick of adventures

OLD SCROOGE OLD SCROOGE OLD SCROOGE

“A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM”

old boys!!! “why were our faces so round?!!”

oh also

Fenton being in his suit on the call made him look like Iron Man

and since Darkwing is more Batman it feels like a sort of crossover

also how the heck does fenton’s head fit in there???

Darkwing and Fenton are super close buddies through LP!!!

i can imagine darkwing aggressively ranting about gizmoduck and poor sweet fenton’s like “haha... yeah, ikr, gizmoduck sucks idk why i work for him ahaha... 😅”

and dw is just like “finally someone who GETS me”

fenton’s too scared to say anything

i love fenton

i was kinda hoping we’d see drake find out that fenton was actually gizmoduck all along and have a bit of a crisis

DARKWING SPENDING ALL NIGHT TRYING TO HELP SAVE GOSALYN’S GRANDPA WITH FENTON

THE LULLABY

whenever launchpad teared up i teared up with him

adventure family

l e t ‘ s g e t d a n g e r o u s

the villains!!

bushroot!!!! (technically not a villain!!!!)

launchpad putting the helmet on gos and picking her up and just downright being such a dad

(the only reason he said uncle is bc he was pretending to be scrooge and i refuse to believe otherwise)

drake genuinely wanting gosalyn as his partner rather than just a daughter

also kinda wanted to see an adoption, but this was just as good

honestly drake in general was amazing this ep

He needed support, he got that support, and he fought so well by himself too

but also he’s a theatre kid through and through you can tell by his tower’s aesthetic

“an actor and a launchpad”

i was terrified that we would lose launchpad from ducktales permanently

but he can do both!!!

i stan!!!!!!

those tender moments between launchpad and drake i just- 😍

also launchpad and gosalyn’s little chat

the way he held them on one arm each

side note i love how launchpad is essentially the glue between all these crossovers

he works for scrooge and is friends with all those ducks (duh), he helps bring drake and gos together and has a family with them, he was the one who brought in rescue rangers

he also had that little crossover clip with baymax

but anyway

i’m sure there’s so many things i need to scream about but i can’t think of them rn

tl;dr This was an amazing episode and definitely lived up to my expectations, the writing and voice talent was amazing, and I really hope we see more of DW soon!

#darkwing duck #ducktales #ducktales spoilers #let's get dangerous #let's get dangerous spoilers #drake mallard #launchpad mcquack #gosalyn mallard #drakepad #scrooge mcduck #taurus bulba #huey duck #dewey duck #louie duck #random fandom ramblings

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thefriendlyfour · 4 years ago

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Aside from the art of Domino in the DT17 episodes you've already depicted, how else would Domino's presence have changed some of the episodes, specifically the ones focused on Steelbeak? What is his dynamic with the Duck family and friends, and amongst them, who is his main enemy? It's also really adorable and funny to imagine him alongside his FOWL coworkers in DT17 Chibi Tales, I wish we had gotten more of those with more characters!

Oh BOY then we lowkey go into me rewriting episodes of season 3 kdjfhfdkjhfd Well, in “Double o Duck”, Domino would serve as a cushion of sorts between Heron and SB- when Steelbeak tosses LP and Dewey in the cells he brags to Domino who’s like “WHAT, NO THAT’S A BAD IDEA-” and tries to fix things before Heron finds out which she does practically immediately. He gets sent to deal with Dewey and LP instead, playing along with the idea that they’re still playing a game and playing up a villainous role rather than an assistant. Domino lets them go, for the intention of luring them to the Eggheads to knock them out again and return them to Funso’s as if they had a “game over”, but Steelbeak and Black Heron’s squabble happens and Domino is left to keep an eye on Heron while Steelbeak goes off to use the ray at the lighthouse like canon. Reluctantly, Domino is the one who reports to Bradford about everything to clean things up, and has to stand by while the three of them get chastised about how they had to be smarter than common villains.

A new episode taking place around the Ragnarok episode (or.....replacing it.....) would involve having Domino work around the FOWL base, giving the audience a glimpse into various agents’ roles in the organization. The last stop on his rounds as an assistant involves him overhearing Bradford listening in on Scrooge and his family, and how they’re planning on going to an adventure that doesn’t involve any artifacts and is just a trip to somewhere for conquest rather than treasure (like the Mt Neverest episode). Since there’s nothing to gain from interfering, Bradford dismisses it and doesn’t bother sending anyone to monitor them. Domino, however, recalls an old mission he took with Black Heron and Checkers way back in the day and an old forgotten device of Heron’s is still there and could be found by the Ducks. He almost thinks about telling Bradford about it, but ultimately, Domino wants to try and prove himself by taking the mission alone and proving himself somehow. I’m not sure what the main plot for the Duck family could be, but it could parallel to Domino in terms of “doing something reckless for the sake of a memory isn’t worth losing what you have in the present”, easily could be something for a Della episode tbh with her wanting to share something with the kids from her past adventures. The end result would be Domino rescuing the invention and avoiding being spot by the Duck family BARELY, but discovering that the invention had long since become obsolete and a pile of junk, making the mission itself obsolete. He returns back to base lamenting himself only for Bradford to stop him and inform Domino he knew what he did. Bradford would also mention how since Domino is one of the oldest living members of the organization, he wouldn’t be let go, but if he should ever try to step out of line like that again, the freezing chamber would be waiting for him (a flashback showing how Heron froze Domino all those years ago). Domino would nod and swear to keep with his assistant work, starting his rounds once again.

I don’t think I’d have Domino be in the Swanstentine episode expect for maybe being the driver of the vehicle that picks them up at the end lol

Another episode I would’ve added would involve the concept of Domino and Steelbeak having a casual day out and ending up awkwardly in the same place same time as some of the main cast that wouldn’t know/remember them. Think of those episode cliches where the heroes and villains are trapped in a cave or something and have to work to get out together (or ironically like what Bradford had to go through in LGD). At one point Domino is expected to use something with advanced tech to it so that they can get out as everyone just assumed he could use it cause he was smart, which he tries to get out of but ends up admitting that he can’t understand it (cause it’s not from his time period) and he didn’t want to say because he didn’t want to come across as stupid. Again, all this villain plot is just a B plot to the episode, but would give Dom and SB some development individually and well as partners. They get out and get revealed as FOWL but make it out alright.

Then you already know how the finale stuff goes lol

#A LOT OF THIS WAS DONE ON THE SPOT #dwd oc #dominic domino #steelbeak #steeldomino #black heron #bradford buzzard #oc ask #Anonymous

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dustedmagazine · 4 years ago

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Punk’d History, Vol. VIII: This Machine [blank] Fascists

Photo by Richard Young

It has the appearance of a worrisome pattern: any number of punk rock’s founding figures embraced the symbolics of Nazi Germany. Ron Asheton, an original and indispensable member of the Stooges, played a number of gigs wearing a red swastika armband, and liked to sport Iron Cross medals and a Luftwaffe-style leather jacket. Sid Vicious loved his bright scarlet, swastika-emblazoned tee shirt, and Siouxsie Sioux, during her tenure as the It-Girl of the Bromley Contingent, mixed her breast-baring, black leather bondage gear with a bunch of “Nazi chic.” And how many early Ramones songs (inevitably penned by Dee Dee) referenced Nazi gear, concepts and geography? “Blitzkrieg Bop,” ��Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World,” “Commando,” “It’s a Long Way Back to Germany,” “All’s Quiet on the Eastern Front,” and so on��for sure, more than a few.

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“Appearance” is the key term. Poor Sid lacked the sobriety and smarts to have much of a grasp of fascism as an ideology. Siouxsie was just taking the piss, and gleefully pissing off the mid-1970s British general public, for much of whom World War II was still a living memory. Asheton and Dee Dee? Both were sons of hyper-masculine military men. Asheton’s father was a collector of WWII artefacts, and the guitarist shared his father’s fascination. When the Stooges adopted an ethos and aesthetic hostile to the late-1960s prevailing Flower Power rock’n’roll subculture, the Nazi accoutrement seemed to him fitting signs of the band’s anger and alienation. Dee Dee hated his father, an abusive Army officer who married a German woman. Dee Dee spent some of his youth in post-war West Germany, in which Nazi symbols were highly charged with anxiety and vituperation. Casual veneration of Nazis was a convenient way to reject the triumphal ennobling of the Good War, and of the military men associated with its traditions. And (as Sid, Siouxsie and Asheton also noticed) it really bothered the squares.

None of that makes the superficial use of the swastika or phrases like “Nazi schatzi” any less offensive — it simply underscores that in the cases noted above, the offense was the thing. The politics weren’t even an afterthought, because the political itself had been dismissed as corrupt, boring or simply the native territory of the very people the punks were striking out against. If that’s where the relation between punk and fascism ceased, there wouldn’t be much more to write about.

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The post-punk moment in England provided opportunities to rethink and restrategize the nascent détournement of Siouxsie’s fashionable provocations. Genesis P-Orridge and the rest of Throbbing Gristle were a brainy bunch, and their play with fascist signifiers was a good deal more complex. The band’s logo and their occasional appearance in gun-metal grey uniforms clearly alluded to Nazism, with its attendant, keen interests in occult symbols and High Modernist representational languages. TG’s visual gestures were also of a piece with an early band slogan: “Industrial music for industrial people.” Clearly “industrial people” can be read as a highly ironized coupling: the oppressed workers marching through the bowels of Metropolis were a sort of industrial people, reduced to the functionality of pure human capital. TG seemed to impose the same analysis on the middle-managers of Britain’s post-industrial economy, and their uncritical complicity in capital’s cruelties. But it’s also possible to argue that industrial people are industrious people; like TG, industrial people (middle managers, MPs) can get a lot of stuff done. They can produce things. They can make the trains run on time. And what sorts of cargo might those trains be carrying? What variety of conveyance delivered the naked “little Jewish girl” of “Zyklon B Zombies” to her fate?

To be clear: I don’t mean at all to suggest that TG was a fascist band. Like their punky contemporaries, TG traded in fascist iconography in a spirit of transgressive outrage, expressing their hot indignation with equally heated symbols. And other British post-punk acts flirted with fascist themes and images, ranging from ambiguous dalliance (Joy Division’s overt references to Yehiel De-Nur’s House of Dolls and to Rudolph Hess; and just what was the inspiration for Death in June’s band name?) to more assertive satire (see Current 93’s appealingly bonkers Swastikas for Noddy [LAYLAH Antirecords, 1988]). But a more problematic populist undercurrent in British punk persisted through the late 1970s. The dissolution of Sham 69—due in large part to the National Front’s attempts to appropriate the band’s working-class anger as a form of white pride—opened the way for a clutch of clueless, cynical or outright racist Oi! bands to attempt to impose themselves as the face of blue-collar English punk. And literally so: the Strength through Oi! compilation LP (Decca Records, 1981) featured notorious British Movement activist Nicky Crane on its cover. It didn’t help that the record’s title seemed to allude to the Nazis’ “Strength through Joy [Kraft durch Freude]” propaganda initiative.

Of course, it’s unfair to tar all Oi! bands with an indiscriminate brush. A few bands whose songs were opportunistically stuck onto Strength through Oi! by the dullards at Decca Records — Cock Sparrer and the excellent Infa Riot — tended leftward in their politics, and were anything but racists. But for a lot of the disaffected kids sucking down pints of Bass and singing in the Shed at Stamford Bridge, it wasn’t much of a leap from the punk pathetique of the Toy Dolls to Skrewdriver’s poisonous palaver.

In the States, a similarly complicated story can be recovered:

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In numerous ways, hardcore intensified punk’s confrontational qualities, musically and aesthetically. The New York hardcore scene made a fetish of its inherent violence, which complemented the music’s sharpened impact. So it’s hard to know precisely what to make of the photo on the cover of Victim in Pain (Rat Cage Records, 1984). If inflicting violence was an essential element of belonging in the NYHC scene, with whom to identify: the Nazi with the pistol, or the abject Ukrainian Jewish man, on his knees and about to tumble into the mass grave?

Agnostic Front seemed to provide a measure of clarity on the record, which included the song “Fascist Attitudes.” The lyric uses “fascist” as a condemnatory term. But the behaviors the song engages as evidence of fascism are intra-scene acts of violence: “Why should you go around bashing one another? […] / Learning how to respect each other is a must / So why start a war of anger, danger among us?” That’s a rhetoric familiar to anyone who participated in early-1980s hardcore; calls for scene unity were ubiquitous, and the theme is obsessively addressed on Victim in Pain. But the signs of inclusivity most visibly celebrated on the NYHC records and show flyers of the period were a skinhead’s white, shaven pate; black leather, steel-toe boots; and heavily muscled biceps. Those signifiers clearly link to the awful cover image of Strength through Oi! The forms of identity recognized and concretized in the songs’ first-person inclusive pronouns have a clear referent.

Agnostic Front wasn’t the only NYHC band to refer to and engage World War Two-period fascism. Queens natives Dave Rubenstein and Paul Bakija met at Forest Hills High School—the same school at which John Cummings (Johnny) befriended Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy), laying the groundwork for the formation of the Ramones. Rubenstein and Bakija also took stage names (Dave Insurgent and Paul Cripple) and formed Reagan Youth. But unlike the Ramones, there was nothing tentative or ambivalent about Reagan Youth’s politics. Rubenstein’s parents, after all, were Holocaust survivors. The band’s name riffed on “Hitler Youth,” but specifically did so to draw associations between Reagan and Hitler, between American conservatism’s 1980s resurgence and the Nazi’s hateful, genocidal agenda. Songs like “New Aryans” and “I Hate Hate” accommodated no uncertainties.

Still, it’s interesting that Victim in Pain and Reagan Youth’s Youth Anthems for the New Order (R Radical Records, 1984) were released only months apart, by bands in the same scene, sometimes sharing bills at CBGBs’ famous matinees of the period. And while Reagan Youth toured with Dead Kennedys, it’s Agnostic Front’s “Fascist Attitudes” that’s closer in content to the most famous punk rock putdown of Nazis.

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It’s odd what comes back around: Martin Hannett, whom Biafra playfully chides at the track’s very beginning, produced much of Joy Division’s music, moving the band away from its brittle early sound to the fulsome atmospheres of the Factory records, and to a wider listenership. “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” similarly addresses a formerly obscure, tight scene opening to a greater array of participants, some of whom were attracted solely to hardcore’s reputation for violence. Like “Fascist Attitudes,” the Dead Kennedys’ song itemizes fighting at shows as its chief complaint, and as a principal marker for “Nazi” behavior. Biafra’s lyric eventually gets around to somewhat more focused ideological critique: “You still think swastikas look cool / The real Nazis run your schools / They’re coaches, businessmen, and cops / In a real fourth Reich, you’ll be the first to go.” The kiss-off to punk’s vapid romance of the swastika (it “looks cool”) complements the speculative treatment of a “real fourth Reich.” Both operate at the level of abstraction. The casual, superficial relation to the symbol’s aesthetic assumes a sort of safety from the real, material consequences of its application. And the emergence of a fascist political regime is dangled as a possible future event. That speculative futurity undoes the “real” in “real Nazis.” The threat is ultimately a metaphorical construct. The Nazis are metaphorical “Nazis.”

Still, it’s the song’s chorus that resonates most powerfully. So much so that the song has found its way into other artworks.

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Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room (2015) is frequently identified as a horror film on streaming services. We could split hairs over that genre marker. The film gets quite graphically bloody, but there’s no psychotic slasher killer, no supernatural force at work. And cinematically, the film is a lot more interested in anxiety and dramatic tension than it is in inspiring revulsion or disgust. It terrifies, more than it horrifies. What’s especially compelling about the film (aside from Imogen Poots’ excellent performance, and Patrick Stewart’s menacing turn as charismatic fascist Darcy Banks) is its interest in embedding the viewer in a social context in which the Nazis are a lot less metaphorical, a lot more real. In Green Room, the kids in the punk band the Ain’t Rights are warned about the club they have agreed to play: “It’s mostly boots and braces down there.” And they understand the terms. What they can’t quite imagine is a room — a scene, a political Real — in which fascism is dominant. Their recognition of the stakes of the Real comes too late. The violence is already in motion. In that world, the Dead Kennedys song provides a nice slogan, but symbolic action alone is entirely inadequate.

OK, sure, Green Room is a fiction. Its violence is necessarily aestheticized, distorted and hyperbolized. But perhaps the film’s most urgent source of horror can be located in its plausible connections to the social realities of our material, contemporary conjuncture. You don’t have to dig very deep into the Web to find thousands of records made by white nationalist and neo-fascist-allied bands, many, many of which deploy stylistic chops identified with punk rock and hardcore. You can listen. You can buy. (And yeah, I’m not going to link to any of that miserable shit, because fuck them. If you do your own digging to see what’s what, be careful. It’s scary and upsetting in there.) It feels endless. And the virulent sentiments expressed on those records are echoed in institutional politics in the US and elsewhere: Steve King (and now Marjorie Taylor Greene, effectively angling for her seat in Congress), Nigel Farage, Alternative für Deutschland, elected leadership in Poland and Hungary. Explicit white supremacist music also has somewhat more carefully coded counterparts in much more visible media (the nightly monologuing on Fox News) and in very well-positioned, prominent policy makers (Stephen Miller, who’s on the record touting “great replacement” theory and is a big fan of The Camp of the Saints). It’s a complex, ideologically coherent network, working industriously to impose and install its hateful vision as the dominant political Real.

Sometimes it feels as if no progress at all has been made. Maybe we’re moving toward the reactionaries. Contrast Skokie in the late 1970s with Charlottesville in 2017. And now if the Neo-Nazis have licenses for their long guns, they can strut through American streets wearing them in the name of “law and order.” It’s even more disturbing that a subculture that wants to clothe itself in “revolution” and “radicalism” is so tightly in league with institutional politics. Say what you will about Siouxsie’s Nazi-fashion antics, no one suspected that her prancing echoed political activity, policy-making or messaging in Westminster.

So what’s a punk to do? It’s certain that a vigorously free society needs to preserve spaces in which unpopular speech can be uttered and exchanged. Punk should pride itself on defending those spaces. But speech that operates in conjunction with an ascendant political power and ideological agenda doesn’t need defense or energetic attempts to preserve its right to existence. In October of 2020, that speech (in this case, speeches being written by Miller, texts by folks who have spent time in Tucker Carlson’s writer’s room and songs by white supremacist hardcore bands) has become synonymous with political right itself.

So now more than ever, it’s important to be active in the public square, to stand up to the fascists and to say it, often and out loud:

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Jonathan Shaw

#dusted magazine #punk'd history #jonathan shaw #punk rock #siouxsie and the banshees #throbbing gristle #agnostic front #dead kennedys #green room #mdc

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soundsandnoises · 1 year ago

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Like riding a bike or the best is yet to come: Kids In Glass Houses. 'Smart Casual' 15th Anniversary Tour. Review.

Kids In Glass Houses with The Nightmares.

O2 KENTISH TOWN FORUM, LONDON.

O2 ACADEMY BRISTOL

GREAT HALL, CARDIFF

It's been a week since Kids In Glass Houses shows and it's been truly 'a bitch of a week'. Double dose kind of one. Almost like it had to balance out the truly great one I had when I went to see KIGH in London, Bristol and Cardiff. Because THAT week, every time I screamed those words, especially on Saturday, they simply were not true. For the first time, in a very long time. Like magic. I guess three time's a charm.

To say it was an emotional week, it would be an understatement. It's been a whirlwind of emotions: from bawling my eyes like a idiot while singing 'Sunshine' (which was followed by 'The Best Is Yet to Come', which didn't help at all) on a very rainy Wednesday to tears of joy as I was going back home on Saturday and reading KIGH's after-show's photo caption 'BRB... MAKING A NEW ALBUM!' [spoilers!].

Nine years ago I thought I was singing some of those songs at their show for the last time. It was gloomy, it seemed their hearts were not in it anymore. The KIGH chapter came to an end. 'Well, we lied!' Aled seemed to be having the time of his life, back at it, going through 'Smart Casual' like hurricane. The joy, the electricity was back up and running on high voltage, sparkling between the band in their eyes, smiles and little comments. The “aged like fine wine” applied absolutely, the band seemed to be better than ever, their form sizzling, their performance on fire...

Funny how things tend to go full circle, or go yin/yang: an experience that made my year/extremely mentally exhausting work week, a very naïve relation from 2008 show, when KIGH supported Simple Plan in Poland, when I barely knew one song and wished I could know more/ singing every single one of the songs from 'Smart Casual' amazed how they have weathered the time and are still fresh, on point. The burnt-out and tired last shows v. rebirth celebrating the album that started it all. Magic.

15 years ago 'Smart Casual' came to be in a room at the estate, filled with fax machines... or something like that. And 15 years later it means so much to so many... Nothing's changed, yet everything is different (including the fact that Cardiff was 'the first PG Kids's show' [as in there were kids in the audience] so Aled had to mind his tongue, so he couldn't swear, which resulted in 'Flip' instead of 'Fuck' and one hashed out, I guess “Damn!” passed somehow, but hey, it was hard to hide the excitement. Can't blame him. It was sight to see, or hear, I guess, when the room was filled with the choir of voices carrying the tune. And cheering, constant, happy cheering, with every first note of every song (“they're cheering like they don't know what song comes next?!” said the girl next to me at the Bristol gig and I couldn't help but laugh, she was obviously right since it was 'Smart Casual' track listing, yet, I understood the cheering, it's nice to be excited every now and then, also: it seemed for once I wasn't the biggest grump – even though I wasn't at my best that night, all the bad went into that sad, sad poem I wrote that afternoon and so the only thing that was left for me to do was to fully immerse into the happiness of the live show). As much as I enjoyed Bristol gig, it seemed a bit off with, let's call them: technical issues. The sound at times was a bit off, especially during The Nighmares' show. The confetti seemed to misfire and half of it blew on the stage rather than spill at the crowd (not that I mind). Aled dropped his microphone, landed in the crowd, recovered the piece of equipment and mocked himself mercilessly for it (since he went against everyone's advice and got himself cordless mic he said he should have known better that he would do something like this and until Bristol it worked just fine). Hey, as long as it wasn't Cardi B/ 50 Cent sort of thing (and it wasn't) I bet fans were rather happy to have Aled jump onto the barrier.

To add to the 'off' vibe – a girl smacked me in the face, right after the show ended and KIGH were taking after show photo, she went through the crowd like a battering ram, just to be in the photo, since I showed fim resistance that was my reward. There was no black eye, just a crappy feeling, so it wasn't as bad. And the show kind of seemed rushed. 'Lilli Rose' was cut from the setlist. But, but it was still absolutely wonderful and emotional and crazy good.

And on Saturday, their homecoming gig their smiles were brighter than at the shows before, and even though again 'Lilli Rose' got the boot from the setlist it was still a perfect night. With all the gratitude (and Aled thanking their loved ones for putting up with them this past year), cheeky spelling (instead of 'play D.E.AD' crowd was supposed to chant 'A.L.E.D.' which seemed to work especially in Cardiff) and fun it made the 'Smart Casual' 15th anniversary shows fill to the brim with great memories.

I must say I'm impressed they managed to keep the 'making new album' surprise under the wraps and revealed it they way they did. Well played.

Setlist:

'Smart Casual'

Fisticuffs

Easy Tiger

Give Me What I Want

Saturday

Lovely Bones

Shameless

Girls

Good Boys Gone Rad

Dance All Night

Pillow Talk

Raise Hell

Church Tongue

Encore:

Sunshine

The Best Is Yet to Come

Lilli Rose

Peace

Youngblood (Let It Out)

Matters at All

Few words about the opening band: The Nightmares.

Black roses and candles darkened the stage and set the mood for the support act – The Nightmares. Noir and goth aesthetic was laced and bound with synth filled indie rock that roared through the venue. Was it emo? New wave? Dark pop? Punk? Well, it was a mix of everything, packed with twisted, dark lyrics. Not something I expected, but something that was a great start of the evening.

I enjoyed it very much. They've just released their debut album 'Séance' and you can listen to it here.

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ganbaramen · 4 years ago

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Ai Furihata - Moonrise (Information)

Furirin’s debut mini-album “Moonrise” will be released on September 23rd, 2020. Here’s the information we have so far about it:

Album Editions: information about each edition of the album

Bonus Merchandise: bonus items that are included with each purchase of the album from certain stores

Online Talk Event: online streams in October that will be hosted by Furirin, which require purchasing “Moonrise” from select stores

Ai Furihata Special Live “Trip to ORIGIN”: concerts to be held in Nov 2020

Album Editions

There are three different editions of Moonrise:

Standard Edition (CD + ticket lottery code)

First Press Exclusive Edition (CD + Blu-ray + photo book + ticket lottery code)

Limited Quantity Production Edition (LP record + ticket lottery code)

Details on each of them are below.

Moonrise【通常盤】(Standard Edition)

Price: 2300 JPY + tax

Product number: LAPS-5000

Materials: 1 CD

First press bonus: code to enter a lottery for tickets for Special Live events in Nov 2020

Track Listing

CITY

Cinderella Time

Y no Higeki

Love Song o Kakete

Poolside Cocktail

OUT OF BLUE

Lyrics: Ai Furihata Composition and Arrangement: Akimitsu Honma (bluesofa)

Description

A manifestation of love, woven together from the lyrics, all written by Ai Furihata.

Her debut mini-album, consisting of six tracks.

Akimitsu Honma (from bluesofa) composed and arranged all the songs.

The first press includes as a bonus a code to enter the ticket lottery for her Special Live events in November 2020.

The cover art for the first press exclusive edition and the standard edition is reminiscent of 80's city pop. When you line up the cover art for both editions, they combine into one image.

Moonrise【初回限定盤】(First Press Exclusive Edition)

Price: 3800 JPY + tax

Product number: LAPS-35000~1

Materials: 1 CD, 1 Blu-ray, 20-page photo book included in the sleeve.

First press bonus: code to enter a lottery for tickets for Special Live events in Nov 2020

CD Track Listing

CITY

Cinderella Time

Y no Higeki

Love Song o Kakete

Poolside Cocktail

OUT OF BLUE

Lyrics: Ai Furihata Composition and Arrangement: Akimitsu Honma (bluesofa)

Blu-ray Track Listing

"CITY" Music Video

"CITY" Music Video (Band edition)

Music Video & Photo Shoot Making

Description

A manifestation of love, woven together from the lyrics, all written by Ai Furihata.

Her debut mini-album, consisting of six tracks.

Akimitsu Honma (from bluesofa) composed and arranged all the songs.

This edition includes a Blu-ray and a photo book with the sleeve.

The Blu-ray has the MV for the leading track "CITY" as well as a "Band edition" of the MV, and a behind-the-scenes video.

The photo book is a glorious 20 pages.

The first press includes as a bonus a code to enter the ticket lottery for her Special Live events in November 2020.

The cover art for the first press exclusive edition and the standard edition is reminiscent of 80's city pop. When you line up the covers for both editions, they combine into one image.

Moonrise【完全数量生産限定盤】(Limited Quantity Production Edition)

Price: 3500 JPY + tax

Product number: LAPS-1000

Materials: 1 LP record

First press bonus: code to enter a lottery for tickets for Special Live events in Nov 2020

Track Listing

Side A

CITY

Cinderella Time

Y no Higeki

Side B

Love Song o Kakete

Poolside Cocktail

OUT OF BLUE

Description

A manifestation of love, woven together from the lyrics, all written by Ai Furihata.

Her debut mini-album, consisting of six tracks.

Akimitsu Honma (from bluesofa) composed and arranged all the songs.

The first press includes as a bonus a code to enter the ticket lottery for her Special Live events in November 2020.

This "Limited Quantity Production Edition" [basically means only a limited number will be produced] will be an analog LP record.

The cover art is planned to be a photo of Ai Furihata taken specifically for this.

Bonus Merchandise

There will be bonus items included with Ai Furihata's "Moonrise", out Sep 23, depending on which store/chain you buy the album from!

The bonus item does not depend on which version of the album you buy, and will only be given out while supplies last.

Purple One Star Official Online Shop (A-ON STORE or A!SMART): 2L bromide with printed autograph and message + 2L bromide with printed autograph on an illustration

Animate (including the online shop): A4 clear file with printed autograph and message + L bromide with printed autograph (Animate version)

Gamers (including the online shop): A4 clear file with printed autograph and message + L bromide with printed autograph (Gamers version)

Tower Records (including the online shop, excluding some physical stores): B2 poster with printed autograph and message (Tower Records version)

Sofmap (the stores that sell CDs and the online shop) & Animega: A4 clear file with printed autograph + L bromide (Sofmap/Animega version)

7net: A4 clear file with printed autograph (7net version)

Rakuten Books: Mini clear file with printed autograph (Rakuten Books version)

Neowing [should be the same as CDJapan]: 2L bromide with printed autograph (Neowing version)

Gyokkodo/Vanda Records/Liondo: L bromide with printed autograph (Gyokkodo/Vanda Records/Liondo version)

Shinseido (excluding some stores)/Wondergoo, or Shinseido/WonderGOO Online: L bromide with printed autograph (Shinseido/WonderGOO version)

TSUTAYA RECORDS (including preorders on the online shop, excluding some stores): L bromide with printed autograph (TSUTAYA RECORDS version)

Toranoana (including the online shop, excluding some stores): L bromide with printed autograph (Toranoana version)

Amazon.co.jp: Big print of the cover art

Notes

There are a limited number of the bonus items, so there will be no more once they are all given out.

One bonus item for each item purchased.

Some stores may not carry the bonus item, so please check with each CD shop.

Only the shops that are covered will be giving out the bonus items.

“Moonrise” Online Talk Event

To celebrate the release of “Moonrise”, Furirin will be hosting an online talk event!

How to Participate

Participate in a given session by buying “Moonrise” from stores corresponding to that session. The store will send you a code to watch it.

Codes will be distributed starting from September 22.

Buy by October 12.

The stream will be hosted on Stagecrowd.

Session 1: Oct 31 15:00

Purple One Star official online store (A-ON STORE and A! SMART)

Animate

7net

Sofmap/Animega

Neowing

Rakuten Books

Session 2: Oct 31 17:00

Amazon JP

Gyokkodo/Vanda Records/Liondo

Gamers

Tower Records

TSUTAYA RECORDS

TSUTAYA Online Shopping (preorder only)

Toranoana

WonderGOO/Shinseido

Ai Furihata “Trip to ORIGIN”

Schedule

2020-11-14 (Saturday)

1st: Doors 15:30 / Starts 16:30

2nd: Doors 18:30 / Starts 19:30

Venue: Billboard Live YOKOHAMA

2020-11-15 (Sunday)

1st: Doors 15:30 / Starts 16:30

2nd: Doors 18:30 / Starts 19:30

Venue: Billboard Live YOKOHAMA

2020-11-21 (Saturday)

1st: Doors 15:30 / Starts 16:30

2nd: Doors 18:30 / Starts 19:30

Venue: Billboard Live OSAKA

2020-11-22 (Saturday)

1st: Doors 15:30 / Starts 16:30

2nd: Doors 18:30 / Starts 19:30

Venue: Billboard Live OSAKA

Ticket Prices

Service Area (2F): 7900 JPY (tax included)

Casual Area (3F): 6900 JPY (tax included, also includes one drink)

Venue Information

Billboard Live YOKOHAMA: 0570-05-6565 / http://www.billboard-live.com

Billboard Live OSAKA: 06-6342-7722 / http://www.billboard-live.com

Ticket Sales

CD Lottery

A code to enter this lottery will be included in each first press copy of “Moonrise”.

Applications: Sep 23 12:00 to Sep 28 23:59

Results/payment: Oct 3 13:00 to Oct 5 21:00

Club BBL Member/Corporate Lottery

Starts: Oct 13 10:00

Open Sales

Starts: Oct 27 10:00

Notes

More details will be revealed later.

There is the possibility that the performance will be suspended due to government instructions regarding the coronavirus pandemic or due to extreme weather or disasters. Staff will continue to exercise caution regarding the performances.

#ai furihata #Moonrise

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hippriestess · 4 years ago

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Part 2: Cherry-picking

Cherry Red had been releasing The Fall's new music since 2011's “Ersatz GB” and we already knew that Smith had signed a further deal with them to look after what portion of the group's catalogue he owned. They had already made a start with the handsome seven disc “Singles 1978 - 2016” box set they had released late in 2017 (alongside a cut-down three disc “A Sides” collection). The set had originally been scheduled for release in 2016 but the production deadline for the all-important Christmas market was missed and the set was held back until after “New Facts Emerge” - from which no singles were taken - had been released. Following Smith's passing, the seven-disc edition sold out and was unavailable for a short time before Cherry Red did the decent thing and made a few more.

A reissue of 1997's “Levitate” had been in the works for a while; Smith had signed off the tracklisting and there had been a trailer of sorts with a Record Store Day-only 7” of “Masquerade” in 2017. Given that the album had been in contractual limbo for quite some time with original vinyl copies fetching 3 figures on the open market, Cherry Red's first posthumous release felt like a public service, doing the right thing both by Smith and by the fans. Released towards the end of May 2018, the new 2CD/3LP edition was justly well received and some kindly reviews appeared with mostly positive re-evaluations of one of their most awkward albums. Hindsight benefits the record; if it sounds like they were falling to bits, it's because they were and now that we know not just what happened next but how the whole story of The Fall continued for another 20 years, it has context. For the record (Portugal), yr present author is no more fond of the album than she was 7 or 8 years ago but “Ol' Gang” has clicked into focus and the second disc puts those great b-sides from the “Masquerade” CD singles back onto the shelves so it would have to be considered necessary.

Less impressive was “58 Golden Greats”, released at the end of 2018. A 3CD set in a clamshell box, this was, in essence, an extended version of the classic “50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong” collection from 2004, extending the tracklist to cover the remainder(er) of the group's career. It actually expands on the original in other ways, adding several songs from the era covered in the original version; the puzzling omission of “Big New Prinz” is corrected for one thing and other singles are added such as “Oh! Brother” and “Dead Beat Descendent”. Perhaps Beggars Banquet were more co-operative this time. Whilst one could always quibble with any attempt at a Fall “best of”, yr present author was not taken with this one and my purse remained closed. 58 was an unwieldy number (why not a round 60?), the cover artwork – a spoof of a different Elvis Presley sleeve – was far from appealing and the entry-point value of “50,000...” was lost, a 3 disc set at £17 being too big a serving at too high a price for the merely curious. However, it looks as if I'm just flat-out in the wrong. As we'll continually see, Cherry Red aren't just experienced, they are also smart and do not lack savvy. I'm sat here keyboard-griping while “58 Golden Greats” is sold out. Enough said.

In 2019, Cherry Red announced the beginning of the Fall Sound Archive, the title of which gave the air of a mission to preserve The Fall's work for future generations. Inevitably, they were starting with 40th Anniversary editions of “Live At The Witch Trials” and “Dragnet”. There was early disappointment. The 3CD edition of “Live At The Witch Trials” contained the exact same music as the 2CD edition from 2004 but spread over three discs. Any thoughts that the decision at least preserved the sanctity of the original 11 song album were hampered by the 3CD edition of “Dragnet” containing, as disc 1, the exact same running order – with single and outtakes – as the 2004 CD edition. The other two discs were 2 of the little-loved “Live From The Vaults” series (of which, more later, sort of..). The archive was perhaps, not so deep.

However, the plus points were the vinyl editions, which had been hatched with obvious care. Using the rare US edition of “LATWT” with an alternate sleeve and revised running order was a clever touch and one that acknowledged that the Fall's audience would need something more than just a nice colour of vinyl before they indulged the album yet again. Similarly, “Dragnet” came with a reproduction 7” of “Rowche Rumble”, a record which originally came with the thinnest paper sleeve in the history of music. That's not to say that we didn't get coloured vinyl, oh we did - “LATWT” came of red vinyl to match the US sleeve and “Dragnet” on black and white “splatter” vinyl. These both sold well, sold quickly and sold out, now being tricky to score except on the Discogs etc market. But perhaps more to the point, they suggested that Cherry Red's experience and nouse would, at minimum, keep things interesting.

Later in 2019, the Kamera catalogue came under Cherry Red's microscope and it was another mixed set of releases. For CD buyers, a 6 disc set called “(1982)” was developed. This contained “Hex Enduction Hour”, “Room To Live” “Fall In A Hole” various single and live tracks and the “Live To Air In Melbourne” album which had previously snuck out in the late 90's when MES was broke. There was no new music to be had here at all – everything had previously been released. As such £40 was too rich a price tag for many and the edition is still easily available. The new vinyl edition of “Hex” was well particularly well presented. For the first time, the 60 minute LP was cut onto 4 sides of vinyl – a long overdue move, this did the album real justice on the format and would have to be considered an essential for those who insist on twelve-inch slabs of wax for their music. A pleasing, sturdy fold-out sleeve showed that corners were not being cut, the vinyl again matched the colour scheme of the artwork and it also came with an excellent reproduction of the sterling “Look, Know/I'm Into C.B.” 45. What spoiled it a little bit was the inclusion of a third LP with Peel Session #5 on one side and some of the live tracks from the 2005 Sanctuary 2CD on the other. All this really did was drive up the price – a double LP with the 7” would have been perfect and would have been less heavy on the purse *NB – this didn't stop me buying it – that's my copy in the picture...). “Room To Live” was given a vinyl reissue too, this time as a double LP with sides 3 and 4 being the live tracks from the 2005 Sanctuary edition. Again, this didn't quite feel like the right choice – an alternative idea would have been a single LP with a 7”. Given that the classic “Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul/Fantastic Life” single had been added to the popular, widely owned German pressing, why not add a repro of that instead? It would have cost less and added more value to the package.

Despite these whinges “(1982)” would have to be considered an elegant, practical solution to a latter-day problem and demonstrates why Cherry Red remain a market leader in catalogue reissues. Can you really sell compact discs of these albums yet again? How else do you present the music in this format? The answer to parcel the whole lot together and present it as a “year-in-the-life” was a smart one that was only hampered by an optimistic £40 price tag (which translated to as much as £58 in stores) and the artwork being based on “Hex” which could have given a more casual customer the notion that the set was Hex and 5 discs of “other” material. The bottom line here is that there is nothing else in the cupboard; as with the IAKO ballet and the Hey! Luciani play, fantasies about things like the unedited “Winter” and the full 20+ minute “And This Day” ever appearing are exactly that – fantasies. Were they ever preserved, they're gone and anything that did turn up, almost 40 years hence would likely be in such a state of degeneration as to be unlistenable. From now on, all that can be done is to keep this material out there and try to present it with a fresh angle. That's precisely what Cherry Red have done here.

Come 2020, come the challenge of reselling what is not just one of the most widely-distributed but also one of the worst Fall albums: “Reformation Post TLC”. Cherry Red stuck to type with a double LP pressed into blue and red coloured vinyl, again matching the colour to the sleeve. Undoubtedly a handsome package, this version was snapped up with some enthusiasm although it does seem that sales were likely harmed by coinciding with the early, uncertain, often panic-stricken days of the Covid-19 pandemic reaching the UK. The 4CD edition was daunting: the whole album and 2 CDs worth of outtakes and rough mixes, followed by the “Last Night At The Palais” CD. The “Last Night At The Palais” DVD was not included. Time has passed, time has healed and it is clear that RPTLC is a terrific EP stretched out beyond the energy of the participants. There is even a strong 40 minute single LP to be had within its contents but, hey it was what it was. With almost all of the unreleased mixes having no vocals, interest wears off before we got to the excellent live disc but, on the other paw, Cherry Red have done exactly what we want; it is highly unlikely that there is anything left from the album sessions; this is the whole lot, every scrap. Up to us now what we do with them.

****************************

Now, if you're thinking I've skipped something, you're right but the story of The Fall's posthumous discography is difficult to tell in a linear fashion. So I invite you, friends, to join me in a diversion. Cast your minds back to Record Store Day 2019.

Cherry Red played a good hand by releasing a new vinyl edition of the superb “Imperial Wax Solvent” album. As with “Levitate”, vinyl copies were going for silly money, Universal having allegedly pressed a mere 500 for the world. It was a shame that Cherry Red therefore added only another 500 copies, this time pressed into yellow vinyl. These were almost entirely snapped up on the day and copies of this edition are routinely offered at £50-60. “IWS” had, of course, been out of print since 2008, having been deleted less than 6 months after its release. As such the RSD edition of “IWS” could be said to have undersold the record somewhat. Unless, of course, a properly “available” edition, maybe with that unreleased original mix of the album was to follow at some point...more on that later.

Sadly, we must also wade through the other Fall releases that were curled out for RSD 2019. That will take us into Part 3...

#the fall #mark e smith #hex enduction hour #dragnet #live at the witch trials #reformation post tlc #1982 #room to live #craig scanlon #steve hanley #paul hanley #marc riley #karl burns #imperial wax solvent

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asphalt-cocktail · 5 years ago

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Kinkmas Prompt #6: Dirty Talk

A/N: Yeah, I went really over board with this fic and I’m NOT sorry. This is probably my favorite one that I have written so far so I hope you all enjoy! All your comments, likes, and reblogs are so nice to see/read and I appreciate every one of them!

If you would like to request a prompt and character yourself please reference my Kinkmas masterpost.

Pairing: Roger Taylor x F!Reader

Word Count: 5.1k

Warnings: Smut, oral (m and f receiving), p in v, unprotected, HELLA dirty talk, also smoking and alcohol, fluff, public sexy time, the WORKS people, its high key filthy, also its kind of a college AU??? But not really, (it’s still the 70s), not proof read as well

Kinkmas 2019 Masterlist

General Masterlist

Asks

If you are considered a minor do NOT interact with this post. This is fictitious content and I own nothing.

You didn’t know why you had agreed to come along to this party, in fact you don’t even know how you managed to get invited in the first place. It was a friend of a friend situation that caused you to show up on Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor’s college apartment one warm spring night.

To summarize it quickly, you knew John’s girlfriend, Veronica through attending the same university. You met in a freshman seminar class and bonded over your mutual love of disco music and drive for success as women. Eventually when dorm life became too restricted for your liking and you were seeking a roommate, Veronica just so happened to be in the same position. Now, two years later and into your third year of college you found yourselves living very well together.

You knew her boyfriend, John, he was quiet and smart but also had quite a sassy mouth on him and a secret wild streak. That was a quality that John and Veronica shared, they often went out late to go dancing, leaving you alone in the flat. You didn’t mind, you weren’t one to go out and preferred to stay inside, reading or listening to LPs. But when Veronica knocked on your door the Thursday before, begging you to go, you found yourself unable to say no.

“Come on,” She whined, “Roger is going to be there…” She said in a sing song voice.

You scoffed “So,” You said crossing your arms over your chest. Sure you knew of the other three guys that made up John’s band, but it wasn’t like you actually liked any of them.

“Oh don’t even pull that, I’ve seen you making eyes at Roger.” She said lightly pushing your shoulder. You rolled your eyes in response and opened your mouth to comment but she quickly interrupted you “You could at least use a quick shag even if you don’t fancy Roger. You never leave the house.”

Your jaw fell open, “What!” you shrilly said, “I leave the house!” you really didn’t have much else to say, even if what you yelled wasn’t all that true.

“Yeah! For class! When was the last time you brought a guy home? That Michael guy? That doesn’t even count, he was in and out of the house in 15 minutes!” Veronica had a point, Michael from Lit 305 was a disappointment, he was one of those guys who aggressively rubbed everywhere but your clit and repeatedly asked if you were coming. Spoiler alert: You weren’t.

“Fine, I’ll go!” You yelled back in defeat, “But I won’t have fun and you’ll have to kill me before you put my hair in rollers!” if you were going to go out, you were going to do it your way, and not hers.

So here you were, the annual Mercury, Taylor spring end of year bash. You could hear the yelling from outside their damn apartment building and could see people cluttered on the balcony and scattered throughout the yard, Christ this was going to be a mess, you could already tell.

You lugged a case of beer up the steps and opened the door, letting yourself in and were greeted with a grinning and red-faced Veronica “You came!” She squealed and pulled you into a hug.

You furrowed your brows and patted her back awkwardly, “Yeah, yeah, I wouldn’t hear the end of it if I didn’t.” You muttered and scoped the room out, you couldn’t see Freddie, but you could hear him amongst the smoke-filled room and over the loud music. Brian was sitting on the couch his long arms comfortable spread along the back, you could tell he was in a casually heated debate. John was right behind Veronica, his arms firmly wrapped around her waist once she pulled away from you; their red faces and grins matching. But Roger, he was standing by the keg, pouring a drink for himself with several girls flocked around him, laughing at something they probably pretended was funny if you had to judge by the looks on their faces.

“Can I set this down somewhere it won’t get stolen?” You asked, nodding to your case of beer and scrunching your nose as someone bumped into your shoulder while they pushed past you.

John perked up “Oh, you can put in Roger’s room.” You opened your mouth to protest, the last thing you wanted was to see Roger, “Rog!” He called, catching the blonde’s attention and waving him over.

Roger walked up, beer in hand and looked you up and down, his grinning face settling on your scowl, “Can [Y/N] put this in your room?” John asked, swaying with Veronica lightly to the music.

His gaze broke away from you and he glanced at John, “Sure!” He said and pushed his way through the crowd with you following suit.

As the two of you pushed further into the house, the more crowded and densely packed together the bodies got. Roger reached a hand back for you to grasp so you wouldn’t get lost and you took it, feeling the callouses on the palms of his hands and on the pads of his fingertips. You gulped and clutched your case of beer under your arm while the two of you continued to push through before you finally reached his door. He pulled out his keys and unlocked it on the first try. The rush of cool air that left his room was refreshing and didn’t smell like stale beer, cigarettes, and sweat. You had only met Roger a hand full of times but knew the smell in the room was so uniquely him.

He kicked some of his clothes out of the way and looked over at you “You can keep them in here, just grab a few and stick them in the fridge, if you need a refill you know where to find me.” He said giving you a cheeky salute.

You froze, there was a reason you tried to never interact with Roger. It was because that stupid soft voice of his made your knees weak and your head begin to spin. “O-okay” You answered quickly, adverting your gaze and grabbing an arm full of beers, “Do… do you want one?” there was something about this man that caused you to lose all sense of focus and you hated it.

Roger gave you an odd look, “Sure,” He said taking a beer from your hands, “You able to carry all that?” His wide blue eyes looking down at you.

You shifted your stance and nodded your head “Yeah I got it,” You answered just as three cans slipped out from the gaps in your arms and fell to the floor “Shit,” You cursed, bending over and dropping several more cans. You let out a frustrated huff, now holding significantly less than what you had been previously and looked up, only to see eye to eye with Roger as he bent down to help you pick up the fallen cans, “I got it,” You repeated, your hand darting out.

Your hands collided together in a very cliché manor, “It doesn’t look like you do.” He teased, “I can help.” He insisted, you let out a long sigh and finally agreed to let him help you.

When the two of you exited his room, you found Veronica immediately standing at the door, “Oh hey!” She said smiling sheepishly. You narrowed your eyes at her, knowing exactly why she was standing there.

Roger, clueless as every grinned back “Hey Ronnie, you seen Fred?” He asked, craning his head to look over the crowd.

Veronica nodded her head “Yeah, I think he’s on the balcony or outside?” Her answer was more of question, some how he was everywhere at once, running around and insisting on interacting with the guests that had arrived in order to be a good host.

“Right, well I’m going to help [Y/N] put these in the fridge and find him. Roger answered, pushing through the crowd with you in tow.

You were thankful the kitchen was sparsely populated and only contained a few stragglers that were looking to mix their drinks. You placed your cans of beer in the fridge and grabbed one, cracking it open and gulping down the bitter liquid, “I need to be way more fucked up to be here.” You muttered to yourself.

Apparently, Roger had heard you, “Want a shot?” He asked, curiosity flashing behind his azure eyes, “You know to loosen up a bit?” Roger waved a cheap plastic bottle of vodka in front of you.

You looked at your beer, at Roger, and then at the bottle of vodka and your face broke into a grin, “Only if you take one with me.” You responded.

Roger poured out four shot glasses he’d pulled from the cabinets, not caring that he spilled a little as he filled them to the brim, “Ready?” He asked before the two of you raised your glasses to clank them together, tapped them on the table, and then swallowed the clear liquid, it burned going down and caused the two of you to wince and cough. Roger shook his head, trying to clear the sting and blew out a puff of air “Next one, quick,” He said grinning.

You laughed and followed the same pre shot ritual, now feeling a bit more loosened up. The alcohol caused a shiver to creep up your spine and spread through your ears, “That was awful.” You sighed out but couldn’t help but laugh.

Roger grinned back at you, “I know!” He answered back before looking around the room “I’ll be around if you want to do more, ‘kay?” Right, Freddie still needed to be found.

You nodded your head, “Yeah, course.” You responded and exchanged weird nods before he left.

Of course Veronica was waiting for you to exit the kitchen, “Did you kiss him?” She pressed, quickly bombarding you with questions.

You made a face “Of course not, we just took shots and he went to find Freddie, just like he said he would.” You made sure to point out, “Nothing, is going to happen between me and Roger.” You made sure to put emphasis in your sentence.

As the night continued and the alcohol flowed, you found that you weren’t upset about being forced to go out tonight. You and Veronica laughed and danced to the loud continuous music and continued to suck your drinks down like they were water. A wonderful buzzing feeling spread through your body, warming your face and hands. It had been ages since you’d loosened up this much.

Despite the fun atmosphere the small apartment soon became stuffy from breathing recycled air and the lack of circulation, “I’ll be back I’m stepping outside.” You yelled back over the crowd to Veronica who gave you a thumbs up.

You pushed past everyone, looking over the crowd to the balcony which looked as though it was one person away from collapsing and opted to just head outside.

Once outside you coughed at the surprisingly cool air as it filled your lungs and patted your pockets looking for your pack of cigarettes. “Fuck,” You mumbled unable to find the crumpled pack. You leaned against the cool brick of the building and huffed out a sigh of disappointment, at least you still had your beer.

“Need a smoke?”

You turned to see Roger next to you, leaning on the wall of the apartment, his hands casually in his pockets and a cigarette dangling from his lips, “Please,” You asked looking sheepishly at him. He stuck the soft pack out and you picked one placing the cigarette between your lips.

Roger held up his lighter and you looked quizzically at him “You need a light right?” He asked, pulling you from your daze.

You shook your head “Oh, yeah, right.” You answered awkwardly and leaned in towards the little metal flip lighter. He flicked it open and used his hands to shield the flame from the wind, you inhaled as the flame danced around the tobacco and paper, feeling the smoke trickle into your lungs. You pulled away, puffing the smoke into the air and watching it disappear.

As you smoked your cigarette you continued to sneak side glances at him, observing how he shifted the weight from one leg to the other and stuffed his hands as far into his jean pockets as possible. The colorful and thin button down was doing nothing to keep the cool air out, especially since it was hardly buttoned. “What?” Roger finally said breaking the silence.

“What?” You answered back, slightly taken back.

“You keep looking at me.” He accused, you could hear the amusement in his voice as he spoke.

“No, I don’t.” You said defensively.

“Yeah, you do.” Roger said matching your tone and now turning to face you, “Why do you act so weird around me?” He pressed, shifting closer to you.

You found yourself leaning back away from him, looking down and making a weird face “I don’t act weird around you.” You continued to defend yourself.

Roger grinned, turning his head away and letting out a soft laugh before looking back at you “There you go making that face,” Before you could continue to deny he interrupted you “Anytime I come over you run and hide in your room, you’ve lived with Veronica for three years and this is the most I’ve heard you speak let alone seen you.” He looked at you with keen eyes.

You looked away, averting your gaze from his and flicking the ash from your cigarette “I’m just shy,” You answered.

Roger let out a loud laugh, causing you to jump “That’s a lie and you know it.” he was close, you could smell the combination of cigarettes and alcohol on his breath and felt your face getting flushed “Do I… make you nervous?” His voice was teasing and low.

It caused you to clench your thighs together as heat pooled between your legs “I-I… no…” You managed to peep out. Your skin felt like it was on fire and you had dropped your long-forgotten cigarette on the ground, placing your palms flatly against the building behind you as you turned, looking away from Roger’s face.

“Look at me,” Roger’s voice was demanding, and his hand cupped your chin urging you obey him, “Be a good girl and look over here, love.”

You chewed on your lip, stifling a whimper that still managed to seep out of your lips and looked up at Roger. He was so close to you; his shallow breaths brushed against your face and filled your nostrils with the scent of cigarette smoke and alcohol. It was intoxicating. “There you go…” He said softly. You looked up at him wide eyed, like a deer in headlights. You swallowed thickly and tried to calm your rapid breaths and urge to look away from Roger’s intense gaze. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” He asked, his hand sliding from your chin to cup you the side of your face.

Roger’s thumb traced your lower lip and you found your self letting out a shaky breath, your lower lip lightly quivering against his rough fingers. His thumb pressed past your lips into the wet warmth of your mouth, “Suck,” He ordered.

You found yourself obeying and closing your lips around his fingers, gently rubbing your tongue along the soft pads of his thumb and groaning lightly as you sucked on it, “Good girl.” He said breathlessly.

You whimpered, clenching your thighs and hoping the pressure would help ease the arousal you felt. He pushed his thumb further back into your mouth, pressing at the back your throat. You gagged, your mouth opening as you coughed and your throat constricting around his thumb. He quickly pulled his finger back and looked up at your glassy eyes, maintaining eye contact with you as he pulled his thumb completely from your mouth.

Saliva dribbled down your lip and you wiped it off with the back of your hand, keeping eye contact. Your eyes were glassy, and tears had formed in them as a natural reaction to gagging. Roger’s hands cupped either side of your face and he licked his lips, “Bet you with you were gagging on my cock instead of my finger.” He boldly stated.

Your breath hitched in the back of your throat and you felt your face heat up. He wasn’t wrong, that was the problem, “What are you going to do about it.” You had no idea why you said that, you truly didn’t. Perhaps it was the alcohol you had been drinking, or the fact it had been well over a year since your last decent lay, either way you eagerly awaited his response.

“You wanna get on your knees here, or inside?” He asked, pressing his body against you. His cock strained through the already tight fabric of his jeans and pushed against your leg. You whimpered and felt yourself slinking down onto the ground.

The coolness from the damp grass soaked into the knees of your jeans as you knelt in front of him, palming him through his pants. “Fuck,” Roger breathed out before stepping around you to lean against the brick building and quickly scrambled, fumbling with his belt and taking his cock out from his pants.

You instinctively reached up, gripping him at the base and pumping your hand along his length. His head leaned back and he widened his stance, shoulders resting comfortably against the wall. You licked the tip of his half hard cock and looked up at him. His mouth hung ever so slightly ajar as he watched you engulf his length and begin to bob your head up and down.

You let out a content moan, feeling him stretching and filling your mouth with his length and sucked him into your mouth, rubbing your tongue along his length. His hips bucked into your mouth and Roger found himself loosing composure.

Roger roughly gripped your hair, his fingernails scraping at the base of your scalp as you began to pick up your speed, bobbing your head and moving your hand in synchronized movements. Spit began to gather and seep from the corners of your mouth and down your hand as you continued to suck him off, soon forgetting the two of you were outside.

“Shit,” Roger cursed out, bucking his hips hard against you causing his length to hit the back of your throat. You found yourself gagging unexpectedly, pulling back to wipe your mouth and catch your breath. Quickly you found yourself opening up, ready to swallow him once more “You like sucking me off outside?” He asked, tapping his cock against your flat tongue while his other hand kept your head firmly in place.

You looked up at him wide eyes and nodded your head, “Yes,” You rasped out between ragged breaths.

He slipped his erection between your lips once more, this time your hands braced yourself on his hips and he slowly pumped into your mouth. Soft grunts and moans left his lips as he held your head in place with both of his hands, thrusting into your mouth, careful to not make you gag. His movements were surprisingly slow, like he wanted to savor the moment and not waste it.

But a cat call shattered the moment. Pulling the two of you from your own little bubble and back into reality. Your face flushed and you quickly pulled away, burying your face in your hands in embarrassment. Roger couldn’t help but break into a grin, “As fun as this is.” He said tucking himself back into his pants, “We should go inside, I wanna see that pretty pussy of yours. I know you’ve got to be soaked.” He continued to speak and reached down, helping you up from the ground.

“Wait!” You said, stopping in your tracks as the two of you headed for the front door, “Do you have a back door up?” you asked and averted your gaze nervously “I… I just don’t want Ronnie snooping around.” You said, rubbing your fingers along the hem of your shirt.

Roger smiled softly and nodded his head, taking your hand in his own “Yeah, come on we can go through the car park.” He offered.

After your little detour, the two of you had successfully made it back into his flat without much of a bother. The crowd had died down and only a few stragglers and passed out friends remained in the living room. You and Roger slipped into his bedroom where he immediately locked the door and pushed you up against it, capturing you in a hot opened mouthed kiss.

Your teeth clanked together, and you let out a soft whimper feeling your back hitting the wooden door, it was quickly swallowed by Roger’s feverish kisses. He sucked your lower lip and lightly tugged on it as he pulled away, “Bed, now.” He said pulling away and lightly pushing you in the direction of his bed.

You nodded, scrambling to make your way over, plopping down, Roger pushed you back and you fell onto his plush blankets. He quickly climbed on top of you, wasting no time kissing down your neck and continuing down, nipping and licking at every bit of skin that had been exposed by your tee shirt riding up. He paused, kissing the waste band of your jeans and looking up at you, “Keep going,” You said breathlessly, “Please.” Roger grinned and unbuttoned your pants, slipping them off and revealing your panties which had soaked through. He nuzzled his nose against the dark spot of moisture that had collected and licked you through your panties. “Fuck,” You said, raking your hand through your hair with anticipation.

“You’re so wet,” Roger said, spreading your legs more and kissing along your thighs, gently licking and sucking at the soft supple skin, “You wet for me, love?” He asked, “You wet from sucking me off?”

You squirmed against him, inching closer so he would get the hint, “’M wet for you.” You whimpered.

“You like having my cock in your mouth?” Ge asked, hooking his fingers on either side of your panties and slowly pulling them down.

You let out a helpless sigh “Yes, I want your cock in my mouth.” You responded bucking your hips into his touch.

Roger held down your squirming hips and spread your folds apart, giving him an unfiltered view of your wet cunt, e led with his nose as he buried his face between your legs, his tongue followed, flatly licking at your core before his tongue swirled around your swollen clit causing you to let out a whiney breath, “Ah, Rog,” You moaned, reaching down and lacing your fingers in his hair.

Your stomach tightened, as the tip of his tongue meandered around your wet cunt, making sure to explore every inch you had to offer. He slipped two fingers into your tight cunt, slowly pumping his fingers into you and curling them as he alternated between suckling and lapping at your clit. Before he pulled away to watch you, sigh in disappointment at the loss of pleasure.

“Please, don’t stop,” you begged and bucked your hips onto his fingers that curled against your walls, rubbing against them. You back arched against his touches and as you felt him dive back between your legs, feeling his tongue sharply darting backing and forth on your sensitive nub. You tugged his hair and pressed his face closer into your cunt hoping to relieve some of the pressure that was building in the base of your tummy “Fuck, fuck, ‘m so close.” You mumbled out, your thighs clenching tightly as you tried to stave off your looming orgasm.

He paused momentarily, “It’s okay, you can let go.” He huffed out before swirling his tongue around your clit and sucking on it immediately after, sending you over the edge. Your chest heaved as your thighs clenched on either side of his face, your hand holding him in place as you felt a wave of pleasure wash over you.

He pulled away, watching your pussy clenching and pulsating around his fingers as they slowed down, milking and prolonging your pleasure. You found yourself pulling back from his soft teasing touches “Stop, stop, stop,” You whimpered helplessly as the pleasure and frustration soon became too much for you to handle.

Roger stuck his fingers into his mouth, sucking on them and softly grunting at the taste.

You looked at him through hazy eyes, your mouth still ajar and trying to steady out your erratic breaths. You soon found yourself pulling him back up your body, kissing him softly and sensually. Your mouths slowly moving against each other as you held him tightly against you. Roger pulled away pulling off yours and his shirts and trailing a line of kisses from your jaw and down your neck. “You want me to fuck this tight pussy of yours?” He growled right in your ear and ground his hips against your sensitive core.

You whimpered and held his hips in place, moving with them “Please,” you sighed.

“How do you want it?” He pulled away and studied your face, hoping you’d answer him honestly.

You stuttered, trying to find your words, no one had ever asked you that before “I… I…” you could hardly think of an answer “I don’t want to be able to walk afterwards.” There was your answer.

Roger’s face broke into a wide grin, “Turn over for me, love.” He said pulling away and tapping the side of your hips.

You quickly followed suit, rolling over onto your stomach and getting on your knees, spreading your legs and pushing your ass back against him. Roger licked his lips and spread your cheeks, getting a perfect view of your already swollen and wet cunt that was still sensitive from your previous orgasm “You’ve got such a pretty pussy, you know that?” His soft voice saying such lewd words caused you to twitch with anticipation. He hummed, “You like it when I talk to you like that?” He asked and slowly inserted two fingers into you causing you to gasp, “When I call you a good girl and tell you how good that pussy of yours taste?” You let out a low moan and clenched his fingers as they began to pump in and out of your cunt, “I could eat that cunt of yours all night if you’d let me,” He let out a soft sigh, “But, fuck I want to feel you clenching around my cock.” He said and pulled his fingers out of you abruptly.

You whined at the loss of feeling but he quickly pushed into you, his cock stretching you as he filled you up. You clenched the bedsheets tightly and gasped “R-Rog,” You sobbed out as he started moving slowly, still barely recovered from your previous orgasm, “Harder, please?”

Roger pulled out from you nearly all the way and slammed back into you, “You want me to fuck you harder?” He asked leaning over to growl in your ear and gripped a fist full of your hair, pulling it back and forcing your back to arch.

“Yes, please,” You cried out, “Please,” seemed to be the only word you could choke out as his hips harshly slapped against you. The sound of your slurred words mixed with his grunts and the sound of your skin slapping together and filled the room, forming a sinful combination.

His let go of your hair, allowing your arms to collapse as he now pushed your head into the mattress, driving you into the soft plush blankets with his hard-steady thrusts. His hand reached around pressing hard against your clit “You gonna come for me again, baby?” He asked rubbing harsh messy circles on the swollen and sensitive bud. You nodded your head against the mattress, whimpering incoherently, “I want that tight cunt of yours to come all over my cock, come on, I know you have another one in you.” Your walls fluttered around him, your second orgasm building easily and quickly threatening to overtake you.

The tight feeling in your belly began to build and you clenched your eyes shut tightly, choking out a high-pitched whine before your walls clenched hard around Roger’s cock “Ah, fuck, that’s my good girl.” Roger grunted through his tightly clenched jaw. His hands dug into the meat of your thighs and hips as his pace began to lose rhythm and become uneven. He groaned loudly, burying himself to the hilt as he spurted hot ropes of come into your still clenching pussy, allowing it to milk him as he worked the two of you through your highs with a few shallow thrusts.

His hand stayed on the small of your back as he stilled, slowly pulling out and whimpering as your tight walls brushed against his sensitive member. You straightened your legs out and laid flatly against the bed while Roger flopped over next to you. The sound of your rapid breaths filled the room as a comfortable silence hung in the air before Roger broke it, “I knew I made you nervous.” He said proudly.

You turned your head towards him, your muscles aching as you did, “Shut up,” You said and buried your face with embarrassment.

Roger pulled you into his sticky and sweaty chest, kissing your bare shoulder “I think it’s cute.” He mumbled against your skin.

“Cute?” You asked, peering up at him.

He swallowed thickly and nodded his head “Yeah, cute.” He reassured and reached down, pulling his tangled blankets over the two of you. You rolled onto your side, your back against Roger’s chest as he tapped soft mindless rhythms against your skin, “You know you should come around more often.” He said softly.

You rolled over and faced him still in his arms “If this is what happens when I come around more, then I guess I can.” You tried to feign disappointment but couldn’t hide it behind your post sex glow.

Roger’s hand came up, lightly brushing your messy hair from your face, “If you would have stopped hiding in your room, this would have happened sooner.” Roger admitted, his thumb softly rubbing circles on your cheek.

You closed your eyes and leaned into his touch, sighing softly, “Can… can it happen again?” You asked sounding hopeful.

Roger couldn’t help but grin as you resorted back to your shy tactics, “Of course it can.” He said and once again pulled you back into his chest and running his fingers through your hair.

As the two of you laid in silence and felt a wave of exhaustion claim you, you couldn’t help but secretly feel thankful that Veronica had convinced you to go out tonight.

#roger taylor x reader #roger taylor #roger taylor smut #ben hardy #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy smut #ben hardy!roger x reader #ben hardy!roger taylor #ben hardy!roger taylor x reader #queen x reader #borhap fanfic #queen fanfic #reader insert #ACs Kinkmas

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briilliance · 5 years ago

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(Do Not Reblog)

Ducktales speculation, spoilers, and analysis relating to Launchpad under read more.

THESE ARE MY PERSONAL HC’S, NOT RELATED TO THE SHOW. I AM NOT CLAIMING IT CANON. Just Theories

I can’t stop thinking about Double O Duck and Launchpad’s reactions in the very first few minutes of the episode. We know Lp is confident, suave and funny around everyone, even strangers. We have seen him be cocky, smooth and sometimes even mildly arrogant.

Drake, Fenton, Gyro, and many more characters can be used as examples for how easy going Launchpad normally is with strangers. He’s also proven and shown to be able to keep calm under incredibly difficult situations and tasks.

Flying a crashing plane, jumping out of a plane in free-fall, crashing into an alien ship to (I’ll go back to this later) expertly dismantle its computers and calibration as a diversion.

Being bitten multiple times by very venomous snakes and his body can still mildly function to some degree.

And yet, in a spy video game, he’s anxious, nervous and unfocused. He jumbled up so fast and easily it almost seems forced. A video game he’s apparently played multiple times and lost every single one of them.

It just, didn’t make sense to me. It doesn’t make sense. So I propose a theory MANY have talked about before, and I just want to build my own.

I believe “Spy Launchpad” is actually the true and original Launchpad.

We know Launchpad had very odd jobs and relationships before working with Scrooge McDuck due to the absurd ex’s he claims to half. From a Princess mermaid, a panda heiress related to Chinese mafia, a wereduck, and even for some bizarre reason a clone of himself.

How on Earth would a “casual Joe” find himself cloned? Surrounded by all these bizarre people and connections BEFORE Scrooge McDuck.

Okay so, my idea is that Launchpad used to be a wonderful agent working against Fowl. He was smart, cunning, charming and witty. He could fly planes, submarines, helicopters, and hold masterfully hand to hand combats where he always won.

Then, something happened.

Either he was discovered in a failed mission, his first failed mission.

Failed a mission and never recovered

An accident relating to, ironically enough a “dumb-down” weapon.

I personally believe in the third one.

At the end of the episode, they made a very CLEAR point that Fowl no longer related itself to any type of weapons-related to rays. That they were above that sort of attack.

Spy Launchpad also made two very specific comments in the episode. While on the Monitor it read F.O.W.L he called them out by their full name, also mentioning that they were back.

Again, how would Launchpad know about FOWL. Webby only knows because Beakley HAD to tell her to keep her safe, and even if it wasn’t Beakley, Webby had years to study Scrooge’s life, a man that keeps almost all his entire history inside his manor.

Webby knowing makes sense, Launchpad doesn’t.

I don’t see Scrooge casually talking about FOWL, at least not dropping it by name unless it was NECESSARY.

The second comment was “No one can survive to be that stupid.” and then, realized that HE could survive being that stupid. You can say it was just him remembering himself before the ray, but please remember he mentioned that Ray made you so stupid you could forget how to breathe.

Then there’ the Lunaris plan back in Season 2′s finale.

Even if Glomgold made the plan, it would have made more sense for Beakley to be the one thrown inside the rocket to dismantle he computers. Beakley would have argued against Lp doing it, it's in her nature but she didn’t.

Both Scrooge and Beakley trusted that Lp would know how to do it, it’s interesting.

My final conclusion and personal headcanon is that Lp was originally Spy Launchpad and for some reason he was involved in some accident (or willingly?) got turned “stupid” and placed under Beakley and Scrooge’s care to make sure he wouldn’t be found.

His abilities and strange knowledge of things his body knows how to do but his brain don’t is simply muscle memory reacting to familiar situations it was once put under.

His reactions to the game and being unable to work under pressure were that his body didn’t need to function with RedFeather, his mind had to and it couldn’t function or recognize its environment or current situation because it simply didn’t recognize it.

It remembered it, but it couldn’t process it.

“It’s almost too real.”

How could Launchpad know how it felt to be tear-gassed and almost DIE from it? It could of been an adventure or several with Scrooge, or it could have been a faint memory of his Spy Days being brought back without him realizing it.

SO YEAH THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS, PERSONAL HEADCANONS, AND SPECULATIONS.

I AM NOT IN ANYWAY PART OR INVOLVED IN DUCKTALES OR ANYTHING RELATED.

I DO NOT WORK FOR DISNEY OR FRANK.

DO NOT REBLOG.

#Muse: Launchpad McQuack #long post

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antiquatedfuture · 5 years ago

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New Cassettes, Reissues, Remixes, and Records

Indira Valey Indira Valey's new album of alternate-world adventures, Yemas, was recently featured as Album of the Day on Bandcamp Daily. Such an honor! Read kind words about it (from the one-and-only Jacob An Kittenplan) on Cassette Gods and also find it through Waltz and K Records.

Reighnbeau remix The first in a series of remixes from Reighnbeau's Antiquated Future release Slight (which is on the verge of its one-year anniversary!) just came out. From Montreal producer Thomas White, his ILWYW remix brings Colleen Johnson's vocals to the forefront and pulses with such force. We can't wait for more remixes to come!

David Thomas Broughton We always love having some news about the great David Thomas Broughton (whose wild UnAbleTo we released back in 2013). Our very favorite DTB album, The Complete Guide to Insufficiency, is coming out on vinyl for the very first time! And on one of our favorite labels, Songs, by Toad. We're so thrilled. Also, while you're at it, pick up one of the few remaining copies of Crippling Lack, his triple-LP 2015 masterpiece. Soooo good.

Kickball restock We just picked up the remaining physical albums from one of the greatest Olympia bands of all time (standing by this statement, forever and ever), Kickball. We've been working on releasing their final recordings as a cassingle for ages, and we're hopefully inching closer toward that. In the meantime, get caught up on their brilliant back catalog. The Everything is a Miracle Nothing is a Miracle Everything is 10" is the brightest gem, but we've really been loving the hidden depths of ABCDEFGHIJKickball this week.

Guidon Bear (now in other formats) I keep saying that if Guidon Bear's years-in-the-making debut, Downwardly Mobile: Steel Accelerator, doesn't make it onto a year-end list I'll flip out. It's such a perfect piece of lyrically-dense indie-pop from some folks who have been at for it decades. Luckily, it's slowly but surely getting some much-deserved love, including recent kind words from Various Small Flames and Cassette Gods. It's also now available on CD, as well as cassette.

Antiquated Future: The First Seven Years And if you haven't picked up a copy (or freely downloaded) our new compilation, you should! 19 songs from our first seven years. The A-side is more bands and pop songs, the B-side is more solo projects and ethereal dreams. Read about it on Various Small Flames and Cassette Gods and it's also available through our pals at the Jigsaw Records and K Records distro.

New Distro Adam Lipman- The Slouch (Shrimper Records)- An absolute gem of low-key indie rock. A casual croon over warm tones, a rhythm section moseying sweetly along, feeling good. Musical contributions from David-Ivar Herman Düne and Franklin Bruno (Nothing Painted Blue, The Extra Lens). For fans of Jason Molina, Kath Bloom, Spenking, Thanksgiving. (cassette) ($8)

Dorothy Carter- Troubador (Why the Tapes Play Records)- Otherworldly hammered dulcimer lushness. Surprising, largely instrumental, with splashes of Dorothy Carter's mystical Malvina Reynolds-esque vocals. (cassette) ($6)

Nicomo- Views (self-released)- A smart six-song EP of breezy pop songs soaked in an ethereal haze. An early-morning hangout album meets complex after-dark mood music. For fans of Mega Bog, City Center, Shaggy Sample, Karl Blau, and Stephen Steinbrink. (CD) ($10)

And thanks to everybody who came to our anniversary party at the end of August! What a dreamy dream.

#music distro #music news #new music #new cassettes #cassette culture #cassette label #indira valey #reighnbeau #david thomas broughton #nicomo #adam lipman #guidon bear #kickball

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thirstinmore-blog · 6 years ago

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Best Albums of 2018

BEST ALBUMS 2018

20. Noname: Room 25

19. Jeremih & Ty Dolla $ign: Mih-Ty

18. Tierra Whack: Whack World

17. Parks Burton: Pare

16. Oneohtrix Point Never: Age Of

15. Angelique Kidjo: Remain in Light

14. Shannon Shaw: Shannon in Nashville

13. Curren$y & Freddie Gibbs: Fetti

12. Ariana Grande: Sweetener

11. Vince Staples: FM!

10. DJ Koze: Knock Knock

9. Mariah Carey: Caution

8. Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel

7. The Carters: Everything is Love

6. Snail Mail: Lush

5. Shannon & the Clams: Onion

4. Teyana Taylor: K.T.S.E.

3. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour

2. Blood Orange: Negro Swan

1. Dirty Projectors: Lamp Lit Prose

(Spotify playlist)

(Capsule reviews of Top 10 below)

10. DJ Koze: Knock Knock. The music writing trope of “a sounds like b + c” is as lazy as it is played, but sometimes you hear a record and those type of comparisons spring to mind, like when I first heard Saint Pepsi’s Hit Vibes and instantly thought of J Dilla making a disco record. That was also my response to Knock Knock, which sounds like the Avalanches making a more patient update of Since I Left You for 2018 ears. The record is long and lush, and draws from roughly nine billion different aesthetics, but its particular mélange still manages to sound fresh. As with SILY, the album is best experienced as a complete piece of music (though several tracks, such as “Lord Knows” and “Scratch That” would sound great in a mix or DJ set). Knock Knock takes the listener through ambling pathways that wrap around and revisit each other, like an evening stroll through the spacious Joshua Tree National Park depicted on its cover. It’s nearly a two-hour journey, but it’s well worth the price of admission.

9. Mariah Carey: Caution. Mariah got a dirty mouth and I’m here for it. As mother, a twice-divorcée, a woman nearing 50, her work and her image are all her own; if she wants to include the word “fuck” in a bunch of songs on her new album (“GTFO,” “With You,” “The Distance”), then who the fuck are we to tell her no? It’s a refreshing twist from someone whose public persona is often so curated, but I’m burying the lede. The real story here is that Caution is a batch of excellent R&B songs from one of the genre’s all-time greats. It’s not overwrought – by contrast, the album’s sultry blue cover art is indicative of the moods within. The Ty Dolla $ign-featuring “The Distance” is laid extremely deep in the cut, assisted by some subtle production from Poo Bear, Lido and—holy shit, Skrillex? Yup, and like Mariah herself, everyone involved uses an even hand and measured patience to let each song breathe.

A personal highlight for me is “A No No,” which flips the Lil Kim/Lil Cease classic “Crush On You” on its head. Here, where Biggie intones “he’s a slut, he’s a hoe, he’s a freak/got a different girl every day of the week,” there is no irony intended. She gauges her suitors’ intent and responds simply: “that’s a no-no.” In fact, the word “no” accounts for easily half the song’s lyrics, but it’s still a blast on subsequent listens. But don’t get it twisted – highlights abound herein, from aforementioned singles “GTFO” and “The Distance” to the thoughtful, expansive, Dev Hynes-helmed “Giving Me Life,” which begins as a downtempo club hit and morphs into a surrealist dream. Mariah Carey is one of the artists who’s been in my life the longest – I’m so happy she’s still killing it.

8. Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel. Courtney Barnett is what I was raised to believe an indie rock star should be: an unassuming, smart slacker with regular clothes and the ability to unleash earthbound poetry and atmosphere-puncturing solos with equal aplomb. That effortless cool permeates every facet of her work, from her casual half-singing style to her loose but proficient playing, a mighty guitar god in the body of a humble 31-year-old. (That she recorded a collaborative record with renowned cool guy Kurt Vile should surprise no-one.) But what’s really striking about Barnett’s work is her wryly observant lyrics; whether she’s describing the banalities of urban life (“City Looks Pretty”) or eviscerating toxic masculinity (“Nameless, Faceless”), her keen eye and incisive wit pervade every line. Tell Me is the sound of a strong artist getting stronger.

7. The Carters: Everything is Love. I often say that as I get older, my favorite elements of songwriting are editing and restraint. That’s why I tend to hate double albums and love EPs. I just believe that most double albums would be better if distilled down to one really strong record. EPs, on the other hand, leave the listener wanting more. Such is the case with Everything is Love, which reads like a Beyonce trap record with a number of guest verses from Jay. Regardless of speculation on who did the lion’s share of the writing on the record, both are in top form. Bey’s signature vocal virtuosity is on display as ever, but the real delight is in her capable delivery as a rapper. She glides effortlessly through triplets like “Poppin, I’m poppin, my bitches are poppin, we go to the dealer and cop it all.” Big Sean could never. Meanwhile, Jay turns in a few of my favorite bars of the year (and also a very slick Drake diss) on “Boss:”

“You not a boss, you got a boss. N*ggas gettin’ jerked, that shit hurts, I take it personaly. N*ggas’d rather work for the man than to work for me. Just so they can pretend they on my level, that shit is irkin’ to me. Pride always goeth before the fall, almost certainly. It’s disturbing what I gross. Survey says: you not even close. Everybody’s bosses till the time to pay for the office, till them invoices separate the men from the boys. Over here we measure success by how many people successful next to you. Here, we say you broke if everybody is broke except for you. BAWSE.”

I don’t know if they intend to release more records as The Carters, but Everything is Love is a fun, successful experiment.

6. Snail Mail: Lush. There’s no reason for a debut LP to be this good. The record, from solo project-turnt-band of 19-year-old Lindsay Jordan is focused, clever, and sophisticated. Every component of these songs appears exactly as it should. Jordan’s songwriting is clean and incisive (“I hope whoever it is holds their breath around you/’cause I know I did,” she sings on album standout “Heat Wave”). The arrangements are smartly simple; seldom do they deviate from the four-person rock lineup, so the embellishments that are included (the French horn on “Deep Sea,” the layered keys on “Speaking Terms”) really leap out. The playing throughout is lovely, with Jordan’s beautiful guitar technique front and center (the finger-picking on “Let’s Find an Out” is a particular delight). Everything in its right place – only where Radiohead’s inward gaze can be mopey and self-indulgent, the core strength of Lush is its efficiency. There’s no filler here – just the exact amount of support that each piece requires. The drumming feels especially strong in this regard – there’s an economic directness in Ray Brown’s playing that prioritizes the backbeat over everything, including his ego. The fills that he does include are modest and workmanlike.

It’s right that the record would be released by Matador, because these songs are drenched in the influences of the 90s slacker rock of Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney and Sebadoh. And as with each of those bands, Snail Mail’s songs are buoyed by excellent lyrics. Jordan doesn’t just sound wise beyond her years, she actually seems to have lived more in her 19 years than many folks twice her age. There’s a subtext of sobriety in some of the songs (“It just feels like the same party every weekend, doesn’t it?” on “Pristine,” or “I’m so tired of moving on/spending every weekend so far gone” on “Heat Wave”). Perhaps the self-reflection that’s required in recovery has helped to distill her worldview.

And look, I don’t mean to be patronizing here – this album would be a major achievement from any person of any age. But to hear an artistic vision this crystal clear and laser-focused from a 19-year-old is something truly special. I can’t wait to hear what she does next.

5. Shannon & the Clams: Onion. Upon first listen, Onion struck me as the best record the Clams have released to date. Now, admittedly, I’m a sucker for keyboards, and the inclusion of organist Will Sprott is pure Patrick-bait. But beyond my own tastes, the organ both fills out and anchors the Clams’ garage doo-wop sound. There’s a welcome succinctness to Onion: the songwriting is tight, the guitar playing is melodic and utilitarian, and the vocal performances from both Cody and Shannon are more technically refined than in any of their previous outings. One wonders if Shannon’s work on her own solo album (the very good, Dan Auerbach-produced Shannon in Nashville, which also came out this year) pushed her to improve her technique. And don’t get it fucked up – this is still a Clams record. It’s still shaggy and loud and rambunctious – but they’ve worked hard to reign in their wildest tendencies. Some might say that it’s layered, just like-- *an oversized cane hooks around my throat and drags me offstage* ….Well…..let’s just say it’s good.

4. Teyana Taylor: KTSE. Of all the seven-song mini-albums Kanye produced in Wyoming this year, KTSE is both the best and the least talked-about. She arrives seemingly out of the blue, a fully-formed artist who knows her strengths exactly. She has bars when she feels like spitting them, a beautiful husky alto when she feels like crooning, and a profound connection to multiple styles of club music that’s borne of her history as a dancer. It’s become a bit trendy to nod to vogue & ballroom culture in the last few years, but while Drake’s Big Freedia feature on “Nice for What” feels a little forced, Taylor can walk it like she talks it. A dancer by trade, her comfort in the ballroom is palpable.

Ye keeps it simple, remaining comfortably in his wheelhouse and flipping excellent soul samples such as Billy Stewart’s “I Do Love You” (which he repurposes into a nostalgic 4/4 slapper on “Hold On”) and The Stylistics’ “Because I Love You, Girl” (which he expands into a melancholy mediation on the horn section of the original). It’s a welcome return to form.

3. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour. In her SNL performance earlier this year, Kacey Musgraves appeared as a flat-ironed, longhair disco queen. As she slayed Golden Hour’s catchy lead single “High Horse,” I was reminded of Dolly Parton. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Dolly’s mid-70s and early-80s catalogue this past year, having purchased vinyl copies of All I Can Do, New Harvest…First Gathering, and Dolly, Dolly, Dolly. Parton is one of those artists whose discographies are so gigantic as to seem practically impenetrable, so I’ve been trying to hear as much as I can. Dolly, Dolly, Dolly is an especially interesting entry: released in 1980, it was her 23rd album, and it represents a pretty clear swing for crossover success. A handful of the tracks are straight-up disco, and these are what Musgraves called to mind. I was thrilled – Dolly’s disco experiments were widely panned, but I think there’s a lot of good there, maybe Golden Hour would be an attempt to vindicate Parton’s vision?

Unfortunately or not, I was incorrect. In total, Golden Hour bears more resemblance to Dolly’s friend & frequent collaborator Emmylou Harris (Kacey’s hair should’ve tipped me off, SMH). It’s a beautiful, understated, and thoughtful set of songs that could fit as well on a folk radio station as a country one. Like Harris, Musgraves has an innate sense of how to let a great song be great, hanging back in both arrangement and vocal performance. She’s emotive when she needs to be (“Rainbow”), and contemplative as needed (“Golden Hour”), always letting her writing breathe. Also, she has the confidence to bury the lead single so deep on Side B that you almost forget it’s there (and are thrilled when it is). As a person who prefers the full album experience to that of a shuffled playlist, this is one of my very favorite tricks.

Quite simply: great songs + great arrangements = a surprising list-topper for me.

2. Blood Orange: Negro Swan. For years, the roles of sexuality and gender in black identity have been foci of Dev Hynes’ work as Blood Orange. He spent time with drag queens and sex workers while writing his debut album Coastal Grooves, and has often cited transgender icon Octavia St. Laurent as one of his primary influences. But while these interests have colored his previous albums, on Negro Swan they’re the bedrock. In a press release preceding the album, Hynes described the album as “an exploration into my own and many types of black depression, an honest look at the corners of black existence, and the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of color. A reach back into childhood and modern traumas, and the things we do to get through it all. The underlying thread through each piece on the album is the idea of hope, and the lights we can try to turn on within ourselves with a hopefully positive outcome of helping others out of their darkness.”

These ideas are fundamental to the songwriting, and they’re reinforced by snippets of conversations with Janet Mock and Kai the Black Angel (who adorns the cover in a durag and angel wings) peppered throughout the album’s 49 minutes. On “Family,” Mock defines community as “the spaces where you don’t have to shrink yourself, where you don’t have to pretend or to perform, you can fully show up and be vulnerable in silence, completely empty, and that’s completely enough.” That search for community, the desire to be seen and loved and supported as your whole self informs each of these beautiful songs. Already a competent producer, Hynes continues to grow, selecting beautiful flourishes like the jangly, perfectly out-of-tune guitar on “Charcoal Baby” or the soft, echoing snare drum on “Dagenham Dream” to characterize the thematic content of each piece. Negro Swan is a powerful and complete work of art. It sounds like he’s finally found some answers to the questions he’s been asking.

1. Dirty Projectors: Lamp Lit Prose. On Lamp Lit Prose, David Longstreth appears to be having more fun making music than he has in years, probably because almost 100% of his band has turned over (kudos to longtime bassist Nat Baldwin, whose playing tethers him to his own beginnings). Beyond the new Projectors themselves, Longstreth spent the months during the writing of the album making new friends in the LA music scene, and bringing them around the studio to record various parts. Members of Haim contribute to album standout “That’s a Lifestyle,” Syd (of The Internet) anchors the refrain in “Right Now,” and Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold and Vampire Weekend alumnus Rostam Batmanglij stack harmonies onto the swirling ballad “You’re The One.”

I see LLP as the second half of a diptych begun by the self-titled Dirty Projectors, released last year. While that record wallowed in the pain of a broken relationship with former Projector Amber Coffman, LLP reveals a healed and newly in love protagonist. Both records feature David Longstreth at his most vocally competent: he’s now able to truly execute the melismatic R&B runs he lovingly wrote and charmingly attempted in his earliest work, his diaphragm now supports his every leap and bound, and his croon is sweeter than ever before. But furthermore, both albums expand on ideas that have popped up throughout his illustrious and impressive body of work. Whether he’s reviving the Rise Above era blasts of noisy guitars on “Zombie Conqueror” or revisiting the orchestral ambitions of The Getty Address on the stunningly soulful “I Wanna Feel It All,” Longstreth sounds like a worker with a complete toolbox and a detailed blueprint. He’s been working at honing his craft for years.

I saw the Projectors in June, at a time when only “Break-Thru” and “That’s a Lifestyle” had leaked. I didn’t know what to expect, being among the seemingly small minority of fans who liked their previous record. But their set was staggering. Flanked by his group of mostly-new faces, Longstreth was bouncing all over the place, proudly showcasing each instrumentalist & vocalist (seemingly everyone had at least one moment in the spotlight), visibly excited about playing with this group of people. And that makes sense: LLP is Longstreth relishing the fundamental glee of musical collaboration. The joy is positively bubbling over in tracks like “Right Now,” “I Feel Energy,” and “I Found it in You.” To see him play these songs live is to wonder if he’s talking about the act of musicmaking itself when he sings: “Ask now, I’m in love for the first time ever.”

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