#( title no correlation to the starter i just like that song )

[bexstevie]

spear of justice.

 < open starter !! >

he’s got so much free time-- more than stevie needs, really. a couple of days in the week he spends catching up on course work is the busiest parts of the week. everything else he just spends doing menial tasks, skating, hanging out with friends or filming something for the internet. his head’s been a little bit of a mess lately, and he’s been desperate for something to spend his time with.

before next gen, he had been looking for a job prior. perhaps not as seriously as he probably should have been taking it-- so this time, he actually tries. stevie dresses up himself not overly dressed, but certainly with a little more style and concept of put together. his hair is brushed and pulled back a bit, and he feels a little weird without a beanie on, but he’ll get through it. 

idly fixing a strand of his hair, he reaches out with his free hand to pull open the door, slipping in carefully as his eyes flicker around curiously. idly looks around and studies his surroundings as he makes his way over to the first employee he finds. a slightly nervous smile tugs on his mouth, as he greets. “hi! how are you doing?” he asks pleasantly, eyes crinkling at the corners. “sorry to bother you, but i was uh-- wondering, are you hiring?”

[pomegranates-and-blood]

Kenna (Ivar’s PoV)

νοσταλγία Masterlist

Kenna: to know (a person), to feel (Old Norse)

Pairing: Ivar/Reader

Summary: This one correlates to somewhere before chapter 29, it is the scene I promised in Ảγαπάω where the reader gets...tipsy.

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: The usual, mentions of alcohol, a tipsy reader. This is a more light-hearted chapter than usual, hope you don’t mind!

A/N: It’s been a while since I’ve posted an Ivar PoV! Hope I haven’t lost it lol

Alternate titles to this were aptann (”an evening” in Old Norse), dýrr (”dear, valuable” in Old Norse) and I have too much fun writing Ivar’s brain shortcircuit (”the truth” in English).

Thank you for reading! I love you!

Taglist: @youbloodymadgenius​​ @heavenly1927​​ @toe-vind-ek-jou​​ @xbellaxcarolinax​​ @pieces-by-me​​ @angelofthorr​​ @samsationalwilson​​ @peachyboneless​​ @1950schick​​ @punkrocknpearls​​ @ietss​​   @itsmysticalmystery​​ @revolution-starter​​ @chibisgotovalhalla​​

To him the music is foreign, the men are, the languages exchanged are. But Ivar notices in all the chaos that isn’t Viking or Greek or Arab, but a strange blend of all of it, you seem the most at home.

Some of Hvitserk’s trusted merchants from the Mediterranean are leaving for the winter, and it was only appropriate to grant them a feast to thank their work and the time spent here.

An Abbasid man is sitting on one of the tables, his knee marking the rhythm of a song his countrymen are playing with their strange instruments. A shieldmaiden sits next to him and with an instrument that looks like two bells joined together starts trying to learn their music, earning cheers and laughs.

Ivar notices you cover your mouth with your hand, eyes shining in joy as you watch.

The man sings, and it sounds joyful and celebratory even if Ivar cannot understand a single word he speaks.

It seems you do, and it seems the Abbasid knows so, because the man gestures to the whole room with his hand, before pointing to you and singing something that makes you smile in a way only Ivar was able to before.

It irks him more than it should, even as your weight leans on his arm and you remain at his side, that that man made you so happy with but a few words.

He wants to know what those words were, he wants to know what he said.

Before he can ask you a woman in colorful clothes approaches with her dark eyes set on you and a welcoming smile on her lips. You greet her with once again words Ivar cannot understand, but the woman shakes her head.

“I’m…learning. Norse. Please.” She nods for emphasis, and Ivar watches your smile become even warmer at the woman’s words.

When the woman -finally- takes her eyes off his wife and greets him with a bow of her head, Ivar only motions for her to take a seat, which she does.

Next to you.

He doesn’t know how to feel about these people’s fascination with you.

With a hand on your chest you tell the woman your name, and she answers with the same. And in between fragments of the language Ivar doesn’t understand, you engage in conversation with her, laughing and smiling and forgetting he is sitting right there.

He resents the part of him that so easily grows frustrated when he sees someone else win easily the affection he had to fight for, but he cannot help it.

You did tell him that you are more of yourself with him than anyone else. And, he gathers, softness is what they all want from you, so it is what you give. But he wants all of you, and he knows that in all your fire and your arrogance you give him exactly that. Ivar dares believe any softness you share with him is much more than any you grant the others, because it is always accompanied by that uneven smile on your lips, that emotion written in your eyes, that particular cadence of your voice when you say his name.

It still bothers him, he won’t deny it. How easily you embrace Freydis, or how freely you laugh with Hvitserk, or how light and gentle you are as you share stories with the woman that sits next to you.

Still, he stays silent, keeping his eyes on the woman that doesn’t seem to be intimidated, who seems not even interested in acknowledging he is there.

Hvitserk takes a seat next to him and starts talking about how the preparation for Strepshire fares, and it distracts him for long enough that the night progresses, the people grow drunker and louder.

Your little gaggle of women with whom you continue to share laughs and stories grows larger too, and Ivar notices you drink much more mead than you use to as you talk and get to know them.

He is arguing with his brother about some pointless detail of the city when Hvitserk’s eyes focus behind Ivar, on you and the women, prompting him silently to turn his attention to them and you.

“Him,” One woman asks, pointing towards Ivar, “Your work.”

“No, I won’t be blamed for that.” You reply without hesitation, and Ivar rolls his eyes.

“Very funny.” He deadpans. Your smile when you turn to him is devious, and he hears Hvitserk laughing somewhere at his side.

As if in apology, or because you notice the way Ivar grits his teeth and narrows his eyes, you intertwine his fingers with yours, bring the joined hands to your lap before you return your attention to the Arab woman.

She turns almost sheepish at her mistake, and motions for her hair, explaining without words.

“Ah,” You accept, but still shake your head, “No, I’m only familiar with war braids. I could never make them look so pretty.”

Ivar turns once again to you, and tries finding your gaze but you are focused on explaining with too many hand gestures how you braided your mother’s hair.

He feels Hvitserk lean closer to him, almost shoulder to shoulder.

“Did…did she just call you pretty, brother?”

____

You call for his attention silently, in a manner you’ve taken a liking for it seems. Your chin rests on his shoulder, your breaths testing at the skin of his neck, your tantalizing lips so close if he would just turn his head...

He feels your eyes on his, out of the corner of his eye he can see the wide smile on your lips.

“What.” He asks, unsettled by the way your focus seems to be solely on his face.

“You’re so handsome,” You mutter dreamily, “I am a very lucky woman, aren’t I?”

That surely makes him pause, and Ivar clears his throat. He focuses his eyes on the horn of mead in his hand, tries thinking on what he can say to that.

A pathetic and weak part of him preens at the praise, and he almost wants to ask to hear more. The same warm rush of something runs through him at the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, you want him as much as he wants you.

When you lift your hand as if to touch his face, Ivar doesn’t think before he lifts his own hands and traps yours, stopping you. After a moment he realizes what he did and finds himself stupidly missing the touch.

But you don’t seem to think much of it, and instead put your joined hands under your chin and smile at him.

Months ago Ivar learned you don’t truly realize how much you talk, how much you share. And he learns now that you talk and share even more when you’ve had too much mead.

“When we met, across…across that battlefield, you were covered in blood,” You chuckle, breathy and light as if you weren’t speaking of war and death, “So was I, I think.”

“You bit off a piece of a man’s arm.” Is what Ivar offers as response, and he can still recall you in his mind, eyes fierce and determined, a scream of rage bubbling past parted lips, your teeth sinking into weak flesh and the blood dripping down your lips.

Almost impossible to believe that the same woman he saw drive an arrow into a man’s eye with nothing but her hands, her hands covered in blood and a snarl on her lips; is the same one that sits at his side with big eyes honest and set on his, her fingers intertwined with his own and her lips pulled into a soft and gentle smile.

“You spared my life,” You continue, after a breath questioning, “Do you think the Gods made you?” You laugh again, still light but almost daring when you turn your eyes to him, “Or were you bewitched, Ivar?”

“Alright,” Ivar grunts, releasing your hand so he can stand up and once he does offering it to you again. “That’s enough.”

When you take his hand and stand up as well, Ivar starts the trek to your room, trying to ignore the warmth you send through him still with just the touch of your hand, or the way you almost make him falter when you skip a few steps to walk right beside him and press a kiss against his arm, as high as you can reach.

“You drank a lot for someone so-…”

“Don’t say small.”

“Small. But I can’t say I am not entertained seeing you drunk.”

You giggle. Ivar stops, and turns around only to catch you looking at him with your free hand over your mouth and your eyes shining in mirth.

He doesn’t think he’s ever heard you giggle before, and it makes him smile against his own will.

Adorable wouldn’t be a word he ever thought he’d use to describe his wife, but this night surely makes a good argument for it.

Still, he leads you both to your room and watches from the door he closes behind him as you go through the motions of preparing for bed with a lightness to you that he hasn’t seen before.

You seem to remember something, because you turn to Ivar and walk to him with certain steps, your eyes set stubbornly on his.

“Oh, and I am not drunk.” You argue, smile still blinding. Ivar sighs, and when you refuse to turn around, reaches around you and starts working on the laces of your dress. He knows he’s closer to you than he usually gets to be, but you don’t step away like you usually do. And if you do notice he is close enough he almost feels your chest pressing against his, he will blame it on needing to reach around you to get the laces of the dress.

“What are you, then?” He asks, if only to humor you. And to get your slightly intimidating, even if very much wanted, attention off of him.

Your smile almost hints at sadness when you grant him a gentle caress of his cheek, your hand soft and warm. His hand freezes on your back.

It still makes him tense, makes something in his chest pull tight, when you touch him like that, when you look at him like that.

“I’m happy.” You confess, stealing the breath from his lungs. He cannot help searching your eyes, waiting for you to hide behind something, to retreat somehow, to take this from him.

But you offer a shrug, hopeless and a little scared.

Ivar stays still as your eyes flicker to his mouth, breaths stopping when your hand falls to his shoulder.

You use your hand on him to find purchase, and stand on the tips of your toes.

You press a kiss against the corner of his mouth, a barely-there touch that still makes his eyes fall shut, still makes him feel like for a moment he loses control of everything, still makes him want. And Ivar feels the wood of his crutch creak under his hand as he forces himself not to chase after your mouth, your touch.

“Goodnight, Ivar.” You whisper, your smile uneven and your eyes a little clearer.

He nods, swallowing past a suddenly dry throat, and he likes to think he repeats the sentiment back to you before you silently walk to bed and slip under the furs.

He stands there for a few moments too long, unable to take his eyes off you, warm and safe and happy -you said you were, and you don’t lie, you’d never lie to him and…Gods, you are happy with him, a part of him doesn’t still believe it- on the bed you share with him.

And he cannot help the pang of bitterness, of anger, of resentment at Fate and the Gods and it all.

Because you are there, and since the beginning you always were everything he’s ever wanted, and now you’re warm and his in the bed you share and…and it isn’t enough. It is still not what he wanted.

Because even if he isn’t seeing things, even if it is true that sometimes you’re as close to giving in as he is; he is still living on borrowed time, he is still no better suited to fight for you than that Greek fool that he saw Hvitserk kill.

Because he knows what your choice will be when the time comes, when Stithulf dies. Or…he thinks he knows.

You said you were happy. Here. With him.

It is childish and pathetic to feel hope, he knows this. But as he moves back to the main hall where the feast still goes on, he finds himself unable to ignore it, or get his heart back under his control.

____

This isn’t my best work but then again to me none of my work is my best work lol. I hope me not being sure about this chapter is just my insecurity and not it actually being off, idk.

Hope you liked it! Thank you so much for reading!

[alwaysrunningoutoftime]

(Pictures: 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9)

Your Friendly Neighbourhood, Wizard. (Alex Russo/Justin Russo Fanfiction)

Prologue

Pairing: Superhero! Alex Russo x Justin Russo, Slowburn.

Genre: Action, Humour,  Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Romance

Warnings: mild/explicit language, Injuries, sisterxbrother.

Set: After Season 4x10 "Wizards Vs. Angels" (Which is somewhat heavily involved in both Alex and Justin’s separate storylines.) + “Back to Max”.

Est. Length: 8 Chapters.

Summary: After defeating the dark angels, Justin continues to teach his delinquent class unconsciously suppressing his guilt over the ramifications of the moral compass. Simultaneously, Alex unconventionally stumbles into a superhero gig. Inept and unprepared, great power and an even greater burden is placed on her shoulders. Bothered by his sisters reoccurring absence, Justin determinedly investigates her distant behaviour. Meanwhile, Alex is forced to face a truth she’d always buried, discovering it unwillingly from a formidable powerful being she will have to defeat.

Disclaimer/Author's Note: I’ve been brainstorming this fic probably since quarantine started. It’s mostly inspired by Spiderman! Into the Spiderverse, Holland! Spiderman and Garfield! Spiderman. As well as the looks and feel of DC Comic’s Raven and Marvel’s Scarlet Witch. Other inspirations include music from Birds of Prey, On My Block, Euphoria. All of which I do not own. In addition, I sadly do not own Wizards of Waverly Place.

However, Alex’s origin story is wholly my own that I personally thought up myself (so let’s hope it’s believable) and if it correlates with any other superhero storyline it’s purely coincidental. The OC’s are also obviously my own creation.

“Do you know why you’re here, Alex Russo?”

“Ummm…” Alex backed up at the man's intense stare. She was pretty sure he was going for intimidation, but it fell short landing right on uncomfortable. “Not really…”

“Well, young lady,” His words were layered thick with haughtiness. Alex had just met the man today and she already knew she disliked him. “It seems you were part of a riot in central park.”

“No…” She narrowed her eyes at him, shook her head, even elongated the word in an attempt to get it through his thick skull. “I was trying to get home.”

She was actually trying to find her wand, but he didn’t need to know that. The wand that Rosie and Gorog decided to fling off the dark realm tower.  The detailed image of it glowing magic in the night sky as it twirled to its doom stayed seared to the front of her mind. She could even hear her own cry for it as everyone watched it go. My wand.

“So what were you doing in Central Park?” Right after returning the moral compass she searched Central Park assuming it had landed there. Key word: assuming. It was hard to calculate where objects falling off towers landed. For her, it was hard to calculate in general.

“A girl can’t go to one of New York City's finest parks just for the fuc- fun of it.” She replied with a smile, catching herself before she swore. It was just her luck to get the arrogant, novice, goody-two-shoes, by-the-book cop. They didn’t enjoy it when she did that.

“And you just happened to be hanging out with an enraged mob?” He asked mockingly. Okay so...she did get mixed up in a riot. Which wasn’t her fault. She was too focused at the task at hand to pay any attention to the crowd of screaming people she had walked through. What was more concerning was that one of those fuckers was stepping all over her wand, or worse one of them had already snapped its cherry redness in two.

“I wasn’t hanging out with them-”

“Yeah, instead you were disturbing the peace and provoking assaults.” Alex had to stay low to the ground for any sign of her wand which perhaps caused a few people to accidentally trip over her. There was also a minor possibility that her assertive bumping into others unintentionally started some fights. This all lead to Richard here (according to his desk tag), cuffing her and bringing her to the NYPD Central Park precinct. Meaning her wand had been left behind, defenceless against the grimy boots of crabby New Yorkers...if it was even there to begin with.

“How do you disturb the peace in a riot?” Alex fired back.

“Ms. Russo, you’ve had a record since you were twelve.” He said, abruptly switching topics and ignoring her. Rude much. To prove his point he made a show of flailing her folder around. It was a decent size for her age, Alex inwardly complimented herself. The first crime listed there was in summer 2004, when she sold those fake broadway tickets to unsuspecting tourists. That summer was a blast: hundreds of ice cream sandwiches and magazines.

“This behaviour is to be expected.” He finished. Alex suppressed an eye roll, this dude was getting on her nerves. Yes, she had a few run ins with the cops, but that didn’t mean she was always guilty of doing something vaguely illegal. Ever since she became a wizard, she'd barely caused any trouble with the mortals, Alex commended herself. Her last record was a good year ago, with a little vandalism and conning going under the radar but that was it. In their eyes, she could have set herself straight since then. Which she did.

What happened to the benefit of the doubt, what happened to believing people could change. Screw him and his patterns. And screw her wand for not being in Central Park. Now she’d have to buy a new one she sulked, slouching lower in the hard chair.

“I don’t like your attitude, Missy.” He said, noting her behaviour. ”Kids these days, not respecting the police.”

Oh my gosh, I just wanna go home. Richard Owens (what a lame name) continued typing at his computer, probably adding ‘riot starter’ to her record. He’d been holding her here for an hour now, still trying to gather evidence and witness accounts to file in her record. So far he had zero, zip, nada, not a single thing. Since everyone's memory seemed to be fuzzy, which she guessed was due to the moral compass.

Alex was annoyed at him and his cockiness. Annoyed at this hard chair that was making her butt fall asleep. Annoyed at the amount of people in this room, and how overly hot it. Would it kill them to crack open a window or turn up the air conditioning.

“Is that you, Alex Russo?” A woman said, approaching the desk. Oh finally her saviour.

“Wassup, June!” Alex grinned up at Song Namjoo, or June, as Alex called her. Much to Namjoo's displeasure. Not so much the name as it was Alex being an annoying little shit.

“What’d you do now?” She asked, placing a hand behind Alex’s chair, leaning forward to scan over the computer. The woman had her hair pulled down into its signature low bun, not a hair out of place. Her pristine police sergeant uniform was pressed to perfection with not a single crease, something Justin would greatly admire.

“No way, June you passed your Police Sergeant Exam!” Alex exclaimed. “You look dope.” She nodded in approval.

“Yeah.” June modeled for a second, before straightening her posture. “Passed about six months ago.”

“Well congratulations.” Alex smiled, genuinely proud. June was her life saver, and lowkey pain in her ass. Wherever she caused a ruckus (exclusively non magical) June would shortly be there. June had stopped a lot of unwanted things from going on her record, and also had a way of calming down Jerry and Theresa when they threatened to send her to the military. On the other hand, it's like she had some sort of Alex specific third eyes always managing to catch her in the act. Plus, her lectures were lengthy and boring and she didn't even allow Alex the option to sleep through them. In a way, she was Justin, if he were in the police force and was, you know, a Korean woman.

She shivered at the thought. Sure, Justin saved her a few too many times but that was because he was her brother. June was altruistic, she held herself with poise and grace. Like a cool aunt who'd let you off the hook halfway then let you decide for yourself the rest of the way. Besides, June was high-key a badass and Justin still cried over 'Mantooth'.

She felt a light pinch on her arm, automatically ready to shout 'POLICE BRUTALITY!' catching herself as she connected eyes with June.

June subtly raised an eyebrow in question towards Alex as if to say ‘What did you do now?’ Alex shrugged in response, her face saying ‘I’m innocent I swear’. June in turn gave her a half believing/ half disbelieving expression, before rolling her eyes. Which was always code for ‘Fine, I believe you’. After knowing June for a good 5 years they'd learned to read each others facial expressions pretty well. It helped with her record, it definitely helped with the parents.

“Okay really Richard a riot starter.” June stared at the man with clear judgement on her face. “Leave the girl alone. We have bigger things to worry about then a riot starter.”

“Oh, like what, June?” Richard goaded. First he disrespects Alex, and now June. Alex doesn’t know a lot of things she will admit, but she picked up on workplace professionalism. To begin with June was a higher ranking officer meaning she was above him. And Richard said her name without its formal title, displaying a lack of respect. Alex watched as June’s expression turned perplexed, or more accurately her ‘bitch, what did you just say?’ look. Alex wished she had popcorn now and a comfy chair.

“First of all, that is Sergeant Song to you Richard. Secondly, maybe you’ve been on desk duty for too long but we’re dealing with a lot more than riots.” June started. This was gonna be good. “There have been innumerable cases of aggravated assaults, burglaries, thefts, property crimes, arsons, and attempted murders. The crime rate has exponentially increased on this day alone. It’s worst than the 80s, Richard.” As the venom dripped from June’s mouth, Alex was quickly realizing what truly happened this night. “Every precinct in New York is packed to the brim and every hospital too. There are more citizens than staff members. And to top it off, a lot of these people had no previous record before this night. No explanation why they would do this and barely any remembrance of what they did. Not even a full moon could explain this utter fuckery!” She exclaimed, motioning around the precinct.

Alex cringed, knowing exactly what had caused this, or more accurately who. She didn’t realize how serious turning that moral compass was. It had only felt like a game of tug a war with her brother like what they did as kids. She even played around with him, tricking him into thinking he had broken the thing so she’d gain the upper hand. When they were flying above the dark realm tower, pulling and pushing they felt so far removed from the world. It was literal child’s play, no throwing punches, no broken bones just like a high school grip test.

But, she could see the damage they caused now. The place was overfilled with people. At each desk, in the cells, standing around. Some bleeding out, others with lost expressions on their faces, the ones she couldn’t even look at were the people crying. All these people had done something bad or suffered because of it. All because that moral compass pointed in the wrong direction a little too long.

“And out of everyone in that riot you chose the person farthest from the action, a clear bystander.” Alex wanted to laugh bitterly at that, if only these people knew just how involved she really was in this. If only they knew their desire to do good relied on a floppy arrow on a disk. But, she’d never tell them this, she’d let people continue to believe they had a bigger choice in their lives. That’s what she had to do as a wizard. As long as it saved her ass. As long as it didn’t affect her.

“So yes Richard there are bigger things than a 17 year old girl.”  June finished. The room was completely silent, all eyes staring at Richard. It was so quiet Alex could hear the sound of Richard’s ego deflating like a balloon, saw his face turning as red as a tomato until he resembled a sheepish boy who had just been scolded by his mom in front of all his friends. She couldn’t even take pleasure in his pain, now faced with her own mistakes.

Ha, take that dick. She tried to lighten her spirits. Cause like dick is the nickname for Richard. It didn’t work that well.

And…

Richard let her go, with no new record of ‘inciting a riot’, all thanks to June and how she completely dragged him through the mud.

June walked her to the front door of the precinct, stopping at the door.

“Okay bye Alex. I wish I didn’t have to say this…” June said, taking a deep breathe and closing her eyes to ground herself. “See you soon.” She gave a fake smile.

“You know me so well June. I’ll be sure to bring my best stuff next time, though.” Alex replied back keeping her humour up. She was still a little unsettled at the amount of people she saw on her way out.

“Aha.” June laughed drily, clearly not amused. “Stay in school, kid." And then she was pushed out of the building.

Just as Alex took her first steps away from the precinct, "Hey! The streets are worse tonight, stay safe Alex.” June shouted before shutting the door.

Alex looked back, a sigh heavy on her lips. She composed herself, her mood quickly lightening at the prospect of going home. Which meant her bed, which meant lying down, which meant sleep.

She wouldn’t walk of course. Use magic, definitely. If someone thought she was gonna walk home, they were sadly mistaken.

Looking around to see if anyone was watching she backed into the nearest alley.

“Woah, watch out kid!-”

She was pushed with brute force into the alley wall. Are you kidding me? She smacked right into the bricks, her elbows preventing her face from getting smashed. Hadn’t she been jostled enough today. She stiffened as she felt a bolt of magic graze past her, causing the hairs on her arms to stand up.

Wait a minute… Magic? There was a wizard.

She turned around to see a woman in a Kevlar black suit push a man further into the alleyway. The woman threw a punch to the man’s face, a crackle of blue magic extended through her fist causing the man to crash into the wall.

“What the fuck.” Alex whispered. She must have actually hit her head because this couldn’t be real.

The woman turned to Alex, her dark blue boxer braids swinging with the movement. A mask covered half her face, but all Alex could see were her eyes glowing blue in the dark, as if rimmed with the magic. “Leave, now-“

“Watch out!” Alex screamed back, seeing the man getting up already. A bright pulse of white magic extended through his fingertips towards the masked woman, who quickly ducked dodging it, giving a swift kick to the man's stomach.

He was thrown off balance, long enough for the woman to turn to Alex shooting a burst of blue magic into her direction.

Alex brought her hand in front of her as if to stop it. Was this woman trying to kill her? She closed her eyes, ready for impact.

Then opened them to silence and a vast space of whiteness. She was in the wizard portal. The masked lady had teleported her here.

So, the blue magic lady was a wizard and a superhero…and people were still being bad even after the moral compass was returned.

Alex thought about it for a moment. Then with a shrug of her shoulders she brushed it off, beginning to walk to the lair.

Frankly, Alex was exhausted: her back hurt from flapping those wings, her knees were sore from all of the heavy landings she endured with the wings, her arms ached from that tug-a-war contest she had with Justin, her butt was sore from that hard chair, her feet ached from all the walking she did and she nearly got zapped in the face with magic. On top of all of that, she still didn’t know where her wand went.

Alex sighed in relief when she finally got to the lair. All that walking was making her even more tired. She pushed the door open, determined to get to bed and collapse. But her steps faltered when she was greeted by the sight of her brother looking down at a white feather.

It didn’t take a genius to realize the feather was Rosie’s. Alex was worried at the sight of him, grasping a feather from another lost love wasn’t a good sign. And more than that he hadn’t been himself for the past week. She’d barely talked to him for the past week, so she was nervous to see how he was after everything.

“Justin…” She began, confusion laced in her tone. He turned at her voice.“What are you doing still up? It’s late.” And also past his appointed bedtime.

“I stayed up because I owe you something.” He began. Her cherry red wand in his hand. Her glorious cherry red wand she’d been looking everywhere for. Finally, reunited with what had been plaguing her mind all night her eyes immediately brightened at the sight of it. She grasped at it with both hand, smiling down at her wand.

“I found it in Washington Square Park.” Oh, Washington Square Park. Damn she really did suck at calculating. Nevermind, the fact that it was in the complete opposite direction. “A two-headed dog had it. Pretty sure he didn’t start out that way.”

So her wand was chilling in lower Manhattan with a two headed dog as she searched the grounds of upper Manhattan, tripping people over and starting fights, and getting caught by the police. She giggled at that, amused with what her night turned into.

“Thank you.” She genuinely meant it. “What about your wand?”

“I, uh…” He held his wand up, inspecting it for a moment just to show her the sad state it was in; snapped in half with duct tape barely holding it together. She laughed at her brother’s antics. Secretly, relieved to have her brother back. Him and even his humour. Yup, he was still Justin. “I’ll find a spell to fix it.”

He set his wand down and turned to face her, an earnest expression on his face. Alex was taken aback by the swift change in atmosphere, the room suddenly feeling more serious. “And I owe you something else.”

He came forward. Her eyes flickering at his movement. Oh, And we’re hugging.

His arms wrapped around her, bending down to rest his chin on her shoulder. He quietly uttered, “Thank you for saving me.” while comfortingly rubbing her back as he always did. Ever since they were children, it was a soothing motion he always did when he hugged her. A distinct movement they could focus on together to calm down. She nodded slightly, silently appreciating the moment.

“It’s for all the times that you saved me when I wasn’t so good.”

Countless images were brought to mind, most prominent of all: a campfire in the rainforest. She began to feel nostalgic and a bit anxious. Not fond of the emotions, she quickly lightened the atmosphere. “And for a couple more times in the future, so we’re even.” She finished with a smile, satisfied with her little joke.

“No, we’re not.” Justin replied, coming to sit down on the desk beside her. “You saved the world today.”

She studied him for a moment, silently disagreeing with his words. She was only trying to get him back, everything else, saving the world was secondary to that.

She’d never admit how anxious she felt seeing Justin so unlike himself: stealing flowers, using magic in public, and stomping on people's groceries. Overall being a jerk. The worst of it was when she revealed Rosie's true nature, he still chose her, a girl he’d known for less than a month than his own sister. A dark angel, whose values would never align with his own. And when she tried one last desperate time to get him back he still chose darkness. Only turning good because of that girl. It hurt more than she thought it would.

But Alex had to remind herself of something very important: that Justin was the one influenced by dark angels. That he wasn’t himself at the time and that scarily some powers are greater than her connection to her brother. So she’d keep it to herself, shove it in the back of her mind like she usually did with all of her emotions, and ignore it, until she’d be forced to confront it.

Instead, she focused on the reassurance she’d gotten when Justin finally came back. How happy she was when he immediately told her to put the moral compass back, in that commanding voice he used when he would clean her messes. The ease she felt now that he was once again right beside her. Like a puzzle piece clicking back into place (and screw him for making her think of boring puzzles). This is where he was meant to be.

She would never say that out loud so she said, “You gave up a girl to protect it” instead.

She watched a faraway expression take on his face, familiar to the one he wore in Transylvania when he lost Juliet. He’d lost Rosie now, and a few weeks ago she'd learned she wasn't meant to be with Mason. It’s like they were both cursed to never have a happy ending. Only ending up with the comfort of each other.

She didn’t think about how established this felt. Or the strange notion that perhaps this was how her happy ending was supposed to be.

In an attempt to stop herself from wandering too far back in her mind, she asked him. “Why do we have to keep dealing with stuff like this?” He was Justin and he always had the answer. She could always count on him.

“We’re wizards.” And it was like that was the be all, end all. “I don’t think we have a choice.” The plain and simple answer.

It was horrible how that answer alone made complete sense to her. How she’d just thought about it in that overpacked precinct. All of her mistakes and losses were always tied into being a wizard.

So, maybe she was past the point of caring, past sadness and moving into delirium with a little sprinkle dead tiredness because she smiled instead. She smiled up at him and he caught her before she turned away. He bumped her with his shoulder, bouncing her away and back to him.

They were settling back into their pattern. Just the two of them: Justin and Alex. She sighed contentedly and a little tiredly resting her head on her big brother's shoulder, feeling his head rest on hers.

For all her mistakes and all her losses at least she always had her Justin.

And she hoped he knew for all his mistakes and all his losses he’d always have his Alex.

She closed her eyes, fully ready to sleep.

“We’ll be okay, right?” Justin quietly asked.

Alex yawned, furrowing her brows slightly at the unexpected question. Maybe they should have been more aware in this moment, appreciated it more. Maybe she could have helped him better if she’d paid more attention. Maybe, he could have protected her better from darker things than angels.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

For Alex would soon face a burden so great it would compromise her relationship with those around her. After all, with great power comes great responsibility.

[tomoawards]

The Tomo Awards 2018

Hi, welcome to The Tomo Awards 2018, baybee. Before I even get started, I just want to say that we are currently in a musical rennaissance, like an absolute golden age, and there are so many albums I wanted to put here but it was just too hard to pick because the current top 18 is just too solid and hard to pick through.

The header title of each album next to their respective number ranking on this list is a hyperlink to the album of Spotify. There will also be some links occasionally throughout the rest of this post for reference’s sake.

This is a link to the official Tomo Awards Spotify playlist of my favorite songs of 2018, in a general favorite to least favorite order. Over 10 hours of music.

Now let's talk about the albums, can we talk about the albums, please guys I've been dying to talk about the albums with you all year:

#18. Denzel Curry - TA13OO

I initially turned my eye to Denzel Curry, not because of his ties to a certain other artist who is finally dead and I won't mention by name, but because he seemed to have been another boring SoundCloud rapper from the outside. The fact of the matter however, is that that label couldn't be further from wrong. Denzel Curry's third and best album to date, TA13OO, is at its core, a commentary of SoundCloud rap culture and all of the vices it carries with it, as well as of life as a black person in America, on top of being a loose concept album, split into three acts: Light, Gray, and Dark, each of which has its own incredible and similar album cover, with the Dark cover often being used as the main one. And while the three sides of the album don't always correlate with the feel of the music itself, it does add a great way to break this already short enough album up into smaller and easier to chew pieces.

While having come up from SoundCloud himself, as well as being a XXL Freshman in 2016, Denzel's sound here is completely different than the scene he came out of, and there isn't a stuttering 808 hihat to be heard until the very last song of the Light side, Sumo, which could easily be a Lil Pump song; and that kind of juxtaposition is exactly the point - it's a caricature of SoundCloud rap, a critical analysis of it, while still finding a way to respect and understand it.

While only sitting at an easy 43 minutes, it's still a three-sided album, so I think it's only fair to give a highlight from each side. The first song and title track TABOO is easily the most essential track on the Light side of the album, while SIRENS featuring JID (who also dropped an incredible album this year) is a huge highlight of the Gray side. VENGEANCE is the biggest highlight of the Dark side, capturing the mood that the Dark concept shows on the album cover perfectly, featuring violently shouted and screamed verses from JPEGMAFIA and ZillaKami, before fading out into a soft and contrasting outro.

Finish 'em, 'Zel.

#17. Behemoth - I Loved You At Your Darkest

Very few bands have a career as enigmatic of a career as Behemoth; the closest comparison I can even think of is The Beach Boys, because it took them both over ten albums to make their magnum opus. When Behemoth released their most acclaimed work in 2014, their tenth album The Satanist, many had declared it to be one of if not the greatest black metal album ever made. The expectations for a true proper followup was almost impossible to hide, and they had even thrown around the idea that they'd never make another album again. So when they finally announced that a follow-up would be coming this year, the pressure was on.

I still don't think it will be possible for them to top The Satanist, but they closest they could do is at the very least match it, and that's just what they've done with I Loved You At Your Darkest. If anything, this album is just as solid as The Satanist was, and if this came first and The Satanist came second, I think the scores would flip, and this one would be the one with all the acclaim; it's hard to truly meet expectations and wow for a second time in a row, but Behemoth really did the absolute most they possibly could to fulfill those expectations. I Loved You At Your Darkest is truly the dark album its title suggest it would be, featuring the same minor guitar riffs that morph into complex harmonic structures with children's choirs and horn sections to back it all up at its highest peaks. This is another album for the history books.

The biggest points of interest on the standard edition of the album itself is the three-song stretch towards the beginning, starting with God=Dog into Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica, and pouring out into Bartzabel. It is, however, an unfortunate fact that the best song on the entire album, O Pentagram Ignis, was left off the full album and instead made a bonus track on the Japanese CD edition of the album.

#16. Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Hometown

Every single time Weezer drops a new album, fans complain, even if it's just by placebo. But whenever a Weezer fan complains, I'm always the first one to point out that Asian Kung-Fu Generation have been making the albums that Weezer fans want for the better part of the last 15 odd years.

Not only have Asian Kung-Fu Generation done that again with Hometown and the accompanying Can't Sleep EP that came out the same day, the album actually features co-writing credits from Rivers Cuomo himself, and it shines through as obvious as ever in songs like Circus and Dancing Girl, both of which respectively sound like the Blue Album and Pinkerton cuts.

Fuck your language barrier. Asian Kung-Fu Generation have made what people wanted The Green Album and every follow-up to be nine times already, and y'all still haven't noticed. All I know is if I hear even one of you jackasses complain when Weezer drops the Black Album early next year, I'm gonna fucking slap you in the face nine times over again with a physical vinyl pressing of every AKFG album from 2003's Kimi Tsunagi 5 M all the way up to this year's Hometown.

The biggest points of interest here are the cuts UCLA which sounds almost like a spiritual followup to the song "E" from their first album, as well as Dancing Girl, which again sounds like it would fit right into Weezer's Pinkerton save for the language difference.

#15. Wednesday Campanella - Galapagos

In the time since My Bloody Valentine, a completely unrelated band outside of this time comparison, have taken to follow-up their 2013 album MBV with even one EP that they've promised to drop the last two years in a row, Wednesday Campanella have had their entire and absolutely colossal career laid out.

Being one of the most artsy, eclectic, and just hard to pin bands in recent music from anywhere in the entire world, it's hard to even figure out what their thought processes is when defining their releases. Their two debut EPs both vary greatly in size - Norway No Mori is a mere 3 songs long, while Crawl To Sakaagari is 9 songs. Comparatively, last year's SUPERMAN, which was labeled an album, was 10 songs long. This year's Galapagos was 8, 9 if you include the cut single Gala as a bonus track like I did, but it's also still technically considered an EP. Meanwhile their 7 song "UMA" project is considered a mini-album. So fuck it, Galapagos counts as an album for this year.

On to it now, Galapagos was a hard record to stomach at first, if not solely by comparison to their previous...I don't know how many records, actually. Every record by them has always been different, sharing only one similarity - the eccentric artsiness that's so well associated with lead singer KOM_I at this point. What differentiates Galapagos the most however, is just how chill it is compared to their previous work, which is what made this a hard listen compared to last year's ball of high electric energy, SUPERMAN.

But what they delivered this year is no less worthy than any of their previous works, still utilizing the best production in the game right now, still being every bit as innovative as Yasutaka Nakata probably still wishes he could be.

The album opener, The Bamboo Princess, is the perfect starter, beginning with a slow and exotic opening melody, exploding into this huge orchestral and electronic hybrid drop. Melos is the other huge high point here, featuring a tight looping drum beat before building up with a watery, hypnotic pre-chorus, and exploding into the biggest hook on the album.

#14. Perfume - Future Pop

Before anything else, I'd like to pose this question: Yasutaka Nakata, what the fuck are you doing? It's a blessing every time we get a new Perfume album, but it's also a blessing that this album even grew on me enough to make it on my list, because it was a very rough first listen and an even rougher rollout - this is a 12 song, 42 minute album, however the amount of actual new music on here equals four songs and roughly 14 minutes. That's actually 2/3s of the album that we have already heard before it even came out. This is of course, not counting the joke of an "intro" song "Start-Up", which, as an instrumental 50 second intro, isn't really a song. But despite being Perfume’s worst album to date, Future Pop is still worth your time and adoration, as Perfume as a band still stands as one of the most incredible achievements in modern music.

So what did Future Pop do right? Well, it’s best to start with some context: the genre of future bass was born and died in 2014; nothing new has been done with it in 2018 that wasn't already done in 2014, not even what Perfume did here with Future Pop. The reason this happened is solely because the genre of future bass has found some mainstream (as far as “mainstream” goes for electronic sub-genres) success in Japan only just this year; despite not having anything new done with it, the genre that’s partially inspired by Japan, has only just found its way into the country itself. Funny how it do be like that sometimes.

But as far as future bass as a genre goes, we've heard it all before. So what makes Future Pop endearing enough to creep onto this list after such an initially awful first impression?

At it's core, it is still very much Perfume. Yasutaka Nakata, although lacking more self-awareness than ever, is still behind the wheel, and his production is still sparkly, hopeful, and clean as anything you've ever heard. Despite the genre changes, his chord choices and a good amount of his songwriting are still reminiscent of even Perfume's best material, aside from the unfortunate few songs which only have instrumental future bass choruses with ad-libs serving as the only vocal parts; what a great hook, am I right fellas?. Future Pop admittedly could fortunately have been so much worse, however. It also could have been much, much better. If anything, Future Pop has officially made JPN no longer considered the band's worst album.

Songs like Chorairin, Tenku, and Tiny Baby hark back to the heyday of classic Yasutaka Nakata production, whereas songs like Let Me Know and Everyday feel just short of being generic, and the presence of FUSION is elusive to my last two brain cells that remain after the rest of them died trying to figure out why the fuck this song even exists on the album in the first place.

Tokyo Girl and Houseki No Ame, the first single and its respective B-side, both already show their age and lack of place in the album’s main genre styling of “future pop”, sounding more like Cosmic Explorer leftovers than future bass bangers. Mugen Mirai and If You Wanna, however, happen to be the two greatest future bass songs ever recorded, with the latter feeling much too short and leaving listeners wanting more, a theme present through the album’s literal 13 minutes of new music in its 44 minute running time. Did I mention that yet? I’m sure I did, but there’s no amount of times I could repeat that to real drive home the fact that Yasutaka Nakata actually thought it was okay to release 13 minutes of new music and have the nerve to call it a “new” album.

The biggest highlights here are Mugen Mirai (無限未来) which despite the future bass goes so unbelievably hard and also Tiny Baby which happens to be one of my favorite songs in their entire catalogue now and I wish every song on this album sounded like it. The titular Future Pop being their second dive into DnB music is a pretty good one at that, with the first DnB song in their catalogue being Point from their 2013 album Level3.

At the end of the day however, this is new Perfume music, and I will always find a way to love new Perfume music no matter what.

“I feel so happy.”

#13. Rosalía - El Mal Querer

Where do I even start with this? Rosalía did something fucking magic here. Combining elements of both flamenco pop as well as a very slight trap influence, Rosalia and co-producer El Guincho are completely next level in every way. Straight out of Spain, Rosalía picked up traction last year with her debut album Los Angeles, and is already back this year following it up with the absolutely brilliant concept album El Mal Querer.

Opening with the moody #1 hit Malamente, brilliantly and minimally produced, the album's tone is set almost immediately. It's both sassy and modest, both maximalist and minimalist. If you're not familiar with the melodic work of Spanish music, the harmonic structure of this album might be jarring and almost entirely new to you. But if you know what you're going to get yourself into, this is going to be one of the most incredible musical experiences you'll hear all year.

The opening track Malamente is of course a huge highlight, but Pienso En Tu Mira is the most standout track here, combining a huge presence of modern R&B-trap in its production and melody with the flamenco stylings of Rosalía’s native Spain.

#12. SOPHIE - Oil Of Every Pearl's Uninsides

Despite losing a lot of its underground steam as well as its cult status in favor of transparency and visibility (which is in no way a bad thing), the PC Music label and associated genre have finally reached their promised potential they showed in the earl 2010s, with records like UMRU's Search Result, last year's POP 2 by Charli XCX, and SOPHIE's "proper" debut album this year. And with Hannah Diamond's debut album Reflections finally releasing early next year, it seems like PC Music's time to truly shine has finally arrived.

Oil Of Every Pearl's Uninsides, which I'll just call "Oil" from here on out, is equal parts breathtaking, uncomfortable, and mysterious. Oil features the kind of absurdist, abstract production SOPHIE came up on, but with a level of polish and palatability that she's never had before. While her original "compilation album”, PRODUCT (which I’m only just now finding out has been relabeled as a “compilation” [Edit: it’s not even officially an album on Spotify, it’s there as an official playlist of the singles that made the album up]), may have sounded like what abstract art looks like, Oil sounds like what a beautiful, colorful, absurdist painting looks like. It’s like Banksy vs. da Vinci, there’s just no comparing.

This is the kind of music that could come to life as a monster. On my first listen, I wouldn't have even flinched if I saw the cones of my stereo bulging as some kind of monster was trying to burst its way out like some kind of scene straight from Stranger Things. This music sounds like that, like something is going to physically break its way out of your speakers. This is the kind of music that I want people who don't believe in the power and capability of electronic music to hear, because it proves something important: those "lifeless" computers, synthesizers, and drum machines can create an absolute hellscape that most guitar players simply aren't capable of or creative enough to make with just a guitar.

The biggest highlights here are Ponyboy, which sounds like the music itself is trying to actually murder you by pounding you against a concrete floor at a rave, and Is It Cold In The Water, which sounds like somebody is trying to murder you by drowning you in a cave.

#11. Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want

What the fuck even is this album. I heard someone say that singer Alexis Marshall sounds like Elvis being forced to sing while being tortured. Musically, Daughters could almost be likened to Nine Inch Nails, but far more raw and more conventional. I really didn't know what to expect when I saw this pop up on Kingdom Leaks weeks before its release, but the artwork looked immediately iconic and it didn't have a pretentious genre tag, so I decided to just give it a go with no expectations.

And that's the best way to go into this. Just know that it's dark, and it might make you feel uncomfortable to the point of anxiety. I'm not even going to say anything else about it. Just go and listen to this, because it is a perfect, beautiful, dark, twisted masterpiece of an album.

Satan In The Wait is the highlight here, for me. It just captures the entire mood of the album. Go get on that.

#10. Band-Maid - WORLD DOMINATION

I'd like to start this off by wholeheartedly apologizing to Band-Maid for how much I've made fun of them and their fans in the past. I'd like to ammend this by saying I do not apologize to their Asian-fetishizing white people fanbase - you're all still creepy, cringey, disgusting little neckbeards.

This really came to me as a surprise. I have ruthlessly made fun of Band-Maid in the past. Like a lot. Despite still enjoying Maid In Japan a lot, which you will get roasted on their subreddit for even saying anything positive about even though it is their second best album next to this one, this one really caught me off guard. And while their first album has a lot of pop centric songwriting, they traded that off on the three records that followed by going super hard and edgy, almost to comedic effect as a way of trying to win over neckbeards who heard a Babymetal and think that you "have to play your own music to be good".

But World Domination does an unbelievable job at combining that hard edge with incredibly catchy pop songwriting, creating a really enjoyable heavy guitar pop experience that I haven't really heard out of Japan since the first BiSH album. Seiko Oomori tried to do similar this year but completely failed at making it stand out to an album like this in the same year, as well as her own past crowning achievements like last year's masterpiece kitixxxgaia.

Anyways, Domination is one of the best songs of the year with a chorus that makes me want to like punch of a fucking window or something, and Anemone is this super emotional pseudo-acoustic banger that will probably make you cry from its chord progression alone.

Band-Maid: I apologize. Band-Maid fans: fuck you  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#9. Kero Kero Bonito - Time n Place

Not unlike Band-Maid at all...how the fuck did Kero Kero Bonito of all bands manage to make an album this good after years of embarrassment? Now I've been into KKB for years, since the original Intro Bonito mixtape dropped. Sarah was a part of the same online weeb community I used to be a part of. Everybody pretended to like KKB because they were about the only other weeb music group besides Slime Girls that showed some potential to break through into the actual music world.

But trading in those sick beats for conventional instruments, while not something I'd ever really endorse because guitars don't automatically make music good, dad, happened to be the best thing they could have done. KKB is a real band here now, and their experimental punk, tweed-pop, noise, J-pop, whatever, songwriting on this album makes it an absolute pleasure to listen to. It also doesn't help that Sarah doesn't sing even a word in her awful native Japanese.

Jolly good show, KKB. The second and third songs Time Today and Only Acting are an immediate attention-holder for the rest of the album and absolute show-stoppers.

#8. cacophony - Harmony

Completely out of left field, and off the suggestion of a friend of mine, who I know for a fact that when he speaks highly of something, it's worth that hype. I initially put this suggestion on the backburner until he came back to tell me that this album is on the level of Ringo Sheena's masterpiece Kalk Zamen Kuri No Hana, which still stands in my opinion as one of the top five greatest albums of all time. That's when I cleared my plate and sat down with this.

Cacophony is an artist from South Korea who is still criminally unheard of, especially after an album as personal and breathtaking as this. While I don't think this will ever be the legendary masterpiece that the Ringo Sheena album is, it truly does share a very similar, dark, and personal vibe. Inspired by the unfortunate passing of her mother, Harmony (known as Hwa in Korean) is a dark introspection into Cacophony's grief, and that feeling alone is presented in its gritty but relaxed production as well as her violently powerful vocal delivery.

You don't need to know a word she's saying here; I for sure don't speak Korean or even the occasional French that these songs are in, but the emotions conveyed here transcend any language. It's a dark album, and you genuinely may walk away from this in a bad mood, but it's an album any music lover simply can't miss, so maybe bring your serotonin along with you.

The biggest highlights here are In The End, a strong track with the most emotionally vulnerable and powerful vocal performance of the entire year, and Sick Boy a violent and brooding song that almost feels like it's dragging its own coffin behind it.

#7. Lucie,Too - LUCKY

Lucie,Too shouldn't be as good as they are. By every rule of music theory, absolutely nothing about this should be as fun and investing as it is. Lucie,Too makes the kind of music that every American band like Cayetana and Soccer Mommy wishes they were making. They're making some pretty decent waves, for a relatively tiny band from a town like Utsunomiya, even in the western world.

Lucie,Too is to the point if anything else. Their songs are short and get right to the good stuff. LUCKY, their most-watched song on YouTube, sits at only a minute and a half long; but don't think this is a punk band anything. The song sits at a really easy 93 beats per minute at double-time and just breezes along at its own pace. Most of their songs follow this mellow, flowing tempo, and feature really honest and genuine production - nothing too raw, but not over-polished either. Nothing about Lucie,Too should be as good as it is, but there's just a simplicity and raw honesty to their music that I haven't really heard from much other guitar music recently.

They also dropped a new EP called "exlover" in November that features one of my top three songs of the year, Saigo No Hi, which means The Last Day.

Anyways, the biggest highlight here is probably Siesta and the title track LUCKY, but honestly, the whole thing is short enough to be one highlight in its own right.

#6. KIDS SEE GHOSTS - KIDS SEE GHOSTS

Yeah, Kanye lost his mind, but that's all over the news so you can hear about that somewhere else some other time. Right here and now though, we're here to talk about how mans Kanye still makes some of the most fire music in the game, and this is the worthy successor to every album he's made in the past that Ye just wasn't, despite the fact that I still like Ye a lot more than everyone else seems to, but let's not digress and just get right into it.

Welcome To Heartbreak is my favorite song on 808s, Gorgeous is my favorite song on Dark Fantasy, and Father Stretch My Hands Part 1 is my favorite song on Pablo. So why wasn't I one of the people who was excited for this destined Kanye x Kid Cudi collab album for years and years like everyone else? I guess I just never made the connection, because this is genuinely the exact perfect step forward that Kanye's perfect discography deserves. It's just unbelievable that at such a shaky and tender time for him, he's still capable of making something brilliant.

I admittedly didn't care for this one on my first listen at all. Then I listened a second time and it clicked immediately; this album is as colorful as the Takashi Murakami artwork on the cover, it's as haunting as the ghosts painted on it, it's as psychedelic and moody as you'd expect anything Cudi doing, and it's as brilliantly produced as you'd expect anything Kanye doing.

At only 7 songs and short of 24 minutes, this album is digestible enough to listen to in one quick sitting and easy enough to be one big highlight. But as far as individual songs here, Freeee (Ghost Town Part 2) (best paired with Ghost Town Part 1 from Kanye's 'Ye' album that came out the week prior) is phenomenal, but the biggest highlight to me is Cudi Montage, which features a guitar riff that's immediately obvious as being played by the late Kurt Cobain himself, and eventually evolves into this huge harmonizing climax that's completely unmatched to anything else in the five album Wyoming Sessions that Kanye did this year.

#5. Vince Staples - FM!

Vince Staples is the best rapper alive. There is a tie for first place, but just know he is the one tying for it and the other best rapper alive will be further down this list.

Just right down to it, FM! is hard, and it's short. Continuing along with The Year Of The Short Album, FM! stands at only 26 minutes long, 11 tracks long, 3 of which are small skits; Vince himself actually laughed at the fact that the industry even bothered to call it an album, seeing as the album is just a minute short of being as long as 2016's Prima Donna EP.

There's nothing here as innovative and forward as Big Fish Theory, but that doesn't even matter here. What's special about FM! is that Vince almost seems to be having fun here, at least on the surface. Dive a little deeper into the lyrics, and you'll see that Vince is just as nihilistic and political as ever.

Thematically, the album is presented as a sort of short radio program, featuring DJ skits between songs and previews for other artists like Tyga and Earl Sweatshirt's new music. The beats are hard and pretty standard, but capture the exact amount of discomfort Vince's debut Summertime '06 delivered.

Outside and FUN! are the bangers here to really keep your ears on.

#4. Noname - Room 25

Noname is also the best rapper alive. Y'all have been ignoring her for too long. There, I said it. There is a tie between her and Vince Staples for best rapper alive title. Following up her brilliant 2016 mixtape Telefone, Room 25 is a much darker and more nihilistic approach to the familiar Chicago sound that her and the rest of her hometown borrowed from the old Kanye.

In an industry where Nicki and Cardi B are at the top despite how problematic and lackluster they've proven themselves to be both musically and lyrically, Noname immediately addresses the game's attitude towards women summed up with the simple one liner:

"And y'all still thought a bitch couldn't rap huh?"

Tackling issues like the sexism not only faced by women in the real world, but also within the industry she is a part of, as well as the black experience in America, Noname really comes through on the honest front here delivering bars that artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole probably wish their labels would let them say.

Prayer Song and Self are the real winners here. Just...please go listen.

[ALBUM COVER REDACTED because Noname said she would be having a new album cover created after sexual abuse allegations came after the artist of the original album cover.]

#3. Haru Nemuri - Haru To Shura

I have to live the rest of my life knowing that I am part of the catalyst to Haru Nemuri's western success. It was I who told Anthony Fantano about her. She is now one of the most streamed Japanese artists (IIRC, don’t quote me on that) on Spotify because of his review. If only that melonheaded fuck understood just the level of influence his platform has to give incredible foreign artists the attention they deserve. Ash, my friend and J-music plug, from Arama, shared her with me much earlier this year, and after Haru To Shura came out, I slipped that and LOONA yyxy to Fantano. But enough about melons.

Haru To Shura is a masterpiece. There's no possible way for someone to describe this album to someone who only listens to western music, and that description alone should interest you. To those who have heard music outside of the western hemisphere, this album almost sounds like what Shinsei Kamattechan would sound like if Seiko Oomori were singing instead of Noko. Which is a great comparison, because both Seiko and Noko have been known to collaborate with Haru recently.

This album is raw and abrasive, but it's also strangely beautiful and avant-garde. Haru likes to call herself a "poetry rapper", who raps, hastily monologues to herself, sings, and screams over disgusting and dreamy shoegazey punk music. I like to think of Haru Nemuri as the next in the lineage of out-of-step women in J-pop, the line of which starts with Jun Togawa and follows Ringo Sheena and Seiko Oomori all the way up to Haru.

Sekai wo Torikaeshite Okure is the song that really made me pay attention, and I'd like to hope it'll be that for you too, so go peep that one first if you're remotely interested. And if you're not - have fun living your whole life without this perfect gamechanger of an album

It’s also worth noting she dropped a fucking amazing EP this year called Kick In The World, featuring its title track, an acoustic version, with four asbolutely batshit remixes of the title song sandwiched in-between them. This song was a leftover from the album that she said would have bloated down the tracklist. Finally an artist who has the self-awareness to cut music in favor of the listening experience. Can’t say the same about Drake.

#2. YESEO - Damn Rules

I don't really know where to even start with this one. I've always considered Neon Bunny, Aseul, and YESEO to be the holy trinity of Korean indie electronic music, and while Neon Bunny's Stay Gold might still be one of my favorite albums ever made, Damn Rules proves that the Korea might have a new underground queen.

YESEO came out of nowhere only two odd years ago, and to say she hasn't had a prolific career in that short time would be insulting; in 2016 and 2017 alone she dropped two mini-albums, an EP, a ton of assorted singles, covers, a feature on I.M (of Monsta X fame)'s mixtape, songs for K-drama soundtracks, and a single with SM Entertainment. But all of that was smooth trap and EDM-infused R&B.

What sets Damn Rules apart from not just the competition, but her own past self, is that it's hard; like really fucking hard, and it's dystopian futuristic sounding. Like, this is what the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack should sound like, not some 2000s white people-ass Jack White-ass blues rock bullshit.

The lead single Bitches Rule still stands as one of if not my favorite song of the year. It's gritty, horny, and sounds like a deep cut from the musical landscape of 3018, and that's a theme that continues throughout every song on the album. Even the instrumental track Mess, despite its future bass-driven hook still manages to impress in a way that future bass hasn't since its peak in 2014.

The fact that Damn Rules doesn't have the streaming numbers that last year's Million Things does should honestly be an intergalactic war crime.

This is gonna be one of those albums that people are gonna look back at years from now and go "yeah, that was really something else", regardless of what she does next.

The biggest highlights here are of course the lead single Bitches Rule, the hypnotic electro-trap song Cigarette Light, and the club banger Honey Don't Kill My Vibe, which sounds nothing like the Kendrick song it gets its name from. 

#1. Travis Scott - ASTROWORLD

2019 kids will never know what it was like to bombard Travis Scott with memes that say something along the lines of "drop Astroworld right now" every time he tweeted. Let me preface all of this by saying I waited for Astroworld longer than you did. I have been listening to La Flame since the Days Before Rodeo days. I pushed Rodeo on all of my friends who liked hip-hop since the day it came out and all y'all ignored me until Astroworld. Y'all still think Birds is bad. Birds is good; it's better than Owl Pharaoh. It's better than Huncho Jack. Granted, anything is. But Astroworld is as good as Rodeo.

Astroworld is the sequel the real ragers have been waiting for. I'll admit, I was worried after Butterfly Effect, Huncho Jack, Watch, and all of his other recent features save for a few quality ones; I was worried that that generic Butterfly Effect flow would predominate Astroworld. But save for a few small hiccups which honestly don't matter in the grand scheme of things, Astroworld completely delivers on all fronts and defies the expectations he set on himself. It is not just a rollercoaster ride, it is a front to back day out at an interstellar theme park.

Sicko Mode actually sounds like you're on a rollercoaster, with the stuttering snare drops before the beat switch taking the place of a rickety chain pulling you up the hill before Drake pushes you off downhill into four loops or something. Astrothunder actually sounds like you're floating through space under a meteor shower. Coffee Bean actually sounds like you're walking back through the park at the end of the day. Thematically, Astroworld is a masterpiece. Musically, it's two levels above anybody and everybody else in the game.

Astroworld is one of the truly rare cases where something so mainstream with such a large mass appeal normally wouldn't be, and that alone makes it so worth the hype. Very rarely do you see an album so innovative and musically brilliant manage to break the top 10, let alone come out as the number one album of the year. Just like when Frank Ocean's Blonde was snubbed for its Grammy despite overwhelming success and critical acclaim, Astroworld too has been snubbed for its well-deserved Grammy over Drake's piss-poor, lukewarmly received Scorpion.

Songs like Skeletons, Astrothunder, and Can't Say shouldn't even be considered rap songs, because hip-hop is only a surface element here. A song like Sicko Mode, with three beat switch-ups, the first of which happens right as the song starts to take off before cutting itself short, with nothing resembling a hook or any traditional pop song structure, shouldn't even be the #1 radio hit that it is, but it just is. This is the rare example of something that in no way should be mainstream but is and 100% deserves to be. It's the kind of genius that can be appreciated on both the surfacelevel as a casual listener, but also for people have a finer knowledge of music to dive deeper in with.

In a world where each of the Migos, Lil Yachty, Drake, Tory Lanez, and RaeSremmurd are dropping 20+ song albums with almost all filler and little to no killer, it's a breath of fresh air to see an album as long as Astroworld filled with nothing but highlights.

[syrolecep-blog]

Good get to know you dating questions

18 First Date Questions From The Experts This one will give you a good idea of what time of the day she will most likely be in the mood.  If you meet someone you feel an immediate connection with, ask them these deep questions to get to know them on an intimate level as quickly as possible.  Good get to know you questions are unbelievably helpful when from scratch… because as we all know: Getting to know someone.  What is your favorite time of year? This is a great question to ask your father or son as it will reveal what they think.  What do you usually do for the holidays? Is your date a spender or a saver? What is something that you learned recently? These are conversation starters, not introductions.  If you date or marry this person, issues associated with their family of origin will rear their heads in your own relationships.

18 First Date Questions From The Experts According to OkCupid, the answer to this question correlates closely with political ideology.  Stay engaged and listen to their answers.  Which of the could they live without? What are some of the events in your life that made you who you are? What is something that you wish you could change about yourself? Where would you like to retire? Do you think you are like your parents? Some say dreams embody our hopes, fears, and deepest fantasies.  People all over the world are striking up friendships and romances with people they meet online on facebook, in chat rooms or game forums, and via email and apps.  Can you respect the people he loves? Questions about the past The past has a lot of useful information for the present and the future.  That's the person that he is likely to become once he is more comfortable around you.  Have you ever dressed up in a couples costume or a group costume? Do you like to go to concerts? Do you have any favorite artists? How good are you at keeping secrets? If you could have a never-ending candle that smelled like anything you wanted, what fragrance would you want it to be? Have you ever done more than kiss on the first date? What childhood movie was ruined after you watched it again when you were older? Question 21: What do you think is a waste of money? Or do you go to bed at a reasonable time and go right to sleep with no problems? What are some unwritten rules in your family? Who was your favorite cartoon character as a child? In Conclusion Now that you have plenty of get to know you questions, get out there and use them! This question is perfect for job interviews, as it shows exactly the type of person they are on a professional and personal level.

Intimate questions to ask your partner These questions can help to give you new perspectives and open up new interests.  Online dating has gone mainstream.  Are you heading in the same direction? Asking about favorite things is a pretty standard icebreaker question on dating websites.  Questions about drinks or food are a good way to share likes or dislikes with a date prospect.  How do you think you handled the loss? If heaven is real and you died tomorrow, would you get in? You spend a lot of time and energy wondering what the other person thinks of you.  What would you want your last meal to be? In what ways are you a follower? You never know what the answers might be.  What is a perfect day for you? If you and your date have any chemistry, then you might find that the conversation will eventually begin to flow at a comfortable pace.

100 Questions to Ask Your Girlfriend This first date question allows you to get to where their heart is tied to.  Question 2: What would an average day in your perfect life look like? It can feel a lot more natural to ask and answer questions over a cup of coffee than via email.  Would you prefer your mind to be a steel trap or a problem-solving machine? Question 5: What was your most serious relationship? Would you rather go hang gliding or whitewater rafting? Have you ever treated a person in a way that you regret? The author is a Forbes contributor.  Be transparent about your own spending habits and talk about your respective relationships with money.  Tell me your biggest strength outside of your workplace.  Nothing fills awkward silences more than flirty, curious questions.

100 Questions to Ask Your Girlfriend What motivates you to succeed? What qualities do you look for in a friend? This question can definitely lead to some off-the-rails answers that will have both of you cracking up.  You can trade places with someone for 1 day.  Here are 18 random questions to get to know someone: 151.  Questions to Peel Back the Layers Once you've chatted about favorites, fitness routines, and pop culture, you can and ask questions to get to know someone better on a different level.  Would you ever take back someone who cheated? Which will give you a chance to share about your own most fascinating work experience.  What was your last vacation like? Read the news or trending articles on social media before you meet up with the person so you can ask what their thoughts are on those topics.

260+ Get To Know You Questions To Ask Someone When you first start dating someone, you want to talk for hours and know all you can about the other person.  Remember that the aim of online dating is to find someone who suits you, not just to find someone.  What are the best perks that you have ever had at a job? Questions To Ask If You Want To Get To Know Someone On A Deeper Level 1.  Don't Just Say Anything As fun as it can be to wing it in conversation with someone you're just getting to know, it can also set you up for shyness, awkwardness, , or the nagging fear of saying the wrong thing a faux pas or just something boring.  It just means you might want to keep an eye on that issue and decide how important it is to you going forward in the relationship.

3 Important Questions To Ask Someone You Meet Online What class would you love to take together? Would you burn all your bridges? If your entire life was a movie, what title would best fit? You may want to leave politics out of it, at least at first.  What do you think about when you are lying in bed unable to sleep? If I asked you at age 5 what you wanted to be when you grew up, what would you say? If you are a girl, would you ever propose to a guy? What job would you be terrible at? Meeting online is now one of the most common ways to find a partner.  How to Get to Know Someone: 5 Powerful Tips In addition to providing you with a stellar list of questions to ask, we also included practical tips to help you get the most from them.  How many times did you have to take your driving test? Do you have just one ideal life or can you think of more than one? What pets did you have while you were growing up? What is your favorite childhood movie? Have you ever had unprotected sex? How close are you to accomplishing them? What are you reading currently? This question indirectly helps you to pinpoint aspects of your relationship that could be improved upon.  What kind of music do you like? It's also that compare where someone thought they would be at this age to where they actually are now.  What are 3 things that you would take with you on a deserted island? Which historical figure would you most like to be? Which one is more important — popularity or meaningful relationships? When a person reveals too soon, it can give a false sense of intimacy.  If you could change your first or last name, what would you change it to? What scene in a movie has evoked the most feelings out of you? What is a big pet peeve of yours? These questions are great for finding out what she wants out of life and the life she would live if everything went perfectly.

60 Get to Know You Questions for a New Romance Do with that knowledge what you will.  And so on… Question 12: What would you do if a close friend started saying mean things about you? If you could turn any activity into an Olympic sport, what would you have a good chance at winning medal for? What slang or trend makes you feel old? Which do you feel should stay gone forever? Question 14: What is your idea of a perfect Saturday night? Giving a girl a chance to brag on herself is a quick way to make her smile.  What does your dream day look like? Name the one worst quality you cannot tolerate in a partner.  Who is someone that you really miss? And if there are certain topics that are sensitive, then you might want to steer clear of those subjects.  What are some small things that make your day better? Another question that proves that you care while giving you valuable insight into her needs.

40 Fun Getting to Know You Questions In what ways are you the same as your childhood self? What is something that you eat on a regular basis? What are you the most ashamed of? What are some of the most annoying things that happen on social media? You can then discuss music and your favorite bands or songs, or talk about concerts you've been to or wish you hadn't missed.  Just remember, anything you ask is probably going to be asked right back to you.  They say that everyone has a book in them.  The type of music a person listens to.  How would you summarize your life purpose? The way that you ask the questions is also important.  Would you prefer ice cream soup or steaksicles? This conversation can be a tough pill to swallow for many.

[sewgeekmama]

So long guys! The Mom Blog gig has been great, but I’m outta here.  Gonna become a rock journalist.

OK, maybe not, but I did get to experience a minor Cameron Crowe moment when I was invited to a meet and greet with Whole Damn Mess before the Candlebox show at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall. I’m going to be honest and let you know I had to Google Candlebox. There’s just a blur of the early ’90s for me that involves raves, pigtails, giant pants and the thumping beat of “boots n hats and boots n hats.” And speaking of “the whole damn mess,” that’s a pretty accurate description of what I had to let happen just to get ready for the night. I let the toddler get into the stack of board games he’s been forbidden to touch, and it kept him pretty entertained while I put on make-up and did my hair.

Now THAT’s a whole damn mess

Whole Damn Mess only recently released their album The Queen and the Outcast, so the media person who contacted me helpfully sent some links to their music. I took a moment to actually listen to several songs before accepting the invite, because I value my journalistic integrity and knew I couldn’t just pretend to like it if I thought it was terrible.

And, I liked it! Like, right away. The sound was familiar, but the songs were new. It was kind of like when you meet someone new and already feel like old friends. After getting to meet and chat with front man Don Miggs and band members/co-writers C. Todd Nielsen and Lawrence Katz, it became pretty clear that they had managed to create exactly the sound they were going for. According to Miggs, their goal was to “make music that’s easy to listen to, but not easy listening.” All the band members cited several favorite bands as inspiration, plucking from different decades, and explained how they wanted to create a sound that brings it all together, the classic and the new. That theme also carried over to their album cover art, featuring a juxtaposition between classical and modern art.

My friend Jenna and I arrived nice and early so I got to chat with the band for a good 45 minutes before the show, as different band members wandered in and out of the dressing room, bringing pizza and beer and using an impressive amount of hairspray as they prepped. Nielsen and Katz looked straight outta Riverside (Jacksonville peeps will get it) while Miggs’ look was a little more on the L.A. side.

No really, I know who this band is…

I was wearing my favorite KISS t-shirt, which is always something of a conversation starter. I’ve been a KISS fan since I was little and my mom went to their concert. To four-year-old me, with their white make-up and costumes, I thought they looked like fun singing clowns. (and I mean that in the best possible way) Unfortunately I lost all KISS cred when a member of the other opening band, State to State, asked me my favorite KISS album and I totally blanked. The answer is of course, Destroyer, but all I could do was picture the album cover and answering “the one where they look like they’re all dancing together” seemed like a bad choice. So I all I managed to do was mumble and turn red. Dammit! I wasn’t prepared to be the interviewee.

There was a good amount of back and forth during the interview though, as I found Miggs to be a totally likable, relatable guy. During my pre-show research, I noticed a trend of WDM album reviews popping up on a lot of “mom blogs” and asked about the correlation and their target audience. Yep, that’s us! Once you dig into the lyrics you’ll find many songs inspired by Miggs’ wife and children, even one called “Take Care of Yourself” that came from his wife’s struggle with post-partum depression. With two young sons, Miggs is no stranger to the world of parental struggles and even co-wrote a book called Dads Know Best, filled with quotes on fatherhood from both famous and everyday dads.

As it moved closer to show time, the guys swigged a little tequila out of a flask, as they got ready to perform their very first show together. While everyone had an accomplished musical background, this would be the first time in a long time any of them were going to be part of the “opening, opening band” or the first in a set of three. The fact that they were going on so early, with a recently released album, set the tone for the performance and you could really feel that they were just going out there to have fun. This wasn’t just checking off the box and going to work. It was the culmination of their hard work and they were going to get to share it and introduce it to a whole new group of people.

Jenna and I got a spot near the stage, in a good vantage point to see both the show and crowd watch. The room was about half full when they started, and completely packed by the time they finished. I noticed there were some ladies up front singing every word and when I asked about them later, Miggs mentioned he had some fans from his previous band, aptly named MIGGS, that came out to see the new band perform. And those weren’t the only people I noticed getting into it. There was a lot of foot tapping and head bobbing throughout the crowd as they worked their way through a short 30 minute set from their new album.

It seemed to take only a couple minutes for the band to warm up and find their groove and just have fun up there. Miggs made it look easy, deftly handling some initial technical difficulties while not missing a beat. I was doing a bit of bouncing myself and even sang along a bit to the extremely catchy “We Don’t Need a Reason.” I can say that I truly enjoyed the show. We actually headed home only a few songs into Candlebox’s set because it was getting close to 10:30 and we are after all, stereotypically tired moms that have to get up early even if we go out and live out our rock journalist dreams for the evening. Also, wow, there’s a lot of screaming in those Candlebox songs. My ears could only take so much. How’s that for sounding old?

And that’s where Whole Damn Mess comes in. I could have listened to them a lot longer, and that’s what they want. They don’t need to scream their message at you. They just want to make music you can enjoy listening to and maybe even put on when the kids let you listen to something other than Elmo’s Greatest Hits. Even my toddler decided to sing along when I was sampling songs, instead of yelling at me to turn it off like usual. I think that’s a good sign right there. The hard to earn, rarely given on things not made of chocolate, toddler stamp of approval.

Almost Famous, The Mom’s Night Out Edition with Whole Damn Mess So long guys! The Mom Blog gig has been great, but I’m outta here.  Gonna become a rock journalist.

[dippedanddripped]

kay, pause for one second. Scroll through some recently played music on your phone or laptop or whatever you use. Here’s what it says on my iPhone: Be Your Own Pet. Bloc Party. My Chemical Romance. CKY (lol, remember them?). Klaxons. Weezer. We Are Scientists. You get the idea. So what do all these artists have in common other than the fact they make me look like a starter-pack normie with no fixed identity? They all released music in the 2000s, which was when I was a young teenager. And what does this have to do with your music taste? Let me explain. Last week, the New York Times ran a piece titled The Songs That Bind, in which writer Seth Stephens-Davidowitz collated data to explain what he saw as a music taste generational gap (inspired by how Seth and his brother couldn’t agree on whether or not Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” is a banger). After analysing Spotify trends, he noticed that the popularity of certain songs correlated to the age groups who first heard it when they were teenagers. “Creep” by Radiohead, for example, is most popular among men who are around 38 years old today.

“The most important period for men in forming their adult tastes were ages 13 to 16,” he wrote, adding that “the most important period for women were ages 11 to 14.” In other words, adults don’t really get heavily into new music, which probably explains why all my mates are overgrown emos who still stan Gerard Way. There is, however, a little deviation from this in our 20s. “For both men and women, their early 20s were half as influential in determining adult musical tastes as their early teens,” Stephens-Davidowitz explained. So far, so simple.

What this data didn’t really go into, though, is why. It’s all well and good knowing that yes, your suspicions are correct, your bf still hasn’t gotten over the time Pete Doherty robbed Carl Barât's flat and their friendship was never the same again, but we need answers. At 25 years old, I feel pretty open to the experiences around me, perhaps even more so than when I was 15, so why is my brain apparently cemented shut when it comes to music? I rang up Dr Stephanie Burnett Heyes – a psychology lecturer and British Academy postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Birmingham – to find out more.

Noisey: Hi Stephanie! So, why are adults primarily obsessed with music from their teen years? Dr Stephanie Burnett Heyes: Adolescence is a “social sensitive” period, which means it’s a period of life when you’re receptive to other people and ideas – more receptive than later on – so those interactions and ideas tend to stick. In terms of scientific evidence for this, it’s really difficult to collect, but it’s an idea that’s been proposed in the last couple of years in the field of psychology. It’s something we’re still trying to investigate. Another reason has to do with the brain and what’s called “functional brain activity” – and these ideas aren’t mutually exclusive to the social ones. When adolescents are processing stimulating reward activities – which can be anything from money to sugar to someone you respect liking you back – they seem to be more responsive than older and younger people, and that seems to respond to their activity.

So does that mean the deeper we love something the more likely it is to stick with us later? It doesn’t necessarily follow, but it could be a combination of these forces.

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Why do you think the tastes of those assigned male at birth are formed later than those assigned female at birth? Anything that is a year later for boys than for girls points straight away to puberty. We know that puberty hormones don’t just affect our bodies and reproductive organs – they affect our brains. It affects how you perceive and interact with people. That seems the obvious first hypothesis. I’d be interested to see whether those who go through puberty later like music from when they were 16 rather than 14.

And why do you think there’s this additional spike in our early twenties when it comes to music taste? I would like to see whether this spike varies in terms of whether they went to university, when they left home, their socio-economic status etc. Because it could be something about going to a new place and meeting new people and being surrounded by new ideas. But it could also be another brain mechanism. It would need more data.

Do you think our tastes are formed in other ways in our teen years? Like, not just the music we like, but the films, our fashion sense… Music seems like a paradigmatic one, doesn’t it? The others aren’t as clear cut. Fashion’s quite expensive for a teenager, for example, so there are other things going on. Another obvious thing to explore, though, would be spiritual beliefs and attitudes. Ideological preferences might be formed in your teenage years because it’s a time when you might be more open to spiritual and religious ideas, that sort of thing.