#22 a million

[sure-thing-casey]

[sinceileftyoublog]

Mk.gee Live Show Review: 10/3, Vic Theatre, Chicago

Photo by Will Shaw

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Two Star & The Dream Police (R&R), the debut studio album from L.A.-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Mk.gee, feels like an album of endless possibilities. Its palette--effected guitars, metallic drum machines, rubbery synths--creates a wholly abstract sound, but one with enough up-front elements to wake you from the dream. The first time I listened to it, I was reminded of albums like Frank Ocean's Blonde and Bon Iver's 22, A Million, because they all share not an aesthetic (though individual moments are similar) but a penchant for world-building, the type with the potential to grow beyond the album's initial release.

Indeed, live, the world of Two Star & The Dream Police expands exponentially. Last Thursday, Mk.gee played the Vic Theatre in Chicago, performing the entirety of the album, but in a different order just as cohesive as that of the record itself. He entered on stage obscured, the light show not yet kicking in. Mk.gee is Michael Gordon, but he's the type of artist who could ostensibly operate in anonymity without it being annoying, toeing the line between the mysterious and the uncanny. As such, it felt appropriate that the crowd screamed not at the sight of the artist, but the opening disintegrating haze of "Dream police". If you were going in cold, you might hear his strong vocals delivering yearning lines like, "I'll bleed tonight / She lit the world on fire / The dream police is alive," atop stadium-sized heartland rock replete with chintzy synths, and think the song was once part of the soundtrack to an 80s road-trip movie. Such is the magic of Mk.gee and his ability to tap into the blurry years gone by.

Then, he broke character, screaming, "CHICAGO!!!" The same way the sound of a piano or saxophone on Two Star & The Dream Police can ground you, Mk.gee reminded the crowd that he was Michael Gordon. It bears saying that throughout the show, both the impressionism and rawness expanded. Like Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs, Gordon knows the power of a well-timed vocal whoop when playing a nostalgic-sounding song, like "How many miles". The light show often moved in sync with the music, giving noodling songs like "Breakthespell" a tactility it lacks on the studio version, making you aware of how the band pulled back parts piece by piece. Really, the lights often clued you in to the tone Mk.gee was going for. On "Little Bit More", a song that somehow combines a sea shanty sway with a guitar funk bounce, the lights looked like the extension of the table hosting all of Zack Sekoff's sample pads and sequencers, as if to suggest that the sounds you were hearing were conducted in a lab for maximum induction of awe. Truly, every time Sekoff triggered the occasional blast of distortion, the high teenagers behind me screamed, "What the fuck?!?" as if they couldn't believe what they were hearing. For the record, I was screaming it in my head.

As much as Mk.gee is occasionally flashy (the prickly, disjointed guitar solo on "Candy" comes to mind), their live show had me thinking that never has a band (Gordon, Sekoff, guitarist Andrew Aged) done so much work to create a vibe. In the hands of lesser musicians, the sheer number of samples and effects would come off as braggadocious maximalism. During Mk.gee's show, on the other hand, nothing included was superfluous. The hissing drums, riffs, and vocals--themselves an instrument--on "You got it" combined for the most satisfying Hornsby-indebted slow jam since "Beth/Rest". The strobe-lit industrial drums and auto-tuned vocals added a tongue-in-cheek temper to "New Low", a song that chides artists who try too hard to be someone else. Even the fact that Mk.gee played "DNM" a whopping five (!) times total, three during the main set, and two during the encore, seemed to serve to emphasize that you, too, probably had it on repeat the first time you heard it. Each time the band began it anew, Gordon looked over his shoulder and screamed, "ZACK!", an instruction to Sekoff to begin its swollen drum introduction; the audience sang along, "Never want to talk about it, how come? / Never want to talk about it, with no one?" louder with every instance.

It seems almost unfair to say that Mk.gee's show at the Vic was the best I've seen all year, and if I had to rank it, I might consider it the show of the decade so far. At the risk of sounding like an insufferable hippie, the show was an experience, one that constantly defies easy categorization and your expectations. When the band closed with an absolutely cheap-sounding instrumental cover of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" that also seemed to adopt the melody of Andrea Bocelli's, "Con te partirò", I laughed, but I also realized that the heel turn was more emblematic of Mk.gee than any of the Dream Police songs. He's always got one foot planted in the past, but he's always one step ahead.

[poprocklyrics]

I been carved in fire

____45_____, Bon Iver

[memoriesofthingspast]

22, a million

[mantra-the-melancholic]

you called and i came, stayed tall through it all; fall and fixture just the same thing.

[personaversace]

I just adore bon iver’s last two albums, and i don’t really tend to herald music to be “ahead of it’s time” but these two albums strike me as a hopeful yet incredibly mournful transmission from a decade or two in the future, Maybe it’s the apocalypse, maybe it’s utopia, or maybe somewhere in between. Either way, Bon Iver crafts a beautiful sense of uncertainty with these albums. Both of these albums are unconventional down to the core, Vernon’s use of folk as a starting point is absolutely brilliant but it’s the way he incorporates everything else that makes them feel so alien yet incredibly enjoyable through & through. Both albums are incredibly texturally rich, pulling from sounds that blur the line between synthetic and organic and yet still feel uniquely bon Iver’s.

They’re albums that I feel their message is one that is both deeply intimate yet incredibly expansive and abstract. An idiosyncratic meditation on the human condition.

Below are some of my favourites from the two albums.

https://youtu.be/Hs5rXRPC0rc?si=xxYpyeP_QC8k8Jia

[zonewaylee]

ALBUM REVIEW (#25)

22, A Million — Bon Iver

SO LIKE I LOVE I,I AND SOMEHOW I THOUGHT I HAD LISTENED TO THIS ALBUM AS WELL BECAUSE THEY’RE AESTHETICS ARE SOMEWHAT SIMILAR? BUT I DIDN’T HAVE IT LIKED ON SPOTIFY SO THAT USUALLY MEANS I’VE NEVER ACTUALLY SAT DOWN AND LISTENED TO THE WHOLE THING SO I SAT DOWN AND LISTENED TO THE WHOLE THING. MY FRIEND TOLD ME THAT THEIR FAVORITE TRACKS ARE 29 #Strafford APTS AND ____45_____. I DON’T HAVE FAVORITE TRACKS YET BUT THEY WERE ALL GOOD. YES. BON IVER. NEXT ALBUM WHEN?

[linoyes]

[veearrifarrariboom]

Neon Void chapter 22 spoilers.

Aaa

AaaaAAAAA Filled another page :D um as for the chapter here’s how I feel about it:

AUIPRJJVHSIAKAJAHGHCJKLOOONVAUAIJCNBANDKNZOHHOJHHEEUEUEUODNGIDWOEEDJQBYCIFOMGRIVVJJEISKVHSHSCAACAAOHTHISBOYCRAXYCRAZYYYUQIQKAJAJAJFBEHCODLKSNXN BAJA BLAST MENTION RED MYSTIC WARRIOR MENTION OHAOJFISKQJHAJCN 💥💥💥💥 I need a new sketchbook drew too much neon void. AAAA THIS IS WHAT WEVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR BRO IT HAPPNED. BUT WHAT THE FART HAPPENS AT THE THANKSGIVING PARADE!????

Shakes you blows you up with my mind @sugarpasteltmnt

Also some doodles from before this mind boggling chapter came out

[poughkeepsies]

honestly you guys make fun of 911 for having 22 million killer bees as the opening disaster but like. this is season 8. they've already dealt with house fires and factory fires and collapsed bridges and earthquakes and tsunamis and serial killers and gay thoughts. they've already proven they can deal with anything the universe throws at them and now they need to raise the stakes and what's better than a truly insurmountable number of bees. I can't think of a solution. you can think of a solution. this one's really gonna take everything they have.

[rypnami]

i think in the pirate au, sebastian wears his hair a bit longer/shaggier than his canon hair, and it shows that its a bit curly. so theres that! also definitely tan from being in the sun.

[gnomeonamelon]

Hello! Part 2 of my designs: Thalia Grace and Nico di Angelo!

In honor of reading (/listening to) The Demigod Files for the first time, I decided to do the other Little 3: Greek Edition) next! For the sake of reference, Thalia is 27 chronologically/ 17 physically and Nico is 19 (I'll explain).

The rules I set myself to for these redesigns were explained in Part 1 where I did The Trio.

Notes Below (and a poll please I need help):

Thalia:

The ears probably need the most explanation here: I like the idea that becoming a hunter changes you more than simply immortality. They are made up of humans (demigod and mortal) and nymphs, so I threw traits in the blender- the humans become more nymph like, and the nymphs become more human like (always including their bond to a specific place/ thing in nature being broken).

The only other thing of significance I did that wasn't just design flavor was change her hair color from black to brown. I just thought the color worked well with her complexion and differentiated her from the others more.

I keep bouncing around with who should get Aegis after she becomes a hunter (I'm almost positive she never uses it again after TTC)

Nico:

When I was working through the seven total children of the Big 3 and their ages, I realized that I wanted to make it conceivable that any of them could've been the child of prophecy (or seen that way) at some point. I was able to do this fairly easily for everyone else but had to get more creative for Nico. Currently, I'm working with the idea that Nico and Percy are the same age, they have the same birthday.

Once Nico is introduced and Bianca joins the hunters/dies, no one knows who's going to fulfill the prophecy. This adds more tension as he is seemingly evil, and no one knows where he is most of the time. This would probably make everyone but especially Annabeth really suspicious. It would go back and forth for a while before eventually turning out to be Percy.

Ok! On to the actual design: I wanted to go with something different for Nico's outfit as he has a couple early in the series. My personal favorite of these alternates is the black trench coat, so I went with that. Combined with the heeled boots, curved, almost cutlass looking kopis, and cross the body sash for the sheath, he looks very piratey to me with his more formal shirt and pants all being 1940s inspired.

He also has a lot of elements that I at least always forget about. He has a chain belt in BotL that I have never seen in fanart before, so I wanted to include it. I also wanted him to wear his (now skeleton themed) armor since the poor boy needs armor if he's going to go to Tartarus.

It's hard to see at a distance, but there is a key embedded in Nico's sword. Given that the Underworld is described with prison/ door motifs (ex: The Doors of Death), I like the idea that underworld gods have different keys.

When fighting Melinoe, Nico finds (steals) a key that allows him to summon ghosts without the ritual (its criminal that the Ghost King didn't come back in this story).

[queen-morgana91]

Aang vs Ozai is the most-viewed atla video on youtube 👀

Deserved, because this fight was peak and the culmination of a beautiful series (and Aang's storyline)

[colinfeatherington]

I canttt with the people on twitter who say polin has no build up. they had two seasons before this one!!! also bridgerton is a show where couples get together fast! it’s only 8 episodes a season! no shade to the other couples but if you wrote it out, both prior lead couples fundamentally had like 2 weeks and a couple times hanging out before they were risking it all. and in their society, marriage IS fast. for godsake, people start pressuring simon and daphne to get engaged the day after the ball where they first dance! anthony starts talking about proposing to edwina in like episode 2. you don’t have to like polin, it’s fine, but I can’t see another post going “it makes no sense because he didn’t want to date her then they kiss and now he does?” yes that’s the point!!!! he didn’t realize the true depth of his feelings that’s the POINT. need that clip of claudia going it’s FRIENDS to LOVERS, just say you don’t like them and move onnnnnnn it’s not that deep

[stacielyn]

Saw the bees in NYC today.

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

having a really old dog is just repeating the mantra to yourself "i am grateful for the time i've been given and when it comes time to let him go i will do so gracefully. i am grateful for the time i've been given and when it comes time to let wait why are you not pooping normally WHAT IS GOING ON WHY WON'T YOU POOP ARE YOU DYING" and then calling the vet in a panic, being told actually he's fine but give the probiotic some time to do its thing and then let us know if anything changes, and then you take a deep breath and go "cool. yeah. obviously he's fine. anyway. i am grateful for the time i've been given and