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padraicratigan · 2 months ago

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Basil of Baker Street

A four part blog post series by Mike Peraza, the art director of The Great Mouse Detective. The original sources can be found here: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Part 1:

"The Black Cauldron" was to be a return of greatness for Disney Feature animation. There was a lot of fresh new talent alongside veteran Disney artists to bring it to the screen. Somewhere along the way as it slowly creeped through production, I just found it difficult to get excited about the direction Cauldron was taking. I wasn't as thrilled about it as I had been when I first saw Mel Shaw's dramatic pastels for the film. He had captured a tale of sweeping adventure and fantasy in brilliant colors. For me, that excitement had been watered down. I wasn't alone. There were others too who wanted to work on something else. That something else became, "Basil of Baker Street."

Mel Shaw had also been sketching pastels for a new film with the working title, "Basil of Baker Street." Among the early participants were Directors, Burny Mattinson, John Musker, Ron Clements, Dave Michener, animator/character designer Ed Gombert and storyman Vance Gerry and Don Griffith and I doing concepts. Don Griffith provided some excellent visuals for the Dancehall/Waterfront dive area and I likewise did my best to keep up with my mentor doing the flat, lab, and toyshop. The group was dynamic to say the least. Burny could make these gorgeous charcoal story sketches with lots of appeal and he was an upbeat person to be around. I knew John from Cal Arts days and he was a mark above most even back then with a satirically sharp edge on his drawings. Ron had heart, plenty of it and really studied film techniques as in the 3 C's. Dave was a true veteran of Disney, working close with Milt Kahl for years, and his draughtsmanship was impeccable. Ed was a keen talent in many areas whether designing a character or executing a story sketch and I enjoyed his offbeat humor. Vance was just an easy going mellow soul who was fun to talk to and he could knock out beautiful expressive story panels that nailed each moment in the story arc.

One of two desks I used simultaneously during Basil.

Here I'm working out the staging outside the toyshop

The story was based on a series of children's books by Eve Titus where a mouse fashioned after London's greatest detective lives just beneath that famous 221B Baker street address. His archenemy is Professor Ratigan, a nod to Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes world. At one point the little girl, Olivia, was older and a possible love interest for Basil but it was deicided a small girl searching for her father would gain more feeling between our leads in the story dynamic. Basil also plays the violin quite well in our movie whereas in the books he's horrible with the instrument. Basil was named in honor of Basil Rathbone who played the detective role famously for MGM and Universal studios for many years.

Ken Anderson had done a marvelous workbook for "Ben and Me", and I was using copies of those as a guide to workbooking for Basil. The productions hadn't been using workbooks in their planning for many years. I'm guessing because the older crew with icons like Don Griffith and Mac Stewart and others had gained so much experience that they could just go from story sketch to layout with a minimum of problems. Well I wasn't as experienced or comfortable doing that so I liked relying on workbooks to aid in the staging process. I did all my thumbnails and even full size layouts in charcoal, sometimes using a carbon pencil for tight detail line work. I also made what I called "Color Ribbons" in small thumbnails to show the progression of color which is so important to setting mood and having an emotional impact. I got that idea from Fantasia, where they had these great little charts showing the abstract color in a sequence and how it would flow through the story. These were then set using workable fixative.

A rather messy corner of my room at the old Disney Studio

In those days we were still in the original animation building where they had done everything from Pinocchio onward and thank goodness the windows could be opened. This way I wasn't asphyxiating myself or my crewmates although that fixative odor could really linger. John Musker would routinely enter my room and ham up his gagging when he heard me spraying. HA, HA, HA, what a card, sheesh, hey I had to do something to make that stuff quit rubbing off! The sequences I was mainly responsible for designing were the opening title, Basil's flat (Basil's introduction), the Toyshop and the climactic fight (chase across sky onto and into Big Ben). Gil Dicicco who was also an Art Director on Basil for a while and did Ratigan's Lair along with the final waterfront look with marvelous watercolor studies. He introduced me to using FW Inks which gave you these brilliant colors and had an excellent permanence in light. Sadly the FW formula changed from carbon to acrylic about 10 years ago and the colors are milky these days. Brian Mcentee did Mr. Sherlock Holmes' flat upstairs and exterior streets of London with wonderful pastels. He did a series of those pastels set in the early morning just after my toyshop chase as Basil, Olivia and Dawson trot homeward on the back of bloodhound Toby while the lamplighter douses the gaslights one by one. Henry Mancini set music to them based on Big Ben's bell chimes and the total effect which brought tears to your eyes. It had the potential of, "Feed the Birds" from "Mary Poppins", to my mind. Unfortunately it was cut. It's a shame because the pacing gave us a heartfelt piece of emotion and a breather between two chase sequences and I really thought that helped the overall pacing.

Part 2:

It was a joy to arrive at work in the morning at Disney in those days. It was like a second home to most of us and we enjoyed the comradery of good friends who were all working towards creating something special. My wife Patty was an effects animator on the film (just off her duties on Cauldron) and created things from exploding feather pillows, menacing shadows to soap bubbles for Basil.

She was the first female to make full animator at Disney since Retta Scott in the early 1940's. Joan Lunden from Good Morning America flew out to the Disney Animation where she interviewed Patty from her office in the animation building. It was great working on the same production because we both were understanding when the other had to work late on a scene or two to get it out for the production. Rob Minkoff, future director of "Lion King" was new to the animation department and would hang out in the corner of my room releasing a constant stream of doodles of Basil, Dawson and other character designs. His designs would be combined with those of others like Matt O"Callahan, Glen Keane and many others. In animation, there is always quite a few people contributing to the final result through a lot of stages. Then of course you don't truly know if the design works until the animator breathes life into the form with his stack of drawings and with the added element of the voice. Bruce Morris was another Cal Arts alumni who was excellent in multiple areas, one of which was story development. He fleshed out Basil's motives and also came up with a Victorian twist to an elaborate mouse trap that would put Rube Goldberg to shame. The crew list could go on and on and I apologize for omitting anyone but I fear this will never get posted if I don't draw a line somewhere.

A few of the endless designs and angles I did as concept art for Basil's flat

On Basil we employed the old unit system which had a director set up with his own little team within a team. I was thrilled to be in John's unit as I thought he had the most exciting sections in the film but everyone pitched in ideas or sketches to help the entire creative process. One of his sequences I was assigned to early on was the climactic fight on Big Ben. I had known of Hayao Miyazaki's "Castle of Cagliostro" and had copies of his storyboard and concepts. I was very impressed with his staging and idea of placing the characters amidst giant turing gears. When John Lasseter brought that film among others to show in the Disney theater I was really blown away seeing it on the big screen so when I read about the clock tower in the script, my imagination went into overdrive. At the time the original script called for the fight between Basil and Ratigan to take place on the hands of Big Ben until Ratigan falls to his demise but I wanted something more. I've always been a fan of big finales using interesting locales a prime example being Alfred Hitchcock's, "North by Northwest" on the gigantic and potentially dangerous faces of Mount Rushmore. I went into John Musker's office, and told John I had a new idea for the climax. Knowing John I expected a devastating but witty retort but instead he listened as I explained my idea of having the fight break through the face of Big Ben and continue inside amidst the menacing gears as a sort of homage to the Miyazaki film. John liked the idea and told me to develop it. Now all I needed was a way to make it all come together.

Dave English and I met while I was creating some multiplane shots using his Academy Award winning computerized rig called ACES for Epcot and Walt Disney World. Unlike the old multiplane, we could repeat camera moves using the computer system which gave us more flexibility with layering. It was also set up like our old horizontal multiplane as opposed to the vertical one which gave us more room for trucking into the scenes. With his rig I created visuals that were later combined with audio-animatronic figures for the parks. I told him about Basil and my hopes for a computer sequence and he introduced me to a fellow at WED, Lem Davis. I would go over after hours (without permission) and we put together plot drawings of computer graphic settings for the gears turning and the chess board sequence. I chose those two setups because they were made up of simple (or so I thought) geometric shapes that we could easily reproduce in the new digital format. In those days, the computer systems didn't use a mouse and everything was input using a keyboard. Yeah, not easy. For the gears I had to get mechanical drawing made over in the machine shop on the backlot that would then be input point by point into the system. Did I mention that the system liked to crash? It did, frequently especially with the heat those machines built up. I took the colored line plots and sent them to our camera department to be shot with my animation poses exposed on top. After seeing the clips, John and Ron were enthusiastic over the possibilities. However the producer felt it might not fit into the look and it was dropped. Now I didn't agree with the decision but you have to understand that at the time it was a radical new concept and if not handled properly could indeed have stopped the visual flow so I understood his point of view.

A corner of my old office at the Disney Studio

(This photo courtesy of the company newsletter)

I pinned the pastels and charcoals I had done next to the plotted line drawings and they were forgotten, for a while. At least until a visitor came in one afternoon, Roy Disney. He was showing Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg around the studio and came in to see what was up in our wing. During the tour, Roy was looking over my corner intensely and smiled, "Glad to see we're putting some computer images into the mix." After they left, I was given the go ahead to put the computer graphics into production. I remember John Musker's grin as he left the room was almost as big as mine.

Part 3:

My wife and I made hurried plans for a trip to London to gather reference for the film.We contacted Eva Redfern who managed the Disney Studio in our London branch and she worked tirelessly to set up the things we requested. Paramount to our quest for reference was a trip inside Big Ben itself. Security was and probably still is very tight around Big Ben as it is not only a famous London landmark but is considered part of the Palace of Westminister. We took our video equipment up those steps into the bell chamber. In those days, video equipment was heavy and in multiple pieces (camera and recording deck). After trudging up never ending sets of stairs, we found ourselves literally standing behind the huge face of Big Ben's milky white glass face.

A reference shot I took just behind the huge white clock faces of Big Ben

When the unseen bells were struck by the hammers above us, the tower actually vibrated with the sound. After that treat we then crawled up and lifted a sort of trap door with a pillow on top and found ourselves face to face within the bell chamber including the big one, BIG BEN. While being up in the bell chamber, we only had about 10 minutes to snap pictures and run video before the bells would chime on the quarter hour. Being close to noon, we knew we were in for some real ear splitting harmony and the ear muffs were very welcome. We spent the afternoon going inside, outside and around the structure until we were sure we had plenty of reference material of the tower for my needs as well as the crew back home.

We must have been quite a sight to the British as I was perpetually lying down on the ground trying to get Basil's 6 inch high POV of London with my Nikon lens. We performed the same antics in front of Buckingham Palace,Tower Bridge and everywhere else that our brave intrepid little mouse might travel. Patty and I spent a late night in the East End of London because at that time it was filled with dilapidated buidings bordering the waterfront dating back to the Victorian age and beyond which was perfect for the Ratigan section. When the tube stopped off in Whitechapel, Patty and I were the only ones to step off into a deserted station. During our quest we also crossed the footsteps of Jack the Ripper while taking our photos. We became uneasy as we realized that we were alone in a deadend rundown section of cobblestone. The cabs didn't come to this part of town so we starting walking to the nearest tube which wasn't as close as we were hoping. As our imaginations kicked in, our pace got quicker until we eventually found ourselves safe and warm in our B&B back in Kensington Gardens. We hit Toystores while in London and brought back a collection of wind up tin toys and Victorian styled dolls that would make your hair stand on end. I made a corner of my room at Disney into a sort of turn of the century toyshop complete with fake iron window mullions made of balsa and cardboard.

One of the hundreds of photos I took laying on the ground to get a "mouse's point of view"

We also searched for the home of London's most famous detective. Although the 221 B Baker Street address of Sherlock Holmes didn't exist when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the adventure, we were able to find the Shelock Holmes Museum which is situated in a 1815 house similar to the one described in the stories. We also spent the afternoon in the Sherlock Holmes Pub which featured an extremely detailed replica of Mr. Holmes' apartment along with his collection of oddities. Don Griffith and Vance Gerry had both tipped me off about this place and I was glad they did.

A rough pastel concept for Basil's domicile

The basic structure for Basil's flat came from underneath my house. I crawled under my bathroom to take shot photos of the plumbing and wood/concrete construction. The sewer pipe was a wonderful device to set into the ceiling for proportion. Items like that gave it the identity of an area UNDERNEATH another living quarters and not just a miniature Holmes flat. I kept the large nails and wood grain which enhanced the scale and turned a piece of short pipe into a framed window.

Ken Anderson had built a mill model for Walt Disney's classic 1937 Silly Symphonies, "The Old Mill ,"with detailed movable parts before production on that Academy Award winning short for those reasons. It was invaluable to many departments especially layout and story in planning unique angles and lighting patterns. With Walt's encouragement he went on to build a model set of Snow White's cottage for the next film also with great visual results.

After sketching out the layout of Basil's flat I built a fairly detailed model of it that could be viewed from all directions. I even sculpted small posable figures of Basil and Dawson to scale to place into the set. This technique of building small set models had been done at the Disney Studio since before Snow White as an aid to directors, layout, BG artists and animators in visualizing scene settings.

Part 4:

First time director gives Vincent (Ratigan) Price the background of his character at the recording session.

Vincent Price was perfect as the vocal embodiment of nefarious villian, RATIGAN! Or as his character would remark, "... an extremely large mouse!" I usually didn't attend voice recording sessions because I really liked having only the audio in my mind when testing for new characters, unblemished by the live session although the expressions and physical traits could be helpful at times to study if we choose that person to provide the voice. You wouldn't believe the physical theatrics I've seen when someone was trying out for a role waving their arms, making faces and jumping around instead of concentrating on their vocal acting. A few times after such a session a director would be excited after what he thought was a great recording test only to find the rest of us who hadn't attended the recording less than enthused because we were able to concentrate solely on the voice. My other excuse was that I was usually swamped with work. When Vincent Price came in though, well that was different. As we all knew who he was mainly due to his horror themed later films and the booth was packed with most of our small crew. John Musker was directing the recording on the floor with Vincent Price when he asked for the same take one too many times. We were dying in the booth, laughing and I'm sure John thought it was funny in time too.

Me and my pal "Big Ben"

We had a lot of fun in those days at Disney. John instigated the first of many Caricature Shows in the studio library where his wife Gail worked. Everyone at the studio was invited to contribute and most of us did. At Halloween, the animation staff would wear their finest and strangest mostly homemade costumes. I'll have to post some of those around October. And any Disney animation artist worth their salt could flip a pushpin into a facing wall or ceiling and hit the spot. It was a benefit of long hours of having so much ready ammunition around. We became adept with whipping out those tiny terrors of pintacular precision.

Sometimes we used the wall, other times the ceiling. We could toss them with a curve or slight rise, like a baseball player on the mound pitching to a heavy hitter. On Basil we took it up a notch. We used to make blowguns out of pan cels and shoot special darts which were our solid lead pushpins from the 1930's and 1940's. We could hit the target from one end of the hall to the other. The pins hit so hard that when we pulled the softer lead, the steel points stayed in the back side of the closed door. Wonder what they thought after the animation staff left to relocate to Glendale? Must have looked liked a metal porcupine had farted cold steel quills! Tons of silly sketches flew back and forth among artists during production a lot of which I kept copies of thankfully. A funny gag drawing could make a long day seem a lot shorter. A prop I had brought in for the Toyshop sequence was an old hand crank bubble machine I had picked up in an antique store in London. I put it to good use when Musker had to leave his office across the hall to attend a meeting one afternoon. I had found some "Super-Duper Long Lasting Bubble Liquid" for the fuel but when John returned, there were bubbles over his desk, moviola, floor, everywhere. Those bubbles just stayed, and stayed! Luckily when they finally went away they didn't leave behind any damage, only that springtime fresh clean smell, ahhh.

Our favorite little corner of the world

The film was enjoyable to be a part of because it all seemed to work. The story and the crew were a good matchup. The directors were all top notch. I was lucky to work with people like Matt O'Callahan whose story sketches were great inspiration to all of us. Rob Minkoff and Mark Henn breathed life into the violin playing mighty mouse of deductions and his trusty sidekick Dawson. Glen Keane was unleased for one of his best performances to date with his portrayal of the notorious Ratigan. Henry Mancini was and still is one of my favorite composers and I was able to work with him on other films besides Basil and he even invited me to his studio office early one morning for a chance to see and hear his latest magic. Then out of the blue, the title was questioned. Management decided to test market the name "Basil of Baker Street" to some small kids and came back to us that it wasn't working and that the children preferred the name, "The Great Mouse Detective" much better.

They were also concerned over the recent box office failure of Steven Spielberg's "Young Sherlock Holmes" and wanted to distance themselves from that film. This totally ridiculous move by management led to the infamous memo that went out with new titles for all the classic Disney Animated features to date. One inside joke of course was that "Aristocats" was the sole title unchanged in the fake memo. This memo circulated throughout the company and internationally and the animation staff thought it was hilarious. Management was furious besides being embarrassed and called an inquisition to nab the perpetrator but to no avail. No one on the crew was going to rat out the culprit although we all knew the author. It's funny that decades later the current Disney management team has renamed, "Rapunzel" to "Tangled" somehow because "The Princess and the Frog" didn't meet someone's box office expectations (I thought it did well) and they are blaming both titles with attracting girls only. As the old saying goes, "... only the names change," especially at later day Disney.

Sherlock Holmes Musem London

By this time Don Griffith had retired, along with Woolie, Frank, Ollie, Milt, and other great disney alumni. Part of the magic for me was seeing these guys and learning what I could from their immense talent. I also missed hanging with the veterans during break times or lunch and hearing some great stories of "the old days" with Walt. Brad Bird, Tim Burton and John Lasseter had also moved on and so the studio had lost even recently acquired top talent. In addition to the creative ranks being depleted, we had also been moved in the middle of production, to a converted warehouse in Glendale off the studio lot and out of the old animation building. I missed our old digs, the backlot walks, the morgue and its history. At this point I also decided it was time to move on.

Setting up what would become DTV

All the locations on Basil were set and the background keys were done. There was tons of reference we had collected and donated if anyone needed to go back to the source. I went to work for the Bagdasarians on, "The Chipmunk Adventure", and for Disney TV on their new small screen offerings, "Gummi Bears" and "Ducktales". Ken Anderson was also brought on board for the launch of "Gummi Bears" designing the main tree so that was a highlight to be paired with the maestro again if only for a brief stint on publicity concept art. Some of my former crewmates on "Basil", Ed Gombert, Toby Sheldon, and others soon joined the party at Disney TV which added to the fun we had over in North Hollywood.

My wife and I were eventually invited back to the House of Mouse for the wrap party with the film officially entitled, "The Great Mouse Detective". We could each bring a guest so I brought Bill Frake and my wife invited his lovely wife Kathy. Bill had introduced us to Rowland Wilson and his equally talented wife Suz. We had quite the adventure one night at the Magic Castle which for time I won't go into here. Bill was a layout man I had known and worked with and he had contributed a bit to Basil and I wanted him there to enjoy the party . As the evening went on, two of the film's directors, John and Ron came by to say hi and catch up. As he sat down at our table, John Musker leaned forward and asked if I was interested in Art Directing a new film he and Ron were going to direct, something called, "The Little Mermaid."

Basil Wrap Party with me attempting to channel Miami Vice

#the great mouse detective #blog post #mike peraza #concept art #behind the scenes #photos #text

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theultrablog · 10 months ago

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Pulp Storytime #14: Wickedest Sound!

Put the needle in the groove and nobody gets hurt. So this is the first time I’ve ever run an adventure, certainly a pulp adventure, based on a podcast. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/wickedest-sound/ Summer of ‘35, Jamaica. All returning players: Javid the sniper/photographer, Lord Simon the gentleman thief, stuntwoman Lala Santinella, Aldous Bingen the ever-ready butler, and Florence Zee the night club singer with ties to dark forces. The early part of the adventure was extremely flavorful, with the players stopping a dockside labor riot by jumping a motorcycle right into the middle of it. And the mystery unfolded slowly… a new record that made people try to kill each other. But with all the vinyl copying going on, who actually made the original? After surviving a Dancehall Brawl, the players interviewed local record distributor Marcus Garvey. Yes, the head of the United Negro Improvement Association, who had been receiving records from “a fan” that were given freely and then copied. By everyone. The second half of the adventure was action-packed! The man responsible for the violent tracks was a sugar magnate, Glengol McTavish OBE. The players tried to sneak up on his private island with a tramp steamer… Unfortunately, he was broadcasting the song into the water, which caused a whale to attack! The players barely escaped. Unable to fight back effectively, they fled. Of course, Glengol was ready. The music blared and the household staff rushed the group. Meanwhile, a sniper, Lionel McTavish, took potshots from the attic. The players battled to the house, Aldous sneaking through the servants’ entrance to flank. Lord Simon turned off the music but was assaulted by the Lord of the Manor, who had a claymore. The players were about to turn the tide when they went to the recording studio, one at a time… And Florence, who went first, was mesmerized by the hypnotic equipment! No longer in control, her body reverted to a demonic host. The host managed to trick almost the entire party into leaving the island without defeating Lord McTavish! Only Miss Santinella’s intense jealousy (how dare Florence solve everything!) allowed her to discover the truth, smashing the entire setup with a claymore. The group rescued the staff and returned to the city, joshing and joking. In the hotel room, Florence signed a contract for the return of her body… At even worse terms.

--- There were some great emotional bits, like Javid being snooty about the aloof butler, threatening to “invoice him for the bullets that save your life” and then doing so.

Lord Simon and Lala both fought for the affection of mystic orphan Devika, who spent the session recovering from a tonsillectomy. Simon was growing more and more into the role of surrogate father. But. Lala, apologizing for an incident where she gave two bottles of champagne to the unsupervised orphan in Vegas, was spending tons of money on stuffed animals and presents.

Every trip back to the hotel was an exercise in one-upmanship. Simon stayed at Devika’s side, even though it cost him a chance to steal a priceless 1600s tea set. Tie game!

When they found the artist who had recorded the hypnotic music, drinking himself into a stupor in an alley, Aldis did his greatest act of butlering… cleaning the man up, getting him fresh clothes and some breath mints, and sending him in a cab back to his wife with an apology note.

Just amazing stuff all around.

#essays #rpgs #gaming #dungeon master #fate core #stories

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curryvillain · 1 year ago

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.@Skillibeng Gets Animated For "Bling Bling" Visual

“Every time I come around your city, bling bling…“ Dancehall Artist Skillibeng has a hard time taking a break. Just when you think he’s catching up on some rest from recording and performing, he’s back with new music and content. He is in a place that has given him plenty success, and he can’t slow down the hustle. This time around, he goes 3D in the visual for the track, “Bling Bling“. Created…

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#13thstreetpromo #13thstreetpromotions #3D #3DLynk #Animation #Bling Bling #blog #dancehall #dancehall music #jamaica #jamaican #music #music video #riddim #Skillibeng #video #wordpress #youtube

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gobizkorea124 · 2 years ago

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Demarco is a dancehall star, producer, video director and all-around Jamaican music legend. His signature singles “Fallen Soldiers” and “I Love My Life” are indelibly woven into the fabric of modern Jamaica, while songs like “No Wahala” (featuring Akon and Runtown) have put him at the forefront of the burgeoning fusion between reggae and afrobeats. Behind the scenes, he’s produced some of modern dancehall’s definitive riddims as well as crossover smashes like Charly Black’s “Gyal You A Party Animal,” and written songs for artists ranging from Bounty Killer to Rihanna. More than a decade deep into a career that’s taken him from Jamaica to the States and back again, Demarco is finally set to release his debut album, Melody, October 22 via Oakland’s Ineffable Records. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-n2Iq8A_7aPya0VZ5ikzNQ

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freakquency96 · 2 years ago

Video

youtube

Anime & Chil

The unexpected mix between dancehall and cloup rap creates a different vibe you will want to discover!

#youtube #mine #my art #dancehall #anime #black artist #freakquency #vampr

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riichxgirlz · 3 years ago

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Hi! I wanna make tumblr friends

I'm 21, live in Florida and am a lil bit fruity 🏳️‍🌈

Shows i love: the owl house, steven universe, adventure time, gravity falls, stranger things, degrassi, handmaid's tale, insecure, abbott elementary, and some anime

Music I love: alt rock, punk rock, pop punk, indie rock, classic rock, indie/alt pop, rap, rnb, neosoul, dancehall. Some of my favorite bands are Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Pixies, Deftones, the Strokes, the Kooks, the Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, All time low, FOB, 2 door cinema club, franz ferdinand. Some of my favorite artists are J. Cole, Beyonce, Rihanna, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, Musiq Soulchild, Mitski, Faye Webster, Steve Lacy, The internet, Frank Ocean, Tyler the Creator, Smino, Amine and more!!!

Some books I love: Sally thorne novels and Children of Blood Bone trilogy (3rd one has yet to come but am SOOO EXCITED).

Hobbies: art, sewing, crocheting, skateboarding, rollerskating, cooking, doing hair and sometimes nails

Passions: typical social justice and lefty shit. Intersectional Feminist and Black feminist

I wanna meet someone who's also chronically online and who shares a few hobbies w/ me so we can just talk shit whenever the real world gets overwhelming. :)

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medinainternational · 3 years ago

Audio

(Motif-Radio)Reggae Pon Top # 29 2022 Track Listing

DEAN FRASER & ERNIE RANGLIN- UNKNOWN MELODY MEDINA INTERNATIONAL DUBPLATES

RIDDIMS: SAD DAY RIDDIM THE GENERATION RIDDIM NAHWMALITY RIDDIM BONJITA RIDDIM

DANCEHALL: PRADO FT. BUGLE- HELLO MINISTER MARION HALL- SORRY TO HURT YOUR FEELINGS LESSONS KARLIE REDD FT. SPICE & CAPELLA GREY- WERK SHANE O- BETTA IN RED YAKSTA- WHIP MARTEI KORLEY- CLIMATE WAR HONOREBEL FT. SNOOP DOGG- CAN'T LET GO RAS X- TALKING HEADS TANYA STEPHENS FT. PATRA- FIFTY BUSY SIGNAL- OLD SCHOOL NEW SCHOOL EXCEL BLACK- GROOVE JB THE ARTISTE- PARTY LIKE A ANIMAL BOUNTY KILLER- BANGA DEM KIPRICH- NA NAH CECILE- MAKE ME FEEL NICE ED ROBINSON- ALL NIGHT LONG

ROOTS/ REGGAE: KEISHA MARTIN- I CAN'T FORGET YOU PETER SPENCE- MAJESTY STICK FIGURE- EDGE OF THE OCEAN EMPRESS NAPHTALI- JUDGEMENT DUE ISRAEL STARR- BEAT YOU DOWN DUB MASTER POPS- TONIGHT WE JAZZ LEBA- AMAZING MICAH SHEMAIAH & GOLDBARZ- REAL WAY AVARAN FT. LUCIANO- FATHER'S WORK KRISTINE ALICIA- I&I JABAR I- SIGHT IT MIKEY GENERAL- CAN'T LEAVE IT ALONE

#SoundCloud #music #Motif-Radio #Dancehall #ROOTS REGGAE #LOVERS ROCK #DUBPLAES #soundcloud

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tomorrowxtogether · 4 years ago

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TOMORROW X TOGETHER on flying the flag for K-pop’s 4th gen

The Zoom call materialises and five well-dressed guys sit in Seoul on the other side of my screen. As young as they are, these boys are far from rookies, in fact, they’re bubbling up to be one of the most promising Korean acts to emerge from the scene. Who are they? Hueningkai, Soobin, and Yeonjun are placed behind Beomgyu and Taehyun, sitting next to a physical version of their second full length album, The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE, out today (May 31). Together, they form TOMORROW X TOGETHER.

To describe them is challenging, so I let them take the lead. Leader Soobin, age 20, lists words such as “magic”, “dream”, “team”, or “narrative”, then cuts to the chase. “The best choice is probably ‘tomorrow’ in terms of both the word’s definition and its representation of the future. Our name, TOMORROW X TOGETHER means that we have all gathered under one dream to build a better tomorrow. Like our name, we want to connect and empathise with those who listen to our music, and together build a brighter tomorrow.”

When TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT) debuted in March of 2019, all eyes were on them. They were the newest boy group from HYBE, only the second to debut after BTS. Now, they’ve evolved from baby-faced teens to a more mature, cohesive act set on global domination. After completing The Dream Chapter series in 2020, and taking a pitstop with their last EP Minisode1: Blue Hour, which earned them a number 25 spot on the Billboard 200, TXT are now ready to venture into a new imaginative stratosphere, aptly titled The Chaos Chapter.

“With The Dream Chapter trilogy, it was about these friends who are very similar, they dream the same dream and are going on a magical journey together, but The Chaos Chapter is about a world that is under attack by COVID-19 and other things.” Soobin explains. “The ordinary days are beginning to crumble, and the boys are frozen in space, so to speak, and then, because of one person, they begin to understand and realise this emotion of love.”

The eight tracks on The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE naturally dance through the thinly veiled confines of genre for a perfect pop mix, fusing remnants of rock, punk, dancehall, and disco. It's a journey led by the Gen Z performers, and at its core, as Taehyun puts it, are “really authentic and sincere stories” told by the guys themselves. In fact, TXT’s colour is sprinkled throughout the eight songs, with a producing credit from Hueningkai, and all members taking part in lyric writing throughout. For a group just passing the two year mark, their investment in their craft and clear passion for the behind the scenes process is noteworthy.

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Hueningkai beams when asked about his work on “Dear Sputnik”. “First, it’s a real great honor that I get to have people hear a song and a track that I worked on,” he says. “When I first heard that I’d be able to participate in the song I was surprised, and there were things that I thought could be better, but then I think that I will continue to improve as I talk to the label and I continue to evolve and develop.” He’s animated, and the guys listen attentively as he speaks. “The experience of working on this track helped me learn about the production process. I hope I can continue to write music and work on tracks, and also challenge myself with different genres.” Speaking on songwriting in general, he mentions: “When I work on these songs, I try to think of one theme or motif and that also helps me focus on the work.”

All the guys have plans to grow more as multi-faceted artists. Soobin wants to improve his songwriting, Yeonjun hopes to work on more genres and styles of dance, and Taehyun and Hueningkai want to work on more tracks. Beomgyu elaborates: “Working on The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE made me eager to dive deeper into songwriting. I want to write tracks that really embody my emotions and sentiments, and I’d love to share them with our MOA.” He has his current process figured out for now, though. “I tried to express what I feel when I hear the song into the lyrics. Also, the writing process itself allows me to feel different and new things about the song so I think that’s what’s really great about being able to work on these songs.”

Their work is expansive. “What if I had been that PUMA” and “No Rules” have songwriting credits from Taehyun, Beomgyu, Hueningkai, and Yeonjun. Taehyun contributed to “Dear Sputnik” along with Hueningkai, citing “a star called you that I found in this crumble and ruin of the world” as his favorite lyrics because he wrote them. Soobin worked on “Ice Cream”, a song he considers relatable, making the process more seamless. Yeonjun also wrote on “Frost”, sharing: “I talked to Bang Si-Hyuk, our producer, and then I was able to go through the lyrics and add and correct some of them.”

The lead single is “0X1=LOVESONG”, which Beomgyu gushes over. “It’s a song about confirming this emotion of love in a chaotic world, and feeling this emotion for the first time. I think it was selected as the title track because it really contains the message of the entire album, and also the performance really goes well with the track and the song.” With angelic vocals added by singer Seori and introspective lyrics by RM of BTS, it embodies a coming-of-age film, channeling wonder and firsts for youth entering new territory. Soobin starts singing his favourite line from the track, “Say you love me”, which resonated with him.

The other highlight is an English disco-pop track called “Magic”. Their last EP was their first foray into the disco pop trend, and the success and feel-good energy is palpable in this new track as well. “It’s a very lively and upbeat song that once you hear it, you won’t be able to forget it,” Yeonjun comments. “This is something that we worked really hard on and I hope that our MOA around the world can listen to the song, sing along, and really enjoy it.” The song surely carries the intended effect. When they perform “Magic”, it’s hard not to keep a smile on your face.

We then go back in time for a bit for some reflection, with Soobin taking the lead. “I don’t think I would change too many things about myself two years ago, but I think I would just say, ‘You’re doing great, and keep on doing it’.” Soobin and Yeonjun both cite their proudest moments to be winning Rookie and New Artist Awards. “I would like to tell myself, ‘Don’t worry too much’, maybe also to enjoy it a little bit more,” Yeojun says. Beomgyu echoes that advice, before adding: “My proudest moment was our first showcase and everytime we met MOA actually.”

Taehyun gets down to business: “I’d probably tell myself to open your eyes a little earlier to the songwriting.” Consequently, the music and his hand in it are what he treasures the most. “Every time there’s an album and it has our name on it – and it has MY name on it – seeing that each time really makes me proud.” Similarly, Hueningkai finds pride in contributing to the album, but advises his younger self to enjoy it more. Time does indeed fly, but throughout the span of it, TXT have accomplished a lot.

With their expressed team goal coming down to the impending possibility of performing live for fans again, and the emotions that moment will inevitably bring after so much lost time, the guys’ excitement for this comeback shines. They aren’t dubbed the leaders of the 4th generation for no reason, and with the vigour, perspective, and youth they embody, they’re lightyears ahead of the game.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE is out now

#txt #tomorrow x together #210602 #article #dazed #soobin #yeonjun #beomgyu #taehyun #hueningkai #The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE #tcc: freeze

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givemegifs · 6 years ago

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#animation #cartoon #festival #artist #india #2019 #culture #bob #reggae #dancehall #2020 #ska #dub

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princessjungeun · 3 years ago

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any book/tv shows/movie/song recommendations

i dont really read so no book recs atm

my favorite animated tv shows are The Owl House, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Avatar the Last Airbender, and The Legend of Korra. my favorite live action shows is Stranger Things.

my favorite animated movies are Moana, Princess and The Frog, and Mulan. my favorite live action movies are The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Twilight (they make me laugh) , White Chicks, Crazy Rich Asians, and like every Marvel movie and every Star Wars movie.

outside of kpop, i listen to a little reggae, dancehall, and afro beats as well as r&b and pop. i’ll recommend artists over songs: Alkaline, Koffee, Aya Nakamura, Mariah the Scientist, Victoria Monét, Sza, Kehlani, H.E.R, Jhene Aiko, Teyana Taylor, and Normani are some of my favorites.

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onestowatch · 4 years ago

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Florida Rapper Cochise Is Finally Getting His Flowers

Across all upcoming music scenes, hip-hop is without a doubt the most difficult realm to gain traction in. Though immensely popular, the genre’s sheer magnitude of new artists has led to a major cultural oversaturation—and though that has its pros and cons, it makes finding new artists a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. Luckily, Florida rapper Cochise is finally getting the following he deserves, and 2021 is shaping up to be his year. After years of singles - including the megahit “Hatchback” in 2019, Cochise released his debut commercial album Benbow Crescent to critical acclaim last month, and he is showing no signs of slowing down.

Describing Cochise’s lane in hip-hop is difficult because although his music may draw minor parallels to his peers, there isn’t really another artist doing what he’s doing. Comparisons to industry powerhouses like Playboy Carti and Lil Uzi Vert are just as common as comparisons to 645AR or 454, but despite this, Cochise stands alone.

His music blends together elements of hip-hop, psych-rap, dancehall, and trap into one simultaneously dreamy and high-octane synthesis. His most recent single, “Tell Em” with fellow Soundcloud rapper $NOT (who began to gain traction around the same time as Cochise) is a testament to this, as the two effortlessly flow over a mix that is just as energetic as it is ambient.

Though unique, Cochise’s music seems to hit a chord with the majority of people who come across it. Around the time that “Hatchback” had become a trend on TikTok (yes, with its own dance and everything), a friend of mine noted that Cochise’s sound was like “if cute-rap grew up.”

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By taking elements of the hegemonic hip-hop sound and pushing them to places others wouldn’t, Cochise proves that there is still endless potential for innovation in hip-hop. Above all, Cochise’s music is a testament to the power of being yourself and making art that you believe in. Had he fallen into the type-beat hole that many Soundcloud rappers get stuck in, perhaps fans would have never been treated to Benbow Crescent years later.

With a horde of hungry fans pulled from hip-hop Twitter to Tik Tok, to say that Cochise’s Benbow Crescent was long-awaited would be a severe understatement. With four of its tracks released as singles in the months leading up to its release, the success of Benbow Crescent was borderline guaranteed.

Sitting at 18 tracks long, the record is full of infectious and forward-thinking hip-hop bangers that are sure to be instant-adds to your rotation. The album opener "PROTEIN/CREATINE" features Cochise's signature high-pitched vocal register racing over a fast-paced beat that evolves into a hypnotic and serene mix full of booming bass signals and glittering synths. Benbow Crescent is everything you would want from a talented upcoming hip-hop act in 2021: the mixes are fun as hell, the rapping is solid and unlike the majority of his peers, and every track is bursting with personality—from its anime references to the Regular Show clip that plays at the beginning of “Stock X”.

Whether or not you were glued to your phone last December waiting for Whole Lotta Red, or if your hip-hop tastes tend to lean towards the genre’s commercial acts, Benbow Crescent is a must-listen record. Cochise is easily one of the most promising and consistent rappers to come out of the Soundcloud scene in some time, and his music reflects both an immense amount of talent as well as an undeniably fun and unique personality. Cochise’s writing is clever, his ear for production is unparalleled, and every track he makes is a strong showcase of everything the next generation of rappers has to offer.

Listen to Benbow Crescent below:

#cochise #benbow crescent #new artist discovery #album reviews #rap #hip hop

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iainoff · 8 years ago

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Somethin' like shabba

#motion graphics #motiongraphics #motion #motion design #motiondesign #art #abstract art #abstract #gif #animation #illustration #dancehall #shabba #rings #gold #artists on tumblr

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freddiebamberfdaliveperformance · 4 years ago

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Formation of Live Performance Concept

Having had years of experience as a live musician in a variety of contexts has given me a wide range of perspectives regarding the complexities of live performance. The very idea of being able to quantify what exactly a live performance is meant to achieve is an endless, and potentially untenable task.

Some might say the ideals and themes of live music are easy to define, in terms of what the layman would call truly “live” music - the mind normally jumps to the traditional guitar, bass, drums, singer set-up that Western culture is most accustomed to (Jones and Bennett, 2015). But even the greats of traditional live music vary widely in their execution of live performance.

Bruce Springsteen’s fame is often attributed in part “to his great reputation as a concert performer” (Angelle, 1987), his live performances feature slight reinterpretations of his songs, along with a level of energy unmatched by most of his peers, but Springsteen himself has written before that he believes his concerts are so successful in large part to the narrative framing he gives to his songs live, by often stopping between songs to explain the stories behind what inspired him to write them (Springsteen, 2005).

David Byrne is another musician who has in some ways transcended the potential limitations of the “traditional” live music set-up - his original band, Talking Heads, created the concert film, Stop Making Sense (Demme, 1984), which is now considered to be one of the greatest concert films of all time (Rolling Stone, 2012). His method of performance in Stop Making Sense, and indeed throughout his entire career, was formed largely by incorporating elements of avant-garde and Eastern theatre into the performance, especially including the movement of the musicians, and the staging of the performances (Byrne, 2012). An example of the often subversive nature of Byrne’s live performances can be seen below, from his 2018 performance on the show Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

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The ideas and performances of these musicians have impacted my own personal ideas about performance deeply - I’ve always thought it needs to be more than just a musician playing their songs, in most cases there should be elements of theatrics to a live performance, otherwise the audience might as well just be listening to a recording.

During live performances I’ve done in the past I’ve tried to include theatrics in at least some sense throughout all of them. During my time as a drummer in the punk band Ratbags I would often get completely naked on stage while continuing to play the drums, or climb into the audience to sing during the vocal sections of songs where I wasn’t playing drums.

During electronic music performances, especially as DJing is my primary method of electronic performance, it is often harder to include elements of theatrics; due largely to the spaces they take place in - with the performer often being obscured by equipment and lighting, and many audience members focusing more on the act of dancing and socialising rather than staring at the musician/s performing the music - it’s been suggested that the main performance element in DJing is within the choice of songs and the order in which they are played (Hellman, 2009).

During live performances as a DJ I’ve attempted to incorporate elements of theatricalism, but the elements I’ve incorporated have been relatively limited so far. I’ve dabbled a lot with anonymity - wearing a balaclava, and having a friend also wearing one, who will routinely switch places with me in order to create a sense of confusion in the audience about who is the actual DJ. I’ve also leaned heavily on genre-switching - often pulling the tempo down from standard 130bpm house music down to around 75bpm, and suddenly slamming into a dancehall song during an event specified to be a house event - primarily to create a sense of unpredictability for the audience. These efforts are mainly to leave some kind of impression upon the audience - as too often DJ’s can be very good technically, but leave nearly no impression on the audience they perform to.

A huge inspiration to me for crafting my own electronic performance has been the label PC Music. Their label has been at the forefront of “Hyper Pop” since it’s inception in 2013 - Hyper Pop has been described as “experimental music that pushes pop themes and tropes to parody, with some dance/electronic undertones” (Ogunbayo, 2020). This experimentation can also be seen in the live performances of artists on the PC music label, but for this project, and for live performances post-Covid, I’ve been most inspired by their live streams.

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You can see from the video above that “live-stream” may be a bit of a misnomer, as the stream switches between multiple performers, actual theatre pieces, and animated 3D graphics. This stream quite obviously creates that same sense of confusion and unpredictability in the audience that I’ve attempted to create before with live DJ performances.

A.G Cook - the founder, and possibly most famous member of PC Music, recently released the album 7G (Cook, 2020) which masterfully blends elements of electronic music with acoustic elements (Fantano, 2020). This record was instrumental (if you’ll pardon the pun) in the creation of my concept for my live-stream performance. I wanted to incorporate live instruments with electronic music, in the way A.G Cook has done, but also do the electronic music live.

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The video above of A.G Cook obviously incorporates live acoustic elements into electronic music, but after research it’s still unclear whether the electronic section is live or not.

I’d like to incorporate the live electronic elements of something along the lines of Jeff Mills’ live performances (Mills, 2016), with the acoustic/electronic mixing of A.G Cook’s live stream seen above.

I wanted my live performance to, at least attempt to be, something new and different, and from my personal research online I couldn’t find anyone attempting to mix live house music with the banjo - so for my live performance I’ll be live programming drum machines and bass synthesisers, and then playing banjo, run through a variety of guitar pedals, live over the programmed beats.

The closest thing I could find to this idea online is the video linked below.

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Although this performance shares similarities to my idea, it focuses more on using the banjo to create loops, rather than using it as a truly expressive instrument over the beats originally created.

I hope to use my knowledge of live acoustic and electronic performances to create a truly unique live performance, that incorporates elements of theatrics, to entertain and engage the viewer beyond just the medium of music.

References

Angelle, D., 1987. Springsteen Live. Boys' Life, [online] (77), p.12. Available at: <https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=imYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false> [Accessed 21 November 2020].

Byrne, D., 2012. How Music Works. San Francisco: McSweeney's.

Cook, A., 2020. 7G. [CD] London: PC Music. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdr-1H_ezeY&list=PL6fQziqsQI2Nqqp7NncLoC1n5OokpOhgC> [Accessed 21 November 2020].

Fantano, A., 2020. A. G. Cook - 7G ALBUM REVIEW. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pq71XoRcgw> [Accessed 21 November 2020].

Hellman, Z., 2009. The DJ Aesthetic: A Look Into The Philosophy And Technology That Enable The Disc Jockey. Boca Raton: Universal Publishers.

Jones, A. and Bennett, R., 2015. The Digital Evolution Of Live Music. Hull: Chandos Publishing.

Mills, J., 2016. Jeff Mills @ Awakenings Festival 2016 - THE 909 WIZARD!. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xPrVSd7Eys> [Accessed 21 November 2020].

Ogunbayo, M., 2020. An Intro To Hyperpop. [online] VALLEY Magazine. Available at: <http://www.valleymagazinepsu.com/an-intro-to-hyperpop/> [Accessed 21 November 2020].

Springsteen, B., 2005. Born To Run. New York, NY: Columbia.

Stone, R., 2012. Readers' Poll: The Best Concert Movies Of All Time. [online] Rolling Stone. Available at: <https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-best-concert-movies-of-all-time-13805/> [Accessed 21 November 2020].

Stop Making Sense. 1984. [DVD] Directed by J. Demme. Hollywood: Arnold Stiefel Company.

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