#Bunco

[pastelpaperplanes]

OC Art Dump!

if you remember them, I love you forever and sorry it’s been 84 years since you’ve seen these guys

[shiftythrifting]

American Cancer Society Discovery Shop - San Jose, CA

[exittotheartscape]

Would like to revisit this, designed Bunco and Trace as Sonic OCs awhile ago; Bunco’s a pigeon and Trace’s a rooster!

[chronivore]

Bunco

[westviews-nosiest]

Still not over this look from the wine water trial

[sugoi-writes]

Gah, the way I wanna post another snippet of Trigger Happy... GOD.

I'm FINALLY in the smut, and I feel like I'm putting in the good work. Alastor is, too >3o

I'm gonna try to have it show-ready tomorrow, and start working on some other requests!

Thanks again for your patience, in all of this ♥️ If anyone would care for a snippet, I might be persuaded to post it 👀

[dustedmagazine]

Emily Robb — If I Am Misery Then Give Me Affection (Petty Bunco)

There’s no shortage of squall on Emily Robb’s new album, If I Am Misery Then Give Me Affection. It’s a guitar pageant! One listen and you’ll hear Charley Patton amidst the buzz, his primitive blues lurking in the cacophony. Pull those impulses forward 40 years and you’ll hear familiar sounds that take you right to the early Velvets.

Robb’s guitar hums like a pipe organ to open the record. “Hermit’s Cave” evolves from a solemn hymn into a harmonic drone, punctuated only when the amp catches its breath, then receding. But if you think her sophomore album sounds like a somber affair, you’d be sorely mistaken.

Robb rips into the familiar chug and wail she introduced on her fantastic debut album, How to Moonwalk, with “A Kiss,” soloing relentlessly over a looping riff.  “Dispenser” finds her sawing the air with the guitar, growing only more frenzied as the song unravels. The centerpiece of the record, “Slowing Singing Bathing Shaving” locates Robb’s sound among the drone for which Philadelphia is so well known.

But there’s an intimacy here, too. It’s not a noise bath. It’s a deeply personal record – not in the sense that it’s telling a story that feels like a secret being shared – but that it’s just Robb and her guitar, alone together. The sound is at once austere and rich; you might overlook how the raw vulnerability of her work is what makes it so compelling. Unlike the maelstrom that is Astute Palate, there’s nowhere to hide in the mix.

That aspect reveals itself in the record’s more plaintive moments, like the meditative, “First Grow a Gold Plant,” underpinned by a throbbing chord that pulses beneath the melody. It’s countered immediately afterward by the wooly rave up  “Rolling Electric Ball.” It’s just a classic wall of riffage that blankets the listener in fuzz before decaying on the runout.

What makes Emily Robb’s work so remarkable is how much is clearly left in the tank. She’s an inventive, exciting artist making fun, engaging music. If misery loves company, then consider yourself invited.

J.T. Ramsay

[goodbysunball]

Best of 2023

Toledo, OH, Dec. 30, 2023

It's going to take years to unpack the last few months of 2023. Whatever mental trauma is inflicted upon those removed from the situation in no way approximates the devastation and inhumanity occurring daily to millions. That the US is funding it all, and institutions and businesses domestically are punishing those who speak out about it, is sickening and terrifying. The latest Lulu's email newsletter wrote more eloquently about it all than I could, and plainly calls for empathy at the end: "Be good in a bad world."

And we do that, pretending things are normal for the sake of others, our kids, our partners. But things are not normal, and that pressure forces other changes, because while we can to some degree control what happens within our lives, there's no fix for seeing (let alone experiencing) dead, maimed children regularly on Instagram, victims of bombings without caution or consequence. A sense of powerlessness pervades. What we can do is keep talking, sharing and banding together. Being good in a bad world.

Some notes:

Lots more instrumental, or nearly instrumental, music than usual this year on my list, which tracks with the current climate. Music without words, or without discernible words, leaves space for thoughts to become untangled, sure; but a lot of what’s highlighted below felt more transcendent than meditative.

I still listen to rap quite a bit, but very few new songs I heard stuck around past a few days. Call it malaise from living in an era where every other song on the radio has a trap beat. Starlito dropped a clunker, which shouldn't have shocked me but did, and it personally felt significant. Maybe it’s indicative of the old guard’s demise, but hopefully it removes a wall and allows me to engage with newer rap music better. That being said: Veeze's Ganger was head and shoulders above everything else; billy woods' short verse on "As the Crow Flies" made me gasp the first time I heard it (and I also loved ELUCID's verse on "Baby Steps"); and I listened to The Jacka's The Jack Artist most of all.

Of all the books I read this year, two books by Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season and Paradais, stood out. Melchor’s prose is incredibly powerful, bleakly funny and vicious in equal measure. The sharp, frank assessments by characters in often ludicrous situations feel like a product of the contemporary but imbued with some ancient wisdom. Shout out to Julia S. for the new and notable South American literature tips.

In the midst of holiday/short day doldrums, amidst endless bleak news reports, it was difficult battling back cynicism to listen to anything, especially back to all of these records and tapes listed below. It ended up being oddly therapeutic, highly enjoyable and maybe necessary, the same as when I force myself out to shows when it's easier to stay home. That feeling chips away at the notion of this list-making exercise as futile, for me certainly, but hopefully also for you. Thank you for reading, and I hope you find something you like, too.

And so:

LP

Lewsberg, Out and About (12XU)

Equipment Pointed Ankh, From Inside the House (Bruit Direct Disques)

The Native Cats, The Way On Is the Way Off (Chapter Music)

Water Damage, 2 Songs (12XU)

VoidCeremony, Threads of Unknowing (20 Buck Spin)

Emily Robb, If I Am Misery Then Give Me Affection (Petty Bunco)

CIA Debutante, Down, Willow (Siltbreeze)

Olimpia Splendid, 2 (Fonal/Kraak)

Nusidm, The Last Temptation of Thrill (Bruit Direct Disques)

Incipientium, Underg​å​ng (Happiest Place)

Witness K, s/t (ever/never)

Leda, Neuter (Discreet Music)

12"/10"/7"/CS

Chrome Cell Torture, Laugh Then Lie 7" (Scarlet)

Joe Colley, Acting As If 10" (Substantia Innominata)

Disintegration, Time Moves For Me 12" (Feel It)

Life Expectancy, Decline CS (Iron Lung)

Gabi Losoncy, Lieutenant single-sided 12" (self-released)

Peg, We Know Who You Are and Everyone Is on the Lookout CS (No Rent)

Romance, Seven Inches of... 7" (self-released)

Sial, Sangkar 7" (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Slow Blink/Stomachache split CS (Hectare)

Howard Stelzer, oh calm down you're fine CS (No Rent)

Troth, Idle Easel 12" (Digital Regress)

Mark Van Fleet, Vordenal CS (Refulgent Sepulchre)

Stress Positions at the Pilot Light, Dec. 9, 2023

Shows

Bill Orcutt & Chris Corsano duo at Jackson Terminal, Knoxville, TN, April 1

Hell & My Wall at DRKMTTR, Nashville, TN, April 7

Cyberplasm, X-Harlow & FKA Ice at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, May 18

Lewsberg at JJ's Bohemia, Chattanooga, TN, September 27

Stress Positions & Utopia at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, December 9

Five songs favorably commented upon by my 3 y/o daughter*

*Something that happens so rarely that I try to take note when it does

Dua Lipa, "Levitating"

Martin Frawley, "Heart In Hand"

Mount Trout, "Hang Around"

Witness K, "In Knots"

The Young Senators, "Ringing Bells (Sweet Music) Part II"

[chewablepebbles]

I feel like the previous picture doesn't capture just how bug sized she is

[hannahhasafact]

My sister just introduced me to the podcast Normal Gossip and it’s a fabulous time but honestly the best part is the theme music

Got me shimmying every ad break

[testostertunes]

Emily Robb Summer Tour starts today!! Today in Brooklyn w/ Rosali and then a bunch of nights w/ Kurt Vile & his Violators...

Emily has a string of gigs coming up, and she'll be joined by yours truly on stage with a little organ. Please come out and have a blast and say hello to us. As we get further from Philadelphia, we would especially love to meet anybody willing to let the two of us sleep at their place after the show. Email richie.charles@gmail.com if so inclined.

Either way- don't be shy come say what's up!

Emily Robb Live Dates Summer 2024

Sun 6/16 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool w/ Rosali Mon 6/17 Harrisburg, PA @ HMAC * Tue 6/18 Wilmington, DE @ The Queen * Thu 6/20 Atlantic City, NJ North to Shore Festival @ Anchor Rock Club * Sat 6/22 Charlotte, NC Neighborhood Theatre * Sun 6/23 Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre * Mon 6/24 Indianapolis, IN @ State Street Pub w/ Kind Buds Tue 6/25 Evanston, IL @ SPACE * Wed 6/26 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant * Thu 6/27 Kalamazoo, MI @ Bells * Fri 6/28 Detroit, MI @ Spread Art w/ Deadbeat Beat, Shells Sun 6/30 Norwalk, CT @ District Music Hall *

Tues 7/23 Montreal, QC @ Sotteranea w/ Mountain Movers, Feeling Figures Wed 7/24 Prince Edward County, ON @ Glenwood Cemetery w/ Mountain Movers, Stonegrass, Craig Currie, Paul Lowman Thurs 7/25 Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern w/ Mountain Movers Fri 7/26 Rochester, NY Carbon 30YR Fest @ Radio Social Sun 7/28 Williamstown, MA @ Clark Art Institute w/ Glenn Jones Fri 8/2 Philadelphia, PA @ Century Bar w/ Nod, Mike Polizze (of Purrling Hiss/Birds of Maya) Mon 9/23 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Mystic 100’s

* w/ Kurt Vile and the Violators

And other upcoming Petty Bunco shows… July 5 - Mordecai, The Spatulas, Overt Hostility @ Jerry’s On Front Aug 2 - Nod, Emily Robb, Mike Polizze @ Century Bar

We'll have copies of the newly landed "If I Am Misery Then Give Me Affection" repress at the merch table. See ya there!

polaroid by Kurt Vile

[movieposters1]

[mrs-steve-harrington]

People have all their wild screenshots to show that the AI Overview is crap, but this is what really cements it for me

[exittotheartscape]

Halloween costumes for a couple of toons!

[nonbinarysoup]

[joanofarc]

two steps, home blitz (2009).

varispeed life fire from your eyes floating air it gets put on ice right before you start feelin' all right