#I realised that every song on my playlist is do what about neil which is probably why im so sad all the time | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thetenthdimension · 3 years ago

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Mixtape Tips (I Live in the Past)

Why even bother with CD mixtapes these days when you have spotify? Well, you have total freedom to do what you like with them. You can make edits, insert skits and quotes, remix, anything you like. Also, Neil Young can take his music off Spotify, but it’s much more difficult for him to take your CDs away from you. I also go on holiday a lot to rural areas with no phone signal, so some physical media which isn’t taking up storage space on my phone is always a plus. I use CDburnerXP to make my discs.

Opening Sting

I always like to begin with something that gives the tape a bit of personality. If it’s a parody or comment on something people recognise, then all the better, as it helps them connect with it. It also makes it clear off the bat you’ve put some effort in.

Big intro

Always start with a big, thesis song. Then, abig second song or slight twist second song. Take it down slightly, if appropriate, for the third.

People’s attention span is 15-20 minutes

I try and keep in mind that most people will get bored after 15-20 minutes of the same thing. So therefore, I organise each part of the tape into batches of 3-5 songs, each of which have their own little structure to them, with rises and falls. That way, you avoid anything getting too samey.

Make sure no small cutaways are shorter than ten seconds

I always like putting audio snippets from films, TV shows, live shows, anything in there. However, my hard work tends to fall by the wayside a little if people aren’t paying attention. Try and keep that in mind when you’re being clever.

Balancing known Vs unknown

People like songs they’ve heard before, and won’t have too much patience for that record you pulled out the basement. But if you’re just putting in the same old stuff they’ve already heard you’ll get bored and they’ll think you’re basic. Strike a balance. I try and make sure every 3-4 songs, there’s a surefire hit.

Three minutes is a really long time for a joke song

It might be funny in your heard to put Baby by Justin Bieber into your heavy metal tape, and it is for the first 30 seconds. Then people realise they have to listen to the whole thing and glaze over, and you start to regret it. Just put a 30 second clip in there if you must, it makes the point just as well.

If you have a cover don't make it one that'll make people want to listen to the original

People have instant access to music. If you put something in there that makes people think ��oh, I really want to listen to SONG B now”, then they just can. Scum.

Look up similar playlists online and see if you've missed anything

Do your research.

Check for radio edits/live versions

A lot of the time, a radio edit is just as good but shorter, which allows time for other stuff. But be wary of cutting down people’s favourites, and slicing Pink Floyd songs into pieces. Also, sometimes an epic song becomes more epic live.

Check intros/outs to make sure you have good transitions

3 piece ender

I always like to do the ends of my tapes in a set of three. I feel it gives it a sense of a climactic set piece.

Twist/joke or obvious song ending

Usually I’ll go for the big, obvious song to end on, a crowd pleaser that lets everyone know that this is the end, and hopefully they’ll feel they’ve had their fill. Also, a twist at the end can be good.

The first one I’m going to be covering in detail is my most recent, it’s called “Drag Hype Mix”. I’m not sure who else is going to be on Tumblr in 2022 reading about how to make CDs.

Don we now our gay apparal: This is a mashup of Pentatonix’s “Deck The Halls”. It starts with the buildup as though it would go into the first proper line, but then it just has the lyric “don we now our gay apparal”. Big buildup to a joke.

Cheap Thrills: Following on from the opening sting, a song about prettying up and going out.

I’m Beautiful: A Bette Midler deep cut, live version. I’m going obscure early, because it starts with such a big and obvious song.

Pimenta: A song by a brazilian, in Portuguese. For a friend.

You Got The Love: The original version. The synths fit better into the mix and the FatM version is on another mix.

Let the Music Play: This is a disco song called “let the music play”, but in the final chorus, I mixed in RuPaul shouting “let the music play!” in keeping with the theme.

212: In an interview, Azalea said she specifically makes music for gay people, and this is her biggest song. I could have included the clip but the nuances would just get lost in the room. It also slaps, meaning it works well after the Ru shouting buildup, which comes at the end of that song.

Attention to Me: After a RuPaul song, and a song screaming about how much this girl wants her pussy ate, it was time to bring it down.

Born to Be Alive: Didn’t want it down for too long.

Big Iron Synthwave: This is a synthwave cover of Big Iron I found. I could have included the original, but I’m trying to keep the energy going a bit, and it helps it mesh into everything a bit. Big Iron is on here because the trans folk love Fallout: New Vegas, so it needs to be on here.

Chain Gang: This is a real obscure one. It’s a doowop song about being part of a chain gang and goes “that’s the sound of the men/working on the chain gang”. Big Iron set the scene for it.

Coming Round the Mountain: This comes from a TV show, and has Daniel Radcliffe essentially performing a drag version of this country classic. After the obscure one, you need something recognisable. We’re still in the country/old timey section of the tape. So much glamboyant music is supposed to sound flashy and new that I wanted some hint of the olden days just to segment things.

March of the Black Queen: Again, we’re breaking things up, but bringing it back slowly. This one is here for the classic rock lovers after all that other stuff.

Mamma Mia: Crowd pleaser. Originally, between this and MotBQ I had a cabaret song called Das Lila Lied, which was a performance of the first LGBT song, dating back to Germany in the 1920s. Berlin/Germany is so notoriously within the gay scene I wanted something german, and I found this. But it just didn’t fit and I couldn’t pretend it did. I stuck it after MotBQ so it kinda meshed, then I stuck in a crowd pleaser afterwards to sugar the pill too. But Mamma Mia and MotBQ work back to back, both are 70s.

Jaja Ding Dong: Mamma Mia was the first proper Eurovision song, so we follow it with a Eurovision homage. I couldn’t fit this one on my Eurovision mix but I wanted it in my CD case.

Black Magic: ALL THE GIRLS ON THE BLOCK KNOCKING AT MY DOOR is a good, shouty opener to bring us back to reality and the next section of the tape.

Straight Up: Notorious drag race lip sync, I added in some audio from the lip sync itself into the song to live up to the Drag Hype name.

Bang Bang (my baby shot me down) - Scarlet Envy: I spent forever in 2019 going through tonnes and tonnes of covers of this song, knowing in my heart there was a hyperbolic gay cover of it. There was. Ramping up the drag aspect.

Girados: Big song in South America. Obscure but instant. I like to have a curveball near the end just to stop things being too predictable.

Montero: We’re about to go into the final stretch, so it’s important to try and get the room on side a bit before going into two obscure but fitting songs.

Bimbo Doll: It’s this psychotic, absurdly graphic spiritual successor to Barbie Girl by Aqua. I was originally gonna have Barbie Girl here but I had it on another tape, then I found this.

Hi, I'm Tila! Life's full of glitter/Giving up my ego raises my libido/My bag is Gucci/To match my perfect coochie/Glamour is my hobby/F*ck my pornstar body

The character aspect of this is also in keeping with the tape’s purpose. By this time, everyone would be drunk as hell and get into this.

Goth Girl: I was doing a yin/yang thing here. I really wondered whether to have pink or black in front. In the end, I figured Bimbo into Just Wanna was too similar so the finale wouldn’t quite pack the punch, but also, I figured it just made sense this way round in my gut.

Girls just wanna have fun: Big, crowd pleasing ender.

The second is “Barn Dance, Pardner”. I made this specifically for me and my friends, but it was a request of one specific friend who loves this type of music. I shall contrast the previous one in many, many ways.

Thank God I’m a Country Boy: It starts with a good opener thesis. John Denver shouts/sings to the crowd

Well life on the farm is kinda laid back/Ain't much an old country boy like me can't hack/It's early to rise, early in the sack/I thank God I'm a country boy

It’s both an opening song AND an opening sting.

Galway Girl: This is a Steve Earle song, really popular before Ed Sheeran kicked it out of all search results forever. My friends all like this song. However, the issue is that anyone who hasn’t heard this song would end up with an itching for the Ed version.

In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company: Taking it a little slower and stripped back for the third track, but with a good, whistling, finger clicking tune to it.

Head Over Boots: First obscure song. Pretty instant.

Day of My Return: but coming out of the obscurity pretty quick for a song me and my friends love. Prominent fiddle

Riverdance: an instrumental that builds and builds to a great climax. I tend to avoid instrumentals where possible, but this is a pretty famous one, and it’s very good. It’s also great fiddle music, which a barn dance playlist needs. Also, it meshes nicely with DomR.

Footloose (Blake Shelton): a good cover that fits the theme. After the instrumental, you need a crowd pleaser. This is a recognisable song and also a stormer.

Chicken Fried: Friend loves this song. It’s also a massive one, with 100m youtube plays.

Devil’s Dance Floor: God I regret putting this pile of garbage in here. It was big on youtube and it has electric guitars, so I thought everyone else might like it, and it would act as a climax to the buildup since riverdance. Instead, it was a miserable failure.

Yellow Rose of Texas: stripped back, simple Elvis song. This was one I wanted in there because I love this song to pieces, and it works.

Hills of Donegal: down and back up, to a fast paced song my friends like.

Dust in a Baggie: after the friend crowd pleaser, this fast paced but obscure song fits neatly in. It also features a refrain about “twenty long years for some dust in a baggie” that makes it easy to latch onto.

Cotton Fields: stripped back simple song, a bit like YRoT. Another song I love to pieces.

I wanna be in the Cavalry: another stripped back song, but this has a marching band playing a snare to give it a bit more of a kick.

Ring of Fire: after Dust/Cotton/Cavalry all being obscure, a crowd pleaser, but in a similar musical vein. Easy to have some low key songs in a row when they lead up to a crowd pleaser. I also like to dip in and out of the low key ones, then have a properly low key section later on.

Down at the Twist and Shout: a request by the friend, and a stormer after the low key songs.

Achy Breaky Heart: I don’t care, it’s amazing, and Billy Ray is amazing. Another stormer after DatTaS.

Country Girl shake it for me: a sleazy, upbeat, obscure song, to counteract the dumbass, upbeat, popular song everyone just hated.

Islands in the Stream: taking it down for the final three.

Take Me Home: still taking it down, but with a great singalong. Could have ended it here.

Wagon Wheel: this is the proper ending, a song me and my friends all adore to pieces. I’ve ended it with low key songs, but ones which are proper singalong anthems. Two of them in a row really kick ass for a spectacular end.

Key and Peele - Country Music: A joke twist ending after all that soppy stuff. It’s also a sort of Easter Egg to the friend who requested it, who first showed me that sketch, and loves country music.

This next one is Theatre Darliing. I did four of these, called Theatre Darling, Theatre Darliing, Theatre Darliiing, and Theatre Darlivng. The idea being that these are all songs that could be in a musical, and have a singalong/dance feel to them.

Song of the Lonely Mountain: This is a cover by a youtuber named Peter Hollens. I love the atmosphere of the Neil Finn version at the end of the first hobbit film, but I Finn does it far too high and soft. After tonnes of searching, I found this guy who does it more like Thoren does in the film. It resonates with my friend group somewhat because we all like it and have sung it together, and also, it’s a striking intro. It also starts with a masculine song, which as we see as we go on, I was trying to balance the masculine/feminine songs a lot here.

Heaven is a place on earth: this could have been the opener, with it’s explosive start. This is why it’s in the second position, those who haven’t been immediately won over will see this as the real opener.

Diamonds and Rust: After two big epic songs, taking it down.

Bend and Snap: from the legally blonde musical. There had to be some musical representation. It also serves as a counterpoint to the masc opener.

The Longest Time: This is actually a mashup, including the bit in How I Met Your Mother where multiple Ted and Barneys sing it together, into the main song. This is taking it down a bit after B&S. Starting it with a sitcom moment also leads it on nicely from the musical number.

Lady of the Night: An obscure song that’s got a great 80s metal cheese to it.

Mean Green Mother from Outspace: From Little Shop of Horrors. Staying stupid and fun.

Wish I Had An Angel: More intense and serious now. We’ve moved onto the next bit.

It’s My Life: Carrying on serious and intense

Ziggy Stardust: Still serious, less intense.

All That Jazz: After Bowie, we had a lead into a full out glam cabaret number

Rumour Has It: A more modern cabaret-style number

Take me to Church: The culmination of the serious part of the mix

Living Next Door to Alice: Not a massive change of tempo, but it is a dumb glam song that people swear loudly to when they sing it. Taking away the seriousness a bit, but not too much, considering what’s coming up.

Somewhere over the Rainbow: Tempo even lower. Back to serious after a bit of relief. I feel this gives it a bit more punch.

Drumming song: Florence gives this some gravitas and majesty, after the stripped down uke song.

Seven Seas of Rhye: FaTM allows us back to the big soundscapes of glam

Babooshka: building on the previous

The Sound of Silence: A big, dramatic ender

Gimme Gimme Gimme: I love Brian David Gilbert. Each of the Theatre Darling tapes end with BDG covering ABBA, since he is the greatest Theatre Darling. This is the twist ender.

Here is No Butch Zone! I include the timecodes on this one because they’re relevant to the story. (Note - I’m updating this in December 2023. The original post is from July 2022. I have posted nothing in the meantime and this is far from my first update. This appears to me my passion project). This mixtape is my “soft girl” mixtape.

Cardigan - Taylor Swift: It’s not the first song on Folklore, but it was the first single from that album cycle, so to me, it feels like the first song. It’s also a big song to start it off. I’m expecting this playlist to be chosen mostly by queer people so obviously they’d love this. It also starts with some clacking noises into a piano, which adds a bit of mysterious buildup.

All Shook Up - Avila: This is a cover of a popular song, done in the soft girl style. This should win you people over.

October Passed Me By - Girl in Red: During my research, GIR was a popular “soft girl” band, so I wanted this near the top. Also, did I mention the queer people thing? Blush - Wolf Alice: One of the softest songs on here. However, it’s also more synthy towards the end. So that helped me select the next song.

The Trip - Still Corners: Eagle-eyed nerds will notice this song is shorter than the original. I felt this song was too long, and the last 90 seconds-ish has no soft girls in it. So I cut it down, fading it out towards the end. Since this song fades anyway, this wasn’t a massive deal. However, I kept in the bit where most of the instruments cut out, and some of the soaring synth lines, because if you’re a fan of the song, you would notice if they were gone.

Dancing in the Dark - Lucy Dacus: This is a faster and more energetic song, which is good to follow The Trip. Also, another cover, to allow the straights to follow along and not get too bored.

Cool About It - Boygenius: I debated putting two Lucy Dacus projects together, but I decided that it was probably fine since they’re very different songs, and it will allows nerds to feel smart when they announce loudly that Lucy Dacus was in Boygenius, even though everyone already knows. It also brings it down a bit after DitD.

Linger - The Cranberries: It’s been a while since a big song was done in the original style. We’re also building up a bit here.

Indigo - Kississipi: This is there because I love this song to pieces, and to allow a bit of boys-are-pretty representation in there as well, considering the amount of gay. I put this before the big indie song, because it’s also an indie song.

There is a Light that Never Goes Out - Dum Dum Girls: This is the obvious midpoint song, to me. It’s there to stick a big stirring of the pot in the middle to stop everything getting boring. It’s energetic and cool. It also continues the theme of cute girl covers of boy songs.

Elastic Heart - Sia: It’s a big song, but it’s also functionally there because it continues the stirring of the pot. I figured of her big songs, this was the most soft girl.

Home to Newfoundland - Evelyn Jess: So many of the songs I wanted in here were country songs. This serves as a crash down to Earth, and it’s also got a bit of tempo to it so it doesn’t feel like too much of a dramatic switch in tone and pace.

Take These Chains from my Heart - Roseanne Cash: Continuing the cover theme. This is also REALLY slow and gentle, so bringing it down another notch.

Dogsong - The Be Good Tanyas: The BGTs were one of the reasons behind making this playlist. God, I love them so much. An extremely soft and quiet song.

Gold - Trixie Mattel: A great country song by a biological woman that picks up the pace a little again.

Love You For a Long Time - Maggie Rogers: We’re still in the country zone. Still picking it up. It’s also less minimalist, so we’re adding layers.

Light Enough to Travel - The Be Good Tanyas: Here to increase the pace again.

Meet in the Middle - Daisy Chute: Ending my beloved country portion with an obscure favourite of mine. It’s bringing the tempo down, but it’s got a fair amount of instrumentation, which will be important as we go on.

The Kraken - Katie Dey: Almost as obscure unless you’re a total dweeb who loves video game essayists or victorian poetry. But extremely slow and gentle, but with loads of vocal processing. It’s also short, and a kinda cool song.

Mo Ghra Thu - Jessica Brett: Still obscure, soz. But extremely slow and pretty. Tonnes of reverb on the voice.

Hotline Bling - Billie Eilish: Aaaaand a really popular song. This is the ending to the covers theme. A girl covering a “rap” song on a ukelele. I was considering ending on this, but then I realised the better ender would be the song below.

My Immortal (Band Version) - Evanescence: It starts slow and solo, then builds up to a full rock band. Then it ends with a few bars of just Amy on her own. A great ender, taking the theme so far, running with it, but giving it some dramatic bite towards the end.

Some others: Gay Dungeon Synth Take II

Rainbow Boogie Explosion

And the one I made specifically for myself

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james-stark-the-writer · 6 years ago

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Get to Know the Writer

So, @lilac-written tagged me in this. Guess I'll do it. Got nothing better to do atm.

1. PENS OR PENCILS

Pens only, unfortunately. Gels if I care about handwriting and have the time to go slow. Ball point if I'm in a hurry.

The only time I'll use a pencil is when I don't care about anyone reading what I'm writing or if it's just some jargon I don't care about.

I'm left handed so every time I use a pencil, it'll smudge everywhere. So, it's a no no to the pencils.

2. HAVE YOU EVER DRAWN YOUR OCs?

No. Believe me, you don't want to see anything I ever draw. Drawing is one of the countless things I suck at.

3. DOES YOUR WRITING EVER MAKE YOU CRY?

Unfortunately, not so far. I'd say it's mostly cause there just haven't been that many powerful scenes I've written. I mean, there's two powerful scenes that stuck out at emotional but I listen ot music when I write so most of it is just replaced by Brendon Urie.

4. IF YOUR MUSE WAS EVER A PERSON, WHAT WOULD THEY LOOK LIKE?

The most horrible (or probably beautiful depending on the features) monster ever. So, it'd be mix of Matt Bomer, Brendon Urie, Adelaide Kane, Eliza Dushku, Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris. With a few bits of Tom Ellis, Daniel Craig and Josh Dallas thrown in for good measure.

5. WHICH OF YOUR PIECES WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO BE REMEMBERED ABOUT?

Most probably The Game For Power or A Year At The Opera (I'm still in the planning phases of the latter)

6. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU WRITTEN OR WORKED ON YOUR WIP SO FAR TODAY?

Well, I had a new idea for the ending of TGFP so I scrapped the last three chapters (setting me back about 15K words). But, its at 120K words atm. AYATO is still in the outlining and planning phases. I'm still sorting out the characters and plot. But I outlined two chapters of AYATO today. I had decided to go back to an old novel but I got the idea for AYATO a few weeks ago and it just got stuck in my head so I decided to put off the old novel.

7. HAVE YOU EVER BASED A PIECE (OR PORTION OF A PIECE) IN A DREAM?

Uh, yeah. Who hasn't? I had a very weird dream one night that I started to write a book about. I got about 10K words in before realising the idea was shit and it'd never work other than as a satire piece. It's in a folder labelled Story Ideas I Might Write One Day as of today (It was on Wattpad till two days ago).

8. DO YOU PREFER SILENCE, A LITTLE NOISE (some light music, fan noise, humming etc), A LOT OF NOISE WHEN YOU'RE WRITING?

Honestly, it depends. If I'm writing a chapter, or just about any scene I'm stuck on, I like a lot of noise. Heavy metal or just being in a classroom works. Some smooth jazz or maybe 50s music if I'm on a scene I'm excited to write. If I'm trying to come up with an idea about a part I'm stuck on, I like silence. But, if I'm outlining, I have a dedicated writing playlist that I listen to so my brain works and it's just amazing creative songs. (PM me if you want the list or something)

9. DO YOU HAVE ANY ROUTINES BEFORE YOU SIT DOWN TO WRITE?

Not really. I do like to set a word count (a reasonable one like five hundred words) that I'd like to (don't have to) reach in that session. If I'm not writing, I set a very small goal that I'd like to do. If I'm outlining, I'll probably say to finish a character's POV. If I'm thought dumping, I'll probably challenge myself to complete two pages full of ideas. Just anything will do. It's fun when it works. Infuriating af when it doesn't.

10. HAVE YOU EVER PARTICIPATED IN NANOWRIMO OR ANY CAMP?

No. But, I've done a version of it myself. So, back when I was working on my second novel, which will never see the light of day, I forced myself to not write anything for three months (just outlining, character Profiles or thought dumping was allowed)and then spend an entire month writing. I only did it the one time. I got thirty eight thousand something words in by the end of the month.

Top 10 Writeblrs:

@cogwrites @writings-of-a-narwhal @writingwithteacups @bellarosepope @brynwrites @grimmwrites @andiiwrites @delphwrites @riverlinden @three-seas-writes

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diamonddeposits · 7 years ago

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BEST TRACKS OF 2017-ARTISTS LIST #100

PETER CAT

After a brief hiatus Glasgow’s Peter Cat composed of singer songwriter Graham Neil Gillespie returns with some brand new tunes and we could not be more excited! Here are the 12 tracks that made his year!

1. LCD Soundsystem – ‘black screen’ (from album american dream, on Columbia Records) Yeah, it sucked when David Bowie died. We all remember where we were, what we were doing at the time. Most of us, however, didn’t have extensive email chains from the man himself sitting in our Gmail inboxes, like LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy did. ‘black screen’, from LCD’s comeback record american dream, is essentially Murphy grappling with the guilt of not having done more, not having tried harder after befriending the Spaceman in his twilight years. Murphy was even supposed to have produced Blackstar; something he alludes to in the lyrics to ‘black screen’ with ‘I had fear in the room/so I stopped turning up/my hands kept pushing down/in my pockets’. The same lyrical tropes that Murphy has revisited so often throughout his career – perceived inadequacy, a relative lack of influence – here take on a much more serious, resonant aspect. And while musically, this track is comparatively simple – a slow bass pulse punctuated by shimmering, Low-style synths – it frames Murphy’s heartfelt lyrics faultlessly. By the time a heartbreaking reverberated piano is ushered in for the outro, the listener is launched into orbit, ‘watching images/from the station’. An incredibly powerful song, I felt, which articulates our universal inability to ever really let Ziggy go.

2. Father John Misty – ‘The Memo’ (from album Pure Comedy, on Bella Union) Full disclosure: I didn’t massively dig this album on first listen. I thought Josh Tillman had disappeared a little bit too far up his own arse for his own good. It took me a couple of spins to completely get on board with Pure Comedy, but once I did: well boy, was I firmly in the saddle! While Tillman serves up less straight bitterness and sarcasm on Pure Comedy compared to his previous releases, ‘The Memo’ is the most caustic cut on the record; right down to Father John’s hilarious dialogue with an imagined Twittersphere in the song’s middle eight (‘this guy just gets me’; ‘this is totally the song of my summer’, a robotic voice emotes, as Tillman’s fictional folkie wrestles with his waning cultural influence). Lyrically, this is the kind of thing I just wish I could do: the line “As the world is getting smaller, small things take up all your time” especially resonated with me, as it should do with anyone who suddenly realises they’ve lost a week of their life to their smartphone/email inbox/inexplicable Twitter spats/being ‘crazy busy’.

3. Oxbow – ‘The Finished Line’ (from album Thin Black Duke, on Diorite Music/BMI/CFY Music) Hearing Thin Black Duke reminded me of hearing Slint’s Spiderland, or Codeine’s The White Birch, again, for the first time. While Oxbow have pushed the envelope of experimental music, noise rock and even avant-garde jazz throughout the course of their thirty-year career, never have they sounded so magisterial, so elemental, so utterly accomplished as they do on this LP. It’s measured, it’s cacophonous; it’s pretty much perfect. It feels disingenuous to single out any one track for acclaim, but if I had to choose, album closer ‘The Finished Line’ would be it: a spookily melodic doom-waltz which begins from a conventional enough place, but by the end descends into a barely controlled atonal nightmare, with vocalist Eugene Robinson alternating between breaths, groans, moans, shouts and guttural screams. I’m struggling to find words for how good this is. If I think about this too much longer, I’m going to make it number one, so I best move on quickly…

4. Perfume Genius – ‘Alan’ (from album No Shape, on Matador Records) Perfume Genius has truly gone from strength to strength over the past few years, following up 2014’s slickly sensual Too Bright with the almost overwhelmingly intimate No Shape. And no single song stopped me as firmly in my tracks with its opening bars in 2017 as closer ‘Alan’ did. After a few seconds of strings emanating from the speakers as if from the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Perfume Genius – aka Mike Hadreas – intones ‘Did you notice/we sleep through the night/did you notice, babe/everything is alright’. Not only does his paper-thin warble sound magnificent, but given Hadreas’ personal experience of homophobia, chronic illness and abuse throughout his life, the benign, almost mundane happiness he expresses in his relationship with his partner of eight years is so cathartic as to be deeply affecting indeed. There may have been a tear or two shed on my part.

5. Jane Weaver – ‘H>A>K’ (from album Modern Kosmology, on Fire Records) Another mesmerising record for which it was quite an onerous task to select a standout track. In the end, I’ve settled with ‘H>A>K’, the opening cut on Liverpudlian singer Jane Weaver’s 2017 LP. On an album which consistently channels the measured motorik of Can and Neu!, ‘H>A>K’ does so with the most vivid aplomb. The way in which Weaver’s icy vocal gets caught in a robotic stutter just before the drum beat kicks in is so, so very satisfying, and it’s all uphill from there: an arpeggiated bass line swims a steady breaststroke through a pool of washy keyboard chords, reaching out into the cosmos before reducing down into a single drip, drip, drip of synthesiser. The best part of this krautrock homage is that, unlike so many other artists who nod to the genre, it doesn’t outstay its welcome: ‘H>A>K’ is over in three-and-a-half minutes, although it feels at least twice as long (in a good way).

6. Jlin – ‘Hatshepsut’ (from album Black Origami, on Planet Mu) This track – and every track from the album it appears on, really – was some mindfuck when I first heard it. It’s almost entirely rhythmic, there being little in the way of melody or notation here; but Jlin’s vision of rhythm is as this constantly evolving, mutating entity, which never sinks into a groove for long enough for the listener to get complacent. It’s rhythm as warfare, as evinced by the sonics – military snare rolls, sharp trill whistles; everything conformed to the MIDI grid – which evokes the battle elements of the Chicago footwork scene from which Jlin’s work stems. And in a musical culture which increasingly fetishises prohibitively expensive analog synthesizers, drum machines, etc., it’s oddly refreshing to hear an artist just running with unapologetically digital, über-quantised drum hits, and calling them good. ‘Hatshepsut’ moves the feet, the brain, and everything in-between: essential stuff.

7. bell lungs – ‘Mosul Dam’ (from Pefkin/bell lungs 7” split, on Sonido Polifonico) When I first came across this song, I must’ve listened to it on a loop ten times, if not more. Its hazy layering of plucked strings and cut-glass vocal harmonies is disarmingly gorgeous; but that gorgeousness is tempered, given an ominous shading via samples of radio dispatches which hint at the creeping sociopolitical unrest with which we are all, sadly, becoming more familiar by the day. The Mosul Dam of the title is a real dam in Iraq, built on a water-soluble foundation, which bell lungs astutely employs as a metaphor for the instability of UK political life in the post-Brexit era. Full disclosure: bell lungs (aka Ceylan Hay) is now also a member of Peter Cat! But that has nothing to do with her inclusion on this list, as ‘Mosul Dam’ is quite simply one of the best songs I’ve heard all year. Avast ye to her Bandcamp page post haste.

8. Dominic Waxing Lyrical – ‘Laika’ (from album Rural Tonic, on Tenement Records) I was fortunate enough to both hear and meet the Edinburgh-based Dominic of said Waxing Lyrical this year, and in addition to him being a very pleasant gentleman, his record Rural Tonic is quite brilliant: a madcap meander through a surreal and pastoral England, equal parts chamber pop, folk and punk. The closest comparison I can grasp for is XTC’s seminal Skylarking; one of my favourite albums, which warmed me to Dominic’s work instantly. ‘Laika’ is the lushest track on this LP; a gorgeous harpsichord progression grasped tight to the bosom of a honey-sweet chamber orchestra while Dominic intones the tragic fate of Laika, the first dog in space. And it has a theremin outro – of course.

9. Sarah Davachi – ‘For Voice’ (from album All My Circles Run, on Students of Decay) We’re inundated with so much ambient music these days that it’s reached something of a saturation point: although they’ve officially denied it, there’s compelling evidence to suggest that Spotify actually populate their numerous ambient playlists with the ‘work’ of fake artists. With this in mind, it takes a truly arresting piece of music to cut through all that aural mist, and Sarah Davachi does precisely that on ‘For Voice’. Previously reliant upon an array of synthesisers to produce her music, Davachi strips each track on her latest LP down to just one instrument. On this track, she manually loops her own vocal into a dizzying, otherworldly choir which will, if you let it, transport you to a place you’ve never visited before over the course of its nine-minute runtime. Sublime.

10. Princess Nokia – ‘Green Line’ (from album 1992 Deluxe, on Rough Trade) Princess Nokia is superbly skilled at widening the scope and scale of her lyrics on any one track, detailing her personal experiences in opening bars before connecting them with astute political observations in later ones. It’s something that impressed me on a lot of the tracks on this record, but particularly on ‘Green Line’, which begins with Nokia hopping a ride on the 6 and ends with her championing the ethnic diversity and multiculturalism of the NYC of which she is a proud native. It feels honest, brash, humid, celebratory; real. Plus, the beat couldn’t sound more Big Apple if it was smothered in gherkins and mustard – check that Taxi-esque Fender Rhodes line!

11. Catholic Action – ‘Doing Well’ (from album In Memory Of, on Modern Sky Records) As a Glaswegian, I can authoritatively confirm that Catholic Action are the best guitar band in Glasgow right now. Their debut album is packed with surgically precise glam-rock stompers: such uniform quality makes it difficult to choose a stand-out cut, but the vocal hook and guitar lead on ‘Doing Well’ complement one another so effortlessly that I’ve plumped with that. Chris from the band is currently mixing the next round of Peter Cat singles to perfection, too – those are due out early 2018 onwards, so keep an eye out!

12. Protomartyr – ‘Male Plague’ (from album Relatives in Descent, on Domino Records) Of the plethora of bands who try and fail to recapture the spirit of The Fall in their acerbic heyday, most fail. Protomartyr, on the other hand, do not. They’ve managed to distil the finest elements of late 1970s Transatlantic post-punk into something with an enviable drive and snarl. For me, ‘Male Plague’ is the catchiest song on their latest LP, with some great lyrics from Joe Casey, in which he welcomes the cultural disrobing of white men (characterised as ‘sad-sacks pickled in jars’) while humorously acknowledging his own irrevocable place within that very demographic.

#best of 2017 #peter cat #LCD SOUNDSYSTEM #oxbow #father john misty #perfume genius #protomartyr #catholic action #princess nokia #sarah davachi #dominic waxwing lyrical #bell lungs #jiln #jane weaver

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mbovettwrites-blog · 7 years ago

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@katefarron Thanks for tagging me, sweetheart! I’ve been meaning to get around to doing this tag for an age, and now seems like a decent enough time to catch up and join in.

1. Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

Yes! I have a playlist on Spotify called ‘on broken wings’ which I use as a sort of soundtrack to Blackbird to keep my spirits up when I’m writing. If I’m doing poetry for Write the World, I use ‘suspended in the universe’ instead, if only for the aesthetic.

2. Does your family/friends know that you write stories/poems/etc.?

Everyone’s aware that I write a lot; not everyone knows about my WIP. My mum, however, is highly invested in it. She is hell-bent on me creating a character who could be played by Tom Hardy in her fantasy movie adaptation, despite being reminded countless times that that’s never going to happen.

3. What was your favourite book as a child?

Everything and anything by Enid Blyton. The Famous Five, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Secret Seven, The Adventure Series… I have them all still in their box sets, tucked away on my bookshelf, waiting to be opened up and read for the thousandth time.

4. Tea or coffee?

Both. You will never find a way to make me choose between them.

5. Notebooks and pens or laptop/computer?

It depends. I keep a notebook to jot down ideas and thoughts in, but major projects like Blackbird are kept on my laptop.

6. How old were you when you started writing?

Honestly? As long as I can remember. However, about four years ago when my mental health plummeted into hell, I stopped for about two to three years. I’m quite newly back into the practice, but like with riding a bicycle, once you’ve trained yourself to be a wordsmith, you’re one for the rest of time. You never forget something you love.

7. What is the first line of a WIP you’re working on?

“Being an ex-heiress of the White Eagle crime family meant that Ingrid Neropiuma had been forced into many undesirable situations in her eighteen years of miserable existence, but even she would have to admit that this was a candidate for the top ten.” - B L A C K B I R D

8. Do you base your characters on real people subconsciously?

I think I might do so without realising it. The relationship between Ingrid and Rouge, and the characters themselves, have startling connections to @bitteredplum and I which I only noticed after I got a couple thousand words into the WIP and started having them interact for the first time. It was like an out-of-body, incredibly surreal moment in which I realised what I’d managed to do by entire accident.

9. What does writing mean to you?

Everything and anything. It’s an art - it can be whatever you need it to be in the moment. If you need advice and guidance, spill your mind onto paper and mentor yourself. If you need to vent your emotions, channel your anger into your poetry. If you need to forget yourself for a while, delve into a world entirely of your own creation. Writing is the most beautiful thing to grace the earth, because it can be whatever you want. It’s like a highly abstract Room of Requirement.

10. What is your least favourite trope to write?

You will never, ever catch me writing any form of the damsel in distress trope. Subvert it all you want, I will never enjoy writing or reading it, period.

11. Do you have any favourite authors?

· Leigh Bardugo, author of the Grisha trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, The Language of Thorns, and Wonder Woman: Warbringer

· Sarah J. Maas. Hear me out, because this is a problematic one. I used to love the worlds she created in Throne of Glass, but when I read the ACOTAR trilogy, I noticed some… questionable themes. Exhibit A: The love interest for the second two books is introduced in book one as the biggest, most moronic, sexist, violating pig imaginable, and his skin-crawling behaviour is excused because it’s for the MC’s own safety. Exhibit B: Erotic scenes with aforementioned dickhead love interest every other damn chapter. In a YA novel. I have now picked up on these themes throughout all of her books and she’s on the list of favourite authors not because I adore her books, but because her convoluted prose and questionable research skills are hilarious.

· Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy = religious self-insert fanfiction of Dante being escorted around the afterlife by his senpai in a quest to find his dead girlfriend. Also, the Hell City of Dis is entertaining. And Satan is frozen up to his tits in an ice field.

· Neil Gaiman. I’m in the middle of reading American Gods and I love every bit of it.

· Rick Riordan. This requires no explanation whatsoever.

Ok darlings, here are my questions for you:

1. How long have you been working on your WIP(s) for?

2. What song would you assign as your protagonist’s theme tune?

3. Do you have any favourite spots (gardens, parks, cafes, etc.) where you like to write?

4. Poetry or Prose?

5. Where do you draw inspiration for your writing from?

6. Is there any popular book that you wish you had written and why?

7. What’s your planning process when you start working on a new WIP?

8. Do you work best in mornings, afternoons, or at night?

9. Would you prefer to self-publish or work with an agent and publishing company and why?

10. How do your emotions/moods affect your writing?

11. What’s your favourite line of your WIP/one of your poems?

Tagging: @gingerly-writing, @brynprocrastinates, @ramblingrubyred, @gameranilah, @scribble-dee-vee

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viralhottopics · 8 years ago

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Dogs dont like reggae they love it: 10 top tracks to play for your best friend | Rhik Samadder

The pets reportedly have their own distinctive tastes, but prefer reggae and soft rock to classical: so heres a top 10 of dog-friendly tunes

A study by the University of Glasgow has discovered that dogs prefer soft rock and reggae over other genres of music, conclusively proving mans best friend has the taste of an embarrassing uncle hectoring the DJ at a wedding.

At a rehoming centre in the Scottish town of Dumbarton researchers played dogs a variety of music, during which heart rate monitoring and behavioural observation showed that stress levels dropped while listening to the unlikely genre bedfellows. There are unconfirmed reports that the dogs absolutely lost their minds when researchers cranked a mashup of Beenie Man vs Steely Dan. According to a schnauzer who was at the event: It shouldnt have worked, but it just did.

Despite evidence that dogs dont just like reggae but in fact love it, the mutts also responded well to Motown, classical and pop tracks. For Professor Neil Evans, the mixed response suggests that like humans, our canine friends have their own individual music preferences. His conclusion will make sense to anyone who has ever met a dog: its hard to imagine a St Bernard listening to anything other than Bing Crosby, or a bug-eyed chihuahua who wasnt constantly experiencing paranoid flashbacks to a soundtrack of hard German techno.

Following the findings, the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has equipped its kennels with sound systems, and compiling canine-appropriate playlists. Its safe to assume Lee Scratch Perry and Joe Cocker are lead candidates, but which other dog-friendly artists and songs deserve a place in the pack? Heres 10 for your starter; feel free to add your own.

1 Doggy Dog World, by Snoop Dogg ft Tha Dogg Pound

Photograph: Joseph Okpako/Redferns

From the Doggystyle album. This is surely the most heavily dog-referencing artist, supporting artist, song and album set in history. The platinum plaque for canine representin goes, without a doubt, straight to Snoop. (No relation to Charlie Browns pet beagle from Peanuts.)

2 Martha My Dear, by the Beatles

Photograph: PA Photos/PA

Probably the most charming love song to an old English sheepdog released in 1968. Certainly the best of McCartneys work in overrated beat combo the Beagles.

3 Leader of the Pack, by the Shangri-Las

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The Shangri-Las – Leader of the Pack

The sound of puppy love. Remember when you were young? Thrilled by the world? Evolutionarily programmed to fall for the leader of the pack, to secure optimum reproductive potential? Every dogs fantasy.

4 Hound Dog, by Elvis Presley

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Elvis Presley performs Hound Dog

You aint nothing but a hound dog, crying all the time. Hugely controversial choice, certainly among the hound community. Hounds are the original gun dogs, a hard-working, emotionally resilient and diverse sporting group. They also have a very strong union, so you wont catch me saying anything bad about them.

5 Bitch, by Meredith Brooks

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Meredith Brooks Bitch

A 90s ode to mothers of puppies and female empowerment. Brooks wrote the song after she saw a dachshund-doberman cross, and realised anything is possible.

6 Can Your Monkey Do the Dog, by Rufus Thomas

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Rufus Thomas – Can Your Monkey Do The Dog

Can my who do the what-now? How did this get on here? Its a pretty weird suggestion. Im sure theres some corner of the internet that will cater to such a twisted scenario, but this isnt it.

7 Chasing Cars, by Snow Patrol

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Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars

Self-explanatory. I would have accepted Chasing Pavements by Adele, except it makes zero sense.

8 Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War, by Paul Simon

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Paul Simon – Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War

Arguably too conceptually dense for most dogs. Look at the number of prepositions in the title alone. Rene and Georgette Magritte, with their dog, after the war. Why didnt he call it Wonderwall? Still, a literate breed a King Charles spaniel, or an Irish setter might get some enjoyment out of this.

9 Who Let the Dogs Out? by the Baha Men

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Baha Men – Who Let The Dogs Out

Because whoever did is a bloody hero. This one goes out to all the dogs who currently need the toilet. Hoo! Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo!

10 I Love My Dog, by Cat Stevens

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Cat Stevens – I Love My Dog

I love my dog more than I love you? Yeah right give it up, Yusuf Islam. A cat by any other name still aint getting on this list. Take a walk.