#IT'S LIKE A REALLY NICE MIX OF ORCHESTRAL AND LIKE... POP IF THAT MAKES SENSE.

[jpegcompressor]

freaking it sensitive style so fucking hard to the beat rn

[omegalomania]

I think tumblr ate my ask or it just didn't sent but what are your favorite Bastille songs / what are some songs you recommend?

i did NOT get this ask im very sorry anon.

it's genuinely hard for me to narrow down cause bastille is pretty up there in terms of favorite artists. i love all their shit, but a special mention goes out to their second studio album wild world since it's the one that made me a Fan

uh so here's a primer i guess i spent too much time on this lmao.

if you wanna listen to their big hits:

flaws - their first single in the uk. if you ever listened to ship playlists on 8tracks in like 2013-2015 then you've probably heard this song or a variant on it at some point.

pompeii - this is the song that really put them on the map and you definitely know it. it dominated the charts all over the place.

happier - the marshmello song that you've definitely heard before too. i think bastille wrote this for justin bieber or some shit but then decided they liked it too much to give it to him? lmao. anyway if you're not digging the version you hear on the radio all the time i recommend trying the stripped down version

good grief - their big hit off their second album. big in the uk, didn't really make as many waves elsewhere, but it's a really solid song anyway. one of those "upbeat tunes that's actually really fucking sad" ones

things we lost in the fire - another one off their first album. if you live in a wildfire area this might not be one to turn to. or maybe you'll find it cathartic idk i certainly do!!

quarter past midnight - a song about escapism, as was fitting when it was released in 2018 and equally fitting now. running away for a night of fucking around with friends, craving any kind of brief departure from the chaos of the modern world

skulls - this one was not a hit or a single and is technically a bonus track but i'm including it because once again if you ever clicked on a ship playlist on 8tracks in like 2013-2015 you've heard this one. and you know what that was justified this one is also good

if you wanna feel existentially depressed:

their whole discography. i mean i kid but i also don't. that's just kind of how bastille does it. BUT IN ALL SERIOUSNESS ones that hit me in particular would beeee

two evils - kind of a grim, haunting one introspecting about morality of the self.

oblivion - musing about the afterlife, love, and how time changes all of us.

those nights - contemplating what it is we seek when we plunge into reckless escapism, and the inherent loneliness of it; how even when surrounded by people there's still the pressure of the world outside, continuously coming to pieces

the draw - this one was written about the pull of pursuing a career in music vs. staying home with family and friends. in a broader sense, it can apply to a lot of things. i always felt it resonated with feelings of paranoia and displacement

winter of our youth - discusses childhood, nostalgia, and regret. if it feels like everything's slipping away, is it easier to relive the past, especially if the past is tinted rose?

sleepsong - loneliness, desperation, and the cyclical, abyss-like nature of all it encapsulates

if you want discussion of serious topics:

final hour - a bonus track off their second album that also became a bonus track off their third album? anyway this song talks about climate change and gun control. happy stuff

doom days - this one talks about, uh, everything! doomscrolling, political divides, escalating national tensions, climate change again, etc.

the currents - a song centered on political rhetoric and the power that figureheads have over the masses, the way they can orchestrate hate. basically it's not so subtly aimed at donald trump lmao, dan's literally sung it as much in a few live settings

WHAT YOU GONNA DO??? - social media addiction and the way capitalism and corporate interests have annexed our online experiences, fighting desperately for our attention as they seek to monetize every available aspect of our lives

four walls (the ballad of perry smith) - well this one is about uh. perry smith. who was charged with the death penalty for killing 4 people in the late 50's. but it's less directly about him and more a discussion of the morality of the death penalty and capital punishment

snakes - burgeoning anxieties and the impulse to turn to easy outs, like ignorance or alcoholism, to escape the world's global problems

if you want some pop culture sprinkled on top:

icarus - greek mythology. i like this one because it addresses something that i feel isn't addressed enough in discussions of this myth, which is that icarus is a very young lad. less about the pride of the fall, and more about the inherent tragedy of that.

laura palmer - the whole song is a david lynch shoutout. i've never seen twin peaks myself but the song still slaps.

daniel in the den - christian mythology. discusses the biblical tale of daniel in the lion's den and links that up to themes of betrayal and family.

poet - this one's a double feature, referencing both william shakespeare's sonnet 18 and edmund spencer's sonnet 75. also one of my favorites.

send them off! - this is another one of my favorites of theirs. it's also been described by dan as "othello meets the exorcist" and it very much delivers there

if you want something uplifting:

joy - while bastille (understandably) has a bit of reputation as a band that makes sad music about sad things, they've definitely got some happier songs in their catalogue. pun intended cha ching. this one's one of their more straightforwardly happy tunes

survivin' - this was a song they wrote while they were touring and then felt weird about releasing once the panini hit because it felt a bit on the nose. they ended up releasing it anyway and i am so glad they did cause it's a mood

act of kindness - the "happy" part here is debatable but i'm gonna include it anyway. it’s when someone does something nice for you and that impulse Changes you way down deep you know???

warmth - one of those "the world's going to shit but at least we have each other" kinds of tunes

the anchor - one of those "the world's going to shit but you're the one fucking thing that's still keeping me here" kinds of tunes

give me the future - their latest single as of this writing and one of the more optimistic tracks in their catalogue imo! it's yearning, but it's also with a genuine hope for the future.

and LASTLY. because im going to take every chance i can to plug this band. im going to throw some collabs and covers at you because there's one thing this band does SUPER well and it's collabs and covers.

of the night - this is the big one. it mashes up rhythm of the night by corona and rhythm is a dancer by SNAP! and it's so good they still do this one live and it goes off every time.

no angels - a mashup of "no scrubs" by TLC and "angels" by the xx, poured into a strangely mournful tune with clips from the hitchcock movie psycho. doesn't sound like it should work but it does. kinda really does.

torn apart - with GRADES and lizzo no less!!! it's got two parts but they're both excellent listen to them both

weapon - collab with angel haze, dan priddy, and F*U*G*Z and one of my absolute favorites

remains - remix of their song "skulls" but featuring rag'n'bone man and skunk anansie that adds an entire new dimension to the song, really fucking excellent

old town road mashup - lil nas x's old town road meets lizzo's good as hell meets radiohead's talk show host meets talking heads' road to nowhere meets the osmond's crazy horse. "what the fuck that shouldn't work" i KNOW and yet here it is!! BLATANTLY BANGING!!!

we can't stop - one of the few times dan smith subtly changes the lyrics of the song he's covering (most of the time he opts to keep the original pronouns and the like, which is very nice to see). anyway this one mixes miley cyrus's we can't stop with eminem's lose yourself and billy ray cyrus's achy breaky heart. and also the lion king's i just can't wait to be king is there. yes i know it sounds batshit especially because the whole thing is surprisingly melodic and heartfelt and you know what it works.

anyone but me x nightmares - mashing up joy crookes' anyone but me with easy life's nightmares and absolutely one of my favorites.

bad guy mashup - how many songs can they include with the word "bad" in the title? we've got bad guy (billie eilish), bad decisions (bastille), bad romance (lady gaga), and bad blood (taylor swift). bastille even has a song called bad blood and they didnt use it. they used taylor swift's version. also the distinctive guitar riff from dick dale's misirlou is there.

somebody mashup - how many songs can they include with the word "some" in the title? someone like you (adele), somebody told me (the killers), somebody to love (queen), use somebody (kings of leon), and someone you loved (lewis capaldi). seriously these guys take mashups to a new level.

final song - this is a cover of MØ's final song. it also adds in craig david's 7 days and, impossibly enough, europe's final countdown. how does it work. how.

ALL RIGHT. THATS ALL IVE GOT IN ME. HOPE THIS HELPED ANON AND IM SORRY IF THIS IS TOO MUCH

[blacksunscorpio]

Astro Musings No. 4

Synastry in the 12th house

…Can make two people secretly afraid of each other. They can be intrigued but also afraid of the depths the know the other person has. Things may go unexpressed between two people especially if Mercury is in hard aspect here. It can also cause misunderstandings. Someone’s Mars in your twelfth house will cause you to sense an animalistic sexual feeling coming from them or you may feel these feelings towards them but don’t know why. At its worst, you may feel like there is something aggressive about the other, but you really can’t place it. It may be an unexplainable, aggravating, and uneasy feeling. Someone’s moon here may feel like the other person has a deep understanding of you on an unconscious level giving. It may make you feel eerie or give you inner peace. 12th house also rules the spirit world so there can be an other-worldly feeling or telepathic insights between people with synastry in this house. Neptune can touching the Sun or the Moon can also indicate parents who might have substance abuse issues or alcoholic tendencies.

Aries Mars’

….Need to be careful not to expend so much of their energy during sex. They are prone to going balls to the wall *no pun intended* that it may be over rapidly. You all need to either find someone who is okay with multiple rounds of quickies, or they need to do solar plexus chakra work. They can learn to control their urge to get to their climax at NOS-aided speed. If they don’t get things under control and reel it back a bit, they run the risk of leaving their partner unsatisfied.

People with Venus in Aquarius

…Or Aquarius touching the Moon or Venus in hard aspect or Saturn/Uranus touching Mars or Moon in hard aspect, do not like to be touched. They like their bubble. They dislike PDA and can be awkward when it comes to physical affection. The ones who give the “weird hugs”. They like distance between them and others. However, these people can also be very good dancers since Venus is about Art and Mars is about action, and Uranus is all about sudden “breaks”. Dancers with this placement can bend and break their bodies however they see fit. Mars in Virgo can also be excellent dancers, especially in regimented forms of dancing like Ballet, or rhythmic gymnastics.

Libra placements and Taurean placements

….Are by far the most affectionate in terms of physical touch. Especially if in the 4th, 5th, or 7th. They are ruled by Venus and the 2nd house which rules the material. Things that are very much about the senses. They can have oral fixations. These people love having sex. Natives with Mars in Taurus [particularly men] will enjoy “eating” their partner out. Perfumes that smell nice, music, food, anything that sets an ambiance. They love massages. They like holding hands and making out. This will be especially true if any of these placements.planets fall into the 5th, 7th house, 4th house, 8th or 11th house in harmonious aspect.

Asteroid Sado

…is all about abuse and pain, if touching Saturn it can make one prone to cruelty or people can show this to them. They can also be very good at torture tactics but regimented since Saturn is about discipline. Pretty sure the folks running Guantanamo have this placement somewhere in their chart.

Saturn conjunct Algol

…Can make someone have a very high pain tolerance because Algol is also about pain and Saturn is about time.

Saturn opposing the moon

…Can make people struggle with fear of intimacy. They can completely avoid it. The good thing is when in opposition there is still the ability to balance. An opposition is just an imbalance, there needs to be equal reciprocal to keep things level. Natives with this placement need to remember it is okay to be vulnerable. They may do well having friends who are older. They need to overcome their fear of getting close to people. Not everyone will waste your time.

When someone's Priapus

…. is touching one of your personal planets or vice versa there will be an uncontrollable desire to merge with them. If it’s mercury you want to delve into their minds. If it’s Mars you want to fuck them constantly. If it’s Venus, you’re dying for them to love you. If it’s Jupiter, this is intense and buckle up. The urge to mate with them will be exacerbated. Also, watch out if this guy falls into the 8th house or when he conjuncts Black Moon Lilith.

Believe it or not, Capricorn placements

…Are the best in regard to knowing how the body operates.

Especially if it’s forming a harmonious aspect to a sexual planet or to Pluto/1st or the 8th house. Capricorn is about time and wealth. It is also an earth sign so they are very in touch with the physical. When this placement is messing with Mars or say, one’s Eros or Adonis, or whether these asteroids are in Capricorn or Lilith in Capricorn, they can be cold publically but a machine in the bedroom. They will typically like things on the rougher and more indulgent side of sex. They take their time and are extremely penetrative when figuring things out  *no pun intended*. They will decipher every movement, micro-movement, action vs reaction, and store it in the earthy archives of their minds for later. They’ll never forget. Mars in Capricorn can also be seen in the charts of many personal trainers.

Capricorn placements with Pluto in the mix

…Often become Doctors; specifically surgeons or morticians. Especially if Saturn rules 8th house, Midheaven in Scorpio, or Mars in Capricorn placement in either of these houses. Capricorn Venus’ can often Marry for money or have marriages based on political ambition. Arranged marriages can be seen here or a general formality in regard to love. Again, we’re dealing with the father of discipline energy so Capricorn Venus can be reticent to show love. They kiss you while you sleep, but show toughness while awake.

Capricorns also have a very strong psychic ability.

…Hear me out. Since Saturn is the Seagoat, he straddles both earth AND water. The Physical and the Spiritual. People with strong Saturn placements can often experience dreams that have strong karmic attachments to them. Past Life regression etc. Dreams of catastrophic events or dreams of court case outcomes. Especially if Saturn is in or ruling 12th house or the 8th house.

Taurus Venus

…Will purposefully and actively pursue their partner when they really want them. So if a Taurus Venus person isn’t giving you the time and attention you want, they may not be fully committed or interested in/to you. However, if this same Venus is opposing or squaring the native’s Pluto it can make them shy and secretly obsessed but withdrawn in demonstrating it. These are the people who can be in love secretly but never say a word. The ones who can orchestrate secret affairs for years and no one would be the wiser. Remember, 8th house is what’s hidden and forbidden and venus is about love.

Mars square Venus

….When flirting will poke fun at the object of their desire. They will see if the person can keep up with their banter. They’ll throw digs to see if the other can give it as good as they get it. They may also create drama for attention. Love just doesn’t feel right without passion and fire. They can also attract people who make scenes or bring drama into their lives.

An Unaspected Sun

…Can make one enigmatic or someone with aspects of themselves that will be hard to figure out. They may even be hard to remember. There will be something Neptunian about them. They sort of fade or blend into the background.

Lilith in the 3rd house

…May make a native addicted to writing. Particularly unafraid of writing about darker things. Taboo subjects. Even erotica. Lilith in the 6th house and the 2nd is a placement for many sex workers.

Mars in the 4th house can indicate military lineage or “army brats.”  While a Sun inconjunct or square to Uranus can indicate a father who is brilliant/a genius or a father who “split” early in a native’s life.

Gemini’s

…Actually like to show off more than Leo’s. But Leo’s show off less than Cancers. Cancers cry less than Pisceans but Pisceans can actually be some of the harshest people when angered. It is because they are ruled by Neptune, a water planet. In mythology, he is also known as the “Earth-Shaker”. Seas get violent too, people.

Contrary to popular belief, Virgo’s can actually be very messy.

Yes, messy, not dirty, there is a difference. As stereotypical as this sounds, they prefer clean sex and are the types to do it in the shower. As for the “messiness”, They of course will know where everything is but their mercurial energy can make them throw things here and there as they run around trying to get 10 things done before breakfast.

Mars and Juno

In synastry can indicate a couple/marriage that will be very active physically.

Mercury in aspect to Aquarius

…Or an Aquarius stellium can make people out of the box thinkers. The people will be inventors. The ones who create things you didn’t even know you needed. Things like the pop socket grip that goes on the back of your phone or 0 calorie carbonated water. Uranian placements can also be seen in people who are Asexual or conversely pansexual.

Contrary to popular belief, Mars in Scorpio

…Gets very attached actually when they have sex. That is because they feel sex is more than just a physical act but a merging of souls. This is Pluto we’re dealing with, remember. Merging is what he is about. So they prefer to not just have sex with anyone and can actually be quite picky about their sexual partners. Astro Musings No. 1  Astro Musings No. 2  Astro Musings No. 3  Astro Musings No. 5  Astro Musings No. 6 Astro Musings No. 7 Astro Musings No. 8  Astro Musings No. 9  Astro Musings No. 10

[reveliz]

“feel my rhythm” review 🎼💐🍓🩰

comeback season is finally upon us, romans!

i remember when feel my rhythm's teaser dropped, i was sitting in my school's lobby, trying to avoid having an aneurysm (not really). red velvet has always been my ult group, and the last thing i expected from them was a sample of a bach movement layered on a dance-pop style title track (but then again, sm's recent releases tend to be pretty out there).

this release hit pretty close to home to me as well. i am a violinist in real life, and classical music is the other genre of music i listen to, besides k-pop. it was really surreal to see both of my loves of music combine to make such an eclectic era.

so, this release had the best of both worlds for me.

i've seen this on reddit among other places, but "feel my rhythm" feels like "psycho"'s younger, charismatic little sister that is drenched in faded pastels and lots of lace. the song's final chorus swells with an unexpected key change, which is quite fitting for a k-pop song so musically inspired. this track's grandiose production gets the most payoff in its final moments, yet there is never truly a dull moment in this song.

i’ll be honest when i say that the way the sample of bach’s air is mixed on this track sometimes comes off almost like a stifling perfume. at certain points, it doesn't exactly mesh well with sm's signature experimental beat, yet it also dulls some of the song's best vocal moments. the melody of bach's air is beautiful during the opener and second half of the chorus, but it becomes practically obsolete once the song's verses kick in. twice's "cry for me" is a great example of how to use orchestration on a dance track without weighing it down with classical music influences. although cry for me didn't sample an already existing piece of repertoire like feel my rhythm, it still had this majestic, regal quality to it that makes it such a compelling song to come back to.

but even though this era's title track doesn't flow as nicely as i wanted, its cohesive ep is as smooth as butter (no pun intended!)

the only song i didn't care for as much was "rainbow halo", which is surprising given my track record of generally loving the first b-side of an album. while this song certainly isn't bad, i sense that it loses its steam once the chorus' repetitive and relatively filler-like chant kick in. in an album surrounded by vibrant orchestral touches, this song doesn't possess the same shine and magical atmosphere that the other tracks do.

other than that, the rest of this ep i really enjoy. i hadn't realized it until after a few listens, but these b-sides complement each other so well. the lofi-inspired intro of "good, bad, ugly" manages not to clash much with the addictive beat of "beg for me", which is a hard thing to accomplish when you're dealing with two very different sounds. "bamboleo", a personal favorite of mine, thrives off of its combination of airy falsettos and an almost disco-like instrumental that makes me want to rewind the track for another listen.

however, the standout of this ep for me was definitely "in my dreams". the track has this cinematic, almost disney-esque sound that i fell in love with at first listen. the staccato triplets at the beginning of the song remind me a bit of "fly to my room" by bts, if the latter had a more theatrical production. "in my dreams, you love me back," is such a hard-hitting one liner that serves as the essence of this track (i don't even care that it is all that repetitive, because the line itself adds so much to the atmosphere of its song). wendy is the heart of this song, and her emotional belts and delicate vocals make the final leg of this track such a good closer for an already exquisite ep.

and finally, here are the stats for this review!

ranking

1. in my dreams

2. bamboleo

3. feel my rhythm

4. beg for me

5. good, bad, ugly

6. rainbow halo

scores

title track score: 8.5/10

ep score: 9/10

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Three Minutes to Eternity: My ESC 250 (250-241)

(Author's note: I intended to have the list ready by 1 September, but I was a bit lousy in compiling the final spots on there. As a result, they will seem a bit shoddy, but there will be good summaries, I promise! And there will be honorable mentions soon enough.)

#250: Harel Skaat -- Milim (Israel 2010)

“האור נרדם, דמעות של דם, שורפות לי בגרון, ידית שרוטה, תקרה שמוטה, כשאני שר לך את השיר האחרון” “The light fell asleep, tears of blood scorch my throat Scratched handle, sloping ceiling When I sing to you the last song” Curiously, I already knew of Harel Skaat before hearing of Eurovision: I listened to a few of his earlier tracks when I found him singing with another Israeli pop artist, Dor Daniel. I particularly liked משנו ממני and כמה עוד אפשר. Milim is a requiem for what was once lost—the presence of one whom the narrator really loves. The imagery used in this song adds to the melancholic feel—a classic ballad of sorts, with a lot of emotion. And the performance from Harel was very good, even though he butchered a note at the end. Maybe it was the pretty blue lights that really accompanied the mood of the song. Personal ranking: 7th/39 Actual ranking: 14th/25 GF (grand final) in Oslo

#249: Tina Karol -- Show Me Your Love (Ukraine 2006)

"You see it in my eyes, my heart is on fire Don’t hide your love away, don’t wait another day" As mentioned in the note, I had a hard time determining the last few spots on my list. I went through the results of both sorters and picked what I felt in the time. Show Me Your Love is a bit odd, but with the accordion intro striking right away, it deserves a place here! While an overly simple song with stilted lyrics, Show Me Your Love is still a bunch of fun. From the boppy beat to Tina's infectious presence on stage, one can't help but smile as this comes along. And there was a jump rope right in the middle of the performance--never change, Ukraine. :) Personal ranking: 5th/37 Actual ranking: 7th/24 GF in Athens

#248: Alan Sorrenti -- Non so che darei (Italy 1980)

“Non so che darei per fermare il tempo Per dormire al tuo fianco solo una notte Non so che darei per sentirti mia Per tenerti vicina solo una notte” “I don’t know what I can give to stop the time To sleep beside you only for one night I don’t know what I can give To take you close to me only for one night” Recently, I find myself humming to this a lot, because it's so calming and nice. I particularly like Alan’s vocals in this song! He really conveys the pain of losing (or on the verge of losing) the one he loves, expressed by the melancholic lyrics. Together, they form a song which is just as beautiful, if not more so than the winner of its year. Despite its 6th place, it became a continent-wide hit, which was quite deserved (just like a good number of Italian Eurovision songs over the years, haha)! Alongside that, Non so che darei also had the only black conductor at Eurovision while there was an orchestra, along with a couple of women playing fake guitars. For some reason, I imagined they were holding umbrellas instead, but I clearly remembered wrong... Personal ranking: 3rd/19 Actual ranking: 6th/19 in Den Haag

#247: Sanja Vucic ZAA -- Goodbye (Shelter) (Serbia 2016)

"I lick my wounds So that I can keep on fighting" Another last-minute choice, but this is an important song, both in 2016 and now, unfortunately. Despite the advances in women's rights over the decades, domestic violence still persists across the world. Goodbye (Shelter) tells the story through someone who's struggling to get out of a toxic relationship, and there's a mix of vulnerability and strength in the lyrics. Of course, lyrics don't make up the whole song; the music also conveys the story through a dramatic build and beautiful strings. Considering the 2016 contest, it does get a bit lost amongst the crowd, but it feels like a musical number in all the right ways. Also, the performance told the story well, and Sanja is a wonderful singer (she also sings a cover of one all-time favorite you will see towards the end, hehe). I even would shed a tear at points. Personal ranking: 8th/42 Actual ranking: 18th/26 GF in Stockholm

#246: Remedios Amaya--Quien Maneja Mi Barca? (Spain 1983)

“El verde de tus ojos verdes, mírame, Que mira que yo te mire, mírame, Que mira que yo te mire” “The green of your green eyes, look at me, Look at me, so I can look at you, look at me Look at me, so I can look at you” One of those songs that can be defined as an acquired taste--the people who love it enjoy its subversive status in the Eurovision canon for being unapologetically Spanish, while the people who hate it will dismiss it as just a bunch of noise. This is a song which is part of the “New Flamenco” genre popularized since the 1960s, which mixes up flamenco music with other genres, such as rock or electronic music. Quien Maneja mi Barca ‘s studio cut has nebulous lyrics combined with an electronic beat, which is alright at best. I found it quite hollow and quite forgettable there. I prefer it in its orchestral form, which fuses synths and concert instruments fantastically. It definitely amps up the drama with Remedios’ voice, and made me appreciate this very distinct entry. Personal ranking: 6th/20 Actual ranking: Joint last (with Turkey) in Munich

#245: Marianna Efstratiou - To diko sou asteri (Greece 1989)

"Μα στο βραδινό τον ουρανό το δικό σου αστέρι ψάξε βρες Γιατί οι σκιές στο πρώτο φως μοιάζουνε φοβίες παιδικές" "But in the evening sky, search and find your own star Because the shadows in the first light seem to be childish phobias" While To diko sou asteri sounds a bit safe in the grand scheme of things, I think its lack of pretension is what makes this little song shine. The lyrics encourage one to find their star and encourage the listener to pursue what they believe in without any fear. Marianna's vocals also add to this song in that they're quietly hopeful and sweet. Also, for some reason, I got some "True Colors" vibes while listening to it every time, despite there being some differences. Both have this relaxing, calm vibe to help the listener on their journey through life. Then again, True Colors doesn't have some nice flute flourishes throughout the song, haha. Personal ranking: 4th/22 Actual ranking: 9th/22 at Lausanne

#244: Dina -- Amor d'agua fresca (Portugal 1992)

"Peguei, trinquei e meti-te na cesta Ris e dás-me a volta à cabeça" "I picked you, bit into you and put you in the basket You laughed and made my head spin" 1992 is one of the most average years at Eurovision--after the chaos that was 1991, it seems like the songs and production sought something safer, and the whole thing felt really bland. Amor d'agua fresca is anything but dull--it's bubbly and sweet, with quite relaxed atmosphere. The combination of instruments--particular the guitar in the beginning and Dina's vocals-- really help with conveying a mood. But after that, we have the lustful lyrics, describing a romance through enjoying different fruits, which was quite different for me... But hey, different makes things quite a bit better in life! Personal ranking: 4th/23 Actual ranking: 17th/23 in Malmo

#243: Lucia -- Él (Spain 1982)

"Él me perdona porque es un pedazo de buen pan Y me trata con paciencia Sé que no debo ser cruel Que le debo confesar que él a mí, no me interesa" "He forgives me because he’s a scrap of good bread And he treats me with patience I know that I shouldn’t be cruel That I should tell him I’m not interested in him" One interesting thing about me is that I'm a sucker for tango music. There's a sense of drama when one listens to it, and even more so when people get on the dance floor. While I've only danced it a few times, when one does it right, the connection between two people is quite powerful, and you could fall right into a dream. El definitely amps up the drama--Lucia is in a conflicted relationship, but she plays the "player" role quite well. It's very flirty and seductive, and you could immerse yourself in the story. While the dancing was a bit too much for a stage as small as 1982's, it's still quite fun to see. Also, it was sent as a way of supporting Argentina in the Falkland Wars, which is quite interesting... Personal ranking: 4th/18 Actual ranking: 10th/18 in Harrogate

#242: Gabriela Gunčíková -- I Stand (Czech Republic 2016)

"I am thanking you, you made me You are my air, I’ll always care" For those who have an aversion to ballads, why is that? I find it annoying because there can be ones where they can touch you and tell a story. Life can't always be happy bops with heavy beats (or it's because they don't really inhabit my musical atmosphere most of the time...) I Stand sounds like a derivative ballad sonically, but it carries itself with such grace and grandeur. The instruments add to the drama of the song, which thanks a special person for their help in their life (though the lyrics above can come off as a bit co-dependent...or so I've heard) And Gabriela delivers this with the necessary composure and grace the song desires. It feels like a highlight track from a musical--one where two characters meet again and the narrator wants to recognize the latter's good deeds before they're gone forever. Thanks to that, the Czech Republic gets their first grand final appearance (though getting 0 televote points once there was harsh...) Personal ranking: 7th/42 Actual ranking: 25th/26 GF in Stockholm

#241: t.A.T.u -- Ne ver, ne boysia (Russia 2003)

“Кто-то понты а кто-то маньяк, Кто-то как ты, кто-то как я.” “Someone's a psycho and someone's a maniac, Someone like you, someone like me” If I’m right, I may have heard this song without knowing this was from Eurovision. It was because there was a period between middle school and high school where I love t.A.T.u’s music, and this was one of their singles. Ne Ver Ne Bosia is compelling and dark, with an interplay about the people around them using an old Soviet proverb as the title. It’s gripping and intense, and brings the listener into this crazy and mad world they're enveloped in. The performance, on the other hand, almost couldn't have been worse. The vocals were really ropey (especially from Lena, who would usually be trusted to help Yulia), and it didn't come over as a great listening experience. While I love it, t.A.T.u were really lucky they competed in the televote era, as they would've been struck down hard by the juries. (and the worst part: there will be a couple of poorly-performed entries which will be quite high on this list...) Personal ranking: 6th/26 Actual ranking: 3rd/26 in Riga

[maddiicake]

Why Both FMAB and FMA03 are good and should be treated as Independent Stories:

I will go on the record of saying that Appreciate and Love FMA as a whole and love both series for what they are. And while it may sound like a broken record saying things like this... there’s still hateful words against those who like one over the other. So, I’m here to make this post addressing that both FMA2003/03 and Brotherhood are great in their own way and should be respected as their own individual stories.

Also warning there will be obvious spoilers.

What I liked about the Original (FMA03/2003) Series:

I watched 03 before delving into Brotherhood, and even before reading the manga. Now, I know Brotherhood and Manga fans are the small minority of the fandom, while 03/2003 fans make up the majority. That being said, many of these people simply can't get used to 03 after watching Brotherhood.

However, for me, I was happy because: A) I got more FMA to watch, and B) The differences in 03/2003 simply made it even more fun to watch, so for it was no trouble getting used to this anime.

But if I were to be specific of what I liked, I’d say I liked the following about FMA03/2003:

Characterization of the Protagonists and all the 'good' guys: The show heavily focuses on the relationship and tragedy of Elric Brothers, and 03/2003 portrays it much better with such a deeper level. The relationship between both brothers is intimate, and it feels like a genuine sibling bond. I also enjoy the fact that the anime shows that even if Ed follows his ideals, he, like any human, can break away from them under severe pressure, which was beautifully shown in the 5th laboratory arc. As for other characters: Scar in this version is a total opposite of his Brotherhood counterpart. He is written realistically in the 2003/03 anime. His absolute hatred for the military is more legit, and he feels morally grey in this anime. Izumi Curtis for me was also portrayed better in this version. Meanwhile, other Characters like Roy, Winry and Alex felt the same to me throughout both versions--so, not much change there.

Worldbuilding: The 2003/03 anime does a fantastic job at portraying the widespread effects of war and politics, Alchemy, etc. and how it has affected the people of the FMA World. For example, in Episode 16, “That Which is Lost”, Ed meet, a guy who had lost his limb while working as a soldier and was reluctant to use an automail prostetic because he wanted to “retain his wound”. Now, this episode itself was more so filler and didn’t really matter to the main plot of the story in itself; however, I feel that it was added to series to portray the depth of the FMA World, and how everyone has different reactions to the events that happened in the 2003/03 anime. Also, many of the events and how they unfold in this anime seem to parallel the middle east, which just makes all this feel realistic and provides some occasional social commentary which is quite nice. I also like how the first few episodes take their time to slowly and, with great subtlety, develop their world.

Thematic Depth: FMA2003/03 is dark, grim and kind of realistic--more so compared to Brotherhood. While, both versions of the anime deal with some important and mature themes, FMA2003/03 takes it to the next level. The 2003/03 series focuses on the Law of Equivalent Exchange, and shows how putting blind trust in it is a terrible thing to do. The show also focuses on how obsession, a denial of reality, and the inability to move on can be a bad thing. Moreover, sometimes life just simply isn't fair, and we should accept it; however, always try to improve what we have. All in all, we have to understand the consequences of our actions. That life is uncertain, and sometimes we don't get everything, and even we pay a price for it. All of these themes mixed in with the meaningful dialogues and the dark tone, made me appreciate this anime. For example, in episode 48, when Roy and Ed talk for the last time, that’s the pivotal point that brings all these themes together.

A Good Start: The Show had a better start than Brotherhood, simply because 1). We have more time with Maes Hughes and Shou Tucker, and 2). The Liore arc. Despite BONES studio and it’s tendency to create anime too early *when the mangaka is barely halfway through their series), they made it work, and, with the material they had, the 2003/03 series was given enough time to bloom. The 2003/03 series was simply immersive and very emotional, especially during The Curtis Arc, as an example.

Soundtrack and The Art Direction: I feel like both are equally good. However, I will go on the record of saying that I don’t think “art style” is what makes a series, nor is it an important factor. It’s nothing more than glorified “eye candy” However, for the sake of argument (especially since the “art style” is the first thing that “03 Stans” mention) I’ll be adding it in here. Both the 2003/03 and Brotherhood series have some amazing and beautiful orchestral OSTs in their respective soundtracks; thus, it added to the immersion of their respective series. In FMA2003/03, the color palette is very unique, sometimes it feels dull but it just suits the dark tone of the series.

All in all, I am impressed by a lot of aspects of the 2003/03 anime series, but as much I love and respect it, there are lot of things this anime messed up and I will note that as well.

The antagonists were... Meh: While I really love and enjoy the direction and depth BONES Studio added to the Homunculi... some of the other antagonists could have been better (or just not added at all imo). For example, Frank Archer... he has no reason being there except for convenient plot device to the point it feels forced. Though, him becoming that weird cyborg always makes me laugh just because of how dumb of a character he became because of it. Speaking of which, him becoming a cyborg was just... weird. It was like the Studio staff were trying to make him “cool” by making him into some crossover of The Terminator and Two-Face from Batman, but it just failed. As for Zolf Kimblee... He is still sadistic and likes making things explode, much like his Brotherhood Counterpart. But... that was it. Other than that, he was just boring. Him and Archer were both just the staple 90s Kids Cartoon Villains; not much to them except “Muahahaha I’m evil”. Now Dante... I’d say that she’s a good villain to an extent. Her as a villain is very subjective within the fandom, depending on who you ask. While I believe that she could have been just as great a villain as Father, her character was rushed and her goals were a bit vague and unexplored. I like how, like with Father, she had ties Hohenheim; however, that backstory and those connections were introduced a little late. So, in the end, she just came across as more of the generic Vindictive Ex-Wife, and just a generic female villain. As for the Homunculi... I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I LOVED their portrayal in 2003/03. They were the “saving grace” of the entire team of the villains within the 2003/03 series. My favorite of the bunch were Lust and Greed--namely Lust, because of her ties with Scar. Envy came at a close second, but only seemed so because of a way to back up Dante as a villain, and the other Homunculi seemed a bit more underdeveloped as characters. 

The Plot's quality drops after episode 35- Okay don't get me wrong. The first 35 episodes for me were 100/100. After that? a 60/100. Why? Because everything after that point feels contrived and feels forced. It's as tho, they are trying to do everything they can, even if it doesn't weave in, to make the brother's life miserable. Archer doesn't die and pops up, with his automail? Alphonse is there to be turned into a bomb, and become a philosophers stone. Okay, but why does this feel so forced? Also, can we talk about Nazi Shit? Now, I feel the brothers being separated is the perfect ending to this anime thematically and I have nothing against it, but A Nazi gate? Why? It was so sudden and pointless. It was never foreshadowed. They just showed it to make it as tragic as possible, because they didn't know of any other way to twist the plot, without convenient and totally forced plot devices. Also, How can Dante make Gluttony Mindless? Why is Juliet Douglass's Secret so obvious, when it can be fatal if leaked? Plot- Holes, Also, why are the Homunculli named the way they are? It just doesn't make sense. Also, FMA's Plot has an air of mystery to it, but it doesn't execute properly. I don't hate the end, I just felt disappointed, because the buildup towards it was terrible.

Now, I give a bit of grace concerning how the plot sort of dropped off and felt rushed halfway through, as well as the characters being underdeveloped and rushed. After all, Studio Bones was making up the majority of the material and took it in their own direction. Some factors to all of these cons in FMA2003/03 could be because of the Studio’s lack of a budget to flesh the characters and plot out more. Or, they had created so much additional material for this series that it became overwhelming.

As a writer, I can attest to the fact that “Character Overload” or “Element Overload” can either make or break a series, depending on how you handle it. That being said, there need to be a balance when it comes to these factors.

However, FMA2003/03 ended around 2004-05, So what we got is what we have.

Now, with that out of the way, let’s get on to the analysis of FMA: Brotherhood:

Characters: There isn’t a single character in this version of the series that I can choose as a “favorite”. Because, honestly? I lile them all. They’re all well developed and lovable in their own way, and have their own demension of depth to them. No, they’re not as deep as they aare in FMA2003/03, but from a writer’s perspective, that helps keep a balance with the overall plot of the stories. Now, some minor characters were just outrageous, but not to the level of boring (like 03!Kimblee and Archer), for example...  Darius and Heinkel. There isn’t a vast difference in Brotherhood’s and 2003/03's cast of characters. However, if I had to note a difference, FMA2003/03′s characters were are more on the edge of realistic and Brotherhood’s were just... Loveable. However, that doesn’t mean that one counterpart of a character is better/worse than another. Both are quite memorable in their own way. Of course, in my opinion Brotherhood's villains are just better than 03's villains. Sure, the Homunculi aren’t given as much depth, but, they have redeeming qualities near the end of their time (i.e. Envy, and GreedLing). When Father was first introduced... his character made me think of how Dante started out, and I was worried that his character would end up just as rushed and he would just be the generic cliche Shounen villain. By the Promised Day Arc, however, I was surprised. Yeah, Father was still very shounen-y villain, but still a pretty darn good villain. I feel his backstory, and how he discarded all his human qualities which led to the creation of Homunculi was well put together, and I felt the concept how he created Alchemy in Amestris, while Hohenhime helped build Alkahestry in the east was well put together, and helped build the world of FMA (literally). To put it simply, his character was much more interesting than Dante, because it was fleshed out more. The Homunculi were awesome as well, Lust did her job, Pride and Wrath were simply awesome, GreeLing's development from an anti-villain to anti-hero was exceptionally well written and not the cliche anti-hero, which I can appreciate. Envy is the character you love to hate. And Gluttony and Sloth did their Part as Well. While I enjoyed 03′s portrayal of the homunculi, I felt like they only fleshed out some for that series (i.e. Lust) while others were just left to fall flat. With Brotherhood, all the Homunculi were evenly balanced out in their characters, not too much depth and not too little. Solf Kimblee was still the sadistic baster, but at least his entire personality was more explored this time, and I liked how they portrayed his psyche as an added affect to why he has his views.

Plot: Bortherhood’s plot was more fluid and weaved in seamlessly. As a lover of all things continuity... Brotherhood did it right, and every time I find an analysis of a teeny tiny subtle continuity detail (i.e. Ed’s gash on his forehead that lasts a few episodes), I get a writer-gasm! Sure, there were few plot devices and filler here and there. But the plot in gneeral wasn’t rushed or choppy, nor did it leave any holes in it. The way Brotherhood portrays it’s plot is to keep you as engaged as possible, adding some silly comic relief here and there to balance out the dramatic intensity every so often. Unlike 2003/03 where is was just one depressing and dark element after another, Brotherhood added in the comic relief points not and again to give it’s audience a break. And, that’s what I really appreciate, and think is a great story writing technique. All in all the Brotherhood series is literal binge-watch material

A Great Shounen: Many Shounen anime have their Arcs for the purpose of portraying the progress of a character, and keep introducing new villains; however, depsite this, there is rarely a sense of mystery, intrigue or a moving plot in a Battle Shounen Anime. What Brotherhood did was just that, except make it more digestible (and not super long like Naruto or One Piece), and added a great thematic exploration. For a shounen it was quite deep, the plot structure was more like seinen, and characters were awesome. In a way, we got everything we could in a Shounen anime that only lasted a little over 50 episodes: Depth, plot, characters in a shounen.

Thematic Exploration: Both FMA 2003/03′s and Brotherhood’s themes are the same, but Brotherhood makes it a bit more lighter. All the while, it also manages to raise questions on additional themes: revenge, truth, knowledge, sacrifice, worth of a human life, and many other things.

Soundtrack and Animation: Same as the analysis in the part of FMA 2003/03, and, once again... I will restate that I personally don’t believe that art style is what’s important to a series. It’s nothing more than glorified “eye candy”. However, for the sake of this analysis, I will be adding it in here. While Brotherhood’s art style and animation is more simplistic, it’s much easier to create those dynamic poses and expressions on an animation level. While FMA2003/03 did have it’s dynamic moments, it was mostly only during battle scenes or the really heavy moments in the series. Brotherhood maintains it’s art style through the series and keeps it a balance, so that some scenes aren’t too much animation but also not too little. And, both FMA2003/03′s and Brotherhood’s OST Soundtracks are beautiful orchestral pieces that really add additional effect to a scene that the respective series are trying to portray.

A sense of conclusion: A lot of Shounen Anime get prematurely cancelled, most Seinen end in a bittersweet manner. That’s why FMA2003/03′s ending with the fate of the Elric Bros was a bit more preferable for those who like a more realistic ending. But, I enjoy a story with a more conclusive ending that wraps all the plot points up together without leaving too many holes. Yeah, the “happy ending” of Brotherhood is cliche, but “happy endings” wouldn’t be “happy endings” if they weren’t. Not to mention, those types of endings are rare, because people really don’t want to write them, and, when they do, they’re rarely done well. Ed’s entire charcter arc wrapping up to where he swallows his pride as an Alchemist and gives up his Alchemy to bring his brother back is both wholesome and satisfying, because, through the show, it shows his progression and growth from beginning to end. And, having an arrogant character obsessed with Alchemy give it up and learn to humble himself because of it.. it’s really uplifting.

Now let's talk about the Cons within the Brotherhood series, they aren't a lot, but still, they did affect my experience quite a lot.

Overuse of Comic Relief: While the use is a nice balance to the already dark and dismal atmosphere of the series, it felt a bit overused. So much so that some emotional moments were inconvenienced by the use of that kind of humor. It was a bit much and created dissonance with the tone the scene was trying to portray. Now, it worked more in the Manga, because of the more visual gag of it, but, sometimes the visuals within the manga don’t translate as well to an animated one.

A Rushed First Half: While FMA 2003/03 began “In Media Res” with it’s first episode and then started a “flashback episodic arc” with the next handful of episodes.. Brotherhood just jumped right into it. While, yes, it was a better balance to not have the characters’ depth right at the beginning (slowly revealing it as the show goes on), the first half of Brotherhood was 0-100 through just the first few episodes. To the point it feels like the audience has to catch it’s bearings. But, once you get on the same page, it’s enjoyable from there.

So what’s the Point of this Ted Talk-esq FMA Post?

I’m sick and tired of seeing 03 Stans  and MangaHood Stans fighting each other over just the smallest detail, especially when 03 Stans decided to bring leftist politics into it for no reason.

Personally, I just appreciate the fact that both series exist, ever since I've got in the franchise, it has become a part of my life, and still to this day is part of my life. Sure, I’m forever going to be part of this fandom.. but, I still see the beauty that peeks through the ruins and ashes of destruction now and then. I appreciate both series. Sure, I do prefer Brotherhood more, and get called a “Nazi” just because of it (ironic considering FMA: CoS was the movie sequel to 03... -__- ) , but 03 was excellent as well in it’s own way. It was very involving while FMAB was engaging. Both shows are something which you can learn something from and get attached to.

All in all, comparing both shows is okay, that's what I did here, but having a debate over which one is better isn’t just inherently bad... it’s TOXIC. Both series have their pros and cons, and they’re starkly different from each other. They’re two sides of the same coin. But, most importantly they are extremely important and impactful, so Pls don't have death battles over which one is better, don't say bad things about any fanbase, be respectful, and most importantly watch both and try to appreciate them. Because trust me liking both is a pretty darn good feeling.

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

Higurashi Gou Liveblog: Episode 6

Episode six, hopefully more developments on the murder front! Heck even some developments on the overarching plot front, now that there’s two arcs we can kinda mix and match and see what answers are consistently the same. Are Takano and Tomitake going to vanish again this go round? Will Oishi again be the one to exposit the yearly curse? WILL RENA AND KEIICHI CONTINUE TO REMEMBER SHIT?! Find out this time on Higurashi Gou!

Anyways this is a really weird place to just pop right in, I said that last time. Why did they split the scene? Is it gonna end different?

IT IS. HI OISHI.

Also the image of all three punks just being shoved into the cop car like errant toys back into a toybox brings me joy. GET IN THERE. YOUR PART IN THE STORY’S OVER. NO ONE WANTS TO PLAY WITH YOU ANYMORE.

Oishi’s face is leaner than Keiichi’s and I do NOT like that.

Another thing I don’t like in the opening is when the young Takano(?) like not-quite-suggestively slides open her tie. Like considering where she grew up…SUPER don’t like that.

AND AGAIN, THAT BETTER NOT BE FEATHERINE!

“How ‘bout the next time I’m in trouble you come save me ;)” ��Yeah sure!” Boy oh boy I wonder how soon that’s gonna take to bite him in the ASS.

Aw…Shion being wholesome with her sister’s crush is actually so nice. Like its sweet that she’s trying to cheer him up.

God fuck its been so long since I revisited Cotton Drifting that its hard to remember what parts they’re expanding on for the dam project and what they aren’t. Its definitely a longer scene than it was in the first anime, but they aren’t covering any new stuff as far as I know.

Okay never mind the police brutality is new but not unexpected. And of course Shion was taking shots.

I’m actually liking how they’re expanding the backstory on the Dam War. Like we hear about it all the time, of course, but except for a snippet in Time Wasting and a few panels in the manga we never actually see any of it go down. Just “there were riots and then the kid got kidnapped and then the government backed down like a bunch of BITCHES. Also we were all united and solidarity and Sonozakis and Hojos and whatnot.”

Actually they didn’t mention the kidnapped grandkid and that’s making me suspicious, especially considering it was due to Tokyo’s interference and the clinic is under “renovation.” What’s happening in evil conspiracy land, 07th people?!

Oh and a call from Mion too, this is new and interesting.

OH THEY’RE DOING THIS. Ah man, if this is going where I think it is then we’re going to be forced to watch perverted shenanigans.

AGAIN THIS CLOCK IS HAUNTING ME IN THE BEST OF WAYS.

God fucking damn it there are pervy shenanigans. WHYYYYYY did they put this in the anime. It was in the manga and the only good parts of it was the club ganging up to absolutely waste the perverted customer assholes. Keiichi hurry up and summon the geek squad to lay waste to these bastards.

OH AND WE DON’T EVEN GET TO SEE THAT. FUCK THIS PART OF THE ADAPTION. NO RIGHTS! NO RIGHTS FOR THIS EPISODE!

Okay but the backgrounds for Keiichi and Shion’s not-date are absolutely gorgeous. The glass is really pretty.

Keiichi.exe has stopped working. Shion stop teasing him this boy doesn’t have any braincells when it comes to girls.

OHO. What soft parts of Mion don’t sit well with you, Shion? Huh? Huh?

Wait half a tic is Shion going to go like full Hinamizawa Syndrome and disassociate that Keiichi is Satoshi and that’s how we get the murder for this arc?

In retrospect, I haven’t been appreciating Shion’s deviousness up until now. Coming face to face with your crush at work has got to deal at least 200 points of psychic damage, to say nothing of him thinking he was on a not-date with you and it was actually your twin sister. Shion you absolute manipulative villainess.

SHION CALLING MION OUT FOR USING HER IDENTITY TO FLIRT.

Was that a fucking Jojo reference.  

Also I’m re-realizing just how much of an idiot Keiichi is. How could you hear a conversation like this and not think that Mion is interested in you.

Where are you clock. The background is blue so it can’t be Keiichi’s room, it looks like its on a wooden table, and the clock itself looks like its wood. I don’t know enough about rural Japanese culture to tag what kind of household or workplace it’d be in, though. Maybe the back room at Angle Mort?

A very-appreciated extra tidbit, Keiichi helping out with preparations.

THAT LITTLE GRIN THE BOY’S IN LOVE.

Is she going to make Mion drink both shots like in the manga- SHE IS.

YOU.

“Let me know when you come in for your next visit, I’ll get my biggest needles.” OKAY TAKANO WAS DEFINITELY THE ONE TO GANK HIM IN THE LAST ARC.

Takano actually looks really pretty in this shot.

Takano and Tomitake reclaiming their roles as the perennial curse-info-bearers, I see.

Okay I know Mion doesn’t want Keiichi to know because then he might get scared, and she doesn’t want to listen because this is stuff people used to badmouth her family, but at the same time, that was a REALLY sketchy scene. What’s with the pause after Keiichi’s response, Mion? You gonna go yandere? Gonna finally pick up the torch and kill someone? You’re the only one of the club who hasn’t –Rika lowkey murdered her own mom in an extra arc. LOOK I WANT A YANDERE MION IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK.

First year of the curse is going well. Second year is legit. Third year is same as its always been. Fourth year –OH WE AREN’T MENTIONING SATOSHI THAT’S FUN.

“It has to be humans. It only makes sense if someone is orchestrating everything.” says the lady that is orchestrating everything. Enjoying your double-talk there, Takano?!

Oh they actually describe how the extra person was sacrificed this go around, that’s interesting.

Lovely shot of Shion. OH ALL THESE ARE GORGEOUS WITH THE WIND BLOWING AND WHATNOT.

Oh what if Keiichi and Shion don’t break into the shrine with them and that’s how the murder-crazy starts. Like we get all paranoid over what’s actually in the shrine and that leads to murder somehow IDK. Its Higurashi. It always leads to murder.

Shion accuses Takano and Tomitake of going off to have sex and Takano immediately is just like “Nah, we’re doing nothing you’d enjoy watching.” Like you think Shion is a voyeur, Takano? I know Shion’s a teenager but like damn have some chill woman.

I like how Keiichi is trying to be conscious of like civic duty and be all “Uh, guys, curse aside that’s a private building and we don’t have permission to go in there.”

Aw man we’re ending right here.

And we’re skipping the visual parts of the ending. Hmm. Strange and ominous. Don’t like that.

[randjadaptations]

1996′s Romeo + Juliet

Basics

Title: William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet

First Released: 1996

Director:  Baz Luhrmann

Main actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Harold Perrineau, John Leguizamo

Plot and Script

Much like the 1968 film version (review here), 1996’s Romeo + Juliet doesn’t change much of the script. Some monologues are cut for time, but the original script is largely preserved. What makes this notable is that the movie is very much set in the 1990s. Like, characters have limousines and pink hair levels of “this movie is set in the 1990s.” They don’t even change out the word “sword,” for gun, instead opting to make guns with the brand name Sword. Posthaste is, instead of a word, Post Haste, a postal company that Friar Laurence relies upon to deliver news to Romeo. These changes are kind of ridiculous, but also delightful. 

Because the script is so much in tact, the plot doesn’t change too much, either. Paris and Rosaline show up (or in Rosaline’s case, are mentioned) less than in the original play, but more than in the 1968 film. However, that doesn’t mean there are no changes. Romeo’s entrance into Verona after being banished involves a whole helicopter chase and him taking a man hostage. Also, like in many adaptations, Paris and his servant aren’t murdered by Romeo, making the death roll four instead of six. The change that stood out the most to me, though, was that Juliet woke up from her sleep just in time to see Romeo poison himself. They were able to look at each other before his death, and even got to kiss before he passed. I actually really loved this change; at that point, they both knew that their deaths could have been avoided, that none of this had to happen, but it was too late to change anything. It really cements the tragedy of the whole situation.

Characters

Romeo and Juliet are a bit more pensive in this adaptation than others. Romeo spends a not-insignificant amount of time writing poetry, and Juliet’s isolation is fairly pronounced. This change might make them less lighthearted than other adaptations (not that they don’t have their lighthearted moments; they spend a good deal of the balcony scene goofing off in a pool), but it also gives the audience a deep sense that they understand each other. When they first meet at the party, looking at each other through a fish tank, we’ve just seen Romeo head off to the restroom to get a break from all the noise and color, and the audience also just recently saw Juliet avoid all of her mother’s glitz and glamour. We already know that they have similarities, a deep sense of isolation, and it makes the “love at first sight” feel much more authentic. They’re also both the same level of dramatic and unstable. Romeo has his helicopter chase and hostage moments, and Juliet is absolutely not afraid to point a gun at a priest in her distress. While these traits don’t come out around each other and Juliet’s still notably more stable than Romeo, it’s nice that they’re both allowed to go all out. 

Tybalt is a complete wildcard in this adaptation. The script is ambiguous about how much harm is done to the city in the opening scene of the play, but here, he engages in a shootout and then blows up a whole gas station with no regard for anyone who could possibly get in his way. He also is wearing the coolest pair of boots I’ve ever seen, but that’s besides the point. The Capulet parents are outright physically and emotionally abusive in this adaptation, with Lord Capulet (named Fulgencio Capulet here) hitting his wife and shoving his daughter, and Lady Capulet (named Gloria Capulet here) clearly not caring about her daughter’s wellbeing. The rest of the cast is well-done and while there are no performances that are objectively bad, Lord and Lady Montague fade away without much notice. 

Style and Medium

The style of this movie is kind of wild, and even if I don’t understand every choice, I have to respect the commitment that clearly went into it. Baz Luhrmann didn’t compromise on a thing, and honestly, good for him. The movie leaned into the religious aesthetic, putting images of Mary and Jesus everywhere from Juliet’s room (maybe a bit too much in Juliet’s room) to Tybalt’s gun, but some religious aspects got a modern glow-up. I never thought I’d see so many neon crosses in my life, and while it was distracting at first, it wound up creating a beautiful effect at the end of the movie when Romeo is walking into the church to see Juliet for one last time. Some choices seemed a bit random, though. The abundance of Hawaiian shirts that no one kept buttoned? The random children’s choir that was at Romeo and Juliet’s supposedly secret wedding? The literal helicopter chase that somehow doesn’t result in Romeo’s death? The purpose of these choices beyond the mere aesthetic is unclear. The aesthetic mostly worked and was insanely fun for me, but I can see points where it might be overwhelming for a lot of viewers. The only place where a stylistic choice objectively, unquestionably flopped was the freeze-frame introductions for each character. It was dated and corny and felt like something from a Lifetime movie.

The movie’s soundtrack was also really interesting. There were several songs that were on the softer, sweeter side and orchestral pieces, but there were also a lot of 90s pop songs. It was a mix that shouldn’t have worked, but it did. The music was well-placed, and even if the list looks jarring, it was mixed in such a way that it wasn’t actually too off-putting. It never overwhelmed the scene, which is hard to pull off when you’re putting music from the Butthole Surfers right next to Wagner. Also, I have to applaud the use of Radiohead for the end credits. This is partially because the song is really good, and also partially because I really like Radiohead. 

Final Thoughts

With nearly every actor giving it their all, some truly beautiful shots, and one of the best scripts of all time this movie is something to behold. It’s also deeply off-putting if you’re not prepared for 90s-era characters spouting Shakespeare and a bit of style overload. It’s fun and emotional, but also a bit of a rollercoaster. 

Rating: 11/10 for me personally, but 8/10 for an actual, semi-objective score. 

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

DELAIN: Chillin’ As Doomsday Approaches

In the band’s press release, you state that Apocalypse & Chill will surprise your listeners. What are some of these surprises you have in store for them?

We always write our music pretty organically, so we set out with every album to make it bigger, better, and louder. But it’s not like we’re going to completely change. We just go with whatever inspiration brings us. However, on this album there are some new elements. We’ve got a real choir, we’ve got Timo screaming, and we have full instrumental tracks, which we’ve never done before. There are definitely some parts where we really explored what we could do differently. And then what I mainly think will surprise our listeners is, especially in the first half of the record, the sound is very electronic, without going away from sounding like Delain. They’re all very much from a pop and electronic side of the spectrum. And I think that some of our fans who like us for our previous material, they will kind of be scratching their heads during the first half. But towards the second half of the album, it picks up on the orchestral elements again and becomes more symphonic. There’s plenty of new things on the record, but I definitely think that our fans will be able to appreciate what we’ve done.

How did these electronic influences creep in? Was there something specific you were listening to or interested in that made you want to incorporate it into your music?

I don’t know. I think that within the writing team, Martijn comes up with really 80s synth parts and I often come up with kind of like 90s dance parts. Those two mix well in our music. But it’s not like we said, “We’re going to incorporate this.” When we meet up to write, we all take some ideas with us, like a verse or a chorus or a theme or whatever. We sit down and listen to it and see what we want to work on all together. That’s how those ideas work themselves into the music.

With these ideas, themes, and lyrical inspirations, was there anything going on in your life or the world in general that catapulted these ideas into the songs?

Yeah, I think so. One thing that’s relevant for the way that we’d written this album is the fact that we’ve recorded it very fragmented. Martijn is a producer who really spearheaded this idea of “let’s do everything in several blocks of just a couple of songs” instead of in one go. Because first of all, we didn’t have enough time to have one big block for writing and recording and mixing the entire album because we’ve been touring like crazy. So, this gave us a lot of flexibility, but also the chance to go back on the songs now. All these ideas come from different places as well. But I must say that over the last few years, definitely a lot of it has been inspired by the concerns about the world today. If you open up a newspaper, if you turn on the TV, you see the world quite literally being on fire. And then if you open your socials, you’ll see everyone living their most perfect lives. There is this great contrast between the two where you wonder how can these actually exist at the same time and is this even the same world? And I think that contrast is also visible in the songs on our album.

The visual of the album cover and the promo photos have a 1950s cinematic movie star theme. Is that the concept or theme behind it?

It was really that contrast between the impending doom that you sense when you look at the news these days and then at the same time the complete projections that is very much the majority of things you see on socials. That was very interesting. Since it is so much about zeitgeist, Netflix and chill, it’s a very 2019 thing. So, we felt like the play on words was really fitting for this album. And then when I was playing with the idea of that title…it’s not like I think of a song first and then the title and then the artwork. Usually when you think of a title, there is an image in your head. Or when you think of the music, you see something, like you can imagine it. And for this title right away, I could imagine someone lounging while the world is on fire. I actually put this image together in Photoshop, but I am not a very practiced designer. We really liked that image. We’ve been also looking for images that were more towards the kind of covers that we usually have, like the more art nouveau/romantic/goth imagery, but it just didn’t fit the theme and the title as well as this one. What we eventually did to give it that identity and authenticity that my mockup was lacking, is we gave it to this collage artist. She works really analog. She cuts up images and papers and she reworked the image into what is now the cover and also continued that for the promo photos in the inside. Inside of the booklet you’ll find all of us wearing sunglasses and having different natural disasters reflected in our sunglasses. We put that topic throughout the entire artwork. Not that a lot of people get to see CD booklets these days, but for those who do buy the physical thing, we always try to give it something extra.

How did getting Beast in Black’s Yannis Papadopoulos to sing on “One Second” come about? Did you specifically write his part or realized after the fact that he’d be a good fit?

We realized afterwards that it would be a good fit. We really like working with guest musicians. It’s always a very nice surprise to see what other people, other creatives come up with when they listen to your music. Yannis, we’ve been in touch with him for a while. We met him in Greece. I remember during an after party at a show he taught me a bunch of Greek curse words! We had a few songs where we thought we could really use a guest here, we could really imagine his voice there. Then we were at a festival this summer and they played there as well, and that’s I think when the deal was struck. We gave him a choice. We had three songs where he could imagine it. We always try to give our guests an amount of freedom, so they can really make it their own.

The video for “Burning Bridges” has such cool visuals and beautiful scenery. Where was that shot, and how did the concept and the characters come about?

It was filmed in Snowdonia, which is a gorgeous part of Wales. We filmed it with the company Video Inc., which is a company that we’ve actually worked with for four different videos in one year. In 2019, we did four videos with them, including “Ghost House Heart.” The idea behind “Burning Bridges” for me lyrically was really that the protagonist of the song keeps leaving his surroundings in order to get away from the negative energy there—the negative energies are following him. The real question is, are those negative energies actually coming from your surroundings or are you the one bringing them? And then leaving and burning your bridges behind you will solve absolutely nothing. That was the idea that we wanted to work with for the video as well. What I really like about Video Inc. and how they work is we’ve had in the past where we pitched a song to other video companies and they came up with all these ideas that didn’t fit the song at all. And then we thought, “Oh, we have to give him some more input.” So, any images or ideas that we have with the themes, we send them over, but sometimes then people just say, “Okay, we’ll do that.” And what I really like about Video Inc. is they take the idea and then they go over it. They’re the video makers, that’s their expertise, and they give their own twist to it. “Burning Bridges” is definitely one of the most dramatic ones of the four videos, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

You’re the frontwoman and the main focal point of the band, but the album closer “Combustion” is a cool instrumental that gives the rest of the band a chance to shine. Was this a song specifically created as an instrumental or music that you had trouble finding words for it?

It wasn’t meant to be a song with lyrics ever. Actually, this song was written by Timo and I’m sure that Joey also had a say in it because his drumming parts are very prominent. They actually started performing this song as a showpiece Joey had at his graduation at music school, and they performed it there. We really loved that song and that performance. Another thing is when we write songs for Delain, we really like pop structured songs. None of us in the band are ego trippers, none of us try to show off what we can do. We just do what the song needs, but on this track, they really get to shine. And I think that it’s really cool to give them that moment to shine because we have some really fantastic musicians in the band and they play very functional parts in the regular songs. So, I think that this is a great opportunity for them to show what they’ve got. Also, this is an egocentric reasoning, but for me, a lot of the songs have become much harder to sing. I really appreciate the two minutes of taking a breath during the shows! I think that on the album Apocalypse & Chill, that song for me, represents the explosion, the combustion, the apocalypse itself, if you will. I think it’s got a very symbolic function on this record.

What’s the music scene like in the Netherlands? You’re a very well known international touring band, but what was your humble beginning like?

Delain is a little bit of an odd example in that case because Martijn had rolled out of Within Temptation, who were at their breakthrough, and he had so many well known guests on this album that he wrote and that took a long time. There was a lot of work that went into that, and he had a whole big business plan that he used to get to the labels as well. But we got into that label straightaway for the first record because of all that hard work that Martijn had already put into it and the planning he did and the whole set up of the project. But, if I look at the scene that I was in before I got involved with that, the Dutch metal scene is a very small scene. Everyone knows each other, everyone is in everybody’s bands. I was I think in four bands at that moment. I was in a band, a guitarist in that band was doing a project, and I was in that project and then Martijn did arrangements for that project. And that’s where he heard me. So, he asked me for his project. I know that’s a very confusing sentence, but that may be a good representation of the Dutch music scene. It’s very interesting because a lot of metal comes from the Netherlands and actually a lot of symphonic metal comes from the Netherlands. But you would never tell if you looked at the Dutch mainstream music media. I don’t know, maybe it’s because it’s not exotic enough for us, or maybe it’s because it’s too exotic. The Dutch popular music is basically just dance and hip-hop. And I have nothing against dance and hip-hop, but sometimes it’s weird to me. I do these Dutch guest things and there will be people from multiple genres, and I will always be the one with the most followers on Instagram and Facebook. And they will be like, “But we don’t know you!” And that’s very typical for Holland, I think. Music that is very well known internationally is not really well known in the Netherlands itself. On the other hand, it also has its benefits because I bet that even if Delain would have a massive hit in the genre that I could still go grocery shopping without people recognizing me!

Delain has been around for 18 years and you have this new album out and upcoming gigs for the next few years. What are you looking forward to the most in the near future?

We have already reached so many things that we wanted to reach with Delain. It’s been really amazing. It’s been an absolute roller coaster. Martijn and I do most of the work behind the scenes, and we’re a really tight team and we both have started talking about how we might want to start doing some things outside of Delain every now and then. I think our biggest goal for now is to really find a balance and do anything in order to keep making beautiful music together. Because if I look at what we’ve done in the past, if I look at the album that we made now, I’m just really, really proud. It is really a product of our team. The sum is more than its parts, so to speak. I just really hope that we can keep doing that and make a lot more beautiful music and hope that people keep enjoying it. Delain has been around for 18 years and you have this new album out and upcoming gigs for the next few years. What are you looking forward to the most in the near future? We have already reached so many things that we wanted to reach with Delain. It’s been really amazing. It’s been an absolute roller coaster. Martijn and I do most of the work behind the scenes, and we’re a really tight team and we both have started talking about how we might want to start doing some things outside of Delain every now and then. I think our biggest goal for now is to really find a balance and do anything in order to keep making beautiful music together. Because if I look at what we’ve done in the past, if I look at the album that we made now, I’m just really, really proud. It is really a product of our team. The sum is more than its parts, so to speak. I just really hope that we can keep doing that and make a lot more beautiful music and hope that people keep enjoying it.

[miseryff]

19. Sit Down

Paris

My weekend spent in Houston,TX was nothing short of litty! Besides the no having sex due to my period, I spent a wonderful three days with Derrick. Now I was back in Long Island and I can not say that I missed the towns that much. It was minutes to noon on Sunday and the only thing on my mind was getting some sleep because I had to go back to work tomorrow. 

Damn, this adulting shit had no pause button.

“Where’s your lil boyfriend at, London Paris?” I rolled my eyes at my dad, and only sipped on my bottled water as we awaited Derrick’s arrival. My dad orchestrated the whole gathering with my mother. The plan was to have Derrick and I have a Sunday brunch so that they could get more acquainted with him. I honestly do not know why they want to be familiar with Derrick so badly. I mean its not like he would be coming around them that often anyways. I was still in the hot seat for flying to Houston against my parent’s wishes though, so I had to play nice and agree to this sit down.

“Chris, leave her alone.” That was my mom coming to my rescue, for once. I side eyed her just as the door bell rang. She must have got some dick last night because she’s been extra kind to me since I pulled up to the crib earlier this morning.  I motioned to get the door but my big ass, dinosaur ass pops was already sprinting down the hall. I fake chuckled before looking over at my mom. She was already staring at me, being all weird. “Ma, you gucci?”

“What do you mean, baby?”

“I mean you being fake nice for some reason. Dad dropped some dick off last--”

“Paris, stop. I am not one of your lil ho friends. Don’t talk to me like that.” I could not hold in my laughter as I looked into her guilty eyes. She was trying so hard to keep her face neutral but shawty was blushing OD. “Ewww, yall need to get back together already--”

“The man of the hour is here!” My sentence was cut short by my father’s extra boisterous voice. I looked over into the doorway and there stood Derrick, looking even more sexy than he did a couple hours ago when he dropped me off at home. He went to his aunt’s house to fake nap and freshen up, since he had about two hours before he needed to be back at my house. This man looked like an advertisement for raw sex and I wanted him. Damn, I wonder I could suck him--

“Paris, hello? You not gonn introduce ya man to my fine ass baby moms? Fine, I’ll do it myself. Lil rude ass.” I blinked a few times before leveling my eyes from the front of Derrick’s grey dress pants, and meeting my father’s eyes. I heard Derrick chuckle as he and my father walked more into the kitchen. “Clean ya mind, ma” Derrick mumbled as he brushed past me lightly.

I could hear Derrick and my mom getting acquainted, so I used this time to pull my dad to the side to set some shit straight. “Yo...”

“Who you yo-ing, lil girl? Run that shit back.” I made the stank face as I watched him undo the wrapper from a yellow Starburst. But I’m the lil girl? “What, Paris? Speak up.”

“Can you not embarrass me today in front of my nigga? You do that a lot and I’m not with it the shits. I don’t even wanna be here for this bullshit mixer brunch, so--”

“When do I ever embarrass you, Paris? You do that job perfectly well  by yourself’ like when you lied about entering a rehab program for the weekend, only to have ya smart ass daddy pop up on ya baecation.” He showed me the yellow Starburst in his mouth before pulling me into a hug when I turned to walk away. “Dadddd...”

“Hush up and hug me back. I ain’t gonn embarrass you, aight?. I can tell you like this kid and he aight so far, so ima be on my best behavior.” Those words placed a tiny smile on my lips so I wrapped him back tightly, snickering when he started whining. “Old ass nigga! I heard a couple bones crack.”

“Fuck outta here, bum!” He pushed me away from him a little too roughly and I caught my balance before punching him in the chest. “Yeaa, talk yo shit now gramps.” I went to punch his bird chest again but my mom saved his slow, tired ass.

“Can yall beasts stop playing in my kitchen? Lets sit and eat before the food gets cold. Waiting on Derrick’s turtle ass all morning and shit.” The loudest laugh left my lips and I walked over to Derrick who was wearing the ‘I ate ass’ face. “Ma, don’t shade my baby. Do you see how he looks? His fine ass had--”

“Yuck.” That was my hating ass pops. “Cmon man, lemme save you from this thirst bucket I call a daughter.” He rudely pushed me out the way and dropped his arm over Derrick’s shoulder as they walked out the kitchen. My jaw hit the floor  once I heard the two roar in laughter. It was then my mom’s laughing that forced me to tear my eyes from the two. “Ya dad has a  man crush Mondaaayy” she sang as she walked around my frozen body. 

“His gay ass!”

XX

Brunch went... well?

We actually ate and there was no shit that popped off. My dad was on his best behavior, as promised, minus the corny attempts to make Derrick laugh. I never thought I would agree with my mom’s opinion ever but she was right, Dad had a MCM... and it was my nigga.

“I fake wish Cae and Carter was here. I gave them money for the mall because I thought it would be a shit show.” I joked as I watched my mom gather up the plates from the table. I would get up and help her but that’s what my lazy ass pops was for. “Really? I was wondering why they was dressed and speeding out the door. They bout to spend off ya money in that mall.” My mom chucked lightly as she continued to stack the plates.

“Dad, go help mom bring the dishes to the kitchen and leave my nigga alone. He can not and will not hook you up on the Js dropping next week. Fuck outta here.”

“Paris, shut ya ass up. Now like I was saying--”

“Chris, I need help for real. Fuck dem shoes.” Derrick and I shared a laugh as we watched my mom staredown my pops. “Really, Alana? You think that glaring shit still work on me?”

No more words came from my moms mouth. The room would have been silent but Derrick and I were being goofy as shit and laughing like a bunch of school girls. Maybe another minute of my mom staring down my pops passed, before we heard his chair scrape against the wooden floors. “Simp ass nigga” I coughed loudly. “Damn, some shit was stuck in my throat.”

Can yall believe my grown ass pops sent me the middle finger? “And one for you too, Derrick. To think I had an ally in this bitch. That’s when they smile in my face...” He sand off key as he followed my mom out of the dining room. More laughter filled the living room and I had to wipe underneath my eye with my tank top because my dad was really a dickhead. Wow.

“Ya pops funny as shit.” Derrick chuckled some more, and then made a face when I pulled him out his seat by his arm. “Where we--”

“Shut up, and hurry up.” I whispered as I ushered him out of the dining room and down the hallway. I could hear my parents conversing in the kitchen and loud laughter as I started up the staircase. “Where we going, Paris?”

“To my room, Derrick. Now shut up.” The slap that was sent to my ass did nothing but make me more wet than I already was. Do yall know how hard it was to sit across from this sexy ass nigga and not be able to feel his dick down my throat? Shiiiidddd.

Once we entered my bedroom I turned the lock and pushed him up against the door. “I’m bout to suck fire out ya dick, just in case you was about to ask me what I’m doing.” I winked at him before dropping to my knees and working on his dress pants. His dick print was pressed up against his pants and I knew his dick wanted nothing more than to find refuge in my mouth.

He said nothing, only took a grip of my jet black hair and guided my head to his already hard dick. Opening my mouth slowly, I deep throat his shit in one try, and felt a feeling of accomplishment once I heard his low grunts. 

Oh yea, he’s mine.

Derrick

Paris is crazy.

I don’t remember the last time I did this high school shit; where a shawty snuck me up to her bedroom to get the work. Then again, she just left high school last year so it made sense. My bottom lip sunk into my mouth as I watched her get busy on my dick. I can’t lie, Paris gave the best head I have ever had in my life. Its like she was a pro at this shit and she was tryna suck the brown off my dick. I loved it.

“You like how my dick taste?” I spoke lowly as I tightened my grip on her straight black hair. Paris as a blondie was fire, no debate, But Paris with the jet black hair? Lets just say my dick was never on soft around her. She got it. “I love how your shit tastes. This my shit.” That was another thing I loved about Paris. The raw, NYC lingo. She spoke like a crip nigga but looked like a Hampton socialite. That was a fire ass mix.

Before I knew it both of my hands were are the back on her head and I was face fucking the shit out of her. And best believe mama kept up. No hands, on some Waka Flocka shit. “Yea, this yo shit.” Pulling her back by her hair, I watched as my dick slid out her mouth. “Open up,” a smile touched my lips as I watched her follow my every direction. It did something to me watching her welcome my spit into her mouth. After she licked her lips, she took my dick back into her mouth and finished me off. Pulling her up to stand, I pressed my lips to hers before switching places.

She was now laying with her chest against the door and I quickly pulled her black leggings down her legs. “Im still on my period, babe.”

“I know...” I mumbled as I searched for the condom in my wallet, As soon as I was wrapped up, I hiked her leg up and slid into her wetness with ease. “Fuckk,” we cursed at the same time. 

“You better fuck the shit out of me. And make me cum.”

Oh yea, she mine.

[handsofdarkness]

WITHIN TEMPTATION’S SHARON DEN ADEL: IF I LEFT, THE BAND WOULD BE FINISHED

For more than two decades, Within Temptation have remained at the top of the symphonic metal movement. The Netherlands outfit are not only one of the genre's most influential groups, but one of its biggest innovators as well. This notion couldn't be more apparent on their new album, Resist, which takes bold new steps embracing modern sounds like urban beats and more simplistic rhythms.

This time, they enlisted collaborators in Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix and In Flames' Anders Fridén on "The Reckoning" and "Raise Your Banner" respectively. It seems there's been an uptick in collaborations not just in metal, but across music entirely as streaming services continue to dominate listening trends. This can help serve as a gateway for fans to hear artists maybe they previously hadn't, extending an artist's reach as fans become increasingly eager to bounce between genres.

As for the new elements at work, it seemed to be a do-or-die situation for the band. Frontwoman Sharon den Adelacknowledged that inspiration for new Within Temptation music was low, putting the band's future in jeopardy, but her side project, the poppy My Indigo, helped to offer some clarity and direction.

Speaking about all of this and more is Sharon den Adel, in this exclusive interview.

It seems like streaming has started to really break down barriers in music, at least for fans, and the elitist factions are slowly dissipating, though they'll always be there in some sense. There's been a lot of style mixing in heavy music, something present on Resist as well. What's your take?

The thing is that bands who actually do this are not really in the metal scene at the moment but more in rock. They're arguing if the bands are pop, like Imagine Dragons or Twenty One Pilots who are combining all kinds of styles without hesitation.

That's also something that is inspirational for us — who cares about genres? You want to make a beautiful song and of course, when you are in charge you do your best, but you're not being afraid of combining styles together with the style we have been making for many years.

Resist embraces a more straightforward, heavy-hitting approach. Have you found the art of simplicity with this album?

In a way. In the past we normally covered every song with big orchestration, but at this moment we realized we just want to use it in a minimalistic way, only where it is necessary and where it is essential for the song.

Also with my vocals, there is more space for me to go different ways. It's a breath of fresh air to do it this way and it really helps us to find a new fire and enjoy everything again.

Some would say this album is more pop-friendly/modern, though any heavier band writing catchy music with some beats get that tag thrown at them today.

For us personally we have always been a band that wants to write catchy songs in a way. I think Resist has a new sound for us. We like it so much because it sounds so refreshing. What helped us was sounds from reggae, hip-hop and other kinds of music — you get different kinds of rhythms. Even some songs in this album are groovy, which I have always liked playing but we were never able to [properly] do it. Somehow we did find a way to integrate that into our songs to make this more cool more metal / rock [hybrid] because it is more American sounding in a way.

I mentioned Jacoby Shaddix before and Papa Roach are a band who experienced a collapse of sorts after the CD fallout, but have come back and they understand the streaming era and how to use it to their benefit. They seem to be one of the leaders in rock on how to approach the new music industry. What have you learned from Papa Roach?

We have always followed the band and they have been around since we have. They played the same European festival as us too. It was based on music that we asked him and I have always liked his voice. "Getting Away With Murder" is a song that was huge in Europe and we have always liked it because it has an attitude with it. Their previous album [Crooked Teeth] made me fall in love again with Papa Roach. They had one song, in particular, that was one of the biggest singles that they had and I loved it.

We met them at Graspop, a really big festival in Belgium, we were located backstage together and I bumped into him. We just started talking about art because he does a lot of street art and graphic stuff — I like graphic [design] stuff as well and it was a really nice conversation. It is really nice to have someone like him backstage to give a little color and energy.

After, I told the band that if we ever write a song that will fit his voice we should ask him to sing. When we recorded the song, we were a week away from shooting the video and we called his management asking if he would consider it. I thought it would be really cool to have a guy singing along just giving extra energy and attitude to it that I can't do with my voice.

I've read that your solo project, My Indigo, revitalized your spirit regarding Within Temptation. Was there any one moment where you went from doubt with your involvement with the band and then realized that you absolutely had to do another album?

I wasn't able to write new music because I didn't know which direction the band should go. I had no inspiration; I didn't know what to write and then I lost my passion for it. I was really tired of everything -- all the touring -- for more than 20 years of being my whole adult life I've been in this band.

I didn't know how to come back again and My Indigo actually helped me do that. I needed to write about other stuff than I was normally writing about. When that was out of the way and I had done my thing, eventually, slowly, it came back again and I felt I really wanted to make something with more attitude — more strong and epic.

Were you considering leaving Within Temptation and would they have had to find a new singer or would the band have been done completely?

I think Within Temptation would have been done completely. All the band members have a lot of side projects that they do for fun, but the strength of the band has always been that we've been a group for a long time. I think if one throws in the towel, the rest might stop as well. They supported me throughout the whole process — we are a very tight group. I think everybody is replaceable but it's more like, do you want to be? Do you want someone to be replaced and can you still find the passion together again?

[sinceileftyoublog]

Guided By Voices Interview: A Conversation with Doug Gillard

Robert Pollard (left) and Doug Gillard (right); Guided By Voices perform “I Am A Tree” at SPACE in Evanston

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Journeyman Doug Gillard has been in Guided By Voices for 10 years, over 2 stints, for 12 official LP’s and other releases that no casual fan could keep track of. So, apart from Robert Pollard himself, I could think of no better person to analyze the creative process behind their recent crop of records, including two so far this year, Zeppelin Over China and EP compilation Warp and Woof, and a third coming, Sweating the Plague. More than ever, GBV seems to be a democracy, and not just because each member has gotten his turn at writing a few songs. From my conversation with Gillard over the phone last month from his home in Queens, I got the sense that as long as Pollard doesn’t have a clear idea for the song, he not only welcomes but relies on the others to help him complete it, even if he was the original writer. As for Gillard, he provides the backbone of the songs, something you don’t really notice but would if his contributions weren’t there, especially the horns and strings that supply dramatic flair or emotional weight. At any given live show, he’s the heart and soul of the band, whether doing backup vocals on the set mainstay that he wrote “I Am A Tree” or dishing Pete Townshend-esque riffs on the band’s Who worship.

Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity, wherein Gillard also talks about his favorite new GBV songs, upcoming band-related news, and other projects he’s recently worked on or is working on.

Since I Left You: You’ve said Zeppelin Over China is unlike anything the band has done before. What makes it unique within the GBV discography?

Doug Gillard: I think it’s just a little warmer and has a little more orchestration and is probably the most diverse record.

SILY: A song like “The Hearing Department” is certainly hazier than your average propulsive GBV track.

DG: Yeah, Bob wanted sort of a rumba beat for that in his notes. Sometimes he has notes. Some songs he doesn’t. When we do the music, a lot of times, we just have freedom to take a song somewhere we’re feeling at the time of recording. Other times, he has sort of a vision. It’s a mixed bag, which is great. We like doing both. On that one, given that beat and the chords, it sort of reminded me of an early Fleetwood Mac song--Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac.

SILY: On “Cobbler Ditches”, does he reference “Motor Away”?

DG: I think so, yeah.

SILY: You guys have so many songs, but having listened to a lot of them, I’ve never really picked that out before, where he’s referenced a previous song by title. It had to happen one of these days.

DG: I think it’s happened in the past, but I can’t be sure. There’s been a lot of records.

SILY: On this one, you did a lot of string and horn arrangements. That’s most notable on the singles and the ones you were playing before the album was out: “The Rally Boys” and “You Own the Night”. Where else did you add them in?

DG: They’re all over the record--“Vertiginous Rafts”, the last song on the record. Really, there are little parts of strings and horns on a lot of the songs on here. Sometimes, the strings are in the version of a Mellotron, but mostly, they’re not. Sometimes, they’re really subtle, too, added just to add a little bit of atmosphere.

SILY: Who plays them?

DG: I play them. I have an orchestra program, a MIDI program administered through a keyboard. There’s piano on there--key-related things.

SILY: I’ve seen how you adapted the first two live. Is it the same approach with the others? Are you even playing them?

DG: We will be playing more songs from the record. But when we play stuff live, we just kind of rock it out. I’m not concerned whether parts on the record aren’t in the song live. I really like seeing bands that play songs on the record different from how the record sounds.

SILY: Bob has said in past concerts that you’re the most instrumentally capable version of GBV ever even though the fans want the mistakes. But you achieve the balance between the record and live well. You still retain that rawness.

DG: Yeah, I think that’s true. Sometimes, I’ll try to play some of the string lines live on guitar if there’s room. I was doing that with “See My Field”. But it’s only because I hear them. I don’t have to play them. It wasn’t a request--just something I thought I would do.

SILY: Were the last songs you wrote for GBV the ones from “August By Cake” [Ed note: “Goodbye Note” and “Deflect/Project”]?

DG: No, there have been some B-sides to singles that band members have written that have come out. They haven’t been digitized, necessarily. They were vinyl-only and sold out quickly. One was called “Red Nose Speedway”...What was the other one called? I wrote one with Mark Shue. Kevin March wrote one that ended up on the B-side of a single and so did Bobby Bare.

SILY: You don’t play them live, do you?

DG: No, that’s correct.

SILY: Have you done the string and horn arrangements on other GBV albums before?

DG: Yeah. All the stuff that’s come out so far I have done a little bit, but on August By Cake really not much at all...some keyboards, maybe a string line here or there. How Do You Spell Heaven, a little bit. [Engineer] Travis [Harrison] did some string lines on August By Cake. And I did some arrangements on an ESP Ohio record which came out before August By Cake, which was Travis, myself, Mark Shue, and Bob.

SILY: Now that you’re back in the band, as of 2016, is “I Am A Tree” going to be in the set list for as long as you’re in the band?

DG: [laughs] I’m not sure. I would say probably so, but you can never be sure. There are a lot of songs in the can that Bob likes to rotate in and out of the set list. 

SILY: How does he or the band decide upon the set list on a night by night basis?

DG: Bob will have a master list that he re-sequences for every show. We’ll have a basic list for every tour, give or take some. Sometimes, he’ll get a whim or an epiphany and put something in mid-tour, which is always fine. But the sequence is different every night.

SILY: Do you have a favorite song on Zeppelin Over China or Warp and Woof?

DG: Wow...there are a lot of songs to choose from on both of those, and they’re all so damn good. Zeppelin Over China, I really don’t know what a favorite would be. Let’s see...looking at the list here...I really like “Where Have You Been All My Life” or maybe “Wrong Turn On” or “Jam Warsong”. There’s a ton, though. They all kind of have different purposes, different sounds. Warp and Woof, there are a lot of great little songs on there. I say little because they’re shorter. About two minutes or so. I think one of my favorites is “Angelic Weirdness”.

SILY: The two that are called out in terms of your contributions are the first and the final track, especially in terms of unique recording process. Didn’t you record “Bury the Mouse” in the van?

DG: Yeah, except for the drums. The drums were done first. We already had those, and we finished it on tour in the van. 

SILY: And “End it With Light” was at a soundcheck?

DG: Yeah, I did guitars at the soundcheck on that one. “Cool Jewels and Aprons” is another favorite from Warp and Woof. Oh, I forgot, the last song on 100 Dougs is mine. The instrumental. If you don’t have that actual EP, I can’t remember what sequence it’s in on Warp and Woof, but it’s called “It Will Never Be Simple”.

SILY: The third record you’re putting out this year is no longer called “Rise of the Ants,” right?

DG: That’s correct. It’s going to be called Sweating the Plague.

SILY: Are you able to talk a little about that one, whether your specific contributions, songwriting, and arrangements, or the feel for it in general?

DG: To me, there are similarities to Zeppelin Over China. There’s a little more hard rock on it, a little more of a 70′s rock feel to the songs, some “guitarmonies.” But there are some really nice ballads. It has the four ps that Bob talks about. [Ed note: pop, punk, prog, and psych] Lots of punk on it.

SILY: It’s been described as a little proggy.

DG: For sure. There are a couple prog songs.

SILY: Are there any more records on the horizon for you guys?

DG: There are some reissues this year because of album anniversaries. 

SILY: Bee Thousand?!?

DG: No. There’s always an anniversary of some album. Later this year, it’s the 20th anniversary of the release of Kid Marine, Robert Pollard solo, and of Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department, which is a record I did with Bob. It was released under the name Robert Pollard and Doug Gillard, but it was the 4th one in the Fading Captain series of his records coming out around then. That has “Pop Zeus” on it and some other songs. That’s been remastered and it should be reissued in August. There may be a Cash Rivers collection coming out. I’m not sure about when that will be released.

SILY: You’re going to Europe for the first time in decades. Are you excited to play Primavera and the UK?

DG: Very much so, yeah.

SILY: When was the last time you were there with GBV?

DG: 2003, I’d say. We did a European tour and UK tour there.

SILY: Was that for Earthquake Glue?

DG: I believe so. It was either Universal Truths or Earthquake Glue. I think it was Earthquake Glue. I’ve been there a lot since with Nada Surf. I’m really excited to play there with Guided By Voices.

SILY: You contributed to the most recent Neko Case record. How did that experience come about?

DG: Neko had always liked my playing. When she was assembling songs for this record, she gave me a call, I went down to Tuscon, and I played a lot of tracks. I learned the songs. It was great.

SILY: I never realized that you were on The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive, too. I was looking at your credits and was like, “Woah, all these albums I’ve loved over the years!”

DG: Oh, yeah. I was friends with those guys at the time they were making that. I think I had just moved to New York, and they invited me to their session. Tad [Kubler] had me play the recurring riff on “Sequestered in Memphis”. That sort of Stones-y riff. That’s the only song I’m on, I think, but that was fun. They’re really good guys.

SILY: Any plans to come back to Chicago soon?

DG: I’m sure we will. We’re always around Chicago at least a couple times a year. Nothing that I know of just yet, but I’m positive something will happen in that area.

SILY: Anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading that’s caught your attention?

DG: I listen to a lot of podcasts. Mark Riley from the BBC does a Bowie podcast, The A to Z of David Bowie. I’ve been listening to a lot of that. I’ve been checking out stuff here and there.

SILY: I don’t have anything else to ask you--is there anything I didn’t ask about you want to say?

DG: Let’s see...not sure. I’m producing a band called The Bye Bye Blackbirds. They’re a guitar pop band from the Bay Area. They’ve definitely been around for a while. They have ex-members of Game Theory, The Mr. T Experience. My friend Bradley [Skaught] is the songwriter of the band. He writes some good songs.

SILY: Anything else not GBV in your realm coming up?

DG: Not really too much. GBV’s been planning a busy year with recording and shows and tours coming up, so I’ve been kind of leaving things open for that. It will be busy playing shows for sure. Really nothing else right now.

SILY: Thanks again for your time, I really appreciate it. Congrats on the releases, and looking forward to hearing the next one!

DG: For sure!

[happymetalgirl]

Within Temptation - Resist

Okay, wow. I didnt think was going to be getting another pop-infused metal album so soon after Bring Me the Horizon's amo, a premise I must again clarify that I have nothing against. I enjoyed a lot of the passionate performances on amo even amid the sugary sweet trendy pop elements and basic formats, because they were well-tempered and written and performed with tangible passion at heart. But Resist on the other hand... Wow, this album is such a confused and largely ineffective mess!

The band had stated before the delayed release of the album that it was something they wanted to try blending some pop elements of their sound with without losing the visceral bombast of their symphonic glory, and it seems like they kind of tried to do that, but moreso kept their original sound from overpowering the pop elements being introduced. Consequently, the band's symphonic edge both takes a bit of a back seat and actually ends up highlighting the worst aspects of the album's pop-ification by simply adding another layer of cheesy, gaudy obnoxiousness to the already over-produced (and very poorly produced at that) slathering of knock-off-ish electropop elements.

The viable energy Bring Me the Horizon brought to the bold move that amo was was at least enough to conjure a few highlights and make even the many lesser moments at least bearable for the band's clear zeal and focused intent. But Within Temptation sound utterly desperate for some kind of reason for what they're doing, like they're still plagued by the writer's block that prolonged the creation of this thing. They sound so unsure of what they're doing and unsure of what feelings to even chase that they sound like they're just apathetically probing for answers, almost the entire time. The trendy pasting of modern electro pop rock wallpapering over the simplistic songs on here honestly had me feeling like I was sitting through an Imagine Dragons album at times.

The one diamond in the ruft in all this cacophonous, annoying drivel is the song, "Mad World", which I was worried was going to be a disastrous rendition of the Tears for Fears song. Thankfully that's not what it was, and thankfully it brings five minutes of confidence and booming invigoration to an album drowning in uncertainty, lethargy, and tastlessly applied pop production. It has all the things that show up in spades that ruin the rest of the songs on the album, but with "Mad World" the band actually arranges everything nicely into a triumphant, mid-paced, electro-hard-rocker, that they unfortunately couldn't replicate the lightning in a bottle of.

I'd really rather not go into every song on here lest I end up redundantly criticising the mediocrity and lack of vision or energy of each piece that so solidly characterizes the album. But I feel like I should at least point out the most exemplary moments on here that showcase my points. "Endless War" is one particular song where the band's ordinarily emphatic symphonic grandness is turned into a mere background element that only gives the song a cheesily try-hard cinematic feel, nearly sounding like those corny arena pop rock "woahs" I hate so goddamn much. The more heavily electro-tinged "Supernova" is another one of the songs whose basic-ass pop structuring and generic pop production makes its excessive length a real chore to sit through. Oh but the song "Holy Ground" especially had me feeling like I was listening to an Imagine Dragons song, but with Halsey at the mic, with Sharon den Adel's slightly hip hop-esque vocal delivery in the verses. The annoying, repetitive melodies though are what sink the song like a lead cannonball. The verses and choruses of "In Vain" are top 40 as shit too, and only in the sense that they share the same predictability and bland mix of sonic elements that reveal what little the song has to offer within a minute, making the remaining three-and-a-half nothing more than redundant wait time for the next track. But then that next song is "Firelight", which features this absolutely aggravating repeated vocal sample doing this "woah-oo woah-oo" all throughout the song, which already has no energy at all to overcome it.

There were a few very brief flourishes of the glory that got Within Temptation as far as they are now. The symphonic pop rock power ballad "Mercy Mirror" at least feels a little bit emotive and the song "Trophy Hunter" ends the album on a pretty solid note reminiscent of the orchestrally epic and towering Within Temptation of old. But the fleeting moments of emotive glory the band are able to gasp out are so greatly obscured by the clutzy overproduction with the most default glitzy pop elements that clog up the bulk of the album, with five of the ten songs being utterly, unbearably inept, and only a couple of songs near the end tipping the scales in the other direction, though amounting to too little too late by the album's finish. The style really isn't the problem, as the few moments of clarity showed, but the band's poor handling of the new pop flavors they tried out didn't do nearly enough of what it should have, and overall, the vast majority of these songs do nothing for me.

Clear the roadblock, don't try to go around it/10

[eurosong]

Undo my ESC - Semi-final 1

Hey there, folks – with this year having so many ESC national finals with results that I personally found lamentable, I thought I’d do a little write-up, Undo my ESC, where I take this year’s entrants and make a feasible change, anything as small as tinkering with a few minor touches or as big as another person winning the national final completely.  Obviously, just my opinion and a light-hearted review, but I hope the people that always unfollow this page because they disagree with something I say on the few occasions I go into personal opinions stop reading here. Let’s take a look, first, at Semi-Final 1. Azerbaijan: she’s a jazz and soul singer. Get her singing a song in one of these styles that is comfortable to her! If the Azeris really think they wouldn’t have a chance with these genres, then they haven’t been paying attention to the last few winners of the contest. Even if she didn’t emulate them, she’d surely get to the final with their qualification rate, and would have more of a chance of standing out than with this generic “bop” (my most hated overused word of this season.) Iceland: Iceland this year may have sent the song with the most excruciatingly hackneyed lyrics in several years. Take a Hallmark card poem, drown it in treacle and you have an idea of how syrupy and twee the song is, almost as if they were some pretty bad satirists trying to write an over-the-top “humankind is one” pastiche song. I didn’t really pay much heed to Söngvakkepnin this year – finding their offerings a tame lot compared to recent years, like the excellent showdown between Svala and Daði Freyr last year – so I don’t have a horse to back, but since Í stormi was winning the contest televote before the superfinal, in this alternate timeline, I will have it win instead. Albania: This song is as close to perfection almost as you can get to me. Some people don’t like the revamped version, but – after what feels like an entire era of bad revamping – I like it and think it makes the song melodically tighter. I guess my change would be that Eugent would get the visa needed to attend the pre-parties, as he really needs all the exposure he can get to get out of this semi-final of death. Belgium: A really nice effort from Belgium, with Flanders stepping it up a gear to match the Walloons’ quality over the past years. Not sure how to change it, except to perhaps incorporate some Dutch in there? The separation of broadcasters made sense when Wallonia was sending songs in French and Flanders in Vlaams, not so much now when they’re both sending English songs. It’d be nice to hear the first bit of Dutch from Belgium since 1996 in, for example, one of the reprises of the choruses. Czechia: The Czechs surprised a lot of onlookers by joining the wave away from internal selections and towards national finals, but there was only ever going to be one winner here, Mikolas Jozef, whose song soared above an otherwise weak crowd melodically – but not lyrically! Even his new “family friendly” version for the ESC feels sleazy, misogynistic, and raises a bunch of questions that I definitely wouldn’t want to have to explain to my students. My change would be that he take the opportunity of writing a new set of lyrics to write something to go much better with the admittedly catchy score. Lithuania: This is gorgeous on every level and is soaring up my personal chart. Ieva’s vocals, powerful in their delicacy, are really moving and add to the poignancy of the lyrics. I originally found the English version sorely lacking compared to Kai myliu, but they have a certain understated simplicity and naïveté that I find lovely. She’s letting the words speak for themselves and I love that. My one change? Make it bilingual and add some Lithuanian to the mix, something she did in the final but is unclear whether she’ll replicate on the big stage.

Israël: Netta was rightfully the breakout star of the Israëli preselection, and having seen interviews of her, she seems genuinely lovely. I wouldn’t change her as the representative picked, but I wóúld go for a different song. Listening to or watching “Toy”, for me, feels like sensory overstimulation, like entering a room with a blur of a thousand noises and flashing lights. It feels too try-hard for me, like they want to be the memetic entry of the year, which some people will vote for just because of the chicken memes rather than the musical value of the piece. I also think that trying to posture it as a #!MeToo anthem is the biggest reach since Brisa Fenoy’s acclamation of Lo Malo. Belarus: As much as I’ve come to ironically appreciate the song and Alekseev’s bizarre accentuation, Farevvahh doesn’t hold a candle to Chmarki for me, which would have been a second unusual and unique pick for Belarus. Estonia: Eesti Laul was a bit of a dud for me this year, unlike the previous year where I loved Spirit Animal and Slingshot liked almost every song in the final -except for the eventual winner (my luck in a nutshell, there.) My pick would have been the sweeping and otherworldly Külm, which would have brought about an overdue return to the exceedingly musical Estonian language at Eurovision. If we have to keep Elina, give her a song (rather than a vocal exhibition) in Estonian, a language whose vocalic richness is perfectly suited for operatics. Bulgaria: The thing letting this darkly atmospheric piece down the most is the female vocalist, Žana Bergendorff, who doesn’t add much to the five-piece combo and has done very little except for gawp distractingly at the crowd in live performances. Bulgaria’s broadcasters teased much bigger names… I would have had them follow through on them. Macedonia: I’ve really grown to like this song from Macedonia, though on first listen – and those first impressions are crucial for folk who haven’t been listening to the songs for months in advance – it seemed a bit messy rather than the musical odyssey I currently consider it to be. It’s a risk, but I’d leave the composition as it is – except for inserting some of the supposed Macedonian we might have got. Croatia: Go back in time and tell Franka not to make a version of Sam Brown’s “Stop” with trap beats? Austria: Another composition that I can barely find fault with and really like. I love the light and shade of this – the dark and despairing verses offset by the build of the bridge and the upbeat, gospel-twinged verses. Only a special voice could pull that off, but Cesár’s husky and soulful timbre is perfect for both. The only part of the song where my attention flags is between the 2nd and 3rd choruses, where I think a fully-fledged third verse would be more interesting. Greece:  Actually have a national final. Don’t eliminate all but one song in the shadiest way possible. And have the winner be Don’t forget the sun/ Μην ξεχνασ τον ηλιο, which I feel brought a truly Greek atmosphere and combined English and Greek effortlessly, avoiding the clunkiness that bilingual songs often have. Finland: I would rather have had a proper UMK with more than one candidate, rather than what we got, 3 songs from Saara Aalto, which doesn’t represent that much choice. If that were impossible – as it seemed YLE was dead set on that path – then I’d probably have gone with Domino instead. Monsters is, musically, a more interesting piece and doesn’t have the atrocious rhyming of “falling, oh” with “domino” (troolee jeenyus riming), but her performance of Domino was considerably less shaky, and I find the chorus a bit gratingly shrill. Armenia: I love that Armenia are sending a song in their beautiful native language, and Qami is a grower with mystical and poetic lyrics. But I can’t lie – I much preferred If you don’t walk me home and would have it win Depi Evratesil instead. Switzerland: I’m going to be honest: in the last few years, I haven’t expected much out of Switzerland except for “non-qualifier” fodder, having brought us only 3 songs I like (Cool vibes, Unbreakable and especially the verbosely charming Hunter of Stars. Come back, Sebalter!) … since their last victory in 1988! I don’t mind Stones, even if I think it’s pop that’s rolled around in the mud a bit to present itself as grungey. However, there was something truly beautiful and stirring in the selection, Chiara Dubey’s “Secrets and Lies”, which seemed elegantly pared back despite also having something of an orchestral flourish. And her voice, as smooth as velvet, crowning the composition. Unfortunately, it had no chance… but I would make it my personal winner of the Swiss selection. Ireland: Ireland’s song this year is not daring or likely to make a splash, but quite lovely, with beautiful harmonies. I find the representative this year to be very unctuous and shifty though, especially his fake news about his video – whence I imagine most of the hype comes from, representing his song about a boy and girl breaking up with a romantic interpretive dance between two fellas falling in love, naturally – that he propagated against Russia.  Cyprus: Just no on every level to the current package, one of my absolute least favourites this year. I’d have a national selection with some Greek language songs. Whilst I begrudge how ERT handled their “national final” fiasco, at least they made a few steps in the right direction. This is the equivalent of flying half way around the world in the wrong direction. And the direct finalists voting in this semi-final:  Portugal: Whilst I have grown to find Isaura’s meditative song about the loss of her gran quite an extraordinary and emotive listen, I found this year’s Festival da canção of great quality and diversity and would have preferred Beatriz’ Eu te amo, Diogo Piçarra’s Canção do fim, or even better, Janeiro’s “(sem título)” as the host nation’s entry. Spain: This is one of my huge favourites this year, so I can pick little fault with it at all, though I think I prefer their pre-revamp version, which was a little more subtle in its lack of additional adornments. United Kingdom: The only thing I was happy about when it came to the result of You Decide, (which should be renamed You decide 50%, a jury decides the rest and we never tell you who réálly was decisive!) was that this prevented the more hideous hymn of unwarranted self-aggrandisement that was “Legends” from getting the ticket. But the eventual winning song, and especially the revamp, which sounds like the producers got bored and let their six year old kid go wild on a Casio, is such a wet weekend for me, especially when it was up against a soaring voice and poignant set of lyrics in Jaz Ellington’s “You”. 

So, that’s my summary of what I consider to be by far the stronger semi-final of this year’s Eurovision, and where only a few of my changes needed to be drastic. Join me soon to go through SF2, as I navigate a nearly wall-to-wall litany of horrors and share how I would like to try to right them!

[inappropriatefangirlneeds]

Gotham s4ep20 “That Old Corpse”  Personal Review

For Jim Gordon the law is not a steel boned corset  but more of a fragile lingerie corsage..

Warning spoilers below 

“I would sooner debate you all on TELEOLOGY versus DEONTOLOGY than leave her with that overgrown Boy Scout.”  * Oh eff you EDWARD NYGMA and people like you, those two concepts aren´t that hard to grasp if you explain the terms, don´t feel more intelligent cause you got in touch with terminology other people didn´t, they have no use for those words but they sure do understand what they are about you might get a compelling discussion, you know when you are faced with the necessity to break rules and law to make a living instead of doing it just to flaunt your ego, might be an interesting perspective Ed, consider this  (Overgrown boy scout though :D) This really is one of the episodes themes though. With Jim Gordon we´ve already walked all kinds of paths of the question of the lawful vs. the right thing but now we got some more steps here. 

LESLIE THOMPKINS & JIM  GORDON get a whole straight forward conversation about the whole issue: “Who doesn't want to be Robin Hood? But you're still breaking the law.” “Jim, you wish you could do what I'm doing. Helping people without the straitjacket of the law as if the law means anything in Gotham.” “If the law has lost its meaning, it's because people like you are turning your back on it.” “I am fighting back. I don't deny anything I've done. You want to send me to Blackgate? Go ahead.” “I don't want to send you to Blackgate! That's the last thing I want to do. Don't you know I wish I could let you walk out that door, turn my head?” “What's holding you back? Maybe if you let me go, you'd let yourself go, too.”  Oddly Leslie seems to have forgotten that Jim Gordon does bend the law for the right cause.Why though he was present during the Galavan thing. Jim is not exactly completely restricted by it. “Come to the Narrows.” “What?” “Where you can make a real difference in this city. You can make up your own rules about how to do it.” For Jim Gordon the law is not a corset with steel bones but more a fragile lingerie corsage. It´s nice to look at and you can flaunt your body in it if you please but it´s not restricting you. He is already quite on board with the whole doing bad / criminal thing for the sake of the good cause. Jim already made up his own rules. Just look at him torturing suspects in this episode. It´s not like he hasn´t already “let himself go”. The only real thing that´s holing him back is appearance. He wasn´t happy about Oswald´s public licence system he wanted the old more concealed mafia cooperation back. Only HARVEY BULLOCK voices the issue. They have long crossed that line. “People get away with a lot worse in Gotham every day.” “Doesn't make it right.”  “We got away with worse. Both of us.” > Oddly recently we have had Harvey Bullock be on the “hold up the rules” train, he arrested Oswald although he helped them, he called Jim out on falling for Lee´s “she is doing good” argument. This time they have switched platforms. This time it´s Harvey being ready to let Leslie get away with her crime because of her motivations and because there is worse people. Jim instead is the one to insist that not only the “good intention” matter. Less oddly this is the kind of philosophy Jim usually shows with other people. We get more and more expressions of doubt about himself but he still goes on with acting based on the other kind, the one that supports him bending rules and law. Which certainly must be less easy to suppress now that Bullock is directly addressing this.  (I´m on the other hand suspecting that with Bullock that is less a matter of philosophy than one of personal feelings. He never liked Oswald, not even before he killed Fish Mooney. I´m pretty sure this animosity was even more leading him to arrest Oswald than it was his righteousness.)

Then there is the matter of PERSPECTIVE. All the question of doing a good thing or causing a good thing doesn’t matter much if there´s different points of views on what´s “good”. When Harvey Bullock and JIM GORDON torture the guy in the trunk of their car Jim reminds Harvey of their audience. “Harvey, Harvey. Reporters, buddy.” The good cause of foiling crime outweighs the unethical deed of torture for the both of them but that´s only their judgement the reporters might see that differently. Likewise BRUCE WAYNE´s intentions of bringing JEREMIAH to Jerome´s grave were good but the outcome was detrimental to Jeremiahs situation. “I thought it would help. I was wrong, but we need to leave.” JEREMIAH VALESKA and BRUCE WAYNE is the other pair where this question is discussed most directly: “Jerome wanted to slather you in honey and have you eaten alive by corpse beetles. Now, that's mad.  Me, if I want to kill you, I'll just do it. I'll shoot you in the head. Simply and sanely. See, I don't want to kill you, because I want to show you how much I've changed things. How much we've changed things. 'Cause I could not have done any of this without your help.”  Just like with leading Jeremiah to the dug up Jerome Bruce´s intentions with the project that turned out to be bombs instead of cheap environmentally friendly energy were good. However this doesn´t matter when the outcome is death and destruction. Or does it?  He´s contributed to it! He has made it possible. What weighs more heavily the thing you wanted to do or the thing you did?  It´s also tied straight back to him feeling responsible for what Jerome did after he let him live!  And on the other side it connects  the whole issue back to JIM GORDON. He doesn´t let Jerome live. He shoots him to stop him from pressing destruction buttons. He´s trying to safe his live as well when he is about to fall from the roof but with shooting him he already risked his death.  Apart form this quite obvious bomb point I do think that there´s something to be said about JEROME & JEREMIAH here as well. Jeremiah says he would just kill Bruce without further ado, claiming he is all about the outcome, while Jerome would have delved in the deed itself. With Jerome there is much more focus on his intentions and motivation. On the other hand you could also read this as the both of them being on the same page. In pointing this out Jeremiah also flaunts his own intention, which is differentiating himself from his brother. It´s not about killing it´s also about making a point that he kills differently than Jerome?  LESLIE THOMPKINS & EDWARD NYGMA “Were you awake the whole time?” “Maybe.” “Smartest man in Gotham, huh?” “Don't just wrap me around your finger, Lee.” “Come on. Let's run.”  I´m still kind of expecting that they turn on each other, Leslie inviting Jim to the Narrows is potentially as suspicious as Edwards “not gonna happen” line last week (about the both of them joining and loving Lee), maybe I´m paranoid but I don´t like their relationship very much plot wise but they are still super cute together, how can they even have that much chemistry? How?! However both seem to have a common ground in “darkness”.  Leslie accepts hers for the sake of the good cause. Her crimes are motivated by the outcome, one that´s helping others. She doesn´t see herself as a bad person for doing crime because the cause justifies them. On the other hand Edward doesn´t care about this, he would rob a bank or kidnap nuns as long as he can make a name of himself and flaunt his ego. He delves into this darkness instead of focusing on what it can be harnessed for. He recognizes the darkness in Lee but also sees that she isn´t in the same place as he is but he seems to think she will get there, while Leslie sees his as well and his ability and thinks she can influence him to get on her path .. Edit: more 

JEREMIAH and JEROME VALESKA and THEIR PAST MAYBE? * Who are those Jerome followers? I mean I would say either you are the kind of person that likes some chaos and to trash a place while partying or you are the kind of person that can partake in an event that takes quite a level of organization but then again young people organize illegal parties and whole festivals in the woods maybe that´s not so out of the ordinary, maybe you can get a whole mix but oh well, in general I wonder about all those mobs and groups that show up, where are they when they disband? Do they wear sweatpants if they aren´t out to make trouble? *“And trust me, you're gonna want to pay attention so the TWIST makes sense at the end.” I was getting really excited when the Jerome video popped up and Jim was mid fight with Ecco, like oh what are they gonna do with this plot? Have I judged too early? But then it was Jeremiah who orchestrated the whole thing. He was not unaffected by the gas. Him telling Bruce that he sees Jerome everywhere was probably a lie, or not, who knows? Maybe seeing him everywhere sparked his change and his obsession to outdo him? But anyway That is not a twist, I guess you could claim the twist is there not being a twist which in some way is a twist but with the absent of an actual twist this doesn’t really count as a twist it´s just a suggestion of something that isn’t there that´s not the actual thing. In other words I´m disappointed.   * And it does not change anything about the fact that having someone in that prominent role that dedicated his life to something else before and who just took this path because of some gas is cheap. And I still don´t like that notion that, (assuming Jerome was right about Jeremiah) the choices a person makes don´t matter.  * But I´m gonna try to find something interesting in this. > I´m wondering if we are meant to believe that Jeremiah already started working on that energy system having in mind that this could be used as a bomb? Even before the whole Jerome thing went down? Were it his natural impulses or his subconscious that made him gravitate towards such an ambivalent project? I´d rather believe not, I want to believe his intentions were the same as the intentions of Bruce, but then again this could feed some characterization > “Like everything Jerome set his mind to, his insanity gas failed. Other than some mild cosmetic effects, he might as well have sprayed me with water. You all need to see Jerome for the utter dud that he was, so I donned the mask of madness to show you how feeble that is compared to actual greatness. Behold, the face of true sanity.”  So given his words we could read this as sibling rivalry, Jeremiah wants to come out of this on top. He´s better than his brother. He´s not only better he´s also different. Where does his all come from?   Is he really seeing Jerome everywhere and wanting to spite him? He took some time learning about Jerome´s “obsessions and goals” and came to the conclusion that: “I will outdo every one of them”.  I don´t think that mixes well with Jerome and his talk about legacy, also I´d like to have some more background where this could be base on..  > Another thing is this repeated “Progress requires sacrifice” notion that Jeremiah shows, he also says “To truly build something, you must tear down what’s already there.”  I haven´t had the impression that this is a philosophy he would support? He was more about protection and building in a constructive way, granted this was self protection but still. He expected Jerome to confront him, he feared for his life and he hid and built a defensive structure instead of going out of his way to find Jerome first and get rid of him. Which he should have done if he believes in the notion that for him/something to flourish obstacles need to be eradicated. On the other hand it was implied that Jeremiah planned to maybe kill Jerome. Which would make the defensive structure more of a trap in order to destroy him. Maybe it was both and this is meant to show Jeremiah´s struggle/split between the tendencies Jerome sees in him and the choice Jeremiah made to not act upon them?! Just this still feels a bit out of nowhere, I´d really like to have had some hints, maybe connected to his architectural work that this is a philosophy he cherishes.. > Then again maybe I´m asking for something that was in fact there. Maybe him throwing young Jerome under the wheels was his version of “progress requires sacrifice”. By making his family believe he was in danger he could leave them, which opened up opportunities far from circus life for him, he could go to school and have success ..  * I loved all the details they had this week: >The mazes on Jermiah´s walls > Jerome´s diary outside and inside > The diy flyer that called the crowd to Jerome´s grave  > That one umbrella (see below) one of the Jerome followers had * JEREMIAH´s hiding spot among the dead. This was such a good choice because you can´t escape how much it resembles his home underground, how in turn his safety maze is resembling a grave, he´s hiding dead to the world, and now Jerome obviously got into it through the gas * The shot with Alfred going through the door and the fight scene we only get a glimpse at  * I loved how Jim Gordon was a proper detective again for a moment, the tactical retreat to trap Jerome´s followers was a nice moment, as well as him basing this strategy on Jerome´s tactics of distractions .. well he couldn´t know that this was all on Jeremiah..    only Oswald figured that out! (“I don't expect you to betray the memory of that old corpse. I want you to betray whomever it is you are currently following.”) * I loved that there was a lot of openness and communication (even if sometimes not sincerely) Jim is quick to tell Alfred about the problem, JEREMIAH talks about the gas, he directly calls out BRUCE on the lie and he promptly apologizes and changes his strategy * Likewise although less kind the interactions between BUTCH GLIZEAN and OSWALD COBBLEPOT were rather open.   “There's nothing petty about my aggression.” “So, am I to starve until I guess the source of your resentment?” “You said, if I joined you …… “ //  “Shh! Did you just shush me?”  Just like Jeremiah Oswald addressed a problem inbetween them directly and the openly talked about it. * “What I want to know with a minimum of fuss,” Oh Oswald, I feel you, everything is exhausting * It´s a shame that we don´t know more about ECCO. With a show that´s supposedly about Gotham before Batman and the villains he hunts they are way too quick to push characters into those roles. I want to see them being someone different and then slowly change and develop but there are like Oh by the way here have Harley doing Harley things (assuming Ecco is meant to be her)  Edit: more * “Confusion is always an opportunity for the clear headed.” * “You, go where Jim Gordon goes. He comes under some harm, assist him. I do not need Lee blaming me if he's killed under friendly fire while I go about my business.” * “And even though I know it's not real, it feels real.” * “Dead when he came in. More dead when he was eviscerated and his brain was sliced up.” Oh Lucius  * “Which is exactly why I will not have you bumbling into the GCPD en masse.”  Bumbling! * That poor „We’re saved!” guy was funny .. * Harvey running that guys head into the metal bar was mean but takin more beer out of the coffin a funny moment again, also Harper!! * „Yes, that's right. Now you can tell me why you sound so concerned.” I don´t even know why but his tone in this makes me ship Jim and ALFRED even more. 

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Three Minutes to Eternity: My ESC 250 (#120-111)

#120: Iveta Mukuchyan -- Lovewave (Armenia 2016)

“Without even a single warning I’m not who I was before A chain reaction with no returning Now watch me craving for more”

Lovewave is definitely experimental in more ways than one—not only in how the song builds up with the jet take off, but also with the mix of Armenian elements and artpop. A contemplation on the ecstasy of love and how much it opens up a person, the lyrics bring out the sensation too, in an unorthodox structure including a spoken word beginning and a lack of a proper chorus.

And then we have that staging—if we're judging these only on presentation, this is one of the, if not the, best ones ever. A mix of fire, camera angles (which actually makes it more enjoyable for the audience at home, as it adds to the sensation which the live audience wouldn't otherwise get) and holograms bring up the intensity with Iveta at the center—she owns the stage as an absolute showstopper.

Personal ranking: 3rd/42 Actual ranking: 7th/26 GF in Stockholm

#119: Gina G -- Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit (United Kingdom 1996)

“Like a child, but it's more than a phase Could act the angel, but it wouldn't be true”

When the eighth-place song does better commercially than the winner of its year, then things have gotten really wrong in Eurovision. By the 1996 contest, most of the songs were low-energy, with some New Age and/or Celtic influences in between. While it doesn't mean it was bad, it did mean it didn't configure well with the pop charts.

And Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit was that song; it stormed through the charts and got nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. While it's an ordinary dance track, it still induces a jolt of energy and it's just so bubbly and fun. The harp and strings, while very slight, add some nice touches to the song too. Sure, Gina misses a few notes here and there, but I was too busy dancing to notice it, as well as staring at that pretty dress (which was supposed to be for Cher, but it was scrapped!)

However, those vocals also cost the UK a bit, as they placed 3rd in the pre-qualifying round, but dropped to eighth on the night. Considering the state of Eurovision during the time, this might be the song that triggered the televote.

Personal ranking: 4th/23 Actual ranking: 8th/23 in Oslo

#118: Şebnem Paker - Beşinci Mevsim (Turkey 1996)

"Kapandı son kapım, vuruldum bilmeden, Sakın o sen misin giden, Soyundu dallarım, delindi gökyüzü, Kaçıncı sonbahar bugün,”

“My last door has closed, I have been hit without knowing, Are you leaving me My branches are naked, my sky is darker Which autumn is today?”

The opening lines, along with the violin solo, set the stage for this gloomy, melancholic song from Sebnem Paker (the first of two, actually!) I like the autumnal feeling of this, as if one could walk across a boulevard on an overcast day, thinking about what has gone wrong in a relationship. The accordion especially helps here; I keep thinking of a street scene in Paris here. I also like humming this on my spare time; it could work out as an "on hold" tone for the telephone. It's actually quite relaxing.

An interesting thing is despite getting a better result ten years earlier, Beşinci Mevsim scored more points for Turkey in the 100% jury era, with 59 points. And Sebnem would go on to improve on that the following year. While I do look highly on that one like others (and it will eventually come soon) I’d like to think of her first entry as an underrated masterpiece.

Personal ranking: 3rd/23 Actual ranking: 12th/23 in Oslo

#117: Danijela Martinovic -- Neka mi ne Svane (Croatia 1998)

“Neka mi ne svane Nek’ me nema, nek’ me ne bude Neka me bez tebe ne probude”

“May the dawn never rise May I disappear, may I cease to exist May I not wake up without you”

One eccentricity about 1998 is that it begins and ends on a similar note--they can't stop the dawn! Ne zori, zoro (#163) does so through a dim, melancholic note by going through the struggles of a man on the edge, whereas Neka mi ne svane does so through a dainty, yet no less sad, melody about loss.

The way Daniejla sings this line is a highlight with the song, as she vocalizes each syllable with her sweet voice. She mourns for a lost love, desiring for him to come back and refusing to live on. I also love the orchestration; it adds to the magical feel and creates a sense of grandeur. And with a single swipe of hand, one of the most effective gimmicks in Eurovision history as she removes her dark cloak to reveal a white gown.

Apparently, to some commenters, this is the best Balkan Ballad ever. While I find it really beautiful, considering none of Zejlko Joksimovic's compositions are on this list yet, it's doesn't hold much of a candle for what is too come.

Personal ranking: 3rd/25 Actual ranking: 5th/25 in Birmingham

Final Impressions on Croatia: A comment on all their entries describes Croatia at Eurovision as the "reverse of character development"; in the 1990s, they were quite strong, with a number of entries that could've won in their year. They had a good streak in the 2000s, though their last top-ten was in 2001, before basically torpedoing in the 2010s. It's quite sad to see a potential powerhouse withering like that.

But weren't those really good entries, really good? And if it weren't for the Slovak jury giving those points in Kvalificacija za Millstreet...

#116: Pierre Rapsat -- Judy et cie (Belgium 1976)

"Sous ton rimmel et tes bijoux Tu pries Sainte Marilyn Monroe D’être une poupée, un beau joujou Tout feu, tout flamme Enfin la femme”

“Under your mascara and jewelry, You pray to saint Marilyn Monroe To become a doll, a beautiful toy. All fire, all flames, A woman at last...”

Have you ever been one of those kids who was rejected from everything in school and had no friends? Reading the lyrics to “Judy et cie” reminds me of that, as everyone else was so cool with their friends and status, and Judy just wants to feel accepted . With my spin, it feels like it get dark at the end, because Judy becomes so desperate to get attention, she turns to either selling herself to others or doing drugs.

Combined with Pierre’s composition, it just works so well. Not unlike with Somewhere in Europe (#126), it feels like a Billy Joel song with its instrumentation and depth. Relistening to the orchestration, it really works in conveying the overall feeling. We feel that loneliness and hope for better things for Judy, though we know that won’t ever come to light for her.

Personal ranking: 1st/18 Actual ranking: 8th/18 in Den Haag

Final Impressions on 1976: 1976 feels like a filler year, and at the same time, it's quite good song-wise. The production feels a bit bland; we don't have anything interesting, though the changing stage was definitely a neat innovation. The songs are solid; the top two are among the highest-scoring songs by percentage, but there's a mix of boppy and dark. More of the sullen songs makes my top 250.

#115: Anna Maria Jopek -- Ale Jestem (Poland 1997)

“Trzeba żyć naprawdę, żeby oszukać czas, Trzeba żyć najpiękniej, żyje się tylko raz, Trzeba żyć w zachwycie: marzyć, kochać i śnić, Trzeba czas oszukać, żeby naprawdę żyć,”

“You must truly live, to fool the time, You must beautifully live, you live only once You must live in admiration: love, imagine and dream You must fool the time, to save true life”

Around 100 entries ago, I told you about Sama, one of Poland's most eccentric entries. And now we have another Polish entry here, though this is the end of their journey.

Watching Ale Jestem's live performance, one first is immersed into the orchestration, with the variant colors springs to life on the Point Theatre stage. The following three minutes remains folkloric but a bit delicate, the pre-chorus (shown in the lyrics) build up to quite the crescendos as it feels like dancing through a meadow of flowers. Anna Maria keeps up with the sweet vocals, and she has a bit of a mischievous gaze towards the audience!

Both poetic and strong, Ale Jestem relishes in one’s existence, while imploring us we have to make the most of what we’ve got. The instrumentation makes this the ultimate spring song; the strings add a wall of sound that pulls you in (if it's a bit "messy", it's because it's in 12/8 time, though it gets easy to adjust!). It inspires joy and life, and it’s just all kinds of beautiful.

Personal ranking: 7th/25 Actual ranking: 11th/25 in Dublin

#114: Evridiki -- Teriazoume (Cyprus 1992)

“Σου δίνω τα χείλη μου, και μέσα στην ύλη μου Με κάθε κύτταρο μου σε τυλίγω”

“I give you my lips, and into my existence With every cell of mine I wrap you”

Terry Wogan famously warned the audience that Evridiki's performance will "smolder your television set". While it may not have made your TV (or these days, laptop or phone) melt until it functions with a melted screen, Teriazoume is so sensual!

It definitely lit a spark in the dull 1992 field, which didn’t exactly translate to points, though it has won my heart. From the way Evridiki moves to the way the microphone stand shakes, you’re on a wire as she tries to seduce you. (I've actually spent quite a bit of time trying to learn the handography in the bridge) The strings also add to that feeling with their sudden starts and stops--at one point, the audience clapped before the song was over!

George Theopanous (the songwriter as well as the conductor) does a good job in using imagery in the lyrics to accompany the melody, and the result is akin to a strip tease with beautiful silk clothes and lacy underwear. And in my opinion, this has more sex appeal in two seconds than Fuego has in three minutes. You can't change my mind.

Personal ranking: 3rd/23 Actual ranking: 11th/23 in Malmo

#113: Monica Aspelund -- Lapponia (Finland 1977)

“Tuo neito noita on, hän luo voimalla kohtalon Hän vailla on seuraa ja lohduttamaton Ja siksi loihtii hän noituen, hän luo voimalla loitsujen Hän tavalla Seidan näin miehen kutsua saa”

“That girl is a witch, she creates with the power of destiny She’s without company and consolation And that’s why she conjures witching, she creates with the power of spells In the way of Seita she can beckon a man”

Apparently, Monica disowned the Finnish lyrics of Lapponia because they mentioned witches, which is a pity because it tells a fantastic story! (And in other linguistic fun, the song was meant to be performed in Swedish, but the language rule prevented Monica from doing so. It would take another thirteen years for a Finnish entry to be performed in Swedish. In addition, there was a Dutch version only used for a commercial)

The instrumental is bright and enjoyable despite the cold land of Lapponia, and Monica’s vocals sings clearly and with joy. The clapping is enough to get one up and going, and it nullifies the repetitiveness of the "nananas". And of course, her high note at the bridge absolutely nailed it!

Along with a solid result, Lapponia got Finland’s first top score (and only one until 2006--see #140 for that), but it certainly deserved more. (Why did It's Nice to Be in Love Again have to complete the top three?)

Personal ranking: 3rd/18 Actual ranking: 10th/18 in London

#112: Anna Vissi -- Everything (Greece 2006)

“I can hear my heart breaking as I open the door I can feel the tears on my face burn like fire...”

I've honestly wavered between this and another Greek personal runner-up for this one. Both of them are fantastic, but neither would've challenged my winners of their respective years. After watching both of their performances, I turned to my gut, and this lost out.

The contrast between Anna’s questioning of the relationship and desire to get back together plays well into the lyrics, even though they don’t necessarily stand out. That doesn’t compare with the music and Anna’s performance on the night, which was an intense experience. Compared to Mono i agapi (#239) twenty-four years earlier, Anna is a but rougher on the edges, but still gives her all on the stage.

Everything about her makes her look like a rock-star; the Jean-Paul Gaultier ensemble goes down as one of my all-time favorite performance outfits, and the crowd singing along is a highlight of the 2006 contest. The climax featured an awesome knee-drop at the end, and you could see how much vocal control she had. That’s how you do a minimally-staged performance!

Personal ranking: 2nd/37 Actual ranking: 9th/24 GF in Athens

#111: Boaz Maauda -- The Fire in Your Eyes (Israel 2008)

“נפשי מייחלת לתפילת הלב החם”

“My soul is longing for the warm heart's prayer”

Also known as the other good Israeli Eurovision entry from the 2000s, The Fire in Your Eyes stands out as one of the more serious, yet beautiful songs from the class of 2008, which goes up and down in terms of quality.

Who would've thought that Dana International could write such a song? It’s so beautiful, with good use of Eastern elements to add a sense of mysticism and melancholy to it. I also like the clear vocal lines from Boaz (albeit with a crack at the end); his talent show pedigree really shows here. And the staging was quite pretty, though the backing vocalists' dancing does feel a bit jarring compared to the minimalistic lighting.

Ultimately, the lyrics stand out the most to me. They're really sweet and calm, with a serenity in the longing. I like the added touches of Yemenite Hebrew in the introduction, which adds more substance to the song.

Personal ranking: 5th/43 Actual ranking: 9th/25 GF in Belgrade