#Kim seltzer

[camyfilms]

NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS 2020

Don't you ever just wish you were a dude?

[rabbitechoes]

there was no shortage of excellent records this month. a couple that i'm sure will end up on my year-end list for sure. there were also a couple of real stinkers ... but the less said about those the better! but uhhhh still read my thoughts on them!! to check out my thoughts on some of the songs that dropped this month click here!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

Bright Future - Adrianne Lenker

🥇 BEST ALBUM OF THE MONTH

◇ genres: contemporary folk, singer-songwriter

Adrianne Lenker has been one of the most prolific singer-songwriters for the better half of the last decade or so, but over the last 4 years especially it feels like she’s reached another level. Her 2020 solo record songs and the following Big Thief record Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You are two of the finest folk releases in recent memory. The latter being a big, double album made me a bit worried at first for whatever Lenker would do next, but after hearing the singles leading up to this album those worries went away. This quickly became one of my most anticipated albums of the year and I think that anticipation paid off wholeheartedly. Bright Future is such a brilliant album.

The opener, “Real House,” is an amazing and sparse piano-driven cut. The subtle arrangement puts the main focus on Lenker’s lyricism and it ranks up there as one of her most poignant pieces to date. The track is addressed to her mother and it has her recounting old childhood memories in a really beautiful way. “Sadness As a Gift” follows that and it picks things up musically. More layered instrumentation with Lenker’s 12-string guitar, a piano, and a violin, it all sounds so rich. I’ve absolutely adored this track ever since it dropped. Here she meditates on the end of a relationship with so much subtle complexity. I guess it’s a breakup song, but it feels above that. There’s no anger or vitriol, just that lingering bittersweet feeling. “Fool” is another change of pace as it’s a bit more jaunty. I enjoyed this song when I first heard it, but my love for it grew when I heard it on the record. It conjures up so many warm feelings musically, even though the lyrics tell a story of conflicted feelings. “No Machine” slows things down again and it’s another one of Lenker’s best. I’ve talked about the arrangements on the album a few times already, but I can’t stress enough how amazing these songs sound. Beyond the great lyricism, every song feels so warm, intimate, and spontaneous. Like they caught lightning in a bottle in the studio.

“Free Treasure” was the most recent single leading up to the album’s release and it’s great. It’s one of those songs that makes you want to go outside and appreciate the beauty of what’s around you. Perfect Spring song. “Vampire Empire” has become an infamous track in the Lenker/Big Thief canon. Big Thief released the studio version of the song a few months ago and fans were outraged as it differed from the early live version that became a fan favorite. Little did they know that the best version of the song was still to come. The version here accentuates how remarkable the song is. There’s a shakiness to Lenker’s vocals, but there’s also so much fire and conviction to it. The instrumentation matches that perfectly. “Evol” has some sort of clunky moments to it and the “words spelled backward” thing is a little corny, but the sentiment and the performances on the song make it more enjoyable. The ending chorus of the song gives me chills, I love how the violin and the piano fade out alongside Lenker’s final lines. “Already Lost” has that campfire feel that’s present throughout a lot of her work. There’s this air of sophistication to it, but also this “hey, come join us, you can shake the tambourine or something” kind of vibe to it. Many of the songs here feel so inviting, while also feeling so personal to Lenker. It strikes an interesting balance. “Donut Seam” features prominent guest vocals and it captures the feeling of knowing a relationship is almost over beautifully. The lyric “Don’t it seem like a good time for swimming, before all the water disappears?” has been stuck in my mind ever since the album’s release. The record ends with the first single, “Ruined,” which has Lenker leaning into an ambient direction and it’s so heart-wrenching but also gorgeous.   Bright Future feels like a victory lap in a lot of ways. Not exactly musically or lyrically, the album is quite mellow a lot of the time, but just with how fantastic this album is. Lenker isn’t slowing down or “falling off” anytime soon. The lyricism here is so layered, but also inviting. You can enjoy these songs on a less-focused listen, but these songs reward you for paying attention. They’re so fruitful. This album has firmly solidified Adrianne Lenker as one of the greatest songwriters of our generation.

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i won't let go of your hand - Adrianne Lenker

◇ genres: contemporary folk, singer-songwriter

A few weeks prior to Bright Future, Adrianne Lenker released this EP in order to raise funds for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. The songs here are very spontaneous, but filled with so much beauty. The instrumentation is a lot less fleshed out as on Bright Future, but it offers a more lo-fi experience. Her writing shines regardless. It's definitely worth a listen both for the quality of the music as well as for the cause. You can buy the EP here on Adrianne Lenker's Bandcamp! 100% of the proceeds to go the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund! Free Palestine 🇵🇸 !!!!!

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The Collective - Kim Gordon

◇ genres: industrial hip hop, noise rock, experimental rock

Oh man, I was so excited for this record, and my excitement paid off big time. Noise rock pioneer and alternative rock icon Kim Gordon has been dropping some insane singles over the last few months. These singles have seen Gordon explore sounds like experimental hip hop, rage, trap, and witch house among others. I’m not super familiar with witch house, but I need to be after this record. Anyway, the shocking part is that Gordon is genuinely doing cool things with these sounds. Blending in her signature, nonchalant vocals while also adding in the noise rock and even the occasional no-wave touch. It’s crazy how well it works. I wrote about the first two singles, “BYE BYE” and “I’m a Man,” in my previous Month in Review posts, but they still blow me away even after multiple listens. The former has one of the craziest beats I’ve heard in the genre in a while and the latter reaffirms Kim Gordon’s cool factor all these years later. The lyrical content of these songs felt like a cathartic stream of consciousness, but Gordon’s vocals never oversell them. I was a little worried that the rest of The Collective wouldn’t be as good as those two singles, but those worries quickly went away when I heard the rest of the album

“BYE BYE” is the opener and it sets up the album so well, but my attention was quickly drawn to the track following it, “The Candy House.” The beat is reminiscent of a Memphis rap track and Gordon’s vocals sound like they’re inviting you somewhere sinister. “I Don’t Miss My Mind” has this almost overwhelming bass to it that is so off-putting. It’s like evil club music. “Trophies” has some of my favorite guitar parts from Gordon on the record. It sounds so washed-out and electric in the coolest way possible. The third single released for the album, “Psychedelic Orgasm,” is a song only Gordon could pull off. No one but her could sing the lyrics “passing all the kids, Tik Toking around” and make it work. The most abrasive track here is “The Believers” as it veers pretty heavily into industrial rock, while also including some elements of alternative club that you might’ve heard on a SOPHIE project. This album is a lot to take in, but multiple listens have made me fall in love with it further and further.

It’s refreshing to hear an icon in experimental music continue to push boundaries this deep into her career. Doubly so given how a lot of their contemporaries and/or the bands Gordon and Sonic Youth helped inspire sound like they are forever stuck in purgatory on their new releases. Needless to say, I’m loving this new record a lot.

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A Lonely Sinner - samlrc

◇ genres: post-rock, shoegaze, ambient

I wasn’t aware of samlrc until a few weeks ago when I saw this album getting hyped up on Twitter. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay much mind to it and sort of forgot about it. However, in true annoying online music guy fashion, A Lonely Sinner really grabbed my attention when it reached number one on the RYM Top Albums of 2024 chart. I listened to it soon after and I’m so glad I did. A Lonely Sinner is a great record with an interesting and moving concept. She describes the record on her Bandcamp as “an album about a sheep experiencing love in its nature.” The album follows those themes both lyrically and sonically. It sounds carefully pieced together, using anything and everything to make something emotionally resonant. She corroborates this much also on her Bandcamp by listing some of the unorthodox items used to craft this album’s sound including “boxes, soda cans, [and] a violin bow.” I love lo-fi albums like this with big ideas that are fully realized in creative ways. If there was a bigger budget, sure things might sound sleeker and more polished, but the charm an album can gain through that lower fidelity outweighs that by a lot.

The album’s sound is predominantly post-rock with little detours into shoegaze, ambient, and even some metal. It’s a very slow-burning album, but it’s post-rock, you better get ready for some atmosphere, buddy! The album opens with one of its more atmospheric moments, almost bordering on drone, with “Lamb Theme.” This is a great setup for the 12-minute “Philautia” which blew me away on my first listen. The shaky guitar strums eventually coincide with the pointed string samples before giving way to the first verses on the record. The writing across the record is relatively simple but very effective. There are no sprawling verses, usually just a few lines that cut deeply before returning the spotlight to the instrumentation. The third track, “Sinner,” leans heavily in the post-metal direction and it works perfectly, greatly accentuating the lyrical themes of the track. These themes of struggling with the labels and expectations put on you by ones other than yourself are handled in such an interesting way here. Using the metaphor of sheep and wolves. “Storge” features a sample from the English dub of the Japanese animated film Chirin no Suzu, which has the sheep saying that they want to be strong and become one of the wolves. That struggle with rejecting who you are in order to either fight back and/or assimilate against the ones who hurt you is a constant struggle for many queer people, myself included. I would imagine it resonates even more so with trans people in particular.

The album closes with “The Beauty of the Present Moment” which is a gorgeous, string-laden cut and an uplifting way to close the album. A Lonely Sinner resonates with me more and more each time I revisit it. There are so many details I failed to mention in this write-up like the Sufjan-esque “ooo’s” towards the middle of “Flowerfields” and the string quartet cover of Björk’s “Hyper-Ballad” on “For M.” This album really took me by surprise, go out of your way to check this one out.

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Y'Y - Amaro Freitas

◇ genres: post-minimalism, third stream

I’m always on the lookout for newer jazz because most of my jazz experience is from the pre-2000s, so when I saw this album getting a lot of positive buzz I decided to check it out. Brazilian jazz artist Amaro Freitas has crafted an amazing, fluid record filled with really interesting ideas that are incredibly realized. This album can sound haunting, beautiful, and even a bit anxious at times, but Freitas balances it all very well. His piano playing is so dynamic and matches each shift in sound almost perfectly. From the steady and sharp playing on “Gloriosa” to the ascending keys on the Steve Reich-esque “Sonho Ancestral,” Freitas can do it all.

The second track “Uiara (Encantada da água) - Vida e cura” is a gorgeous minimalist piece that features some pretty multi-layered piano parts. That minimalist sound is present throughout the first half of the record. Each song flows seamlessly into the next and it makes for a fun listening experience. It all feels like one connected piece with a fair bit of surprises throughout. One of these being the super harsh sound towards the later half of “Dança dos martelos” which was very unsuspected, but I love it. The second half is a bit “jazzier” and each piece stands on its own. The title track brings in some flute to accompany his piano and it’s a great touch. I also adored Jeff Parker’s subtle guitar parts throughout “Mar de Cirandeiras,” this is probably the track I’ve returned to the most. The nearly 10-minute closer, “Encantados,” is probably the most reminiscent of classic jazz, but Freitas still puts his own spin on it with his keys. There are also a lot more jazz instruments factored in and it just shows how no matter what Fretias’s keys will stand out. Y’Y is an amazing record and one I keep coming back to. This is one of the most exciting jazz/minimalist releases in recent memory. Even if you’re not a big fan of those genres, I would still encourage you to give this album a shot.

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Catching Chickens - Nourished by Time

◇ genres: bedroom pop, alternative r&b

I heard Nourished by Time’s debut studio album, Erotic Probiotic 2, late last year but I fell in love with it almost immediately. So much so that it reached number 13 on my Top Albums of 2023 list. In the last couple of months Marcus Brown, the man behind Nourished by Time, signed with the XL label and announced this new EP, Catching Chickens. The lead single “Hand On Me” has been in constant rotation for me. It leans more into the pop side of his sound but in the best ways possible. He’s so good at making infectious bangers. All of the songs here have this sort of dream-like haze over them which makes this album really immersive. The best example of this is probably the track “Poison-Soaked,” which mixes some post-punk flavor into his sound in such a cool way. It has one of the most memorable melodies I’ve heard all year, I’ve been humming it all around the house. The closer, “Romance In Me,” sounds like a more intimate and modern take on a big R&B hit from the late 70s, I love it so much. Brown’s vocals here strike that balance between subtle and grand that I raved about so much from his last project. Catching Chickens is such a well-crafted EP and a great label debut for one of the most promising artists in recent memory. I can’t wait for whatever he drops next, but this will be in my rotation for a while.

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The Great Bailout - Moor Mother

◇ genres: poetry, electroacoustic

My first introduction to musician and poet Camae Ayewa, better known by her stage name Moor Mother, was through her 2020 collab album with billy woods Brass. From there, I listened to 2022’s Jazz Codes. Both of those records were very good, but I was instantly drawn to Ayewa’s writing more than anything else. Her words are damning and they’re often delivered with this haunting tone that forces you to pay attention to them. No longer can you turn away from the atrocities of the past, when Ayewa is speaking, you listen. On no album of hers is that more apparent than The Great Bailout. Here she ditches hip hop in favor of more ambient and atmospheric production which makes this perhaps the most chilling record in her catalog. 

Ayewa’s focus on this record seems to be Britain’s apartheid rule over South Africa and how they exploited the people and resources there for their own gain. She also tackles how these events have manifested into generational trauma to this day. The opener “GUILTY” features weathered vocals from Lonnie Holley and ethereal vocals from Raia Was. The former had an incredible album last year which shook me to my core, Oh Me Oh My. Moor Mother also featured on that record so it’s nice to see them working together again. Ayewa’s poetry takes center stage throughout most of the song as she asks the chilling question “did you pay off the trauma?” These whispered, eerie backing vocals come in throughout the whole record which makes a lot of these songs feel absolutely arresting. Particularly on “ALL THE MONEY” which has Ayewa dressing down the “thieves disguised as explorers.” Pointing out the Crown Jewels and the items in the British Museum as some of the examples. It’s truly chilling stuff and shows how effective Ayewa can be as a writer. “COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION” switches things up a bit and hits you with an intense and disorienting wave of metallic synths which add even more weight to the words. Towards the later half of the album, I found myself still ensnared by Ayewa’s writing, but the arrangements started to make the album drag just a bit. The big exception being “LIVERPOOL WINS.”

The predominantly ambient style works on most of these songs, but it can also be a little tiring after a certain point and I found myself enjoying the more abrasive moments. Ayewa’s poetry is the main focus album though and on that front, she does an amazing job. I can’t say I’ll revisit this album often, but this is a very captivating project.

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I Got Heaven - Mannequin Pussy

◇ genres: indie rock, power pop, hardcore punk

Mannequin Pussy’s fourth studio album strikes a decent balance between razor-sharp indie rock and dreamy indie pop with occasional detours into hardcore punk. The album barrels past you pretty fast, for better and for worse. The title track kicks off the album with a bang. It features a blazing performance from vocalist and guitarist Marisa Dabice, as well as some provocative lyrics setting the scene for the album in a nice way. “Loud Bark” softens the sound just a bit, but it still has a considerable amount of edge to it. The chorus is so simple, but the way the band rises with it is really satisfying. The next few tracks are pretty standard indie rock, but they’re pretty good. Especially “Sometimes” which is just begging to be played on repeat on your local alternative station. I love how during the chorus the guitars get heavier and are joined by those hazy backing vocals. It creates such a cool dynamic.   The first half of the record is pretty great, but the second half has a handful of weaker moments that make the album feel a bit disjointed. Namely those detours into hardcore punk. “Ok? Ok! Ok? Ok!,” “Of Her,” and “Aching” aren’t bad, but a lot of them leave me feeling pretty neutral. Ironically, the songs with the less harsh sound have more bite to them. This is my first Mannequin Pussy album so maybe these tracks are some kind of callback to their earlier albums that I’m just not privy to. The second half does feature both “Softly” and the closer “Split Me Open” which are two of my favorites on the record, so it’s not like it’s a complete drop-off in quality, it’s just a bit disjointed. The sub-30-minute length adds to that disjointed feeling. Despite this, I Got Heaven is very much worth a listen. There’s a lot of great stuff here and I might dive into the band’s back catalog soon.

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Pinball - MIKE & Tony Seltzer

◇ genres: trap, east coast hip hop

Just a few months removed from the amazing Burning Desire, MIKE has teamed up with Tony Seltzer for a short, but fruitful album. Seltzer adds new dimensions to MIKE’s sound here. Taking a step away from the abstract to more trap and cloud rap production. He fits this sound very well. I love the subtle glitchiness of the opener “Two Door” and the jaunty beat of “Lethal Weapon.” The beats all over the album are amazing. They might shine more than MIKE, but it doesn’t really feel like MIKE is attempting to demand your attention here. This just felt like a project thrown together for fun, a bit of a breath of fresh air after the sprawling concept album that was his previous record. Some other highlights are “On God” (which features a guest verse from Earl Sweatshirt), “Underground Kingz,” and “R&B.” This obviously isn’t MIKE’s most grand and impressive album, but it is definitely a fun listen.

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COWBOY CARTER - Beyoncé

◇ genres: country pop, contemporary country

Beyoncé’s last record, RENAISSANCE, was not only one of my favorite albums of that year, but it’s easily one of her best. An incredible celebration and reclamation of dance music that had the kind of superstar quality very few can deliver quite like her. That record is the first part in a trilogy, COWBOY CARTER is the second. Beyoncé shocked audiences during the Super Bowl when she surprise dropped two singles that showed her diving into country music. “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” and “16 CARRIAGES” were decent, but they sort of gave me shaky expectations for the album on the whole. It was bold of her to shift her sound like this, but I was afraid it would end up being a step down from the previous. Well, it is. COWBOY CARTER is a bit too dense for its own good and not every track here is a home run, but it’s still a pretty good record on the whole.

The album opens with the bold country soul cut “AMERIICAN REQUIEM.” It features one of my favorite vocal performances of hers, but the arrangement and production leave a little bit to be desired. That’s a frequent issue across the record, but it’s usually not overwhelmingly detrimental. Regardless, this is a very strong opener. Then she does a cover of the classic Beatles track, “Blackbird,” which is just a bit unnecessary. The vocal arrangements are nice, but I feel like it’s a bit too grand for a song of its kind. She does another cover later on in the record of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” which sees Beyoncé rewrite the song in a more adversarial way. Again, a bit of a mixed result. The rewrites feel a bit too tryhard for my taste, but it still sticks out more than the “Blackbird” cover. I do enjoy the snippet of her cover of “I Fall to Pieces” on the track “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’,” I wouldn’t have minded a full cover of that on the record. Anyways, the covers don’t add much to the record, but the majority of this album is her original material. Most of it is quite good!

“PROTECTOR” is one of my favorites and it really shows how well she fares in that more intimate country sound. I often found myself zoning out during the more arena-ready tracks here, the real shining moments come from the more toned-down moments. I also loved the almost chamber-folk sound of “DAUGHTER.” It’s nice to hear her in this new, more intimate light. A massive exception to this is “BODYGUARD” which pumps up the energy to just the right level and blends the country and the disco sounds in such a cool way. One of my favorite tracks of the year for sure. The album shifts into a more hip hop/club direction on “SPAGHETII” and the aforementioned “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’” to unfortunately mixed results. Unsung country legend Linda Martell introduces the former by talking about how restricting genre labels can be, so I understand what the album is going for, but these are definitely two of the weaker tracks here. There’s a stretch towards the middle part of the album where she duets for a bit. The duets with Willie Jones and Miley Cyrus are highlights, but that Post Malone one does not belong here unfortunately. The later half of the record is a bit of a mixed bag as well, but “RIIVERDANCE” is amazing and honestly should’ve been one of the lead singles. Again, like “BODYGUARD,” it has the perfect energy level.   COWBOY CARTER is a bit of a difficult record. It has very lofty goals and it frequently achieves them, but not as much as I expected. It feels very start and stop for me. I’ll love one song and then be underwhelmed by the next, that cycle continues throughout the record. The little radio station interludes and the guest appearances from country legends like Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton are nice, but on an album that’s already stretching the runtime, they can be a bit of a pace-killer. Overall, this is a weaker record than RENAISSANCE, but it's a project I definitely respect a lot despite that.

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BLUE LIPS - ScHoolboy Q

◇ genres: west coast hip hop, hardcore hip hop

ScHoolboy Q has been on my radar for years now, mainly through his work on other albums I love. For whatever reason, I’ve never listened to a full-length project of his until BLUE LIPS. Because of that, I didn’t know what to expect. Luckily, this album is a solid collection of hard-hitting hip hop tracks with beats that can be both grimy and jazzy. ScHoolboy Q matches both of those sounds with his delivery very well. A great example of this is on the heavy second track, “Pop” with Rico Nasty. His delivery has an edge to it that matches the beat very well. The track after that, “THank god 4 me,” has some more melodic moments in between the bombastic beat switch in the middle, and again, he matches his delivery to fit the track.   The lead single “Blueslides” is an example of his forays into jazz rap on the album and it’s one of the best tracks here. It’s a really poignant track lyrically as he reflects on things like the loss of Mac Miller, his career, and his mental health. It feels like a confessional, an “I need to get this off my chest” kind of track. “Love Birds” is another one of my favorites here as it switches between experimental hip hop and R&B in a really cool way. “Cooties” has Q commenting on fatherhood as well as a scathing couple of bars on mass shootings in America. Unfortunately, the song feels like it ends before reaching its full potential. That’s the case for quite a few songs across the second half as well. Songs like “Nunu,” “Germany ‘86,” and “Time killers” have some good ideas, but end up not adding much to the album. There are still some bright spots here and there, especially “oHio” featuring Freddie Gibbs which might be my favorite track. I love Gibbs's verses here. On the whole, BLUE LIPS is a good album that could be even better if trimmed down here and there.

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Deeper Well - Kacey Musgraves

◇ genres: folk pop, singer-songwriter

Kacey Musgraves has made a name for herself over the last few years as one of the few country artists people who don’t listen to the genre feel comfortable admitting they enjoy. Her 2018 album, Golden Hour, was one of the most critically acclaimed country albums of the decade, and rightfully so. It was a shimmering collection of country tracks, calling upon some of the good aesthetics of the genre from years passed. The follow-up, Star-Crossed, was a bit disappointing, but this new album has Musgraves correcting course a bit. 

Deeper Well is an album all about love and healing. It’s considerably more stripped-back than her previous albums and it ends up simultaneously helping and hurting a lot of these songs. The opener “Cardinal” is one of the more polished-sounding tracks here and it’s a nice way to start the album. The title track is also brilliant and it sounds like a ray of light. It’s one of my favorite songs of hers. The song following, “Too Good to be True” is another bright spot. The album loses a bit of momentum from here on out though. It feels like this shift in sound prevents these songs from entering into that second gear. Often, the album is never bad, it’s just decent. Enjoyable enough. “Sway” is excellent though and a moment where she uses this sound to the best of her abilities. The same can be said about “The Architect” which has some of the most twang on the record. The only outright awful moment on the record is “Anime Eyes,” which is an ill-advised song full of clumsy ideas. I understand the sentiment, but she does not stick the landing on this at all and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Deeper Well is a pretty decent album with a handful of tracks I will be returning to often, but it’s not her strongest group of songs on the whole.

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eternal sunshine - Ariana Grande

◇ genres: contemporary r&b, pop

My poptimist era is far behind me at this point. I feel like it was beaten out of me partly due to the past few years of things like Morgan Wallen, Jack Harlow, and that fucking Glass Animals song ruling over the Billboard charts. However before that, in 2019 or so, I was a full-blown poptimist. My pretentious inhibitions be damned, let me be a gay teenager who likes pop music. Around that time, Ariana Grande was popping off like crazy following albums like Sweetener and thank u, next. Even as the years have gone by and I’ve changed as a person, I still regard those records as some of the strongest pop albums of the decade. Because of that, I’ve always been sort of optimistic about her music in particular. I was a little disappointed by Positions in 2020, but I just kind of viewed it as a stepping stone to a bigger album later on. Unfortunately, if eternal sunshine is that “big” album, I’m kind of disappointed.

There’s nothing offensively bad about this record, I just think it’s sort of uninteresting. I was expecting the album’s sound to follow the dance-pop/house flavor of the lead single “yes, and?”, but the album falls more in line with Grande’s previous efforts albeit a lot more subtle for the most part. It isn’t a broken formula, I was just looking for something fresh. The best tracks on the album are the ones that do shake up the formula a bit. “bye” is a sleek, catchy number that grabs your attention with Grande’s triumphant vocals. I also love that understated disco guitar, wish it was higher up in the mix. “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” has Grande paired up with some electropop production which is a nice change of pace that I would love to hear her explore further. While not really a drastic shift for her, I do enjoy “the boy is mine.” The beat on that track reminds me vaguely of a late 90s hip hop/R&B hit. There’s plenty of good stuff here, but not a lot that hits that next level for me. Admittedly, I am pretty out of the loop on whatever drama and gossip is surrounding this album. Maybe those who are deeply invested are way more into it than me and that’s cool. It also feels that Grande herself is using this album as a means of getting things off her chest regarding whatever situation is going on and that’s also cool.

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Bleachers - Bleachers

◇ genres: pop rock, indie pop, alt-pop

It’s impossible to not be at least somewhat aware of Jack Antonoff these days. His production credits have far outshined his other efforts as a member of fun. and even his band Bleachers. I was aware of Bleachers back in middle school through the Foster the People similar artists radio station. I didn’t have any premium music streaming subscription at the time, but I was really into that era of early 2010s indie pop, so I would use the free iTunes radio thing as a means to listen to all of my favorite bands (mainly when YouTube wasn’t available). That radio would constantly play the Bleachers song “Rollercoaster” and I didn’t like it. Every skip was precious and I would always use one to get past it. Looking back, it’s not that bad, and while I haven’t gone back to listen to that debut album in full, I did enjoy a decent amount of the previous Bleachers album from a few years back. I also enjoy a decent amount of this new record, but for every good moment, there are a ton of borderline sleep-inducing moments.

Antonoff’s production style on the Bleachers projects has this kind of faux-classic sound. Sometimes it works really well, like the first two songs for example, “I Am Right on Time” and “Modern Girl.” The latter is practically a Bruce Springsteen tribute song and it rules. “Jesus is Dead” is also a pretty great cut here and it’s basically Antonoff’s “Losing My Edge.” He even shouts out the DFA label so everything comes full circle! After that track is the where album starts to lose me a bit. The warbly effect on his vocals wears very thin and clashes awkwardly with the instrumentation. “Tiny Moves” sounds like it’s building up to some big payoff, but it never comes. “Hey Joe” is an ill-advised change of pace into folk. “Call Me After Midnight” is actually a GOOD change of pace and pretty easily my favorite song on the second half. It features writing credits from Kevin Abstract and others from the old BROCKHAMPTON camp so maybe it just has that sound I loved so much when I was in high school. It also removes that warbly effect on his voice! Bleachers isn’t a bad record and it showcases a lot of Antonoff’s strong suits, but it’s an album best listened to in the background. Massive props to the saxophones throughout though. Whenever they would come in, I locked in big time.

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Underdressed at the Symphony - Faye Webster

◇ genres: soft rock, singer-songwriter

I was looking forward to this new Faye Webster album. I really enjoyed Atlanta Millionaires Club and I Know I’m Funny haha, as well as the first single leading up to this album “But Not Kiss.” That single became one of my favorite songs of hers. I thought the production was excellent and the sound in general was an interesting change of pace from her previous albums. The next single “Lifetime" was also pretty good, but a lot more in line with what you would expect from Webster. Still not bad! Underdressed at the Symphony wasn’t announced until months later along with the single “Lego Ring” featuring rapper-turned-psychedelic-rocker Lil Yachty. A very shaky collaboration that sounds like it was fun for Webster and Yachty, but doesn’t offer the listener much of anything. Unfortunately, the majority of the album is like that.

This is easily Webster’s weakest release from a songwriting standpoint. These songs are so barebones and not in the “just chill out to it” kinda way. That direction can be easy to forgive if the rest of the song is interesting, like the aforementioned “But Not Kiss,” but most of these songs just feel like demos. “Wanna Quit All the Time” has some nice, soft lounge guitar, but Webster’s verses end so prematurely that it feels like it just isn’t finished. The rest of the song is padded out to a 4-and-a-half-minute runtime with a lackluster instrumental. The same is done on the opener, “Thinking About You,” and while it works a bit better it still just feels unnecessary. In some places on the album, Webster decides to put a subtle electronic effect on her vocals and it doesn’t fit. It can be heard on tracks like “Feeling Good Today” and “He Loves Me Yeah!” The title track is probably the second-best song here because it actually has memorable qualities. This is a pretty disappointing album, it’s not rotten bad, but it definitely could’ve used way more time in the oven.  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Psykos - Yung Lean & Bladee

◇ genres: alternative rock, post-punk

So, I’m not super tapped into the drain gang stuff. I do enjoy a good bit of the Ecco2k stuff I’ve heard, but everything else I’ve checked out just hasn’t clicked with me. As for Yung Lean, I’m in a similar boat. This short collab album between Yung Lean and Bladee wasn’t a huge priority for me, but I saw buzz around it so I thought I would give it a go. Psykos has them moving away from their cloud rap sound into a more post-punk sound and it just doesn’t work very well. The majority of the songs here sound either too rigid or way too loose and sometimes that can be a little charming, but most of the time it makes it a tough listen for me. There are a handful of good songs here though. “Ghosts” and “Golden God” are standouts and feature good performances from the two. The beats on both of the songs aren’t remarkable or anything and the post-punk sound feels kind of like a pastiche more than anything, but I digress. “Hanging From The Bridge” is also good and I think it has the strongest writing across the whole project.

On one hand, Psykos is way too short and a bit clumsy to make a satisfying statement by the end, but on the other, if it was any longer I would probably like it even less. I plan on further familiarizing myself with both of their back catalogs in the future, even if I’m not super crazy about the stuff I’ve heard up to this point. Maybe when I revisit Psykos after that, I’ll understand what some of the hype is about.

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WORLD WIDE WHACK - Tierra Whack

◇ genres: pop rap, contemporary r&b, alt-pop

6 years after her quirky debut mixtape Whack World, Tierra Whack has finally released her debut album. Whack World was an interesting project made up of 1-minute songs filled to the brim with personality. The nature of how short the project was hampered some of the ideas, but the mixtape still showcased Whack’s abilities very well and made me excited about what she would do next. WORLD WIDE WHACK is definitely longer and more fleshed out, but maybe for the worse. Her writing still has that quirkiness to it with little bits of earnestness sprinkled in, but on the whole, it’s just so much weaker than I was expecting. The closest thing I can think to compare it to is that Cheekface album from a few months ago where everything was a joke, but the jokes just weren’t that funny. At least to me. 

Given how much longer this project is than the others that came before, we do get to see some new sides to Whack. She ventures away from hip hop and R&B occasionally to move in a more alt-pop direction, which I think she fits nicely in. She works well with all of these different sounds, but the writing is the weakest link here. The one-liners are just lazy, like in the opener “MOOD SWINGS” where Whack sings “I stand tall, Shaquille.” Like I understand the joke, but it just feels lazy. “CHANEL PIT” is a really fun cut, but even it isn’t free of weak writing. Whack will sometimes step away from the silliness to be a bit more serious like on tracks like “IMAGINARY FRIENDS” and  “DIFFICULT,” the former being my favorite track on the album as I believe it has her best writing across the whole project. These detours do give the album some more depth, but they can also make it feel a bit disjointed. Right after the latter, we get the irritating “SHOWER SONG” which is just about … singing in the shower. WORLD WIDE WHACK is an unfortunately disappointing debut album.

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Everything I Thought It Was - Justin Timberlake

◇ genres: contemporary r&b, pop

When the lead single for Everything I Thought It Was, “Selfish,” dropped back in January I knew this album would be something special. Not special in a good way, but special in the “oh this is going to be embarrassing” way. Timberlake’s performance had this desperation to it. He’s been seeing relatively middling chart success for things outside of the Trolls soundtracks, his years as one of the world’s biggest pop stars are numbered. He knows soon that his career will eventually shift into greatest hits tours, he’ll be seen as a nostalgia act. He’s planting the seeds for it too on this reflective new album. A cluttered mess of callbacks to the sound of years gone by mixed in with him trying hard to be contemporary. 

The opener “Memphis” sounds like a gentrified Drake song and the following track, “Fuckin’ Up The Disco,” has him failing to get his groove back over one of the most uninteresting beats I’ve heard in a while. Calvin Harris did some production on it and he’s produced good stuff, but it sounds like everyone phoned it in here. The best stuff on the album is, no surprise when Timberlake joins forces with longtime collaborator Timbaland. He brings out the best in him, but it still isn’t enough to save this album. “Technicolor” is the most fruitful track here, but it pails in comparison to his hits from decades previous. “My Favorite Drug” brings the disco groove back, but Timberlake just fails to capture the energy. “Paradise” is one of the more transparent attempts at nostalgia bait as it sees him teaming back up with *NSYNC. The song is nothing more than a “oh, I guess that’s neat.” Everything I Thought It Was is full of non-starters and lazy attempts to rekindle Timberlake’s star power after a string of disappointing years. It isn’t very good at all, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bit funny. Better luck next time, JT.

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Geidi Primes (Lo-Fi Nightcore Edition) - Grimes

◇ genres: nightcore, indietronica, ethereal wave

yeah, sorry, no.

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genre : sadboy - mgk & Trippie Redd

◇ genre: emo rap

Ok, who is falling for this shit? Colson “I wish 13/14/15 year old girls weren’t allowed to be hot so I wouldn’t feel like such a creeper when I look at them” Baker’s, better known as Machine Gun Kelly’s, pivot to the pop punk and emo scene was as embarrassing as his ventures in the hip hop world. Yet, he had his most commercial success as a result of it. He’s a poser in every genre he inhabits. Not to say pop punk is this sacred genre or anything, but it’s just so obvious he’s playing into the genre’s stereotypes to fill a niche. On this new EP, he drags Trippie Redd down with him, as he returns to the rap world with his newfound mysterious, drug-addicted vampire persona. 

Obviously, it sucks. Every song is filled with horrific melodies and dogshit lyricism. I genuinely believe, though I can’t prove it, that these songs were written using ChatGPT. There is no unique flavor to them at all. It’s just boring, clunky, schlock that should be a career killer for both artists involved. Machine Gun Kelly, who is 33 years of age, pathetically delivers the bars, “I hate that I grew up sad as a kid, then I grew up and got sadder again” on “no more.” I feel like that line sums up just how abysmal this project is. The only thing that would make this album any good was if it was a parody, but seeing as how they’re getting exclusive Hot Topic merch from this, I doubt they would want to break the illusion just yet.

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[domono08]

On a ironic note,I love disaster movie!

[blueskrugs]

'tis the damn season | Matthew Tkachuk

today's the unofficial official start to summer, so here's a 4th of July Matty fic I couldn't bear to hold on to for another month. once upon a time, kim @troubatrain wrote another matthew fic by the same title, but i'm fairly confident this is entirely different. as usual, @wyattjohnston was my enabler in writing this.

length: 3.0k words

It’s late when you finally peel yourself off the Adirondack chair you claimed hours ago next to the bonfire, empty seltzer can dangling from your fingertips. The bonfire has died off, barely more than some embers and the occasional spark. Even the fireworks that have been echoing around the lake for days have petered out. It’s just you, Matthew and Taryn left outside, all your other friends having wandered off to find somewhere to sleep—except you think Taryn might have also fallen asleep, wrapped up in one of Matthew’s old Calgary sweatshirts and a beach towel. 

Matthew watches you with heavy eyes, watches as you stretch sleepily and the big T-shirt you’d thrown on over your swimsuit rides up over your hips. 

“Don’t drive home,” Matthew says, so low you barely hear him. 

“What?” you ask. You’re not heading back to the city until after the long weekend is over, and your parents’ lake house is just a couple of miles away. 

“Don’t leave, there’s a lot of drunk idiots out still,” he says again, standing too. You and your friends were some of those drunk idiots earlier in the day, but you don’t point that out. 

“Dude, I’m fine,” you tell Matthew. You turn to look for your flip-flops. “It’s not far, and I stopped drinking a while ago.”

Matthew grabs you by the hip. The night has cooled off, but Matthew’s hand feels hot on your skin. “I’m not worried about you being stupid, I’m worried about something happening to you,” Matthew says. “Don’t go.”

You didn’t pack enough clothes to spend the night—you’d always been planning on heading back to your parents’ at the end of the night. The house was crowded with friends of Matthew and Taryn. 

“There’s nowhere left for me to sleep,” is what you end up saying.

Matthew tightens his grip. You step closer. “Sleep in my bed.”

You’d done it before, but not since before Matthew had moved to Michigan to play for the USNTDP. Not since before your crush on Matthew had shifted from something childish to something more like pining. You stare up at him, his blue eyes serious, clear even in the moonlight. 

One of the logs on the dying bonfire pops and shifts, sending out a spray of sparks. You both startle, moment broken. Matthew takes a half-step back from you. You hadn’t realized how far you’d both leaned in. Taryn stirs somewhere behind you.

“Fine,” you say quietly. “I’ll stay.” 

Matthew grins at you. You shake your head at him as you finally turn to walk inside.

You think you hear Taryn murmur, “Get a room,” as you pass her. 

The lake house is a mess. You survey it with dismay for a moment: there’s people passed out on several different couches, empty cans and bottles scattered across most surfaces, and remnants of dinner still sitting out in the kitchen. You drop your own empty can into the recycling near the door and wander quietly through the first floor, picking up what you can. You haven’t been at it very long when Matthew steps inside as well, gently shutting the door behind him. He clicks his tongue at you when he spots you in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher.

“I thought you were going to bed,” he whispers.

“I got distracted,” you whisper back. 

Matthew trails his fingertips across your side as he steps past you to open the fridge. You shiver, and not because the AC is turned down low. Matthew pulls two bottles of Gatorade out, offers one to you. 

You take it, suddenly surprised at how thirsty you are. 

Matthew watches in amusement for a moment as you chug a third of the bottle, before he says, “C’mon, it’s past your bedtime.”

“It’s not that late—” you try to protest, before you catch a glimpse of the time on the microwave clock. Almost 2 AM. “Oops,” you say instead. 

Matthew flicks off the kitchen light and heads upstairs.

You make a pit stop in Taryn’s room on your way down the hall to Matthew’s room. The door creaks as you open it, and you wince, squinting at the bed, where three of Taryn’s field hockey teammates are sleeping. No one moves. You steal a pair of shorts to sleep in and sneak back out. 

Matthew is waiting for you, again, perched on the edge of his bed. The shower in his ensuite is running, steam filtering through the ajar door. “Shower’s ready for you, if you want,” he says.

There’s a bottle of your face wash and a toothbrush with your initials Sharpied onto the handle underneath his sink, the same way they have been since you were 14. You take a fast shower and try not to think too much about it. 

You run into Matthew when you walk out of the bathroom. Literally. You're bumped backwards, into the doorjamb. Matthew doesn’t step away. You’re still wearing one of his T-shirts. 

“I was just—I need—” Matthew stutters. 

“Matty—” you breathe, before Matthew’s lips crash into yours. He tastes like beer and sunscreen, and you wrap your hands around the back of his neck so you can pull him closer. 

Matthew breaks the kiss first, but he doesn’t go far, pressing his forehead to yours. It could have been seconds, or it could have been hours. 

“I was just going to brush my teeth,” Matthew whispers. 

You make a face instead of kissing Matthew again. His face is still so close to yours. 

“Good, you need it,” you whisper back. Matthew rolls his eyes at you, presses a kiss to your forehead before ducking into the bathroom. 

You’re sprawled out in the center of Matthew’s bed when he re-emerges, watching the ceiling fan turn lazily above you. You feel drunk, like the room’s spinning, too, but you think that might just be proximity to Matthew. You should have just found a couch or a corner of floor to sleep on. 

“No way,” Matthew says, standing at the foot of the bed. “Scoot over.” 

You think about pushing it, just to see if Matthew would push back, but you scoot over. Matthew flops onto the bed next to you in the space you just left, then rolls on top of you, anyway, braced with his hands next to your head. 

You take a second to just look at him. You’ve been sneaking glances all day, over the rim of a seltzer can, from underneath your sunglasses, across the boat. It had felt illicit then, but now Matthew is right in front of you, blue eyes meeting yours. His curls are getting long, messy from being in and out of the lake water all day. He’s always tan now—living in Florida all winter does that—but he’s sunburned across his nose and across the tops of shoulders. You lift one hand and skim a finger down his nose, across his jaw.

“I miss you,” you blurt. It’s not what you had meant to say, but now that you’ve said it, you’re not sure what else there is to say.

Matthew laughs softly. “I’m right here, babe,” he says.

He’s here now, but it won’t be long until summer’s over, and he’ll be gone again. Back to the real world. You don’t know the last time you and Matthew were able to spend time together like this, don’t know if you’ll ever get this time again. It’s always been one thing after another—injuries, or vacations, or work. You don't talk the way you used to, either. Matthew's schedule clashes with yours so often that neither of you have time for hours-long phone calls anymore.

Matthew drops to an elbow and brushes your hair out of your face. You try not to sigh. His hand is on your knee next, by his ribs with your feet flat on the bed. You don’t stop him as his hand starts to slide up your thigh, closer to the hem of his T-shirt, riding up your hips again. 

Matthew drags a line of kisses down your neck. You can’t stop your sigh this time. Matthew comes up for air, tucks another strand of hair behind your ear. It’s humid outside and in Matthew’s bed; you can’t breathe, gasp for air. His hand is back on your hip, burning hot on your skin. 

He asks, “Yeah?” 

You can feel his breath on your cheek. He’s panting, too, and it’s nice to know that he’s as wrapped up in this as you are, at least for this moment. That he might want you almost as bad as you want him. That he’s wanted you as long as you’ve wanted him.  

You don’t trust yourself to get any words out, just nod. 

“Think you can stay quiet?” Matthew says, before sealing his lips on yours again. 

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You wake up late the next morning, the ghost of Matthew’s fingers still on your skin. He’s in bed, too, tangled in the sheets, head turned away from you. Distantly, you hear the sounds of the rest of the house stirring, your friends laughing, coffee brewing. You don’t make any move to get up.

You’re still laying there later—15 minutes, 30 minutes, you’re not sure—when Matthew starts to stir. He rolls over quickly, almost panicked, but he relaxes and smiles when he sees you still lying next to him. 

“Hi,” he says dumbly. He fumbles for his phone, but it’s not beside him. “What time is it?” His words and eyes are still heavy with sleep.

You don't know either; you must have left your phone downstairs last night;. You shrug and stretch. Matthew watches you closely, the way your body moves beneath the sheets. You feel your cheeks flush. 

“Dunno,” you say. Closer to noon than early morning, if you had to guess by the way the light is slanting through the partially closed blinds. “Late,” you add. 

Matthew grins at you and props himself up on one elbow. You have to resist the urge to reach up and tug on his curls, even messier now from your hands and sleep. 

“Then I don’t think anyone will miss us if we stay in bed a little longer,” he says, leaning over to kiss you.

You indulge him and his morning breath for a few moments. Wrapped up in your own little bubble, twisted together in Matthew’s sheets, you can pretend just a little longer—that this is real, that it won’t disappear the second you step through that doorway and back into a world where other people and other obligations exist. But then your stomach rumbles and shatters your illusion.

You push Matthew away by the shoulders—gently, though part of you wants to be harsh with him, hurt him the way you know he’s going to break your heart. Matthew goes easily, but you see the flash of furrowed brow before he smooths his expression back into something easygoing. 

“Not that I’m not enjoying this,” you say, “but I need something to eat.” 

Matthew raises his eyebrows at you. “I’ve got an idea of what I want to eat,” he leers. 

You knee him in the chest in retaliation.

“Oof,” Matthew complains, but he’s laughing. 

He rolls off of you, rubbing his chest and pouting at you. You just roll your eyes and slide out of bed. You hunt the floor for the shorts you’d been wearing when you went to bed, trying to ignore the way you can feel Matthew staring at your ass. Your shorts ended up across the room, by the bathroom door. When you turn around again, Matthew is pulling on a shirt. There’s a hickey on his collarbone that you hazily remember leaving there. He sees you looking as his bare skin disappears and smirks at you before throwing another clean shirt of his at your face. 

You grab the hem of the shirt you’re wearing, but say, “Turn around.”

Matthew gapes at you. “It’s nothing I didn’t see last night,” he tells you. 

It feels different in the daylight, though. You stare Matthew down until he heaves a sigh and turns his back. 

You poke Matthew in the ribs when you’ve finished changing. It didn’t go unnoticed by you that Matthew gave you a shirt with his number stamped on the left shoulder to wear. Matthew reaches to take your hand as you start down the stairs, but you pull away and run ahead of him.

This isn’t like that. 

“Oh, you’re both alive,” Taryn calls when she sees you. “We were thinking about sending someone up to check on you.” 

You and Matthew exchange a look. You don’t miss Taryn smirking from her spot on the couch. 

“Where is everybody?” Matthew says, instead of saying anything to give Taryn any more ammunition. The house has quieted down. There’s still a few of Taryn’s teammates lounging around, but it looks like more of Matthew’s friends have cleared out.

“Weather’s shitty, people started leaving after breakfast,” she says. 

Outside the windows that overlook the lake, there’s fog clinging to the water. It looks chilly out, and you shiver. You tell yourself it’s because of the cold, and not because Matthew is standing so close to you that you can feel his body heat. He nudges your elbow, and he’s holding a cup of coffee out to you, already the perfect color for you to drink it. You shoot him a grateful smile as you take it; your fingers brush, and you try not to jerk your hand away. 

“Nobody even said good-bye,” Matthew gripes.

You laugh, but it’s Taryn who says: “Maybe because you’re a shit host.”

Matthew gasps in outrage and throws a discarded can koozie at her. It falls weakly to the floor halfway to the couch, and all of you burst out laughing. You and Matthew move easily around each other in the kitchen, piecing together leftovers and assembling your breakfasts. It sends a pang through your chest, the familiarity of it, even as the years and distance build a canyon between your relationship. You don’t know when Matthew went from being your best friend, to the boy you dreamed of marrying one day, to the guy you knew so well yet barely knew at all. 

You feel like you can’t breathe.

“That’s disgusting,” you say, watching Matthew take a bite out of a cold bratwurst straight from the fridge.

Matthew shrugs. “What?” he says with his mouth full. “It’s a sausage, people eat sausage for breakfast all the time!” 

“But not—oh, fuck you, never mind,” you say. 

You escape the kitchen, slipping through the back door to the porch. The bonfire from last night has long since burned out entirely, but you drop into one of the chairs beside it anyway, where you eat your breakfast undisturbed. When your plate is cleared, you wander down to the dock.

The late morning sun has finally started to burn away the fog, but the air is still cool. You sit down on the edge of the dock and let your feet dangle in the water. It’s quiet, especially for the day after the holiday; the weather has scared people indoors. You shiver again. You only have a few minutes of peace before you hear footsteps behind you. You don’t have to turn around to know that they belong to Matthew.

He drops down onto the dock behind you, drapes his legs off the edge on either side of yours. He wraps his arms around your shoulders, and you let yourself lean back into his chest. Neither of you speak.

You’d been here once before, sitting on this dock with Matthew. You were younger then. Matthew had just been drafted, and you were heading off to college. You’d both been on the verge of something big, and you thought maybe it had been your chance to do big things, together. You wonder if Matthew is thinking of that night, too, of the silence in the darkness of midnight, when you’d both slipped away.

Matthew presses his lips to your shoulder, where the collar of your shirt—his shirt—has slid down and exposes your bare skin. 

“Would you wait for me?” you asked, 18 years old and so, so scared of losing everything you had ever known. Desperately trying to hold onto Matthew.

“Would you?” he asked back. “Would you still be ready for me in another few years?” You both knew you couldn’t even imagine following Matthew to Calgary until you had graduated, unwilling to sacrifice your own future for a possible one with Matthew.

You had waited. You had been waiting for Matthew for even longer than you were willing to admit. Even when you were in other relationships, you felt like you were just waiting for something else. For someone else. You wondered now what your life would look like if you had said yes to Matthew on the dark dock all those summers ago, if you’d waited for each other. You couldn’t wait any longer. 

“You could stay for a few more days,” Matthew says. 

“You know I can’t,” you say. You reach back so you can run your hand through his hair. One last time. “Think we could do this again sometime?” Matthew asks. “You know we can’t,” you say. Matthew sighs. You can feel the tension in his body. He’s ready for a fight, but you don’t know if you have the energy for it. You lean more of your weight against him, and he holds you up, strong and steady.

Matthew takes a moment before he responds. “We could,” he argues. “We could do this forever.” Your heart hurts. You know he doesn't mean it.

“Matthew,” you say, quietly. “Matthew, please.” “Why not?” he asks. “We’re good together, aren’t we?”

You are, and you wish you didn’t know just how good it could be between you. In your head, you see all the things you could have, all the things you should have done. It’s so, so tempting. 

“I think we both know why we didn’t try ‘us’ when we were 18, Matty,” you tell him. The petty arguments, the way you were both so stubborn that hanging out ended in slamming doors just as often as it didn't. You always came back, but you don't know if you can do it much longer.

You move to leave, and Matthew slides back to allow it. You let him offer you a hand as you stand up. Matthew squeezes your hand once, quickly, just before you let go. You leave him sitting on the dock. You don’t look back as you make your way back up to the house. 

Some things are best left in the past.

[lunarsturniolo]

Happy New Year

“Hey babe,” he says. 

“Hi, baby,” I respond with a smile. 

His hand snakes around my waist and gently tugs me down to sit on his lap, “I missed you,” he tells me. 

“I was in the kitchen,” I tease.

Or

Matt and Y/N host a New Years Party

masterlist

“Oh my God!! Show me again,” my friend Kim asks, holding her hand out to see my wrist. 

“God, that’s so pretty,” Julian mentioned, turning my wrist slightly to get a proper view of the bracelet Matt got me for Christmas. 

The bracelet was dainty and gold, with a small chain snaking around my wrist. There was a small, circular charm that looked almost like a ring attached to the chain. Matt had gotten his favorite phrase to tell me engraved on the inside of the circle: “Let’s grow old together.” I hadn’t told the girls about that engraving and planned to keep it a secret. 

Kim lets out an adoring gasp, “And your anniversary is engraved on there?” she asks, motioning to the outside of the ring. Our anniversary date is there with two diamonds on either side of it. 

I nod, “Yeah, he really outdid himself.” 

A few minutes of nonsensical chatter pass and midnight slowly approaches. The drink in my hand has been empty for about 10 minutes now, but my mind is wandering too far even to consider refilling it. 

Madi roams into the kitchen, frantically sifting through the fridge next to me, “Y/N, babe, do you guys have my grapes?”

My eyebrows furrow, “We should, why?”

“It's this thing, apparently,” Madi says, “You’re supposed to eat 12 grapes at midnight for 12 months of good luck or something,” she finishes. 

I nod, “Did you ask any of the guys?” 

She nods, “Nick said the should be ‘where all the fruit is’” She lets out a dramatic sigh, “I don't think he knows where that is.”

With a laugh, I nudge her hip, “I know where that is,” I rummage through the fruit drawer, pulling out a bag of grapes, “Here you go.” 

“You’re the best,” She says. I smile and give her a short hug before glancing at my phone.

It’s approaching midnight, and I am yet to find Matt in the slew of people who are constantly moving in and out of the house. I say a quick goodbye to my friends before wandering into the living room to find Matt, Nick, and Chris on one of the couches, surrounded by a bunch of their friends and their partners. 

Chris catches my eye and nods for me to sit with them. With a smile of acknowledgment, I look at Matt, who is empty-handed, and step back into the kitchen to get him a Root Beer. Along with Matt’s drink, I grab myself a seltzer to sip on until midnight. 

Stepping back into the living room, I notice their circle has gained a few people, making it impossible for me to find a seat. The arm of the couch next to Matt is free, and I beeline in his direction. 

Matt barks out a laugh, “There’s no way,” he says, a look of amusement growing on his lips. 

“Yeah, I spit it out immediately. It was horrible,” Nate responds with a small laugh. 

Perching myself on the arm of the couch, I hand Matt his drink. “Are you talking about that nasty chamoy pickle?”

Nate gives me a look, “Yeah. Biggest regret of the year.”

I shoot him a smile before looking down at Matt. 

“Hey babe,” he says. 

“Hi, baby,” I respond with a smile. 

His hand snakes around my waist and gently tugs me down to sit on his lap, “I missed you,” he tells me. 

“I was in the kitchen,” I tease.

He lets out a dramatic sigh, “Yeah, that was cringe.” 

I laugh, “Yeah, horribly cringe. Get out of my sight.”

His arm tightens around my waist, and his lips make their way to my neck for a soft kiss, “Never.”

I turn my head to him before properly kissing him. We knew we wanted to host a New Year’s party, but we struggled to realize that our two separate groups of friends would be there, too. I had spent most of my time with my friends, who I rarely get a chance to see, as did Matt. 

“Having fun?” He asked me. 

I hum in response, “Yeah, I’m happy to see everyone.”

Matt nods in understanding, turning to look at Chris. Chris had his arm around his girlfriend, whispering in her ear with a devious smile on his face, “I’m so glad Chris has someone this year.” 

I turn to look at Chris, “Yeah. They’re so cute together.” 

Matt nods before pausing. He looks back at me before turning and tapping Chris on the shoulder, “You do have a bedroom here, buddy.” 

Chris’s eyes widen in amusement as his girlfriend shoves her face into his chest, “Could you hear that?” He asks. 

“No,” I reply, pretending to gag, “But I didn’t have to, you freaks.”

He barks a laugh before caressing his girlfriend's face, attempting to comfort her. 

Matt pats my ass, asking me to get up. I do, and he follows suit, standing up and readjusting his pants. He grabs my hand and tugs me into a corner that has been left unoccupied. 

His hand reaches up and brushes a stand of hair behind my ear, “I wanted you alone.” 

I feel my cheeks warm and I look down with an acute understanding. It is almost midnight and Matt wants to kiss me properly. 

“I’m glad you got me alone,” I replied with a smile. 

He hums quietly, admiring my face. I take the time to do the same, drinking in his look. Donned in a Cherry LA sweater and white pants, he looked domestic. 

Around us, we hear everyone start chanting down for 10, ready to ring in the new year. 

Matt takes both of his hands and caresses my face, his thumb rubbing rhythmic circles upon my jaw as I wait to lean in. 

5 seconds. 

Matt runs his thumb over my bottom lip, flattening it out before leaning in and meeting me in the middle. 

Midnight. 

With a soft peck to begin, Matt exited 2023. His tongue darts out shyly, prying at my lips and gaining an entrance. He moves a hand to run through my hair as both of my hands make their way to his hair as well. 

I’m consumed in his kiss, and I have nothing but a smile on my face when he lets go so we can breathe. 

“Happy New Year, beautiful.”

[lvlystars]

not your usual saturday night — x.mh

pairing. xu minghao x fem!reader

genre. fluff(?)

summary. when saturday rolls around, minghao expects to be sitting in his apartment, all wrapped up in his blankets with a steaming cup of tea beside him. he certainly did not expect to find himself at a damn frat party, holding a can of beer while a girl's breasts are being pushed up in front of him (on accident, of course). never in a million years did he imagine that. but here we are.

warnings. frat party activities mentioned. alcohol consumption.

wc. 1.6k (FUCK IT UP LESGOO)

minghao huffs out in boredom as he rolls his eyes, unable to tolerate the amount of sweaty bodies around him, yelling and whooping at two people who were grinding up against one another in the living room of the house. to the left of him, he spotted a guy—not any older than minghao is—handing a bag of some kind of white powder (probably drugs) to a younger looking kid, a sophomore at most. along the stairs, he sees two guys making out, their intoxicated smiles and giggles muffled by the blaring music that would probably get the cops here in the next few hours.

so to put it short: not his usual saturday night.

minghao makes a beeline to the kitchen, getting himself a drink from the fridge. he eyes a couple of beers and hard seltzers, and a large bottle of vodka at the bottom. sighing out, he opts for the beer, reaching out for the blue can before he feels a hand on his shoulder. turning his head around, he’s met with the captain of the varsity football team, otherwise known as kim mingyu. but people really prefer to just call him “the tall guy”—not to his face, of course, but who can blame them? the man is literally 6’2.

“minghao? didn’t really take you for a college-frat-parties kinda guy.” mingyu teases, flashing his canine smile at the chinese boy, making the latter just smile and laugh a little. “yeah, i’m really not. seokmin dragged me here.” minghao scratches the back of his head, closing the fridge behind him as he faces mingyu.

“of course he did.” mingyu laughs, patting his back. “alright, i’m gonna join the others in the living room. wanna come?” minghao shakes his head. “no, it’s fine. i’ll just be hanging around here for a bit. it feels really stuffy in there.” mingyu visibly deflates at minghao’s rejection, but he just shrugs, smiling again. “it’s alright. i get what you mean. well, if you wanna join us, we’ll just be chilling there all night.” mingyu says before walking off towards the living room.

“fuck you, seokmin.” minghao curses, cracking open his can of beer before taking a swig of it.

“but it’s my girlfriend’s best friend’s birthday!” seokmin—minghao’s best friend since high school—yells. minghao rolls his eyes at the korean boy’s attempt at getting him to come to just another random party.

“and why do i have to come?” minghao asks, raising his eyebrow.

“i heard the birthday girl is single…” minghao groans as seokmin wiggles his eyebrows at him.

“look, seokmin. i appreciate you being the living version of tinder for me, but i’m not interested in dating, more or less getting involved with anyone at the moment.”

“OH COME ON! please?! give it just ONE chance! if it doesn’t work out, i promise i won’t help your sad, single butt anymore!”

bless his heart for not saying ‘ass’.

and that’s how he ended up in a frat house party with almost half the arts department population in it.

he walks off into the house, trying to find any empty rooms, but in almost every room he looks into, there are people getting high, getting dicked down, or people just hanging out with their friends. finally, he finds a room that’s just occupied by a girl sitting at a desk, the room illuminated by her study lamp.

“hello?” minghao asks as he closes the door, looking around. “hi?” she says back, looking up from her laptop screen. the girl didn’t seem out of place at all. in fact, she was wearing a sparkly green dress that fell off her shoulders, and had a deep neckline. the orange light of the lamp beside her gave the girl a warm glow as she blinked at minghao, who just stood there, before he realises that he’s just been blatantly eyeing down some random girl who was probably trying to get work done.

“oh! uh, i’m sorry, it was just a bit too much out there, so…y’know.” minghao smiles, gesturing towards the room.

“yeah i get it.” the girl says, smiling back at him.

minghao couldn’t help but notice how sober the girl sounded, and maybe also how her voice sounded pretty husky and attractive when it’s resounding off such an empty study room, only filled with a desk, small couch, and empty shelves where textbooks and novels should be.

“you wanna maybe sit down? there should be a couch over there. or i can move to the couch and you can-“

“no! it’s…it’s fine. i’m fine with the couch. thanks.” minghao turns down her offer and goes to sit on the couch.

the two college kids just continue to sit in silence, minghao pulling out his phone and just mindlessly scrolling through his instagram page as the girl continues to work on whatever she was typing away at on her laptop, until she decides to break the silence.

“i’m sorry, it’s probably so awkward. what’s your name?”

“minghao. you?”

“y/n.”

“what major?” minghao asks, putting away his phone as he showed more interest in the conversation than the dog freaking out over a balloon on his phone.

“psych.”

“okay now i’m scared of you.” minghao chuckles, making y/n laugh out loud, shutting her laptop before she leans back.

“i get that a LOT. i just don’t understand why you hate us?!” y/n whines, crossing her arms as her breasts push up, the action making minghao flustered as he looks away.

“i-it’s just that…you guys can like…read our minds! that’s creepy, dude! like if i’m doing a certain action, y’all know what’s going on in our minds and like you know what to do!” minghao throws his arms in the air, accidentally slamming one of them on the shelf behind him. he hisses in pain as he brings down his arm, noticing that he had hit his hand on the sharp edge of the shelf.

“oh shit are you okay?” y/n immediately gets up, rushing over to minghao to hold his arm, turning on the light to get a better look at any damage.

as y/n hovered over him, minghao blushes as he tries to distract himself from the view in front of him: y/n’s chest just being pushed up in front of his face. although hers weren’t as large as some others minghao had seen, he couldn’t lie that they still were just as distracting.

“i-i think i’m okay, y/n.” minghao lowly mutters, making the girl notice their position. she immediately pulls away, pulling up her bodycon dress over her chest as she looks down, mumbling an apology.

instead of saying anything, minghao pats the empty spot beside him on the couch, the two once again sitting in silence before speaking out his thoughts.

“you know what, this party is kinda boring. you wanna like, go over to my place, or we can hang out at yours?” minghao speaks up, looking at y/n, to which she looks stunned.

“i’m sorry, what?”

“i…i just asked…if you wanna…go to my…place…’cause this party is…boring.” minghao just quietly trails off as the girl stares back at him, a dejected yet amused look in her eyes.

“this is…this is my birthday party.” y/n says, making minghao’s eyes go wide.

“oh. OH. OH I AM SO SORRY-“

“it’s fine, my best friend planned the entire thing. i guess she used my birthday as an excuse to party, to be honest. she’s probably making out with her suckass boyfriend. what’s his name again? seok…what? seokjin?”

“it’s seokmin.”

“that’s the one!”

“...he’s my friend.”

“oh…oh shit i’m so sorry, i didn’t–” minghao shakes his head as he laughs softly, his eyes forming into crescents as the ends crinkle. “no, no you’re good. he really does suck up to her like no tomorrow. it’s so sickening sometimes.” minghao brushes it off, making the girl soften at his nature.

“i guess we’re both even on accidentally insulting the wrong party.” minghao starts giggling, his laugh sounding more like a pretty twinkle in her ears, and y/n finds herself being entranced by the way minghao’s eyes form crescents when he smiles widely, and the way his teeth look so perfect and cute as he beams. the way–

y/n snaps out of her little trance when minghao snaps his fingers in front of her, making her blink twice before apologising, flustered at how she was just caught staring at probably one of the prettiest guys she’s ever seen since she stepped foot into campus.

“i was just saying that those two—seokmin and your friend—are just like each other.” minghao gestures towards the door behind y/n, making her chuckle as she nods in agreement.

“they really are, it’s crazy.” she agrees, laughing at herself as she distracts herself by playing with her fingers, trying to ignore the heat creeping into her cheeks. “funny enough, seokmin was trying to set me up with you, playing all cupid or whatever.” minghao chuckles, making the girl’s eyes widen.

“no way! hyejin was going to set me up with you too! saying that you would be just my type and shit!” y/n gasps, throwing her arm onto minghao’s shoulder, making the poor guy freeze and hyperfixate on the way her touch made him shiver (in a good way, of course). clearing his throat, minghao speaks up.

“i’m your type?” he wiggles his eyebrows, making the girl bashfully look away as she retreats her hand, smiling to herself. before she can say anything, minghao grabs a hold of her hand again, grasping it firmly. “if i’m your type, then do you want to go on a date with me? because you seem like my type too, y/n.” minghao smiles with reassurance, squeezing her hand for comfort.

the silence prolongs before y/n smiles again.

“yes, i would love that, minghao.”

tags 🏷️ —

@wqnwoos @etherealyoungk @amxlia-stars @seuonji @spicyseonghwas @jaehunnyy @kyeomyun @leo-seonghwa @star1117-archives

networks 🔗 —

@preciousillusions-net @cacaokpop-fics @caratsland @k-labels

SVT WORKS

send an ask or drop a comment if you want to be added to my general taglist!

ⓒ lvlystars

[mariacallous]

When I close my eyes and imagine the interior of my childhood refrigerator, certain items are always there: blue-glass bottles of seltzer, Breakstone whipped butter, a hunk of (kosher) salami, and cottage cheese. Why cottage cheese? I don’t know. My mother liked to eat it. As the daughter of Polish Jewish immigrants, she grew up with it. She would often start her day with a cut-up orange and a scoop of cottage cheese. And when she made her weekly foray to Waldbaum’s, our local supermarket, cottage cheese was always one of her purchases.

I never thought of it as Jewish, per se, but when Tablet came out with their book last year, The 100 Most Jewish Foods, I was bemused, but not shocked, to see that cottage cheese made the list. Food writer Gabriella Gershenson described cottage cheese as “the New World version of pot cheese, curd cheese…” The Nosher contributor Sonya Sanford, whose parents were born in the former Soviet Union, remembers eating noodles and cottage cheese several times each week during her childhood. And Leah Koenig, in her recently published The Jewish Cookbook, describes noodles and farmer’s cheese/cottage cheese as Ashkenazi comfort foods.

I recently did an informal survey of Facebook friends and Instagram followers about how they feel towards cottage cheese, and I received passionate responses filled with either nostalgia or horror. Many hate it — especially those who had it forced on them as the ultimate diet food — but there are plenty who remember it lovingly, mixed with canned peaches, or with noodles, butter, and pepper, or schmeared on matzah and topped with jelly. Or, as April, one of the respondents, said — “Don’t judge,” she begged — it’s even good combined with broad egg noodles and ketchup.

While I shunned it for years (such a rebel!), I now find myself buying cottage cheese quite a lot. After all, cottage cheese lasts for weeks in the refrigerator, it’s high in protein, and it’s a quick lunch or breakfast combined with savory or sweet elements. It also reminds me of my mother.

To get you through the next chunk of time, here are some recipes with cottage cheese that are quick to make, delicious, and wholesome.  And a scoop of it just may bring you back in time.

Broccoli cottage cheese pancakes from Adeena Sussman

Noodles and cottage cheese from Sonya Sanford

Cottage cheese waffles from Busy in Brooklyn

Sweet, rich noodle kugel from Tori Avey

Polish cottage cheese dip from Kim Severson

Simple sweet pancakes from AllRecipes.com

Cheese and tomato lasagna from Cook’s Illustrated Magazine 

[nicktoonsfans]

My Favorite And Least Things

My Favorite Shows Are

All Grown Up! BKN (Seasons 1-2) Magi-k Casado Con Hijos (Married With Sons) Pulentos Diego & Glot 31 Minutes (Seasons 1-3) El Chavo Del 8 ( Both Live-Action And Animated Versions) Spongebob Squarepants The Powerpuff Girls (1998-2005) Foster 's Home Imaginary Friends The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy Ben 10 (2005-2008) Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Dexter's Laboratory Teen Titans (2003-2006) The Fairly Oddparents Danny Phantom Hey Arnold Rocket Power The Wild Thornberrys Rugrats (1991-2004) American Dragon Jake Long Kim Possible Disney s' Recess Phineas & Ferb Amango Karku (Seasons 1-2) The Adventures Of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius Papi Ricky Brujas The Simpsons Adventure Time The Amazing World Of Gumball Astro Boy (1986 Series)

My Least Shows Are

Barney Teletubbies (Both Classic And Reboot) High School USA! Jellabies Secret Millionaires Club Coconut Fred s' Fruit Salad Island Boohbah 31 Minutes (Season 4 Only) BKN (Seasons 3-11) Karkú(Season 3 Only) My Dad The Rockstar The Powerpuff Girls (2016 Reboot) Boj All Grown Up! (Season 1 Only) Warped Club 57 The Tiny Chef Show HexVets and Magic Pets Hamsters of Hamsterdale The Ast⁷ronauts Cupcakery of Doom Drama Club Kinderwood Dorg Van Dango The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder My Little Pony Pony Life The Brothers Flub Rainbow Fish Teen Titans Go! Peppa Pig Índigo Juegos De Poder Caillou (Both 1997 And 2023) Johnny Test (Both Classic And 2021 Reboot) Fanboy And Chum Chum Sanjay And Craig Breadwinners Rock, Paper, Scissors Pig Goat Banana Cricket Historias del ocho Walala The Series Glu Glu

My Favorite Character Are

Tommy Pickles Chuckie Finster Angelica Pickles Samantha Shane Kimi Finster Phil & Lil Deville Susie Carmichael Daniel Harold Frumpkin Harriet Nicholas Sean Butler Justin Rogers Spongebob Squarepants Patrick Star Sandy Cheeks Pearl Krabs Mr Krabs Squidward Tenclates Seba Villanueva Claudia Lopez Cata Valdavieso Jota Gaby Ferrada Pipe Zambrano Rocio Valtierra Isidora Matilde Farias Bruno Troy Bolton Gabriella Montes Ryan And Sharpey Evans Chad Danforth Taylor Mckessie Phineas Flynn Ferb Fletcher Isabella Garcia Shapiro Tulio Triviño Juan Carlos Bodoque Juanin Juan Harry Policarpo Avendaño Cindy Miraflores Patana Blossom Bubbles And Buttercup Arnold Shortman Helga Pataki Gerald Johanssen Astro Boy Uran Nea Barry Benzo Ramon Walala Diego Pla Violeta Ochoa Ismael Droguet Danilo Viviana Felipe Garcia Maida De La Fuente Robin Starfire Cyborg Beast Boy Raven Mac Foster Bloo Frankie Foster Savannah Shane Brianna Penlope Paris Seltzer Chelsea Koyano

My Least Characters Are

Rachel Alcroft Z Spine Snapper Nacho Villanueva Barney The Dinosaur Bj Baby Bop Riff The Teletubbies Plankton Karen Plankton Bubble Bass Cachirula Cossimo Gianni Fanboy & Chum Chum Robot & Monster Sanjay & Craig Max & Ruby Peppa Pig George Pig Suzy Sheep Marsh Merriweather Amber Lamber Cassandra Barrren Lamort Blackstein Brad Solvee Blackfire The HIVE FIVE Caillou Rosie Mojo Jojo Princess Morbucks Vicky

[icriedinawalmart]

saturday

I did a meta day

Lunch: watermelon, egg whites, tea ~ 111

dinner: chicken teriyaki rice bowl, halo top ice cream - 807

snacks: seltzer, gum, chocolate, apples with pb, a rice cake, a piece of chicken ~ 582

total: 1,499 and 107g of protein

exercise: 1,591 steps (yea ik 😔, 56) biking (197)

net: 1,499 - 253 = 1246

weighed myself and I lost 3 pounds 💪 also I few days ago I got the kim cargos from brandy and I couldn't zip them up but today I could!!

[bellshazes]

this isn't that wild for a lot of circumstantial reasons but my life sometimes has this cadence to it where the friend I made online in 2011 who turned out to live in my city and then went to the same college here (who has turned out to be the mutual of my mutual on two separate occasions now in two totally different fandoms) is now moving to Australia and when I take them to the airport I mention last time I tried to buy cat litter the grocery gave me an 8 pack of grapefruit seltzer instead which I did not want and is the new burden of my life but the friend of theirs who just took their couch last night lives literally 2 doors down from me and loves seltzer so kim set up a group dm for us on twitter while waiting for their plane and I ended up walking it over just now.

I've been really overwhelmed an anxious since getting back from my trip despite doing good things like cleaning, making lunch, etc but the thing is ultimately I'm on the up and up because the seltzer problem solved itself

[elogehakizimana]

BEST MUSIC 2024

Best Albums

Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch - (8.6)

Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood - (8.6)

The Smile - Wall of Eyes - (8.5)

Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven - (8.5)

Bolis Pupul - Letter to Yu - (8.5)

Mach-Hommy - #RICHAXXHAITIAN - (8.4)

Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter - (8.4)

Still House Plants - If I don​’​t make it, I love u - (8.4)

Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive - (8.4)

Arooj Aftab - Night Reign - (8.3)

Charli XCX - Brat - (8.3)

Yaya Bey - Ten Fold - (8.3)

Helado Negro - Phasor - (8.3)

Vince Staples - Dark Times - (8.3)

1010Benja - Ten Total - (8.3)

Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee - (8.3)

Kali Uchis - Orquídeas - (8.3)

Brittany Howard - What Now - (8.3)

Hovvdy - Hovvdy - (8.3)

Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown - (8.3)

Wrecked Lightship - Antiposition - (8.3)

Empress Of - For Your Consideration - (8.2)

Fabiana Palladino - Fabiana Palladino - (8.2)

Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future - (8.2)

Faye Webster - Underdressed at the Symphony - (8.2)

Kim Gordon - The Collective - (8.2)

Joe Hisaishi - The Boy and the Heron OST - (8.2)

Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us - (8.2)

Jlin - Akoma - (8.1)

Nailah Hunter - Lovegaze - (8.1)

Paco Panama - Southside Sopranos - (8)

Xaviersobased - Keep It Goin Xav - (8)

MIKE / Tony Seltzer - Pinball - (8)

Hannah Frances - Keeper of the Shepherd - (8)

Norah Jones - Visions - (8)

Julia Holter - Something in the Room She Moves - (8)

Liv.e - PAST FUTUR.e - (8)

Amaro Freitas - Y’Y - (7.9)

Laryssa Kim - Contezza - (7.8)

Kelela - RAVE:N, the Remixes - (7.8)

Burial - Dreamfear / Boy Sent From Above EP - (7.8)

Tyla - Tyla - (7.8)

Chief Keef - Almighty So 2 - (7.7)

Israel B, Ergo Pro & Ill Pekeño - Galerias Deva - EP - (7.7)

Donato Dozzy - Magda - (7.7)

Astrid Sonne - Great Doubt - (7.7)

Erika de Casier - Still - (7.7)

DJ Anderson do Paraíso - Querid​ã​o - (7.6)

Sprints - Letter to Self - (7.6)

Alemán - Confesiones - (7.6)

Best Tracks

The Smile - Teleharmonic

Mach-Hommy - LON LON

Charli XCX - Mean girls

Cash Cobain, Bay Swag - Fisherr

MIKE / Tony Seltzer - 100 Gecs

1010benja - H2HAVEYOU

Arooj Aftab - Raat Ki Rani

xaviersobased - Get High

Helado Negro - Wish You Could Be Here

Still House Plants - M M M

Vince Staples - Nothing Matters

Fabiana Palladino - In The Fire

Jessica Pratt - Nowhere It Was

Charli XCX - Von Dutch

Kim Gordon - BYE BYE

Liv.e - $$$$ $

Empress Of - Fácil

Beyoncé - SPAGHETTII

Bolis Pupul - Ma Tau Wai Road

Hurray For The Riff Raff - The World Is Dangerous

Mannequin Pussy - Nothing Like

Waxahatchee - Evil Spawn

Usher - Coming Home

Beyoncé - DAUGHTER

Vince Staples - Black&Blue

Jessica Pratt - Life Is

Faye Webster - Lifetime

Wrecked Lighship - Hex

Nailah Hunter - Lovegaze

Empress Of - Lorelei

Laryssa Kim - Blue Velvet - Fortezza Sacra

Kelela - Closure (Flexulant x BAMBII Remix)

SPRINTS - Shaking Their Hands

Faye Webster - Thinking About You

Paco Panama - Tunnel Vision

Hovvdy - Bubba

Bolis Pupul - Completely Half

Waxahatchee - Right Back to It

Paco Panama - Major

Elyanna - Al Sham

Charli XCX - The von dutch remix

Ryan Destiny - How Your Hands Feel

Julia Holter - Something in the Room She Moves

Hannah Frances - Keeper of the Shepherd

Brittany Howard - I Don't

Jessica Pratt - World on a String

Helado Negro - I Just Want To Wake Up With You

Machinedrum - CAPONE

Jennifer Lopez - Broken Like Me

Shygirl - 4eva

Line Of The Year

"I'm often livin' on just to be outside these walls again" - Jessica Pratt

[brookston]

Holidays 9.20

Holidays

Battle of the Sexes Day

Celebration of Convictions (French Republic)

Constitution Day (Nepal)

Day of Circassians

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 10: Disarmament

Farroupilha Revolution (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

Gibberish Day

International Akathisia Awareness Day

International Children’s Growth Awareness Day

International Day of Peace

International Day of University Sport

International Magic Mushroom Day

International NFT Day

International Penile Cancer Awareness Day

Jour de Dessalines (Haiti)

Jump the Shark Day

Liberation Day (East Timor)

Mac Miller Day (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

National Addiction Professionals Day

National Bus Day (Japan)

National Care for Kids Day

National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day

National Equipment Manager Appreciation Day

National Farm Safety Day

National Farting Sound Day

National Fitness Day (UK)

National Gibberish Day

National LGBTQ Veteran’s Day

National Rehabilitation Day

National Science Reading Day

National Silk Day (India)

National Youth Day (Thailand)

Nuakhai (Odisha, India)

Oil Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Purple Bra Day (Australia)

Ragamuffin War (Brazil)

Sambidhaan Diwas (Constitution Day; Nepal)

Unification Day (Firefly)

World Children’s Day (Thüringen, Germany)

World Day for the Freedom of Expression of Thought

World Gynecological Oncology Awareness Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Your Own Junk Food At Home Day

National Fried Rice Day

National Hard Seltzer Day

National Pepperoni Pizza Day

National Punch Day

National Queso Day

National Rum Punch Day

National Sour Beer Day

National String Cheese Day

Rum Punch Day

World Paella Day

3rd Wednesday in September

Banned Websites Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Mouth Cancer Awareness Day (Ireland) [3rd Wednesday]

National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Rehabilitation Day [3rd Wednesday]

National School Backpack Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Independence Days

Agber (f.k.a. Kolios; Declared; 1995) [unrecognized]

Austenasia (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

Azzurrai (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Marxist Empire (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Mekniy and Lurk (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

South Ossetia (from Georgia, 1990) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Agapitus (Christian; Saint)

Andrew Kim Taegon, Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert, and companions (Christian; Korean Martyrs)

Birthday of the Sun (Inca)

Carista (Day of Peace in the Family; Pagan)

Coleridge Patteson (Anglican Communion)

Confucius Day (Confucianism)

Dale Chihuly (Artology)

Eustace (Christian; Saint)

Eustachius and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Evilasius (Christian; Saint)

Fausta of Cyzicus (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Korean Martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

Feast of Orlog (Deity of Destiny; Scandinavia)

Feast of Zywie (Goddess of Longevity; Poland)

Genesia (Festival to Honor the Dead, esp. those who died in wars; Ancient Greece)

Glycerius of Milan (Christian; Saint)

Jean-Charles Cornay (Christian; One of Vietnamese Martyrs)

John Coleridge Patteson (commemoration, Anglicanism) (Christian; Saint)

José Maria de Yermo y Parres (Christian; Saint)

Señor Canica (Muppetism)

Sophia Loren Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Telesterion begins (7th day of the Eleusinian Mysteries; Ancient Greece)

Théodore Chassériau (Artology)

Theodore, Philippa and companions (Christian; Saint)

Vincent Madelgarius (a..k.a. Maelceadar; Christian; Saint)

Voltaire (Positivist; Saint)

Yummy Kippers Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [51 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 263 [56 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Alice’s Monkey Business (Disney Cartoon; 1926)

Alice’s Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie (Album; 1967)

Anasazi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (Novel; 2005)

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (Play; 1943)

Call Me Maybe, by Carla Rae Jepsen (Song; 2011)

The Cosby Show (TV Series; 1984)

Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams (Novel; 1937)

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, by AC/DC (Album; 1976)

Downtown Abbey (Film; 2019)

The Fisher King (Film; 1991)

Fore, by Huey Lewis & The News (Album; 1986)

Firefly (TV Series; 2002)

Here Comes the Groom (Film; 1951)

Injun Trouble (WB MM Cartoon; 1969)

Lighthouse Keeping (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

Merlin (TV Series; 2008)

Mike & Molly (TV Series; 2010)

Miss Saigon (Musical Play; 1989)

MTV Cribs (TV Series; 2000)

My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara (Novel; 1941)

My Name is Earl (TV Series; 2005)

New Girl (TV Series; 2011)

Rabbit Seasoning (WB MM Cartoon; 1952)

Ringo the 4th, by Ringo Starr (Album; 1977)

Secretary (Film; 2002)

Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli Anime Film; 2002)

This Is Us (TV Series; 2016)

Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck (Travelogue; 1961)

Whip-Smart, by Liz Phair (Album; 1994)

Who’s the Boss? (TV Series; 1984)

Window Cleaners (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

Today’s Name Days

Candida, Fausta, Susanne (Austria)

Andrija, Andrijana, Pavao (Croatia)

Oleg (Czech Republic)

Tobias (Denmark)

Kaubi, Kaupo (Estonia)

Varpu, Vaula (Finland)

Davy (France)

Candida, Eustach, Hertha, Susanna (Germany)

Evstathios, Stathis, Theopisti (Greece)

Friderika (Hungary)

Candida, Eustachiusz, Matteo (Italy)

Guntra, Marianna (Latvia)

Eustachijus, Fausta, Tautgirdė, Vainoras (Lithuania)

Tage, Tobias (Norway)

Dionizy, Eustachiusz, Eustachy, Fausta, Faustyna, Filipina, Irena, Oleg, Ostap, Sozant (Poland)

Ľuboslav, Ľuboslava (Slovakia)

Genaro, Jenaro (Spain)

Agda, Elise, Lisa (Sweden)

Oleh (Ukraine)

Eustace, Eustacia, Hailee, Hailey, Haleigh, Haley, Halie, Halle, Hallie, Haylee, Hayley (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 263 of 2024; 102 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 38 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Xin-You), Day 6 (Xin-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 5 Tishri 5784

Islamic: 5 Rabi I 1445

J Cal: 23 Aki; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 7 September 2023

Moon: 28%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 11 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Voltaire]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 91 of 94)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 30 of 32)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.20

Holidays

Battle of the Sexes Day

Celebration of Convictions (French Republic)

Constitution Day (Nepal)

Day of Circassians

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 10: Disarmament

Farroupilha Revolution (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

Gibberish Day

International Akathisia Awareness Day

International Children’s Growth Awareness Day

International Day of Peace

International Day of University Sport

International Magic Mushroom Day

International NFT Day

International Penile Cancer Awareness Day

Jour de Dessalines (Haiti)

Jump the Shark Day

Liberation Day (East Timor)

Mac Miller Day (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

National Addiction Professionals Day

National Bus Day (Japan)

National Care for Kids Day

National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day

National Equipment Manager Appreciation Day

National Farm Safety Day

National Farting Sound Day

National Fitness Day (UK)

National Gibberish Day

National LGBTQ Veteran’s Day

National Rehabilitation Day

National Science Reading Day

National Silk Day (India)

National Youth Day (Thailand)

Nuakhai (Odisha, India)

Oil Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Purple Bra Day (Australia)

Ragamuffin War (Brazil)

Sambidhaan Diwas (Constitution Day; Nepal)

Unification Day (Firefly)

World Children’s Day (Thüringen, Germany)

World Day for the Freedom of Expression of Thought

World Gynecological Oncology Awareness Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Your Own Junk Food At Home Day

National Fried Rice Day

National Hard Seltzer Day

National Pepperoni Pizza Day

National Punch Day

National Queso Day

National Rum Punch Day

National Sour Beer Day

National String Cheese Day

Rum Punch Day

World Paella Day

3rd Wednesday in September

Banned Websites Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Mouth Cancer Awareness Day (Ireland) [3rd Wednesday]

National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Rehabilitation Day [3rd Wednesday]

National School Backpack Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Independence Days

Agber (f.k.a. Kolios; Declared; 1995) [unrecognized]

Austenasia (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

Azzurrai (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Marxist Empire (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Mekniy and Lurk (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

South Ossetia (from Georgia, 1990) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Agapitus (Christian; Saint)

Andrew Kim Taegon, Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert, and companions (Christian; Korean Martyrs)

Birthday of the Sun (Inca)

Carista (Day of Peace in the Family; Pagan)

Coleridge Patteson (Anglican Communion)

Confucius Day (Confucianism)

Dale Chihuly (Artology)

Eustace (Christian; Saint)

Eustachius and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Evilasius (Christian; Saint)

Fausta of Cyzicus (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Korean Martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

Feast of Orlog (Deity of Destiny; Scandinavia)

Feast of Zywie (Goddess of Longevity; Poland)

Genesia (Festival to Honor the Dead, esp. those who died in wars; Ancient Greece)

Glycerius of Milan (Christian; Saint)

Jean-Charles Cornay (Christian; One of Vietnamese Martyrs)

John Coleridge Patteson (commemoration, Anglicanism) (Christian; Saint)

José Maria de Yermo y Parres (Christian; Saint)

Señor Canica (Muppetism)

Sophia Loren Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Telesterion begins (7th day of the Eleusinian Mysteries; Ancient Greece)

Théodore Chassériau (Artology)

Theodore, Philippa and companions (Christian; Saint)

Vincent Madelgarius (a..k.a. Maelceadar; Christian; Saint)

Voltaire (Positivist; Saint)

Yummy Kippers Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [51 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 263 [56 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Alice’s Monkey Business (Disney Cartoon; 1926)

Alice’s Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie (Album; 1967)

Anasazi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (Novel; 2005)

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (Play; 1943)

Call Me Maybe, by Carla Rae Jepsen (Song; 2011)

The Cosby Show (TV Series; 1984)

Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams (Novel; 1937)

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, by AC/DC (Album; 1976)

Downtown Abbey (Film; 2019)

The Fisher King (Film; 1991)

Fore, by Huey Lewis & The News (Album; 1986)

Firefly (TV Series; 2002)

Here Comes the Groom (Film; 1951)

Injun Trouble (WB MM Cartoon; 1969)

Lighthouse Keeping (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

Merlin (TV Series; 2008)

Mike & Molly (TV Series; 2010)

Miss Saigon (Musical Play; 1989)

MTV Cribs (TV Series; 2000)

My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara (Novel; 1941)

My Name is Earl (TV Series; 2005)

New Girl (TV Series; 2011)

Rabbit Seasoning (WB MM Cartoon; 1952)

Ringo the 4th, by Ringo Starr (Album; 1977)

Secretary (Film; 2002)

Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli Anime Film; 2002)

This Is Us (TV Series; 2016)

Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck (Travelogue; 1961)

Whip-Smart, by Liz Phair (Album; 1994)

Who’s the Boss? (TV Series; 1984)

Window Cleaners (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

Today’s Name Days

Candida, Fausta, Susanne (Austria)

Andrija, Andrijana, Pavao (Croatia)

Oleg (Czech Republic)

Tobias (Denmark)

Kaubi, Kaupo (Estonia)

Varpu, Vaula (Finland)

Davy (France)

Candida, Eustach, Hertha, Susanna (Germany)

Evstathios, Stathis, Theopisti (Greece)

Friderika (Hungary)

Candida, Eustachiusz, Matteo (Italy)

Guntra, Marianna (Latvia)

Eustachijus, Fausta, Tautgirdė, Vainoras (Lithuania)

Tage, Tobias (Norway)

Dionizy, Eustachiusz, Eustachy, Fausta, Faustyna, Filipina, Irena, Oleg, Ostap, Sozant (Poland)

Ľuboslav, Ľuboslava (Slovakia)

Genaro, Jenaro (Spain)

Agda, Elise, Lisa (Sweden)

Oleh (Ukraine)

Eustace, Eustacia, Hailee, Hailey, Haleigh, Haley, Halie, Halle, Hallie, Haylee, Hayley (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 263 of 2024; 102 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 38 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Xin-You), Day 6 (Xin-Si)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 5 Tishri 5784

Islamic: 5 Rabi I 1445

J Cal: 23 Aki; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 7 September 2023

Moon: 28%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 11 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Voltaire]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 91 of 94)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 30 of 32)

[writinginnorthnorfolk]

Nature’s Alka Seltzer

The April day was overcastand I was feeling out of sorts.Although the winter gloom had passedthe April day was overcast.My deep despair was cured at last –a blackbird sang in fits and starts;the April day was overcastand I was feeling out – of sorts. Kim M. Russell, 4th April 2023 Image by Marco Midmore on Unsplash For Day 4 of NaPoWriMo, we are writing triolets, an eight-line poem in which…