#Prolific songwriter

[become-a-robot]

I hate there maybe ants.

[praypanic]

Liam and Noel are Abel and Cain to me, except Cain whacks him over the head with a guitar. Anyway Liam was crazy for writing Guess God Thinks I’m Abel one of my favorites he really gets it

noel really walking backwards into his own myth (he was trying to walk out) by hitting liam with a cricket bat. guy who is trying sooooo hard not to be cain. and yet.

ggtia is crazy. you've heard of love songs (romantic)? now we have love songs (fraternal and somehow also romantic still). <- a genre that mr noel gallagher himself is very familiar with

[acelessthan3]

Just read that as of May 2024 CRJ has said she's written 26 songs for her next album already.

[phyllisdietrichsonswig]

As someone who’s a much more casual fan than most of her diehards, I’m not immune to getting a bit tired of TSwift on occasion. But nobody who dislikes her can be even marginally fucking normal about it, so I am simply obligated to keep liking her because her haters are the most insufferable freaks on this planet.

[fairuzfan]

Campaign for Palestinian Poet and Songwriter Yaser Hamad

Hello All,

My friend @mariampoetry wanted to host a donation campaign for Yaser Hamad!

Yaser is a Rafah native and a prolific poet, writing songs for big name Palestinians singers like Muhammad Assaf (who sang the iconic song, "Dammi Falastini")! Here's a song he wrote for Assaf called "Ya Banat Bladna," which praises the girls and women of Palestine and their steadfastness.

Yaser's fiance was killed early on in the genocide and now he lives in a tent with his two daughters. Within the coming week by Sunday April 6th, we hope to raise $1000 USD to send to Yaser's family.

For those who are not aware, Mariam, the organizer, is a dear friend of mine in real life and a renowned Palestinian poet herself. She has been doing these donation campaigns to raise money for various friends of hers in Gaza, focusing on highlighting artists and their amazing talent. She has successfully sent money to multiple Palestinian artists through these campaign drives and hopes that everyone would be willing to help out with another campaign.

Please do donate if you can, or even just spread the word!

(P*yp*l: @ miriampoet)

[wizzard890]

okay so picture this.

You're a man named Jim Steinman. You are one of the most prolific songwriters of the 80s. In your spirit, output and essence, you are eternally popping a wheelie on a motorcycle while a hot half-naked woman clings to you and bats wheel in the sky above.

You wrote a song in which Meatloaf plays a hideously disfigured hunk who steals a nubile lady back to his crumbling manor and introduces her to the pleasures of magic lesbian group sex.

You wrote a song in which Celine Dion sings as Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, dancing with Cathy's corpse on a beach in the moonlight; a scene which you, Jim Steinman, believe should have been in the book. (The moors of Wuthering Heights are landlocked, but you, Jim Steinman, are too fucking real to care about that.)

You wrote the song for the opening scene of the movie Streets of Fire, in which evil leatherdaddy Willem Dafoe leads his malefic motorcycle crew into a concert to abduct Diane Lane while she's wearing a skintight satin jumpsuit.

You wrote a song in which Bonnie Tyler wanders a haunted boarding school as literal demon twinks gyrate at her out of the fog.

There is no peak of goth camp that you, Jim Steinman, have not summited, no horny energy you have not tapped. They say that Alexander the Great wept when he saw there were no more worlds to conquer. But you, Jim Steinman, are not Alexander the Great. You, Jim Steinman, are better. You, Jim Steinman, have vision.

You take your most successful song, the song everyone knows, the most big-haired, white dress, gothic arches, doves flying, possessed choir boys chanting, bombastic song you have, and think: what if this, but with vampires.

And so you change the lyrics to be about death and infinity and a powerful bloodsucking lord seducing a girl who is ALL ABOUT IT, and then toss off a whole musical for this song to be the centerpiece to, and the musical is bad but it's also a weird hit that's been staged in fourteen countries and revived seven times, because nothing has ever whipped as campily, as ridiculously, as perfectly as this:

It never takes off in America. A prophet is without honor in his own land. But that doesn't matter. How could it matter? You are perhaps the most creatively self-actualized man who has ever lived. Look at that vampire. He's coming in hot and a hundred Venetian nuns gave their lives to make his ludicrously capacious lace sleeves. Look at that girl. She was born in a fog machine. She wore her best red velvet cape. She's down bad. She's singing Total Eclipse of the Heart the whole time.

You are Jim Steinman, and you have reached apotheosis.

[torchlitinthedesert]

There’s something very strange about Paul’s usual “how John and I started writing” narrative. Here’s how he likes to describe it:

Me and John knowing each other, the fact that both of us independently had already started to write little songs... I said to him, “What’s your hobby?” I said, “I like songwriting,” and he said, “Oh, so do I.” You know, no one I’d ever met had ever said that as a reply. And we said, “Well, why don’t you play me yours and I’ll play you mine.” GQ, 2020

It’s my impression that this is now in the rotation of Paul Stories - I think he says it in McCartney 3,2,1, and in other interviews. Is it true? The earliest accounts contradict it:

“Paul’s first public performance, as a member of the Quarrymen, was at a dance… later on, after the dance, he played a couple of tunes to John he had written himself. Since he’d started playing the guitar, he had tried to make up a few of his own little tunes. The first tune he played to John that evening was called ‘I Lost My Little Girl’. Not to be outdone, John immediately started making up his own tunes.”

Hunter Davies, The Beatles, 1968

“‘I learned a lot from Paul. He taught me quite a lot of guitar really. He knew more about how to play than I did and he showed me a lot of chords. I’d been playing the guitar like a banjo so I had to learn it again. I didn’t write much material early on, less than Paul, because he was quite competent on guitar. I started to write after Paul did a song he’d written.’”

John Lennon to Ray Connolly, unpublished interview, 1970*

"He used to write songs before I even started writing songs."

John Lennon, St Regis interview, 1971

*[The Connolly quote is weaker as a source, because was published after John’s death (and he quotes it slightly differently: “I started to write after Paul did a song he’d written” is in Connolly’s John biography, but not in the version in his collected Beatle journalism). But it fits with the other accounts.]

Still, Paul’s version might have some truth in it. Mark Lewisohn cites a couple of 1971 interviews where John remembers trying to write a calypso song, tapping into a brief craze of spring 1957. I don’t know if he finished it, or told anyone about it. None of the Quarrymen mention it, while Pete Shotton told Bob Spitz that John was “floored” when Paul first played him one of his own songs. But the calypso story does make “so do I” seem more possible.

It’s still surprising that Paul wants to frame it this way. He’d be justified in pointing out that songwriting was his innovation, something he brought to the band. By any measure, he’s the one who started it: when he met John, he’d already written the melody of When I'm 64, plus Suicide and I Lost My Little Girl. And he was always prolific. As John told David Sheff, talking about I’ll Follow The Sun, “he had a lot of stuff”, “written almost before the Beatles, I think.” He was the one pushing to do their own material, whether that’s talking it up to music promoters or suggesting In Spite of All The Danger at their first amateur recording session. (To me, that suggests that Lennon-McCartney was established later than they tended to admit. In Spite of All The Danger, recorded in 1958, has George as cowriter; if Paul had written anything with John, I bet that's what he'd have suggested they record. And if John on his own had written something that was ready to record, they’d definitely have picked that. )

In the 1950s, writing your own material was groundbreaking: it’s part of the huge cultural shift into the 1960s. There were hundreds of skiffle/rock’n’roll bands in Liverpool, but it’s genuinely possible that Paul was the only songwriter among them. Why isn’t that the story he wants to tell?

When Paul started defending his legacy in the late 1980s, he was fighting against specific distortions. First, that he was the middle-of-the-road conservative one - which is why he lays out his avant garde credentials. So you’d think he’d want to remind everybody that he wrote songs first. But second, he’s up against the idea that he and John didn’t love each other, that they didn’t write together, that Lennon-McCartney was a myth. Paul is a rock star, with an ego to match; he’s not given to downplaying himself. But he wants the partnership more than he wants precedence, even more than he wants credit for innovation.

And he always did. Remember the story about John sharing half his chocolate bar? Paul joined the band, and shared half his songs.

He didn’t need to: he was already writing alone. If he wanted help, George was more musically accomplished, and would have been a more logical choice for a songwriting partner. But it's John whose attention and praise Paul needed, John who had the authority to say they’d play Paul’s songs, John who needed to feel like the most important person in the band. Becoming Lennon-McCartney formalises all of that. And Paul is still true to it.

Across decades, Paul has been consistent about promoting their partnership as a partnership, regardless of who did what. (This isn’t true of John, who by the late 1960s was eager to break down who wrote which song, which lyric, which middle eight.) After working with George Martin on the string arrangement for Yesterday, Paul signed the score: “"Yesterday" by Paul McCartney John Lennon George Martin Esq and Mozart.” Even as a joke, you don’t separate Lennon and McCartney. Ken Mansfield asked Paul why songs were “Lennon-McCartney” when John hadn’t been there for the writing process:

And Paul said: “John and I are so close to each other, we’ve been through so much together, we understand each other so much, our relationship is so deep, that when we’re songwriting,” he said, “even if I’m 6,000 miles away, I can be working on something and I can hear John over my shoulder going, ‘No, no, no, that’s not gonna work; why don’t we do this?’ Or ‘Hey, I like this.’” He said, “So, in essence, to me, we’re songwriting together even if we’re not together.”

Ken was asking about Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, not realising that John was there for that one: they worked on it in India. But rather than giving a practical answer, Paul chooses to frame the partnership as a profound connection. (Of course there are other times Paul insists on or overstates his contribution, or gets petty about who did what. He’s human, and he’s an egomaniac. But always, always within the framework that this was a partnership.)

Fundamentally, he’s loyal to Lennon-McCartney. “So do I” matters more to him than going first. It might not be literally true, but it's the emotional truth that he needs.

[invenusworld]

uttara ashadha 𓃰

this nakshatra relates to the myth of ganesha, the elephant headed son of shiva who broke off his own left tusk and used it to pen the mahabharata as is was being dictated by vyasa. another name of ganesha is ekdanta, one-toothed

uttara ashadha natives make prolific writers - their letters and writings are often published highly regarded and studied, their works are nuanced offering layered symbolism and fraught with various subtexts. they have a penchant for words and possess a natural eloquence and musicality (the mahabharat is written in poetic meter and essentially meant to be sung)

uttara ashadhas make excellent songwriters and scriptwriters and have a natural inclination for music, poetry, prose, wordplay and all professions pertaining to writing, including policymakers, scribes, copywriters, screenwriters, etc.

ganesha had agreed to pen the mahabharata on the condition that vyasa narrate it without pausing

uttara ashadhas possess fast paced minds and often produce large bodies of work in relatively short amounts of time, putting forth several magnum opuses in their lifetimes

in turn, ganesha was instructed to only pen a verse once he fully understood it

leading ganesha to take pauses from writing and contemplate what was being narrated by vyasa, reflecting the highly contemplative, reflective and analytical nature of uttara ashadha

this nakshatra spans the 9th house of Sagittarius (dharma - righteous action) and the 10th house of capricorn (artha - prosperity and purpose) uttara ashadha is of the sthira (stable, sturdy, fixed, foundational) quality and kshatriya (ruling, warrior) caste indicating an inclination for positions of power and authority, roles in government, finance, policy making and nation-building, working for the public in some way, being a public servant.

saturn's rashis, capricorn and aquarius, in essence serve as the backbones of society, the machine which keeps it running. aquarius, co-ruled by rahu represents its advancement, progress and future and capricorn is the foundational essence which holds it together — uttara ashadha, shravana and dhanishta relate to upliftment and harmony based on divine connections and the sharing of a common goal

[ohnoitstbskyen]

100 songs to get to know me

I posted this image over on the bluesky, and it got like 100 likes, so now here we are. I was going to write them all up here, but Tumblr imposes a 10 video limit on embeds per post which I find infuriating.

So! You can read the first ten entries here, but you can read the entire list here: https://tbskyen.bearblog.dev/100-songs-to-get-to-know-me/

1. ABBA - Lay All Your Love On Me

I genuinely don't quite know if my enjoyment of ABBA is something I came by honestly, or something which is simply genetically engineered into my Scandinavian soul. I remember hearing my mom blasting their songs on the home stereo in my childhood, and the association has put permanent nostalgia blinders on me for all of ABBA's greatest hits. Still, I think the beat is undeniable and the mournful tone of the chorus adds some real melancholy to the dramatic plea at the core of the song.

2. Afenginn - Oestrogenmanipuleret Basilisk

Afenginn describe themselves as "bastard etno-punk" which is probably as good a description as you're going to get. There's a lot of klezmer and eastern European folk influences here, but what is more important about Afenginn's best songs is that they go hard as f*ck and it's an absolute blast to dance to them at a show. They played this the first time I saw them live, and the rhythm comes back every time I hear it again. Good times!

3. Afenginn - Ralli in D Minor

With 100 slots to fill, I am giving myself permission to allocate two slots to Afenginn, and for the same reason. Ralli in D Minor is less of a dance tune to me, and more of a headbanger, but with a sufficiently loud subwoofer and a game crowd, you could f*ing mosh to this.

4. Anamanaguchi - Prom Night

I discovered Anamanaguchi as the composers of the title track to the Nerdist podcast back in the day, and being unfamiliar with the concept of chiptunes, I was drawn in initially by the sheer novelty of hearing the squeaks and bloops of my gaming childhood employed towards rock tunes and combined with "real" instruments.

Beyond the gimmick, though, Anamanaguchi won me over fully with the Scott Pilgrim game soundtrack, and then 2013's Endless Fantasy, where the gimmick of chiptune nostalgia noise (at least for me) finally coalesced into something that felt entirely like its own thing. Plus I'm a sucker for exactly this kind of bright dance pop, and Bianca Raquel's vocals here are a perfect match for the tone of the music.

5. Jennifer Hudson - Memory

2019s Cats is a fascinating fucking disaster. Tom Hooper is the worst director of musicals in my living memory, the abuse of the VFX staff extended beyond brutal crunch and absurd challenge imposed by a director who had no idea what the hell he was asking them to do all the way into an astonishingly arrogant and condescending joke from Rebel Wilson and James Corden at the expense of workers who were the last people at fault for the disaster that the movie became (look in the fucking mirror, Wilson and Corden, your performances were rancid).

Still, the silver lining of Cats is we got to hear Jennifer Hudson shake the world on its foundations with her rendition of Memory. I don't give a shit what anyone says, this performance is transcendent and no amount of institutional failure can dim its quality.

6. Annette Bjergfeldt - Min Bærende Bjælke

Annette is one of my mother's oldest friends, and a prolific singer-songwriter now turned author. I've been going to her concerts since I was a little child, and while I am absolutely not the target audience for any of it, it has stuck with me as part of my musical vocabulary deep into adulthood.

She has experimented with brass band accompaniment a few times, but for my money, nothing quite comes close to the floating, optimistic vibe of Min Bærende Bjælke. It sounds like a very particular kind of lasting romance, which of course is also what the lyrics are about.

7. Hozier - Blood Upon the Snow

We'll get more than one Hozier song on this list, but Blood Upon the Snow stands out to me as a song which easily transcends the videogame soundtrack promotional tie-in nature of its conception. Bear McCreary's hurdy gurdy and lyrics about surviving through adversity by holding on to existence with your teeth and nails... yeah, it hits with me. There's something real in that.

"The trees deny themselves nothing that makes them grow, no rainfall, no sunshine, no blood upon the snow." Something about that feels real.

8. The Beatles - Something

idk if I really need to write anything about George Harrison's most famous love song that hasn't been written more extensively by a million dad-rock enthusiasts before me.

I will say, this is one of the few songs I listen to regularly that justify the expensive audiophile headphones I invest in. There's a LOT to hear on a good, lossless, original mix of this song, if you're the kind of pervert who gets off to listening to a song a hundred times to focus on different parts of the soundscape. (it's me, I am the pervert)

9. Blink-182 - Adam's Song

I discovered a lot of my music taste as a young man from extremely low-resolution AMVs that my friend used to download off sketchy file-sharing sites. Blink-182 entered my musical lexicon through the one above, specifically, piggybacking off of my teenage love of Dragon Ball.

I never really grokked what the lyrics were actually about, until relistening to the song years later, but something about the minor-key wail of the thing really sat with my angsty teenage soul and has stuck with me ever since. I cannot listen to this song without that music video playing in my head, the song will forever belong to Vegeta.

There's remastered versions of this AMV out there, apparently, but if it's not 144p with tinny audio, it's just not right. That's not what the song is supposed to sound like, not to me.

10. Blink-182 - Miss You

Blink-182 is one of those bands I discovered via anime AMVs and listened to obsessively for a period as a teenager (The Offspring will show up later on this list), and then fell entirely out of touch with for years until discovering much later in life that they did, in fact, keep releasing music. I Miss You from their self-titled 2003 album felt, when I discovered it sometime in the early 2010s, like a much more mature and interesting sound from a band which had gotten stuck associated with my adolescent superpower kung-fu fantasies which I was, at the time, feeling a bit embarrassed about.

The song had a resurgence on TikTok a little while ago as a meme template, which made me listen to the albums again, and rediscover yet again that Blink-182 is, in fact, still putting out albums.

---

The rest of the list is here: https://tbskyen.bearblog.dev/100-songs-to-get-to-know-me/

[thecampfirescene]

In Monk Magazine, Van Sant commented that "the campfire scene was the last thing we shot in America before we went to Europe.

About three nights before we shot the scene, he showed me a lot of stuff he had written, and it was like sixteen pages of handwritten notes with arrows and things leading to other pages and circles around words. It was a big mess. He said he was rewriting the scene and wanted to know if he could do this.

I was scared. It looked like he was freaking out. It was out of control... Sometimes actors just want you to say "No!", I didn't think he was doing that [but] he was the type of guy that wanted you to say "No." So I asked Keanu if it was all right, if River was like, stepping on his turf, because when one actor starts to write another actors' lines, it can get into this bad scene. Keanu really loved River, and he just said, "Yeah, man. Yeah."

This is the best part in the film", insists Gus, "and was chosen by River to be his big scene. He chose it because his [other] big scene, the one with his brother, had shot early, and he didn't get what he wanted out of it. So, he asked me to save the campfire scene.

He was a prolific songwriter, and he rewrote the scene like a song. Although, besides putting everything he had into the scene, he didn't really change it much. As a matter of fact, one of the ways it was changed was for him to flat-out say that he is in love with Scott."

— In Search Of River Phoenix: The Truth Behind The Myth (2004) by Barry C. Lawrence

[deconstructthesoup]

What's been in my head lately is a Fantasy High pirate AU. Not a Leviathan AU, an actual pirate AU.

Bear with me---

Adaine is a bookish princess of a kingdom by the sea, and while she has everything from an outsider's perspective, she's neglected by her parents as the second child and is incredibly lonely. Her only real friend is Kristen, who's a representative of the church of Helio and is kind of Adaine's unofficial lady-in-waiting, and both of them are fairly sheltered... until one fateful day, while the two are enjoying a small day of freedom, they get captured by a motley crew of pirates.

Fabian is the captain and the son of the fabled Old Bill, and he's been making his own mark on the seven seas via sheer charisma and chaos. He's trying to build up a reputation of being a ruthless thief and murderer like his father was, but it's pretty plain to see that he cares a lot more than he lets on... like, for instance, upon realizing that Adaine's parents don't care enough about her to pay for ransom, he immediately offers her a spot on his crew. And once Kristen has a very public crisis of faith, she's granted a spot, too.

The other members of Fabian's crew are as follows:

Riz, his first mate and best friend. He's a son of two prolific spies from the goblin kingdom, and he initially wanted to take down the vast network of pirates across the world, but quickly changed gears once he realized that working for the monarchy was a lot more morally corrupt. He kind of acts as the voice of reason, while simultaneously being one of the most feral members of the crew.

Ragh, the ship's chef and the other first mate---Fabian couldn't decide between him and Riz. His mom used to be a pretty prolific pirate herself, and he and Fabian have known each other since they were kids... and, yeah, their relationship has changed from "best friends forever" to "work husbands" over the years. They have some good times.

Gorgug, the ship's resident gunner. He grew up in a family of blacksmiths, couldn't find a lot of honest work, and eventually got a steady position on Fabian's ship. He's happy to be here, he's happy to show off the fact that he's a beast in combat situations, and he's one of the most technically savvy members of the crew. Also, he's a surprisingly good listener.

Fig, the musician and "dark sorceress" of the ship. She used to be a traveling singer-slash-songwriter and used an elven disguise to blend in, but eventually decided "fuck it" and took on her true form as a free-spirited tiefling pirate who kicks ass, takes names, and curses anybody who badmouths her. She's great.

Tracker, the ship's surgeon. She was raised in the church of Helio before being bitten by a werewolf, after which she promptly left to learn under her uncle, who was a prolific pirate himself before he retired. Nowadays, she's learned the secrets of both witchcraft and medicine and made a name for herself as a skilled healer and fighter, and is pretty happy where she is.

Gertie, the ship's other chef and resident wildlife expert. She's definitely one of the most friendly members of the crew, and even though she butts heads with Fabian a lot, she's a pretty core part of the crew. And yeah, between her and Tracker, Kristen is definitely getting a big lesbian awakening.

There is, of course, still a version of Leviathan out there, and Ayda still lives there as a librarian... which is the reason why the crew regularly makes stops there, though getting more supplies is also a plus. Garthy is also there, along with Sandralynn and Jawbone (and Hallariel and Gilear, much to Fabian's displeasure). The Seven are also around---they're a fierce crew of pirates who have a bit of a friendly rivalry with Fabian's crew, though it's never escalated into outright battle.

[dlstmxkakwldrlarchive]

Partly for the prolific volume of projects artists release each year and partly for the fluid definition of an album (running anywhere from three to 13 tracks), an annual ranking of K-pop albums is never easy. As South Korea continues to extend its global musical influence, certain projects transcend hit-song compilations, presenting larger visions and conceptual narratives.

In 2023, stars like V, WOODZ and ONEW used their latest solo projects to share the music that inspires them at their core as artists and let listeners settle into sonic worlds they’ve developed.

[...]

First Place: Onew, Circle The First Album

While it’s somewhat criminal to think that 15 years after ONEW’s debut with SHINee in 2008 we only just received his first full Korean album, the singer-songwriter himself would say that now was the perfect time for Circle. A musical journey unlike anything released this year, ONEW shared that he had attempted to record the album’s title track before dropping his Dice EP in early 2022, but felt it wasn’t at the level of perfection it deserved and held onto the song. ONEW then involved himself in every aspect of Circle‘s production process, from meticulous mixing and mastering to tuning, beats, recording and mastering, attesting to the singer-songwriter’s dedication to artistic expression.

The single “O (Circle)” opens the album with an intriguing blend of electronica and strings, while its gospel-tinged chorus emphasizes lyrics about the circular nature of life and how memories, feelings and dreams are all fleeting. The 10 tracks on Circle develop unique transformations from start to finish: the breezy melodies in “Cough” are paired with loneliness-themed lyrics and a melancholy instrumental breakdown, while “Rain on Me” starts with aggressive acoustic guitar strumming before transitioning into an atmospheric, percussive ballad. Sweet surprises abound, too: ONEW scats on the jazz-rap hybrid “Caramel” and gives a glimpse into his indie-rock side on “Parachute.”

The album’s effortless flow is anchored by ONEW’s famously solid yet understated vocals. As Circle concludes with the tender piano ballad “Always” which addresses themes of loyalty and resilience, the listener wonders if it’s an allegory for ONEW’s public journey through health challenges, including vocal cord surgery. Even without any writing credits on Circle, ONEW’s presence is undeniably felt in this seamless collection that boasts an emotional depth brought on by 15 years in the game. That’s the kind of introspection you can’t rush or doctor through A&R but need to cycle through and arrive at when the moment is right. From scheduling this album’s release to the messages on the final track, time is definitely on ONEW’s side to deliver such a project. — J.B.

source

[cardsharksplayingames]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but it’s absolutely bonkers that the best and most prolific songwriter of this generation has NEVER won a SOTY Grammy

[putschki1969]

Keiko Making New Music in L.A.?

👉 This is FAN CLUB EXCLUSIVE CONTENT 👉 For PERSONAL USE ONLY! 👉 DO NOT SHARE the links or their content ❗SUPPORT KEIKO and JOIN her FC. Detailed TUTORIAL❗

For the past week or so Keiko has been teasing (dare I say "trolling"XD) us. On April 1st, she made a rather dramatic announcement on Yodel, telling us that she would leave Japan indefinitely only to quickly take everything back and reassure us that she was just pranking us for April Fools' Day. A couple of days later, her regular morning greetings were joined by some strange emojis including waves and the American flag. It seemed inconspicuous at the time and no one really thought anything of it but earlier today, Keiko pretty much confirmed her location. She is currently in the US, most likely in Los Angeles.

Her guitarist and mentor Yas Nakajima has been in L.A. for a couple of weeks now and it seems like Keiko has joined him on his trip halfway through. He regularly travels back and forth between Tokyo and L.A. and does a lot of collaborative work with L.A. based Japanese (and American) musicians. Just yesterday, he was at the studio with prolific music producer/songwriter "her0ism" who does a lot of music for Japanese artists. Keiko is following him on Instagram so my working theory is that there's some new music coming soon (which would align with Keiko's recent request for us to be patient a little while longer until there's a new announcement). Oh well, let's wait and see...

Update #1: We now also have a more official reveal in Keiko's Instagram story. She is using the American flag emoji again and has tagged music producer "her0ism". Let's keep our fingers crossed that something good will come out of this.

Update #2: Keiko is busy meeting lots of people in L.A. She was out and about with Yas and Toshi Yanagi who is the guitarist of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.

[wrightmourmarriage]

everything they say on tumblr about roger waters is true. he's 5-times divorced (including the band), his most well known vocal roles include him screaming in the most fucked up ways possible, his most prolific songwriting is about his doomed situationship with his childhood friend guitarist, he's been named the "gloomiest man in rock 'n' roll" and he delivers on that title as best as he can, he has daddy issues and about 5 different complexes and every few years he starts drama with his arch nemesis of 4 decades over shit like an album remix. and he looks like this the whole time

[kalpakita]

IWTV - additional music

Long post about the music used in the show.

I added some info about the artist / composer / song + a mention if I found some relevance or interesting bits.

note: I didn't identify most myself, so thanks to @greedandenby's playlists + @iwtvfanevents 🎵

Ferdinand LaMothe aka Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) : Creole musician, pianist and composer who is regarded as one of the pioneers of jazz music. He started his piano playing in the Storyville area.

1.01: The Crave -We see him portrayed and playing this song in the very 1st scene where Louis meets Lestat.

1.03: Wolverine Blues -In ep3 Daniel plays it after Louis claims Lestat inspired Morton to write the song. It's an early jazz standard.

Scott Joplin (1868-1917) : Composer and pianist, who has been dubbed the "King of Ragtime". He considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls.

1.01: Solace -plays later in the same scene when Lestat holds Louis in his gaze. Both this and Morton's "The Crave" have a habanera rhythm.

Florence Price (1887-1953) : Classical composer, pianist and more. She is noted as the first African-American woman to have a composition played by a major orchestra. She was mentioned as one of the inspirations and a fav of the show's composer Daniel Hart.

1.01: Dances in the Canebrakes: I. Nimble Feet -plays when Louis starts hanging out with Lestat.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) : One of the most famous composers of the Romantic period, perhaps best known for his ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. He had a number of affairs with men but strove to keep it hidden.

1.01: Iolanta -his last opera. The setting is a beautiful garden and its heroine is an "outsider". In the end Iolanta is amazed of the of the world hidden from her before. Louis was moved by it but hides that from his family.

1.01: During Paul's funeral you can hear a brass band version of the hymn called In the sweet by and by. I read that this kind of procession is an unique tradition in New Orleans, sometimes called "jazz funeral."

Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) : Cellist/violinist best known for his guitar music.

1.02: Caprice for guitar, Op.11 - This classical guitar piece plays in the scene with "Rashid" while Daniel discovers Marius's painting. Armand hint.

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) : A prolific composer of over 70 operas. His most famous one is probably Lucia di Lammermoor.

1.02: Don Pascuale - Apparently, these 'comic operas' traditionally referenced to the stock characters from commedia dell'arte. (iykyk) The story revolves around unapproved love and marriage shenanigans.

1.03: Darktown Strutters' Ball by a black Canadian-born songwriter Shelton Brooks. It became a vaudevillian hit and is considered a jazz standard. The lyrics make a ref. to Morton. The version in the scene is very low tempo though.

1.03: Minuet in G major - One of the most well known pieces for beginners on the piano. It's often attributed to J.S.Bach but later to Christian Petzold. The Jelly Roll style 'Vampire’s Minuet' was arranged and played by Ethan Uslan for ep3.

1.03: Am I Blue can briefly be heard When Jonah enters Azalea. It's a popular song originally recorded by Ethel Waters for a 1929 movie, so it's a little out of timeline.

Frederic Chopin (1810–1849) : Composer and pianist of the Romantic period. His romantic and suggestive letters to men seem to have been intentionally misinterpreted by his biographers.

1.03: Nocturne, Op. 55: No. 1 in F minor -Plays during the scene with Louis and Jonah, ending just before "Was it raining?"

2.06: Nocturne, No. 20 in C Sharp Minor -Plays at the Sushi restaurant in S2. It is notable for its association with few Holocaust survivors.

1.04: Colour Suite: III. Yellow Hammers by Madeleine Dring, a mid century composer and pianist who had an "unique blend of classical and jazz influences,"-starts playing when the unholy family leave the wake.

1.04 note: Multiple nice pieces from APM library are used in ep4, mostly New Orleans dixieland - "The Viper " "Bourbon Street Blues" "Exotique" and "Jungle Jazz Room." There's also "Jelly's Blues" in ep1 and "Skip Dat Pop Dat" in ep5.

Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915) : Composer and pianist who "developed a growing atonal system, which was in accordance with his idea of mysticism." He "came to believe that he had a mission to regenerate mankind through art."

1.05: 24 Preludes Op. 11 No. 15 - Lestat plays it at the start of ep5.

Duke Ellington (1899–1974) Louis Armstrong (1901–1971) As many of you probably know, these jazz legends helped the genre forward. Ellington has the largest recorded personal jazz legacy. Armstrong became one of the most influential artists in jazz history. At the time of the story though, both were at the start of their careers.

1.05: East St. Louis Toodle-Oo was the first charting single for Ellington. It plays during the conversation with Anderson, before L&L come home to drunk Claudia.

1.05: Everything Is Hotsy Totsy Now - This fox-trot tune starts playing just after that, during the police search.

Few songs play over the radio/record in ep5 & 6:

1.05: Underneath The Arches by the duo Flanagan and Allen. It refers to the railway bridge where homeless slept during the Great Depression. It plays when Claudia returns home.

1.06: Haunted Heart - Broadway tune covered by Jo Stafford. It plays when Louis asks Claudia to make an effort to get along.

1.06: Was Your Heart Ever There - sang by Alyce Hauser. It plays when Lestat smokes and complains to Antoinette. (ep6 are bit out of timeline)

1.06: Giuseppe Tartini's "Devil's Trill Sonata" plays when Lestat comes after Claudia when she tries to leave by train. Tartini (1692-1770) was a composer and violinist of the Baroque era. He told that the devil had appeared to him in a dream and inspired to compose the sonata.

Johan Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) : A composer and organist of the Baroque period who is regarded one of the most influential musicians and often called the most spiritual. He composed for a variety of instruments and forms.

1.07: Partita in B-Flat Major: II. Allemande -Lestat plays it before Claudia offers to play the duet. It's a slow version of it.

Claude Debussy (1862–1918) : Composer whose works had a major influence on 20th century music. He "embraced nontraditional scales and tonal structures and developed a highly original system of harmony."

1.07: Six épigraphes antiques 1. "To invoke Pan" -The one Claudia and Lestat play together. It was originally composed for 4 hands but later made solo. Apparently, parts of these were earlier written as musical accompaniments for his friend's lesbian poems "Les Chansons de Biliti."

Erskine Hawkins (1914–1993) : Renowned bandleader and composer who was nicknamed the "20th-Century Gabriel," because of his heavenly trumpet play. His best known song is the jazz standard" Tuxedo Junction."

1.07: Dolemite - A popular song from that year plays when they plan the attack.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) : Composer and impactful musical figure between the classical and romantic eras. He began to grow increasingly deaf in his 30s but continued composing. As our subject is vampires: he wrote a ten-page love letter to an "Immortal Beloved" but never sent it.

1.07: Piano Sonata No. 14 (moonlight sonata) -Plays several times + during the end credits. Most likely a homage to the usage of it in the 94 movie.

2.03: Fidelio, Op 72: Prisoners’ Chorus -This Opera tells a story of a woman who, dressed as a guard, tries to rescue her husband from prison. It gained significance after WW2. The chorus is an ode to freedom. Plays in S2 when Louis shows Alois his photographs.

2.01: Y’A Pas D’Printemps - Edith Piaf Piaf is perhaps the most well known French singers. She became kind of a symbol "of passion and tenacity". The song translates to "There's No Spring." The lyrics express longing for better life.

2.02: Snowfall - Claude Thornhill & his Orchestra - Thornhill was a pianist, composer and bandleader who wrote few jazz and pop standards. Notably this and "I Wish I Had You" with Billie Holiday. It plays when Louis says he started taking pictures.

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) : Composer and pianist who "incorporated elements of modernism, baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz." It's been speculated that he was gay. According to Daniel Hart, show Lestat loves Ravel.

2.02/04/08 Piano Concerto in G, II. Adagio assai -plays 3 times in S2: When Louis reads Lestat's letter, lets go of 'dreamstat' and during their reunion. Each time it's performed by Martha Argerich (seems she has recorded it 3 times) who Lestat also mentions in ep8.

2.02: Menilmontant - Charles Trenet, a singer-songwriter most famously known for the hit song La Mer. (Beyond the Sea) He was gay behind the public. This plays during end credits and refers to an area in Paris with "bohemian, left-wing and counterculture identity." (random side note: I love the jazz guitar version of this song recorded by Django Reinhardt)

Nat King Cole - A well loved singer, actor and it's often overlooked how great jazz pianist he was too. Despite the worldwide success, he still suffered intense racial discrimination during his career. Cole's trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that came later.

2.04: King Cole Trio - Vom, Vim, Veedle - One of the earliest recordings with the trio. I wonder if it made Louis homesick.

Josephine Baker -Iconic dancer, singer, actress, activist and more. She has been titled the "first black international superstar." Although married, she had a number of affairs with women (including Frida Kahlo)

2.06: Mon Cœur Est Un Oiseau Des Îles "My heart is an island bird" -This made me think about the bird motifs around Claudia.