#REALLY AN R&B SONG NOT GOSPEL

[keepingupwithzaynmalik]

Zayn Malik’s eventim Apollo Show Is An Emotional Triumph

The second of his sold out London shows…

Zayn Malik isn’t particularly fond of touring. It’s the word on the lips of everyone in the scrum outside the eventim Apollo tonight, an expectant London crowd awaiting the return of a generational pop icon. Since the closure of One Direction, Zayn’s solo career has been stop-start, as he navigated personal issues in the process. He remains, however, Zayn Malik – and the tension, excitement, and longing in the air is palpable.

Squeezing past some disappointed punters left outside, CLASH retrieves its ticket from the booth, only to discover that we’ve been handed a second ticket, too. Spotting a mother and daughter looking confused at the ticket desk, we do a swap-around with the kind man behind the desk, and suddenly we’re in a different seat, and the parental duo are joyously climbing the steps into the Apollo.

With good karma under our wings, we trot down to our seat, slightly bemused by the looks we’re getting from the crowd. They’re young. Sometimes very young. We are… maybe not? Upon finding our seat we’re immediately cross-examined by the pair of Zayn stans placed next to us.

“Are you REALLY a Directioner? Really?” they ask.

“Oh, obviously,” CLASH responds, in a tone so flatly assuring that not even the FBI could crack it. Sensing an awkwardness, we offer: “Are you a big Zayn fan, then?”

It’s then that she fixes her eyes mid-distance with a burning intensity, and answers with the kind of explosive assurance that only youth can offer: “He is the most beautiful man in the world.”

It’s the screams that get you. When the curtain falls and Zayn emerges the voices are deafening, almost beyond belief. It’s a wall of noise, a shuddering screech of pent-up desperation – joy and lust, longing and relief, all fused into one titanic tidal wave of sound. For his part, Zayn is bashful – shy, even. The voice is pristine, the band are exceptional – it’s a tight sound that blends R&B, pop and (especially) Americana, reflective of the journey he’s been on.

For someone who seemingly doesn’t enjoy touring, and the pressure of live performance, Zayn doesn’t hold back. It’s an 18-strong set list, delivered succinctly, with the minimum of fuss – all music, no hype. He’s clad in a Nirvana t-shirt and a loose top, a porkpie hat annointed on his head. Every detail, every hand gesture counts – when Zayn opts to remove his top, the screams reach new, almighty levels.

At times, he’s semi-stunned, not sure how to respond. “Fuck yeah, you guys are loud!” he offers, laughing self-consciously in the process. It’s been a long road to get here – at one point, fans could be forgiven for feeling that Zayn was lost to music. The gospel touches in opening song ‘My Woman’ offer something soothing, while ‘Dreamin’ and ‘Lied To’ are early highlights. The pacing is patient, the band behind him immaculately well-rehearsed.

It’s never marbled, or overly professional. There’s a humanity to Zayn Malik that he can’t hide – the Yorkshire twang is still there, and for all his evident shy reserve there’s also a quiet joy at being onstage. Repeatedly thanking the crowd – “you guys are sooooo loud!” – there’s a sense of genuine relief onstage. ‘Ignorance Ain’t Bliss’ is a wonderful mid-set vignette, ‘Sweat’ is packed with the lust, while ‘iT’s YoU’ is a deft duet between vocalist and piano.

There’s a couple of surprises, too. ‘Last Request’ honours Paolo Nutini, and serves as a great vessel for the soulful aspects of Zayn’s own voice. There’s a revealing introduction to ‘PILLOWTALK’: “The reason – one reason – I didn’t tour for so long was that I was afraid to sing this song…”

Zayn needn’t have worried. The audience acts as a cushion underneath him, their love and support pushing him up when needed. ‘PILLOWTALK’ is gorgeous, rapturously received, while a home run of ‘Alienated’ and ‘Gates Of Hell’ ties up a punctual performance that offers everything fans could have wanted – and more.

There’s a sense of quiet exhaustion at the end, when a tribute to Liam Payne flashes up onscreen. ‘Stardust’ plays, and there’s a moment of pause as the crowd engages in mutual reflection. One Direction helped to frame the coming-of-age experiences of a generation, their music bringing incalculable joy to millions across the globe. It’s a true sin, then, that the intense experiences of fame brought so much pressure and pain to the young men who powered that phenomenon. Zayn Malik is a wonderful vocalist, someone with fantastic pop songs in his solo canon – he’s also, as the girl next to us so succinctly put it, one of the most beautiful men we’ve ever seen onstage. He may not tour that often, but we wish him nothing but happiness.

ROBIN MURRAY FOR CLASH

[rocksibblingsau]

The fact that in real life Funk is a sub-genre/borned from R&B and in the troll universe is (implied to be) the opposite makes choosing music for the Funk tribe and assigning irl music to a troll's genre so weird and confusing.

Lets not even start with how Jazz and its different genres, Blues, Disco, Gospel, Soul and others would get mixed into this. It's already difficult to draw a hard line between them in real life since a lot of these genres originated from one another, influence each other and overlap quite often and are even sometimes fully grouped together (R&B been both its on genre, but also the grouping of Blues and Rhythm). It feels wrong to just completely mix them together into Funk or say they are a sub-genre of Funk because how different, nuanced and big each of these genres can be (and how many of them are older than Funk itself), but them being one of the main tribes and R&B already been a sub-genre of Funk in universe doesn't help.

Which leads to the question of again, we're does this leave Jazz? It has many roots in Blues and some jazz sub-genres are often group together with R&B and Gospel (forming the "genre" of Soul music), but most of Jazz can be and IS very different from Soul and Funk. And that is not even mentioning how heavily Jazz influenced Hip-Hop, R&B and even Funk. I think Im having a stroke...

Anyways, it seems that the lesson today is that even though the Troll Tribes are a fun and creative idea it also really simplifies and separates the topic of music genres abd music history, something thats famously complex and interconnected. I didn't even mentioned genres like Rock, Techno, Rock-and-Roll and others that were also pioneered by black american communities and were influenced/influential and share similarities to Jazz, Funk, Blues and R&B.

Aka.: Music genres in real life doesn't exist in a vacuum and wasn't born out of thin air, but they did in the Trolls universe so let's not think so hard about it and just roll with it for the sake of all of our sanities.

(This rant/discussion was born out of me finding a brazillian jazz and soul song that really fitted Funk Branch and researching the history of black-american genres for two hours just to make it make sense some what because I obviously wasn't giving such a good song to fucking Chaz. Anyways the song is De Ontem by Liniker, it's really good and I recommend it a lot - for Branch and in general - even if the translation I found on google was quite bad. If you plan to listen to it, I can write and send you a somewhat better one if you want)

Anyhow, sorry for the insanely long ask. If you take a shot for everytime a mention a music genre, you would quite literally die before the ask was over. Thank you for reading <3

That's kind of a thing with music irl yeah, the genres are messy and almost every song when you look it up has at least two genres it's accredited to. I think part of the point of the movie is that it's hard to stay confined to a single genre and all genres take influence from each other and are born from each other. Pop and Rock were born from the same thing, they just split in different directions.

I take the irl genres of songs as a suggestion. If something seems more like it'd be the Funk Trolls vibe, then it's their music.

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Billboard Top Hits: 1977 1991 Disco / Pop / Soft Rock / Soul / R&B / Funk

'77 was really the first year of disco supremacy in America. Saturday Night Fever came out at the tail-end, along with its multiplatinum selling soundtrack, and for the first time since the mid-50s, rock music was no longer the clear-cut top dog—it was this free-flowing form of dance music that'd been infused with elements of soul, funk, R&B, and gospel instead; all of which were genres that'd been rooted in blackness themselves. Clearly, a cultural shift was being enacted 🕺.

And so, naturally, this Billboard compilation of the ten biggest hits of 1977 accurately reflects that change. A few prior 70s comps in this series had had disco on them too, of course, but this was the first one in which the genre took up at least half of a tracklist. The pioneering success of KC & The Sunshine band, as well as the immense hit a couple of its members had penned in George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby," had planted the seeds that'd significantly alter the genre's overall trajectory, and here we see some of the delicious fruits that were borne by that labor, with Thelma Houston's cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "Don't Leave Me This Way," Rose Royce's eponymous theme song for the movie Car Wash, and even known disco detractor, Marvin Gaye, acquiescing, and turning in his remarkably entirely falsettoed and far less maximal "Got to Give It Up," too.

And mixed in along with the disco on this comp is also that other big fad of the 70s, yacht and soft rock, which is represented here with songs like Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl" and Peter Frampton's "I'm in You."

So, a sweet and brief cross-section of a deeply pivotal year for popular music in the US here. Disco had been on the rise, but this really marked its first full year of true, undeniable prominence.

Highlights:

Heatwave - "Boogie Nights" Daryl Hall & John Oates - "Rich Girl" Peter Frampton - "I'm in You" Thelma Houston - "Don't Leave Me This Way" Leo Sayer - "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" KC & The Sunshine Band - "I'm Your Boogie Man" Marvin Gaye - "Got to Give It Up - Part 1" Climax Blues Band - "Couldn't Get It Right" Rose Royce - "Car Wash"

[zombeebunnie]

I saw in your last post that Noah likes jazz. Is that all he listens to? Does he have a favorite song? (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)

Lore time:

Jazz one of the few genre's he enjoyed a lot of before the events of the game.

His favorite album instead of song would be: An evening with Silk Sonic!

As far as a favorite song, he really wouldn't be able to tell you!

Something happened and he stopped listening to it for a very long time and listened to more melancholy(?) sounds. There's a time skip here due to spoilers but later on he began listening to music that evolved into a mix of:

R&B

Neo soul

Video-game OST's

A little bit of gospel

Smooth soul

Funk

Alternative indie

Disco-inspired sounds

All of which was heavily influenced by his friends!

Fun fact: You'll probably catch him humming a couple of them to himself. If he's in a good mood expect him to suddenly want to slow dance! :]

[doberbutts]

OK so I keep getting asks asking me for an update on my music adventure I started before the new year and, based on your suggestions and also people I already had on my playlist:

[obligatory disclaimer: some of these artists I have already deleted because I'm mad about their non-musical actions, others have followed me since childhood, and some I had well before I knew they were black or had black members in the band]

Alex Boye - black, kinda everything but the ones I have are pop - already had

Alicia Keys - black, r&b/soul - already had

Allison Russell - black, pop - still deciding

Amaare - black, r&b/soul/afropop - still deciding

Amythyst Kiah - black, folk/alt-rock/blues - still deciding

Angel Haze - black, rap/hip-hop - still deciding

Angeline Morrison - black, alt/folk/indie - still deciding

Anjimile - black, alt/folk/indie - still deciding

Anna Field - black, alt/folk/indie - still deciding

Arlo Parks - black, indie/pop/folk/r&b - still deciding

Ben Harper - black, raggae/alt/indie - still deciding

Beyonce - black, pop/r&b/soul - already had

Birds of Chicago - black (wife, married), folk - still deciding

Black Eyed Peas - black (mostly), alt/r&b/pop-rap/EDM - already had

Blanco Brown - black, country/hip-hop - already had

BOB - black, rap/hip-hop - already had

Bone Thugs N Harmony - black, hip-hop/rap - already had

Brittany Howard - black, alt/indie - still deciding

Candi Staton - black, r&b/soul/pop - deleted, this is more my dad's music than mine tbh

Carolina Chocolate Drops - black, pop/folk - not exactly what I was looking for but I like it

Cee Lo Green - black, r&b/soul/hip-hop/EDM - already had

Chris Brown - black, rap/r&b/hip-hop - already had, deleted long ago after he beat the shit out of Rihanna and then released Fine China, but I do like the sound even if the guy singing it is a piece of shit

Ciara - black, r&b/soul/pop/EDM - already had

Clipping. - mostly nb (black rapper), hip-hop/rap/EDM - deleted immediately, this is way too far into the Just Noise territory and several songs give me a headache

Damita - black, gospel - already had

David Jordan - black, metal/pop - already had

Dead South - mostly nb (black cellist), folk/bluegrass - already had

DEATH - black, proto-punk - honestly debating deleting, not a huge fan

Death Grips - mostly nb (black rapper), hip-hop/rap - same problem as clipping, too far into Just Noise and deleted immediately

Destorm - black, EDM/pop/hip-hop/rap - already had

Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - mostly nb (black vocals), jazz/funk - still deciding

DJ Casper - black, EDM/hip-hop/rap - already had because cha cha slide

DJ Mehdi - black, EDM - still deciding

Fall Out Boy - mostly nb (black bassist), alt/indie/pop-punk/pop-rock (collabs) - already had

Fatoumata Diawara - black, folk/afro-pop/blues - liked her in Gorillaz collab, still deciding for her by herself

Flowerovlove - black, pop/indie/trap - still deciding but mostly favorable

Flying Lotus - black, EDM - still deciding

Gary Clark Jr - black, blues/raggae/r&b/hip-hop/soul - not exactly what I wanted but favorable

Genesis Owusu - black, punk/rap/hip-hop - also not really what I wanted but favorable

Gloria Gaynor - black, r&b/soul/disco - already had because I will survive

Iniko - black , alt/soul/EDM - still deciding

Iyaz - black, raggae/pop/r&b - already had

Jackson5 - black, r&b/pop/soul/disco - already had

Jake Blount - black, blues/folk - still deciding

Janelle Monae - black, soul/r&b/EDM - incredibly favorable, probably keeping

Jason Derulo - black, pop/r&b - already had

Jordin Sparks - black, r&b/soul/pop - already had

Joy Oladokun - black, pop/folk/r&b/rock - still deciding

JP Cooper - black, alt-rock/soul/house - still deciding

Kaia Kater - black, indie/folk - still deciding

Kanye West - black, rap/r&b/hip-hop - already had because he has a handful of Christian songs my dad likes, deleted long ago because it's Kanye.

Kid Cudi - black, EDM/hip-hop/rap - already had

Laxcity - black, EDM/lo-fi - still deciding but incredibly favorable

Lil Jon - black, hip-hop/rap/crunk - already had because get low

Lil Nas X - black, hip-hop/pop rap/country - already had

Lizzie No - black, folk/blues/country - still deciding

LMFAO - black, EDM/hip-hop - already had

Lou Bega - black, mambo/hip-hop/ska - already had because mambo no. 5

LustSickPuppy - black, rap/EDM - deleted, immediate dislike

Magnolia Park - black (mixed group), pop-punk/alt-rock - THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!!!!! Whoever suggested it, thank you!!!!!!!!

Mangodog - black, pop - still deciding

Maroon5 - mostly nb (black keyboardist), pop-rock/soft-rock - already had

Mavis Staples - black, r&b/soul/folk - still deciding

Me'shell Ndegeocello - black, soul/jazz/hip-hop/raggae - again this is mostly Dad Music and not Jaz Music so it was deleted

Michael Franti - black, hip-hop/raggae/jazz/folk - already had a few because I love his sound and didn't realize he was black, whoever recommended him thank you for the new info

Michael Jackson - black, pop/soul/r&b/rock/disco - already had , it's also Dad Music but it's fun

MikeQ - black, EDM - still deciding

MNEK - black, EDM/pop - THIS IS ALSO EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!!!!!!

Mon Rovia - black, folk/r&b/soul - still deciding

Morcheeba - mostly nb (black vocalist), hip-hop/rock/folk - deleted, Dad Music

Moses Sumney - black, soul/jazz/alt/indie - still deciding

Nelly - black, hip-hop/rap - already had

Nicki Minaj - black, pop/hip-hop/rap - already had

Nico & Vinz - black, pop/pop-rock - already had

Nightmares On Wax - black, hip-hop/techno - still deciding but highly favorable

Nova Twins - black, alt-rock/punk/nu-metal - deleted, Just Noise

P. Diddy - black, hip-hop/rap - already had, I'm aware of Diddy's deeds however they sang this version of I'll Be Missing You at my grandfather's funeral and it makes me think of him and cry

Plain White T's - mostly nb (black drummer), alt-rock/indie - already had

POD - mostly nb (black guitarist), Christian nu-metal - already had

Pussycat Dolls - mostly nb (black vocalist), pop - already had

Queen Omega - black, reggae - deleted, not my genre. sorry Odie, she doesn't stray far enough into the genres I do like for me to hold much interest

R Kelly - black, r&b/soul/hip-hop/rap - already had, literally the same thing as Diddy I Believe I Can Fly was played at my grandfather's funeral so I've held onto it

Rhiannon Giddens - black, folk/country - still deciding

Rihanna - black, pop/EDM/hip-hop/reggae/r&b - already had

Rusted Root - mostly nb (one black member) , rock - already had

Santigold - black, EDM/hip-hop - EXTREMELY favorable, very very close to what I was looking for

Shannon Funchess - black, alt/EDM/punk - still deciding

Straight No Chaser - mostly nb (black vocalist) - already had, it's an acapella group that did parody mashups of christmas songs that I find hilarious year after year

Stromae - black, hip-hop/EDM - EXTREMELY favorable, very very close to what I was looking for

Sunny War - black, folk/punk/pop - still deciding

Tanerelle - black, r&b/soul/pop - still deciding

Tank and the Bangas - mostly black, soul/hip-hop - not really my genre but I like it well enough

Teebs - black, EDM - still deciding

The Weeknd - black, alt-r&b/pop/EDM - it's weird bc I either hate the song or I really like it with no in-between so far

Thurston Harris - black, r&b/soul/rock - already had

TLC - black, r&b/hip-hop/pop - already had

Todrick Hall - black, r&b/pop/hip-hop - already had - this particular song of his (Beauty and the Beat) re-opened my relationship with one of my black aunts so I kept it

Toro Y Moi - black, EDM/pop/indie-rock/hip-hop - still deciding

Tray Wellington - black, folk/jazz/blues - still deciding

Tricky - black, alt/indie/EDM - still deciding, but favorable

TV On The Radio - mostly black, pop-rock/indie-rock - still deciding, but favorable

Usher - black, hip-hop/r&b/rap - already had

Vagabon - black, EDM/indie-rock/pop - still deciding

Valerie June - black, folk/blues/gospel/soul/country - still deciding

WHOKILLEDXIX - duo with one black member, punk/rap/rock - I also either hate the song and delete it immediately or really like it with no in-between

Whole Wheat Bread - black, rock/punk/reggae/rap - still deciding but favorable

will.i.am - black, hip-hop/pop/EDM - EXTREMELY favorable

Witch Prophet - black, r&b/soul/jazz - still deciding

Wiz Khalifa - black, hip-hop/rap - already had

Yola - black, r&b/pop - this is also Dad Music but I like it and I think her voice is beautiful so I've kept it

[libras-interactives]

If your ocs were in the modern era, what would there favorite musicians be?

So im terrible at naming musicians and such, so ill go for genre and general taste!

Marius: "whatever's on the radio", and old French music his parents would listen to. He probably likes any music that gets him pumped and has a hard beat. Willing to listen to any genre and is terrible at describing what he likes! Doesn't have a spotify or itunes, just types the song into youtube and blasts that from his cracked phone. Loves a handful of French radio stations he streams on his phone; the quality is fucked and it drains his battery but he doesnt care.

Jack: Exclusively oldies bluegrass and gospel bc thats all his parents would play. Modern pop country and christian rock confounds him. He could swear his pa said something about drums being the devil's instrument. Metal is scary until he reads the lyrics and has a small mental shutdown. Just like him fr fr... thinks Marius' French stations are incomprehensible but he says nothing bc he doesnt have a better suggestion.

Lottie: A huuuge pop girlie, as well as jazz and 90s r&b. Yes jazz is a very broad genre, but she'd like so much of it, especially more unique or weird sounds. Doesnt "get" hyperpop or tiktok music and worries she's getting old bc of that. LOVES musicals and would likely be a professional in the modern times, and if not that, she'd be in local theaters.

Eveline: Still uses cassettes and CDs, and theyre all classical, opera recordings and vocalists, mostly European. Enjoys some musicals. She thinks she's kinda up to date on modern pop music, but when you ask her what's the last pop album she listened to, she'll say Celine Dion's Falling Into You. She'd start sobbing if she got to see Natalie Dessay.

Máire: Huge punk and rock girlie, especially the Irish scene. Probably exclusively listens to punk tbh. She'd frequent the clubs and smoke too much in the corner while appearing disinterested but is actually vibing so hard w the music. Really loves making mixtapes and recordings, never got into vinyls or cds. Wants spotify to burn and die.

Malwina: LOOOVES pop and is a massive Britney Spears, Selena, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson fan. 90s-2000s pop is her favorite by far and those are the only CDs she owns. Probs has a beatup little red Ipod she's had since middle school; it was a hand me down from her oldest cousin and she treasures it even if it's "old". Queen of pirating and burning music but by god she paid for her Mariah Carey and Britney Spears cds. She wanted the pretty inserts and lyric booklets.

Slyvester: Loves a lot of swing and oldies from his parent's day, and Italian vocalists his wife adores. They played Andrea Bocelli almost exclusively at the wedding. Finds the music his sons listen to bizarre but doesn't mind the rock and alt rock too much.

[davyjoneslockr]

3, 7, and 12, mista and fugo :3

TONY UNSHADOWBANNED PARTY I know this was from a month ago but I'm gonna answer it anyhow lmfao

(For this ask game)

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

For Mista, the Trish cleavage scene. You know the one. I don't think I have to explain this much. Boy Why Did You Do That. The only good thing to come out of that scene was jaunty jigglesacks + overeager horndog insane psychic damage combo of lines in the dub.

I could take this a lot of ways for Fugo tbh. Because there's a lot of things that drive me insane about him as a person, but looking at him as a character, I LOVE that he's rash and hurts his friends and his defining character moment is him making a selfish, cowardly decision. I guess I'd say his misogyny in Purple Haze Feedback? I'm admittedly a believer that, yes, he would fucking say that, but it sucks that he would. At least he gets better by the end lol. Fugo voice I'm sorry women Sheila E is me

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I love that Mista has been designated Beautiful Brown-Eyed Bisexual Man by literally the entire fandom. Bi Mista brings us all together. And I do like the idea that his queerness is something he discovered much more slowly, and as a direct result of the gang. Something about that really ties in with the idea of the Bucci Gang as less of a realistic gang, more akin to a drag house or similar queer pseudo-family. Credit to that concept to Fox figcookie01 btw this is one of my favorite Vento Aureo analyses ever and it really informs how I conceptualize the Bucci Gang. Anyhow.

I also really like when people actually take care to explore his character and make him a very distinct, smarter-than-he-looks, older brother-type figure. It's really interesting when people explore his spirituality, too, whatever religion that may be, because that's a pretty important part of him. AND also OCD Mista truthers who know when to treat his superstitions and compulsions with some weight I love you forever. I think he's a character that gets watered down in fanworks a lot, but when his characterization's good, it's really good. There's plenty of artists and writers that have really blown me away with their Mista (and I say this as someone who's picky about characterization lol)

With Fugo, first of all. The PHF scars. Another thing that Mandela Effected the PHF fandom, but it's so so important to me. I love you physical, tangible, blatantly visible proof that Fugo has grown as a person since the day he abandoned the gang. Awesome. I also like that people mix and match his manga/anime colors, and every artist kinda draws him in a different way.

My favorite thing is probably the Fugo-Abbacchio stepkid and stepparent/siblings/Big Goth and Baby Emo Who Secretly Looks Up To Them dynamic. It’s awesome when it’s cartoonishly antagonistic and it’s awesome when it’s actually very sweet and heartfelt. Out of all the Bucci Gang dynamic interpretations the fandom’s produced, theirs is one of my favorites <3

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

SO MANY FOR BOTH OF THEM LOL. But I’ll try to list some I don’t talk about as much.

Besides The Carpenters, Mista’s a big fan of folk, acoustic singer-songwriter pop, and soft classic R&B/gospel. Artists with really strong voices tend to catch his attention. The Mamas and the Papas, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Simon and Garfunkel, The Seekers, and Gordon Lightfoot are some of his favorites. He’s also just a big sucker for love songs in general, and the hopeless romantic in him loves old girl groups like The Ronettes and The Shirelles. He’s also very much Schrödinger’s Guy to me. Cis? Trans? Who knows. Depends on what the situation calls for (though more often trans to me as of late). He’s just Some Dude.

Fugo’s a surprisingly good singer, but he’ll rarely do it if he knows other people are listening. A lot of times, he’ll sing in the shower, or when he’s alone in the car. As he gets older, he gets less self-conscious about it, and he’ll sing around the house when he’s with Giorno, or do duets with Mista for fun. There are also very much timelines in the Vento Aureo Multiverse in my brain where Fugo’s transfem. This also tends to coincide with transfem Abbacchio timelines, so there’s another layer added to Fugo looking up to Abbacchio, and I think Giorno (always transmasc to me) is really instrumental in helping her work through things and take pride in her transness. Maybe a little bit of a self-indulgent fluffy comfort hc that helps me work though my own genderisms lol

[coolfire333]

Genuinely really loving the rap/music discourse going around...let's all expand our perspectives a little but for the love of god some of you (not anyone I follow) are literally so stupid

Disclaimer: I am a little worried since it's easy to throw stones at "boring white girl music" which makes me wonder if this is just going to end up dunking on women in a veiled-sexist manner in general a la the "pumpkin spice white girls" trend that was popular a while back that basically was just making fun of women for having harmless fun under the guise that they were "basic white girls"

HOWEVER everyone in the notes of posts that are even slightly rude or poking fun at popular white musicians getting all up and arms because some (likely black) blogger poked fun at their (likely white) precious punk music or girlypop diva are really showing their ass on this one

As someone with a background in music and music history I can confidently say that nearly every popular genre in mainstream music would not exist without the innovations of black (usually American) musicians. And I think that's super neat! Ragtime, jazz, gospel, soul, r&b, blues, rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, all uniquely American genres that came largely, if not entirely, from the ideas of black Americans.

I'm undoubtedly missing some genres (I'm a bit old-school at heart so I don't know what's trendy now or where exactly it came from) but if you're American and on this website, doesn't that give you a form of national pride? That all those years ago people from your country were able to create new musical styles that have, for the most part, persisted and spread around the world? Honestly it brings a tear to my eye sometimes listening to old music and realizing how impactful it was on modern music genres.

Instead of going "ewww I don't like xyz" why not ask a fan of that kind of music why they like it and maybe what recommendations they have for someone who doesn't listen to that genre. And if you really don't gel with a genre for whatever reason, at least treat it respectfully and recognize its impact on the genres of music you do listen to.

"Ohhh but rap is just sex, drugs, and violence," I hear some of you saying. Well, keep in mind that that same critique has been used for pop, rock, jazz, ragtime, and pretty much every other "new" (keyword "black-influenced") art form so you really want to be careful labelling an entire genre as that. Controversy sells, so think about why exactly "mindless" rap might be the rap you're exposed to or most familiar with from the radio instead of more serious or contemplative rap songs.

Also realize that the songs you like probably also discuss drugs, sex, and violence, but perhaps less directly or in a way that's somehow more tolerable for you. Explore why! Why is it ok for (insert genre you like here) to talk about mature or "dark" themes but when rap does it it's suddenly offensive to you.

It's ok to have biases and be working on them! Also, if someone is trying to criticize a group you're part of for being biased, and they're trying to do it respectfully and seriously, don't joke around like "oh LOL that's so me" and don't get overly defensive either. Be serious and respectful back and genuinely listen to what they're saying.

Literally just don't be a jerk to music and art of marginalized communities! Is it really that hard to have respect for other people even if you don't 100% understand the culture from your perspective?

[btwxsixesandsevens]

I have a theory that the reason Bucky was just lukewarm to Marvin Gaye's music is that he first listened to it while checking off items from Steve's notebook of things to learn about in the 21st century, almost like a homework assignment. It wasn't until he heard Sarah humming along with background music while she worked on the boat and in the house that he truly thought of modern music as something to be enjoyed for its own sake. Now he loves gospel, and adores Tina Turner along with the Queen of Soul. He remains unimpressed by Marvin Gaye, much to Sam's annoyance and Sarah's amusement.

Thank you, Nonny, for this comment. You sparked something undeniable. I agree with your theory, 100%.

***

Bucky tried, really tried. Following directions was a habit he couldn’t shake. So when Sam told him to listen to Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man” album, he’d done so with all the diligence of a straight-A student. He didn’t get it. He even tried to watch the movie it was a soundtrack for — he just had Vision pull it up, or down load it, or whatever…Good lord, he could watch a 50-year-old movie on demand! — but it didn’t help. That took him down an Internet rabbit hole (another modern miracle slash nuisance) of watching Blaxploitation flicks while he sat around Avengers Tower. He came back to Louisiana feeling absolutely enlightened. One day Sarah, in the course of conversation, said: “Shut your mouth!” he automatically responded, “I’m just talkin’ bout Shaft.” There had been a lot of explaining to do after that. But still, didn’t get it.

Saturdays were for cleaning around the Wilson house. And it came with music. Bucky knew what he was in for when Sarah tied her hair up high and turned the radio up loud. It was usually songs from the 70s and 80s, lots of “funk” with a sprinkling of R&B and Gospel. To keep him on his toes, he figured. It made the housekeeping fun, reminded him of being in the service, when the band on base would play over the loudspeaker. He’d once been caught dancing with a mop handle while scrubbing the mess hall. That was a long time ago. This was now though. He was out back dumping out the trash, when he heard Sarah say: “Oh, that’s my JAM!” Then her fumbling to get to the speaker to start the song over and turn it up. He didn’t think much of it. It started out reasonable enough: “Now we’re gonna take the beginning of this song, and do it easy. But then we’re gonna do the finish, rough. That’s the way we do, Proud Mary.” It had a nice, almost sweet, beat to it. A little groove. They were on a river, the Mississippi he presumed, and singing and happy, and yeah, fine. He came in the door to see her slowly mopping the floor with broad sweeps: “Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis, popped a lot of tang down in New Orleans.” “Popped a lot of tang?” he’d have to look that one up. Seventies slang was really hard to track. He kept working, straightening up the mudroom. Then, as the kids say, the beat dropped. The horns came in. Sarah started singing. “Big wheel keep on turnin’, Proud Mary keep on burnin’!” The background singers stepped in and it felt like an actual presence in the room, like a whole damn band had shown up. Sarah didn’t see him. Or didn’t care. Because she was dancing, eyes closed, feet moving frantically, singing into the end of the mop handle as she dragged in across the floor: “Rolling on the river! Doot doot doot doot! Da doot doot doot doot!” The mop was both dance partner and microphone stand. The table was the audience. The kitchen counter, the band. She commanded it all, her feet double pumping as she danced, her arms spread wide. It was joyous and loud and silly and perfect. Then she came to the end, one hand over head, with the other she dropped the mop with a clatter and said, proudly to no one: “Mike drop!” Then she bowed. So Bucky clapped. Of course he did. Sarah startled back to the present and saw him standing in the door way, grin wide. “Bucky B Barnes if you don’t get back to work!” she snapped, embarrassed and entertained simultaneously, snatching the mop back up into her hands. “Sorry Kitten, had to…quite the performance.” “If you tell anyone…” “Don’t have to. Everyone in town heard you.” That’s how Bucky met Tina Turner. The second love of his life.

***

Just in time for the end of SarahBucky month.

[wheelin-after-midnight]

10.

What’s better: winter break or spring break?

I don't really have a preference because those breaks don't apply to me anymore, but I'm gonna go with spring just because I passionately hate winter in this country.

Are you cold, hot, or comfortable at the moment?

A little chilly, but nothing I can't handle.

How many concerts have you been to in your life?

I've seen Jann Arden three times, in three different venues, two different cities. I also saw Whitney Houston's concert for a post-apartheid South Africa when they remastered the show from Durban, 1994, and released it in theatres in October. If she were still alive, I wouldn't actually count that, but I never had a chance to see her while she was here. The theatre was not extremely big, but those of us that were there were singing and boppin' along and crying like we were at one of her actual shows. The sound was also amazing. You could feel the floor vibrating. It was the next best thing to actually being present in South Africa at that time.

What’s your favorite TV show?

Empire is definitely one of them. Army Wives, You, Me, Her.

Would you ever have sex with the last person you texted?

Ew. That's my mother. 🤢

Would you rather paint your room puke green, or eat a potato bug?

Paint a room puke green. I'll just paint over it later. I'm not eating a potato bug.

How old were you when you had the chicken pox?

Four or five, maybe. I remember I only had a few of them, but my mother ended up being absolutely covered in them.

Ever had a friend named Alex or John?

Yes to both, but not extremely close friends.

Are you one who misses a lot of school, just because?

I was absent a lot, but I mostly had legit medical reasons or appointments. I would just work ahead while I was out so I didn't fall behind the class.

What type of music do you listen to the most?

I hate this question. It's in the same vein as "what's your favorite song?" I don't know. I have 6,500 songs on my Spotify, man. I could maybe narrow it down to my top 100. My favourites rotate. I like such a large, eclectic variety of music across so many decades. Anything from about the 50's to today. I can't pick just one genre. Country was my first love and what I grew up on and grew up singing as a young kid. I also like R&B/soul, Motown, some gospel stuff even though I'm an atheist now and don't really identify with or find comfort in my family's beliefs, pop, rock, reggae, easy listening, Latin/Spanish music... Idk. Literally everything, dude. The only things I don't really listen to are heavy metal and screamo type stuff, but it doesn't mean I hate it. One of my best friends is pretty into music like that and I'll listen to it with her and let her teach me about artists or bands in that space. I think it's important to be present and genuinely support the interests and passions of people I really care about, especially because those who were meant to care about me aren't that present at all and basically just shit on mine.

What are you looking forward to in the next month?

Nothing. I can't even say Christmas. I hate it.

Is there anyone that you’d love to just spill your guts to?

Anyone I wish I could genuinely spill my guts to about certain things wouldn't listen or care, so I likely won't bother ever again.

When was the last time you painted a picture?

With my Nan when I was a kid. It's still hanging in my place. She let me put my name on the canvas, but she had a heavy hand in how well it turned out. I'm not a very skilled artist in that sense at all. She was.

Where is the person you have feelings at right now?

Home, asleep or just waking up.

Can you drive? When did/do you get your license?

No. I never will.

Have you ever had to get braces?

Leg ones, not on my teeth.

What brand and flavor was the last gum you chewed?

Mint.

Are you happy with your relationship status?

It's an open relationship. I agreed to that and it's a long story I'm not gonna get into here. I don't completely hate it, but I would prefer it to be closed and just her and I. That's how we used to be and just what I would personally prefer. I love her more than I hate the open aspect of things, and our relationship is healthy and going well on the whole.

What did you have for lunch today? Was it good?

I don't really have set meals. I just eat when I'm hungry or when I wake up. The first and only thing I've eaten so far today is bacon and cheese on toast with mayo.

Which one: chocolate chip or sugar cookie?

Sugar cookies.

Who was the last person that you sincerely apologized to?

I don't know. I have a tendency to over apologize a little bit. I don't remember the last time I was genuinely at fault for something and it was warranted.

Do you like the smell of gasoline? Why or why not?

I do.

Do you like the color orange? Is it your favorite?

No. It's probably my least favorite next to yellow. I do think orange cats are pretty cute, though.

What kind of ice cream did you last eat?

I don't remember. I don't eat it very often. I have to be in the mood for it. I'm not the biggest fan.

What kind of stuff do you like on your hot dogs?

I'm usually not too big on hot dogs either, tbh. But if I do eat one I'll usually just put mayo on it.

Have you ever been in a spelling bee?

In school as a kid.

Do you enjoy talking on the telephone? Who do you talk to the most?

Yeah, but I hardly ever hear other people's voices generally. I talk to babe on the phone, if anyone. Sometimes dad, but not often.

Do you think the last person you texted is attractive?

No.

Does it bother you when people don’t answer questions with exact answers?

If it's something that requires an exact answer, yeah.

Do you know how to snap your fingers?

Yeah.

In what order do you get ready in the mornings?

If I'm showering when I get up, I make sure I feed Nippy her wet and dry foods and clean her boxes first, take a shower, get out, put on deodorant, underwear, pants, bra/top, brush my hair, brush my teeth. If I choose to skip the shower that day it's basically the same, but minus that part and going straight to food and/or coffee after getting dressed.

When did you last cry? What for?

I cry pretty much daily. Sick of some of the things my disability causes me to deal with, depressed and anxious about having to move.

Where were you at 9:18 this morning?

Asleep.

When was the last time you consumed alcohol? Last night.

The 2nd to last person you texted, how did you meet them?

Elementary school.

Do you call it a crush, or do you just say you like someone?

Neither. I say I love her because it's way more serious than like or a crush.

Have you been drunk in the last week?

No.

What’s your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

I just eat when I'm hungry or when I wake up, which isn't always at the same time or in the early mornings, but if I do want breakfast type food, it's often eggs or something with eggs incorporated.

[afro-elf]

wait wait wait. that actually sounds really interesting, how is the hozier character personified through his lyrics from album to album

you asked!

so like, i think hozier (andrew hozier-byrne) writes in character, not as himself. well, i should say he writes in characters (plural) because eat your young and a couple other songs have a distinct voice from most of his other music. eat your young is very distinctly from the perspective of a capitalist monster in the same way that talk is from the perspective of an asshole, but i don't think either are Hozier, the character in any of their iterations: hozier-the romantic, hozier-the arsonist/criminal, hozier-the optimistic nihilist, hozier-the irishman

in the first album, self-titled, we are primarily introduced to hozier-the romantic, hozier-the arsonist, and hozier-the irishman. the voice is not quite mature, romantic in an interpersonal and literary sense, hints of a budding philosophy without a focus on it, romanticization of criminality. that, along with it being a debut album and rather bluesy, is reinforced by the more homemade feel of the recording and instrumentals themselves, the scattered stomping and handclaps, the big drums with no bass. the album feels like it was made in an attic because frankly it was. to me, i can only describe the hozier character of hozier the album as hozier the young rogue: anxious, young, new, but dangerous in a way. not a ""bad boy"" but not not a ""bad boy"". more of a ne'er-do-well with a lover or string of lovers in rotation. i imagine this hozier dropping out of uni but spending hours at libraries, busking on dublin streets, and carjacking on the weekends

in wasteland, baby, i think the character shifts to a mix of hozier-the romantic, hozier-the optimistic nihilist, and hozier-the irishman. the voice is a bit more mature, definitely more philosophical, more speculative, noticeably more optimistic. but in contrast, the expression of that philosophy is a little scattered, a little like an edited freewriting session or a james joyce story. the music of this album is much poppier, much more up tempo. more gospel and r&b infused than blues. i think the hozier of this album is hozier the expressionist (?). his emotions and anxieties about the potential of climate apocalypse + his budding nihilism + his identity as a lover have merged to create a deeply pensive character, still young but now having gone through the process of becoming jaded and then discovering optimism. i think of the song wasteland, baby as not only the last words of the album, but the potential last words of the expressionist character. to imagine a crumbling world and write a love song from it is the perfect conclusion to the romantic, thoughtful, and sometimes angry apocalypse narrative of the album overall. i imagine this hozier as a poet, perhaps popular but self-isolating, who primarily seeks comfort in a single long-time lover who brings them their optimism, slowly corrupting wasteland hozier's kneejerk doomerism

eat your young/unreal unearth is a new hozier entirely. the ep felt like wasteland hozier on antidepressants so... we'll see!

[auntymurda]

I lowkey wish Big Mike did gospel years before his passing. Earth Song & Stranger in Moscow is the closest we have to ever hearing Michael Jackson embracing gospel culture, and unfortunately (fortunately really) those songs are only gospel incorporated. It would’ve been so fire to see where he would’ve went in that area tho. Specifically the Dangerous & Blood on The Dance Floor eras tho. Mike always spoke against the higher powers/elites but he was really on his last straw when he released those two specific albums. Mind u, his sales weren’t doing that good either in the eyes of the public, and my baby had a lot to say. I’ll always love his R&B, rock, and gospel-like songs the most. To a lot of y’all, Michael was the King of Pop, but to me, he was the King of R&B & so much more. It brings heaviness to my eyes that it’ll never be another. &’i’m so glad my Mom just happened to be obsessed with Mike as a kid and rubbed that love for him all over me and my older sibling, lol. ❤️

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

23rd October >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time 

or

Saint John of Capistrano, Priest.

Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))

First Reading Ephesians 3:2-12 The pagans now share the same inheritance.

You have probably heard how I have been entrusted by God with the grace he meant for you, and that it was by a revelation that I was given the knowledge of the mystery, as I have just described it very shortly. If you read my word you will have some idea of the depths that I see in the mystery of Christ. This that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets was unknown to any men in past generations; it means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the same promise has been made to them, in Jesus Christ, through the gospel. I have been made the servant of that gospel by a gift of grace from God who gave it to me by his own power. I, who am less than the least of all the saints have been entrusted with this special grace, not only of proclaiming to the pagans the infinite treasure of Christ but also of explaining how the mystery is to be dispensed. Through all the ages, this has been kept hidden in God, the creator of everything. Why? So that the Sovereignties and Powers should learn only now, through the Church, how comprehensive God’s wisdom really is, exactly according to the plan which he had had from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is why we are bold enough to approach God in complete confidence, through our faith in him.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Isaiah 12 The rejoicing of a redeemed people.

R/ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Truly, God is my salvation, I trust, I shall not fear. For the Lord is my strength, my song, he became my saviour. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

R/ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Give thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name! Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples! Declare the greatness of his name.

R/ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Sing a psalm to the Lord for he has done glorious deeds; make them known to all the earth! People of Zion, sing and shout for joy, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

R/ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Gospel Acclamation John 10:27

Alleluia, alleluia! The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me. Alleluia!

Or: Matthew 24:42,44

Alleluia, alleluia! Stay awake and stand ready, because you do not know the hour when the Son of Man is coming. Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 12:39-48 The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what hour the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’ Peter said, ‘Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ The Lord replied, ‘What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you truly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time coming,” and sets about beating the menservants and the maids, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful. The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer strokes. When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

--------------------------------------

Saint John of Capistrano, Priest 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Wednesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading 2 Corinthians 5:14-20 We do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh.

The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them. From now onwards, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men’s faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-8,11

R/ You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you. I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’ O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; it is you yourself who are my prize.

R/ You are my inheritance, O Lord.

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel, who even at night directs my heart. I keep the Lord ever in my sight: since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

R/ You are my inheritance, O Lord.

You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right hand happiness for ever.

R/ You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Gospel Acclamation John 8:12

Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; anyone who follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 9:57-62 'I will follow you wherever you go'.

As Jesus and his disciples travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus answered, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ Another to whom he said, ‘Follow me’, replied, ‘Let me go and bury my father first.’ But he answered, ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say goodbye to my people at home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[randomvarious]

Today's mix:

Pure Garage Presents: Bass, Breaks & Beats by EZ 2001 UK Garage

There are *plenty* of times where you might find me lamenting over the unfortunate repeated failures of most British electronic and dance music to make significant impacts in the US, but when it comes to the genre of UK garage, know that I am super grateful that almost none of this shit managed to succeed Stateside, because the vast majority of this stuff is dumber than your own kitchen table 😵.

Cultivated in a country that's known for its own melting pot approach to music, UK garage naturally culminated in a confluence of things from a whole bunch of different genres, including drum n bass/jungle, breakbeat, dancehall, and house. Its own name had been derived from garage house, one of the earliest forms of house music as we know it, which is more rooted in elements of disco, R&B, gospel, and soul. And garage house itself was named after the venue where it was originally most famously spun at: New York's Paradise Garage, by the legendary DJ Larry Levan, which operated from the late 70s to late 80s.

But between garage house and UK garage was the indispensable link of speed garage. This music took the shuffled-snare house rhythms that'd been a hallmark of garage house, paired them with breakbeats, and then sped the whole thing up. A very inventive guy from New Jersey named Todd Edwards was a pioneer of this music, and became especially known for creating nicely textured melodies that were made of patched together strings of millisecond-long samples too. One of the only good tracks that happens to appear on this 2001 double-disc mix from UK garage stalwart DJ EZ (pronounced E-Zed) is Edwards' own "Show Me a Sign," which itself is, again, not a UK garage track, but speed garage instead—a sonic predecessor.

But what then followed speed garage was a British dance phenomenon of utter mindlessness 🚫🧠. UK garage took the speed garage idea of using those breakbeats and snares and then the only other additional things that people did with them was seep or ladle in fat and squelchy basslines—which were reminiscent of how the famous Reese bass had proved a worthy addition to drum n bass—and then peppered in vocal samples too. The music's only real unique versatility was that it could sound more akin to either house or breakbeat depending on the drum patterns that were chosen, but other than that, every track that leaned towards one or the other genre sounded very similar, because there's only so much that a person can do with a strictly percussive breakbeat and a bassline that seems to require a specifically fat and squelchy quality to it. People liked rapping over these beats too, which contributed a good level of energy to them, but to contrast it with hip hop—imagine that genre's beats being limited to only those specific combinations of breakbeat-and-bassline? I really don't think that it'd be the world's single-most popular genre of music right now if that'd ever been the case!

So, basically, UK garage sucked so much because of how overly simple its formula was, and because of that, how limited its sonic possibilities were too. You can scrub to pretty much any point on either of the discs for this mix here on YouTube and get a good idea of what both of them are entirely made of, because almost every single song utilizes a similar recipe of breakbeat-and-specific-bassline.

Not all UK garage turned out to be totally awful, though. When filtered through a contemporary R&B/pop kind of lens, it gave us essential early 2000s hits like Craig David's "Fill Me In" and Daniel Bedingfield's "Gotta Get Thru This"—two of the only UK garage tunes to achieve major success in the US.

But without any sort of pop sensibility lent to it, UK garage mostly just languishes in obscenely boring levels of formulaic unoriginality, as can be heard throughout the near entirety of this mix. I really don't understand how anyone could've ever enjoyed listening to this music for more than five minutes, but somehow, despite how totally reductive, devolutionary, and lobotomized it all felt, it still managed to flourish majorly on a commercial level in its home country, defining a piece of the UK's late 90s-to-early 2000s dance music landscape.

The only other track on here that I dig is "Firin' Times" by Swoopes (aka DJ Zinc), which isn't even a garage track of any sort—it's pure breakbeat! And it happens to make for a nice and unexpected spell from all the other gar(b)age that lines the rest of this whole mix.

So, ultimately, as an American, I'm really glad that 99.9% of this stuff didn't end up hitting our own airwaves. Besides those couple hits that I mentioned above, I've only ever really been exposed to UK garage in a similar way to how every year I'm made aware of the current fall season lineup of bad network TV shows—through all those ridiculous promo ad reads during football games 😂. In a sense, UK garage is like the BOB❤️ABISHOLA of dance music; you can just tell from the outset that it's gonna be dreadful, but the fact that it's managed to stick around for as long as it has indicates how popular it's been too, which then inevitably leads you to wonder, who on earth actually genuinely enjoys all of this terrible, terrible shit?!?

Listen to CD1 here. Listen to CD2 here.

Highlights:

CD1:

Swoopes - "Firin' Times"

CD2:

Todd Edwards - "Show Me a Sign"

[lboogie1906]

Ann Nesby (Lula Ann Bennett; July 24, 1955) is an R&B, gospel, and dance music singer and actress. She is the former lead singer of Sounds of Blackness; and a songwriter with credits including hits sung by Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight; plus she co-starred in The Fighting Temptations. She had various appearances on American Idol and Queen Sugar. She duetted with Al Green on “Put It on Paper”. She has been nominated four times since her departure from Sounds of Blackness, most recently for her album This Is Love; plus the lead single “I Apologize” was nominated for a Grammy.

She joined Sounds of Blackness in the late 1980s. Sounds of Blackness were awarded two Grammys and she sang on a number of their tracks including “I Believe,” “Optimistic,” “I’m Going All the Way,” “Soul Holiday,” and “The Pressure.”

She released her debut solo album, I’m Here for You. In the UK, her Witness EP peaked at #42 on the UK Singles Chart, and Hold On EP at #75.

Tyler Perry cast her in a lead role in his stage production, I Know I’ve Been Changed. By 2002, she released her second album, Put It on Paper. The lead single of the same title featured Al Green, leading Nesby to her first solo Grammy nomination in 2003, and the album included Nesby’s first #1 song on the dance chart, “Lovin’ Is Really My Game”.

She garnered three additional Grammy nominations between 2004 and 2008.

Her latest album, The Lula Lee Project debuted at #13 on the US Billboard’s Top Gospel Album Chart and #57 on the R&B chart. Her latest nominations include Best R&B Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal for her duet with Calvin Richardson, “Love Has Finally Come at Last” and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for “Sow Love”. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #zetaphibeta

[ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense]

If you have to rake all the season of American, dad which season is the best

Oh geez there’s a lot that would go into something like that, I’d have to do a full rewatch of the show. How about a top ten list of the best episodes instead?

1. Jeff Space Arc (Lost in Space)

Jeff Fischer remains the most earnest character in American Dad. While every other member of the smith family is inherently selfish to some degree or another, Jeff is defined by adoring his wife Hayley and loving her family dearly. The Jeff in Space arc is a culmination of this, with several episode dedicated to his journey from space to home after being taken by Rogers people. The episodes are funny and contain a special kind of heart really only reserved for Jeff. The best of these episodes is Lost in Space where his love for his wife is directly called into question and proven without a doubt, but really any episode in this arc is worth a watch.

Cry Baby

Stan Smiths emotional volatility is something the show loves to toy with in its later seasons, and this is one of the funniest. When Stan can’t cry he’s passed up on a mission, so to learn how he enlists his son Steve to teach him empathy. Only to realize that having empathy is too much for him, at which point he tries to remove Steve’s. This episode has nonstop great one liners and is constantly left turning into a new, unexpected joke.

Wild Women Do

Francine and Jeff are both the strongest characters in the Smith family. Francine is a wild card with a crazy past and Jeff is willing to go along with anything if asked. So there’s no better vehicle for fun than these two going out for a wild night on the town.

The Devil Wears A Lapel Pin

Hayley is a character who’s episodes can be hit or miss, but when the show focuses on her relationship with her father it manages to be pretty strong, and this is the apex. When Stan enlists Hayley’s aid as an assistant while making the CIA yearly calendar, Hayley uses it as a chance to get revenge on Stan for his refusal to show pride in her. Great episode, great comedy, and one of my favorite Jeff moments.

LGBSteve

When an all women roller derby team invites him to join their group, Hayley convinces him to join so she can have girl friends. But when Hayley gets jealous of Al the attention Steve gets and outs that he’s a boy, the rest of the team admit that they assumed Steve was trans causing Steve to question his own gender in a positive way, spending with the idea that Steve is comfortable identifying as male but is also comfortable have GNC qualities. It’s really fun and very sweet. Some really solid work on the trans journey and how questioning gender can be very healthy, even if you realize you’re comfortable being cis.

Rubberneckers

Toonrific Tariq once said that American Dads relationship with rap is so complicated it’s kinda impossible to talk about, and that’s certainly true of rubberneckers which is a musical episode featuring everything from R&B, to rap, to hip hop, to gospel style music all centered around the act of “Rubbernecking” and the consequences Stan facing after lying about the cause of an auto accident to his insurance adjuster.

Gold Top Nuts

American Dad pontificates on what it means to be human, to create a society, and to create religion. All with the express purpose of discussing why we can’t just forget the things people have done to us, but we can be kinder in the future and treat people better moving forward

Rabbit Ears

A classic Twilight Zone riff that’s just very solidly made.

The Great Space Roaster

Roger attempts to kill the family after his birthday roast makes him too insecure. Funny ass episode I have no notes.

A Starboy is Born

The Weeknd stars in this episode as himself and sings a song about secretly being a virgin because it gives him magic powers. It’s delightful.