#Rover 75

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Rover 75 Drophead Coupé, 1950, by Salmons-Tickford. The Buckinghamshire-based coachbuilders made two convertible versions of the P4 "cyclops" Rover, one of which has survived to the present day

[britsyankswheels24]

🇬🇧 The Rover 75, produced from 1998 to 2005, embodied British elegance and refinement, with its sleek design and luxurious interiors. Lauded globally, it symbolized automotive excellence.

👑 Named in tribute to the esteemed Rover P4 series, the illustrious 75 was favored by royalty and luminaries like Grace Kelly and King Hussein of Jordan. These cars are very much part of British culture and became known as the 'Auntie' Rovers.

🔔 Unveiled in 1949 at the renowned Earls Court Motor Show, the Rover 75 revolutionized automotive aesthetics with its modern styling and innovative features.

⚙️ Beyond its aesthetics, the Rover 75 boasted impressive performance, reaching a top speed of 83.5 mph and accelerating from 0–60 mph in just 21.6 seconds.

💡 Adding to its allure, the Rover 75 also featured advanced technology for its time, including options like navigation systems and climate control, enhancing the driving experience for discerning motorists.

[southernspiritnorthernheart]

The Rover 75 was, in my opinion, one of the last truly romantic and ‘olde world charm’ automobiles built.

[zerozerocarcare]

Polish 3X, Ceramic 10-year and NANO Invisible 95% Heat Rejection installed on a Defender 🚘.

بوليش ٣، سيراميك ضمان ١٠ سنوات و تظليل نانو شفاف عازل حراري ٩٥% على دفندر 🚘.

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#zerozero #cars #nanoceramic #ceramictinting #cartint #heatrejection #nanotint #cartinting #windowtint #dubai #sharjah #dxb #emirates #landrover #defender #landroverdefender #dubaicars

#زيروزيرو #للسيارات #بوليش #سيراميك_سيارات #مخفي_حراري #الشارقة #دبي #لاندروفر #دفندر #رانج #زواياووك #الامارات

[taevisionceo]

TAEVision 3D Mechanical Design Tools GarageTools Repair RepairTools RemovalTools RemovalGlowPlugs glowplugs M10x1 broken, stuck or seized from BMW Engines 2.0L (BMW 320D M47... Rover 75... LandRover...) Ref. 60423200... ▸ TAEVision Engineering on Pinterest ▸ TAEVision Engineering on Google Photos

Data 216 - May 06, 2023

[englishcarssince1946]

1957 Rover 75 P4

My tumblr-blogs: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/germancarssince1946 & https://www.tumblr.com/blog/frenchcarssince1946 & https://www.tumblr.com/blog/englishcarssince1946 & https://www.tumblr.com/blog/italiancarssince1946

[candle-lamp]

Any headcannons for Logan and Aiden from sbg? I hope you have a great day/night!!!

thank you ^^ (also my bad if these are canonically wrong, I'm not on insta so I don't see any of Red's posts there)

Logan:

- he's been called "a pleasure to have in class" since kindergarten

- tried contacts once, but hated the feeling of them on his eyes, so he sticks to glasses

- working in the flower shop has built up his resistance to seasonal allergies, he's the only one in the group who doesn't suffer through spring

- his grandparents had an old copy of Duck Hunt that he played obsessively as a kid

- has had many debates on Pluto's planet status ("Just because it's a dwarf planet doesn't make it less special, if you think it needs to be a planet, you're the problem!")

- has cried over the Mars rovers

- gets choice paralysis bad, especially over spending money

Aiden:

- pirates tv shows and movies, even ones he has the services for, bc "it's more fun that way"

- hates being too hot, would rather it be 25°F than 75°F

- favorite rollercoasters are drop rides

- plays the knife game (where you stab between your fingers, don't do it at home kids) at school with a pencil

- he was totally the kid that would eat live bugs if dared to

- because he moved around so often as a kid, he has an odd accent that just sounds vaguely American but is untraceable to any distinct region

- loves weird food combos like mustard on watermelon

- the group's record holder for longest time awake, once went four days without sleep (when asked why, he said "for fun :3")

[vicckyie]

Ma man, I got her, Rover's first wife 😭❤️ I luv her so much, and I even lost her fucking 50/50 to that tiger boy at 75 pity ☠️☠️ (I hate him now) anyway, she came home and she's so cute, the interactions with her are so precious 😭❤️❤️❤️

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 227 Trivia (Part 1)

I hope everyone's enjoying wondering who or what Senku saw in that black cloud…

The Medusa's capsule is a small radio receiver with a speaker to relay commands. This means that all the astronauts can speak to it, and since Whyman could pretend to be Senku, then they could have also activated the device directly.

Rather than all being on the same frequency, each astronaut has their own. This means they can all talk at the same time without needing to wait if someone else is transmitting, and also means they may have some sort of indicator for who's talking.

This means that Kohaku can hear Senku and Stanley talk, but she can't hear herself because her own frequency is blocked out to avoid echoes. This is why Senku doesn't seem to react to Whyman nor know what's going on, but Stanley reacts strongly. This is confirmed by Ukyo.

I wonder if the on/off includes receiving radio transmissions, or if it's just about the seal being on/off.

The current land speed record on the moon is only 18 km/h (11.2 mph) by the Apollo 17 Lunar Rover.

I feel like even with the reduced gravity, Stanley is driving faster than that.

The Taurus-Littrow valley was chosen as the destination for the Apollo 17 mission because of its geological value. It is located on the lunar highland (=not one of the dark patches) and has some volcanic material as well.

It's also got "orange soil" (volcanic glass beads).

Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the moon, but it was also the longest (<75 hours) and most ambitious. They collected 155kg (253lbs) of rock samples for analysis.

Nothing noteworthy seemed to have happened on this mission that could've pointed to Whyman's involvement.

An interesting coincidence…

The rover I believe was inspired by a very recent collaboration between JAXA and Nissan for an unmanned lunar rover. Notably it has a boxy body and no guards over any of the 4 wheels. It's obviously been redesigned to hold people, with elements taken from the NASA rovers.

The astronauts have variants of their names written on their backs: "STANLEE11" and "KOHAKO11". Senku's isn't fully visible but you can see what looks like an "-U11", so his may simply be "SENKU11".

So the capsule didn't open fully, going by the little black line drawn on the top, but it opened enough to break the seal, making the atmosphere inside escape.

It's interesting that Whyman chose to put the Medusa in a vacuum rather than simply using the radio/speaker directly: they obviously knew how the Medusa was being stored since they asked Kohaku to open it.

I'm not sure if Stan hit the brakes here or if he drove into a hole because he wasn't looking where he was going. If he hit the brakes, it seemed unhelpful since Kohaku was then spinning midair when she had to throw it.

You can also see Stan landing perfectly and Senku falling.

Another thing of note is that Kohaku seems to have snapped the string sometime between Stanley grabbing her wrist and her throwing it, which I think is impressive.

It's hard to tell because we don't know how far Kohaku threw it, but the radius of this one may be the same as the one that happened in chapter 213/214 (~20 meters according to Senku).

On the image it appears a little over 13 meters.

(Next part)

[les-belles-mecaniques]

1948 Rover 75

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Land Rover Defender Works 90 V8 "Islay Edition," 2023. A special edition restomod project by Land Rover's Classic division that celebrates 75 years of the iconic 4x4. The work can be carried out on any 2012-2016 Defender 90 and includes a comprehensive restoration, fitting a 400hp 5.0 V8 with an 8-speed ZF automatic gearbox and interior retrimmed with  ‘Windsor Ebony’ leather. The vehicles are all finished in Heritage Grey and reference the 1965 Series IIa owned by Spencer Wilks - one of the founders of Land Rover. Wilks used the Scottish Island of Islay to test Land Rovers, hence the name. Restorations will be limited to 13 vehicles that will cost £245,000

[acommonloon]

Bar talk

- Caitlyn Clark being battered in her first season in the WNBA and will be better for it. The women in the WNBA feel disrespected because a skinny white girl suddenly made them relevant.

- 3 fellas at the Rover suggested I stay and buy them a drink. Ok. We talked movies and documentaries about serial killers, bluegrass music, the Beatles, and I was offered a free murder or at least a beat down should I need one. I’d stopped in for a pint of ESB before driving home. I felt proper sober when the bar began to close down. My three, thirty-something bar buddy stooges tried to talk our bartender into, first, one more round then she should join them for a drink somewhere else. She said no.

- the idea of drinking Mezcal in Oaxaca has been aging in my brain pan like old bourbon. John, owner of Pretty Decent was telling me about the barrel pick he’d poured me. I said do you sign up for trips on your website? He stared at me, I said, “You need to know who you’re traveling with?” Bingo, he replied. K

- “Hi, I’m John. Want to come see the brewery.” Not really, I didn’t say. I followed him into the large open space full of towering fermenters and bright tanks, transformed from the GettoKroger into Noble Funk Brewing. Tbh, I’ve seen enough breweries to last a lifetime. I began by complementing him on the Tripel I was drinking. We talked about beer, I reminded him we’d met at the Hall on Washington where he was slinging beers and sausages. He reminded me that was five years before.

- another critter living under the porch. For weeks I’ve been unable to catch sight of it but it’s a noisy fucker. I thought it probably another groundhog. Yesterday, while sitting in my living room chair, the fucker, another ground hog, walked out onto the patio. I went upstairs, loaded the 12 gauge, quiet as an assassin I opened the balcony door. Fucking venomous spiders on webs interrupted me pause retreat. Yuck. Okay now, they’ve scurried off. No groundhog. Canny fucker.

- the 75 acre parcel next to us is in winter wheat. Love it! A couple weeks ago I barefooted it over to the neighbors. I think it’s winter wheat, they said yeah. They lease it to someone. Last fall, that someone dropped a triaxle load of chickenshit about a hundred feet from our house. This stuff is fantastic fertilizer but it’s full of tiny black beetles. Chicken shit beetles. They get in.

- it’s Sunday. I’m drinking De Garre on the patio. I’ve asked D to bring me a bucket of KFC. She’s in Lexington. A whole bucket she asked? You can have the white meat.

[ldysmfrst]

Breaking and Entering (3) - Lovern

Status: Ongoing Series

Chapter number: 3 of unknown

Word count for Chapter: 1,808

Word count for Story: 8,461

Genre: Werewolf

There are no chapter titles, but each chapter will have a name listed that indicates which POV the chapter is from. Mindlinks are in italics. Conversations with their inner wolf are in bold italics.

A little about the author: I am a mother of two beautiful children. One of which is special needs, and on 3/28, they lost 75% of their vision. I started a Patreon if you feel the heart to donate towards helping with the medical costs of appointments, medication, and modifications to the house, which insurance doesn't cover.

Warnings: (I am not good at this, but I will try. Let me know if I missed anything!!) NOT BETA READ!! This story will have a bit of angst, fluff, smut, f/m, and m/m. This chapter does have a small amount of violence and comfort.

BREAKING AND ENTERING MASTER LIST

LDYSMFRST MASTER LIST

It’s the first day of school. 

I made it to school with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, because it was so close to summer, I did not get a chance to watch the sunrise. There would be time for that later when the days grew shorter. 

Since I am new to LRH and seemingly the only student here this early, I decided to walk around campus to find my classes. While I was lucky to get an open period before lunch, my luck ended there.  

Literally, every class was on the opposite side of each other.

So, not only can I not sneak in, but I must also dash across campus to be on time. I will definitely get my recommended 10,000 steps a day.

Slowly, I see students start arriving. 

Most drive nice-looking cars: Highlanders, F350s, Range Rovers, etc. I swear this school has more expensive cars than most cities that I have lived in. 

Glancing at my watch, I still have a few minutes before my zero period starts. It is time to hide in my spot until my classes start in about an hour. 

Walking towards the library, I recognize different cliques meeting up and gabbing about what kind of summer they had. Most of the zero-period students are Worms, which makes sense, and again, why I didn’t sign up for one. They try to fit as many classes into their day as possible to make their transcripts look good for Yale or Harvard. 

Making my way past the gym and into the front doors of the admin building, I cover my head with my hood and head for the non-private elevator. The lobby is already buzzing with official-looking people. Surprisingly, Mitch is there with another guy heading to the private elevator. 

Why is he here so early, why does he have a key card, and who is that other guy with him?  

I ponder Mitchell and his friend as the elevator takes me to the 4th floor. I find my spot and watch as the school below fills up. Since it still feels like summer, the girls wear shorter-than-short skirts and shorts or the occasional pair of leggings. They are clad in different variations of strappy tank tops, showing too much skin. The guys are in shorts or jeans, muscle shirts, or graphic tees. 

I swear this town belongs to Paris or some other fashion icon capital.

This means I will stick out like a sore thumb, awesome. 

Not.

All too soon, I hear the bell sounding at the end of zero period and announcing I have 10 minutes to get to my first class. Hood up, head down, and hands in my pockets, I make it to my first two classes without a hitch. 

There is an extra ten minutes between the second and third periods for brunch, but I head over to my next class, sit against the wall of lockers, and wait outside the door. 

That is when the day starts taking a dive for the worse. 

"Move out of my way. You're blocking my locker." 

Looking up, it is none other than my foster sister Selena with her mini troop of cheerleaders all sneering at me. 

Let me introduce Selena's followers. 

First, there is her best friend and co-captain, Donna. She looks like Selena, with the same body build, color, eyes, and skin tone. The only difference is Donna's sleek, fire-red hair with thick barrel curls. 

Then next would be Antonina, the shortest and best flier in the state. She has a typical cheerleader look, bleach blonde hair, is not as well endowed as Selena and Donna, and has the same crystal blue eyes. 

Last is their tag-a-long, as Selena called her. Her name is Trisha, and she is the Junior Varsity Cheer Captain. She does her best to fit in with Selena and her goons, dressing like them and coloring her hair to match whomever she needs to impress at the time. Over the summer, she seemed to grow into a young woman, meaning she didn't have to keep stuffing her bra.

Mumbling, "I’m sorry, I didn't know," I try to move as fast as I can out of her way, not wanting to cause a scene on my first day of school. I start walking to a set of benches in the sun.

"That's the charity case that I told you about. She has nothing and no one, so my parents decided she could take my old room and stuff to make them look good. Always trying to impress the big wolf," she said with a look of exaggerated pity on her face.

Not believing what she said or willing to let it slide, I turned around with my hands on my hips: "Well, it is not my fault they have a daughter who left them with emptiness in their hearts. I guess they needed me to feel complete."

With a sound almost like a growl, Selena stalks toward me faster than I have ever seen and slaps me, her nails drawing blood on my cheek. 

"Don't you ever think you will complete anyone? You are nothing but a broken soul that can never be fixed. You should know this now since no family wants to keep you." 

Then she turns back to her crew, flicking her hair over her shoulder, and resumes getting stuff out of her locker. Her gaggle of goons copy her movements and are back chatting away like I don't exist, and she didn't just assault me.

Standing in shock at what she said, I just stared at her, my mouth open like a fish out of water—not moving, not knowing what to do. I mean, no one has ever spoken to me like that. 

Suddenly, I feel someone grab my arm and start pulling.

With blurry eyes, I resist and look at the hand on my upper arm. I followed it up to see a man several inches taller than me with a very concerned look. I see his mouth moving and realize he is actually talking to me. 

"Wait! Who the hell are you?" I wiped away the tears and jerked my arm out of his grasp.

"Erik, my name is Erik, and you're bleeding all over your hoodie. I just want to take you to the school healer. She needs to tend to your face quickly, and you need to learn to avoid Selena and her terrors."

"Oh, t-thanks." I wipe my cheek with my cuff, hissing in pain. Looking at the blood on my wristband, it is clear that it isn't just a little scratch. "How the heck did she do that? Is she Wolverine or something?"

"Scarily accurate, but come on, you need to see a healer," Erik said again, grabbing my arm. This time, I let him lead me to the health office.

Inside the health office, an older woman warmly smiles in a classic nurse's uniform. Immediately, she pulls me into the room and tells Erik to go to class. 

She has me sit on the patient's bed as she flits around the room, explaining what she will do and how to take care of the wound. 

According to her, this happens often. She wasn't even shocked that the first injury happened on the first day. She rambles about my injury and keeps proving that this year will be different because she can "feel it in her bones." Once I am cleared to return to class, I leave the building to find that guy waiting for me. 

"Hey… it's Erik, right?" He nods, and I continue with a confused look, "Thank you for helping me, but why are you still here?"

"I, ah… I wanted to make sure you were okay. Selena can be a bitch sometimes, but today she seems to be in rare form. It makes sense after what happened over the summer break. Anyways, you are new here, right?"

"You could tell that easily, huh?" He goes to say something, but I keep going, "Yeah, it's my first day, and I know about Selena. I am her foster sister. She has never been friendly since the day I moved in. Not that I am expecting to be her best friend or anything."

"That has to be terrible. Living with that? Well, anytime you want to get a break, you are welcome to call me. You got your cell?" he says, holding out his hand. 

I look down at the ground and kick a rock near my foot, "Umm… I don't have a cell. Never have. Don't have anyone who wants to keep tabs on me or keep in touch." 

That's when I feel a knuckle under my chin, lifting my head. As my head is lifted, I finally look at him. 

He is slender but well-defined if that is a possible combination. He is pretty much wearing the male version of what I am wearing. He is taller than me by at least four inches. When I finally see his face, a slight shudder runs through me. He has dark brown eyes that pull you in, dimples on each side of his perfect teeth, thick black hair hanging to his shoulders, and perfectly tan skin. 

"Well, you do now, but I kinda need to know your name first if we are gonna be friends? Up to you, of course." He smiles again with a little less confidence and a flash of worry in his eyes as he quickly drops his hand and stuffs them both into his jeans. 

I cleared my throat to talk: "I would like to be friends. I just don't know how long I am going to be here. I don't seem to last long in any one place. I'm not sure you want to waste your time." 

I gave him a chance to back out and leave. I did not want to deal with the heartache of leaving town and my only friend behind.

"Hold on," he takes off his backpack and rummages around, finally pulling out a piece of paper and a pen, jotting something down, then handing it to me, "Here. That's my cell number and address. If you live with the Moores, you are about two blocks from my house. You can call me or come by whenever. I will be your friend for as long as you breathe if you want." 

Glancing at his phone, a trace of trepidation runs across his face, and he sighs softly, "What's your next class? We pretty much missed our third-period class."

"Oh, the fourth period is open for me. I was going to hide out somewhere, but you should get to class. Bye." 

As I quickly turned around and headed towards the cafe, Erik said, "Hey! Can I get your name, at least?"

"You can call me Ren."

((edited on 9/14/25))

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[zainsvision]

The Chandrayaan 3

CHANDRAYAAN-3 

Greetings to everyone who is reading this blog.

 Recently the big achievement, India made history by landing on the moon's south pole surface with a smooth landing. 

India has become the only country to have ever done so. There is a machine called the rover whose name is Pragyan which is a small vehicle meant to roam on the surface of the moon to check the soil condition water pressure etc.

 This mission was only successful because ISRO kept persisting they learned from the past 2 missions that is [ Chandrayaan -1 & Chandrayaan 2 ].

 To smoothly land on the moon's south pole is difficult cause the terrain and temperature are not suitable the temperature at the south pole is too cold.

The spacecraft entered the lunar surface on August 5. The lunar South Pole region holds particular interest for scientific exploration due to studies that show large amounts of ice there. This ice could contain solid-state compounds that would normally melt under warmer conditions elsewhere on the Moon, compounds which could provide insight into lunar, Earth, and Solar System history. 

This ice will help us know more about how the whole solar system was formed. Ice could also be used as a source of drinking water and hydrogen for fuel and oxygen. 

There were 3 main objectives of Chandrayan 3 

Getting a lander to land safely and softly on the surface of the Moon.

Observing and demonstrating the rover's driving capabilities on the Moon.

Conducting and observing experiments on the materials available on the lunar surface to better understand the composition of the Moon. ISRO has said by the end of the year we will get to know if human life is possible on earth and much relevant information as such.

In December 2019, ISRO requested the initial funding of the project, amounting to ₹75 crore. Amit Sharma, CEO of an ISRO vendor, said, "With local sourcing of equipment and design elements, we can reduce the price considerably."

That is it for the day Hope we see more such missions of ISRO successful and we Indians Reach the height.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 21/10/2023 (Fred again../Jozzy, Troye Sivan, Drake/SZA)

Content warning: Brief mentions of mental health, violence, emotional abuse and death

For a second week, Kenya Grace leads the pack with “Strangers” - welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start the episode off with our notable dropouts, which are songs exiting the UK Top 75 - which is what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. Firstly, we see a couple top 40 debuts exiting as soon as they entered, like “Normal People Things” by Lovejoy, “Toxic” by Nines featuring the Bad Boy Chiller Crew, “You & Me” by JENNIE and “American Town” by Ed Sheeran, as well as “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo prematurely dropping off thanks to the three-song rule. Then we have some of the more long-term hits dropping off like “The Weekend” by Stormzy and RAYE, “0800 HEAVEN” by Nathan Dawe and Joel Corry featuring Ella Henderson, “Popular” by The Weeknd, Playboi Carti and Madonna - that lasted way longer than I expected - and despite the recent gains, “Snooze” by SZA.

There is just… a lot of everything this week, but particularly gains. We do have some re-entries too, with “Style” by Taylor Swift back at #73 before her re-recording is even out, followed by “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #71 - what did I tell you? - and bizarrely enough, “Pompeii” by Bastille all the way up at #37 thanks to an orchestral version with Hans Zimmer. Alright then. As for our notable gains… let’s just run through it: “Another Love” by Tom Odell at #59, “Party All the Time” by Hannah Laing and HVRR at #58, “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift at #39, “On My Love” by Zara Larsson and David Guetta at #38, “Would You (go to bed with me?)” by Campbell and Alcemist at #35, “Got Me Started” and “Rush” both by Troye Sivan at #36 and #27 respectively - more on him later, “Back on 74” by Jungle at #25, “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan at #18 “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift at #14 thanks to the new versions, “DNA (Loving You)” by Billy Gillies featuring Hannah Boleyn at #12 and Mitski gets her first top 10 with the fantastic song “My Love Mine All Mine” at #8 - more on that later in the year.

As for our top five, we have “Baddadan” by Chase & Status and Bou featuring their posse at #5, “Water” by Tyla at #4, “greedy” by Tate McRae at #3, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #2 and of course, “Strangers” at the very top. Now for our list of new songs, and it’s a lot - not a ton of it makes all too much sense either. As you can clearly tell with…

NEW ARRIVALS

#60 - “Just How You Like It” - K.A.D and Kak Hatt

Produced by K.A.D

I listened to a regional BBC Music Introducing show a couple weeks ago and heard a variety of stuff. One of the songs that stuck with me was a pretty mediocre but charming hip-house tune by some guy and it went “give me some time, I’ll have a Rover, lookin’ like a four-leaf clover, tell that girl, come closer”. It’s honestly probably terrible but it was at least honest fun, ending up comical not because he tried to be, but because it was a bit of a genuine fun, not trying too hard to offend anyone or even pretend he was a talented rapper. It was just stupid, and that was okay. This song, with the guy’s Bitmoji in the cover art, seems to think very highly of itself despite the fact it sounds worse than a clearly amateur recording from a guy who I’m sure has way less than the millions of streams this has. It’s pretty easy for me to tell when a song is devoid of personality or anything that personally interests me, but it’s rare that we can get a song devoid of talent - or at least any interest in getting any better. Hope this falls off quick.

#56 - “Black Hole” - boygenius

Produced by Collin Pastore, Jake Finch, Ethan Gruska, Calvin Lauber, Marshall Vore and boygenius

And for a change of pace, we have indie-rock threesome boygenius, consisting of critical darlings Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, with this coming as a bit of a surprise but they did carry some streams from the rest, a little accompanying EP for their debut album from earlier this year. I have yet to listen to any of the collaborative stuff from boygenius, even if I do like a fair bit of Baker’s and Dacus’ solo work. The song starts minimally with Baker despairingly mentioning the few stars she can see in the dark, as the lowered cacophony of strings, glitches, and plummering percussion start to rumble into prominence, battling with a lo-fi piano recording that just sits there, is let hang in a really awkward, but again, despairing way. Eventually, there is a full ruffling of drums but it’s distorted and busy, way too much so to feel organic or natural, so the seemingly endless verse of contrasting phrases from Dacus and Bridgers float across it, way further in the mix, like a cry for help in disaster - “my thoughts, all noise […] sometimes, I need to hear your voice”. It’s a great line to end on to, as the song dissipates out into the next on the tracklisting through a clattering software break instead of anything that sounds like it actually functions or resolves the song’s conflict. It’s a bit of a short, depressing tune, but it gets its point across pretty damn well. Wouldn’t mind more boygenius charting in the future, or just good alternative rock in general… just saying…

#52 - “WORTH IT” - Offset featuring Don Toliver

Produced by CHASETHEMONEY, Heavy Mellow, Cory Rose, OTTI, BEAM and Dave-O

The amount of producers on these big-name rap projects is getting out of hand. Does Offset really need six guys on the boards? To be fair, this was originally a song just by BEAM and CHASETHEMONEY that got deleted and repurposed into this track, which itself samples a Busta Rhymes classic “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”, which peaked at #16 in 1997, as well as the reggae-pop hit “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)” by Dawn Penn, which hit #3 in 1994. Yet somehow with all those samples, nothing of interests pops out. I guess this has a vague reggae rhythm to it thanks to the shaking percussion, and I mostly like Don Toliver on this kind of sound - he fits really well! Offset is here, on his #62 album that somehow charted two songs in the top 60 thanks to big-name features, and he just is entirely alien to this kind of song. There’s nothing that screams “chill reggae-pop” about Offset and it doesn’t seem like the mastering engineers cared much to rectify that. I don’t mind some of the melodic flows he ends up with, but they’re not anything I’d give a second listen. Maybe Offset’s next track will impress me?

#49 - “SAY MY GRACE” - Offset featuring Travis Scott

Produced by Vinylz, FNZ, Maneesh and Tom Levesque

Ever read a song’s title, artists and producers and know EXACTLY how it’s going to sound? This elevated, staccato luxurious trap beat was not a surprise to me at all, and I could even vaguely predict Set’s flow on this, which is sadly a bit more awkward than it should be when he’s asking God some genuine questions about why the people around him are dying, why there is systematic racism in the American justice system and… how his pinky ring cost him a Phantom. Travis Scott comes in saying he flooded the crib with cars and anything genuinely challenging or exciting about the song leaves with his verse, as the atmosphere mutes itself to a compressed synth for the entirety of his substanceless garbage that is sadly now not atypical of Travis. It had potential, but ended up honestly pretty bad.

#45 - “the grudge” - Olivia Rodrigo

Produced by Dan Nigro and Ryan Linvill

I was secretly hoping that no extra songs from GUTS would end up charting because I have very few good things to say about them but also very few good reasons for why I don’t like them. I can appreciate them as songs but they don’t resonate with me and particularly not this one, in her typical wordy fashion with those distant pianos and breathy delivery about a manipulative relationship where she just doesn’t have the strength left in her to forgive, which she really doesn’t need to. It is completely in her right to hold that grudge, and the framing of the song doesn’t entirely absolve her on that front, which is interesting, pretty disagreeable to me at least to me but I just wish the song gave me more actual melodic resonance outside of what acts practically as speaking over solid enough piano backing. It’s just lacking in some of the essentials for me, sorry.

#43 - “THIS YEAR (Blessings)” - Victor Thompson featuring Ehis ‘D’ Greatest

Produced by Samduke and Henrietta Thompson

This is a Christian Afrobeats song, I’m pretty sure, and not an awful one at that. Thompson is a Nigerian gosepl singer, and whilst the production is expectedly cheap and messy given a budget I assume just isn’t there, given that Christian music isn’t the mainstream market in Nigeria either, the delivery from these guys is so devoted it is pretty impressive, especially with Ehis’ shaky falsetto. That hook is insanely catchy also, and the slightly minimal, flexible Afrobeats groove is a solid foundation for two very slippery vocalists. I like the little screech that comes in every few measures, the choir vocals are beautiful as you’d expect - I love pretty much any use of choir in music - but why is this charting? Afrobeats is big, but these guys aren’t, and devoted Christian songs don’t often chart. There is a “French version” with Vacra and a sped-up version so I can assume some global TikTok virality… oh. Gunna is on the remix. There was a hidden Gunna song in here all this time. He’s not even bad here, though a bit strained, you can tell his passion is there even if the lyrics are generic. It’s an odd fit but not the worst, I suppose.

#31 - “DArkSide” - Bring Me the Horizon

Produced by Zakk Cervini, Oli Sykes and Daisuke Ehara

And straying as far away from possible as Christian Afrobeats songs featuring Gunna, we have the newest Bring Me the Horizon song, and man… this one’s about the “dark side” winning, going for a semi-introspective semi-populist touch that ends up just being gross in how it explores mental health. It goes for an anthemic pop-metal throwback to their mid-2010s days but without the specific narrative of POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR or the same level of sheer angst that I’m not sure they have in them anymore. It feels like an attempt by record label executives seeing the success of Bring Me the Horizon to make a song that could still be a hit whilst sounding like Bring Me the Horizon, with a touch of iffily-approached mental health lyrics that basically amount to “you wouldn’t be able to handle me when I’m crazy!”, furthered by the quirky vocal layering, obnoxious 2012 electronics and mostly substanceless, surprisingly rote songwriting. This is just nothing - there are no risks, there’s no interesting turns of phrase. It’s not even three minutes. It’s just depressing to see a once innovative band caught in this cycle of repeating themselves.

#28 - “Can’t Play Myself (A Tribute to Amy)” - Skepta featuring Amy Winehouse

Produced by Skepta

So in 2007, Amy Winehouse released “Tears Dry on Their Own” as a single, and in all honesty, I don’t like it. It is heavily reliant on its interpolation of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, a classic duet that it clearly tries to flip in how she and Salaam Remi built a pretty ambivalent song over one of the most recognisably upbeat, motivational anthems, about not feeling too bad about a relationship breaking up because it wasn’t made to last. Yet fittingly, it never really made me feel anything. It peaked at #37 on release then upon Winehouse’s death re-peaked at #27. Now as a tribute to the lost singer, UK rapper Skepta has remixed the track but not in a style you’d expect. It’s just a straight future house song and disappointingly not very interesting at all. Sure, it has a bit more fuzz and static than the usual house cut, but it doesn’t feel exactly on purpose, just moreso that Skepta can’t fully pull off atmospheric house, considering the factorial percussion and very flat-feeling pads and synths that coat Winehouse’s organic vocals. I may not be a fan of the original song but at least I’m able to admit her vocals will never really fit that perfectly on something that isn’t in that soulful vibe. It does pain me because I do want to enjoy this, it seems like a genuine tribute and re-imagining of a song he loved from her, but I don’t really like the execution here, it feels like it could have been done by anybody, which for Skepta, is kind of sad. Sorry.

#21 - “Rich Baby Daddy” - Drake featuring Sexyy Red and SZA

Produced by Gordo, Klahr, LIOHN, BNYX, TheLoudPack and UV Killin Em

This may be my favourite Drake song. To be fair, there is some healthy competition - and it is completely expected for me to like this kind of song, at least when you boil it down to its essentials - but the amount of Drake songs I genuinely love probably doubled with the release of For All the Dogs. “Rich Baby Daddy” appears to be the fan favourite as well, or at least the one going most viral on TikTok, and I couldn’t be happier. This is a straight-up Atlanta bass record based around a heavenly pad and angelic vocal sample from Jessica Domingo that elevates the song immediately into a state of transcendence, to the point where the pitter patter of the typical Miami bass percussion is more a sprinkled decoration than main rhythm despite the fact that it is still absolutely hypnotising. Of course, Sexyy Red of all people is here and her tonally void club-ready chant about shaking that ass for Drake is perfect for this kind of bop. Drake contrasts her staccato constant with a feeble warble that flexes, sure, but drenching himself with the same paranoia present throughout the album, with the lyrics about a girl dragging love out of him seeming reminiscent of those questions asked by the vocal sample: “I could be enough, is it all?”. SZA kills it as always, going for a fast-paced, sometimes incoherent sliding delivery, and I love how the vocal sample re-appears as prominent in the mix during her verse, it’s a great mix of vocal layers that compliment each other, especially when SZA is desperate to turn this one-night stand into something further. Ms. Red has a pretty short verse but her leaving the track to run bare, just repeating “I’m lucky” as an ad-lib before the hook comes back in definitely doesn’t sound like an error, it sounds like the emptiness of the song - which it has down even to its minimal instrumentation - creeping in, of course before it becomes increasingly obvious with that abrupt beat switch to a downtempo track of Drake crooning. Now, I’ve heard this song with this part excluded, I read a lot about how it ruined the song or at least the momentum, and I completely agree, but Drake’s best weapon in his arsenal is to make the audience hear conversations they never wanted to even know of. So of course after his incredibly accessible dance banger about masking the fragility of a relationship with the fun you’re having, he gets in his feelings about how much he did for this girl yet how distant and inexperienced she still is. Is it gross? Yes, of course it is, especially over those eerie looming synths. But Drake also latches onto some killer melodies and awful lines that make me recoil into my skin a little bit. Because he’s Drake, that’s what he does, and he’s doing it best here. That strained “You know I’m the one” is a great thing to leave in the air, because it sounds far from sincere. This is an excellent song, I’m glad it’s probably going to be a hit, and if this is the last song I talk about from that Drake album, just know I still think it’s his best and I know my opinion is garbage. WIth that said, how out of all of the songs on there the Yeat one still in the top 10? I would never have predicted that.

#17 - “One of Your Girls” - Troye Sivan

Produced by OZGO

As you can probably expect, so, say it with me now: No, I did not listen to the Troye Sivan album. Who do you think I am? Someone who likes pop music? You would be correct in that assumption and I was tempted to check it out when “Rush” was the only single but “Got Me Started” tempered me very much so. And wow, isn’t this a terrible inclusion to the list of singles? First of all, he sounds like Harry Styles over this murmuring synthpop instrumental, and secondly, he implies support for copyright law, which is nothing we here at the deadcactuswalking establishment can support. I would respect the rejection of the song’s sound to add five unnecessarily blaring synths before the acoustics come in the pre-chorus, if they didn’t sound like a scary logo compilation from 2011, and then a different synth tone comes in the outro - it is clearly a purposeful attempt to sound ugly, and for such a comforting and warm song lyrically, it puts me off from even wanting to come back to it, apart from it being generally dull. A few weird moments does not make an experimental song… or even an interesting one.

#16 - “ten” - Fred again.. and Jozzy

Produced by Fred again.. and Tony Friend

Interestingly, I can’t find the origin of this song’s samples, maybe it’s an unreleased set of tracks from sessions with Jozzy and Jim Legxacy, or just from sample packs, or stuff genuinely too obscure no one has found yet, but it definitely doesn’t sound like it was made for the song. In fact, “ten” has that same blue, jumbled sound as “adore u” but the lack of frame of reference regarding the lyrics may actually help because as a result I can fully submerge in this as what it is, which is practically an instrumental. The song immediately captures the club-ready set with that “back it up and dump it” refrain yet seems to pull you away or at least follow you on the road with its cold, limping synths, punctuated by a lo-fi chipping of drums, wherein Jozzy’s vocals act as another instrument at Fred’s disposal, manipulated not to make sense but to fit with the song and reach the exact melodic impact he wants, which is a great decision considering this song is about missing home. Lyrics that felt solid and developed, especially on the heavily-filtered, subtle and minimal atmospheric house beat would be almost a distraction. They simply want you to carry on with this one, as any homesick person with responsibilities may want to do also: just stick with it despite feeling completely out of it, and as someone who has recently moved home and is feeling particularly fatigued, it hits pretty hard. I do usually snark at the whole slow-down outro thing, but it works pretty well here considering it’s that moment of feeling absolutely lethargic and unsure of yourself before it picks up once again, actually speeding back up to pace for the true outro, with even more twinkling synth patterns and a whirlpool of distortion that eventually completely devours the song… yet it still goes on, like life always does. I don’t know if the song was made to be about stretching yourself unnecessarily just in order to get through life, but it sure feels like it and it hits home as a result. This is fantastic, and I hope it has a run like “adore u” did.

Conclusion

I mean, obviously, whoever the hell featuring who gives a damn gets Worst of the Week for “How You Like It”, but it’s sad to say that “DArkSide” by Bring Me the Horizon wasn’t far behind with the Dishonourable Mention. As for the best, it was kind of difficult but it is very difficult to reach Drake’s best so he gets Best of the Week for “Rich Baby Daddy” featuring Sexyy Red and SZA, with a tied Honourable Mention between boygenius’ “Black Hole” and “ten” by Fred again.. and Jozzy, both pretty incredible songs. As for what to expect upon the horizon, I don’t know and this episode was too long for me to care. Thank you for reading, see you next week!

[englishcarssince1946]

1955 Rover P4 75 Mark II

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