#also both guys were really into indie music for some reason

[sonechkaandthedynamos]

when i was writing my bachelor's thesis, i was heartbroken because i was rejected by a guy i had a crush on and i listened to tananai non-stop to concentrate. i was preparing to move to the city where i'm doing my master's now.

now i'm writing my master's thesis, i'm heartbroken over a guy i had to end things with, and only magazin and turbo folk can help me focus. i'm preparing to move back to the city where i came from.

[sashaforthewin]

[on Ao3] Rated M, sex mention, Steddie

ATM Boy

The song started as a joke. Eddie wrote it to see Steve's reaction. 

It had a catchy tune and the lyrics began as a love song of sorts. Steve sat on the couch in Gareth's garage tapping his foot along to the heavy beat and smiling at Eddie as he sang. Until he got to the chorus, of course. 

"He's my ATM boy, my ATM boooooooyyyyy"

Steve rolled his eyes, assuming this was some dumb jab at his being rich. He was upper middle class, at best.

"I can tell he loves me / I can tell he's true / cause when we're in bed there's a thing that he lets me doooOOO!"

Steve was already frowning as soon as Eddie mentioned them in bed but Eddie kept singing, holding eye contact the whole time.

"He let's me go ass to mouth, ass to-"

"EDDIE! EDWARD J MUNSON, ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

The song cut off as various members of the band, Eddie most of all, lost their collective shit at Steve's reaction, laughing at his outburst.

Steve strode over to where Eddie was cackling into the mic, hands on hips, and when Eddie didn't stop, Steve just smacked the mic to the floor.

"Hey, that's expensive!"

"Then you better make sure not to sing about our sex life with the rest of your band present after you buy a replacement, huh?"

Everyone except Eddie agreed that Eddie had sort of deserved it and should replace the mic. Steve forgave him fairly quickly, though, since it was just some harmless joking among friends that would laugh it off. 

That was, until the gig. 

Corroded Coffin got booked to open for the metal band Devastator that were out of Indy. They had three times the fan base of Corroded Coffin, so probably upwards of twenty people were at the show. Sure, those people were also local musicians that were friends of the main band, but a fan is a fan, shut up.

Since the gig was at a shitty dive bar in the city, the kids couldn't come; but Robin, Jonathan, and Argyle decided to come along, as well as Murray, for some reason. Nancy had flat out said she didn't want to have to ride all that way to stand in a smoky bar and hear music she hated, so nobody tried to talk her into it.

Steve was up front in one of Eddie's home-made Corroded Coffin tee shirts. He was still wearing his light wash jeans and a pair of bright orange earplugs, though, so he didn't entirely fit in, but he wasn't as out of place as he thought he would be. There was a guy in a yellow disco suit in the crowd, after all. 

The gang were having a great time. Murray along with yellow disco suit dude were both at the center of the moshpit, slamming and being slammed, Jonathan and Argyle stood around Steve, helping block the worst of the crowd while Steve's hearing was muffled and he wasn't paying attention to anything but his boyfriend, and Robin was alternating hanging with Steve and going to hang against the wall where it was safest. 

Eddie and the boys seemed so happy and were doing great, aside from a few minor difficulties. One of Eddie's strings broke during their second song, but the guitarist from Devastator was quick to loan Eddie his own guitar for the rest of the set. 

The  rest of the Corroded Coffin set was going smoothly after the guitar swap. The crowd was really into the music, and Eddie looked like a natural up there. He introduced the band members and thanked the audience and Devastator for having them, and then announced that this next song would be their last. 

As the opening notes rang out, Eddie risked a glance at Steve and cringed. He was furious and Eddie would definitely be sleeping on the couch tonight. 

But the thing was, the song ATM Boy really was very catchy. It was daring, it was sexual, it was devious and queer, but above all, it was a bit of an earworm. The audience went nuts for it, they were screaming when the chorus hit and by the final chorus, a bunch of people were singing along. It went over better than they ever even thought it would. 

Which made it all the worse that Steve continued to stare at Eddie as if he had been betrayed in the worst possible way. He just stood there. Eddie had to force himself to concentrate on the crowd, not on Steve. As soon as the set was done, Corroded Coffin grabbed their shit and made way for Devastator while the party surrounded Steve and tried to pretend they hadn't just heard a very intimate fact about their friend, discussing the crowd energy and how good the boys had done and literally anything that wasn't the elephant in the room. Steve did not participate in the conversation at all, he was quietly seething. 

He refused to talk to or be touched by Eddie the entire rest of the night, making sure to put his arm around Robin so that only their party would know he was the so-called ATM boy. The ride home was awkward and a bit tense, but the fight was saved until they were at home, alone in Steve's house. Steve pulled off his Corroded Coffin shirt and threw it at Eddie's face before storming off up the stairs. 

"Baby, I'm sorry! Baby, come on, it was funny!"

"You asshole, you just told all our friends and Murray that I let you… that I… it was a one time thing! Do not think I am ever letting you do that again after you did this!"

"Yeah, that's fair. But baby, it's just shock value! And it's a surprisingly catchy tune, I don't know why it came out that way but it did! I swear I wrote it to make you laugh, but the guys all wanted to play it at the show. I voted not to but was overruled! Come on, please forgive me. Baby? Please? Baby?"

"Ugh... Fine, okay, fine. I forgive you for humiliating me in front of our friends. At least the kids weren't there and only about thirty people heard it. I guess. And now it's over and I won't see most of those people ever again. So, I guess, yeah, it's kinda funny."

"You know I love you and I respect you so much. I'd let you go ATM on me as an apology."

Steve just huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes, but he allowed Eddie to kiss him and wrap him in a hug. He was just glad this was the end of it.

Months went by and Steve had nearly forgotten about the whole thing. 

Until Eddie and the Coffin boys recorded their first demo. It wasn't anything professional, it was recorded in a large truckstop bathroom with decent acoustics and it was recorded with a portable cassette recorder, but it was recorded nonetheless. 

They had made a bunch of copies, sent them off to a few radio stations, and sold a bunch to indie record stores, handed them out to friends and sold them at their weekly gig. In the second week, a few new people showed up specifically to buy their tape because they had heard their friend's copy.

Eddie was so excited for the growing buzz that he wasn't thinking when he popped the tape into Steve's stereo to celebrate. He had been very careful to only play Steve Side B, never Side A, up until now. 

As soon as ATM Boy came on, Steve slammed on the brakes so hard Eddie nearly broke his face on the dashboard. When he saw Steve's expression, Eddie thought maybe breaking his face would've been preferable. 

Eddie slept on the couch for a week after that, but Steve eventually forgave him. 

Steve had nearly gone back to a completely normal life free of mortifying embarrassment, having convinced himself only subculture dwelling weirdos had heard the song.

But then a local radio station played ATM Boy. Not just once, they put it into their evening rotation. And then another station farther away picked it up. And then another. And then things spiraled from there. 

The only saving grace was that the radio had censored it. The lyrics were now "he lets me go ah- - t'mouth" though Steve suspected people probably still got the gist of it from the rest of the song. 

Corroded Coffin got signed to a record label and they recorded their first album in an actual studio. On the studio release, it was decided for the lyrics to become "he lets me go A T M" even though "to mouth" did not strictly speaking need censoring, it flowed better. 

ATM Boy, meanwhile, was starting to spread. It reached the billboard Top 100 list and started climbing. The band started touring for real, not just road trips to Indy and Chicago. They started selling out mid-sized venues and meeting other bands and forming friendships with fellow creatives. 

Eddie was finally the rock star he had dreamed of. 

And Steve was struggling to be supportive while also wishing he was invisible and unknown to anyone. He was living in constant fear of being found out. Not just because he wasn’t publicly out, but because Steve did not want to be known as the ATM boy and he felt even being seen in Eddie’s presence would damn him. 

At first he refused to tour with Eddie and the band, but after not seeing his boyfriend for months, Steve was both lonely and worried Eddie would cheat or leave him for someone else. It took Eddie a while to notice how badly Steve was handling everything but once he did, he hired Steve as his hairdresser so that he would be able to drag Steve around and have an on-the-books excuse for his constant presence. He groveled and doted on Steve and tried everything in his power to atone for the embarrassment, paranoia, and distress he had caused the man he loved.

There were many rocky years but they managed to stay together through it all. Caring for Steve and focusing on him was actually what helped Eddie avoid the pitfalls of fame that so many bands fell victim to. Who has time to do drugs when they have so many beautiful moles to kiss and a gorgeous toned back to massage?

And on a talk show, nearly forty years after the song ATM Boy was written, Eddie Munson told the audience about his wonderful husband and about the real ATM boy.

“It wasn't my husband, just some other guy I slept with.” 

Unfortunately, two minutes later in the interview he off-handedly mentioned Steve is the only guy he's ever slept with or dated.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Unpopular Hobie takes/opinions

Him and Gwen actually have pretty good romantic chemistry and if it were up to me they would've been canon instead of Ghostflower with Miles having moved on from Gwen romantically and Gwen thinking of him purely platonically from the get-go

But also,they work just as well as found siblings and NOT parent-child because even with the interpretation of adult Hobie,he has Dad Friend vibes,not Actual Dad ones.The one thing i would change about romantic Ghostpunk also is making Gwen a half white afrolatina since Hobie would be poc4poc for obvious reasons

The trope of him being a popular target of thirst on Earth 138 thanks to being in a band is honestly kind of stupid because yes he's objetively handsome as fuck(/platonic)but also he's also a black person living in 1970s England.Speaking from the experience of a biracial homecountry raised afrolatino who grew up with the white side of his family only and went to predominantly white/nonblack poc schools,he definitely gets a lot of comments on his apperance but not positive ones and the best he'll get from most is a backhanded compliment

He dosen't listen to indie music but he loves indie games since part of anti-capitalism is supporting small bussiness and creators

Him and Noir wouldn't be all that close-Obviously they'd like eachother because Noir's based but i can't see him ever being into him romantically,even disregarding that he looks exactly like Peter B which would make dating him So Fucking Weird

He hates being theythemed-No shade to people who headcanon him with any pronouns or do actual respectful nonbinary rep with him but i find the idea that Hobs being nonbinary means he'd use only they/them to be just reinventing the gender binary as a genderqueer person who largely perfers he/him even if he's got they/them in his pronouns set too

He's jamaican(Honestly not entierly sure if this is in unpopular but i looked for content and found only a small amount of posts)

Related to the above,i fucking HATE the weed jokes because oh yeah,of course the jamaican guy is a stoner hahaha NOT you guys aren't funny

His favorite color is pink and that's why he turns pink when he's happiest(Around Miles because babyboy is CRUSHING and around Mayday because again,Dad Friend so obviously he loves babies)

He's not really a sexual person including his humor and tbh i find very creepy how often he's assumed to be based off his flirtations because y'all,Gwen's a MINOR and SO IS MILES and the crop top is to be gnc,stop making it weird,this is a kids movie!Plus that's not even getting into black male stereotypes

I don't like the idea of him and Miles G or Pavitr together because no hate Chaipunk shippers because i truly do think it's a good ship but all the feminization of Pavitr has ruined it for me and it's not helped by me not seeing anything between them in the movie and just casually shipping them and i think it's better if our Miles gets a Hobie and Miles G gets a Ganke seeing as our Miles was robbed of his thanks to the Mcu so it's equal.Also Prowlerpunk shippers are always so fucking goofy,STOP drawing Hobie without his beautiful black features other than his melanin

Him and Jessica have a mother-son relathionship that parallels Miles and Peter B's,including that Hobie has an actual mom but diffinerating in that he actually views her as a parental figure(while Miles sees Peter B as his older brother)-Purely headcanon based but that little interaction between them at the end screamed that they're close so she knows his attitude

Margo is one of his best friend's because obviously she is,i don't even need to explain why and Margobie/Siblings!Punk Byte both have way more of a basis than Noirpunk

His counterpart in Batman crossovers should be Stephanie Brown or Duke Thomas,not Jason Todd because they share some similarities but Stephanie and Duke are almost exactly like him(Including names regarding him and Stephanie and i've even nicknamed her Stephie so there's that)

And also,he's a Percy Jackson and Katara kinnie

Rio and Jefferson would actually fucking love him because guess what,it's stupid and transparently antiblack to automatically assume a black couple would see a black boy who's unbelivably sweet-looking but brand him as a thug who's out to abuse their child just because he's alt and isn't a fence sitter about oppression-In fact,they'd tease Miles about someone as dorky as them pulling someone as cool as Hobie and there should be gags about them loving Gwen as a person but being SO relieved he's not actually dating a white girl

@nogender-onlystars

[rivetgoth]

Tumblr Hits of the early 2010s are funny to me. Like the songs that took this website and its culture by storm. I was talking to Angel about this but I think the majority specifically followed a formula that 1. Appealed to both the “hipster” and the “fandom” sides of the site 2. Which required them to have a sound/vibe that was somewhat Weird, but still accessible, so usually some kind of indie, alt, etc, and 3. Lyrics that were broadly relatable and could be applied to ships but also could just feel artful and #deep regardless of if you related it to yourself and wanted it for a bio or to put as a caption for art of your fictional guys. Basically so much of the “culture” of Tumblr users was (and tbf still is, but it’s evolved in a post-Dashcon landscape) being Jughead “I’m weird I'm a weirdo I don't fit in and I don't WANT to fit in have you ever seen me without this stupid hat on? that’s weird” but they weren’t, like… FREAKS. They weren’t out here listening to Merzbow Boredoms Gerogerigegege Coil Throbbing Gristle Whitehouse Nurse with Wound Einstürzende Neubauten etc. They were basically looking for music they could go “Wait, why is nobody [my classmates / coworkers] talking about this? It’s actually sooo good!”

So you end up with like. Florence and the Machine. GREAT example of this. She’s weird. Her lyrics are weird. She’s not remotely inaccessible but she’s not like. Mainstream pop. She has her folksy inspired sound and aesthetic that makes her seem more esoteric. A song like “Howl”—That can be for your gothic aesthetic as much as it can be for your werewolf AU. Sweater Weather. Take Me to Church. Arctic Monkeys. Lana Del Rey. Keaton Henson. Keane. Artists with a little bit of edge giving these sort of artful descriptions of their heartbreaks, crafting scenarios that could apply to your own life and fantasies or that you can project onto characters. IAMX’s “Animal Impulses,” “I Come With Knives,” and “Bernadette” made a bit of headway during this time for the same reason. IAMX is alt/dark electronic that takes inspiration from a lot of experimental industrial artists but (and especially in the era that those songs came out) has a sort of fun circus-y dark cabaret theatricality that sounds Weird but not inaccessible. Lorde. The Killers. Marina. Regina Spector. Again, it’s not that these bands aren’t massive names. But it’s that little bit of edge or quirkiness and the ways in which they describe the circumstances and situations they’re writing about.

Anyway, I don’t say this with the intent to be mean. I was not a fan of all of these bands (though I did like some of them and still do!) and some of them I could happily spend the rest of my life never hearing from again lol. I DO think there’s obvious criticism to be had in the way nobody could handle a single black artist on here like. At fucking all. But this post is more noting a fascination I have based on the fact that a local event promoter here who does themed nights occasionally does “2010s Tumblr” themed events that honestly do go off and bring in some really fun good vibes crowds but also it is absolutely surreal seeing an element of your childhood/adolescence aestheticized as a Throwback Dance Night lmao. And retrospectively it’s funny to think about what made certain songs and bands successful on here with the specific audience that populated this place.

[girlreviews]

Review #438: Parklife, Blur

In some ways this review is going to be like the antithesis to the one I wrote for Pulp’s Different Class. In that, this album features songs that are so important to British culture, and individually to my formative years, that I can’t ever be mad to hear them. However, unlike my ongoing and steadfast admiration for Pulp as a band, I have way more complicated feelings about Blur, and about this album in particular. Okay, so some context and education first. Blur had success in the UK with their debut album, Leisure, but had really dug themselves into a financial hole through poor management. They owed the taxman a lot of money. As such, they were essentially forced to go on a long, arduous tour of the US to promote their successful album. In theory this would be great. But it wasn’t great. They were touring tiny towns and venues that had never heard of them. The grunge scene had just exploded out of the Pacific Northwest and literally nobody Stateside had any fucks to give about Blur, British Music, or what they were doing on this tour. The band themselves have described the space and time immediately preceding the creation of Parklife as pretty bleak. Miserable. Oppressive. They felt backed into a corner, exhausted, downtrodden, underappreciated, and homesick.

Where they sort of lose me on this is where they express feeling as if they were shamed for being British and they were resistant to just create a record that adhered to the current trend of music. They returned to the UK with a concept in mind: a quintessentially British album, about British culture, that makes a statement: British music is a thing of its own, and it’s worth your time. I mean, I don’t disagree with that. I just fail to see how grunge being a popular genre at the time meant that they weren’t able to be proudly British, and proudly produce whatever music suited them. Artists make art for the art, and if someone likes it, that’s great. But they were young men at the time and I imagine egos and the lures of chart success influenced their feelings about it. You don’t get into a tabloid frenzied ongoing rift with the Gallagher brothers because you’re a really chill bunch of guys that only care about the music. There’s an irritating overtone of testosterone and national pride that has an icky vibe to it. It’s too easy for it to be co-opted. And it was! And it still is!

So let me just get the following points off my chest and then I’ll work my way through them:

1. Parklife is and was an important record in British music

2. It’s also not Blur’s strongest album by a BIG margin, but it’s managed to persist as somewhat of a defining album for them. I’m glad they shook it off, and we didn’t just get record after record of Parklife from them. That’s honestly how a lot of people would have done it and I can respect their commitment to art as a band: we’re going to do something different than what you just loved, and if you don’t like it that’s a you problem. People did like it.

3. Parklife also paved the way for an obnoxious marketing/PR ploy from the music industry surrounding British Indie/Rock artists, that created a ridiculous craze and wave that was surfed by bands ranging from incredible and deserving, to absolute dogshit. Ladies and gentleman, I give you: Britpop. If you were there you know what it was like, and you understand all the nuance and resentment surrounding it as a “genre”. We’ll get into this more later. In hindsight it all worked out okay and we live in a world where – at least to my knowledge – you can appreciate and criticize both Oasis and Blur for their talents and their fuck ups without it representing some massive class and cultural divide. This was absolutely not always the case and it was, for some reason, a really big deal, and it mattered to everyone, a lot. Blur or Oasis? I was 7 turning 8 years old at the height of this manufactured-turned-real rivalry, and it genuinely caused me stress. As a child! I loved them both. But I felt forced to choose. I chose Blur. I understand how ridiculous it sounds, but I wish I could go back in time and refuse to choose. It mattered, and it also really didn’t. They don’t sound similar enough to compare or compete? So why did we have to? But WE DID. It was on the news. It was the biggest thing going on at the time. It dominated the papers. Bookies were taking bets on who would be #1 between the two of them. Blur won that battle with Country House. I don’t think anybody won the war. I think everybody got bored, gave up, and went home.

So Blur kicked off Britpop with their return from this grinding US tour and they made a full blown concept album about being British. And it was good. But all of a sudden there was just this… Overwhelming influx of bands who were banking their success solely on this “being British”, thing. It had a look, it had a sound, it had a style, it had a location. The same thing happened with the Indie wave in the early/mid-2000s. It’s so annoying to me though. You end up just having to sift through a whole bunch of fucking garbage to find the stuff that is legit, and would be legit with or without the “scene”. Parklife is legit. It’s just responsible for the aftermath and onslaught of bullshit. Is that their fault? No, but they definitely participated in it all for a bit. There was a lot of great music that technically fell under the Britpop genre, but essentially looking back most of it isn’t Britpop – because that was just made up. It was just good music from various genres, and they all happened to be British artists. That’s not the same thing. It was just a music industry scheme and boy howdy did everyone buy-in.

The song Parklife, is pretty genius, still. Damon Albarn, unable to commit to the concept with a cockney accent, enlisted well-known British actor, Phil Daniels (of Quadrophenia fame) to deliver the lyrics. This was both creative and super novel. People went pretty nuts about it. They still do. It’s got the same pull as Common People. If you want to see an entire nation lose their shit over a song – you might stick on Parklife. It’s just deeply entrenched into the fabric of British culture and it’s as if it was from the moment it was released. It just is. I actually saw Parklife live at Reading Festival when I was 16 or 17, and they brought Phil Daniels out. The most memorable thing about the whole thing, was that Damon Albarn fell off the stage. I guess the most surprising thing about the wider record, is that you expect it to be more of Parklife the song. And it actually isn’t. It’s just a Blur record, and a not bad one at that.

It's just so weird how a regular album took on this entire life of its own, turned into a cultural phenomenon, and produced this era of music that for better or worse is part of history now. Some of the subsequent singles from subsequent albums honestly seem like they were more “Britpop” than a lot of the tracks on Parklife. Maybe they were running with it for sometime to bank on its success, but ultimately they grew tired of it too and changed directions. I’m glad.

I guess the other thing about Blur, is the individuals its made up of. They’ve been indie darlings forever. Graham Coxon was a nerdy little weirdo, he left and came back. I think Britpop almost killed him if I’m being honest. Damon Albarn was a pretty-faced front man and has gone on to produce some absolutely insane albums for other artists and with other bands. He’s got something, that’s for sure, but it’s not always good. Some ego and misogyny always sort of leaks out and it would make my life easier to enjoy his creative output if he just kept his mouth shut. He seems to have a problem playing nice with successful women and insists on tearing them down publicly, only to be forced to admit that he hasn’t actually worked with them, met them, talked to them, or even listened to the music that he is loudly criticizing. That’s fucking annoying, but, is also par for the course regarding male opinions being inexplicably important and accepted even absent of any actual valid perspective or input. Damon, you have a lot of great things to say with your music. That doesn’t mean you have to say something, about everything, all the time.

Alex James, floppy-haired and handsome bassist, for a time was the biggest darling of them all – attracting praise for being so quirky and unique by establishing a cheese farm. Over the years, I have come to suspect he’s really just hidden in plain sight and really what you get with him is a basic man, with basic opinions, who loves some attention. I can’t ever really quite put my finger on it with him but there’s something deeply off putting about his whole persona. I’ll just say it. Whatever image he puts out and however quirky and cool he makes himself out to be: he’s just a fucking Tory, man. With that comes everything else: classism, racism, misogyny and fucking over everyone worse off than you, so long as you get yours. But hey everyone, who cares right? He makes cheese! Isn’t that so weird and kooky? He’s gotta be a cool guy! It was this exact fucking line of thinking that allowed Boris Johnson to take advantage of the comedy panel show circuit for years and years and years, elevating his reputation among liberal young voters. Everyone thought Boris was a funny joke, so let’s vote for him! He goes from MP, to London Mayor, to high-ranking cabinet member, to the fucking PRIME MINISTER. And it wasn’t a funny joke then, was it? So let’s pay attention to the things people actually say and do, and not just the music that they make and the cheese they produce. The other guy in the band, whose name I can literally never remember – Dave Rowntree – he’s just the drummer, who brought nothing to the band visually, and was just sort of along for the ride. Seems like a nice enough guy, it’s just that nobody cares.

If you’re interested in making more sense of this review, I will recommend that you turn your attention to Netflix series This Is Pop which does a pretty decent overall rundown of Blur, Oasis, and the Britpop era. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good, and I appreciate that it gives a voice to the women in that music scene at the time, who were treated like shit and had to deal with all of the masculine national pride shit that came along with it all. It’s pretty clear from listening to them: Oasis, literally didn’t give a shit – about anything – and that was pretty hilarious. Blur, despite being genuine talent with good music to offer, bought into the hype and acted like a bunch of pricks publicly. They were all pricks, it’s just some of them were more authentically pricks than others. Ha.

I guess all I can say is this: I love Blur, and I hate Blur. I don’t know that I’m inclined to agree with Parklife’s inclusion in the Rolling Stone Top 500, but I can also appreciate that I’m talking from the inside and the majority of listeners didn’t also absorb the cultural moment as it was happening. If you happened to be there, you know it was all kind of nonsense. It’s kind of wild watching documentaries or reading write-ups of a particular time in music that you were actually present for in real-time. Like how I imagine people who were at Woodstock, or when Bob Dylan went electric, or the original British Invasion of America with the Beatles. It was a whole thing, and if you were there, you remember.

[a-moth-to-the-light]

Most-Listened of March 2024

[last month]

This was such an exciting month of releases--Purplekiss, Day6, BLEACHERS?? Chung Ha gave us a couple of songs, Nina Suárez came back out of nowhere, Lucy dropped a single, OLIVIA RODRIGO IS BACK?? I've been super excited for the J-Hope album, too, but I haven't been emotionally ready to check it out, yet, since I want to have the energy to really love it! Not to mention the Seori EP-- PLUS Bol4 and StayC both dropped some covers of huge 2019 k-pop hits.

And that isn't all. The highlights of my month were seeing Bruce Springsteen (only my favorite artist ever.) and Gregory Alan Isakov in concert(s)! So honestly, I'm a little overwhelmed by just how exciting music is right now. (It doesn't help that this month gave me my first album of the year candidate, too!!) This post will be my opportunity to go a little wild, then :)

1. Leopardos -- Ine Güemes

I should not enjoy this listening experience as much as I do. That whistling noise should annoy me by now, after all these listens, right? ... Right? Nope. I love it. This song is so soothing, it's literally the musical equivalent of a deep breath.

2. Appaloosa Bones -- Gregory Alan Isakov

Concert prep + THE sulking song this month. Look, I'm a guy who needs my daily floor time (floor time. perhaps you require it.), and it always involves considerable sulking. (At this rate, you're gonna see a sulking song on this list every single month. It's a tradition now!) I've been losing it about "Was I that gone? / Man, I hope not / Glad you found me when you did" and "The pages slow / in the room I called your name" and "They haven't made no pill / To get us across the winter time" ...

3. All Things End -- Hozier

You know what ended? My eight-week class. *sigh of relief* All things end, truly! Now I just need the reminder that this semester will end, too...

4. Death To My Hometown -- Bruce Springsteen

I'd never heard this one before, but I ASCENDED when I heard it live (the horns section was. fantastic.) and I left it on repeat all month post-concert.

5. The Ledge -- Fleetwood Mac

This song makes me proud of my music taste, honestly--see, I can like weird experimental stuff, too! It sounds wonderfully, comfortingly crowded--like the ambient noise from a nearby café, or like falling asleep with the TV on. I don't know, it's just a feeling I find myself really enjoying. I'm also SO deeply in love with the round-style singing (see: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" rounds in middle school choir) Fleetwood Mac sometimes does (see: my obsession with "Paper Doll"), and they do it in this song !!

6. I Don't Want to Know -- Fleetwood Mac

I like this one for the same reason I like "Second Hand News"--that cheerful self-deprecation just never fails to draw me in. ("Second Hand News" is still better, though!)

7. Smart -- Le Sserafim

Does anyone NOT like this song? I missed the Eve Psyche hype train last year, so this one's hitting me doubly hard. I think the sweeter tone of "Smart" suits Le Sserafim's vocals much better, and the production is just plain adorable! This has been my go-to song during classes, when I need something to cheer me up without making me too overwhelmed.

8. Luz -- Ine Güemes

That vocal processing is SUCH a standout--so soft and hazy and fluffy, just a fascinating texture when you really focus on it, but endlessly pleasant when you leave it on loop and zone out, too. (Look, I REALLY loved this album this month.)

9. Nota de Voz -- Los Hermanos Laser

Classic indie boy music! I like "Azul Plateado" from this album, too, and I have a feeling the whole album will hit for me during the summer--I tend to like that exhausted-sounding alt-rock stuff a whole lot around July & August :)

10. Light Sprite -- Baby Pantera, Isabella Lovestory

Thanks for the rec, @pocima !!

11. I Am Right On Time -- Bleachers

This is a weirdly muted album for Bleachers (especially on the heels of "Stop Making This Hurt" and "How Dare You Want More" from their last album), and this is the most weirdly muted of them all--I really feel like it should be... more, somehow? But it's still quite a cathartic listening experience, and I keep coming back to it!

12. Really Like You -- Gyubin

I've started giving myself 30 minutes of reading time in the mornings, to help me wake up and not be completely miserable about it, so I've been reading a whole bunch of webtoons. (Hell, maybe I'll read a book one day!) This one's the perfect cutesy webtoon soundtrack, and I think it might be here because I left it on repeat while reading Blooming Season?? (I just finished catching up with Jackson's Diary, and I think I'm gonna start Death of a Pop Star next!) Anyway, Gyubin sounds lovely here, can't wait for a comeback!

13. Self Respect -- Bleachers

The production on this song is just SO exciting overall!! But I'm mostly here for the saxophone. God, it's not even that much of the song but it's gorgeous !!!

14. Nieve Sin Fin -- Ine Güemes

Nice aesthetic piano :)

15. Rush -- Twice

I love how dizzying this song is--it's chaotic and overwhelming in the most wonderful way! I was a little disappointed by it when I first listened to the album, I think because their vocals here are much softer than usual. When I let myself get swept away in the production, though, I totally get the appeal.

Five-Star Songs (& Albums!) This Month

BBB -- Purplekiss (the tiktok-music trend finally got me last year--against my will, admittedly. unfortunately for me, "bbb" is a fantastic example of that easy-listening, viral-tiktok sound from a group i'm already obsessed with, so of course i'm a huge fan. great vocal performances and silky songwriting? yeah, it's great--the muted aesthetic doesn't bug me at all--and i actually kind of love the super-short horn sections in the chorus. they're surprisingly full-sounding!)

Beam Beam -- Jeon Soyeon (i didn't get this one at all when it first came out, but i've warmed up to it over the years--and this month it just HIT. it's the perfect showcase of soyeon's energy, and it's such a rush!!)

Death To My Hometown -- Bruce Springsteen (five stars bc it has the words "robber barons" in it!!)

Girl I've Always Been -- Olivia Rodrigo (i keep underestimating olivia rodrigo's power as a performer. of course she could make this country-sounding track work. of course she could make it my favorite from the album in an instant. who am i to question??)

Hey Joe -- Bleachers (a sing-along for the politically disillusioned. happy 2024, fellow usamericans. well, at least the harmonies here are delightful!)

Jesus is Dead -- Bleachers (i mentioned that this album is unusually muted for bleachers--not dull as in 'boring in terms of production or songwriting', but dull as in dead-eyed and zombie-like. the vocal delivery, especially, is unusually bland and flat. "jesus is dead" is definitely the best use of this half-asleep, grayscale aesthetic on the album--a song as hopeless and monotone as its delivery. it's strange and stylish and messy, too, AND there's also a sax solo ?? and it works great ?? i admire it so so so much--i'm very surprised this didn't make the most-listened list, i've been looping it a whole bunch.)

The Ledge -- Fleetwood Mac

Self Respect -- Bleachers (re: saxophone.)

White Rabbit -- Jefferson Airplane (i don't think it's much of a hot take at all to say this one is fantastic. i heard it for the first time in february, and i've been completely obsessed since!!)

Heráldica -- Saramalacara (okay, i've had like. a week. with this album, but it was love at first listen--and "humo" already had my heart, anyway. the atmospherics are breathtaking, the production crisp and intense, and saramalacara's voice // the vocal production here fits SO well!! there's a song called ".tumblr" that's definitely worth checking out, though i enjoy every song on here !! except "_cuervos". i admire that one but god it disturbs me i never want to hear it again.)

Qué Nos Mantiene Despiertos -- Ine Güemes (first album of the year candidate of 2024 !!! not much of a surprise, i'm sure, given my top 15. more breathtaking atmospherics, but in the exact opposite direction of heráldica! this album is full of really unique textures, but all that chaos doesn't make it any less soothing. each song is distinct, but they all come together into this sweet, fluffy youtube-lofi-mix type of experience--and look, i'm a college student. could i ask for anything more in an album?)

[randomvarious]

1980s Power Pop Playlist

Folks, we've got a brand new tune that kicks off this playlist now, and its own title might as well be the four-word credo that really essentializes the power pop genre as a whole: "Fuck Art Let's Dance," by a British band called The Name.

Sometimes you really just gotta stop taking all of this music stuff so damn seriously all the time and come to appreciate the mass-appealing pleasures of tried and true simplicity. British Invasion bands like The Beatles and The Who may have made significant artistic progress since their earlier works, but that was no reason to leave the vibe of that early stuff behind. What's already been done is no longer fresh, but some of the formulas that were used back in those early-to-mid-60s days were proven to have been pretty golden, and a late 70s-to-mid-80s crop of rockers who had grown up with those early British Invasion records on their radios had their hearts set on bringing it all back to the fore. So, fuck art, let's dance!

While this little playlist once had a combination of songs that were mostly from the indie stalwart Bomp! Records branch of American power pop and mid-to-late 80s stuff from the C86-UK indie/twee pop label Subway Organisation, it now adds a bunch of tunes that preceded that British indie pop wave too, from a pretty big subculture called mod revival. Helmed by The Jam, who used the same iconic blue, white, and red 'target' as The Who for their own band logo, mod revival was an insular scene that really took off after The Who's Quadrophenia movie came out in 1979, instilling in UK teenagers and twenty-somethings a deep desire to emulate the Vespa-riding lifestyle that the film itself had depicted. Essentially, mod revival mixed a new wave and punk rock sound with the 60s mod sound of yesteryear, but if we're going to generalize it, it was really, for the most part, a regionally specific variant of power pop.

So in addition to "Fuck Art Let's Dance," a catchy-as-shit song with only a little over 10,000 plays, we've got another couple mod revival bops too, like the soft, dreamy, and keyboard-infused "One Step Ahead" by a band called The Stripes, which only has a little over 6.2K plays. And I added a couple other tunes from Bomp! and Subway Organisation too, with "I'll Get Lucky" by SoCal power pop heroes The Plimsouls, which has 39.3K plays, and the much more obscure "Do It Again" by Clockwork Orange-referencing UK band Korova Milk Bar, which only has a little over 6.2K plays.

The Name - "Fuck Art Let's Dance" Deadbeats - "Choose You" The Plimsouls - "I'll Get Lucky" The Stripes - "One Step Ahead" Small World - "First Impressions" Korova Milk Bar - "Do It Again"

And then for the YouTube version of this playlist, I was able to add all the songs that were added to the Spotify one too, plus a handful of some more mod revival tunes that aren't on Spotify at all. And I don't think that I have a total favorite among this YouTube-only set, but The Scene's super bouncy "Hey Girl" is so irresistibly catchy and deliberately simple, from both musical and lyrical standpoints, that it almost sounds like it could be from the 60s itself, which I don't think can be said about any other song in this playlist. Really seems like these guys took the term 'mod revival' quite literally with this record of theirs, and for those who might be keeping track, this is The Scene who hailed from Bradford in West Yorkshire, and not the other UK mod revival band called The Scene who were from East London 😅. "Hey Girl" is nearing 27.7K plays.

Also added a tune from The Groove Farm, a band that was on Subway Organisation, and whose "Crazy Day Sunshine Girl" is criminally short, but makes its 45 seconds really count. And that one's only got 53 plays as of right now!

The Reputations - "I Believe You" The Scene - "Hey Girl" The Clues - "No Vacancies" The Groove Farm - "Crazy Day Sunshine Girl"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So with this update, our Spotify playlist is now at 19 songs that clock in at over 55 minutes, but over on YouTube we've got 30 songs that clock in at 85 minutes. So if you want an extra half-hour of power pop-type tunes from the American-centric Bomp!, the UK's mod revival scene, and UK label Subway Organisation, you better check out that YouTube one!

And here's the list of compilations that were used to put this whole thing together:

100% British Mod (1998, Captain Mod) Destination Bomp! (1995, Bomp! Records) The Roots of Powerpop (1996, Bomp! Records) Battle of the Garages: Part 1 (1994, Voxx Records) Whole Wide World, Volume 2 (1994, Subway Organisation) Take the Subway to Your Suburb (1994, Subway Organisation) Burns From the Valley of the Sun (1991, Frontier Records)

Next week we'll be getting a little bit deeper into mod revival ✌.

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[thornsofthefuture]

an interview with varya from CROSSPARTY & The Sextapes — a talk about psychedelic rock, thailand and cannabis

today's thorns of the future guest is varya, a vocalist and lyricist of one of the biggest russian witch-house bands, CROSSPARTY, as well as a vocalist and lyricist of The Sextapes, an electronic and indie duo. CROSSPARTY has been in the scene since 2012, and The Sextapes, technically since 2019. CROSSPARTY's first ever release was the "#SWAGHUNTER" LP, which was released through the Phantasma Disques label.

thorns of the future: how and when did you and uken start CROSSPARTY?

varya: At first, I need to tell you this story from the beginning. Uken wasn't the first musician in Crossparty. In 2012 the group was invented by Ilya Bespalov and me. Ilya is an electronic musician from my hometown Vladivostok. Before Crossparty i was singing in a punk-rock band named Cosmic Pirates. We were friends and one time we decided to try to create something together in an experimental electronic style. In 2014 Ilya decided to leave our band for personal reasons and I've asked Uken to join me. The rest is the story.

thorns of the future: what was your craziest experience at a live show?

varya: Every live show is a crazy experience in some way, you know. Sometimes it’s crazy in a good way, sometimes in a bad. I can tell you about my first live show in Moscow on WITCHOUT 2. It was crazy because I was very nervous and was stuck in a toilet 2 minutes before the show because the door locker was broken. Some guy in a waiting line broke the door and when I got out the show had already started and I needed to run to the stage while the first song was playing. Good that it was an instrumental track without a vox, but it was really hard to run through the crowd to be on time at the beginning of the second song and of course I was out of breath.

thorns of the future: tell us about your first ever live show.

varya: My first serious live show was when I was 15 with my punk-rock band Cosmic Pirates. Before them I was in a girl group called Cashew, but we didn’t do live shows. Guys from Cosmic Pirates heard my voice at a Cashew rehearsal and asked me to join them as a lead singer. At the first rehearsal they said to me that we have our first live show in 2 days. We wrote 2 new original songs with my lyrics and the rest of the songs were old. Everything was really good and the guys presented me like a new lead singer to their fans. 

thorns of the future: what's your favourite CROSSPARTY song?

varya: Because all of Crossparty's songs it’s very personal and autobiographical, I love them all in different ways. But i can tell my Top-5: Cult, Suffocate, Lost Girls, Twins, Iamwar. 

thorns of the future: recommend us some bands/artists that you like.

varya: I love different genres, especially the old kind of music. Psychedelic rock from the 60's, disco from the 70’- 80’s. I can tell that I am a huge fan of The Kills, Lady Gaga, Johny Mitchell, Blondie and Yanka Dyagileva. I think that it’s my Top-5.

thorns of the future: what is "cult" about?

varya: I wrote this song about relationships between me, myself and i. It’s about closing myself from everyone and making love with the darkness and pain inside me. When I wrote it I was 16. At this age I was so lost inside, didn’t trust others, but at the same time I was confident with the things that I was doing. My life was not easy at this time, and I was struggling between love and hate. 

thorns of the future: you're also a part of a band called "the sextapes" - can you tell us something about it?

varya: Razorz (EPILEPTICS) and I wanted to create something with “indie rock vibes from 2009” and I think that we did it. I hope that in the future we can make more music. Now we have some problems because we live on different continents and both have a lot of work. But soon we will release some new songs, we are now working on it.

thorns of the future: what is "splinters" about?

varya: Splinters it’s definitely about love, you know like explosions, glitters, butterflies and all that stuff. But at the same time it’s not about teenage love, i think it’s more about when your heart was already broken and you now have only splinters of it, but feel love like it's the first time and ready for your splinters to shine.

thorns of the future: are you planning to release any new songs soon?

varya: Yes. Now I'm working on a couple collaborations, and preparing to start a new project soon. I’m not released anything for a long long time because at this time I'm walking through the immigration process. I've moved to Thailand and do business here with my husband. Starting something new it’s always difficult, especially starting a new life in another country.  But now things are getting better and I have the inspiration, time and mental health to start working again on new music. 

thorns of the future: any artists or genres that you don't like?

varya: I’m not a fan of Russian rap but I can't tell if it's bad or that I hate it. It’s still art, but kinda weird for me. But what I really hate - Russian propagandist music - is really a piece of shit.

thorns of the future: what's the riskiest thing you've ever done?

varya: Getting married, I think (just joking). I've done a lot of crazy and risky things in my life, I cannot tell you just one. All my life it has been a crazy journey, and sometimes doing some risky things it’s very nervous and anxious. For now I think that moving to another country where i’ve never been before was risky - but it was the right decision at the same time.

thorns of the future: is there a country you would never like to live in?

varya: I think I couldn't live in a muslim country. I am a punk bisexual independent woman that loves freedom of self expression in each point of my life. Just because of the rules and laws of this, it's not for me. And now i can't live in Russia, because of the war and stupid laws. It’s just not safe and I don't want to just sit and stare at how our government is ruining the future of millions of people in Ukraine and Russia.

thorns of the future: what's your favourite drug or favourite type of alcohol?

varya: I love any type of Alcohol haha. It’s true. I have a high-functioning alcoholism type and I really really love to drink something. I’m not using drugs so much for now, I was addicted to amphetamines 7 years ago for 1,5 years and now i’m careful with it. Our business is in a cannabis industry and I don't even smoke. But if I want to I can get high, I do not prohibit it to myself.

thorns of the future: is there anything you want to say to your fans?

varya: Stay true and love yourself as much as you can do. Peace for you, and thank you for your support!

we would like to thank varya for answering all of our questions. we really appreciate you. that’s all for now.

images: varya

video: Cypress Čempr3s

spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6fYvyj8razige7PRfHoi9c

instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witchlagoon/?hl=en

bandcamp:

https://crossparty.bandcamp.com/

peace.

[thelemoncoffee]

did you guys know i have a au where Kokichi and DICE are a band? and their music is a mix of indie rock, screamo, and swing elements. No? well i do! I know those are unconventinal genres to mix, but DICE is DICE. They could probably make it sound really good together

The band is called Bandits of Paradice and i decided their one of those lore bands. the idea is the characters they play are a group of outlaws who escaped from a "utopia" (read: controlling, brainwashing, athoritarian hellscape pretending to be heaven on earth) civilization after fighting agaisnt the government there for the downright vile acts- and nearly getting exicuted as results. After escaping the chatacters started traveling the world to both learn about everything they were barred from, and to run away from the Utopia lawenforcment trying to catch them. They made music to try and express their thoughts and emotions in a way the world would understand, and became a travling band hidden behind masks as a cover for themselves. their first album is comprised of songs detailing the "Utopia" they lived in. (The actual reason they wear the masks tho is to conceal identity for privacy reasons, they also use the hc code names i gave them as stage names)

i also have a google doc where i've boredly made up song and album names for their band, of which some titles are good (Glass Circus Tent, from Knapsack of Fools), and some are just fucking weird (Bean Dice Bean Dice, from Inexplicably Unrelated) and i only added cause we all know DICE would name their songs some wild crap for the lols. personally my favorite on there is "Knocking on Wood (It's Fucking Lamianted)" from the album "Turns of Phrases, and Other such nonsense"

do y'all have any funky DICE as a band hcs and concepts? this post was mostly me infordumping about my weird ass au, but i wanna know y'alls funky band aus too.

[thisaintascenereviews]

2013 Was The Year I Got Into Hip-Hop

I recently posted a retrospective on Childish Gambino’s 2011 label debut, Camp, and how much that album means to me, as well as what it meant in the larger grand scheme for hip-hop. Camp was one of the first albums of the “blog era” that really took advantage of the Internet, but you had some before that. Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool from 2007 is a good example, as well as 2011’s Live.Love.A$AP by A$AP Rocky, which stuck out in the genre for being a mixtape / album that didn’t have a specific sound, or at least clearly have come from a certain place. The Internet became such an important place for rap music, especially when mixtapes became bigger. I downloaded a lot through Datpiff back in the day, and that’s where a lot of folks downloaded the debut A$AP Rocky mixtape, or Chance The Rapper’s first couple, mainly including 2013’s Acid Rap. This, along with Camp, was one of the seminal albums that got me into the genre, along with a few more. The reason I titled this piece the way I did was because most of the albums that got me into rap came out in 2013 (with a couple of exceptions), and instead of doing a ten-year retrospective on three or four albums separately, I figured I’d talk about each album here and take a walk down memory lane, so to speak.

I already talked extensively about Camp in the retrospective I did for it, but I wanted to talk about a few other albums from a couple of years later — Childish Gambino’s Because The Internet, Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap, A$AP Rocky’s Long.Live.A$AP, and Tyler, The Creator’s Wolf. These albums have more in common than just being released the same year, namely that all of these rappers became huge during the “blog era,” in which a lot of rappers and artists started to use the Internet to their advantage. These were rappers that got big thanks to an online following, and that really shaped my enjoyment of the genre and how I eventually got into it. These few albums don’t necessarily sound the same, but they introduced me to different styles of rap music, and they were all alternative to what was popular at the time.

Aside from walking down memory lane, and talking about my overall experiences with these albums, I also wanted to examine if whether or not that these albums have aged well, especially because of even just a decade ago was a very different time in rap. We can still look back fondly at certain albums or artists, but part of growing and growing up is understanding that certain things that may have been acceptable then aren’t acceptable now. They were never acceptable, but they weren’t as blatant of an issue as they are now. Mainly what I’m talking about is homophobic language that was freely used back a decade ago, but it’s in poor taste now (unless you’re Eminem, then you think you can still say whatever you want like it’s 1999). We’ll talk about this more as we dive into every album, but it’s good to look at the culture in which these albums came from, too.

If anything, these albums probably wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for the culture that they came from. Alternative rap, while always having been around, has just taken on different forms over the years. First it was the jazz-rap of A Tribe Called Quest, but then it moved into the indie rap of guys like Aesop Rock and MF Doom, which eventually morphed into Childish Gambino, Chance The Rapper, and Tyler, The Creator. A great example of “alternative rap” is the latter’s sophomore album, Wolf. A founding member of alt-rap group Odd Future, Tyler, The Creator was the main star of the group, although fellow member Frank Ocean would go onto be the biggest star of the group.

Debut album, 2011’s Goblin, was instrumental to his rise, but 2013’s Wolf was my introduction to his solo music and Odd Future. Tyler’s music was known to be “edgy” and shocking, similarly to rapper Eminem from a decade prior, but the difference between both artists is that one of them grew up (hint: it wasn’t Eminem). It’s insane to see Tyler’s growth over the last decade, because he went from a 2edgy4u artist to being a jazz-rap maestro that’s deep, introspective, but still fun and lighthearted. As for Wolf, it’s a record that attempts to be both edgy and introspective, but I think people might only see it as the former, not the latter. Wolf has aged relatively well, but it still features shades of Tyler’s purposely offensive language, and while it doesn’t serve too much of a purpose other than to be shocking, it’s not his whole schtick, thankfully. The album is a little long, and the album isn’t super energetic a lot of the time, but Tyler’s flow is solid and the guest spots are great.

Wolf is a solid album, but A$AP Rocky’s label debut, Long.Live.A$AP, is an interesting case of an artist being “mainstream” that I really like. I really enjoyed this album when it came out, and despite having thought of him in years, I went back to this recently and this record holds up quite well. Rocky’s sound is really cool, because he takes a lot of different sounds in his repertoire, especially when rappers stuck to their regional sounds in the 00s. Rocky’s from New York, but he had a lot of southern (especially Texas), midwestern, and even some West Coast flair to his sound, including some New York and East Coast stuff, but he makes it work. His voice is smooth, his bars are funny and charismatic (despite not saying anything too interesting), and the production is solid, all the while being uneven.

Childish Gambino’s Because The Internet is another record that cemented my love for his music, especially for how different it was compared to Camp, and how much he had improved as a vocalist and lyricist in just a couple years (although I enjoyed his 2012 mixtape Royalty quite a lot, too), but going back to Because The Internet made for a very uneven experience. Some of that album has some of his best songs, whereas the rest is just boring and somewhat pretentious, but not half bad, either. It just leans into being too self-indulgent, but it was a solid alt-rap album, nonetheless, and people started to really pay attention to Donald Glover as a musician. Camp is still my favorite album from him, mainly for its nostalgia, but I do truly love a bunch of stuff from this album, too, especially “3005” and “Sweatpants.”

The last record I wanted to talk about is Chance The Rapper’s second mixtape, Acid Rap, and how that mixtape introduced me to jazz rap, as well as being a record that was quite positive and uplifting, despite having some heavy subject matter. I’m pretty sure I found this mixtape thanks to the Childish Gambino feature, and to this day, that song is still maybe my favorite track on the tape (hilariously ironic because that song is called “Favorite Song”). The mixtape is full of “vibey” jazz-rap that I really enjoy now, because of its laidback sound that meshes really well. While this wasn’t his first mixtape, it’s the one the blew him up, and despite his fall-off in 2019 with his proper debut album, Chance The Rapper had a big run between 2013 and 2018, but this is the first time that a lot of people heard this Chicago rapper.

Okay, now that I talked about these albums, I wanted to beg a couple of questions with all of them — firstly, have these albums aged well, but most importantly, are these albums ones that I’d recommend to someone just getting into the genre? That’s what happened for me, but everyone is different. A decade later, I would say all of these albums have aged well, even if some of the language hasn’t. Wolf is the biggest offender, but at the time, Tyler’s sound was based in shock value, and even elements of horrorcore, but his sound has matured and mellowed out over time.

All of these records have their moments, but I don’t know if I’d recommend these to a first time listener. Some of these albums are really long, and that can definitely turn people off, but these are all “alternative rap” albums, and they stray from the typical sounds, minus A$AP Rocky’s debut; I’d almost argue that’s the one to check out, but maybe even start with something like Camp. That seems like cheating, both because this is a piece about some 2013 albums that I got into at that time as a fresh-faced rap fan, and because I already talked about that in its own piece, but Camp worked really well for me, because it was a pop-rap album, so the hooks were there, but it was also hard-hitting, clever, funny, and catchy.

It had enough to pitch to a newcomer but also the hallmarks of the genre to get an understanding of what it’s about, especially if you’re not familiar with it. Hell, if you were like me, you were more of a rock and metal guy, so something like rap would be very foreign to you. This was still a fun deep dive to do, and all these records are still wonderful, so I’m glad I got back into them. I don’t listen to much rap these days, but I’ve been wanting that to change, so that’s why I spent some time getting into these records. 2013 was the year that I truly got into the genre, because so many formative albums for me came out, and it feels like yesterday that some of them came out.

[existential-life-crisis]

☆ Get to know me :) (updated)☆

Hi! A bit of info to start with: I'm a minor; a lesbian; and a cis girl (she/her).

Ethnicity and language

I live in England and currently only speak English fluently however I am currently studying both French and German! (German is definitely my favourite of the 2)

Subjects and Interests

My favourite subjects are Maths and Classical Civilisation but I enjoy most subjects. (Lessons can still suck tho bc dam some teachers can be boring)

I enjoy drawing, playing games, reading (books and fics), listening to music and watching youtube.

Video games

I have a few favourite games at the minute:

• Hades

• Horizon: Zero Dawn and Forbidden West

• Genshin Impact

Finished games I still love:

• Astro Bot (its a vr game abt a little robot)

• Spiderman PS4

• Spiderman PS5 Miles Morales

• Portal 1 and 2 ♡♡♡

I am also 100% a completionist so if I finish a game I probably have 100% on it.

Reading

My fav books are everything Rick Riordan but i plan to read some other stuff as well soon.

My fav characters from the main series are Nico, Leo, Frank and Lester/Apollo but I do love pretty much all of the main cast. I haven't read Magnus Chase or Kane Chronicles since I was a kid so I'm gonna reread those before deciding favourites but I think they were Alex and Carter. Also, in love with all of the side characters even if they are 90% hc.

My fav canon ships/friendships are

• solangelo (Will x Nico)

• percabeth (Percy x Annabeth)

• frazel (Frank x Hazel) (But I do hc that either Frank was younger or Hazel was older bc the age gap was a bit strange in canon, being 13 and 16. Its a bit inconsistent , as all ages are in PJO, but if time works normally Hazel should be 14 and therefore definitely older than Nico too but thats a topic for another time)

• shelper (or shipper as I like to call them) (Shel x Piper)

• Lost trio (platonic)

• PJO trio (platonic) (Grover my baby, why must they always forget you)

• Lester and Meg (I dont think i have to say this but platonic) (please say I don't have to say that. No one ships that right)

• Reyna and Thalia (platonic) (omg let aroace characters exist in peace) (no hate if u ship it but my gods)

Fanon ships/friendships

• Valgrace (Leo x Jason) (but aroace Leo is still amazing)

• Pollen (Apollo x Darren) (Is this entirely about Dear Reader by wrongcaitlyn? Yes. Do I care? Nope. Am I insanly invested in their relationship? Oh absolutely.)

• Nico and Leo (platonic) (This had no reason to not be canon and had every reason to be and I will never forgive Rick for this until he fixes it)

• Frank and Leo (platonic) (I swear every book they would fix their relationship and then as soonas the next one starts they would hate each other again)

• Nico and evey side character ever (platonic) (especially year round campers) (bc hes genuinely just a nice guy)

• Will and Clarrise (platonic) (this is kinda canon but all we really know is that he can calm her down)

Feel free to ask for fic recs if u want them.

Music

My fav music artist is 'Grandson'. (He writes rock/alternative/indie/rap (?) music often about political/social/personal issues.)

But I listen to tons of other kinds of music too from metal to pop to instrumentals by a ton of different artists:

• Måneskin (italian rock band)

• Polyphia (instumental, primarily guitar, math rock)

• Chappell Roan (yk who that is)

• Chase Atlantic (u have probably heard at least 1 of their songs, pop/alternative/indie/r&b)

• Dutch Melrose (alternative/indie/pop)

• Mother Mother (yk who that is right?)

• Eminem (right?)

• MSI (punk/alternative/rock)

And a whole lot more

I also play guitar (acoustic and electic).

TV

Loveeee Spiderman: Into and Across the spider verse.

My fav characters are Miles, Hobie, Pavitr, Spidernoir and Gwen but I love all of them.

Shows:

• Avatar the Last Airbender

• The Legend of Korra

• Batman: the animated series

• Voltron :)

Beliefs

Im an atheist but I support people of all religions. I support Palestine. I am left liberal (again I'm British so keep that in mind, I know nothing abt US politics besides the basic/well known stuff). I believe in equal rights for all groups and am open to other ideas and perspectives.

If you cant respect that then please get of my page. You don't have to agree with me but you do have to respect me and others.

Thats all for now.

Byeee ♡♡♡

[straight4joekeery]

Teach Me How To Love In Your Own Lyrics

(Part nine)

Prev. Part one

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Question,” Robin says putting the last sweater on Ozzy.

“For me or the cat?”

“You dingus. Did you end up getting tickets to Eddie’s concert in Indy Saturday?”

“No, and I feel really bad. My plan was to, like, show up outside so he thought I was there the whole time.”

“… um well that’s sad. But lucky for you, that’s not happening! Vickie’s sick and won’t be able to make it. So she told me to give her ticket to you.”

“I can't just take her-“

“Yes you can. And you are. Okay? Also this is the best outfit for him,” she said Turing Ozzy around in a tiny yellow raincoat.

“Sure. And are you positive Vickie is okay with this?”

“Yes, Steve,” she rolled her eyes, “She’s the one who suggested it.”

“Okay… well you better get home. Don’t you have a sick wife to care for?”

“She’s not my wife,” she whined. The funny part was he knew everything from both sides. He helped Vickie pick out a ring in March. She got too nervous and said she just needed to find “the right time”. In Robin’s case, he helped pick out a ring a year ago.

“Not yet because you guys are too dense.”

“Yeah okay, we’re done here. Be at mine at three and we’ll leave at six. Goodbye,” she said walking out of the door.

“Uh huh love you too.”

After the big realization that Eddie may or may not like him back, things have been different. He’s been happier. Less mopey, but also simultaneously sadder in anticipation to see him again. He’ll see him next Saturday and then after two weeks, he will be back. Permanently.

~~~~~~~~~

It was Friday, and Steve was panicking for many reasons. For starters, what if Steve does something wrong? Messes up. What if Eddie doesn’t like him back and he does something stupid and ruins their friendship forever? He needs to do something. Something to ‘wow’ Eddie.

He thinks back to the other day when he painted random objects. He found a small gift bag to put his gifts in. He put the ring tray and the guitar pick inside.

Hm. There is no way this is enough. I mean sure, yeah, it's the thought that counts, however… go big or go home right?

After an hour of thinking, shopping, and thorough consideration, he had gotten 3 more things. He knew Eddie’s two favorite things were d&d and music, so he felt he should include things that represent them. He started by making a mixtape. It included songs that Eddie loved and songs that he hated (aka Steve’s favorites). He also threw in some songs that had meaning behind them. Songs that reminded Steve of Eddie. Songs that just had good memories attached. Eddie will probably make fun of him for his song choices, but he knows he’ll secretly love it. At least he hopes so.

The next item was a customized set of dice. They were red, black, and a little bit of gray. They almost perfectly matched the pick that he wore around his neck (Jesus this dude is going to drown in guitar picks).

And now we’re on the last (but CERTAINLY not least) gift. Steve needed something to be the cherry on top. When he went out shopping he spent hours looking for something. He knew what it would be when he saw it. $175 later, he had it. It was a thick silver ring with a heart on it. Yes, yes, it was indeed very corny and Steve knew that. But he didn’t care. Instead of the heart having a bow, it had a dagger going through it (it felt kind of dark, but it’s Eddie were talking about). Now while that was a top tier gift, it wasn’t good enough, he deserved more. So Steve paid an extra hundred to get an engraving on the inside. It said ‘HERO’ with bats on both sides of the word.

Second step: clothing. Now normally he would just throw on whatever felt right in the morning, but this was no normal event. He set out a new pair of black ripped jeans that he did not buy just for this occasion. He looked through the stack of new band tees that he got at the mall. After 30 minutes of debating, he chose the Dio shirt. He saw the pin on his vest (which of course, he was also going to wear) and it had the most color. He topped it off with a pair of doc martens Robin had insisted on buying to match hers.

Next step: pep talks and panic attacks. It’s going to be fine. Everything will be perfect. But what if-

Last step: sleep.

~~~~~~~~

Swipe, swipe aaannndddd��� done! After applying his (he will admit it now) makeup, he spent another good 15 minutes checking himself out. I mean yeah, not for him to be, like, super egotistical buuttt he looked amazing. And for once he hoped Robin was right. Well not literally, he certainly did not wish an aneurysm upon Eddie, but he did want a positive reaction. So for now he tried to rush out of the house. He checked for everything at least five times. Keys: check, wallet: check, gift: check, and most importantly Ozzy: check. Steve was going to just blast the music to ‘prepare’ himself (let’s be honest he would have turned the volume up four notches), but Ozzy would have gotten mad and he didn’t really want to deal with that. Fortunately, he didn’t make a sound the entire ride.

After he gathered his things and walked up to their door, he was greeted by Vickie. “Ozzy!” she said cheerfully reaching out for the cat. She sounded completely fine. Not a hint of illness in her tone nor her face. She must've noticed what he was thinking immediately, “Oh um,” she cleared her throat and fake coughed. Like very sadly fake.

Just then Robin sneaked up behind her, “hey Steve,” she said looking between the two of them.

“You little bi-” he started but was interrupted by a fit of giggles from the girls. “Why?”

“Sorry,” he glared at her, “sorry! I mean it. But let's be honest you would enjoy yourself way more than I would there.”

“But-”

“Nope. No arguments. You are going whether you like it or not. Plus, you need to shoot your shot,” she winked while imitating a basketball player.

“Ew, gross,” he rolled his eyes, “never do that again. But thank you”

“Of course, now go help Robin. She’s been staring in the closet for an hour.”

“Hey!” Robin shouted, “it has not been an hour… maybe 45 minutes at most! But yeah I do need help so c’mon now.”

He went to the spare bedroom quickly to drop off his bag and the gift, then ran to Robin’s. He briefly glanced through her side of the closet before picking out an outfit. Say what you will about Steve, but when given a style, he has a great fashion sense.

“Great! Perfect! Now follow moi,” she said, handing him (more so throwing it at his face) a makeup bag. She sat down at her vanity and smiled. “What? Stop looking at me like that. It’s not my fault you're better at it than I am!”

“I didn’t do anything,” he said, raising his hands, “I feel honored.”

He got about halfway done before Robin started again, “How did you get so good at this anyways?”

He sighed, “short story or long?”

“We have hours.”

“Okay, so I was about seven, I think, and my parents just decided to start trying the whole neglect thing,” Robin gawked at him. Okay maybe not funny, “But they knew I was still a little kid so they hired a babysitter. Stephanie. They switched babysitters about every other month, until I was eleven-ish. She was the only one who was actually nice to me. They had been gone for about a week when she decided it’s a lot of work to drive back and forth, so she just started to stay at the house. And I should mention that Stephanie was the me of the ‘70s.”

“A total slut?”

“I am not a slut! …but yeah I guess,” Robin snorted, “stop moving! So anyways, she was on dates constantly.”

“Steve, that is the textbook definition of a slut.”

“Shut up! So one time I was following her around just watching her get ready for the date. And then she started curling her hair, and ,of course, doing her lovely makeup. So I started asking about it, and she ended up doing mine. That was the reason my dad fired her by the way. I loved it though. It made me feel like a different person. One day I asked if I could do hers and… I definitely did it. She ended up going on the date looking like… Frank-n-furter on steroids. The guy got one look at her and left.

“I just started practicing after that. On her, myself, and even Carol. So yeah. Now we’re here.”

“That wasn’t really a long story.”

“Yeah, but it was uninteresting.”

“I don’t think so. I thought it was sweet.”

“I guess,” he glanced at his watch, 4:49, “we have about an hour, what shall we do?”

“We shall go get something to eat. There’s a new diner downtown. It supposedly has, like, no wait time.”

“Are our outfits diner appropriate?” he said, gesturing at himself.

“We’re in Indianapolis, Steve,” true.

“We should probably get going then.”

“We shall,” she stood up and bowed down, holding out her hand.

“Shut up,” he said, grabbing her hand.

For a product of Indiana, the diner wasn’t that bad. And yeah, the service was fast (but a little too fast). They ended up going to the venue extra early. There were already hundreds of people there. Keep in mind that the concert started at 7 (it was currently 5:32). They started to walk around the general area of the arena. They giggled as they saw a group of girls that were jumping up and down discussing their massacre crushes on all of the members. (“Ooh Steve look out, you might have some competition”) They spent the remainder of their time, sitting against a wall, gossiping. “I knew I never liked Julie. She was always oddly obsessive over things. I was also friends with her ex at a random summer camp, waaayyyy to good for her.”

“Thats kinda what I thought. To be completely honest, the principal hates her. She's probably going to get fired soon.”

“Good,” he face randomly lit up, “Oh. My. God. Steve! I forgot to tell you!” Robin gasped grabbing onto Steve’s hands.

“What?”

“Nance called the other day. It finally happened!” she shrieked

“What happened… oh. Oh my god really?” he immediately knew what she was talking about. Around ‘89 all of the older teens/ young adults all started placing bets on when they thought Will and Mike would get together. (Nancy and Argyle: 2-4 years, Jonathan: 2-4 months, Eddie: 10-13 years, and finally the winners Robin and Steve: 6-8 years)

“Yes! So we won! What does that make the ‘queer count’ now?”

“Too many.” From their knowledge the count was around 7 (assuming yes, Eddie was gay) but it was most likely way more. They looked around and saw that everyone around them was walking inside the arena now. They followed them and after about 10 minutes of waiting in line, they were inside. And oh my. It was huge. Their tickets were for the general admission, so he grabbed onto Robin's arm as he tried to push his way to the front of the crowd. They managed to make it and held onto the metal barrier like their lives depended on it. They were not moving no matter what happened. Now they just had to wait. Again.

“How y’a feeling?”

“…fine? Why?”

“Oh no reason. Maybe that your husband is finally coming back from war and you get to do something else besides staring out the window in self pity,” she said, clasping her hands over her chest, before immediately grasping back on to the barrier.

He rolled his eyes, “Weird analogy, but no. I feel fine. I mean, I’m more excited for the two weeks to be up. He’s only going to be here for two days.”

“Sure, but still. I’d be bouncing off the walls if it was Vickie.”

“Yeah, but you’re Robin. We are not the same.”

“I feel like that was an insult,” she turned to face Steve, “how much longer?”

“About twenty-ish minutes,” Robin groaned and buried her face into his shoulder. They stayed just like that (minus the constant “time?”) until a group of people came out to test and prepare a few things on the stage. 6:53. At this point neither of them were standing still. Most of the lights were starting to turn off when the staff walked off the stage. 7:00. “Ready?”

“Maybe?” She said, grabbing onto his arm. Then just like that, there they were. More specifically Eddie. Eddie was back. Eddie was here. The whole crowd started to go wild. If they were this loud, wait for the music.

Eddie walked up to the main microphone, “Feels good to be home,” again, insanity erupted from the crowd, “okay, I assume you guys know the drill by now, so tonight is my dedication. I’ve decided to dedicate this concert to my best friend, Steve,” the band all gave him disapproving looks. Oh wait.

He turned to look at Robin, who was already looking at him, “That’s me!”

“That’s you!”

“So yeah,” Eddie continued, “uh he’s been there for me when I needed it, and if I don’t stop talking I’m probably going to cry. Anyways love you Steve and let’s get this party started!” Steve chose to ignore that comment for the time being. Robin decided otherwise, grabbing his shoulders and jumping up and down.

“Don’t have a chance my ass,” He went to shush her, but the music did that job for him. Yep. Loud. It was amazing though. He was completely mesmerized by the entire performance. Especially the last song. It was a lot softer, he liked it. But then he really listened. He immediately knew the meaning. It was beautiful. How could Eddie never tell him about this? It was perfect. He remembers the whole conversation that it was based off of too. It was just because of something dumb Dustin said that set him off. He told him every last detail of his life that day, and that’s where the infamous Invisible Man sprung.

Before he knew it, it was over. “That was amazing,” Robin said gawking at him, “but we should definitely talk about how he-”

“Later. But, agreed. Worth the migraine, ten out of ten.”

“Well, let’s go find your man,” she winked at him. She was so weird. But it’s not like he didn’t run around to the back to find him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next

UHH FINALLY???? Took me long enough. I am so so so so sorry abt the delay. If y’all didn’t see the post, my metal health declined for like a singular day and then I just kinda gave up with motivation for a bit. But then I did finish, and I went to copy it to paste it here and I deleted the whole thing. But I do think it was for the better bc this is way better then it was. But yay? I just now realized it’s kinda long. I wrote like the majority of it yesterday and today sooooo kinda rushed. I also only reread it once because I feel horrible for not posting. So sorry if it sucks. But y’all liked the incorrect quotes so I’m glad for that. I really do want to personally thank every single one of you. You reading means the world to me. I could not be happier. And the first part is also now up on AO3! I’m going to wait til the end of the fic to post on there. But yay! Hope you guys enjoyed!!! Comment or reblog if you want to be tagged!

Tag list: @asbealthgn @queerbeansworld @bird-with-pencils @vecnuthy @artiststarme @captain-winter-wolf-aehs @piningapple @rowendyss @steve-themom-harrington @lfaewrites @azreadytodie @thequeenrainacorn @pastel-dreamscape @importanttimemachinenerd @jehneeg @swagaliciousmarie @mightbeasleep @krazyperson @milkshakeflowercreator @fando-random @bumblebeecuttlefishes @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 (<<special thanks to you for helping me a bunch throughout this fic <3)@fluffyreturns @scheodingers-muppet @wonderland-girl143-blog @briceslayed @youaremylobster @juststeddiebrainrot @pr3ttyb0yindie @scarlet-pandrian @drips-from-breaking-bones @plasticcrotches

[limneticvillains]

The Delusional Dreamer

In around August of 2021 I blocked a mad egotistical self obsessed man who posted silly stuff like 'I am possibly the most prolific musician on Earth', I just rolled my eyes and blocked him, simple as. Someone asked why, I said because the guy has a huge ego. I thought that was the end of it. It should have been. Skip a few months on, at the start of 2022 while I was raising money for cancer research, on two Bandcamp Fridays in a row I was falsely mass reported to Twitter, from these I received two suspensions on the days that music promotion for a good cause worked best. I then got a bunch of messages and screenshots from various other artists on indie music twitter that the man I blocked had directed people to block and report me for bullying him, and screenshots of him telling another bands manager that I was pals with that he had nothing to do with my suspensions. Nobody had implicated him, at all -at that point. I was annoyed, and the second suspension lasted 3 months.

I was raising roughly 70-100 euro a month for cancer research on those Bandcamp Fridays, it was quite horrible to do something for a good cause and seemingly be framed as a bully by some total weirdo. As a little fuck you, I made some comedy joke songs in half an hour in the guys style and put them onto Soundcloud. They were there for 4 days. The guy went insane. He said he was going to the police about me? Ok… Didn't realise parodies were illegal, but anyway. I sent him an email, I asked him to say sorry and said I would remove the music anyway, but that he should move on. He was ranting and raving at this point about me, despite knowing nothing about me, only that I thought he was a tit. He denied he had done anything and asked if I wanted to collab with him, said it was middlemen, meddling, winding us both up, despite me having loads of screenshots of him telling people to report me for no reason and denying he did this. So far so childish. I looked into the guy, he was a teacher, I couldn't really believe this sad self obsessed man was incharge of children, in a follow up email I said I might inform his school of how he conducts himself online because I didn't think a man like this should be looking after kids. I thought perhaps it would shut him up and this would be the end of it. I said he was crap and to leave me alone, more or less.

The Soundcloud parody was removed by me, again I thought, hey maybe it's over. My Twitter suspensions had been looked at and they were overturned, I had my account back, minus a bunch of his pals who had - weirdly in this time- decided I was multiple accounts. (This gets weird). Some people had started accusing the guy of being me, others had decided I was not one musician but a collective of musicians all pretending to be one person. I don't quite know what happened here. The guy and one of his friends started saying I was stealing the money I was raising from charity, which was a vile thing to make up about someone, I have screenshots of all that too. They also said they had my full name and address. I was getting worried at this point, so I looked into the both of them and found phone numbers and addresses for them, they were and are in the public domain, it wasn't hard to find them and I thought I'd cover myself. I never put them anywhere or shared them out, I got them, simply to say, 'I have yours too'. This really pissed the guy off, he started saying I was threatening his elderly parents. This childishness continues, people send me screenshots of his insane rants, how hes going to the police despite me not doing anything at all to him, he says I'm bullying him… I get death threats from his followers (screenshots of those too), one of his pals puts out a shit death metal album under my band name, which is still as of 2024 on streaming services. He tells people he's going to get me committed to a mental institution, and yeah, this has been going on since the start of 2022. Sometimes I'll write something like, 'fuck these sad lame shithead musicians' and he'll see it and go on mad rants.

That's pretty much the entire story of how I blocked Kiffie The Dreamer and how he became my number 1 fan obsessive, that projects his obsessions on me, calls me a bully and a narcissist, etc etc. I tried to smooth things over a number of times, it didn't work. I have ignored him for months, but then I'll get a message that he's saying shit again, I'll say some shit and it goes in circles. He went quiet after I got the death threats from his followers for a while. That did irk me a bit, getting threats and being accused of bullshit, like being other random accounts and people. Recently I decided I'd do another parody, with social media involved as a one last fuck you, fuck off, leave me the fuck alone, here's a mirror, this is you. The music of this can be found here: https://tanelispif.bandcamp.com/track/kitties

I have zero interest in lame online dramas with sad sack idotic men who make shit music, collaborate with anybody under the sun- including nutcase right wing weirdos and science deniers, and claim to be in some way deserving of praise. Fuck off. I have been suspended from Twitter a total of 4 times on Bandcamp Fridays, and I attribute this directly to Kiffie and his pals. It is, utterly ridiculous for a grown man past middle age to be acting like this.

I think all the idiots around him that encourage his bullshit need to think a bit more. Also it's rather hysterical that this man who claims to be all about peace and love collaborates with Alex Jones loving sexist nutters like EMCDouble. I won't bring their art into it, but by god is it a big streak of utter piss.

[gonnacrackaribbb]

i just drove 5 hours back to school alone and thought of this stupid au while listening to all of my liked songs on shuffle. here's my style gen z celebrity au:

-Stan Marsh: 23, cis man, bi

-Kyle Broflovski: 24, trans man, gay

-Stan's music has the same vibe as the neighbourhood, tv girl, alex g, and some front bottoms sprinkled in. his style is super inconsistent and he can never decide what he wants his "sound" to be

-Kyle's music has the same vibe as phoebe bridgers, boygenius, taylor swift's more acoustic stuff, and some gracie abrams. he has a really soft pretty voice but he low-key whisper sings sometimes which causes some people to discredit his vocal talent

-they are the messiest couple. no one can ever tell if they're together or not. there's a twitter account "are stan and kyle broken up rn?" and half of the daily updates are "we have no idea."

-stan hears kyle's voice for the first time when he's featured on some mainstream rapper's song (think lovin me by kid cudi ft phoebe bridgers) and he decides he needs him to sing backup vocals on one of his songs immediately right now

-but stan is a super pretentious and kind of dickish guy and wants him to feature on the track with no credit. kyle is also pretentious but in a different way and values his art too much and he says no

-stan has an ego but is not above begging. kyle comes storming into the studio when he's mixing one day and tells him to please leave he and his manager the fuck alone. stan falls in love right there and asks him to go to dinner with him

-kyle tells him he has a bf, and stan says "ok he can come too." kyle for some reason is super into that, and agrees only if stan will give him credit on the song

-kyle has kind of a taylor swift arc early in his career where people much older than him take advantage of him romantically. he's dating a 36 year old movie star when he first meets stan

-stan is the first one to tell kyle that men in their thirties preying on him when he was 19 was super gross and wrong

-after they hang out for the first time kyle breaks up with said movie star immediately 

-they are so enamored with each other so quick it gives everyone whiplash

-stan fell first but kyle def fell harder

-kyle keeps pretty private on social media but stan loves posting pics of him on his instagram

-stan is sort of grungy (dresses like kurt cobain, pete davidson, kind of looks stupid all the time) and kyle dresses more indie and put together (he also has a septum piercing)

-both of their fanbases hate the fact that they're dating. a lot of stan's fans think kyle is too stuck up for him and kyle's fans think stan is just gross (he is)

-its also this huge debate between the fandoms on who made who famous (it was low-key kyle boosting stan's career)

-they release a lot of duets together. they're all under stan's label and every time they fight and break up stan takes them off of streaming services

-they are both so petty and melodramatic and it makes everything so much more entertaining for the rest of the world

-they will help each other write break up songs about the other

-stan comes from a really broken family and has a lot of mommy AND daddy issues. becoming famous was really a sort of right place at the right time thing. kyle is a nepo baby and stan resents that so much even though he never admits it

-everyone has lost count, but for the record they have broken up and gotten back together 27 times

-they're both just unstable and fucked up people who refuse to go to therapy and when they're together they bond over that, but when they get into a fight they use it against each other

-one of the times they "break up" kyle sleeps with bo burnham. pics come out of bo leaving his apartment. its sort of a ross and rachel debate of whether or not they were actually broken up and single

-stan famously punches bo burnham in the face at a party. kyle takes him back immediately 

-but not before stan drops a song calling kyle a cheater (pretty much this). when he's asked about it in an interview kyle is petty af and says "it's obvious he wrote that one all by himself! :)"

-one time the paparazzi find randy outside of a liquor store and ask what he thinks of kyle. his reply is "who?" and people think he's being petty, but he genuinely forgets who he is. the video goes viral

-kyle thinks this is super funny and posts the video on his instagram feed

-stan isnt that close with either of his parents but he sends them both a check every month so he knows that they're financially stable

-he and his sister grew up in low-income housing (with their mom) and their grandparents house (with their dad)

-because of this stan gets really anxious about money even though he has plenty now. kyle grew up in Beverly Hills and was super wealthy and privileged. he and stan fight about money a lot

-kyle gets stans name tatted on his ass cheek. stan posts a super zoomed-in picture on his instagram story (they break up again 2 days later)

[abiiors]

Omg, this is very random but I just want to ask how you became a 1975 fan ? Also, how long have you been a fan ?

oof sorry this is going to be long, because i have a very convoluted story lol.

so i had no clue who they were during self titled, i didn't even listen to a lot of english songs back then and even then i only listened to music that went super viral like i think i only listened to a bit of taylor swift and selena gomez etc.

then iliwys came out and i remember seeing the mv for the sound randomly?? (i don't even remember where) but it blew my mind for a lot of reasons because i was like wait!!! men can wear makeup!!! and look hot doing it??? (i grew up in a very conservative country/culture for context) and also the fact that they put the negative comments in it which i found so iconic back then (still do actually) so i started listening to some of their music (robbers, chocolate, somebody else etc) but not much. i definitely didn't have any idea about the band members i just liked some of the songs. i looked up the music videos and i knew what they looked like but i never tried to like find out more about them and stuff.

cut to some time later when i started dating a "band guy" whose only personality was listening to "indie music". i say it like that because i genuinely don't remember if bands like coldplay and radiohead were big in my country back then but to me, they were a new thing because again, didn't listen to a lot of english music back then. this guy happened to be a big fan of the 1975 (also arctic monkeys) and he was one of those "oh babe, you don't know what real music is babe" type of guys who would cringe at taylor swift/one direction songs which is exactly what i was into back then (still am, i would sell my organs to attend a one direction concert) and i started absolutely despising him and his music taste even when i actually kinda liked the 1975 (didn't know about arctic monkeys before him tho). i was like fuck this, fuck you and fuck your fav bands, i will never listen to them ever again out of spite.

so i didn't for the longest time. cut to a bit before notes (i want to say maybe mid 2019-ish) i started really getting into classic rock and stuff because i had a whole new group of friends who was into that (and they were really nice about it too, unlike the dickhead) they introduced me to a lot of classic rock artists, majority of whom happen to be british and so i just got more into british music in general which is how i was reintroduced to arctic monkeys and 1975. and basically when lockdown hit it was me (in a whole different country, without my family or friends), my loneliness and my spotify against the world which is how i became obsessed with both 1975 and arctic monkeys so yeah, pettiness and spite that i regret in hindsight but if that guy ever found out that i run a fan blog for both these bands now, i will actually never hear the end of it.

did he have good taste in music? actually yes, he did but he was a fucking twat about it and so we hate him.

[greywindys]

how would you rank the anime you've ever watched? i'm looking for recommendations.

I know I talk about anime here from time to time, but I'm not a true anime fan, anon. Unfortunately, I have have misled you. I get attached to certain series for very specific reasons that not even I can predict until I'm twenty episodes in and thinking, "hey, this reminds me of____(insert disparate yet beloved piece of media here)." I also love shows that remind my of my IRL job in some way...which is weird to say, but yeah, I love watching shows and thinking, "wow, I could encounter this at my day job." I feel right at home lmao.

Anyhow, that's all to say that I don't deliberately set out to find new anime the way I keep up with indie movies and shorts. I'm a film bro, but I'm not an anime bro (idk what the correct term for avid anime/manga fans are). I watch shows that are getting buzz that also seem to align with my interests. I'm following three series at the moment.

I'd say right now, my favorite series alternate between My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer. A lot of this is due to nostalgia. I grew up reading and watching a lot of epic stories and series - Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Redwall. I love long journeys, big adventures and battles. As an adult, I latched on to Game of Thrones, but who knows when George is finishing that. So these scratch that itch. I also want to credit both of these series for introducing me to a new genre of guy that I'm obsessed with: the good guy who acts like a villain (though I knew they were good all along, and right about everything...or nearly everything) but is anything but. Oh, so you think he's Satan incarnate? You think he's too mean? You hate him? That he's going to turn to the dark side? Wrong! On the contrary, he's so completely committed to the side of good, so unshakeable in his convictions, so genuinely kind and genuine inside that you are stuck with him and all his neuroses on the good side. No mystery here. Sorry not sorry. Anyhow, I love this genre of guy. After years of dealing with Murdoc, it's very refreshing.

I'm also watch Chainsaw Man. I like it so far, but it hasn't quite clicked yet and not even I know why. It technically has everything I'd want on paper - kind of spooky, some off-color humor, creator is a film bro who likes a lot of the same movies I do, promised character death/stakes. My chosen guy from this series is Aki, but I'm just whelmed so far despite having high hopes in the beginning. He's not really inspiring anything yet. I haven't even cast him in a Glee AU or musical (a rite of passage for all blorbos). Idk. But it's a series that's getting a lot of hype right now, so I still have high hopes. I do appreciate the risks it takes with the story structure. I want to name a future dog Pochita.

Anyhow, that's all I got lmao.