#and like. not gonna brag. kinda revived that scene and was like one of the only ppl posting it for a bit

[woolydemon]

oh no guys, I miss blurrbee,

[the-lovely-cambion]

Character Analysis: Wendell and Wild Part 1

This analysis will be divided to two parts, one is before they went up to the Land of the Living and the second being after. I might make a third part, but I kinda need some like extra info or some storyboard videos and such. But anyway, let’s begin shall we.

So when we first meet the brothers, they basically show off their personalities that you may see in some types of media (i.e. tv shows, movies, etc.); one being the intellectual, but annoyed one while the other being the annoying and comic relief guy.

Fun Fact: Based on ImDb, both Key and Peele had to watch some Abbott and Costello episodes to truly give Wendell and Wild their personalities (search up Abbott and Costello up, you get my point)

But remember the scene where Wendell tells Wild that it’s his fault that the both of them got in prison, yeah just bookmark that for later it’s gonna have some significance.

Then we get to the scene in where Wendell and Wild are making their paper faire, in where Wendell basically vents to Wild on how their faire is so much better than Belzer’s faire and how Wild got them into the mess. Basically there’s a lot to unpack here. Namely on how Wendell acts during the before going to the Land of the Living scenes during the movie.

For one thing, Wendell acts aggressive towards Wild for the things he did in the past that led to them being in prison, even trying to choke Wild when being force-fed the hair cream and basically threatening Wild to snap off his horns and make a fire. Adding to that, he basically gets annoyed at Wild for some of the things that he does or his ideas that he talks about, namely the their first scene in where Wild eats the hair cream, Wild basically wanting to help the Nigerian Prince even though not understanding it’s a scam, and Wild showing telling Wendell that the Tick he saw died. Although most of these got some resolutions (?), although technically Wendell liked the hair cream and he thought it was a brilliant idea that both him and Wild can use to revive their Hellmaiden’s parents.

Another part to add, Wendell is implied that he’s the one that gets punished for this and not Wild. Some theories that I have is that Belzer thought that Wendell started to brag about their faire to the others and not actually knowing that it was Wild’s fault or Wendell was actually the one who did the bragging and is blaming Wild for their imprisonment or that Wild joined him in bragging about the faire. But anyway, this is the catalyst for Wendell having temperamental issues when things don’t go the way he wants and hates the special treatment that his brother gets from his father.

Lastly, but this is pretty much important, Wendell is shown to be the more arrogant of the two. Like seriously, I feel like he brags more about the dream faire than Wild ever was (it’s literally in the dialogue). He’s basically shown to be blinded by wanting his dream faire a reality that it’s possibly implied that he gets mad when someone (mostly Wild) gives him a bad idea and berates them about it. Another thing to note is that he thinks highly of himself in the film, trying to look threatening but failing and also being fond on how good-looking he is. Another is how he wants to trying random actions just for the sake of his faire, but it’s either thwarted or just by common sense. He’s also shown to be money-hungry since all he ever wanting has funding for the faire, and gets angry when he doesn’t get the dough needed for the faire.

So yeah, in summary, Wendell’s pretty much of an arrogant jerk throughout most of his first part of the film. But let’s just hope that the second part won’t be that worse right? Right?!

For Wild, he’s basically more digestible when talking about his scenes in the first part of the film.

Although a pretty carefree and crafty dude, this guy…is actually really depressing. Like, there’s some depressing shit going on with this man.

For one thing, Wild is actually remorseful about him and Wendell being in prison and tries to make things right for the both of them.

Additionally, Wild is also shown to meet Wendell’s expectations, though it’s a 50/50 chance with his ideas and all. He also convinces Wendell that his ideas can help with their funding. In short, he’s doing this for the sake of Wendell’s dream faire.

Actually, now that I think about, I think it’s possible that Wild doesn’t want to be part of his brother’s dream of opening up a faire. But has to because he doesn’t want to upset him.

Think about it, Wild is shown to be supporting on Wendell’s ideas, even trying to use his ideas just to support the dream faire. Hell, even after they find out Kat is their Hellmaiden, Wild goes out of his way to tell Wendell that they should go to the land of the living to build their faire.

It’s clear that Wild’s doing the dream faire for his brother, but at what costs. I mean, Wild is basically mentally abused by his brother and is basically his assistant of some sorts. But he goes out of his way to support him even after all the abuse he has gone through. (Let’s just hope that the second part isn’t too depressing)

And that’s it for Part 1 of my character analysis, now time to work on Part 2 (if I have the motivation)

[imincrediblylost]

i know i have like no followers on this account but i feel like i have to vent about his becsuse i’ve spent like YEARS waiting for other people to say anything in general.

I’ve been on tumblr for a while. All the way from 2014 when I was in grade 6 and just got into hamilton and haikyuu I would browse tumblr and the artists as well as pinterest and deviantart. I’ve had this account for like two years since I decided to start fresh from toxic fandoms and having so many requests as a shitty middle school artist (that’s a story for a different time). But the point i’m trying to make is that i’ve been here for a while.

I’m seeing this more recently on tiktok and on tumblr with the revival of the atla fandom and haikyuus insane popularity on tumblr, but it’s so obvious that a lot of people only ship zukka for example because they’re two guys. Like i’m not homophobic, i’m fucking bisexual, but so many teenage girls only ship gay ships and it’s so gross to me?

I find zukka cute too. It’s a cute ship and they have a couple episodes of bonding plus scenes in the comics so it’s understandable that many people like myself would want to pair them together. But the difference in the love female ships, like mailee in atla, gets is is so much lower than male ships.

I’ve met so many people who ship only gay ships but turn their nose up with disgust at lesbian ships. It’s clearly fetishization of gay men and their relationships which is gross by itself, but it’s doubly gross when you realize that there’s less content for mailee because those same people that make content for any gay ship think lesbian relationships are disgusting because they’re of the same sex as the people fetishizing them. I’m so close to actually start posting art again because of the lack of content i see for mailee and other lesbian relationships which i know would be there if they were male.

Another issue i have is the gender roles and sexualization of characters? (i think those are the words for what i’m trying to say). This happens a LOT in the haikyuu fandom but no one ever addresses it because the fandom brags about being unproblematic and fun and people who usually tak about stuff like this get brushed off. Clothes have no gender, so it’s always cute seeing people characters like kenma and hinata in stylish skirts. But i’ve noticed that when people make ship art they enforce traditional gender roles on the characters too? Like they’ll make art where one character is obviously more “assertive” from the pose or expression and the one who isn’t is usually in a skirt or something. I’ve seen so much art on here and on tiktok now where it’s a cheerleader and a football player and if the ships are kagehina, kuroken, daisuga, bokuaka, and tsukiyama then you’ll ALWAYS see hinata, kenma, sugawara, akaashi, and yamaguchi as the cheerleaders? And everyone in the comment section will be like “tops and their bottoms lol”. Am i the only one who finds that gross and jarring? And they’ll always say sugawara looking after her kids and draw him as a mom with daichi as a dad? Like idk if i’m looking too into it but i find that kinda stuff so uncomfortable considering that sugawara is a teenage boy. It’s the same as when random women tell me i’ll be a good mother or something.

Anyways no ones probably gonna see this and i’m just ranting at ass o clock by myself becsuse i realized after thinking by myself that holy fuck i’m 17 i’m so old and i’ve wasted so many years not doing or saying anything and waiting for someone else when I should’ve done it even if no ones gonna see. Becsuse that way it’s gonna be outta my system and even if there’s no notes then i’ll see the date and not regret saying something sooner.

[bluerosesburnblue]

Liz Liveblogs Bravely Second: Chapter 4

Seems like I was right. Time for a short one with Chapter 4: He Who Would Change the World. Two liveblogs in one day? Pretty good, considering the extreme gap between past ones

Why on earth did we take Lotus and Sakura with us to dock on the Skyhold? Lotus has a son! Sakura is really just our kindly bath mom! They shouldn’t be coming with us to the gate between dimensions!

They’re not coming into Skyhold with us, but the Rubadub’s still attached! If the Skyhold goes down, you two do, too! I don’t want to risk the lives of our boat mom and airship dad!

Skyhold has an actual name, Diamante. And it’s gorgeous. Like a palace of blue diamonds

Kaiser, Anne, and Janne are already aware we’re here. Subtle, this party ain’t

“I really want to see my dead - No... I really want to see my living parents.” Janne, hey, maybe instead of changing the past you could... get therapy? How far back are you guys gonna go to change things? One change effects many things. Is the Kaiser’s change gonna eradicate Janne’s family, thus invalidating Janne’s whole quest? Does anyone know how causality works in this empire?

Kaiser, at the very least, seems willing to save Janne’s parents should Janne be unable to

My guide says there’s a summon this chapter and it ain’t on the Skyhold, so we’re just gonna jump off the side and spit in the face of Gho Gettar’s dreams by snagging Amaterasu. Worst. Timeline. WORST! TIMELINE!

I have no idea how anyone is intended to find this spot in the far northeast of Eternia, and then also figure out that the cutscene only triggers if you slam your face into a very specific cliff

This poor Anchorite really got the short end of the stick. The other guys get to hang out in buildings, but they stuck this guy on a remote island in a freezing blizzard. The order he belongs to must really hate him

Oh I just realized I have Tiz as an Exorcist. This battle against a healer is gonna go GREAT now that I can just... undo those

Oh yeah, Exorcist was the real MVP job of that fight

My party is gonna waltz onto the deck of the Skyhold covered in blood and wielding the goddess of light and no one can stop us

We’ve found Agnès’s cell, but she doesn’t seem to be in it

BUT MAGNOLIA’S POSSESSED. Of all people, why did it have to be the one who can summon?

She’s acting like a bratty five-year-old. Is there a child ghost here? I’ve watched a lot of ghost hunting shows, can I appease you with a toy or something?

“I’ll make you pay for what you did to my daddy!” Well, the only dad Edea’s murdered this game is Geist, so I guess you’re Rev, then

If we killed him, then he should also be a ghost and therefore able to see his ghost child, though, right? Like, just pass on kiddo. Your dad’s waiting

Yeah, Revenant Grace. Fittingly, both father and son are named after types of Ghosts/Undead. Which begs the question of what Geist’s parents were thinking when they named him, and why he felt the need to give his son a name with heavy “return from the dead” connotations

I don’t think the Princess Bride reference was really necessary. “My name is Revenant Grace. You killed my daddy. Prepare to die!” just... doesn’t have the same kick to it

Okay, Rev’s possessed armor is really cool. And apparently, he died and Geist pulled a Fullmetal Alchemist and bound his soul to the armor. So there’s that

Edea’s trying to tell Rev that Geist was going to kill a kid just like him... but Rev’s, like, five, he’s not listening. He’s literally yelling “LA LA LA NO HE DIDN’T”

Geist went away on a trip, and some monster lurked on the boat that came back, where Rev was waiting. It killed him

I’m so glad I read about the trick to this fight, because it’s almost poetic. You set someone to Geist’s Exorcist asterisk. Let Rev posses one of his teammates, which sets his own HP to zero. Then it’s just a matter of attacking that teammate to kick Rev out of possessing them and back into his own body, then Undo HP to the last turn, where Rev’s body had 0 HP, thus killing him instantly using his father’s abilities

Also, we Exorcised a ghost. That’s neat, too

Rev’s monologue says that Geist was happier after he was revived and then he mimicked Geist’s psychotic laughter. I think the poor kid misread the situation. Geist broke when he lost his son, and if his last words were any indication, he regretted bringing Rev back

Edea just passed on those words. Rev’s grateful. He’s not a bad kid, just scared and stuck in a bad situation

Time to pass on and see your daddy, kiddo. He’s waiting

Yew’s entry in the journal states that the last name, Grace, is given to Orthodoxy saints and others who did extraordinary service to them. So Geist was either a holy man, or the descendant of one

And since it seems everyone in the Kaiser’s inner circle wants to “undo” something, I believe that Geist must have joined up to undo either binding Rev’s soul, or Rev’s death entirely

Agnès wasn’t there, so on to the next location

I’m almost baffled by how few named characters have died in this game so far, considering last game killed A LOT of people, to make the “redo” aspect feel fulfilling, and then pull the wind out of your sails when you realize that you didn’t redo anything. They stayed dead. (And then this game undid all those deaths because they were beloved characters who got a lot of development postmortem)

For FUCK’S sake, Janne, get lost! And especially don’t attack me mid-dungeon!

Janne “I Refuse to Die Until Yew Geneolgia, Specifically, Kills Me” Angard, is back for YET ANOTHER round

Oh god he’s Kylo Ren. “I was on this big revenge kick, so I befriended you to kill you! But then I liked you and that made me mad so now I’m going to kill you because I’m a child who can’t figure out my emotions!”

I’m... not that big a fan of Janne. He just comes off as a bratty teenager that they keep trying to make sympathetic, but he never stops being an ass about literally everything

“You were a true friend.” Yew, he really, REALLY was not

Rev works for me, because even though he acts like a brat, he’s acting as a reaction to his father’s death. Once you calm him down, the kid’s perfectly civil, and even thanks the party for passing along his dad’s last words. And that’s some stunning maturity for a kid

Janne, on the other hand, is older and should know better. But instead he lashes out, constantly brags that he’s the best, and even in the last fight he’s being petty. He thinks he can get away with betraying his friends, but as long as he tell them “Hey, good shot” as he’s dying, then he’s absolved. Janne has done a lot of REALLY AWFUL things. He has no intention of atoning because he can’t see past himself and what he wants out of this: his parents back. Rev’s a brat because he doesn’t know better. Janne’s a brat because he’s conceited and wants to delude himself into being superior

I’m gonna rip the Kaiser’s sword right out of his dumb metal hand

Yew is legitimately anticipating death. And blames himself for not stopping the Kaiser when he came to kidnap Agnès. That’s Yew’s undo moment. And I know for a fact we’re gonna make. That. Happen.

Edea’s pep talk about trying again and succeeding now that you’re stronger and wiser is something I think a lot of people need to hear. If you mess up, you shape up and do better

Wait, “Bravely Second” is an in-game term for something other than the hourglass? It’s moon for “the courage to try again.”

So the title of the game is, more accurately “The Courage to Try Again: A World With No Future”

Ooop. Just kinda slid into the Holy Pillar there. Okay

Kaiser’s robo-arm must be pretty tough if he can carry Agnès with it like that

I can’t believe I get to watch Leonardo the Ninja Turtle kick the ass of Leonardo the Ninja Turtle

Dude, stop saying the word “deny.” It’s gotten to be at least once a scene, we know. You deny, you deny, you deny, maybe accept that I’m gonna kick your ass?

Where the hell do you get the idea that only those who know sin can change the world, so you became a literal evil emperor to become a big enough asshole to fix time. Where... the hell do you get that idea? Was it Anne?

Wow. We just LET him do that. Nobody made a move while he went back in time with Agnès

...did Anne just imply that we sent the moon to another dimension?

Oh, no. She just sent the moon to another dimension. And Magnolia’s trying to call her people, but the moon just ain’t there

And here’s the scene I know about. The big reveal that, yes, Anne is Airy’s sister, she knows about you, the player, and now she’s gonna repeat her scene from the start of Default just to make sure you know that you. Messed. Up. You helped her stop Airy, and now she was able to do this. Aren’t you proud, player? You’ve done everything she asked

This boss music is amazing. A combo of Spanish guitar and Wailing guitar? Hell yes

And the butterfly battle background is gorgeous, even if it’s greyscale thanks to the moon’s disappearance

Well, shit. Anne’s hard. Attack one of her fake copies and she’ll basically insta-kill you. Group attacks are not recommended. They’re what keeps killing me

Not bad once you start playing more defensively. Resurrection Mist was a pretty decent idea for that fight with the way Anne can one-shot part members, but Magnolia’s Promethian Fire Arrow was the real damage MVP

Time to escape to the flying bath boat

I just glanced at the bestiary and Anne doesn’t have an entry. Also, it looks like all entries are locked, because the completion markers are faded. I think we’ve hit the end layer

Oh that’s nuts. It looks like time is frozen. All of the flames around the Skyhold stopped moving

“I know the feeling of losing your home” Actually, that raises a good point, Tiz. Are we ever gonna stop by Caldisla or is that just not relevant, since there’s no crystals there

A world without time. A world that both has no end and is the end. The final layer of all reality. The end layer

The Moon “created night from day.” As in, the Moon controlled time, much as the Crystals controlled the elements. Without it, there’s nothing left flowing or moving

This isn’t the first game with a Frozen Future apocalypse that I’ve played. Let’s see how this one stacks up against Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers. A leaf gecko hasn’t come to kick our asses, so it can’t be that bad yet

Ohhhhh shit I just got chills. Tiz said that we never got to fight the Kaiser once, and Yew realized something. He turned to the camera and said “If you’re out there, watching over us... hear my plea.” Yeah, buddy, I can hear you. “Not once?” I remember one time we got him on the battle screen. Just once

(I used up all my SP in the Anne fight, I hope that won’t be a problem)

Tutorial says that Altair has disappeared, so we can’t add entries to the bestiary. Is... the party not capable of writing without Ghost Dad? Did he steal our literacy or something?

It recommended talking to people, but also New Game+. Let’s see this timeless world, then make sure it never happens again 

Not much different in Ancheim. Some worried citizens, a child who’s excited that they can play forever because it’s always day, a mom who wonders if she has to cook dinner now, and a man who’s acting like there’s always been no movement to the clock or sails

Al-Khampis seems to be a mix of panic and contemplating the scientific repercussions of this new world-state. One interesting tidbit is that one scientist detected an anomaly traveling through time, but not to the past. If it WAS the Kaiser, then he went 200 years into the future, instead. Rifa gave us similar dialogue to end layer guy in Sagitta, and then a message appeared saying I unlocked New Game+, so maybe it doesn’t unlock unless you talk to people

Florem is... Florem. Girls wondering if this means there’s not gonna be another festival, but at least the flowers don’t wilt. I can’t help but notice “Alternis” isn’t here anymore. The real interesting thing is Sylvie and the Matriarch

Sylvie: “...Miss Edea. ...So many tears, so many cries you will come to know from now on. So much evil... So much blood... But even so... Even so, that great ship will take to the sky once more...! To the world, bound in the sky, where Lady Agnès is held...!” I suspect we’re going to have to hunt down the Kaiser using the Buster Ship

Matriarch: “Sylvie would like me to tell you this... ...Edea Lee. ...A time is coming for you to come to a decision, no matter how difficult it may seem. You must tell your friends, then you must lie to the people, deceive the world, make yourself out as a tyrant in word and deed... Let yourself be attacked and blamed. Go after the friends you have lost. Take that glimmering ship to the sky once more! And that world, bound in the sky... Well, I’m afraid that this old lady has no idea about that.” Is this what the Kaiser was told? The sin he mentioned? To change the world, operate the shining Skyhold, he had to become the tyrant. And now it seems Edea will have to make the same decision

Though given her decision making track record in the sidequests... boy, she may already be a tyrant. We’re gonna fix that this time. Speaking of, there’s some people from the sidequests who reference a few of them hanging around, though I can’t say any of them won with a frozen future

Every person in Sagitta is just stuck repeating “Bravely Second... The courage to try again...” over and over, except for the guy who first introduces you to the end layer, who notes that this must be it, and the elder, who unlocks New Game+ just like Rifa did when I spoke to her

Gathelatio’s full of people screaming about the end times and divine retribution, and kids who hear all of this going “Are we gonna die?” And ominous cats

That... one Crystalguard guy whose name I can’t remember screams at us for not stopping the Kaiser, then apologizes and unlock New Game+. Hey, jackass. Do you want to go into the pillar of light and get one-shot by a fairy? No? Back off. I’m gonna fix it once I hit up the last few towns

Eternia has... a goat. Has that goat always been there? Well he didn’t break the moon. Just eats paper. Mm-hmm. And more worried citizens, a doomsayer, and one brilliant mind who wants to solve the moon problem using the white magic cables

I guess those taxes don’t matter now, do they, Grandship? Otherwise, not much here. An old lady who doesn’t care because she’ll die soon anyway, a guy who’s getting drunk for the apocalypse, and a kid who’s wondering where Alternis went

Yunohana’s pretty basic. Ominas is there trying to get Bahamut to fight off a Ba’al, but the little guy doesn’t look so good. The Lord of Bath tells us we have enough to uncover our feelings and unlocks New Game+ yet again

Maybe picking Ominas for the bad future was a good idea. Femto Flare could deal with the Ba’al outbreak that everyone’s talking about but I have yet to see

Visited the girl and her grandpa from the Eisen quest. Holly’s there trying to protect them, but she’s not enough and can’t find Barras (oops?) and the grandpa wishes he’d just sold the house so his granddaughter could’ve had a little luxury before the world ended

Goodman and his crew are holding down Eisen Bridge, but his soldiers back in Hartschild aren’t so confident. The people just want him home

I also checked on Sakura and Lotus. Sakura just warns us not to stay in the bath for too long now that there’s no time to keep track of, and Lotus is concerned at the appearance of Ba’al. Everyone keeps mentioning Ba’als, and I’m scared to turn encounters back on just in case they may be roaming

I also don’t think I ever mentioned it, but since the start of the game there’s been one person in each town who sings a different verse of the Tale of Sétana. They have to be important, but I suspect it’s relevant to the Yōkai quest, since it’s the only non-cameo-fight quest I’m aware of

*Edit after the Fact* I’m an idiot who can’t read. It’s Sétanta, as in the original name of the Irish mythological figure, Cú Chulainn. As in, the guy from the Prologue. The songs are his backstory. Setana is an area in Hokkaido, Japan. I knew that, I just can’t read, I guess. Wouldn’t be the first time I did something like this (like misreading the Harry Potter spell “Rictusempra” as “Rictumsempra” until I heard it said aloud while watching someone’s playthrough of the Order of the Phoenix game)

YEAH I TURNED ENCOUNTERS BACK ON AND THERE’S JUST BA’AL WANDERING AROUND AS RANDOM ENEMIES. Heyyyy, Urchin! Been... been a while?

Okay, the “next plot event” marker was on the “To Title” entry on the menu so I’m just gonna... gonna return to the menu. No point fighting Urchin if Altair won’t write a bestiary entry on it

Welcome to Bravely Second: Send Player. No more of this “End Layer” nonsense. I’m here, and I’m gonna help these kids take back their future

Back to the beginning. The fight where nothing seemed to work, but this time, I can help. Let’s get the team back together and RIP. THAT. SWORD. OUT. OF. HIS. DUMB. METAL. HAND!

Well, future Yew just kinda possessed his own body, and a good thing, too, because I don’t think past Yew even knew why he used the Bravely Second in the first place

“You, who would deny the past and present have no right to shape the future.” HE SURE DOESN’T, KIDDO. RIP HIM APART

“The future will be forged by those who accept the world they live in, and still fight for change!” I love Yew, and I’m so glad that I’m his extradimensional patron, in a meta sense

The chapter has ended. No cryptic monologues, no “Great Distance”. Just us, the Kaiser, and our Coup de Gravy!

[tweefunk]

Class, you are not living up to your full potential

First batch of the new year. So far, I’m not impressed.

The Flaming Lips-Oczy Mlody

0/10

One of indie-rock’s most revered--and inconsistent--groups, the Lips are decidedly in a full-fledged downturn. Their latest offering starts off by shitting on my Polish heritage using a false homophone to conjure the image of “Oxy.”

Unfortunately this is about the extent of cleverness on this completely pointless effort. With absolutely no self-awareness whatsoever, Wayne Coyne and Co. embark on a drug-filled quest so self-indulgence that would make circa-2010 Animal Collective fans blush.

Real talk, dude is as old as my dad and opens an album with a un-ironic call for the legalization of all drugs. I mean, I’m all for that, but when the end is just tripping, “edgy” lyrics, and (somehow) masculine posturing, it gets difficult to justify the means.

After their last embarrassing Fap-a-thon, 1996′s infamous Zaireeka, the Lips came back with the instant classic The Soft Bulletin. Maybe they just need another good critical thrashing.

The first two tracks are tolerable enough, but the record irrevocably jumps the shark with Reggie Watts’ deadpan monologue on “There Should be Unicorns.”It should tell you something when the best song on a record is a duet with Miley Cyrus.

Maybe the last 4 years have just been a convoluted way for Coyne to try and hit dat ass. IDK. Fuck this, I’m out.

Run The Jewels-RTJ3

4/10

I have never truly understood the hype over RTJ. It’s obvious these aren’t no talent clowns riding a trend. Except they kind of did with that fucking Meow the Jewels abomination.

More than ever tough, RTJ3 shows that El-P might be the luckiest mofo of the 2010′s and is just riding on the coattails of Killer Mike. Throughout the record, Killer Mike provides incisive political commentary while El-P just drops boring sex-raps and standard-issue braggadocio. 

Even worse, RTJ themselves seem to be aware of this disconnect. On “Legend Has It” El-P gets cut off mid-brag with a female voiced STOP; “I’m fuckin’ magic, in fact I’m a warlock of talk/I got a unicorn horn for a...”

It’s too bad that the bass-heavy apocalyptic beats are wasted on these party jams, when Killer Mike obviously has a vital political screed on the level of N.W.A. or Public Enemy in him. Instead we have to hear Danny Brown tell us how high he is for the umpteenth time.

It makes my eardrums bleed.

The xx-I See You

5/10

This is the sound of a band breaking up. The xx are pulling themselves in so many directions, you’d be forgiven for thinking one of them was about to start Angels and Airwaves. I bet you my bottom dollar that Romy Croft will break off to be a Lana del Rey-like popstar, Oliver Sim will fade into obscurity, and Jaime xx will continue to soundtrack after-hours circle jerks at trendy ad agencies.

The album is a mish-mash of disparate influences that fail to coalesce into comprehensive whole. Worse still, The xx sound like they are reacting to prevailing trends, rather than ushering in a new paradigm. Namely, they toss in with the fad of breathy mezzo-soprano vocals, trop-house production, and an overbearing air of melancholy. Affected disaffection and arty pretension don't mix. I mean, they kinda do, but that's why people hate hipsters. That said, most of it is a pleasant, if forgettable listen. The only (negative) exceptions to this are Croft’s pair of mid-album ballads “Performance” and “Brave for You.” The former scans like a cloyingly ham-fisted attempt to buy relevance by playing up the mainstream-but-somehow-still-edgy revival of feminism (an admittedly necessary thing) and resulting criticism of gender roles. “Brave for You” is similarly tactless but just sounds like something that could soundtrack a particularly anti-climactic episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

If this is the cutting edge of the alternative scene, I’m just gonna keep listening to Slowdive. Skip all y’all.