#aromanticism at its finest

[estherlover60]

Crazy thought. What if being aromantic is like being a skeleton. And when you experience romantic attraction it's like gaining muscle, blood, etc. to your body. So a lot of aromantics are fine being a dope skeleton and dont want to be a full fledge body. But what if some, like me, want that addition of the tightening of muscles and the rush of blood when your near someone your romantically attracted to. But you just don't know how romance fricken works so you try and touch others to feel it and it just doesn't feel like how it's supposed to

[fuckyeahasexual]

I just need to tell someone this because I'm so pumped. I'm in a Literary Criticism class and we are writing about Kate Chopin's The Awakening. It's a book about a married woman who has extramarital affairs. There's a lot of feminist and gender criticism surrounding it but no mention of asexuality. Multiple people in class now have brought up asexuality and aromanticism, though, because they read the main character as aroace! I'm writing my analysis on the mc being such! Visibility at its finest

Oh hey! I’ve never heard of the book but I love criticism that’s actual literary criticism or more so Analysis. That stuff can be so interesting!!

[benjaminjamestaylor]

My Top 10 Albums of 2017

This awkward limbo period between Christmas and New Year seems an apt moment to reflect on the past year. As such, I’ve made a habit of returning to this neglected blog each December in order to run through the music that has soundtracked my year.

With albums from the likes of Thundercat, Alvvays, Father John Misty, Wolf Alice, Everything Everything, and the National - as well as the remarkable collaboration between Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett - all missing out on the top ten, there’s certainly not been a lack of quality this year. Without further ado, let’s get to the top ten...

10. Perfume Genius - No Shape

Perfume Genius is one of the more idiosyncratic artists around at the moment. His unique style is part art-pop, part synthesised chamber orchestra. If that sounds bonkers, it’s because it pretty much is. The drama and swagger starts right from the word go, with opener ‘Otherside’ teasing the listener with its piano intro, only to explode into life in a haze of glitter and percussion. It’s at times too wacky for its own good. But it’s unwaveringly creative, and fascinating as a result.

Highlights: ‘Slip Away’, ‘Just Like Love’, ‘Wreath’.

9. Kendrick Lamar - Damn

I’ve seen this album atop many end-of-year lists recently. It’s no doubt an excellent album, though it’s incredibly difficult to follow a masterpiece like To Pimp a Butterfly. What Kendrick has done so expertly is to take the components of what made TPAB so special, and repurpose them for Damn. It’s a comedown, of sorts, although nonetheless enjoyable. Race, religion, and relationships are analysed on a nationwide scale, but also on a very personal one. It’s perhaps craving the melodies and the genre-spanning nature of TPAB - and that’s probably the only thing that keeps it outside my top five.

Highlights: ‘YAH’, ‘LOYALTY’, ‘PRIDE’.

8. SZA - Ctrl

R&B is a genre that is, sadly, increasingly veering into the world of manufactured pop music. I therefore have a real soft spot for anyone within the genre who endeavours to bring some of the old R&B into the 21st century. SZA’s music doesn’t just rely on her clearly outstanding vocals; these tracks feature shimmering guitars, jazzy drum fills and melodies that are more subtle than most of her peers. The lyrics, too, are charming. “Somebody get the tacos, somebody spark the blunt. Let's start the Narcos off at episode one” she sings on ‘Drew Barrymore’, with all the rhythm of a rapper and all the cheek of a rocker. This is a debut that hints at a long and successful career.

Highlights: ‘Normal Girl’. ‘Drew Barrymore’, ‘The Weekend’.

7. Stormzy - Gang Signs & Prayer

When I started writing these lists five years ago, I never expected to be including grime albums. But this is not your average grime album. “Man thought that Stormzy couldn’t sing”, he mumbles playfully at the end of ‘Velvet’. You’re right, Stormzy, we did. We also didn’t think you were capable of making an album that infuses grime with elements of gospel, soul, and R&B. The old Stormzy favourites remain (’Shut Up’, ‘Big For Your Boots’) but the tracks around them see Stormzy really show off his burgeoning talent. The lyrics cover topics such as crime, religion, and mental illness - a watershed not only in grime, but popular music in general. And he’s only 23...

Highlights: ‘Velvet’, ‘Cigarettes & Cush’, ‘Blinded By Your Grace, Pt. 2′.

6. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps

Sometimes there are albums like Stormzy’s that feel like cultural phenomenons, and sometimes there are albums that just sound goddamn beautiful. Phoebe Bridgers’ debut is the latter. The songwriting is prodigious: from the heartbreaking and admirably open ‘Funeral’; to the swaying, Fleetwood Mac-esque folk-pop of ‘Motion Sickness’; to the beautiful back and forth on ‘Would You Rather’. But what really makes this album shine is Bridgers’ voice - an angelic, to-die-for whisper that is produced and double-tracked expertly to make these songs almost meditative.

Highlights: ‘Funeral’, ‘Motion Sickness’, ‘Scott Street’.

5. Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up

I had indescribable trouble placing this record. On first listen, I thought it was poor; after 10 listens, I thought it was possibly a masterpiece; finally, I’ve settled somewhere between the two: it’s a very good album with some frustrating flaws. It has been six years since 2011′s Helplessness Blues, but the extra time in the studio has allowed Robin Pecknold and co. to construct an album that is almost Pink Floyd-esque in its scope and production quality. Songs flow into each other, with beautiful string arrangements providing the backing track. There are moments where Pecknold’s desire to innovate makes for challenging listening. But it’s nothing if not admirable.

Highlights: ‘If You Need To, Keep Time On Me’, ‘Fool’s Errand’, ‘I Should See Memphis’.

4. The War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

The War On Drugs topped my 2014 list with the brilliant Lost in the Dream. As I’ve described already with Kendrick Lamar, it’s a tough task following such a record. A Deeper Understanding doesn’t break down any boundaries laid out by LITD, instead it repeats the formula with minor tweaks. The Springsteen-inspired sound remains, but there’s a touch more synth and electronic instrumentation here. Above all, the production is sublime - Adam Granduciel has a remarkable talent for turning a good song into a great one simply through exceptional production. Oh, and in ‘Thinking of a Place’, he’s also written the finest song of the year.

Highlights: ‘Thinking of a Place’, ‘Holding On’, ‘Pain’.

3. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream

Boy, it’s good to have James Murphy back. Seven years since 2010′s This Is Happening and, much like Fleet Foxes, LCD appear to have used their time off wisely. This is still the same band, but Murphy has tapped into his skill as a writer of melancholic music better than ever before. Opener ‘Oh Baby’ sets the tone, with a retro, distorted bass line later accompanied by glistening synths. Other tracks, like the unashamedly rocky ‘Emotional Haircut’, nod to LCD’s more live-friendly back catalogue. Murphy must have wondered whether the band could live up to their extraordinary pre-hiatus success rate. He need not have worried.

Highlights: ‘Oh Baby’, ‘Tonite’. ‘Emotional Haircut’.

2. Sampha - Process

In many ways, Sampha’s story is rather similar to that of the aforementioned SZA. He, too, was a regular feature on the hits of Pop and R&B’s biggest names. He, too, has cut an identity of his own by crafting his own sound on a debut album that could make him a star. Process is an album soaked in grief and insecurity. Whether he’s singing about the death of his mother, his own potential illness, or unrequited love, he balances dark subject matter with upbeat arrangements - and vice versa. And, while the War on Drugs’ ‘Thinking of a Place’ is my song of the year, Sampha’s ‘(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano’ sure runs it close.

Highlights: ‘Blood On Me’, ‘Incomplete Kisses’, ‘(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano’.

1. Moses Sumney - Aromanticism

Moses Sumney is an absolute star in the making. He’s the total package: a stunning, falsetto voice; a fine guitarist and pianist; superb songwriting talent; and an extraordinary ability to transform his complex recordings into a jaw-dropping live show. Aromanticism, too, is a complete album. 

Sumney balances songs like the wondrous ‘Lonely World’ - an odyssey of finger-picked guitar and ethereal falsetto howl - with simpler, beautiful ballads like ‘Plastic’ and ‘Indulge Me’. ‘Doomed’ ditches the usual instruments altogether, with Sumney’s incredible vocals accompanied only by an ever-growing, groaning synth. There are not-so-subtle nods to Stevie Wonder on the meandering ‘Quarrel’, and these lengthier tracks are expertly tempered by the album’s interludes.

As with Lost in the Dream in 2014, and To Pimp a Butterly in 2015, this year’s number one was simply a class above the rest.

Highlights: ‘Lonely World’, ‘Quarrel’, ‘Indulge Me’.