#as opposed to all the other ones that sound more upbeat

[rukafais]

YES orcs are very scary and can kill me in two hits without armor and also these ones bleed shadow everywhere and can curse me, but also some of the stuff they say makes me very sad about them

These lines are ambient in-game dialogue from Return to Moria.

[callme-holly]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐱 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 - I got a little carried away with this so I apologise if it doesn't make too much sense. Hope ya'll enjoy and as always my asks are still open for requests!!

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 - 1.4k

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 - none!!

Darry Curtis -

Darry doesn't strike me as the most sociable person ever. He very much keep to himself, unlike you, and would rather sit in a quiet place as opposed to a loud and busy one.

That's not to say he doesn't get out at all.

Before his parent's deaths, I think he used to go out quite a bit, but now the majority of his time is taken up with work and looking after his brothers, and he just can't find the time.

That was until he met you. 

Having someone like you in his life means he’s going to be getting out and talking to new people a whole lot more. 

He’s also very patient with you. He’s lived with Sodapop basically his whole life, so he’s used to having someone around who can be a little over the top and excitable. 

Sometimes your outgoingness can get on his nerves, and he’ll become a little snappy.

He doesn’t mean to, of course, but after a day of working and yelling at Ponyboy, he wants nothing other than to relax, and having someone talk 1000 miles an hour at him is not going to get him the rest he needs. 

If you’re particularly excitable and restless, he’ll pull you into his lap just to get you to calm down for a moment.

Sodapop Curtis -

You two are literally perfect together.

You bounce off of each other and Soda loves having someone just as outgoing and hyper as himself.

You both drive the rest of the gang insane with your optimism and constant chatter.

Speaking of which, you could talk for hours. Some nights you both lay on the roof of the DX and just talk.

There’s never a dull moment. If one of you is upset, you best believe the other is doing everything in their will to cheer them up.

You both go to parties whenever you can.

Ponyboy loves you because of how similar you and Soda are. If he’s got a problem, he’ll definitely tell you about it. He trusts you and your gentle yet outgoing demeanour is just familiar to him.

You and Soda both seek the same amount of attention and are able to provide it to each other. This of course means cuddling 24/7, but who’s complaining?

Ponyboy Curtis -

Pony is a little more reserved than his brothers. He’s not shy and quiet by any means, not at all, but he just doesn’t open up to many people.

Due to you and Soda being so similar though, he really trusts you and he feels comfortable around you.

Your optimistic and upbeat attitude is something he really needs sometimes. 

If he’s had an argument with Darry, he’ll come to you for comfort. You’ll always find the positives in the situation and will just talk to him about anything and everything until he feels better.

Ponyboy isn’t a huge fan of large crowds and he makes this known to you. 

He much prefers sitting at home or in a place that’s got a sense of calmness about it, so if you’re out and about and the place is busy, you best believe he’s holding your hand to stop you from running off. 

He can get a little frustrated with you at times but not as much as Darry. 

If he wants to relax, he’s more than happy to just sit down with a book and let you do your own thing until you’re ready to join him. 

Johnny Cade -

Johnny is more quiet than the other greasers. He can stand up for himself, no worries, and he isn’t too shy when it comes to socialising (he’s literally friends with Dallas ya’ll), but he isn’t as comfortable with large crowds as you are. 

Having someone optimistic and excitable in his life is probably something he needs. He’s got a lot of shit going on and being able to go to someone who will just comfort him and listen to him without judgement is exactly what he needs.

You literally brighten up his day, it sounds so cringe, but it’s true. 

At first, he was reluctant to open up to you.

You were very talkative and spontaneous and he wasn’t so he didn’t think you’d like him very much. But once he realised how big of an idiot he was being, you quickly became one of his favourite people to talk to.

You always find the positives in things and there’s literally never a dull moment when he’s around you. 

If you drag him somewhere that’s a little out of his comfort zone and a little too busy for his liking, he’ll stick by your side and won’t let you out of his sight. 

He’s so patient with you and will let you drag him wherever you want to go. If he’s tired, he’ll let you know and you’re more than happy to head home and call it a day. 

Dallas Winston -

Dallas with an extroverted partner could either be a really good thing or a really bad thing.

He himself is a very socially confident guy. He is not afraid of making his presence known and I think he’d thrive with someone so similar to him. 

You two would be causing trouble left, right, and centre. 

You’re always going to parties at Buck’s and this is where our first problem arises.

Now, Dally can get pretty damn jealous, it’s just in his nature, and with you being so outgoing and talkative, you tend to talk to quite a few people at these parties.

If you’re talking to someone who is getting way too comfortable around you, you best believe Dallas is swooping in real fast to put a stop to your conversation. 

He will come up behind you and cause a scene until either the “threat” leaves or he gets kicked out. 

Does this please you? No. Does he care? Also no. 

I feel like your excitable behaviour would frustrate him sometimes. Dallas isn’t the most patient and if you’re getting up in his face or talking too much he will snap at you.  

Sometimes he will just sit with you in his lap and listen to you talk. He won’t be 100% focused on what you’re saying, but he just likes to see you smile as you explain things to him. 

Occasionally he’ll have to rein you in a little bit. If you two are in a crowded place he’s got an arm around you at all times and will not let you out of his sight at all. 

Steve Randle -

Steve strikes me as a very loud and shouty person. 

He constantly wants to be heard and enjoys being the centre of attention for a while so having someone like you really brings out that side of him. 

You would constantly be hanging out with him and Soda at the DX causing chaos and just having the time of your lives. 

He will sit and listen to you talk whilst he works on cars. 

I don’t think he ever really hung out with people other than the gang until he met you. 

You dragged him out of his comfort zone and introduced him to new people. Sure, he may not like them too much, but he’ll tolerate them for you.

You two will sometimes go to the odd party. It’s not something you do on a daily basis, unlike Dally, but it’s just nice to get away and enjoy things for a little while. 

Most of the time, he’ll let you do the talking whilst he keeps an arm around you. 

He just likes watching you socialise as long as you’re not talking to the wrong people. 

Two-bit Mathews -

There is only one word to describe yours and Two-bit’s relationship. Chaos. Complete and utter chaos.

You bounce off of each other and thrive on the attention you receive.

You both talk so much, it drives the gang insane. Like you both never shut up. Once Darry had to separate you both just to get some peace and quiet.

You’re both so optimistic that it's sickening. 

You’re almost always out at parties or causing trouble. Very rarely will there be calm moments in your relationship. 

You will stay up into the early hours of the morning drinking, cuddling, and talking about anything and everything. 

Literally never ever a dull moment between you two, you’re just so upbeat. 

𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬!!

[1-49]

hit by luck

pairing: f!reader × chanyoung, sungchan ⁝ tags: rain. tokyo. & love at first sight / fluff. gets lil angsty. wc. 3.1k

note: this has been in my drafts ever since those two pictures dropped, & basically, this whole thing is just an extension of what sorta of mood they inspired. ik it’s kind of late but i love the atmosphere, so im posting it anyway.

All this waiting ─── Holding out for the storm to pass. Stuck in traffic and waiting. Waiting for the bus at a crowded bus stop. 

Since the idiotic weather app on your phone was unable to foresee such a severe downpour, you are without an umbrella. You find yourself standing like a cat caught in the rain after spending a perfect sunny afternoon exploring Tokyo’s streets.

Neither the metro nor the two buses that have come & gone are going in your direction. More room and privacy for yourself as the majority of passengers board the buses and lessen the crowded, small, glassed station—for which you are grateful. After trying your luck twice, you are stuck waiting for the third bus. 

The peculiar scent of rain on asphalt fills your nostrils as you accept your bad luck & attempt to take solace in the rain, the foggy lights of the passing traffic & the bright neon signs that give the city its unique flavor. There are a variety of sounds in the street, ranging from soft and loud to melodic and even disorienting. 

You seem like such a loser out in the rain. The end effect of running so fast and not caring where you step is clumps of hair and muddy shoes, followed by ten minutes of waiting. You are glad you didn’t wear too much makeup for today’s walk because you’d have looked like a total wreck. Smugly, you try to adjust your mascara and eyeshadow in your little mirror and pretend it’s fine. 

And so, you concentrate on the raindrops as they land in a specific dip in the pavement, creating tiny air bubbles that rise to the surface like bubbles in a champagne glass. This little world seems to be what fascinates you about Tokyo at the moment, despite its vast size.

That is when the two giants casually stroll into the safe haven you have found in all the fast life.

The two towering frames jostle one another in this terrifying performance that the sky is putting on, laughing at something so ridiculous that you have to wonder how they can do it. The evening sky is practically ripping at its seams, but they do not seem to notice. 

Their laughter is contagious as they battle for space under a transparent umbrella that the taller one is holding. Their bodies are too broad for the protective gear, and they seem to lose simultaneously because most of their opposing shoulders and arms are soaked. For the tiny spaciousness they seek but don’t find, the pair comes across as endearing and humorous. You realize there is beauty in the fact that neither of them seems to mind. They remain upbeat and truly unaffected, which is inspiring.

That they are close friends is highly likely. They are even dressed alike. One is wearing green cargo pants and the other over-dye jeans, both with black upper apparel.

They could be mistaken for twins due to their dangerous synchronicity. Not like born together. Not fused like the two sides of an oyster encasing a precious pearl. However, exactly opposites, much like the two sides of a mirror. Equally stunning, and in their case, the pearl is their friendship. 

The sounds of the city fade, and you feel every nook and cranny in your body thudding as you witness them make the spontaneous decision to wait for a bus.

The ‘polar twins’ resemblance they give off is unfair. 

While the cargo boy’s carefree demeanor gives hours of silly photos and odd Tik Toks, funny videos, and Twitter drama, the headphones hanging around his neck pay close and serious attention to music, which you thoroughly appreciate. This particular aspect of him almost instantly makes you fall in love.

But the taller boy doesn’t fall behind either;

he closes the umbrella as soon as he enters the glassed area. His hand clasped around his brown cashmere cardigan radiates warmth and comfort, and his strikingly bare collarbones radiate needs and dreams. His contradictory aura clouds your judgment and prevents you from making further assumptions about his interests in basketball, games, and literature.

The tip of the umberlla accidentally bumps into your arm when he closes it, revealing his slight clumsiness. 

His regret is evident in his eyebrows even before he says, “Sorry.” His eyes widen with it. Lovely and compassionate, with a hint of mocha. Like there is freshly brewed coffee swirling around inside his crystals.

Sparks shimmer up your arms as you watch and listen to his apology and say that it’s nothing. 

The music boy’s position is to your left, as the ‘clumsy’ guy shifts to your right, which he does not realize until he apologizes.

With obvious happiness, the music boy inserts himself and begins to tease him. “He acts that way all the time, so don’t worry. If his good looks don’t work to get him noticed, he will try playing on his clumsiness.”

You can be sure that the ‘clumsy’ guy is pouting and sulking over the nonsense that was just said, even though your eyes are finally turning to the person who is seeking them.

There is an eternal smile on the face of the goofier of the two. One of those smiles that can break through the clouds and stop the rain. A ray of light, really. He breaks through the barriers of your heart with his quiet voice too. The fact that he can capture your heart with such ease and beauty is just a crime.

They may have looked the same in one frame, but now that they are essentially standing on either side of you, they are starting to show more of their charm. It gets harder to be between two extremely attractive giants as their individuality starts to emerge.

You have a sneaking suspicion that the boy you are looking at is the younger one.

And while the bright colors of the city match his mischievousness, his confidence has a short fuse. This becomes apparent when he stops coming up with new jokes for his friend and stays staring at you for longer than fifty seconds.

Before you know what the two of you are doing, his smile spreads across your face like sunlight does on tulips in the early spring. It’s an inadvertent eye lock until he realizes it’s too much. It really melts your heart to discover that he is a shyer one, and you end up melting right into the rain puddle that is at your feet.

You then take up your previous posture, facing forward. For a brief while, they distracted you from the fact that you were waiting for a bus to the hotel. As you take a big swallow, there is an odd quietness among the three of you. 

You cannot help but wish that some of them would speak up and say something. Why you want this to go on is beyond you, but you want it to. Their bodies radiate a warmth that suffocates you while simultaneously providing warmth against the chilly autumn breeze. This brings you back to the point where you’re mentally cursing your app for tricking you because you were totally unprepared for today’s outing.

‘Soft eyes’, as in literally, hands you the sweather he was holding as soon as he notices that you’re shivering.

It pains you to try to turn down his offer, but you do. 

Still, he refuses to accept it. “You can give it back as soon as one of our buses arrives. Keep it till then.” Ignoring your protests, he carefully places the soft wool in your hands. You have no choice but to comply with his insistence. “Besides, I don’t need it.”

You raise your gaze to him and once more meet his eyes—this time with a smile added.

You remember that when he bumped into you, he was trying to hide a smile so that he could apologize more sincerely, which means you haven’t been a witness to his smile just yet. 

However, his smile has the same profound effect on you as the guy on the other side. You are sure the sun is in his heart too, just as much as it’s in his eyes. His kindness is his beauty. Very soft; almost as soft as a ball of cashmere, or similar to his cardigan’s overly long sleeves as you play with them.

Given their earlier recklessness, you would never have trusted two random boys to be this kind. So gracious as to lay you two of their favorite accessories in your possession. 

One is keeping you warm, and the other, after being prodded to share the song he has been working on, is putting his headphones on you and letting his joy seep through your ears to your bones.

Feeling a little more shy, his breath hits your face, tense and warm as he’s inside. He is pulsing with understanding so as not to invade your personal space while practically failing. As if you couldn’t have done it yourself, he decides to put his headphones on you abruptly. A current is all that is moving him, and not a single conscious brain cell is applying any kind of brake.

The color hits his cheeks when your gaze meets halfway again. He’s being cheeky, though, when he asks, “Are you ready?” while towering over you.

He presses play on the song he composed after you nod with equal enthusiasm.

With the ‘soft guy’ on the right, you’re a little more confident, but when it comes to the ‘shy boy’ in front, you are a complete mess. The prospect that he’s equally as wreaked as you are is the primary cause of your emotions. They are deeply affecting you both, and even though you would prefer to hide in the next bush, you are pursuing each other naively and playfully. 

Your smiles are getting bigger as you gaze at one another, but his is weaker, more fragile, as in ‘until the piece I composed gets your pass, I am afraid.’

You close your eyes because you don’t have enough in you to match that.

The outside world ceases to matter as the ambient composition intensifies and begins to resolve inside you.

You explode at the slightest touch from a ‘soft boy’ who leans in close and tries to listen through your headphones. 

Since he also expressed dissatisfaction over never having heard the music, you try to be understanding and let him into your space too. He was unable to listen to it earlier due to the ‘it is not completed’ statements. This was his chance. And so, you acknowledge that this evening, everything came together to allow the two of you to feel the excitement of being the first to hear something so exquisite.

The storm itself, you can swear, ceased.

Though the sound of life is muffled by the composition in your eardrums, you can somewhat hear three heartbeats pounding in time with the music. It feels as though nothing matters and yet everything has led up to this.

‘Music boy’ watches your reactions as both of you remain silent, neither of you speaking to disturb the bliss. 

This rescue is slow-moving and pleasant compared to Tokyo’s fast life. You find a brief moment of inner tranquility after so much running, fury at the weather, and anger towards the electronic device in your back pocket.

Entirely, you lose yourself in the song, and the way your lashes curl to soften the likely pictures that appear beneath your lids is proof of this. It seems that even in Tokyo, things can come to a stop. 

Like a drop of rain in the countryside, your smile is sincere and pure. That is what he has composed, and that is what this is. He has awakened that within you. 

Clarity and translucence—opposing to the densely scented city air, which is heavy with the smell of burned street meat and motor oil.

As distinct as the boys standing next to you, everything has a raw beauty.

When you turn to face the taller one, you find that your noses are almost in contact because of how close the headphones have brought his face to yours.

His most beautiful features are dripping with admiration as he gives you the thumbs up. Although you find the signal confusing, you nod because you think it is abrupt and cute.

Upon turning to face the musical prodigy as you currently perceive him—you having no prior knowledge of him—he grins more than ever.

With great anticipation, he asks, “And!?”

“I wish I had a better word to describe it, but it is rather majestic. The melody is lovely and seems to pour love and tranquility indefinitely. It made me feel better. Basically, thank you, is all I have to say.”

“It truly did the same for me,” remarks the tall guy, nodding. “You know, he never lets us listen to his music,” he adds, moving in closer to give the younger person a sweet shoulder shake. “This guy!!”

They both laugh it off, just like they did when they walked in beside you. They are unaware that, with those smiles, they have taken everything from you. However, as soon as you peek at the bus in the distance, read aloud your hotel’s street address, and confirm that it is your route, their smiles become lifeless and hollow almost instantly. In the same instant, the hope that they both brought about vanishes. There is a bittersweet sensation. 

Even though you all know the end is near, it seems like no one anticipated it.

All of it comes crashing down: the rain, the hope, the magic, and all three of your desperate sets of eyes that cannot stop staring into each other’s faces. Each microsecond, millisecond, and second matters. Everything was brief at first, then prolonged, and finally just brief again.

“It’s time to return this,” you utter as you remove the cardigan.

Given how chilly the owner’s hands are once you skin-brush them, the wool should feel even warmer in his hands after you return it.

“You must have frozen because of me,” you point out, brows knitted in concern. “I am so sor—”

“No, I am fine, don’t apologize,” he cuts in, unlocking the umbrella as he comes to his senses and accepts the arrival of reality. To protect you from the rain until you board the bus, he says, “Here,” giving you room to move under the umbrella.

Initially, you pout, believing that rejecting him would be best, but eventually, you stop yourself and follow his instructions exactly. It’s time to savor every moment, even if it’s just spending a little time together under an umbrella, before you part ways with them and never see them again.

You remove your headphones and give them back to the cutest prodigy you have ever met. “You should start having more faith in the things you create. That was really beautiful.”

“Thank you!!” The umbrella boy exclaims in his name. “Someone at last to make him begin to realize.”

The younger boy defends himself, smiling, “Shut up.” And, even though he’s well aware that the umbrella was never meant to fit both of them, much less three people, he’s still attempting to squeeze himself under it.

You guys are all biting smiles; there is such innocence and purity to the compressed situation all of you are in. This feeling is far more intense than what you experienced as a teenager witnessing your crash in the hallways. Greater than the scorching feeling you experienced on your first kiss. Which, on the other hand, makes this even more heartbreaking than the first time your heart broke. There is something odd about it all, and it has been a long day at that.

You stay sandwiched between their bodies, which rise on both sides of you as sturdy as a brick wall. You regretfully realize that you cannot be imprisoned between them forever, even though for a brief moment you wish you could.

You can sense the peculiar chemistry has subdued the storm, and it even appears to be stopping the rain. And as it draws near the bus stop, the bus finally lets out its sharp, piercing ‘pissss’ sound.  You’re thinking somewhere in the back of your mind about how this sound is going to become your least favorite sound. The noise that will always bother you the most because it’s ruining something so beautiful.

When you look into their faces, all you see is gold dust smeared in their eyes. “I’m glad our paths crossed,” you eventually admit.

They return with the same admiration, though with a sorrowful smile.

They wait until after you get on the bus. They wait for you to get comfortable, knowing that you will take their side and catch your farewell look out the window.

That is precisely what you do; you approach the first seat with that same thought in mind. Rain cascades down the glass, and the windows are a little foggy and difficult to see through due to the warmth inside.

Inside and around your heart, there is a heavy, funny feeling. You make an effort to clear the fog from the window but the moment feels so so hopeless as the bus starts to move. In actuality, all you’re doing is wiping the mist as you attempt to wave goodbye and get a good look at them for the last time. Still, it’s too late.

All that is left to do is gaze for a brief while at the vanishing landscape, registering absolutely nothing.

Finally, you tilt your head back and sigh at the biggest sigh ever. There is a distant echo of a Japanese woman’s voice coming from the bus radio. When you turn on your phone, the first thing you see is your camera folder. 

It’s inexplicable why you thought it was necessary to take a picture of them with your phone while simultaneously taking one with theirs. You are left puzzled, staring at the most recent two pictures in your folder. 

‘Love is a captured moment,’ you used to say. You get the impression that life is making fun of you.

It becomes really annoying to swipe between the two photos. Their boyfriend vibe is unmatched. Imagination takes over. It seems as though you have never desired anything more. 

You carefully touch the screen to enlarge the images, capturing their faces with your fingertips. The attractive strangers in the photos are names you will never know.

© 𝟭-𝟰𝟵. do not copy, translate, repost, and modify my works.

[coquelicoq]

i think the dub tanuma line that bothers me the most in s07e01 is when natsume's like idk if accepting casual gifts from youkai is a good idea...😕 and tanuma's like, i'm sure it's fine 🥰 um, excuse me but he would not be blithe about it. that is very much not his m.o. one thing i love about him is how he tries so hard to be thoughtful and reassuring and he doesn't just write natsume's worries off. this specific moment is partly just a show problem though (as opposed to only a problem with the dub) because in the manga natsume doesn't say that part about not knowing whether to accept youkai gifts out loud. so tanuma's response is more along the lines of, oh, you have a substance that's supposed to be baked into clay? cool, because i have some clay for you. makes perfect sense and doesn't require him to figure out how to respond to natsume's concern about youkai gifts.

in the dub tanuma seems dismissive of natsume's dilemma:

Tanuma: Huh, a bottle of ash as thanks? Which fairy tale was this guy from? Nice to hear you meet polite yokai, though. Natsume: A little too polite. All I did was return something that belonged to him in the first place. [sigh] Not sure if it's the best idea to casually accept yokai gifts, you know? Tanuma: Eh... [upbeat] I'm sure it's okay. Speaking of, I have a gift for ya.

in the sub he doesn't seem to know how to respond and kind of segues into a new topic:

Tanuma: He gave you that ash as thanks? It's like something out of a fairy tale. Some of these youkai are really polite. Natsume: Yeah, but...all I did was give him back something that was his in the first place. [sigh] And I don't know if it's a good idea to accept gifts from youkai. Tanuma: [pause] Oh, I've got something you'll like, Natsume.

interestingly, in the manga natsume doesn't say anything about giving back something that already belonged to the youkai. he also doesn't articulate his concern about accepting gifts:

Tanuma: [On the previous page, not shown, he says, Wow, a gift?] Sounds like a folktale. How dutiful of him. Natsume: I suppose, but... Natsume's internal monologue: Yokai and humans have different rules. I hesitate to accept gifts I don't understand. Natsume: [sigh] Tanuma: Oh, I have something perfect for you then. Natsume: Hm?

i don't think either version of the episode handles tanuma's response to natsume's misgivings very well so i wonder why they had natsume say that out loud, thereby requiring them to come up with a response from tanuma. because showing natsume thinking it as he does in the manga would take time and in the meantime they would just be sitting there staring at each other? idk.

[bobbydagen24]

"" This is the Thanks I get "" is Technically a Bad Villain song but imo its not for the Reasons people often say it is.

first off I actually love this song lol I know a couple of lines of Dialogue are wonky but Regardless I love it I think its a fun song

it shows a Narcissistic Villain being so enjoyably full of himself and slowly losing his mind Towards the end before eventually just completely giving in to his full on meltdown

and I've listened to it loads of times I think it is just a pretty fun Villain song however I do admit that Technically it is a Bad Villain song.

but the Reasons that people often state why aren't why I think it doesn't work when Hearing criticism of this song most people just state the clunky Dialogue such as "" I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent ""

and they say that they think the song sounds too cheery and not very sinister for the most part and like it doesn't really sound like a villain song

especially not when compared to past Disney villain songs such as Hellfire or Be Prepared or Friends on the other side

but the Reasons I feel it Technically isn't a good villain song is because it simply does not fit with the character Magnifico was established to be at the start

he was a slightly full of himself but mostly Humble powerful leader who did the things that he did out of fear of losing his home due to a great Trauma of having lost his old home and his entire family when he was younger

he was a more understandable sympathetic ends justify the means kind of villain who's side the audience could understand to an extent even if we know he's still wrong in what he does

so a song like this doesn't fit his established character as like I said its fun and upbeat as it shows a very narcissistic petty person slowly losing his mind over not getting what he believes he deserves

from people and thus in an act of extreme pettiness resorts to using a dangerous dark magic book to gain back control of the situation

this song seems like it should be for an entirely different character

its like if the lion king established in the first half that Scar is Bitter and Resentful towards his Brother

and doesn't care about him or his nephew at all and only cares about the power and respect he believes he Deserves

only for his villain song later on to be The Plagues from Prince of Egypt where suddenly Scar is portrayed as a stoic and conflicted villain

who loves his Brother and Nephew so much and Hates that he has to be on opposing sides to them but he feels he has no choice.

my point is it just ignores the kind of villain he was set up as earlier in the movie the version of Magnifico they set up in the first Half

feels like he should have a more somber slow and quiet villain song imo where he maybe calmly sings to himself about how much he loves his home and his people and of course his wife

and as he slowly starts Remembering the Tragedy that befell his old Home the song turns more Desperate with Magnifico clearly trying to Block the idea out of his mind

that this new threat to the kingdom could cause the same outcome and maybe he actively tries to talk himself out of using the dark magic book

trying to convince himself History won't Repeat itself but the song turns straight up Horror with us seeing big flashes of Magnifico's old Home

being Burned to the Ground and his loved ones Ripped away from him that he loses the calm cool composure he had at the start of the song

and becomes more and more terrified and thus Desperate that he resorts to using the book corrupting himself further but its portrayed as much more scary and also tragic.

just an idea.

so yeah like I said that's why I feel the song Technically isn't a good villain song in the story of the film even tho I do love it and I listen to it all the time

it can be pretty fun to sing along and act a little full of yourself lol.

[calyxthenerd]

So I’m gonna rate and rank songs from all three seasons of Violetta (in groups of three, one from each season) based on categories I made up in my head because I’m bored

Starting by Vilu’s main solo song in each season:

1st place is Soy Mi Mejor Momento for season two and it gets an 8/10 because it’s inspiring, has a good melody and I always loved the lyrics, but for me the performance could’ve been a little better

2nd goes to En Mi Mundo solely because I dislike it less than the other one, 5/10 and it only gets points because of the nostalgia I feel whenever I listen to it

And 3rd Underneath it All, now, objectively it is a good song, but I give it a 3/10 because of all the hatred I feel for the Roxy plot

Next up is Leon’s Solo song in each season:

1st is obviously the best song in s1, Voy Por Ti 9.7/10, showstopping, incredible, only lost a little because of his outrageous haircut that pisses me off to this day

2nd goes to Entre Dos Mundos, great song, love the vocals, very energetic, 7/10 because it didn’t really get a performance so I can’t rate everything

3rd is Amor en el Aire, now, is it cute? Yes, but it’s plain, shallow and frankly it hardly scratches the surface of his songwriting potential 2/10

Moving on to Leonletta joint compositions/dream songs:

1st is Nuestro Camino, because everything is perfect, from the dream performance, to the lyrics, the melody, amazing, 9.5/10, because of Leon’s atrocious suit

2nd we have Podemos because it’s probably amongst the three favorite songs for like, half the fandom (including me) and it has some of the best performances from the two of them and probably the best romantic lyrics in the whole show (the Karaoke scene and specially the one in Madrid) 10/10

And 3rd is Abrazame Y Veras, and I hate to put it in the last place, but it doesn’t stand a change against the other two, but it is a great song, (one of the few that saves s3 from being an absolute trainwreck) 8/10

Coming next is the friendship songs:

1st is Junto a Ti, cute, love the vibes, awesome rhythm, great lyrics, 10/10, best one

2nd is A mi Lado, and it kind of opposes the vibe of Junto a Ti which is kind of a more fresh vibe that comes with the experience of finding a new great friend, A mi Lado shows how much they’ve grown and their bond has grown with them and they’re preparing for the reality of not being able to see each other all the time am I projecting because of what’s going on in my life? Maybe, leave me alone and so I love how it shows how they’ve grown 8/10 because it could use a better melody

3rd is Codigo Amistad, my least favorite song in the show, now, it sounds kinda cute but also really gives off misogynistic vibes so I give it a 1/10 because at least is an upbeat song you can dance to, so a point for that

Now onto the band’s songs

1st - Ven Con Nosotros, the choreography is great, energetic and really bouncy, the lyrics are awesome and full of I m p l i c a t i o n s (iykyk) and the performance is definitely their best one, 9/10 because it took me weeks to understand Diego’s part in the rap

2nd - Are You Ready For The Ride? is a good song, but it’s too messy and kinda all over the place, also the lyrics are plain, 6/10

3rd - Every Season 3 Song, they’re generic and boring and kinda sound like Every 1D Song, frankly after Diego left to be with his Dad on Art Rebel it all went down the drain, 4/10 because at least they’re catchy

And Lastly the Beginning/End of season group song combos:

1st place goes to Hoy Somos Mas for Beginning and Crecimos Juntos for Ending

2nd place goes to the Ven y Canta*/Ser Mejor combo

And finally, 3rd place goes to En Gira and Esto No Puede Terminar since they’re both lame

*The song I chose since S1 doesn’t start with a group song

Honorable Mentions:

From Violeta’s solos we have Descubri, an amazing song, one of s3’s saving graces that I forgot until I went to check the playlist with all the songs

From the friendship songs we have Encender Nuestra Luz, and I love it, because we see Naty singing more

From the band’s songs we have Tu Foto De Verano and Cuando Me Voy, the first one is good but I’m sick of it since it was constantly stuck in my head before I even rewatched it so yeah, and the second one is probably my favorite one of theirs, but the recorded version doesn’t have Diego’s vocals which I really don’t like

From the group songs we have Tienes El Talento, On Beat, Euforia, Friends Till The End, Es mi Pasion and Llamame, are any of them in the beginning/end a season? No, but I love them so there’s that

And now a list of random songs that don’t fit into any particular category but I feel should be included because I love them:

Habla Si Puedes

Te Esperare

Como Quieres

Algo Se Enciende

Luz, Camara, Accion

Si Es Por Amor

Ser Quien Soy

Quiero

Aprendi a Decir Adios

Mas Que Dos

[tealmisthams]

For your valentines drabbles: Echo/Cadence for prompt: Dancing! Thank you 💕💕

Thanks for the request and for the opportunity to write more about these two! 💙

The song that Cadence sings in this drabble is “Better When I’m Dancin’” by Meghan Trainor.

It’s also here on AO3.

Echo was tired. It wasn’t something specific, though. He hadn’t had a particularly difficult workout nor had the 501st’s most recent mission been especially long. He hadn’t lost anyone he was close to recently nor had he performed any tasks that were more mentally taxing than normal. No, it was more of a general tiredness.

He was tired of war, of watching his brothers die—whether or not he was close with them—and the hopelessness of it all. How much longer would it go on? However long that was, would he even live to see the end? It was just one of those days.

But Echo did his best to push his weariness to the back of his mind as he strode through the streets of Coruscant. Cadence had just arrived on the capital planet and it would be their first time seeing each other in over a month. That last thing he wanted was to dampen their reunion with his dismal mindset about a situation that he wouldn’t be able to change.

When he reached the hangar, he stopped to take a breath before approaching her ship, making one more effort to clear his thoughts. Then he made his way over to her freighter, the Atonal , and tapped the entry code into the security panel.

“Echo!”

He had only just made it to the top of the ramp when he heard his name. Then Cadence was running at him and leaping into his arms. He caught her instinctively and held her off the ground as she kissed him fiercely.

“I missed you,” he breathed, after they broke apart.

He was still holding her and she leaned her forehead against his. “Echo, what’s wrong?”

He fought the urge to sigh. Of course she knew and he knew better than to think that she wouldn’t sense his negative emotions immediately.

“It’s nothing specific,” he answered honestly. “Just one of those days when I wish this war would just end already.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He shook his head.

“Dance with me then,” she said.

“What? Now?” He wasn’t opposed to dancing in general, but now didn’t seem like the best time.

“Yes! Put me down.” He did. “Now, come on.”

She took his hands and led him to the living area of her ship.

“Bettii!”

At the sound of her name, the little BD unit darted in from the direction of the cockpit. She beeped excitedly when she spotted Echo and hurried over to greet him by climbing up onto his shoulder.

“Hey, Bettii,” he said, patting the droid’s head.

Cadence pressed two fingers to the side of Bettii’s head and music began to trickle out of the little droid. The instrumental tune was upbeat and Cadence immediately added her voice.

—

Don’t think about it, just move your body

Listen to the music, sing, oh, ey, oh

—

A small smile crept onto Echo’s face as his partner, still holding his hands, pulled him farther into the center of the room. It really wasn’t fair. She knew hearing her singing voice always made him smile.

Bettii hopped off his shoulder and Cadence continued her vocals, as she began moving their arms in some sort of motion that Echo didn’t quite understand.

“What dance is this?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it!” she responded, between lyrics.

“But what are the steps?” Echo asked again.

“I have no idea!” She beamed at him and he couldn’t stop his own smile from widening.

—

We can do this together

I bet you feel better when you’re dancin’, yeah, yeah

—

Now they were spinning aimlessly around the ship’s living area, still joined by their hands. At one point, Echo thought to lift one of his arms, so Cadence could twirl underneath it. Then he pulled her to him and kept an arm around her waist as they continued their chaotic dance routine. His partner’s voice remained steady the entire time; he still couldn’t understand how she could sing so flawlessly while moving her body so rapidly.

When the song finally tapered off, Echo halted their steps and pulled her into a series of heated kisses. They were both breathing heavily by the time their lips disconnected and he bent down to lean his forehead against hers.

“Thank you,” he whispered, tucking some of her wavy hair behind her ear.

“I hope it helped,” she said quietly. “For now, at least.”

“It did.” He tilted his head to place another soft kiss on her mouth.

The Love Drabble requests are now closed, but stay tuned for more drabbles that have yet to be posted! 💕

[roseworth]

pls elaborate on ur dream outlaws team im entranced 🥺

blushes and twirls my hair 🥰 im so glad u asked

basically its jason rose lorena connor & kara. and its exactly as messy as it sounds

so first of all one reason i like these 5 is that there is representation across the spectrum of thoughts on killing. jason kills (relatively) often, rose kills very deliberately and not as much as jason, lorena (to me) is willing to kill but doesnt really do it, kara wont kill but may step aside and let someone else kill if she thinks they deserve it, and connor wont kill and doesnt like it if anyone else kills

also in my head this is NOT red hood and the outlaws. its just outlaws. because connor's in charge. i dont think any of them have any leadership skills (lmao) but connor is so much more able to rein them in than anyone else, and everyone likes him so hes a neutral party to be a "leader"

heres where im gonna get annoying and go over everyones individual dynamic with each other:

jason & rose: i literally talk about these two like once a day so im sure you can guess but theyre toxic besties. if one of them gets into a fight then the other joins. theyre haters together and theyre also both the worst ever

connor & jason: i dont think connor would ever hold a grudge so he doesnt hate jason for kidnapping his sister and blowing her up. HOWEVER. hes certainly not happy about it. jason respects connor as a hero so he doesnt deliberately try to get on his nerves, and connor is just a good person so he usually wont cause problems. but he doesnt like jason (for the mia thing and the fact that hes. yk. awful) so theyre not exactly chummy. but because of jason respecting connor he wouldnt kill in front of him

kara & connor: theyre close given that theyre the "Heroes" on the team. like,, theyre all good but kara and connor are the ones that are unequivocal Good Guys since they dont kill and they have the family name n all. i think they would bond over carrying on a legacy (connor as ga after ollie died, kara with krypton in general) and they'd get along rly well

lorena & kara: LESBIANS. listen to me. they both have the same experience of having their whole life destroyed and their family dead, then coming out of that experience and immediately choosing to be a hero and help their new world. lorenakara is my best rarepair in the sense that they've never interacted but i KNOW if they did they would be gfs. theyre parallels of each other. i think that both of them (especially kara) would be so excited to have someone with such a similar experience that knows how it feels. they should fall in love

jason & lorena: she likes him (mostly) but he wouldnt like her at first. he would be annoyed by her at first bc she tends to be upbeat and he would get tired of that. BUT eventually she grows on him bc shes not naive shes just being positive bc what else can you do!!! she had a normal childhood for the first 17 or so years of her life so i think he would find it hard to relate to her (but also everyone else on the team has that problem bc. none of them had normal childhoods) but they'd be friends after a while, esp after he saw her in one of her "im so pissed off im gonna beat someone up about it" moments

kara & jason: she doesnt like him. pretty much just because hes an asshole, no personal grudge besides him being him. kara's not really willing to let it go when someones rude to her and jason is rude to everyone. they'd get into fights a lot bc theyre both stubborn and will not let anything go, and they usually have opposing viewpoints so it does not go well

rose & kara: rose hates women! she has never gotten along with another female character and shes not starting now. rose & kara would have a lot of the same problems that jason & kara do, in that theyre both stubborn and rose will go out of her way to pick fights with her. a big problem that rose would have is that she doesnt trust people and she doesnt like not having control, so having a kryptonian around would make her uncomfortable given that if kara decided to kill all of them rose knows she couldnt do anything about it. so shes very wary of kara and a little threatened, so when she gets nervous she gets meaner (<- cop car by mitski). i dont think kara would have a big problem with rose other than that rose keeps being mean to her. eventually they would get along better though :)

connor & rose: im sorry in advance for acknowledging connor in robin 2021. but these two met on lazarus island and sorta became friends so they would still be getting along here! he understands her pretty well and obv still tries to stop her from killing but they work well together <3 i also think that connor would try so hard to get rose to like. take care of her mental health. and be emotionally open. it wont always work but he'll still try

lorena & connor: honestly. this is the only combo that i have 0 thoughts on hkjafhadjfhf i dont think that they have personalities that would specifically connect or clash with each other. they'd get along but theyre also kinda just people that happen to be on the same team fhakjfhadjfk theres not a lot that just the two of them can use to relate to each other

rose & lorena: rose still hates women!!! rose would like lorena more than she likes kara, but they would still bicker all the time. tho their fighting would be more ribbing each other instead of actually being antagonistic, then moving on to heckling other people. basically ideal lorena & rose dynamic is statler & waldorf

uh oh shes moving onto trios now (not every possibility though fhajdfhsadk just my favs hehe)

jason & rose & lorena: uh oh the moral compass is gone! someones gonna die! these three are all haters and are willing to kill so bad things will happen when its just the three of them

lorena & rose & kara: they would have the most catastrophic girls' night in existence and it would be so fucking funny i need it

connor & jason & rose: basically the angel & devil on rose's shoulders. i also think that this trio would give connor the worst experience of his life

connor & kara & jason: pretty much the opposite of the previous one. honestly funnier to me that jason would be having a terrible day because kara and connor are essentially taking turns stopping him from doing whatever he wants to do

so thats the gist of their dynamics <333 in my head the team is in calfornia (and also we're pretending california is only like a mile long bc star city is in NorCal and san diego is in SoCal but i need them to be right next to each other so connor and lorena are in the same area hfjakfakdafh) which also means that jason would get to be pissy about it since hes out of gotham and out of his element

i also have arcs i made for all of it. that i wont go into detail about bc ill get embarrassed about how much ive thought about it hfksjdfhasdjkf but the big picture is all of them struggling with loneliness then coming together and all hating each other a little but still working well as a team. then eventually jason goes back to gotham bc he hates being away from it, lorena dies, kara kills someone then goes into a guilt-fueled self-exile, then its just rose & connor going hm. what now. rose has a breakdown because everyone left and connor is trying to stop her from becoming the joker

actually i am gonna talk about lorena because i have thought so much about how i would put her back into canon. first of all i would say that sub diego has just been there the whole time but everyone forgot about it :( lorena is basically the sole protector of sub diego since arthur left a long time ago and there are no cops or other heroes there. also everyone in sub diego doesnt like her (mostly because shes the only one that can go to the surface so theres a lot of people bitter about that). she spends most of her time underwater but she comes up because there are various problems making their way to sub diego, then she joins the team to have other people around while still looking out for the best interest of her city. also i decided that the way she finds out she can breathe above water is too boring so what happens instead is that she swims to the surface as a suicide attempt the realizes that she wants to live right as she goes above water but its too late but then its not bc omg she can breathe air!!!

alright i think thats all i have. if u read all of this...... im sorry. i dont think any of it is actually coherent its just my stream of consciousness directly onto the page

[enchantedchocolatebars]

Things To Think About For Characters (Clara Clawthorne [My Wittewife] 🧡 🤎 🧹 💟)

Commission artworks are here, here, and here.

• Do they have allergies? (Nope. She's happy to have no allergies to anything, especially nature, as she loves it so much.)

• What foods will they not touch? (Sour or spicy foods. They're bad for her tongue. Also, yuck. Her words btw. Oh, and rotten foods, for obvious reasons.)

• What kind of music do they like? (Medieval / Bardcore pop music! Those music genres were really popular during her time. Examples are here and here.)

• How are they around new people? (Very friendly and outgoing! Clara loves meeting new people!)

• Do they speak in an accent? (She has a cute American accent! Very upbeat and bubbly and a little high pitched! She sounds like a M/y L/ittle Pon/y character lol. Speaking of m/lp, here's her voice. I ❤️ T/ara S/trong.)

• Have they tried learning a new language? (Not really, but she would be delighted to learn if given the chance! If she did, she would have a really tough time at first with the new language, but she would get the hang of it over time.)

• How many languages do they know? (Only one, and it's English.)

• What is a song that will always make them cry? (This one. Tears of joy btw lol.)

• How do they cry? heaving? silently? sobbing? (All three, but it really depends on the situation.)

• How do they dress? for practicality or fashion? (I'll say practical since Clara wears pretty practical clothing.)

• What is the first thing they notice about a stranger? (Their smile! [if they're smiling.] If not, then their face and demeanor.)

• What is their humour like? (Silly, goofy, and random lol.)

• do they have scars? what caused them? (She has zero scars.)

• do they wear jewelry? (During her shore trips, she wears the jewelries she discovers and advertises them at her knick knack stand at the town marketplace.)

• are they a frivolous spender or a miser? (FRIVOLOUS SPENDER. SHE LOVES TO SHOP, SHOP, SHOP! You could say she's "a bit" of a shopaholic lol.)

• do they prefer luxury or practicality? (Luxury can be nice and does have its perks, but she prefers practicality.)

• Who would they quote? (Tay/lor Swi/ft I think. 99% of her quotes are positive. This one would be her fav lol.)

• what could make them change their mind? (Puppy dog eyes or treating her to something sweet lol. If you want a more serious answer, I say having a respectful conversation and finding common ground with her.)

• Who is the first person they'd call? (Scrolls weren't a thing back then, but if they were, I'd say her her ma / mother.)

• how are they around animals? do they have pets? (Clara exhibits kindness and love towards animals, and she has a blue jay palisman named Syrup as a pet.)

• What is their favourite childhood food? (Fairy fresh fairy bread lol. It's a very whimsical treat [it's sliced white bread slathered in butter and sprinkled with fairy dust] that Little Clara loved! She still loves it even as an adult.)

• what is something they've never told anyone? (Spoiler for "A Winsome Witch And A Happy Human".😭)

• childhood friends? (She had some! Can't go too into detail about them though cuz spoiler for "A Winsome Witch And A Happy Human".😭)

• what are habits they've picked up from other people? (Thanks to Caleb, Clara has become accustomed to carrying a carving knife with her.)

• what are their guilty pleasures? (I don't think she has any. If Clara likes something, she likes it and it doesn't cause her guilt. <3)

• what is something they're staunchly against? (The witch hunts that Caleb talked about that the humans in his realm engage in are definitely something she opposes.)

• do they speak a certain way? do they use contractions? popular turns of phrase? (She speaks normally. Also, she would use the popular phrases of her time.)

• can they fall in love? what does it look like? does it differ between people -- friends vs family? (Yes for the first question! She fantasizes about finding her one true love, so it's possible for her to fall in love and be in love lol. But the other stuff I can't answer cuz spoiler for "A Winsome Witch And A Happy Human".😭)

• what would they rather die than do? (Spoiler for "A Winsome Witch And A Happy Human".😭)

• what is their biggest mistake? one that they look out to never do again. (Spoiler for "A Winsome Witch And A Happy Human".😭)

Sorry to end on a 'sorry spoiler' text, but yeah. 😅

Anyways,

tagging @princessrainbowpastel (her oc is on @persephoneflowerpetals), @queenspinoodle, @elusive---ivory, @nightsoulvixen (her oc is on @rizzocloverrpcorner), and @azure-blaze92 (he / they have an oc here)

The tag is also open to anyone who wants to do this, and you don't have to answer these questions with an oc if you don't want to (you can use a canon character as well). 💖 💗 💕

[sourbombz]

IM GOING TO INFODUMP ABOUT EURINGER HERE AND NOW OK SO

as u know Jimmy Urine is the lead singer of MSI, EURINGER is Jimmy's solo album he made some years after the start of MSI's hiatus. The album has a few guest singers on it such as Gerard Way from MCR, Serj Tankian from System of a Down, Grimes, and Chantal Claret from morningwood (she's also Jimmys wife!!)

anyway EURINGER is SOOO interesting omg its like one of my favourite albums. It feels much more genuine and close to heart than any of MSI's songs, in MSI's work it felt like there was a wall between the music and the writer but here it feels much more personal, like Jimmy isn't playing some character anymore. This is perfectly reflected in the albums title, Euringer, which is his legal name as opposed to his stage name Urine. The album has this very stream of thought quality to it which is so fascinating, and also it's not afraid to name Jimmy in its songs (Thats how Jimmy Gets Down, Internal Organs, Two and a Half Years)

additionally THE TRANSITIONS this album relies HEAVILY on transitions between songs. They all tie and transition into one another creating an almost movie-like experience, its what makes me recommend listening to it all in one sitting atleast for your first time around because it REALLY adds to the listening experience ESPECIALLY when it all culminates to that last track.

The sound is also sooo interesting, the like contrast of upbeat sounds to the more often depressing lyrics.... sighs i lov this album ummm go listen to it (if you want)

OKAY. I LISTENED TO IT, AND YEAH YOURE RIGHT IT'S VERY GOOD WOAH. I AM a fan of the transitions, and contrast of upbeat with depressing lyrics is my favorite thing in music so, YEAH love that 😌

Anyway notes about a select few songs that I found I liked in particular? Yeah sure here:

• That's how Jimmy gets down? I like it, it's a bop esp like the chorus, very good

• The medicine does not control me is SO good woah I just. I adore this one idk how to express itttt I just!! Love this one!!

• Ough Sailor in a life boat??? I'm a big fan of it I thibk it sounds so good and nice...

• Random EMO Top Line Generator amazing too, love it sm actually woahh I just love the feeling of it and it's. Yeah. GOOD

Its funny though because with Random EMO Top Line Generator the channel I listened to it from had... the wrong lyrics? It had the lyrics to Two And A Half Years in the description instead and I was incredibly thrown off for a bit so that's fun?? 😭

ALSO I've seen you draw art based off Peice Of Me (I also think that ones great btw) but I am also curious if you have any other notable favorites from the album as well 👀

[cod-rum]

Cracker Island First Thoughts

as always did a kind of live reaction to the new songs where I wrote my opinions down. only did the new songs as opposed to the whole setlist this time. if you live in the past and the album isn't out where you are yet then maybe don't read this though idk how much you can really spoil an album... anyway thots under the cut

Oil - funky. reminds me of a specific era of music but idk what. another 2d doldrum win. oh god i hope this one gets an mv. once stevie nicks comes in it really takes off. 'i could look you in the eye' HOW would anyone know stuart.

Tired Influencer - gives me damon solo vibes. kinda like having the virtual assistant vocals in the bg. kinda like how laid back n dreamy this one feels. far from bad but feels a lot like the average 2D solo song, nothing standout

Tarantula - idk how to describe it the melody line sounds like a spider. ONE PERCENT MENTION WE STAY WINNING this seems like the required "2D is sad and/or pining for someone" song we've had on like every new album. this one is way more funky and upbeat than the other ones in this category and i like it for that. do love me some overlaid vocal tracks too

Tormenta - this one feels like being on vacation but also your depression is still there. this truly sounds unlike any prev gorillaz song and its really good. honestly the vibes on this one are just really nice everyone who spent 3 years asking for a bad bunny collab was right

Possession Island - right off the bat this feels like an End Of Album track. some beautiful piano on this one. gives me vibes somewhere between good bad queen and damon's solo work. this one i feel like simultaneously it doesn't belong on the album and that the album couldn't have ended any other way. love the call-response part between beck and damon and the almost western style outro. can really see the whole band together reminiscing on how far they've come as the song ends

all in all: this one feels hard to rank bc half of the songs I've just heard for the first time whilst the other half have been out long enough for me to solidify my opinions on them. just going off this first listen to the album as a whole: I like it! stronger than Song Machine on an overall thematic level, but imo weaker in terms of the individual songs. as always the tracks with collabs are the standouts, but I think this one's 2D solo songs are a lot stronger and more interesting than they've been on past albums cough the now now cough. some songs are definitely better than others, but the track order means you never go too long without hearing one of the bangers. it'll take me a few listens to rly decide where I'd rank it, but atm it's sitting below Song Machine and Humanz, above TNN, and probably on par with Demon Days for me

[alexglower]

The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (2011)

you see, back in my day...

Why do so many articles describe this album as "humorous?" Sure, authors typically use the words "dark comedy," but I'm having trouble hearing what's so funny about this.

I was introduced to The Caretaker a little before he went viral on TikTok for his "creepy" music, though that later virality was what made me pay closer attention to his work. Even if his six-part series Everywhere at the End of Time wasn't billed as the most disturbing thing ever by a bunch of teenagers online, it still would've creeped me out.

That series was released after An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, but it still has the same "theme" of representing dementia through music. Both works feature old ballroom recordings clouded by swarms of vinyl crackle and static. Both works sound ghostly, like their samples are rising from out of their graves. There was a period of time when I couldn't get past Everwhere's opening track because I felt like spectral hands were reaching out toward me, belonging to some long-dead soul trapped in a looping record. That's pretty embarrassing to admit, but I was young! I also was pretty depressed, so any "downer" work of art hit me with 100x effectiveness (another example was the video game Omori).

In a way, An Empty Bliss is sort of like Everywhere-lite---while it lacks the latter's overarching structure (slowly becoming less and less recognizable as "music" over the course of many hours), it endeavors to represent the same feeling in microcosm, as if representing a day in the life of someone with dementia, as opposed to several years. It's actually a pretty breezy listen! If you ignore the notions typically associated with old, slowed-down, reverbed music, it's pleasant and catchy. I could imagine this soundtracking a study session. Perhaps such a utilitarian use would seem sacrilegious, but I think it's pretty apt considering how this album is meant to simulate a wandering subconscious.

One may consider the minimally edited samples of An Empty Bliss to be a form of sound collage, but I hear more similarities to field recordings. Sound collage is the art of making something new out of many different sources, whereas field recordings usually try to invoke a singular thing as it "really is." Of course, the vinyl samples here aren't of "fields" (i.e. complete representations of spaces), but they're treated as if they are, as if the music holds some vital aspect of its original time and location. The staticy sounds that define these recordings are, apparently, not overdubbed---they're from the vinyls themselves, preserved as they are. Some tracks are barely legible beneath the crackling. If you strain your ear to hear, you might catch what sounds like the shuffling of people amidst the muffled sounds of music.

What's telling is what is edited. Most obvious are the time-based effects, like delay and reverb. Both of these effects serve to situate a sound in space (mimicking echoes, for instance), but in this case they also put the samples at a temporal distance. When a sound echoes, it feels like it's shucking off parts of itself, like the very act of being played is making it even murkier (a process that was done in a literal way on The Disintegration Loops).

Tracks also tend to stop and start at odd moments, so that you never know where you are relative to a song's beginning and end. Sometimes sections loop, sometimes they trail off in the middle of a phrase. The static and reverb make these samples feel like far-off memories; the structural shift-ups make the memories feel half-forgotten.

So with all that said, I can certainly see the "dark" in this album, but the "comedy" is harder to figure out. Maybe it has something to do with the catchiness of the recordings? How they are, ironically, relatively upbeat? Honestly, I can hardly hear these ballroom tracks as anything other than depressing, but maybe that's because of my pre-existing notions of "oldies" music. If you're someone who wasn't raised on tropey horror movies playing old songs for a scare, perhaps the irony is more apparent. For me, all I hear is darkness.

And it's great! An Empty Bliss taps into an unease that's relatively rare, one that's as comforting as it is disquieting. It feels like being smothered by a warm hug, like going to sleep for the last time.

Good album :D Listen if you want to feel cold wind blow over your grave, whilst beneath the soil your skeletal hand reaches out for a lover buried miles away.

[theghostpinesmusic]

Ahead of their looming summer tour, Goose posted one last (?) video from the April Capitol Theatre run the other day: "Tumble" from 4/10. As I've written about before, I like "Tumble" a lot as a song, both in its "fast" and "slow" arrangements, but even longer versions of the tune tend to stretch out into dance-party territory rather than exploring heretofore unplumbed Depths Of Jam. But hey, this is Cotter's first live-concert "Tumble" and it's twenty-four minutes long: how better to put off doing actual work for another hour than listening to this again and writing words about it?

Unlike the version of "Tumble" from Goosemas X, this version is decidedly the "fast" arrangement all the way through. It's a pretty standard reading of the composed section, all told, though it's always fun to watch Peter make those super-quick transitions from guitar to keys and back again. The minor-key, "Stash"-y parts of the tune feel a bit more percussion-focused than they used to be, which is cool. Also, I think but am not sure that Peter is playing Ezra Koenig's guitar during this set (Ezra and two other members of Vampire Weekend would join Goose on stage later in the night).

The song finishes and moves into jam territory at 5:17 (literally punctuated by that loud-ass smoke machine again). Sometimes there'll be a little noodling around on the song's closing chords next, but here we immediately drop into a super-funky two-guitar jam. I love hearing Rick and Peter play off of each other in situations like this. It's nice of Peter to come out from behind the keys for a face-to-face showdown. The fact that he then proceeds to hide behind Cotter's kit for awhile is just extra fun. During Peter's little road trip, some give-and-take between Rick and Trevor develops and it is also pretty, pretty cool.

I really dig Rick's tone around the 9:00 mark, especially shortly after when he starts repeating that little ascending riff.

For my money, the quality, variety, and control of his tone has suddenly vastly improved since 2023. For what it's worth, I'm not at all on the whole "the new guitar/new amp SUCKS" bandwagon that's formed since he made some big gear changes in late '22 and then in April '23. Sometimes I'm in the mood for the old PRS sound and sometimes the DeLuis sound really works better for me but, ultimately, it's all gravy as far as I'm concerned (fun fact, though: I was in attendance for the last PRS show and the first DeLuis show, both at the Warfield). That said, I think they both had their downsides: the PRS often struggled to cut through the mix and to differentiate itself from Peter's guitar especially, and the DeLuis had a tendency to overwhelm the rest of the band (especially live as opposed to over livestreams or on SBD recordings). Recently, though, it looks to me like in addition to whatever other changes he's made, Rick's now playing through two Fender Deluxe Twin Reverb amps and they sound wonderful to me. To be fair, the Twin Reverb is also the amp that I own and play through 95% of the time, so I may be biased. But goddamn, it sounds good.

Anyway, self-indulgent guitar tone digression over!

I thought the light rig for the Cap run was a little...weird? But at moments like 9:20 it really shines. I mean, literally but also figuratively.

Rick's fuzzier, more aggressive tone finally pushes the whole band to pull back a bit starting at 10:10, and we get this really rhythm-heavy space anchored by a repeating figure that he keeps playing on guitar. Trevor sounds fantastically growly here.

Ultimately, this darker space serves a transition to something a bit more upbeat but also more ethereal, and by 11:00 we're fully enmeshed in it. Peter moves to the Vibe shortly after, which feels like both the obvious and perfect choice.

Also, by the 12:00 mark I take back every negative thing I've ever said about this light setup.

One of the things that this more patient "New Goose" has brought to a lot of their jams is using that patience to fully explore some of these more almost-ambient but delicate, gorgeous spaces. It's not that the band didn't have the capacity to do this before Cotter or something: one of my all-time favorite jams of theirs is the "Borne" from 4/25/23 in Eugene, and it's a quintessential example of the form, in my opinion. But this sort of improvisation seems to come more easily to the band in 2024: there are a few great examples from Ted Tapes 2024, one or two examples from those YouTube "Gemini" jams, the "Borne" and "Chateau Jam" from The Chateau Sessions do it a bit, and even though I've been mostly covering the more raucous jams from the Cap run, there are other examples besides this "Tumble" from there as well.

Anyway, it's great. It feels like spaces like this one really pull out Rick's jazz influences, a facet of his playing that I feel often gets lost when the band is just crushing peak after peak. The bit that starts at 13:00 in particular is a great example of this. Also, Cotter is just super fun to watch play (13:40 or so for an example).

Anyway, the jazzgasm finally comes to an end at 16:12 with a super smooth segue into something that initially sounds a bit like Deodato's "2001"/"Also Sprach Zarathustra." Not a huge stretch, I suppose, as the band covered that tune as recently as...2019, I think? I'm gonna be lazy and not look it up for once.

Rick continues being completely on fire for this section, looping a melody around and around and back on itself for a minute or two before transitioning into some funk chording. The chording meshes really well with the staccato stuff that Peter starts laying down on the Vibe, and Cotter's cymbal-centric playing is a great background for it all.

Rick busts back into solo mode at 19:50 with a very Allman Bros. tone, and Pete shifts over to the organ. Here, Trevor takes a bit more of a forward role, and, well, if you wanted some peak jamming in your "Tumble," this is your time.

Holy crap, there is this bit at 21:15 where Rick is just noodling away and Trevor is utterly destroying the building by alternating between two notes, and it's fantastic.

We get a classic bit of unhinged tension injected into the jam at 22:00 and emerge on the other side in the key of "Tumble" again, and then at 23:00 the band brings it home with the ending of the song proper.

Okay, so that was way better than I remembered, and certainly not a "typical" version of the tune. This is why I love revisiting these things!

Also, I definitely have to go work now.

One more Phish jam for y'all next time, and that'll likely be the last for awhile as Goose fully takes over my music-listening life until June 30th.

[djdynamixau]

It's not a party unless an acoustic duo plays.

Are you sick of hearing the same generic music played by the same old event bands DJ Hire? Do you want your next get-together to be the talk of the town? An acoustic duo should be your first choice. They provide a breath of new life to every party with their unconventional style of performance. What makes them stand out, what kinds of events they excel at, and how they guarantee that every gathering becomes a lively party are all topics we'll cover in this article. Let's dive in and find out why booking an acoustic duet for your upcoming party can be the best idea you've had!

How do they differentiate themselves from similar live music acts?

There is a wide variety of bands available for events Party DJ Hire Sydney. But what exactly is it that makes an acoustic duo so special? Their simple yet effective setup makes for a cozy and welcoming environment, ideal for hosting a variety of events. Acoustic duos, in contrast to full bands with many members and sophisticated stage sets, are able to establish a more personal rapport with their listeners.

Acoustic duos are interesting because of their configuration alone, but they also provide a wide variety of musical genres. They can play anything from old standards to current hits, changing their setlist to suit the crowd and the mood. These skilled musicians are flexible and can adapt their set to your event, be it a formal business meeting or a casual garden bash.

The adaptability of acoustic duos is yet another feature that sets them apart. Acoustic duos have the versatility to play a variety of styles throughout the event, while other bands may only focus on one or two. First, they can play mellow tracks during cocktail hour to set the mood, and then they can switch gears and play upbeat dance music to get people on their feet.

In addition, an acoustic duo provides ease and efficiency, as opposed to larger bands which may need lengthy set-up and sound checks. They require little in the way of specialized hardware and can be easily integrated into your chosen venue, relieving you of the burden of logistical planning.

When compared to larger event bands, an acoustic duo stands out because of the unique atmosphere they can create for guests with their small stage footprint, wide range of musical styles, and ease of logistics.

When would these centerpieces be most appropriate?

There is no limit to the kinds of gatherings that would benefit from the presence of an acoustic duo. Their adaptability and ability to set the mood for any event make them a popular pick.

A wedding is a perfect setting for an acoustic duo. With their heartfelt tunes and gorgeous harmonies, they provide ideal cocktail-hour or wedding-ceremony background music. As an added bonus, they can get the party started at the wedding reception and get everyone up and moving to the beat.

Corporate events are another good fit for an acoustic duet. Their live music enhances every event, whether it's a product launch, a workplace party, or a conference. They are versatile enough to play anything from mellow tunes for informal networking to dance floor fillers to get everyone fired up.

Acoustic duos are also a great choice for smaller events like birthday parties and anniversaries. They play fantastic live music in the background while creating an intimate atmosphere with their stripped-down sound.

How can they guarantee that every gathering is a good time?

An acoustic duo knows how to make any gathering more like a party by injecting a lively spirit into the proceedings. They have a talent for making the audience feel something special with their adaptable sound and lively stage presence.

They do this in part by performing a wide variety of songs. They have a keen sense of what songs will get a crowd moving, whether they be old standards or current radio favorites. They have the ability to adapt their repertoire to fit any event, guaranteeing that everyone will enjoy themselves.

An acoustic duo has musical chops, but they can also read an audience. They are highly attuned to the desires of the spectators and can adjust their show accordingly. If the audience requests singalong classics, they will play them. They also have the ability to calm things down with some heartfelt ballads.

In addition, an acoustic duo knows that audience participation is essential to generating energy at a social event. They don't just play music and stand there; they interact with the crowd the whole time. They bond with one another via conversation and play, making everyone feel like they belong to the party.

Conclusion

An acoustic duo is an interesting and novel way to provide a festive atmosphere to any gathering. They stand out from the crowd because of their adaptability and the unique energy they bring to events. They are versatile enough to adapt their show for every event, be it a wedding reception, corporate party, or private celebration.

The acoustic duet is ideal for occasions where a more sophisticated atmosphere is desired without sacrificing the vitality and enthusiasm that can only come from live music. Their mellow tunes are perfect for cocktail and dinner parties, setting the mood for easy discussion and lively socializing.

Just how can they guarantee that every gathering is a good time? The foundation of their success is their vast catalog of music, which spans several styles and eras. Their playlist features both modern radio singles and classics that have stood the test of time, making it suitable for listeners of all ages and musical tastes.

[thepermanentrainpress]

UNDER THE RADAR: FEBRUARY 2023

1) Francis Arevalo - “I Can’t Wait”

A searing passion and power defines Arevalo’s new single. Reworked and refined, it was written about “facing one’s own mortality after a difficult mental health struggle,” and circles around notions of commitment, purpose and community. His cultural, lived experiences and advocacy for mental health and BIPOC artists are reflected in his work; he has agency over decisions made in the present, and chooses to forge ahead while being a rally cry for those around him. It’s a groovy hip hop track with cascading live instruments (drums, guitar, bass, keys, turntables) and fervent delivery—I’m not surprised to read that he has a slam poetry background.   

I am not a big rap/hip hop listener, but I was drawn towards the uplifting wordplay (“we could be brave with the hurt / you’re here / there is reason for birth”) that is not just about oneself, but both blood and chosen family. Manifesting dreams requires clarity, visualization, gratitude and mindfulness, traits that aren’t lacking in this artist. Expect his debut album 0427 Act I: HEATCHECK! this April. 

Written by: Chloe Hoy

2) Ayla Tesler-Mabé - “Give Me A Sign?”

This track has a very funky and upbeat sound. It's a powerful mix of R&B, rock, and even jazz, creating a soulful style. There's a lot of pep and energy in both the music and vocals here. Ayla expresses herself with a tone of voice and emotion mature beyond her years. The lyrics tell a tale of a relationship that isn't all it should be - the singer really wants things to be all they could be, if the other party could just "give me a sign." This is a song with a timeless vibe finely engineered for a very enjoyable listen. 

This is her debut single as a solo artist and it shows a lot of spirit and promise. It's a great introduction that will leave one hooked. If this is just a first taste of her upcoming EP, I'm very excited to see what else is to come.

Written by: Cazzy Lewchuk

3) Stay Lunar - “i like it when you’re around”

I just love Stay Lunar—they create all-around winners. A song celebrating friendship and the comfort and love received during times of need, it still has a bright glow. Heavier on the guitars and drums, it comes off as more of a peppier indie rock cut as opposed to their pop-centered, synth-laden past. It can be hard to express our feelings to those around us, much less be honest with ourselves; the ebb and flow is heard in the tone, narrating long-term adversity (“i know it's over but we're living in it / some things they take a while to leave”) and the striking contrast between solitude and company.

It’s so easy to be enveloped in their music. The Bristol band is set to release an EP later this year.

Written by: Chloe Hoy

4) Trina Kae - "Paris in the Fall”

Enamored in a new place of possibility at every corner, the Okanagan’s Trina Kae has fond memories of backpacking around the world post-college. Set in Paris, the song captures wonder and discovery in beauty only found through travel—and maybe some accompanying spirits ("Remember when you were dreaming beside the Seine / Lost again in a cabernet lens”). Her breathy voice cuts deep as it’s almost woeful in tone, nostalgic in the “glow of being immersed in the moment.” I like the alt pop layering; not flashy but achieves the airy and wistful mood it intends with sharp beats entering midway through.

In addition, the use of lyrics in French strengthens the story and reflection. “Paris in the Fall” is appropriately dramatic, but with the magic and intoxicating feeling of an unfamiliar and culturally rich city. Kae’s debut album Narrative is out now.

Written by: Chloe Hoy

5) Flint - “Days & Nights”

Embodying a carefree spirit and a license to party, Tony Rosenberg and Peter Jenner encourage you to leave your troubles at the door. The Brisbane rockers have a controlled punch to their rock n’ roll. It’s anthemic while giving off an air of intrigue, a fast bass line and lyrics that are sang as self-assured statements. The pair has a fun musical style – a matured tone but a refusal to settle (“rearranged my focus and handed in my notice”). “Days & Nights” is a reminder that older and wiser are not always synonymous in life, and good times will triumph if we prioritize them.

Days & Nights by Flint.

Written by: Chloe Hoy

6) Glow Motive - “Show Me You're Here” 

This song does the not-easy task of being soft with a low tempo, but also groovy and complexly crafted. The complicated arrangement is appropriate for the subject matter - a meditation on grief and trying to find their presence in dealing with the loss of a family member. It is layered and clearly recorded with love and sincerity. One can really hear the difficult, sometimes contradictory feelings in the singers’ vocals as they strive to communicate with the departed. Not a second is wasted as the pitch and harmonies evolve, the music bridges, and the time signature switches. It's a wave of emotion that will move the listener, creating a pleasant yet poignant sound.

This is the first single released by Glow Motive, a collaboration between emerging artists Anjalica Solomon and Oceaan Pendharkar. This collective has highlighted and enhanced their identities within the brown, queer local musician community. I'm sure this is just the beginning of beautiful art as represented by them, with a bright future ahead.

Show Me You're Here by Glow Motive

Written by: Cazzy Lewchuk

[moonlitdesertdreams]

Your Fool.

Summary: Loki and the reader have fun at a party in Avengers Tower. Set in a happy universe where we're ignoring Infinity War and Endgame and the Avengers are a big happy family :) Inspired by the train scene in Loki 1.03 "Lamentis"

Tags: Avenger!Reader, Loki, Loki Series, Alternate Universe, Loki x Reader, happy universe

WARNINGS: context spoilers for 1.03 of Loki i guess..? Other than that, nothing, just fluff and cutesy shit.

Word Count: 1001

“I think I’ve had a bit too much to drink for this.”

You dug in your heels as Loki attempted to pull you onto the dance floor. Your actions almost sent you both into a tumble, and the God narrowed his eyes playfully.

The Avengers Tower was lit up in twinkling lights and disco balls, celebrating the anniversary of the team’s official assembly. Considering all of the gaudy parties were organized by none other than Iron Man himself, this one was rather tame. Various S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and higer-ups milled about, and most of the Avengers, apart from Wanda and Vision, were present. Natasha, Pepper, and yourself had been chatting idly on the sidelines, all rather buzzed and sated for the evening. Steve, Sam, and Bucky sipped Asgardian ale beside Thor.

Thor, who happened to share a bit too much ale with his younger brother tonight.

It was not often Loki allowed his guard to slip around his former enemies, but the liquid courage he had been consuming to calm his nerves seemed to have shot to his head after the first hour. He wore a toned down version of his Asgardian formal wear, more soft fabrics in dark black and subtle flashes of green as opposed to his customary shining gold accents and emerald tunics.

“It can never be too much to drink, darling, only too little.” Loki protested.

Natasha and Pepper smirked at the exchange. “I think Loki’s idea is great, Y/N.”

You blushed red as you tuned back into the Asgardian notes which the band had received sheet music from Thor to play. Tony protested it as much as humanly possible, but as it turned out, the poor musicians were more scared of offending the God of Thunder than the Man of Iron. Regardless of the ancient origin, most of the songs were upbeat and strong, supplemented by the occasional Earth drum to spice it up.

“I don’t know any of the steps, and I’m not sure I can even walk a straight line! I don’t wanna embarrass myself, Loki.” You motioned to the few journalists who had been given VIP access to the celebration. “If I end up in People magazine drunk and dancing, the public will really have a field day.”

“Stark is always intoxicated and doing foolish things in front of the camera!” Loki’s responses were still sharp and witty despite his obvious intoxication.

The God of Mischief was much more unsteady than usual, swaying on his boots and standing far closer than he normally did. Despite your known relationship, public displays of affection were low on his list of favorites.

You sighed as Loki pleaded with his eyes, and lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of your nose. “Alright, alright.”

Loki smiled brightly, leaning in to kiss your lips briefly. “Phenomenal. Come now, we shan’t waste time!”

As Pepper and Natasha laughed at your lack of a backbone, you pointed at the once-threatening supervillain.

“I have two rules, Lokes.” You tapped his nose with your finger, “No spinning, and no magic teleportation. I’m gonna be hungover already.”

Loki wrinkled his nose at the nickname, but smiled nonetheless. “Understood. Come on.”

You allowed your insane partner to lead you onto the dancefloor, glowering at the corner where Tony and Rhodey wolf-whistled from.

“I hate you, Tony.” You called, giving him the biggest smile you could manage.

“Love you too, spitfire.” He teased.

“Enough babbling. Take my hands.” Loki demanded your attention from Tony, grasping your hands in his.

He proceeded to talk you through a jilting dance, making the jig sound like a simple cakewalk. You stared blankly at him until he began to lead, and you were forced to avoid his rapidly moving feet. The pattern you fell into was easy after a few minutes, and you giggled whenever Loki tugged you close and spun in a slow circle. The happiness in his eyes was almost tangible, spreading over you like a warm breeze.

“I never knew you were so talented, Mr. Laufeyson.” You teased and prodded at his cheek when the current song slowed.

“Only when there's a beautiful partner on my arm.” He returned. Loki lowered his face to yours to claim your lips.

You hummed softly into the kiss, pulling back when he nipped at your bottom lip.

“Don’t start here.” You warned, wrapping your fingers into his lapels and tugging down, “It’s too early to leave.”

Your partner only muttered something nonsensical against your temple, stumbling a bit in his drunken fervor. The music began to rise to a higher volume again, and Loki paused from his ministrations. His blue eyes lit up, and he wordlessly opened his mouth as if he was waiting for something.

Much to your surprise, Loki began crooning to you in Old Norse to the beat of the music, all soft consonants and long vowels. His voice was butter, melting its way across your skin and through your stiff limbs. The low singing continued for a few lines, until the music picked up and he kept pace with it, chanting out a harsher and less delicate beat.

Loki wrapped an arm around your shoulders then, pulling you in a circle and continuing to chant. You threw your head back in a laugh, gobsmacked and beyond amused at his ridiculousness. It wasn’t until that moment you noticed the number of gazes set upon the pair of you, and you paused.

“Loki.” You laid a hand on his chest, catching your breath. “We’re attracting attention.”

“Well of course,” He broke into English easily, the Nordic accent slipping away, “I’m a fantastic performer, and you look ravishing tonight. Why wouldn’t they look?”

You could only laugh, wrapping the God of Mischief in a tight hug as sarcastic applause echoed off the walls. You stood on your toes to put your mouth beside his ear. “For a gazillion year old deity, you sure are a fool sometimes.”

“Yes, my dear, but I’m your fool.”

Marvel Masterlist || Send me ideas