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stylesnews · 4 years ago

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A year ago, the guitar was in dire straits. With songs like Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” and Panic! At the Disco’s “High Hopes” among the most consumed of 2019, programmed beats and horns were the sonic flavors of popular music. Sure, there were outliers — the Jonas Brothers’ “Sucker,” Maroon 5’s “Memories” and Post Malone’s “Circles” among them — but as the rock and alternative genres embraced artists like Billie Eilish, whose innovative music made the traditional band approach feel outdated, the days of chords and solos seemed numbered if not headed towards irrelevance.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic and things changed. Forced to perform from home or in rooms not intended for live music during lockdown, many artists went back to basics and out came the trusty six-string. For iHeartRadio’s “Living Room Concert for America” in March, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl played an acoustic Guild on “My Hero”; Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day strummed to his band’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”; and even Eilish, with her collaborator brother Finneas, sang her hit “Bad Guy” accompanied by only a Fender acoustic. Other benefit livestreams like Global Citizen’s “One World Together At Home” event saw the Rolling Stones, Keith Urban and Shawn Mendes strip down their hit songs for unplugged versions. And in April, Miley Cyrus delivered an emotional cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” on “Saturday Night Live” with Andrew Watt, himself a COVID survivor, on guitar.

At the same time, there was an electric guitar solo being heard on one of the most-played songs in the United States. Harry Styles’ “Adore You,” which has logged 1.1 million radio spins in 2020, according to Mediabase, and has been streamed more than 400 million times, per Alpha Data, features the playing of Kid Harpoon (real name: Tom Hull), Styles’ friend and producer, who handled the guitar parts for much of the Brit’s excellent “Fine Line” album, released in Dec. 2019. As it turns out, the melody of the solo, which also serves as the bridge to “Adore You,” was first hummed by Styles for Hull to emulate. “I did it with my mouth into a microphone,” Styles told Variety in October. “And then Tom sent me this video trying to get it to sound the same. He spent a couple of hours getting it.”

Why include a guitar solo when most pop songs would never dare? “I feel it’s kind of like ‘La La Land’ saving jazz — only for rock ‘n’ roll,” Styles cracked when posed with the question. But more seriously speaking, Variety‘s Hitmaker of the Year added: “I’m not a spearheader of the movement, like, ‘Let’s bring back guitars.’ There’s plenty of times when [a song] doesn’t sound better with a guitar, and you don’t use it. But a lot of the references I grew up with have guitars; and it’s the first instrument I played, so it makes sense that I would like the sound of them more. I don’t think the guitar is dying. Guitars are great and always have been.”

In fact, guitar sales in 2020 have been robust. Music retailer Sweetwater reports more than 50% year-over-year growth in guitar purchases, with even larger increases during the peak COVID months of April, May and June “when customers most likely hunkered down to practice and create music after watching all of the streaming video they could handle,” according to a rep for the Indiana-based company.

The spike extended to other string instruments as well, which saw growth of more than 70% year-over-year in the price range of $299 or lower. The metric indicates that “new players are joining the fold,” says Sweetwater, which has been in business for over four decades and operates online. (Competitor Guitar Center, with more than 250 physical locations in the U.S., did not fare as well, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.)

Even in the virtual world, learning to play an instrument has taken off during lockdown. The platform Yousician, which provides interactive learning for guitar, bass, ukulele, piano and voice, currently reigns as the No. 1 app for music instruction while its sister product, GuitarTuna, is tops for guitar tuning.

Ask current writers and producers working in pop and hip-hop about their process and you soon learn that an acoustic guitar is often the beginning or the essence of a hit song. Among Variety‘s 2020 Hitmakers, the trio of Taz Taylor, Charlie Handsome and KC Supreme credited a guitar loop as the foundation for Trevor Daniel’s “Falling.” For Maren Morris’ “The Bones,” producer Greg Kurstin noted: “The first thing I noticed was Jimmy Robbins’ guitar hook; I wanted to keep the song rooted in that.”

“So many hit songs from 2020 started with a acoustic or electric guitar, whether it be a melody line or simple progression,” says songwriter and producer Jenna Andrews, whose recent credits include BTS’ “Dynamite” and Benee’s “Supalonely.”

And often, those guitar-based foundations remained through the finished product — for instance, 24KGoldn’s “Mood,” with its impossibly catchy sun-kissed guitar riff, and Powfu’s “death bed (coffee for your head).”

“I know it sounds kinda old school, but I love it when a well-recorded acoustic pops off on the radio,” says Sam Hollander, whose hits include the aforementioned “High Hopes” and Fitz and the Tantrums’ “HandClap.” “The bulk of my songs tend to be born on guitar. Without that foundation, the lyrics and melodies never really emote the heartbeat and emotion that I’m trying to dial in. There’s just a general warmth to it that’s hard to replicate. It’s like the warmest chocolate chip cookie.”

“I think the prevalence of guitar in 2020 has a lot to do with hip-hop producers using more emo and punk-rock influences,” offers Angie Pagano, whose AMP management company represents Tommy Brown (Ariana Grande, Blackpink) and Mr. Franks, among others. “Juice Wrld really helped bring this into the mainstream over the last few years. We’re seeing a great blend of emo and trap these days.”

Indeed, the year’s most-consumed hits leaned hip-hop — Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” landed at No. 1 on the Hitmakers list with Future and Drake, Jack Harlow and Megan Thee Stallion in the Top 10 — but even DaBaby’s “Rockstar,” the No. 3 song of the year, referenced a guitar in its chorus, albeit alongside mention of a Glock pistol. That visual may go against what Hollander calls “the Kumbaya vibe of the guitar,” but the song still features an acoustic strum at its core.

In the case of Styles’ 2020 successes, which also include the ubiquitous “Watermelon Sugar,” his producer further explained that, while aware of what was reacting on the charts at the time they were recording, Styles wasn’t about to chase the trends. Said Tom Hull: “We [thought], we can’t play the commercial game in terms of what’s happening right now. What we can do is make music that really resonates with us. There’s no blueprint. You just have faith. We love records from the ’70s and ’80s; weird prog rock music that might be a seven-minute instrumental; then you’re listening to Shania Twain, like, ‘This is awesome, too.’ The goal was to make something we will always love, and if it completely flops commercially, at least we know we love it. We have that.”

#harry styles #jan21 #variety21

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buzzkillzine · 4 years ago

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15/5/21

I was thinking recently about the music I like and how I got into it. And at risk of thins becoming a back-in-my-day-style boomer post, I'm not that old.

I grew up in the 90s (again, I'm not that old) and basically my music taste started with listening to the AM radio in the car while my mum drove me and my two siblings 45 minutes to work (he was the one working, we were like 2,4 and 6 years of age or something and wouldn't be working for another 10 years at least. We just stayed with our Grandma and went to kinder while she was at work) and basically the music on the radio was the golden oldies from the 50s 60s and 70s. It was my mum who took us to our first live music shows and we went to see Judith Durham of the Seekers and man who at the time I was obsessed with... Neil Diamond! We had a best of cassette in the car that got played over and over and I knew all the words to Cracklin Rosie, Cherry Cherry and Sweet Caroline.

As I got a little bit older I discovered some TV shows like Video Hits, which played top 40 pop stuff and a show titled simply 'rage'. Now for those that don't know, rage is possibly the simplest concept for music programming: it just plays music videos and because it's on the ABC there's no ads. It's this simplicity that is key to it's longevity. It used to be broadcast (and still is) Friday night into Saturday morning and Saturday night with a guest host. From this show I found so many great bands over the years because they played everything. Not just the top 40 stuff but weird, obscure indie bands, and if you stayed up late enough on the Friday night you could see clips from metal bands that would scare the fuck out of me at the time, Tool, Marilyn Manson, Sepultura, Korn and stuff like that.

One night (Saturday the 10th of July 2004) when I was in high school they played a full live set from The Dissociatives (great band made up of Daniel Johns from Silverchair, Paul Mac and The Presets) and afterwards they aired a special from when Silverchair guest hosts when they were still kids, possibly around the Freak Show era or maybe still Frogstomp era. Anyways just out of that one episode of rage I found the following bands: Alice in Chains, Primus, Black Sabbath, The Meanies, The Cosmic Psychos, Soundgarden, Helmet, Tool, Tumbleweed, Rollins Band, Sonic Youth, Magic Dirt, The Beastie Boys plus a heapnof others.

I basically discovered Grunge that night. Or rediscovered it but it was my first time hearing this stuff. These bands went on to form a lot of what I listened to for the next couple of years and from them I found bands they influenced and also found a great doco called Hype which also featured some amazing bands.

Staying up late Friday and Saturday nights to watch rage was a bit too hard while in high school so most of the time I would set the VCR to record it on long play and I could get about 5 and a halfish hours onto one tape (again, I'm not that old) I would watch it back in the morning, then throughout the week and then would be ready to either tape over it or save the tape if it was a ripper playlist.

I still have the video tapes in a box somewhere.

I'll have to pull them out and have a squizz sometime.

Anyways. That'll do. I'll write more soon.

#grunge #reminiscing #vhs #just my random thoughts #music #90s rock #journalling #writing #silverchair

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trevorbarre · 4 years ago

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Shane McGowan: Part the Second

I was always of the opinion that Spider Stacey’s tea tray head-bashing was as much a part of The Pogues’ magic as MacGowan’s poetese. The band’s subject matter could be boiled down to (i) London and an accompanying nostalgie de la boue (ii) The immigrant Irish experience and identity (iii) Booze. The melding of these three was the particular genius of the band and MacGowan’s lyrics. It undoubtedly filled the vacuum after the demise of post-punk and the musical non-event of ‘New Romanticism’. The Pogues, The Fall and The Smiths (the ‘The’ bands?) offered us hope in the mid-80s (as did, to a greater extent, Americans such as Sonic Youth, Big Black, REM, Big Black, The Replacements, Husker Du and The Butthole Surfers).

The Crock of Gold goes some way to explaining Shame McGowan’s pathology: the film starts with him being unconscionably rude to the film maker, boorish, spoiled and out of it (natch). Like it’s meant to be somehow pathognomonic of Shane’s essential ‘honesty’ and ‘telling it as it is(n’t)’? A great start to the film, and nothing after this made me alter my opinion as to his essential smallness of spirit, whatever the ass-kissers say. The first part is possibly the most interesting: I found it noteworthy that there was a lot of hand-held video film of the MacGowan family available, very unusual in the early 70s, and somewhat contradictory to the narrative of noble rural poverty that is being actively promoted in the narrative; the young Shane’s proud boast of being introduced to booze and fags at a very early age is left unquestioned (it obviously adds to the epater la bourgeoisie de l’angleterre image?); the admissions of bullying at school (clearly designed to avoid being bullied himself) leave a nasty taste in the mouth, delivered as they are with the typical MacGowan snickering, aversive cackle / ‘death rattle’. Punk basically validated his antisocial tendencies and gave them shape and purpose. (Even if only to form the entirely forgettable Nipple Erectors, the ‘controversial’ name of which was entirely in accord with the ‘headline grabbing’ shot of our hero with his ear being compromised by a female fellow attention-seeker., the point at which most of us became aware of ‘Shane O’Hooligan.) But Punk did, for a very brief time, offer misfits like our Shane a way in.

The Pogues, like The Libertines and The White Stripes later, are very much a ‘Greatest Hits’ band. 1984′s Red Roses for Me remains, for me at least, the quintessential original Pogues vinyl product. It has the most solely MacGowan -composed songs (six in all), more than on any subsequent Pogues album. In Temple’s film, Bono and Depp slaughter ‘Rainy Night in Soho’, as does Cave with, of all songs, ‘Summer in Siam’, one of MacGowan’s lesser songs. It all goes to show how fragile the magic was. His later band, The Popes, were mediocre in the extreme (with The Pogues’ essential spirit being leeched out in favour of a mere ’rock band’), only a shadow of The Pogues’ essence, i.e rock syncretic with Gaelic music, bonded by a ‘punk attitude’. By my reckoning, MacGowan was responsible for 16 songs on the first three albums, only half of the total tracks. Without the input of Spider, Jem et al, the magic was gone. As the man himself opined, after releasing such rubbish as ‘Fiesta’ on the third album, “I hated what we were doing - we became what we hated, the basis of my self-hatred” (apparently the excuse needed to get fully into Siam’s most popular exported product).

I’d have more sympathy for Shane MacGowan if he wasn’t so clearly a rather unpleasant individual. However, judging from the fawning below the line comments about the film, I’m very much in the minority. Full credit to Julian Temple for making a typically generous account of the man, with a mix of family shots, those of Irish life in general, and of vintage live material across the years. As he did with The Sex Pistols, revealing the the less ‘rotten’ side of John Lydon and the less ‘vicious’ side of John Beverley. Temple is surely the true artist here.

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thedoctornumber11 · 5 years ago

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Munday post

I figured maybe this week I’d do a different type of Munday. Most of my long time roleplay partners already know me quite a bit and I also try to introduce myself to newer partners as well, however I figured this could be a good chance for everyone to really get to know me. I’m including everything under a read more not because long post and also because I know not everyone likes seeing this type of thing. It’s just a bunch of random facts about me and my favorite things along with a munday pic under the cut. I didn’t want to just throw out a munday picture like most would do. I’ve done that plenty of times before and there’s nothing wrong with it, I just felt like doing something a bit more unique and different this time that might really give people a chance to get to know me :D

So long post under the cut.

So, first off, my name is Derek. I’m the mun. I just recently turned 30 and I’m from Indiana. I work in a preschool, essentially as a glorified baby sitter. I help the teachers get their breaks.

I’ve been interacting on here since November of 2013 and I’ve had this exact blog with this exact URL the entire time. I wanted something really generic and not just a quote or something like that. I first tried TheEleventhDoctor, but obviously that was taken so this ended up being what I went with. As for the theme, it too was made a VERY long time ago. The TARDIS theme with the opening doors on the TARDIS actually used to be quite popular when I first started interacting on here, particularly with the Doctor Who RP fandom. Although I’m the only one I see with it these days, if you go looking for older Doctor Who blogs that have gone inactive you are actually likely to find a few other blogs with it. As for the background picture, I found that one myself except for the part with Matt Smith/The Eleventh Doctor edited on. That part was done by someone I used to interact with who just surprised me with it one day and unfortunately isn’t on Tumblr anymore :( Having been on this platform for so long I’ve obviously seen a lot of blogs come and go and I miss every single last one of them :( However I also enjoy everyone I currently interact with and would recommend almost any of them. Seriously, if anyone is looking for new people to interact with, let me know you are looking for people and what fandoms you enjoy and I can probably recommend a few blogs!

Outside of Tumblr RP, I enjoy video games, yugioh, reading comics, general super hero related stuff, watching movies, playing Pokemon Go (I help run the local PoGo community) general board games, watching my shows, figure collecting, and cosplay, most of which I’m sure is stuff many of you also enjoy. My fandoms include Doctor Who (obviously), DC, Star Wars, The Legend of Korra/ATLA (I’m one of the few that likes LoK more than ATLA), Marvel, Star Trek, Firefly, Power Rangers, The Walking Dead, Yugioh, Pokemon, Sherlock, general Nintendo fandom, Digimon and Harry Potter.

Here’s a few things about me in list form.

My favorite musician is Weird Al Yankovic.

My favorite book is Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robbison. As someone who’s been diagnosed with aspergers syndrome myself, this book really spoke to me in my original read through and since then I’ve purchased it multiple times. I own at least three or four different copies of this book, partially because I kept loaning it out to people.

My favorite book series is the Harry Potter series. Don’t ask me for a favorite book in the series, I love them all about equally.

As for comics, right now my favorite thing I’m reading is the Power Rangers series that Boom is putting out. Some of my favorites of all time include Power Ranger Soul of the Dragon, the Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who crossover, the Power Rangers/Justice League Crossover, the original Spider-Gwen series, Poison Ivy Cycle of Life and Death, The Dark Knight Returns (I know anything Frank Miller related is a bit controversial but I enjoy it for what it is) and Batman: Hush.

Favorite movies include UHF, Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Captain America The Winter Soldier, Captain America the First Avenger, Avengers End Game, the Justice League movie, anything and everything DC animated, anything and everything Spider-Man related (yes, I even like Spider-Man 3 although it wasn’t as good as the others), anything Star Wars related although I’d say Force Awakens is my favorite one, the 2017 Power Rangers movie, Serenity, The Lego movie and it’s sequel, Yugioh Bonds Beyond Time, Mystery Men, Galaxy Quest, all the Star Trek movies, the corny 90′s Mario movie, the Doctor Who movie, and Detective Pikachu. Really, any of the Marvel and DC movies could probably make this list as well, I’m not super picky when it comes to movies.

Favorite TV shows is something I am a bit pickier about. Doctor Who is obviously on the list, and I’ve watched and enjoyed most of the Marvel and DC live action stuff although I have a huge preference for the arrowverse and 70′s Wonder Woman. Animated stuff tends to vary but a lot of the older stuff from the early and mid 90′s seems to be best for that. Power Rangers is obviously on the list as well, along with The Walking Dead, Digimon, Avatar the Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Sherlock, Yugioh, Firefly, and off the top of my head that’s about it. Everyone always assumes I’m huge into anime as well, but I’m not actually that into it. Just not my thing.

Now video games has potential to be my longest list as it’s easily my favorite medium of story telling due to the interactivity. First off, Nintendo and Playstation are my general consoles of choice. Nothing against Xbox, I have a lot of respect for the brand but I can’t really afford to have three consoles (even though I wish I could) and Nintendo and Sony have more offerings for me personally. I also do dabble on PC a bit, but I don’t really have a high end PC and it’s mostly just for Sims. That being said, my favorite games and game series include Watch_Dogs, The Sims, Mario (mostly the “main series,” 3D games and 2D platformers but I do enjoy some of the off series stuff like Mario Kart and Mario Party as well) , Pokemon, Super Smash Brothers, The Force Unleashed series, Injustice, most of the Spider-Man games, The Last of Us, Tomb Raider, most of the Batman games, Wario Ware, The Last of Us (still haven’t played the sequel yet. Waiting to get it for cheap after seeing reviews), Days Gone, Control, Horizon Zero Dawn, No Man’s Sky, 51 Worldwide Classics for Switch, No Man’s Sky, the Tony Hawk Games (still haven’t played the new one yet), Time Splitters, The Movies, Hulk Ultimate Destruction, Zombies Ate My Neighbhors, Kirby, The Legend of Korra game (the 3d one, not the really bad one for 3DS), Donkey Kong, Street Fighter 2, Punch Out, Metal Gear Solid 5 the Phantom Pain, Sonic Heroes, and the list could go on and on.

My favorite drink is root beer or chocolate milkshakes if that counts

My favorite alcoholic drink is probably just a basic screwdriver tbh

My favorite food is Cheeseburgers, although Chicken Pot Pie is also a top contender tbh

My favorite color is green

My favorite Doctor is Eleventh obviously, but Thirteen, Two and Twelve are tied for second

Favorite companions are Amy, River (if she counts), and Donna

Favorite New Who episode is The Eleventh Hour

Favorite Classic Who story is Genesis of the Daleks

Since I’ve mentioned super heroes a lot, my favorites are Batman, Wonder Woman and Spider-Man, although Supergirl, Batgirl, Captain America, Scarlet Witch and Black Widow are also pretty high on the list.

Favorite game in the Pokemon series is X and Y

Dragonite is my favorite Pokemon

Favorite 3D Mario game is Odyssey although Sunshine would be next up on the list.

This is my only Tumblr RP blog. I also have an ask meme blog and I used to have a personal but I haven’t logged onto it in years.

I’m on discord and I do add people from Tumblr on there, but I mostly only use it for Pokemon Go tbh

I spend every Wednesday and Sunday at the local comic book shop playing Yugioh

For anyone wondering in relation to that last fact, my current competitive deck Barrier Stun. Some of my favorite casual decks that I play or have played in the past are Lightsworn, Blue-Eyes, E-Heroes, Greed, Sacred Beasts, Penguins and Six Samurai.

In the last decade I’ve moved about 3 times

I own pets! I have one dog and one cat currently, but a few years back when we lived in a more country like setting, we owned 7 cats and 2 dogs at maximum. Most of them died of old age over the last few years.

Before my current job I used to work at Walmart. Long time followers of the blog may remember that I hated it there.

I don’t have a whole lot of writing experience outside of Tumblr tbh. While I do enjoy writing on here, it’s the interactions itself that makes it fun for me and while I’ve tried to write a few things myself, it’s just not the same as roleplay.

Anyway, I just sort of wanted to do something different for munday besides just posting pictures of myself so I hope anyone who read this enjoyed it. Here’s a pic of the mun to go with it.

#munday #ooc #long post #Honestly I just felt like writing this all out for some reason

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randomvarious · 9 months ago

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Appleseed - "Mile High Express" Big Beat Song released in 1997. Compilation released in 1998. Big Beat

Plays: N/A on Spotify // 10.5K+ on YouTube

Alright, folks, I really hope that I'm able to spark some shit into motion with this post here, because the way the general vibe is right now…well…things are feeling quite unprecedentedly fucked. So, I think it would just be in all of our best interests if we agreed that it was high time for us to immediately leap into our much-needed big beat revival era, because, I don't know about you all, but whenever I hear a quality big beat tune, my spirits seem to get raised pretty instantly 😎.

Now, I don't have nearly enough of this stuff myself, and because it took me such a long time to figure out exactly what this music was even called in the first place, I feel like I should briefly explain what it is and where it came from.

Big beat was a Brit-centered phenomenon that took place between the mid-90s and early 2000s and was a subgenre of breakbeat. Like breakbeat, it relied on a sampled drumbeat-or-break to form the base of its rhythm, but beyond the drums, the rest of it was also significantly sample-based too, incorporating all sorts of instrumental sounds off of 60s and 70s records, and often an old school hip hop lyric as well, to create dance tunes that just had this…rather big sound to them. The undisputed king of this stuff's always been Fatboy Slim, but Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy are definitely up there as well, and others have made significant contributions too, like The Wiseguys with "Ooh La La" and "Start the Commotion," Basement Jaxx with "Where's Your Head At," and Moby with "Bodyrock."

And the thing about this music is, even though not very much of it actually managed to chart all that highly Stateside, and you couldn't really even find much of it on radio or MTV either, it was still nevertheless pretty much everywhere else, coursing through countless videogame, film, and TV advertising soundtracks. Big beat's retro-present nature, as it lightheartedly revived fun and vintage sounds on top of drumbeats that still sounded modern enough, seemed to fit perfectly during such a sunny, 'end-of-history' time when people were genuinely and very naïvely excitedly awaiting a technologically advanced, Internet-dominated future that was inevitably going to only transform our society for the better 🥴. Optimism abounded for a period of new, democratic enlightenment that was fast-approaching and its mass-appealing party soundtrack seemed to be comprised of a whole lot of big beat flavor, a forward-looking genre in and of itself that showed what people were capable of creating by cleverly crafting their own groovy dance collages primarily out of various sonic bits that'd been recorded decades prior and largely discarded.

So, with that lengthy preamble out of the way, I've got a total fuckin' big beat banger for you all today from a little-known British trio called Appleseed, whose most popular song, "Mile High Express," was used in an Adidas ad in the States in 1998 because Adidas couldn't get the proper license to use Fatboy Slim's now-iconic "Right Here, Right Now" instead, which ended up being used for the ad overseas.

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Appleseed first debuted in '95 with a 12-inch on a very short-lived London label called Naked, but then in '97, they were on the Middlesex-based Kingsize, who themselves were pretty new too, but seemed to have a better capacity to release stuff on a regular basis. And it was through them that Appleseed would put out their only album, Kick It Till It Breaks, which is where you could find "Mile High Express," before it was issued as its own 12-inch single in '98.

So, sounding like a Fatboy Slim track itself that would equally slay at any sun-shining outdoor gathering or breakdance exhibition, "Mile High Express" basically has five essential elements to it that make it dope. One, a punchy, boom bappy drumbeat; two, a short, killer, looped-up sample from an early 1970s French children's record that's responsible for the underlying piano sound; three, a large helping of squealingly lively and extensively freewheeling joy on a Hammond B3 organ; four, some bells; and five, a sampled, catchy line off of New Jersey rap group Lords of the Underground's 1993 song, "Lord Jazz Hit Me One Time (Make It Funky)":

Watch me scratch it in your brain!

Put all this together with a bassline that mimics the melody of the French children's sample, some radiating ambience, and a brief, little bridge, and you've got yourself quite an irresistibly sweet bop on your hands 👍.

Because Brits seemed to be far more accepting of instrumental music in the first place, a whole lot of dance material was able to commercially succeed there, providing a much more fertile ground for big beat itself to flourish too. On a mainstream level, we only caught a fraction of that wave here in the States, but given how inherently carefree and upbeat this music tended to be, I think we're due to force its comeback…right here, right now…in a way that eclipses the impact that it had originally left, so we can start to be spiritually lifted a mile high out of what's been feeling like a rapidly accelerating downward spiral into a pit of horror. Bring back this quintessential electronic dance sound of the turn-of-the-millennium summer!

#big beat #dance #dance music #electronic #electronic music #music #90s #90s music #90's #90's music #Youtube

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deadcactuswalking · 4 years ago

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 15/05/2021 (Coldplay, J. Cole, Trippie Redd & Playboi Carti)

I’m awful at predicting this chart, I really am, but most of that is probably down to how I only make vague predictions at the end of each episode without even considering most releases that’ll actually chart. Let’s just say I didn’t expect nine new arrivals this week. At the top, however, little has changed as the absolutely huge “Body” by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne with a remix featuring whoever the hell is spending its second week at #1. The rest of the chart, however, gets a bit more interesting. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

The biggest story to effect the chart this week is of course 2021’s BRIT Awards happening this Tuesday, which I’m sure boosted a lot of songs during the mid-week. I also actually covered the awards show on that day if you’re curious, with some of my observations, predictions and opinions. We can very clear see – or hear, for that matter – the impact of the BRIT Awards in this week’s chart, as it did cause a lot of gains and new arrivals that shook up the chart right in the middle of the tracking week. Firstly, we do have some drop-outs from the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, only one of them, “Paradise” by MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy, being all that important given it was a top five hit but we do have a handful that lasted five or more weeks or peaked in the top 40, like “Medicine” by James Arthur flopping embarrassingly, “Addicted” by Jorja Smith dropping out to prepare for the rebound next week given her album release and “Solid” by Young Stoner Life, Young Thug and Gunna featuring Drake.

Speaking of Drake, he also provides the singular returning entry as “Wants and Needs” featuring Lil Baby is proving to be the actual hit from that three-pack from March, coming back to #65. Scaling down the chart, we also have some notable losses, songs that dropped at least five spots on this week’s chart. Those that fell include “Your Power” by Billie Eilish dropping harshly to #15 off of the debut, as well as “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S at #18, “Confetti” by Little Mix to #21 off of the return (with Saweetie, the artist quite literally solely the reason it’s had this second wind, still bizarrely left without a credit by the UK Singles Chart), “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max at #27, “Titanium” by Dave at #31, “Wellerman” by Nathan Evans and remixed by 220 KID and Billen Ted (yes, THEY’RE credited) at #36, “Patience” by KSI featuring YUNGBLUD and Polo G at #42, “Heartbreak Anniversary” by Giveon at #44, “We’re Good” by Dua Lipa at #47, “Way Too Long” by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack at #49, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK at #51, “Beautiful Mistakes” by Maroon 5 and Megan Thee Stallion at #55, “Don’t Play” by Anne-Marie, KSI and Digital Farm Animals at #56, “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK at #59, “Commitment Issues” by Central Cee at #67, “You” by Regard, Troye Sivan and Tate McRae at #69, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #70, “Hold On” by Justin Bieber getting ACR’d at #71, “Streets” by Doja Cat at #73 and finally, “6 for 6” by Central Cee at #75.

Filling up the room for those losses, however, are the gains, always a tad more interesting, as the songs that rose at least five spots on this week’s chart – or make their first appearance in the top 40, 20 or 10 – are usually having the BRITs to thank to some capacity. The climbers include “Summer 91 (Looking Back)” giving Noizu his first top 40 hit at #31 (and I’ll admit, the song is growing on me), Griff also getting her first with “Black Hole” at #35 thanks to her win and performance at the BRITs, “WITHOUT YOU” by The Kid LAROI rebounding to #13 thanks to that once-again uncredited remix with Miley Cyrus and finally, entering the top 10 for the first time is “Anywhere Away from Here” by Rag’n’Bone Man and P!nk at #9, getting the boost from a perfect trifecta of gains: Rag’n’Bone Man released his album on Friday then on Tuesday had the closing performance of this song at the BRIT Awards with additional vocals from the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir, who are also now appearing on a new release of the song the day after, prompting a whole lot of sales, of which I assume and hope are going to charity. It’s Rag’n’Bone Man’s third top 10 hit, P!nk’s 21st(!) and interestingly enough, the NHS choir’s second top 10 hit as they had the Christmas #1 back in 2015. With all of that out of the way, I suppose it’s time to get to our varied array of new arrivals.

NEW ARRIVALS

#74 – “Dick” – Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat

Produced by Nius and SoFLY

This week is kind of a weird week if that wasn’t immediately obvious as our new arrivals are kind of all over the place, starting with... well, I think I could say less about the song than the title does. Starboi3 is this SoundCloud rapper from New Jersey who made a song with Doja back in 2019 – I assume she was more accessible for features back then –and it didn’t blow up at all, really, giving Starboi3 some additional traction but not until 2020, in which Doja Cat got her #1 hit and TikTok picked up this explicit single as a new sound. Sadly – or thankfully – the song was never released officially onto streaming until very recently, meaning, surely, the hype’s over by now? The answer to that is no, as it’s climbing up charts in both the UK and the Bubbling Under in the US... so there’s got to be something good about this song, right? Well, no. Not at all. Of course, that is subjective, but I do question your sanity if you’re honestly enjoying this unlikeable nobody shout “Dick!” over a basic, no-melody trap instrumental with heavy 808s not too dissimilar to drill, before going into a beyond basic chorus and verse about, well, you can guess, with rhymes sounding either like an awful freestyle or a kid with a rhyming dictionary. “She not with him tonight, she not with Jim tonight”? Of course, that’s in the post-chorus because if there’s one thing this song needs, it’s a freaking post-chorus. I also don’t think Starboi3 realises that making her scream for her parents is quite the opposite of sexy – or even raunchy and mindless, as it’s actually just creepy and terrifying. Speaking of terrifying, Doja Cat is here and not even she can add a less basic flow with a verse that just ends up going in one ear and out the other, even if I do like the seductive backing vocals that at least try to make this not a slow, joyless slog. However, I do NOT like the Pickle Rick reference. To be fair, this was 2019, but also to be fair, never reference that again, I am begging you. This is a disaster on all fronts and probably one of the worst tracks I’ve had to review in this series. Good start!

#64 – “Freaks” – Surf Curse

Produced by Surf Curse

This new song is actually even older, being released initially as a deep cut from this Nevada duo’s 2013 album. As you’ll probably tell, this is charting off of people streaming after hearing the song on TikTok and, I mean, at least the song’s actually good this time, careening off of a clearly surf-inspired clean riff surrounded by some basic drumming and a good bassline. It’s not great as it does feel increasingly basic as I said, almost like one of those local bands that don’t get much national attention or traction but do play some gigs and get some love at those places, to the point where it’s kind of big if they play shows outside of their region... which makes sense because that is exactly what they are. This is just some band from Reno but here it is charting on the UK Singles Chart and while it’s here, I should say whilst there’s not much here to discuss given how minimal it is, Nick Rattigan’s vocals are fittingly desperate for the theme of social alienation and particularly rejection as it’s pretty obvious he’s aiming venom at himself for a bad break-up, although given the sound and tone of the song, probably his first, with that double meaning of the mantra in the outro, “I won’t wake up this time”, potentially being a crushing line for someone in similar circumstances. That’s not me, exactly, so this doesn’t hit, but I’m glad that Machine Gun Kelly song from last week got replaced with some actually decent alternative rock on the chart. I hope this does well.

#60 – “One Day” – Lovejoy

Produced by Cameron Nesbitt

“One Day” is the biggest track from new English rock band Lovejoy’s debut EP, Are You Alright?, and whilst I was planning on not mentioning the fact that the band is fronted by Minecraft YouTuber Wilbur Soot, that is the only reason it’s charting – and he’s charted with “Your New Boyfriend” a couple months back, a song that I actually kind of liked. It’s also immediately obvious in the writing that this comes from an Internet personality, with some not-so-well-woven detail and increasingly gratuitous self-awareness that eventually cycles back and ends up as seeming like they have none at all... okay, like most indie bands but that’s beside the point. This happens to be Wilbur’s least favourite song on the release – one that I haven’t listened to because even if I’m not too old for mindless pop music, Minecraft YouTuber alt-rock may be where I draw the line – and I can completely understand the distaste for this given that it starts with the line, “Why’d you have to kill my cat?” I also have some qualms with the song sonically as it may be the most derivative rock single I’ve heard on this series, given how obviously it rips from indie rock bands of the 2000s, with an oddly clean mix that doesn’t exactly fit the obvious stream-of-consciousness lyrics and Wilbur’s erratic delivery. Also, there’s a whole lot of trumpet on this song, which I guess is a surprise, but that doesn’t make up for a drummer who can clearly play very well but has to chaotically play over a song with practically no groove. I do like that second chorus in how it builds up to a somewhat anti-climactic guitar solo but as a full song I do not really get the appeal of this that I don’t get out of other post-punk revival bands from decades back who are still pumping out music. This isn’t bad – I swear, don’t dox me – but I just want something more compelling from this. I will always be glad regardless of the quality that we have more rock on the chart, though, even if this’ll be gone by next week.

#57 – “It’s a sin” – Years & Years and Elton John

Produced by Stuart Price and the Pet Shop Boys

One of my favourite performance from the BRIT Awards this year was Olly Alexander of Years & Years sharing the stage with the iconic Elton John to cover Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin” which had renewed interest from last year as it was the namesake for a hit TV series about HIV/AIDS, for which this fittingly played a role and has kind of been recontextualised as a gay anthem, which makes complete sense if you look at its lyrics about the Church telling Neil Tennant “how to be”. It’s also one of the Pet Shop Boys’ most camp and theatrical songs, so giving it to Years & Years and Elton John to cover for the BRIT Awards make all too much sense. No, they’re not able to live up to the theatricality of the original, especially if Alexander’s vocals are going to be this clearly manipulated at points, but with Elton John’s piano laying a perfect foundation for the rising intensity of the track, we do get a sense of that original melodrama, with the synth-work and house groove coming in before Elton John’s voice, sounding smokier and wiser with age, and in my opinion, more compelling as a vocalist, especially if they’re both going to sell this song with the most convicted of deliveries. I don’t think a cover could ever live up to that original iconic track but if anyone’s going to get close, it’s Elton John. Expect this to rise next week.

#50 – “Never Left” – Lil Tecca

Produced by ThankYouWill, Taz Taylor and Cxdy

I’ll always be annoyed that Lil Tecca blew up as a rapper instead of a producer, as I don’t think this guy has any likeability or charisma about his flow, cadence or delivery, and that’s only after you get over how dry and whiny his voice can get. However, he can make some great and incredibly infectious beats for other rappers, including a song I see becoming a hit soon in SoFaygo’s “Knock Knock”, which I will bet on at least making the Billboard Hot 100 if not the UK Singles Chart. It’s unbelievably catchy. With that said, Tecca is here in the form of some SoundCloud raps over a boring synth pluck and vaguely tropical Internet Money trap beat, sounding and flowing way too much like Gunna for his own benefit, or Gunna’s benefit, if we’re honest, as this shows how easily he can be replaced. I usually don’t write off this type of rap and will absolutely defend it, but this song isn’t even catchy or unique. I mean, I don’t like “Ransom” either but at least it was kind of fun and I still know the lines in the chorus a couple years later. I’ll forget all about this by next week if it doesn’t stick around. At least he shouts out Chief Keef. God, I hope he charts sometime, that’d be funny.

#45 – “All I Know So Far” – P!nk

Produced by Greg Kurstin

So, P!nk is back but not with a studio album, rather an upcoming live album in which the two new, original songs are about or featuring her daughter. This is the second single from said album and is probably coasting off her appearance at the BRITs in terms of a relatively high chart debut. I’ve never been that big a fan of P!nk but she has her classics, none of which are in the past 15 years but that’s beside the point. This single in particular is an acoustic ballad dedicated to her daughter in which P!nk provides a rapid intensity alongside pretty great-sounding acoustic guitars, pounding drums and strings that sells the content about empowering yourself, with some nice lyrical detail about always being yourself, basically, which would come off as cliché and preachy if it weren’t for some oddly specific lyrics in those verses and the chorus that basically just tell her daughter that despite the fact the world will constantly try to crack down on her and everything she does much like life does to anyone but especially women, she should stand up for herself and what she believes in. However, none of that cuts deep when she’s being raised by a millionaire, huh? There’s little Hell to be put through when you’re born with a silver spoon, huh, Willow? Regardless, this isn’t a bad pop song and its content isn’t as misguided as it is just sang by the wrong singer, although I’d find it hard to get a singer with as much rasp and wisdom in the mainstream to sell this as convincingly as P!nk does – vocally, not lyrically. This is a couple steps above that last single, “Cover Me in Sunshine” at least, which was just insidious. Next.

#32 – “Miss the Rage” – Trippie Redd featuring Playboi Carti

Produced by Loesoe

Okay, so all of our last three new arrivals are in the top 40 and we start with... o-okay, well, it’s 2021, anything can and will chart and I should know this by now, but it’s still surprising to see a song by these two guys debut so high, especially since Whole Lotta Red produced absolutely no charting hits in the UK outside of “@ MEH”, which doesn’t really count. This is Trippie’s highest-charting song ever in the UK that isn’t fronted by KSI, so I guess streaming must have been that good – also, the charts are still weak. For what it’s worth, I do like both Trippie and Carti to their respective extents, and I am aware that this is only as big as it was because of the hype from the leak, which also featured Mario Judah, and that in itself was a big song but it took years for Carti’s feature to be cleared by the label, as is infamously true for much of Carti’s work and even his last official collaboration with Trippie that was actually deleted after release. I’m still hoping on an official release for his verse on Yung Lean’s “Yayo”, but whilst we have this instead, I might as well talk about it and... Well, let me explain to you what I see as the appeal of these two rappers. That appeal is, mostly, that they don’t rap even though they both very much can. Trippie yells, moans, growls, screams and spends most of his work singing in his typical raspy, venomous voice, whilst Playboi Cart spits and coughs his way through substance-less ad-libs to the point where any actual wordplay or lyrical detail gets you excited for that brief moment. In this song, Trippie and Carti don’t eschew the typical role of a rapper and both just... rap normally, which would not be a complaint if they weren’t so bland in that role, which is the whole point of their unique, phlegm-filled deliveries in the first place. As a result, this song just ends up feeling empty, even if this awfully-mixed, bass-boosted beat with some lovely distorted video-game synths and hardly audible trap skitters does go incredibly hard. Don’t get me wrong: this is still catchy and Trippie flows very well over a beat that sounds made for him and Carti. Hell, Carti has grown on me so much recently that my fondness for this might just be me eating anything he releases up. With that said, he’s the worst part of the song as his baby-voice style emphasises how lacking this song is in just anything. I do like the wordplay at the tail-end of the verse as, yes, that happens, perhaps not as iconic as some of his other oddly profound or clever lines on his last record but at least it’s something. At least this is some interesting American trap, unlike...

#25 – “i n t e r l u d e” – J. Cole

Produced by J. Cole, Tommy Parker and T-Minus

The pandemic has affected the music industry to the point where big-name rappers release album interludes as lead singles. Said album has songs shorter than this interlude, with most of its dull filler feeling like additional interludes, quite unbefitting for such a big and hyped-up album from Cole which frankly is just another boring addition to an already consistently dull catalogue. I’m just not interested in what Cole has to say because he’s never been likeable and I feel like there’s better rappers that bridge the gap between old and new like how Cole sees himself as doing, the “MIDDLE CHILD”, perhaps, like, you know, Drake? If we want to go for a more direct comparison from lesser-known rappers, the direct comparison I use for this new record is Aminé’s latest, also made up of a variation of trap bangers featuring massive, charting names versus introspective, conscious lyrics, yet Aminé is an interesting character with quotable lyrics that aren’t embarrassing, knows how to write an actual hook and whilst he also brings on both classic and modern features, he’s never out-done by them, creating an actual bridge rather than just some guy who thinks he can write his own role in the industry and culture without his own music backing his case. Unfortunately for me, it works – every freaking time – largely because of his continually loyal fanbase but also a general public interest in the guy that I do not understand, especially when more than a decade into his career, he’s still pushing out mediocre projects. He cuts his album’s length by a ton and still ends up with a bloated record. I barely need to talk about the track itself, right? Even if it has as much structure and effort put into it as his normal songs do, it’s labelled quite literally as an interlude. Sigh, well, in this interlude, Jermaine raps over a drowned-out soul sample and admittedly, sticks to the topic of reminiscing on where he came from, the violence in Fayetteville, a similar violence of which was what killed Nipsey Hussle, who he compares amongst Pimp C and Jesus as they all died at 33. Cole himself is 36 so I guess for once he doesn’t think he’s Jesus. It took him a while to realise.

#12 – “Higher Power” – Coldplay

Produced by Max Martin, Oscar Holter and Bill Rahko

I assumed this would debut at #3 until the BRIT Awards performance gave it a boost to debut at the top but I guess everyone else had the same opinion of that awful opening performance as I did, because here it is at #12. Well, that doesn’t matter, right? Coldplay’s last album similarly underperformed... but at least that time, they had a genuinely ambitious album for once in their careers with some genuine experimentation and themes I did not expect to come out of Coldplay. It was a better album but not an accessible one, with its only pop single being a bittersweet anti-war anthem which trivialises bombing in the Middle East to onomatopoeia. It’s a great song but it wasn’t going anywhere, so it’s no surprise that their next lead single is a soulless synth-pop track produced by Max Martin. Admittedly, the synth tone in the intro is kind of unique in all its nasal 80s nostalgia, but, man, I thought we moved past just rehashing for a hit, Coldplay. This is pretty obviously just a crap attempt at being “Blinding Lights” which trades in its machine-gun loco-motive drum pattern for one that is a lot more stiff, and its iconic, memorable lyrics for a forgettable set of love-struck laziness. Oh, yeah, and Chris Martin is far from the Weeknd both in the studio and live at the BRIT Awards – seriously, dude sounded half-alive. This isn’t offensive, just a bore that is clearly a desperate label move ready for when they can tour again, and if their last record proved anything it was that Coldplay seemed like they were finally above that.

Conclusion

Well, that’s our week – again, a questionable one at best and kind of a bad one at worst. Either way, this is a strange array of songs and I do like how the UK Singles Chart subverts everything you’d expect of it so often that chaos becomes the trend, even if not all of it is any good. I guess Best of the Week goes to “Freaks” by Surf Curse, with an Honourable Mention to Elton John’s cover of “It’s a sin” with Years & Years. Surprisingly enough, J. Cole actually doesn’t get Worst of the Week as the album gets a lot worse than that interlude, so he gets a Dishonourable Mention alongside Starboi3’s “Dick” being crowned Worst of the Week, and honestly probably Worst of the Year so far, not that I’m keeping track of that. Here’s this week’s top 10:

What’s coming next week? More J. Cole, Olivia Rodrigo’s newest single and probably – and hopefully – some album tracks from Jorja Smith and Nicki Minaj. For now, though, thanks for reading. It’s a big week next week, and I’ll see you then!

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alwynjoes · 4 years ago

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Hayden I just read ur niall analysis cause it got rb'd and I thought it was rlly interesting and true and well articulated and im curious if u have anymore thots on niall as a country artist that u wanna share?!

oh, i always have thoughts about niall as a country artist! this blog has always been a yeehaw!niall positive zone so I wrote you a whole essay:

i grew up on country, you know? and not like, post-9/11, conservative propaganda, "i love my country and my truck!" country but the good ol' country from the 50s-70s so i kinda romanticise that music a little bit. and because of that i still think of that music as the "real country music" even tho in the past couple years there's been a lot of new artists trying to go back to the basics.

so anyway, because i grew up on old country and folk i am really familiar with the writing style and the instrumentation (country music is one of my special interests) so when flicker came out i was like "holy shit, this is some country-folk shit!" because of those things, and i'm really mad whenever niall goes on and say he's not a country artist because like, technically he's right but he writes like one, and nashville loves him so i truly don't understand why he refuses to even try and crossover to country radio.

i understand that he's trying to chase and replicate the success he had with one direction, but i personally think that's a foolish endeavour. he's never gonna be as big as one direction was, not on his own, and him trying to do that is stalling him and his creativity because he insist on making pop music

flicker was so good because you can tell it was born out of love for the music he was writing and the style he was writing in, you can tell he wasn't trying to do anything but make music he loved; and i'm not saying he didn't love heartbreak weather, you can hear that love too, but you also can hear in the album that he was thinking about making it commercial more than making music. which is okay! he's a musician and that's his job and he's allowed to want to sell it, but my point is that selling was a factor that was considered while making this album.

the best song in the album are the songs where he was the most true to himself and the music he loves (everywhere, san francisco, still, put a little love on me, dress, dear patience, bend the rules) and there's songs where you can tell he was experimenting with sound without caring much about selling it (heartbreak weather, black and white, cross your mind) but there's songs that are there to sell, and to be singles, and even tho they lyrically stay true to who he is as a writer, sonically they could be anyone's (no judgement, nice to meet ya).

at least have the songs in heartbreak weather could be arranged in a country style and they would sound like country songs and not pop songs made to sound country, because he has a lot of country and folk influences in his writing style and that's why country artists love him so much and i think that if he stopped caring about being a pop star he would smash it as a country artist. he's got the songwriting, the guitar playing, the voice! (if you listen to country you know male country artists have the one voice register that just works perfectly and if you listen to niall you know he's got it)

if he stopped sabotaging himself and truly just going where the music is taking him he would have more success than the one he has now because he would be entering a whole new market, a market that still primarily buys music instead of streaming it, too. and also he would bring people who aren't into country to the genre so it's a win-win! he already got country fans following his music so it's not like he doesn't know if he could make it in that market. and also it's not like he's a struggling artist, he's rich so he can afford an experiment like this.

i think folklore and evermore are gonna be very good examples for him because in them taylor made music without caring for much else other than the music, but i'm excited about what NH3 might sound like and i think we're getting something before the summer so I'm gonna wait and see, and even if it's pop I'm gonna love it because he's an amazing artist and songwriter so 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I just hope he stops feeling like he's got to be better than because he's incredible already.

#hayden replies #anonymous #about niall #yeehaw!niall #this is way too long and i don't say anything good cjzncjsmndnf

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lynxalon · 5 years ago

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all the even numbers 🤗

You are a BlessingTM 🙏

2. Chocolate bars or lollipops?

4. How did your elementary school teachers describe you? - Quiet, head either in the clouds or in a book.

6. Pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal, or sportswear? - Consider, grunge boho... Either that or formal grunge lol.

8. Movies or tv shows?

10. Game you were best at in p.e.? - Volleyball.

12. Name of your favorite playlist? - BTS paved the way lolol

14. Favorite non-chocolate candy? - Pop rocks.

16. Most comfortable position to sit in? - Cross-legged.

18. Ideal weather? - Stormy weather 😍😍😍 Lightning and thunder and rain are so calming to me

20. Preferred place to write? (I.e., in a notebook, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.) - My laptop, my hands cramp really easily so I usually write there or occassionally on myphone if I'm not around my laptop or have a Sudden Important Idea.

22. Role model? - In order: My nana, then BTS. I was gonna add more but. Idk who else I would want to add.

24. Favorite crystal? - Probably onyx.

26. Favorite activity to do in warm weather? - Swim!!!

28. Five songs to describe you? - Awake by BTS Jin, Epiphany by BTS Jin, Tonight by BTS Jin, Promise by BTS Jimin, and 19 by Stray Kids. Bonus: First Love by BTS Suga.

30. Places that your find sacred? - The very top of the magnolia tree in my front yard.

32. Top five favorite vines? - 'Look at all those chickens!', 'T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-TARGET,' 'I won't hesitate, b i t c h,' 'What up I'm Jared I'm 19 and I never fucking learned how to read,' and 'Ha ha ha, I do that.'

34. Advertisements you have stuck in head? - '1-800-CONTACTS!'

36. What is the first meme you remember ever seeing? - I was gonna say the 'keep calm' things but. Then I thought about those cat memes, you know the one's. Like the 'Aliens' cat. Idk if that counts but I'm putting that cause anything else I can think of is Cursed fandom memes.

38. Lemonade or tea? - Tea, specifically sweet tea, but no one's tea but mine. Everyone else's tea is disgusting, even in Louisiana you go to fucking Sonic and they don't know how to make basic fucking sweet tea like? This is the south? Make it right???

40. Weirdest thing to ever happen at your school? - Okay so the school built this massive fucking ventilator system for the gym cause it was always balls hot in there or freezer burn cold, so that was fine. Well, lots of students smoked weed in the back of the gym where no one can see you unless they're Looking for you. I'm sure you can tell where this is going already. So, one day after the ventilators are finished and everything is back to normal, some kids smoked weed in the gym and well... It ended up reaching Every Goddamn Part of the school. The smell of weed was fucking everywhere. It Stunk. It was so bad that school was cancelled for the rest of the day and we all went home.

42. Jacket pockets of pants pockets?

44. Favorite scent for soap? - Okay so my sense of smell is pretty sensitive, so some smells are really triggering in that they can trigger horrible headches, panic attacks, dizziness, etc. Uaually, I'm around a lot of neutral scents so I'm fine, but lots of shampoos, conditioners, and soaps have extreme scents. So, either a subdued floral scent or a really plain and basic unscented soap.

46. Most comfortable outfit to sleep in? - Pants/shorts and a shirt or nothing.

48. If you were a fruit, what kind would you be? - I don't know what a fruit is, but I think a lemon is a fruit. Even if it's not, that's what I'm choosing lol

50. What made you laugh the hardest you ever have? - Tbh, some things really easily set me off laughing for like 20 minutes so idk. Maybe the inside 'Spoon' joke with my friend.

52. Favorite font? - Word's High Tower Text is really nice. Or Papyrus. Or Tempus Sans.

54. What did you learn from your first job? - Technically, my first job was with my family and helping them at funerals. I learned that because I was afab that I wouldn't get to help with the manual labor. So, I didn't work much and eventually quit going with them after I got fed up with it.

56. Favorite tradition? - I'm not sure if there are any traditions I like. Most of them like Christmas gatherings, Thanksgiving meals, and things like that had me surrounded by racist, homophobic, transphobic people. People that I barely knew and was forced to be around and hug and talk to despite my being perfectly fine with only talking to close family or to no one at all. If I had to choose one, I'd say my family's tradition of yearly crawfish boils with the family. That was actually fun, and plus crawfish... Yum. We haven't done crawfish boils as much since my aunt died, but I hope we do more in the future.

58. Four talents you're peoud of having? - Writing! I'm not sure what else lol. Ig, I can play chess well. I can Google search anything and 96% of the time find what I'm looking for. I can find any movie or tv show, as well as any music.

60. If you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be? - Ooh, definitely fantasy with powers and stuff like that!!!

62. Seven characters you relate to? - Dickon Sowerby from The Secret Garden, Luna Lovegood, Wednesday Addams, the ninth doctor, Alice from Alice in wonderland, Eeyore, and probably Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride.

64. Favorite website from your childhood? - Poptropica and Cool Math.

66. Favorite flowers? - Honeysuckle, gardenias, carnations, balloon flowers, and zinnias.

68. Worst flavor of any food or drink you've ever tried? - Bubblegum slushie. Tbh it was alright but the aftertaste... Yuck.

70. Left handed or right handed? - Mixed-handed. If you don't know what that is, it's just favoring one hand for certain tasks, and the other for others whereas ambidextrous is beinf able to use either hand effeciently for the same task. For example, I write with my right hand, but I can use my mouse better eith my left. Though, I tend to use my right for that too.

72. Worst subject? - P.e. I have very limited energy as it is so. Being graded on that shit? Yuck.

74. At what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before yiu take an advil or ibuprofen? - So, I'm in pain All the Time. That's just a thing. My average daily pain level is always at 3-4. On a bad day, I can get up to 7. But, I generally don't take anything until I'm at 9. It just seems pointless, because I'll still be in paib regardless. And, I don't want to use certain meds so much that they stop working as well.

76. What's your favorite potato food? (I.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.) - Literally, ALL potato foods. I fucking love potatoes.

78. Coffee from a gas station or sushi from a groxery store? - I don't like sushi period so... Coffee from a gas station.

80. Earth tones or jewel tones?

82. Pc or console? - Console because pcs Confuse me.

84. Podcasts or talk radio? - Lol, neither. I can't process things I hear for Shit even on a good day so. Ye.

86. Cookies of cupcakes?

88. Your greatest wish? - Financial stability.

90. Luckiest mistake? - Tbh, I have a complex about mistakes and try to make 0 mistakes so. Idk. I can't think of any mistake that was lucky. Plenty of ordinary events that turned out really nice, like wearing my pentagram necklace and meeting my friend Brook because of it. But yeah, no mistake I've made has been a lucky one.

92. Lamps, overhead lights, sunlight, or fairy lights? - Ig lamps? I have a salt lamp that's really nice.

94. Favorite season? - Spring!

96. Desktop background? - Uh. I never got around to changing it lol... If I ever do get around to changing it, it'll either be Taehyung or Jungwoo.

98. Favorite historical era? - The 1860s, strictly for the dresses and nothing else.

Thank you for asking these! They took a Hot Minute to do but it was so much fun!!!

weird asks that say a lot

#kris speaks #answered asks #you are a blessing! an angel!!! thank you for asking these!!!!!

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djgamek1ng · 5 years ago

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Shadowbringers Tank Thoughts! [FFXIV]

Well, with patch 5.2 out with a singular change to any of the tanks (WAR’s shield on Shake it Off went up to 12% of Maximum HP to 15% of Maximum HP at base), it is as good a time as any to make this post. I’ll go over all 4 tanks and describe how I’m feeling about them, maybe with some initial impressions mixed in there as well. Let’s start with the ARR jobs and work towards the ShB tank with GNB. First up, the angriest job: WAR!

Warrior (WAR):

FELL CLEAVE! FELL CLEAVE! FELL CLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE! The one button that changed tanking forever. Seriously, every tanking job has their Fell Cleave button. For PLD it is Holy Spirit, for DRK it is Bloodspiller and for GNB it is Burst Strike. So, what did WAR get with Shadowbringers? Not too much, but what it got was quite nice.

It got a combo skill from Overpower called Mythril Tempest and unlike Overpower it is a circle around you instead of a cone ahead of you, more on that later

Mythril Tempest also extends the Storm’s Eye buff and it gives 20 Beast Gauge

It got Nascent Flash, which is a buff you put on someone and for 6 seconds (roughly 3 GCDs if done well) you give them 10% mitigation and heal them based on the damage you do. You also get healed for 200% of the same amount you heal them (or they get healed for 50% of the same amount you heal yourself)

It also got Chaotic Cyclone and Inner Chaos, essentially roided up versions of Decimate and Fell Cleave that always direct crit and they look like Steel Cyclone and Inner Beast

So WAR didn’t change much from SB to ShB and honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. Do I wish it got a few more things to play around with? Absolutely. Do I think WAR is in a bad spot? Hell no. It is amazing on the self mitigation side and its damage, while definitely lower than GNB/PLD and while arguably (depends on what level you are preforming) DRK, is still quite good. Overal, if I had to give an arbitrary number to rate WAR with, I’d give WAR a solid 8/10. Also, as a quick aside, it feels weird to have a cone AoE combo into a player based circle AoE. I’d personally like it if WAR got 2 cone AoEs, though they would’ve had to extend the range of each a bit (around 10 yalms instead of the current 8).

Paladin (PLD): HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT IS FINALLY TIME THAT WE’VE BEEN LEGITIMATELY BETTER THAN WAR FOR A COUPLE OF PATCHES! MWAHAHAH- ahem I mean... the shield of the party is up next. PLD, with it being my main in the short while I played HW and the entirety of SB (I’ll get to ShB main at the end), definitely has a soft spot in my heart. But what did PLD actually get?

Well, it got a combo skill from Total Eclipse called Prominence. Prominence also gives MP back when used (only in the combo)

It got an AoE version of Holy Spirit called Holy Circle

It got a gap closer called Intervene, which has 2 charges

It got a system called Sword Oath, which gives you a use of a skill called Atonement. At the moment, the only way to get Sword Oath stacks is to do a full Royal Authority combo and you get 3 stacks of it. Each Atonement hits as hard as the final part of a RA combo (so the actual RA attack)

It also got a fix 2 years in the making in the form of the Enhanced Requiescat passive: when you are under the Requiescat buff, your spell casts are instant. THANK THE LORD!

And last, but certainly not least, it got Confiteor which is an AoE finisher to your Requiescat window

So... let’s talk about PLD. I listed everything that it got from Stormblood to Shadowbringers. While all of this is great, especially the Enhanced Requiescat passive, it also lost pretty heavily. Its personal mitigation feels kind of crappy. Sheltron is great, but unlike the other short cooldown tank cooldowns, it is tied to the Oath Gauge... something that is still tied to auto attacks. Even if it wasn’t tied to auto attacks, the only benefit that it has is that you can use 2 Sheltrons back to back and then you are stuck trying to get it back. Doesn’t help that blocking’s power has been nerfed into the ground, with the highest blocking power still mitigating only 20%. “Only 20%? That’s still a lot!” Yeah, but it just doesn’t feel great. Also, I don’t know who made this decision but I just wanna talk: WHO RENAMED SHIELD OATH TO IRON WILL? I JUST WANNA TALK I PROMISE *prepares to Fell Cleave whoever made that decision*

Anyway, lame jokes aside, overal I’d give PLD around an 9/10 as well with a small note: in its highest highs it is a solid 9.5/10, sometimes even going to a 10/10. In its lowest lows, it is still a 7/10.

Dark Knight (DRK): THE EDGE IS CALLING TONIGHT! DRK is back with a vengeance after what happened to it in SB. The black sheep no more, DRK took a page out of WAR’s book and decided that Delirium needed to be diet Inner Release. So, for the changes/additions to DRKs kit (warning: there is a lot):

firstly, it got Edge of Darkness/Shadow. It is an oGCD single target attack that gives the DRK 30 seconds of Darkside

Darkside is now a buff activated by Edge of Darkness/Shadow and Flood of Darkness/Shadow (which I’ll get to next) that increases the DRKs damage by 10%. It also doesn’t halt MP regeneration anymore, so that’s neat

Flood of Darkness/Shadow is a line AoE oGCD skill that gives the DRK 30 seconds of Darkside

Abyssal Drain is an oGCD skill now that heals the DRK a bit per enemy hit, so the more enemies hit the bigger the heal

Delirium is now a 10 second window where Bloodspiller and Quietus don’t cost any resource. Sound familiar? Yeah, it is basically WAR’s Inner Release

They also get a combo move off Unleash called Stalwart Soul, which gives 20 Blood Gauge and some MP back when combo-ed

Next they get Dark Missionary, an AoE buff that makes the DRK and everyone one arounds the DRK take 10% less magic damage

Last, but certainly not least, they get the coolest skill in the game: Living Shadow. The summon a dark shadow in the shape of our all to familiar DRK quest giver from levels 30 to 50, Fray. It does 7 attacks across the span of 20ish seconds, but a mix of AoE and single target attacks

Also Plunge gets 2 charges, matching it to PLD’s Intervene

Plus, Blood Weapon now no longer increases attack speed (or well, it decreased the GCD so you were attacking quicker)

HOT DAMN DRK! You got a lot of good stuff and I’d probably say that DRK had the biggest upswing out of all the tanks from Stormblood to Shadowbringers. Makes sense since DRK is the poster boy of this expansion. So if I had to rate DRK, I’d say a 8.5/10. The only thing I think is halting DRK is that it doesn’t get Stalwart Soul until 72 and that the Blackest Night is still its level 70 capstone, making synced stuff be kind of painful from time to time. Not as bad as PLD though, which in my opinion might as well be unplayable from levels 68 to 78 because of Requiescat not giving the instant casts yet :(

Gunbreaker (GNB): KABOOM! Squall Leonhart has arrived in XIV and he has come in the form of a tanking job. Funny, both of the popular FF mainline protagonists, Cloud and Squall, are referenced in tanking jobs. Squall more so in GNB than Cloud in DRK, but still. Oh boy, let’s start this. This is gonna be a while and I’ll do it in bullet points since this is an entirely new job instead of changes to an existing job:

GNB has its Solid Barrel combo, which gives a small heal and small shield equal to the heal on the 2nd hit of the combo and it gives 1 cartridge to the GNB on the last hit

Cartridges are used to power 3 abilities: Burst Strike, their version of Fell Cleave, Fated Circle (can you tell this job is inspired by Squall yet), their version of Decimate/Steel Cyclone, and their Gnashing Fang combo

The Gnashing Fang combo is a high powered combo of skills that is on a 30ish seconds cooldown (it goes lower with skill speed). You can use another skill, called Continuation, in between each of the hits of the combo. They are oGCDs that add more damage to the combo

No Mercy is their damage buff. For 20 seconds you get 20% more damage. Simple enough!

Demon Slice is their AoE combo starter, with Demon Slaughter being the skill that combos from it. It also gives a cartridge when properly combo-ed!

Danger Zone is an oGCD that does ST damage. Eventually it gets upgraded into Blasting Zone (CAN YOU TELL THAT THIS JOB IS INSPIRED BY SQUALL) and does more damage

Camouflage is a oGCD skill that gives the GNB 10% mitigation and increases your parry change by 50%

Bow Shock is similar to Circle of Scorn, an oGCD that does AoE damage and gives AoE a damage over time effect

Aurora is a heal over time skill that the GNB can use on themselves or a party member. Has the same eventual potency as Equilibrium from WAR

Superbolide is their invuln skill... with a twist. It gives the GNB 8 seconds of total invulnerability... but puts their HP to 1 first

Sonic Break is a GCD skill that applies a damage over time effect on a 60ish second recast (goes down with skill speed)

Rough Divide is their gap closer and it has 2 charges

Heart of Light is Dark Missionary. Exact same skill

Heart of Stone is an oGCD skill that gives the GNB or one of their party members 15% mitigation. It is on a very short cooldown

Last but not least, it gets Bloodfest (its animation is Squall’s Draw animation from FF8. So again, CAN YOU TELL THAT THIS JOB IS INSPIRED BY SQUALL). Bloodfest gives the GNB 2 cartridges

That... that was a lot, but that was expected since I was describing a completely new job. The next time a tank releases, if it does, I’ll have to do this again... oh boy. Anyway, Squa- I mean GNB is a very interesting tanking job. It has kind of taking DRK’s spot as the fastest tank. Makes sense, since a Gunblade is not nearly as big and heavy as a Greatsword. In reality, GNB is a very fast and fun tank. It is arguably the best designed tank at the moment, though I think something can be said of PLD (though that is strictly speaking on the offense side). Overal, I’d give GNB a 9/10 rating. “WHAT?! AS HIGH AS PLD?!” Ye. It is a really good and fun tank!

Overal: So, in the end, what do we have? Well, the short of it, we got 4 very fun tanks for their own reasons. Even the meh-est of the tanks, WAR, is in my opinion still quite fun to play. So I said I was going to talk about what my main is. Well... I’m still trying the tanks and see what I like the most, but I do still consider myself a PLD main. Kind of doesn’t help that Square gave me almost everything I needed to keep maining PLD. A gap closer, instant cast spells (only during Requiescat but still), a way to reduce the monotony of the 1-2-3 combos, a finisher on the Requiescat window. I’m... in love once more.

The only thing I don’t like about PLD at the moment is how it very much lost its impenetrable wall fantasy. Blocking is now only 20%, still hasn’t scaled and at this point I doubt it will. Sentinel is now the same as Shadow Wall, Vengeance and Nebula: 2 minutes cooldown and 30% mitigation. It feels very weird that the shield tank has the least personal mitigation out of the tanks, plus its utility abilities are... weird. Divine Veil needs to be proc’d via a healing spell and Passage of Arms needs to be actually aimed and either be done somewhat last second or be held, which then makes it a damage loss. Every other tank’s utilities are instantly applied. Also an issue is that the Oath Gauge still doesn’t have a reason to freaking exist. You don’t use it often enough and for enough skills to have it visible. The only reason why I still have it is because it feels weird to not have a job gauge on my HUD for only PLD. I can go on about this stuff for a while, but I still love PLD. I’ll go over a “things I want to see changed for the tanks in the next expansion” thing later. PLD will definitely be the biggest section of that. Anyway, these were my tank impressions for Shadowbringers. Overal, very good expansion for tanking c:

#ffxiv #ffxiv tanking #pld #war #gnb #drk #shadowbringers #ffxiv shadowbringers

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