#been getting a bit into mcr recently ... dipping a toe in

[fujobritta]

three cheers for sweet revenge - mcr × lesbaksbee

[louis-valentine-blog]

Playlist Breakdown - January 2020

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus/Josie Moon/My Chemical Romance/Coldplay/+others

Welcome, one and all, to my first ever playlist breakdown. It’s tasty, it’s fresh, it’s hot off the presses for the emotional messes. Let’s get into it.

January has been a weird month for me, not gonna lie. Coming out of the holidays I have a tan, a renewed sense of self-identity and a fierce appreciation for the people in my life with whom I have close relationships. The music of this month represents a shift from a sun-drenched new years’ holiday into the grind of starting full-time work as a self-employed writer. It’s been a wild ride and the year’s not even started. Oh boy.

What’s that? Oh yeah, the songs…

1. False Pretense / The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. This track is a favourite from way back, and it’s mainly just here as a check-in. Hey RJA. How ya doin’? Don’t You Fake It still a banger? You bet. This band taught me so many things about great sugar-punk songwriting when I was first starting out making my own music -  and when you think that this track comes off the same record that gave us such classics as Face Down and Your Guardian Angel, it’s no surprise.

2. Victor Hotel / Josie Moon. This track has been a mainstay in my monthly playlist ever since it dropped at the start of summer. Victor Hotel brings textural arrangements and mature pop songwriting together into this gorgeous collage of instrumental and vocal production that’s simultaneously old-school and lo-fi, but undeniably modern as fuck. The album art and title add a heavy pull of intrigue, too - I don’t know what or where Victor Hotel is, but listening to the music makes me feel like I’ve been there.

3. Summertime / My Chemical Romance. I was a latecomer to the MCR love train, dipping my toes into their discography during my high school career and only fully taking a deep dive during some dark times in 2017. Like so many others, MCR helped to pull me through the shit and into the light. Having been gifted The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys in paperback by Taylor for Christmas, I waded into the world of Danger Days over the summer and haven’t come back since. You know those rare songs that walk into your life at precisely the right time, squeeze on your feels like a fucking trash compactor and just don’t let go? Summertime did that for me.

4. Orphans / Coldplay. Not much to say about this one. I’m definitely missing some sort of memo when it comes to Coldplay’s new record - it’s not bad by any stretch, it just has me yearning for the days of Mylo Xyloto which then begs the question as to why I’m not just listening to that. The hooks are there, the production’s there, the lyrics hold up, it’s just… tired. Someone get Coldplay a double shot espresso, stat.

5. Zero Percent / My Chemical Romance. This one’s a real interesting cut from MCR’s Danger Days era. Released as a B-side to the Kids From Yesterday single, it had me hooked from the start with a drum and bass (???) style opening that then progresses into more familiar MCR territory. It’s damn good all told - the vocal melodies fall a little flat if I’m honest, but Gerard’s delivery is just too huge to fail.

6. Rangers / Randa. I had the pleasure of meeting Randa at an out of town show with Holloway Holiday. We were both supporting Auckland act Openside for their New Zealand tour, and we got to watch each other’s performances and chat a bit backstage. He’s the most genuine, authentic and out-there human being, and that ethos absolutely saturates his music. Rangers is a standout for me because of the syncopated beat production and the absolutely infectious chorus - not to mention a fresh and wholesome flow in the verses that you just don’t see a lot in rap. Totally original and captivating.

7. Give ’Em Hell, Kid / My Chemical Romance. Another MCR classic that I discovered way too late in life. This thing is a fucking steam train of a punk rock song featuring the huge production and lyrical finesse we’ve come to expect from the boys. The thing that always gets me about this one is the vocal effect when the verse kicks in, ‘I took a train out of New Orleans...’ it’s infectious and angsty as hell. I’m absolutely in love.

8. Damn Regret / The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Another Don’t You Fake It throwback. A lot of what I said on False Pretense can be said for this track too - impeccable production and songwriting, an absolute anthem of my high school years. Ronnie’s vocals are a standout in this song - the sheer range and delivery this guy has is basically unheard of in pop-punk. He’s like a grungier Brendon Urie, with a voice to match.

9. Soaked / BENEE. Having only discovered BENEE very recently I can fairly say this track cemented my option that some of the world’s best pop music comes out of New Zealand. This song cleaned up at the VNZMAs, and to be honest it feels like BENEE is verging on international success too. This song rides the metaphor of water for misguidedly infatuated love - not groundbreaking by any means but it’s catchy as hell and the production carries it all the way through.

10. The Piss, The Perfume / Hayley Mary. I discovered this track (and this artist) about five minutes before writing this, and I just had to add it to the end of the playlist. This track has this gorgeous, romantic, over-saturated quality to it and I’m kinda loving it. Quite a classic rock groove with really modern sounding vocals and catchy melodies. The compression on every element of the song is really tightly packed and tidy, which is not for everyone but I love it. Great discovery. Go listen!

11. Some Kind Of Disaster/All Time Low. Some Kind Of Disaster dropped at the end of the month and HOPEFULLY means there’s a new ATL record on the way. And if this song is anything to go by, I’m excited for whatever follows. This track comes together to represent solidifying of the modern ATL sound (a la Last Young Renegade) but also a call back to the good old days, more in the vein of Nothing Personal. Perhaps telling that they just celebrated the tenth anniversary of that record. This track is catchy, upbeat and lyrically interesting (standard ATL fare) but I feel like they’re really leaning heavily on the songwriting this time, as opposed to drowning the song the production tricks that have been mainstays in their sound as of late. I’m excited for what’s to come.

So, that’s it for my FIRST EVER playlist breakdown. If you’ve read this far... THANK YOU! Shouldn’t you be doing something more important? Anyway... How’d I do? Do you agree with what I said? You’re the best, you’re the best, what should I review next... (kidding). Let’s see where February takes us - the year is young and there’s a world of music, new and old, to explore. I can’t wait. C u.

[whorewolf]

music

fav genre; uh. pop? i guess it's pop. i am pretty bad about knowing genres, and like, sometimes i'll dip my toe into emo, but anything remotely hardcore i tend not to be able to listen to for very long. fav artist; HONESTLY. like. i will go to bat for carly rae jepson and hozier. those are like, the two that are the only 2 moods i experience. oh fuck, and left at london (she just put out a new album, highly rec all her shit) fav band; ummm well it was patd for a little bit. *pulls up spotify* uhhh. mcr. THE CLICK FIVE. i can't explain to you why, you either get it or you don't. fav song; god i don't know if i have one, uhhh. as the world caves in by matt maltese makes me cry every time i listen to it? so there's that. love will find a way from the lion king 2? me from the beauty and the beast broadway show, and brutus by the buttress most listened song recently; probably either stalker's tango by audioheart, 70s porno music by cute whore, or an unhealthy obsession by the blake robinson synthetic orchestra song currently stuck in your head; my head is a cyclical mess of every song i've ever heard. literally every time i hear anything that could be remotely close to a lyric, that song is playing in my head for hours, or god forbid a tiktok has a song in it. fav lyrics

And hey, you, don't you think it's kinda cute That I (I) died (died) right inside your arms tonight That I'm fine even after I have died Because it was in your arms I died

My name is Brutus and my name means heavy So with a heavy heart I'll guide this dagger Into the heart of my enemy My whole life you were a teacher and friend to me Please know my actions are not motivated only by envy I too have a destiny This death will be art The people will speak of this day from near and afar This event will be history And I'll be great too I don't want what you have! I wanna be you!

radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or silent volume | slow or fast songs | music video or lyrics video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on.

books

fav book genre; romance!!! tropey, tired romance. especially time-displaced partners and fake dating, and a desperate longing to like fantasy as much as i used to. fav writer; i don't have super set writers i return to, but i had a long love of christopher pike (at least, his non-scifi stuff for me) and r.l. stine. fav book; you know it's the great gatsby. we all know. we wish it was something else, but we know. also ouran high school host club by bisco hatori. good shit. or is that a book series? i'll put another in series. fav book series; THE FIREKEEPER SAGA BY JANE LINDSKOLD. i was OBSESSED with this series when i was younger! a princess raised by super-intelligent wolves??? INCREDIBLE. WISH THAT WAS ME. also beastars AND beast complex by paru itagaki. and the wize wize beasts of the wizarding wizdoms by nagabe. people shouldn't skip this one in favor of beastars necessarily! comfort book; you know it. you love it. it's the great gatsby again, baybee. or, in my younger and more vulnerable years, the greek's chosen wife by lynne graham. e.e;; look, it was the one harlequin novel i'd found at the time w/ a fat protag. especially one who wasn't shamed for it. FUCK IT. MANGA TOO. beauty pop by kiyoko arai. god it's so charming. the closest i come to dealing with that tsundere boy shit. perfect book to read on a rainy day; damn, any good gay romance novel. can't go wrong. i wish i had a better rec for you. fav characters; haruhi fujioka (ohshc), firekeeper/tamara (firekeeper saga), nick carraway (the great gatsby), i have such a frustratingly bad memory lmao 5 quotes from your fav book that you know by heart;

i'mma be real, i dont know full quotes by heart, but i know parts of quotes so you'll get the full versions. also not 5

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.

Do you ever wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it!

tv + movies

fav tv/movie genre; r o m a n c e. mostly movies, since show romances tend to be utterly drawn out and largely forced. for shows, probably procedural crime shows, since no one knows how to make a mindless crime show quite like the us fav movie; god dammit it's the great gatsby again, the 1974 version. but also the 1946 version of beauty and the beast. and cry-baby directed by john waters. and sleepaway camp (1-3), and behind the mask: the rise of leslie vernon, and pontypool. comfort movie; i kinda have a rotation? for a while it was johnny dangerously, and george of the jungle, and the road to eldorado (the animated dreamworks one), and even the quiet man. the lion king 2 movie you watch every year; i try to watch a couple holiday movies (particularly valentine's, halloween, and christmas) every year, but i been slackin'. i think i watch creepshow pretty regularly, though, along with sleepaway camp 1. fav tv show; columbo. the owl house. the 1990s beauty and the beast show as a concept. comfort tv show; columbo. the owl house. leverage. lie to me*. most rewatched tv show; COLUMBO. ultimate otp? god i dont know anymore. mormor? harringrove? 5 fav characters; lieutenant columbo, eda the owl lady, nuka (tlk2), jason voorhees, cry-baby walker

tv shows or movies |short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) (either!) | one episode a week or binging |one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes| subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | downloads or watches online

and gleefully tagging @candycoatedcarnage <3 <3 <3