#best dance/electronic recording

[bey-life]

“BREAK MY SOUL” has won “Best Dance/Electronic Recording” at the 2023 GRAMMYs!🏆

She is officially a 29x GRAMMYs winner!!

[stellberryfarm]

Congratulations, Mahalima, for winning the Best Dance/Electronic Recording for WYAT (Where You At) at the 36th Awit Awards 2023! 😍🍓👏🏽

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car 1988

"Fast Car" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, released in 1988 as the lead single from her self-titled debut studio album. Chapman's appearance on the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute helped the song become a top-ten hit in the US, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart in 1988.

"Fast Car" received three Grammy Award nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, the latter of which it won. It also received an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video in 1989.

Since the release of Chapman's original, the song has had success in two electronic dance versions, as well as a country music cover by singer Luke Combs. Combs's version was a number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts in 2023, and won Chapman the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year, making her the first Black person to win the award.

"Fast Car" received a total of 82,4% yes votes!

[sanjoongie]

ℓε ℓเѵ૨ε εƭ ℓε ρℓαเรเ૨

📖Second submission for the Dragon Collab hosted by @flurrys-creativity.

📖Pairing: Knowledge Dragon! Lee Heeseung x Organizer! Reader (f)

📖Genre: smut

📖Trope: employer/employee, idiots to lovers

📖Au: modern au, dragon au, hybrid au

📖Rating: 18+, MDNI

📖Word Count: 2,904

📖Warnings: penetrative sex with no barrier, kama sutra references, slow-paced sex, breast play, begging, usage of tail during sex, horn tugging (it's a dragon kink okay)

📖Summary: when a dragon hires you to organize his horde of information, you find that he wants to add you to his treasure

1- La Gemme at l'extase with Hyunjin {fantasy dragon} | 2- Le Livre et le plaisir with Heeseung {modern dragon} | 3- ??? with San {sci-fi dragon}

Never in a million years did you think your love for organization would get you a job working for a dragon hybrid.

Lee Heeseung, a hoarder of knowledge, was your employer. After a very enjoyable interview, in which you were under the impression the dragon hybrid was flirting with you, you were hired on the spot. 

The owner of the sprawling renovated mansion gave you a tour immediately, to show off his hoard, of course.

“You can pick whatever suite of rooms you’d prefer,” Heeseung explained. He threw his arms out to emphasize his point. “But you will live here. I don’t want any flimsy excuse such as transit being a reason why you couldn't work more hours.”

He was haughty, this new employer of yours. He spoke as if everything he said was a fact. But if you had had thousands of years absorbing countless texts of knowledge, perhaps you’d speak that way too. 

“Where would you like me to start?” You wondered tentatively, as the both of you strode through featureless hallways. 

“Here’s probably good,” Heeseung announced. 

He threw open two large doors and you whimpered in pain. Books, scrolls, even thumb drives, were thrown carelessly into piles here and there in the large room.

“‘Suppose it was used as a ballroom once but I have no need for dancing,” Heeseung elaborated. 

You stood up a little bit straighter, determined to do a good job, even if you felt overloaded with the amount of work. “I’ll make the appropriate arrangements.”

“Good,” Heeseung nodded firmly. “It’ll be good to have a new smell around here.”

And then he sent you a crooked smile that made your heart skip a beat. This dragon was dangerous in ways that had nothing to do with breathing fire.

If you were being honest, you rarely saw the dragon hybrid after that. He didn’t care to keep tabs on you and it allowed you plenty of breathing room to do as you pleased. 

And boy, was there a lot of work to do.

Just when you thought you had gathered all the floppy disks, you’d discover a new room, and have to start all over again. You had an absolute meltdown when you discovered a few towers of computers with audio books in the basement that was meant to store kegs of liquor, but luckily, no harm had befallen the electronics. 

That incident made you track down your employer. You found him in one of his many studies that fine rainy morning. Flashes of lightning reflected off  his glasses and the tiny horns protruding from his hair. His tail swishing contently like that of a cat pushed you over the edge.

“Do you have no care over your treasures?” You shouted at him. “You simply dump them willy-nilly!”

“Isn’t that a part of your job now?” Heeseung replied, eyes glued to his book of Plato. 

“I organize, yes,” You raged. “But I am not in control of you finding more books and throwing them into a bathroom that leaks!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Heeseung denied. You felt your hackles lower. Then he said, “I only put the audio recordings in there once.”

You let out a noise of frustration and left immediately after that. 

After that, you did your best to avoid the irritating dragon hybrid. Your job was to organize his hoard, after all, not engage in frustrating conversations. 

You fully dove into your job once again, pushing into the physical aspect of moving books around. You were careful with the older books, donning gloves to inspect the titles and dates they were published. Scrolls were a bit harder to categorize but you enjoyed rolling them and applying certain ribbons to keep them in their historic eras. 

Focusing on your work eased your heart and eventually you started to feel proud of what you had accomplished. You kept meticulous notes of how everything was organized, for reference for your employer, of course. 

Said dragon hybrid found you one day when you were struggling with a container of portable hard drives.

Heeseung walked in waving a book. “I found the original copy of The Hobbit! The version before JR Tolkein retconned it for the trilogy--”

You felt the dragon’s eyes upon you and you felt disgusting immediately. What did he see? A sweaty, gross blob that he had hired to paw through his precious treasures? You stared at the book Heeseung had, refusing to meet his eyes, fanning yourself. You were overheated and about to take a break anyways.

“I’ll put some gloves on. I know exactly where it’ll go. I found a lovely poem about poppies written in World War One, it’ll fit nicely there,” You murmured, looking around for your gloves.

Heeseung completed the steps it took to bring him flush with your body. He reached around you and pulled your gloves from your back pocket.

“They’re here,” he said, a slow smile pulling his lips as he offered them to you.

You swallowed, reaching to take the gloves from him. “Ah, thank--”

You were jerked forward when Heeseung yanked on the gloves instead of releasing them to you. “You smell like dust and books,” he informed you. Why did it sound like he was saying you smelled delicious?

“Well, I am working hard here, Heeseung,” You informed him, waving your hand indistinctly around the room. 

His eyes moved up and down your disheveled form. “I can see that.”

You refused to meet his eyes and tugged discreetly at the gloves. “If you would please…?”

“I mind greatly, in fact,” Heeseung murmured. 

Was it just you or were his lips getting closer to your face?

“Heeseung,” You whimpered.

The dragon hybrid’s pupils blew wide. “Say my name like that again.”

You shook your head. “I should get going.” 

You dropped your hold on the gloves and attempted to circumvent your hybrid dragon boss. Heeseung had other ideas, however. His tail wrapped around your waist and tugged you back to his vicinity. 

“Where are you going, little bookworm?” Heeseung drawled. 

You got shivers from the nickname. “To my room.”

Heeseung clucked his tongue mockingly at you. “I don’t think so. Why are you running away from your desire?”

The dragon hit the nail on the head. That was exactly what you were doing. 

“You’re my employer. We shouldn’t cross any lines,” You argued softly.

Heeseung cocked his head. “Who’s to say what we do is wrong? No one governs me and my treasure.”

Goosebumps littered your body. “Stop that.”

Heeseung chuckled deeply. “I like you. I think I’ll keep you.”

You had a moment of courage, dragging your eyes up to meet his. The lizard-like slit that served as a pupil was almost overtaking his silver iris’. “Where would you put me? With the books? The floppy disks?”

“In my bed,” the man said with no hesitation in his voice.

“Will we make it to your bed?” You wondered.

“No.”

Heeseung’s strong fingers dug into your hair as he held your head in place to kiss you. It was slow and sensual, and you felt like you were drowning in desire. His tongue swept along the seam of your lips and you automatically opened for him. You felt his moan against your lips as he plunged his tongue inside your mouth. His tongue slowly coaxed yours into submission, to the point when Heeseung ended the kiss, your tongue came out to chase his. 

Heeseung smirked confidently. “That’s a good look on you.”

You struggled to think through the lust-filled haze your head was currently. “I--”

Heeseung’s fingers untangled themselves from your hair and opted instead to wrap around your wrist. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you, my little bookworm.”

Take care of you he did. Amongst his treasures that you had been busy sorting, he rid you of all your clothes, and his own. The look of absolute hunger on his face never disappeared. It made your heart beat, being viewed as one of the scrolls he snatched up and wanted to read. The loud obsession written all over his face made you feel something a little bit more than lust. 

Heeseung bade you to lay down and his eyes twinkled, a slight smile pulling at the edge of his lips. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to try a position from the Kama Sutra. It's called Splitting the Bamboo.”

After you nod, curious as to what Heeseung wants to do with you. 

You watch with interest as he straddles your left leg and pushes your right leg upwards. He presses wet, open mouth kisses along your calf. He moved up your leg until his pelvis was lined up with yours. 

“Can I fill you up?” The dragon hybrid asked you seductively. 

You nod again, your mind filled with only thoughts of Heeseung--all thoughts of your ‘boss’ gone out the window.

Heeseung bit down on his lower lip as he pushed into your wet core. The process of sheathing himself inside of you was pleasurable, making you mewl as he did so. A confident smile continued to pull at Heeseung’s lips; as if he took pride in making you feel good. 

“Does my little bookworm want to be pleased some more?” He crooned softly.

You couldn't decide if he was being condescending or looking to take care of you, but either way your lower half became wetter at the phrase. “Move, please,” You pleaded.

Heeseung settled into gentle waves between your legs, slowly building the pleasure inside of you. Sweet, gentle kisses littered your leg that remained slightly over his shoulder. For someone who was so matter-of-fact and flirty, you had not expected such gentle lovemaking. It was making your mind swirl dangerously.

You reached down to swipe your finger through your folds to play with your clit but Heeseung’s tail wrapped around your wrist and intercepted you. 

“I’ll get you to your climax,” He informed you coolly. “Be patient.”

The maddening pace Heeseung set drove you wild. You begged, you raged, you negotiated but Heeseung would not speed up his thrusting. If anything, he played with your body, as if your words were simply buzzing flies around his head. He would grip your breast, squeezing appreciatively, tweaking your nipple but never did his fingers flirt with your clit. 

It felt like hours that you were in a lust-filled haze, your stomach curling and winding with pleasure. “Please,” You gasped, “Please, I wanna come.”

“You should appreciate the time,” Heeseung hummed. “This is an artform.”

You let out a groan of frustration, clawing through the lust, and reached up to grab Heeseung’s horns. The hybrid let out a breathy cry, like you touching his horns did something for him. You both froze. 

Heeseung changed positions, pressing your knees to your shoulders. You groaned at how deeply he was inside of you now. He placed both of your hands on his horns again. “Hold on,” he instructed.

Heeseung lost his poise as you held onto his horns. His thrusts became sloppy and quick. A groan grew in his chest and rumbled out of his mouth. All you could do was be a receptacle for his passion and you weren’t sure you wanted it any other way. His dick was hitting so deep inside you that your jaw fell open as your climax wound tighter inside of you.

“Oh gods, Heeseung!” You shouted out his name as your climax hit you like a train.

Heeseung arched his back and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he came inside of you. He was muttering ‘mine,mine,mine’ under his breath as his hips chased out his own climax.

All you could hear for a while was Heeseung’s heavy breathing and your whimpers as you could feel his cock twitching inside of you. You had most definitely NOT expected that when you got hired. 

Then, abruptly, Heeseung was removing himself from you and gathered his clothes. “You should clean up and take a break. You worked hard today.”

You watched Heeseung as he wandered out of the room without another word. 

You clutched your clothes to your body, feeling foolish. Everything was simply a transaction for the dragon hybrid. Obviously he thought he could fuck you and then move on. You tried to pick up the pieces of your heart off the floor along with your discarded clothing. But it was hard.

After the sex session in the room that held most of the modern books Heeseung hoarded, you were unsure where the two of you stood. It had been lovely and Heeseung certainly hadn't ravaged you like a beast, but without any words to soothe your anxiety, you spiraled days later.

“It’s fine,” You spoke to yourself out loud. 

You decided to rearrange the floppy disks according to color, certain your brain couldn't handle any actual, productive organization at this time. “I’m just another piece of his hoard, after all. He can fuck me then discard me. No strings attached.”

My little bookworm~

The nickname was infuriating, to say the least. You had to admit it matched the scenario, not to mention it made you shiver in a good way the way he crooned it, but infuriating nonetheless. What did it mean?!

“Nothing, it means nothing,” You muttered.

You couldn't decide if a floppy disk was cobalt or purple and tossed it in frustration. 

“And you said I was the one that didn’t treat my treasures with respect,” Heeseung mused out loud behind you, scaring the shit out of you.

“Heeseung!” You exclaimed, jumping up like you had been caught red-handed.

The dragon hybrid cocked his head curiously at you. “What’s got you in such a mood, little bookworm? Usually you hum and are quite happy to do your job. It’s why you got it, you know. You said you loved to organize. Such happy vibrations are good for the aura of my hoard. What’s got your horn in a twist?”

Dragons had weird sayings. Aren’t their horns already twisted?

“Nothing,” You couldn't help but pout. 

What was the point of talking about it when you felt silly in the first place? It was just sex, after all. Or that’s what you tried to tell yourself.

Heeseung had his tail draped elegantly over the crook of his arm, almost like a lady with a long train of her dress. He took a step towards you. “Do you need to unwind? Perhaps we could--”

You threw your hand up, stopping him mid-sentence. “That’s what got us here in the first place, Heeseung, I’d rather not.”

The dragon hybrid sent you a confused look. Even with his eyebrows furrowed, he looked delectable. It wasn’t fair. “Did you not enjoy it?”

“I did!” You stomped your foot for emphasis. “That’s the point! I enjoyed it so much, I don’t know what my heart feels anymore. And you clearly don’t have one.”

The corner of Heeseung’s lip pulled up in a sneer. “Are you saying dragons don’t have hearts? I didn’t think you were one of those humans. Good enough to fuck but not good enough to give your heart to?”

The silly statement slapped you in the face. “What? No, I’m saying you’ve confused me! I think I might like you but you’re so cool and collected. You patted me on the back and sent me on my way afterwards for christ sake!” Your head hung low in defeat. “Clearly I’m the only one that’s feeling anything here.”

Heeseung chuckled softly. “Oh, humans are ridiculous.”

Heeseung pulled you close to him and nuzzled your cheek. “You’re a part of my hoard now, little bookworm. I claimed you as my own. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“That I’m your property?” You stated bluntly.

“You are mine,” Heeseung emphasized. “Mine to tease, mine to tempt, mine to love.”

You raised your head hopefully. “So you did feel something for me when we slept together?”

“I’m a dragon,” Heeseung said teasingly, winking down at you. “I feel deeply about everything. It was up to your human heart to catch up.”

“Well you certainly don’t show it well,” You continued to pout.

Heeseung let out a noise, caught between a growl and a laugh. “I’ve given you a place in my mansion, let you touch everything I cherish, including my body, and you say I don’t show it well? Should I gift you the scroll that Achilles wrote to Patraclus? Shall I find you a scribbled piece of paper with Romeo’s lines to Juliet? Share with you the movie Titanic where great love conquers all? What would you like of me, little bookworm? I would do it all.”

You gape at the most long winded speech you had ever heard from Heeseung. If you were being honest with yourself, you’d listen to him all day if you could. But it wasn’t about the lilt of his voice, it was about the contents. Who knew your haughty dragon boss could wax poetic so romantically?

“That would do it, I suppose,” You couldn't help but sulk.

Heeseung laughed. “Didn’t I say I liked you and that I was going to keep you?”

You swallowed, remembering the moment vividly. “Do I still belong in your bed?”

Heeseung’s pupils blew again but instead he responded with. “You belong in my heart.”

As it turned out, it was Heeseung that had something to teach you about organization.

1- La Gemme at l'extase with Hyunjin {fantasy dragon} | 2- Le Livre at le plaisir with Heeseung {modern dragon} | 3- ??? with San {sci-fi dragon}

[allupinyourminds]

BEYONCÉ + 2023 Grammy wins

After 88 career nominations, the R&B singer and pop superstar won her 32nd Grammy on Sunday, for best dance/electronic music album, giving her the record for most Grammy victories. Solti, a Hungarian-born conductor who was the previous leader, won his last award in 1998, the year after his death.

Beyoncé’s fourth win of the night — after taking home best R&B song for “Cuff It” and two awards at the preshow ceremony — came in a category that showed the breadth of her two-decade career: “Renaissance,” her tribute to Black and queer dance music, beat work by Bonobo, Diplo, Odesza and Rüfüs du Sol. Beyoncé became the first Black woman to win in the dance album category, which has been awarded since 2005.

Earlier, her No. 1 single “Break My Soul” had won in best dance/electronic recording, while “Plastic Off the Sofa,” from the same genre-spanning album, won best traditional R&B performance. [x]

[beyonce-knowles-carter]

BEYONCÉ’S ROAD TO THE 2023 GRAMMYS

2023 GRAMMY WINS BEST DANCE / ELECTRONIC MUSIC ALBUM - RENAISSANCE BEST DANCE / ELECTRONIC RECORDING - BREAK MY SOUL BEST R&B SONG - CUFF IT BEST TRADITIONAL R&B PERFORMANCE - PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA

BEYONCÉ GISELLE KNOWLES-CARTER — MOST AWARDED PERSON IN GRAMMY HISTORY 🏆

[thelensofyashunews]

BBYMUTHA SHARES NEW SINGLE "LINES"

The defiant Chattanooga-born, Atlanta-based artist and underground staple bbymutha has just shared her new single “lines” from her upcoming album sleep paralysis—out 4/19 via True Panther Records. Defined by colorful lyricism and genre-bending production, bbymutha instantly stood out among other SoundCould-era artists on her 2017 hit “Rules” (6M+ Streams) and solidified her name a year later with "Lately" featuring Rico Nasty, as well as the poppy, R&B-infused banger "Sleeping With the Enemy" (9M+ Streams). A viral performance of “Heavy Metal” on COLORS in 2019 followed by the release of bbymutha’s critically-acclaimed debut album Muthaland in 2020 led to subsequent collaborations with Zelooperz, Baby Tate, Na-Kel, Pink Siifu, Kelela, and Fly Anakin on her most recent album, Muthaleficent 3. Most recently, bbymutha announced a 25-date tour in support of the forthcoming sleep paralysis, along with new tracks “gun kontrol” and “go!”, with Pitchfork praising the former for the “allure and force of [bbymutha’s] voice, a thick Tennessee drawl that she wields like a weapon”. Cementing herself as a staple in the Southern underground scene, bbymutha is continuing to usher in a new era of self-discovery and reinvention on her new single “lines”, and forthcoming album sleep paralysis – out on 4/19.

With its jittery beat and electric-shock lyricism, “lines” finds bbymutha continuing to challenge traditional genre boundaries by experimenting with new sonics and textures – a trend that will continue across sleep paralysis. A unique blend of Punk, Electronic, and Rap, “lines” is a heart-pounding thrill ride packed with lyrical barbs (“Religion, worship, purpose / Love is not enough for me”) tied together with an infectious UGK/Fat Pat-referencing hook (“He wanna cut me / Like the lines on the dresser”). The track is the third offering from sleep paralysis, which compiles beats from nine different Electronic and Club producers including Foisey, Bon Music Vision, and Kilder. Marking bbymutha’s first full-length LP with True Panther Records, sleep paralysis layers steely and hilarious musings over windswept synths and echoing industrial 808s, bringing both an urgency to bbymutha’s words and a glint of experimentation to her ever-developing sound. The album’s inspiration was derived from a post-lockdown tour in the UK on which she was introduced to the sounds of 90's Garage and UK dance music, a revelating moment following a gauntlet of bad luck and creative rut during the peak of the pandemic. The album’s title, sleep paralysis is a literal reference to the syndrome which bbymutha has been afflicted with since childhood. Providing a way for her to dive back into memories she didn’t even know she had was essential in crafting the album. Showcasing why NYLON recently hailed bbymutha as “Chattanooga’s best rapper”, it’s an album fascinated with the dreamlike nature of trauma, personal history, and fantasy.

[blushydiorrb]

blushydior

digital minimalism: free yourself from the traps of electronic devices and start living a fulfilled life

“A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.”

— Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism

as always, i recommend reading Digital Minimalism and Deep Work by Cal Newport. digital minimalism and introducing it’s importance to others is what i am passionate about. this post is simply to branch off from what i learned, what resonates with me and my perspective from his books while interconnecting it with posts from my blog. i can’t thank cal enough for his impact.

so you’re interested in being a digital minimalist. 

ask yourself these questions: 

what are your deepest values in life? 

where do you currently stand in your journey of self improvement? what have you done so far that has led you to this moment and what are some things that you can do better? 

do the apps in your phone bring you continuous spark and joy? in what ways does your daily phone usage support these deepest values?

be in the know: the continuous growth of phone usage is, to say the least, detrimental. as of 2022, the average person picks up their phone 344 times and uses their phone for 5 hours per day (excluding work related usage)

if your deepest values are work, continuous self improvement, friends, traveling, family, and school, how does being on your phone for the majority of your days, scrolling on social media/texting support these values?

you say you want to try new hobbies, travel more, and meet new people then look back and notice you really haven’t done most of the things you said you wanted to do. you take a closer look and notice you are on your device, pressing like button after like button, constantly watching what everyone else is doing rather than living the life in front of you. you end up disappointed. 

imagine yourself looking back at your life as whole at this moment. would you see all the times you spent going on adventures, having the best time of your life or would you see moments of endless scrolling on your feed flashing before your eyes?

which one do you want?

just imagine the massive improvement you’d see if you reduced your screen time and used it to your advantage by doing meaningful things like:

learning new skills everyday, executing that plan for a trip you made, cooking, dance, working out, reading more books, learning about extensive topics like business and psychology, volunteering, getting more sleep.

to be able to create a beautiful life for yourself, it all stems from you— your will and desire to have a beautiful, lived life, your plan, the execution, and the endless enjoyment.

these are so much more fulfilling than seeing tweets or keeping up with celebrities and influencers. trust me when i say you won’t miss much and have a breakdown if you missed a celebrity’s newest selfie or didnt retweet that recycled joke you saw on your timeline 3 months ago. 

there will ALWAYS be something new and entertaining to learn and experience in life. you just have to put yourself out there.

you crave genuine bonds? high bandwidth connections come from meeting up with people, having face to face interactions, not sharing memes and meaningless texts (no, emojis do not help)

you want to be a high achiever and reach your goals? you can’t do that when social media takes up half of your time.

you want real experiences? look up from the digital screen and use your five senses to bask in the sunlight, hear the real-life chatter, focus and interact with the people around you, smell the fresh air and taste the food. do you really need to record and document everything for a 24h story?

weren’t you supposed to study for that exam? did you schedule your routine appointments? when was the last time you hung out with a loved one? when was the last time you picked up a hobby and spent time alone? did you finish that book you were reading? didn’t you say you had a goal to go to the gym a few times a week? have you been easy on yourself like you said you would? 

i thought you said you were sick of not living the life of your dreams yet… i don’t see you taking any action to achieve that goal? 

break the habit and start living your best life. let’s get into the how!

Keep reading

[zinphandel]

In colour- Jamie xx

Hello loves! welcome to another day of rating and reviewing dan howells favourite albums of the year. today we are listening to In colour by Jamie xx

Initial thoughts?

lol guys i’m not gonna lie my expectations are a bit lukewarm going into this. I know jamie xx from his time in the xx, a band i used enjoy in the tumblr era circa 2014 ish. however, jamie xx TO ME feels like very basic entry-level over-commercialised electronic music and NOT TO BE A MUSIC SNOB but i love my electronic music and jamie xx would never be my first pick dj, he feels TOO overdone in the way fred again is at the moment. anyway. hoping to be pleasantly surprised with this listen through!

Is this a first time listen through?

Yeah, first time listening to through of the full album but I am familiar with some songs on the album and jamie xx’s work. Let’s get into this listen through!!! (fingers crossed i enjoy!!!)

Listen through:

• okay track 1 is sounding promising! nice and bassy!

• just discovered it was produced by four tet sooooo my expectations have risen significantly!

• some of these beats are tickling my brain in a gorgeous way

• ‘Seesaw’ features romy from the xx which i’m enjoying, this feels like a the xx song, but the added synths and breakbeats really elevate it beyond that!

• this album feels like being a house party but being totally alone, from the outside looking in. it feels lonely and isolating whilst being in the middle of the action. it’s a great perspective

• I think i’ve been looking at this album from the wrong perspective. i’ve approached it as a pure electronic club album when it’s really not that. I think the more downbeat lofi elements work within really well when I manage my expectations of what the album actually is. Ive been viewing this as a clubbing album when it’s actually an afters album!!!!

• i feel like this album needs to be listened to whilst i am high in a bubble bath with the lights turned low

•we’ve reached ‘stranger in the room’ which features ANOTHER the xx member. This album does feel like it’s elevated the best moments of a the xx album and feels like a fantastic progression. it fuses indie pop and electronic music in an addictive way

• as the electronic elements ramp up im enjoying it more and more

• we are on ‘loud places’, probably the song i am the most familiar with on the album, i hear this tune ALL the time (i feel like it’s ALWAYS used as a set closer for mediocre techno sets) (i mean that in the most positive way possible. it’s a great set closer)

• it’s definitely veering on the wrong side of too poppy for my tastes with the young thug and popcaan feature on ‘I know there gonna be (good times). this feels like such a left swerve departure from the rest of the album?

• as soon as start to dislike a portion of the album jamie xx pulls me STRAIGHT back in with a glorious bassy soundscape which i love

Favourite song(s)?

Gosh, sleep sound, seesaw (also even though it’s not technically on the album the four yet club remix of seesaw is banging)

Least favourite song?

I know there’s gonna be (good times)

Would i listen again?

After my second listen through of the album, I would listen to a few songs again, but probably not the whole album all the way through. I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would, however i still think it’s kinda base level introductory electronic music which is not a bad thing!!! we need records like this that sit on the cusp between genres to get more people to listen!

Do i recommend?

I totally recommend, especially if you are searching for a fun accessible dance record. There are some bangers on this tracklist and some really high highs, also (obviously) recommend to anyone who enjoyed the xx!!

What would I rank it out of 10?

7/10

pleasantly surprised by todays pick! see u tomorrow for the next album :)

read my other reviews from 2015

[catartac]

When i was younger and my brother still lived with us i would sometimes go to him asking for piano improvisations based on different themes i would give him. Often times this would be based on my OCs or scenes from my "story i will someday totally write but for now daydream about and monologue to my siblings". It was nice to sit back, eyes closed, imagining the action with my own background original soundtrack. He was pretty good at it too.

He was the first one to leave home as he went to uni, and he was the only one to never really come back to live with my parents at any point. He was never really the easiest to communicate with and being away didn't make things much smoother.

However, every year, on our birthdays, we will compose songs for us. He knows what we like, so he always crafts them based on our preferences. He knows I'm a sucker for a repeating melody, for violin and piano sounding sounds, he knows I dream of vocals and man he's come close. My sister is all about rhythm and a bit more electronic. One year we collaborated and I made a moving backdrop to his song for her (which also included audio from Kermit the frog in the background... it kinda worked ngl).

He's been working on a game for some time (you know, if being a talented mathemagician and musician wasn't enough) and even though we are definitely not the target audience (it's a rythm game and man i suck at anything that requires reflexes) he kept asking us for feedback every step of the way. He made it very clear that even though the game has a very high skill ceiling he wants to make sure "even mum can play it".

For context, my mum is first adorable and also she's an og gamer. As in, she got carpal tunnel from playing too much tetris when she was younger. Now she loves playing overcooked and animal crossing with us but she get a bit overwhelmed with more complex games (she's just like me frfr).

It came out today! I bought it (he did offer me a key but I kinda couldn't be bothered and also he was one of the first people to but from my Redbubble so i gotta do what i gotta do). I started playing it. Immediately changed my settings to four keys maximum because i was honest with myself. Actually, that's a lie, the first thing i did was change the colours because that's the kind of person i am. Started playing, really loved the first song, quickly realised another one was waaaay out my league, liked another one. Tell my bro, he says "oh you should also check out Bi Katuak, I think it's your birthday song" I check it out, love it but doesn't ring that much of a bell but now that I am on the second page i see it

La Danza del Fenix

Immediately i am transported back, i imagine Amanda, the character, riddled by anxiety and regret, that i then thought i related to the least but have since then came to realise portrayed very accurate parts of me, dancing surrounded by fire in a joyous way for the first time, the freedom, how her daughter will dance at a ball carefree and excited on what will be the real proof that war and tragedy is over

My brother only gives side hugs and half smiles

It's an easy song. With a lovely repeating melody that makes me want to dance around as I play it even if that makes me make mistakes. You're not penalised for mistakes, you can only see your records get higher. The songs never end unless you want them to, and yet they don't loop in any obvious way (something to do with the algorhythm he kept trying to explain but I kind of gave up understanding at some point.

This game may be for you if you like music, rhythm games, or just videogames in general. Though in a way I am sure it will never be for you in the way it was made for me.

It's called EnternAlgoRythm Give it a shot! There is pretty much nothing you can't customise in terms of gameplay and cosmetics and if there's anything you notice you can tell him and he'll do his very best to fix it or improve it. There are plenty of songs for any skill level (some i dare not even touch) and the songs are named in different languages based on the countries we have lived in/had influence from. My favourites are the aforementioned Danza del Fenix, Bi Katuak (defs also made for me, it's an easy cat themed song), Violet Voyage, and Ingranaggi Striscianti.

TLDR: im very emotional pls go play my brother's game

[schismusic]

Joy Division, or: how I learned to stop worrying and love New Order, too

Spring is weird as hell because one time you have this glaring sun that powers you up like being plugged into a wall outlet, then not five minutes later clouds begin to gather and you feel like you're going to die if anything goes south. So the most obvious combination to represent two sides of this same coin, emotional and meteorological, is Joy Division and New Order.

Sometimes you need Transmission or Shadowplay for the sunny days — impassioned jolts, sparks flying everywhere. Sometimes The Perfect Kiss hits harder on a cloudy afternoon, coming back home and in need of that extra push to not fall asleep in the train. It's surprising to realize the versatility displayed by both bands, or the same band in two different iterations according to whomever you ask. Peter Hook says, as late as 1993, that the laziest member of New Order is Ian Curtis. Or again this other person, in the comments under the Atmosphere official video on YouTube, who went to see New Order (Hooky-less New Order, which might be a relevant distinction) at the O2 Arena a couple of years ago and they gave an encore, says "Those of us who stayed got the privilege of watching Joy Division perform three of their songs". Interesting outlook on the matter. I personally saw Peter Hook and the Light play both Joy Division records and, I'm pretty sure, an encore comprised of just Love Will Tear Us Apart at the Arti Vive Festival in Soliera, back when it was still free to attend some of the events. I remember being pretty mad that Hooky had stopped to take pics with basically everyone and then left exactly as I was approaching. In retrospect I don't exactly blame the man, it was like midnight anyway. I remember nothing of the back trip home.

My first contact with Joy Division happened when I was thirteen and very much in my prog era. I was in Rome staying at an aunt of mine's place for my fourteenth birthday and she told me I could get a CD, since I had gotten some money saved up over time. Some Facebook page dedicated to Pink Floyd I'd liked (yeah, Facebook at age thirteen — I literally just wanted to play a fucking Flash game, back when Facebook allowed them, and I ended up getting to be terminally online. Crazy how things turn out) used to share a lot of memes and fanart relating to the Unknown Pleasures album cover, and me being a massive Pink Floyd head at the time I thought "I mean, if these guys are pushing this band so hard, that's gotta mean something". The album cover was pretty striking, admittedly: a far cry from the paisley ass paintings that I had grown to accept as the gold standard for the music I liked, but its simplicity struck a chord closer to The Dark Side of the Moon, or perhaps The Wall. Those were records I liked a lot, probably called them "the best records ever made" to more than one person, not like they aren't but that's a very bold statement to make when your listening experience consists exactly of

Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor when I was six;

Daft Punk's complete discography (minus Random Access Memories, which wasn't out yet) when I was twelve;

Pink Floyd's complete discography, courtesy of a CD collection coming out with some Italian newspaper, that same year;

a couple random classic rock records recommended to me by older friends and relatives usually well into their fifties or sixties at the time, random people on Internet forums — which, for clarification, I did not actively attend, preferring to just lurk from time to time — and the OndaRock "milestones" page.

So browsing through the surprisingly expansive CDs section of this electronics shop in Rome, and being mesmerized by a vinyl rack in the days when Music on Vinyl was the final frontier of pretending you could re-analogue the digital ("you mean to tell me these are like CDs, but bigger? Whoever designed these truly lived in the future"), I came across that very same album art that had stricken me so hard. I had listened to the first seconds of the album on YouTube, but that weird drum sound — so echoey, so distant, ultimately not particularly powerful, meaning it didn't really sound like Bonzo: it sounded more like my own band, which at the time didn't even exist yet — I didn't really know what to make of. This store I was in had one of those preview listening machines that would scan the barcode on the CDs and give you a small snippet of the song. I pull the CD up to the scanner, the scanner lights up green, I put on the headphones and the solo from this comes up:

Clearly they had to be kidding me. I had come to know, sneaking into infinitely many rehearsals with the band from my mother's town, what it sounded like when someone tried to play lead without something else filling up the arrangement (even though I didn't really know all that, or at least lacked the vocabulary to properly express it) and, for Christ's sake, didn't these guys notice rehearsing? It sounded empty, weirdly so, and it wasn't my thing, I thought. I put that CD away and picked up a band I knew I'd like — Genesis, specifically. So Nursery Cryme became the first CD I've ever paid with my own money, the very day I turned fourteen. Not a bad pickup. I remember being very impressed with the fast blurring lead guitar on The Musical Box and digging the sweet pastoral atmospheres of For Absent Friends and Harlequin. I still think of that record more often than one would probably assume looking at this blog, or my most played on Spotify. At the time, that was the best move I could take, really: why beat my head against a record that, as your average prog nerd ballbreaker, simply wasn't speaking to me?

Then all of a sudden in August of the same year my friend's dad hands me a 16 gigabyte USB drive, full of random music from all eras of rock. A lot of it remains inscrutable to me for a really long time, most notably Tom Waits (see related post), but I spent the whole month reading random folder names, seeing if something catches my eyes, and at one point I come across the Mars Volta. Open the folder up, read the names of their first three records, and my first thought is "Christ, these guys look incomprehensible. I'm about to have some fun". Long story short: I end up having a lot of fun, the Mars Volta turns into my favourite band at the time and finding out that they had previously been called At the Drive-In makes me gain some measure of respect for punk rockers: if they tried hard enough, I must've thought, they could prog as hard as anyone. In the meantime the ghost of Joy Division remains at the back of my head. I feel like I'm missing something, for the first time in my life: it's not them, it's me. Too bad that same realization didn't occur to me when it came to the people in my life until much, much later, but that's being fourteen for you I suppose. Early King Crimson and the Mars Volta were the pinnacle of violence to me, and not even the very few Metallica songs I'd downloaded just to see what would happen scratched that itch. It felt a bit too cauterized for some reason (I would later find out I had been looking in the wrong direction the whole time: the Black Album "sucked", according to my favourite metalhead of the time, who somehow catalyzed my interest from the very second I saw him in the school's courtyard. Hard to imagine why I would imprint on people like puppies do, but what the fuck, not like I've ever outgrown that anyway, I've just gotten better at managing it). But I felt there was more than violence to this, or different forms of violence. When Christmas came around and my relatives tried to get me presents, my mother asked if there was anything specific I was interested in, and I basically told her "look, if they can get me some CDs off of this list, I'm golden". It had some bangers on it, namely Noctourniquet by the Mars Volta — it's one of their best and I will die on this hill, be warned — and The Downward Spiral, which might as well warrant its own post in an ideal world. But the best of them all I think came from a random purchase, once again with the little money I had lying around at the time.

Closer appears to be, right away, a bit more concrete, and if there's something inexperienced music fans like is a pretty packaging that conjures a strong emotional response before they've even played the record. Compare a color-inverted graph of pulsar emissions to a literal funerary monument. Opening up the booklet I was shocked to see that Genesis was used as a negative point of comparison (bad omen, I thought) by people close to the band, and I came across much more detailed information about Ian Curtis's untimely demise — at that time, something far too removed from my experience to be faced with the delicacy and attention it deserves. Atrocity Exhibition hits like a ten-ton truck, a reference which at the time I wouldn't have been able to make for obvious reasons, and Isolation exposes all the nerve tissue under the skin. Passover comes in and strips everything even barer, and then A Means to an End turns… danceable, for some reason? Big emotional moment with The Eternal and Decades, which I thought actually took them closer to my usual tastes. And yet at the same time I kept looking at Colony, Heart and Soul and Twenty Four Hours as the most compelling cuts. Geometric assault sounding like sheet metal if it were music; rhythmically driven emptiness that serves as a minimal backdrop for depressed poetry, and finally a rocking ebb-and-flow that would probably inform a lot of my interest in GY!BE-like post-rock in the coming years. Very interesting to think that the same guys who'd done Unknown Pleasures could think of this. To this day, when asked, I still do think that Closer is the best Joy Division record, but what does it even mean when the records are exactly two, compilations notwithstanding?

It was around this time that it came to my attention that both Joy Division and another band called New Order had a record called Substance out, both published by the same recording company, both coming out within a year of each other. Looking it up, it turns out it's fully intentional, because New Order is simply Joy Division minus Ian Curtis. It would turn out to be a tad bit more complex than that. Anyway, I look New Order up and kind of have to do a double-take. Synthpop? In my Joy Division? More likely than you'd think, considering Isolation exists. But yeah, that sort of seals it — I wouldn't care about this New Order for a million years. Until all of a sudden a couple of years later David Sylvian bursts like a comet in my face, which of course leads me straight to Japan, the same year as I'd come across Berlin-era Bowie, and you can probably guess where this is going, right?

Well, you'd be wrong. I still don't check out New Order. There's a whole new world open to me — vaporwave and therefore R Plus Seven come to my attention, which leads me to dissect that record like an alien tool of unclear purposes. This of course leads me onto an ambient tangent, taking me back to my Tim Hecker listens of that same year, which has the effect of renewing my interest in "pure" electronic music and the then-rising post-dubstep movement. The sheer experience of sound, the dazzling modernity and innovation, is what's in at the time. I have no time for nostalgia-pandering dimwits: the future awaits. Then all that jazz from the first Godflesh post hits, then God pulls the funniest gag in the history of viral infections to my memory, and I have some time to actually look back, a bit less prejudiced. As it turns out, synthpop is not the devil, as some of you might have surmised by now, and as I relisten to Blue Monday I realized I have never listened to either of the Substance record. I do know some, most perhaps?, of the tracks on the Joy Division one, and I do think the New Order one has the more striking cover art — not to mention I knew, by this time, that this was the one to give Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance its name, and that Your Silent Face soundtracked one of the most memorable moments in Nicolas Winding Refn's Bronson. As the ultimate Hideo Kojima stan, I couldn't let this slide, so I pop the record on and get hit with this:

Way to go, guys. Holy shit. I knew that Ceremony was a Joy Division cut before they could record it, but what the hell — Bernard got it, too. It wasn't a matter of singing ability with songs like these, it's just getting it, finding the right energy. They had that right energy. And then it hit me just as many times these dudes have made Blue Monday over and over again before actually getting it right, and everytime I look into it it's funnier and funnier to realize just how many different attempts it took them to finally be Kraftwerk, but augmented — with the stellar results we all know. Everything's Gone Green, 5 8 6, Temptation potentially, all lead up to this one moment in the history of dance music where somehow three dudes and a girl hailing from Manchester managed to out-gay the Pet Shop Boys (by their own admission, apparently), to shake the whole world's collective booty, to do whatever it is they were supposed to do in this last comparison that would ideally make the previous one a bit less obnoxious but whatever, it's 3am as usual, you know how it goes by now don't you? But then after Blue Monday the record keeps going, and thank god it does, because it's banger after banger. How do these guys keep doing it?

So I spend some time with that record, then it fades down, then it comes back up last month, when the weather calls for it and its parent company. Which is when I find myself watching the Control movie for the first time, surprisingly enough seeing as I already enjoyed the work of Anton Corbijn as a photographer. Looking at all that, it is revealed to me that Joy Division never really having died is not a bug, it's a feature. Everyone is gasping, I get it, but please pick your jaws up and check this out: the band has never learned how to play their respective instruments. One might go so far as to argue they play their own stuff their own way, and that's basically it. Nothing could be further from the truth. These guys jammed, a lot; that's how Joy Division wrote songs, that's how New Order wrote songs, even going as far as having Bernard Sumner fucked up on acid so he could find the chorus to Temptation or the whole band bombed out of their minds on X in Ibiza clubs to write, basically, the entirety of Technique — and even then, not really, there's a couple jangly tracks that the X would most likely render unlistenable but what do I really know? Point being: it might now have been sparked by a music teacher or instructor, it might not have been the product of a process comparable to that within Television, which led them to organically seek out better, more "by the book" musicianship, but New Order were incredibly familiar with their instruments, had formed an element of comfort and understanding that counterbalanced the alien-ness to music terminology.

Peter Hook recently uploaded a Yamaha-sponsored video to his Instagram, which I am pretty sure has a say in running, where he jams on a Yamaha bass and, you know, it sounds like Hooky alright, but it's never a discernible bassline until he kicks into the A major strumming that opens Love Will Tear Us Apart. Before that, he just strolls around the neck, leisurely strumming away at power chords imbued with that thick chorus and reverb combo he became renowned for. I would never, in my wildest dreams, have imagined I'd find myself thinking "okay, awesome, stop talking — I want to hear you jam a bit more" referring to one of the musicians who were part of possibly two of the craziest storiest in the history of contemporary rock'n'roll, also notorious for playing the rockstar whilst carrying the minimum possible baggage of technical knowledge he could. Once again, this is nowhere near a knock to the man — quite the opposite. Ian Curtis asked "persistence, well, what does it matter?", and Hooky (and, of course, the other members of New Order) found a way to constructively answer that question. Moments before Coil, but a bit later than Israel Regardie, they said "persistence is all" and built a brand on finding a way to consistently sound like splendid, eternal, golden children: "like crystal", impassionate, tightly-knit performers with the purity of a child's heart. Ian Curtis had, in certain ways (at least artistically), the purity of a child in his heart, which some might even argue was a distinguishing feature of most of his literary idols — if you think about it, William Burroughs could be your dirty-minded classmate who walked in on his parents sharing an intimate moment in the bedroom (had his parents been gay men, the metaphor would probably fly better, but that most definitely wasn't the case). So the heart of Joy Division remains untouched, if a bit more naked. Heroes of post-punk, sons of the silent age, you can sleep soundly tonight.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F 1985

"Axel F" is an electronic instrumental track by German musician Harold Faltermeyer. It served as the theme song for the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop, its eponymous character (as portrayed by Eddie Murphy) and the film franchise it is based from, which became an international number-one hit in 1985. The track reached number one in Ireland as well as on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. Additionally, it was a number two hit in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, and West Germany. In addition to the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, the song appears on Faltermeyer's 1988 album Harold F. as a bonus track.

Faltermeyer recorded the tune using five instruments: a Roland Jupiter-8 provided the distinctive saw lead, a Moog modular synthesizer 15 provided the bass, a Roland JX-3P provided chord stab brasses, a Yamaha DX7 was used for the marimba sound, and a LinnDrum was used for drum programming. All instruments were played by Faltermeyer. According to Faltermeyer, the initial reaction to his first presentation of the track to the film's producers and director did not result in an immediate approval; it was not until director Martin Brest voiced his approval that the producers showed enthusiasm. A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Faltermeyer.

"Axel F" has been sampled in many songs, including "Champion" by South Korean singer Psy. In 2005, Crazy Frog's version became a summer hit. It topped the charts in the UK, with some of the best weekly sales of the year, and remained at the top of the UK Singles Chart for four weeks to become Britain's third-best-selling single of 2005, outselling and outperforming the original version. It also reached number 1 in Australia, the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Ukraine, Spain, and Sweden. In France, the song stayed at number 1 for thirteen weeks, only to be dethroned by Crazy Frog's second single, "Popcorn". This was only the second time that an artist had ever dethroned themself in that country. It peaked at number 3 on the US Digital Sales chart, and number 2 on the US Adult Contemporary Top 20. In 2024, as part of a tribute to celebrate the release of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, the Crazy Frog Youtube Channel made a special crossover music video with Netflix, featuring scenes from the movie, but re-edited to feature Crazy Frog in them, being chased by the Beverly Hills Police and Axel Foley.

"Axel F" received a total of 88,3% yes votes!

[tpwkmadeline]

okay here’s some of my unbiased picks for grammys since nominations were announced

record of the year: “birds of a feather” billie eilish

album of the year: “the tortured poets department” taylor swift OR “hit me hard and soft” billie eilish (both beautiful songwriting)

song of the year: “die with a smile” lady gaga and bruno mars

best new artist: raye OR chappell roan

best pop solo performance: “espresso” sabrina carpenter (however any of these noms could win and i’d understand)

best pop duo performance: (cant pick. any of them could win and i’d be happy)

best pop vocal album: taylor swift OR billie eilish (would also be happy if ariana grande won)

best dance pop recording: “von dutch” charli xcx

best dance/electronic album: “brat” charli xcx

best progressive r&b album: “bando stone and the new world” childish gambino

best rap performance: “not like us” kendrick lamar

best melodic rap performance: “we still don’t trust you” future/metro boomin/the weeknd

best rap song: “not like us” kendrick lamar

best rap album: “we don’t trust you” future/metro boomin

best song for visual media: “can’t catch me now” olivia rodrigo

[black-arcana]

DELAIN Shares New Song 'The Reaping' From Upcoming 'Dance With The Devil' EP

Melodic synth-metal masters DELAIN are set to break new ground with their upcoming EP, "Dance With The Devil", due on November 8 via Napalm Records. Following the success of their latest full-length opus, 2023's "Dark Waters", which debuted at No. 9 on both the U.S. Hard Music Albums chart and the official German album chart — this EP promises to showcase the best of DELAIN's discography while striding ahead into a future that promises to explore new, more synth-driven soundscapes than ever before.

The latest single from "Dance With The Devil" is "The Reaping", a gripping track which acts as a whirlwind of emotions articulating feelings of foreboding and sorrow through catchy electronic synth melodies and modern heaviness. It delves into collective themes, expressing disillusionment with the current path of society toward imminent and inescapable consequences. "The Reaping" is now available on all streaming services worldwide and comes along with an electrifying official music video, underlining this exceptional track with stunning high-quality visuals.

DELAIN founding member and band mastermind Martijn Westerholt states about "The Reaping": "'The Reaping' is a very expressive song with a serious subject — where the world/society is heading and metaphorical storms on the horizon. Musically the song can be recognized as a typical DELAIN song filled with heavy guitars, but also with the very recognizable '80s synth elements DELAIN is known for."

As their second release with a revitalized lineup anchored by Westerholt, "Dance With The Devil" features a thrilling collection of two brand new tracks, two newly presented favorites, nine electrifying live performances, and two instrumental bonus tracks, showcasing the best of their catchy, melodic signature sound with extensive electronic synth elements and fresh modern nuances.

The offering debuts with two gripping new tracks, "Dance With The Devil" and "The Reaping", serving as a whirlwind of emotions articulating feelings of anger and sorrow through catchy electronic synth melodies and modern heaviness. "The Reaping" delves into collective themes, expressing disillusionment with the current path of society toward imminent and inescapable consequences. Following these, the EP presents a brand-new version of "Sleepwalkers Dream", showcasing Diana Leah's voice and her breathtaking full vocal capacities. "Dance With The Devil" continues with nine live performances, featuring massively streamed hits from both the present and the past. These include "Burning Bridges", "The Quest And The Curse", "Moth To A Flame" and the massive hit "April Rain", which has been streamed over 10 million times, along with "Queen Of Shadow". In addition, the digipak edition features instrumental versions of "Dance With The Devil" and "The Reaping", as well as an alternate ending version of "Underland". DELAIN's new EP impressively underlines the unit's high-class standing in the scene and continues their voyage of setting fans' hearts ablaze!

Westerholt previously said: "We're thrilled to have brand new material ready to be released! In addition to the new songs, it was fantastic to have captured some magical live moments of our European tour earlier this year as live tracks for the EP. We're definitely very excited for this release and are really looking forward to bringing the new music to the stage!"

"Dance With The Devil" track listing:

01. Dance With The Devil 02. The Reaping 03. Sleepwalkers Dream (2024 version) 04. The Cold (live) 05. Burning Bridges (live) 06. The Quest And The Curse (live) 07. April Rain (live) 08. Invidia (live) 09. Queen Of Shadow (live featuring Paolo Ribaldini) 10. Your Body Is A Battleground (live featuring Paolo Ribaldini) 11. Moth To A Flame (live) 12. Control The Storm (live featuring Paolo Ribaldini) 13. Dance With The Devil (instrumental) 14. The Reaping (instrumental) 15. Underland (alternate ending version)

DELAIN is:

Martijn Westerholt - keyboards Diana Leah - vocals Ronald Landa - guitars and backing vocals Ludovico Cioffi – bass and backing vocals Sander Zoer - drums

Photo credit: Tim Tronckoe

[dustedmagazine]

Vince Clarke — Songs of Silence (Mute)

Photo by Eugene Richards

Vince Clarke has certainly been in some storied synth bands. He wrote “Just Can’t Get Enough” (and eight other songs) for Depeche Mode’s 1981 debut, Speak & Spell, before leaving that band over creative differences. From there, he headed to Yazoo with Alison Moyet and The Assembly with Eric Radcliffe, and finally to the boppiest, poppiest synth outfit of them all, Erasure, where he played stoically as all manner of frivolity unfolded around him.  If you grew up in the 1980s or 1990s and watched any MTV at all, Clarke’s songs are burned into your cortex, and quite possibly unwelcomely, but there’s no denying he was in the thick of a certain kind of dance-y, celebratory, machine-age pop.

The critical thing to understand is that Songs of Silence is nothing at all like that.

This brooding, looming suite of songs was recorded during COVID and reflects Clarke’s sorrow and isolation as friends fell ill. He channels a haunted vibe through modular synth, building each track around a single sustained tone that runs from beginning to end. Lots of things happen around those tones, fluttery arpeggios, slashes of stringed instruments, even, in one instance, a sepulchral folk tune about a “black legged miner.” Still, these tunes are constructed around static, meditational sonic atmospheres that fluctuate in volume and timbre but do not fundamentally change. There’s a sense of the eternal in them, even when as in “Scarper” they twitch into propulsion with percolating electronic rhythms.

Consider the opening “Cathedral” with its crescendoing drones, its altered, inhuman voice sounds, its cavernous sonic space. It unfolds in one long blast of sound after another, a rumbling fog horn, a tremulous string vibration, an unearthly space voyaging organ. You can’t really participate. There’s no melody to hum, no rhythm to tap, and so the best way to experience it is through stillness. You allow it to surround you, to envelop you, to subsume you, like a mystical experience.

These cuts are mostly solitary endeavors, but Clarke invites in a few collaborators to fill out his visions. Caroline Shaw’s pristine soprano arcs through interleaved shimmers of synthesized tones in “Passage,” sounding like the dream of a dream of a dream of an angel. Cellist Reed Hays scrawls a wild, passionate signature over the hushed immanence of “The Lamentations of Jeremiah.” Warmth and anguish flare from his instrument, spilling something baroque and organic into Clarke’s ominous atmospheres.

The disc’s most affecting cut is its oddest. “Blackleg Miner” sets a old labor protest song in a desolate post-industrial landscape. The air hums and trembles around the song’s brutal simplicity, surging to obscure it, at intervals, with sounds like bells shivering in sympathetic vibration. It’s a folk song launched into deep space, hurting through black voids, carrying a faint futile message about what it meant to be human.  

Jennifer Kelly

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

DELAIN Announces New EP, 'Dance With The Devil'

Melodic synth-metal masters DELAIN are set to break new ground with their upcoming EP, "Dance With The Devil", due on November 8 via Napalm Records. Following the success of their latest full-length opus, 2023's "Dark Waters", which debuted at No. 9 on both the U.S. Hard Music Albums chart and the official German album chart — this EP promises to showcase the best of DELAIN's discography while striding ahead into a future that promises to explore new, more synth-driven soundscapes than ever before.

Today, DELAIN introduces the first offering off the upcoming EP by releasing its title track, "Dance With The Devil", together with a visually captivating music video. With very personal lyrics, catchy electronic synths, and powerful contrasting growls, the five-piece underlies its melodic signature sound and presents a future fan favorite without a shadow of a doubt!

DELAIN keyboardist and main songwriter Martijn Westerholt states about the song: "We're really excited and eager to share this new DELAIN song with the world. It captures the recognizable and signature sound of DELAIN but with a fresh and modern touch."

Westerholt adds about the video: "This video was shot the day after we performed at Summer Breeze in Germany. We still had the adrenaline of that show in our system and were stoked to be able to carry that energy into the video. We had a blast! The video contains a dramatized depiction of the struggle between good and evil — the war we all wage both without and, often times, within our own selves."

As their second release with a revitalized lineup anchored by founding member and band mastermind Martijn Westerholt, "Dance With The Devil" features a thrilling collection of two brand new tracks, two newly presented favorites, nine electrifying live performances, and two instrumental bonus tracks, showcasing the best of their catchy, melodic signature sound with extensive electronic synth elements and fresh modern nuances.

The offering debuts with two gripping new tracks, "Dance With The Devil" and "The Reaping", serving as a whirlwind of emotions articulating feelings of anger and sorrow through catchy electronic synth melodies and modern heaviness. "The Reaping" delves into collective themes, expressing disillusionment with the current path of society toward imminent and inescapable consequences. Following these, the EP presents a brand-new version of "Sleepwalkers Dream", showcasing Diana Leah's voice and her breathtaking full vocal capacities. "Dance With The Devil" continues with nine live performances, featuring massively streamed hits from both the present and the past. These include "Burning Bridges", "The Quest And The Curse", "Moth To A Flame" and the massive hit "April Rain", which has been streamed over 10 million times, along with "Queen Of Shadow". In addition, the digipak edition features instrumental versions of "Dance With The Devil" and "The Reaping", as well as an alternate ending version of "Underland". DELAIN's new EP impressively underlines the unit's high-class standing in the scene and continues their voyage of setting fans' hearts ablaze!

Martijn Westerholt says: "We're thrilled to have brand new material ready to be released! In addition to the new songs, it was fantastic to have captured some magical live moments of our European tour earlier this year as live tracks for the EP. We're definitely very excited for this release and are really looking forward to bringing the new music to the stage!"

"Dance With The Devil" track listing:

01. Dance With The Devil 02. The Reaping 03. Sleepwalkers Dream (2024 version) 04. The Cold (live) 05. Burning Bridges (live) 06. The Quest And The Curse (live) 07. April Rain (live) 08. Invidia (live) 09. Queen Of Shadow (live featuring Paolo Ribaldini) 10. Your Body Is A Battleground (live featuring Paolo Ribaldini) 11. Moth To A Flame (live) 12. Control The Storm (live featuring Paolo Ribaldini) 13. Dance With The Devil (instrumental) 14. The Reaping (instrumental) 15. Underland (alternate ending version)