#considering that it's an instrumental track under 2 minutes long

[herearedragons]

Pillars Of Eternity playlist: The Devil Of Caroc

full playlist

The Oh Hellos - A Kindling, Of Sorts

[instrumental]

Tarja - Victim Of Ritual

Hysterical, tragical Victim of ritual Cynical, critical Victim of ritual She's a killer, killer

Disturbed - Inside The Fire

End your grief with me There's another way Release your life Take your place inside the fire with her

Placebo - Infra-Red

I'm coming up on infra-red There is no running that can hide you 'Cause I can see in the dark I'm coming up on infra-red Forget your running, I will find you

Disturbed - Run

I've spent a lifetime planning out your destruction You're never gonna witness another day A lonely lifetime planning out your destruction, with no other function You really don't know how long I've waited for your destruction

Disturbed - Old Friend

You can't escape your judgment I hear them calling out your name Do not beg for mercy now You never showed any to them

The Birthday Massacre - Destroyer

This is a tragedy, I meet with it gratefully It's my execution, and you're joining me When night expires across this town, I'll light a fire to burn it down

[rastronomicals]

2:15 AM EDT April 5, 2024:

Led Zeppelin - "Hots On For Nowhere" From the album Presence (March 31, 1976)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

Much in the same way that the lyrics to The Beatles' "Glass Onion" acknowledged with a nod and a reluctant wink the gnostic cult of Paul-is-Dead, the packaging of Led Zeppelin's Presence acknowledged the I'm sure at-least-somewhat-discomfitting fact that their group had long since become the most humongous rock band in the world.

By the time of The White Album, and by the time of Presence, respectively, things had gotten to the point where expedience was no longer expedient. The Beatles had tried not to feed the conspiracy theorists, and Zeppelin--modest at least in this one regard--had stayed away from licensing lunchboxes and appearances on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. But at a certain point, things get so big, and so plain, that they become the elephant in the room.

Presence seems to be Zep's acceptance of their own status (beyond even their own control) as Big Dumb Object, an enormous artifact of unfathomable consequence.

That's dumb as in "incapable of speech," not as in "stupid," just so we're straight. But since we're there, let me note that Presence perhaps more than any Zeppelin album save II demonstrates that a certain amount of stoopidity is unavoidable or even desired if you're going to play the cock-rock game.

Plant's lyrics to "Achilles" reference some etching or the other of William Blake's, so my point is not to disparage Zeppelin's obvious operational intelligence. Still, Zeppelin were all about contrast: I dare you to check out the live video from '77, and tell me that Plant's suggestive mannerisms as he sings the band's 11-minute epic aren't a little stoopid . . . .

Ah, but I digress, 'cause the key concept here is not "Dumb" but "Big." Think thunder. Think "Hammer of the Gods," if that helps.

After four albums where at least part of the idea had been to leaven the heaviness with keyboards or acoustic instruments, Presence was a return to the undiluted bombast of the second album. Guitar bass drums voice recorded in a mere 18 days--not necessarily simple, but certainly direct.

The instrumental contrasts that for good or ill had been there on III, IV, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti were absent on the band's seventh album--and maybe that's why it's long been their least popular. Funny thought, that: maybe Zeppelin were so goddamned popular not because of the parts that rocked, but because of the parts that didn't!

I don't want to go overboard, however. I don't want to make it sound as if Presence were a piece of the nascent pub rock of the time, because the very first track belies that. "Achilles" is the third longest studio track for the band and features perhaps Page's most intricate guitar orchestration, with as many as 12 overdubs. It's routinely described as proggy, or even Yes-like (and if you don't believe that, consider that Dream Theater is one of the many acts who have covered the song). And note that Jonesy is playing an eight-string bass.

Leave it to this band of contrasts to feature a 10-1/2 minute song about a Greek demigod with painstakingly multitracked guitars on their back-to-basics record . . . Presence is perhaps Led Zeppelin's most misunderstood album, but for Page Plant Jones & Bonham, that may have been The Object all along.

File under: The Object Of It All

--

[but-red-means-stop]

2 cool 4 skool album analysis: Intro

Well, friends, I have returned, much changed and yet not at all changed. Sliding in under the wire of January, this is me making good on my promise to post a track-by-track analysis of 2 Cool 4 Skool by BTS. If I can stay on top of it, I plan to do this monthly until 2025, according to this schedule.

Some things about what to expect: I'm a classically trained singer and instrumentalist with two music degrees, neither of which has anything to do with pop music or music production. What you get are my highly trained listening ears and my very subjective thoughts and feelings about this music. I'm going at this from a baseline of deep love and respect for BTS, so if I seem to be critical or poke fun at them, please bear in mind that it comes from a place of affection.

So we're getting started with the very beginning of BTS: 2 Cool 4 Skool. Which, believe it or not, is technically considered a single album. If you only look at the three song tracks, that seems plausible, but it's also got an instrumental introduction and interlude, plus two skits (“Skit: Circle Room Talk” and “Outro: Circle Room Cypher”), not to mention the two hidden tracks on the physical (“Skit: On the Start Line” and “Path”). For a single album, it's packed. It goes along with the early Bangtan theme of doing the most. Like, this was your debut? Are we kidding?

I was fascinated and honestly a little baffled by the structure of this album when I first encountered it, and I've since come to understand that the non-song tracks, particularly the skits, are actually a hip-hop album thing. As much as we can look at early BTS and see the limitations in their understanding of what hip hop actually was (and was not), they were, at least, doing their best to emulate and respect what they saw as the characteristics of the genre.

The first track is simply called “Intro: 2 Cool 4 Skool”, produced by Supreme Boi. It opens with a sample from a disco instructional record, which is delightful enough on its own, but Wikipedia tells me that it's actually a callback to the 2003 Epik High track “Go” from an album called, believe it or not, Map of the Human Soul. Epik High is definitely on my list of groups to learn more about, not only because their influence was so formative to BTS, but also because Tablo just seems like a really cool guy.

I don't have an awful lot more to say about “Intro: 2 Cool 4 Skool” as a track. The whole vibe is immaculate - the record scratches, the heavy reverb on the drums, the gunshots and the slowdown at the end, you listen to this minute-long snippet and you know exactly what you’re getting into. It starts off the album as unmistakably a hip-hop record in both function and vibe, featuring (in Korean) the lyric, “We tell our story in a carefree way on behalf of those in their 10s and 20s”. It makes a really good, encapsulated statement about what to expect from this single album and from this group.

From here on out, each track will be getting its own post, however short - I don’t anticipate having a massive essay on Circle Room Talk, for instance, but I will be splitting them up for organization’s sake. Translations will always come from Doolset Lyrics unless otherwise noted. 

Look forward to the rest of the album posts coming soon.

Ready

Set

and

Begin.

[theprogrockbstheorist]

BS Theory no.1: “2112” actually takes place on Mars

TW/CW for all posts regarding “2112”: mentions of sh/suicide, mention of smoking weed

Warning: possible cognitohazard and TOTAL bs theory based on two (?) lines of text in the liner notes

Some background for the uninitiated and the uninformed: 2112 is the fourth studio album by Canadian progressive rock trio Rush, which consisted of  Geddy Lee (bass/vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitars), and Neil Peart (drums/percussion and lyrics) originally released in 1976. The first track on the album, also titled “2112”, is a 20-minute long dystopian science fiction progressive rock epic that is considered to be foundational to the genre, and laid the grounds for later developments such as math rock and progressive metal. For the purposes of this essay, and all future essays regarding “2112” (of which there will be far too many, as I am extremely autistic for Rush), I will be referring to the song, and not the album, unless explicitly stated. 

The plot of the song is relatively simple: it introduces an anonymous person (whom I will refer to as Anon, for funsies) who is living in the year 2112 under an oppressive regime centered around the worship of technology. All forms of media are controlled and regulated by the theocratic Priests of Syrinx, whose computers calculate every action, every job, and, of course, produce and control all music, art, news, and literature. Anon is originally content in this life, until they discover a stringed instrument (definitely implied to be a guitar) lying in a cave. They then hone their skills on the instrument, realizing the joy of creating one’s own music, and what music can be, and then present the guitar to the Priests. After this confrontation, the head Priest (called “Father Brown” in the liner notes, although never named in the lyrics) smashes the instrument and dismisses Anon. “Wandering home through silent streets”, Anon falls asleep and dreams of meeting an Oracle, who shows Anon the “Elder Race”, a group of people who were exiled after a war that tore the solar system apart. These people are free to create their own art, and after viewing their works in his dream, Anon wakes up to a desolate reality and seeks refuge in the cave in which they found the guitar. Now seeing no future living under the oppressive regime of the Priests and their Solar Federation, Anon makes an attempt on their life, and whether they survive or not is left ambiguous (I’ve read conflicting theories over the years as well), however, it is implied by the final lines of the song that the Elder Race does return, and overthrows the Solar Federation. 

Now, there’s a heck of a lot to analyze there, and believe me, I have about 18 topics on “2112” that I plan on being developed into essays, but for now, let’s start with kind of a dumb one: “2112” actually takes place on Mars. Why? Cause why not? While there’s no evidence in the actual lyrics to suggest that “2112” takes place on Mars, the very first liner note describes Anon looking up into the sky, and seeing “Twin Moons”. These liner notes, in my opinion, play as crucial a part in the story as the actual lyrics by taking their ideas and developing them further. It is from these liner notes that the notion of Anon finding the stringed instrument in the cave comes from, as no cave is ever mentioned in the lyrics. You know the only planet in the solar system that has exactly two moons? Mars. Anon then goes on to say that their friend, Jon, lives under an “atmospheric dome” on the outer planets, meaning that Anon does not live on an Outer Planet, which all have many moons, which would rule out 2+ moons. However, it is also stated later in the same passage that during the war of 2062, several planets were destroyed, leaving the remaining planets with “a few new moons”. This could be implied that Earth’s moon was split into two, however two minor details stick out to me that don’t add up to that conclusion: Firstly, the “Twin Moons” line, and the mention of outer planets, rather than ever mentioning Earth. Let’s analyze both of these further. 

Firstly, I’d like to start off with that while I am no space expert, I did have a special interest in space as a little kid, and I am fully aware that the moons of Mars (no sexual innuendo there!), Phobos and Deimos, are both asteroids that have been captured by Mars’ gravity, and therefore neither of them are spherical, while the moons described in the liner notes are described as being “two pale orbs” . While this is the case, if Earth’s moon were to be blown apart in some sort of interplanetary war, the pieces of it would not be spherical either. Furthermore, the moon would also most likely not be blown perfectly in half, and even if it were, and both halves had the gravity to eventually spin into a spherical shape, this would not occur within a 50-year period between 2062 and the events of 2112. This being said, Phobos and Deimos follow a fairly close orbit, and may appear as “twins”. Furthermore, in Greek mythology, Phobos and Deimos are the sons of Ares (Greek equivalent to the Roman Mars), and often described as twins. Knowing the plot of Cygnus X-1: The Voyage/Cygnus X-2: Hemispheres (which I’ll get around to eventually) and the passing reference to Bacchus in “The Fountain of Lamneth” (which I’ll also get around to), and even furthermore the reference to a syrinx (an Ancient Greek instrument) it is clear that Peart had a passing knowledge of Greco-Roman mythology, meaning he would have most likely known that Phobos and Deimos were the twin sons of Ares, lending more weight to the phrase “Twin Moons”. Is it also possible that this is coincidental and I’m looking way too far into this? Yeah. But knowing the precision of Rush, and the amount of weight that he gave to words, along with the capitalization of “Twin Moons” makes me believe that it wasn’t simply a throwaway descriptor. 

Then, there is the line later on in the same passage: “My friend Jon always said it was nicer here than under the atmospheric domes of the Outer Planets”. Where is “here”? The only named places in the “2112” universe are the city of Megadon, the Temples of Syrinx, and the Solar Federation. From the passage, one can deduce that Megadon is the city that Anon lives in, the Temples of Syrinx are where the Priests work and live, and the Solar Federation refers to the entire solar system. In fact, throughout the entire song, Earth is never mentioned. Now, I realize that a lack of evidence for one side of an argument does not mean evidence for the other, and there are lines to suggest that they may be on Earth, such as mentioning caves and waterfalls, however I do not believe that the existence of caves and waterfalls is sufficient enough evidence. Why? Because one must look at the time at which 2112 was written: a period of intense technological advancement that would only continue into the present day, and during the height of space exploration and technology. The second half of the 20th century, particularly between 1950 and 1980 saw an explosion of science fiction due to the rapid improvements in technology. During the 1970s in particular, the concept of terraforming was introduced, which is taking an existing planet, and making it more Earth-like for habitation. So, while Mars today is uninhabitable, in a science-fiction universe like 2112, where planets can be blown to bits, and the entire solar system regulated by computers, is it that far-fetched to believe that Mars was terraformed? Mars, being a rocky, inner planet, does have naturally occurring caves, and if it were terraformed, then it would also have water flowing on its surface, leading to the creation of waterfalls. Now, circling back to the line specifically about the “Outer Planets” and the lack of specification of “here”: why make the comparison to “here” being nicer than the Outer Planets if Anon lived on Earth? Clearly, that would be the case if Anon lived on Earth: living on Earth seems rather preferable to living on an atmospheric dome… unless Anon doesn’t live on Earth. 

Mind blown yet? So far, in evidence of “2112” taking place on Mars, we have:

The mention of “Twin Moons” and their specific capitalization

The importance of Greco-Roman myth in Rush’s music

The lack of mentioning Earth

The perpetuation of the idea of terraforming in science fiction during this time

The comparison to the Outer Planets

Evidence to the contrary includes:

Mentioning that planets were blown up and added as moons (unlikely the case)

The mention of the cave and the waterfall (see terraforming)

The guitar, which I didn’t mention before, but I have my own theory about that I’ll write in a separate essay. 

Now, if Peart indeed meant to imply that “2112” takes place on Mars, and it’s not just me reading way too into this, then why would he make that decision (other than smoking LOTS of pot)? What does “2112” taking place on Mars add to the story? Well, for starters, in Roman mythology the god Mars rules over warfare, however taking on a more strategic role than his Greek counterpart. With the main plot of “2112” being about rebellion against an authoritarian system, it would add a layer of symbolism to have the story take place on Mars, the god of strategic warfare. In fact, Mars itself may represent the Solar Federation, seeing how sometimes Mars was called the “Red Star”, and with the “Red Star of the Solar Federation” symbolizing the whole collective. It would then make sense to have Phobos and Deimos, terror and horror, orbiting this symbol of the Solar Federation, as with any good fictional dystopian government, they employ both emotions to keep people in line. 

Overall, while this one is a bit of a reach, I do believe that viewing 2112 as taking place on Mars adds an interesting lens to this iconic work of progressive rock. 

[learnhowtocreatemusic]

Common Mistakes to Avoid During Live Performances: Essential Tips for Bands and Solo Artists

Performing live is one of the most thrilling aspects of being a musician. It’s a chance to connect with your audience and showcase your skills. However, live performances come with their own set of challenges. Whether you’re a solo artist or part of a band, certain mistakes can hinder your performance and leave a lasting negative impression on your audience. Here are some common mistakes to avoid during live performances and essential tips to ensure a successful show.

1. **Not Being Well-Rehearsed**

One of the most obvious mistakes is going on stage under-rehearsed. Failing to practice enough can lead to forgotten lyrics, missed cues, and an overall shaky performance.

- **Tip:** Make sure to rehearse your setlist multiple times before the show, focusing on transitions between songs. For bands, ensure that everyone is familiar with the arrangement and timing of each track. A well-rehearsed performance builds confidence and allows you to engage more naturally with your audience.

2. **Ignoring Sound Check**

Skipping or rushing through a sound check can result in technical issues during your performance, from microphone feedback to unbalanced instrument levels.

- **Tip:** Always allocate enough time for a proper sound check. Work with the sound engineer to balance vocals, instruments, and backing tracks. Test your gear to ensure everything is functioning correctly and listen to how it sounds on stage. A thorough sound check prevents last-minute surprises.

3. **Overloading the Set with New Songs**

While it’s exciting to debut new music, playing too many unfamiliar tracks can disconnect your audience, especially if they’re attending to hear their favorite songs.

- **Tip:** Strike a balance between new and familiar songs. Include a mix of crowd-pleasers, older hits, and newer material to keep the audience engaged. If you do play new songs, introduce them briefly to create a personal connection with the audience.

4. **Poor Stage Presence**

Standing still and not engaging with the audience can make your performance feel flat, no matter how good the music sounds. Stage presence is key to captivating your listeners and creating a memorable experience.

- **Tip:** Move around, make eye contact, and interact with the crowd. If you’re a solo artist, consider how you can fill the stage visually. For bands, make sure each member contributes to the energy of the performance. Confidence on stage makes your performance more exciting and relatable.

5. **Lack of Communication with the Audience**

Not speaking to the audience between songs can make your performance feel impersonal. On the flip side, talking too much or rambling can break the flow of your set.

- **Tip:** Prepare a few engaging things to say between songs, whether it's sharing a story behind the song, thanking the crowd, or asking how they’re doing. Keep it short, but meaningful. This helps build a connection without dragging down the momentum of the show.

6. **Ignoring Technical Issues**

Technical problems are bound to happen during live performances, but how you handle them is crucial. Ignoring them or becoming visibly frustrated can distract from your performance.

- **Tip:** If you encounter a technical issue, stay calm and address it quickly. Have a backup plan, such as extra cables, batteries, or instruments on hand. If needed, engage the audience with a joke or comment to ease the awkwardness. Remember, the show must go on.

7. **Unprepared Transitions Between Songs**

Awkward silences or long gaps between songs can kill the energy of your set. Transitions should feel seamless and keep the momentum going.

- **Tip:** Plan your setlist with smooth transitions in mind. Know which songs flow well into each other and practice switching between them during rehearsals. For bands, communicate with each other through subtle signals to avoid any confusion on stage.

8. **Playing Too Loud or Too Quiet**

Volume is critical in live performances. Playing too loud can overwhelm the audience and distort your sound, while playing too quiet can make it hard for the crowd to hear you.

- **Tip:** Rely on the sound engineer to ensure your levels are balanced. As a performer, monitor the stage sound carefully during sound check, and don’t hesitate to ask for adjustments if necessary. Achieving the right volume creates a more enjoyable experience for your audience.

9. **Not Engaging with the Band Members**

For band performances, not interacting with each other on stage can make the show feel disjointed and impersonal.

- **Tip:** Communicate with your bandmates through body language, eye contact, or quick gestures during the performance. This not only helps the flow of the set but also creates a dynamic and cohesive performance that the audience will notice.

10. **Not Being Prepared for an Encore**

Sometimes, the audience will demand an encore, and not being prepared can leave them disappointed.

- **Tip:** Always have one or two extra songs in your back pocket, even if they’re not part of the planned set. If the crowd asks for more, be ready to give them something exciting to finish off the night on a high note.

Final Thoughts

Live performances are about more than just playing music — they’re about creating an experience for your audience. Avoiding these common mistakes and following these essential tips will help you deliver a polished, engaging, and memorable performance. Whether you're a solo artist or part of a band, preparation, presence, and adaptability are key to ensuring your live shows leave a lasting impression.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Willi Carlisle Live Preview: 2/9, Schubas, Chicago

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The critters in Willi Carlisle's Critterland (Signature Sounds) aren't just varmints like the one that graces the album's absurd cover, nor the two-headed lamb "too strange to survive." They're anybody--human or otherwise--considered an outcast by the unrealistic standards set forth by society. On his Darrell Scott-produced third album, Carlisle digs into his own personal history and local mythology to paint a picture of an American south that pits the freaks against each other, and where those who dare to be different nonetheless find kinship in one another. With a pared-down instrumental arsenal (most songs contain just acoustic guitar, banjo, steel guitar, and/or harmonica), Carlisle's ramshackle delivery and utmost longing stand tall and beckon you to sing along.

On Critterland, Carlisle gives you anthems right from the start. The album's title track, based on an attempt at living in an intentional community in Arkansas, celebrates those "makin' wagers on the critters that we see crossing the road;" led by propulsive banjo, the song soars in the chorus with celebratory harmonica and expansive steel guitar. Purportedly, Carlisle wanted to let loose on the record, inspired by the ragged rambunctiousness of his live show, and you can see "Critterland" becoming a set highlight for the rest of his career. Critterland is far from a fists-in-the-air record, though. Many songs tackle substance abuse, addiction, and suicide with a mix of earnestness, dark humor, and self-awareness. On the gorgeously finger-picked "The Arrangements", the narrator can't take too much joy in the fact that his horrible father has met his maker, as he's beginning to see himself in his dad, ultimately leading himself to think, "It's still sad when bad men die." "Higher Lonesome", the album's only completely true story, sees a drug-addled Carlisle at first "dreamin' of a country I saw at the rodeo," mistaken in his quest for non-existent perfection. As the song progresses, he toys with his own mortality: "See, I don't want to hit rock bottom, just to see how deep it goes / Shine a light on six feet under so I ain't afraid to go." Eventually, he joins AL-Anon and realizes the pain he's inflicted on himself and others, and his penchant for soul-crushing wordplay shines brightest: "With every coin the joiners get, they're farther from the pain of it / All the hurting that we did, it's a shame no coin'll pay for it."

Carlisle certainly knows how to start a song and hook you. He'll pay tribute to a friend who committed suicide and whose body was never found because his note used words too complex for the cops to understand. His immediate vocal harmonies with Jude Brothers on "I Want No Children" catalyze a fiddle-and-banjo instant folk classic. And as soon as 7-minute spoken word closer "The Money Grows on Trees" begins, you know you're in for Carlisle at his troubadour best, showcasing the lyrical dexterity of your favorite rapper. It's "When the Pills Wear Off", though, that devastates all the way through. "Father forgive me for what I have done / Drove 200 miles for six inches of love," he sings, placing you in a world of neon-lit bars and dingy motels. But the song's big reveal, from both an emotional, plot, and instrumental standpoint breaks you. "It's selfish to fall for yourself in someone," Carlisle opines, the other side of the coin of the mourning narrator of "The Arrangements", before continuing, "I know that I want him and always will / I don't think he could have known that it was fentanyl." At the moment he names the deadly drug, the song's plaintive piano and cinematic strings squeak and warble to a clumsy stop, as if to emulate a life cut short. When the "The Money Grows on Trees" ends--it's a song based on David Mac's When Money Grew on Trees, firsthand accounts of a weed moonshiner and the corrupt sheriff that allowed him to do it--it's clear that Carlisle's use of regional history is far from mere aesthetic cosplay like it is for so many of his contemporaries. He can change endings all he wants, in the stories of his lives and those of others, through his songs, but it's the act of analyzing contemporary ills through bonafide folklore that emphasizes the absurdity of the here and now.

Carlisle headlines Schubas tonight. Nashville folk duo Golden Shoals opens. Doors at 7:30 PM, show at 8. The show is sold out.

[anime-grimmy-art]

Told you guys I’d ramble in due time.

I absolutely adore Bravely Default 2. It came at a really bad time cos I can’t waste 70 hours on a jrpg, but well, it’s too late to be concerned about that now. And as is tradition with me obsessing over a new game / show / whatever, you’ll basically find a fullblown review disguised as ramblings right under the cut. Be aware that I’m gonna talk about EVERYTHING, so spoilers are a given. Some maybe even for the previous Bravely Default games.

Also, if you wanna talk about this game in any capacity, hit me up, I’m DESPERATE to talk more about it.

Just for reference on how long this is gonna be, I made a voice recording while driving to remember all the points I wanna make, and that recording is almost 2 hours long. I did cut it down but still, this is gonna be a lot.

I’ll start off with the things that actually bugged me about the game, since there are only 3 things that really bothered me. First of, I really don’t like that you can name Seth. He has too much personality to be a self insert and player integration is not that big of a part in the game that this decision can be justified. It wouldn’t bother me that much if it didn’t leave a bad mark on the ending. First of all, we were robbed of Gloria desperately shouting for Seth, which makes the impact work less, and it’s just so prevalent that the name can’t be said because you have all the normal sound design going. If they’d just let the credits still play I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but because every other sound comes in it’s so obvious they’re just silently shouting in this scene, which makes it look silly. Like I said, this decision is more a detriment than an addition, and it’s a shame it casts a shadow on an otherwise heartfelt ending.

Speaking about lost potential, the other thing that really bothers me is the lost potential in certain plot points and character conclusions. I mainly mean Adam and Edna here. Both of them have been built up to be these formidable foes but they just, die. If it was just Adam I’d be fine with it, since you expect Edna to backstab him and be the actual big bad of the story, but I cannot fathom why they dropped Edna this HARD. If not Edna herself, I don’t understand why we don’t get more of a reaction from the Fairies and especially Adelle. I mean, Edna was her sole reason she left for her journey in the first place, then Edna dies and that’s it? No part where she grieves for a second? No concern from the others about Adelle? Mind you, I haven’t finished all the Sidequests, so maybe there actually is one in which this is addressed, but I think even just a Party Chat after Bad End 1 would have been sufficient to show how Adelle suddenly feels about the loss of Edna. It would have made Bad End 2 / The Secret Ending even more impactful, because, yeah, of course, you kinda know Adelle isn’t going to turn her back on fairy kind, but one of the reasons she doesn’t leave is because if Enda didn’t get a happy ending, then she shouldn’t either. It would have been amazing foreshadowing if she showed this sentiment before this scene happened. Other than that, it’s a shame that we know so little about Edna, or rather, how she became “bad”. I get she’s supposed to be corrupted by the Night’s Nexus, but how did it even come to this? It can’t have been a gradual thing, after all, Adelle says Edna was always good natured and then just disappeared one day. Really would have loved seeing more of that plot point.

Ok, last gripe I have, some choices in the soundtrack and sound design. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the OST, and I will get to that, but damn, whatever Revo used for the lead instrument in Wiswald hurts my ears. It’s a really good track, but I always have to turn down my volume because these high pitched sounds physically hurt. And for sound design. Dude, the Night’s Nexus is the least threatening, nightmare fueled abomination that ever existed. I get that its growl is kinda supposed to be layered with Edna’s or sth, but it, it just sounds silly. If they went the route of just swinging between different voices or began distorting it from phase to phase, it would have been fine. But the choice they made really made an otherwise creepy design just absolutely silly.

Ok, enough jammering, on to the good stuff. Like I said, there’s going to be a lot, so I’ll try to be brief in each aspect.

Gameplay

I honestly like the new battle mechanics more than the old ones. This individual, turn based system feels way more dynamic and it’s easier to strategies in battles. Because nothing made me more angry than setting up for a heal and the enemy suddenly being faster than me and killing my healer. Now it’s easier to plan ahead a bit.

I also found myself experimenting more with the jobs. Not sure what it really is, but none of the party members leaning more towards certain types of jobs and the job leveling being way faster probably helped.

And I know some people get up in arms because the boss sometimes can be a real pain in the ass (looking at you pope dude), I still found it very interesting getting around counters or even using these counters as a benefit. As an example, I made Adelle my main physical fighter and gave her lots of counter abilities to help her profit from being countered by enemies themselves. Now, she can attack enemies, get countered, automatically evade that counter and earn a BP at the same time. Made a lot of boss fights way easier and fun to exploit.

Music

Ok, I will try my best to be really, really brief, because in my recording this part takes up almost 40 minutes. Anyways, Revo might have just become one of my absolute favorite composers ever. I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but I initially wasn’t that impressed with the OST, but every time I listened to it, I just fell in love harder and harder. Before getting into specifics, I wanna highlight the two things that made me love this OST overall. First of all, this soundtrack almost seems like a refinement of BD’s. While losing some of that fairytale vibe, it sounds even more fantasy now. And in contrast to the original, this almost sounds more balanced? Like, BD’s OST felt high energy throughout, BD2’s on the other hand manages to find a good balance between high and low energy pieces. Like, the character themes or battle themes are absolute hype, but the overworld themes are a lot calmer and easier to listen to while exploring. Second big point that makes this soundtrack amazing is that Revo is an absolute god at using emotional progression/storytelling and leitmotifs in his songs. And heck, do I love myself my leitmotifs. You’ve got some obvious ones, like the final battle theme in which all the character themes and other leitmotifs are integrated. Then you got some maybe more subtle once, just like how the overworld themes are just the main theme, just a lot calmer and using the lead instruments of the towns of the areas.

But my absolute favourites gotta be the character themes and the main theme. I love how fitting the themes for the characters are and in general, each of them is such a bop. At first I prefered Elvis’, because I sure am a sucker for jazzy vibes, but over time Adelle’s became my fav. It’s just something about the trumpets, and how the theme almost sounds a bit melancholic and bittersweet, that drew me in. And considering her story, mostly her bad end, that the bittersweet tone really fits.

Then there’s the main theme. Just like BD’s it shouts “triumphant anthem” and it definitely gives you a very familiar vibe, but I’d argue it has even better emotional progression. Heck, the first time I heard the music start up in the reveal trailer, I didn’t have to look at the screen to know this is gonna be a BD game. Also, the credit song version had me weeping at the true end. I’m someone who’s very easily affected by music (if me shouting about soundtracks on this blog wasn’t proof enough) and just hearing that ending song, getting the after credits scene, just for the second credits to start as a freaking duet. Dude, at that point I just started sobbing, I’m not gonna lie. Just this little part showed how much Revo knows how to put emotion in a song and also write it in such a way that he can elicit strong, emotional reactions from you too. 

Story

People have been complaining how the story is too boring and kinda disappointing in comparison to the last one, but I just think the games tried to accomplish different things here. Since the BD series is a celebration of old, classic jrpgs, “cliche” storytelling is a given. Though, BD did throw a lot of meta stuff in there too. BD2 in contrast just feels like a direct execution of that initial idea. It feels familiar, it feels comfy and it feels safe. Except for the little things with the endings and then overwriting the Nexus’ “save file”, BD2 doesn’t really get that meta, which is totally fine. It doesn’t try to reinvent or innovate anything, it just wants to be a fantasy story, that might be cliche, but still fun and enjoyable in its own right.

I’d also argue that the pacing is a lot better than the old game, because with BD I sometimes found myself skipping through scenes to get on with the story. Not that this game didn’t have me rushing through stuff as well, but I found it kept my intrigue way better than the original.

Characters

Next to the music, this is the part that I absolutely love the most. While, yes, they did lose a lot of potential with some characters, mostly with the villains, the main cast is just so much fun. I love these 4 dorks so, so much.

I honestly can’t stand how much people compare them to the original cast. Yes, ofc, I’ve been doing my fair share of comparisons too, but calling these four a more boring version of BD’s party physically hurts me. Because except for some initial impressions, the Heroes of Light are completely different from our beloved Warriors of Light.

While yes, Seth and Gloria give off strong Tiz and Agnes vibes at first, they both grow into such different characters that they’re not really comparable. I think this shows with Adelle and Elvis even more. I do understand how people could compare Adelle and Edea, since they’re both the feisty girl type, but I can’t understand how people can see Ringabel and Elvis as the same character type. While those two are the “suave” party members, they act so differently from another. And that’s honestly apparent the first time you meet them. 

Anyways, I love these 4 so much.

We technically don’t know a lot about Seth at all, but they manage to pull so much out of just the fact that he’s a sailor, that it makes him really endearing, really fast.

I was kinda disinterested with Gloria at first, because again, the initial impression was Agnés2.0, but she grew on me a lot. Gloria is way more hard headed and honestly sassy in comparison to Agnés and I absolutely adore it.

Elvis. Elvis, my man. I love this fantasy scottosh wizard so, so much. He’s such a ridiculous character but so endearing at the same time. You got all this dorkiness, with him setting himself on fire as a student, him doing god knows what for a good drink or just laughing danger and prejudice in the face. But then you got his super empathetic and caring side. Mind you, most of his wise moments come from quoting Lady Emma, but still, as much as he’s hopeless with certain social situations, he’s actually still really good at reading the room and playing things smart. He’s a smart and powerful idiot, which makes him a danger to everyone and himself, and I love him for it. (I also can’t believe they called him Lesley I MEAN COME ON)

And then there’s Adelle. I liked her from the start, but I didn’t think she would stick out to me. I think now she’s my favourite character. Not even talking about all the stuff that happens in chapter 3 and onward, because these story threads are awesome in their own right, but there’s just something about her personality that’s interesting and appealing to me. Like I said, I’m not surprised people compare her to Edea, I did too at first, but while Edea walks very close to the line of a Tsundere, I was really surprised that Adelle is, well, not a Tsundere at all. Yeah, of course she’s putting Elvis down a lot, but that stems more from her preventing his ego from going to his head than her being all embarrassed. No, Adelle is actually really well adjusted when it comes to communication. While it’s hilarious that she and Elvis met with her chucking her shoes at him, the two just got along well right from the start. Adelle in general has this really open and helpful personality, but also doesn’t shy away from putting her foot down, even if that sometimes comes out as an embarrassed sputter. She’s also the mother hen of the group. She looks out for the other three and gets concerned about them real fast. 

I dunno, Adelle just really grew on me over the course of this game, and then her kinda being paired with Elvis too, as partners and as partners, makes me like her even more. Because as much as I like their personalities individually, I like their character dynamic even more. I honestly love the relationships between all four of them a lot. You really feel them grow closer as friends and all the little character sidequests just always made me really happy.

Conclusion

You might not believe me, but I really held back there. This could probably have been 3 times its length. As much as I love this game, it’s of course not perfect. It struggles and flails in some parts a lot and it certainly has some aspects that might turn people off. But for me, it was just a very familiar and comfy game that didn’t necessarily deliver anything new, but that told its story in such a way that it still got me excited to keep going. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and the conclusion of the story actually got me to cry. While not groundbreaking, this game is highly enjoyable and leaves you absolutely satisfied at the end.

Also, I would like to iterate that I am desperate to get more content about this game, so if you wanna chat about it, hit me up.

Anyways, anyone else felt like having a fever dream when everybody in chapter 2 started talking fantasy scottish? Cos I sure did.

[bang-fantansies]

Sasaeng BTS Profiles: Yoongi Edition

Warning: Heavy mentions/implications of suicide, mentions/implications of overdosing on medication, insomnia, unhealthy behaviour, obsessive behaviour, poor mental health, self-denefse killing, homelessness, nightmares, mention/implications of side-character being drunk, death, blood, gore, destruction of evidence, crime, profanity.

I did my best to include any triggering topics mentioned in this post, but if you see any more potentially sensitive topics I may have missed, please let me know!

This does not represent Bangtan as people or a business, nor does it represent anyone/anything associated with them. This is purely fictional and was made for entertainment purposes only; not to slander anyone or any company.

Mental Stability: 3/10

2:50 AM.

As was the same battle every night, Yoongi lay in bed, the whole world sleeping apart from him. He couldn’t help it, of course - believe me, he would if he could - and this was what made the thoughts in his head run wild.

Each thought had a voice, all unique to their varying degrees of uselessness, yet the message they chanted was identical.

“Sleep! Sleep!” they cried. They’d grown louder over the years as Yoongi’s insomnia worsened, and in spite of their efforts to help their master, they did the complete opposite.

That dream - red and monstrous - drowned out any measure of volume the voices could hope to muster. 

The sound of a man gargling with his own blood made Yoongi feel as if he was suffocating, and more often than not he’d jolt up in bed, forced to replay the events of his early adult years.

Before finding his current residence, Yoongi had been forced onto the streets by unjust circumstances, leading to a great deal of situations he’d rather keep buried beneath the layers of his memory.

One such situation involved another homeless man - drunk, Yoongi had assumed - competing with Yoongi for a bottle of liquor he had scored.

Yoongi’s only use for such a thing was to sell it off and use the money to find a cheap room and a meal. But his opponent had refused to accept such nonsense.

“Such fine wine shouldn’t go to waste!” Yoongi could still hear him say, voice ringing in his ears.

“And it won’t if you just let me pass, you stupid old prick.”

In short, the drunkard had taken Yoongi’s tone very personally and caused his own demise by making a haphazard attempt on the younger’s life, resulting in having the bottle of wine he oh-so desired slammed into the side of his head, shattering and giving Yoongi a sharp enough tool to puncture his throat with. 

Yoongi fled the scene not long after, keeping the remains of the bottle to hand until he could destroy the evidence later on.

Nowadays, while he was far from sleeping rough, he hardly slept at all for fear of his actions whispering cruel and dark remarks into his ear.

As it would for most, this took its toll on Yoongi’s health; physical, emotional, and mental.

The pressure had proven to be too much for him to handle, and on this night, he had decided he’d had enough.

On his computer desk stood a bottle, a proud shade of orange with its contents revealed in a cluster of black ink, made to resemble actual handwriting, written across a label stuck to its front - the only semblance of privacy Yoongi was allowed. Its white cap was ajar, and though no scent came from within, Yoongi could practically smell the prescription enticing him to a snack.

And under normal circumstances, he would have declined as he had many a time before. 

But these were no longer normal circumstances.

Yoongi rose from beneath the bed sheets, any semblance of humanity he’s once held having burnt out alongside his will to continue.

He knew what it meant to live - to love the act of being human - but he was no longer human. He most similarly resembled a shell; cold, hollow, and filled with the shadows of his own mind.

And so he had made his decision. Despite his lethargy shackling him to the bed, he made a reach for the bottle, popping off the cap and peering inside.

A glass of water sat on his bedside table, bubbles sticking to the water-covered walls as a result of disuse.

Yoongi counted the pills, assuming that the amount he was left with would be enough.

At this point, he figured that if he was to find no rest in life, he would surely find it in whatever lay beyond his broken, mortal body.

In these last moments, Yoongi granted himself his last comfort.

He brought his laptop beside him and searched his favourite artist on YouTube.

He only had a few artists in his arsenal that he could dispense at family dinners or reunions he’d been invited to.

he never was an adept conversationalist: even at friends’ parties where a guest he didn’t know would be obligated to talk to him on account of appeasing the birthday girl or boy.

For a second, Yoongi faltered.

His mind backtracked to the joy he’d felt with his friends, and in turn the joy he had granted them.

Was he really going through with this...?

A stab of doubt was all it would take to make Yoongi withdraw from his initial intentions, and he cut the tie with said doubt immediately, pushing his friends to the back of his mind.

He was exhausted - tired of helping and appealing to others; now it was time to take care of himself.

From the tiny speaker in his laptop came the sound of solace: his favourite track from his idol.

He lay back, pill bottle and water placed on his bedside table as he basked in his last melody.

Through the duration of the song, Yoongi’s unease had worn away - eroded by the tides of his own resolution.

The song eventually clambered to a fading finish. Yoongi knew what came next.

He sat up and tipped the contents of the bottle onto the table, a hill of oddly-coloured tablets forming.

He threw the bottle somewhere behind him, hearing it land in a hidden corner of the room.

Pale hands scooped the pills up like candy, bringing them to Yoongi’s lips.

And like a saving grace emerging through a storm, a miracle unfolded.

A soft sound played beside him; the sound of angel wings and promises of a better future.

Yoongi didn’t so much as falter as he did pause, lending his ear to the tune.

It played notes from an instrument Yoongi didn’t even think existed - a soft twinkling stalked by a voice he had yet to have heard on his musical voyages through Soundcloud and YouTube.

For a second - just a second - the doubt that had made such a ruckus to enter had now slithered through the back door of Yoongi’s mind.

What was this music?

Reluctant, he lowered his hand to his side, though held tightly on to the pills.

Turning the screen to face him, he came face-to-face with someone other than his idol.

Her eyes looked a soft shade of (e/c) in the no-doubt filtered lighting of the video, though the sincerity she held within them was far from fabricated.

The background was crystalline - faux crystal props - oversized and oversaturated. They were littered around the studio in which the woman sang, and beneath a purple hue she sat on a stool, an air of comfort radiating from her.

As to what she was singing, Yoongi had no idea.

He let the music play for a moment, considering his options.

What harm would it do him to listen to something new? It wasn’t as if he’d be able to after he was gone, anyway.

Lying back down, Yoongi stared at the ceiling, the lack of light or patterns making it easier for him to focus solely on the music.

His fatigue embraced him like a long-lost mother, shrouding him in a warmth unmatched by that of any real person.

The singer’s soft humming filled the desolate room. And if Yoongi wasn’t mistaken, he could feel his eyelids growing heavy.

He forced a bitter smile, doubtful that his mind would actually allow him any such solace as sleep.

To humour his weary self one last time, Yoongi shut his eyes, sighing deeply and sinking into the mattress.

*

The next time Yoongi opened his eyes, his room was still dark. And as if it had never left to begin with, his bitter smile returned.

I knew it, he thought. Though the victory of beating his already hell-level expectations filled his overflowing spirit with grief, disguised and diluted by the anger that had slipped into the mix so long ago.

Sitting up, Yoongi lent his ear to the room once more.

He could hear the soft hum of the woman’s song no longer, and it was in this second that he realised he didn’t remember actually hearing the song end.

It was on one minute, and off the next.

Suspicious, Yoongi glanced at his half-lidded laptop, faced with a blackened screen as the device had switched itself off.

With a push of the power button, the power returned, and in a blast of light the screen sprung to life.

Through the tips of his fringe, Yoongi checked the time.

11:15 AM.

He recoiled.

That couldn’t be right - surely.

Logging in, he noted how his battery was running low, despite having been fully charged before he lay down.

The screen gave way to the last application he’s been using, and clear as day the same starry-eyed woman with the voice of velvet was on-screen, though the video she was in had long since ended.

Yoongi checked the time again, pulling his fringe back so as not to trick himself a second time.

11:16 stared back at him, steadfast and unwavering in its absolution.

Yoongi’s eyebrows raised in a sense of alarm.

He rose from the bed, tearing his curtains open.

A cityscape greeted him, and the sun waved from its fixture in the sky. It was daytime.

Yoongi stumbled back, carding a hand through his hair.

There was absolutely no way he’d-

...Had he actually managed to get to sleep?

Yoongi checked his phone, watch, and alarm clock; no-one dared deceive him of date nor time.

He was willing (and already considering) to accept the idea that he’d time-traveled; the concept of having a decent night’s sleep was as foreign as a language to him.

Nevertheless, he hadn’t the time to dawdle in such a concept, though he made absolute certain to when he was at work.

*

His colleagues seemed to notice a change in Yoongi’s behaviour.

Though he was often dazed into bouts of silence by his exhaustion, this quietude was new. Different.

A few co-workers commented on how he looked much livelier. And more alive, he felt.

In spite of this, the constant what-ifs of the morning had followed him - clung to him like a cologne.

What if...what if he was actually dead?

He considered this, deciding against his theory.

If he was dead and this was indeed Heaven, he should be receiving a lot more good fortune for all the shit he had to deal with in his life.

No, this was neither Hesven nor Hell. Or Purgatory.

Yoongi also considered that he was in a coma, but that didn’t add up, either.

He tested to see if he was comatose. Nothing.

He was still trapped in his same-old reality. But at least he could think clearly now.

*

By the time he got home, his body yearned for the sweet release of music, and he sought the comfort of his favourite artist - as he usually did on days as long as this.

Shoving his bedroom door open, he grumbled at the brightness the room held for a change.

He’d forgotten to shut his curtains before he left.

In the dwindling light of the afternoon sun, he saw the pills scattered across his duvet, the sole remnants of his almost-actions.

He cringed, forcing them to the back of his mind.

He could acknowledge the gravity of his decision later. Right now, his head was filled with the phantom melodies longing for a vessel.

Yoongi has attained the good sense to charge his laptop, and as he switched it on, he was greeted with the same lady who had pulled him to sleep the night before.

Or, Yoongi supposed, who had just happened to be playing on the night he was finally able to sleep without the nightmare scaring him awake.

Such wonderment remained at the back of his mind as he went about his business.

Through his own music, the whisper of the lady’s tune plagued him. So much so that, after a good three hours of composing, Yoongi found himself eyeing the tab he’d left open from before.

Having returned home from work later, his body was weighted with the day’s contrivances and stresses, as well as its successes and joys.

Emotionally, Yoongi had given all he had to offer, which, if he was to admit it to himself, was far more than he usually did.

He considered that it was more than likely it wasn’t just the song that had sent him to sleep.

On the contrary, he believed that a multitude of factors had to have been at play in such a miracle.

He wished to replicate the conditions of the night before: he kept his room dark and a glass of water on his bedside. He packed his pills away and placed them on his bedside, too, taking care not to lose any in case their service was required again.

He set the woman’s song up, lying in bed and playing it.

The creeping horror of the notion of never obtaining such a quality of sleep again was the only odd variable in this equation, and though it quietly consumed Yoongi’s thoughts, the hum of the song muffled it.

The song was no longer than 4 minutes, though the eternity that stretched between Yoongi and his voyage to the fabled land of dreams made it impossible to tell how long it had been.

He was not yet familiar enough with the song to place a time on the segment he was experiencing.

His concerns faded as he simply let himself be.

If it works, it works, he told himself.

The next thing Yoongi remembered was hearing a bird chirping nearby his window.

He cracked an eye open.

Much like the night before, his room remained in a state of quiet disarray, though only noticeable to the trained eye.

His laptop lay near his side, screen dark and lifeless.

Yoongi checked through a crack in the curtains. And sure as anything, the sun had risen once again.

*

Over the next couple of weeks, Yoongi researched the song, its creator, and whether it was really the secret to staving off his insomnia.

He had discovered that the creator’s name was (Y/N) - a popular artist who had fans far and wide, as well as domestically.

He found more of her particular songs - the ones that she hummed.

He tested both the original and these humming bird songs (as he called them), and to his delight, the humming birds worked.

Yoongi would go to sleep and wake up at reasonable times, rather than the odd dips in and out of consciousness he would try to induce on his own terms.

It was just your music that soothed him so, and from the day he uncovered this, he vowed to be your loyal follower.

Though, with any influential fan can blossom obsession, and as Yoongi became ever more eneamoured with your gossamer vocals, he feared the day that your songs would no longer support his sleep.

Or, God forbid, you stopped singing.

He often fretted over such a premature worry, though he couldn’t deny how it had all but devoured his thoughts.

Months into his expedition into your music, he decided to finally take action to ensure that your voice would never die - never fade with age, accident or abuse.

No, he would preserve it like the fine wine he had failed to so many years ago - to be sipped and savoured for eternities to come.

Sasaeng Masterlist

[radramblog]

Album Discussion- Shinjuku Mad

Usually on a Tuesday I like to take my time with a blog post. Listen to a full album, do a little research, put some real effort into it.

Unfortunately, time is not my ally today. So I kinda have to do one that’s a bit easier- in this case, I think I’d rather go after one of the ones that’s already on my phone, in case I have to do this on the bus or something.

(wait, I drove in today…)

Today we’re going to go into a self-titled album that is somehow not the artist’s debut. Rather, Shinjuku Mad is the second of two albums released under the name- the reason I specify as such is that one of the two (and later, the vocalist would help out again) members would go on to relative fame under a different name- Vaportrap pioneer Blank Banshee.

Peering into this album is like looking at a beta version of what was to come. It’s very much a different genre, an IDM album that completely predates Vaporwave’s explosion of popularity and Blank Banshee’s seminal album, Blank Banshee 0. It’s a solid enough album in addition to this, but it’s kind of hard to talk about seeing as there’s basically nobody who knows about Shinjuku Mad that didn’t learn about it through Blank Banshee. As such, expect a lot of BB coming up in this post.

Also a block of words, because no music videos exist for this at all. It’s one of those obscure albums.

This album opens on Cure for Fear. It’s one of those introductory tracks you often get in albums, at about a minute and a half long, with very reverb-y percussion and vocals and an almost ethereal haze of noise. It’s got these chimes that occasionally come up, reminiscent of some of the tracks from the AKIRA soundtrack, but beyond that there’s not a huge amount going on here. It does introduce a problem, however, one which we’ll get to later. It’ll be pretty evident if you’re listening along, though.

Track 2: Kowloon. I really did forget how short a lot of these songs were, with this being 2:13- the whole 10-track album clocks in at under half an hour. There’s a mix of drum machine and hollow wood percussion on this track that gives it a really interesting sort of feel, and some of the effects on the vocals feel extremely vaporwave- it’s no surprise that the dude behind this went on into that genre. Here’s where I can’t help but hammer on that issue I mentioned earlier, though.

The vocals on this album are quite weak. I know they’re very much trying to be ethereal, the reverb and falsetto make that much clear, and that style very much suits the instrumentation. But it just doesn’t sound great. It kinda comes and goes, but by and large I’d label them as subpar. I don’t really think it’s the fault of the performance either, it’s not like the bloke is missing his lines or mumbling more than is necessary for the album’s aesthetic, but there’s just something about them. They might be too loud in the mix for this kind of genre? I’m not 100% sure.

Resistor, the third track, is the best known song from this album by an order of magnitude. I mean that quite literally, as the track as over 540,000 monthly listens on Spotify as compared to Kowloon’s 32000. It’s kind of shocking, I mean for such an obscure album with zero singles, why is this of all tracks the one people suddenly latched onto?

As it turns out, it’s because again of the artist’s future work as Blank Banshee. Resistor would be reworked into one of the more popular tracks from BB0, Dreamcast, and it would appear that people got curious as to what the source was.

The thing is, aside from sharing a vocal performance, the tracks are very different. As it is, Resistor is a much faster track than the previous, driven by this fast percussion and bassline, making for a genuinely solid exercise track of all things (I say from experience). It’s got a fun little synth solo in the middle, the vocals are pretty solid (aside from like right at the end of the last chorus, holy shit), and the song’s coda and outro are a fun little bit of controlled chaos. I’d put Resistor as one of the better tracks on the album, is what I’m saying.

I’m going to do something I haven’t done in a while when discussing music on this blog- I’m going to jump through a few things. As much as I like this album, the songs aren’t nearly interesting enough to justify a song-by-song breakdown. I think if you listen to Resistor and like it, it’s probably worth chucking on the rest of the album- it is, again, less than half an hour long. But its an album where it’s more valuable on a meta level than it is sonically.

Shinjuku Mad as an album feels a lot like a hybrid between older IDM trends and the synth/vaporwave elements that would become popularised in the 2010s. There’s also tracks like Inductor, which border on rock songs with the power behind that bassline and percussion- in general much of the instrumentation is cleaner than you’d expect from an artist like this, especially considering how muddied much of the vocals get. There is a real focus on the vocals, which as I’ve discussed is a weakness of the album, but I do think it’s possible to look past that issue. There’s some really fun synth lines, some excellent percussion, and real aesthetic. Songs like Human Wave Attack feel stark and lonely, notes echoing into the void, which ironically is not at all like Track 4, Void- with synths and vocals disguising a guitar and drum line that feels extremely garage band. As in, the concept, not the program. Singularity is a song that feels again predictive of Blank Banshee’s future work, a low, slow synth track reminiscent of BB songs like Hyper Object or Metamaterial.

There are some genuine gems on here in addition to Resistor, though. City of No Tomorrow, the eighth song, has got to be one of my favourites- somehow, despite featuring none of the instrumentation typical of the genre, it’s extremely cyberpunk, a sense of struggle and futility resonant through the track. It’s the one song on the album I listen to regularly, getting myself lost in the groove of the bass and tapping my foot along to the percussion. It’s just really good, man.

If this isn’t your first time encountering Shinjuku Mad, reading this might cause you to go back and have another listen, upon which you may notice a few somethings missing. I don’t expect that to be the case for literally anyone reading this…but I needed a segue. This is because, upon the reintegration of Shinjuku Mad and its predecessor Organic Thoughts from the Synthetic Mind into Hologram Bay’s catalogue for the 2019 reissue, two songs were cut, likely for fears of legal issues regarding sampling. The version of this album that I remember has those tracks!

Those songs are Negatives (formerly track 6) and Neon Exodus (formerly track 12). Negatives is another one that’d show up as a Blank Banshee track (in this case, Gunshots), and is actually really solid? Like it integrates a raid siren into the instrumentation without having it sound weird, out of place, or, well, alarming. Neon Exodus is…wow I just don’t know this track at all. It’s fuckin aesthetic though. Welcome to this spontaneous live-reaction, I guess. I recognize the sample this is built around (and thereby why it isn’t on the album anymore) but I cannot name it for the life of me. It’s, uh, interesting. I dunno, 6.5/10?

Anyway, part of the reason I bring this up is that before I want to close this out I have some complaining to do. Said 2019 reissue was something I tracked at the time, and noticed both SM albums were releasing on Vinyl, Cassette (because, you know, nerds), and digitally. But not CD. I threw an email at the website about it, and they did eventually respond (it genuinely took like two months though), but not in the positive. The reissue had no plans to include a CD, unlike all three previous Blank Banshee albums.

But the original 2010 version of the album, along with a few slight differences in songs and in album order, does have a CD release, albeit an extremely limited one, according to Discogs. These CDs have to exist, they’re now listed on the new Shinjuku Mad website. Apparently one sold 6 months ago through Discogs. I need to find a copy, though considering on that site 7 people list it as owned and 72 (including myself) list it as wanted, it’s probably not going to happen.

And that, ultimately, is Shinjuku Mad. It’s a very odd piece of history as far as vaporwave goes, considering it’s both a prototype and also something completely, utterly different. The album is pretty decent on its own, but not mindblowing, and something you could probably live without. There are like two tracks (three if you include Negatives) that are 100% worth it, but the rest are skippable. Which is a shame, but mediocre music has to exist somewhere, right?

That I apparently haven’t discussed Blank Banshee on this blog before (aside from when I was talking about Vaperror) is actually kind of shocking. I suppose, then, that there might be some lacking context. I probably will have to do that at some point, though I probably won’t do BB0 because I like picking the hipster options- so either BB1 or MEGA. Metamorphosis didn’t really pique my interest, and I somehow missed GAIA existing in the first place and still haven’t listened to it. So if you’re interested in seeing me ramble over some of that, I’ll see you then. I mean, it’ll still happen if you aren’t interested, but nobody’s going to make you read it.

Or am I…?

[dustedmagazine]

Julius Hemphill — The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony (New World Records)

Julius Hemphill · The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony by Julius Hemphill

In a career that spanned only 25 years, reed player Julius Hemphill left an indelible mark with his music, as a player, organizer, composer and mentor. One could focus in on his work with Black Artists Group in St. Louis in the late 1960s, creating a collective that fused music, dance, film, theater and poetry with a sense of social activism and with his Mbari label, a model for artistic self-determination. Or one could jump to his move to New York in the 1970s where he was an active participant in the loft scene, performing solo, as a leader, with dancers and poets, helping to transform the sound of free jazz in collaboration with other Midwest transplants like Charles “Bobo” Shaw, Lester Bowie, Baikida Carroll, Abdul Wadud and Oliver Lake. There’s also his leading role in developing saxophone ensembles, from his appearance on Anthony Braxton’s “Composition 37” along with Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett in 1974 which foreshadowed Hemphill, Lake, Murray and Bluiett’s formation of the World Saxophone Quartet a few years later to his establishment of a sax sextet. There’s the mark he left on musicians who came up under his influence like Tim Berne and Marty Ehrlich. And then there’s his compositions, with acclaimed early pieces like “Dogon A.D.” and “The Hard Blues” to suites like “Roi Boyé and the Gotham Minstrels” or “Flat-out Jump Suite” to “Steppin’” to the through-composed chamber music that he wrote toward the end of his life to Long Tongues: A Saxophone Opera, a large-scale theatrical piece that was performed a handful of times but was never recorded.

But for all that activity, Hemphill’s discography was never extensive, and most of what he put out is now out of print. Which makes this expansive boxed set scrupulously compiled by Marty Ehrlich from Hemphill’s archives at NYU invaluable. Over the course of seven discs, the collection documents Hemphill’s music from 1977 to a posthumous performance of his chamber pieces in 2007 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Each disc stands on its own. Disc 1 documents performances of ensembles including his potent quartet with Olu Dara, Abdul Wadud and Warren Smith as well as a piece by a rare meeting with John Carter. Disc 2 captures a performance in duo with Abdul Wadud, amongst his most fruitful ongoing partnerships. Disc 3 collects the earliest performances of the box by a trio with Carroll and drummer Alex Cline from tiny venues in New York, Berkeley and Philadelphia in 1977. Disc 4 is given over to through-composed chamber works while disc 5 documents his solos and collaborations with poet K. Curtis Lyle and dramatist Malinké Elliott. Disc 6 is the most varied, collecting a variety of different groups. And Disc 7 closes things out with recordings from Woodstock, NY in 1979 by a previously undocumented group featuring Hemphill, Carroll, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette. 

Ehrlich kicks off the in-depth booklet that accompanies the box with the following quote by Hemphill from a 1994 interview in Bomb. “Well, you often hear people nowadays talking about the tradition, tradition, tradition. But they have tunnel vision in this tradition. Because tradition in African-American music is wide as all outdoors.” Each disc of this set gives proof that Hemphill’s music completely embodied that ethos. 

Ensembles

Julius Hemphill · The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony by Julius Hemphill

Hemphill was always a thoughtful ensemble leader, thinking not only about the blending of sonorities of specific instrumentation but also about the particular voices that his collaborators brought to the mix. Trumpet players, most often Baikida Carroll but also Olu Dara, were chosen as a timbral foil but as importantly for their sense of concise freedom, rich harmonic sensibility, open timing and ability to traverse the snaking open-minded melodicism of the leader’s compositions with aplomb. Hemphill noted about Carroll, “I consider the opportunity to bear witness to the eloquent beauty of Baikida’s music a distinct honor. . . Baikida Carroll is polarized, poised, at a matchless point between lyricism and fire. I hope he remains so.” Cellist Abdul Wadud, whose arch approach toward counter-melody and loping pulse, filling the roll of bass while adding an additional solo voice, was also a crucial member of the saxophonist’s groups. Then there are the drummers he regularly enlisted – Charles “Bobo” Shaw, Phillip Wilson, Warren Smith, a very young Alex Cline – each of whom brought their own unique grasp of malleable propulsion and multi-hued percussive colorations. All of this served as the perfect counterbalance for Hemphill’s biting tone, voluble articulation, multifaceted embrace of open groove, abstracted blues and lithe dynamism as a soloist. 

The box is a treasure-trove of unreleased recordings of Hemphill’s groups. Disc 1 contains an extended live set by Olu Dara, Abdul Wadud and Warren Smith from a European tour on the heels of their recording of the oft-overlooked Flat-Out Jump Suite, here, trading the open-ended collective improvisations of the studio recording for fiery readings of two previously unrecorded pieces as well as the breakneck “At Harmony” which Hemphill utilized in various arrangements over the years. “Air Rings” by a quartet with Carroll, Philip Wilson and guitarist Jehri Riley presages the oblique angularities that Hemphill would explore in the 80s with his JAH Band with a heady solo by the trumpet player while also showcasing Wilson’s spry, polyrhythmic sensibility. 

Disc 3’s documentation of sets by The Janus Company, a trio with Carroll and a then-21-year-old Cline on drums, is a revelation. The open form of the pieces like “#4” allow for probing playing by all three and the interplay between the two horn players and Cline’s spare, finely-wrought vigor. The disc is capped off by a live recording of a set by the trio joined by Abdul Wadud and here, the music takes on a spirited intensity. The circuitous collective improvisation segues into an abstracted jaunt through “Dogon AD,” a standout of the box. 

The final disc of the set captures a live performance by a quartet of Hemphill, Carroll, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette from 1979 at a small venue in Woodstock, NY when all four were living in the area. Though this was never a regularly working unit, their extended improvisations taking off on three of Hemphill’s pieces are gripping. The four quickly establish a jubilant collective balance, leaving ample room for solos and group interaction. Holland is in fine form and the recording does a great job of capturing his lissome arco playing and gamboling sense of pulse at play off of DeJohnette’s orchestral textures and supple drive. Carroll and Hemphill are strikingly charged for the performance, each delivering torrid solos and reflective ensemble collaboration throughout. 

Solo and Text

Julius Hemphill · The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony by Julius Hemphill

Any assessment of solo saxophone improvisation demands that one spend time spent digging into Hemphill’s discography. With Blue Boyé and Roi Boyé and the Gotham Minstrels, the reed player threw himself into explorations of structures he developed for both unaccompanied and multi-tracked saxophone. The pieces revealed a keen formative ear, stripping his compositional approach to their elemental frameworks. From his early days in St. Louis, Hemphill also dove in to collaborations with poets, pitting his solo excursions against the fueled narratives of writers like Watts Writers Workshop poet K. Curtis Lyle and dramatist Malinké Elliott. Disc 5 begins and ends with solo excursions, bookending live performances of Hemphill with Lyle and Elliott. While the set with Lyle is gripping throughout, the set with Elliott is dazzling, capturing multi-tracked musings constructed from “Bells,” a recording of a structure of resonant metal played with mallets and sticks at a salvage yard in Oregon, Hemphill’s horn and Elliott’s readings of text that draws on Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man as a meditation on the Soweto Youth Uprising in 1976. The 22-minute suite moves across five “voices,” from orator to hipster to preacher, each positing a differing viewpoint of underlying dissent and frustration, notably the chilling skronk of “Soweto 1976 A Suite in Five Voices Part V Carnival Barker.” Listening to the closing “Solo Soprano Saxophone with Bells recording” is a teaser for a full-blown album that was never to be realized. 

Duos

Julius Hemphill · The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony by Julius Hemphill

Hemphill made a handful of great duo recordings including meetings with Oliver Lake, Warren Smith and Peter Kowald. But his partnership with Abdul Wadud was one of his most long-lasting and most fruitful. The two made two recordings, both of which are long out-of-print, so it is particularly welcome that Disc 2 contains an entire set of their partnership. While the provenance of the recordings is unknown, Ehrlich found the cello parts for five of the pieces which appear to be written specifically for the duo. Ehrlich describes the pieces in the booklet for the set, noting that “Chromatic, open-ended melodic lines are placed in contrasting juxtapositions. The music has a sense of abstraction, while individual gestures evoke melodies known and felt. All of this sets up a charged emotional space for the improvisations to unfold.” The two navigate the countervailing parts with spirited zeal, moving seamlessly between unrestrained melodicism, bounding groove, thorny angularity, infectious free funk and hurtling intensity. They are entirely in synch throughout, their voices intertwined, prodding the pieces forward while leaving ample space for each other’s arcing flights. Hemphill touches on free-bop runs at times while Wadud moves in and out of the pocket, tossing off flittering pizzicato lines then diving off into flights of fiery arco. While all of the pieces are prime Hemphill, Ehrlich notes that none of the pieces from this set appear anywhere else in the archive or on commercial recordings, another element that makes this disc significant. 

 Composition

Julius Hemphill · The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony by Julius Hemphill

During Hemphill’s last decade, he received a few commissions to compose music for chamber ensembles, though these pieces were scantily recorded or performed. Disc 4 documents two performances of these works, one from 1987 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and another from 1981 at Soundscape in Manhattan. The disc kicks off with “Parchment,” a solo piano piece written for and performed by his partner Ursula Oppens. Hemphill rarely utilized piano in his groups, but here, he plies shard-like chords as fragmented, lyrical motifs emerge with unhurried deliberation. Hemphill’s arrangements of Mingus pieces for string quartet included here might seem an anomaly until one thinks about the arrangements of Ellington/Strayhorn pieces he did for World Saxophone Quartet. Recasting Mingus’ potent melodies for string quartet is a bit of a mixed bag. While he revels in the lush harmonic depth of the instrumentation, it’s only on his chart for “Better Get Hit in Your Soul” that things really click due in main part to the funky cello line that goads things along. The two extended pieces for mixed wind and brass quintet are much stronger. The expanded instrumental palette offers the composer timbral depth with John Purcell and Ehrlich moving back and forth between saxophones and clarinets, the pairing of Purcell on oboe with Janet Grice’s bassoon and trumpet player Bruce Purse and Ray Anderson on trombone and tuba filling out the tonal range. The groups attacks the arrangements with unbridled swagger, especially when the pieces open up for sections of improvisation which the group jumps on. Hemphill honed these skills with his large ensemble, his saxophone sextet and in his piece Long Tongues and one wonders where this avenue might have led had he lived longer. 

Any of these discs, taken separately, would be a welcome addition to Hemphill’s discography. Taken together, they provide a wide-ranging, illuminating view even to those who’ve long immersed themselves in his music. Ehrlich concludes the booklet notes with this quote from the reed player. “This music is blues-driven. In terms of what has gone on before. Now where it goes from here — where it is going from here — may not be the same thing, ’cause it has to change, or it’ll die in my opinion. You know what I mean? The traditions keep on turning over! People keep looking rearward for the tradition. The tradition in this music is forward! Forward! Not what you did last week, but this week! You see what I’m saying? Now . . . that’s a hard road.” Diving in to the seven discs of The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony, one is struck by how much Hemphill championed that tenet throughout his career and, indeed, drove the tradition forward in all of his artistic pursuits.

 Michael Rosenstein

[alanlicht]

Alan Licht’s Minimal Top Ten List #4

A few weeks ago, near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my friend Mats Gustafsson sent out a mass email encouraging people to send him record lists to post on the “Discaholics” section of his website--top tens, favorite covers, anything. I immediately thought of the first 3 Minimal Top Ten lists I did (now found online here) back in 1995, 1997, and 2007 respectively, for the fanzine Halana (the first two) and Volcanic Tongue’s website (the third), and sent them to him. Those articles have sort of taken on a life of their own, and I still see them referenced as the albums get reissued and so on. Occasionally people ask me if I’d ever do another one, and looking at all three again made me think now is the hour. I started writing this in the midst of the lockdown, and the drastic reductions in people’s way of life—the restriction of any activity outside the home to the bare essentials, the relative stasis of life in quarantine, even the visual stasis of a Zoom meeting—make revisiting Minimal music, with its aesthetic of working within limitations and hallmarks of repetition and drones, somehow timely as well.

The original lists were never meant to represent “the best” Minimal albums: they were ones that were rare and in some cases surpass, in my opinion, more widely available releases by the same artist and/or better known examples of the genre. Some were records that hadn’t been classified as Minimalist but warranted consideration through that lens. Likewise, the lists aren’t meant to be ranked within themselves, or in comparison to each other; the first record on any of the lists isn’t necessarily vastly preferable to the last, and this fourth list is not the bottom of the barrel, by any stretch. In some cases the present list has records I’ve discovered since 2007; others are records I’ve known for quite a while but haven’t included before for one reason or another. I’ve also made an addendum to selected entries on the first three lists, which have become fairly dated in terms of what is currently available by many of the artists, and to account for some of the significant archival releases in the 25 years since I first compiled them.

Unlike the mid-90s, most if not all of these records can be heard and/or purchased online, whether they’re up on YouTube or available for sale on Discogs. So finding them will be easier than before (although I haven’t included links to any of the titles as a small tribute to the legwork involved in tracking records down in olden tymes), but hopefully the spirit of sharing knowledge and passions that drove my previous efforts, forged in the pre-internet fanzine world, hasn’t been rendered totally redundant by the 24/7 onslaught of virtual note-comparing in social media.

1. Simeon ten Holt Canto Ostinato (various recordings): This was the most significant discovery for me in the last decade, a piece with over one hundred modules to be played on any instrument but mostly realized over the years with two to four pianos. I first encountered a YouTube live video of four pianists tackling it over the course of 90 minutes or so, then bought a double CD on Brilliant Classics from 2005, also for four pianos, that runs about 2 and half hours. The original 3LP recording on Donemus, from 1984, lasts close to 3 hours. It’s addictively listenable, very hypnotic in that pulsed, Steve Reich “Piano Phase”/”Six Pianos” kind of way, with lots of recurring themes (which differentiates it from Terry Riley’s “In C,” its most obvious structural antecedent). Composed over the span of the 70s, as with Roberto Cacciapaglia’s Sei Note in Logica, it’s an  example of someone contemporaneously taking the ball from Reich or Riley and running with it. Every recording I’ve heard has been enjoyable, I’ve yet to pick a favorite.

2. David Borden Music for Amplified Keyboard Instruments (Red Music, 1981) 3. Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co. Like a Duck to Water (Earthquack, 1976): These were some of my most cherished Minimal recordings when I was a teenager in the mid-80s, and are still not particularly well-known; they’re probably the biggest omission in the previous lists (at least from my perspective). Borden formed Mother Mallard, supposedly the first all-synthesizer ensemble, as a trio in the late 60s, although there’s electric piano on the records too. He went on to do music under his own name that hinged on the multi-keyboard Minimalism-meets-Renaissance classical concept he first explored with Mother Mallard, as exemplified by his 12-part series “The Continuing Story of Counterpoint” (a title inspired by both Philip Glass’ “Music in Twelve Parts” and the Beatles’ “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”). I first heard Parts 6 & 9 of “Continuing Story” (from Music for Amplified Keyboard Instruments) on Tim Page’s 1980s afternoon radio show on WNYC, and bought the Mother Mallard LPs (Like A Duck is the second, the first is self-titled) from New Music Distribution Service soon after. I mail-ordered the Borden album  from Wayside Music, which had cut-out copies, maybe a year later (c. 1986). I wasn’t much of a synth guy, but I loved the propulsive, rapid-fire counterpoint and fast-changing, lyrical melodies found on these records. “C-A-G-E Part 2,” which occupies side 2 of the Mother Mallard album and utilizes only those pitches, has to be a pinnacle of the Minimal genre. Interestingly, Borden claims to not really be able to “hear” harmony and composes each part of these (generally) three-part inventions individually, all the way through. The two-piano “Continuing Story of Counterpoint Part Two” on the 1985 album Anatidae is also beloved by me, and there was an archival Mother Mallard CD called Music by David Borden (Arbiter, 2003) that’s worth hearing.

4. Charles Curtis/Charles Curtis Trio: Ultra White Violet Light/Sleep (Beau Rivage, 1997): Full disclosure: Charles is a long-time friend, but this record seems forgotten and deserves another look, especially in light of the long-overdue 3CD survey of his performances of other composers’ material that Saltern released last year. This was a double album of four side-long tracks, conceived with the intent that two sides could be played simultaneously, in several different configurations; two of them are Charles solo on cello and sine tones, the others are with a trio and have spoken vocals and rock instrumentation, with cello and the sine tones also thrown into the mix. (I’ve never heard any of the sides combined, although now it would probably be easily achieved with digital mixing software.) The instrumental stuff is the closest you can come to hearing Charles’ beautiful arrangement of Terry Jennings’ legendary “Piece for Cello and Saxophone,” at least until his own recording of it sees the light of day; the same deeply felt cello playing against a sine tone drone. And it would be interesting to see what Slint fans thought of the trio material. Originally packaged in a nifty all-white uni-pak sleeve with a photo print pasted into the gatefold, it was reissued with a different cover on the now-defunct Squealer label on LP and CD but has disappeared since then. Stellar.

5. Arthur Russell Instrumentals 1974 Vol. 2 (Another Side/Crepuscule, 1984) 6. Peter Zummo Zummo with an X (Loris, 1985):  Arthur Russell has posthumously developed a somewhat surprising indie rock audience, mostly for his unique songs and singing as well as his outré disco tracks. But he was also a modern classical composer, with serious Minimal cred—he’s on Jon Gibson’s Songs & Melodies 1973-1977 (see addendum), and played with Henry Flynt and Christer Hennix at one point; his indelible album of vocal and cello sparseness, World of Echo, was partially recorded at Phill Niblock’s loft and of course his Tower of Meaning LP was released on Glass’s Chatham Square label. He’s the one guy in the 70s and 80s (or after, for that matter) who connected the dots between Ali Akbar Khan, the Modern Lovers, Minimalism, and disco as different forms of trance music (taken together, both sides of his disco 12” “In the Light of the Miracle,” which total nearly a half-hour, could arguably be considered one of his Minimalist compositions). Recorded in 1977 & 1978, Instrumentals is an important signpost of the incipient Pop Minimalism impulse, and the first track is a pre-punk precursor to Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca’s appropriations of the rock band format to pursue Minimal pathways (Chatham is one of the performers in that first piece). The rest, culled from a concert at the Kitchen, features long held tones from horns and strings and is quite graceful, if slightly undercut by Arthur’s own slightly jarring, apparently random edits. [Audika’s 2006 reissue, as part of the double CD First Thought Best Thought, includes a 1975 concert that was slated to be Instrumentals Vol. 1, which shows an even more specific pop/rock/Minimal intersection]. Zummo was a long-term collaborator of Russell’s and his album, which Arthur plays on, is a must for Russell aficionados. The first side is made up of short, plain pieces that repeat various simple intervals and are fairly hard-core Minimalism, but “Song IV,” which occupies all of side two, is like an extended, jammy take on Russell’s disco 12” “Treehouse” and has Bill Ruyle on bongos, who also played on Instrumentals as well as with Steve Reich and Jon Gibson. A recently unearthed concert at Roulette from 1985 is a further, and especially intriguing, example of Russell’s blending of Minimalism and song form. (That same year Arthur played on Elodie Lauten’s The Death of Don Juan--another record I first encountered via Tim Page’s radio show--which I included on Top Ten #3; Lauten as well as Zummo played on the Russell Roulette concert, as their website alleges).

7. Horacio Vaggione La Maquina de Cantar (Cramps, 1978): Another one-off from the late 70s, and yet more evidence of how Minimalism had really caught on as a trend among European composers of the time. Vaggione had a previous duo album with Eduardo Polonio under the name It called Viaje that was noisier electronics, and he went on to do computer music that was likewise more traditionally abstract. But on this sole effort for the Italian label Cramps, as part of their legendary Nova Musicha series, he went for full-on tonality. The title track is like the synth part of “Who Are You” extended for more than fifteen minutes and made a bit squishier; but side 2, “Ending”--already mentioned in the entry on David Rosenboom’s Brainwave Music in Top Ten #3--is my favorite. Kind of a bridge between Minimalism and prog, and a little reminiscent of David Borden’s multiple-synth counterpoint pieces, for the first ten minutes he lingers on one vaguely foreboding arpeggiated chord, then introduces a fanfare melody that repeats and builds in harmonies and countermelodies for the remainder of the piece. Great stuff, as Johnny Carson used to say.

8. Costin Miereanu Derives (Poly-Art, 1984): Miereanu is French composer coming out of musique concrete. Unlike some of the albums on these lists, both sides/pieces on Derives are superb, comprised of long drones with flurries of skittering electronic activity popping up here and there. Also notable is the presence of engineers Philip Besomes and Jean-Louis Rizet, responsible for Pôle, the great mid-70s prog double album that formed the basis of Graham Lambkin’s meta-meisterwork Amateur Doubles. I discovered this record via the old Continuo blog; Miereanu has lots of albums out, most of which I haven’t heard, but his 1975 debut Luna Cinese, another Cramps Nova Musicha item, is also estimable, although less Minimal.

9. Mikel Rouse Broken Consort Jade Tiger (Les Disques du Crepuscule, 1984): Rouse was a major New Music name in the 80s, as was Microscopic Septet saxist Philip Johnston, who plays here. Dominated by Reichian repeated fills that accentuate the odd time signatures as opposed to an underlying pulse, this will sound very familiar to anyone acquainted with Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin albums on ECM, which use the same general idea but brand it “zen funk” and cater more to the progressive jazz crowd rather than New Music fans, if we can be that anachronistic in our terminology. Jade Tiger also contrasts nicely with Wim Mertens’ more neo-Romantic contemporaneous excursions on Crepuscule. Rouse later performed the admirable (and daunting) task of cataloging Arthur Russell’s extensive tape archive for the preparation of Another Thought (Point Music, 1994)

10. Michael Nyman Decay Music (Obscure, 1976): Known for his soundtracks to Peter Greenaway films, and his still-peerless 1974 book Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond (where I, Jim O’Rourke, and doubtless many other intrepid teenage library goers learned of the Minimalists, Fluxus, AMM, and lots of other eternal avant heroes), Nyman is sometimes credited with coining the term “Minimal music” as well, in an early 70s article in The Spectator. Decay Music was produced by Brian Eno for his short-lived but wonderful Obscure label. The first side, “1-100,” was also composed for a Greenaway film, and has one hundred chords played one after another on piano, each advancing to the next once the sound has decayed from the previous chord (hence the album title). For all its delicacy and silences, you’re actually hearing three renditions superimposed on one another, which occasionally makes for some charming chordal collisions (reminiscent of the cheerfully clumsy, subversive “variations” of Pachelbel’s “Canon in D major” on Eno’s own Discreet Music, the most celebrated Obscure release). This is process music at its most fragile and incandescent. In hindsight it may have also been an unconscious influence on the structure of my piece “A New York Minute,” which lines up a month’s worth of weather reports from news radio, edited so that one day’s forecast follows its prediction from the previous day. I’ve never found the album’s other piece, “Bell Set No. 1,” to be quite as compelling, and Nyman’s other soundtrack work doesn’t hold much interest for me, but I’ve often returned to this album.

11. J Dilla Donuts (Stones Throw, 2006): One more for the road. Rightfully acclaimed as a masterpiece of instrumental hip hop, I have to confess I only discovered Donuts while reading Questlove’s 2013 book Mo’ Meta Blues, where he compared it to Terry Riley. The brevity of the tracks (31of ‘em in 44 minutes) and the lack of single-mindedness make categorizing Donuts as a Minimal album a bit of a stretch, but Questlove’s namecheck makes a whole lot of sense if you play “Don’t Cry” back to back with Riley’s proto-Plunderphonic “You’re Nogood,” and “Glazed” is the only hip hop track to ever remind me of Philip Glass. Plus the infinite-loop sequencing of the opening “Outro” and concluding “Intro” make this a statement of Eternal Music that outstrips La Monte Young and leaves any locked groove release in the proverbial dust. There isn’t the space here to really explore how extended mixes, all night disco DJ sets, etc. could be encountered in alignment with Minimalism, although I would steer the curious towards Pete Rock’s Petestrumentals (BBE, 2001), Larry Levan’s Live at the Paradise Garage (Strut, 2000), and, at the risk of being immodest, my own “The Old Victrola” from Plays Well (Crank Automotive, 2001). On a (somewhat) related note I’d also point out Rupie Edwards’ Ire Feelings Chapter and Version (Trojan, 1990) which collects 16 of the producer/performer’s 70s dub reggae tracks, all built from the exact same same rhythm track--mesmerizing, even by dub’s trippy standards. 

Addendum:

Tony Conrad: “Maybe someday Tony’s blistering late 80s piece ‘Early Minimalism’ will be released, or his fabulous harmonium soundtrack to Piero Heliczer’s early 60s film The New Jerusalem.” That was the last line of my entry on Tony’s Outside the Dream Syndicate in the first Top Ten list in 1995, and sure enough, Table of the Elements issued “Early Minimalism” as a monumental CD box set in 1997 and released that soundtrack as Joan of Arc in 2006 (it’s the same film; I saw it screened c. 1990 under the name The New Jerusalem but it’s more commonly known as Joan of Arc).  Tony releases proliferated in the last twenty years of his life, which was heartening to see; I’d particularly single out Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain (Superior Viaduct, 2017), which rescues a 1972 live recording of what is essentially a prototype for Outside played by Tony, Rhys Chatham, and Laurie Spiegel (Rhys has mentioned his initial disgruntlement upon hearing Outside, as it was the same piece that he had played with Tony, i.e. “Ten Years Alive,” but he found himself and Laurie replaced by Faust!) and an obscure compilation track, “DAGADAG for La Monte” (on Avanto 2006, Avanto, 2006), where he plays the pitches d, a, and g on violin, loops them over and over , and continually re-harmonizes them electronically--really one of his best pieces.

Terry Riley: The archival Riley CDs that Cortical Foundation issued in the 90s and early 00s don’t seem to be in print, but I feel they eclipse Reed Streams (reissued by Cortical as part of that series) and are crucial for fans of his early work, especially the live Poppy Nogood’s Phantom Band All Night Flight Vol. 1, an important variant on the studio take, and You’re Nogood (see Dilla entry above). These days I would also recommend Descending Moonshine Dervishes (Kuckuck, 1982/recorded 1975) over  Persian Surgery Dervishes (Shandar, 1975), which I mentioned in the original entry on Reed Streams in the first Top Ten; a lot of the harmonic material in Descending can also be heard in Terry’s dream-team 1975 meeting with Don Cherry in Köln, which has been bootlegged several times in the last few years. Finally, Steffen Schleiermacher recorded the elusive “Keyboard Study #1” (as well as “#2,” which had already seen release in a version by Germ on the BYG label and as “Untitled Organ” on Reed Streams), albeit on a programmed electronic keyboard, on the CD Keyboard Studies (MDG, 2002). As you might expect it’s a little synthetic-sounding, but it also has a weird kinetic edge (imagine the “Baba O’Riley” intro being played on a Conlon Nancarrow player piano) that’s lacking in later acoustic piano renditions recorded by Gregor Schwellenbach and Fabrizio Ottaviucci. But any of these versions is rewarding for those interested in Riley’s early output.

Henry Flynt, Charlemagne Palestine: A few of the artists on that first Top Ten list went from being sorely under-documented to having a plethora of material on the market, and Henry and Charlemagne are at the top of the heap. I stand by You Are My Everlovin, finally reissued on CD by Recorded in 2001, as Henry’s peak achievement, but I’m also partial to “Glissando,” a tense, feverish raga drone from 1979 that Recorded put out on the Glissando No. 1 CD in 2011. Charlemagne’s Four Manifestations On Six Elements double album still holds up well, as does an album of material initially recorded for it, Arpeggiated Bösendorfer and Falsetto Voice (Algha Marghen, 2017). The Strumming Music LP on Shandar is a definitive performance, and best heard as an unbroken piece on the New Tone CD reissue from 1995. Godbear (CD on Barooni, vinyl on Black Truffle), originally recorded for Glenn Branca’s Neutral label (which had also scheduled a Phill Niblock release before going belly-up), has 1987 takes of “Strumming Music” and two other massive pieces that date from the late 70s, “Timbral Assault” and “The Lower Depths”; Algha Marghen released a vintage full-length concert of the latter as a triple CD.

Steve Reich: Not a particularly rare record, but his “Variations on Winds, Strings and Keyboards,” a 1979 piece for orchestra on a 1984 LP issued by Phillips (paired with an orchestral arrangement of John Adams’ “Shaker Loops”), is often overlooked among the works from his “golden era” and I’d frankly rate it as his best orchestral piece.

Phill Niblock, Eliane Radigue: As with Henry and Charlemagne, after a slow start as “recording artists” loads of CDs by these two have appeared over the last twenty years. Phill and Eliane’s music was never best served by the vinyl format anyway—you won’t find a lackluster release by either composer, go to it.

Jon Gibson: I called “Cycles,” from Gibson’s Two Solo Pieces, “one of the ultimate organ drones on record” in the first Top Ten list, and it remains so, but Phill Niblock’s”Unmounted/Muted Noun” from 2019′s Music for Organ ought to sit right beside it. Meanwhile, Superior Viaduct’s recent Gibson double album Songs & Melodies 1973-1977 collects some great pieces from the same era as Two Solo Pieces, with players including Arthur Russell, Peter Zummo, Barbara Benary, and Julius Eastman. 

John Stevens: In Top Ten #2 I mentioned John Stevens’ presence on the first side of John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s Life With the Lions; the Stevens-led Spontaneous Music Orchestra’s For You To Share (1973) documents his performance pieces “Sustained Piece” and “If You Want to See A Vision,” where musicians and vocalists sustain tones until they run out of breath and then begin again, which result in a highly meditative and organic drone/sound environment. In my early 00′s Digger Choir performances at Issue Project Room  we did “Sustained Piece,” and Stevens’ work was a big influence on conceptualizing those concerts, where the only performers were the audience themselves. The CD reissue on Emanem from 1998 added “Peace Music,” an unreleased studio half-hour studio cut with a similar Gagaku--meets--free/modal jazz vibe. I also mentioned “Sustained Piece” in my liner notes to Natural Information Society’s Mandatory Reality too, if that helps as a point of reference.

Anthony Moore: Back in ’97 I wondered “How and why Polydor was convinced to release these albums [Pieces from the Cloudland Ballroom and Scenes from the Blue Bag] is beyond me (anyone know the story)?” That mystery was ultimately solved by Benjamin Piekut in his fascinating-even-if-you-never-listen-to-these-guys book Henry Cow: The World is A Problem (Duke University Press, 2019)—it turns out it was all Deutsche Gramophone’s idea!

Terry Jennings, Maryanne Amacher, Julius Eastman--“Three Great Minimalists With No Commercially Available Recordings” (sidebar from Minimal Top Ten list #2): Happily this no longer applies to these three, although Terry and Maryanne are still under-represented. One archival recording of Jennings and Charlotte Moorman playing a short version of “Piece for Cello and Saxophone” appeared on Moorman’s 2006 Cello Anthology CD box set on Alga Marghen, and he’s on “Terry’s Cha Cha” on that 2004 John Cale New York in the 60s Table of the Elements box too. John Tilbury recorded five of his piano pieces on Lost Daylight (Another Timbre, 2010) and Charles Curtis’ version of “Song” appears on the aforementioned Performances and Recordings 1998-2018 triple CD.

Whether or not Maryanne should really be considered a Minimalist (or a sound artist, for that matter) is, I guess, debatable, but I primarily see her as the unqualified genius of the generation of composers who emerged in the post-Cage era, and the classifications ultimately don’t matter—remember she was on those Swarm of Drones/ Throne of Drones/ Storm of Drones ambient techno comps in the 90s, and I’d call her music Gothic Industrial if it would get more people to check it out (and that might be fun to try, come to think of it). She made a belated debut with the release of the Sound Characters CD on Tzadik in 1998, an event I found significant enough to warrant pitching an interview with her to the WIRE, who agreed—it was my first piece for them. Her music was/is best experienced live (the Amacher concert I saw at the Performing Garage in 1993 is still, almost three decades later, the greatest concert I’ve ever witnessed) but that Tzadik CD is reasonably representative, and there was a sequel CD on Tzadik in 2008. More recently Blank Forms issued a live recording of her two-piano piece “Petra” (a concert I also attended, realizing when I got there that it was in the same Chelsea church where Connie Burg, Melissa Weaver and I recorded with Keiji Haino for the Gerry Miles with Keiji Haino CD).  While it’s somewhat anomalous in Amacher’s canon, making a piece for acoustic instruments available for home consumption would doubtless have been more palatable to the composer herself, who rightly felt that CDs and LPs didn’t do justice to the extraordinary psychoacoustic phenomena intrinsic to her electronic music. “Petra” is more reminiscent of Morton Feldman than anything else, with a few passages that could be deemed “minimal.” Some joker posted a 26-minute, ancient lo-fi “bootleg” (their term) recording of her “Living Sound, Patent Pending” piece from her Music for Sound-Joined Rooms installation/performance series on SoundCloud, which is a little like looking at a Xerox of a Xerox of a photo of the Taj Mahal; but you can still visit the Taj Mahal more easily than hearing this or any of Maryanne’s work in concert or in situ, so sadly, it’s better than nothing (and longer than the 7 minute edit of the piece on the Ohm: Early Gurus of Electronic Music CD from 2000).

A few years after Top Ten #2 I was on the phone with an acquaintance at New World Records, who told me he was listening to a Julius Eastman tape that they were releasing as part of a 3CD set. Say what?!?!? Unjust Malaise appeared shortly thereafter and was a revelation. Arnold Dreyblatt had sent me a live tape some time before then of an Eastman piece labeled “Gangrila”—that turned out to be “Gay Guerrilla,” and is surely one of my five favorite pieces of music in existence (the tape Arnold sent was from the 1980 Kitchen European tour and I consider it to be a more moving performance than the Chicago concert that appears on the CD, although it’s an inferior recording). The other multiple piano pieces on Unjust Malaise more than lived up to the descriptions of Eastman performances that I’d read. The somewhat berserk piano concert I mentioned in that entry seems similar to another live tape issued as The Zurich Concert (New World, 2017), and “Femenine,” a piece performed by the S.E.M. Ensemble, came out on Frozen Reeds in 2016. Eastman’s rediscovery is among the most vital and gratifying developments of recent music history--kudos must be given to Mary Jane Leach, herself a Minimalist composer, for diligently and doggedly tracking down Eastman’s recordings and archival materials and bringing them to the light of day.

The Lost Jockey—I was unaware of any releases by this group besides their Crepuscule LP until I stumbled onto a self-titled cassette from 1983 on YouTube. Like the album, the highlight is a piece by Orlando Gaugh--an all-time great Philip Glass rip-off, “Buzz Buzz Buzz Went the Honeybee,” which has the amusing added bonus of having the singers intoning the rather bizarre title phrase as opposed to Glassian solfège. Also like the album, he rest of the cassette is so-so Pop Minimalism.

Earth: Dylan Carlson keeps on keepin’ on, and while I can’t say I’ve kept up with him every step of the way, usually when I check in I’m glad I did. However I’d like to take this opportunity to humbly disavow the snarky comments about Sunn 0))) I made in this entry in Top Ten list #3. Those were a reflection of my general aversion to hype, which was surrounding them at the time, and of seeing two shows that in retrospect were unrepresentative (I was thunderstruck by a later show I saw in Mexico City in 2009). Stephen O’Malley has proven to be as genuinely curious, dedicated and passionate about drone and other experimental music as they come, and the reissue of the mind-blowing Sacred Flute Music from New Guinea on his Ideologic Organ label is a good reminder of how rooted Minimalism is in ethnic music, and how almost interchangeable certain examples of both can be. 

And while we’re in revisionist mode, let’s go full circle all the way back to the very first sentence of the introduction to the first Minimal Top Ten: “I know what you’re thinking: ECM Records, New Age, Eno ambients, NPR, Tangerine Dream. Well forget all that shit.” Hey, that stuff’s not so bad! I was probably directing that more at the experimental-phobic indie rock folks I encountered at the time, and expressing a lingering resentment towards the genre-confusion of the 80s (i.e. having dig through a bunch of Kitaro records in the New Age bins in hopes of finding Reich, Riley, or Glass; even Loren Mazzacane got tagged New Age once in a while back then, believe it or not), which probably hindered my own discovery of Minimalism. What can I say, I’m over it!

Copyright © 2020 Alan Licht. All rights reserved. Do not repost without permission.

[andromeda1023]

Pic 1:

This composite image shows Comet SWAN's track across the night sky on May 1-3, 2020. (Image credit: Courtesy of Stephen James O'Meara)

Pic 2: photo by Esposito Raffaele, 5/3/2020, Sliding Spring Australia

Pic 3:

This animation shows the position of Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN in the morning sky from May 15 to May 24, looking northeast about one hour before sunrise. (Image credit: SkySafari)

During the next couple of weeks we'll have a chance of seeing a new comet as it sweeps past the sun.

The comet's name is SWAN, an acronym for the Solar Wind Anisotropies camera on NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Officially designated as C/2020 F8, the comet was discovered by Australian amateur astronomer, Michael Mattiazzo, while exploring SWAN imagery on March 25.

Comet SWAN initially caught Mattiazzo's attention because it apparently was undergoing a sudden outburst of hydrogen gas — something that SOHO's SWAN instrument is particularly well adapted to picking up. Water ice from the comet's nucleus evaporates as the comet approaches the sun. Solar ultraviolet radiation splits up water molecules, and the liberated hydrogen atoms glow in ultraviolet light.

The comet was 135 million miles (217 million kilometers) from the sun when Mattiazzo first saw it, but it will ultimately come to within 40.2 million miles (64.6 million km) of our star when it arrives at its perihelion, its closest point to the sun, on May 27.

In recent days, some very impressive images of Comet SWAN have been making the rounds on different astronomy sites, all showing a comet with a large glowing head (called the "coma"), trailed by a long and beautiful gossamer tail.

I'm sure that one look at those photographs, combined with the promise that viewers could see such a spectacle with their own eyes, will have many making a special effort to go out and see it for themselves.

But what you see in those photographs, is not what you're going to get.

Comets are composed of frozen gases — methane, ammonia, water vapor and many others — that are heated as they approach the sun and made to glow by the sun's light, much in the same manner as phosphorescent paint glows under an ultraviolet lamp. Mixed within the gas are particles of mostly fine-grained and dusty material.

Now the best comets — the ones that put on a good show — contain a lot of dust. Dust, you see, is a very good reflector of sunlight. As the gasses warm and expand, the solar wind (a stream of subatomic particles rushing out from the sun) blows the expanding material out into space to form the comet's beautiful tail.

If the comet is a dusty one, the coma and resulting tail will be bright and easy to see. On occasion you may even perceive a slight yellow or pinkish tint. The dust may actually lag behind the comet head and impart the shape of a gentle arc. Comet Bennett (1970), Comet West (1976), Comet Hale-Bopp (1997) and Comet McNaught (2007) are all examples of bright and dusty comets.

But if the comet is primarily composed of gas, it will generally appear much dimmer; more "ghostly" than anything else. Such comets usually appear as nothing more than a fuzzball to the eye, and the resulting tail will tend to be a faint and narrow appendage, stretching straight out from behind the coma.

Moreover, to the naked eye and even through binoculars or a small telescope, the gas tail (usually of a bluish tint) tends to be so faint that it is hardly evident at all. Ironically, long-exposure photographs will bring out the gaseous tail quite nicely. Such tails can be rather long and stretch for many degrees across the sky, although what the camera sees is deceptive, for visually with your eyes, only a fraction of that length tends to be evident, again because of the faintness of the gas projected against the background of the sky.  Now, guess what type of comet SWAN happens to be? If you said "gas" you're (unfortunately) correct.

Initially, Comet SWAN looked like it was traveling in a very elongated ellipse with an orbital period in the tens of millions of years; a comet that had been here at least once before. But that doesn't appear to be the case now.  

Rather, Comet SWAN appears to be a "new" comet; a "virgin" from out of the Oort Cloud, a shell of icy bodies at the outskirts of the solar system that is considered the "breeding ground" of comets. New comets, or comets that have not swept around the sun before, travel in parabolic orbits because they literally fall from the depths of space toward the sun in a straight line, swing around the sun and are then flung back out into space.

From now through early June, Comet SWAN will track north and east from the constellation Triangulum, into Perseus and will enter Auriga on June 1. From now through May 24, your best chance of catching a view of the comet will be in the morning sky.

Start looking about 60 to 70 minutes before sunrise. Your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees. The comet should appear roughly 10 degrees above the northeast horizon; not likely immediately evident to the unaided eye, so scan the sky with binoculars.

What you'll be looking for is a diffuse, circular glow, possibly accompanied by a faint tail pointing upward and to the right.

Then starting on May 25, best chances of seeing the comet will transition to the evening sky. About 60 to 70 minutes after sunset, the comet will be positioned about 10 degrees above the north-northwest horizon, with any semblance of a tail pointing upward and to the left. Perhaps your best shot at getting a glimpse of Comet SWAN will come on the evening of June 2nd to the lower left of the brilliant yellow star Capella. 

Full article/pics: https://www.space.com/comet-swan-may-be-dimming.html

[brokehorrorfan]

Blu-ray Review: Escape from L.A.

Despite launching one of the genre's most successful and longest running franchise with Halloween (and returning to write and score its first two sequels), the only sequel John Carpenter ever directed was 1996's Escape from L.A. The master of horror took the skeleton of his 1981 cult classic, Escape from New York, and worked with frequent collaborator Debra Hill (Halloween, The Fog) and star Kurt Russell - his sole writing credit to date - to pen a followup for Paramount Pictures.

Set in the near-future of 2013 - after an earthquake has turned the crime-ravaged Los Angeles into an island - the city becomes a modern-day Alcatraz to which "undesirable" people are deported. When Utopia (A.J. Langer, The People Under the Stairs) - daughter of the self-declared president for life (Cliff Robertson, Spider-Man) - escapes to L.A. with the power to end her father's tyrannical empire, the government deploys Snake Plissken (Russell) in exchange for a full pardon of his laundry list of crimes. If he fails to comply within 10 hours, a designer virus will kill him.

Although the setup is a blatant carbon copy of Escape from New York - "Sounds familiar," Plissken quips during the expository opening - Carpenter and company take a few outside-the-box swings with the larger budget and expanded scope. The wacky ideas (the basketball challenge, tsunami surfing, hang gliding) don't always pay off, but these elements - and Carpenter and Russell's commitment to them - make the movie feel like a comic book come to life. The script also delves into satirical social commentary.

Escape from L.A. lacks the shadowy cinematography with which Dean Cundey captured the post-apocalyptic New York, but director of photography Gary B. Kibbe (They Live, Vampires) does a fine job. Although fairly impressive by 1996 standards, the film's visual effects have aged poorly. The early sequence of Snake's submarine diving through the ruins of Universal Studios is akin to a Syfy movie. On the practical side, Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) provides some fun effects.

For the soundtrack, Carpenter collaborated with Shirley Walker (Final Destination, Memoirs of an Invisible Man). While the main theme is a update of New York's instantly recognizable cue, the score mixes Carpenter's signature synth with additional instrumentation. The result varies from bombastic rock (similar to Ghost of Mars) to Western-style blues (similar to Vampires) to traditional orchestral cues. The diverse soundtrack also ranges from Tool to Tori Amos, from Sugar Ray to Randy Newman, plus an original White Zombie song over the end credits.

In addition to his atmospheric visuals and innovative synthesizer scores, Carpenter has always had a knack for casting. Any number of his films are populated with an amalgam character actors of yesteryear, contemporary stars, and up-and-comers. Escape from New York might be the best example of this, and L.A. carries the torch high. Russell falls back into the role as if no time had passed between the two productions, fully realizing his own gruff, reticent antihero in the mold of Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name.

The cast includes Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs) in a fun supporting role as an opportunistic sidekick; Stacy Keach (The Ninth Configuration) as a Commander that essentially fills the Lee Van Cleef role from New York; Peter Fonda (Easy Rider) as a bitchin' surfer; B-movie queen Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) as a transgender woman with a modulated voice; horror icon Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead), nearly recognizable under prosthetics, as a mad surgeon; Valeria Golino (Hot Shots) as an unlikely ally to Snake; and character actor Leland Orser (Seven) as an IT guy.

Escape from L.A. has received a new 4K scan from the original camera negative for Scream Factory's Collector's Edition Blu-ray. The gorgeous transfer is a notable upgrade from Warner Bros.'s earlier high definition release. It includes 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo DTS Master Audio options. Hugh Fleming captures the film's fiery spirit on the new cover art, although it's rather busy with characters. The original poster artwork is on the reverse side.

While many of the key players opted not to participate in the new Blu-ray, and an audio commentary has never been recorded for the film - which is especially unfortunate considering how exuberant other Carpenter/Russell collaboration tracks are - Scream Factory's edition offers new interviews with cast members Keach, Campbell (audio only), Peter Jason, and Georges Corraface, plus special effects artist Jim McPherson and visual effects artist David Jones.

As a self-described fan of Escape from New York, Keach comments on the pressure of living up to the original. He concludes by explaining how the film led to his knee replacement surgery. Campbell discusses undergoing the makeup process that took five hours to apply and an hour to remove. He also shares an anecdote about Russell greeting him with a reference to Evil Dead 2, courtesy of his son. Jason shares a good-natured, if a bit long-winded (at 25 minutes), conversation tracing his origins as his actor and his collaborations with Carpenter, which include Prince of Darkness, Village of the Damned, and L.A.

Corraface talks about several milestones of his career before digging into L.A. McPherson discusses working under the tutelage of Baker in his interview, which is accompanied by some of his personal, behind-the-scenes photos. For my money, Jones gives the most interesting interview on the disc. From playing around on an Apple II to landing a gig at Disney to working on Escape from L.A. in only his second year as a visual effects artist, his story is a fascinating one. He personally takes responsibility for some of the film's "subpar" VFX but also contextualizes the achievement for its time.

Escape from L.A. is available now on Collector's Edition Blu-ray via Scream Factory.

[elceeu2morrow]

Mike Nied @mikeynied | February 3, 2020 12:31 pm

The lead up to the release of Louis Tomlinson’s Walls has been quite the journey. And it started four years ago when One Direction – one of the biggest bands of all time – went on an indefinite hiatus. After dropping their final album in 2016, the guys each had to learn what it meant to create on their own. In the process they tried on a variety of sounds before landing on one that worked for them. That’s especially the case for Louis, who experimented quite a bit with a string of buzz tracks. He also went through a multitude of life changes in the time and now emerges with a distinct sound and an even clearer message on his debut solo album.

Arriving January 31, it was well-worth the wait. The 12-song collection introduces us to Louis in a way that we haven’t seen him before. How so? It gives us an opportunity to engage with him directly as a solo star instead of one voice within many. He uses the opportunity and his powerful pen to to share a strong message of resilience. That comes across on every track from “Two Of Us” to “Fearless.” The end result is a compelling collection that boldly defies current trends and simultaneously proves he has more to say now than ever before. That alone is enough to chalk the project up as a serious win that will keep us coming back for more.

Score: 4/5

[full review under the cut - stunt free and very good]

1. “Kill My Mind”

And you won’t let go of your hold on me.

Walls opens with the song that signified a sonic rebirth for Louis. Of course, that would be “Kill My Mind.” After dabbling in everything from heartfelt floor-fillers to emo-pop, the crooner struck gold by throwing it back to the ’90s on the indie-rock inspired track. Laying his voice over a production courtesy of Jamie Hartman, he finds himself dangerously enchanted by a partner. And those feelings build up to a concussive and satisfying release on the chorus. Unsurprisingly, this lays out the groundwork for what is to follow.

2. “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart”

Whatever tears you apart, don’t let it break your heart.

After dropping “Kill My Mind,” Louis had no problem continuing his hot streak with a string of guitar-led buzz tracks. One of the best of those is “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart.” Produced by Stuart Crichton, this is a decidedly uplifting moment that reminds listeners to never give up hope no matter what obstacles get in their way. Expertly performed and very, very radio friendly, it deserved to be a much bigger hit for the solo star.

3. “Two Of Us”

I will keep you, day and night, here until the day I die.

No other song on the tracklist hits quite the same way as “Two Of Us.” The heart aching ballad is dedicated to Louis’ late mother and finds him swearing to live life to the fullest in her honor. There’s no denying the passion in his voice or the power of the lyrics, which manage to capture his true emotions without coming off as remotely saccharine. Instead, what he delivers is a raw moment that encapsulates the feeling of loss and that is bound to resonate with anyone who faced a similar tragedy.

4. “We Made It”

Never coming down with your hand in mine.

The influence of Oasis (one of Louis’ favorite bands) is abundantly evident on the retro-leaning “We Made It.” Here the former boy bander again revisits the sonics of “Kill My Mind.” Only this time there’s a certain sense of longing to the lyrics. The chorus especially is an anthemic sing-along that is going to be particularly effective in a live setting.

5. “Too Young”

We were too young to know we had everything.

Next up is “Too Young,” which strips back some of the stadium-ready production that defined “We Made It.” Instead, Louis earnestly shares a cautionary tale about the trials and tribulations of young love over sparse strings. This emerges as a personal favorite and feels like it wouldn’t be out of place on former bandmate Niall Horan’s debut album Flicker. In a good way, obviously. If life is fair, it will get a moment to shine at some point during the era.

6. “Walls”

These high walls never broke my soul.

During our interview, Louis told me the title track is his favorite song on Walls. And it’s easy to see why after even a passing listen. Another production of Hartman’s, the soulful mid-tempo provides a fitting follow-up to “Too Young.” In that it highlights the maturity with which he now approaches relationships. Opening at the apparent close of one, it is pleasantly surprising to learn that the song is actually about overcoming whatever barriers may have been in the way. The end result is a beautiful tribute to resilience and the ways we can grow alongside the ones we love.

7. “Habit”

You’re the habit that I can’t break.

There’s a thematic shift moving into “Habit.” Here Louis picks up the pieces after a failed relationship. But he has a hard time letting go of his partner. That’s evidenced by the simple but effective chorus. Even better are the intricately layered verses. Speaking of, fans are bound to have a good time attempting to unravel some of the clever hints layered within the lyrics. One of those is a mention to an apartment the hitmaker lived in after X-Factor and provides something of a timeline for the relationship in question.

8. “Always You”

I’m wasting my time when it was always you.

The closest Louis comes to giving us a One Direction-esque pop moment is on the sugary “Always You.” Produced by BURNS, the breezy anthem captures the moment he realizes that he’s found The One. Of course, he learns the lesson after traveling the world solo and having a couple adventures on his own. Held together by a vibrant chorus, it feels a little out of place when compared to “Kill My Mind.” However, there’s something so relentlessly upbeat and catchy about it.

9. “Fearless”

Tell me, do you still remember feeling young?

It’s a commonly accepted adage that with age comes wisdom. But sometimes we can overlook the benefits of being young. Chief amongst those is a childlike sense of bravery. This is a trait Louis celebrates and urges fans to continue embracing on the thoughtfully penned “Fearless.” The track features one of the more lush productions on the LP and also has the distinction of being my favorite song.

10. “Perfect Now”

If you knew what you were to me you would never try to hide away.

Louis delivers what could be considered a sequel to “What Makes You Beautiful” on “Perfect Now.” In that it is another achingly sweet love song that encourages a partner to recognize their beauty and self-worth. That comparison only highlights how much his songwriting and vocal skills have evolved over the years, though. The former will forever be a classic, but the newer iteration exists as a more reserved moment that perfectly captures what it’s like to be your loved one’s biggest cheerleader.

11. “Defenceless”

You keep on building up your fences, but I’ve never been so defenceless.

A recurring theme on Walls is Louis’s tendency to bare his feelings without consideration of the consequences. That’s exactly what he does on “Defenceless.” Here he strips back the armor from around his heart in order to give a partner everything they need. Joe Janiak’s production swells and recedes epically across the track. And this is another moment that only gets better the more you listen to it.

12. “Only The Brave”

It’s a solo song, and it’s only for the brave.

Clocking in at under two minutes, “Only The Brave” is the shortest song on the album. However the brief closer certainly doesn’t lack in personality. Defined by a rougher instrumental, it is easily the most stripped-back on the collection. This is a direction that I’d be interested in seeing Louis explore more in the future and that finishes his debut with what is hopefully a hint of more to come in the future.

Score: 4/5

[borrovved]

Off Season pt 2

part 1

kinda like that one taylor swift song but not really, promise. instead, it involves basketball

jaehyun x reader

word count: 2,543

Summary: Jaehyun does something unexpected for what he believes is the cutest band nerd ever- you.

It was a race against time to see who can type a response the fastest, it seemed like. The group chat is always like that after something insane happens, like Doyoung getting hit on by a guy (who is totally out of his league), Yeri passing the Great Gatsby test with flying colors in english class when a majority of the class made below sixty percent, and you, having the school’s cutest boy taking you out in an hour.

“What do I say to him during the date? I can’t make conversation for shit when I’m under pressure.” you say while Yeri curls a strand of your hair. You were too worried that you would burn your fingers considering how you’re so frazzled at the moment.

Doyoung holds your fluffy cat close to his chest and absent-mindedly responds, “I think you’re making this a bigger deal than it is.”

Yeri huffs while starting on the next strand of hair, “I think you’re not getting the big picture. What if this date turns out amazing and they start going out? She will become the it girl among the band and the locals!”

“Yeri, stop calling them locals. It’s demeaning and makes them sound like bland people. You don’t even know the popular kids enough to label them like that.” you say.

Yeri chuckles,”You know damn well those kids are boring and have no ounce of weirdness in them. They. Are. Locals.”

“What if Jaehyun is boring and doesn’t respond well when you show him memes?” Doyoung says, now fully aware of the situation.

You sigh.”We’re so getting off track. Help me think of what to say!”

Yeri soundly responds,“Honey, it’s no big deal. Talk to him like you would talk to us. He’s probably freaking out like you, because you know, you’re such a babe.”

Doyoung giggles at you swatting at Yeri for her comment.

“Only he gets to call me that.” you say with flushed cheeks.

“Alright, fine, fine. From this moment on we will be actually helpful.” Yeri says.

“Make sure you don’t talk too much about yourself, makes you look full of yourself.” Doyoung says while petting the cat.

“Ask how his friends are like...and mention us if you wanna.” Yeri says. The last part was barely audible.

“You want to get with his friends, don’t you Yeri.” Doyoung says, more as a statement than a question.

“Want me to burn you with this curling wand? And so what if i want to get with his friends? Leave me be.” Yeri says.

“Doyoung, do you know what would be fun?” you say.

“What, Y/N?”

“Guessing which boy she likes.”

“My money is on Ten.” You can visibly see Yeri grip the curling wand out of the corner of your eye.

“Shut up..” she says quietly. You smile, realizing that your friend is doing you a huge favor, and that you should return the favor as well.

“I’ll ask him if he’s available.”

“You don’t have to do that, you know.”

 You turn in your seat to fully face her.

“I need to finish your hair-”

“Yeri, you’re doing my hair. You’re here for me. You could be doing anything else way better than this, but you chose to stick by me. I want to do it, so let me.” you say.

“Accept the favor, accept the favor!” Doyoung whisper yells.

“Alright. You can ask, now turn back around. I’m almost done.”

-

Yeri and Doyoung hug you before they leave, both wishing you good luck. Jaehyun arrives any minute now, and you feel confident. All those nerves from before has turned into bewildering excitement. Even if this date crashes and burns, you look great and feel great.

It felt like the text couldn’t come any sooner, but you finally get the “here” text. You race out of your room and bid your mother a kiss goodbye, and nonchalantly walk out of your house like it’s no big deal. Jaehyun greets you by rolling down his window and flashing those adorable dimples. He gets out of his car to give the most gentle hug you’ve ever received. He held you like a china doll and it made your heart feel so full. He grabs your hand and walks you to the passenger side. He of course opens the door for you. You were worried you would hit your head getting in and make a fool of yourself. So far, so good.

His next actions make you want to combust. You expected him to open the door like a gentleman, but what you didn’t expect were those five words.

“Can I hold your hand?” Your eyes widen at the question.

“While you drive? Is that safe?”

He lets out the most melodic laugh pass his lips. 

“We’ll be fine.”

With that being said, you offer your hand and hope that they’re not as clammy as you think they are. 

-

The drive to the little boba cafe was quiet and peaceful. The only time Jaehyun let go of your hand was to move the gear shift and unbuckle his seatbelt. Walking into the cafe, he continued holding your hand.

“You’ve been here a few times, right?” he asks.

“Plenty.” you smile up at him. You remember the numerous times you, Yeri, and Doyoung have been here. It was the hang out place for your school, so many people would visit. There have been multiple times where both Jaehyun and you were there at the same time, sharing glances at each other from across the room. Neither of you knew how into each other you were- so oblivious to feelings shared. It was highly obvious to friends surrounding, though.

Jaehyun offers to order for both of you, and thank god he did, because the nerves are coming back and you’re worried you’ll be a stuttering mess. You both get situated on the table near the window. Along the window were pretty fairy lights around the border. Such small and delicate lights made Jaehyun’s eyes beam in the most beautiful way; the reflection in his eyes reminded you of stars. It was impossible to look him straight in the eyes when he looked that charming and handsome.

“Tell me about yourself.” His words snapped you out of your trance and brought you back to reality.

You softly smile and nervously put a strand of hair behind your ear. Simple stuff like that keeps your anxious hands occupied.

“I’m co-section leader of the clarinet section, I’m a cat lover but dogs are still a weakness for me, I always wanted to have my hair lilac, and I love doing what I do- performing.”

Jaehyun intently listens as you tell him about yourself. He has his chin resting in the palm of his hand, a habit he has to keep his nervous hands at bay. He’s lost in the way your mouth moves and the way words roll off your tongue. Everything you say sounds like a catchy tune he can put on repeat all the time. You’re so beautiful, yet so unaware of it.

“You sound passionate about music, can you go into more depth about it? I love artsy people. There’s something inviting about them.”

You blush. “Am I inviting?”

“So much so, I can listen to you all day.”

You vividly remember Doyoung telling you not to blabber so much about yourself, but in this moment, you’re going to hang onto every little command Jaehyun gives. 

“I love the ache in my hands when I’ve been holding my clarinet for too long, it means I’ve been playing for a long time, which means progress, which means hard work being made. I strive for progress. I want to be better than I was yesterday, and better than I am today and tomorrow. I don’t know what I would be playing without the clarinet. The flute is pretty but it takes too much air, saxophone players have such big egos, but so do trumpet players. The clarinet is just..for me.”

“Go on.” he urges.

“I wish the band got more recognition. They work so hard as a unit, they grow as a family. It’s very near and dear to my heart. I don’t know where I would be without this program, and I don’t see myself anywhere else. I just wish we had more funds. The band grows each year, and some students don’t have the access to purchase their own instruments, so the program lends it to them.”

The guy behind the counter already called for your order, but Jaehyun is so engrossed into what you have to say, he doesn’t want to leave his spot.

“The thing is, we’re limited on everything. Some school owned instruments are ten years old. It costs $20,000 for a bass drum. Do you know how many holes are put into those things? Percussionists have no self control.” Jaehyun chuckles at your statement. He feels like he’s speaking to the band director himself.

“Go get our drinks, all this talking is burning the hell out of my throat.” You pretend to be exhausted and start fanning yourself.  Jaehyun lets out a beaming smile, and does what you asked. 

Not only has Jaehyun learned how passionate you are, he learned about how compassionate you are with the people around you. He’s in love with how big your heart is and how much care you put into your craft. You of course ask if Ten is seeing anybody for Yeri’s sake, and Jaehyun’s heart drops for a second, thinking the question was for you to ask. You chuckle and smoothly say you have a way hotter guy in front of you. This time he’s right in front of you, so you can see the blush forming on his cheeks. It’s not your imagination.

The date unfortunately comes to an end, and he has to take you home. Before he lets you go though, he spares you a kiss on the forehead. Again, the group chat goes bonkers. Doyoung says “he should’ve went in with a proper kiss, a real one.” Yeri says “who gives a rat’s ass, a kiss is a kiss.”

On Jaehyun’s end, things go down similarly. Ten tells him “Good job, I hope you had a good time :)” and Johnny says “you aren’t even that tall, you could’ve totally bent over and ACTUALLY kiss her. Dumb ass.”

All night, Jaehyun thinks of ways to thank you for the night shared between you two. He could kiss you next time, but he thinks it’s too sudden. He could take you on another date, but he wants to do something more grand. Something that will pull at your heart strings and put the biggest smile on your face. Something you won’t forget. It suddenly hits him once he thinks over all those things you said about your biggest love- band. He runs down the stairs of his house and begs his mom to make several dozens of her infamous cookies.

“Um, why?”

“Just please say yes.”

“Fine, but you owe me.” 

You were in on the best gift a boy has ever given you.

-

The weekend rolled around and you wasted more time doing nothing than you care to admit. The walk in the hallway is always bustling and loud, but on this Monday morning, everything seems to be more eccentric. The sounds weren’t surrounding you, it was coming from one source and one source only. A large group of people were bunched together in no particular order. You couldn’t see the commotion for yourself yet, because Yeri and Doyoung came running towards your way with cookies in hand.

“Did you put him up to this? You’re such a genius!” Doyoung exclaims.

“So like..did y’all bang or something? Spell coconut with your hips maybe?” Yeri says with a mouthful of cookies.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, and no! We’ve only been on one date!”

“A lot can happen in a few days..” Doyoung says.

“What the hell is going on? Someone, anyone, please tell me.”

“Wait..you seriously have no idea?” Yeri says, shocked.

“Was there a fight or something?”

“So like..you have no idea where we got these cookies?” Doyoung stammers.

“I figured it was from the cafeteria and plus, this isn’t the center of the issue here.” you usher at the large group of people nearby.

“Jaehyun is selling cookies for the band so we can buy more equipment! Isn’t that amazing?” You’re at a standstill as soon as Yeri lets the words spill out of her mouth. Your heart started beating faster than you could think, and your ears started heating up like mad.

You immediately barged your way through the crowd to find Jaehyun. Were you going to thank him? How are you supposed to react? You were thankful for sure, but shocked anyone would go out of their way to do an act of kindness like that for you. You finally found him, smiling and accepting money from people as Johnny handed out cookies. 

You're staring at Jaehyun once again like that Friday night during the basketball game. He's stunning, not just in looks, but within his soul. He captured your heart, and the action has you feeling overwhelmed. No one would ever go out of their way to talk to a band nerd like you, let alone do an act as big as this when it doesn't benefit you alone, it benefits a whole union of kids with dreams like yours. He's your biggest dream, and he came to life before your eyes.

"Would you like a cookie? Free of charge." You're brought back to reality once you see Jaehyun right in front of you.

"W-why?"

"What do you mean babe?" If you weren't flustered then, you surely are now.

"Why? Why do this for me?"

"Because people with dreams deserve a wish come true."

"Jaehyun.."

"Take a cookie. Please, I made too much." Both of you laugh, and you gladly accept a cookie or two.

“Did you do this for me?”

“Yes, but I also did it for the band.”

“I know I’m getting repetitive and you already answered this, but just why?” He looked at you fondly and grabbed a hold of your unoccupied hand.

“Because your people aren’t recognized for the effort you do. Not nearly enough as you should be, everyone deserves to be appreciated for the work they do. I want more people to be proud of you- I’m proud of you.”

Tears almost brim your eyes, but you try so hard to hold it back. It’s been a long time since someone outside of the program said they were proud of the band. Your heart starts to swell, and you just break right then, right there. You throw your arms around Jaehyun and bury your face into his chest, and let the tears roll against your cheeks. Jaehyun holds you, and lets you sob softly. You two are in your own world, and you don’t care if people are watching. You loosen your hold on Jaehyun and look deeply in his warm brown eyes.

“You’re unbelievable, did you know that?”

“That’s good though, right?” You crack a small smile.

“Is a G flat the same as an F sharp?”

“Er, yes?”

“Yes, it’s good.”

A/N: this story is very special and important to me because it reflects what my dreams are as a musician, and as a person in an amazing program that is more than just some extra curricular activity. it’s home, it’s work, it’s what i love. thank you so much for reading <3

[lavenderboneswrites]

Heart Over Ice

***Please read the tags*** ***Trigger Warning***

Available on AO3

Chapter Summary: Shizuo deals with debilitating side-effects and has a violent altercation with Izaya.

Tags: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Murder, Sexual Assault, Attempted Sexual Assault, Non-Consensual Drug Use, drug induced paralysis, Medical Procedures, Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Discussion of Rape, Discussion of sexual assault, Discussion of Death, discussion of trauma, Triggers, discussion of triggers, Panic Attacks, explicit descriptions of panic attacks, Canon-Typical Violence, aka Shizuo typical violence, Protective Heiwajima Shizuo, Shizuo-centric, Binge Drinking, Angst with a Happy Ending, Minor Kishitani Shinra/Celty Sturluson, minor original characters, Minor Character Death, Eventual Smut, eventual consensual smut, Eventual Romance, Eventual Happy Ending, Pre-Relationship, First Aid, Mentions of Yakuza, Drug Dealing, Drugs, Thoughts of Self-harm, Self-Harm, Torture, Disassociation

Chapter 2 - Over Time

Shizuo couldn’t sleep.

A month had passed since that horrible day at Izaya’s. One long month of restless days and sleepless nights. Of shaking anxiety and fraying nerves. Shizuo’s rage so out of control he almost didn’t recognise the person in the mirror anymore.

Shizuo had stayed until Celty had arrived, his own breath almost in time with the steady squeezing of the ventilator in his hand. The thing keeping Izaya alive.

Him. Shizuo.

He was keeping the flea alive. Breathing for him.

It was so fucked up.

Shinra of course had been much more instrumental than Shizuo, who really was just doing what he was told with numb kind of acceptance.

The doctor had texted Celty, requesting various medical equipment and even his portable bed he used for patients. For anyone else it would’ve been a difficult task by themselves but Celty was the best courier in the city, not to mention a supernatural being. Those shadows really did come in handy.

Shinra had also made a shady as fuck call asking for ‘clean-up’. Shizuo didn’t even want to know what that mean… though he could take a guess. Instead he had felt himself zone out, almost to the point he felt completely disconnected from reality. It was only when Celty had folded her hands over his own that Shizuo even realised that she had arrived.

Which was strange, because Shizuo was sure that only minutes had passed but it would’ve taken at least an hour for Celty to make gather everything and make her way to Ikebukuro. He had lost all concept of time it seemed. Not to mention he hadn’t even noticed Shinra’s noisy blubbering when his ‘love’ had arrived.

Shinra had quickly directed Celty to set up the bed and ventilator in one of Izaya’s spare rooms downstairs. The stairs and the giant king bed in the flea’s room making his own bedroom impossible, unless they felt like sawing his mattress in half. Shizuo wasn’t opposed, how the fuck had he even got that monstrous thing through the door? Materialistic bastard.

Celty had created a black stretcher for the flea, and they moved him slowly, Shizuo walking along automatically as he continued to squeeze the pump that was delivering air to the flea’s lungs. Once in the bed, Shinra had allowed Shizuo to finally step away, free to go, and no reason to keep hanging around.

In the lobby of Izaya’s apartment, Shizuo had passed men dressed in black suits and he got the feeling they were Shinra’s ‘clean-up’ crew. Were they Yakuza? Shizuo really didn’t want to know. It wasn’t his business anymore. He was pissed off he had even gotten involved in the flea’s mess in the first place.

But what else should he have done? Just leave?

Shizuo knew he was a hypocrite, knew he had spouted threats about killing the flea a million times. But he couldn’t just stand by as something like that happened, even to his greatest enemy.

If he hadn’t come to Shinjuku, if he hadn’t kicked down the flea’s door, Izaya would mostly likely be dead. And Shizuo had quickly discovered that he was incapable of letting that happen. Which really opened a whole can of worms that he would really rather not deal with.

Like ever.

Shizuo had all but collapsed into his bed when he had gotten home. He had been so ready to be done with that shitty day forever. Done with the fear and the anger and the adrenalin crash that had sunk weary down into his bones.

That hadn’t happened.

He’d spent the night sleepless, tossing and turning as his mind refused to shut off.

Every time he had closed his eyes he was staring into dead ones, Izaya’s head jerking with each disgusting rut. The wet patch on his jeans bloomed like a dark scar against Shizuo’s heart. Burned into the back of his eyelids, like he’d been staring at a light too long and then closed his eyes, the white afterimage blinding.

Shizuo had spent the next day feeling tired and crabby, even more easily irritated than usual. Something the deadbeats at work did not appreciate too much.

He had thought it would end there. One bad day and sleepless night and then he would be able to push the flea from his mind and forget.

It would’ve been easier to do if goddamn Shinra hadn’t kept texting him.

The doctor updated him of Izaya’s progress every day, and despite being counterproductive to Shizuo goal of just forgetting, he couldn’t help feel relieved.

Desperate to hear any word of the flea … Shizuo thought it was a joke on a near cosmic level.

It was 72 hours and one toxicology screen before Shinra would even think about taking Izaya off assisted breathing, or so he had told Shizuo. Almost a week later and the flea was awake and according to Shinra ‘his usual, insufferable-self’. Apparently Izaya did not make a good patient … who would’ve fucken guessed.

Shizuo did not reply to the texts other than an arbitrary thumbs up or ‘k’, nothing that would indicate he was grateful to Shinra for keeping him in the loop.

Izaya was healed and it was over. Everything should be back to normal.

It wasn’t.

It had gotten worse.

As the weeks passed by Shizuo’s mood turned wetched, and the rare sleep he did manage to get was plagued with nightmares. If it wasn’t bad enough every time he closed and saw that dead eyed stare and jerking head, now his goddamn subconscious was torturing him with the memories from that day.

It was mostly disconnected nonsense, snapshots of violence and of Izaya. Worse were the feelings of panic and helplessness that came with the nightmares, to the point Shizuo was waking up drenched in sweat and frozen tears, unable to stop shaking. It was impossible to get back to sleep after particularly vivid ones, Shizuo fingers trembling as he tried to light up a cigarette in bed.

Shizuo had thought maybe if he could just see Izaya, see his slimly self-satisfied little smirk and the way his eyes would light up with mischief and deceit that maybe some part of his fucked up mind would be appeased.

But to do that he would have to either ask Shinra for a photo- which no gross, or call the flea himself.

No. No way would Shizuo do that.

Grossgrossgrossgross.

As if dreaming about the flea wasn’t bad enough, Shizuo wasn’t about to make it worse.

Though, there was always the option of just going to Shinjuku to see the flea. Which considering how well it had worked out last time … yeah that was a hard pass from Shizuo.

Seriously, leave it to the flea to finally stop popping up around Ikebukuro the one-time Shizuo wants him to.

Still, Shizuo was starting to feel the effects of his insomnia really grind him down. He was smoking more, almost a pack a day, and he was also beginning to lose weight. It wasn’t his fault, he just didn’t feel like eating. Nothing seemed appetising anymore, no matter how many bakeries Tom and Vorona took him to, or sweets Celty would bring him.

His friends had definitely noticed his worsening frame of mind too. No doubt the even more violent and unpredictable mood swings combined with his rough appearance spoke volumes. His roots were starting to show, the contrast against the bleach almost seemed as dark as the black bags that had taken up permanent residency under his eyes.

Tom and Vorona had both tried to talk to him, but if there was anything Shizuo wanted least it was talking about it. He wouldn’t even know where to begin, not sure what his damn problem was in the first place. Celty was a little harder to that with, seeing how she knew some of what had gone down, so he’d had taken to avoiding her as much as possible.

Shizuo skin was starting to feel itchy.

He thought maybe if he just scratched deep enough, he could reach into his very soul and tear out the memories. Tear out the fear. After one particularly terrifying nightmare, Shizuo had wondered if maybe he took a drill to his head he could bore it all out.

They were random passing thoughts of self-harm, and Shizuo immediately regretted even thinking such a thing … but shame and self-loathing only went so far. It didn’t stop them.

Shizuo found himself more aware of certain things, especially at work. The debtors they tracked down, sometimes they would throw a look at Vorona that reminded him of that day, of that man.

Vile and sickening and enraging.

Others would say seemingly innocent comments, but for some reason they made Shizuo skin crawl.  He felt hypervigilant. Afraid at every door he would kick down and what he might found on the other side.

Just walking on the street was becoming nerve racking, every accidental brush up against his person making him want to rip his skin off.

His temper had gotten a hundred times worse. Fear, anxiety, and lack of sleep like lighter fluid for his rage. He felt so much more out of control, so more violent. It was a miracle he hadn’t killed anyone. Hell, maybe he had.

Shizuo might be a murderer.

Shinra had not mentioned the attacker again, which while incredibly grateful for, kept niggling at the back of Shizuo’s mind. Shinra had sedated him, so he obviously was still alive at that point, but for how long? Shizuo had crushed his nose into his fucking skull, not to mention the hit he had delivered to the man’s temple. Was he dead? Did it matter?

It shouldn’t, the man fucking deserved it … but that would mean that Shizuo had killed someone.

Just something else fun to think about at night when he couldn’t sleep.

Now if only Shizuo could get Izaya’s stupid lifeless eyes out of his goddamn head.

He gave up on sleeping.

It was 2am and Shizuo found himself wandering aimlessly around Ikebukuro. He had smoked several cigarettes already, the box of American Spirits Blue feeling dangerously light. He would have to get more. Maybe he should get some food at the convenience store as well … as unappealing as that sounded. He should probably eat something today, or tomorrow, what time was it again?

Shizuo was just thinking of heading to the nearest family mart when he caught a glimpse of tan fur slipping around the corner.

His heart leapt, his mind conjuring up that stupid image of the flea’s head flopping limply again and again.

Fuck, not now.

Like a bloodhound, Shizuo shot after his prey, running to the same corner he had seen him disappear behind.

Shizuo found himself in a side street, flashing lights and the thumping of club music in the air. The entrance to an underground club was roped off, a few patrons lining up along the side of the building.

He spotted the flea last in line. H was facing away from Shizuo, only the back of his head visible as his face was turned down to look at his phone, fingers flying as he texted. Shizuo felt the usual rage at the sight of his most hated enemy, quickly searching for an available vending machine, but there was an underlying anxiety that over-rode his usual instincts.  

I just need to see for myself, and then everything will be fine.

Shizuo was about to take a step forward when another man stepped out of the club.

“Oi Nakura,” a plain looking man called out to Izaya, who quickly looked up from his phone. Shizuo wanted to break something, that man’s face appearing over the new arrival.

It wasn’t him, his hair was slightly lighter and his eyes were a murky green; but still Shizuo wanted to killkillkill-

“Good Evening, Junichi-san,” Izaya’s voice was light and cordial, and fucking fake as shit. Shizuo wanted to punch him back to Shinjuku, but he found himself more curious than angry right now.

Just what are you up to flea?

Shizuo watched as the man said something unintelligible to the bouncer, and then Izaya was skipping the line with a twirl of that ugly as shit coat and disappearing into the club.

Well fuck.

Shizuo barrelled forward, stomping straight past the rope and to the front door.

“Hey, get in line buddy-,” the bouncer’s voice cut off at the murderous look on Shizuo’s face. No doubt recognising the infamous beast of Ikebukuro and his bartender outfit.

Shizuo gave an agitated huff, shouldering his way through the door.

Where the fuck did that little cretin go?

The music was pounding, some autotuned-repetitive shit that made Shizuo’s head hurt; not helped by the flickering of strobe lights. Goddammit Shizuo hated places like this.

Izaya and that creep were nowhere to be seen. Shizuo’s height allowed him a good view over the crowd gyrating on the dance floor. He couldn’t catch sight of that tacky fur coat among the horde, but it was slightly difficult when all the bodies seem to merge together they were packed in that tightly. Shizuo quickly scanned the bar, no sign there either.

Slippery fucken flea.

Shizuo was about to give up and call it a night when he caught the sound of laughter. It was faint over the music, but there was no mistaking the flea’s self-satisfied little chuckle. Shizuo had heard the stupid thing enough time in his life, too many times to count.

It was coming from behind him and off to the side, the entrance to the bathrooms. With the same single-mindedness he always chased the flea with, Shizuo followed the sound.

He stopped at the door of the men’s bathroom, and was just about to lift his leg and kick it in when memories came flooding back to him.

Him kicking down a door.

The flea’s lifeless eyes staring out at him.

His head jerking.

Shizuo wanted to scream, wanted to put his hands to his head and dig his nails in.

Rip it out, just get rid of it.

Instead he stood frozen, just like he had that day, the murmurings on conversation coming from the other side of the door.

He’s in there. Just go in and a punch him. Then you can go home and sleep.

Shizuo just wanted to look into the flea’s eyes and see life in them. He didn’t need anything else. So why wouldn’t his body move?

He isn’t moving Shinra, why isn’t he moving?  

Just breathe.

“What the hell!?”

Shizuo was ripped from the flashback violently, the sounds of a struggle exploding into his mind like a firecracker. Without a further thought he barged through the bathroom door.

“Shizu-chan?”

Izaya sounded honestly surprised to see the blonde standing in the threshold like rampaging beast. He was leaning against the closed stalls, foot crossed over his ankle as he held his phone in his hand, casual as ever. It was a far cry from the man who crawling across the tiled floor.

“I thought I locked that door,” Izaya muttered, the space between his eyes creasing only slightly at Shizuo’s interruption.

You’re alive, you’re alive! Thank fuck I could kiss you shitty flea.

“What the fuck flea!?” Shizuo bellowed automatically.

Izaya’s expressed morphed into wry amusement, oaky eyes alight with mischief.

Shizuo knew he was the world’s biggest hypocrite right now but he didn’t care. Seeing Izaya’s eyes light up was like the feeling of whiskey warming his chest on a cold winter’s night.

“You l-lying snake.”

Izaya sighed and rolled his eyes at the man on the ground. He reached an arm out, trying grab onto Izaya’s shoe and received a kick for his troubles.

“Nothing personal Junichi-san, it’s just business.”

Shizuo’s mind was still trying to catch up with what the fuck was happening. Why did every time he burst into a room with the flea some kind of messed up shit was going on? At least this time was better than the last.

“F-fuck you.”

The man’s movements and speech were slowing, like his muscles were deliberately shutting down. Just what in the-

-I can only theorise, but I think he’s been drugged.  

“Shizu-chan, please close the door.”

Shizuo growled, kicking the door shut with his foot and facing Izaya down with fury etched into every part of his being. Sure he was ecstatic the flea was actually alive and in front of him, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be the shit out of him. Didn’t erase almost a decade of rage and hate and instinct.

“I meant from the other side,” Izaya added.

“Fuck you!”

Shizuo wanted to punch the smug smile off his ugly face.

“Eloquent as ever beast, but I’m too busy to play with you right now,” Izaya merely sounded slightly inconvenienced. Well boo-fucking-hoo, Izaya’s very existence inconvenienced Shizuo’s life 24-fucking-7 these days.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m working.”

“And that involves drugging people?” Izaya was an informant, surely attacking people in random club bathrooms wasn’t part of the job description, or maybe it was … Shizuo really had no idea what being an informant really entailed. Being a piece of shit apparently.

Izaya shrugged, like he couldn’t care either way. “You should know better than to deal in Awakusu-kai territory … medical grade narcotics catch a fair price, ne, Junichi-san?”

Junichi-san seemed unable to answer, body lying with his face pressed down onto the dirty bathroom floor. He couldn’t move let alone talk.

“Alas, no matter how good a side hustle, actions have consequences … seems the Yakuza aren’t too happy with you, Junichi-san,” Izaya spoke to him like he was speaking to a particularly misbehaving child.

You’re such a condescending dick.

The flea’s phone dinged, and his face lit up. “Look,” he showed the screen down at Junichi, not that he could even move his neck to look up, “Shiki-san is going to come meet you personally, isn’t that nice?”

This was fucked up. Shizuo didn’t know if Junichi had anything to do with what happened to Izaya or not, but he had a feeling it did. The way Junichi now lay motionless was far too telling.

Is this some twisted form of revenge, flea? Why are you going after this guy and not the guy who assaulted you?

Is it because you no longer can?

Shizuo’s skin itched at the implications of that thought.

Feeling thoroughly pissed off and anxious, Shizuo grabbed Izaya by the front of his coat and dragged him from the bathroom.

“Shizu-chan I can’t just leave.”

Izaya didn’t pull out any of his knives though so Shizuo continued on his way out of that infernal club. The Yakuza were on their way, so Izaya said, they could deal with the guy on the bathroom floor.

Shizuo dragged Izaya and his sardonic little smirk outside and a few streets away from the club before he shoved the flea up against a random alley wall.

“What the fuck are you doing!?”

Izaya grunted as his back hit the bricks, eyes opening with what seemed like amusement at the rough handling. Just what the hell went on in that messed up mind of his?

“I thought we’d been over this Shizu-chan, don’t make me repeat myself.”

Fuck the flea, and his flea bullshit.

“Why the fuck are you still doing dangerous shit like this?” The words were a surprise to both Izaya and himself. He was beyond pissed, but at the same time he just didn’t understand why.

Why are you so goddamn reckless?

“Why wouldn’t I?” Izaya responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “This is my job Shizu-chan, we can’t all be paid to beat up thugs for a living.”

“No, you just drug them.”

“Heh, touché.”

“You’re such a prick, do you even care!?” Shizuo shouted it, slamming a hand next to Izaya’s head hard enough to cause a crack in the brickwork. Izaya merely raised his eyebrows in what Shizuo could only describe as condescending disbelief. Like Shizuo was particularly ugly, misbehaving dog.  “You almost died!”

Silence met Shizuo’s deafening explosion, and then…

“Pfft…”

Izaya was laughing.

The flea threw his head back, laughing like what Shizuo had said was the funniest thing in he’d ever fucking heard.

Shizuo felt his eye twitch, he should trample the little insect to dust.

“Hah, oh this is t-too good,” Izaya held his sides, no seeming to care at fingers next to his head digging into concrete like it was pudding, or the arm across his chest that could easily crush him. Shizuo would like to see the flea try and breathe once he did that.

He feels a small puff air against his cheek, so small and short and weak.

“This is about that?” Izaya finally lands a lazy and hooded gaze back onto Shizuo, not seeming to notice the inner turmoil he is in. “What? Were you scared, Shizu-chan?”

Oh he noticed it alright, saw it and aimed straight for it. Izaya’s mocking laughter rings in his ears and Shizuo feels like his back in that apartment struggling to breathe all over again.

“Don’t worry Shizu-chan,” Shizuo flinches, Izaya reaching out and stroking his cheek with two fingers as his voice turns to an almost loving whisper. “You’re the only one I’d let kill me.”

Shizuo can see it in his head. His body crushing the flea’s underneath his, grunting, rutting. Can smell the flea’s scent at his neck, so much stronger than normal. Can feel his skin against his lips, can almost taste him on his tongue.

Shizuo can feel his chest giving way under his arms, can feel as his breathing stops.

And Izaya’s eyes are lifeless. And his head is still jerking in time with Shizuo’s movements.

Shizuo recoils from Izaya violently. He’s reaching out blindly, black spots in his vision. His hands hit the wall, fingers clenching into rough brick strong enough to crumble as he bends over and vomits.

“Ew.”

Shizuo can’t breathe through the retching, can’t stop the tears that spring to his eyes. His throat burns, nothing in his stomach to expel besides acid. It tries to escape through his nose, snot mixed with sick stinging his sinuses as he chokes.

Can’t breath.

“Shizu-chan … Shizu-chan.”

Izaya is calling to him, but his voice sounds so far off.

Shizuo’s body heaves and shakes, descending into little tremors as he tries to get himself under control. Tries to just breathe.

“Fuck!” It’s the first thing that he can say, and it’s forced out of him by a harsh kick to the ribs.

He drops to his knees, trying to curl in but Izaya’s is kicking him again, pushing him over onto his back. “Kicking you is like kicking a brick wall, Shizu-chan.” Izaya complains childishly, but it doesn’t match the wild vicious look in his eyes. He slams his foot down on Shizuo’s chest and pushed down with all his might.

“You want to know the worse thing about that day?” Izaya spat down, his voice tight with abhorrence and disgust.

Shizuo can only look up at his murderous expression, can only think ‘thank fuck’ at the way Izaya’s eyes shine.

I’ll take you like this any day flea.

“What?” Shizuo grunted, hand coming to wrap around the flea’s ankle as if to snap it like a twig. Though the threat is weak in his mind. The worst thing about that day? Shizuo knew what it was for him, several things actually, it really just depended what his mind decided to conjure up and torture him with.

At least Izaya was finally talking about it. Shizuo didn’t know how much more of the bullshit he could take.

Shizuo should also know to not count his chickens before they had hatched. Should know that the flea was a conniving, manipulative, malicious little bastard who couldn’t speak the truth even if it broke into his house and tried to kill him.

“The worse thing,” Izaya’s features were ugly and twisted, revulsion carved into every crevice, “was watching a monster cry over me.”

Shizuo felt like Izaya had kicked the very breath from his lungs.

“It was disgusting to see. All that kept me going was the thought of running you through with my knife, over and over again.” The floodgates had opened, Izaya had started talking he couldn’t stop.

“Tch!” Izaya spat at him -actually spat at him- a glob of saliva landing on the ground somewhere next to his face. Shizuo felt maybe he should be losing it at that, should be going on a hatred fuelled rampage, or at least try and beat the shit out of the one above him … but all he could feel was shock at the absolute rage on the flea’s face.

Shizuo didn’t think he had ever seen Izaya truly angry before, eyes a stormy sea of hatred.

“I should kill you right here, but you’re so fucking pathetic even I would feel bad about it.”

Shizuo could only focus the way Izaya voice trembled, the way it hurt.

Flea.

“What did you want me to do?” Shizuo’s mouth moved without much thought, and he hates the way his voice croaks out of him. “Just leave you to die?”

“Yes!” Izaya yelled, as if it was the most simple thing in the world and Shizuo just wouldn’t get it. “Or at least try and finish the job, you incompetent beast.”

“Well I’m sorry I don’t want to watch someone fucking die, even an asshole like you.”

“Stop it!” Izaya all but screamed it at him. “Stop fucking crying!”

Shizuo wasn’t even aware he was, though it made sense with the way his body was shaking and the way that day kept fucking flashing in his head. What he was aware of was the knife Izaya had pulled out and shoved up under his eye.

“If you don’t fucking stop crying I’m going to cut out your eyes beast.”

Izaya looked almost deranged and Shizuo could only bark out a laugh.

Maybe if you cut them out I won’t have to fucking see anymore.

“Tch,” Izaya pulled away from him, sounding thoroughly disgusted. “You’re not even worth my time like this.”

“F-fuck you too, Izaya.” Shizuo spat his name out between gritted teeth, pissed as fuck and feeling completely done with this bullshit.

“Next time,” Izaya snapped, walking away from Shizuo, hopefully he would walk out of Shizuo’s life for good, “come at me like you want to kill me, beast.”

Shizuo felt like lighting up a cigarette right then and there, lying in a dirty alley in what was probably half of his own vomit with the rest soaking into his collar.

He certainly proved Izaya was alive and kicking. Too bad the flea was still batshit fucking insane. Shizuo had had enough of this, he was sick of it. Tired of the fear, the rage, the fucking afterimages that wouldn’t stop haunting him. He just wanted to sleep.

He closed his eyes, Izaya’s head jerking in time with aggressive thrusts.