#constant bangers we got so many good scenes

[qulizalfos]

"s3 sucked" does wheelclair mean nothing to you

[justmenoworries]

My unorganized thoughts about Hazbin finale because I am feeling all the feelings.

Positives

The songs? Absolute bangers. Both of them. The Chaggie "More Than Anything" reprise got spoiled for me but I still loved it. We stan a supportive couple ready to go to war together. The reprise for "Happy Day in Hell" at the end was a nice touch. Loved that it was Lucifer who picked up the slack to cheer up Charlie. Mans finally becoming the dad who stepped up.

The battle as a whole was awesome. Hot take, but if Adam didn't have the spawn infinite enemies cheat all bad guy armies seem to have in these situations, the Hotel definitely would've won.

I'll admit, I wasn't too jazzed about Sir Pentious replacing Mimzy in the main cast but he kind of redeemed (lol) himself for me this episode. Bro was both one of the funniest and most heartwarming characters in the finale get yourself a man who can do both. The unholy (lol) noises I made when he showed up as a redeemed soul in Heaven. Good for him! He deserves the best. Also I find Sera's and Emily's reactions to the reveal kind of interesting. Emily is overjoyed seeing that Charlie's idea works, but Sera looks... mortified? Disgusted? Kinda tells us which one of these two really deserves the title of Big Good. Side note, but it's kind of funny how the only physical change a redeemed sinner goes through is that their color scheme is now pastel instead of goth.

ADAM FUCKING DIED YESSIRRRRR! GOOD RIDDANCE BITCH NO ONE WILL MISS YOUUUU (Except for Lute, but no one gives a fuck about what Lute thinks, cry harder hoe)

Charlie's and Lucifer's true formssss! Razzle and Dazzle getting to be badassss! (R.I.P. Dazzle, hope you somehow end up in Heaven too)

Alastor Vs Adam. Cool fight, surprisingly not as one-sided as one might've thought. I mean, Alastor still lost but he lasted a lot longer than most of the others who fought against Adam (Poor Sir Pen)

Vaggie and Lute rematch, I fucking called ittttt!

Seeing everyone gear up and fight for the Hotel was cool, seeing so many Exorcists get axed off was cathartic as fuck.

Lute losing a part of her body because of Vaggie, just like she took a part of Vaggie's body was *chef's kiss*.

Lucifer Vs Adam and Lucifer just... not taking the fight seriously at all until Charlie almost gets hurt. He was really just toying with Adam for the entire first half and when he started getting serious Adam got trashed so fucking quick, I love it.

Charlie fucking shanking Adam and stopping his punch Just Like That. I lover her, she's such a badass. Sure wish we could've seen more of that (foreshadowinggg)

Vox acting as the greek chorus for the events of the episode works surprisingly well. Ngl I thought his constant commentary would get annoying really fast if they kept cutting away from the action just so he can say a funny. But no, they actually managed to time it pretty well. Props to Adam Stein (writer for this episode).

The Negatives (Yes, They Exist)

The other Vees did not need to be here. Seriously, we're starting off with Vox alone in his control room and we could've stayed there. Velvette and Valentino didn't even talk for the majority of the episode. And I'm not a fan of how Val continues to be played for comedy. Unfriendly reminder that this man is a r*pist and an abuser. If you needed a V for the funnies, Velvette and Vox are quite literally right there. (Can you believe Velvette had no lines this episode but fucking Val had both a speaking role and a not insignificant part of the ending song? Weak.) You can still have the ending scene of the Vees hanging out and planning after the aborted Extermination, literally nothing changes if you cut Val and Velvette from the cutaway gags.

Not a fan of how Lucifer stole the spotlight. "But you said you liked the Adam Vs Lucifer fight-" Yeah, I did. Doesn't change that this shouldn't have been Luci's fight, it should have been Charlie's. We've had hints this whole season that Charlie is actually way stronger and wrathful than anyone thinks and that she's actively working to keep up her cheerful and friendly persona. Her stabbing Adam with her trident was a nice start, but after Lute killed Dazzle and seriously endangered Vaggie, this should've been the moment Charlie decided "Alright that's it, no more Miss Nice Girl, I didn't want this to end in bloodshed but these assholes are going down." This should've been the moment where the gloves come off. How much more impactful would it be if Charlie was the one beating down Adam but stopping before killing him? If the show made it clear Charlie could murder this asshole, but she doesn't, because she's still better than he ever will be. What a way to show that Charlie truly does believe in the good in everyone or at least still believes in non-lethal solutions to the conflict between Heaven and Hell! But nope, Charlie gets two badass moments, then is banished to the side-lines and to the role of damsel Lucifer has to save and who has to be the metaphorical angel on Lucifer's shoulder who stops him from offing Adam (for some reason). If we needed to get Lucifer involved, maybe have him show up earlier to help the Hotel but get hurt somehow, forcing and motivating Charlie to step up as the future ruler of Hell. Speaking of-

Why the fuck was Lucifer so late to the fight??? Yeah yeah, I know, depressed shut-in, but in "More Than Anything" he literally calls Charlie "the only thing worth fighting for" in Hell. He knew the Extermination was coming. Yeah, maybe Charlie didn't tell him that the trial in Heaven went south and that Adam's Exorcists were going to target the Hazbin Hotel, but you'd think he'd have noticed something was up??? More importantly, if he really wanted to support Charlie's dream of saving the sinners in Hell, why didn't he take part in the battle from the start??? Why didn't Charlie ask him to fight alongside her??? Yeah, Charlie is reluctant to ask Lucifer for anything because they don't have the best relationship, but we've had an entire fucking episode of them growing closer and Lucifer assuring Charlie he'd help her. And this wasn't just a matter of pride, Charlie's friends and her girlfriend were in danger of getting killed, you're telling me she'd choose her own hang-up over all of them??? "But if Lucifer was there, the fight would've been over too quick-" refer to the previous point. Angels can be hurt and killed by angelic weaponry, there were like over a hundred Exorcists on that battlefield and don't tell me Adam would be above fighting dirty by attacking while Lucifer is distracted. There. Easy way to take Lucifer out of the fight and make way for Charlie.

Not a fan of how Cherri Bomb x Sir Pentious was bullrushed in this last episode. Yeah, we established Pentious likes her, but Cherri had like no interest in him until Angel commented he might have two dicks. Which, I guess her being after a purely physical relationship could work, but we all know that's not what Pentious wants. Their "romance" gives "He Was a Boy She Was a Girl" vibes. Like Velvette and Valentino, nothing in the episode would've been lost if that particular plot-line was dropped.

"The future of Hell belongs to the Vees" Yeah but does it though? Does it? Sorry, but I'm having a hard time taking these three seriously as a threat. Vox got effortlessly trounced by Alastor (and contrary to what the Vees believe he isn't missing, he came back), Velvette talked a big game about fighting the Exorcists but then did absolutely nothing and Val would eat dirt so fast against anyone who can actually fight back. Plus "Overlords hanging by a thread"? Which Overlords, exactly? Alastor? He's not dead and like previously stated, he's not 'missing'. Rosie, Carmilla, Zestial and the rest of the Overlords are just fine, the Extermination was centered around the Hazbin Hotel this time, no other turf even got scratched. "Nature abhors a power vacuum" What power vacuum? Again, no Overlords even died! No territory outside the hotel was destroyed! Are they just on a high from Alastor's supposed disappearance? I hope that's it, because otherwise damn, you three fucking suck at being Overlords.

[daincrediblegg]

okay your turn if nobody else has asked: TOP FIVE JH CHARACTERS GO

... girl... how does one choose? how does one??? when there are so many beautiful boys??? ok. OK I'll give it a shot.

5. Captain Crow - The Sea Beast This film is just incredible on every front. One of my favorite concept artists worked on it (which I did not know until a few weeks ago but now that I know I feel like kicking myself because I REALLY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEIR STYLE WELL ENOUGH BY NOW). But I remember watching this, and screaming when the credits began to roll because WAIT?!?!?! THAT WAS JARED HARRIS??? OH!!! WHAT A DELIGHT!!! I LOVE THAT GUY!!!! (oh babygirl wait a few months it's gonna hit you so bad). He's great. I hope we see more of him in the sequel that would be great for me.

4. Hari Seldon Honestly. What a little shit. "But Egg," you might ask "If he's such a little shit why is he on here?" well. He's hot. Really I am not over how hot this dude is. I know I couldn't fix him not in a million years. But idk. Something about him always makes my brain go brrr. So he's on here. Also I just love how fucking atypically written this show is and I have a wee soft spot for asimov. They didn't have to cast Jared as Hari and make him unbelievably hot. But they did. And he's so enigmatic. I love that.

3. John Lennon Egg's love for Jared Harris Origins. I was a Beatles girlie, ok? I'm not ashamed to admit that. It was my introductory fandom experience at the ripe old age of baby, and I really ate it up. I remember going into this movie being like "oh it's some dumb TV movie about John and Paul how good can it be?" Very good, as it turns out. And having assigned myself a John Lennon girlie I literally could never get over this depiction. The mannerisms, the fucking tripped-out way he philosophizes in conversation, the softness, and ofc the old friends tension. Jared got it all. Of course I'd seen him in stuff here and there, but this was the one that cemented him as a beloved actor in my mind for me (I literally re-wound the kiss scene as well like 20 times don't judge me but that awakened some stuff in me). Been following him ever since.

2. Lane Pryce - Mad Men This dude broke me for real. I didn't get into Mad Men until college, and binged it all on my friend's hulu account. And lemme tell ya. Did NOT see his final episode coming. Did not. And it made me genuinely weep. He was a highlight in the show. He was one of the only guys I could actually say is a good dude in that show, and he deserved so much better than he got in the end. I look at him and I'm just like... leave ur wife. Leave your job. Lets just go out of this capitalistic hellscape. I want to make him Well. I will love him forever for how he just completely destroyed me.

1.Francis Crozier / Valery Legasov - HA! you thought I was not going to tie them? WRONG! I can't keep these bad bitches apart.

Francis really needs no explanation at this point. I am so actually genuinely in love with him I'm writing a whole ass gothic romance novel of a fic for him, as you all know (and which has summarily turned out a BANGER of a modern AU as well). I made a bloody self-insert oc for him. Gothic Cinema is literally my favorite genre and Francis is the most Gothic Hero of all time, honestly (well besides Valery obviously). The serotonin he continually gives me makes my meds redundant. He is my sweet husband who I love with my whole life and that's that.

And Valery? sorry you can't put a babygirl of a man like that in front of me and not expect that I would want to jump his bones like? Not only is the constant existential dread relatable, but as much as people tell him he's not brave, he IS without a doubt, and honestly, just by virtue of uttering the most iconic logline ever fucking created he deserves this spot on this list. Both of these dudes make my soul ascend in a certain way not just with how brilliantly they were written, but with how incredibly Jared executed them (for which I want to kill the academy for not giving him awards on either). Top Beloveds forever and ever and ever amen.

[cyarskaren52]

There’s nothing like a good collaboration with mcs that really gets the fans excited

There are some posse cuts that are undeniable.

We all know "The Symphony" and "Buddy." And who doesn't love the star-making turn Nas gave us on "Live At the BBQ" or Busta's scene-stealing verse from "Scenario?" And there are posse cuts that may not be as inescapable as those tracks, but are just as noteworthy. The one-upmanship of "Don't Curse." The camaraderie of "Watch For The Hook." So many others that deserve way more love that don't get discussed as much as the go-to tracks. 

But what is a posse cut? In this day and age of constant collaboration, the thought of several emcees hopping on a track together may seem routine. But a posse cut is when a corp of rappers team up and take turns showcasing their skills on the mic. For the purposes of this list, we're gonna stick to songs that feature at least four emcees (sorry "I Wanna Be Down" remix) and couldn't be group cuts like "Triumph" by Wu-Tang Clan. 

But here are songs that we think you might wanna check out, if you love hearing emcees bringing out the best in each other over a dope track.

#26

"VIBIN'" (REMIX) - BOYZ II MEN FEAT. CRAIG MACK, TREACH, BUSTA RHYMES, METHOD MAN [BONUS SONG]

Our BONUS SONG is a celebrated guest spot! Or in this case--four emcees taking over for the harmonizing Philly quartet.

#25

"DA LADIES IN THE HOUSE" - BIG KAP FEAT. U-NEEK, PRECISE, LAURYN HILL, BAHAMADIA

This track from Big Kap may have had quite the on-the-nose title (and very 90s spelling: "Da?"), but it's one of the most underrated posse cuts of all time. Shout-out to Precise and Uneek, Bahamadia and the one they call "L," who shows up and shows out in this early (Pre-THE SCORE, that is) appearance.

#24

"DUSTED N DISGUSTED" - E-40 FEAT. MAC MALL, 2PAC, SPICE-1

Everyone came with heat, and in the video they held it down for 2Pac, who was incarcerated. The Bay Area represented to the fullest on this classic from 40 Fonzarelli. 

#23

"1 TRAIN" - A$AP ROCKY FEAT. BIG K.R.I.T., YELAWOLF, DANNY BROWN, KENDRICK LAMAR, ACTION BRONSON

An impressive lineup of 2010s emcees go bar-for-bar on this banger from LONG.LIVE.A$AP. Hit-Boy produced this track with the intention of capturing a 1990s East Coast underground feel. Mission accomplished. 

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#22

"GOT MY MIND MADE UP" - 2PAC FEAT. THA DOGG POUND, METHOD MAN, REDMAN

A great lyrical showcase that debunks the East-vs-West mythology of 1996; this is lyricism at it's finest. And 2Pac quotes Run-D.M.C. and Rakim for good measure, just to remind everyone he was as Hip-Hop as anyone. 

#21

"SYMPHONY 2000" - EPMD FEAT. REDMAN, METHOD MAN, LADY LUCK

We could not talk about great posse cuts that deserve more love and not mention this heat rock from the Def Squad/Hit Squad crew. Everybody snaps the fuck out on this track. And it'll make you wish we heard way more from Lady Luck.

#20

"WATCH FOR THE HOOK" - COOL BREEZE FEAT. OUTKAST, WITCHDOCTOR, GOODIE MOB

The Dungeon Family was at the peak of its powers when Witchdoctor, the members of Goodie Mob and OutKast teamed up with Cool Breeze for this anthem. Highlighting a handful of the greatest emcees in Atlanta rap history, it helped solidify the talent throughout the crew and still has one of the coolest videos of the 1990s.

#19

"24 HRS TO LIVE" - MA$E FEAT. DMX, BLACK ROB, THE LOX

Ma$e became one of the biggest rap stars of the late 1990s on the strength of slick pop hits, but this classic was one of the grimier moments on the multiplatinum-selling Harlem World and features a star-making appearance from Dark Man X.

#18

"MAKE 'EM SAY UGH" - MASTER P FEAT. FIEND, MYSTIKAL, SILKK THE SHOCKER, MIA X

New Orleans rap stormed the mainstream in 1997, and this anthem from Master P's GHETTO D album was the rallying call. No Limit smashed through and showcased some of the brightest stars on the label, with Mia X, Fiend and Mystikal ripping the track to shreds. 

#17

"JOHN BLAZE" - FAT JOE FEAT. NAS, RAEKWON, BIG PUN, JADAKISS

You can feel the respect in the room. These are all emcees who hold each other in the highest esteem and they bring the best out of each other here. Pure late 1990s Mafioso rap greatness, all on one track. 

#16

"STRANDED ON DEATH ROW" - DR. DRE W/SNOOP DOGGY DOGG, KURUPT, LADY OF RAGE, RBX

It may seem contradictory to act like any track on one of the most famous rap albums of all time is something you might've slept on, but seriously-- why don't we talk more about how great the album closing Death Row call-to-arms is here? And there' a Bushwick Bill cameo!

#15

"I SHOT YA" (REMIX) - LL COOL J FEAT. KEITH MURRAY, FAT JOE, PRODIGY, FOXY BROWN

It may suffer in the shadow of a hit single like "4,3,2,1," but we can't front on LL's grimy, gritty group shot from 1995. Featuring one of his most bombastic verses, a straight up classic by Prodigy, and a star turn from Foxy Brown, it reminded everyone (once again) that LL can go hardcore with the best of 'em.

#14

"MONSTER" - KANYE WEST FEAT. NICKI MINAJ, RICK ROSS, JAY-Z

Kanye flew his collaborators to Hawaii to record this standout from MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY, and Nicki Minaj's hyperkinetic verse absolutely steals the show. The controversial Jake Nava-directed music video remains one of Kanye's most memorable. 

#13

"BANNED FROM TV" - N.O.R.E. FEAT. JADAKISS, STYLES P, BIG PUN, CAM'RON, NATURE

Swizz Beatz was a new producer when he laced N.O.R.E. with this anthemic beat and six hungry wordsmiths let loose on it. It's an anthem that sounds of its era—and we mean that in the BEST way. 

#12

"RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE" - THE FUGEES W/A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, JOHN FORTE, BUSTA RHYMES

Over one of Clef's best productions, these legendary crews repped from Native Tongues and the Refugee Camp while singing the praises of none other than Muhammad Ali. It's the Blackest, dopest shit you've ever heard. Is it the most underrated posse cut of all time? We think so.

#11

"DON'T CURSE" HEAVY D & THE BOYZ FEAT. PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH, Q-TIP, KOOL G RAP, BIG DADDY KANE

Heavy D knew that he was every grandmother's favorite rapper and decided to poke fun with that image (and with the idea of censorship) while recruiting some fellow legends to do it. It's a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek moment that showcases real camaraderie, over a sick Booker T. & The M.G.'s flip.

#10

"STAY FLY" - THREE SIX MAFIA FEAT. EIGHTBALL & MJG, YOUNG BUCK

Legends gon' legend. It's a victory lap for some titans of Memphis rap. Call it a "crossover" hit all you want, some songs are just dope. And this is one of 'em.

#9

"4, 3, 2, 1" - LL COOL J FEAT. REDMAN, METHOD MAN, CANIBUS, MASTER P, DMX

The song that launched one of the most infamous beefs in rap history, it's almost taken for granted that it's also one of the dopest posse cuts of all time. Erick Sermon provides the beat, as a handful of rap icons do their thing.

#8

"NOT TONIGHT" (LADIES NIGHT REMIX) - LIL KIM FEAT. ANGIE MARTINEZ, MISSY ELLIOTT, LEFT EYE, DA BRAT

Hip-Hop had precious few all-star female posse cuts when Lil Kim tapped four fierce emcees for this girls-night-out classic. An iconic performance at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards cemented it as a rap standard.

#7

"LIVE AT THE BBQ" - MAIN SOURCE FEAT. NAS, JOE FATAL, AKINYELE

The legendary track from CRITICAL BEATDOWN is famous for announcing a pair of newcomers named Akinyele and Nas, but let's not forget that "...BBQ" is also just a blazing posse cut that captures the round robin energy of friends freestyling in the basement. 

#6

"I GOT 5 ON IT" (REMIX) - THE LUNIZ FEAT. DRU DOWN, E-40, SHOCK G, RICHIE RICH, SPICE-1

Some shit you just have to do. Whether this is an widely hailed classic or woefully slept on masterpiece might depend on where you grew up, but we weren't going to do this list and just not mention this Bay Area roll call. It's just all NoCal love, and it's just as cool today as it was 25 years ago.

#5

"FLAVA IN YA EAR" (REMIX) - CRAIG MACK FEAT. THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G., RAMPAGE, LL COOL J, BUSTA RHYMES

The song that really let the world that Bad Boy had arrived. Craig Mack's original single was a hit, but it was subsequently overshadowed by this classic. Fans can recite everybody's verse on this one. 

#4

"BUDDY" - DE LA SOUL FEAT. JUNGLE BROTHERS, Q-TIP, MONIE LOVE, QUEEN LATIFAH

The Native Tongues were already earning a reputation for outside-the-box creativity when De La Soul dropped this D.A.I.S.Y. Age ode to coitus. It's so freewheeling and whimsical that you might not notice how naughty it is; but the vibe stays breezy. 

#3

"INTL PLAYERS ANTHEM (I CHOOSE YOU)" - UGK FEAT. OUTKAST

It's a song that has come to epitomize rappers gettin' grown. After years of songs about being playas and pimps, two of the South's most iconic acts gave the Dirty an ode to matrimony. Produced by DJ Paul of Three Six Mafia, the ceremony begins with an uber-classic verse from André 3000, and Big Boi, Bun B and Pimp C do the rest from there. Three Six joins in on the remix. 

#2

"SCENARIO" - A TRIBE CALLED QUEST FEAT. LEADERS OF THE NEW SCHOOL

Widely considered one of the greatest posse cuts of all time,  “Scenario,” which was the third single from "The Low End Theory,"  also served as a launchpad for Busta Rhyme’s solo career.

#1

"SYMPHONY" - MARLEY MARL W/BIG DADDY KANE, CRAIG G, KOOL G RAP, MASTA ACE

Marley put together Hip-Hop's Avengers for this Juice Crew-defining cut. Indisputably one of the greatest rap tracks ever, and a posse cuttour de force, this is one of Marley's masterpieces.

Sent from my iPhone

[hayden-thefuck-whywouldyoudothis]

The Inevitable

Hello wonderful people! This is going to be my first ever fanfic that I am posting anywhere, so please be nice. I would appreciate feedback, and I think that if it does well here I’ll post it n Ao3. 

I came up with this fic idea a little while back, and I’ve been writing it since 03/13/21. Basically the idea is that while Tommy was in the afterlife, he met characters who died during Tales From The SMP episodes that took place in the past. They told him their stories, and Tommy connected the dots. He goes to confront Karl in Kinoko Kingdom.

This story includes a headcanon that is not mine. I read a fanfic with the mute!Karl headcanon. The story was an absolute banger. If you want to hear a little more about that go read their story Come Home With Me by icaruswontmelt on Ao3

Story starts under the cut .

The Inevitable, by BangHaydenCoven

Death was the one thing that had always been truly eternal. When Wilbur came back as Ghostbur, it had seemed like death maybe wasn’t completely permanent because Wilbur was back. But he hadn’t been brought back to life. He was a ghost, a shell of the person he had been before everything went to shit. Tommy had truly thought that death was the one thing that stayed constant on this god-forsaken server. Being beaten to death and brought back by the person who hurt you so deeply puts a lot of things that were just beyond reach of perfectly understandable, into perspective. In the amount of time that had gone by while Tommy’s life actually went to hell and back, everything had changed. Tubbo had gotten married of all things, He had a kid. And a new best friend as well, apparently. There was, for the first time in a long time, a semblance of peace between all of the factions. Peace smashed, the moment he had been let out of the prison. No one looked at him the same way anymore. No one looked at him like the kid he was. The kid he was supposed to be. All they saw was an anomaly. Not a real, live, breathing person who has feelings and needs validation, just like other people. Proof of something that never should have been real. 

Since declaring that Dream had to die, Tommy had holed himself up in his little house dirt mound of a house. When he finally got over the initial panic, the firsthand terror of forcing himself to think about the time he had spent dead, he allowed himself to do it freely. Puffy had told him it was good to think back on the trauma. He wasn’t sure just how much he could trust that ideology, but it seemed to work for the most part. Tommy had spent the majority of his time in the afterlife with the people he had known when he was alive.  Wilbur, Schlatt, Mexican Dream. It had been pretty simple. They spent a lot of time playing card games, for some reason. But one day, a fight had sparked between Tommy and Schlatt, causing the younger to storm off into the distance. He had been fuming that day. It hadn’t even been a fight that made sense. Schlatt had thrown some baseless accusations his way, and Tommy had just given up. He needed a break. So he walked away. 

He walked.

And he walked.

And he walked.

And he walked.

And he stopped.

Looming over him was a building that was like nothing Tommy had ever seen. It was old, dusty, and cold. It belonged in the afterlife, to put it simply. It fit. It was a simple embodiment. Then, laughter filled the air. Frightening, drunk laughter that was cold but inviting. Tommy followed the spine-chilling noise into the building where he found four people. Three were dressed like they were from the Wild West. Cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and simple revolvers at their hips. The fourth was also clearly from the same time period, put was dressed simply. When he walked into the building, they just stared at him. Cold, level stares that made him feel like he would rather die all over again then be stuck under those gazes for the rest of eternity. But suddenly the looks of the people softened as they beckoned him over, introducing themselves as Connor, Mason, and Jack Kanoff. They were group of bandits called the Democrat Haters, and a simple bartender named John John. They told him their story, to put it simply. They told him how they died.

That was only the beginning.

Tommy wandered for a week straight, meeting people, hearing their stories. He met higher members of society who attended a masquerade only to die brutal deaths at the hands of a possessed butler, the members of a village with a crazed murderer that didn’t know haw to stop, that killed people brutally, among many others. And every single story Tommy heard had a one thing in common. There was always one man, in every story, who appeared out of no where, wearing colourful clothing and iridescent goggles perched on his head. He didn’t always use the same name, but he was always there, no matter when it had happened. As Tommy moved around his home to prepare, one thought rang true in his mind. 

Karl was getting a visitor tomorrow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walking to Kinoko Kingdom had taken a lot longer than Tommy had originally thought and planned for. Not that the little settlement was close to the rest of the Greater SMP, but it wasn’t far either. Regardless of distance, it was still far too long of a walk for Tommy to be in a good mood when he arrived to find Sapnap of all people tending to the garden in Kinoko. Usually Tommy would have snuck up behind Sapnap and scared him to intentionally piss the older man off, but that was the old Tommy. The old Tommy had stayed dead. Instead, he announced his presence by kicking an acorn at the other mans head. There was a loud yelp, followed by a string of curses that matched the flowers in the garden with how colourful they were.

“George, I swear to god, if-” his sentence dropped of in a look of pure disbelief as he turned around, expecting to see his best friend that deserved a good scolding. A dead teenager was definitely different. And confusing. 

“Shit...” Sapnap mumbled, “Tommy?”

“Hello Sapnap. I must say its very nice to see you doing something other than killing pets. Or your fiances.” He smirks.

“Well it’s definitely you. The question is how. How are you alive?” he says as the shock on his face fades into confusion mixed with disbelief. Tommy freezes. 

“Only if your okay with it of course. Don’t answer if your not comfortable. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up. That was insensitive of me...” he trails off as he realizes Tommy seems less stressed at the fact that Sapnap isn’t going to make him talk about it.

“Sapnap,” Tommy started, “I need to talk to Karl. Like, right now.” 

“Alright,” said Sapnap, nodding slowly, “I’ll go get him. Stay right here.” As Tommy watched the other man walk away to retrieve one of his fiances, he really hopes that what he is about to accuse Karl of is wrong. Maybe one day they’ll laugh about this. Probably not.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Sapnap entered the house, looking for his fiances, he couldn’t help but wonder what it was that Tommy so urgently needed to talk to Karl about. Not finding his fiances on the first floor of their shared house, he went upstairs to continue his search, not wanting to keep the teen waiting for too long. As he opened the door to the throuples bedroom, he let out a small huff of affection when he saw his fiances, the loves of his life, asleep in their bed. Quackity had his arms around Karls waist, with his wings over both of them like a blanket, reflecting the golden light of the sun filtering through the window. Not wanting to disturb the scene in front of him, he let out a small sigh of annoyance as he forced himself to wake up Karl, and by extension Quackity.

“Theres someone here who wants to talk to you.” he muttered softly in Karls ear. 

“Who?” Karl signed sleepily.

“Tommy. It seems pretty important. He’s down in the garden.” Sapnap said a little louder, seeing that Q was now awake, so there was no reason to stay quiet.

“Alright.” He signed, “Let’s go.” as he got up, he tugged on Quackity’s sleeve lightly. “Are you coming, Q?”  He nodded and gave a small smile.

“Alright,” Sapnap said, pulling Quackity into a quick hug, and giving him a quick kiss on the temple, “Let’s go then.”

As they left the house and approached Tommy sitting at the picnic table in their back garden, they exchanged a small conversation in sign language.

“Is he okay?” said Quackity with some concern clear on his face, his movements slow and scuffed from sleep.

“He looks really tired.” Sapnap added.

“Q, could you run in and prepare some sandwiches and lemonade?” Signed Karl, “We’ll bring Tommy inside and we can all have lunch together while we talk.”

“Of course, my love.” Said Quackity, giving Karl a small kiss on the cheek before hurrying inside to prepare some lunch.

Turning to Tommy to thank him for waiting, he was met with a face of absolute, genuine confusion. As Tommy stared at their hands, then looked back over to Karl, his face quickly changed to a look of understanding.

“I forgot,” he said as he stood up sheepishly, “that Karl was mute.”

“That’s okay Tommy.” Karl cut in before Sapnap could say anything, “I know you’ve been through a lot recently. It’s okay to forget things from time to time. I should know.” Karl signed slowly so that Tommy could keep up with his rusty remembrance of sign language, adding a small smile at the end of his sentence. 

“Thank you Karl.” Tommy said with a sigh of relief.

“Would you like to come inside and have lunch with us? I know you have something to talk to me about, but you look hungry. We could talk right after though. How does that sound?” Karl signed with a smile on his face.

“That sounds great.” Tommy said after a beat of hesitation.

“Perfect,” said Sapnap, “let’s head inside. Q is making some sandwiches.” They all headed inside, one dreading the talk that would come after, the other two wondering what could possibly be so important to cause Tommy to come all the way out to Kinoko Kingdom to talk to Karl.

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Tommy and Sapnap sat down at the table in the dining room as Karl went into the kitchen to help Quackity. Usually it would be all three of the in the kitchen, making food and having a good time, but Sapnap needed to take advantage of the situation at hand. Since he hadn’t visited the main SMP in a while, Tommy gave him the rundown of the current and recent events he knew of. Nothing too bad, but Sapnap knows you can never be too careful. A few minutes later, Quackity and Karl emerge from the kitchen carrying some plates and the food. As they sit down and start to eat, Sapnap and Quackity make small talk that Karl contributes too every once in a while with some one handed movements, putting his sandwich down when it was necessary. But Tommy stayed quiet, which the fiances found quite odd. Clearly whatever the boy had been through recently, on top of all his other trauma, had really messed with him. The loud, boisterous teenager they had known before was gone, replaced with someone they didn’t recognize in the slightest. So Tommy stayed silent the entire time, not noticing the quick, worry filled glances the trio sent his way every so often.

Soon enough, they had all finished eating. They were sitting in the fiances’ living room together, Tommy on one couch, the tree of them on the other. The room sat in an awkward silence as Karl, Quackity, and Sapnap waited for Tommy to talk to them, and as Tommy decided what to say.

After a moment, Tommy said, “Are you sure you want them here for this?” Karl’s eyes widened at how blatant he had been.

“Of course I want them here.” He signed quickly, “They are the people who matter most to me. Whatever you need to say to me you can say to all three of us.” Sapnap and Quackity nodded, not wanting to disrupt anything.

“Alright,” Tommy sighed, “Where should I start...” Karl’s hands stayed firmly in his lap to give Tommy a moment to think. “Well, I guess I’m just going to say what I came here to say, and pray to Prime that I’m wrong.” Karl nodded, once, slowly. Tommy took a deep breath before opening his mouth and saying...

“Your a time traveler, aren’t you?”

Silence.

And then laughter

All he could hear was laughter.

Sapnap and Big Q were laughing. 

Karl was not.

Karl was not.

Karl wasn’t laughing.

The look on his face was not one of someone who had just been accused of some laughable fallacy.

A fantasy, really.

Sapnap and Quackity had stopped laughing.

They seemed to have come to the same conclusion that Tommy had.

“Karlos?” Quackity started, “There is no possible way...” he stopped, a look of pure disbelief on his face.

“Tell me that he’s lying Karl.” said Sapnap. “Please.” Karl’s hands started to move, making aborted and scuffed movements as he tried to figure out what to say.

 “No,” He finally settled on, “he’s right. I’m a time traveler.” Sapnap started crying at this, and Quackity gave him a hug as he buried his face into his fiances neck. Karl looked completely torn. He clearly wanted to comfort his fiances, but he knew he shouldn’t while Tommy was still here. But he also didn’t know if he could. Karl didn’t know if he was even still allowed to comfort them after keeping this big of a secret from them, and for so long. Karl started signing again, this time with clear urgency behind each movement.

“Two things, and then I need you to leave. Understood?”

“Of course,” said Tommy, “I will leave immediately.” Karl nodded.

“Thank you. First things first,” he signed, “how did you know?” Tommy sighed. He really didn’t want to talk about this. But Karl deserved to hear the truth.

“When I died, I was in the afterlife for a little while,” Tommy said softly, “One day I walked away from the people I knew in the afterlife, Schlatt, Wilbur, and Mexican Dream. I walked for so long I came across a building I had never seen before, and when I went in I met a group of people from the Wild West.” Karl’s eyes had gone wide.

“You met Jack and Mason and Connor?” he signed.

“Yeah, and John John as well. They told me what happened the day they died, and they mentioned you. Not directly, but they mentioned a man that had showed up out of nowhere wearing bright colours and iridescent goggles.” Karl looked wistful, remembering his time sent in the Wild West, even if it hadn’t been an exceptionally fun trip at the time. Tommy continued. “I also met the people who visited the masquerade, same story. But this time they mentioned your name. And lastly I met the townfolk of the Village that went Mad. Same story, but no name once again. I just connected the dots.” Tommy fell silent, waiting for Karl to tell him something. Sometime during his revelations, Sapnap and Quackity had left the room to comfort each other. Karl clearly wanted to tell them he was sorry, but he couldn’t do that until Tommy had left. Turning back to the teen, he started signing once more.

“Thank you for telling me, Tommy. I just have one thing to ask of you, then you can leave.” Tommy nodded his head, and Karl continued, “You cannot, under any circumstances, tell anyone what you know. It would put everyone in grave danger. Is that clear?”

“Of course. I won’t tell a soul.” Karl gave him a small smile. “Now I think you should go talk to your fiances.”

“I will,” he signed, leading Tommy to the front door, “Goodbye, Tommy. Have a good trip back.”

“Goodbye, Karl.”

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As he walked towards the door of their shared bedroom, he could barely hold himself back from running to the room to comfort them. But Karl couldn’t be sure that they would ever be the same again. It broke him to think that, but he had lied to them, for a long time. They probably hated him.

He stopped outside of the door, hearing faint sounds of crying on the other side of the door. He slowly opened the door to see Quackity and Sapnap cuddled up together against the headboard of their bed, with all of the lights out. Sapnap was asleep against Quackitys chest, tear tracks all over his face. Q wasn’t much better.

“Hey Karl.” Quackity said softly, sniffling a little.

“Hi.” he signed back, gong to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’m so sorry.” he signed after a beat of silence. “I have no excuses. I just wanted both of you to be safe from it.”

“But... what is it, Karl? Why couldn’t you tell us? Are these the trips you’ve been going on? Does it have something to do with your memory problems?” Quackity rambled, question after question. He cut off when he realized how tense Karl looked. “...sorry.” he said, lowering his voice once more.

“Woah, Q, it’s okay. But I can only answer one question at a time.” Quackity nodded. “It is the In-Between,” he started, making the ASL sign for between, then spelling it out, “I don’t actually know what it is, but I managed to get away from it recently. It was stopping me from telling you about my time traveling. It told me that telling you guys would put you guys in grave danger. I couldn’t let that happen. So I kept it a secret.” He stopped, hands dropping when he couldn’t figure out where to go from there. Quackity opened his mouth, about to ask a question, when he felt Sapnap stir at his side. 

“Hey babe.” Quackity said, Sapnap just let out a little huff. “Sap, do you feel up to talking right now?”

“...yeah...is he here?” he mumbled, voice heavy and slurred with sleep. 

“He is.” Quackity answered. Sapnap looked up at him, then looked over to Karl.

“Hi Sap.” he signed, not making eye contact. “I want to apologize to both of you. For not telling you. There really is no valid excuse that I have. The In-Between was crazy. I just wanted to keep both of you safe.”

“What is the In-Between?” Sapnap asked. Before Karl could answer, Quackity cut in.

“He doesn’t know, Sap.” he whispered. 

Sapnap continued, “I want you to tell us the whole story. Please?” Karl looked conflicted.

“Alright.” he signed, “I’ll start at the beginning.” So he did. He told them the whole story. By the time he had finished, all three had tears running down their face. “Do you understand now?” Karl wiped his eyes before continuing, “It wasn’t safe to tell you.” Sapnap nodded, eyes red and puffy from crying.

“You need to stop traveling Karl. Me and Sapnap wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves if you forgot everything.” said Quackity, pulling Sapnap even closer. Karl sighed.

“I can’t control the traveling. I don’t know if it will ever stop. All I need right now is you two. If I hadn’t wanted to get home to you guys so desperately, I would have forgotten long ago.” Karl got up and grabbed his journal. “Fill it.” he signed, after he gave it to his two fiances, “fill it with everything I need to remember. And when I come back each time, help me remember. Please.” Sapnap looked up at him, then glanced at Quackity, coming to a silent agreement. They would do anything to keep Karl with them.

“Of course we will, mi amor.” said Quackity, opening his arms to invite Karl to come sit with them. Karl smiled, tears running down his face once again, crawling into their warm embrace. And as they sat there, holding each other close, Karl took each of heir hands, pressing his favourite symbol in ASL into their palms.

“I love you.”

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Thank you for reading!!! Once again, if you like this, leave a comment or something, idk. And make sure to go check out the story linked at the top of this post for more about the mute!Karl Jacobs hc.

Have an amazing day, wonderful people.

[eframschweigersskincells]

So, Return to Hell was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and I couldn't have asked for a better ending to the season three dlc missions.

SPOILER WARNING BY THE WAY!

Holy shit was this season a wild ride and with an absolute banger of an ending all I can say is well done rebellion you pulled it out the bag and held it high, I was so happy with everything and just my god its really hard to put down everything I'm so enthralled I can barely think straight.

I remember when the trailer dropped and I was so overcome with both excitement and sadness at seeing what the dlc entailed, I was so happy to see schweiger alive but devastated to see what was happening to him and originally I thought we were going to sacrifice him to help Umbra which terrified me, thank fuck I was wrong I dont think I could handle hurting my boy.

The intro was excellent, it really felt like distressing and that this was truly a moment of despair the way bruno spoke of it was absolutely amazing and I couldn't wait to get stick in. And when it finally gave way to the gameplay the opening area was absolutely stunning!

The way it's so familiar yet so foreign, like I'd seen it before but it had been so twisted that it was unrecognisable, lava around every corner and debris floating as if frozen in time the ground and walls cracked and crumbling and the fiery hues made this a fantastic yet haunting sight I hadn't even begun playing and I already fell in love with it.

When I finally moved on and the Baron began his tirade about the state of hell and how it was shaped and molded to fit the subconscious mind of schweiger I was shocked and saddened, to think that this was schweiger's fractured mind was frightening, all his guilt, fear, anger, confusion, sadness became reality and hell took its horrifying form filled with endless undead. I also found it really cool to see events play out from schweiger's perspective, meat locker, hell base and terror lab all playing out in schweiger's memories allowing us a glimpse in to everything that happened to him. He was betrayed so many times, I don't blame him at all for turning on us in deeper than hell, the amount of cruelty he suffered would drive anyone insane.

Being captured and forced to research the occult without any understanding of why, being tricked in to activating the relic allowing hitler to activate plan Z, working your hardest to try and make the world right then have your team infiltrated by nazi bastards who push you in to a hell tower and forcefully tear you from this plane of existence and left to rot in hell. Just when you think you can finally escape you're confronted with the fact you can not leave, only your closest comrades can leaving you in hell against everyone's will, then a voice manipulates you in to believing you were betrayed by your friends you're lied to and tricked in to believing this voice is your only friend who makes you do horrific rituals.

I remember how horrific I felt hearing this and then when Umbra revealed that he did all of this so he could break schweiger's will so he could steal his body I was filled with rage. Rebellion were amazing at putting emotion in to this one I genuinely went through constant emotional shifts realising that everything we had done up to this point was planned by Umbra and that everything we had done was only to fuel his plans. It was never schweiger's fault it was umbras and that knocked me on my arse.

The gameplay was a lot of fun, one of the best parts was that absolutely everything was randomised! The main sections of the map where always switched around no matter how many times you play it at first I went meat locker, hell base then terror lab then my second time I went hell base, terror lab then meat locker! I was shocked when everything cane out of order but it fits so well with everything! Schweiger's mind is so badly fractured that when hell took form as schweiger's subconscious not even hell itself could keep things in order.

I genuinely adore how the old familiar faces of these maps are destroyed, twisted and corrupted they are what we have seen before but warped till they look like different maps entirely, with so much more to explore in some areas it really gives you a sense of walking through broken memories like piecing together a memory Efram barely has a grip on anymore.

I loved how enemies were randomised too, getting attacked by a screamer around the corner then next time you go there prepared for a screamer you get blown up by suiciders or slaughtered by skeletons or an elite or in my favourite case being attacked by zombie alpha squad members! When zombie me jumped out and attacked I was so confused I didnt have time to respond when zombie jun popped out and killed me it was fucking awesome!

All our favourite enemy variations are here too, vampire creepers, electric suiciders, armored commanders, skeletons etc which really made for a really tough but good fight, never knowing what variation was coming to get you made everything even more fun.

And with the spitters now having a variant that spat magma it made what was usually an annoying inconvenience an actual proper threat and I love that so fucking much, maybe the spitters aren't so horrible after all.

That's a lie I still fucking hate them but oh well!

Once we successfully complete all three areas we now return to the main area with a very pissed off Umbra and schweiger who although conscious is barely alive. As soon as we arrive back to were we began we are immediately attacked and dragged off to an unknown place that we only know as the void as coined by Umbra.

Let me tell you when I say the void is creepy I fucking mean it, the void is of course pitch black you cant see anything not even your flash light does anything to the surrounding darkness, all you see when you spawn is the pitch black and eframs body of a slab surrounded by candles with Umbra looking over us and you really get the the sense of "holy shit, this is it!"

I genuinely adored the design of the void, the fact you only ever see your surroundings when a split second of bright red lighting strikes and even then you only see the faint outline of distant places, walking through the endless river of blood that stops you to a near snail's pace while fending of oncoming dead is genuinely spectacular! Holy fuck did rebellion pull it out the bag this round!

Just when you think you're about to have to do something to the incapacitated schweiger, Edie finally fucking shows up and does something useful for once, breaking schweiger out of his trance and giving him enough power to fend for himself when she realises Umbra has no defences! Thank fuck because now we know how to finally end The Baron and let me tell you I couldn't be happier to get the chance at killing the bastard.

The fights were challenging and had me cornered a few times and I'll admit I died a couple times but it was absolutely worth it, there was so much going on but it wasnt overbearing, with how large the areas you had to fight the hordes in were it made the fucking insane amounts of zombies absolutely balanced, I never felt like it was impossible but never felt it was too easy either just the right balance of insanity. And to make it even better I get to listen to schweiger shit talk the Baron as we help Efram regain strength while weakening Umbra.

Listening to Umbra beg and plead for mercy was great, it really felt like we were overpowering hell itself, no matter what Umbra threw our way it did absolutely nothing and listening to schweiger come to terms with what he's done and immediately work towards redemption by putting down Umbra was heartwarming. We were the winners not Umbra.

Then finally we get to what I've been wanting to do since the beginning of the DLC, after two whole hours I finally got to put an end to the Baron, activating that ending cutscene was so satisfying and I got to put down my controller and watch.

I'll admit I was confused when Umbea sprung back to life and actually attacked, where hitler failed to stop us during hell machine Umbra full pounced, he was going to take us with him and for a second I absolutely believed we were going to die with him, the fuck tries ripping our soul out rendering us absolutely useless. Its schweiger that saves us, pulling us away from Umbra then eviscerating the fuck out of him with ease and with that The Baron himself is dead, finally the tyrant is dead and everything we had worked towards was finally put to rest.

Just before that scene ends, we see schweiger smile! He's actually happy for once, free from Umbras grip, he's faced his fears and insecurities and in the end was the one who saved us and destroyed The Baron. To see him smile was one of the greatest things ever and I'm so glad we finally got to see that.

In last few moments of the ending, we wake up on the side of a cliff with Dr schweiger by our side and as the camera zooms out we see nothing but an endless sea of lava and I'm left thinking.

What the fuck is Projekt Ragnarok?

[cherry-valentine]

How Black Clover Gets Lady Characters Right

*Spoilers for most of the Black Clover anime (mostly character related stuff, not much in the way of major plot stuff)*

Black Clover is right up there with Gintama in terms of shows that reward viewers for sticking with them through some mediocre early episodes and arcs. When Black Clover began airing, I was excited. Manga readers had been hyping the series up, and it sounded like the next big shounen fighting anime that would take anime fandom by storm. Then I started watching it, and I was immensely disappointed. I found Asta’s constant screaming almost unbearable (to the point that I started muting the tv when it looked like he was about to open his mouth). The early episodes were totally predictable and cliche. The animation was, at times, embarrassingly bad. But I stuck with it because there were a few elements that kept me interested. One was the absolute bangers of opening and ending themes (at one point the thought crossed my mind that they were entirely too good for this show). Another was Yuno, whom I liked from the start. Then there’s the fact that Asta’s magic, or lack of magic, was the one element I didn’t predict a mile away. I honestly expected him to awaken to some super powerful magic early on. Almost 200 episodes later, he is still magic-free. I really did not see that coming. Still yet, I came close to dropping the series several times during those first thirteen episodes or so.

Somewhere around the time they went to the undersea village (I don’t remember the name of the arc), I began to notice that I was actually looking forward to each new episode. It was a gradual change from being at the bottom of my watch list to being near the top. So gradual it took me a while to realize it. The show still had some problems, sure, but it stopped being predictable. Asta talked more and screamed less. More interesting characters were introduced. The fight scenes were exciting. By the time this arc was over, Black Clover had become a favorite. So, if you tried the series and found it boring and annoying, consider giving it another shot. Like I said, it rewards you for sticking with it.

One of the best things about Black Clover, for me, is how it treats its female characters, especially when compared to other popular shounen fighting anime. It is by no means perfect, and I’ll talk about the show’s minor failings in regards to its ladies a little further down. But overall, it does a phenomenal job.

The first thing that struck me about Black Clover’s women is just how varied they are. There’s a surprising range in their appearances, personalities, and skills. And there are lots of them. Far more than a lot of other shounen fighting anime allow. There are five women in the main squad, the Black Bulls, alone. And we see that each squad has several women as well. Then there’s the all-women squad the Blue Roses. This extends to the villains, as well as the non-combatant supporting cast as well.

Speaking of skills, the women of Black Clover are unusually powerful. The two male leads, Asta and Yuno, eventually get “power-ups”, some kind of new form or transformation or whatever. This is super common in shounen fighting anime. What’s not so common, however, is the female lead getting her own cool power-up/transformation. This is what happens for Noelle, and it was such a great surprise. A little side note here: I’ve been watching the series on a streaming site that allows comments, and I was so amazed by the comments on the episode in which Noelle gets her power-up. The (mostly male, judging by their names) commenters were genuinely happy for her! They were proud of her for getting stronger and cheering her on! I didn’t spot a single comment about her looks or how great of a waifu she is (at the time anyway).

But it wasn’t just Noelle that got stronger. Another Black Bulls member, Vanessa, got an interesting power-up of her own, in the form a cat familiar that basically makes her and her teammates completely impervious to harm for as long as her mana holds out (which has saved their lives countless times). Another lady, Grey, has recently (in the anime) demonstrated some shockingly powerful magic that none of her teammates, or even she herself, realized she was capable of. Then there’s Charmy, who was already quite powerful but gained her own powered up transformation that made her strong enough to defeat an elf-possessed Magic Knight captain. If anything, the ladies have received MORE power-ups than the men.

And while we’re talking about powerful women, I have to talk about Mereoleona. If you’ve watched the show, you know exactly what I mean. If you haven’t, just imagine a character who can curb-stomp a powerful villain who is on a higher level than villains that the main characters were struggling to team up against just a few episodes before, who can then take on a whole group of these powered up villains and remain standing, even after losing consciousness, because they’re just that badass. Now imagine that character is a woman. And she’s so terrifying that one of the elf-possessed enemies (her comrades who had their bodies taken over by elves) remarks that his body froze up because, even though he’s controlling it, the BODY ITSELF was afraid of her. Mereoleona is an absolute beast, the kind of character that is almost always male in these types of shows. And the best part? The icing on this badass cake? The only person who was stronger than her, who could defeat her one-on-one, was ANOTHER WOMAN. Noelle’s mother. And a huge part of Noelle’s motivation as a character is becoming strong like her mother.

On the subject of Noelle’s motivation, I really appreciate that it has nothing to do with her crush on Asta. Sure, she likes him, but it’s not a motivating factor in her life and it’s not even really that important to her story arc. Her arc has always been about HER, about becoming stronger, living up to her powerful family’s expectations, discovering the truth about her mother’s death and then about avenging her, about becoming more empathetic to the common people despite being royalty. Noelle’s story is ABOUT HER. And it’s really sad that this is something remarkable, but we’ve all seen the “heroines” with no real arcs of their own, or worse, their arcs revolve almost entirely around their love for a male character (Sakura from Naruto is the most obvious example here but anyone who watches a lot of shounen can no doubt name many more). And Noelle isn’t an exception in Black Clover. Almost all of the women have interesting back stories and character arcs that have little to do with men (or if men are involved, they’re in supporting roles to these stories and very rarely the main subject).

An exception to this is possibly Charlotte, who is in love with Yami and this plays a big role in her story. However, even this is framed in a way that puts the emphasis on her own growth. It’s really about her learning to be honest with her feelings and getting over her own awkwardness around Yami. A big moment for her is when she admits to her squad that she’s in love with Yami, and they’re all eager and excited to help and support her, like the wonderful ladies they are.

Now, as I said before, Black Clover’s depictions of women are not perfect. There are a few issues I consider minor that I need to address. The first is the tendency the show has of making almost all the ladies be in love with someone. A large portion of the women are sporting crushes, though some of them are quite subtle or mainly used for comic relief, it’s still a little annoying that so many of them are in love. Of course, many of the male characters are in love with someone too (including the protagonist, Asta) and there are several female characters who are totally disinterested in romance, so I can overlook this. Another small issue is that, even though there’s more variety than usual in the body types (one female character is fat and another, Charmy, often gets quite pudgy for extended periods of time, plus a few ladies have more muscular builds), a significant portion of them have very large breasts, including two teenage characters (Noelle and Mimosa). It feels a little unnecessary, to be honest. Though to be fair, it’s rare that any of these characters are used for fan service and the camera never really seems to linger on their bodies. Most of them dress fairly modestly and among those who don’t, the more sexy clothes fit their characters and make sense for their personalities.

The last minor issue I have is that we often get the “designated girl fights”. If there’s a female villain, it’s likely that a female hero will be the one to fight her. This isn’t a rule set in stone, because there are plenty of male/female battles, but it happens enough to be very noticeable. Of course, these lady villains are demonstrated to be just as powerful and dangerous as the villainous men, but it’s still mildly irritating.

Those little nitpicks aside, Black Clover is still a shining example of a shounen fighting anime getting its ladies right. The women in the series are well-written, interesting characters with compelling stories. They’re powerful, have wildly varying personalities and motivations, and never feel like window dressing. They’re not just there to be pretty romantic interests. The show does all this very well, and I think it deserves a lot of praise and credit for it.

[magistralucis]

Ed Banger House Party @ Electric Brixton, 25 Jan 2019 [Review]

😍 Fucking fantastic you funky little Frenchmen... 😍

This was a very wild night. I can’t quite believe I survived it, even as I finish off writing thousands of words about it. It’s probably the most detailed review of a concert or show I have done to this date. I finally saw Sebastian in the flesh, was treated to over eight hours of sweet sweet music, and feel that I have begun my Ed Banger-related pursuits for this year in the perfect way.

And the loot. The sweet, sweet loot.

Read on for more. Mobile users, be warned this is a very long post.

The Journey

If you’ve read my other gig reviews you know the drill: I don’t live in London, have to commute there from wherever I’m living at the moment, London is difficult to navigate. But I had no trouble with my journeys this time, there were no Underground closures, and this venue was exactly the same one as the TBB show two years ago. Nothing to report there, only that I give props to our driver. There was an accident on the motorway, about 25 mins into a 2hr 20min journey. He took us on a thirty-mile detour to avoid the scene of the crash and still got us to London in time. If you’ve ever been on a National Express coach, you know what a big deal that is.

That wasn’t the only accident we stumbled upon in our journey, somewhere in Croydon (part of Outer London for non-UK readers) there was an altercation between two drivers and something like thirty police officers were present. It is rare to see that many police officers on scene for a single collision, so I wonder whether something more sinister was going on. All of them were wearing fluorescent vests and they reflected the light of the traffic most gloriously for a ten-meter stretch of the pavement. It was very attention-catching. I like to think they shared the same general sentiment of (o_o  ) when they looked over and saw an entire busful of people goggling at them, but that’s neither here nor there. It was around 8:30PM when I got to London, and I spent some time lingering in the train station before making my way to Brixton.

I like queuing up early. I had no idea what I was going to find there.

9:20~PM: If you follow Thibaut on insta you might have seen this.

This instastory. It’s not obvious, but these three were far from the only ones in this picture. I know this because I FUCKING WALKED IN ON THIS PHOTOSHOOT. THESE THREE WERE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE THERE. THIS WAS A VIP GROUP SHOT SESSION WITH 25+ PEOPLE OUTSIDE ELECTRIC BRIXTON AND I NEARLY BARGED IN AMONGST THEM LIKE A MOTHERFUCKING IDIOT

I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! ;A  ;

I’ve met my favourite bands spontaneously. Gone for signings. Received compliments from Rammstein. I’ve shaken hands with Xavier. But I’ve never just happened upon an entire group of my favourite people engaged in a situation not meant for ordinary fans. I was honestly more terrified than elated. I knew they were VIPs because they (all DJs included) had blue wristbands on which allowed continued re-entry into the club, instead of the usual red club stamp on the back of the hand. Later in the show I recognized two of those people as stage photographers. Pedro was closest to me, Irfane passed by (he had very vivid eyes, even under poor lighting), and around the right-hand side Thibaut was putting his arm around Sebastian. I may have seen Vladimir Cauchemar unmasked. Shit was surreal.

This could potentially have been a good place to greet Sebastian zdravo. Unfortunately there’s a time and place for such things, and a VIP photo session I wasn’t involved in was not one of them. (Electric Brixton isn’t known for facilitating after-show fan meets either, due to the club’s structure and how everyone has to be herded out at the end.) Even if it were just the Ed Banger folks milling around, I'm not sure if I’d have been able to approach them in this case. ‘Cause ultimately, I am just an Animal Experiencing Fear, and I was caught so off guard; I stepped back and pretended I had nothing to do with the area. At least that way I could gather my thoughts and continue to observe.

I can tell you this entire moment took five minutes from 9:23pm to 9:28pm, but only because I checked my phone later. I didn’t want to take it out in the moment because I got paranoid they’d think I was a creep. As the phones and cameras were put away and normal conversation resumed I looked up and saw Sebastian five steps in front of me.

You know that recent Seb + Vinco picture. Hang on I’ll find it. You know the look Seb has in that pic?

That. That is his actual gaze. That is what Seb actually looks like when he has nothing to pose for and nobody to speak to. Unless something mind-boggling was happening in the empty space several feet away from where I was standing, that’s his normal nothing-to-see-here expression. At one point we met eyes. I think he blinked like once. You can’t tell his eyes are blue even from a short distance. He looked down, exhaled vape smoke, and bit his lip. Then someone (Myd?) ushered him into the open doors. And that’s how I accidentally stumbled upon the Forbidden Ed Banger Content, and while I was excited at what I saw, I think I’d prefer a do-over in the future. When they’re not all engaged in other business, when I have a pen and an adequate surface, and when I am not a fool with poor timing.

Also Sebastian was not as tall as I thought he was, but also far from short; Irfane was taller than I thought, but visibly shorter than Thibaut; Thibaut was taller than I thought, but no match for Pedro, whose height continues to boggle my mind. I have seen all of those people before, save for Sebastian. Pedro I have seen multiple times, with multiple people, in multiple contexts. Yet I still have no grasp of how tall anybody is in this label.

I don’t know what that implies about my visualization skills. At this point, I’m too scared to find out.

9:33PM: I’m going with this timestamp because that’s when I noted down that security cleared out completely with the VIPs, closing the front doors behind them. A girl comes up near me and stares at the venue, the ‘Ed Banger Records’ written in lights, then at the queue barriers (not open) for some time before turning to me. There were maybe five people altogether waiting.

Girl: Excuse me, is this the queue for people with tickets?

Me: I don’t know. We might be queuing to find out where the queue is.

Girl: [To a freshly emerged security guard, holding a sandwich.] Excuse me, do you know if there’ll be tickets at the door?

Security guard: [Incomprehensible - he’s speaking at close distance and a bus is freshly pulling up behind me, so I can’t hear them. He goes inside and shuts the door as soon as he says his piece.]

Girl: He doesn’t know. What am I going to tell my friends.

Me: Oh my God did you not get tickets.

Girl: My friends did! I was meant to get in early and get the drinks and stuff oh my God I DIDN’T KNOW THEY WERE GOING TO BE SOLD OUT 😰

Me: DIDN’T THEY SAY THERE WOULD BE A LIMITED RELEASE THOUGH 😰

By this time we’re both mired in anxiety.txt and others were coming forwards with the same experience. A group of three girls who got there shortly after me were all waiting for door tickets, and a guy came along who had a ticket for himself but was trying to get his friend (Asian girl, very pretty) in. (I will see this friend repeatedly throughout the show, but not the dude.) Eventually we looked up what the Electric Brixton website had to say, and gathered that a very limited number of tickets were available and they were all here at the right time to purchase it. As far as I know, everyone there got in without trouble.

First release tickets were £15.00. Later I was told it was £25.00 at the door.

Yeesh.

9:50PM: They finally open up the queue barriers. I’m fourth. Several of us in the line take a poll on who we’re here to see:

Pedro: ///

Breakbot: //

Sebastian: ////

Riton: /

Vladimir:

Myd: /

‘Everyone’: //

‘I’m here because of my friends’: /

The girl in the above section answered with the last one. Ed Banger rookie. Writing this now, I’m sure she had the time of her life.

I say Sebastian. Two guys in front of me nod sagely. One of them wears a Woman Worldwide T-shirt and a Justice logo jacket. We mutually express wonder that Seb’s, like. Doing anything again. At this point, however, the queue is split into two: ticketed and buying at the door, on the opposite end of the entrance. The girl and I say farewells as she departs for the latter. Unfortunately, I do not get to see her again. It’s a shame. She was lovely.

9:55PM: Security emerges with QR code readers and club stamps and starts to call us in go go go go go go go go

9:58~PM: The bouncer initiating pat down pauses over my portable battery for a very long time, seemingly considering whether that’s legal. Fuck my life. Eventually, though, he lets me in and I s p r i n t for the bar.

It has begun.

A note before I start: like the XOYO gig review last year, this review has been composed via rough notes, photos, and videos I took through the show. It was a longer night than last year, and everyone played for a lengthy period of time; this review is thus split into six sections, one for each DJ, including timestamped observations and photos/gifs of the night.

The gifs are taken from my own videos. Unfortunately, Electric Brixton’s setup made photography difficult for three reasons: 1) an abundance of flashing lights, 2) the elevation difference between the dancefloor and the DJ booth, unlike in XOYO where there was no audience-DJ divide, and 3) smoke machines, as well as actual vapers in the form of Sebastian Akchoté. Those three things make a mess onscreen, so images are potato quality compared to where I was (front center). This was a constant problem during the night, so instead of complaining about it with every DJ, I’ll just refer to this as the I Cannot See For Shit (ICSFS) syndrome and call it a day.

Busy P (10PM to 11:50~PM)

10PM: Mother fucking sons of bitches raised the price of water!

As mentioned in the TBB review, a 500ml bottle of water at Electric Brixton was £3.00 in 2017. (Even in 2019, at a supermarket it can be as little as 55p/500ml.) Harsh, but it is what you’d expect from London. But when I came back they’d raised it to a whopping £3.60. You could buy yourself a meal with that kind of money, albeit a small one, even for London. Disgusting.

But what can you do with something as necessary as water. I did expect it. I’m sore about it, is all.

10:05PM: Restroom visited, water bought and tucked into bag, jacket tied around waist. I was wearing armwarmers. I take my place by the barriers, front row center, with a guy on my left and an empty space on my right. Left-hand arrangement will not change during the night, while on the right it will be chaos.

10:10PM: Very superstitious / nothin' more to say / very superstitious / the devil's on his way / thirteen month old baby / broke the lookin' glass / seven years of bad luck / good things in your past

This is my first video of the night. Might upload it later.

10:21PM: USE IMAGINATION 💫 AS A DESTINATION 💘 USE IMAGINATION 💫 AS A DESTINATIoOoON 💘 USE IMAGINATION AND COME CLooOoOSER 👄✨ 👄 FOREVER BEEEEE 😘 😘💋

‘Pleasure’ summons the two dudes I was talking to in the queue to my right, especially the Justice fan guy. They stuck with me through Pedro’s set.

10:30~PM: Pedro looks a lot happier than he did at XOYO last year. He’s interacting a lot with fans, smiling, bopping about the way we have all come to expect from him.

10:40PM: I see the first glimpse of another DJ hanging around at the back. It’s Myd, drinking in a corner.

10:50PM: Is that what I think it is. I think it’s what I think it is

10:51PM: POP THE GLOCK THE GLOCK YOU POP IF YOU OUTTA LINE IT’S YOU I’LL BANG POP POP THE GLOCK THE GLOCK YOU POP IF YOU OUTTA LINE IT’S YOU I’LL BANG POP

Fantastic to hear some Uffie in the mix. I missed her so damn much. I think I might upload that clip as well because I want to share the experience with y’alls.

10:54PM: Thibaut jitterbugs into the scene. The lighting’s too bad for a photo so I post about it on the hellsite instead.

11:19PM: The display in front of the DJ booth has remained constant until this point, displaying the Ed Banger logo with only the occasional change in lighting. But now the display suddenly starts changing. Check it out.

It got really trippy with Breakbot.

11:29PM: ‘Genie’ comes on. I can see Thibaut and Irfane at the back now, ready to take over. I take my first drink since I entered the club.

11:52PM: HE PUT ON ‘BURNIN’. HE ACTUALLY DID THAT.

Pedro picks up the mic at this point and greets us for the first time during the night. I have what he said on video but it’s hard for me to transcribe it over all the audience noise, it might have to be an upload later on; I have videos of most DJ-DJ segues of this night, so hopefully that should be an interesting exercise. According to the timestamp on this video, 11:52-53PM is when Thibaut put on the headphones and took over from Pedro, but he continues to linger

11:55PM:

just so he can cOMPLETELY LOSE HIS SHIT APPARENTLY.

Breakbot (Thibaut and Irfane) (11:50~PM to 1:30AM)

12:00AM: At midnight Thibaut and Irfane take over fully with ‘Break of Dawn’. There’s something wild about listening to people sing a song with no lyrics (da DA DA DA darararaRA).

12:05AM: Irfane was on serious mode all night. I’ve also realized that the light situation is not going to get better; if it was Pedro alone I could have forgotten about it, but Breakbot’s set was where the ICSFS got really, really bad. There are so many photos where I tried to capture beautiful moments between Thibaut and Irfane, as they were quite touchy with one another (not as much as they were at XOYO tho), and yet it all turned to shit. I’m so sad.

12:10~AM: The two dudes to the right of me leave. The music is most funky fresh and the smoke machines are on max, so much I cannot actually see either of the DJs on scene. A girl wearing light blue takes over to my right.

I think Electric Brixton has reached full capacity. It’s not a big venue, fitting only about 2000 people or so, but I can feel it in the air. I look behind me and all around me are unfamiliar faces, packed tightly in a crowd. It’s hot. I take off my armwarmers and cram them into my bag. 

12:16AM: Irfane baby I love you but that was not a smooth segue.

(I don’t actually know what song he was on but the music like. Stopped 100% for a second. It didn’t sound intentional.)

12:25AM: I have a note on my phone that says ‘12:25 Pedro making heart’. I have no memory of this. Fangirl magistralucis what are your secrets.

12:30AM: you 😍💖 are all I think about 😍✨😍✨😍 keep me sulking and down 😘👇🏼 but you fill me with 🔥 so much 🔥 emotion 😳💖😳 and I’ll show my 🙏🏼🕊💐 devotion 💐🕊🙏🏼 to you ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

12:31AM: I cannot see for shit. Here have a light show I guess.

12:36AM: Dance, dance with me / Life's a fantasy / Stand next to me / Like ecstasy

12:48AM: Irfane puts on ‘Funkytown’. Thibaut dances beautifully. I’ll drink to that.

12:51AM:

What the hell is this?

1:07AM: Extra, extra, read all about it! The Mysterious Ninth Planet, located at last! Turns out it was in the hands of funky Frenchmen all along, who were hoarding not just the ninth planet, but ALL THE PLANETS

1:08AM: You may have seen what was happening during the above in Irfane’s instastory, actually. He put on ‘Le Freak’. I wonder whether I should upload this clip from where I was.

1:10AM:

?????

1:20AM: Pedro comes back into view. I try to film him but it doesn’t work out, and for once it had nothing to do with ICSFS. The girl to the right of me, who was rocking out for all of Breakbot’s set, is beginning to slump over on the railing. "Are you okay?” I call, but I don’t think she heard. From how rapidly it came on, how she could barely stand during the first five minutes of VC’s set, and how frantically her and her friends left afterwards (she could barely walk), it is quite possible she was going into diabetic shock. She did not return.

This is a known issue. You generally cannot bring food into London clubs, even if you’re diabetic. Electric Brixton had a complaint two years ago that a diabetic person was not permitted to bring in their food to prevent this exact thing happening. I hope whatever she had wasn’t that serious, but. I do wonder.

This leads to a note about security, I suppose. There were none up front by the barriers. There was no one to call for help to, except for maybe the stage photographers, and that’s not what they’re trained to do. People who were falling sick or too inebriated to stand would have benefited from having security help them beyond the barrier straight away, instead of having to wade their way back through a tight crowd.

This continued to be a problem.

1:20~AM: Vladimir Cauchemar is visible. He doesn’t have the skull mask on, but with something smooth concealing his face, kind of like the Taikobots of Danger’s Taiko-era set. When he takes over he has put the mask on.

Vladimir Cauchemar (1:30AM to 2:30AM)

1:30AM: I gotta say, VC was the easiest and the best to photograph in this show, and I both respect and resent that fact.

VC’s lighting stayed a consistent red and black through his set, similar to how it was at XOYO, and the clearest images I have of the night are of him. I’m still not over his collab with 6**9*** so my impression of him isn’t out of the woods yet, which is why my notes for him are brief.

I tell you what, though. He got the crowd going. VC was the first DJ to get the dude standing to the left of me dancing, and this is the dude who stayed the entire eight hours of the night by my side while on my right people faded in, faded out, barged into places. (Dude was holding out for Sebastian, but stuck around for all of Myd as well.) His set had serious limitations - the most gregarious sin of which I’ve noted down below - but he had a great stage personality. I have very mixed feelings.

Still didn’t prevent me from standing out certain songs to go on Russian duolingo, but that was my pride.

1:35AM: ‘Aulos’ comes on. I will upload that video because I might as well, I’ve little else videoed for VC. Someone taps my shoulder. It’s the friend of the dude whom I encountered outside, the Asian girl. “Can I put this here?” She calls, and places her coat down beyond the barrier; there are steps on the other side where you can place your drinks, bags, coats etc if you’re front row. She withdraws behind me afterwards, and when I next look back, she’s gone.

1:40AM: I’m honestly surprised how many people are digging VC’s set. He was not first choice for anyone I asked.

1:51AM: Vladimir, Aulos is great but not twice in the same set.

2:00AM: Third drink of the night. My legs are getting numb. The first 3-4 hours of a set are always the hardest. I don’t remember what VC was playing. At several points he played Michael Jackson but I have no record of when. I stood still to rest my legs and distracted myself with other pursuits.

2:18AM:

Hi I’m in this photo and I don’t like it.

2:26AM: VLADIMIR. AULOS IS GREAT, BUT NOT THRICE IN THE SAME SET.

This. This is the major problem with his set. I know it’s his biggest hit, but VC exploits ‘Aulos’ way too much, and from what I hear he essentially does this for every set he plays. Would it injure him to play a different song every now and then. Seriously. There are so many excellent songs in the world, and some of them might even be ones he’ll drop in the future. Why stick to ‘Aulos’ alone. I don’t get it.

2:26~AM: As I was noting down the third instance of ‘Aulos’, the girl who put her coat down returned. “Can I have my coat back?” She calls over the sound, and I peer over. I can’t see the coat. The red spotlight passes over the floor; the coat’s rolled off the steps and is now lying on the ground.

“I can’t reach it.” I shout. “It’s fallen off.”

“Oh no.” She shouts. 

“Can you wait until the segue?”

She shakes her head. “I’ll go over the barrier, but thanks.”

I offer to help her over, but she doesn’t think she'll make it. She ducks out past the crowd and goes around the side instead (no security to stop her), runs over to grab her coat, and then leaves straight away. She’ll be back for Sebastian’s set, but now it’s Riton time.

Riton (2:30AM to 3:30AM)

I didn’t enjoy Riton’s set very much. This had 0% to do with his music and everything to do with the chaos on my right-hand side, which made it worse. If it was the artist that was bad you chalk it up to a mismatch in interests, but knowing other concertgoers unilaterally deprived you of a good experience is a unique level of terrible. There are no timestamps for this section because I was too busy keeping an eye on my surroundings to take notes; he was also afflicted with the ICSFS, which didn’t help, but it’s a darn shame how much I missed out.

Oh and that too. That was his light show. Riton was a special guest and his name/logo was the dominant display for the entirety of his set. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about the chip on my shoulder.

Here’s the thing. I attend most of the gigs I go to by myself. I prefer it that way because I get anxious when things go wrong. I have a very specific set of items I bring with me to concerts, and practice very meticulous timekeeping. One of the rules I observe during gigs is that I do not move from my position: I prefer front centre or front centre-right generally, but wherever it is, I stay put.

I am not a tall woman. If I lose my place, it is unlikely I’d get it back. I’m full of anxiety about being at my place, but I’m more anxious to avoid losing it, so I defend it with all my might. I have never lost my place in almost ten years and this show was no exception. But my goodness did the guys to my right push my buttons this time. The guy who was to the right of me for Riton was with a group, all of whom were banging on the barriers and creating a ruckus. Just my luck he was the only one who seemed actually inebriated. He kept putting his head down on the railing, slumped over for minutes at a time, before suddenly raving and flailing around whenever Riton dropped a beat. He had no consideration for whoever he was accidentally knocking about (i.e. me) during this. And as I said, there was no security up front, so I was on my own.

At first I had some sympathy, because I still wasn’t over the girl who left earlier. I’ve never seen people who were inebriated/high during shows last very long where they were, either. But the fifteenth time dude nearly poked my eye out, it was just too much. I do not like people prodding their way into my personal space. I do not like it, Sam-I-Am.

The last time I had to be vicious with a concertgoer was at TBB, where a ginger-haired girl kept on trying to tear people from their place up front, and eventually was ejected by security after she got into a catfight with another girl next to me. Apparently this time it was my turn to give into Righteously Indignant Bitch Hours and the next time he started flailing his arm into my neck, I grabbed him and slammed his hand onto the railing and shouted “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU.”

I wish I could say this made him stop. However, life is dumb. Dude was too out of it to comprehend his own actions, let alone my complaints. His friends pulled him out of the front row for about five minutes but then he came staggering back, muttering something about his lens cap (?) and if I’d seen it. It wasn’t long before he began to barge into the surrounding people again. Only elbows were the solution; I can barely move my right arm even now, it feels so bruised. I’m not proud of what I did, but I’m not sure what I could have done differently, and I would do the same even now.

But, you know. It could have been worse. If you’ve been front row, you know there’s a difference between those who’re trying to grab a good time and those who act out of malice. The former usually try to sneak a hand in next to yours on the railing, or crash into you from the back, or wedge their way in - but they almost always follow it up with an apology, and they tend to carve out their own little space, not actively steal yours. Yes I’m talking about that ginger-haired girl at the TBB show again. I’ve attended full on firebreathing industrial metal shows at much bigger, suffocating venues, and yet those audiences still managed to avoid being vicious and petty. She was the worst. Holy shit. It’s been two years and I’m still mad. Fucking bitch I hope you step in a puddle. What was I writing about again? Oh yeah the dude. He wasn’t acting out of malice, but out of irresponsibility. And to be honest, his friends weren’t that better, save for a girl who was about five feet eight tall and complimented that I was still standing later in the set: “I had to sit down after Thibaut and you’re still jumping like nothing happened!”

That made me think about my own stamina. I never thought I had much. I’m twenty-five years old. I’m in my prime, but I had more energy when I was eighteen, and I am old enough to keep that in mind. I’m not getting younger. After a show I’m bruised and my muscles ache and I pass out asleep for hours at a time. I’m usually awake for 30hrs~ during those times. I don’t eat or drink much before shows to prevent bathroom breaks. I ate on 3:30pm on the 25th and didn’t touch a single morsel of food again until 7am on the 26th, and even then it was a sandwich. After dancing for eight hours.

It’s been that way for years. But maybe most people? Don’t? Do that? And maybe I am? Actually quite strong? For regularly surviving what I do to myself?

I don’t know. Let’s move onto what I think 70% of you are here to read about.

Sebastian (3:30AM to 4:30AM)

3:30AM: Predictably, Sebastian gets the loudest cheers of the night when he comes on. Riton announces him and passes him the headphones. He still does the hand thing, by the way.

This thing.

3:30~AM: Not an observation of the moment, but of the entire set. Seb played some big name EDM songs and what I believe are versions of his YLS tracks. He was the only set I wanted to record in full, but I wasn’t tall enough and my equipment wasn’t good enough to do so. ICSFS is in play. I sort of hoped he'd stuck with his vicious red lighting from Primary Tour, and he did, but not to a degree where I could get good shots of him.

Is anyone excited for him to drop an album this year or what. Pedro said he would.

3:38AM: Seb also has the dubious honour of being the only DJ who contributed extra to the ICSFS problem. He vapes through the entire set. I have lots of feelings and I don’t know what to do with myself honestly.

3:39AM: Neither do the dudes to my right. They are the friends of the inebriated dude who has since staggered off into the crowd. They are completely losing their shit, screaming and taking their shirts off and kicking at the barriers. They contributed to some of the bruises on my right arm. But they still didn’t take my place so whatever.

3:40~AM: Seb is not a smiler. Photographer comes by and he gives him a single glance before turning back. I don’t know why I’m surprised.

3:43AM: The Asian girl with the coat from earlier comes back. She asks me to deposit a different layer of coat this time over the barrier, and stands behind me. I feel very protected.

3:50~AM: Balm to aid my pain: photographers start coming down from the stage to pass out Ed Banger pins and stickers. The first lot are thrown into the audience, but the second photographer takes the time to give all of us one. This is the first time I’ve scored thrown Ed Banger merch during a set. I usually can’t reach them because I am smol.

I am also bonding with the dude to my left during this time. We collaborate to catch the pins we want and share them out between the two of us. He gets the Ed Banger melody logo pin, and gives me the Ed Banger 15 Ans pin. “Are you sure?” I ask. He smiles and nods. I thank him and hand him a Breakbot sticker, one that’s of his name. 

4:06AM: What the fuck the lights are changing

4:06AM: Is that

4:06AM: IT IS

4:07AM: IT’S JUSTICE. IT’S HEAVY METAL. SEB’S PLAYING HEAVY METAL AND HE’S DOING THE HAND THING AND THE LIGHT SHOW’S TRIPPY AS FUCK ALL OF A SUDDEN AND EVERYONE IS SCREAMING AND THE DUDE LEFT OF ME IS DECLARING HIS LOVE FOR SEB IN FRENCH AND I AM SCREAMING OH MY FUCKING GOD

4:09AM: HE SEGUES TO ROLLIN’ AND SCRATCHIN’. HE LITERALLY DID THAT. SEBASTIAN AKCHOTE IS PLAYING ROLLIN’ AND SCRATCHIN’ AND WE’RE ALL GOING BATSHIT INSANE. I’M SORRY FOR THE BAD CAMERA WORK. THIS IS HOW I DIE.

4:15~AM: Myd is finally going back and forth. He will close the night after Sebastian has finished his set. Looking back on the videos of the night, I can’t believe he only played for an hour; it felt a bit longer than that, Sebastian never let up for a single second as long as he was onstage. Not a single minute wasted. And now you’re going to have to excuse me babes because he’s puttING ON STRESS AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE AGAIN RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW

4:24AM: AAAAAAAAAAAA

(Seb’s still playing Stress. Looping the chainsaw noises. Steady camera work lmao what steady camera work)

4:30AM: Sebastian hands over the reins to Myd at this point. I do not have a video of this segue because he does not announce the takeover; with one of his inscrutable hand gestures and a proud look, Sebastian takes up a whole bottle of wine and silently walks offstage. Again, I don’t know why I am remotely surprised. That is probably the most Seb thing I have seen Seb do all night, and it was a night extremely full of Seb things.

At this point I stop jotting down notes on my phone. But I’m at about 58% battery and going strong, so I’m still taking photos and videos whenever I can. Myd’s section is reconstructed from these records.

Myd (Round 2) (4:30~AM to 6:00AM)

4:30~AM: Not a specific observation. As mentioned in the Breakbot review of May 2018, I have unfinished business with Myd. Or at least: had. Myd played the closer in XOYO last year, and back then I was weak and I could not stay through his entire set. I swore to myself the next time he returned, and I was able to see him, I would last as long as he was onstage.

And I did. That’s one promise to myself kept, and what I hope was a little justice done for a DJ of Myd’s caliber.

4:35AM: Coat girl taps my shoulder again. “I’m going home. Could you...?” She gestures to the barrier, and I reach down and pull up her coat. It didn’t roll onto the ground this time.

“There you are.” I say. She takes it and gives me a hug. “Have a good night.”

“Have a good night!” Then she’s gone, alongside the exodus of people who are leaving the club. More people stuck around for Myd here than in XOYO. Guy to my left nudges me to look; stickers are coming around again, specifically the ‘Hello My Name Is _______ [Myd]’ one. We each take one.

4:44AM: I’m out of water. Actually I was out of water immediately before Seb finished, because for some reason I thought downing the last of my only means of hydration with over 1h 30mins to go was a sensible thing to do. I regret this decision bitterly, but I’ll probably survive.

4:58AM:

@_@

5:03AM: It is very difficult for me to ID Myd’s tracks. I suspect a lot of them are original or are from his recent release that I haven’t yet listened to. Appropriate to a closer, he takes a very trance-inspired line to his entire set, with lots of repetition and few loud drops; this was the same in XOYO. I wonder what a Myd headliner set must be like.

5:10~AM: The guy to the left of me is struggling. So am I. But further to his left, there is a guy slumped on the rails. His girlfriend is beside him. They’ve been there all night, but they’ve clearly reached their limit. My right hand side keeps refilling and emptying as people step away or leave.

I talk about that other guy because he summons Thibaut to him.

5:28AM: I took several vids of this but this timestamp belongs to the longest. Thibaut comes back with his own phone to film the audience. He winks and shyly gestures all of us to gather our strengths and be more pumped up, and I recall we obliged him because he asked so nicely. He lingered for some time, gazing at us as fondly as we were gazing at him. He then looked at the guy slumped over on the railing and hopped down from the stage, gently patting his shoulder to talk to him.

I didn’t hear any of their conversation, save for Thibaut asking the dude ‘where he was from’. By the way he clasped his hand to his chest several times, though, I’m inclined to think he was really concerned about the guy. They eventually shook hands and Thibaut made as if to hop back onstage. (The photo was taken as he was leaving.)

Except he couldn’t jump that high. He gave us another shy look and braced his foot against the barriers, perching neatly on the stage before clambering up. He stuck around for about five more minutes to check up on the audience.

I love Thibaut so much. He’s so gentle.

5:34~AM: Holy fuck my bag is full of crap. I haven’t organized it in some time. Discarded cups, beer cans etc have accumulated by my feet, and as I kick them away I’m trying to check my loot is in place and I still have my items. I can’t feel my passport and my blood runs cold for a moment. I turn the camera flash on to look.

“Are you looking for something?” The guy to my left asks worriedly.

I feel my passport in my front pocket. False alarm. “Just organizing my bag.”

(I didn’t see any lost foreign ID or driver licenses on the floor this time.)

5:43AM:

Russian duolingo says fuck millennial lives

5:50~AM: The smoke machine is turned off. I still can’t see for shit, though, because the lights flash rapidly between deep blue and violet and Myd’s hidden behind it.

My last video of the night is timestamped 5:55AM. Myd has a most benevolent smile on his face. He knows the night is drawing to a close.

6:00AM: I did it.

We made it.

I have made it through a Myd set fully and have survived the night.

Myd finished exactly at 6am and exited to a crowd of applause. There are calls for an encore, but given that it's... like, literally morning, it’s not realistic to expect him to stay any longer. Security comes by as soon as he exits, and we all leave Electric Brixton behind at last. The sun has not yet risen. I fall in step with the guy next to me.

Guy: Where are you heading to?

Me: Coach. I came up from Brighton.

Guy: From Brighton?! Was that last night or what?

Me: Yep, two hours before the show. I haven’t eaten or slept all night.

Guy: Wow. [Pause.] Though I think that’s the longest I’ve danced in my entire life, too.

Me: You’re not kidding. I really didn’t think I was going to last beyond Sebastian.

I think he was a Londoner. We say farewells in front of the Electric Brixton bus stop, and I leave for the Underground. My legs are numb and I can barely walk, but somehow I stumble past the barriers and sink into the seats of the train. Back at Victoria Train Station I drop in at Sainsburys for a sandwich and two cans of grape soda, and then realizing I need a resealable container to take on the bus, buy a bottle of Pepsi. The grape soda was just because I really love grape soda and I cannot find a place in Brighton that sells any. It was around 8AM when I finally got on the coach back home.

I had not slept for some twenty hours. I continued to not sleep on the bus. I tried very hard to, but I couldn’t, because I was still buzzing from the adrenaline. It wasn’t until I got home, just after 11AM, that I began to feel sleepy for real. Sig. other made me a cup of tea, and I took the interval to admire some cat slippersocks that had arrived for me in the meantime.

LOOK AT IT.

Overall I’d say this was a fantastic night. I have taken care of unfinished business and seen Sebastian in the flesh. I have, however, come away with another unfinished business to replace the deal with Myd - I should seek out Riton again, the next time he comes here, and deliver a full review of what that was like. To think of the Ed Banger crew making their way across Europe in 2019, with new material and a new Sebastian in tow...

😍😍😍

[yoshimickster]

RWBY Volume 6 Episode “Alone in the Woods” Micksterecap-THINGS HAPPEN FINALLY!

Hey everybody hoping you had a good week, mine’s had some bumps but I’m still dancin’ so WHATEVS-lets get to Micksterecap!

OUR EPISODE STARTS OUT-

-with Ruby thinking about reenacting her favorite scene from “An American Tail”, moon and everything-BUT-

2:05 -CAN’T due to Bumblebee angst. Look at Weiss in the middle there, no WAY she doesn’t know she’ a buffer between the two of them. Girl just wants to be warm, why does she also have to be in between passive aggressive romance drama?

Its sad times like this when a girl JUST needs a stable adult to talk to, so she GOES to Qrow-

-aaaaaaaaaaand he’s drinking...super. Way to keep it together, one of only 2 stable adults. He then tells her that he’s okay and that he’ll wake everyone up in the morning because he’s the STABLE adult he is!

A CUT TO-Maria telling Oscar about the late man of the house Bartleby, and how the farming community was going through a BIT of tough times, which I’m SURE he didn’t try to solve by using the dark arts...so sure.

Ruby than tells everyone they gotta go to sleep as they gotta get out of this rejected Evil Dead setting ASAP, which I’m sure Qrow will DEFINITELY be awake to wake up everbod-

4:13 Oooooooooooooooooooooh Qrooooooooooooooow...you got a problem man. That’s an ENTIRELY different bottle of booze. AND-just when you think his drinking problem couldn’t be even MORE of a problem-

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH she woke up before him and saw him in this state. We’re getting real here folks, we’re tackling alcoholism, WE’RE DOING IT FOLKS!

In a FIT of anger-

-Ruby SMASHES that shit-

-WAKING-his drunk ass up-

-making him INSTANTLY realize he broke a promise due to his drinking...we are getting DANGEROUSLY close to very special episode territory here folks.

Ruby than gives him a sweet hug telling him he could talk to her and Yang about stuff, but like many people with a problem Qrow brushes it off...uuuuuuuuuuuuuh...HAMMERS! Sorry...trying to make a joke here but its just...SUCH an angst fest!

5:36 Everyone else is awake, hell Weiss even welded a hitchemup to Bumblebee(the bike not the ship) with her dust magic so the cart will attach to it! When Weiss learned welding I do NOT know but I’m glad she did!

EITHER WAY everything goes out fine without ANY proble-

-aaaaaaaaaand Qrow’s Misfortune pops the tire (Ruby, HIDE THE BOOZE).

This single deflated tired sparks a chain reaction of mental anguish, where everyone is practically giving up on the mission, Yang even tells Ruby she should just throw the Jinn lamp down the well ALSO-

7:43 These three just...STARE at Ruby until she drops it in the well...like weird sleepy zombies. Ruby attempts to toss that sucker down the well-

-while ALSO sporting a sleepy zombie demeanor like everyone else which I’m SO SURE won’t mean anything later-BUT THEN-

“Hey kid...you like balloons?”

Ruby than drops the lamp, LOGICALLY freaks out about it ALL WHILE-

-these...three sleepy bitches don’t give a SHIT! If you can ‘t tell by now, some CLEAR devil magic is being had here.

Ruby somehow being the ONLY person to not be sleepified, gets her team to join her in getting the magical lamp that the bad guy wants that is STILL a freakin priority! And I’m sure Qrow, being a mature man of body and mind will FIGHT BACK the curse holding them-

Qrow: Everyone do whatever, I’m gonna drink away my feelings.

Ooooooooooooooh right, depression.

9:29 Team RWBY jumps down the well without receiving fall damage, in what is CLEARLY Killer Croc’s level in Batman Arkham Asylum. Get the Poison Ivy spores and then GET OUT OF THERE! The four than search for the lamp-ALL WHILE-

Maria continues to read Bartelby’s diary which I’m sure will have NOOOOOOOOOOOOO relevance at all...absolutely none.

After slightly more emo than usual Blake points out their scroll’s flashlights are useless when they’re looking for a glowing lamp of infinite glowing-

-BAM-they finds that shit, and I’m sure NOTHING bad will happen when they go look for it, not Salem’s crew, not White Fang-bangers, not nightmare Grimm that suck away your will to care about anything creating utter and total apath-

-ooooooooooooooh crap, RUN OLD WOMAN! RUN AND HELP THOSE FOUR TEENAGERS WHO AREN’T USED TO THE SOUL CRUSHING NOTHINGNESS!

OH SWEET JESUS-they’re all bendy and moaning, and GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! They even freak out Ruby-

-BUT thankfully-

-THAT was enough to wake them up from their case of the SERIOUS mondays. TERROR-the greatest alarm clock of all! Ruby THEN introduces them to the monsters of the week-

-DAMMIT-I wish I could get a better picture of how unsettling they all are, like freaky inky skeletons. Ruby then gives the FIRST volley-

11:12

-WHICH does nothing! That’s what you get for forgetting those super cross-bullets from the character short Ruby...and RWBY in general, what the hell happened to those things? Its even worse when the Apathy uses-EMO SHRIEK-

And its SUPER effective! THANKFULLY THOUGH-

OLD LADY MARIA APPEARS to save the day...by...encouraging them to run! Hey, helping’s helping, I’m not picky.

Maria: LET’S GO LESBIANS, LET’S GO!

Team RWBYM then runs ALL throughout the catacombs, running into more and more of these Grimm zombie fucks and JUST when they get to the exit-

-AND they hit em with another depression wave, they make Blue Diamond look like Holly Blue!

12:29 That don’d stop Maria, the little Yoda that could from trying to open the door-BUT-to no avail! Strong will power has its limits. ALSO-Blake has the most...HORRIFYING reaction to the Apathy’s power-

Blake:...its fine.

While she just LIES down, complacent in the absolute nothingness the Apathy gave them, just CREEPY!

Things are just NOT looking good folks, the music keeps getting creepier, the Grimm keep getting closer, and the PROM is tomorrow! But RIGHT before one of the skeledudes try to Freddy Kruger Blake-

Ruby: NO-not my sister’s almost girlfriend!

WOO-silver eyes-STUN THOSE LITTLE BITCHES!

Things seem good for like THREE seconds, Yang rushes to the door to bash it open BUT-

-they blast them with YET ANOTHER emo wave-RIGHT before Yang could get to the door.

Yang: NO-I can’t reach one of my two almost girlfriends!

Don’t lie, some of you were thinking shippy thoughts with that shot, and you DISGUST ME!

13:54 Once again its up to RWBY Grandma Katara to SAVE the day!

Maria: Ruby, what color are your eyes?

By...asking questions about eye color apparently! Also her goggles don’t look THAT distorted, I’m amazed she hasn’t guessed their silver.

Maria than gives her the ULTIMATE pep-talk, Ruby gets up and REVEALS-

-SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HA GRIMM DISINTEGRATION POWERS! AWESOME! H-wait...did Ozpin KNOW about how Silver Eye powers WORKED? Cos if he did...wwwwwwwwwwwhy didn’t he get Ruby a tutor? Because that is one BAD ASS super power!

Either way it was an attack SO awesome-

-that it fixed Maria’s eyes! HUZZAH!

Yang bashes the exit’s door, REVEALING IT LEADS TO-

15:22 -THE HOUSE...uh, yeah where else would it lead? I’m just saying EVERYONE here is surprised, including Weiss and Ruby who saw the door LAST episode. Man, intense magical apathy must do TERRORS on the memory-WHICH-is actually true for those for depression. They ALSO see-

DRUNKLE QROW-who has been ABSOLUTELY useless this ENTIRE episode due to the Apathy amplifying his depression. Seriously, I want to point out he DOES look worse in this episode than others, most times he was a functional drunk, this time he went full off the wagon.

Everybody decides to logically leave this hellish house of hell-housery-RIGHT BEFORE THE ANIMATORS-

15:37 Give us SHIP BAIT! GLORIOUS GLORIOUS SHIP BAIT!

Either way, Weiss who is absolutely DONE with being scared and apathetic does the ONLY logical thing one can do in this situation-

-SET SOME BITCHES ON FIRE! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH-their gonna toast up NICE with all that wood and alcohol there!

After pushing a belligerent Drunkle Qrow who EVENTUALLY notices the death monsters-

16:26 See that look? THAT is a combo look of both breaking from a plus 10 apathy enchantment AND instant sobriety!

Either way, everyone gets on the cart attached to Bumblebee and they get OUT OF THERE-

...rather...smoothly I gotta say! I mean what is that, 25 miles an hour? Bumblebee has a GOOD amount of horsepower for a motorcycle, wander why Yang had so much trouble trudging it through the snow earlier.

Everybody than says sorry for ever saying they’d want to quit the debatably futile mission of stopping an immortal witch, Maria gives final backstory on the apathy inducing monsters they fought being rounded up there by dumb-ass Bartleby who just didn’t want to pay Hunstmen and thought putting his friends and family into a state of constant apathy was a good idea, bla bla bla-TELL US WHAT WE ALL READY KNOW WOMAN!

Ruby: Ms Calavera, how do you know so much about the Grimm, and in the tunnels you know exactly what to say to make my eyes do that...how?

Maria: Well, isn’t it obvious girl...I had silver eyes!

BAM-a creepy as hell horror episode, more examples of Qrow’s drinking being a LEGIT problem, and SECRETS REVEALED in Maria being a Silver-eyes! DAMN what a good episode, hell the Apathy are almost as creepy as the Nuckaleave, and I LOVES the Nuckaleave!

Either way, fun episode, if you want to support my Patreon or Kofi just ask or message me, SEE YA NEXT WEEK ON MICKSTERECAPS!

[scrunchyharry]

Look I love Harry so much but I never believe when he says he supports women because it seems that his views are basic. You can't describe yourself as a women supported yet continue to spread stereotypes about women in your music.

sorry I’m only now seeing this, 11 days later. go me.

so much has already been said about it that I’ll only be redundant, so I’ll be brief* on what I think now, two weeks later:

he didn’t write the songs alone, the documentary explicitly tells us he wrote Carolina with Mitch. I don’t have my album yet (the shipping is taking so long) so I can’t check the songs credits but it’s a known fact he did not write it alone. we cannot make him the scapegoat for every word on it

a lot has been said about his gender-neutral songs feeling more genuine than the gendered ones. the presence of so many stereotypes in them tells me he went with the trends of the genres he emulated. I see it more as a lack of originality or a discomfort with the genres than as internalized misogyny on his part. he’s still getting his sea legs as a solo artist

I know we expected a gender-neutral album, especially with the promo we were given right before it came out, but at the end of the day, Harry is a product that is being sold and he has people to answer to. those people have agendas. the album wasn’t written in a vacuum, Harry doesn’t exist in a vacuum. to expect he’d do a complete 180 from what he was while in 1D is something I, myself, hoped for, but it was a pipe dream

that’s for the album. as for Harry, re: women, I was angry when I wrote the tags you’re replying to with this message. I’m calm, now, and I don’t believe Harry’s feminist and LGBTQIAA opinions aren’t genuine because they’re one of the constant aspects of his personality for as long as he’s been in the public eye. I also think that he’s only 23 years old and he’s in a difficult position; he’s in a world where misogyny is the norm and where men are excused for being, if not complicit with it, passive about it. 

for us, women, it’s difficult to understand how someone who is against misogyny can repeat some of its patterns because we live under the weight of sexism daily. from a man’s perspective, as much as he empathizes and hates it and wants to abolish it, it always remains something theoretical. something it’s easy to sometimes forget. 

as a white woman, I can understand, acknowledge, be revulsed and revolt against racism, but I will never fully internalize the struggle. I can sometimes forget about it because I don’t carry the weight on my shoulders. it’s a lens I can apply to look at my experience of life, but it doesn’t define its essence. that doesn’t mean I’m not invested in the fight, or think it’s irrelevant. privilege is invisible, after all. 

what I’m trying to say is this: the lyrics bother me. the songs are bangers, though. I’ve listened to worse. Harry isn’t a misogynist, he’s just trying to find his place and his voice in a misogynist world. it’s his first album and the first time he’s truly being allowed to have a voice. let’s give him time to find it before we pass judgment on him. 

I’m not trying to make excuses for him. he could have spoken up, he could have changed the lyrics, and he didn’t. just like he’s complicit in the push for a womanizer image, lately. I wish I understood what’s going on behind the scenes, who’s pulling what string, but without that information, we need to work with a patchwork of feelings and glimpses of what feels like authenticity.

I always believe that what a person does is more important than what they say. his words are being filtered and molded and distorted, but his actions speak louder. his silences, too, in a good or in a bad way.

people are complicated and messy and dwell in gray areas. hell, I have a minor in women’s studies, I’ve read everyone who’s anyone in women’s studies, I have two college degrees, and sometimes I still catch myself slipping into old, gross, un-woke patterns. our boy never finished high school, eh?

in conclusion, my witch mother Stevie Nicks wouldn’t like him if he weren’t genuine about his feminism. if he’s got her seal of approval, he’s got mine.

*brief, lol @ me

[splitshortsyeah]

Mac Miller 'K.I.D.S.'

-Matt Duelka

Progression. That’s a good place to start in 2010. I did a lot of ‘progressing’ leading into ’10. I’ll give a lot of credit to the college experience (not so much the college itself) for the shape and calcification of my being. Since ’10 – minor progressions, but the details have been important. More fine tuning of who I should be. But before we get too into 2010, I need to talk about 2008 (a MAJOR progression the likes of a King Crimson album) because without 2008, there is no 2010, and certainly no 2020.

[So, briefly, here it goes.]

As a current 33 year old in 2020, rap music takes up a pretty calculated 93% of my musical intake. In 2008, not so much. More like weird metal, emo pop-punk – regular 20-year old white boy stuff. But I WAS 1 year into being a ‘urban music’ radio DJ (What? Why? How?)  and my crash course had been hitting quite the peak. Classics and hot-off-the-stove EmCees were covered but anything in between – was very much all or nothing.

“Yo, you see the new Gucci tape dropped?”

“Wait, who? Gucci? Is there a new album out? I didn’t know it was getting released?”

“C’mon. You didn’t see the new mixtape drop on Nahright?”

“Nah what?”

“Man, catch up.”

And I did. The internet is a deep ocean of untapped resources, until you start “tap, tap, tapping it in”. Gucci’s 36 mixtapes in 6 months were something to behold, but to me was pretty flat – all temporary ear candy but nothing that held water. I was 14 pages in – searching Nahright.com, 2DopeBoyz – and felt I was now in a 400 level classroom. And then came a banger – Wale ‘A Mixtape About Nothing’.

I was smitten. The tape basically Batman punched the life back into me and I considered uncovering this gem, a passing grade into rap graduation. Hours were now spent uncovering quality tapes and collabs that I could talk about to whomever who keep listening to me. In ’09 I took over the reins on the Rap Radio airwaves. My musical trajectory was skyrocketing. Rap music should have been my major.

[Ok. Now 2010]

Internet. Internet. Blog Site. Search. Blog Site. Search. Download. Listen. Share. Refresh. Internet. College is in the rear view. Career is in a holding pattern. Retail for the time being. New music is what’s up.

“When you’re young, not much matters.”

Oh what’s this?

“When you find something that you care about, then that’s all you got.”

Is this from that movie…?

“When you go to sleep at night, you dream of *music* “

You have my attention.

KICKIN’ INCREDIBLY DOPE SHIT (K.I.D.S.)

A white 18-year old kid from Pittsburgh comes out with a ‘KIDS’ movie sample and then just. Goes. In. Like, bangers from the gun. Heavily KIDS influenced, heavily sampling dope beats (Lord Finesse took a little offense to that, but we’re past it), but that’s what a mixtape is about! Get your ears and eyes focused. Someone is looking to get on the map.

Progression. It’s what got me here so far, but it’s also what this kid, Mac Miller, was after. Mac put out this album specifically to show people what he could do with his words. Not to say that he had A LOT to say, but he wanted to talk, and tell people about what he knew (not making up a persona just to sell a rap to the streets). Drugs, drinking, ladies, and having fun. “Kool-aid and Frozen Pizza” ain’t trynna be anything that it’s not.

Mac Miller was a fun ass High School graduate putting out fun-ass rap tunes for people to smile to. Whether a banger or a smooth ride, I found a good time in this tape from beginning to end. It was different, definitely. Not to say ground-breaking, but it’s hard for me to put a doppelganger to his flow. I remember someone trying to tell me it seemed like he emulated Drake’s delivery – slow yet catchy. But something about Drake always has me thinking he didn’t really ‘flow’ in any way, and just spoke to you ‘in a rhythm (a rhythm I cannot actually describe)’. Mac had a delivery, a great one. And it was simple, yet smart. He just really understood who was listening, and who he wanted to get across to. I assumed as a 23 year old retails associate, I was smack in the middle of that venn diagram.

I’m a sucker for a ‘Boom Bap’ sound (just say it enough and you’ll get it) and even though Mac isn’t a definition of the style, there’s a lot of that east coast flare in there (especially with the samples he chose – definite *eye emoji*). I also had a pretty intimate experience with the movie laced into this mixtape. I wrote an 8 page final paper on the movie (more specifically, the last line of the movie, which he so happens to use on the last track, with tunes of Elliot Smith slowly fading out to close up shop on the tape). So you have to believe that my intrigue and HOPE for this tape from the get go was at a 17 out of 10.

“Get ‘Em Up” had me nodding straight out the gate. Mac, if he was trying to showcase some wordflow talent, had me at least glued to see if this would get better with this track. By now I’m cranking the volume up a few notches and thinking I might have found something. Again, this isn’t groundbreaking, but no 18-year old should be (SHOULD BE). But Mac didn’t need to deliver complex lyrical stanzas in and out of classic Pete Rock beats to make an impact. I’m on my feet. I want to hear more.

And then we transition to “Nikes on My Feet” and, you see what I did there? This was as tasty of a track as you could have hoped for. Not knowing anything was a good way to go into this, because the unexpectedness of a Nas sample on this Pittsburgh kid’s mixtape was a treat. And it could have been a more ‘World Renown’ tune – including the all-familiar bass line and chorus -- but he chose a piece within “The World is Yours” and went in, to further push the “this is what I know, and this is what I’m gonna rap about” bit. “I don’t know about Nas’ life in Queensbridge, but I know about these Nikes on my feet” is what I imagine he said while thinking up this song. And if you can’t tell I was sold by now, well then, I’ve wasted a thousand words on you.

“Cream cheese and a bagel. Have a glass of milk and an Eggo. Rocking PJs and no shirt. I smoke weed, eat yogurt.”

Progression, right? There was a time where “The Spins” would have intrigued me because of the Empire of the Sun portion – ala Gorillaz with Del tha Funky Homosapien. But now I’m sitting thinking, man what a compliment they are to Mac Miller. He’s still the star of the track and in 2010, on the festival circuit, this made the KIDS bump, bump, bump. Even walking down the street 3 weeks ago, I was re-listening to the tape and couldn’t keep from trotting, singing, and just enjoying myself. Banger. In 2010, this is what I NEEDED. I wanted a song that just got my blood racing and FUCK did this song do it. Being that Mac might not have been heralded by the rap world right away, a track like this made sure he at least meshed between a few crowds, and I’d say the music festival demographic was probably an ideal spot for him. That’s where I found myself as well. At least, as a 23 year old. Because, again, we are still progressing.

We move into “Paper Route” and “Good Evening” and we’ve moved away from booming and banging, and now we are cruising. We got the radio on, or we got the headphones in, and you got your head nodding along. BOP BOP BOP. Going back to Mac’s intention for this tape, I feel like these tracks are in the realm of Mac puppeteering his way along, showing the world how he could move swiftly and intelligently – yet simply and endearingly – through a track.

For anyone who ever blog, probably heard my name Hip-Hop's underdog, you wanna win the game I'm sick of hearin' how music change never be the same And these dudes who think they everything and never pick a lane Call yourself a vet, but haven't won a single game Mad, every girl got my name imprinted in her brain Boy, I'm a beast, match the style in bars Find me smokin' weed where the wild things are

For anyone who doubted he’d be able to cut it on the rap scene, I’d say that verse was a slight flex, in retrospect.

As much as “The Spins” was able to bring thousands of folks off their grass stained tight jeans and onto their feet during a July summer on Governor’s island (I saw it happen in person) – “Knock, Knock” was the jam of the album. This was the tune that made Mac be able to stand tall and say “This tape was worth it.” This followed me through many-a-car ride, too many drunken after parties (not at hotel lobbies – but more so at post-collegiate apartments with unfortunate furniture choices), and just being the soundtrack to my walks through the Manhattan summer. I have a soft spot for over the top “epic” sounding choruses that you can blast on better than average speakers, and this fit the bill. It’s hard for me to find a song that defined “Fun” for me more, in 2010, than this song did.

It’s hard to imagine 2010 without this entering my life. Because it was fun. So very fun. And it brings great thoughts just writing about listening to this album back then. Great weekends, and epic tabletops, and the content we were able to create! Even if most of it only lives in our heads, it was worth it].

And then it ends, like it began. “Jesus Christ, What happened?”. The movie ‘Kids’ brings us back and we fade out. Of course, I would “bring it back” many a time in that day. It became a fixture on the playlists, a constant on the headphones. I even slipped a few songs on the retail store speakers.

But we all PROGRESS. We all want more eventually. And do I mean more, like “that wasn’t good enough – give me more!”? No. I mean. We want more, like, I’m changing, and so is everything around me, what do you offer me now? A better job? More money? More substance from the ones you spend your time with? And with that, you also tend to want more from your music.

So ‘K.I.D.S.’, even though I have thrown it on the que recently and been able to jam along, I can’t keep it on the podium that it was prominently placed on in 2010. For what it represents, it will forever be held high, but it won’t be the same as the first experience and I don’t think that was ever the plan. Do tracks still SLAP, sure, but they weren’t meant to be ‘timeless’. It was meant to live in the moment and do what it needed to do. Mac made it known this was a proving point for him. This tape was meant to show he belonged.

And so as we all need to do, we PROGRESSED –

               Blue Slide Park

               Watching movies with the Sound Off

               GO:OD AM

               The Divine Feminine.

You can say what you want about those albums that proceeded, but you can’t say Mac Miller was stagnant.

“Yo, I listened to them and they just weren’t what I expected.”

“Well what did you expect”

“I wanted K.I.D.S.”

“But you got K.I.D.S”

“Yeah, but I wanted it – well – again.”

“I don’t think he did.”

‘K.I.D.S.’ was never meant to sustain, and Mac moved on from it like he should have. He had more to prove. Could he have continued to make music for the festival crowd? Sure? Would he have been successful? Probably. But even though I don’t even pretend to know him as a person – it’s obviously not what he intended to do. Because even though the albums I mentioned above may not have caught the listeners’ attention like ‘K.I.D.S.’ did, you could see the progression that Mac was going through.

[Can we jump to 2018? Good.]

Even though you may have found your footing, there are always ways to improve your steps. At this point it isn’t major adjustment after major adjustment, but more like “Hey, those shoes didn’t work because of the minor shape difference in the heel to toe ratio, maybe these slightly less aggressive ones will be better” (IYKYK). Mac Miller put out ‘Swimming’ in ’18 and to say it’s his best work is an understatement, but to also say that “This is a throwback to his most comparable work to date, ‘K.I.D.S.’“ would be a catastrophic failure in comparison. Through the steps he took in with minor adjustments on his other studio albums, Mac developed a sound that was unlike anything that was produced on ‘K.I.D.S.’, BUT, without ‘K.I.D.S.’, ‘Swimming’ never exists. Weird how that works.

I used to rock epic rap anthems like it was them or nothing. I needed to hit be hit hard or it wasn’t hitting enough. But I learned that there was a different way to be ‘touched’ by hip hop. I learned, what I define as ‘asymmetric’ beats – where a song may not have a chorus, or a looped sample, or anything typical of a conventional or traditional track. My ears were genuinely intrigued by the angles that existed within the songs, and I started to see the beauty of them. I wanted rappers who could also take a rap track, and put a live band to it – Let’s hear some live ivory tickling under them verses, huh!? – OR maybe have a rapper croon a little bit? Why not. Why they always gotta be so hard? Lets get sensitive (but please – no Drake).

So ‘Swimming’ did that – all of it. We got Mac pouring his heart out. Where ‘K.I.D.S.’ had bangers and catchy choruses and classic samples – ‘Swimming’ had live bass (Thundercat! Woot!), off-kiltered bars, singing and swaying, and stuff I didn’t imagine Mac had in him. But they were as visible on this album as the tattoos on his sleeve. I mean, I’m FULL SEND on The Foreign Exchange, Tyler The Creator, Black Milk, yadda yadda yadda, and Mac is now RIGHT THERE in the conversation.

SIRS AND MADAMES WE HAVE PROGRESSED!

Mac and I didn’t have tickets on the same trolly train of progression, but we both got here. Maybe he saw it coming -- I definitely didn’t plan this Musical fandom path for myself. Maybe Flying Lotus had something to do with it?

I think it has a lot to do with getting from the prove yourself phase to the phase you actually want to be in. We all have to do it at some point. We all have to be in a spot that isn’t exactly where we’d like to be – but without it we can’t get to where we WANT to be. The problem is, how to convince others that this is the right way to go. Not to say “Everyone, please follow me – this is the right AND ONLY way this will work”, but more like “Hi everyone, this is the right way for me, can you please join in helping me proceed and giving me the confidence to move onto the next chapter of this progression.” To be honest I wasn’t following along with him fully – a mix of not understanding and not believing he would get there. I feel like I made it through to where I wanted to be a little sooner than Mac did – but when “Swimming’ came out – I knew we both made it. Or you could assume we both made it. I assumed we both made it.

But then it was over. In September of 2018, Mac passed away. And it fucking sucked. As happy and fulfilling as his music made us – made ME – feel, it’s hard to believe he wasn’t anywhere close to feeling the same. Malcolm McCormick should have been with us for a long time, and because things just don’t work that way, he won’t. ‘Circles’ eventually came to us in 2020 – and recorded entirely while ‘Swimming’ was, so everyone got to witness the feelings again that they did with ‘Swimming’ and remember, unfortunately, how we won’t be able to continue to feel like this again.

Some music makes a dent in your life, and it takes a while for you to understand why. ‘K.I.D.S.’ did that for me in 2010. I was too busy to really try and figure out why my bumper got scuffed, or how to fix it. But in 2020, I know it was never meant to be fixed. My 33 year old ‘Toyota Corolla’ of a self thinks the dent looks good these days. Why try and progress through that.

[sreyyreviews-blog]

DENZEL CURRY - TABOO | TA13OO

Denzel Curry is a rapper hailing from Carol City, Florida who has been in the rap scene for quite some time now. Denzel’s music started to lift off after he joined the now defunct rap collective, Raider Klan, who was founded by “Soundcloud Rap” legend, SpaceGhostPurrp.

After the fall of Raider Klan, Denzel started become his own, with releases like Nostalgic 64 and 32 Zel really showing the world who Denzel really was.

Then came Denzel’s big breakthrough album release, in Imperial, which held the forever popular track, Ultimate, which at first was known as a “meme” song but after taking a step back and understanding how insane and unique Denzel’s flow was, many people started to join the wave of Denzel.

In 2017, Denzel released the “13” EP, which seemed quite underwhelming at first, but after finding out that a full length album was to drop in the following year, really just made my excitement grow more.

Now prior to the release of TABOO, three singles were released from each act of the album, with SUMO being from the “Light act”, CLOUT COBAIN being from the “gray act” and PERCS from the “dark act”. All three of these tracks to me stood out as complete bangers and really summed up each act fantastically with the themes from each act being seemingly quite diverse.

Beforehand to the original release of this album, Denzel intact released each act one day at a time, so I knew the majority of these tracks before heading into the full thing, although hearing these tracks one after an other really does result in a different feel compared to listening to each track a single.

ACT 1: LIGHT

The first act of this album was the first material I heard minus the previously mentioned singles, and as a whole, this really blew me away.

The opening track TABOO, shows us a more melodic and soulful side to Denzel, that really hasn’t been heard before on previous releases such as Imperial. The chorus on here is honestly beautiful, with Denzel’s singing voice being honestly gorgeous to the ears. This chorus then leads onto the bridge which has Denzel having soothing “ooh’s” which again, is gorgeous to the ears. As a start to this album, you can really see the “light” in this first act which will follow up within the following tracks too.

Lyrically this track is very emotional and beautiful with constant references to “taboo”, where Denzel personified the word to fit whatever agenda he talks of, in this case he’s talking about a woman that is clearly significant in his life. This track has a clear theme of molestation which is honestly heart wrenching. As an opener to this album I couldn’t be more impressed, Denzel hasn’t disappointed in anyway shape or form at this point.

The next track is BLACK BALLOONS, which features rapper Goldlink and R&B master Twelve’len. Personally, from the “light act”, this is my favourite by a mile.

Denzel raps over a happy-go-lucky beat which stands out as something consistently AMAZING on this album.

Lyrically Denzel raps about this burden holding over his head (“Black balloons, over my head”).

This track has some great and funny references in it, with a clear inspiration from Stephen King’s “IT” (“What's said from Pennywise, I guess we all float”).

I’d like to mention also that this theme of balloons also fits perfectly into this carnival like feel which was shown in the “CLOUT COBAIN” music video and of course within TABOO’s artwork.

Another thing to mention here is the amazing hook on here which is honestly the catchiest thing I’ve heard ALL YEAR. I swear, “Let it float” will be stuck in my for rest of this year.

The third track in TABOO is CASH MANIAC, which stands to be a braggadocious and very familiar track for Denzel fans as it showcases Denzel’s ever lasting charm with his wordplay, flow and lyrics.

This track features a chorus from another Carol City native, Nyyjerya, who I have never actually heard of before, but honestly kills this chorus.

Denzel has a variety of funny wordplay on this track with references to Alice In Wonderland, Aladdin, Black Sabbath and Peter Griffin from Family Guy, of all things to reference.

Overall, this track is again, a complete banger. So much replay-ability, so much charm, and overall just a a fantastic track.

The fourth and final track from the “light act” is SUMO, which of course was previously released as a single months beforehand to TABOO being released.

This track again is just typical Denzel. Fantastic beat. Fantastic flow. Fantastic lyrics. Overall, fantastic.

This track, much like CASH MANIAC, has some hilarious and witty lines on this track, with references to Uber, the TV Show “Chowder” and Ski Mask The Slump God, who was originally make a feature on this track.

A line on this track that I CANNOT get out of my head is the Chowder reference (“Chopper eat a nigga like Chowder, Rada-rada-rada-rada-rada, never gave a fuck about a dollar”).

Again in this track Curry shows is true power as an artist and a musician.

By the end of the “light act”, Denzel is truly 4 for 4 right now with each track being just as good as the next!

ACT 2: GRAY

Following where the light act left off, the gray act starts to show a more distorted vision and darker side to Denzel’s instrumentals and lyrics.

The first track on the gray saga is SUPER SAIYAN SUPERMAN, which is such a complete banger.

Denzel has an animalistic and primal presence on this track with a long and thought out verse packed with signature references and braggadocious lines.

This whole track is obviously a reference to the hit anime “Dragon Ball Z” which in the past, Denzel has publicly stated he loved.

Denzel’s flow is on par with some of his most popular tracks like ULT or Ultimate here, which shows us something that we all know and love Curry for.

Some funny lines are thrown in here with a shoutout to Kendrick Lamar and a funny line comparing Yes Julz and Katy Perry, who are often mixed up due to their resemblance to each other.

Denzel at this point? 5 for 5.

Next is the godlike track SWITCH IT UP.

Denzel has a mean and heavy vocal performance on this track and really showcases DENZEL.

Funny little nods to Shakespeare, Rick Ross and Barry Jenkins.

This track doesn’t need to be spoken too in-depth about as it speaks for itself as a complete BANGER.

Track 3 from the “gray act” is none other than MAD I GOT IT, which much like this whole album, is a complete BANGER.

His flow on here changes up so much and much like the other tracks, shows us how capable Denzel really is.

Midway through his first verse, Denzel shouts out rapper XXXTENTACION who was fatally shot this June (“Still in the hood and I still sip tea”), a subtle shoutout to his Florida brother who helped pioneer the genre much like Denzel has.

At this point there isn’t much to say on this track as it is nothing more than a complete banger, with it possibly being my favourite from the “gray act”.

Next is a fan favourite at the time of its release, SIRENS, which presents us Denzel’s views on the current state of the United States, with nods to police brutality and gun violence. The name of this track in fact are symbolic of America’s current justice system to my knowledge.

This track features a chorus with help from Billie Eilish of all people which is killer, Billie and Denzel really make this chorus a beautiful harmony. SIRENS also features a guest verse from rapper J.I.D. who proves to us how phenomenal he is.

Denzel’s performance here is very moving and rage fuelled and again, is a track I can’t even critique because it’s that good.

The final track from the “gray act” is none other than CLOUT COBAIN. What more can I say that hasn’t been said already about this track. It’s a masterpiece.

This chorus is so so SO killer, one of the catchiest and stickiest on the entire album in fact.

This track revolves around chasing fame and shows the horrible consequences of this, which in case of the video, lyrics and rockstar referenced in the title and chorus, Kurt Cobain, is suicide.

In the album art and music video Denzel rocks a painted clown face which may just be a reference to how much of a clown so many people become trying to hunt fame or “clout”

This track is the one that most people now know Curry for, and for good reason too. This track pushes boundaries that Denzel has never pushed and shows a more melodic side to Denzel that older fans have never seen.

ACT 3: DARK

The third and final act of this album is the “dark act”, which shows the grimmer and more primal side to Denzel which hasn’t been showcased in this album so far. The only single released from this act prior to the album release was PERCS, which is a fantastic track which I will soon talk more in depth about soon.

The first track from the third act is THE BLACKEST BALLOON.

This track has clear themes of drug abuse within the hip-hop community and thoughts of whether being in the music industry is worth it.

In this track Denzel shouts out three prominent artists within the underground scene, with those being XXXTENTACION, Lil Peep and $uicideBoy$. Previously Denzel has worked with both XXXTENTACION and the $uicideBoy$ on tracks such as “SpaceGhostPussy” and “Ultimate $uicide”.

Track 2 from the “dark act” is the previously mentioned PERCS, where Denzel takes a stand on the current hip-hop landscape and questions rappers influence.

This probabily the most primal and raw we’ve seen Denzel so far in this album and it’s probably one of my favourite singles of this year.

Again, Denzel comes through with some funny references to Cole Bennett, rode on trends within hip-hop currently, such as face-tats and a callback to Denzel’s beef with his involvement with the now defunct Raider Klan.

The third track from the third act is a LEGENDARY collaboration between Curry, ZillaKami and JPEGMAFIA, with VENGEANCE.

Honestly, this may be one of the greatest collaborations this year. Denzel, Zilla and Peggy show amazing chemistry on this track.

JPEGMAFIA shows his classic rapping ability and mocks both Drake and 6ix9ine.

ZillaKami also has an amazing verse on this which is probably the best I’ve heard of ZillaKami in a pretty long while. His vocals are rumbling, loud and really makes you hyped.

The final track to the third act and the final track to this entire album is none other than BLACK METAL TERROIST.

Now, I’m going out on a whim here, but I think that this is Denzel’s most hype song he’s ever released. I honestly can’t say anything other than Denzel really is ULT.

Flow? 10/10. Lyrics? 10/10. Beat? 10/10. This track is honestly the most INSANE work I’ve probably ever heard from Denzel.

Final Thoughts on the album as a whole

TABOO is Denzel Curry’s best work yet. Every track is crafted so remarkably well and performed to the highest degree too. No one else other than Denzel could’ve blown me away this much.

If you want to listen to Denzel Curry, LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM, it will not be a regret.

I honestly believe this is one of the best hip-hop releases of the decade.

I see this album straight up as a 5/5.

[underachievers-please-try-harder]

Interview // Tracey Thorn

I interviewed Tracey Thorn for 7digital.

When did you begin work on Record?

Around a year ago. I got to the point where I had enough songs to think it was worth booking a couple of days in the studio to do some demos, and once I’d got that time booked I actually started writing more. So I went in [to the studio] with Ewan [Pearson], the producer, in February 2017 and we put down some really simple versions of the songs, and then just started talking about what direction we might take it all in. 

Do you write all the time, or were you consciously amassing songs with an album in mind?

No. I have long gaps sometimes when I don’t write at all. I think a couple of the songs for this record had actually been around for a year or two, and then once I decided I was doing a record I got a bit more focused on it and wrote a few at once. But I’m a bit all or nothing: either the songs come really easily when I’m on a roll, or then it all goes quiet again for a while. And you need that just to have thoughts sifting around in the back of your mind.

It’s not a constant, which is why I now do have breaks in-between making music, and during those periods I drift off and do other things. But the thing pleases me is that it comes back, and when it does come back it’s as strong as it ever was. Once I started this record and got the idea for it, I was absolutely passionate about it, and really enjoyed making it. I love that feeling where you’re working on a project and you have those long days of just being focused on getting a synth part right or something. I just think it’s so much fun.

And I know there’s a ceiling on what I’m going to achieve. I’m not touring any more so I’m playing it all on my own terms, and I actually feel really comfortable with that. It feels like I’m in the driving seat now in what I do and don’t want to do.

Tell us about your long-standing creative relationship with Ewan Pearson.

When I first started working with him, about 10 years ago, I thought of him as someone who was an electronic producer, a remixer, and a DJ, so I thought, “Ok, this is the kind of the music I’ll do with him.” When I actually met him and started working with him I realised he was really versatile with broad taste, and equally at home with recording acoustic instruments. So actually we’ve ended up doing all sorts of different kinds of recording together. This record is the most electronic thing we’ve done together. It just seemed like I ought to make the most of his real strengths, which are as an electronic producer.

Shura and Corinne Bailey Rae appear on Record. Are there any other guests?

Yeah, those two both do featured vocals on a track, and then Stella [Mozgawa] and Jenny [Lee Lindberg] from Warpaint played drums and bass on a lot of the tracks while they were over in the UK for Glastonbury. And Jono Ma from Jagwar Ma plays guitar on a couple. On ‘Sister’ especially, we had Stella and Jenny and Jono all playing live together, which is how that long groove came about – that breakdown, and building it back up again.

The soundbite “feminist bangers” is following you around in the press. Are you regretting coining that phrase yet?

(Laughs) No, because in a press release you have to say something to catch people’s attention a bit, and if it made people smile at the same time as alerting to the fact that there is at least a nugget of truth in that, then that’s fine. I definitely wanted to make a really mostly upbeat, uptempo record. So although they might not be nine bangers, the motivation was to make a record that was heading in that direction.

Did you have any reference points for that sound?

I’m listening to new stuff all the time but on the other hand, Ewan and I both share a love of New Order and the Pet Shop Boys and stuff from that era which, again, I haven’t really referenced before. Back in Everything But The Girl, we were experimenting in the early days with drum and bass stuff and then the house remixes, but actually talking to Ewan I realised there’s this certain style of electronic arrangement that I hadn’t really explored before. So we definitely used a bit of influence from that era as well.

In the time since your last LP-proper, Love and its Opposite, you’ve become a bestselling author and a newspaper columnist. How has your work as writer influenced your lyrical process?

It’s made me aware that they’re very different processes. When you come to write lyrics again it really strikes you what a compact art form it is. You have to really drill down to try and say something in as concise a form as possible. But, actually, writing the column has been quite helpful in that sense because I’ve got very good at editing my own writing, aiming for brevity and minimalism. So I think I’ve got even better at just getting straight to the point, which has helped when it comes to writing [lyrics].

Lyrically, Record feels even less guarded.

Yeah, there’s lots of bits there that are quite autobiographical. I’ve always thought that when you do go into quite a lot of detail – and make a scene really vivid – people listening to it seem to connect with it even more. In some places it’s not me strictly – it’s a creative character – but I never think that matters as long as you make it feel like an actual real thing that people can actually picture happening.

You come away from songs like ‘Smoke’ and ‘Sister’ thinking that you’re from a lineage of very strong women. Is that right?

Yeah. I mean, I lost my mother a few years ago and as I get older and move into her shoes a bit, I feel I identify more with her. It’s comforting, and it gives you greater insight, because all those things that I thought that were frustrating about her I now completely understand. So those figures in your life become even more important as you get older. And on ‘Sister’ I’m talking partly about my theoretical sisters, but also my actual sister. I like blurring that distinction between those different forms of sisterhood.

On ‘Air’ you discuss not conforming to standards of femininity or beauty. Can you tell us about the impetus behind those feelings of defiance?

Yeah, I was trying to mark these marker points in a woman’s life. I think one of those for a lot of women comes in those teenage years when you’re emerging out of childhood, into that period where you’ve got to try to define yourself. At that point, all those gender stereotypes kick in, and they can be so suffocating. I remember the feeling of both trying to fit in and then also feeling quite defiant about it and angry about it, and thinking, “I absolutely don’t want to try to fit in – I want to be the person I am.” So the song ends up in a point of defiance, because that’s the only way to achieve freedom really; to ignore expectations and try to shake it off.

‘Babies’ is particularly powerful. What made you want to tackle the subject of female reproductive health?

Well, I don’t think it gets talked about that much in pop music and I’m all for just bringing fresh subjects into songs. I can’t write endless love songs, or break-up songs, because that’s not my life anymore, so I’m often just looking for other stories to tell and other ways to engage with people. And it just struck me that the experience of having kids made me even more aware of the importance of being pro-choice, how much of an impact it had on my life having had that freedom to decide when I had my kids, and how much I enjoyed it because I’d been able to make the decision to have kids.

The subject feels especially pertinent right now, particularly in countries like the USA where they’re forever amending or attempting to amend the law around reproductive health.

Yeah, I mean it’s so shocking to me that we could ever take backwards steps on that issue. And it seems to me so clearly an issue about control and reducing women’s freedom in the world, and their ability to function on an equal level. It’s shocking. And you watch something like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and that reminds you again of what it actually means to completely control women and their fertility and their access to their own body. So, yeah, it just seemed really important to me.

‘Sister’ provides an amazing, space-disco centrepiece to the record, while discussing domestic violence and the importance of sisterhood and solidarity. Where did the spark of inspiration come from?

It was going on the Women’s March in London, last January. Before I went on that I was feeling fired up and angry and p*ssed off about the fact that we seem to still be stuck in the same place and having the same conversations. But on the march I felt that surge of positivity that you get when you’re in the company of thousands of people all feeling the same. All these women – and men too – were out there with these banners, and I saw, “Fight like a girl,” on a couple of those banners, which is such a powerful slogan. That idea of reclaiming a phrase that is used to belittle women, and to fling it back in the face of people and say, “Yep, ok we’re going to fight like girls but look how many of us there are, and look how powerful that can be.”

So, I wanted to write something that captured that real sense of frustration that we’re still arguing the same old s**t but also the strength that comes in thinking, “Yeah, but I’m not fighting alone.” There’s a bitter humour in that stuff. And we all know it. You speak to other women and they all will just shake their heads knowingly, going, “Yeah, I can’t believe it either, but here we are.” That’s where we are so you’ve just got to keep going.

Do you feel hopeful for the future, particularly in the light of movements like #TimesUp and #MeToo?

I do. And I do think ultimately we inch forward all the time, even though there are backlashes and we get pushed back. You know, if you look at things that are on the statute books now as part of our legislation, compared to 40 years ago when I was a teenager, we have made massive progress. And then I look at the younger generation and what they’re like and what their expectations are, and I think there’s no way that progress won’t continue. There’s no way they’re going to give up the rights that have been won for them. So I do think ultimately we’ll carry on making progress, I just hope it’s not too slow. (Laughs)

And yet it’s become fashionable in the press to criticise young people.

Of course! Because they’re quite progressive thinkers, as young people tend to be. But young people get castigated for being self-obsessed and lazy and I don’t think anything could be further from the truth.

[thisaintascenereviews]

Album Review by Bradley Christensen Brett Eldredge – Self-titled Record Label: Atlantic Nashville Release Date: August 4 2017

Illinois-based country singer-songwriter (weird sentence to say, because you don’t think of country singers coming from the Midwest) Brett Eldredge is an artist I’ve been somewhat familiar over the last couple of years. I remember hearing about his last LP, 2015’s Illinois, as well as his 2016 Christmas album, Glow, but I didn’t even know he was releasing a new album. He’s one of those artists that I’ve been aware of, but I didn’t really hear much about, let alone have heard many songs / albums from, so I couldn’t tell you what his music sounded like, or even what any of his biggest singles were that anyone following country music might know. That’s not because I don’t follow country music, either, because I do. Little fact about me: I was raised on country music, and I never got into it until the last few years, but I still follow it, because my parents still listen to the genre. Eldredge is one of those guys that I’ve heard of, but I’ve never listened to, because he doesn’t really have a song or two that people instantly recognize. Before I listened to this newly released self-titled album, I actually had to look up the lead single, because I didn’t immediately recognize it. Truth be told, I still didn’t recognize it, but I will say that it was a good song. The song was “Somethin’ I’m Good At,” and it was a cheeky little tune that had Eldredge listing off a bunch of stuff that he’s not good at, but the one thing he is good at is making a girl smile. It’s both cute and silly at the same time, and Eldredge has a pretty good voice, so I decided to take a chance on the rest of the album. I didn’t know what I’d find, but I hoped for the best. Unlike my last review, where I talked about the new Old Dominion Album, Happy Endings, that came out a few weeks later (and I didn’t really like that album much, to be completely honest), I surprisingly enjoy this one. My mom mentioned to me that she doesn’t really buy albums from artists she’s not familiar with, even if she knows a song or two from them, because she doesn’t know how the rest of the album would go, but I always thought that was part of the fun when listening to albums.

Although we live in the age where we can stream music on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora (for anyone that uses that still), and things like that, I still like being surprised when I pick up an album in a store, or even order one online, because almost nothing beats the excitement of getting home to listen to it, or the excitement of waiting until you get it in the mail. The excitement is worth is when you end up loving the album, too, and while I wasn’t too familiar with Brett Eldredge before picking this one up, I was pleasantly surprised with it. I don’t think this album will go on my yearend list, or anything close to that, because I don’t love it that much, but it’s a damn good album. Eldredge’s brand of country is more on the pop-country side of things, but it’s not as obnoxious or pop-leaning as other artists in the genre, such as Thomas Rhett or Sam Hunt, both of whom I enjoy. The catchiness and energetic sounds from pop-country are there, though, and I’m happy about that, because this LP definitely keeps my attention for its run-time. It’s only 42 minutes, too, and it’s not a long or boring listen whatsoever. The album immediately kicks into gear with the opening track “Love Someone,” and that’s one of my favorites on the album, honestly. This LP has the same feeling that Dylan Scott’s self-titled album left me with – it’s solid stuff, and it’s got some very catchy moments on it, but at the end of the day, it’s a bit of a generic album with peaks and valleys. That’s how I feel about the album as a whole, but unlike Scott’s self-titled, there are some things that work fairly better, so the generic sound can be overlooked. The things work better mainly lie within the vocals and lyrics, honestly, because Eldredge’s got one hell of a voice, and the lyrics are a good mix between silly, cute, and poignant. Even with those things that work to its advantages, there are peaks and valleys here, nonetheless, so the album has some lower points, but it’s got some incredibly high points, too, much more than the low ones.

Starting with Eldredge’s voice, he’s not really the most amazing singer in the whole country scene, but he’s got a good ranger, and he’s a lot of fun. He’s incredibly charismatic, and he’s got such a good sense of humor that manages to showcase within both his voice and lyrics. His emotional range is pretty good, too, because this LP manages to go through a few different emotions throughout it, such as being silly, cute, and serious and deeper, but the shifts in tone are never too dramatic. You can buy Eldredge in every tone, which is something that some artists have an issue with, because certain artists only work with certain tones and ideas. About a year ago, I talked about Ludacris’s latest LP, and I had a problem when he tried to get “serious” on a few tracks towards the end of that one, because he couldn’t exactly pull that off. When I listen to someone like Luda, I don’t look for serious topics, I guess. Eldredge pulls this off better, and I’d say that I really enjoy the lyrics throughout most of this LP. I talked a bit about “Somethin’ I’m Good At,” and that song is a ton of fun, ultimately showing his silly side, but “Love Someone,” a song that I briefly mentioned, shows his sweeter side. It’s a song about how awesome it is when you, well, love someone. There’s not much to it, but it’s about all the pros to loving someone, and how awesome it is when someone cares about you. There are a couple of songs that get a bit serious, and I wanted to highlight my favorite of the two, that song being “Cycles.” That one kind of hits home for me, and long story short, it’s because I spent a few years dating a person that was very manipulative, controlling, and toxic, but our relationship was in a constant cycle. That’s what this song is about. It’s about two people that are very toxic for each other, and Eldredge goes through the cycle of their relationship. They do certain things, and that leads to more things, ultimately leading them to breaking up, but they eventually come back to each other. It’s something that I can relate to quite well, but I’m sure other people can relate to that as well. There’s a song on the newest Chris Lane album, Fix, which is an album I really like, that’s about something similar, only that one is about how a toxic relationships runs him around in circles.

The problem with Eldredge’s lyrics, especially with the joking and silly songs, is that they can be corny and stupid. “Superhero” is a good example of that. While I like its hook, as it’s very energetic and bouncy, the lyrics are kind of dumb. They’re definitely not meant to be taken seriously, as that’s how Eldredge comes across, but it doesn’t make it any less dumb. When I said this LP also has peaks and valleys, yeah, it does. I haven’t been coming back to this album as much as other albums, especially ones I got around the same time, because almost every song is a banger. This album, however, I only really perk up during certain songs, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the album is bad. It’s far from it, actually, because I still very much enjoy his voice and the overall music. With Dylan Scott, his voice wasn’t anything amazing, and the overall music was pretty bland and formulaic, but this album is a bit more diverse. It does have some slower tracks, some more straightforward country tracks, and some tracks with a pop edge to it, so it keeps me engaged more. When the album is awesome, it’s really great, but there are only a handful of songs I feel that way about. There are a few albums that I’ve been listening to lately where I love every song, but this isn’t one of them. Like I said, I haven’t been coming back to this LP as much as other ones, because some of the songs just don’t do a lot for me. I’m happy that I picked this up, though, especially since I didn’t really know what to expect with it. That’s part of the fun, like I said earlier in the review. You never know what you’re going to get sometimes. Brett Eldredge is one of those underrated artists in country. He’s not as well-known as Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, or Keith Urban, just to name a few bigger artists, but he’s also not an indie artist that you’ve never heard of (or a behind the scenes songwriter, such as Ryan Griffin or Mitchell Tenpenny, basically guys that have written songs that have been successful, but you wouldn’t necessarily know their names, let alone their own music), so he’s in an odd gray area, but I think this LP is worth a listen.

[aurimeanswind]

Your Emotions in Gaming—Sunday Chats (9-3-17)

Hey! Welcome back to a fun Sunday Chats where I get so ask the audience a question! It was really fun to do this again, and even though this one is a bit more of a lengthy-response time for tweets, I think the turnout was still amazing.

There are a couple of things I want to get out of the way before I get into this first-sunday-of-the-month tradition.

FIRST

Irrational Passions Podcast is switching it’s recording date back to Friday. Yes, it’s a big deal, we have been recording on Saturdays for a little over two years now, but we are going back to our original day of the week that was FRIDAY. It’ll be effective starting at the end of this month! Yay!

SECOND

Irrational Passions is launching a new, seasonal, YouTube Podcast! It doesn’t have a name yet, but the first episode should be recording a week (ish) from today! It’ll be all about Destiny 2! It’ll be our equivalent to Fireteam Chats, and will incorporate a bunch of awesome podcasters from different podcast networks! I am super excited to have a type of show like this, which is more focused on Destiny, for Destiny fans, by a bunch of would-be industry Destiny fans. 

It’ll be a bi-weekly show with a rotating cast with a few permanent seats, and be only on YouTube (for now). Currently it will definitely be on YouTube.com/IrrationalPassions, with maybe incorporating other YouTube channels into it as well.

Stay tuned for more details!

Okay, with all that housekeeping done, let’s get into the big editorial of the month.

Games Give You Feelings. Full Stop.

My question today, which I asked my lovely twitter followers and the readers of Sunday Chats, was this:

I like to refer to myself as the “total emotional sap”, which is just the slightly more nice way of saying I’m a bit of a crybaby/emotional wreck when it comes to media, especially video games. I get highly invested in my games, and my stories especially. I’m always perplexed, what with the seemingly constant criticism of video games’ storytelling devices, that people seem to never stop hating on gaming stories. 

The recent argument about gaming stories and why they’re more irrelevant than we might think still boggles my mind, and it’s a subject I come back to all the time.

Today I asked you all about the game stories that affected you the most. The ones that touched you in a way that evoked some kind of emotional reaction out of you, whether that be good or bad. 

Much like last month, I am gonna post everyone’s answers here, and discuss what folks have sent in. If you’d like to be a part of Sunday Chats like this, just look for my tweets on Sunday Afternoons (Eastern Daylight Time) with the hashtag “#SundayChats” in it. Responding to that tweet with an appropriate answer will pretty much guarantee you a spot on the roster, so with that said...

Let’s get started.

I think Uncharted is a big one, especially Uncharted 4. There is a series of scenes between Nate and Elena that occur very late in the game that just solidify so many things foreshadowed in the very opening of the game. The scenes toward the beginning of Nate and Elena at home, playing Crash Bandicoot, hanging out, sharing dinner, and kind of spacing on each other all have such a natural and organic feel because of 1, the talent of the actors, but 2, the amount of lore and chemistry built up between the two of them.

The scenes where Nate and Elena have that tension of something they really need to overcome together are like, horrifically painful in a way that is hard to describe. It’s such a satisfying end to character growth for Nate, someone we’ve seen struggle with understanding his own faults in the past.

Uncharted 4 holds itself in such high regard to me specifically because of that last third that features a heavy emphasis on Nate and Elena.

I mean, hey, Duke Nukem Forever probably game some people emotions. Like, I don’t think the story had some sweeping impact on the industry as a whole, but there is maybe  sense of... Catharsis, when that game finally came out, came to fruition, and ended up being just a bad game. I feel like above most games that have gone through a miserable development hell in the past few years, Duke Nukem Forever was the game that set the precedent that none of these games could ever be good.

I think Final Fantasy XV and Owl Boy are just recent examples that that isn’t always true.

I think frustration is totally a valid emotion to feel from a game. Only I think in this context it’s different. I think being frustrated at a game and being frustrated by a game are two different feelings.

I think of something like Far Cry Blood Dragon’s tutorial screens, which incessantly pop up to make the bit-joke that “tutorial screens are annoying” is a sense where the game is trying to frustrate you on purpose, and that is evoked through humor.

Being mad at Skyrim’s controls and the opening section of it is less some kind of culmination of a story beat, but really a reflection of your relationship with the game. Which is completely valid, I know that game is absolutely not your cup of tea.

Firewatch is really special. I think there are a lot of great feelings that Firewatch brings out of the player that really encompass the emotional journey it illustrates through dialogue. From the story that kind of makes up the suspense part of everything, to the actual relationship with Delilah herself, there are feelings of love, affection, fear, and sorrow that come from it.

The gut punch of the story hits twice too, and it’s something I still think about in games. For as flawed as some of the delivery in Firewatch is, I think it does an excellent job of making a setting, and making you feel in that same setting. God what a banger and worth a play Firewatch still is.

Infamous is definitely a tricky one. It is a very much younger brother game, and I think it does hit some notes there. I think the reason I never bought in too much is because Delsin and his brother just never seemed like they had strong chemistry? Buying into that brothers concept though is a huge part of the battle though. Look at something like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, which is all about buying the connection between the two brothers. It’s used and then executed on effectively, and when you can connect with that, you can get those feelings out. Second Son just didn’t quite get there with me.

Gone Home and another game on this list are definitely in my top five as far as really connecting and affecting me emotionally.

Growing up with a gay sibling and slowly piecing together where they were and empathizing with why they wouldn’t want to tell me sets Gone Home up to just hit some relatable notes for me that few games ever get the opportunity to make. 

While I love a good love story, Gone Home delivers it in such a video game-y way without feeling forced or disingenuous. It nails what it wants to be, and by doing something first so well, it actually makes it incredibly difficult to follow itself up, something I think is clear with Tacoma, and all the other “walking sim” likes that have followed.

Night in the Woods is absolutely on my list to see through before the end of the year. From everything I’ve heard about its subject matter to the way it’s written like the embodiment of some kind of modern, online dialogue, I am absolutely in. Much like Oxenfree was for me last year, this seems like the kind of teen-y thing that could easily slip through the cracks and get lost in the crowd, but I really want to take the time to play it.

I mean, I know you love dropping those declarative statements, but consider me not so bold, Kevin. 

Metal Gear Solid 3 is legendary. I think when I replayed the series a few years ago, and really got to re-experiences the Boss’ death, and for the first time, really understand what she was going through and how that might destroy Big Boss from the inside out, the impact of that ending and its implications still sit with me today.

The Boss’ ideology being based on seeing the entire world from space and seeing it truly as something whole, and one, and deserving of peace, is such a powerful image. It’s the kind of philosophy that makes you feel small, and understand that that’s okay if we all just work together. That imagery being literally the catalyst for the entire events of the Metal Gear Solid franchise is beautiful, and is at it’s core why I think Kojima loved making those games. His image and love for the franchise is as unified as seeing us all together, truly.

The Last of Us is a game that will straight fuck you up. There are maybe four or five just absolutely integral scenes in that game, and all of them are the one on one scenes between Joel and Ellie. The big ones. There are multiple moments in that one story where Joel and Ellie, as a relationship, leaves you breathless.

I think of all the problems with video game storytelling, subtlety is the biggest one. Being subtle in a game is difficult because while things do heavily come down to actors and performances, there is an aspect of technology and uncanny valley to deal with too.

Luckily, Naughty Dog has consistently prove you don’t need to worry about that with them. The final moments in The Last of Us between Joel and Ellie will leave you in bed awake for years to come.

I am totally with you. Mass Effect 3, much like this most recent season of Game of Thrones, is about the payoffs. The trilogy very much sets up the tensions between these major conflicts and events. The Geth and the Quarians, and their war for the home planet. The Genophage and the Salarians delivering it, and how that has created a rift int he galaxy ever since. Those are plot points and arcs that exist, feel like they existed, changed, evolved, and then ending in wonderfully dramatic fashion.

And the Citadel DLC is another absolutely fantastic call out. It was so powerful for my cohost and biggest Mass Effect Fan Brian Nabeshin Jackson that he forced both myself and our other cohost Tony Horvath to buy and play it, and it was absolutely worth it. There is an “earned-ness” to the ME3 Citadel DLC, for it’s just incredible “one last ride” feel to it. It really is the “we’re all about to die so let’s just cut back and be together” story. And it works, because of the notes Mass Effect leaned so heavily into ending on.

Mass Effect is definitely the kind of trilogy that leaves you with an impact, if not only because of taking your character through three games.

Logan Wilkinson reviewed this for our site this year and it’s another with Night in the Woods that I am desperate to see through sometime before the end of the year. It’s an excellent idea and it’s portrayed in a super interesting way.

Rime is one that seemed to go really hard under the radar. This is the first big indicative thing I”ve heard in its favor. I know it reviewed well, but it’s just something that I feel there isn’t a lot of awareness of.

Judging from the vibes you describe here and the ones given off by the trailer, I’m not surprised Steven.

We touched on it above a the top, but yes. The growth is the big aspect of Uncharted that makes the fourth feel like the end of an era. Of a saga. Of course the Lost Legacy is out now (still need to play it) and there is room for more smaller games like that in that universe, but Uncharted 4 is the end of a big story.

The small sections where you get to guide the conversations ever so slightly really do pay off because you feel like you got to make the choice to talk about just one thing, and you can just pick what you want to know the most. It’s something uncanny in the series before, and odd for this kind of “action blockbuster” game. It just works though, setting a tone like this is the last story Drake gets to tell, and you get to make it the kind of story you want it to be.

Journey is the other big game for me personally. Few games have just wrecked me from the inside out. While I’ve only played the game twice ever in my life, I still distinctly remember the tears the game gave me both times in its final moments of just pure bliss and freedom. It’s an incredible story told through visuals and cooperation about the journey of life and death, and it’s visual metaphors are just outstanding.

Few games have made me emotional in the way Journey has, and it absolutely helps to have Austin Wintory’s score on its side. Journey is a full sensory experience, and one I’d even confidently call the Fantasia of video games.

Thank you everyone again so much for participating. These are all incredible and interesting and, even more fascinating, modern examples, that all stand out as real cool ways games can have an affect on you.

The Checklist

Just one this week. And it’s for my boy Roger Pokorny. 

IGN Stories https://t.co/kYGdR5dQCx

Roger is making video essays for IGN in a totally new initiative for them, and he is incredible. He delivers fantastic writing and editing together in a sublime series called The Rogformer show on his YouTube channel, and it’s genuinely incredible to see a big outlet like IGN take him under their wing and allow him to bring that format to their site.

Words don’t do justice how proud of Roger I am. This is a long time coming, and no doubt the first success in a string of them, but it’s absolutely worth reiterating how impressed I am with Roger and his growth. He’s a great friend, and a hard worker, and you should absolutely watch his content. It’s worth it.

THat’s my whole bit. I would have written in some more margins, but I am just simply exhausted. It’s off to sleep land for me, but I hope this alternative version of Sunday Chats is still doing you all well. I know the first iteration got a great response, so here’s hoping for round two!

Anyway, that’s all I got.

Cheers.

Goodnight

keep it real.

[grapsandclaps]

PCW SIXTH ANNIVERSARY PART 2

Food done at Yates's it waa time to take in a couple of the usual haunts in Preston, first of all - The Guild Ale House which is a real ale haven for the hardened craft ale drinker, generally every drink is under £3.50 and of the highest quality. I would liken this pub as well to someones fromt living room with the white carpet which i am surprised no one has ruined yet spilling their stout, we decamped to the small yard area to think up of niche songs for one of the night's combatants - Su Yung. A mixture of stuff from The Beatles, Genesis and The Corrs were batted about but as we would find out later would go down as well as a wet fart in Church. The drink i had in here was 2/3rds of a Saison like drink "Never Known Fog Like It" for £3.50 and it was a nice drink that i would try a second helping of if i saw it again. Next stop was Hogarths to see the latter end of our football coupons going down and also a lovely pint of £2.05 Hogarths own ale. This pub looks like it has been a success since it has opened rivalling Wetherspoons on price and it also caters for people who like their sport with Racing UK and Sky Sports being prominent on all screens. Drinks done it was time to get into Evoque for the show, thankfully this time their was a high stool in my usual spot so i took advantage to rest my feet and sit in my perch to watch the graps. A bigger crowd than expected crowd was in attendance and it was nice to see people give PCW another try having probably being put off by the below par shows that were provided in 2016, but in fairness since the change in booker this year to Greg Lambert holding the pencil shows have improved by far so the ball was in PCWs court to make it worth it - lets see if they pulled it off. First off was a 3 way match to be no.1 contender for the Cruiserweight Title with Ricky Knight Jr vs Chris Ridgeway vs Chris Brookes - the latter making his return to PCW after just 1 solitary appearance in one of the Who Dares Wins rumbles a few years ago. Brookes received a great reception once his banger of a tune hit (Human Fly by The Cramps), Brookes has become a darling of the scene in the last year or so and could be on the cusp of joining his Midlands cohorts in the States sometime. This was a great opener to set the tone for the evening with all 3 guys working well together, Ricky Knight Jr impressed and didnt look out of place with his more experienced adversaries. Ridgeway eventually got the win in around 12 minutes catching Knight Jr with a choke in midair causing RKJ to tap immediately. Next up was Sheikh and Shake and Dave Birch vs 3 Mates Pissing About (Kirby/Hope/Joey Hayes). Seymour Gains gave an opening spiel trying to get over his S.H.I.T.S Protein Shake to a chorus of boos with his mate Sheikh El-Sham eyeing me up again - naturally i booed him again. These two have become a good team in their short time together getting the right reaction from the audience - good work lads. This was a really fun match as you can expect with the 3 mates who are fantastic at these comedy matches and are filling the void left by Dave Rayne and Mad Man Manson. The 3 mates got the win with the Shield Powerbomb to Seymour for the 1-2-3 and to rub it in Seymours face even more they poured his S.H.I.T.S Protein Shakes all over him. Soner Durson vs CJ Banks Part 3 was next with it being 1-1 in the series from their 2 good scraps in Tidal and PCW. Even though it took time for the crowd to warm to the match, they eventually got the crowd onside and provided a good match with Soner looking impressive again but sadly coming up short trying to hit the frog splash but CJ caught him with a pair of knees and Cheeky Rolled him up for the win. Good Stuff!! Half Time Main Event was Aussie Open challenging the PCW Tag Champions The UK Hooligans. As expected this was a really good match but it was more suited to The Hooligans style of working fighting around the ringside area smacking especially Fletcher with suicide dives and school chair shots to the head. The Aussies did eventually get some offence in, using their raised cutter for a close 2 count but after 15 minutes they fell to The Hooligans but they shouldnt be too disheartened and i for ine would like to see them in PCW again. But if you do see Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis elsewhere in the country I urge you to see them. After the match the UK Hooligans found out that they would be facing The NAK (Chris Renfrew and BT Gunn) in September, should be a good scrap. My mate Ben made quite the hot take after the match saying even though he likes The Hooligans, he is a bit fed up with their style of match and would like to see something different from them, but did point to the fact only Team Single went toe to toe with them all the way through their matches and wouldnt lie down and take a pasting. 1st half done and a mark photo with British Wrong Style accosting Aussie Open for a picture near the bar, decent enough gentleman to meet. Now the 2nd half and what do we start off with - Lionheart vs Philip Michael. The opening of this contest started off with a 3 minute singing of Philip Michaels name the like we havent seen since the days of Noam Dar, Philip was over like rover. Good action here for around 7 minutes with Phil matching Lionheart hold for hold and looking his equal but a spot where Lionheart pulled Phil off the ropes causing Phil to land awkwardly caused a long stoppage to the match and bringing a number of the roster to ringside to check on Phils wellbeing. Now with what happened to Lionheart previously when he broke his neck at PCW which left the audience in stunned silence and tears that night, visions of seeing a serious injury is still fresh in peoples minds but as ever with wrestling companies nowadays - many a fake injury angle happens and you dont know when to know if its real or not. In this case Lionheart picked up Phil to applause but then proceeded to use a Uranage Slam to drop Phil to a chorus of boos and a 1-2-3. Personal opinion i think Fake Injury Angles are shit and the dog worst thing to get a baddie over in this sense. They could have easily had Philip Michael catch a win from nowhere on Lionheart and then have Lionheart give him a beating after the match - it still has the same effect. This left a bad taste in a few peoples mouths and I for one was one of them. Su Yung vs Lauren (replacement for an injured Saraya) was next in a short match with Su Yung dominating early and looking good in the process. But despite all the songs in the world to rally Su she fell to a roll up from Lauren for the shock victory. I do think Lauren will probably end up winning the PCW Womens title in 2 weeks in the tourney but i cant say i am totally sold on her as a champion but just my opinion. Dean Allmark took on Jody Fleisch next for the Cruiserweight title in a fantastic match as you would expect from these 2 wrestlers. Jody hasnt missed a beat since the early 2000s and looks better bodywise since then, Deano has been a constant highlight in the past year with the rest of the cruisers pulling some of the shows over the line with some top matches. Jody hit the 720 DDT but only got a 2 for a near fall, Deano hit Jody with the Smiles Clash before finishing a valiant Jody off with the top rope Spanish Fly. Great stuff and a great pick me up after what was on previously to it. The Big Grudge Match with Tel Banham vs BIG T was next but sadly after much talking from Banham and tomfoolery from his cronies, it never got started with BIG T booting referee Des and joining up with Banham to be his bodyguard muscle i guess to the Chicken Shit Heel Banham. In one way a poor payoff to an angle that has been going for 3 months but in one sense Banham can use BIG T to fight his battles. Live i think the angle didnt go down well in the end and left a flat feeling due to people wanting Banham to get his comeuppance. Main Event time with the 3 way being turned into a 4 way with Champion Iestyn Rees vs T-Bone vs Bubblegum vs Ashton Smith. This went around 20 minutes with plenty of action and nearfalls happening, Iestyn did a majestic dive over the ropes which for a big fella is impressive. With the clock ticking to me getting the train, i took a position at the back of the room to see just in time Iestyn Rees using the Cheeky Roll Up to beat a defiant Bubblegum and continuing his near year long reign as champion. This made the show finish on a flat note, with the crowd wanting to see Bubblegum pick up the win and finally get a small run with the PCW Title. I found out when i left that Bubblegum is putting his PCW Career on the line at the next show vs T-Bone in a street fight which i guess there is a reason behind but i didnt see much skullduggery costing Bubblegum from a T-Bone prespective but hey ho - Wrestling!! Iestyns next opponent i am not too sure where they are going next, maybe Ashton gets another chance but for me that was 3 contenders finished off in one night. So i guess we get Iestyn being the not so brilliant paper champion again for another 6 months 😕. Overall a great first half followed up by an indifferent second half with as i have explained - the result of the main and the injury angle being topics of complaint from myself. But still this is worth a watch when it comes on demand. Delayed train to Manchester meant getting back at around half midnight into Rochdale, as ever Geoff was doing his best sleeping pose for #grapsandnaps - Standard part of a trip to the wrestling. Evoque beer prices - £4.50 for Tyskie (500ml) they ran out of these bottles halfway through. £7 for 2 bottles of either Samuel Adams, Brewdog Punk IPA or Brooklyn Lager. So in effect it was £7 for a pint and a smidgen if you look at it that way. Next time in #grapsandclaps will be my first trip to Attack Wrestling in Cardiff which by going off what people are going and the general fun of that promotion - could be a fantastic which i am looking forward to.