#edit: its not an album its a single. i like the 3rd song a lot

[tkbrokkoli]

i heard mr hozier dropped a new album

[mykpopwire]

interview: TRENDZ wants to share their passion and energy with FRIENDZ through their music

After concluding the story from their [BLUE SET] series with their previous release, Blue Set Chapter. New Dayz, TRENDZ returns with their 3rd single album [STILL ON MY WAY]. TRENDZ shares more behind-the-scene stories about the album-making during a recent interview with global media outlets.

Q: How was the creation process for this comeback?

ra.L: I would say that the creation process of this album wasn't easy, but we are proud of the result that we achieved. During our hiatus, we had to work on the album while we were abroad in Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Japan. We trusted each other and communicated extensively to complete the lyrics for the album. We practiced the choreography thoroughly together to achieve a great end result.

YECHAN: The music video for the title track was centered around a concept of a movie club. It was something that we have never tried before, so the entire filming process was quite enjoyable as well.

Q: What has been the most difficult thing in preparing for this comeback, compared to your other comebacks?

YOONWOO: While preparing for our previous albums, we usually had good weather, though it could get a bit chilly at times. For this album, we filmed the music video during the summer, so I remember all the members struggling with the heat. However, the director and the staff were incredibly passionate, which motivated us to give our best performance on set. I believe this commitment helped enhance the overall quality of the final product.

YECHAN: Singing on this title track was a new experience for me. I was mostly responsible for the rap verses, so transitioning to a vocalist's role with different gestures was a bit challenging. To prepare, I studied references from other artists and observed how my fellow members handled it. I conducted my own research to make sure I could perform the role effectively.

ra.L (left), YECHAN (right)

Q: Are there any little or subtle details in the music video or the songs that you hope your fans would notice, or would like to point out?

ra.L: In the "MY WAY" music video, the beach scene was a later addition. We filmed it ourselves using our cameras, and we're thankful that the director incorporated it during the editing process. The music video also includes nods to several movies. For example, HANKOOK recreated a scene with Gang Dong Won from "Romance of Their Own," while EUNIL and I reenacted the iconic traffic cone scene from "Her." Additionally, HAVIT and EUNIL brought to life a scene from a 007 movie. These cinematic references are scattered throughout the music video.

Q: How do you feel like you've grown as a group with this latest comeback?

LEON: While preparing for our performances, we used to invest a significant amount of time to get everything ready. However, for "MY WAY", we were able to efficiently prepare a high-quality performance in a relatively short period. Additionally, we put a lot of effort into studying the gestures that would help convey a sense of freedom in our performance. I think these are some areas that we improved on.

YOONWOO: I believe our group has matured significantly since our debut. For this album, which demanded us to convey a sense of dreaminess and youthful spirit, all the members dedicated themselves to rigorous practice. The outcome of our hard work is evident in our more mature and polished performances in this album.

LEON (left), YEONWOO (right)

Q: "MY WAY" is a very positive and passionate song. Can you give us an example of how you professionally and personally have plans of doing it, your way?

EUNIL: Our journey as K-pop idols is, in itself, a testament to us following our unique path. We, who were once strangers, came together driven by a shared dream and created an album that's loved from many, a true miracle in its own right. Our collective pursuit of a common goal is a wonderful journey, and it represents the very essence of "my way" that we're pursuing.

Q: ra.L and YECHAN participated in writing "MY WAY". What is the message you want to tell FRIENDZ through the lyrics?

YECHAN: As the message of the album is very hopeful, urging the listeners to come with us, we aimed to convey a similar message in "MY WAY", expressing our determination to overcome any difficulties or barriers that stand in our way. Therefore, we focused on writing lyrics that are very hopeful and optimistic.

ra.L: To add, the essence of "MY WAY" is the determination to persist on our chosen path, undeterred by obstacles and challenges. So, we tried to convey the message that, despite the pain, our youthful spirit will help us triumph over any difficulties.

Q: Since you have finished the [BLUE SET] series and seem to go to new direction with [STILL ON MY WAY], was the approach for song-writing for these songs any different from previously?

YECHAN: While crafting the lyrics for this album, our primary emphasis was on fostering strong communication among the members. I engaged in extensive discussions with HANKOOK and ra.L, assessing which parts would complement the song best and determining the overall direction. We also provided feedback to one another after listening to the completed rap verses. We would also talk to the vocalists of the team, ensuring a collaborative effort to achieve the highest quality outcome.

ra.L: Additionally, [STILL ON MY WAY] served as the conclusion to the [BLUE SET] series, prompting us to showcase a more optimistic perspective on our vocal and rap capabilities. We aimed to convey positive energy through both the music and its lyrics. Consequently, we devoted significant time and effort to practice and excel in the lyrics-writing process.

EUNIL (left), HANKOOK (right)

Q: Have you ever stumbled upon writer's block when writing the lyrics? When you encounter such troubles, how do you overcome them?

HANKOOK: I faced several instances of writer's block while crafting the lyrics for this album. It's a common challenge when aiming to create meaningful lyrics. Often, I found myself struggling to find the right words or expressions. There were nights when I dedicated myself to writing, only to encounter these blocks. In such moments, I didn't hesitate to pause and resume writing the next day. This break allowed my thoughts to refresh, and I often came up with better ideas when I returned to the lyrics. So, I wouldn't hesitate to call it a day when I got stuck.

Q: To all the new fans and listeners who wish to get to know more about TRENDZ, what is the best way for them to do so?

ra.L: Content featuring us is uploaded daily, providing an opportunity for you to discover each member's unique charms and appreciate the chemistry within the group. To truly experience TRENDZ, diving into this content is the best approach.

HAVIT

Q: "MY WAY" is emotional and a motivational song. What is your message to your fans and listeners who are having a hard time right now?

HAVIT: In this album, we aimed to convey a sense of freedom and hopefulness that comes with youth. When you're facing difficult times, we hope our songs can provide you with the energy and solace you need. Likewise, when you're feeling great or dealing with worries, I hope our music can uplift you and inspire you to do better. We want to share our passion and energy with you through our music.

YOONWOO: This album encourages the idea that no matter what challenges life brings, if you keep moving forward, you can overcome them and achieve success. I hope our audience can resonate with this message and find strength and inspiration in our music, especially during difficult times.

Thank you Global H and Helix Publicity for the invitation.

Watch TRENDZ ‘MY WAY’ MV here!

*photos courtesy of Global H

Don’t forget to like, follow and subscribe to MY K-POP WIRE for more K-Pop interview, debut, comeback and event updates!

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Connect with TRENDZ!

Twitter / X: @TRENDZ_OFFCL

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YouTube: @TRENDZ_OFFCL

[snowonthebeachmp3]

July 2016

Jul 3rd - Taylor's 4th of July festivities kick off at her Rhode Island house. Guests include Tom Hiddleston, Abigail Anderson, Matt Lucier, Claire Winter, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Karlie Kloss, Josh Kushner, Austin Swift, Ruby Rose, Harley Gusman, Halston Sage, Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne, Britany Maack, Ben LaManna, Martha Hunt, Jason McDonald, Uzo Aduba, Chioma Aduba, Jordan Masterson, Kesha, St Vincent, Ed Sheeran, Cherry Seaborn, Rachel Platten, Kennedy Rayé and the Haim sisters. (x) (x) (x) (x)

This is the day Tom wears the infamous 'I <3 TS' tank top while they're all at the beach. (x)

Jul 4th - The online mockery for the 'I <3 TS' shirt is quick to pour in. Daily Mail commenters are yet to shut up about it in 2021.

The party continues with a giant inflatable waterslide, body painting, karaoke, charades and fireworks. (x) And also Kesha and Haim getting tricked by Cara, Uzo and Ruby into thinking they heard scary noises in the night, and trying to call the police but not knowing their own location. (x) (x)

Jul 5th - The day after the party, when all the guests post their photos online.

Britany posts a photo of her & Ben, Blake & Ryan, and Taylor & Tom. (x) The internet has a field day with Ryan's unimpressed facial expression. (x) (Ryan later says that it's just his resting bitch face as he wasn't aware a photo was being taken. (x))

Taylor posts several photos to Instagram of her celebrating the 4th July with friends, but doesn't post any pictures with Tom. (x)

Claire Winter posts a bunch of Polaroids, including one of Taylor and Tom kissing. (x)

Abigail posts a photo to Instagram showing the banners Taylor put up to celebrate her engagement to Matt and the anniversaries of Cara & St Vincent (real name Annie Clark) and Ed & Cherry. (x)

Jul 6th - Taylor and Tom fly out of Rhode Island (x) and arrive at LAX that evening. (x) They then get on a plane to Australia.

Joe attends the Warner Music Group summer party in London. (x)

Rumours are swirling that Tom is no longer in consideration to be the next Bond, due to his relationship with Taylor. (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Jul 8th - Taylor and Tom are flying on a commercial Quantas flight so someone is able to take a pic of them on the plane. (x)

According to another passenger on the plane, Taylor plays Scrabble during the flight (presumably on her phone because nobody takes big physical board games on commercial flights and the creepshot of Hiddleswift on the plane suggests she wouldn't have had anywhere to put the board anyway). In hindsight, knowing how Taylor and Joe play lots of Scrabble together including online Scrabble aka Words With Friends, and how they stayed in touch largely via texting that summer, it’s very possible she was playing against Joe.

Taylor and Tom arrive in Sydney, where Tom is about to start filming for Thor: Ragnarok. (x) Aussie media, including daytime TV, goes nuts over Hiddleswift's arrival in the country. (x)

Flying from LA to Australia involves crossing the international dateline, so they would have left the US on the 6th July local time and arrived in Sydney approx 15 hours later on the 8th July local time.

Calvin's new song Olé, written for John Newman, is released. There is speculation that it's a Hiddleswift song, written from Tom's perspective and containing lyrics implying that Taylor cheated on Calvin with Tom. However, sources also told multiple outlets that the song was written and recorded months earlier, and its supposed links to Hiddleswift were just for publicity. (x) (x)

Jul 9th - Tom goes out for a run (x) and avoids answering questions about Taylor. (x)

Jul 10th - Taylor and Tom go out for dinner to Gemelli Italian restaurant in Broadbeach on Australia's Gold Coast. (x)

Jul 11th - Taylor is named as the highest earning celebrity on the 2016 Forbes Celebrity 100 list, with earnings of $170m mostly due to the 1989 World Tour. If she and Calvin had not split up, they would have been the top-earning celebrity couple. (x)

Jul 12th - Taylor visits Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in South Brisbane. (x)

Jul 13th - Us Weekly makes a wild claim that Tom is planning to propose soon, and Taylor is going to say yes. The magazine cover also claims they're already talking about babies. (x)

TMZ claims that Taylor wrote TIWYCF, and that Calvin disrespecting Taylor following its release was the reason for their breakup. (x)

Taylor Swift really is the creative brains behind Calvin Harris' monster hit "This is What You Came For," and their relationship fell apart because he disrespected her when the song was released ... this according to sources connected with Taylor.

It's a fascinating story. We've learned an early fan rumor about the song is true, but to a deeper extent than anyone suspected. During their relationship, Taylor wrote the song, sat down at a piano and did a demo into her iPhone. She sent it to Calvin, who loved it. They both went into a studio and did a full demo with Taylor on vocals and Calvin doing the beat.

They both knew the song would be a hit, but Taylor wrote it for Calvin and both agreed it was a bad idea to let the world know they collaborated as a couple ... it would overshadow the song.

So Taylor, who kept the publishing rights, used the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg on the credits.

//

The problem in the relationship came the day the song was released. Calvin appeared on Ryan Seacrest's radio show and Ryan asked, "Will you do a collaboration with your girlfriend?" Calvin responded, "You know we haven't even spoken about it. I can't see it happening though."

We're told Taylor was hurt and felt Calvin took it too far.

It was a quick downward spiral from that point. One source called it "the breaking point in the relationship." The Met Gala was several days later, when Taylor danced with Tom Hiddleston.

Tree confirms to People magazine that Taylor did write TIWYCF under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. (x)

Calvin also confirms that Taylor wrote TIWYCF and goes on a Twitter rant:

Katy Perry tweets a gif of Hillary Clinton with a smug/'told you so' expression. (x) She also retweets an older tweet from May 2015 which reads, 'Time, the ultimate truth teller.' (x)

#TaylorSwiftIsOverParty trends on Twitter (x) (x) and Taylor's Instagram comments are spammed with the snake emoji. (x)

Following Calvin's tweets, TMZ publishes another article claiming he is downplaying Taylor's involvement in the song as she wrote the melody in addition to the lyrics. (x)

Jul 14th - Taylor goes out shopping in Gold Coast. (x)

Tom mentions Taylor in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter: (x)

You're in the middle of a cultural frenzy right now because you're dating Taylor Swift. How would you respond to people who claim that you're involved in some sort of publicity stunt?

(Laughs.) Well, um. How best to put this? That notion is — look, the truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together, and we're very happy. Thanks for asking. That's the truth. It's not a publicity stunt.

Martha says at a Pepsi/World Emoji Day event that Taylor and Tom are 'both happy and free together. It's amazing, I'm all about people being happy in love.' (x)

Kim talks about Taylor and the Famous controversy in a clip from an upcoming episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. (x)

“I never talk shit about anyone publicly, especially in interviews. But I was just like I had so had it,” Kim says in the clip to her sister Kourtney. “I wanted to defend him in it. She legitimately quote says, ‘As soon as I get on that Grammy red carpet I’m gonna tell all the press. Like I was in on it.’”

“And then she just didn’t like the reaction?” Kourtney says in response.

“Yeah, and you know just another way to play the victim,” Kim replies. She then brings the infamous VMAs moment from 2009 by saying, “It definitely got her a lot of attention the first time… I just don’t think he should be punished for it still to this day.”

Jul 17th - Kim posts an edited recording of Kanye and Taylor's phone call. In it, they discuss the 'I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex' line and Taylor says, 'Go with whatever line you think is better. It’s obviously very tongue in cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it. That’s really nice.' However, nowhere in the Snapchat video does Kanye consult her about the line, 'I made that bitch famous,' which is the line Taylor insisted she had never approved. (x) The other Kardashian sisters retweet and support Kim. (x)

(The full recording of the call, leaked in 2020, confirms that Kanye never told Taylor he was going to call her a bitch. It also shows her reminding him that she sold 7 million albums before he had even heard of her, in response to him suggesting the lyric, 'I made her famous.')

Kim takes to Twitter to call Taylor a snake.

Taylor posts a statement on Instagram responding to Kim's Snapchat video. (x)

Selena tweets, 'There are more important things to talk about… Why can’t people use their voice for something that fucking matters? This industry is so disappointing yet the most influential smh' (x)

Katy Perry tweets, '#RISE above it all' and links to her new single. People interpret it as a dig at Taylor. (x)

Martha Hunt tweets, 'It's pathetic how quick our culture is to sensationalize a fabricated story...' (x)

Jul 18th - #KimExposedTaylorParty spends the day trending at number one worldwide on Twitter. (x) To the point where 0.8% of all tweets posted in the entire week from the 18th-24th use the hashtag. (x) (Assuming that 1/7th of the week's total tweets were posted on each day, that means more than 1 in every 20 tweets on the 18th used the hashtag.) #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty also returns.

TMZ claims to have a copy of a letter from Taylor's lawyer, dating back to February, demanding that Kanye destroy the recording of their phone conversation and reminding him that it is a felony to secretly record a phone conversation in California. (x)

Taylor changes the name on her writing credits for TIWYCF on the BMI songwriters database. She is now listed as Taylor Swift instead of Nils Sjöberg. (x)

Camilla Belle, the subject of Taylor's 2010 song Better Than Revenge, posts a quote to Instagram which reads, 'No need for revenge. Just sit back & wait. Those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves & if you’re lucky, God will let you watch.' (x)

Abigail tweets against Kim and Kanye, saying, 'May God forgive you & your wife for doing to others the very things you pray are NEVER done to your daughter.' She deletes the tweets after receiving death threats but leaves a tweet which reads, 'Guys…I will always stand by my best friend. There's no point in fighting over that.' (x)

Joseph Kahn (director of many of Taylor's music videos) defends Taylor on Twitter. (x)

The aunt of Dinah Jane from Fifth Harmony tweets, 'I always knew @/taylorswift13 was a SNAKE! Trying 2 break up my girls & use @/camilacabello97 as her protégé bitch bye you’ve been exposed!’ (x) The tweet is soon deleted and she claims her account was hacked. (x) (Camila quit the band at the end of 2016 and has since said that Taylor had nothing to do with her decision to leave.) (x)

Paula Erickson, Taylor’s former publicist from 2007 until 2014, likes a two-and-a-half-week-old tweet dragging Hiddleswift for being a badly executed bit of PR by Taylor and Tree. (x)

James Corden spoofs the recorded phone call on the Late Late Show. (x)

Calvin is rumoured to be dating Tinashe. (x)

Jul 20th - Todrick Hall defends Taylor, saying, 'She's one of the most genuine people I've ever met in my entire life.' (x)

Uzo Aduba says Taylor is 'a beautiful person and strong' and that she will overcome the Kimye drama. (x)

Paula likes another tweet shading Taylor and Tree. (x)

A graffiti artist creates a mural in Melbourne 'in loving memory of Taylor Swift' (misspelled as Smith). According to the artist, they are then contacted by Taylor's lawyers and threatened with legal action. (x)

Jul 21st - Taylor's Wikipedia page is vandalised with insults. (x)

Taylor and Tom fly back from Australia into a private airport in LA, and are seen out and about. (x) (x)

Jul 22nd - Fergie, who had Kim appear in her M.I.L.F. $ music video, says she thinks the Kimye-Taylor feud was planned and 'they’ll probably all come together at the MTV Awards or something.' (x)

Taylor goes to the gym in LA. It is the first time she has appeared in public since Kim posted the edited video, and her phone screen is now shattered. (x)

She also returns to Instagram to wish Selena a happy birthday. (x)

Jul 23rd - Taylor goes to the gym in LA. (x)

Tom is at Comic Con in San Diego. (x)

Calvin lip-syncs to Kanye's song That Part in a video posted on his Snapchat. (x) He also attends J-Lo's birthday party and is photographed with Kim. Apparently they have a friendly chat. (x) A source claims to E!, 'When Kim walked in Calvin saw her and stood up. He was clearly excited to see her and said 'hi' to Kim backstage.' (x)

Jul 24th - Taylor blocks the snake emoji from her Instagram comments section using a new Instagram feature. (x)

Tom is seen at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills with members of Taylor's security team. (x)

Jul 26th - Tom flies back to LA from NYC, where he has just spent a couple of days. On the same day, Taylor's plane arrives back in LA from Nashville, where she has spent a couple of days. (x)

VMA nominations are announced. Taylor is not nominated in any category, despite Out Of The Woods and Wildest Dreams being eligible, leading some people to think she has been snubbed. Gossip Cop, an outlet widely used by celebrity publicists to quietly squash rumours, says that Taylor did not submit any videos for consideration this year. (x)

Jul 27th - Taylor goes to the gym in LA. (x)

John Newman, singer of Calvin's song Olé, jokes, 'Supposedly we had a holiday where he was movin’ on from his ex-missus,' referring to the trip to Mexico to film the music video, which involved girls and a yacht. He also says he doesn't think it's his place to say what inspired Calvin to write the song. (x)

Taylor and Tom go for dinner at Hillstone restaurant in Santa Monica. One source claims they 'seemed to really be enjoying each others’ company.' (x) It is the last time they are papped together.

Kanye makes a surprise appearance at Drake's concert in Chicago where he responds to Kim's Snapchat video for the first time, saying, 'All I gotta say is, I am so glad my wife has Snapchat. Because now y’all can know the truth. And can’t nobody talk shit about ‘Ye no more.' (x)

Cara appears on James Corden's show and talks about how she, Uzo and Ruby pranked Kesha and Haim at Taylor's 4th of July party. She mentions consulting Taylor and Tom first so that security knew what they were up to. She also says that Taylor and Tom got woken up at one point by all the noise they were making, and came upstairs together to find Cara and Uzo still making ghost noises. (x)

Jul 28th - Taylor goes to the gym in LA. (x)

Jul 29th - Sources close to Calvin deny rumours that he is planning to collaborate on music with Kanye. (x)

Abigail likes E! News' Instagram photo of Tom and Taylor going out for dinner on the 27th, which has a gushing caption about them. (x)

Jul 31st - Taylor is seen entering her gym in LA through the back door. (x)

A fan sees Tom and Taylor at The Church Key restaurant in LA. (x) The outing is not papped.

Intro // February // March // April // May // June // July // August // September // October // November

[archersandsunsets]

How are you not gonna know??? Tell me your favorite songs!

aight aight here’s my take that turned into a track by track:

overall, the album is an 8/10 for me after my 3rd listen (it was a 7 last night after the first, but it’s really rising quickly), and i really think it might be her best and most mature work yet... alternative SO suits her, as me and @ladynephthyss were chatting about last night.

tracks 1-5 are fantastic. first listen, enjoyed first half of the album more than the second. second listen, took it all in equally. third listen, confirmed first listen’s thoughts for me but i really found myself appreciating some later tracks more.

the 1 was cute, definitely has that sound of being from a different era and i’m living for it

cardigan sounds vintage from the first word and god the lyrics holy shit

CAUSE I KNEW EVERYTHING WHEN I WAS YOUNG!!!!!

the last great american dynasty honestly might be my favorite right now??? the vibe, the lyrics!

and then....... IT WAS BOUGHT BY ME....

marvelous time ruining everything!!!!

exile is quickly rising to the top like omg the HARMONY in the last half of the song!!!!

i think i’ve seen this film before, and i didn’t like the ending..........

WE ALWAYS WALKED A VERY THIN LINE!!!!

SO MANY SIGNS!!!!

my tears ricochet, classic track 5 but possibly the best one yet?? MAJOR possible edit vibes, ngl!!! fire, ash, cursing!!!! gosh i’d just transcribe the whole song if i tried to choose a line

mirrorball is probably at the bottom of my list currently with mad woman and epiphany for me—but i know they’ll all grow on me, they always do

august is a bop!!!

*edit: i forgot this is me trying??? anyway it hits about middle on my list right now

They told me all of my cages were mental

also... the bridge omg

illicit affairs is strangely soothing even given its content???

invisible strings is so cute!! definitely parallels to paper rings, which i’m here for (and the small details to the taylor x joe story im *teary emoji*)

peace just hits different??? to me it’s about that hard love that’s more than that and it might not be easy but it’s worth it???

And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences Sit with you in the trenches Give you my wild, give you a child Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other

seven too, don’t touch me - see my post on this one bc um..... i definitely had a crisis while listening if i’m right

mad woman kinda reminds me of castle by halsey so that’s a good time

epiphany is so interesting but it’s not a breakout fave (i do love the lyrics tho)

betty’s got that HARMONICA and is lowkey a bop, it’s growing on me

hoax is just... a lot, and a great album closer

i cannot wait until i hear the lakes!!!!!

this doesn’t even COVER the different ways her voice killed me every single track

[vapormaison]

2019 Best Press 3/4:  カタカナ・タイトル + Kanji Title by TANUKI

While for many vaporwave vinyl is doubtless equal parts collector’s item and audio source, I don’t want to lose sight of the goal of this blog here: developing a canon of the genre for high fidelity enjoyment. That said, when I come across something remarkable or noteworthy about a particular piece of wax, even if it is not a “purely audiophile” object, I want to make mention of it.

And TANUKI’s カタカナ・タイトル + Kanji Title wax release is not only noteworthy, but contends for hi-fi consideration despite it’s status as a picture disc.

But let’s back up slightly.

Going back to the previous thesis on why we buy records, sometimes you just want to own a vinyl just because. Just because you’re a collector trying to compile a discography on wax — or, better yet, just because you truly love the album art. For me, カタカナ・タイトル + Kanji Title (Double EP) was undoubtedly all of the three “just be-causes”.

A while back, I noticed that the LP was going into its 3rd press, and decided to snap up a copy because I like Tanuki, I like Lum, and because of those other just becauses. Unfortunately the only format available was not the pink vinyl, but the picture disc. As I’m sure is well-known (because audiophiles are very loud about things they dislike), picture-discs are a big no-no in the audiophile community. This is because while a beautiful objet d’art, a serious listening session of a picture disc release will usually produce greater amounts of surface noise than any other type of vinyl. You can, of course, with the right system, neutralize and mitigate this process slightly, but true-blue hi-fi heads pursuing that elusive muse of “pure sound” would never give a picture disc a second look.

I’m not one of those people.

Tangentially, I’ve heard whispers of ghosts of rumors from when I was living in Shenzen, China — that various record suppliers (small batch Makers) are working out manufacturing and material processes that minimize these issues on pic discs to create appealing records that cover all the bases: hi-fi suitability, collector oriented visual esoterica, and price. I should also admit I have no idea where those companies are in terms of R&D and/or producing these. I end up catching a lot of very fast talk from extremely motivated enthusiasts, but Chinese is still as elusive a language to me at times as “pure sound” can be. With that in mind, however, it’s logical to surmise that advances in technology will eventually render the differences between picture discs and traditional black wax undistinguishable. So long as the world isn’t destroyed in some cataclysmic climate disaster (very real possibility), or -- as we are watching evolve now: World War 3. My view is that it’d be pointless to dismiss the format out of hand when there are active attempts to innovate it as we speak.

That all said, I know what to expect when a contemporary, big-label picture disc plays. During my college days, I used to spin wax at the university radio station. One of the previous catalog managers had a fetish for this “collectible” format, and was convinced he was doing the station a favor by purchasing all these vinyls, noting a pre-supposed resale value later. I remember throwing these on the well-worn Technics SP-10 we had as our main turntable, and listening to the occasional scratch, frequent popping, and constant surface noise, that for the uninitiated (bless you), sounds like a sustained “cracking” in your Rice Krispies — or for those born in the analog age, CRTV static.

So when I sat down with the Tanuki picture disc, I had this laundry list of preconceptions and prejudices about the format. I thought that I could listen to a moderately scratchy record once or twice, keep it as more a visual boutique item and then eventually include in an article where I bemoan the poor quality of the genre’s releases.

But then, I actually listened.

And it sounded… well, I won’t get ahead of myself. Here’s the full review:

THE MUSIC

BABYBABYの夢 — is doubtless the reason why many of us have bought the EP from a sonic perspective —especially if the band-camp reviews are indicative of trends. I still maintain that this is the Mariya Takeuchi sample/remix work par excellence. Tanuki hits all the essential notes here, a genuine respect and love for the sound-staging of its original source, Yume No Tsuzuki. I still get echoes of the original arrangement in my system, (ever so slightly) with a bright and dance-infused collection of unique sounds — particularly in that delicious, wide mid-range — that flesh out the track into its own sort of masterpiece.

何がGoin' On — the curatorial and conspiratorial side of my brain tells me that Goin’ On will probably go down as one the under-appreciated vintage bangers of this era of future funk. I can envision hipsters two or three decades from now sussing out a neophyte with pretentious questions about this track’s pitch-shifted sample draws from. It has that sort of vibe that you know hits with a certain subset of electronica fans — rich & vibrant, making the tweeters on your system work out in all the best ways — it’s just great.

がんばれ — Tanuki is at his best when he gets playful with brass samples. I firmly believe that the titans in this genre each have their go-to piece in their best arrangement — like Dan Mason’s creative vocal array, or greyL’s manipulation of micro-samples. For Tanuki, it’s whenever her gets a horn — synthesized or otherwise, into his production workflow.

ファンクOFF — continues Tanuki’s magic act, taking another city pop track more iconic for its soulful electric guitar riff and turning it into the most slap-worthy single on this EP. I prefer it when Japanese pop samples are fundamentally re-imagined, although I can see how the perfectionist tweaking of someone like Yung Bae is more appealing for some. Tanuki is undoubtedly one of the innovators of this genre, and there’s no more solid evidence of that talent than this track.

腕の中でDancin’ — if I ended up hosting a sort of mythical vaporwave grammies or something like that, (I’m available, folks!) I would probably go off on a Ricky Gervais style rant on how artists aren’t in touch with “the people” (read: me) because all we really want are more remixes of Meiko Nakahara songs — who given her impact on City Pop should have way more play in this genre than she does. This one, like most of the Meiko mixes I’ve heard, is a banger with an absolute fire bass riff punctuated throughout.

Radiant Memories — this might be my first certified “hot take” in the publication (they’ll be many more, I imagine) — but as far as I’m concerned this is the superior Plastic Love edit. I’ll just leave my thoughts there, so they can soak in with a portion of the fanbase who split my reddit account on an open fire of downvotes for suggesting that other artists than Macross 82-99 (Praise be upon him!) are allowed to touch this song as well. While Macross’s mix is definitely the more up-temo of the two, and that for some is the very essence of the genre, this slightly down-mixed version is both the perfect conclusion for the EP and ideal antithesis.

THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE

Signal to Raise ratio on the following albums:

カタカナ・タイトル + Kanji Title:  ~61.9db (1 db MoE)

Tron Legacy, Daft Punk:  58.4db

Love Trip, Takako Mamiya, Kitty Records Press: 65.8db

(ratings based on averages 5 minutes of sustained play on the testing unit, the machine actually complied this data on its preset, which is another fascinating part about this sort of vintage press-testing tech). The margin of error is because the machine, according to my mentor Dr. Juuso Ottala formerly of Harman International, informs me it was never meant to give accurate readings of picture discs, and to add about a dB of error margin.

One of the benefits of growing up in New England and, subsequently, New York, is that there are no shortage of heritage professional audio brand HQs in operation around a 200 mile radius from Manhattan to Boston. Off the top of my head, there’s Harman/Kardon, Boston Acoustics, Bose, NuMark, Marantz, and Rane headquarters within an hour’s drive from my two hometowns. Early on in my audiophile quest, I got my hands on some cool vintage gear — vinyl lathe testing equipment that has collected dust in both an old Harman technician’s storage unit, and now my parent’s basement. Over the holiday, I recently brought it out to do some surface noise testing on it to get a rough confirmation of what I was explaining in yesterday’s hi-fi guide. The innards of the machine looks eerily like a plinth-less linear tonearm and plate pair attached to a monitor. After making sure I’m not violating some kind of Harman International trade secret, I’ll post it on instagram.

Wanting to also get a firm idea on just how good my ear-test sounded, I grabbed another picture disc vinyl I had received as a gift a few years ago from my brother — the Tron Legacy OST. While I found the film passably enjoyable, my own preconceptions about pic discs, and a general exhaustion with french house — left me with no discernible desire to spin the thing. I hadn’t even broken the seal on the plastic wrap, so it seemed like as good as a blind test as any. I also grabbed what my ears tell me is a “good”, “heavy” press, a 1982 original dead-stock copy of Takako Mamiya’s Love Trip LP pressed by Kitty Records Japan. I’ve played it maybe a half dozen times since I bought it, so it’s as close to “new” 80s audiophile pop record as you can get. The Japanese are infamously anal about low SNR on their vinyl.

And, well, the results speak for themselves. The sweet spot for most black vinyl records is between 60-70db depending on age, weight, and a host of other frankly uncontrollable factors that aren’t worth getting into detail here, as I’d go on forever. The main takeaway here is that Neoncity’s and Tanuki’s record sat at the low end of the audiophile vinyl reference spectrum. Which in itself is a remarkable achievement for a pic disc. It’s worth taking a look at Tron Legacy, which just barely scratches 8db above a cassette tape, and 7db a Japanese vinyl from 1982.

This is all in an effort to say: damn, this is pretty good.

This also somewhat counters the usual “picture discs sound like shit” narrative that’s prevailed pretty consistently in the audiophile community. Tron Legacy? Yeah, that probably sounds like shit if I could bother to suffer through a listen. But whoever Hong-Kong based Neoncity is using actually makes “good” — if such a qualifier needs to be attached — image-pressed records. And that devotion to audio fidelity should be rewarded.

It might be time for me to re-asses picture discs on the whole, and that mind-expanding moment is something I owe to the fine folks at Neoncity.

[babyi]

long time ago I asked if you ever made a Dangerous Woman (album) review but long story short I didn’t find out about your opinion on each song sooo pls can I get at least a best to worst in your opinion?

Moonlight 

A+ song honestly one of the best she’s ever produced, someone asked me the other day what song I would pick if I had to listen to only one song forever and I picked this one because it’s such a love-gooey music box tinkling soft peaceful song that I could get lost in for eternity… despite being about ricky

Touch It

one of the best vocal performances live she’s ever managed, and this song really transcends to another level and takes you with it. It’s a highly emotive song and although not written by ariana max ect writers were really feelin it and I appreciate that

Leave Me Lonely

can you say underrated? this absolute ballad banger has never been done justice and it’s honestly criminal- sometimes I wish I could find a cover that sings it with the emotion it deserves, she sang it well on tour but it’s a dark gritty sing in a back alleyway with a trenchcoat and sexy cigarette lit type song and deserved a break it never got. I scream this one alone to myself all the time, that bastard ripped my heart out and deserves to be scolded, y’know?

Bad Decisions

listen, this song is junk food. it’s so bad but I can’t help but consume it. She sings about having a fucking ‘hood love’ and only just started getting the blacklash this year like its new. but anyway, like pop off to this club hit bc it’ll rot your insides but you’ll have fun all the way down 

Thinkin Bout You

sexy, masturbation song that sounds fuzzy and warm. it’s soft like the linen i imagine her to be wrapped in and no sharp corners - it’s a good study in the soft intimacy of sexual relationships, it’s one of the better songs about a relationships that isn’t just about dick in hole, and the tour visuals were stunning for it

Greedy

shoulda been the 3rd single for tour - it’s just a good basic pop song with some good unique concepts and the tour money and choreo was iconic, it was the best to watch and looked the most fun to perform. I liked this one a whole lot when it first dropped but probably because i just like good basic pop if a bit repetitive with no real substance 

Sometimes

so light and summery and airy imo. It’s got good vibes and good memories because this was the song she interacted with fans during on tour - it was all about smiles and weightlessness, which obviously is nice to reminisce about now that so much trauma has happened to bring everything down

Side To Side

way too overplayed at this point but it was much higher up my list when it first came out, i always knew this one was gonna smash as a single and it was such a good job scooter came back and pushed it hard, I think it’s another mindless pop song but obviously it went on to be such a good club hit and commercial success which is awesome 

Be Alright

I’ve been up and down with this song a lot, it’s never been my fave but i like the message and it’s meant more in the last couple of years- I like that the choreo is so iconic now and it was her best tour outfit. I like that she likes this one and keeps it up bc it’s very inoffensive to the ears, again a bit overplayed now i never really liked the big instrumentals part of it 

Into You

a lot of people’s fave, a single that almost did it. Again, never my favourite and kinda had the feeling of always a bridesmaid never a bride. It had a good mv but was woefully underpromoted which is a shame. It’s a good song and I like when it comes on now but just never fucked with it when it was around a lot - another basic song with a basic concept and basic delivery tbh 

Knew Better/Forever Boy

good concepts separately but I didn’t think they were good together, they deserved to be separate or not at all. i like the edits of these songs better than the song itself

Dangerous Woman

the reason why we never got the full ‘moonlight’ album that we deserved - it wasn’t great for her voice, severely under-utilizing it, although she makes up for that in performances of this song. It was an interesting sound experiment but none of the rest of the album it’s named after sounded like this- even if it did have some of the only instruments used on it. The mv was fine but boring, and it just didn’t deserve to be the title track, this was the inspo for the quickly dropped latex bunny persona and lots of issues, this song was the driving factor for scooter getting fired that one time ect its just got bad memories and really fucked a lot of shit up for me honestly

Let Me Love You

bad unoriginal title and the feature ruined it, the snippet we got before the album drop was just ariana’s part and the song sounded like it was gonna be soooo good, but then the rap happened. I still think ariana’s bit is good but the song turned out to be a bust, though we got some curls action in the mv which was pretty cool

Everyday

a plague on our senses, this repetitive trash really got made a single for some god awful reason, there’s nothing special about it, the mv was icky (for the blatant sex,  not the diversity that was featured) and i just didn’t ask for any of it I was so pissed when this happened, it wasn’t funny ariana 

I Don’t Care

i’ve had it out for this song since day 1 and i’ve never been able to shake it, are tlic and everyday worse songs? yes, but this remains as my least favourite song in her discography, in order to keep this sort I’ll just say that I have an essay’s worth of reasons why this song is repugnant to me from the sound of the music to the meaning of the lyrics and you can’t change my mind. this one is the worst one and i can’t help the burning rage that sparks when i think of it 

the bonus tracks i wont bother listing and commenting, neither are very good tbh not really worth the time

[pennystreet5394-blog]

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[doomedandstoned]

South African Rebel Rousers Ruff Majik Return With Greater Madness!

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Christelle Duvenage Photography

Here’s a band I haven’t given near enough love to. RUFF MAJIK was one of the clear highlights of last year’s compilation, Doomed & Stoned in South Africa and we also had the opportunity to premiere a single just before the band jetted over to Europe to play with Colour Haze, My Sleeping Karma, and The Devil And The Almighty Blues. Johni Holiday (guitar, vox), Jimi Glass (bass guitar), and Benni Manchino (drums) have a very recognizable sound -- the mean sass of Mother Love Bone, the verve of Led Zeppelin, and the boldness of the Melvins, saddled to a very doomed, very stoned warthog drunk on marula fruit and busting straight out of a garage decorated with Electric Wizard, Fu Manchu, and High on Fire posters, somewhere in the vicinity of Pretoria.

Got the picture? No? Fine, call it sludge 'n' roll, then -- sludge 'n' roll with a devilish knack for mischief and an unbridled tendency to call it like you see it. Despite my difficulty in wrapping words around Ruff Majik's approach to music, what matters most is that they're likely to stand out in your mushrooming playlist, because they sound different. Different enough to make you stop what you're doing and ask, "Now who's that track by?"

Building on the momentum of last year's Seasons, Ruff Majik has really been on a roll. Now, they've conjured a new vision: 'Tårn' (2019). By the looks of Anni Buchner's soon to be revealed album art, it has something to do with a tower (and, in fact, that is what the word means in Norwegian). Today, Doomed & Stoned is taking you inside the castle, as it were, for a listen to the album's opening number "Schizophrenic." What's different about this song compared to others in their repertoire is Ruff Majik's decision to dabble in black metal, without ever becoming subservient to it.

As a matter of fact, that's pretty much the case with every genre the band traffics in. Be it stoner, sludge, or punk, these are like toys in the hands of three guys eager to take them out for a joy ride. There are moments when I could hear allusions to The Yardbirds and late-sixties folk rock -- you know, where you'd have a flute solo come in out of the blue. In "Schizophrenic," the guitars seem to take on the folksy character of the wooded instrument, with its whiz and warble. How ingeniously the concept of musical schizophrenia meshes with the lyrical content, too.

Make no mistake about it, though, I'm hanging around for the doom, boys, the doom! Take a song like "I'll Dig The Grave," which is as nasty and muddy as they come, featuring downtuned passages that are almost symphonic in concept. Or its successor, "Dread Breath," which at first blush feels like an old fashioned Soundgarden hoe-down (like "Ty Cobb"), but after it does its stomping, settles down as low to the earth as you could wish for. Ditto to the closer, "Seasoning The Witch," perhaps the dirgiest of doomers on this thirty-six minute spin. Like each of the six songs before it, this charms with an odd, alluring appeal.

I'm beginning to pick up on a distinctive sound and style belonging to Ruff Majik and them alone. Sound engineer Evert Snyman did a stand-up job of capturing the vibe honestly at Backline Studios in Johannesburg. Tårn was mastered in my own backyard of Portland, Oregon by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, who succeeded in bringing out the nuances, without spoiling its grungy sheen. Keep your eyes peeled for the release on May 3rd via Lay Bare Recordings, with pre-orders happening here.

And now to the premiere before us, the first single from Tårn, the aforementioned "Schizophrenic." The music video was shot and edited by Ruff Majik's own Ben Manchino. "Inspired by black metal, Black Sabbath and psychedelia," he tells us, "the video is a visual trip through VHS glitches and over-saturated colours." Frontman Johni Holiday chimes in: "This video was inspired by our love for Immortal, classic black metal videos, and the psychedelic look and feel of the pioneers and current tastemakers in the stoner rock and doom metal scene."

As for the song itself, that links directly Ruff Majik's muse, Black Sabbath. Here the band reimagines the seminal "Paranoid" as a kind of "fuzz-drenched speed metal frenzy, ending in a riff of pure, bleak doom, with some very dirty doom breakdowns at the very end of it." Pay attention to the lyrics, for they are even more "frenzied and terrified than its inspiration, verging on the edge of schizophrenia," the band explains, adding that it is "an ode to Venom as much as it is to Sabbath.” Sounds like just what the psychiatrist ordered to treat the insanity of my week!

If you dig it, show the band some love and pick up the single on Bandcamp, Deezer, iTunes, or any of your other favorite watering holes.

Give ear...

Lyrics

Hay you looking into my eyes, won't you lend me a hand? Hay you looking in through the mirror, won't you understand? I'm losing my mind, and I don't have the time to bury myself, but I don't see nobody else.

Every morning all I hear is doom. She asks me: "Who the hell are you talking to?" I don't know. Have I taken too much, am I out of touch? I can't keep the ghosts away. No it seems they're here to stay.

Hay you looking into my eyes, won't you lend me a hand? Hay you looking in through the mirror, won't you understand? I'm losing my mind, and I don't have the time to bury myself, but I don't see nobody else.

I've seen it all. The churches burn, the cities fall. And when the serpents came they took my mind away. She says: "Your fever's high, have you been dreaming again?" I said: "Lock me away, I believe I've seen the end."

Hay you looking into my eyes, won't you lend me a hand? Hay, you looking in through the mirror, won't you understand? I'm losing my mind, and I don't have the time to bury myself, but I don't see nobody else.

Hay you looking into my eyes, won't you understand?

Christelle Duvenage Photography

Some Buzz

In a small, secluded mining town in rural South Africa, three friends heard the call of the void, and spat fuzz back at it. Thus, Ruff Majik was born, and the adventure of sex, drugs and mostly rock ‘n roll began.

Ruff Majik set sail to Pretoria, South Africa, where they’ve become infamous for their lively shows and aggressive on stage persona. With their brand of what they call “stoner rock/sludge ‘n roll” they move between slow grooves and breakneck speeds in the blink of an eye, with live shows being described as ‘whiplash inducing.’

Consisting of three members, Johni Holiday, Jimmy Glass and Ben Manchino make up The Atomic Trinity, the relentless noise machine that is Ruff Majik (blessed be the name). Ruff Majik is a power trio, a stoner juggernaut, and they bring good times with them wherever they go.

The Bear by Ruff Majik

The Fox by Ruff Majik

The Swan by Ruff Majik

The band surfaced in 2015 with the release of their first six-track, 'The Bear.' This got them lots of attention from reviewers all over the world. They quickly followed up with 'The Fox' in 2016, that got them into Classic Rock Magazine with the song "Sodoom and Gomorrah," as well as 100, 000 views on the YouTube of the full album -- and counting.

In 2017, Ruff Majik rounded off the animal trilogy with 'The Swan,' which introduced a heavier side to their sound previously unheard, but very much welcomed by fans. Swiftly after this release, they got to work on the follow up album 'Seasons' (2018), which was released in four segments ('The Hare and the Hollow,' 'A Finch in a Cherry Tree,' 'A Dragon and His Hoard,' and 'The Stag in the Leaves') -- one per season, over the stretch of a year.

Seasons by Ruff Majik

Now there's more coming your way, and it's going to be heavier than ever before. The band are very happy to announce their signing to Dutch label Lay Bare Recordings for new album 'Tårn' (2019), set for release on the 3rd of May. Désirée Hanssen from Lay Bare Recordings is excited about the partnership, “You want magic? We'll give you Majik! Lay Bare Recordings is ecstatic to expand the Lay Bare family, with the power trio Ruff Majik! And let us tell you, their music will excite all your senses! Pure, unstoppable power!”

Guitarist and vocalist Johni Holiday adds, “Ruff Majik are extremely proud and excited to announce that we will be joining the Lay Bare family for the release of our new album, 'Tårn'! Lay Bare have been putting out exciting high-quality records for the last few years and we’re very happy to finally join in on the action!"

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[julietteswiftie]

HEY T! Where do I start? Well first, my really poetic self is thanking you for the most 7 years of my life. Being in this fandom has brought me tears, of joy and sadness, so many friends that I got to meet at the show and so much more. Let’s go back in time, in summer 2011 I believe. I was in my cousin’s living room, back in Quebec, Canada, and my older cousin played You belong with me and as you may can tell, I fell in love with this 20 years old girl’s music. It was around this time that you came to Montreal for the Speak Now World Tour for the first time. At this point, I knew that I would follow you as I grow up for many years. Fast forward to 2012. Then, I changed school in 4th grade. I met these 2 girls, also fan of yours: Laurence and Maé. Actually, they became my two closest friends and they still are after 6 years. They also are the one who were willing to travel 8 hours to see you in Toronto. Anyways, I was quite shy at that time and didnt knew if they were nice or not. But Laurence quickly brought me into her group of friends wich another fan of yours was a part of: Marianne. She taught me A LOT about you ( Loft 89, the whole early 1989 era, etc). So, Laurence quickly convinced me to do the school talent show to perform one of your songs. In the middle of the Red Era, we hesitated between We are never ever getting back togheter or I knew you were trouble. She choosed WANEGBT because of the IKYWT goat meme HAHA. So for the next months following our inscriptions, I dreamed about seeing you on the Red Tour. But sadly, you didnt came to Montreal. But then the big day came and we performed in striped shirts, with sunglasses on and Keds, well, the whole Red look basically. We had this choreography the makeup the whole thing. We were four on stage: Laurence, Marianne, Rebecca and my 9 year old self. In between 4th and 6th, it was peaceful while listening to your music. Then, I stepped into 1989 era as one in the fandom. Shake it off came out and I LOVED IT. I couldnt wait for the whole album. Then, i started cheerleading and it was quite hard to keep up with everything going on. July 6th 2015, you came to Montreal for the 1989 World Tour. My two friends, Laurence and Marianne went but I couldnt due to the arena being sold outtoo fast. I was so sad and waited until the very early morning to see the pictures of the show on the news. A year later, I started highschool, wich means 7th grade for us haha. I was really naive and this is the moment I really related to every single song of yours due to break ups, feud with friends, all kind of problems an almost 13 year old has navigating into the teen world. One of them was The Story Of Us wich really represented this relationship I had that broke my heart for nothing. At the end of that year, wich troughout I made impressions of you during drama class, would be compared to you in everyday life, I started guitar lessons and songwriting. Oh and not to mention that July 7th 2016, I cut my hair like you. 8th grade was quite hard for me. My grades werent has good as I expected them to be, my relationship with this same guy kept getting complicated. On april 29th, I had my first drama show. I was playing this kinda jet set woman having an affair. When i was backstage, My stare came across the guy i loved staring at me. I turned my head to hide my tears floading my eyes and came back to the stage light, thanking the audience. A couple days later, may 3rd i believe. I was admitted to the hospital for wrist surgeries. I remember listening to your music before and after it. It juste made the pain go away. Then, i was at the point of my scolarity that you guys call Freshman year. Except that we dont change schools. So this year, it was pretty great but i had quite a lot of lows. During that summer, i madd a lot of internet friends and we talked about the trial and everything. I remember the last day, i opened Instagram and I saw this post that made me burst into tears: TAYLOR SWIFT HAS WON HER 1$ TRIAL AGAISNT ASSAULTER. Weeks later, your profiles are slowly deleting everything on them. Oh didnt i told you that i also bursted into tears into the Ikea parking when I saw this video of a snake tail on your empty profile. For the following weeks, rep announcement, look what you made me do release, i was LIVING FOR IT. Then this trailer that said ...ready for it on it during the football game came out and i was likeoh man this must be a NEW SINGLE kznddkxj. I was right wow. On october 28th, I injured my elbow during circus class and was rushed to two different hospitals. The next day, my life changed. I was in stuck in bed and decided to listen to stranger things for the first time. I soon realized that I trully wanted to become an actress AND a singer. For the next months, i tried my hardest to find a way to audition for the show but I didnt. I still do remember the cold feeling of my tears stained cheeks at night. Oh wait that could be a good lyric haha. But this woman, my idol, once said that you should never give up on the things you love. Oh and thats you if you didnt know. On November 10th 2017, this masterpiece came out and i died of love for this album. I remember being in my bed, at like 3 in the morning, hearing the last song off this record and bursting into tears. New years day was so undescribable. So in december, i bought tickets for the Reputation stadium tour with my two best friends Maé and Laurence for Toronto night two on August 4th 2018. Crazy that when I write this, its already July 31th. I will always remember chosing these seats 9-10-11 row 12 section 130 AR, close to the b stage. We planned this whole trip, did our costumes, everything to make this a lifetime experience. Our costumes are Heart Robbers. So basically we are stealing your broken hearts from past relationships off the hands of your ex lovers so you can be loved brand new by Joe. And lets be real, you guys are the cutest. Anyways, During the whole year, i developped my singing and acting skills a lot so i could realize my dreams and goals. I dont know if I will ever meet you saying from today. But i know some of my friends did and i couldnt be more thankful for it. You know Jessica Johnson right? She was invited to the Nashville SS and a couple of weeks earlier, I made this edit of her and you and she was crying looking at it then it became reality. The same for my friend Asya, you met her at pre show m&g this tour and i screenshotted the dm of me saying « this is the era you meet taylor ». It became real. I never got noticed but i once was on the same livestream as you before the delicate premiere and somehow it was amazing. I couldnt thank you enough for everything you know. For Clean being this song that I relate to the most, For Call it what you want, new years day and dancing with our hands tied ( sounds a lot like the 80s synth vibe and the stranger things theme) to being my faves and for just you being you, this dorky adorable cat lover baking queen who cares sooooo much about us while being this powerfull amazing slaying wig stealer women that will forever be my idol. I will love you forever and always. -Juliette xox

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Sep 17, 2015 Fast downloads of the latest free software!. RapidWeaver is a great tool for those of you who need to post a full-featured and professional looking Website. Download RapidWeaver 7.4.1. Mac-style web design for everyone. RapidWeaver 8 is a next-generation Web design application to help you easily create professional-looking Web sites in minutes. No knowledge of complex code is required, will take care of all that for you. RapidWeaver produces valid XHTML- and CSS-based websites.

Back to basic web development for OS X

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A few years back Apple made the dubious decision to remove iWeb from it’s iLife suite of creativity programs. iWeb itself wasn’t that great when it came to producing websites, but it was incredibly easy to use and the removal outraged many amateurs who wanted to create their own website or blog.

RapidWeaver 5 from RealMac Software seeks to bridge the gap that has been left by the removal of iWeb, by providing an easy to use platform for Mac users. That being said, when you actually dig down in to it it’s a much more powerful tool than iWeb ever was.

Creating a site

RapidWeaver makes it incredibly easy to start planning your site. All you need to have in your head is a basic idea of the layout of your site, and RapidWeaver will help you make it a reality, quickly.

When you first launch the software you’re presented with a splash window that gives you the option to pick up on an existing project, start a new one, browse the library of add-ons (more on that later) and view online instructional videos.

On selecting the “Create a new Project…” option, you’ll be presented with the main design and preview window, which allows you to plan the layout of your site, as well as produce the content that will fill each page. From this page you can choose from one of the pre-installed 47 themes, as well as edit every aspect of your site. https://quoteload109.tumblr.com/post/658790629750554624/samsung-tocco-lite-ringtones.

It would take too long to detail exactly how this process works, but here’s a video that takes you through the creation and publishing of a basic website:

The entire process is pretty intuitive, the only annoying thing is that any references to online sources (YouTube videos for example) won’t display properly in the preview pane, which can only show local content. This could prove annoying if your website will rely heavily on content scraped from other sites.

Although it didn’t have a couple of bugs for me, the publishing side of RapidWeaver works very well (in theory, anyway). If you make a change to a site that you’ve already published, you won’t need to re-upload the whole thing. RapidWeaver will check which pages and files have been amended and then only send those files to your website via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). This could be of great benefit as your site grows, especially if you only have a modest Internet connection.

Tutoring

RealMac Software have gone to great lengths to provide written and video tutorials for RapidWeaver on their website. In order to access the “Beginners” guides, all you have to do is sigh up for a free account. The videos cover basic things, such as how to add content and change themes, to more advanced things like text and image formatting and publishing.

However, in order to access the “Intermediate” and “Advanced” videos, you’ll need to sign up for a support subscription at $9.95 a month. The videos themselves cover some great topics such as theme editing, advanced gallery and blog functions and reducing the file size of your project. However, I have a real problem with this type of support model. In my view, if you buy a product you should receive a decent set of instructions on how to use all of its features, for free. To charge people an additional subscription fee in order to be able to use their software to the fullest seems a little bit like you’re squeezing them dry.

For the purposes of this review, I’ve not bothered to pay for a subscription, so I can’t comment on the videos themselves, but if it helps there are quite a few instructional videos on YouTube from other RapidWeaver users.

Plugins and Add-ons

Although RapidWeaver comes with 47 themes built in, you’ll probably find yourself struggling to make your site original within a short while. Not only that, but the limitations when it comes to layout and choice of content mean that you might not be able to include everything in your site that you might want.

https://quoteload109.tumblr.com/post/657143532853886976/mojosoft-photo-calendar. Thankfully, RealMac Software have allowed 3rd party developers to produce add-ons for RapidWeaver that can extend its functionality and allow you to add more content to your website. Unfortunately, the 3rd party add-ons all come at a price, some stretching as high as $20-30. That might not seem like a lot, but it does significantly increase the cost of the overall product once you purchase a few.

That being said, the online catalogue does list some add-ons that would potentially be very useful. There are several that would add excellent catalogue and e-commerce support to your site, plus several that promise to add additional functionality when it comes to designing your site.

In truth, I don’t like this business model at all, I would much rather spend more on a package which includes all of these features right out of the box, rather than buy a relatively cheap product and then have to buy add ons in order to make it do the things that I want.

Conclusions

https://quoteload109.tumblr.com/post/658790551839277058/aashiqui-2-mp3-song-download-pagalworld. RapidWeaver 5 is kind of a double-edged sword. On the one hand I do like the ease of use and the simplicity of the interface. It requires absolutely no previous experience of web design or HTML in order to produce decent looking websites in minutes. The themes and templates themselves also seem to be a lot more solid than iWeb, which had a tendency to break if you didn’t do exactly as Apple predicted you might.

On the downside, I don’t care for the limited features and themes that come with the product out of the box, or the limited video support that could find you signing up for a support contract in order to find out exactly what you need to do. You could also say that the add-on system is a rip-off, but in truth there will be those that only want the basic features, so why make them pay for things they’re not going to use. There is some logic at least to that, even if I don’t personally agree with it.

On the whole, RapidWeaver 5 is an excellent tool for beginners and hobbyists, and more than fills the hole left by Apple when they removed iWeb from their arsenal. More adventurous or experienced users may find that they outgrow RapidWeaver’s basic functions quite quickly, in which case there’s the add-on and theme libraries on Realmac’s website. However, professionals (budding or experienced) should avoid RapidWeaver, it simply doesn’t allow for the level of customisation and originality that your clients will expect.

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Download RapidWeaver 8.2 for Mac free latest version offline setup for macOS. RapidWeaver 8.2 for Mac is a powerful web designing application to design the projects in a professional way and generate eye-catching website designs in just a few minutes.

RapidWeaver 8.2 for Mac Review

The RapidWeaver 8.2 is a very powerful and an application for creating web designs using numerous available tools. It provides a complete set of tools with a variety of design customizations and a bundle of settings to create website designs within a few minutes. It provides support for processing multi-page formats and types data to the pages and allows to add contact forms, blogs, photo albums, sitemaps and a lot more.

RapidWeaver is very simple to use application with a variety of customizations and settings for both novices and the professionals to use this application. Add different types of content as well as customize the theme for the websites. Make use of over 40 different website themes to get an instant start. You can also switch to any other theme instantly without losing the layout and the data. This powerful application does not require any specific coding information to operate and make use of inbuilt project management features. All in a nutshell, it is a reliable application for web design and development with a variety of powerful tools and numerous customizations.

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[projectalbum]

177. “Hail to the Thief,” 178. “In Rainbows,” 179. “King of Limbs,” 180. “A Moon Shaped Pool” by Radiohead

Here we are. At that point where I have to defend my previous assertion that Hail to the Thief (#177) is closer to my heart than the widely-beloved Kid A. And here we go…

There are 14 tracks, far more than any other Radiohead album, and I only dislike one of them. And it’s not “We Suck Young Blood” (it’s “The Gloaming”). Like, “Blood” is a creepy, chain-rattling chiller with deliberately cracked vocals and that cool little jazzy breakdown between the verses. “The Gloaming” is like a ghost taking a nap.

Even stranger, my favorite songs are all in a little clump in the last third. Right after the aforementioned downers, this suite of winners begins with “There, There,” the lead single. Featuring one of the loveliest, slightly gritty guitar lines in the catalogue and a chorus lyric (“Just ‘cause you feel it, doesn’t mean it’s there”) that stings, if not like a knife in the heart, than maybe like a sharpened icicle in the lower abdomen. “I Will” is one second shy of 2 minutes, but there is beauty in the utter simplicity of gently-strummed electric guitar and three-part Yorke harmony. It’s the soundtrack to staring into a dying fire. And it transitions right into “A Punchup At a Wedding,” slinky and pissed-off at once, sitting next to “You and Whose Army?” as the straight-up coolest piano numbers. One of these days, mark my words, I will master it, because it’s just fairly repetitive chords. But the distinct rhythm of the pounding on the keys has always slightly eluded me.

The escalating tension of this killer suite boils over in crunchy, foreboding synth and aggressive drums on “Myxomatosis.” “I— don’t— know— why I— feel so— tongue… tied” is, I believe, the exact cadence of the chorus, and I can identify with those moments when the churning chemical processes make articulate expression impossible.

15 years on, Thief remains hard for people to pin down. Though there are a few “angry” songs, the material is not explicitly about political leaders or Blair or Bush. That title pun was read as a pissy, middle finger salute as on-the-nose as a Banksy, despite any statements made by the band members to downplay that interpretation. Unlike the albums that made their name, this collection of songs lacks an over-arching thematic focus, which may still hurt its legacy. But I will continue to argue passionately for the music’s inherent strength. The follow-up, released four years later, requires no such defense.

In Rainbows (#178) was my introduction to Radiohead. It has and will probably fulfill that same purpose for a lot of others. From 2007-2010, I was in college, majoring in film production and spending a lot of time in a windowless room filled with iMacs. I give you the range of years, because I’m not positive just how fresh the surprise late-’07 digital release of that album was when my friend Seth handed me the thumb drive in that iMac editing lab. College is a time to experiment with new experiences, you see, and I really only followed that credo when it came to dadaist TV comedies and ponderous rock bands. So in that sterile environment, when I should have been working, I put in earbuds instead.

“15 Step” began with clapboard beats played through a glitchy hard drive. Thom lamented another repeat of the vicious cycle. Then Jonny’s guitar came in, soft and inviting as your pillow, bolstered by Colin Greenwood’s nimble bass. A sample of schoolyard cheers, and then we stepped off the sheer drop. The rest of the album was what I saw as I fell and hit the ocean’s surface, a sort of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” if the man dreamt of the noose tightening anyway. “Nude” is the haughty confirmation of the protagonist’s fear in “There, There”— “Don’t get any big ideas, they’re not gonna happen” is the lilting, falsetto admonishment. It shares DNA with R.E.M.’s “Tongue” from 1994’s Monster, to the point of sibling rivalry. But Michael Stipe’s feminine protagonist on that tune feels like an amusing pose in comparison.

To continue both the R.E.M. connection and the falling man’s dilemma, the split title of “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” acknowledges the rapid, repeating guitar technique that that band’s Peter Buck made a staple, but here it sounds like water rushing overhead. I’m sinking deeper, but I’ve determined that the way out is through. By the time the clacking boneyard beat and flickering piano of “Videotape” laid the album to rest back in that college computer lab, I felt like I’d been through something. That some synaptic pathways had been rewired by a piece of art in that way that becomes neurologically harder and harder to achieve again as the years go by. The hypnotic draw of this series of songs is impossible to shake even after an ensuing near-decade of revisitation.

By the time The King of Limbs (#179) leaked onto the web in 2011, Radiohead had been taking over my brain one used CD purchase at a time. As I collected the discography, marveling at OK Computer and puzzling at Pablo Honey, the security blanket melodies and instrumentation of In Rainbows wriggled in ever deeper. So the murky production, polyrhythmic grooves, and murmured vocals of Limbs were not immediately arresting. “It’s a grower,” I gently warned people when handing them a burned CD-R. Meaning over multiple listens, not over the course of the album: at 8 tracks and 37 minutes, it’s as fleet as a couple of their EPs.

Opener “Bloom” is like the score to a Biblical epic as listened to through a glass pressed to a hotel room wall, all muted horns and a vocal that sweeps like sun rays. “Morning Mr. Magpie” and “Little by Little” are statements of Limbs’ groove-focused identity, and melody-wise tend to blend into each other with little resistance. Where the guitar on Rainbows was a hand to guide you, here it’s another rhythm component, along with the doubled-up drum kit: as the band took the songs on the road, they enlisted Clive Deamer to join long-time drummer Philip Selway. Four hands were better than two to create the beds these compositions required.

“Feral” jettisons pop song structure completely as a cut-up chord collage dashed against unstoppable train drums.  “Lotus Flower” is 2/3rds floor-rattling bass, 2/3rds hand-claps, and 2/3rds crystalline falsetto: as mathematically impossible as Yorke’s dance moves in the video. The album closes out with three pastorally pretty and almost terminally mellow numbers: the deep embedded roots of “Codex,” the treetop birdsong of “Give Up the Ghost,” the late Sunday morning wakeup of “Separator.” The melodies are sweet invitations, but I can understand if they sound, in their final produced form, like rock n’roll Ambien. The live arrangements, like those recorded for the “From The Basement” special, are generally thought to breathe extra life into the tunes. The recent Hans Zimmer/Radiohead reimagining of “Bloom” for “Blue Planet 2” makes that song’s cinematic ambitions more readily apparent, as well. But I’ve got a soft spot for any and all versions, and don’t feel any sting of disappointment that TKOL wasn’t In Rainbows Part 2.

The 4-5 year gaps between records has proven an energizing practice for the band’s members as they explore their own projects. Jonny Greenwood created an impressive body of work as Paul Thomas Anderson’s film composer of choice, Yorke (with producer Nigel Godrich in tow) collaborated with Flea on Atoms For Peace and indulged DJ-focused electronica on the self-released Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes. Where Rainbows had drawn inspiration for its sonic approach from the close-miked intimacy of Yorke’s solo record The Eraser (more on that next time), 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool (#180) has Greenwood’s stellar orchestral composition work threaded throughout. 

Any hazy production cobwebs from TKOL are swept aside by the Bernard Hermann stabbing strings and depth charge bass line of “Burn the Witch,” the true paranoid opus of our surveillance state age. “Red crosses on wooden doors, and if you float, you burn,” Yorke hums and coos, deliberately juxtaposing his trademark vibrating falsetto against the dire warnings. “We Know Where You Live,” stated the cryptic postcards sent to fans, and it was true, because we’ve offered our whereabouts freely to whoever will listen. “Daydreaming” follows its own somnambulant trajectory, with piano that ambles along until periodically the notes catch a long wind, to paraphrase the Feist song, swirling like cel-painted animated leaves. The video closes the gap between Jonny’s prestige film work and his longest-running gig with P.T. Anderson helming a low-key gorgeous M.C. Escher puzzle of Thom moving purposefully through an endless series of doors, spaces, environments.

Before the album dropped, I saw a live clip of Yorke debuting “Desert Island Disk,” just he and his acoustic guitar. The studio version does little to distract from that simple backbone: it’s a sweet, dexterous garden party riff bolstered with gentle drumming and subtle synth washes. “Glass Eyes,” the shortest, most melancholy track, has taken hold like an itch in the mind. Watery electric piano and Yorke’s murmured phone message verses slip through like a dream you struggle to remember the details of, until suddenly the exact angle of a cold gray street corner sparks a complete deja vu, and the heart-rending string section swells.

I’ve taken to playing “The Numbers” at inappropriate volumes, lately. Symphonic rock is nothing new, but it’s rare to hear such a mid-tempo acoustic groove be so suddenly opened up by falling stomach cello courtesy of London Contemporary Orchestra. “We call upon the people / The people have this power / The numbers don’t decide / The system is a lie” is the undeniable political exhortation, and the strings are the wielded tools of revolution: if “Burn The Witch” was a warning against mob rule, “The Numbers” is a rallying cry for positive upheaval.

“True Love Waits,” and there’s no better evidence for that sentiment than the official release of this song from the era of “The Bends.” Live performances and bootlegs through the years featured variations on acoustic guitar or Rhodes piano. Repeated attempts in the studio every few years yielded nothing wholly satisfying. In its final version, closing the album, reverb-laden grand piano and Yorke’s ghostly yearning is joined by glittering ice crystal notes that steadily accumulate. In my head I see the scene from A.I. in which the artificial boy, David, patiently and gratefully beholds the Blue Fairy, as his systems freeze into a thousand years of sleep. Melancholy become manifest.

In the next entry, I’ll jump out of alphabetical order to revisit two of Thom Yorke’s extracurricular activities.

[concertcollector-blog]

“Part Three” by Chase Atlantic (Review)

About a week ago, Chase Atlantic dropped what I’m assuming is the final component of their EP trilogy. Part Three was released with a total of 4 brand new tracks to give fans yet another little taste of what they’ve got planned for the future (at least, I hope they’ve got more planned for the future). While Part One was a total hit for me, Part Two was unfortunately more of a miss in my book. For that reason I was slightly nervous to hear what the band had in store for this EP. Would it wow me like the first installment of this series, or would it just barely meet my expectations like its companion?

Right of the bat I noticed that the band decided to change up the album artwork this time around. The spooky red background and x-ray filtered bodies of the band members sparked my curiosity almost immediately. I soon learned that the new color-scheme really fit the mood of the whole EP, which I do appreciate. The contents of the EP, however, gave me some mixed emotions once again. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Track 1: Drugs & Money

Not to be confused with “Drugs & Candy” by All Time Low, though it shouldn’t be hard to mix up ATL’s delicate ballad with this dangerous, cocky, and fun new track from Chase Atlantic.  

The song opens up the entire EP with creepy forest sounds and disoriented wind chimes, and then immediately fades into a slow, steady, and attention grabbing beat. I was satisfied for the first few moments, until I realized that already, this track sounded a lot some of the other songs Chase Atlantic have released recently. As the first minute of the song passed by, I was hoping the chorus would pick up.

Fortunately, with just a simple cock of a fake gun, “Drugs & Money” transcends into a chorus that is short, sweet, and catchy as hell. “Drugs and fucking money”; the repetitive use of this badass phrase is something that I was expecting from a band like Chase Atlantic. What I appreciate about it this explicit lyric is that this line works for them. They sing about these antics in such an effortless way that I hardly even think twice about the ridiculousness of them.

However, after the high I experienced throughout the chorus of “Drugs & Money”, I came back down to the somewhat disappointing reality that overall, the song wasn’t their most unique. It felt very similar to some of Chase Atlantic’s older songs like “Into It” and “Why Stop Now”. But after listening to this track a few more times, I’ve grown more fond if it and I can definitely see myself rocking out to it more in the future. 

Song rating: 7.5/10

Track 2: Keep It Up

The infamous Chase Atlantic saxophones open up the next song on the EP, “Keep It Up”. This track is definitely my favorite song from Part Three for a few reasons.

The first verse instantly put a smile of relief on my face. I knew at the 15-second mark that this song was going to have a completely different style than “Drugs & Money”, which, in my case, was a good thing. The beat of this song is light, airy, and sweet. From the quick lyrics to funky bass in the background, this song instantly made me want to get up and dance in the middle of my bedroom. 

Following another verse and chorus about being free and “riding the wave”, the track transcends into the bridge, a quieter melody of intimate lyrics, snapping fingers, and of course, the trumpets. I feel like no Chase Atlantic song can be complete without the saxophone, and they sound great no matter how the band uses them. 

The transition from the bridge to the last chorus is probably my favorite part of the entire song. As Mitchel Cave chants on for his love interest to “give it up”, the editing on his vocals and prominent drum beat in the background mesh together perfectly. It makes my body sway from side to side every single time I listen to it. 

But, what I appreciate the most about this song is the fact that it sounds like the Chase Atlantic I fell in love with last year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for bands expanding their horizons, but I think Chase Atlantic make their best music when sticking to their alternative pop/rock roots. “Keep It Up” sounds like it belongs on one of the band’s older EPs, the EPs that initially caught my attention when I first gave the band a go. 

On top of being a naturally groovy and captivating song, “Keep It Up” is a relieving reminder that Chase Atlantic will probably never completely ditch their old sound.

Song rating: 8.5/10

Track 3: 23

Then, after “Keep It Up”, we are brought to my other favorite track on the EP, called “23″. 

Over the last few years, Chase Atlantic has created a handful of slow and intimate songs, including ”Gravity”, “Hold Your Breath” and “Roxanne”. But I have to say, after listening to “23″ a few more times after my initial first impression, I can safely say that it is the best ballad the band has released yet. 

The song opens up with a calm, almost lullaby-esque feeling accompanied by the sounds of a raging storm outside. A smooth transition introduces the first verse, where Cave‘s soft voice sings about mixed emotions, losing his mind, and a struggle to “straighten out”. The first verse definitely caught my attention the first time I listened, and I was eager to hear where this song would go. Needless to say, it only got better from there.

Overall, the more I listen to "23″, the more I seem to fall in love with it. On top of its simple and beautiful melodies, there’s an obvious storyline to this song that I dive deeper and deeper into with each listen. 

I pay very close attention to the words being said, and I truly feel for the girl this song was written about. I don’t know what exactly happened to her, but I also didn’t expect to. I’m sure the band’s intention when writing this song was to keep it up for interpretation, and they did a great job of doing that. 

One lyric that gets me every time is in the chorus: “Baby’s only twenty-three, dancing under lights since she was seventeen”. There is something about that line that is so beautifully said, yet so upsetting at the same time. It’s vague enough to keep her story a secret, but straight-forward enough to let the audience’s imaginations run wild. 

Thanks to the instrumentals, powerful lyrics, and overall vibe of the song, “23″ is the most visual and thought-provoking track on Part Three, and it’s definitely worth a listen. I really appreciate Chase Atlantic for including such a lovely song on this EP. 

Song rating: 8.5/10

Track 4: No Friends (feat. ILoveMakonnen & K Camp)

The final track on Part Three, titled “No Friends”, is probably my least favorite from this EP. What starts out as a song with great potential to be a banger, unfortunately plummets into another basic song that sounds like everything else on the charts right now. 

Let’s start with some pros. I love the introduction of the song. Right away we hear a very promising beat that’s both unique and a little menacing. As it builds up, an Siri-like voice steps in to remind us all that we are in fact listening to Chase Atlantic. It’s a small detail that makes me chuckle every time. 

The first verse of the song is pretty good, in my opinion. I could tell almost immediately that this song would be a lot like “Drugs & Money”, which was a little bit of a concern, considering I like their alt-pop stuff a lot more. But nonetheless, the first verse was not a disappointment. It was catchy and had a lot of potential to wow me.  

The chorus of “No Friends” is even better, and definitely my favorite part of the whole song. Cave’s voice gets very passionate as he sings about his lack of friends on the guest list, and I can totally hear the emotion and shade behind his words. 

The first time I listened to this song I was pretty satisfied. That is, until the song hit the 1:09 mark, and I immediately felt like I had heard this song a hundred times on the radio before. 

One thing I strongly dislike is auto-tuned rap music, but it has been very popular lately. Perhaps Chase Atlantic wanted to experiment with this trend by featuring K CAMP, but my first impression was not thrilled with his verse. After listening to the song multiple times, hoping I’d grow accustomed to it, I still feel disappointed every time the second verse rolls around. 

After another “lit” chorus, the 3rd verse is rapped by ILoveMakonnen, the other artist featured on this track. His part is better than K CAMP’s mostly because he actually has some emotion in his voice as he raps, but it still doesn’t wow me. In my opinion, this song would’ve been great if it was done strictly in the style of Chase Atlantic. 

But, overall, this song is catchy, well-produced, and caters to the side of their fanbase who digs the rap/R&B vibes. I appreciate the effort Chase Atlantic put into experimenting with new sounds, but I’m just not particularly fond of it. 

Song rating: 5.8/10

In conclusion, I still believe Part One is the best installment from Chase Atlantic’s 2017 trilogy, but there are a lot of reasons why Part Two and Part Three are great as well. Part Three, although probably my least favorite out of the series, still shows a lot of growth and passion from the band. 

Chase Atlantic definitely tried some new styles out this time around, and I can see why most fans really enjoy it. My own personal opinion feels otherwise, but nonetheless I will keep jamming out to this EP until they release something new. I am really hoping that a debut album is in the works, and I can’t wait to see what this band does next. 

[dominicrowespom]

MD6311 Major Project Evaluation

Background, Concept and Ideas

At the beginning of third year Ben and I came into this project with the intention of making a 13 track semi conceptual album based around seasons, having three songs for each season starting in Autumn ending in Summer. The hope was that it would propel ‘Two to a Room’ from an unknown name into exciting duo, the songs naturally being influenced by the music we listen to. 9 months later we’ve created a 12 track conceptual alternative hip hop album based around the same thing we originally intended, released 3 singles with 3 music videos, have a combined total of of just over 4000 steams on Spotify as well as an active following on Instagram.

Hip hop is traditionally known as a raw and honest genre of music, many artists have detailed the entirety of their life experiences onto their music in a very purposeful way. We have taken hip hop and altered it so that it applies and relates to the experience of uni students. It gives a voice to the people who are struggling during this period of life where everything seems a bit uncertain.

Some of our influences include:

Cosmo

King Krule

Loyle Carner

Rejjie Snow

JJ

Easy Life

Bakar

Many a time we’d find ourselves listening to one of their songs and being inspired by the way they’d mixed a bass line or how they added interesting/unique sounds and sections. We’re probably on the whole most similar to Bakar, however we bring our own style.

Audiences and Markets

Before deciding an audience and an artist identity we simply began playing and making music. We had a general basis as a band, having played a couple of shows under the same name in first year. Two to a Room somewhat subsided second year giving us a completely fresh start in third year, new music, new social media pages and a new image. We created personable tracks some light and some dark sounding, both instrumentally and lyrically quite downtrodden. While creating the album this helped us realise our sound, we were making the music of and relating to University students, depressed, drinking, smoking and in search for some sort of love and placeholder in this world. We continuously found ourselves adding Trippy elements to our music creating a stoner induced drug fuelled aesthetic.

The album is aimed at 16 to 24 year olds, teens and young adult transitioning into adulthood and the working world, getting by smoking spliffs and drinking a lot. For this reason we decided it would be best to push everything onto every streaming platforms though ‘distrokid’, an independent digital music distribution service. Through stats on (https://www.ifpi.org/news/IFPI-releases-2018-music-consumer-insight-report) I found that 86% of us listen to music through on-demand streaming. Young music consumers are most engaged streamers, with 57% of 16-24 year olds using a paid audio streaming service. This makes it the perfect place for our audience to find our music. We intend to release 10-50 exclusive copies of our album on CD due to peoples love of exclusivity and giveaways.

Our work is best understood sat back in a comfortable environment, where you can digest every word and feeling we were attempting to portray. There are hints of what our style, vibe and thought process is throughout our Instagram and music videos. The album can be related to if you’ve ever; gone on a night out, worked a dead end job or if you’ve ever just felt a bit stuck in life, so everyone. The reason it’s aimed at uni students is because they’re most likely to feel the entirety of emotions and lifestyle that we’ve displayed on our record.

There’s definitely already songs for sad people and a community for alternative hip hop but because our music experiments with so many different sounds and genres it’s hard to pigeonhole us into one that is preexisting. However the Cheltenham’s hip hop scene is the community closest to us, diverse in the artists and sonics that it holds. We’be home from hoping to get a foot in with the Cheltenham crowd, to wanting to unite it further and push it forward, there’s a lot of talent here.

Our only competition is ourselves, and that’s not the answer this evaluation requires but its the truth. If we solely see ourselves as the ones to beat and the ones to better taking influences from all sorts of places, we have no need to be in competition with anyone. I’d rather do the opposite and bring everyone so no one has competitors, just allies.

Promotional Strategies

Our journey for the public began at the start of October, our first Instagram upload being posted on the 3rd. We released a demo shortly after, mixed and mastered by ourselves to show our audience what we were about stylistically and aesthetically. For a demo it did far better than expected, accumulating close to 100 views in it’s first week, in time surpassing that. This gave us confidence to continue doing what we’d already set out to do. We kept our Instagram relatively busy, using photos taken by 1st year student Curtis, We then released our first single to all major streaming platforms mixed and mastered by Beau Peep. At the time none of this process had fully gone as we had planned, the song was released later than intended, videographers dropped out/couldn’t film for us and the B-side wasn’t mastered the desired way. In hindsight this moment was a good learning curve for future releases, we discovered the importance of planning properly and having everything set way in advance. It was also successful in how it was received, getting over 1000 listens in it’s first month.

In the time before our first and second single we wanted to keep our audiences attention so we decided to come up with a potential series idea named ‘In the Living Room’ airing our first episode on the 9th of January 2019. The idea was to do an acoustic set up, similar to The Tiny Desk concert, but in our living room. It was so that we could have a place to display the raw version of our music and potentially other artists as it’s something we’d found that a lot of music listeners enjoy hearing their favourite songs in a different setting sounding a little different.

We next turned our attentions towards Astronaut, we had the song finished and ready to release mid-January so we decided to begin a promotional campaign, doing a photoshoot a with friend of ours, third year student David Richards. We showed Ben Sanders the song, he enjoyed it and asked if he could do the visuals for it. We gladly accepted as it seemed like he was very keen, it took a few months to shoot it leaving a small amount of time to edit the video. In the meantime we uploaded several rows of promotional pictures to our Instagram building the excitement for the video. The video was eventually released in a hurry, and was still a little below the standard we were aiming for. As it was uploaded a little later than first anticipated it gave us less time to promote the album as a whole. But because we’d been promoting astronaut for so long we leaned into theme with a few more photos from another friend and third year student ‘Ryan Free’ who helped us reflect the feeling of the album being spaced out in a very concrete environment creating that juxtaposition in his photo by having us wear astronaut costumes in a fancy, old fashioned looking restaurant

We recorded the video for our third and final single a month before releasing the album so we could use it as part of the promotion cycle once the album was released. We organised for ‘drreproductions’ to shoot it for us and they agreed to get it shot in what turned out to be a very busy April. We played 2 gigs in the run up to the album launch while finishing the mastering of the album and organising both music videos. We hosted an album Launch at Smokey Joes on the 8th of May bringing in acts, photographers and videographers from uni to create a communal experience where we’re all helping each other. The laugh went very successfully, we were able to gain a profit from the night as well as a couple of new fans. At the time of writing our Instagram sits at 230 followers, the album has been streamed 3250 times

Evaluation

The album itself was successful. We released a 12 track solid body of work that will most definitely propel us into better things. There are a couple of standout tracks, Cruisn, Black Mould and Streets and Towns truly showcasing our maturity in terms of songwriting and storytelling. There were several songs that were dropped from the album and there were some last minute additions. ‘Hitting the Mark’ was one of the late attendees because we found the voice note on my phone from a few months prior while looking for vocal snippets to add to the album. Every new addition had to fit the tone of the project so it was difficult at times getting the order of tracks right, but eventually we settled on one that we both thought told our story best.

The album launch was a slightly stressful but very fun event. It took us several months to sort out, booking the venue in February but doing most of the leg work in April. We charged £2 at the door, over 60 people bought a ticket which helped us gain a profit from the night. The atmosphere was good the whole night, Toby Catt opening the evening, Beau Peep got the crowds arms moving, Real Triggz and KingOBithy brought the hype, local acts JPDL and Yogi Beats got everyone dancing and we were blessed to end the night.

In this major project we delivered what we set out to do and have surpassed it. We have the intention to continue as a duo past uni and bring this work with us. We have 2 festivals to play in the summer, the rest only the future knows.

[local---cryptid]

My thoughts on Gorilaz-Humanz

Sorry this took so long, I was originally going to do a first impressions for the album but knowing Gorillaz albums it takes multiple listens to form an opinion on them, that and I've been very busy with school and requests.

After listening to Humanz for a few days and I think it's finally time to share my thoughts on it, for those of you who don't know Humanz is the latest album by world famous virtual band Gorillaz who just came back from a 7 year hiatus.

so here are my thoughts on the album, I'll get the negatives out of the way first.

I found Humanz to be underwhelming but that doesn't mean it's bad, when the songs are good there relay good but about 40% of the songs on the album are kinda forgettable (especially the bonus tracks that come with the deluxe edition), the interludes are kinda useless and don't add that much to the album aside from a few transitions (the only one I really like is the "non conformist oath"). I think they went overboard with the collaborators, nearly every song has at least 1 collaborator and a majority of the time they take over the songs, the album also doesn't feature as much genre hoping as the other albums with a majority of them sounding like party music, good party music but I would have liked more experimentation.

That's all the criticisms, now on to my favorite songs from the album!

Saturnz Barz" (featuring Popcaan)

When I first saw the saternz barz music video I thought the music video was amazing (seriously, GO WATCH IT!) but the song was just ok, but over time this song has really grown on me, like A LOT! Saternz Bars is by far my favorite out of the phase 4 singles, like a majority of the songs on this album, Saternz Barz has a great beat to it. Popcan’s autotuned reggae might sound a bit off at first but the more you listen to it the catcher it becomes, overall Saternz Barz was the perfect comeback song for Gorillaz with an amazing music video accompanying it and in my opinion has to be one of the best songs in the album, and it's my favorite out of the entire album!

Charger" (featuring Grace Jones) I first heard this song when it as leaked a month ago, Charger is a epic track and Grace Jones’ “I AM THE GHOST” opening is really chilling, like something you’d hear from a super villain, the song is short and fast paced, I think is meant to be the album’s equivalent to Punk, White light and Glitter Freeze, this has to be my favorite "non single" track out of the entire album Busted and Blue       Busted and blue is beautiful, its right up there with hong kong and empire ants. It’s by far one of the best songs on the album, and unfortunately, it’s the only track that doesn’t future a collaborator. I highly recommend this one!

Andromeda (featuring D.R.A.M) When they released the first few singles, Andromeda was my favorite out of the 4, although my new favorite single from the album is now Saternz Barz, I still love Andromeda with it being my second favorite single out of the entire album. Andromeda is like a mix of the more emotional Gorillaz songs (Empire Ants, El Manana, Hong Kong, Every Planet we reach is dead and now busted and blue) but with a more dance club instrumental, this gives the song a very unique feel to it. I also recommend reading the inspiration Damon Albarn had when writing this song, it's quite touching. Momentz (featuring De La Soul) DE LA SOUL IS BACK BABY! and man is there song catchy! for those of you who don't know, this is De La Soul's 3rd collaboration with Gorillaz the previous ones being the iconic Feel Good inc and Superfast Jellyfish, both are great catchy songs, and Momentz is no different, My only gripe with the song is it instrumental, it's ok, its just kinda basic.

I Humanz bad, no it's not but in my opinion it's not Gorillaz best work, but it's still a fun album like all Gorillaz albums are and Damon Albarn has conferred that more music is on the way and there is also that upcoming Gorillaz TV series Jamie Hewlett is working on, so the future looks pretty bright for Gorillaz!

[audiofixationnews]

#OverloadMondays: Hip Hop Council Announced + Comebacks + New Music

Here’s some overload for your Monday blues. Check out what went down this past week, March 5th-11th.

Singles

Joey Bada$$ had a great 2017 and continues to kill 2018. With an album on the way, the Brooklyn rapper dropped a new freestyle “King of The Jungle” to salute Notorious B.I.G. who’s anniversary just passed. Filled with some top-notch bars, listen to the two-minute freestyle above.

As it’s a new week, R-Mean keeps #MeanMondays going with “Makaveli,” Chris Rivers continues on with his #BarzdayWednesday with “New Frieza,” GodBodyWati releases his third #WatiWednesdays banger with “Forgive Me,” and Don Q drops fire on his #DonTalkWednesdays with “King’s Dead.”

Forever M.C. keeps the music coming. From “Terminally Ill” and “King Kong,” to now their latest banger “Piranhas.”

We’ve heard new music from Bishop Nehru x Lion Babe x Kaytranada, MadeinTYO x Harry Fraud, and Deshun.

Fetty Was takes his turn on SZA’s “The Weekend” with his latest joint “The Presidential Suite."

More artists delivered new music such as Buddy x A$AP, Sango x Smino, KYLE, Murs x Fashawn x Prof., and Lucki.

Anderson .Paak returns with a new single this week. While we wait for an actually project from the man, listen to “’Til It’s Over” via Apple Music.

Gearing up for the release of his fourth album on March 16th, take a listen to Bun B’s first single, “Knowwhatimsayin.”

MED and Guilty Simpson have linked together for a collab project. They have released the project’s first single, “Face Down,” which was produced by Black Milk.

Let’s not forget the new music from King Louie, Sir Michael Rocks, and GASHI.

 Visuals

Hip Hop journalist, and now rising MC, Rob Markman has released a visual treatment to “Believe Me” which followed up to the letter to his teenage self that he posted via Instagram. A HHNH premiere, Rob shares with them the inspiration behind the song, working with his son, and future plans.

"So at the end of the year I decided to write my 15-year-old self a letter and post it on Instagram. When I did that, I knew I wanted to write a song with that same inspiration. That’s how “Believe Me” was born. It’s really a dope exercise for anyone; with all that you’ve learned in life what would you tell your 15-year-old self?”

With his son playing his younger self, watch above as Rob Markman brings the letter to life and just let it inspire your soul. 

Taylor Bennett, Phora, Trae Tha Truth, and Skippa Da Flippa x Sauce Walka were just some artists we’ve gotten new visuals from.

Check out Big K.R.I.T.’s Tiny Desk concert at the NPR offices.

This past week marked the anniversary of Notorious B.I.G’s death (March 9th). As we spent the day reminiscing and blasting his classics, New York rapper Stro dropped a freestyle over Biggie’s “Steal & Rob.” As his style is often compared to that of the ‘90s MCs, the freestyle is a perfect tribute. Watch as Stro pays his respect.

We’ve also gotten new videos from Rich The Kid, Kooly High, Blac Youngsta and Safaree, which features a cameo from Charlamagne Tha God.

Off their upcoming PRhyme 2, PRhyme have dropped another single. Stream “Flirt” featuring 2 Chainz, via Spotify or Apple.

And then Raz Simone, YFN Lucci x Skeet Blak, Kid Ink, and Chris Brown also dropped new visuals.

Fresh off dropping Stabbed and Shot with .38 Spesh, Benny the Butcher has released a visual treatment for his new solo joint, “Man Of The Kitchen.”

Shortly after dropping his sophomore album, Memories Don’t Die, Tory Lanez drops a visual treatment for the Future-assisted track “Real Thing.”

Let’s not forget the new visual treatments from Khary, Curren$y, Backwood Jones x Shawnna, and Tobi Lou x Smino. 

Projects

Apple | TIDAL | Spotify | YouTube 

At the end of his last album, Everybody, it was implied that Logic would be releasing one more album and it would be his last. He went on to confirm the implication was true. Well, now it looks like he’s giving closure to his older projects before he makes his big exit. Last year, Logic did promise he would be releasing a follow up to his 2016 Bobby Tarantino. Coming in at 13-tracks strong, Bobby Tarantino II features the likes of 2 Chainz, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Young Sinatra - pick your poison above.

March starting to look a lot like February with these releases now, sheesh. DJ Premier and Royce 5’9” - that’s PRhyme to you - deliver PRHYME 2 a week early. While it’s not exactly released, NPR has released the album to be streamed in its entirety. It will still be released to everywhere on March 16th. Serving as their collaborative debut album, the 15-track album features the likes of Big K.R.I.T., Chavis Chandler, 2 Chainz, Dave East and plenty more. Listen to it via NPR.

Arin Ray dropped Platinum Fire this week. Serving as his debut album, the Cincinnati singer first came on the scene back in 2012 on The X-Factor which led him to work with big names like Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, John Legend and more. The 14-track album features the likes of Ty Dolla $ign, DRAM, SiR, Terrace Martin, and Childish Major. Definitely worth a listen, so pick your poison: Apple, TIDAL, Spotify, SoundCloud.

Killy makes his debut with Surrender Your Soul. The 11-track tape has production from the likes of 1mind, Y2K, and Wondagurl, the Toronto rapper has a unique energy to which he puts his all into his new project. Surrender Your Soul premiered on The FADER, and can be streamed via Apple, Spotify, and SoundCloud.

Page Kennedy delivered Straight Bars 2, as a follow up to his Straight Bars he dropped in August. Kennedy drops some serious heat over instrumentals from Jay-Z, Kanye, The Lox, Mobb Deep and plenty more. Take a listen via SoundCloud.

YFN Lucci dropped Ray Ray From Summerhill. Extensive yet a great listen, the 20-track features the likes of Meek Mill, Dreezy, T.I. and more. It’s a raw project that gives you an inside glimpse into YFN Lucci’s world. Pick your poison: Apple, TIDAL or Spotify.

Don Mykel released his 5-track EP 2ERO PATI3NCE. The Harlem rapper has been quiet since his last EP drop in September, but now he’s back. Recruiting production from the Dunk Rock, Mike Kuz, the 25th Hour, and Scott Farlee, stream 2ERO PATI3NCE via Apple Music.

Toronto singer Anders released his sophomore project, Twos, this week. The tape followed that of his 669 debut he dropped last year. The 8-track EP features production from the likes of LUCA (who’s a regular collaborator), FrancisGotHeat, Business Boi, and many more. Take a listen via SoundCloud. 

03 Greedo has finally dropped his debut project under Alamo Records, titled The Wolf of Trap Street. The 21-track tape features the likes of Yhung T.O, PnB Rock, OMB Peezy, and more. Pick your poison and take a listen: Apple, TIDAL, Spotify. 

Lil Yase delivers Winner’s Circle earlier than its set release date. Featuring the likes of Drakeo The Ruler, Lil Pete, J. Stalin, Mont and more. Stream via Apple Music.

Brain Fresco dropped his latest project, Love Scars. The 15-track project features the likes of KAMI, Chance the Rapper, Twista, Vic Mensa, and several more. Love Scars deserves a spin, as Brain Fresco is consistent and beyond talented - pick your poison: Apple + Spotify.

Here’s a project I missed last week: Blu has stepped out of the booth and behind the boards on his newest project The DS Dumb Style. Blu recruited the likes of Homebody Sandman, Nova, Blame One, ScienZe, and more for his tape. Check it out via BandCamp.

We also got projects from Jeremih and Lil Yachty. 

Coming soon...

Keri Wilson has announced that she is gearing up to make a comeback in eight years. She teamed up with IfOnly to launch an auction that will allow fans to bid on a chance to get a tour of her studio and listen to her untitled third studio album. Starting off at $2500, the money will be going towards the Keri Hilson Foundation that benefits women and children through education, arts, health and fitness.

Drake announced during a Toronto Raptors versus Houston Rockets game that he is working on a new album for Toronto: “I love each and every one of you, I’m happy to be home. I’m working on this new album for the city.” Since last year, he concluded his More Life with “I’ll be back 2018 to give you the summary.” Looks like he’s a man of his word. We shall see.

MED and Guilty Simpson have teamed up on a new collab project, Loyalty. Set to release March 16th, scroll up to hear the project’s first single. Coming in at 10 tracks, and only two features from Blu and J. Mitchell, pre-order Loyalty via iTunes.

Also set to release this Friday, March 16th: Curren$y, Back at Burnies; Bishop Nehru, Elevators: Act I & II; Jacquees, This Time I’m Serious; MURS, A Strange Journey Into the Unimaginable; PRhyme, PRHYME 2; Saweetie, High Maintenance; Rich Homie Quan, Rich As In Spirit.

After releasing the first visual offering (above) from his upcoming debut, Khary is gearing up for his new and first album, Captain, which is set to release April 6th.

With the recent reveal of the official tracklist for Rich The Kid’s upcoming The World Is Yours. With features from Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Khalid, Rick Ross, Bryson Tiller, and more, Rick followed up to say that the tracklist was incomplete and it was missing features from Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Migos. The World Is Yours is set to release March 23rd.

Back in August, SZA hinted that there existed a deluxe edition of her debut Ctrl. Now she has confirmed via Twitter that there are actually six bonus tracks that could be added to make this deluxe edition.

Check This

The OG legends, Eric B and Rakim, are planning to be in a city near you! What started off as a simply tweet, “it’s time to show you,” they have announced that they will be going on tour. Kicking off in Boston on April 8th, Eric B and Rakim will close out their 18-date tour in San Francisco on May 3rd. Check the tour dates here and stay plugged for more updates. 

While we’re on the old school tip, let’s talk about Q-Tip! The Tribe member has now been appointed lead advisor of the John F. Kennedy Center’s Hip Hop Culture Council, to which he says “reflects the creative, social, and intellectual wealth of the Hip Hop community.”

“The members are the embodiment of what we stand for and all that we aspire to achieve with the Hip Hop Culture program” - Q-Tip 

The council members include legendary Hip Hop contributors like Questlove, Common, Grant Hill, LL Cool J, Bobbito Garcia, Black Thought, 9th Wonder, and several more. It is said that starting in the Spring, these members will be able to “create, experiment, develop, and produce work at the Center.” Check out more information, and the rest of the council members over at Medium.com

In honor of Phife Dawg, the Billionaire Boys Club teamed up with A Tribe Called Quest and Sony Music to create a special collected called The Space Program capsule. The collaborative capsule will include a collection of products and accessories from shirts, hats, hoodies, and more. Also going in is a hoodie with the words “FOR MALIK” in honor of Phife. The Space Program capsule collection drops this Tuesday (March 13th) at the BBC flagship store, webstore and Tribe’s website as well.

Genius has began a new weekly talk show, For The Record, that’s hosted by Rob Markman. First up, Genius has Lil Yatchy over to discuss his latest release, Lil Boat 2, and more. Check it out. 

Only six weeks after releasing their sophomore album, Migos have officially earned their second Platinum record. What took Culture five months, Culture II has now gone platinum in less than six weeks with its single “Stir Fry” as the NBA All Star Weekend’s official song.

Post Malone has earned himself a huge feat as well. His “Psycho” single, featuring Ty Dolla $ign, debuted No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

The 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards took place last night and many great things happened. From Eminem and Kehlani performing together, to Cardi announcing her debut album will finally be arriving in April (let’s hope), to Chance The Rapper being honored with the Innovator Award. Check out XXL’s list of winners. 

Stay Plugged

That sums up this past week in Hip Hop. Come back next week for more.

[rbeatz]

Space Mom, Rezz, is my #1 act of 2017

Billboard recently dubbed Dance’s Breakout Artist of 2017 to REZZ, and I couldn’t agree more. I had the pleasure and opportunity to cover her Mass Manipulation World Tour this Saturday at the Playstation Theater in Time Square, New York City, New York, USA, North America, Planet Earth. It didn’t feel like planet earth; however, as I was sonically and visually transported to another dimension in time and space. Below is my Rezz discovery story, my transformation into a Rezzbian, my review of the events that took place last Saturday at Playstation Theater, and photos I took from her unforgettable performance.

In 2017, I’ve seen Rezz 4 times: Bonnaroo, Electric Zoo, Lost Lands, and last Saturday in New York City. I’d never heard of Rezz before Bonnaroo. I had a slew of friends adamantly tell me I should go see Rezz at Roo (Bonnaroo’s nickname) because “she’s incredible.” I typically know which friends to trust musically at this point, and these emphatic murmurs were coming from trusted sources.

That low end play @OfficialRezz #Bonnaroo http://pic.twitter.com/QneNP8MSNK

— rBeatzRadio (@rBeatzRadio) June 11, 2017

I was blown away by the downtempo, experimental-bass music that was coming at around 100 BPMs (Beats Per Minute) or lower. I’d classify it as beautiful, trippy bass music from space for the masses. When I was younger, I loved dubstep; however, at the ripe age of 27, the 140 BPM intense energy drops can exhaust me. Rezz’ music kept those industrial sounds at a lower tempo, giving me the tonality and texture I always loved from dubstep at a lower speed and energy I could get behind.

I loved dubstep, also, because of how creative and crazy I could get with my whomping or headbanging as most would call it. I always called it whomping because that’s what dubstep sounds like. If you don’t know what whomping is, check the video below of a mom whomping. You can really get creative with it. It’s kind of like dancing to heavy metal with A LOT more moves. With Rezz’ music, I was still able to WHOMP, combining my two favorite elements of dubstep with the unavoidable passage of time. This is WHY I loved her music the first time my ears laid ground to the frequencies she was combining and arranging.

After Bonnaroo, I was hooked. When I got home, I read about her and listened to all her music. Standard operating procedure when you’re blown away. I found out she really blew up on deadmau5’s mau5trap label and was found early on by Skrillex. She released her first two EPs in 2016: The Silence is Deafening and Something Wrong Here (both released on mau5trap), and peaked at #19 on the Billboard Dance Charts late in 2016.

When I saw her at Electric Zoo, I spent the most time with my camera in my backpack dancing alone to her set. I couldn’t have been happier. This was her debut show on her Mass Manipulation World Tour.

I wanted to see her on the biggest stage with more lights and her accompanying visuals around her. Another aspect of Rezz’ show that is out of this world is her visual performance. There is an essence of hypnosis in the majority of her visuals; a perfect compliment to her sound. There is typically a lot of red and black spirals of different patterns that put listeners into a visual trance. Occasionally during her sets, there will be other Rezz animations there to mass manipulate. The more Rezz’ the merrier in my opinion.

#EZoo2017 @OfficialRezz Riverside stage was too small for her http://pic.twitter.com/rUwJWLy82j

— rBeatzRadio (@rBeatzRadio) September 2, 2017

Aside from the apparent tone of the above tweet, Rezz was still one of my favorite sets at Ezoo. I ended up buying her Snek T as my only merch purchase at Ezoo. Rezz’ merch was so popular, they only had one small left. I still wanted it, so I bought it and gave it to my girlfriend.

It glows in the dark, which is pretty cool if ya ask me.

Click HERE to get your OWN.

Lost Lands was more like it. It was another stop on her Mass Manipulation World Tour. Rezz did her THANG at a New York City festival; however, it’s like when you see a HUGE Great Dane in New York City. You think to yourself, “Dam, that dog is really limiting their potential in such a small area. I need to see it run free in a huge field.” Lost Lands gave me just that. The sound and visuals were everything I dreamed of, and she was in a prime-time slot. She started her set with her hit single, Relax, which provided the calming, hypnotic, spacey, weird, and exciting vibe that would carry through her entire set. I took the video below.

Rezzbians yelling, “SPACE MOM!” were out in full force. I felt weirdly at home in the middle of Ohio that night, finding so many people who were just as obsessed with Rezz as I was. After Lost Lands, I found out there’s a Facebook group called The Cult of Rezz, which I joined immediately after gaining that knowledge. I was enamored by the creative collaboration by the Rezz fans (or Rezzbians) participating in the group chat. There is a sense of respect and compassion in the group that’s been passed down by the group’s mother, Rezz. Click HERE to check the group out on Facebook.

After seeing her crush three festival stages, I was eager to catch her at a venue. I saw she was playing at Playstation Theater in my hometown of New York City, and thankfully rBeatzRadio has done enough to be able to get me access to such amazing shows.

I wrote a preview for the event, which you can read by clicking HERE, and I joined the Facebook event Cult Meet Up @ Playstation Theater to interact with my fellow Rezzbians before and at the show. In the preview, I revered Rezz’ storytelling techniques. Music is storytelling, and it takes another level of skill to do it so well with just sounds. A lot of her music doesn’t have lyrics.

I packed up my camera, and headed off to my 3rd iteration of Rezz’ Mass Manipulation World Tour. I headed straight to the bar when I got it, that’s where I saw Playstation Theater was serving a special Rezz drink. I didn’t get it because I like beer. I wondered, though, if this was her idea or not.

Mad Zach was one of Rezz’ openers. I thought he was a perfect warmup to Rezz’ more intense, higher-energy vibe. He loves experimenting with sounds, just like Rezz.

I interviewed Mad Zach earlier this year for the release of his EP, Fortress. I was impressed with his acute interest in sound design and experimentation. He’s also been taken interest by Ableton and Native Instruments, helping these music tech companies create unique sample packs that other producers can use in their music. Click HERE to read the full rBeatzRadio interview with Mad Zach.

.@madzachofficial was the perfect opener for @OfficialRezz _ http://pic.twitter.com/QBFvi6LF3P

— rBeatzRadio (@rBeatzRadio) December 19, 2017

Rezz agreed because, duh, she PICKED HIM, and she’s super involved with her fanbase. She makes it a point to really be there for her fans when she can, regularly replying back when you catch her attention. This is another aspect that makes Rezz great, and another reason that she was named Dance’s Breakout Artist of 2017 by Billboard. Rezz has truly built up an organic, engaged audience through the last couple of years. These fans are also super devoted to her cause because she’s there for them.

Couldn’t agree more !

— ᴿᵉᶻᶻ (@OfficialRezz) December 19, 2017

She started off with, Relax, which is such a good song to start with. As I said above, it sets the tone for the rest of the night, letting listeners know to throw all their anxieties away because this isn’t a scary bass performance, this is REZZ.

She eventually delved into an evil edit of Porter Robinson & Madeon’s Shelter, which is a favorite of mine because that vocal chop melody is super catchy and comforting, then the script is flipped, adding power and grit creating a stark contrast. The bass was so heavy, as you can see from the video taken below, thanks to Playstation Theater’s in-house sound system powered by JBL.

Rezz relies a lot on sub-bass in her song compositions. According to Google, sub-bass is “low-register pitched pitches approximately below 60 Hz and extending downward to include the lowest frequency humans can hear, assumed at about 20 Hz. In this range, human hearing is not very sensitive, so sounds in this range tend to be felt more than heard.” Therefore, her music is very much FELT. This also explains the movement of the phone, as it’s unable to hold still from the heavy sub-bass.

After the evil edit of Shelter, you can hear her going into probably her 2nd most popular song off Mass Manipulation, DRUGS! She obviously played most songs from the album since that’s what the tour was about!

  One of my favorite drops was when she played Rage Against the Machine – Killing In The Name (Just A Tune Flip), bringing that heavy metal/ punk rock feel to a modern day electronic setting.  Bringing back those old-school rock style vibes into a bass music setting is a fantastic way to change it up during sets. The nostalgia factor kicks in, where everyone in the audience remembers that old song, and goes crazy to its modern day spin. I loved this song, so I posted the Soundcloud embed below.

Killing in the name of @OfficialRezz _ http://pic.twitter.com/3Lryx2SBoL

— rBeatzRadio (@rBeatzRadio) December 19, 2017

From time to times, Rezz would slow it down and play some noticeable vocals. At one point, playing her song with Laura Brehm, Melancholy from her Billboard chart topping Something Wrong Here EP. Rezz’ melodies are quite noticeable, creating a sense of uncertainty and anxiety. A lot of her songs don’t have lyrics; however, the storytelling in her songa speak to a contrast between confusion and power.

This drop also had my head spinning. Since Rezz has such a sinister vibe to her show, I decided to put this old-timey black and white filter over the video. I’m not sure what the song is and have been trying to find it ever since! Someone help ID!

Towards the end of her set, she played her new single with Isqa, Psycho.

New single by @officialrezz & @isqamusic – Psycho _

A post shared by rBeatz Radio (@rbeatzradio) on Dec 19, 2017 at 12:29pm PST

Overall, Rezz has been my favorite artist to go see in 2017. She’s not only my current favorite up-and-coming artist. She is my #1 favorite artists at the moment for everything I described above. There are still tour dates for Rezz’ Mass Manipulation World Tour, so if you’re feeling the vibe and notice she’s playing in a city near you…

Click HERE to purchase tickets to Rezz’ Mass Manipulation World Tour

Photos from Rezz @ Playstation Theater

from rBeatz Radio http://ift.tt/2oMAGmG