#it was one of his top songs on spotify in 2020 actually

[shawolsos]

Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor's Cheesy Song To Cry To in Secret™ is Rule The World by Take That 😌

[erinelliotc]

A tip I give as a listener and music lover: don't give up on songs after listening to them for the first time.

You know, one thing I've learned from my experience listening to music (and which I'm confirming even more now that I've started listening to Will Wood) is that sometimes it's not that you think the song is bad or meh, sometimes you just haven't listened to it enough. Sometimes it's not that you don't like the song, you might actually like it and just not be in the mood to listen to it at that exact moment. And especially if you're listening to several songs at once for the first time, you may not absorb them all well, so it's important to listen to them again other times.

This happened to me with a lot of The Living Tombstone songs. I'd listen to a song for the first time and think "That was kind of weird, I didn't like it very much", or "That wasn't bad but it wasn't good either", then I'd decide to listen to it a few more times, usually at other times, and then I'd start to LOVE the song.

Now this is happening to me with Will Wood.

Before going to the main topic I'll contextualize the following: I discovered Will Wood through "I / Me / Myself" on TikTok (don't judge me I'm trans okay 😭 this song means a lot to me. This is still my most listened song of his so far, but "Front Street", my favorite Will Wood song, is almost taking the top spot) because of an edit (made by @flowerpuff09) with Double D from "Ed, Edd n Eddy" (my biggest hyperfixation) and it immediately became a song I listened to every day almost all the time for many weeks and I even made 4 Eddy edits with this song (first I realized that the song on Spotify wasn't exactly the same as the one in the edit, and then I discovered that there was a demo version and an official version, and I ended up loving both equally in different ways). So in another Ed, Edd n Eddy edit on TikTok, this time an Eddy edit, I discovered "The Main Character" and loved it, and then I discovered that it was ANOTHER fucking Will Wood song! At that moment I thought I should listen to the rest of his songs because it was already the second song of his that I loved, and so I did.

The first time I listened to all of his songs (January 30th), I added to a playlist the songs that I felt I really liked from the first time I listened to them. If you're curious to know what songs they were here's the list so you can judge me (observation: I listen to the 2015 "Everything is a Lot" album except Aikido and EIAL / Destroy to Enjoy, and to the 2020 Remastered Version of SELF-iSH):

6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro / Con)

Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY (Bones)

Front Street

Thermodynamic Lawyer Esq, G.F.D.

Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture

Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca)

Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In!

Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

2econd-2ight-2eer (that was fun, goodbye.)

I / Me / Myself [demo]

I / Me / Myself [official]

…well, better than the alternative

Outliars and Hyppocrates: a fun fact about apples

BlackBoxWarrior – OKULTRA

Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave.

Love, Me Normally

Memento Mori: the most important thing in the world

Your Body, My Temple

When Somebody Needs You [Song]

Tomcat Disposables

The Main Character

Against the Kitchen Floor

Willard!

Then I listened to my 23-song playlist non-stop for almost 3 weeks. And even the songs I already liked seemed to get better over time after listening to them more times, like "Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave.".

One day while reading Reddit, I saw some people commenting about not listening to "Euthanasia" because it was too sad, then I decided to watch the "Euthanasia" music video and ended up crying and loving the song, so I added it to my playlist. 2 weeks later, I added "Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus)" to my playlist too after giving it another listen and really liking it (I was trying to increase the number of songs on this album because I felt sad listening to only 3 songs, even though it's a small album). A few days later I added "Ferryman" and "The First Step" after watching a video compiling the best parts of Will Wood's songs. Almost a week later I decided to give the "Everything is a Lot" album another listen and then I added "White Knuckle Jerk (Where Do You Get Off?)", "(Cover This Song) A Little Bit Mine" and "Lysergide Daydream". I also added "Venetian Blind Man (Song)" after seeing someone on Reddit say it was an underrated song, listening to it again and realizing it really was.

And something unusual happened. Somewhere in the middle of all this I also removed "BlackBoxWarrior – OKULTRA" because even though I liked it the first time I listened to it, it became a song I kept skipping, then I realized I didn't like it that much (please don't kill me. I know a lot of people love this one, but I found it to be my least favorite on "The Normal Album"). Whether I like or dislike a song ends up being about the sound, not the lyrics, mainly because English isn't my first language, so I end up not caring that much about the lyrics. It's not that the lyrics aren't important to me, what happens to me is:

If I like the sound of a song, and the lyrics also talk about something I like, identify with or find important, the lyrics come as a bonus so I like the song even more

If I like the sound of a song, but the lyrics have nothing to do with me, the song is still just as good for me

If I don't like the sound of a song, but the lyrics talk about something I like, identify with or find important, it doesn't change anything for me, it doesn't make me enjoy listening to the song one bit

Basically, the lyrics make songs I already like better for me, but they don't make a song I don't like better, or a song I like worse.

Fun fact involving me not being a native English speaker: besides Will's lyrics being very abstract in general, I'm also not fluent in English and I never made any effort to pay attention to his lyrics either, so I had no idea what "Tomcat Disposables" was about. But every time I heard it, I became inexplicably extremely sad and melancholic and even teared up even without knowing what he was talking about. One day I decided to look for the meaning and now I know that it made perfect sense to be sad about this song, and of course now I feel even sadder than before listening to this song. He did a really good job of making the melody capture the sad feeling of the story.

So from March 15th until the day before yesterday (for 1 month), I listened to this playlist of now 30 songs. So the day before yesterday I decided to listen to his albums again, and now I just added one song after another. The more I listen to his songs, the more I realize that I actually really like them. The songs that were added practically all at once were:

¡Aikido! (Neurotic/Erotic)

Everything Is a Lot

Destroy to Enjoy

2012

The Song with Five Names, a.k.a. Soapbox Tao, a.k.a. Checkmate Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government, a.k.a. You Can Never Know

Dr. Sunshine is Dead

Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)

Cicada Days

That's Enough, Let's Get You Home

Um, I Mean, It's Kind of a Lot

Half-Decade Hangover

Vampire Reference in a Minor Key

Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll

White Noise

Yes, I like "Destroy to Enjoy" more than "BlackBoxWarrior – OKULTRA", leave me alone. And yes, it took me a while to like "Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)". It's my second least favorite song on "The Normal Album", but it's still good enough for me to put on my playlist. I swear, I REALLY wanted to like this song more, considering that "The Lorax" and especially the Once-ler were hyperfixations of mine in 2021. And yes, it took me a while, but now I love "The Song with Five Names [etc etc insert 4 more names here ...]". "Cicada Days" also finally got a special place in my heart, but the one I'm listening to most from the album "In case I make it," is "That's Enough, Let's Get You Home", the ending really touches me.

Anyway, now I have a playlist of 44 songs. I may still add more, but in general I'll enjoy listening to all of his songs (except "You Liked This (Okay, Computer)" and generally those that are only instrumental), even the ones I don't consider favorites (the ones that aren't on my playlist).

Then that's it. Give a second, third, fourth listen to that song you didn't like. It might even become a song you love and listen to all the time.

[quonka]

"Hey, this pretty much universally beloved video game OST actually kind of hits-- why is no one else talking about this?"

Sometime last year in September while looking for more background music to study and write to other than the Neopets: The Darkest Faerie OST, I looked up the Minecraft OST on YouTube.

Then that same December, my personal 2023 Spotify Wrapped released with C418 as my number one artist, who produced the Minecraft Volume Alpha album in 2011 and the Minecraft Volume Beta album in 2013; along with his three 2018 singles for the OST Axolotl, Dragon Fish, and Shuniji.

with a total of 2,518 minutes listened to, in the span of a little less than four months; I was put in his top 1% of listeners-- something I had definitely felt a little embarrassed about at the time.

My number three artist then was Lena Raine, who also worked on the later entries into the OST, with Minecraft: Nether Update in 2020; Minecraft: Caves and Cliffs in 2021; Minecraft: The Wild Update in 2022; and also has a fair number of tracks in the most recent addition to the OST, 2024 Minecraft: Tricky Trials.

Mine-Craft

I can't even say that the reason why I can focus so well to this soundtrack is because I have a nostalgia for the game like in my Darkest Faerie Post. While I did absolutely play the game a lot when I was younger like every other twelve-year-old with computer access; for as long as I can remember, I've specifically turned off the in-game music so I could listen to my own.

That's why for so long, I never really had any palpable attachment to the music.

However, due to that whim in September, I have discovered probably my favorite Video Game OST ever-- one that I listen to for schoolwork yes-- but also one that I often listen to when walking around my college campus between classes, or when biking around my neighborhood, or reading a book for fun-- or when I just need to calm down.

Variety Hour

I think the one of the main reasons why it's so versatile is just the number of artists that have produced songs towards its collection. There's C418 and Lena Raine, but there's also Kumi Tanioka, Samuel Åberg, and Adam Cherof.

This could have been a drawback, where so many different contributors to the same project might've lead to some discordance in the whole sound of the OST-- but none of the artist's sounds really clash with each other all too much, which is incredibly impressive considering the time gap from the release of the first album to the most current album.

Probably one of the most different songs I've heard on the soundtrack so far is Adam Cherof 's 2024 Precipice -- and honestly, I couldn't care less because this song is genuinely incredible. There's so much passion, and energy, and it really feels like you're standing atop a precipice, with the faster tempo of the song and the airy echoing of chimes and keys acting to simulate the wind whipping past your ears-- it's fun, and adventurous, and different and I adore it.

Back to the Beginning

Because Minecraft: Tricky Trials released so recently, it was not in my 2023 wrapped, but with just how many great and repeatable songs are on that album, I fully except to see both Precipice and Creator in my 2024 wrapped.

The song that did take my number one spot though was Équinoxe, off that original album, with Ancestry off of Minecraft: Caves and Cliffs taking my second spot and Moog City again from that original album taking my third spot.

While both Moog City and Équinoxe are beautiful pieces that I could go on and on about, I specifically want to talk about Ancestry.

This song is this beautiful and unnerving atmospheric piece that specifically was designed to play in the Deep Dark Biome, which as the name suggests, is a haunting little area deep underground with little to no light.

I love all the echoing in this song, the crispy static just under the pulsating higher tones, the glitchy wind instrument sounds-- it all contributes to this gorgeous "mysterious and unknown scary" ambiance that the dev team was aiming for.

There are a couple songs like this one too, full of a darker, more somber atmosphere-- another one of my favorites being from C418's Minecraft Volume Beta, The End, or from his Minecraft Volume Alpha, Thirteen.

I guess I'm a sucker for a darker soundtrack because the Minecraft OST has more than its fair share of cold and heavy ambiance.

Looking Forward

I could genuinely talk at length for at least half of this soundtrack. There are so many rich pieces, and motifs, and melodies that I've grown incredibly found of. There are still songs on the OST that I feel like I'm discovering for the first time, where they might not have caught my ear the first couple listens-- but after a while I've started to really hear the intricacies in their scores and gain a new appreciation for them.

I'm honestly considering making a tier list for the soundtrack, or maybe even doing a couple posts at the very least.

I genuinely think that if anyone hasn't listened to the Minecraft OST, they should give it a shot, whether it just be for fun, or to study and write to. You really don't need to have an overwhelming sense of nostalgia to enjoy the music-- and I'm proof.

Here is the entire, currently up-to-date Minecraft OST playlist on Spotify neatly organized in chronological order by user Darra (Everybody say thank you Darra). If you don't have Spotify though, here is the similarly organized playlist by user NightBunny8 on Youtube (Everybody say thank you NightBunny8).

To anyone who is familiar with soundtrack though, what are your favorite songs? or the opposite; if anyone hates any of the songs off the OST, I'd love to hear which ones. I can't say I really Hate any of the songs... maybe one... but that can wait for the tier list or a subsequent post.

[royalarms]

GET TO KNOW THE WRITER .

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? i love noctis . final fantasy xv is my favorite game of all time and i've put ungodly hours into it , but fun fact ! i actually wrote prompto from 2016-2020/2021ish ( i dont remember haha ) but immediately the game became my favorite final fantasy game , and then eventually topped my passion for kingdom hearts and crisis core and just . became my number one . i still wanted a way to experience and express my love for it , but my personality had shifted sooo much over the past several years and prompto just didn't fit for me anymore , so i opted for noctis . gave him a go and ended up connecting with him on a level i would have never though LOL . i've always really really loved and enjoyed his character but writing a protagonist always gave me the willies so i never ventured into it . now im stuck here .

is there anything you don’t like to write? there are several things i WON'T write , but i don't know if there's anything i particularly dislike . i feel like if i have the right writing partner we can make most anything fun .

is there anything you really enjoy writing? i love writing things i've never written before ! new characters , new interactions , cool plots i've never written out , etc . i like to keep it exciting .

do you write in silence or do you play music? i either listen to lyricless music or write in silence . every once in awhile i can write with songs with lyrics on but it has to be really quiet . i'll turn on my character playlists in those moments , but i honestly think i do my best writing in silence .

do you plan your replies or wing them? both ! i don't have an explanation here , it just depends on the thread and the plot (if any) and when and how inspiration strikes .

do you enjoy shipping? yes . as long as the age gap isn't weird or intense toxicity is going on , i'm USUALLY down for most things :)

what’s your alias/name? aster >:) age? 25 birthday? march 29 favorite color? red ! favorite song? ohhh shoot . i love linkin park for my favorite band , but favorite SONG ? let me check my most replayed on spotify LOL . um. scatterbrain by kxllswxtch , voices in my head by falling in reverse , and numb by the used 💀 all of them are negative tw if anyone wants to listen last movie you watched? i literally do not know , i don't watch a lot of movies last show you watched? the wit/cher last song you listened to? listening to squishy caterpillars riding on bullets by istasha ( negative n drug tw ) ............. favorite food? curry and adobo :) favorite season? spring ! do you have a tumblr best friend? i dont love the phrase "tumblr best friend" idk what that entails but i have three ppl i love dearly and talk to a lot ! @otlaw , @starshcwer , @onegil ❤️❤️❤️

tagged by: i stole thisss

tagging : you should steal it too :)

[scibot9000]

top discovered albums this year. as in, top albums from not-2023 but that I found in 2023. i dont have spotify so i gotta do this manually.

rankings approximate. links and thoughts under the cut

hizmi - Soak (2021)

sometimes it's the technicalities that blow my mind. this is…… unmodified X68000 music????

Yeah listening to this has expanded my mind on what's possible with old FM chips. None of this sounds like the artist found any restriction with any aspect of the system.

"Rivulet" blows my mind every time. It's just an ilkae song. Like cmon.

---

SDEM - ZNS (2020)

After AE_LIVE 2022, I went on a little bender, looking for anything else ae-esque.

I pretty much immediately struck gold. I had been digging through SDEM stuff anyway but man this is another level.

"dysp 0m" in particular is one of the tracks of all time. I keep coming back to it. it's HEAVY on headphones.

---

Ssaladd - Ssaladd (2020)

This is a funny selection to land on a TOP8 because it's so understated. It even kinda feels distant.

But damnit that's why it stuck with me.

The use of wow and flutter is crazy good here!

It feels like carefully applied vibrato, an application of the expression MIDI CC. But completely unlike any other vibrato I've heard.

It feels like a pioneering mix of techniques. And I can't stop thinking about it.

---

Cryptovolans - Passenger (2022)

Is it possible to have a wall of sound in MIDI?

No, not Black MIDI. Something prog.

I keep coming back to "Board Room" in particular because it's so... weird? Slightly beyond just SC, but not by much. Heavyweight album.

---

Kid606 - GQ on the EQ++ (2000)

The textures on this absolutely blew me away.

"My Kitten Went To London" sounds insanely fresh. I can't believe it's pushing 23 years old!

That and "Dandy" really stuck wth me. The latter sounds a bit more era-appropriate somehow (maybe because of oval?), but still vibes really good.

This was actually me revisiting the album. I initially listened to it about a decade ago and didn't like it. Crazy to think I turned away from such gold back then.

---

nagz - Good (2020)

nagz has been a longtime favorite and inspiration of mine. He's been making music from the future for years and years. Blowing my mind since 2006 or so.

One of his earlier releases, hringur, stuck with me for years. It had an atmosphere that I had never heard before or since.

…until now.

It's not actually a sequel, but it's got a flavor that I just. Don't know where else you can find.

If I were to highlight a single track: "I Like You But Not Too Much" hits astoundingly hard. It's what I imagine Earthbound music might be like if it were made today.

---

DJ Technorch & 九十九音夢 – Strong Anthropic Principle (2016)

An absolutely mind melting early (found in January) favorite. Hard, hardcore, and psychedelic. And a bit silly.

"猫の気持ち 〜Cat's Mind〜 (Masayoshi Iimori Remix)" and "解熱鎮痛一撃必殺 〜Critical Arts〜" in particular stuck with me as great experiences.

I really really like the preview video, too. (nsfw warning?) (flashing lights warning?). It truly captures the vibe.

---

AE_LIVE / elseq 6-10 / onesix

I had already listened to some of these, but around march, I found fanmade CUE sheets, and that brought a whole new level of love for this release.

And then I found fan edits with another set of fan titles. Two names for all of my favorite bits? Sure!

"ceramic / clipcon" i love that percussion! the ringmod in "(drunk) / probat emp2" is some of my fav ae work ever. having splits made me fall in love with the density of "sentinel / sinistrail casual"

and then I discovered the onesix sets and fan-cuts, giving a more ambient dive which I'll only mention briefly here. But man, "reflected / seven of twelve" is one I revisit OFTEN.

[cumberbatchedandproud]

Songs (tagged)

Hi everyone !!

Thanks for the several songs tagging during the summer @mctna2019 @rhaenys-queenofkhyrulzz and @pashminabitch :) (and so I'm sort of replying to all of you at once?)

I'm generally more into soundtrack/classics than songs and I don't really use spotify but make my own MP3 playlists for in the car (i'm so old), so instead of the usual spotify shuffle i'm giving you the top 5 instrumentals I listen the most to lately? -Time of JungHyuk for Seri (CLOY OST / Nam Hye Seung, Park Sang Hee) -River Flower / Garden of God / The Warrior / Kingdom / Sword of the stranger / Lost Castle / My Country / Battlefield, selfmade mix with my favourites cut bits (i prefer listening to the whole titles whenever I can, but without the quiet parts you can't really hear above the engine/traffic noises is just better suited and safer when driving without having to fumble with the volume all the time) (MCTNA OST, Rain Wolff - and then choose the tracks) -The Day and My Love and… (TKEM OST 1 2 / Lee Geon Yeong, Gaemi) -Moonlight Sonata I & III (Beethoven) -No Time for Caution aka Epic Docking Scene (Interstellar OST, Hans Zimmer)

But if you actually want to know about actual SONGS, I'd go with those 'character meta-ish' songs in my MCTNA folder (which is the one I currently listen the most to, so...) -Shake it out, Florence & The Machine -Nothing, The Vassar Devils - thanks to that perfect @nubreed73 MCTNA vid -Dynasty, MIIA (MCTNA vids https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-inZf-p1dE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fozuKNpv8sc) -Train Wreck, James Arthur (MCTNA vid) -Believer, Imagine Dragons (MCTNA vid) (And special mention for the crackiest yet meta-ish crack vid I always come back to whenever I need a laugh (even though I cry at the end), even if I do not listen to the song in the car - again and forever, thank you so much for this golden one, always @nubreed73 :))

But to be honest again the actual SONGS i might have heard the most lately are those from our family Eurovision best of folder my kids didn't stopped asking for on repeat on our drive back home from holidays :) -Alessandra - Norway - Queen of Kings 2023 (btw we voted for Lureen this year (because she was in our opinion the best singer (there is POWER in her voice, okay) - tumblr, don't hate us, please), but this one was a huge favorite song too. third (and atypical winner of the year in our hearts indeed) was Finland Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha) -The Roop - On Fire - Lithuania 2020 -Italy - Mahmood - Soldi 2019 -Alexander Rybak - Fairytale - Norway 2009 (still such an iconic catchy tune) -Iceland - Hatari - Hatrið mun sigra 2019 (each year we give a special award out of our own - 'atypical winner of the year') (PS: any european pretending not to enjoy eurovision is a liar who lies :) (or not - anyone is free to like it or not of course i'm just joking, but in my family it is actually a year milestone tradition: that's how i grew up and that's what i passed on to my kids : gather all in front of the tv with snacks, and someone keeps the votes of everyone on a chart song by song:))

Tagging EVERYONE as usual and please tag me back so I can see it all :)

[takingontheworldtogether]

my friends who don't know shit about taylor swift requested a pre-album explainer of wtf is going on so i wrote them a little newsletter... if you want something to send to your non-swiftie friends it's beneath the cut

Good morning team,

Why do we need a Swiftie newsletter?

I mean, no one really needs this. But she’s dropping a new album (“The Tortured Poets Department” or TTPD for short) in three days and I’m here to provide you with the information you need before the album comes out. I’ll be back with a post-album review letting you know 1) what juicy gossip was revealed on the album, 2) what tracks you should listen to, and 3) a few things you can say to your Swiftie friends to sound cultured.

What’s this album about?

Okay, I know this is ancient history, but cast your mind back to 2016. Kanye and Taylor Swift are beefing, and Kim Kardashian posts a clip of a phone call that makes Taylor look like a liar. Taylor gets canceled on social media and disappears for a year. 

While all this is going on, she meets her boyfriend, the British actor Joe Alwyn. I have no clue what movies he was in at the time, but since then he was in The Favorite and Harriet, and also Conversations with Friends (I think, I haven’t seen it because Normal People put me off Sally Rooney). Here’s a quick timeline:

Late 2017: Taylor comes back with “Look What You Made Me Do” and reputation. People think reputation is a bad bitch album, but it’s actually an album about finding love in a time of despair.

2019: She drops Lover, which is about many things but primarily about how she loves him and wants to spend the rest of her life with him. 

2020: Pandemic. Taylor writes two quarantine albums, folklore and evermore. These are primarily fictional, but there are a few love songs about him. He co-writes some of these songs pseudonymously.

2022: Midnights. This album becomes wildly successful. It occupies all of the top ten slots on the billboard hot 100 in the week it comes out. It breaks a bunch of sales records.

2023: The Eras Tour starts! Two weeks in, they announce the break up. Taylor briefly dates Matty Healy of the 1975, who is by all accounts a total asshole. This appears to have been a shitty rebound. A bit later, she starts dating the football player Travis Kelce and everyone loses their minds about it. 

It looks like this album is going to be about the end of a relationship of six years and possibly rebounding/moving on. 

Okay, but like… why did they break up?

I mean, I don’t know any of these people, so all I can offer you are guesses based on song lyrics:

1 - He was really big into his privacy, which is kind of difficult if you’re dating Taylor Swift. 

2 - A lot of songs on Lover are about wanting to get married. There’s a song on Midnights that implies that she wanted to get married and he refused. Yikes. 

What’s the promo situation for this album?

The most notable thing to me (and what is this if not me rambling about my opinions) are some playlists curated by Taylor on Apple Music. Each playlist focuses on one of the five stages of grief in mourning a relationship, and they contain songs from her past albums. There are copycat playlists on Spotify, if you’re interested. My favorite is “am I allowed to cry?” which is the playlist for the bargaining stage. 

There’s also a wall in Chicago with a QR code that leads to a video of the words “Error 321 13” and a hidden message in her song lyrics that spells out “Hereby Conduct This,” which is presumably a message that will be finished by the time the album comes out. 

What do we already know about the album?

16 tracks with 4 bonus tracks. There’s a song with Post Malone (yes, really) and a song with Florence + The Machine. I agree, this is not an intuitive combination, but I’m excited. 

Two of the songs are over five minutes long. Two songs are entirely self-written, five are written with Aaron Dessner (from the National), and eight are written with Jack Antonoff (the producer who works with all the pop girlies). Her collaborations with Aaron Dessner are some of my favorite songs of hers, so this is good news to me. 

That’s my preamble to the Tortured Poets Department!

I hope this was informative, but I barely scratched the surface. You have no idea how deep this goes. Also, I need you all to know that I sat down and wrote this in one sitting without Googling anything, which probably means I know too much about this subject. 

In the meantime, I’ve been listening to “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter which is a very stupid song that is fun to listen to. I’ve also been listening to girl in red’s new album, I’m Doing It Again Baby! which is aggressively mid. If you want to listen to a song on it, I recommend “Pick Me.” 

See you in three days!

[randomvarious]

Resistance 77 - "Nuclear Attack" 100% Hardcore Punk Song released in 1982. Compilation released in 1998. Street Punk / Hardcore Punk

Plays: 21K+ on Spotify // 3.7K+ on YouTube

Contrary to what you might think that their name implies, the legendary and fiery UK punk band Resistance 77 from Nottingham did not actually form in the year of 1977 itself. They just wanted to buck this trend of thrashiness that seemed to be emerging at the time by simply channeling a waning sound and spirit that they'd fallen so hard for a couple short years prior. And that early decision at the turn of the 80s to go a sort of 'recent-vintage' route appears to have served them incredibly well, because four decades-plus later, these guys still have yet to actually hang it up, which, needless to say, is very remarkable for not just any band, but *especially* a punk band.

So, today's song originally comes from Resistance 77's debut four-track EP, Nowhere to Play, which was released in 1982, after the band had been playing live gigs for a couple of years already. Closing out that release is a blistering tune called "Nuclear Attack," which would later find its way onto UK punk label Captain Oi!'s fantastic retrospective double-disc, 100% Hardcore Punk, in 1998.

Now, back in the days of the Cold War, the apocalyptic scenes that people would imagine as a result of governments lobbing nuclear bombs at each other really seemed to go naturally hand-in-hand with the sonic hellscapes that hardcore punk bands were, themselves, capable of concocting. And, to me, Resistance 77's "Nuclear Attack" is really one of the greatest anthems of all time that carries this once ever-popular geopolitical punk rock theme of both a seemingly imminent and looming threat of nuclear annihilation.

So, this tune's definitely not really yelling anything that any punk rocker hadn't yelled before, of course, but damn, does it still just manage to go cathartically hard as fuck, folks! Catchy and full, buzzsawing chord progressions on the verses lead themselves into bouncier choruses, which, at that point, then get accompanied by an addition of infectiously splashy hi-hat mashes too. Just 98 seconds of super fun, head-bobbing, energetic fury that'll make you wanna destroy something expensive with a hammer and then go kidnap Maggie Thatcher herself! 😤

And the band's bassist, Kieron Egan, really loves this one as well. On a 2020 episode of the Blank Generation podcast, he listed "Nuclear Attack" among his top-five favorite Resistance 77 songs of all time. And it's not really all that difficult to see why either, because it's a pretty exemplary piece of early 80s UK hardcore punk rawness that you can totally lose all of your shit to.

[adoreinbloom]

thank you @sun-lt and @dahliaaz for tagging me in this!

here are my top albums of 2022!✨ (some of them were released in 2022, and some weren’t but i discovered them in 2022, so i hope that still counts!)

i tag @pop-punklouis, @sweetest-devotion , @itslottiehere, @dragmedown, @becauseheartsgetbroken-hs, @allmylouv and anyone else who wants to do it! (no obligations! ✨❣️)

harry’s house - harry styles

the album that was the soundtrack to my summer. from going from listening every single day to hearing my favourites from the album live in a few months felt incredible. I haven’t stopped listening since it’s been released. i’ve had it blaring from the speakers any chance i can get at home, and i always go to listen to it as soon as i open spotify. i didn’t know what to expect when we had as it was as the only single leading up to it, but it exceeded all my expectations! it felt like he had the most fun with this album, and he wanted us to have as much fun as he did with it and i can’t not be in a good mood when listening to every song. he amazes me every single time with his work, and i think it will always be constantly on my ‘on repeat’ spotify playlist.

faith in the future - louis tomlinson

the best album to close my year off with! i was really curious to see what the entire album would sound like considering he kept saying this was the music he always wanted to make, and i wanted to see what he has always been working towards. if this is the music he’s always wanted to make, then i am fully on board and will continue to fall in love with his work. it was a mix of songs that each told their own story, and made you relate moments of your own life to the memories he’s singing about. i can’t wait to see this live.

the car - arctic monkeys

i wasn’t a huge fan of arctic monkeys’ last release, so i wasn’t too excited about the car but i decided to pre order the vinyl anyway just to go out on a whim! i think it’s definitely one of my favourite AM albums, and i kind of wish i’d bought tickets for their next tour since listening to it a few times.

doomsday - lizzy mcalphine

my third most played artist on my spotify wrapped behind harry and louis. i fell in love with give me a minute during lockdown, so i was excited to see what else she was releasing! it did take me a while after the album was released to actually listen to it, but every song i love. i have it as my ‘wfh concentration album’ and it’s very mellow and just perfect. her voice is incredible, and i wish she was touring more local to me i’d love to see her!

stick season - noah katan

very late to the game with this one but i fell in love with it from the get go! i feel very calm and chill when i’m listening to this album, and like i just need to listen to it when i’m sitting on a bench somewhere and looking at the world pass me by. it makes you think a lot about your own memories when listening, and i had goosebumps listening to a few! it kind of reminds me a bit of mumford and sons, and i love them a lot.

take time - giveon

this is a 2020 album so i’m very very late to this one! i saw the performance he did of heartbreak anniversary at wireless festival this year and fell in love with it, so i immediately had to see what else he’d released. a lot of his songs have been good to listen to when i was writing (or trying to write) and the storytelling of his music kind of inspired a few stories of mine.

(i would have followed you) - delaney bailey

the best album to listen to when i just need to cry. the most angelic voice i’ve ever heard, and a bad album to listen to when it’s like 3am and you are overthinking everything that’s ever happened in your life. my heart broke 100 times over with every song and i loved every second of it.

emails i can’t send - sabrina carpenter

i haven’t listened to sabrina since 2018 when she released singular act one, so i was going into this with a four year break almost. i really really liked it! it feels like the kind of album you’d listen to when you were on a late night drive with your friends just blaring out the songs. that was the energy i got from it and you always ALWAYS need an album like that in your life.

the otherside - cam

for some reason, i’ve only listened to changes that harry wrote since 2020, but never the entire album that came along with it! i’m secretly a fan of country (not all country but a fair bit i like!) and this just felt like the right amount for me to enjoy! she reminds me a bit of old dolly parton (especially with the song diane) and i feel like my grandad would have really really loved her, and that is always a winner for me.

[foxtriestobiteandmaimandkilland]

Heyyy ty sappho ( @iworshipsappho ) for the taggg (this is veryy late i have been BUSYYY today but thog dont caare) this is probably one of the coolest tag games :3

1. Favourite colour and why: I loveeee pink she is so cutesy and pretty and beautiful and my best friend ever in the world and also orange she is beautifullll and my wife and i love her she makes everything sooo wonderful and is rhe reason i love sunsets so much AND BROWN she is the cosiest girl on earth thee is no cosier colour than brown shes the colour of HOMEEE dude

2. Five comfort movies: ooo man idk i dont watch movies often. But i suppose Brave is one of them its always been suchhh a comfort movie <333 other than thattt idk man haha

3. Favourite season and why: SUMMERRRR SUMMER SUMMER SUMMERRRR I LOVEEEE SUMMER he is my husband and i love him. Summer <333 eveyrhting is so golden and bright and beautiful and amaz g and warm and comfortable and happy and AAA i love summer so much <33333

4. Favourite book(s): ahahahahah fuck i dont read much like. At all. I like the sudoku book i have i suppose ???? And my sketchbook :3

5. Favourite aesthetic and why: imagine. Life is strange. As an aesthetic. All of life is strange. Everything that is life is strange is my aesthetic. I love life is strange. So much

6. Favourite genre and why: oo depends on what. Genre of music ?? Fuckinn. Lemme ask spotify haha one moment. Well my top mixes are Happy Chill Indie Rock Acoustic and Punk so like errrr. Idk man. I like songs that sound good. Like. Video game soundtracks. And. Will wood. Favourite genre of story ??? I likeeee. Actually quite a lot of stuff tbh sooo yea ill just stick 2 music

7. Favourite clothes style: timothy rand from blood in the bayou. I wanna look as horrendous as he does. He is so incredibly awesome. Alsoooo like. Dude idk what to describe it as. My favourite pieces of clothing i own areeee my black tshirt w awesome art of some random californian forest i think, my many tank tops, my denim jacket n my new b&w flannel anddd my black jeans and my denim skirt and my greenblue boots and my VANS :3 anddd my many necklaces and a ton of eyeliner and mascara and eternally black nails anddddd yea :33 but mainly timothy rand ^__^

8. Favourite music genre: well shit i already answered this. Here ill just put my fav story genre. Which is errr. Well. Idk man. I like love stories but mainly the kind that r disguised as love storiez (AND NOT IN A ROMANTIC WAY) as much as i go crazy insane over romances i do fucking love the sorta Power Of Friendship Stories. Like i love riptide and i love doctor who and i love life is strange and i love omori and i love little nightmares bc theyre all like, everything sucks so much. And there are awful people and awful things in tne world. But atleast theres fucking friends and atleast we can love those friends and atleast theres beauty in the world. Love when a storys like. Uh oh the horrors (but also theres friends)

9. Favourite artists: WILL WOODDDD will wood is so fuckin good man his music is like the only music i cant get sick of even after listening to it for like. A week straight. Other than him i cant think of any individual artist i rlly like. Errr lemme check spotify again. C418 is like one of the only other examples i have a lot of the songs of in my Playlist. And cavetown but that was 2020. And crywank oo ig even tho i dont listen much anymore. And good kid but i listened 2 much in july and im sick of them now. And jhariah but thats just 1 album my friend recced. Ok and lemon demon but hes like a free pass. Ok and lovejoy as well but theyre also a free pass. And slaughter beach, dog but that was like a one week obsession n then i overlistened. Ok and toby fox and id say hes a free pass but hes Built Different ok hes more than a free pass. And two door cinema club but that was also just 1 album. Ok and wilbur hes also a free pass shut up. Anyways will woods music is good

9.5 I FORGOR SONGS IM ADDING THIS IN NOW: FAVORITE SONGS: ERR FUCKING SKELETON APPRECIATION DAY IN NY BY WILL WOOD ITS A BANGER. MY SPOTIFY ISNT LOADING SO I CANTNTHNK OF ANY OTHER BUT I LOVE SKELETON APPREICATION DAY. AND ALSO. CAUSE FOR CONCERN MY BBG. AND. FINE BY LEMON DEMON. AND. SOME OTHERS. THAT SPTOIFY WONT OPEN FOR. oh and also like the entire omori soundtrack and the entire LOFEMIS STRNAGE SOUNDTRACJ I LOVEEEEE ALL THE LIS SONGS SOOOOO MUCH and the entire unoackinf sojndtrack ok bye the end

10. Favourite fandoms: dude ok like. The mcyt fandom sucks in a way that i also love so much it has such a special place in my heart n despite me being muchhhh more on the outside of the fandom now and only still being here by proximity rlly its definitely like. A good one

11. Hobbies: PHOTOGRAPHY !!!!! and visual art BUT MAINLY PHOTOGRAPHY !!!!! And playing silly video games :3 but photography ^__^

12. Care language u give: i try with words but mostly just spending time together. If someones having a bad time i will spend time with them so they have a good time. But most the time thats not possible soooo i try 2 show i care with like. WAIT. i misread this as. Like. Sympathy. Like what u do when someones havin a bad day. Care language isss. Still spending time together, i will invite the ppl i care abt to hang out :3 anddd infodumping i only infodump to ppl i rlly care abt bc i trust them and want them to know abt the things that make me happy !!!! Bc then they can maybe like it too !!! :3 anddd in person Existing in each others proximity :333

13. Care language u like to recieve: physical touch <3 AND QUALITY TIME SOOO MUCH invite me to things ill love u forever. And like. Ppl thinking of me even if im not around. Love that shit so much

14. Are u more of extrovert/introvert/ambivert: EXTROVERTTTT i loveeeee people so much i love my friends and need them so much and i love meeting new ppl BUT I COME OFF AS AN INTROVERT just bc im scared of rejection and im used 2 ppl hating me for my autistic swag BUT i still love ppl so much <333

15. Morning/night person: a morning person forced 2 be a night person. But i loveeee the morning sooooo much even tho i am better at staying up late i HATEEEE the night and i LOVEEEE the morning

16. City/country/suburbs and why: hmmm i think i like the suburbs bc like dude its just fuckin Home like i hate the city bc its overwhelming and too big and too expensive and too polluted and too PUBLIC. And i do like the country but it feels unfamiliar to me bc i dont go there too often. And ofc theres a lack of easy paths to walk on when it comes 2 roads n shit. So i like the suburbs :3 its just fuckin home as mcuh as they suck

17. Favourire time of day + why: I LOVEEEE 8am so much. And 11am. Comfy times. BUT ONLY WHEN THEY BELONG TO ME if im spending my 8am or 11am doing smth i dont wanna do for someone i dont respect I HATE IT, but when 8am or 11am is MINE to do with as i PLEASE. Best times in the day. And 8pm bc a lotta things happen at 8pm

18. Do u have any religious beliefs: nah not rlly just bc my parents r awful n raised me 2 believe religion is "Evil" and just fuckin. Bad shit. But like even tho i ofc fuckin disagree w them to hell n back, still an atheist and will mostttt likelyyy stay that way i think ?

19. What does your ideal family look like to you: dude fucking Not Blood Family. My family is the ppl i love n the ppl i feel comfortable around and my family is my friends and my Blood Family will be dead to me the moment i move out. My ideal family is a group of ppl who love and care for each other and do not need to fuckin Seal It With Marriage Or Blood or whatever the fuck. Just ppl who look after each other and ppl who love each other whoever the fuck that is

20. Dream future: being happy and never talking to my parents and loving life still

21. Dream place to visit: wherever my friends live :3 never liked travel before so idk where id want to go bc ive always hated travelling so much bc ive never travelled w/o my family so. Yeah. Bad

22. Favourite type of nature: I LOVE RIVERS AND LAKEZ !!!!!! so much. And wetlands. And big meadows.

23. Favourite habitat: ooo ive liked savannahs a lot :33 but mainlyyy forests bc like the Technical Biome of where i live is a forest so its just like. Home yaknow

24. Describe myself in 4 words: IN, LOVE, WITH, LIFE !!!!!!!! :3 (or alternatively: fuck, it, we, ball)

25. If i could be another thing on earth whatd i be: A CAT A KITTY CAT MROW MEOW MEOW MEOW EMOW MEOW MEOWWWW ID BE A KITTY KITTY KITTY CAT A KITTY CAT KITTY CAT !!!!!!! :3c

26. Favourite type of weather: SUMMER THUNDERSTORMS and also veryyyy sunny days with like. 10% cloud cover. Perhaps 20%. But mostly blue sky :3

27. If u could travel anywhere right now where would it be: ANYWHERE ELSE ANYWHERE ELSE I HATE IT HERE !!!!!! but also. The house of one of my friends. So that i can sleep over and then hwng out. Bc im eepy. But also i need my friends.

28. Do u have any fears, serious or otherwise: i am scared offfff my parents and of school and of rejection and of social isolation and of outer space andddd. Of bad things happening to my cat.

29. Dream job: capitalism hater, royalty assassinator.

30. Would you be a pirate/vampire/cowboy/astronaut/werewolf/wizard/witch/knight/cryptid and why: A PIRATEEEE A PIRATEEE ID BE A FUCKINN PIRATEEE I LOVE PIRATES id also be a witch i wanna mix herbs n shit snd make silly magic with potions. And as cool as wizards are, i dont wanna be a technician. Wanna be an alchemist. Witch. Witch pirate. But mainly pirate i LOVEEE PIRATESSS SOOOO MUCH

[warmbeebosoftbeebo]

I've listened to everything! (Panic has been my top artist on Spotify since 2020)

I joined the fandom in 2019, because of ME! and Into The Unknown, and it was instant love. I'd probably rank the albums like:

Too Weird To Live Too Rare To Die

Vices & Virtues

Viva Las Vengeance

Death Of A Bachelor

Pray For The Wicked

Pretty Odd

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

I'm the one fan who hopes that the Nearly Witches demo will be released someday!

And not to break hearts, but on January 23rd I randomly decided to watch The Overture on YouTube for no good reason at all....

But on a happy note, August 19th is a holiday to me! (Which is funny, because I've claimed 19 as a "lucky number". Discovered them in 2019, Viva released on the 19th...)

Thanks! I love talking lol.

Into the Unknown is freaking akfkhlsnflg his voice goddamn. The song me! is mid but I love the music vid and their silly goose campy dynamics (I actually think he's a lot like that with gals/sex irl and that that's the closest we've gotten to him irl in a music vid character. Plus we know he has a crush on her). That'd be a fave music vid too if it counts as a panic vid.

Unusual to see fever last! I put it third, but I also judge it as a first album by people in their late teens (would be forth otherwise). My faves are Vices and Bachelor: both beyond perfect. Twtl is 4th (instrumentals of it would put it 3rd tho bc the vocoder usually does not work for me, other than Casual Affair and Vegas Lights). Viva and PFTW go back n forth depending on which kind of music Id rather listen to/what I focus on. PO last.

What they actually got done of the Nearly Witches demo was released on that Fueled by Ramen mix tape https://www.tumblr.com/lilbdenclips/700292696157421569/the-paul-revere-jumpsuit-apparatus-nearly?source=share

Overture would prob be my fifth fave panic music video, after (not sure of the ranking but these are the top 4) gospel, enc, ready to go, sad Clown. "it's just us" "it always has been" 😢

I remember 13 and 19 being my fave numbers.

[thekillerssluts]

A little over a year ago, Will Butler announced that he was leaving Arcade Fire. (A few months after Will’s departure, his brother Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct, so the timing felt like, well, timing.) Anyway, these days Will has been releasing his own post-Arcade Fire music: “A Stranger’s House” and ��Nearer To Thee,” plus “Willows,” a song credited to Will Butler + Sister Squares. The “Sister Squares” are actually Will’s backing band (Sara Dobbs, Julie Shore, Jenny Shore, and Miles Francis, who is listed as producer), and they’ve been playing with him for a decade. Now, Will + Sister Squares have announced their new self-titled album, coming September 22 on Merge.

Along with the news is a lead single and video, “Long Grass.” Here’s Will offering a bit of background on the album, which was recorded at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn and Miles’ Synthia Studio:

I met Jenny — my wife! — in college, the year before I joined Arcade Fire. When I needed a band to tour��Policy [Merge, 2015], I asked [Jenny’s sister] Julie to join because I trusted her musically. And I asked Sara, Jenny and Julie’s childhood friend, because I knew she was super talented. Antibalas (who I was drumming for) opened some Arcade Fire shows,” says Miles, who offered to play drums anytime Will needed. Will, Julie, Sara, and Miles jelled on tour and everyone worked on vocal arrangements. All along, Jenny contributed to recordings and general performance ideas, and she joined onstage in 2019.

After Generations [Merge, 2020], I considered making a weird solo record. Me alone in the basement, etc., etc. Mostly I realized that what I wanted was the opposite.

I had quit my band Arcade Fire very recently, after 20 years—maybe the most complex decision of my life. I had spent the preceding two years at home with my three children. I was 39 years old. I was waking up every morning and reading Emily Dickinson, until I had read every Emily Dickinson poem. I was listening to Morrissey, to Shostakovich, to the Spotify top 50. I had unformed questions with inchoate answers. But, honestly, I was feeling great about the record.

Miles adds, “Will and I organically discovered our relationship as a production duo through making this album. We didn’t have to talk too much about things as they happened, because the music just flowed. As a producer, working with Jenny, Julie, and Sara is the dream. They connect so innately. In one motion they can conjure a mood, or get at the root of a feeling.”

[thornvevo]

NEW SERIES I MAY OR MAY NOT STICK TO:

ALBUMS I'VE LISTENED TO - EPISODE ONE

So yeah, whether I remember to update this is dependent on "if i remember" but anyways this is a series where I just talk about albums I've listened to, and give my opnion on them.

first album is:

AFTER HOURS - THE WEEKND (2020)

where to begin with this.

oh yeah, THIS ALBUM EXPERIENCED THE GREATEST GRAMMY SNUB IN HISTORY. okay, now onto the actual album itself.

It kind of tells a story about the main protagonist (red suit guy? The Weeknd? no clue, but i'll refer to him as "The Weeknd" from now on), as he goes through a breakup at the beginning of the album, Alone Again, where he then comes to terms with the breakup (Too Late), becomes sad about it and remorseful, goes back into his vices to cope in a fictionalised Las Vegas (Heartless, Faith, Blinding Lights), and tries to get back with the girl before, apparently, dying. yeah, confusing shit.

The story of it is HEAVILY up for interpretation if you just listen to the album, so I would recommend watching the music videos and the short film. They showcase some excellent character work from Abel, in addition to everything he did with this album's rollout, ALL UNDER LOCKDOWN.

Obviously then, it doesn't take a genius to guess that this album had a massive impact. What, with Blinding Lights now being the most streamed song on spotify ever, and it probably being the single factor to getting Abel to perform, SOLO, AT THE SUPER BOWL. (please get him back for another year he deserves no covid restrictions)

standout songs:

Six. Minutes. Of. Good. Ass. Music. Simple as that. This song is the perfect sum of all the album's themes, and is a perfect segway into the outro, Until I Bleed Out, as The Weeknd sings about how regretful he is that he did what he did, and how much he wants this girl back.

Under. Rated. This song's more of an introspective on The Weeknd's career up to this point, but no specifics are named. It could go the same for any artist who blew up, reached the top, and is now thinking "Where Now?" This hits very hard at the final verse, and makes the following track, Escape From LA, hit harder.

The point where the album with 80s-inspired songs finally gets its sax solo. this got a remix with Kenny G that has a saxxier sax solo, and i encourage checking that out after listening to this one.

worst song (honestly, still good):

literally only here because its the interlude. this is still a good song, and a nice transition thematically into the title track.

CONCLUSION:

In short, this is an album that is a must-listen. It managed to make a massive impact, and get snubbed out of the GRAMMYs, all during a pandemic. This album is pretty much perfect in every single way, and will have a song that resonates with everyone, no matter what.

RATING: 10/10

[catchingbigfish]

🤔

🤔 - What's the inspiration behind my WIP

ohhhh thank you for asking! i kept promising to eventually make this post for So It Goes but never got around to it because i felt like it was verging on trauma dumping to do an unsolicited breakdown of this. i'm going to go into the sad stuff at the end, but it's under a cut! @indecentpause, @thelittlestspider, and @brazenlip also sent this emoji so tagging for ref!

so, first off, i read Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut in middle school. one of the perks of growing up in Indiana is that you're really hammered away at about how important Vonnegut is (he was an Indianapolis native) and there's even a super cool museum about him. i was blown away and absolutely loved it. it was required reading later in high school and i loved it then too but yeah, it was a huge impact on me. the reason this is relevant is because throughout the novel, whenever someone or something dies, he writes, "So it goes." just like that. and the first time i read it and came to the scene where (iirc) someone throws a paper ball and it misses the trash can, and he says, "So it goes", i burst out laughing.

this also factors into the Sad Girl Shit you'll read in a second if you're curious, but i might be the world's biggest mac miller fan. not really, but i actually was in his like top .5% of listeners in 2020 on spotify, so close. his song So It Goes factors into the sad shit, but i just love the song.

okay so i'm going to write the rest of this under the cut and specify a content warning for potentially upsetting topics related to deaths of relatives and friends!! just a heads up for anyone who's sensitive to that. i'm totally comfortable talking about this and i don't need anyone to tell me how sorry they are for me -- it's just a matter of fact now and i'm totally used to talking about it, but i feel bad when i share it with people and they get sad because of me. you don't need to!! i'm fine!! don't be sad on my account!!

alright so historically speaking i've dealt with like… a lot of death. most of it was clustered in my teens and early 20s, but without getting too far into the weeds i'll say i probably lost around 20 relatives and friends before i turned 22, and i lost my dad when i was 21. only a handful were due to illness/expected, the vast majority were accidents, overdoses, and violence related.

what really sparked SIG, though, is when a few years ago i was walking home from the bus stop after work and heard the mac miller song, then learned about a death.

before i move on, let me tell you about a friend of my sister's. i'm going to call him Isaiah, because that's why Isaiah-the-character exists -- this friend.

Isaiah was an absolute joy. sometime earlier in the year, i ran into him at his job, and it just filled me up with the warmest happiness to see him. you know those people whose existence just makes you feel a little better about the world? yeah. anyway, he was working at a starbucks and took my order and when i reached the window he gave me the goofiest smile and asked if i was who he thought, and i said yes, and he told me i should let him know it's me next time and he'll give me the family discount. it was sweet. i went home and texted my sister about it and made a joke about how i never want to find out if he did something wrong (we'd learned some dark shit about people in our lives recently) because i didn't want my memory of him tarnished.

so that day in 2019, probably close to a year after he served me coffee, i was walking home and heard the song coming from a car and felt a little uneasy (it's a sad song, considering mac miller's untimely death) and i got home and my sister called me, and yeah. Isaiah had died. he was shot, they still don't know why or by who, but despite how much death i've dealt with in my life that hit me fucking hard. it was right around the 5th anniversary of my dad's death and somehow, Isaiah's passing hit me harder than my dad's that year -- a testament to how much time had passed since my dad's death, but also a testament to how cruel i felt it was that Isaiah was gone. i told my therapist i felt like the world was a little sharper after that, like things were just slightly meaner. let me be super clear and say i wasn't Isaiah's best friend by any means; he was a close friend of my older sister, and i was often assigned to keep her out of trouble, so i was around him but not that close to him. but something about him just made the world feel a little lighter.

so, yeah! that's what happened. i came up with the idea for SIG in 2020, and it percolated over the years, and finally in nov 2022 i started writing SIG to purge all of the deaths i'd experienced and i knew from the start Isaiah's would be front and center. in the first draft, the final scene of SIG is an almost beat-by-beat remake of what happened in real life, up until marisa sees death sitting on her couch but embraces sophia instead. i needed to believe in that -- that even despite Isaiah's death, the world was still kind, and love still existed. it definitely does, by the way! like i said, i'm fine these days -- his was actually the last death i've experienced -- and i really don't need anyone to feel sad for me!

[writingmochi]

hi lissie! i'm the same anon who asked abt your sign-off and your minisode 3 thoughts, i'll be 🌻 if that's okay~ i'm glad to hear your thoughts on the album!

i haven't really thought about whether or not concept photos should reflect the album sound, but i do think in minisode 3's case it definitely shaped my expectations! the photos and concept trailer had a whole magical realism with a touch of sad longing vibe going on... i'll definitely check out the woodz and onf songs you linked to (i already love love love black swan). and i do love your approach to listening broadly, not just different kinds of kpop but also different genres outside it! it's a good way to build your taste and figure out what kind of music works for you. like this year i've been trying to listen to more female artists bc i noticed that my spotify artists tend to skew male.

i also read your other txt album reviews and i breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when you said tinnitus felt stagnant / droning... other fans are always raving about how it's one of their best b-sides but to me the song just sounds too static for me to feel the same. and i guess that goes w the theme of wanting to be a rock but i personally don't find that compelling to listen to? farewell neverland and blue spring were also my faves on temptation and freefall, i think i just like acoustic / acoustic-esque songs haha.

i'm actually curious about your thoughts on tdc: eternity and tdc: magic! personally eternity is my fave txt album sound-wise so i'd love to know what your faves there are too~

-🌻

lissie: welcome 🌻 anon! sorry for the late reply cause i’ve been drowning with deadlines (it’s my exam week so…) but i have time now to answer you!

i, for one, believe that visual and audio should match in some way. there’s a few reasons as to why i usually ranked comebacks so low if the visual teasers doesn’t match up with what the title track (at least) sounds like because they came packaged together. most kpop comebacks usually revolve more around the performance and visual rather than sound nowadays and i’ve seen a lot more reviews saying that kpop albums sounds more like a compilation as it’s not cohesive enough. so that’s why i cherish tdc: magic and eternity so much.

that’s why i was hoping for the magical, fantasy sound you mentioned on your previous ask to be in this comeback and not just deja vu! and of course, do check them out. i’ve been trying to get people to know more about onf cause their discography is top-notch. their producer is the same as the one who produced 2016-2020 loona songs (monotree). woodz also has a unique trajectory in his career from being in uniq, to soloist, to x1, to then focus on soloist. i love that he, txt, and dreamcatcher are the pioneers of the pop rock sound within kpop idols. and yeah, listening to expanding your music taste palette also helps in your kpop experience, like, you can actually appreciate more on songs fans usually know as “noise music” cause you’ll know the specific genres it’ll be.

ah yes tinnitus. i forgot to mention the killa in your last ask so i’m doing it here. i think people like tinnitus and the killa so much because of the performance aspect. txt is not known as the mature/sexy boys compared to, let’s say, enhypen (even though i hate that thought so much cause i feel icky towards the impact of it now). so when they have those types of performances, of course, it’ll pop off. sex sells everywhere, including kpop acts and writings fics. so that’s why they've become the more known b-sides recently and that’s why i said that the killa is trying to be tinnitus in a way that trust fund baby wants to be anti-romantic. sure, tinnitus is catchy af but i still think that it is too droning if listened to by itself outside of seeing the performance. my reviews are coming from the musical aspect, not the performance.

yes! i love acoustic sound so much. plus i think when it comes to farewell, neverland like the song itself is so cohesive and it matches the neverland concept so much.

ooh i, for one, think that both magic and eternity really embody each of their concepts both visually and sonically. i like tdc: magic (other than it's a full album rather than an ep) because it is just full of fun sonic experimentations. almost all the songs sound different yet still create a cohesiveness, especially between the run from new rules to can we just leave the monster alive?; but also with the concept. imo, it is a timeless album imo (tho having angel or devil as the last track makes it lacking in compare to new rules as a perfect opening track. i would love to make leave the monster alive as the outro track for the album)

as for tdc: eternity, i like it more because of the music and it does well in combining more of the fantastical side to make an album solely to tell about a dissolution of friendship from growing up. most of the songs there are part of playlists i made (i do like drama, but i like the slow-down version from the eternity concept trailer which i have put the soundcloud audio of below vv). can you see me is so cool, i can sing along to puma from the start, fairy of shampoo is so twinkly, i can play maze in the mirror on my guitar and basically can make a cover for it (if yall want), and eternally: best stage performance from their concert (i've been able to see it twice and i love both iterations) and such a dynamic song

will be posting your second ask next!

[ear-worthy]

The Town Podcast With Matt Belloni: The Business Of Entertainment

It’s almost the one-year anniversary of the entertainment podcast The Town. Since It began last March, The Town podcast has measured the trade winds that blow through the entertainment industry.

The word “Hollywood” has different meanings for people. For many, Hollywood means movies, TV, stars, celebrities, a lavish, sometimes dissolute lifestyle, creativity, genius, and eccentricity.

For Matt Belloni, host of the Ringer podcast The Town, Hollywood means big business with profit targets, talent management, HR issues, and much more on the development and strategic side.

You may have heard Belloni’s voice before on the KCRW podcast The Business with Kim Masters, which is built on the template for “the business of Hollywood” podcasts. On The Business, Belloni “batters” with podcast host Kim Masters in the first part of the podcast about the latest news in Hollywood — Disney Plus streaming subscriber growth, movie box office numbers, executive firings and hiring, and TV ratings.

Ringer, the parent of The Town, is a podcast network started in 2016 by sportswriter Bill Simmons, who sold it — and sold out — to Spotify in 2020.

The marketing copy for The Town reads as such: “Puck founding partner Matthew Belloni takes you inside Hollywood, using exclusive reporting and insight to explain the backstories on everything from Marvel movies to ‘The Bachelor.’ Multiple times each week, Matt will touch on what is getting made and why, who is winning and losing, and what people in show business are actually talking about.”

Belloni spent 14 years as a writer and editor at The Hollywood Reporter (THR). He joined in 2006, and in 2017, Belloni was promoted to the top position of Editorial Director, which he held until his May 2020 exit.

A frequent entertainment pundit on TV and radio, Belloni has served as an instructor on entertainment journalism at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication.

Since its first episode last March, The Town podcast has covered “Hollywood” topics that range from Netflix’s password crackdown, the death of original action movies, the premature pessimism toward of streaming, Disney leadership machinations, and a possible writer’s strike.

Belloni’s eclectic intellect enables loyal listeners to expand their parallax view of entertainment industry topics. Consequently, listeners are consequently delighted by his latest foray. Belloni has held a fake “draft” of streaming services, given out half-year awards, and pitted streaming TV shows — like Stranger Things and Obi-Wan Kenobi — against one another in value propositions.

Recent episodes of note include a show on whether returning Disney CEO Iger will buy or sell Hulu or sell ESPN? In a February 8th episode, Belloni talked with New York Magazine’s Reeves Wiederman about how true-crime documentaries and celebrity -produced documentaries are crowding out more traditional, more substantial documentaries about pressing social, economic, or environmental issues.

Belloni catches a wide net in his quest for entertainment business stories. For example, in early January he spoke to Michael Moses, chief marketing officer at Universal Pictures, about the studio’s latest film hit, M3GAN, and how to market to a crowd under 25.

As a host, Belloni is likeable with a strong, deeper voice that resonates with the wisdom gained from experience. He is opinionated with being objectionable. He’s a solid interviewer, although I’ll note, at the risk of being accused of pettiness, that Belloni can occasionally cut off and interrupt his guests.

On the production side of the podcast, give producer Craig Horlbeck credit for solid sound design and quality and kudos to composer Devon Renaldo for a theme song that grooves with a fusion-pop tune that is a terrific sonic appetizer for the main course — Belloni and his primary topic.

Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg is a frequent guest and always full of hard data and astute industry insights.

The Town podcast isn’t for everyone. If you are a “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” person and simply care about the finished product that Hollywood produces via movies, streaming, and TV, listen to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour or Slate’s Culture Gabfest.

But if you’re an entertainment nerd and love the backstage drama involved in conceiving, developing, producing, financing, and marketing TV, streaming, and movie content, don’t miss The Town.