#it's not the catchiest but it works!

[vivaciousoceans]

I can only do my homework to rap but I need the softest, sweetest RnB to write to

[beevean]

Sonic Frontiers

Cyber Space 1-5 (Dropaholic)

[bring-forth-his-sac]

Hiiii I’m the anon who sent the ask about whether I could send a request even tho it might take a while so I don’t forget!

I always have ideas for fanfics but I cannot write for the life of me 😭 so if you don’t wanna write this it’s all good :)

so I had an idea where it’s a non-apocalyptic world & the reader/character is famous? like they’re a singer & they just started dating negan & he hears the songs they wrote about him & it’s just fluffy? again you don’t have to write this it’s just an idea I had 🥺🫶🏻

sorry this took so long!! thank you sm for your patience <333 also my friend helped me with the actual lyrics in this which I am so grateful for because I don't have a musical bone in my body

pairing: Negan x singer!Reader

tags: alternate universe, established relationship, fluff, modern AU, famous AU, love songs, Negan needing to mention his dick in every convo lol

word count: 1.7k

It’s still early in the evening and yet there’s snores coming from the other room.

Negan sits on the sofa, legs stretched out. He was waiting for the melodic sounds of your piano to waft out of the room but after a few minutes, all that has emerged from your study are soft snores.

He debates going in and disturbing your solitude. While Negan knows you wouldn’t mind his company, he likes to give you your own time to indulge in music. 

Music has always been a big part of who you are and it’s something Negan has supported from the beginning.

He understands that for you, music is like your personal diary, a sanctuary where you pour out all of your emotions and transform them into a heart-wrenching ballad or the catchiest pop song he’s ever heard. 

With another snore drifting out from your study, Negan sighs and gets up. 

As of recent, you’ve been consumed by a wave of newfound inspiration, tirelessly working on numerous songs. It’s as if lightning has struck, igniting a sudden surge of motivation and encouraging you to put your heart and soul into your work.

Piano keys, the strumming of guitars and your voice has filled Negan’s ears as you put finishing touches on song after song. 

Even though he's been eager to hear a sneak peek, you've chosen to keep the new songs private until they're complete. Nevertheless, Negan has already tried to convince you otherwise. He can’t help it, as soon as he knows you’re crafting some new song, he wants to know everything about it.

But you’ve always remained steadfast and not let him have a sneak peek, even when he gives you those puppy dog eyes.

Creeping into your study, Negan’s eyes immediately go to your figure. Slumped over your desk with loose papers everywhere, you greet him with another snore. Negan smiles at the sight, immediately deciding that you need 100% relaxation for the rest of the night.

He weaves his way through the room, making sure not to step on the fallen guitar picks that have found a home on the fuzzy carpet. The walls of the room are lined with empty cases of instruments, music stands that have been pushed aside and Negan’s favourite armchair.

It’s what he always sits on whenever you invite him in to listen to what you’ve been working on. Although there are some more steamy memories too that truly cement it as being his favourite leather armchair.

Negan approaches your desk silently, careful not to disturb your peaceful sleep. Your laptop hums with life, displaying what he assumes must be a compilation of beats that are on the verge of being made into a cohesive rhythm. Making sure everything is saved, he shuts down the laptop for the night.

“Baby,” he nudges you carefully “you keep sleeping like that and you’ll be complaining ‘bout a bad back in no time”.

You respond with a soft grunt, your fatigue winning as you stay asleep.

Negan chuckles, finding your determination to nap utterly adorable. He takes a casual look around your desk, skimming over the various musical notes jotted down that he can't make heads or tails of, until he spots something else.

Lyrics.

Small fragments of verses, written out on scrap pieces of paper and sticky notes. His eyes impulsively scan what he can see, yearning for that sneak peek you’ve denied him.  

Moving carefully, he picks up one of the sticky notes and reads it.

“In every moment, I feel the spark. You’re the love that lights the dark”.

Negan has seen you weave song about your past experiences and the people in your life, but never has he thought that he might become the subject of your next ballad.

He glances down at your sleeping form as if you’ll pick up on his questioning look. Not fully believing it, Negan grabs another sticky note.

“A leather jacket, stories untold… with that smirk, you take control”.

As it is written, so it shall be. A smirk graces Negan's face as he looks down at the paper, slowly nodding to himself. Jackpot. 

You’re finally writing a goddamn song about him!

Negan doesn’t want to say it’s about time but he’s definitely been thinking about you serenading him with his own song for a while now. He blames his ego for that fantasy.

“Oh darlin’, you writing this for me?” He asks with a grin. Negan lets the sticky notes fall back to the desk and he wraps his arms around you, his chest against your hunched back and embracing you in a hug you don’t even know you’re in.

Feeling his arms around you, you slowly begin to come to. Your eyes flutter open, instantly feeling comfortable. 

“Negan?” You mumble groggily, your brain still waking up.

He hums, giving you a quick kiss on the cheek “Your world just light up?”.

“Wh-what?” a confused pout forms on your face as you move your head to look at him.

Nuzzling in by you, he reluctantly pulls back just enough so he can gesture to the first set of lyrics. “I mean, I am the love that lights up the dark, right?” he grins.

Your tired confusion suddenly shifts to panicked realisation, instantly straightening up. “Negan! Did you— No!“ you babble on hurriedly, your eyes darting to the notes on your desk “You can’t read those!”.

“Oh sweetheart, I think it’s too late for that,” he kisses your head before standing upright “and for the record, I am honoured to be your muse”.

You roll your eyes, knowing that you can’t be annoyed when you’re the one leaving bits of your next song scattered across your messy desk.

“I never said you were my muse” you point out.

Negan thinks for a moment, slyly looking for another scribble of lyrics. “Every word is his weapon, every laugh’s a tease, but in his dangerous charm is where I find my release” he reads out another excerpt, spotting it marked with musical notations.

“Hey!” You quickly try to cover the entirety of the desk, your arms spreading out over as many sheets as possible. You pout up at him, your bottom lip jutting out.

“What? I like it, it’s a good thing” he assures you, kissing your pout away “about time you let them damn fanboys know I’m your one and only. Maybe now they’ll fuck off and stop bombarding your DM’s”.

With a scoff, you warily stand and try to clear your desk. Gathering all the papers into a somewhat neat pile, you defend “Those are my fans you’re talking about!”

With a smug smirk, Negan lays a single finger on top of the stack of notes “And it’s me you’re singing about, so they can kick rocks”. 

You feign annoyance but it’s clear just how much this means to him. If you’re being honest, you weren’t sure how he’d react to a song about him. 

Despite Negan always being supportive, you weren’t sure if that extended to a pure love song all about him. A part of you was scared he would think it’s cringe or too much, but the look on his face says the opposite of that.

Maybe it’s your exhaustion but it’s as if Negan radiates a soft glow, reflecting the pride he feels. Those damned eyes, a perfect swirl of hazel hues makes you melt.

“Hmph… suppose you have a point” you let him take the win, giving him another kiss. 

“I always do,” he replies, leaning into your kiss “now, how’s about we have a nice relaxing night of being couch potatoes. Sound good to you or do you want to go back to snoring on your desk?”.

You can’t help but huff, denying his claim as you stretch your tired limbs. "I do not snore!" you protest, defensive humour lacing your tone. 

Negan wraps an arm around your waist, in case you’re unsteady on your feet considering you just woke up .

“How would you know? You’re asleep when you do it” he replies, helping you step over things within the messy study.

“But I don't…” you trail off, yawning.

He lets out a light laugh at the timing of your yawn. “What? Don’t sleep or snore?” Negan teases “it’s alright, darlin’… snoring is like singing in your sleep, it’s your musicality! Damn, I guess that’s means you’ve been giving me a private concert for the past twenty minutes”. 

It’s tempting to resist his claims but you give in to the small smile that tugs at your lips. No matter what, Negan has a way of turning every aspect of you into an endearing quality, constantly finding ways to appreciate even your most mundane traits. It’s a talent, truly.

Relenting, you lean against Negan, allowing yourself to melt into his embrace as you both move towards the door.

“Y’know, I could always help with the song too” he offers, making you laugh in an instant. 

“You? Co-write a song?” You question, turning off the light and wandering back through your home, Negan still side by side with you. 

“Yeah, I was thinking something like…” he thinks for a moment, mentally arranging the words in his head before saying “when my guy sees me, he gets hard as a brick, but how can I be mad, when he’s got that big dick”.

He gives you a grin, utterly proud of his lyrics.

You giggle, expecting no less from him as you drag Negan on to the couch with you. “Oh wow, I didn’t realise I was dating a poet” you praise.

“What can I say, doll,” Negan nuzzles in beside you “you’re not the only one full of surprises”.

With a wink, Negan gives you one last kiss before you both get comfy on the couch together, ready for a night of relaxation.

[misasimagines]

music preference (Tokyo Debunker)

included characters: all of em

rating: SFW

warnings: as written by someone who only listens to fall out boy. this is just hc of course and not purely canonical! If anything is wrong, sorry!!

I'm also working on a Taiga fic okay I promise!!!

Jin

Canonically classical piano music. Might have a few operatic songs. Really not varied and considers most modern music to be senseless noise. Puts up with whatever you want to listen to as long as he doesn't hate it too much, and maybe you can broaden his preferences…maybe. Slowly.

Tohma

He can handle and appreciate classical but it's not his favorite. He does like more industrial, rap, and hip hop type songs, the exact type that Jin would call senseless noise. He's doing his little paperwork in his little monocle and he's listening to Tupac.

Kaito

Varied!!! I don't think he gives himself enough credit for the variety of music he listens to and enjoys. Knows and likes popular and viral music, but also if you're like hey this song from 2003? This song from 1987? His song from 1954? He probably knows it. He doesn't love all of them and he pretends to only Like the “acceptable” genres and new things, but I think you could play smth old af and he'd be like oh yeah my gran loved this- and he would know it.

Lucas

Guy who admits to not knowing much music. Only the absolute most popular songs he knows, and even then, it's like the catchiest bit or the chorus like babe is NOT listening to music that often. Might have like An Album that he knows well and enjoys but like it would be very limited. Share things with him! He's open minded enough to learn more.

Alan

Another “I don't listen to much music” guy but I think he knows like dad rock from the 2000’s. I don't think he necessarily loves it, he just recognizes it and if he wants to listen to music for some reason, well, Three Days Grace is there and he knows how to type that into yourtube (maybe. Maybe he has to ask Leo for help. Maybe Leo pulls up something completely different. Probably.)

Leo

A pop music enjoyer. Brat summer Twink. Olivia Rodrigo fan. Also likes dance and club music and has a preference based on country of origin. Does NOT like Vocaloid or Nightcore or probably even trance and house music of the 2000’s. He's like ew that old person music?? What am I, 30??? Very opinionated and a song he loved two months ago, now he's like that's absolute trash lmao why would I like that?? Impossible to keep up with his taste.

Sho

Listens to whatever Leo puts on, he's not a stranger to the club, but I feel like has some secret artists and genres he likes that he won't admit to under pain of torture. Like maybe he likes country or kpop or something and he's like God I can't let Leo know this because I'll never hear the end of it. But he listens to it while he's at his food truck.

Haru

Can you not imagine him enjoying a good Cher song? Some Abba? 70’s-90’s I think is like on lock for him. He's turning up, he's blessing the rains down in Africa. He knows Destiny's Child probably. Sometimes he'll be like oh yeah I know new music, like what was that song? Huh? Toxic by Britney Spears came out in 2003? Guess I don't know new music than haha!!

Towa

Hes like ~~~~!!! ~~! (This shit fucks) Listening to birdsong and the bubbling creek. But he's also not immune to A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. He likes love songs! Mostly sweet love songs, not tragic or lost loved ones (probably no Adele). He will enjoy Haru's music as well, but only for Haru's sake.

Ren

Like lofi beats to chill and study to. Movie and game soundtracks but none of the fun ones. He's NOT listening to Decode from the hit movie Twilight and he NOT enjoying Megalovania from Undertale. He would relent to the To The Moon soundtrack and other indie game osts (if not because he enjoys them then to be superior in his Niche tastes).

Taiga

His music taste goes like this:

If you play something he likes, he allows it.

If you play something he doesn't like, he says turn that shit off.

If you ask him what he likes/wants to hear, he's like ….that one song, it's like duh duh dun…no? Whatever. And he gives up.

Romeo

Let me be real with you. You will not know his favorite bands. He doesn't expect you to know his favorite bands. His favorite bands are like experimental bands from Europe who release a song only on the new moon and it's behind an ARG to get to and hear and there's only 5 physical copies of their VINYL ever made.

He also endures whatever Haru, Rui, and Leo listen to and complains only when absolutely necessary.

Ritsu

i cannot take him seriously. like the little Einstein’s theme?? Jokingggg. 😐. He probably doesn't listen to much music, probably only things he remembers from childhood, and then instrumental things occasionally but claims it's mostly just too much of a distraction. He listens to like audio recordings of law books and court cases.

Subaru

I don't know I just think he secretly likes 80’s ballads and girl bands. He likes more traditional music, instrumentals, opera and musical music, and probably can appreciate even like true classic jazz music. He has a lot of patience and tolerance and goodness in his heart and will listen to just about anything and be able to appreciate it, but if it's his choice, he is probably not listening to noise metal.

Haku 

Okay Varied. Okay six thousand songs on his playlist and that's just one playlist. He just can't stand repeating the same songs over and over so he listens to anything and everything. He doesn't always remember every song that well, because there are so many and he doesn't listen to every single one daily, but there's a good chance if you know a song, he has it somewhere.

Zenji

Like Haku! He does appreciate traditional Japanese music and instruments, but he is an art lover first and foremost and will have something positive to say about anything you let him listen to. He and Haku are probably like sitting around going from YT recommended song one after the other and just being like oh yeah this Swedish dance pop is good, yes the Mongolian throat singing is good too.

Ed

VARIED but he also goes “ah, a song from before you time…I hope you'll appreciate it,” and puts on Megan Thee Stallion and listens like it's Vivaldi. He's like these Gregorian monks chanting are so musical. This bardic interpretation of Hips Don't Lie goes hard as the kids say. Blue by Eiffel 65.

Rui 

Not immune to boy bands and girl bands. He likes upbeat things! He might dress goth and live in the goth house but his soul is glittery pink. He listens to a variety overall, but isn't very into anything like screamo or heavy metal. He gets bored listening to anything too slow and level. He, like Romeo, will listen to Haru's music, but unlike Romeo, he will sing along.

Lyca

Doesn't know much music! Likes whatever Subaru likes, he guesses. Doesn't like some of the songs Rui or Ed plays but those are just random misses on a spinning dartboard because they could be anything. He's figuring it out and will listen to anything you want to play for him!

Yuri 

He does not like classical music as much as he claims to. He's like yeah yeah, Beethoven, that's top tier…obviously… (bored out of his mind). Guy who NEEDS to listen to to like. Russian hardstyle and Slavic dance music but he won't. He deprives himself.

Jiro

Listen to me. I wrote all of these because of Jiro. Closer by Nine Inch Nails. Bauhaus. Type O Negative. I'm SAYING he listens to goth and more gothic rock music and you KNOW if Yuri pulls his headphones out to yell at him, he just hears Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge and he's like… I don't want to talk to anymore I changed my mind stop listening to freaky goth music. He also can hear like a biwa or other traditional instruments and feel comforted and familiar with them, even if he doesn't know why.

[meshiinuma]

you only notice the pretty double bass player on the last day of rehearsal.

the way his little bang frames his face, the way he parts his lips a bit when he plays, the way his fingers carefully clutch onto his bow during his improv solo, the way he glances up at you once he finishes.

wait. what?

nevermind, it's been a measure and you need to enter with light eighth notes (that the whole alto section struggles with which is...unfortunate this close to concert day). as you turn back to your saxophone, you miss his eyes narrowing.

concert day comes and goes, the whole jazz ensemble gets a standing ovation (wow!) and you get a cute little bouquet from kento (that one doesn't need a wow, you and him have been exchanging gifts after concerts for years).

mentally, you're lamenting the loss of the shiny eye candy at the back of the group, but that ends quickly when you start noticing him everywhere.

when you go grocery shopping, you see that top knot over the short aisles. when you go to get more supplies for your baby (saxophone), you see him at the front making conversation with the cashier. when you go to see shoko perform her (absolutely insane, like, how do you even tongue that fast?) flute solo, you get a glance at his side profile in the same row as you. when you go to your damn place of work, you see him lingering around the entrance to a wing of the building you don't go down much.

it's getting frustrating at this point, but your only reprieve is that he doesn't seem to notice you. or maybe he does, but just does it discreetly so you don't notice him stalking you or something.

he probably is stalking you, now that you think about it.

you'll confront that creepazoid! soon. maybe.

okay, after this orchestra rehearsal.

you were actually a bit excited, kento would be principal cellist while you would be principal second violin! it's been a while since the two of you were in the same ensemble. and yaga would be coming back to conduct! it's been a while since you've seen him, it'd be nice to catch up some time.

as you unpacked, distracted by your happy and flowery thoughts, something bitter was brewing in the back of the orchestra.

rehearsal went fine, it was a lot of sight reading and yelling over each other. your stand partner was some middle schooler with hair in double braids. she mentioned something about knowing one of the big sponsors of the orchestra and thus being allowed to play with the adults. she's pretty good.

slowly, the room emptied. kento stuck around for as long as he could, but he had to slip out of the room as well at some point for one thing or another.

eventually it was just you, leisurely packing up and humming the catchiest tune from the literature under your breath. or so you thought.

the negativity brewing in the back of the room came from none other than the pretty bass player from the jazz ensemble a month back. you didn't notice the anger and hatred brewing behind his eyes until you turned to leave and he was standing right in front of you.

"uh...he-"

"have you been following me?" he sounds short. like dealing with a child that's gotten into trouble one too many times.

"what?" so...he wasn't stalking you?

"you heard me. are." he leaned in a bit, "you." a little more, "following." he's all you see now, "me." with every word his voice seemed to get colder and more smooth, intimidating you with how quiet he was in his anger.

somehow you pull together a response in light of his bone chilling accusation, "i-i should be the one asking you that!" you choke out, your own built up annoyance and fear slipping out.

at that, he pauses and fully retracts, "what?"

"you've been following me, haven't you?! ever since after the jazz ensemble!" you jabbed your finger into his chest, now it was your turn to get angry.

"i...i thought you were following me since the showcase night..." he trailed off and backed away further.

"...what." the showcase night he was talking about was two months before the jazz ensemble started. it was a night for musicians to just show off pieces they had been working on on the side at a cafe that sold some damn good vanilla cake with strawberry icing.

"i...played there...oh my god i'm so sorry." he massaged his thumb between his brows as he looked off to the side in embarrassment.

maybe you saw him that night, maybe you didn't, but he surely saw you.

"by chance...do you work on the seventh floor in kikuchi towers?" you asked tentatively. by now, any hostility you held towards him dissipated into nothingness. plus it was hard to stay mad at such a pretty face.

"yeah...do you go to that one grocery store run by watanabe-san?" he turned to you sheepishly.

"every sunday at-"

"seven in the morning."

playfully, you narrowed your eyes at him, "i thought you weren't stalking me?"

at that, he seemed to panic a bit, "no! nonononono! not at all, it's just i go at the same time and see you around."

you grinned at him, "did you like shoko's solo? she's so good at those sixteenth note runs, right?"

"yes," he sighed like he was thinking of something absolutely delectable, "i'd love to tongue like her one day, i play clarinet on the side and i always get those crazy runs that take forever to learn."

"what's your name?" it'd be nice to put a name to such a frequent presence in your life.

"geto suguru." he stuck his hand out for you to shake, "what's yours?"

you stated you own as you took his hand.

suguru repeated your name back to himself and you swooned at the way his lips formed around the syllables.

"do...you want to head to that cafe the showcase night was at? it's on me, don't worry." you wanted to talk more with him, talk more music, talk more groceries, talk more work. it was your first time exchanging words and you're already hooked.

"sure," a little smile stretched his lips, "you ready to head out?" he jabbed his thumb towards the door.

"yeah." the two of you walked out of the room, something beautiful beginning to bloom inside you.

[lackadaisycats]

Hey, Lackadaisy! ♣️♣️♣️

I just wanna say I simply love all the stuff you´ve done: the pilot, comics, music and now the music video "Liquid Gold". 🫗🥃🧊

That song has got to be one of the most catchiest songs I´ve ever heard this year! I even got inspired to draw something (I know i´m not the best at it but had fun and got a nice memory to cherish this song.)

So this is for you and everyone from the crew!

Rocky riding the ice-cube and "chasing after that liquid gold"! 🫗🧊🐱🎵🎶 (Listening to it for hours now lol 😂😅)

I hope you like it! 😘

Ps: give a huge hug, credits and applause to the voice of Rocky and the violist, they´re both amazing talents!

Aww, I love this! Thank you! I'll pass this along to the team who worked on the music and the video!

[tobi-smp]

since I know you like the evilous chronicles (probably misspelled that soryr im on big pain meds) I’ve been listening to it and why the FUCK is the madness of duke venomania so fucking catchy when it’s about an asshole rapist like. it slaps so hard but it’s SO fucked up

no because you're So right, mothy is so good at making songs about the most fucked up people imaginable that stick in your head for the rest of your life. like, Legitimately I first heard that song in like. 2011 and I Still get haunted by it. and I wouldn't even consider it the catchiest song in the series ajkfdlskjlfads

that Said, if you Are listening then I'd highly recommend using my playlist if you aren't already :3ccc [Link]

I've been subtitling the videos myself (since like, 2015) to make sure that it has the most accurate translations and updated mvs ! as well as very carefully working out the order the songs should be watched in !

(I Also have a guide to the extra material uwu [Link])

@proudfreakmetarusonniku

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 7: Introducing Sparks (Those Mysteries)

The big nagging question that appeared in my mind right after having my first listen of this album, earlier this year on a particularly beautiful and sunny spring day, was "so THIS is one of the weak ones???". Because seriously, this album has it all: the Sparks spirit on full display, the humour, the FUN, the lyrical wit, incredibly catchy melodies, fun and lush instrumentation... It even feels like a bit of a return to the glam era, even if in a slightly different form.

I want to get to the bottom of what makes the humour on this album work especially... I think it's truly one of its strongest sides. There's a bunch of other albums to come later that could also be considered some of the more comedic ones, and I think it's always a pretty similar element connecting it all... What is it? Well, it must just be... one of Those Mysteries. But ok, let's at least give this a try.

Lots of elements here are quite, let's call it, cheesy on surface: the seriousness with which all the different Occupations are treated, the "aAaAAAA" backup vocals on Ladies, the bridge (and, honestly, everything else too) of Forever Young, the high stakes of Goofing Off, the melodrama of Those Mysteries... Maybe it's the knowledge that it's Sparks that lets one see past this "facade". Maybe someone uninitiated could think that this is all just played straight. Or would it become too obvious for anyone to be fooled by the time we get to Goofing Off? And is there anything to be fooled about anyways...?

Because yeah, these songs are funny and poke fun at things, but without veering into actual parody teritory. I've been thinking about a very similar thing with They Might Be Giants, who also use a lot of humour in their music but are NOT a comedic / parody act (...despite seemingly every music reviewer being convinced of the opposite). Maybe it's the devotion and respect with which they both treat their art and audiences: the subject matter might be funny, but that doesn't mean that what they do can be condensed to just some joke (which is, again, lost on some reviewers). So, well, there's definitely a lot more to get into in regards to this topic and more opportunities to do that soon with later albums, so, stay tuned, maybe?

Favourite songs (and other highlights):

They're all so good... And this is yet another Sparks album that I think just flows super well and all the songs make a magnificent whole. But still, here are some personal highlights.

Occupation: literally one of the catchiest songs in existence, it tormented me for days if not weeks on end back in the day. The flow of "You need an-ah, You need an-ah, You need an Occupation" is incredibly good

Ladies: like I described earlier... it's just so funny

I'm Not: beaten by maybe one other song for the spot of THE #1 song that I was unable to stop listening to over and over right after hearing the album it's from

Goofing Off: ok, THIS one's the funniest. And the guitar solo has no right to go as hard as it does

Girls On The Brain: Ron writes about a brother who's "kinda thick" and hands the song to his brother to sing. Ok!!

Those Mysteries: only Sparks could make a song as solemn and sentimental sounding as this that I'm actually a huge fan of

[kaccvcate]

Hi, punk person here who wants to make their own shit and put it on cassettes, just cause. My issue is uH, I am not talented in the lyrics department. Like, how do you write lyrics? How do they not sound dumb? Is there a bunch of drafts you go thru before you record? Help!!

Most of the time I write the lyrics out all in one go with minimal corrections. The recordings I have on Youtube are typically the very first time I play the song all the way through, immediately after writing it down. My first couple songs were a struggle, but after that it was easy. The hard part is getting over the fact that all lyrics are dumb, they only sound smart if someone else came up with them so you aren't thinking about it.

For example, here's a Led Zeppelin verse (pretend you wrote it in math class or at work while stoned):

Hey lady, you got the love I need

Maybe more than enough

Oh darling, darling, darling walk a while with me

Oh, you've got so much

So much

So much

(from Over the Hills and Far Away.)

Here's the entirety of Hound Dog by Elvis Presley:

You ain't nothin but a hound dog

Cryin' all the time

You ain't nothin but a hound dog

Cryin' all the time

You ain't never caught a rabbit

And you ain't no friend of mine

They said you was high class

That was just a lie

They said you was high class

That was just a lie

You ain't never caught a rabbit

and you ain't no friend of mine

The more you analyze songs, especially old school rock and roll and punk, the more you'll find that cleverness, intelligence, and wordiness are actually antithetical to good songwriting. The catchiest songs are often very simple and repetitive, and the more you restrict how much you change the structure, the more clever the changes you make sound. To analyze song structure I learned a shitload of covers (do that if you haven't yet.)

And don't forget, Sid Vicious didn't like his own songs either....

[vendetta-if]

Chapter 6 Part 1 Sneak Peek (Pt. 1)

Hey guys 👋 Time for the very first sneak peek at Chapter 6 Part 1. I still have one more sneak peek for Chapter 6 Part 1 that I will release as we get closer to the public update date on 22nd of April (GMT +8).

This sneak peek is a little unique because it's mostly written in text chat message format 😄 As some of you might already be aware, you'll be able to choose a group chat name for MC and the gang or input your own. Below is some snippet on the choices 😆

Chapter 6 Part 1 Early Access demo is now up on both Patreon and Ko-fi!

* * * * *

The annoying sound cuts through the silence, anchoring you more and more to the waking world. Trying to block it is futile as it continues. After a few more times, you finally turn back around and reach for the source—your phone that is charged beside your bed. Unplugging the charger, you bring the phone close to your face, eyes squinted as you check the notification tray.

Oh, it's the group chat that you made last night, being active. Quickly opening your Whazzapp, you backread the chat.

Today [12:27 AM] You: "Hey guys, are you free to meet up tomorrow? Maybe around noon or so? I've got something important to share."

[02:01 AM] Santana: "I'm always available to work on the case. Just let me know the location like half an hour before at the least because I'll need some time to walk to the nearest subway station."

[09:05 AM] Rin: "I've cleared up my schedule for the day, so I hope it's for something urgent and important."

[10:03 AM] Skylar: "Sure! I'm free today. Where are we hanging out, gang?"

[10:10 AM] Skylar: "You know what, we should totally find a name for our newly-made group chat. Saying 'little investigation group' is kind of a mouthful. I've been brainstorming some names these past few minutes, and I think I've got a good one. How about 'Fabulous Four'?"

[10:12 AM] Rin: "I don't think it's a good name, but at least it's different enough to avoid copyright infringement."

[10:12 AM] Skylar: "Glad we're of the same mind."

[10:13 AM] Rin: "Same mind? I doubt that. I literally just told you that it's not a good name. I think it's a bit cheesy tbh."

[10:13 AM] Ash: "Jesus Christ, can you guys shut up for another half an hour or what? Some people are still asleep. Well, I was until I got woken up by all the buzzing."

[10:14 AM] Ash: "Also, 'Fabulous Four' is a stupid name. And can't you count? We're a five-people team now."

[10:14 AM] Skylar: "Wait, five? So, if you're the grumpy redhead I met yesterday, then who's the other person I've been talking to? I can only see your phone numbers."

[10:15 AM] Skylar: "And no problem. We'll be 'Fabulous Five' instead! The more the merrier."

[10:16 AM] Rin: "I'm not introducing myself over a group chat message. We'll do a proper introduction in person later on."

[10:16 AM] Skylar: "Fair enough. I'll see you later then!"

[10:17 AM] Ash: "Ngl, 'Fabulous Five' still sounds dumb."

[10:18 AM] Skylar: "Clearly, you're just a hater. Instead of casting the first stone, how about you try coming up with another name then?"

Well, it seems like Ash is ignoring Skylar because that's where the chat ends for now. Checking the time, you see that it's already 10:24 AM. Well, maybe it's time to reply to some of the messages in the chat before doing anything else. Plus, it's an excuse to stay in bed a little bit longer.

* * * * *

Okay, next order of business, the group chat name that Skylar and Ash were arguing about. You kinda agree with Skylar that 'little investigation group' is far from the best or the catchiest name ever. Although, you're not really sure how you feel about ${sky_his} suggested name, 'Fabulous Five', right now. Maybe you have a better name in mind?

CHOICE

#I'll stick to 'Fabulous Five'. #'Elysium Cleanup Crew' #'The Vendetta Project' #'The Revengers' #'The Justiciars' #'Justice Squad Chat' #None of these.

* * * * *

#I'll stick to 'Fabulous Five'.

After pondering more on the name Skylar suggested, you decide that it's actually good enough and you actually like it. It's growing on you in the past few minutes of contemplation. Tapping on ${sky_his} message, you reply:

EMOTIONAL MC [10:32 AM] You: "'Fabulous Five' actually sounds awesome. Let's go with that!"

STOIC MC [10:32 AM] You: "'Fabulous Five' is not so bad. Let's just go with that."

[10:32 AM] Skylar: "Hell yeah! I knew it! I knew it's an amazing and genius name."

[10:33 AM] Rin: "…"

You can practically feel Rin judging you through the screen just from the three dots.

SARCATIC MC [10:33 AM] You: "Okay, calling it 'genius' might be pushing it a bit too far. Let's dial it back a bit."

GENUINE MC[10:33 AM] You: "I wouldn't really use the word 'genius' per se…"

[10:34 AM] Skylar: "Aww… Alright. I still think it's a compliment tho."

You navigate to the group chat setting to change the group name to 'Fabulous Five' before going back to the group chat.

GENUINE MC [10:35 AM] You: "Okay, there. It's done."

[10:35 AM] Skylar: "Whoo 🎉🎉 We're officially 'Fabulous Five' now. No complaining 😉"

[10:36 AM] Ash: "Fuck! Fine…"

SARCASTIC MC [10:35 AM] You: "There. We're officially 'Fabulous Five' now. No complaining."

[10:35 AM] Skylar: "Whoo 🎉🎉 You hear that, you grump?"

[10:36 AM] Ash: "Fuck! Fine…"

Chuckling quietly to yourself, you lock your phone and get off the bed in one smooth movement.

[surrealisticduvet]

Album Review - The Prison: A Book With a Soundtrack (1974)

The Prison - Michael’s first album to be released under his own record label, and the first album maybe ever to be released with its own novella. The Prison’s concept is hard to explain (you either over-explain it or over-simplify it) but in a nutshell, it is about a man (interestingly named after Michael’s second son) who lives in a prison which he discovers is not real - he can walk out at any time he likes, and the prison will fade away. This is an allegory for the troubles of society; when one is entrenched in it, it is real, and constraining; when you leave, which you can do at any time, at great personal cost, you discover that it has been, all this time, a fabrication. The book itself is very interesting, but this review is about the album, and the music it contains; let us begin.

Favorite parts of the album:

It’s clear, between the album itself and the way he spoke about it, that this was a monumental production for him. It’s very different from his previous work, and much of his post-Prison work is influenced by it. The lyrics are very strong and poetic – which makes sense, considering that writing was his focus with the book. The instrumentation is wonderful too (I love the guitar and subtle pedal steel - yes, of course Red is on this record!). although the higher level of production can make it sound a little stiffer and more impersonal at times (compared to, say, And the Hits… where he did a huge chunk of the playing himself). I don’t think the album suffers for that, however - it’s a soundtrack, so the production is perfect. 

“Dance Between the Raindrops” is probably the catchiest song on the album - starting here, and continuing in other tracks, is the trend of using a subtle background melody to drive your reading along. Amidst the lyrics and the music itself, it’s easy to get a little distracted at times, but having that baseline to keep you grounded is nice. This happens again in “Hear Me Calling,” where he utilizes a sort of “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” western shuffle deep in the background of the song. (He uses this again in the next album I’ll be reviewing – I’ll rave about it then.) 

“Walking Mystery” is another hit in my book (to be clear, none of these songs are “hits” - they would never make good radio songs, except perhaps on an easy listening station.) It has a mystical, ethereal quality and ambiance, which is again wonderful for reading along. This song and a few others almost have a touch of that dreamy 80’s synth - six years before the decade rolled around. 

Overall, the album flows beautifully, and is in fact long enough for you to read the whole book while listening. Which brings me to my critiques…

Critiques:

It may be my fault, for rushing out of fear that I’d run out of music before I ran out of pages – but in fact, it was the opposite: I finished reading long before the album ran out, and I certainly didn’t digest it well enough. Having read through once, I ought to go back and savor it this time, reading slowly and feeling the music throughout. I do believe that while reading, you miss a little of the music (I enjoy it much more when I listen on its own), although Michael said that if you’re experiencing this issue, you might just need to practice. That could be true – or maybe the songs just aren’t as memorable as some of his others. Perhaps; they weren’t made to be stand-alone hits (he had to change “Marie’s Theme” quite a bit for it to sound like a standard track on the Ranch Stash re-release), and they’re not as easy to sing along with as the rest of his discography. 

My next critique is about the book itself, which isn’t very fair to the music, but they are intertwined – it’s very theoretical and a little preachy (a symptom of his present state), which doesn’t ruin the experience for me, but I see why it wouldn’t necessarily be critically acclaimed by a casual listener/reader. Oh well. 

Finally – and this is the big one – Michael here is entering his “hamming it up” era, which gets better as the 70s fade out, but never really gets cured. For some reason, there are many lines which he sings in a half-spoken, comical manner, something that would be natural for “Mama Rocker” but absolutely not for a lot of these songs and those that he performs live or on other albums. (This phenomenon is extremely bad on Live at the Palais, which I’ll get to in a few posts…) I guess it doesn’t ruin the experience for me, but it does make me cringe. 

Conclusion:

I truly wish that, first of all, we had a recording of the ballet (?!) that was performed for this album (if I remember correctly from Infinite Tuesday) and that, second, he was not so insecure/embarrassed about this album in the years after it came out. In live performances he apologizes for making people listen to songs off of it (albeit surely half-jokingly) and teases himself about the outro of “Marie’s Theme” (that it repeats 602,417 times at the end so you have time to catch up on some reading, etc.) 

Overall, The Prison is not my favorite album of his ever, although I do really appreciate it – it’s just not one I tend to listen to often. But I think it was a very important one that paved the way for a lot of his later work - a definite timeline shift. His later work was obviously influenced and inspired by it, and it seemed to be a culmination of what his earlier work was leading up to, philosophically (if not so much musically - sort of separate schools going on there – but he was all about that sort of unexpected, conceptual genre-melding approach to music… and that’s why we love him!)

[atticcreationz]

Something I find really interesting about Nerdy Prudes Must Die (which I think heavily influences the fact that it's my favourite Hatchetfield show) is that its music and musical motifs are built so heavily upon all the shows that came before it, which is not something we see super often in mainstream theatre?? Stay with me here, I don't know if I'll be able to articulate where I'm going with this fully the way I want to but I'm gonna try.

Not only did NPMD have the catchiest and most heart-wrenching main motif out of all the Hatchfield shows imho (the "cool" motif - watch my heart break in two in real time while it plays behind Ruth's big note in Just For Once, ooof), but we all know it is jam packed with motifs from 4 other shows (TGWDLM, BF, NMT1, NMT2) in addition to the rest of the NPMD motifs. From the nightmare time motif to the cop motif, the inevitable motif, the coffee motif, Grace's scheme motif, Hatchet motif, etc, the list goes on!

For me not only is it fun as hell but it scratches an itch that the other Hatchetfield shows didn't 100% reach for me musically speaking. Not bad, just one box that wasn't ticked for me! It's almost the same itch as musicals like Hamilton, who pack in a huge amount of motifs and music/musical references without them overly complicated, and without distracting from the broad strokes with too much detail work. The motifs are easy for your ear to pick up on and follow without beating you over the head with them. Now, the likes of Hamilton (take the rest of what I say from here on out with a big ol spoonful of salt as someone who is observing as an enthusiast of musical theatre composing theory, not a pro) besides the obvious thoughtful hard work put into it are possibly more able to make space for these intricacies due to a sung-through format; and especially in Hamilton's case, being able to use both rap and music to create motifs. It feels like NPMD however is able to do this more like a movie franchise (thinking of things like Star Wars who have built up many different musical themes over the years).

On the one hand, big duh, that's how sequels/connected stories work. But on the other hand, even though we're used to seeing certain musical or lyrical ideas returning throughout a composers career, and although we're used to Starkid lore, jokes and call backs building up over time, I don't think I know many musicals that are sequels, and have built up a musical motif landscape over several years?? Besides Phantom/Love Never Dies, which I admit I don't know enough about. This feels like it might be another thing unique to (or if not unique to then certainly encouraged by) Starkid's format.

I've oversimplified a bunch of this for the sake of brevity (as if I've ever been concise in my life lol). But out of curiosity if anyone knows any other interesting musical theatre sequel examples outside of Starkid, let me know!

[ja-khajay]

Tagged by @ervona to post about 5 songs I've been listening to lately! Making a little mix and match playlist based on the half dozen tracks on my phone and songs I've recently discovered. I will detail a bit about each under the cut :)

Nouar - Cheika Rimitti (rai)

Twilight of the Thunder god - Amon Amarth (metal)

What's Golden - Jurassic 5 (hiphop)

Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel (pop)

Potions - Puscifer (? rock ?)

NOUAR

A few months ago, the combination of discovering a rai playlist on Spotify based on an artist I listen to with friends and another discovery of a radio station that exclusively plays north african and middle eastern music, the latter which became my go-to listen on the way from work for a while, I discovered this specific track. It's a huge niche hit, unknown to the general public but racking up in the millions of views online among fans of the genre and it's easy to see why! This is an absolutely hypnotic track which cleverly layers it's intrument with a catchy sung melody, periodically cut by the rythmic choir repeating its title. The main singer in the dialog has an outstanding voice and this all makes for a looping, hooking listening experience that makes you want to play it forever.

Twilight of the Thunder God

In a very different vibe, we have a track that perfectly matches it's overdesigned, historically based (yet inaccurate) cheesy madness of an album cover. This is the only song if this band I'm familiar with as a big hit. Power metal is among some of my favorite genres of music of all time, especially in it's overbearing energy and gratuitous use of double-pedals on the kick drum, fast bass and general theatrics. While I'm not a fan of growled vocals, this track compensates in my mind with one of THE catchiest hooks I know of in the genre. When I listen to TofTG, it's because I suddently remember it one day and get instantly compelled to download it on my phone and scream its lyrics at the sky until it leaves my head where it's stuck. This can take weeks...

What's Golden

Yet another radio discovery! I'm shamefully bad at hiphop, despite liking the genre a lot, no-one around me listened to it for ages so I don't have similar backlog as in other genres and as such as a grown adult am discovering it all with enthusiasm. This song sums up so many aspects I love in the genre which i'll definitly be using to nail what specific sub-genres are my favorite some day... catchy with a great flow and an instrumental that hooks you, it's impossible to not nod along to the beat and drop what I'm doing to listen to the full thing when it comes up on my playlist.

Sledgehammer

Yeah yeah it's a classic you all know it. And for a reason! This is one of, if not the only song I know which I can't separate from it's music video. I typically dislike MVs and prefer listening to music in pure audio format, but Sledgehammer comes with such a well crafted, wlel synched and creative film attached that it's always playing in my head when I hear it. This song was introduced to me by a mutual a few years ago which I'll be tagging in this post later as a thank you! I don't get its appeal as a dancey song, but it's definitly a track to dramatically walk to, which is probably the appeal the rest of this site sees in Once in a Lifetime...

Potions

For the nerds in the audience, this is a Reznor and Maynard collab so you know what you're getting into. The first thing that strikes me in this track is how loud the bass is - it turns the classic rock instrumental it's made from into something else that's just slightly overwhelming. And on top of that, very delicate vocals detail a raw, simple story of love and addiction. Where I chose this song above the many others of the band I'd been listening to a lot last month is this particular theme it has fits very well with a book series I'm reading right now, and it was easy for me to let my mind fly away with it on...:)

***

Runner ups: The Shame Of Life - Butthole Surfers / Ai vist to Lop - Mont-Jòia / Feuer Frei! - Rammstein / For me, Formidable - Charles Aznavour / It Mek - Desmond Dekker & the Aces

***

Tagging, your turn! @steamclouds @prolibytherium @internationalspacehobo @paristonhilll

[doloresdisparue]

i think one reason why the musical works so well for me is that music is one of the few ways that a changing medium can come close to emulating the effect of nabokovs dazzling prose. music affects (many) people on an emotional level and catchy music and rhymes can pull you along just as fast if you let your guard down. there's a reason "dante, petrach and poe" is maybe the catchiest tune in the show - it's also humbert at his most blatantly abject. if you don't listen to the lyrics you're bopping along before you know it even though this man with his lovely singing is going into great detail about the sex appeal of (quote) "barely pubescent" children.

just like in the novel humbert is pulling out all the stops of the medium to get the audience on his side, utilising the trappings of musical and emotions associated with certain numbers and types of music to package the awful things he's saying - and the lyrics are more explicit than most adaptations ever dared to be regarding the full horror of the story. you could write an analysis like this about probably each of the songs individually (and ideally someone who knows more about music theory than me should do that) but especially with "dante" and "lolita" the love song/lament that either opens or closes the show depending on the version the lyrics are so spine crawling (arguably also tell me, tell me, though the context does more than the lyrics there) while the music invites you immediately to side with the figure performing them.

any adaptation that can't rely fully on nabokov's prose needs to find something equally seductive and that's a hurdle for most other mediums that i think really bizarrely makes the musical stage very well suited to tell "lolita".

[megumi-fm]

this week on megumi.fm ▸ coding and coffeeshops

📋 Tasks

💻 Internship ↳ lab meet!!! got to learn about the other projects in the lab ↳ got work from home approved!! ↳ optimize protein seq code // account for missing residues ✅ ↳ add on a binding site identifier function for code using 4.5A distance threshold ✅ ↳ optimize binding site code // reducing time complexity for large PDB file inputs ✅ ↳ download and extract alphafold human protein repository and analyze pdb file formats ↳ set up progress tracker and upload code on colab ✅ 🎓 Uni ↳ Final Project: update images quality according to changes mentioned ✅ ↳ renew uni email for extra credit classes ✅ ↳ extra credit classes started this week! 🩺Radiomics Projects ↳ call with teammates to discuss next steps ✅ 📧 Application-related ↳ finished masters application form for 1/1 Uni (waiting on my referee reports) ✅ ↳ finalize referee report from my profs ✅

📅 Daily-s

🛌 consistent sleep [7/7] 💧 good water intake [5/7] 👟 exercise [5/7]

Fun Stuff this week

🍻 met up with my bestie @muakrrr <3 it was a stressful tuesday so meeting him for lunch was super comforting! he bought this cute purple drink and I got myself some ginger ale and the waiter served us the wrong drinks (gender and expectations something something) and it was amusing to watch them get confused when we corrected them 🎂 mom's b'day this week!! went out for dinner with her!! 🛒 went shopping with relatives who I haven't seen in years. bought myself a book! (rip my bookshelf) ☕ went out for coffee and dinner with my girlies (the same besties who I exchanged mugs with). we're trying to spend as much time together as possible before we leave to different countries for our masters 🎮 continuing the beginner's guide 📺 ongoing: Marry my Husband, Cherry Magic Th, Last Twilight 📺 binged: KinnPorsche The Series

📻 This week's soundtrack

Love Wins All by IU (been crying over this music video for days now. it's beautiful) KinnPorsche theme by Slot Machine: Kinn's theme [aka Phiang Waichai; TH] | Porche's theme [aka Free Fall; Eng] (first of all this is one of the catchiest theme songs to exist second only to SPECIALZ aka the JJK s2 op i'm also particularly losing my mind over how the two themes are love letters to the main characters from each other... the narrative parallels of it all are driving me insane sldkhlaksjkshs) Dum Dum by Jeff Satur + the Live Unchained version where his vocals are heavenly (maybe im so drawn to this song because the chorus is similar to the melodic motifs of the KPTS themes/soundtrack, either way, the show introduced me to him and god. I've been voraciously consuming his discography.) Ghost by Jeff Satur (on repeat all week. thoroughly obsessed with this song- the lyricism, his voice, the storyline in the MV, his acting, everything. wow. truly.)

---

[Jan 22 to 28 ; week 4/52 || I. love. my. internship. like. I have been having the most fun time problem solving and troubleshooting. it's also super satisfying to see the outcome of my code. it's been a while since I used python (I've been coding on C) so I forget that python has a lot of inbuilt functions that would do the same tasks I inadvertently entrust my nested loops with, and finding out about them is always so joyous (although it means I have to scrap off several chunks of code). i am a bit annoyed though, because the other intern isn't really doing any work that we're entrusted with so I'm having to carry the team and it's taking me too much time. but oh well. I've suggested we split tasks from next week, hopefully that'll make things better.

I've also been procrastinating a lot when it comes to my masters applications and it really hit me this week when I had to run to uni several times to get things approved and completed. Now that I'll get to work from home I need to set up a proper schedule to get application work completed wayy in advance. also need to resume my GRE prep from next week.]

[cloned-sheep97]

Cdn albums' vibe (sumarized)

Soy una arveja: I hate furries! Not because i think they're zoophiles... In fact, im a zooph-

Emilio García: I love torturing children!!!! *Pees on the christmas potato puree and everyone thinks is butter*

Canciones del corazón: ugh... I need a kinky femboy that doesn't have a gag reflex </3

Otra navidad en las trincheras: Straight sex, gay sex, anal sex, vaginal sex, oral sex. WE ARE THE SEX NATION

Barranca Abajo: Noooo my crush rejected me,... Its time for me to become emo *17 year old José Barrancas invoques the devil itself but then regrets becoming emo after Ñu fucking dies*

El tren bala: Rated +7 (E, everyone) for suicide, sex, drugs, political lider fucks up and gets drunk, CDN makes a pun between silk and "putting it in" (Tela va a poner ≠ Te la va a poner) grooming, hypnotization, adultery, constipation, mental distress, political corruption and people from puerto rico

Revista ¡¡Ésta!!: LOCAL MAN DISCOVERS THAT EATING DOES NOT INVOLVE FEET!!! *turns out to have the catchiest hook on all music history*

Cortamambo: Rated +18, we have a song internalized xenophobia and racism, wanting a sugar mommy, your boss is fucking the secretary and you know it, body horror relating Siamese twins, a song similar to the book Lolita except...so much worse... Santiago tavella goes on his way to cheat on multiple women, boobs in cover, stupid song about stupid horny seals. YET, we get the +18 mark because we made a song making fun on devoting more your religion than your own menta health. Yay

RARO: I- *sniff* I don't know what to do now!!! *Cries* Help me... *6 am Alarm goes off and instantly whipes out tears* Okay, gotta stop crying, its time to go to work...

Bipolar: I wish i could remove my two ribs so i could give myself a BJ, I'd deserve it for being that awesome sauce

Porfiado: *grabs the soap dispenser that was sitting next to the napkins and begins to start spraying the soap on top of the napkins* hehehehehehhe

Habla tu espejo: im such a little potato <///3. Why does everybody think im a problem? :( i mean.., i am but... I wish i wasnt</3

AZ: okay it turns out this album is not as bad as i remembered.... Although lamina once....*BARF*

Jueves: Oh your grandmother died? How cute... Try to cry about it and you're getting kicked from our sigma male club

Lamina once: Nobody understands me... Why is the world so messed up? </3 People today only look at their phones and argue with pronoun people on twitter...</3 *Paints nails, puts on blue hair dye, uses they/them prns and uses their phone like water (8 times a day)