#ive fixated on the lava

[pulchrasilva]

"Save my people and I'll follow you to my last breath" what I'm hearing is that Igneous will marry Chip but he's gotta save everyone on the island as a dowry first

[kozykricket]

i wont lie, terraria shimmer teeters very close to too much quality of life for me. to the point if it had any more perma buffs id probably call it a bit of powercreep but also like. with terraria, i really dont care what the devs do because i trust in them a Lot and. the game is a smorgasbord anyways yknow? funny thing is, shimmer is probably one of my fav things to introduce people to in terraria, because its so cool. and it feels like... hidden cheat codes, almost. like. theres some merit i think to having really obscure and impossible to figure out mechanics, because. yes. it makes the game a "wiki game" sometimes but then i get to feel really cool showing my friends all the special transmutations that exist, like the peddlers satchel. its like. yeah okay why is qol for traveling merchant selling more locked behind that? its kinda weird. but. its cool cus i get to feel cool and clever doing it. again terraria shows its mastery of making u feel cool for being able to do something or being able to know something or maybe thats just me loving my fixation on terraria and knowing everything about games that i play

oh right i said i think shimmers close to too much qol yea i think sometimes theres like. ways it reduces grind where its like i dont mind the grind in terraria ive been over this. and so. do i really want them to reduce the grind? but for one, theres the "it feels like a cheatcode, not just some recipe" as well as like its a way to keep low droprates for things like say, the adhesive bandage. to keep it from dropping a crapton. so .. .you can shimmer a bezoar for it yet still it makes people grind for Something for it and... reward their unluckiness for being so lucky they happen to get more bezoars than they need like, theres still the grind of killing an enemy involved. same for the magma stone to lava charm conversion. that just means you get to pick "im gonna farm hell bats instead of chests around the area"

which like. is . an option. and options for doing things are good! its just if one option is blatantly easier than another one, that it gets to be. weird I also appreciate fishing in terraria as being an alternative for many things! yes it can be grindy, but also. tbh? fishing can be pretty darn easy, if you just do some angler quests and use some potions. ive fished for rare stuff i dont have before. and sometimes it sucks, but ... its usually not that bad. its fair as a last resort for getting stuff that you can otherwise get i suppose this turned into a ramble about just, the methods of getting stuff in terraria in general but anyways, point is i like shimmer, but it was so close to being something i couldve very much hated. and in terms of the permabuffs, they're very very negligible, if you told me they were just placebo and did nothing id believe you. which is good. they shouldnt be that much and... for stuff like swapping class emblems? now thats just fantastic. not every single piece of loot should be able to be swapped out for another piece of loot! i think grinding bosses is good sometimes! but for the WALL of FLESH of all things, and for something as important as a class damage accessory? entirely fair all in all i really appreciate the time relogic puts into thinking about stuff

[krooliis]

I posted 8,186 times in 2022

That's 5,477 more posts than 2021!

467 posts created (6%)

7,719 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@clownstiel

@cannot-copia

@copiasass

@slavghoul

@soraaiame

I tagged 580 of my posts in 2022

#ghost bc - 117 posts

#shitghosting - 112 posts

#the band ghost - 98 posts

#ghostbc - 96 posts

#ghost band - 92 posts

#papa emeritus iv - 85 posts

#papa emeritus - 78 posts

#papa iv - 75 posts

#cardinal copia - 75 posts

#copia - 71 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#btw guys if you go to one of chris' shows hang out at the merch table and you can meet him he always comes out after gigs to say hello

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Uh, hi, yes, uhm- could I get a chicken nugget happy meal? Drink? Sprite, si. Thank you.

1,168 notes - Posted March 16, 2022

#4

Tobussy: Copia is ugly, he’s an awkward virgin that still lives with his mom and has a fixation on tricycles. Don’t you think he’s just a loser with his cat poster and lava lamp? Me: 

1,462 notes - Posted March 16, 2022

#3

“parasocial relationships are unhealthy!” well me and my BEST FRIEND Papa Emeritus IV would beg to differ.

1,787 notes - Posted September 25, 2022

#2

Cause he’s my best friend, he’s my pal. He’s my home-boy, my rotten soldier. He’s my sweet cheese, my good-time boyeh

1,840 notes - Posted August 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

When I see new people getting into Ghost, they always ask about the lore but babes, I'm going to have to tell you something. 5% of the lore you see is canon, 10% is shit Special/Tobias said in interviews - most likely without thinking and the other 85% is from the fandom - whether from fanfictions, theories, art etc. Ghost is basically a sandbox, we're just given very limited information and allowed to run wild with the characters so have fun with it and try not to worry about what is and isn't canon too much.

2,084 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[sleepylilghostie]

impure regression mentions!!

i hate regressing impurely sometimes. the fact that one small trigger has me starting to slip has me on the verge of a breakdown everytime.

i was in class today, english to be exact, and was sat next to a friend whos been around during some of the traumatic experiences in my life.

we were studying something im currently fixated on (im autistic and its a big interest of mine), and she listened. one thing i picked up was the mannerisms she had while listening; she showed off mannerisms both my uncle and my mum had when i was little. although im okay with them currently, theyre the reason i didnt get the right childhood.

she left the room to go to first aid as she was feeling unwell, and i felt myself start to slip. i didnt want to, i was in school during the middle of the day.

not only that, but then my friend shared one of my favourite foods with me: sushi.

she helped me unpack it because i had never unpacked it without help, and that yet again reminded me of my mums mannerisms. again, i felt myself slipping.

the minute i was home, i felt horrible. the reminders of what my mums done to me when i was younger broke me.

all in all i didnt w a n t to regress tonight and it wasnt a good experience. i was a mess in my bab corner, all i did was watch my lava lamp and cry into my blankie. the lava lamp grounded me, yet i didnt feel any bigger. i didnt want to be little anymore, i felt pathetic. i just kept belittling myself in my head. in the end i just napped after grounding myself some more, but thats 100% one of the worst agere experiences ive had to date.

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

L, M, N

L:  Which of your fanfics was the most emotionally challenging to write?

That would have to be Lost Symphony, a Supernatural fic I wrote for the Racebending Revenge challenge years and years ago. I decided to write the Winchester brothers as biracial (half white, half Korean) and it was... a challenge to not fuck it all up. Thank fuck for the friends and betas who helped make sure of it.

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with?  Did it turn into a story?

.... do you really want to know?

I once had a years-long thought exercise crossing over Digimon with every other FoxKids show in existence plus a book series I was reading at the time and a historical Kdrama. During college, I wrote another massive crossover idea involving 1 character from each fandom I'd been dabbling in up to that point meeting each other for drinks and to talk shit at a bar on Cybertron. This one never made the leap to AO3 and is buried deep in my Dreamwidth.

I once had a thought about Chris Hemsworth playing George Kirk and Thor and hey, what if George Kirk was Thor????? Wouldn't that be funny???????? And then I wrote a Star Trek/Thor Ragnarok/Captain Marvel/Guardians of the Galaxy crossover/fusion fic where Jim Kirk disappeared from Tarsus IV after absorbing the Space Stone and years later, the Enterprise crew encounters the Guardians on a planet that is a safe haven for Skrulls and it turns out both the Guardians and Kree Starforce are on the hunt for two Asgardians who can take them back to Asgard and the rumored fabled Space Stone.... it is the worst fucking AU I ever wrote (as of right now) and I adore how fucking stupid it is.

N: Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share?

I have two, one that I still dream of writing because every fandom deserves a Mummy (1999) AU and one that I am forcing to wait in the back until I'm satisfied with the final story in the Dangerous Dreams series.

The Mummy AU idea is Luke and Leia playing the Carnahan siblings searching for the truth behind their father's mysterious disappearance toward the end of the Clone Wars (an alternate reality where the war didn't end with a Galactic Empire) and searching the GFFA with Han, Chewie, and Artoo. They finally pick up Anakin's trail on Nevarro and encounter Gideon, Chancellor Palpatine's man on a mission, and a mysterious Mandalorian who keeps trying to sabotage Gideon's attempts to travel beyond the lava flats to an ancient ruin harboring an evil that once ravaged Mandalore, nearly consumed it whole, but was captured and imprisoned by the Mandalorian warriors that became the Death Watch......

The other actually is not a fic idea, it's me beating up my brain for fixating on the absolute choice for Kraken!Ed to ditch his fingerless gloves for full-fingered ones because I am obsessed with touch and touch as a love language. I'm not having thoughts about lavender soap and hidden passageways on a sailing ship and rumors of a frankly bizarre death involving a leopard, a stagecoach, and a pianoforte... or thoughts about a mysterious pirate who calls himself Captain Edwards, who seems to always be wherever Blackbeard and the Revenge had been, always several sailing days behind but forever in pursuit.

No thoughts. None. Shut up, brain.

Play ask games, win ask prizes!

[bwinkbear]

my hcs r dumb but here we fuckin gO

-nor plays acoustic guitar as a hobby. when he and fin go camping, they sit in front of the fire under a blanket and nor quietly strums his guitar n hums to fin. fin’s got his head on his shoulder. private moment of softness n vulnerability.

-as kids theyd pretend to go fishing in tiny bodies of water that clearly had No Fish, like puddles n shit, w sticks from the backyard that had string tied to them, and theyd take themselves Very Seriously, like theyd hang out there for hours, and if one of their moms appeared behind them fin would b like “sTOP ITTTT ur scaring the fish :(((”

-also as kids theyd try to “ice skate” w no skates on frozen ponds. theyve both fallen in at least once.

-as adults. idk if i stole this from you i mightve, but fin cuts nor’s hair for him.

-just the idea of them takin care of iceland even when they rly dont necessarily have to. showing up at his house bc he seemed sad on the phone. bringing him snacks bc they heard on the news theres gonna be a snowstorm. just little things bc theyre thinking about him. (ofc this also leads to chaos sometimes. they try to cut his grass for him when hes away but they dont know how to use his lawnmower n they end up taking down an entire tree. shit like that.)

-nor clinging to fin when hes had a bad day. end hc.

-they sing dumb karaoke together. u can decide if theyre drunk or sober.

-thing that landed in my brainrot just now as im typing this but could u imagine them having a date at a roller rink

-they go to college together and theyre roommates and tjey have cats and theyre gay and and

no hcs are dumb unless theyre abt aph denmark.

norfincampingnorfincampingnorfincamping hnghnghhnghm. it's strange but i struggle to visualize nor playing that kind of instrument, though i still take him as the musical type... think it's because i usually pin den as the guitarist but ig thats by law a Dumb take so nor playin it is very nice 😌😌. v warm concept 10/10 u fuckin bet fin provoked him to start playing it right then.

they would be very dumb kids together,, i see nor knowing all abt the local fish n rlly wanting to find them n hyping the idea up to fin for extra help bcos he just wants to find them so so bad. nor with a fish fixation is the cutest thing to me and the concept is starting to grow on me AAA

god damnit youre just making me want more childhood norfin fics. o, to recreate fin Drowning from hetalian horror show into fanon... but yes they definitely got up to all kinds of shit like this, being children raised in an Expansive Nature. feel like at least one of them would always have a twisted ankle or some shit from getting caught up in their play.

yes fin cuts nors hair bECAUSE HE CUTS ICES HAIR AND ICE LOOKS JUST LIKE NOR SO UNLESS FINS DOING THIS ON PURPOSE TO BE A FUCKING PRICK (and i guess i will give benefit of the doubt) THEN THEYRE PROBABLY GOING TO THE SAME PERSON FOR THIS,,, ive been craving reading some soft ass fic of fin greeting his partner after a long day of work or them returning from a storm or something and like cleaning them up n cutting their hair n giving them the comfort they desperately needed after that long-ass day... that for norfin? HMG. might pocket this concept for norfin week dont @ me.

nor is already so protective and annoying to iceland, highkey he might worry about him more than himself because he doesnt want ice to go through the same hardships he has 😩. fin probably wouldnt get on the same level as him, not having that same brotherly instinct or anything, but thats not to say nors delusions dont rub off on him or anything. "we have to check on ice, he cant handle volcano eruptions well he gets bad anxiety." and they both fly up there quick as can be to see ice leaping over streams of lava with hong kong for fun. and suddenly, norfin are the ones with anxiety about it. :)

clingy nor clingy nor clingy nor he would never admit it but it is So obvious. they could even be standing next to each other at a meeting and nor just quietly leans into him when he feels shy or overwhelmed. hes in good hands.

lol oh no. i feel like nors the type to quietly sing to himself when hes busy and if fin happens to recognize what hes singing he'll join in and then its just a thing. 😭 though i can definitely see this being a thing with all the nordics (besides the kids ofc)... as for organized karaoke i can see this being more fins thing than nor, despite nor having the better voice for it 🙈 its always the ones that want to sing that cant lol

ok a roller rink date someone would definitely twist their ankle. fin. fin would. he has 2 left feet. nors like hmmmm its easyyyy and fins like hahahah right, holding onto the rails n shit. he lets go for 3 seconds and... rip in peace.

idk that last one sounds kinda gay idk if jesus would approve

[curious-menace]

What type of vocal stims would Riddler have????

Most of my riddlers have a tendency to shutdown and/or go non verbal so ive thrown a few auditory stims in here too

Arkham Riddler

He likes clicking and tappy noises. He'll click his tongue on the roof of his mouth a lot. He has a fidget cube with one of those little light switch clickers on it in his pocket at all times too. He also likes asmr videos where people tap their nails and various objects.

BTAS Riddler

He likes to repeat song lyrics and movie lines mostly. If he's very stressed he recites the digits of pi or lines of code that he finds visually pleasing. Oddly enough he finds the sound of a mouse and keyboard soothing. Just as well he works in coding isn't it?

Blacklight riddler

He taps his temples a lot, even when he's just thinking. The noise helps him focus. He likes the sound of brushing hair or snapping fingers. He also has a bit of an oral fixation, so he has a few green chew sticks in his desk. If he's having a meltdown, which is admittedly rare for him, he rocks his head and hums with his hands over his ears.

Original riddler

He's more sensory, he prefers things like weighted blankets or playing with tactile toys. He has some makeup brushes he likes to stroke on his arms but it's not always practical. If he's busy doing something when he starts to get overloaded he might click a pen or wring his hands.

Zero year riddler

This one is more visual. He hums and shakes his head when things get too much but if he just wants to calm himself a little he likes to watch lava lamps, Newton's cradles or some of those stim board GIFs on the DC equivalent of Tumblr.

I hope this answers your question Minnow. I've never been diagnosed as autistic myself (despite having a few traits, so I'm a bit clueless) iv been doing a lot of research to make these Headcanons as accurate as possible and give decent representation to Riddler and all my wonderful Autistic followers 💚

[cuuno-moved]

Any neat/emotional/exciting things/headcanons/what have you about Origin!Jack??? I’m so fixated on the Hybrid SMP it’s not even funny.

— CJ

i think ive probably shared most of them with you already, but i'll tell you anyway!

i think blazes are amphibious, but with lava instead of fire, take that as you will.

his clothes are made of a very specific not flammable material, but even they get caught on fire sometimes

he gets sensory overload very very easily, and the sound of people chewing makes him want to murder someone.

sometimes, he stands at the top of hills and mountains and just screams at the sky because there was no sky to scream at in the nether, but he beat it. he beat the nether.

sometimes, he forgets what he's doing and just wanders around, humming to himself.

when his blaze rods bump into each other, they make windchime sounds.

he has terrible vision in the daytime.

[shadowfaximpala]

Immortals

(GIF not mine)

MASTER LIST

Part 2

Summary:  Hidden in the shadows of your brother's endless mistakes you wanted to finally feel something. An old enemy confides in you after various mishaps and you realise you have more in common than you thought.

Tags:  Reader Insert, Female Reader, Winchester Sister, Series, Season 10 - 11, Eventual Smut

Relationship: Crowley x Reader

Warnings: Blood, Swearing, Drug Mention

Author’s Notes: So this is the second part, I’ll upload as many of the chapters I’ve already written by next week. Then I can start publishing the new chapters that haven’t been posted online yet! 

Requests open for spn one-shots!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lock Down

Sam and Dean had taken every precaution to keep you safe, they had even taken the liberty of putting you in the dungeon which was plastered with demon traps and sigils and to top it all off the very collar the King of Hell had worn so graciously during his days spent trapped there, they didn't know how strong of a hold the demonic blood had over you. Their best guess was it was becoming increasingly more erratic with each passing moment.

“You assholes, let me out!” You spat, feeling more irritated than ever. “I'm not a fucking de-” your sentence was cut short, you were paralysed. Your silence obviously stirred some worry, your brothers burst into the room, calling your name over and over again but try as you might you couldn't respond to their anguished calls.

“Dean, get the holy water...”

A moment later you were splashed with cold liquid, you felt a tingle on your skin. It didn't exactly burn but there was a harsh and warming sensation, like taking a hot shower the water trickled over your skin. "Crap," you muttered inwardly to yourself, "This shouldn't happen..." You couldn't project your voice, so you simply sat staring blankly into the world around you, your brothers looming over you.

“Nothing...” Dean breathed.

“Are you sure?” Sam inspected closely, you could feel his breath on your arm. “I can smell burning...”

“Fuck!” Dean shouted. “I’ll be right back...” Dean’s voice sounded low and dangerous.

Being stuck in your own mind was torture in itself. You’d rather feel something than feel absolutely nothing. For what seemed like an eternity finally you heard voices. Sam and Dean had returned with a guest, his English accent smooth with a rough edge of annoyance.

“And I’m telling you two idiots, I had nothing to do with this.” Crowley... His voice cut through the blackness, he sounded angrier than usual. “Do you even realise how much chaos this has caused me? The only tip off you puppets would have had could only have come from me, and now I've all sorts of uproar down there that I protected a Winchester, let alone her!” Crowley had no idea how much his words cut you when he spoke.

“I don’t give a crap about what you have to deal with in Hell, that’s your business, you’re their King. Just fix it or so help me!” Dean snapped.

“Just shoot some human blood into her veins that usually flushes the demon out... I really don’t see why you felt the urge to call me here.” If you could stand up you would have punched him for that comment, but you heard the exhaustion in his voice.

“Because right now that could kill her...” An even deeper baritone voice cut through the darkness. Castiel. The band was back together! And you were stuck in a hell of your own, unable to witness such a rare gathering of mystically infuriating creatures.

“Problem solved.” Crowley muttered sarcastically.

“I don’t understand, if you wanted her dead why would you go to her brother’s for help?” Castiel asked monotone as ever.

There was a slight pause. “Because if she were a demon then she’d be a bigger thorn in my side,” the demon King replied.

“If anything happens to her, believe me, it will be more than a thorn in your side Crowley,” Sam threatened. You wished you could bash all their heads together.

“Is that so, Moose?” You didn't need to see them to know they were sizing one another up in a metaphorical sense; Sam definitely had him beaten on height...

“Can we focus on the task at hand here?” Castiel cut the atmosphere like a knife through butter, and suddenly you could sense they were dumbfounded again.

“Are you lot missing the obvious here?” Crowley spoke. “How else do you get rid of bad blood?”

“Are we talking literally or in the building bridges sense?” Dean offered up an answer, his anxious anger laced with sarcasm.

“No you oversized imbecile, you drain it.” It really was fun imagining their interactions in your mind, that instance you pictured Crowley pinching the bridge of his nose and scrunching his eyes shut. “Are you with me?” He fired up again once he received no reply.

“Yeah, but we’re not just draining our sister’s blood supply...” Another strained pause came from Sam. “Unless we can substitute it with clean blood!”

“Moose and Squirrel save the day once again... You three really are insufferable. I don’t know how Y/N puts up with it.”

“Because we give a damn about each other, you wouldn't understand that you put her in harm’s way!” Dean argued.

“Not intentionally! Yet here I am trying to help you, putting my neck on the line for the bloody Winchester’s yet again!” Dean had definitely touched a nerve, Crowley’s voice was booming off the dungeon walls now. “All because Abaddon's minion’s knew how much-” he cut himself off. You so desperately wanted to hear the rest of that sentence.

“How much what, Crowley?” Dean’s voice grew low again, dangerous and predatory.

“Nothing.” The demon King backed down.

“Yeah, damn right it’s nothing.” Your elder brother spat back.

Shortly after their disagreement you felt something slice your wrist, moments later another stab in your left arm and a needle being spliced in. You must have looked a complete picture, a poster figure for failed suicide, one wrist slashed and an IV drip inserted in the other, hollow cheekbones and sunken eyes. You didn't want to wake up and look in a mirror any time soon...

~*~*~

Slowly but surely that black hue lifted from your vision, nerve endings finding impulse again, followed by movement. Castiel healed your wrist and Dean removed the drip.

“Hey,” you expressed softly as Dean and Cas removed the shackles and helped you up. Dean pulled you into a soft hug, wary of your frail body.

“Hey yourself, we thought we lost you to the dark side!” He held you out at arm’s length to inspect the damage. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks bro,” you laughed. “Know I can count on someone to tell the truth around here.” You looked over at Sam who peeled you away from Dean and hugged you, a little more forcefully than your elder brother.

“He’s lying you look fine, you could do with some food and a shower though...” Sam ruffled your hair affectionately.

Cas went to shake your hand but you pulled him in for a hug, after a few seconds he returned the favour. He smelled of pine needles and a hint of lavender it was oddly soothing. “Thank you,” you muttered into his chest. The Angel moved backwards and his puppy dog eyes told you it was no bother at all.

“Anything for family,” he nodded.

You were surprised to see a dark figure in the corner; you cast a glance in Crowley’s direction. His eyes fixated on you, watching you intently. You wanted to thank him for his good deed, if it wasn't for him your brothers wouldn't have found you in time, maybe not even at all... Heck you wanted to hug him! Before you resigned yourself to the scrutiny of your brother’s watchful eye you plucked up the courage to walk over to him.

“I guess I owe you my gratitude...” you expressed quietly, the demon in front of you offered a weak smile.

“Don’t mention it,” his line of sight flicking between you and your brothers. “One less demonic Winchester means I can breathe a sigh of relief, for now.” You exchanged a small smile with him. You noticed it then, the blood red rose nestled in the pocket of his well tailored suit, questions swirled through your mind but you thought better and decided to drop the topic for another time, Crowley noticed where you were staring and he shifted back slightly. “Well, if you’ll excuse me...” and with a click of his fingers he disappeared.

That night you rested in a cold sweat, nightmares plaguing the forefront of your mind. Dreams about killing your brothers, dreams that you had that cursed mark Dean wore instead of him. Every time you woke your skin still felt someone had poured lava over your body. After hours of tossing and turning you practically threw your body out of bed and into the shower to cool down, setting the temperature to a medium to low heat. The itching hadn't subsided even after your skin was clean of sweat.

You rolled downstairs into the main hall of the bunker, the lights were dimmed and Sam sat with his head buried in a book, his expression full of woe.

“Sammy?” You called in a soft voice. He didn't move or acknowledge your voice, you called again. “Sammy is everything okay?” Still nothing. Motioning closer to him you could hear him muttering to himself, until his phone buzzed on the counter top which jerked him to life.

“Cas?” Sam sounded full of panic. “What’s going on?” Your feet developed a mind of their own and you darted for cover. Something was a foul; you could sense it in the air, like electricity. “Hold on, I thought we agreed on this? You said you’d do whatever it takes...” He looked around hastily and lowered his voice, you could only just hear him a few feet away. “Fine. Just keep looking.” Sam snapped quietly at the Angel. You heard him place the phone on the table and shuffle uncomfortable in the small chair beneath him.

Deciding that he was void of his sanity right now you retreated back upstairs until you knocked over a vase on the landing, a mighty crash echoed off the walls, your foot stung like hell as you muttered profanities under your breath.

“Who’s there?” Sam bellowed.

“Shit!” You hobbled about on one foot, right where the porcelain landed it left a nasty little cut on your ankle and toe.

“Y/N?” Your brother’s voice sounded full of panic. He rushed up the stairs to where you were dancing around. “How long were you there?” He raised an eyebrow at you.

“I got a little dizzy and crashed into the vase, so about three seconds, why?” You lied convincingly, if there was anything you learned having two older and overprotective brothers, it was how to tell an expert lie.

“No reason, I'm just worried about you,” Sam on the other hand was the world’s worst liar, his eyes darted from left to right, his fingers would clasp shut into a fist and his jaw would become more prominent like he was speaking through gritted teeth, his motions would become jumpy and he would then move to another subject or divert attention into an action. “Let me take a look at your foot...” He removed his jacket and placed it lightly to your ankle applying pressure to stop it from bleeding any more.

“Sam... You and Dean have been awfully jumpy lately, I know he’s getting worse but... Promise me you’ll accept what Dean asks you to do and stop keeping secrets from me, from both of us...”

Your lanky, shaggy haired brother looked up at you. His jaw clenched and he looked back to your wound.

“I promise.”

Anger boiled in the pit of your stomach. “Sammy you’re a shit liar.” You kicked your foot out and pulled it away from his light grasp.

“Y/N, hold on!”

“No, I’ve had enough of the deceit; you and Dean do nothing but lie to me. Dean says he’s fine, but he’s falling apart, you’re protecting your phone, you’re jumpy and skittish, you’re keeping something from us!” You stomped your foot objectively on the floor before walking away to get some shoes and a band aid.

[bluetapes]

New review of Jolly New Songs up at The Quietus!

“Trupa Trupa, a rock band from Gdansk, are a strange bunch. And they’ve made a strange, brilliant record. The oddness they project isn’t anything obtuse or difficult or academic, or (you suspect) planned. In the main you can sing along to these “jolly” songs, as Jolly New Songs is a record packed with phrases and licks that become earworms, passages that create vivid and empathetic dream scenarios, and spruce blasts of noise that give a real sense of energy.

But there’s this sense of otherness about Trupa Trupa that seems to grow stronger the more I listen to them. They are hypnotic; despite themselves, it seems. Their record tugs at your elbow and whispers, “Put me on, again. You want to.” I’ve seen them live and got sucked into their diffident scene. Moreover, their guitarist plays what looks like a homemade Cyberman’s head on a stick, with strings. You can appreciate, therefore, that they are the sort of act you can become slowly fascinated by, without noticing any prior impetus to do so. In this, they remind me of the bit in Julian Cope’s autobiography Head On / Repossessed when Copey talks about his fixations during the making of his album, Fried. One was acting like a turtle (when getting in character for the album cover shoot), another was slavishly copying the mannerisms of his guitarist and producer, Steve Lovell. Jolly New Songs prompts you to act a bit like Copey did, the music acting as a bridge to somewhere else. To a place where you the listener can act out dreamy inconsequential nonsense in private.

The record’s title is another indication of their wry humour. None of these songs are jolly in any sense. Shamanic and otherworldly, yes. Powerful, most certainly. Clever, without a doubt. But there is very little to be actually jolly about on Jolly New Songs. There is a song about a coffin, and ‘Love Supreme’ sounds like a funeral march through a Belgian village on a wet November day. Still, the record treads quietly, impervious to all around, like a Komodo dragon taking the air on a volcanic spatter cone.The 1960s tinge from their last album, Headache, is still there, magnified, taking in other appropriations of 60s and 70s sounds along the way. Trupa Trupa are a very astute band in this respect. Astute with their sound in the way Pixies were, keeping a gleaming songwriting muscle primed with just the right amount of melodic and harmonic oil, and nous in the application. ‘Mist’, for example, is a gloriously catchy take on early American Music Club before it sidesteps any latent pomposity and swiftly ends on a Barrett-style lament. The deadpan (and impossibly named) opener ‘Against Breaking Heart of A Breaking Heart Beauty’ is another case in point. This grumbling, slow-moving lava flow is like a languorous mix of very early (post-Syd) Floyd, Cope, Earth and ‘Chasing a Bee’-era Mercury Rev. With a subterranean kick. Check out the gloriously dreamy coda on ‘Falling’, too, it’s straight out of Faust IV.

Trickster moments abound, then. The slumberous title track starts off as a faux singalong and ends up in a howling vortex before abruptly pulling the plug. Second to last (and standout) track ‘Only Good Weather’ ends up sounding like it’s in a blender, prey to the sort of wilful larking about you’d hear in Stereolab’s early singles. But most of all, difficult and wyrd and downbeat bits included, this is gloriously catchy rock music. Try getting the opening vocal line from the brilliant single, ‘To Me’ or the supine ‘Leave It All’ out of your head. Even drones like ‘Never Forget’ and the Syd-like ‘None Of Us’ stick around without asking, like some bloke at the end of the party, eating the dregs from the crisp bowl.

This is a powerful band possessing special properties, that’s for sure. On the evidence of this record they happily live between any time and place. Or, rather, they’ve carved out their own sort of time in their music and invited you in.