#listen......... i really love the harbinger verse................

[rengerines]

i could never be normal about chiscara, like ik they are very unlikely lore wise but idgaf!!!

pre irminsul arc they’re two people who find love and warmth in such a cold environment. the fatui are a distinctly distant organization, and the harbingers are clearly not very close (eg. childe and arlechinno voicelines ab eachother). the only thing connecting each of them is the mutual goal of collecting the gnoses for the tsaritsa, but the way they all go about this is vastly different from each other, and this connection can be rather weak when compared to their personal goals, usually treated as a sort of after thought in a lot of the later archon quests (and clearly some of them js don’t gaf ab the tsaritsa *cough* scara defection).

so i really like the idea of chiscara connecting despite this, and also the thought that they have to sneak around about it too. obviously, they’re not exactly *good* for each other. they’re fatui harbingers, both with more than a few screws loose. but they’re still capable of caring for each other nonetheless.

considering their situation, and the two of them as people with their baggage and all that, i doubt they ever got past a weird sort of fwb-situationship-not-dating-but-probably-in-love relationship, but i still think they were somewhat aware of their mutual romantic feelings, they would js never label it.

post irminsul arc, i think about them two ways.

obviously in canon-verse, they’re doomed. childe is born and of teyvat, he’s not gonna be going against teyvat’s founding principles and remembering scara so easily. he’d need someone to tell him, either the traveler or scara, and both are unlikely to do so. the traveler would js not know to, and scara isn’t the type to seek childe out.

in this case i see scara silently yearning like crazy for a man who doesn’t even remember who he is. it’s interesting, as even when they were ‘together,’ scara was constantly telling himself how bad of an idea this was, and here he is now suffering the consequences. their love was real at some point, but scara is doomed to be the only one to remember it. it’ll eat him up from the inside out until he forces himself to move on. if childe decides to visit sumeru at some point, maybe for fun, maybe on business, they might talk, and it would all hurt that much more.

however, through some weird canon-divergence shenanigans, i can see post-irminsul chiscara, in a world where childe somehow remembers, building a proper relationship of sorts. they could never have a perfectly ‘normal’ relationship, childe’s still a fatui harbinger, but they could have some semblance of a cute domestic life when childe’s off work. i’m thinking rare mornings waking up together, and scara reluctantly introducing childe to sethos, only for them to get on so well and cause him both a headache and for his heart to swell. i see scara, childe and nahida sharing a meal together, nahida listening intently to childe talking about his family, and later nahida telling scara that she’s happy for him. they could one day visit childe’s family together, and scara would feel out of place but slowly adjust to all the many children around him. i think teucer would adore him, maybe even more than childe, which would drive him crazy. scara would hold it over his head constantly, and they’d bicker and kiss afterwards. the two of them could love each other properly, they’d get a second chance post-irminsul. all that has to happen is for childe to remember.

[letters-adressed-to-the-fire]

So I ended up writing a short essay about the albatross (part 1)

There’s just something about the albatross that’s been scratching my brain since the first time I heard it. Initially, I thought “oh, it feels like it belongs in evermore” (I really love that album), but soon I realized it goes way deeper than that.

Well the song is about the albatross (duh), but to really understand it, there are a few things you need to know. First of all, this particular bird is widely known as a symbol of bad luck, burden and regret. Why? What could an innocent bird possibly have done to deserve such a reputation? Taylor tell us the answer throughout the song, but for a more in-depth understanding, one can turn to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, which was the source of inspiration for this piece.

Gotta be honest, I haven’t read it, not entirely (it’s actually really long). But I did do my research soooo, let me summarize it for you in a few lines:

This is the tale of a sailor who, convinced that an albatross was a bad omen, tragically shoots the innocent bird. As a consequence, he and his crew face a curse. The sailor is compelled to wear the lifeless bird around his neck as a form of punishment. Yet, as time passes and years go by, it is the innocent albatross that becomes a mournful symbol, rather than the sailor who committed the deed.

Now, if you revisit Taylor's lyrics, she narrates this progression through the reprise of different verses:

“Cautions issued, he stood Shooting the messengers They tried to warn him about her”

“Locked me up in towers But I'd visit in your dreams And they tried to warn you about me”

“You were sleeping soundly When they dragged you from your bed And I tried to warn you about them”

Or:

“Cross your thoughtless heart Only liquor anoints you She's the albatross She is here to destroy you”

“So I crossed my thoughtless heart Spread my wings like a parachute I'm the albatross I swept in at the rescue”

Or my personal favorite:

“Devils that you know Raise worse hell than a stranger She's the death you chose You're in terrible danger”

“The devil that you know Looks now more like an angel I'm the life you chose And all this terrible danger”

What I found so fascinating about her decision behind the use of this technique, is that she not only embraces it to move the story forward in an organic way, but she plays with the point of view of the spectator (or in this case, listener) to lead them through all the characters of the story.

In the opening verse, you assume the role of the sailor on the verge of shooting the albatross. You don’t have proof but you know she’s here to destroy you. As the song progresses into the second verse, it becomes evident that you’re now talking with the albatross, or more accurate would be to say that the albatross is talking to you. Contrary to the poem, Taylor is giving the albatross a voice (which effectively serves as a metaphor for herself), and this standpoint will remain for the rest of the song, though with a slight change at the end. Taylor not only lets the albatross tell its story, but she let it be the hero. By the end, the spectator finds themselves in the crosshairs of "them”, the very group they once belonged to. This is the moment where the transformation of the figure of the albatross reaches its peak, as it transitions from a harbinger of misfortune to a beacon of hope, it is there to rescue you.

(obviously there's more to this! but I'll be posting part 2 in a few days just because i didn't want this post to be THAT long lol)

[orchideae]

Fontaine verse things! Okay, so Yelan's presence there? Easy: Tartaglia. Remember, the guy we're all freaking out about because he's so deep in the Meropide, he's chilling out in the primordial sea with a whale I'm going to call his pet (okay listen, I believe he'll be okay, he has no other choice than to be okay), the one who decided to unseal an ancient god called Osial, who then retroactively unleashed his confused fury on Liyue Harbor? Yeah, that one. Listen, Childe, I may love you, but this girl does not.

In my main verse, Yelan travels to the nation of hydro at the request of Ningguang (and to a degree, uncle Tian). As canon seems to show and/or insinuate, Childe leaves in the aftermath of Osial's attack of the harbor, and it truly would seem immensely out of character for there to be no follow-up whatsoever. Even if we need to forego imprisonment, at the very least they would want to know how he was able to achieve what he did, and considering Osial is not dead nor sealed (anymore), information is key. All leads run dry eventually, and then you go to the only source that you know, the Harbinger in question.

Any ask or thread plotted will generally be fit to go into my default verse, her initial point of contact would have been Neuvillette, to see if he has any ability to aid her in accessing the Fortress. When learning of its autonomy, I imagine letters of requests to have been sent to Wriothesley directly, requests for a transfer, an official interrogation— and from what a little birdie (hi Min) has told me, these would likely meet deaf ears or be refused. Following this, Yelan heads over, because if there's anyone who might stand a chance, it's likely someone who knows how to play her cards.

Beyond that: there is also a personal reason as to why Yelan would want to seek out Childe (or any of the Harbingers or people tied to them, really), which is to find Regrator, better known as Pantalone. In canon, it is stated that during a mission tied to him, Yelan lost possession of a bracelet, it is part of a pair and is incredibly dear to her, not only because it's a magical artifact, but moreover because it is a family artifact, the only (from what we know) thing she has left of her clan and/or family (I'm still mulling on the insinuation[s] of the latter). As she always says, follow every lead to its end— and anyone, and everyone tied to the Fatui is a tie to Regrator and her bracelet.

[featherbraincd-aa-blog]

 even   more   headcanons   for   harbinger!crow:

 his   english   is  a   little   less   broken.     he’s   still   lazy   with   pronunciation,   but   he’s   had   centuries   to   learn   words,   phrases   and  meanings   without   coming   across   quite   as   broken   as   he   does   in   the   main.

 he   can’t   impregnate   anybody.     so   don’t   worry   when   he   busts   a   nut   or   whatever.     it’s   just   something   he’s   not   able   to   do;     he’s   incompatible,   so   to   speak,   with   the   general   uhhhhh   living   populous.

 he   can   only   teleport   himself   and   other   supernatural   creatures.     he   cannot   use   teleportation   in   tow   with   a   human.

 not   all   murders   and   suicides   are   unplanned   disruptions.     in   fact,   the   only   murders   that   haven’t   been   set   in   motion   by   the   harbinger   are   crimes   of   passion--   aka,   crimes   that   happen   in   the   heat   of   the   moment--   and   some   manslaughters.      and   similarly   for   suicides,   the   only   ones   that   he   doesn’t   foresee   are   the   very   sudden,   very   violent   ones.     in   a   lot   of   cases,   crow   knows   when   a   person’s   life   is   going   to   end   by   their   own   hand   and   doesn’t   resent   them   for   it,   for   he   acknowledged   that   fate   and   set   them   on   that   path.     the   only   suicides   he   finds   detestable   are   those   that   he   didn’t   determine--     not   necessarily   because   he   ended   up   being   wrong,   but   because   he   was   supposed   to   have   more   time   to   deal   with   them.

[loveoaths]

@inlife​ asked:   plots please!!

kimimaro & sakura.

do you remember that period of time in the early aughts where kimisaku was a Thing? that’s the bullshit i’m on.

she’s a doctor, he’s ill. i love a dynamic like this for kimimaro, where he needs someone and is forced to open up. sakura is a good person for him to interact with because she’s stubborn, takes no shit, but also is sweet enough to have him coming back for more… eventually. he doesn’t trust a lot of people, but he actually REALLY trusts doctors, so he’s more willing to listen to her than 97% of the population.

they can be in any setting:  kimimaro winds up in konoha against his will and is studied by sakura and tsunade in exchange for room, board, and parole; sakura is kidnapped and taken to otogakure to treat him at orochimaru’s behest;  etcetera. there’s so much along those lines we can play with.

additionally, my take on the kaguya clan aligns them more closely to kaguya-hime’s clan in both ability and worldview, so their aesthetic would be moon and earth, which i’m a sucker for. she is a giver of life, and he is a harbinger of destruction.  just like his otsutsuki blood gives him an affinity for the bijuu and jinchuuriki, i think it would make sense for him to have a natural attraction to mokuton / life-based abilities, and, perhaps, a weakness for them as well.

haku & sakura.

these two have great duo potential.  haku is a field surgeon ( among other things ) and sakura is a combat medic.  haku typically fights at middle to tlong range; sakura is a close range fighter. they both fill a niche for the other and when working together would become a force to be reckoned with. also, they’d just be funny as fuck together, because sakura’s judgmental and haku is a mischief enabler. 

plotwise i don’t have anything majorly specific, but i always imagined haku taking a guiding role with sakura in their konoha-bound verse. it’s clear that genin sakura is woefully underprepared for shinobi life not because of a lack of ability, but because she’s simply not kakashi’s priority. he’s trying to do right by minato’s son and keep an eye on sasuke, and unfortunately sakura is canonically placed on the team to be nothing more than a buffer to keep the boys in line. 

haku, however, would see the very real danger this poses to sakura, and her team.  sakura needs to be taken seriously so she takes being a shinobi seriously.  she has a lot of latent talent that is being ignored because she isn’t from one of the top ten konoha clans. she is fueled by love for her teammates and a natural competitiveness and ambition that haku would foster in her. haku acting as a mentor or older sibling figure to her would help her tremendously, and it would help haku feel more aligned with konoha, and begin the hard work of expanding their social circle.

senjuro & sakura.

senjuro could use some positive reinforcement and kindness. that is all. 

utakata & sakura.

i don’t have a plot here, i just think they can be slug buddies! utakata is lazy and traumatized, sakura is ambitious and also traumatized, but more socially functioning.  also, they’re both brilliant. utakata’s specialty is jutsu creation and analysis and has a cold intellect like tobirama. sakura is warm but just as smart. they’d balance each other out, and destroy armies in the mean time.

[zan-the-second]

Y'all I accidentally found a Canary!Jimmy song while listening to OPM and I cannot get over how well it fits. Incoherent rambles under read more so you can be spared from my screaming.

It's a relatively short song with literally no chorus but dang I love the aesthetic of it so much, it really encapsulates the theme of death and man's cruelty in like 4 verses. (Also Pilita Corrales is a goddess)

First, the title. Pipit is the Tagalog term for various types of songbirds and funnily enough, there's a species of songbird that's literally called Canary Pipit.

The song tells the story of a songbird who was hit by a stone and can no longer fly. As it fell, it calls out the man for his cruelty of shooting an innocent bird, calling him merciless and stone-hearted, then telling him that "Pagpumanaw ang buhay ko, may isang pipit na iiyak" which translates to "If I die, a songbird will cry"

I like to think of it as the bird being Jimmy and the man who threw the stone being the Watchers or heck even the ones that unwittingly killed the Canary in the coal mine, the Harbinger. The ones that had no idea what they had brought upon themselves, upon the world.

I like to interpret the final line as Jimmy giving a final warning, a final omen that the end is upon them, that the canaries are crying and Death is about to descend and everything they have ever known in this world is about to collapse.

Pagpumanaw ang buhay ko,

May isang pipit na iiyak.

[chaos-and-recover]

6, 7, 12, 23, and 29! For the music asks! 😊

Bonus question #30. Gimme those links!!

OH YES THIS IS WHAT I LIVE FOR.

*cracks knuckles* here goes.

6.your current “on repeat” song

Rather unexpectedly for me, it's been Cyberhex by Motionless In White (I am TELLING you it's becoming A THING)

7. a song your friend introduced you to that you ended up loving

I loved Kacey Musgraves back when country radio refused to play her (either because of the weed reference or the same-sex kiss line in Follow Your Arrow lol you be the judge) and it's all because my best friend was like "listen I know you don't really like country music but I think you'll like this" AND I DID. Anyway yeah it's Follow Your Arrow by Kacey Musgraves.

12. a song you can scream all the words to

There are a lot but I would be lying if I said The Taste of Ink by The Used wasn't the first song I thought of. It makes me go feral in a very specific and nostalgic way, and now it makes me think of seeing them on their 15th anniversary tour in a room full of 30-something former emo kids who all grew up and clearly came straight from their corporate jobs to scream this song together, like, yeah you gotta dress like a normie from 9 to 5 now but I know who you were when you were 17.

23. your favorite cheesy pop song

I was absolute garbage for literally any boyband from the ages of 12 to about 16 (I mean uhhhhh still to this day) but this is maybe both the cheesiest and one that holds a very special place in my heart: A1 - Ready Or Not.

29. your favorite album closer

This is a three-way tie because Anberlin knocked it out of the park for like 3 straight albums with closing tracks that truly are different from everything else on the album but are just gorgeous:

(*fin) from Cities (the live version from their 'final show ever' in 2014. They reunited in 2018 but I DID NOT KNOW THAT at the time obviously and was definitely bawling my eyes out on the barricade for this entire show because OF COURSE I flew down to Florida for it. Also because on the whole 'final tour' they closed every show with it and incorporated the repeated 'We'll live forever' line from the closer to their final album, Harbinger. So, yeah, ugly tears, always)

Miserabile Visu (Ex Malo Bonum) from New Surrender (I can't even explain my love for this one since it's also like... definitely very biblical and I am not at all religious? But it's haunting and creepy and powerful)

God Drugs & Sex from Vital (okay so there was one more album between New Surrender and Vital but whatever this song is so good. The female vocals in the second verse. I love it. I also don't think I even agree with its message at all but like??? idk what it even is with this band lol)

30. your all-time favorite song

Without a doubt, it has to be Falling Slowly from the movie Once. I genuinely have eight different versions of it in my iTunes library:

And YES! The second and third versions on that list ARE DISTINCT VERSIONS! So are the two different versions from the OBC recording lol. I am not even remotely fucking around with this song.

[icarus-wing]

Do you have any Zhongli vore headcanons?

i havent really thought about him, but, it's zhongli. i love him with every fibre of my being ! (i managed to pull him on my second ten pull of his opening event day too)

zhongli is such an interesting character for me. he used to be such a ruthless warrior god but now he just wants to live a mortal life? not to mention, he's very well dressed and polite and all that jazz, pretty much an ideal liyue gentlemen. so here are my impromptu Zhongli vore headcanons!

back in the days of the archon war, vore was probably a lot more common as a way of getting rid of enemies. therefore, zhongli is pretty well versed. the man does have experience in almost everything mind you.

he definitely isn't the type of predator to flaunt or show off, he's definitely a "let's get this over with" type of guy. morax, the warrior god, holding a barely conscious treasure hoarder, unsure what to do with them. they're too weak to afford sealing away but he can't just let their crimes go unjust. he would think for a moment, before his jaws would part to reveal rows of vicious, dragon teeth. thankfully for the treasure hoarder, he doesn't chew them, just gulps them down into his gut all the while they kick and scream to be let free. a thick, hearty swallow later and he's left with a distended belly of his latest victim, listening and watching them struggle for their life. the only thing it does is work out a rumbling burp, which, being pre-zhongli morax, he doesn't bother to excuse and probably goes about his day with the hoarder digesting away like nothing is off about it.

zhongli probably actually really likes the taste of human, which is probably why he had no qualms about eating so many. we have to remember, his adepti-beast (or whatever it's called) form is a dragon. when he's often reminiscing about it, its when his stomach's rumbling up a storm, almost as if it's asking for him to grab an innocent passerby and gulp them down.

childe is probably the unlucky one who gets eaten alive in modern day by zhongli, but i imagine he probably likes it. in fact, he probably encourages it, knowing him. maybe after an incident where childe is shrunken down a few times smaller than what he's actually supposed to be, zhongli has no choice but to keep him in his stomach to keep him safe. reluctant at first, childe soon perks up when he sees zhongli's maw, the sharp teeth and pointed tongue and how warmly inviting his throat seems to be. so he gladly gets swallowed down, which has zhongli both relieved and a little lost in ecstasy, since childe probably tastes amazing to him.

the inside of zhongli's stomach probably works a lot like the rest of an archon's body, where it has a dull glow until their power is in use. the same applies to zhongli, he has a golden belly that brightens up whenever in use of his power. childe adores it, being able to see where he is and what the inside of an archon's belly is like.

however, zhongli has pretty speedy metabolism too, so childe has to be careful to avoid being digested away. what he does to stop the acid from getting at him is spawn a bunch of water from his hydro vision. a strategy that works, but really just ends up bloating out zhongli's belly.

zhongli isn't necessarily mad at that though, he enjoys a warm and full stomach just like anyone else does, and by the time it's safe enough to let childe out, the harbinger is pretty much refusing to go anywhere.

[doomedandstoned]

Black Spirit Crown Score Big Win With ‘Gravity’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Strong guitars chords carve out a bold landscape to begin the first of five cosmic tales. "Doomstar" sails across the universe as a comet, filled with as much magic as destructive possibility. On a dark night, you can almost make out the whirling, wicked tale of this asto-demon.

Welcome to the evocative domain of Ohio's BLACK SPIRIT CROWN. We first met the Clevelanders on their original four-tracker 'Red Sky' (2017), its sphatik gem "Megalith" added to our 'Doomed & Stoned in Ohio' (2017) compilation and the first and second rounds of Ohio Doomed & Stoned Festivals organized in short, subsequent order. The boys of Black Spirit Crown have long been an integral part of the heavy music scene of The Buckeye State, opening for such greats as Conan, Inter Arma, and The Obsessed.

As with their debut, 'Red Sky' (2017), the vocals are so important to convincing us of the band's bonafides. Guitarist Dan Simone and bassist Chris Martin have a good instinct for singing in harmony, building up a song climatically, and giving it legs so it can express itself in fitting form. The vocals on "Doomstar" are mainly clean, on the order of a Bask, Snail, Chrome Ghost, or Noctum, but the band reveals in the song's second half that it can get as grissly as any Aaron Turner project.

"Saga" belts out a solid punk-tempo -- an interesting and entirely fitting choice for a song about Viking rampage. The runaway development of the middle section felt characteristically Pikelike and I half-way expected him to make a quick guesty on the record. Just then, we hear the hearty hoo-hah! of a crowd and run to rejoin them for the song's remaining verse, which soon fades away into the shadowy labyrinth of memory.

Firey drummering distinguishes the advent of the "Orb." Is this odd visitor here to observe us? Or maybe it is intent on giving us a window into a world besides our own? We scarcely have time to ponder the question before the song whisks us away on its transcendental carpet ride. If you're looking to classify Black Spirit Crown's style (and let's face it, all of us have an inner music critic that does) it would be probably best to think of it as "space doom" or even "cosmic grunge." Certainly, there's some kind of a dreamy psychedelic element at play, bending and stretching each song as it will, sometimes for great lengths of time. Perhaps that element is the orb itself?

We're lucky to have very memorable songs on both of Black Spirit Crown's records. For the first, the clear standout was "Megalith," which in a perfect world would have at least given Black Spirit Crown a summer radio hit. On this record, there is ripe opportunity for another crossover with "Teutates."

Teutates by Black Spirit Crown

Teutates was a Celtic god of the ancient peoples of Gaul and Britain, the protector of their entire community. Black Spirit Crown personify his legend in song: "I hold the world in iron hands, I travel pathways not meant for man." Pretty badass, huh? "Write my name across the sky, in lines of fire 10 miles high." He's nothing if not bold, that Teutates.

After the brisk pace of the last rousing number, we burrow back into the cold comfort of the dark soil to reconnect with those doom roots. Here Black Spirit Crown venture into the smokey den of Monolord, Slomatics, and Windhand. Dan's phantom vocals are undoubtedly suited for both the mood and style of "Gravity," which I'm currently listening to just after dusk and it's absolutely ruling the night. I suppose it could rule regardless of when and where it yields its trance-inducing power. By the end of the record we've become one with the comet, and embraced its final destination, as well.

And now, Doomed & Stoned is pleased to premiere the album, 'Gravity' (2020) in its fullness. Look for my interview with Black Spirit Crown and more insight into the album to follow!

Give ear...

Doomed & Stoned · Black Spirit Crown - Gravity (2020)

A Listener's Guide to 'Gravity' By Black Spirit Crown

Just days before its release, I caught up the core members of Black Spirit Crown, Dan Simone (guitar, vocals) and Chris Martin (bass, vocals) to get the backstory on the album and insight into the spunky songs written for it.

★

I understand that it's been quite a journey leading Black Spirit Crown to this new record? Bring us up to speed.

Dan: So, Gravity is an album that's been about two-and-a-half years in the making. Our initial plan was to start recording in late-2017 with our original drummer, Jesse, but unfortunately he left the band that October, right around when we were going to start. At that point we had three of the songs ("Saga," "Orb," and "Gravity") mostly written and ready to record, and were going to write a couple more songs to go with them as we went. When Jesse left it took a little bit to sort out and secure our next drummer, Alex, and then get him up to speed with our existing material. We brought Alex in mid-January of 2018 with a scheduled show opening for Conan at the very beginning of March, so those first several weeks were a relentless drilling down on our existing material so we'd be ready for Conan. After that, people knew we were back and ready to play so that's what we did, for the next several months we just reveled in it, culminating playing to a totally packed house at the first Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest. Which ruled. After that, Alex was totally immersed in the existing material and we could turn to writing a bit.

We'd love to get a tour of this place. Care to take us through each of these five rooms?

So let's talk about the songs on the album. I write about space, weird fiction themes and probably unsurprisingly, doom, defined as "death, destruction, or some other terrible fate". I've always been a huge fan of fantasy and science-fiction so that's where most of my subject matter comes from. Giant sentient megalithic rock from space that, in it's agony of being trapped in immobile awareness, broods and looms over all creation slowly gathering power to wield entropy versus order until it grinds all of life to a frozen, dusty halt. Stuff like that, but that was the first album. This second album has five tracks.

Doomstar

Inspired by the star Algol. A star of ill-repute for many civilizations it is named Head of the Ogre in Arabic, Satan's Head in Hebrew, Spectre's Head in Latin, and Demon Star in English. The Chinese name it the Mausoleum, or House of Bones. It is the Gorgon's severed head held by the constellation Perseus. It is a harbinger of mayhem and bloody violence, so why not write a song about someone born under this star? Interestingly, the main riffs for this song came to Chris in a dream, and he showed up to practice the next day with the music pretty much complete. I wish I remembered the actual date, because it would perhaps be interesting to know where that star was in our sky while he was dreaming.

Saga

Vikings. I've pretty much always had a thing for them. I wrote most of this song about 16 years ago, but the band I was in then couldn't play it, and it never really fit anything else I was doing until now. It was still kind of a departure for us at first, as it is significantly faster paced than our earlier material, but it sits really well in our live sets, giving the audience a little punch in the face in the middle of it all. Lyrically it touches on a lot of the stories and themes Norse Mythology, without really diving substantially into any specific one. Those stories were called Sagas. Initially the middle part was supposed to have lyrics, and I was going to delve into some specificity, but I couldn’t decide exactly where to go with it, the stories never really worked within the riffs and structure of the song, and then I realized that whenever I was playing those parts I’d envision grizzled vikings in their dragon boats coursing through raging and icy seas. Pretty much a travel montage out of a movie, and that worked for me so I left it alone.

Orb

This song was originally supposed to be on the first album, but we couldn't really get the second half settled in time so we skipped it. It's about a moon-sized orb of living metal that comes to Earth to help humanity transcend to a higher form of existence. Within the Black Spirit Crown mythology, the Orb is diametrically opposed to the Megalith as agents of Life/Order and Death/Chaos respectively. It fell out of our live sets for quite a while, too, when we initially brought Alex in because we were focused on working on settled songs. I was pretty stoked when we brought it back because I really enjoy the weird psychedelic second half. I love working the wah pedal and delay, and Chris just goes bananas through the whole thing. I'd really like someone someday to get some excellent video of us performing it because I dig playing it so much, but I never feel like I get the whole experience because I get sucked in to playing my part.

Teutates

This is the most recently written song on the album, and the single from it. The comet Toutatis is a large asteroid with a chaotic orbit that passed within 18 lunar distances of Earth in 2012. It is large enough to potentially end life on the planet if it were to impact. It gets its name from the god Teutates from Celtic mythology who was, perhaps ironically, a protector god whose name roughly translates to "Be of the Tribe". We really dug the idea of that duality, this thing that was simultaneously a being responsible for the life and well-being of its worshippers, yet could in a thoughtless moment totally obliterate them. Why shouldn't it, really? The huge vocal harmony near the end always gives me chills. "Be of the Tribe, Give up thy life.."

Gravity

The title track of the album. Look, I tend to write long songs, our shortest song is 5 minutes, and our average - not counting this one - is 8 minutes, but we just write until the journey, the story, finds its end. We don't try to write intentionally long songs. Except for this one. With this song we set out to write a song that could fill a live set on its own, 20 -30 minutes.

Musically, it's a meditation. Waves of droning fuzz that crash and recede. Thematically, it's about a group of star-farers who are woken from hyper-sleep to find themselves abandoned on a barren, high-gravity planet by their A.I. which achieved sentience at some point in the journey and decided it had no need for humans. It's the funerary rite for them as they are crushed and frozen by the weight of the alien atmosphere. The last 7 minutes is their death throes, and it was also a total hoot to record.

In the rhythm guitar parts I hold the same chord for the entire 7 minutes, but we tracked three layers of guitar there so I had to hold that chord for 21 minutes. By the end my fret hand was shaking so violently that I had to hit the chord with my pick hand and then grab my fret hand and hold it in place so I didn't shake off of the neck of the guitar. Chris, of course, was laughing hysterically at my agony.

On top of that is total celestial chaos. Two separate theremin tracks, two separate guitar solos by me (one in the foreground one in the background), clips from NASA of electromagnetic storms in Saturn's atmosphere and other weird radio-telegraphic stuff, some keyboard synthesizer by Chris, and a guest appearance by our good friend Joe Fortunato who is a master of atmospheric guitar-synth alchemy (who also appears on the track Orb). Chris then took what could have been just a total mess of noise, and panned and faded and otherwise produced the hell out of it into a marvelous cacophony, and honestly it's exactly what we'd always imagined it could be.

Chris, take us behind the scenes of this whole thing. What were some of the hurdles you had to overcome to get this puppy on record?

Chris: With respect to the drum parts, we had tried to start the record some time ago with our original drummer, Jesse, but we ended up parting ways right around the time we were set to start. After bringing Alex in and getting him up to speed, we had written a couple more songs and were about ready to start going, but things kind of fizzled out with him and he was gone. Rather than waiting to onboard another drummer, get them up to speed, and delay recording even longer, I decided to program the drum parts.

I compiled all the practice recordings we had and scoured Youtube for live videos of shows with both our past drummers, Then, I basically compared the best parts of their respective versions of each song, transcribed them, and programmed those comps as the drum parts. It was pretty time consuming to get all the little nuances right as opposed to, say, starting from scratch and making fresh parts, but I really wanted these to sound like the parts our drummers had done live, because they helped to make the songs what they are.

Bass tracking was done over a couple days. It was pretty straightforward; my P bass into my pedalboard into my old SVT. Can't really go wrong there. The only exception was the second half of "Orb," where I used the bass rig I learned to play on when I was 12; my dad's old '65 Traynor YBA-1, which I inherited when he died. I had planned on using the bass I learned on too - his old '73 Gibson EB-0 -- but there were some electronics issues when I went to start and I couldn't get the tone I wanted out of it. I didn't want to wait for parts to arrive to repair it, so I went back to the P bass, straight into the YBA-1. Still got that really fat, old school sound I was going for, so it was a win.

Guitars were pretty simple as well; Dan's Les Paul into his pedalboard and the 72 Traynor YSR-1. Live, he runs a Traynor YBA-1 reissue as a second amp to fill out the sound, but the YSR sounded pretty gnarly on its own so we stuck with it. I did also end up blending in a little bit of the little Laney combo I have to get a little more bite and cut. It's a great little amp that's been on everything I've done.

Guitars turned out really nice, didn't they?

We had Joe Fortunato (Sparrowmilk, Venomin James) come in and add some synth guitar type stuff on a couple songs as well. The intro and outro of Gravity, as well as some of the crazy laser sounds in the outro, is basically him hitting one note on his custom Dunable/EGC hybrid baritone, then manipulating some of his pedals to create some of the most bizarre things we'd ever heard. I just hit record and told him to make noise. We got about 20-30 solid minutes of random sounds. It was pretty crazy. I went through and picked a solid section that fit the whole mood of the song and dropped it in where I wanted it. Outside of that, there's a bunch of theremin and other random stuff Dan put together.

Vocals were fairly easy. Dan tracked all of his quickly, I tracked all my clean ones later that day. When I went to do my screaming, in Doomstar, Saga and Teutates, I got about half done and my chest and throat started hurting, so I took a couple days to rest them before finishing up, thinking it was from being out of practice. Long story short, I ended up with some gnarly respiratory issues that really impacted my breathing and my voice, and it took me about 4 months to get my stamina back up to be able to do vocals again. It gave me some time to mix, but killed me that I couldn't just finish tracking and wrap it up.

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[persephonelilium]

Leaving the Shire

So this is my first time trying an online journal and I think I want to use this space as a way to chronicle trying to figure out how I want to grow as a person. Discovering what is bringing joy and value in my life and what is holding me back me. Especially during this time in the mist of the coronavirus, I think that this is a rare moment in my life where all I have access to is myself and my thoughts. For I want to make something beautiful out of this time, which I am sure is not even a remotely unique notion whats-so-ever. Part of me wishes I had started is sooner at the beginning when this all started, because I think in this last 6 weeks, since the shelter in place started, I have grown and a started to notice so much about myself. Lately I’ve been feeling called towards journaling, if for no one else other than myself. Oddly enough I think what finally inspired me to start this was yesterday my brother and I decided to do a LOTR book club. In the first few chapters there references to The Hobbit which is Bilbos journal of his great adventure. While I know my adventures won't be as magical and wondrous as that of those few Hobbits who decided to leave the Shire. This is still truly and adventure and at the moment feels like one of the most important adventures Ive faced yet in my life.

I think starting this by looking back is the best, examining first where I was when this all began but also how far it is that I still need to go. When this lockdown first started, while I knew what it would mean to be alone, and telling myself that realistically we won't be getting out of this until July if we’re lucky. I don't think I could have prepared myself for how hard it truly was to live alone in this time, to feel like the harbinger of death if you got to close to another person, and honestly how crucial and fundamental the need is to have physical contact with others. The thing was I did know all these things as facts, I had read the studies about baby monkeys years ago; where they would choose the comfort of a stuffed monkey that didn't provide food over a wires sheath that did. However even knowing the struggles that would be faced going into this, I discovered that you can't prepare yourself for the reality of when those feelings actually hit no matter how prepared you feel you are for them. Even knowing how hard that initial time is and the struggles that would be and continue to be faced, I will gladly accept them because the alternative is unfathomable to me. I think knowing this is what made even the darkest days, the days where I didn't want to get out of bed worth it because I knew that this struggle and this pain I was feeling had value and it had power, the power to keep those I loved and those Ive never even meet safe. To be fair while it made these struggles worth it, it didn't make ease the feeling of desperate loneliness. However I feel very fortunate that I am rooted in my faith because it was the one thing that kept me from feeling completely and utterly alone because with God your never are.

After about 3 days of the stay at home order, which involved me deep cleaning aspects of my little studio apartment, is when I would say the loneliness was really starting to set in. During this time as well I wondered if we were about to be fully quarantined as a city like had happened in other countries. I think the craziest part of the when loneliness starting to set in during that first week was that in some ways that was also the most I would engage with others throughout the day. One of my friends/coworker who was having an immensely terrible go of it right at the beginning and I were FaceTiming or talking for much of the day. However looking back I realize why we felt this glomming need at the very beginning there was this need to be in constant contact with others, because everything about our lives that gave us structure was gone. Both of us were out of work, my classes had been canceled for 3 weeks while my college figured out how to move us to an online platform. All the routines of life that I had along with my ability to not be seen as a harbinger of death had been taken away. I felt adrift without an anchor to even build a routine on and thats when I started to realize how much I depend on outside forces to both motivate, structure and give focus to my entire life. For my sleeping routines have always revolved around work and school schedules. Even in my faith I realized I use so many of the tools that the church provides to give structure to my prayer. Often times I used many of the social groups I was involved as an anchor point for finding new resources or keeping me on track with incorporating actions into my daily life. As there was accountability through a bible study group but also the group provided dialogue, it allowed us to discuss what spoke to us and where we were. Hearing recommendations from each other of things we have found useful or enjoyed reading. This is not to say I didn't seek material on my own or I couldn't find it myself but it was also a great resource to find recommendations quickly and not only that it meant you had someone to engage with about it afterwards. However what I had also come to realize was that now that I didn't have this social tools anymore to help give me an outline or prompts to focus on, that while they are all beautiful I was also using them as a crutch. For I didn't have to put in as much effort to deepen my relationship with God but also just with others. I think in someways I was confusing showing up with depth. While being present is important, I wasn't slowing down enough nor prioritizing taking the time to move past the banal to get to the deeper darker levels of those long pondering questions that reside in your heart and those deep seeded emotions that sometimes you don't want to look at because you think, “I don't have the time to commit to dealing with this right now.” Even before the whole world came to a screeching halt I was already feeling restless in my relationships with God, family, friends and even with myself; feeling this need to deepen them but also not really recognizing/identifying that need as the cause of my restlessness. It was actually during those day long FaceTimes with my friend at the start of all this that made realize how much I was craving depth in my relationships because without the distractions of our day to day life our conversations went deep, we discussed our insecurities our fears, some of those little secrets we hold in our hearts. For as we discussed these things I acknowledged that if it wasn't for our current circumstances we probably wouldn't be having some of conversations as soon as we were. But what really hammered home for me this notion was Kate Tempest Lyrical poem People’s Faces especially the verse: 

I mean, you heard it from yourself 

When you were lying in your bed and couldn’t sleep 

Thinking, "Couldn’t we be doing this differently?"

For she was right I had been telling myself these things late at night, but I wasn't listening nor was I taking action. During the next week once I initially heard her poem it was all I would listen to and for the following 2 or 3 weeks I literally started every morning with that. I was encapsulating all those feeling I had/have, the one I decided to address here tonight and others I will look on as I continue writing in here, but for now I think this is a good resting stop.

[rebirthxguardian]

LEGAL NAME: Rosalia [Rebirth] || Thornara

ALIAS[ES]: Rosa, Rosie, Lia || Thorn

DATE OF BIRTH: 150,036,006 EGS (Elder Gods Sealed) || 150.035,980 EGS

GENDER | SPECIES: Female/Guardian || Female/???

PLACE OF BIRTH: Seraphine Realm, Eldria Universe || Infernam Realm, Eldria Universe

CURRENT LIVING CONDITIONS: Travels freely, though she does has a temple within Seraphine that serves as her home when she returns on occasion; prefers to travel though. || N/A

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: All; only needs to be exposed to a language and will learn it within a short period of time. Can understand languages that are meant for bestial-like sentient beings, though she cannot really speak it (at least not well, broken at best). || Common. Can sort of understand other languages thanks to exposure and merely watching, though she doesn’t really care for learning them herself.

EDUCATION: ‘Home schooled’, taught to read and do basics in math as well as the history of Eldria; has knowledge accumulated from travels of each world. || Learned from observation, but no formal education.

OCCUPATION: Guardian, deity of Eldria || ???

DRINK | SMOKE | DRUGS: Drinks on rare occasions; doesn’t participate in smoking or drugs. || Smoking if introduced.

LIKE[S]: Playing the ocarina and handpan instruments, reading, traveling, nature, helping others, daytime hours, drawing, singing, dancing, children, kindness of others, fruits and vegetables of any kind. || Fighting? Meat dishes, predator creatures of any kind, freedom, being validated as a person.

DISLIKE[S]: Fighting, being unable to use her abilities for reasons of needing to be neutral, lack of control, cruelty, blood, killing another, Sephtis, Balri, being restrained, someone attempting to touch her horn, her lack of power, the Harbingers. || Herself, seeing everyone happy due to not able to understand why they are, being called worthless, being unable to control herself in her primal rage.

FEAR[S]: The Harbingers winning, Salri’s death, any of the Guardian’s demise, being entirely unable to do anything to prevent an oncoming end, being entirely alone, Eldria universe being consumed by the Void. || Her existence being erased, being controlled, possibly being reduced to nothing but primal once more.

PERSONALITY TRAITS: Kind, emphatic, curious, highly self-conscious of herself, harmful self-criticism, questioning herself, cautious to trust and love others, loyal to those she does trust, willing to listen to others, passive but willing to step in when needed. || Aggressive, self-hate, confident in her abilities, survivor, curious but reluctant to admit not knowing things, impulsive, direct, unrestrained about her feelings, offensive, doesn’t care what most others think, highly distrusts everyone, aggressively protective to those she likes.

DISORDERS: Anxiety, insomnia || Polyphagia (always hungry), Intermittent explosive disorder

{ P H Y S I C A L   I N F O R M A T I O N }

HAIR COLOR: Silver || Gray

EYE COLOR: Purple || Red

HEIGHT: 5′10″

TATTOOS:  On stomach, on back

PIERCINGS: Earlobes

SCARS: Face, back of neck

{ F A M I L Y   I N F O R M A T I O N }

SIBLING[S]: Fayte, Amilla, Turran, Sephtis, Eva (none related) || None

PARENT[S]: Salri (creator) || Balri (creator)

CHILDREN: Tobias (twin of Silvia), Silvia (twin of Tobias), Gale, Hikaru (adopted) || NONE

PET[S]: None? || None.

{ R E L A T I O N S H I P  I N F O R M A T I O N }

SEXUAL PREFERENCE: Demisexual || demiromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Verse dependent; main is single thus far || Verse dependent; main is single.

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 4, Number 8

Sad Baxter

For the latest installment in our often-monthly roundup of shorter reviews, we've got an elusively rare CDR, a brief discussion of "Mallcore," the merging of Arabic tones with a free jazz style of performance, and some lovely, understated Aussie songwriting. Contributors include Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Jennifer Kelly, and Justin Cober-Lake

Anne-James Chaton/Andy Moor —Tout Ce Que Je Sais (Unsounds)

Tout Ce Que Je Sais (All That I Know) is the fourth cohesive recording project by vocalist Anne-James Chaton and guitarist Andy Moor, and the second under their Heretics project. Sonically, it comes full circle to the strengths of their marvelous debut, Le Journaliste. Stripped back to what the two men can do live, certain strengths come to the fore. Moor’s guitar playing, an amalgam of chugging riffs, melodic permutations and those emotion-overloading near-explosions that have been his gift to the Ex for decades, is simply fantastic. You could just listen him do his stuff and the only thing you’d be missing is the way he shadows, underlines and propels the stark unfuckwithable authority of Chaton’s delivery. The Frenchman sounds undeniable reading the contents of his wallet, but the contents here — Francophone texts borrowed from or written about heretical figures that have endorsed the idea of undoing something — can’t help but add gravity to the music. Simultaneously freewheeling and unmovable, no matter what you’ve been listening to lately, this is one record that you really ought to know.

Bill Meyer

Neon Tiger—Accessorize (Bogus Collective)

Accessorize by Neon Tiger

Mallcore is a thing, it seems, so much so that multiple, competing subgenres lay claim to the label. One doesn’t know whether to laugh or weep. Neon Tiger’s recent EP sure doesn’t clarify anything. A few of the tracks scan as celebratory invocations of the climate-controlled corporate space of the late-twentieth century shopping mall, and the various consumer pleasures to be had therein. A few tunes feature weirdly distorted baritone vocals (including “Waiting in Line,” which turns out to be a couple sections of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” chopped up and slowed down a cycle or three; perversely, it’s compelling listening). The distortion misshapes the vocals discomfitingly enough to suggest a measure of critical distance from all the logos and fluorescent lighting and foodcourt linoleum. But it’s hard to say for sure what attitude Neon Tiger takes toward its subject matter. In that way, the EP is a perfect postmodern object—mystifying surfaces, ambivalent values, with only the commodity form as a legible presence.

Jonathan Shaw

Luke Stewart—Works for Upright Bass and Amplifier (Astral Spirits)

Works for Upright Bass and Amplifier by Luke Stewart

There was a time when you had an excuse to not know who Luke Stewart was if you were not hip to Washington, DC’s jazz scene. Given his membership in the fiery improvising-for-justice quintet Irreversible Entanglements, that time is coming to an end. But that’s only one rock on a veritable heap of live-performance and community-building work that dwarfs his still-slender discography (debut efforts by Heart of the Ghost, Heroes are Gang Leaders, Mean Crow, Trio OOO). To that you can add the 31-year-old bassist’s solo cassette. Rather typically, his voice on his instrument is strong, but it does not speak alone. First comes a burrowing feedback tone, which morphs and recurs throughout the nearly half-hour long first piece as if to say that even when you’re alone, you’re not alone. Sometimes Stewart uses that continuous presence as a springboard for knotted, bursting figures; others he lets the amplification add a red, ragged glow to sprinting pizzicato forays. Turns out that the upright bass and amplifier make good company when Stewart’s giving out the working orders.

Bill Meyer

Leo Mullins—Being Here Is Everything (Self-Released)

Being Here is Everything by Leo Mullins

Leo Mullins, an Australian songwriter also affiliated with the Small Knives, makes a low-key but excellent folk-tinged full-length here, with shimmering spiderwebs of acoustic picking and soft shadowy melodies. “Weight of the World,” with its quietly gorgeous harmonies, is maybe the pick of the litter; it is melancholic and uplifting at once, and the guitar cuts through shifting vocal textures with a clean, sure resonance. Mullins brings in Amy Galloway and Kirti Mills to add subtle, pretty embellishments to a couple of songs, the slyly percussive “This Paper Boat” cushioned and softened with dual vocals at the chorus (that’s Mills), the drone-y mysteries of “Linger On” enhanced with Galloway’s wavery unisons (she also sings on the very lovely “Weight of the World"). This latter cut is one of two to feature Mick Turner of the Dirty Three on guitar. He bows his instrument on “Linger On,” adding to the VU-ish mesh of tones and undertones that flicker through that cut. “Let the Light In” also bears his imprint, though unassumingly, in the glittering lattices of picked acoustic that are hemmed in with bells. The songs take shape slowly out of mists and aura and tone, shiver like rainbows for a little while and then subside into the air, all the prettier for their evanescence.

Jennifer Kelly

Finn Loxbo—Eter (Gikt)

Apparently Finn Loxbo is a restless sort. The Swedish musician has played punky electric bass in the jazz trio Doglife, navigated his electric guitar through the busy traffic of the Mats Gustafsson’s Fire Orchestra and recorded an album of pensive folk-rock for Kning. Now comes a solo CD, the first release by the Stockholm-based Gikt label, comprising solo improvisations on the steel-stringed acoustic guitar. Is this the real Finn? Probably not, anymore than any one good thing you do sums up the real you. But he’s pretty good at it, and it concentrates talents he’s likely developed in his other endeavors. Loxbo seems to have prepared his instruments strings and mic-ed them closely, yielding gamelan-like sonorities on one piece, Derek Bailey meets razor wire fence sound-spikes on another and soft abrasions on a third. Each of the album’s seven tracks proceeds with a lucidity that suggests his songwriter’s mind does not shut off when he puts away the vocal microphone. File this with the work of Bailey, David Stackenäs, and Norberto Lobo, but don’t just file it away.

Bill Meyer

Mutilation Rites—Chasm (Gilead Media)

Chasm by Mutilation Rites

This record completes Mutilation Rites’ transformation from a black metal band flirting with death metal, to a death metal band that sometimes plays black metal riffs. When Mutilation Rites began dallying with deathy rhythms and chunky chords on Harbinger (2014), it was worrying stuff: it suggested a band flailing for a sense of identity, and the resulting record was uneven, at best. Mutilation Rites’ more significant commitment to death metal on Chasm turns out to be an enlivening move (pun intended, hardy-fucking-har). This sort of music isn’t supposed to be fun, but on Chasm the band sounds loose and confident, like they’re enjoying themselves. Maybe that’s partially due to their decision to cut the tracks for the record at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus, a venue the band plays regularly. In any case, Chasm is a good record, and folks who really loved Mutilation Rites’ first few EPs needn’t fret: “Putrid Decomposition,” the longest track on the album and ironically the one with the most death metal title, has the fleet, jagged riffing that captures the band at their blackest.

Jonathan Shaw

Shelton/Mofjell—Uncovered short run CDR (Singlespeed)

Uncovered by Shelton Mofjell

Ole Mofjell kicks off Uncovered with a blast of force. Unrelenting but texturally varied, it makes this clear; you’re not in for an easy ride. In short order Aram Shelton joins him, blowing so hard and low that you might ask, “who’s the tenor player?” Ride the wave into the next track and the pitch territory moves upward, and then the question changes to, “how does he make an alto sound like that?” Time and experience have darkened and deepened Shelton’s instrumental voice, which has shed the diamond brightness that he wielded in various Chicago-based ensembles in the earliest years of the century. But his fluency has increased, and there’s no better place to hear it than in the company of a drummer like Mofjell. Each player shifts tone and tack in a second, using silence as well as motion to give the other room to take deep dives into the complexity of interactions with their instruments and each other. Caveat — the physical edition of this album is a pressing of 100 professionally duplicated discs that you might only be able to get by attending one of Shelton’s concerts or contacting him directly via his webpage or the Singlespeed site. But if you’re not into keeping the international postage racket afloat, there’s always Bandcamp!

Bill Meyer

Sad Baxter—So Happy (Cold Lunch)

So Happy by Sad Baxter

Sad Baxter’s “Sick-Outt” does the mid-1990s ramp up from relatively quiet, melodic verse to screaming, crashing, unhinged chorus in a way that few bands even attempt these days, and if you’re thinking Hole, that’s because Deezy Violet’s a girl. The real reference is Nirvana, here and in the slow building guitar-and-cymbals firestorm that is “Wash,” a transformation from clamped down palm-muted tension to full on feedback fused noise. Violet’s partner in all this, Alex Mojaverian, builds a bristling, shivering dissonant wall of percussion and amp buzz around a voice that snakes around curvy melodies like the Muffs’ Kim Shattuck or, more recently, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis. Sweetness and melody lurk in the intervals between bursts of splintering noise, hooking a finger to lure you in for the kill.

Jennifer Kelly

Manas—Live At (Null Zone)

Live At by MANAS

This cassette, which was recorded last summer at Fresh Produce Records in Macon GA, drives home a point that’s never exactly been a secret. These guys are punks. Guitarist Tashi Dorji may have been raised in Bhutan and he and drummer Thom Nguyen may operate within the realm of freely improvised music, but they're writing their own rule book. This half-hour performance rolls, slashes and rumbles in some pretty rocking ways; they play with an improvisers’ faith that their music will create its own form, but also with an abandon that suggests they really don’t care if someone doesn’t get it; they sound really loud; and out of all the places where they could have made a record, they picked a shop that (per photographic evidence sourced from a Yelp review) puts all four Kiss solo LPs on the wall. That’s plenty punk enough! Sobering up for a second, the music on this tape evinces more nuance and space than other Manas recordings, and sports their clearest recording quality to date. Rock on.

Bill Meyer

Gordon Grdina's The Marrow—Ejdeha (Songlines)

Gordon Grdina's been merging his jazz-based guitar work and his oud studies for a decade and a half now, finding his way into Middle Eastern traditions while integrating his own voice. With his Marrow quartet, he's expanded the strangeness of what he does by opening space for bassist Mark Helias and cellist Hank Roberts, each of whom toy with the function and sound of their own instruments on new album Ejdeha. “Idiolect” lets each of the three musicians shine (percussionist Hamin Honari mostly stays steady here) while revealing Grdina's gift for composition. The track ebbs and flows, trading melodies and shifting intensity across its eight minutes before its surprising end. The piece relies on Arabic tones, but feels like a free jazz approach to performance, the sort of blend that Grdina can deliver in a way that's both comfortable and alien. “Ejdeha” pulses in a different way, its heavy beat thumping through as the quartet finds an unlikely groove. Grdina and his bandmates have figured out how to keep a grounding in various traditions while still sounding surprising.

Justin Cober-Lake

[sparatus]

1, 6, 7, 9, 24?

thank u anon friend

mass effect ask prompts

1.What’s the first name of your main Shepard?

uhhh that depends lmao!! i have two “main” sheps one for a verse where reapers are a thing and one for a verse where they’re not

if (reapers = yes); then shepard is jai shepard, who i actually share with @ardentzer0!! jai’s canon is heavily edited so we can save as many characters as we damn well please, have jai act and react the way they would actually act and react rather than the options you’re forced into taking in-game, and generally make some things make a bit more sense. nihlus lives, because saren is his best friend and sovereign can’t force him to kill his best friend. because nihlus lives, saren lives, cause he trusts nihlus enough to listen to him. tali’s dad lives. kal’reegar and nyreen and tarquin victus live. it’s much less depressing favorite shepard

if (reapers = no); shepard is matteo, and they’re getting their own no-reapers au fic series on ao3. i just posted an update so if ur not reading it yet allow me to obnoxiously self-promo

6.Your favourite Paragon interrupt?

i actually can’t remember a lot of the interrupts atm but i know there’s one to give tali a hug and comfort her when you find her dad’s body in me2 and i always slam it so fast!!!!! one time i accidentally missed it cause i was briefly distracted and i actually reloaded and went back through like half the mission cause i couldn’t NOT hug her!!!! (i’m pretty sure it was on my hardcore pt, too..... suffer)

7.Your favourite Renegade interrupt?

HEADBUTTING UVENK!!!!! it’s so satisfying, like normally when a character is arguing with me i try to think abt it from their pov and see if they do have a point and if the narrative is just biasing me against them, and i do understand his concerns, but yknow what?? his concerns are bullshit. he’s one of the rare cases where the narrative telling u a guy is a fuk is 100% correct. fuck uvenk. i love bashing my skull against his.

9.Share a headcanon about your Shepard and their LI.

AH SHIT i have so many shepards tho..... okok lessee. i’ll do uhhhh one for gavrail and cortez, cause the more i talk abt gav the more i can talk myself into picking up me3 and making him finally

gavrail is really gruff and standoffish and brash, he’s got a lot of issues with ptsd from torfan that never really got addressed (mostly cause the alliance wanted to prop him up as a big goddamn hero™, and in canons where he’s not shepard also cause once he figured out what the alliance was up to he fucked right the hell off to omega to cope his own way) and he expresses them by deliberately keeping everyone at arm’s reach or farther. but when he meets steve, and hears about what happened to him..... he softens up. he empathizes with steve over what happened to robert and other people he cared about on the colony, and steve is the first person he really opens up to about what happened on torfan. he feels safe around steve, and comfortable expressing those emotions he’s been keeping bottled up inside.

24.Enemy you really hate?

the collectors in general tbh!!!!! especially the fucking praetorians...... always bring a cain with me in me2 when i know there’ll be a praetorian :/// scions are also evil just cause of how long it takes to whittle them down, esp when i’m playing a squishier class (feliks is a sentinel and i’m playing on hardcore, save me), but praetorians are The Devil. also harbinger has an annoying habit of possessing collectors right when they’re on their last fucking sliver of health and i hate him for that

[multsicorn]

i just really love this play alot ;) okay

Working on the theory that I Deserve To Have Fun (said theory has not been validated and is not ready for prime time discussion), I started watching the bootleg file I have of the OBC of Hamilton this afternoon.  (I downloaded it way back when I was in Hamilton fandom, before I went to go to see the play, and held off on watching it until I'd seen the play for Real, and then didn't particularly feel like it afterwards).

Some thoughts & observations:

[these got long and rambling.  lots of lams-shippiness and multi-shippiness, and gen stuff too]

* This play is really fuckin great.  Like, I've loved fandoms based around deeply mediocre and/or inconsistent canons, (looking at you, Check Please for the first, Glee for the second), and sure the hype around Ham was too big for anything to bear, but… yeah, I just really LOVE this canon, whatever its flaws, with so much heart, on so many levels.

* The staging!!!  I think means a lot here specificially cause I've heard all these songs dozens of times, mostly well over a year ago now, but - once in a while recently again, but in any case, I've done all my analysis picking over the songs, and they're inside me to a large extent.  Whereas much of the staging I only saw once, live.

* (And I had a close-up seat, then, which I paid lots of money for and felt Worth It, but I was so focused on the actors' faces, and so didn't read as much of the overall blocking as maybe I could have).

… anyway ….

"Alexander Hamilton"

* Alex taking off his white coat and putting on the brown coat Eliza gives him feels to me, this time, like he's leaving the world of the dead and coming to life.  Standing out from the crowd - of course - from the ensemble that's all wearing all-white - so he's Setting Out, etc., but also - they're back in all-white at the end, like ghosts.  So.  A sort of leaving the world outside time.

(Speaking of Eliza, there, I still always love the Eliza-Angelica-Laurens sequence in which they give Alex the coat, the book, and the bag.  MY SHIPSSS.  Such parallel!)

(And the bit where Washington's the one who's telling Alex he has to make something of himself! - I know I thought about and maybe posted about these things  back when the Grammy performance happened, but, Anyway.)

ALSO, also, 'you could never learn to take your time' being sung over Alex walking at a deliberately restrained pace to match the choreography on the bridge at the back of the stage so he comes down the stairs on the other side at the right time, is… funny.  Ha.  But the line's still true!  - And I just love how much the ensembles' dancing itself works as scenery.

"Aaron Burr, Sir"

* Alex is SO FUCKING EAGER it's RIDICULOUS he's like a PUPPY all like I CAN FRIEND!?!?

Burr may try to pretend he's not having it but he IS a BIT or he wouldn't invite Alex to have a drink etc. and… I love.

And then, every single time I hear the little line not-actually-exchange:

Burr: Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead

Laurens, in his first line in real time: What time is it?  (Showtime!)

Burr: Like I said…

I say, RUDE.

Although honestly - Burr is totally into Alex's ridiculous eagerness, like I said, he's coming closer, he admits something personal, he invites Alex out for a drink, it's not as obvious as Alex (cause he's just not) - and it's pretty RUDE ;), too of the revolutionary trio, from Burr's POV, to by their loudness and brashness and total lack of caution get in the middle of what was just shaping up to be possibly a Great Friendship.  So he can be forgiven for Harbinger of Dooming ;).

“My Shot” & "The Story of Tonight”

* As in most of Alex's interactions with the Gay Trio (Quartet!), I keep switching back and forth between LAMS IS REALLLL (it was, historically) (I wouldn't see it, though, I think, if I didn't know), and just ALEX IS A BI HUMAN DISASTER CUDDLING UP TO EVERY FRIEND HE MAKES.  Like, there's considerably More random arm-and-shoulder touching between Laurens and Alex than everyone else?  "You and I, do or die," (I do die!), and then they split up to each touch another dude, and in a slightly later verse Laurens is back again… oh, no, that 'back again' is "raise a glass to the four of us," BOTH TIMES, cause it has to be, ha.  You can say 'to the two of us,' Laurens, it's okay!  … But, like, otoh, "hard rock like Lancelot, I think your pants look hot, Laurens I like you a lot," is totally Alex flirting with these three dudes he just met all in the space of three lines.  It's great is what I'm saying.  Also Alex could use a positive setting towards people that's not 'will you be my friend and also get in my pants.'

The narrative of the song here, with the rest of the Revolutionary Quartet listening to Alex sceptically for his first few verses till they're impressed - I love the way that Laurens is his first and loudest and most consistent cheerleader ("shout it to the rooftops!"), hey, listen to this guy speak, the way that Alex LOOKS LIKE he's on a soapbox when he literally is, how that evokes the physicality of speaking to the crowd, and how his mind shoots three steps ahead of the present, and, yeah, okay, I just love the Alex/Laurens dynamic most of all, (cause I'm biased ;)), the way that Lauren's idealistic speaking ('raise a glass to freedom,' and, um, what was the start of his verse in My Shot?  whatever it was) makes Alex ~Look at him, and the way he's kinda just looking at Alex all the time.  Walking off arm-in-arm is SO they are together, okay.

(…. there are ten thousand more things in these songs, of course, but this is a post about My FEELINGS.)

“The Schuyler Sisters”

* The sibling back-and-forth dynamic here is just so freaking delightful to watch, it's so complicated, I can FEEL it.  Like, it feels like my sister and me (despite me only having the one)… Eliza going back and forth between Peggy and Angelica, how she's not just the middle sister in age, but she's trying to get Peggy to go along with Angelica's scheme, asking questions of and playing backup to Angelica, just - and the whole "mind at work" thing is perfect and Meaningful too, of course.  But what's harder to talk about here is the sibling dynamics, leading and restraining and following and conciliating, and it's displayed so well in the blocking and acting - and also, I can see how this Eliza falls for and enchants Alex.

Angelica has center stage for most of it, but I love the way Eliza takes center stage for a little bit - and when she does it's not about "work" anymore, but about HOW LUCKY WE ARE TO BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW, which feels kinda painfully and naively optimistic nowadays but… I do believe it's still true, in exactly the same way that I always did, in the same way that line works in the play, recurring even in the worst times.  We're lucky to be alive at any time - there's still so much good in the world, people to love, and work to do.  ("Joy is deliberate.")  And Eliza's pulling focus for a sec to be HEY GUYS ISN"T THIS SO MUCH FUN, before ceding it (joyfully, too, imo!) to Angelica's Things To Do!

Also the particular choreography of the way they three of them spin almost-in-place but trading places?  I can't even figure out what it is, but I'm obsessed with it permanently.

“Farmer Refuted"

* The way that Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette all cheer Alex on, and maybe try to restrain him a little, but mostly just cheer him on, is both super fun to watch, and even more fun if you have shipping goggles, so it turns into LOOK HOW GREAT OUR BOYFRIEND IS.  Fun!  I'm just saying.  Come for the story about ambition, stay for the compersion.

Also I would like to note with appreciation Laurens' arm around Aaron Burr at the start of this song, as well as his approach to Burr at the start of "My Shot" - like, dude, he totally had a thing for Burr before he met Alex, but Burr was Not Having it, too hotheaded!  Idk it just amuses me that's all.

And notice how Alex waits to jump in till he has his reply READY~, he's mile-a-minute, yes, but he takes the time he needs to PREPARE for that.

“You’ll Be Back”

* J. Groff is the one original cast member I didn't see, when I went to see the play live, and he is Really Delightful here.  Great play of the madness, the pouting, the playfulness that's actually danger, etc.  Only thing is that I always feel like those "da da da da" choruses sound like they ought to have a classic chorus line kick!  But you couldn't do that with a single person, it would just look ridiculous, and the single-ness vs. ensemble-ness of King George works so well for thematic reasons… but is it still ridiculous to say they have a chorus line kick SOUND in my head?  Because they do.

“Right Hand Man”

* I just love so much how they create an action scene in a song!!!  You might think it wouldn't work, but it DOES, all you need is a few lines describing the back-and-forth progress of a battle.  Just enough.

Why does Washington send Burr away?  You really can't tell!  And I think that works, that ambiguity, no one knows - Burr certainly doesn't know, so that feeling of unfairness festers.  But sometimes you're just not what someone wants, and I think history backs that up too…

That whole little sequence of "how come no one can get you on their staff" (it's one of those lines where the double entendre does really good work, cause WHAT IF he was saying that, right), from Hamilton asking "have I done something wrong, Sir," to making that Decision, with the chorus rising shouting in the background, "I am not throwing away my shot," but would taking the pen be taking the shot or throwing it away - it's the most fraught thing in the musical so far!  And that's a huge part of why I love this musical SO DAMN MUCH, in addition to the way it creates its own vernacular, the complex personal relationships, etc., is how the story of ambition and Doing The Work, is put above everything else.  A promotion with ambiguous risks and rewards Is the most fraught thing in life… the hardest decision to make… I love.  And how Alex wants to fight, and also he's wary of being under command in this particular way, but the moment, the very moment he takes the pen he's charging ahead nonstop again.  "Write to Congress, tell 'em we need supplies," of course all the work he does here is over-simplified, it'd have to be to fit in any way, but… getting support out of Congress was actually one of the more challenging aspects of the war, and something Alex worked on a lot!

Also I love the random shoulder-clasp between Alex and Laurens right before Washington announces Alex as his right-hand man, precisely because it's so seemingly purposeless, like… it's a congrats, man?  Sure.  But also we just have to touch each other at least once a song, it's like, required.  Thank <3.

And overall this whole number, Washington's entrance, etc., and… really just the whole play!  Yeah it's genuinely Quality, it's layered, you can talk about technical or literary aspects, but watching for the first time in A While and just being carried along by the spectacle as much as the story?  It's so Drama, so Extra, it's great.

... and this is only the first third or so of the first act, ha.  To be continued in another post.  Perhaps.

[superactivenerdy]

Tony’s song

this is my very first fic i posted on ao3 and wanted to post it here, hope you like it, 

Steve rogers

Steve was making breakfast, while tony was making his coffee, all steve did was ask about his day, as always tony not only made a cutting remake but he also made fun of steve, which mad steve angry. so steve started his own hurting words, and even though tony stopped, steve just couldn’t, after tony left in hurry looking hurt saying some excuse about work. steve felt bad, maybe he went overboard, the same time bruce came in looking angry.

“I heard everything, you should apologize steve.” bruce said folding his arms over his chest.

“But he started it.” said steve, realizing now how childish it seemed after saying it.

“You don’t understand,steve.” bruce sighed, combing his hand through his hair.

“What do you mean?” steve asked feeling confused.

“look , it is not my place to tell, just didn’t you feel that tony was different today.” bruce explained.

“Now that you mentioned it, he seemed awfully quiet since yesterday.” mused steve thinking back, “but, still don’t understand, what is going on with him.”

“I can’t tell, but you really should apologise, and probably tony will tell you himself.” with that said, bruce left, leaving steve to his thoughts.

Before steve could think more about it, he got a call from shield, he decided to talk to tony after getting back.

That was in the morning. Now, It is late in the evening, when steve just wants to relax, he drags himself to his floor. he hopes he doesn’t run into tony, he decides that he will apologise tomorrow, when he is less tired, and to give tony a chance to calm down.

After taking a hot shower, he decides to eat before going to bed, but as he finds his kitchen empty, he goes to the other avengers’ floors hoping to find something in their kitchens, until he goes grocery shopping.

He almost lost hope after finding nothing in clint’s, natasha locked her floor, and he didn't want to wake up bruce for fear of hulking out, and thor wasn’t on earth.

As a last resolve, steve headed to tony’s penthouse, dreading every moment of it,but steve was sure tony would be in his lab, so stepping out of the elevator, steve stopped in his tracks, as he listened to a beautiful melody being played on a guitar, steve wondered if tony left his sound system playing, or maybe one of his so called friends was in, steve hopped it was the former, as he continued to listen, he walked closer to the source of the music, hoping JARVIS won’t announce his presence yet.

Turning around the corner, he saw tony on the couch holding a guitar. steve looked in awe as tony started singing.

 Do you remember standing on a broken field

White crippled wings beating the sky

The harbingers of war with their nature revealed

And our chances flowing by   

 Steve couldn’t believe his ears. he never knew that tony had such a beautiful deep melodic voice. he didn’t even know that tony could play the guitar. at that moment, steve realised that there was a lot that he didn’t know about tony, as he continued to listen to the song. the more he felt that it meant something to tony with the amount of feelings he was pouring in it.

  When I thought that I fought this war alone

You were there by my side on the frontline

When I thought that I fought without a cause

You gave me a reason to try

 Steve started wondering what kind of war tony was in. what was he fighting for, and who he was talking to, too many questions steve had no answer for, and the more he listened, the more he wanted to know.

  Turn the page I need to see something new

For now my innocence is torn

We cannot linger on this stunted view

Like rabid dogs of war

 I will let the memory heal

I will remember you with me on that field

 As tony’s beautiful voice washed over steve, he felt guilty for what he said this morning, and for not trying to know tony more, with everything he said on the helicarrier and the fights between them until now, still tony gave them a place to stay, and made them upgrades, yet they never asked him to join them for dinner, or even checked on him in his lab,or tried to include him in anything, just made silly jokes over him being self centered and narcissistic. all that fueled steve’s guilt.

 With no-one wearing their real face

It's a whiteout of emotion

And I've only got my brittle bones to break the fall

 When the love in letters fade

It's like moving in slow motion

And we're already too late if we arrive at all

 “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” that what tony said about himself, when steve hurt him with his words, yet he never tried to know the man behind the masks. steve wondered how many times tony had fallen, and had to pick up the pieces alone, with no one willing to offer help. how many times he had to hide behind masks to hide his hurt over their jokes,or how he gave them everything, yet it wasn’t enough. he wasn’t enough, so that he stopped trying,  that he got used to it.

 So will you please show me your real face

Draw the line in the horizon

Cos I only need your name to call the reasons why I fought

hen I thought that I fought this war alone

You were there by my side on the frontline

And we fought to believe the impossible

When I thought that I fought this war alone

We were one with our destinies entwined

When I thought that I fought without a cause

You gave me the reason why

 As tony finished the last verse of the song, he sighed, and stared into space.

Today was the anniversary of jarvis’ death, usually tony spent that day alone, as tony wanted to keep it that way.

He didn’t tell the avengers, expect bruce, they were in the workshop working together on a project, when rhodey called to make sure tony was alright, so after heavy persuasion from bruce, tony finally told him about the upcoming anniversary, and told him what he do on the day, first visiting jarvis’ grave, putting his favorite flowers, then drinking the day away in the workshop with his bots away from everyone.

Bruce tried to talk him out of drinking and doing something else,staying with the avengers, or just him if tony was not comfortable with that idea.

tony was seriously thinking about it, and decided that yes he should probably stay with bruce at least, he should have thought better.

 today, before going to the cemetery, he went to the kitchen to have some coffee, rogers was already up making breakfast, nothing new.

Tony opted to stay silent, so when rogers asked about his day, tony tried to deflect by cracking a joke, what he wasn’t ready for was steve’s hurting words, tony wasn’t really in the mood, and as steve’s insults grew more cutting, tony held back his tears, and decided to leave, before steve saw that his words affected tony.

He almost ran into bruce in his rush to get away, muttering an apology as he left quickly.

After getting back from the cemetery, tony made JARVIS send another apology to bruce, saying he wanted to stay alone. Bruce sent back a message saying it’s alright, and if tony needed anything to just call, and warned him from drinking too much.

Tony took out his guitar, and started to play hopping to calm down a little.

Tony sighed again, and stood up to put the guitar away, turning around he found rogers standing in the corner. tony couldn’t believe he was so distracted he didn’t hear steve coming, and why didn’t JARVIS inform him, tony looked to one of the cameras, ignoring cap for now.

“I apologise sir, i thought that you wouldn’t mind captain rogers listening to you playing” JARVIS said, sounding regretful, if that was possible for an IA.

“I am sorry tony, i didn’t mean to intrude, i just came here to see if i could borrow some eggs, don’t blame JARVIS, i shouldn’t have eavesdropped like that.”  apologised steve, and wow since when did cap call him tony, it was stark this morning, when he was insulting him again.

Tony stared at the guitar in his hands not knowing what to do or say, now that cap knows his secret, he really doesn’t know what to do, only pepper, rhodey, JARVIS and the bots knew that he sang and played various instruments.

Tony didn’t want to admit it, but he feared cap’s reaction to this discovery, would he think that tony is just showing off, or maybe he didn’t like tony singing at all, and after this morning tony really didn’t want to hear what rogers had to say about it.

“Tony, I...” steve started, but tony interrupted him.

“Look, Rogers, can we pretend that you never heard that, and you just grab what you want from the kitchen and just leave.” tony said, almost pleading.

“No, tony listen..” but tony interrupted him again.

“no rogers, i am done listening to you and your insults, for once just leave me alone, you don’t care, you just see what you want, you all the same, you don’t understand, you never did, SO JUST STOP PRETENDING THAT YOU DO!” tony was yelling by the end of his speech. And tears were streaming down his face.

“j-just, leave me alone, please.” tony pleaded, while turning around to hide his face.

Instead of answering, steve walked around the couch where tony was standing, and hugged him, tony struggled at first, but when he realized that steve wasn’t letting go, he lifted his arms and held steve’s shirt tightly, sobbing all of his pain, jarvis anniversary, steve’s insults.

After a while, tony calmed down, he left steve’s embrace, tony couldn’t look steve in the eyes, afraid of what he will see.

“Great tony , now cap not only think you are spoiled, but also can't control your emotions, get a hold of yourself stark.” tony thought looking at his hands.

“Stop that, i know what you are thinking, look tony i am sorry, this is my fault, yes i don’t understand what is going on, but i am really hoping you explain to me, i know it is too much to ask, and after this morning i wouldn’t want anything with me, but i hope you forgive my ignorance, and tell me.” as steve finished his speech, tony kept looking at him in awe.

“Wait you think of my as your friend?” asked tony staring at steve.

“Yes, best friend actually, i know i don’t show it, but i really care about you, i was hoping we could start a new page, if that’s okay with you.” steve said

When tony stayed silent, steve started to get worried.

Maybe tony didn’t see him as a friend,or he didn’t like him, with what steve said this morning, steve won’t blame him.

“Hi, i am tony stark, pleasure to meet you.” tony said holding his hand for a handshake.

Steve laughed while shaking his hand, “ steve rogers, the pleasure is all mine.”

“so , what do you want to know?” tony asked

“Well, i was hoping you will tell me why you were sad this morning?” steve wondered.

“Today is my family’s butler death anniversary, his name was edwin jarvis.” said tony sadly.

And at this moment steve understood, that was the name of the person tony named his AI after, when steve looked at tony, tony just nodded.

“Tony i am so sorry, i didn’t know” steve apologized.

“Yeah, nobody knows, just you know pepper and rhodey, bruce discovered few days ago.” said tony waving his apology away.

“So really tony, i should have been more considerate, what i did was insensitive.” steve apologised again.

“Look cap, there was no way you would have known this, all is forgiven really.” tony said, “sooo, anything else you want to know.” he continued.

“As a matter of fact yes, tony you have a very beautiful voice, and where did you learn to play like that?” steve asked looking at the guitar that was still in tony’s hands.

“Yeah about that, my mother taught me to play the piano since a young age, and we used to sing together, i really liked music, so i started to teach myself other instruments too, of course behind howard’s back, i play the piano, guitar , the violin in addition to the flute.” tony said blushing at telling his secret that he kept for a long time, wondering what steve will think of him.

“Wow tony, thank you for sharing this with me, i know how much your mother means to you, but i can’t help but wonder why behind howard.” steve couldn’t really understand how howard changed from the man he knew as his friend, to the the neglectful, cold father, tony sometimes mentioned.

“Look cap, i am really not ready to talk about howard, probably never will be, i know he was your friend, but he was different when i was born.” tony sighed not really wanting to go there.

“Right, sorry.” steve said understanding where tony coming from, although he wanted to know more, he didn’t want to push tony, steve just hoped one day tony would tell him more, one his own, but that level of trust is still a long way, but he knows that one day they will get there.

“Hey tony, will you play me something, if it is not any trouble of course.” asked steve shyly.

“sure capsicle,all this emotional talk tired me out anyway, what do you want to hear?” chuckled tony, positioning the guitar in his arms.

“I don’t know really, something like you just played.” said steve

Tony laughed “steve, that was a song from a band i really like.” said tony laughing, “i play yes, but i don’t write songs, not that good really.” he continued.

“Really, i don’t know them, play something for me then from there collection.” said steve confused.

“Yeah sure, then i will introduce you to there music, it is really nice.” said tony  hitting the strings of the guitar.

And they stayed all night, tony playing and steve listening, with a new bond forming between them.

[onestowatch]

Winston Surfshirt Brings the Funk We All Need in ‘Apple Crumble’

Photo: Jordan Munns

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Winston Surfshirt is a band crafting their own path in the music scene. In a time where most common trends find themselves rotating from hip-hop, pop/R&B, to some variation of bedroom pop, the Aussies continue to put forward funk records with undeniable appeal. It is tough to find a niche for the band to fill but that is where the beauty is, with no clear label, Winston Surfshirt is just making really good music. Drawing comparisons to the funk nature of Anderson .Paak, the group feels as though they draw a sort of equivalence to the iconic collective, A Tribe Called Quest, maybe mixed with a bit of KC and the Sunshine Band for good measure.

Since 2014, the group has been developing a growing worldwide fan base. Others who are in the know include Sir Elton John who has touted the group as “the stars of the show” and Zane Lowe of Beats 1 radio. Now, the Aussie band is welcoming fall with their newest full-length project, Apple Crumble, which ironically feels like anything but cold weather. Then again, I think it’s just about summer in Australia.

Apple Crumble holds onto a few iconic Winston Surfshirt singles, such as “For the Record” which debuted back in 2018. However, the feel of the song fits perfectly into the project’s bigger picture. “For the Record” is a perfect representation of what the group brings forward in their unique niche of contemporary music. With quick high hats, lovely brass instruments, hypnotic vocals, and poetic songwriting, the single deserves to be heard as a stand-alone track and in the grander scope of the group’s album. 

Apple Crumble is home to enough quality music to just be left on shuffle for hours. Each song is guaranteed to make a room vibrant and moving. At the album’s midpoint, the track “Smile” completely steals the show. The track’s chorus repeats, “Smile for me, beautiful / I wanna see who you are,” and it is an absolutely infectious moment. Even as I sit here writing it out I can’t help but let out a wide grin. 

Along with the wholesome chorus, Winston Bustliop, the group’s lead vocalist, showcases his ability to lay down a clean verse just as well as he sings a chorus. It is here where the confidence and funk that can only be matched by the likes of Anderson .Paak truly comes into focus.

To close out Apple Crumble, the group brings forward “Bolney Stage 2,” which is a lovely jazzy take without any vocals aside from washed-out background conversation. With a clean saxophone blessing most of the track and gentle keys setting it all up, the pure instrumentation on the track creates a dreamlike sensation of fading into a blue and pink cup of Trix yogurt. The audio cascades to a climax and then slowly fades to nothing, drawing the album to a blissful close.

Winston Surfshirt has collectively cemented their role in music with their sophomore effort as harbingers of funk. Funk will never die, especially with these Aussies spearheading the movement. Good music never goes out of style.

Listen to Apple Crumble below: